Wednesday, April 06, 2005

TONY HAWK IN BOOM BOOM SABOTAGE

DIRECTOR / CO-WRITER / MOTION CAPTURE DIRECTOR




Movie Trailer
(01:58 - 4.2 mb)







This 66 minute direct-to-dvd feature was a blast to work on despite its EXTREMELY low budget and the fact that it was almost entirely motion-captured (which worked really well for the skating aspects but the "performances" however...). We went to Carlsbad, CA for the voice record with Tony Hawk and then to his private warehouse to motion-capture him on his vert ramp. In Vancouver, we hired some pro skaters (Alex Chalmers, Chris Haslam, Keegan Sauder, Russ Milligan) to do the motion capture at our motion-capture facility and the results when applied to our skateboarding models were phenomenal.










The original script was rather lackluster so I took a stab at reworking the structure and dialogue; throwing humour and fun throughout it. Andrew Duncan and Logan McPherson were the animation directors and Brian Carson was our composer and did an amazing job at going all-over-the-map with the original soundtrack (carny music, eerie "Forbidden Planet" Moog type music, raw punk, hillbilly western rockabilly, etc.). Larry Grimley, was perfectly voiced by Michael Dobson and his motion-capture performance was acted by the incredibly gifted Donavon Stinson. Both guys went above and beyond the call of duty, literally busting themselves to bring A TON OF LIFE to our main villain.

Jumping A Shark in a Leather Jacket
(2 min 19 sec)
Tony's been captured and taken to an abandoned tiki-themed water park. I love grottoes so I thought it would be the perfect place to hole him up. I then felt that the villain should monologue to Tony like a villain does with James Bond but then kinda veer off topic.



The Moonshining
(48 sec)
A nod to my favourite film.




A Magical Moment
(2 min 09 sec)
For the first time in motion picture history, someone reacts realistically to a shooting star...



Frank Calls "Tony"
(3 min 33 sec)
I like the scenes here but the motion-capture just kills it. Ironically, one of the funniest moments of the production was when we mo-capped Donavon doing the limbo (he even wore a neck brace). Be sure to look at what's on "Tony's" ball cap.



Friggin' Monkeys
(1 min 51 sec)
You can't tell in this clip, but the Monkey Trainer has the most amazing short-shorts. I wish I could say that the comp-job on the multiple monkeys running at camera was supposed to look really crappy on purpose...WAIT! It's a nod to cheesy rear-projected scenes in old movies! YEAH that's it!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I know it's been a while since this movie was first released and no one probably even looks at this
webpage anymore, but I'm going to leave a comment anyway.
I would like to start off by saying that Boom Boom Sabotage is my favorite movie, and it has been
ever since it was first released. The animation was done very well, and in fact seems to match that
of the Rock Band video game. The skateboarding in the movie is excellent; I don't think a better job could have been done. Now, many people seem to think the story needs improvement, and I admit
that I thought this movie was going to be stupid, but after watching it I think the story is quite fun and unique.
My favorite aspect of Boom Boom Sabotage is definitely the main villain, Grimley. Grimley also
happens to be my favorite animated character of all time. Yeah, he's not too pretty looking, but he
has more personality than any other character I've ever seen.
I honestly wish there was a sequel to this movie, and I am not the only one who wishes so. I think a sequel would do quite well as long as there is a good story and the 3 biggest mistakes are avoided:
changing the look of the animation/graphics, changing a character's voice, and leaving out a significant character (unless it makes sense). After all, Grimley did state that he (and his 6th wonder of the world) would be back.

Johnny Darrell said...

Thanks Cora! Glad you liked it! I wouldn't hold your breath for a sequel though. :(

If it's of any worth, I'll be sure to let the actor who played Grimley (Michael Dobson) know how much he rocks.

JD

Anonymous said...

This stupid bloggy thing made me redo my profile -_- anyways your welcome :) ... and darn :( And it would be awesome if you let Dobson know that he rocks :)