Studio Snapshots

Here’s some shots from our last recording session.

Luke

Luke and Bobby; writers, directors and comics extraordinair. They may look like they are all business, but their banter is mostly BS that only they understand.

Bobby

The many faces of Kurt

Kurt with a lack of lines and two stray pieces of electrical tape.

No wonder he was cast as Twins

Brandon reading lines without the aid of commas

Ellen

It was nice to have another girl in the studio this time.

Kurt being a stool head

"Shut the F*** Up, Gibson"

Brandon snuck up behind John as he repeated a line several different ways. It became a running joke to ad lib the above after any of Gibson’s lines.

...And the first mic was too big...

Swapping mics, brilliant idea

Jenny and Luke

Michael

The Crash Squad: John, Brandon, Jenny, Kurt and Luke

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!

Congrats are in order to some of our very own team members.  First a quick background:

Michael participates in the 24 Hour Film Project every year. It is this great event where film makers come together with their crews and have 24 hours to make a short film…from start to finish. According to the project website:

In each city, teams receive a theme and surprise element assignment for their films via e-mail at 10PM on a Friday night. Examples of past themes are “Revenge”, “Bad Advice” and “Spare Change”. The plot of the film must revolve around the theme. The surprise element can be a prop (ex. toothbrush) or an action which must be performed in the film (ex. a slap).
This year, for DC’s 24 Hour Film Project Michael submitted what I feel is a great project.

And now for the Congratulations part:
Michael’s Film won 3rd over all. Michael won for best Writing, and Daisy (who plays several roles for Crash Squad) won Best Lead Actress.

An amazing accomplishment to say the least!!

Check the film out here and look for “That’s What She Said” by Unfinished Productions.

I just know Mike is going to demand a pay raise now….what’s that budget again?

Thanks.
Luke
MADHouse Studios

Progress Update

Last night, we were in the studio once again. After a bit of a break we all seemed pretty excited to be back to the task of giving life to the characters. We originally had two sessions scheduled for this month…but due to another schedule conflict…last night was our only one.

We were introduced to a new actor last night. Pete Mihovich came by the studio and read some lines for me for a couple of the characters that we have yet to cast. Though his visit with us was a short one last night…I could tell right off that he would be a valuable addition to the team. I look forward to seeing what he does with the very different characters we have in mind for him.

Episode 2 is about 60% done on the Voice Over side. All of the Crash Squad’s lines are complete. Brandon, having consumed more energy drink than anyone should before something like this…attempted at one point to do ALL of his lines in ONE TAKE…before anyone else could speak.

There were pictures taken, and hopefully we can have a couple up soon…it was a good time and I like how it’s all coming together.

On a serious note I am very pleased with how I am watching this cast find their characters. As I sit and listen to them run their lines I find myself smiling. They have come together much like their characters and know how each member of the team will work with the others. I am impressed to say the least. The talent is incredible…and when it all comes together, I honestly believe we will have one hell of a show to share with you all.

We have more news to come…but I’m going to wait for now. Keep checking back…
Until then,
Thanks,

Luke
MADHouse Studios

Introducing…Kurtis Carlisle

Kurt has the unique and sometimes challenging job of giving voice to two of our main characters. He plays the twin Macs, One and Two. The Twins provide much of the comic relief in the show and Kurt conveys this with ease. The guy’s a natural! He brings a sense of relaxed fun to the overall atmosphere and his easy going take on life is what gives the Twins their character during the sessions.

Born and raised in Portland, Oregon, Kurt came to the East Coast to study Chemical Engineering at the University of Maryland. He married Dara in October, 2007. He enjoys anything outdoors (i.e. biking, kayaking, running, camping, etc.) and playing with his overgrown, exuberant 2 year-old puppy, Koda.

Squad Profile Picture – Drake

Luke has rendered new profile pictures of the Crash Squad. I thought I’d put them up one per week to participate in Wordless Wednesday. (Read as shameless ploy for traffic).

This is Jacyn Drake, Commander of the C-Squad. His leadership has made it the most effective MCU in the entire Delta City Police Force and earned it the nick name of “Crash Squad.”

Technically speaking…it was a disaster!!

Animation isn’t what it used to be. There are times when I look at the possibilities of what can be done with computer graphics and animation that I think “How did they ever do it before computers?”

Then there are times when I think that if I had the patience and time…the good old hand painted cell method would be the way to go…leaving my computer to fulfil its apparent role as a very expensive paper weight.

Why would I say this?

Let me walk you through it.

I am working on the Crash Squad Title Sequence. It is a 45 second clip just like you see in all the cartoons and TV shows out there. I have to render out each of the pieces of the clip one at a time and then string them together with the theme song in the background.

The first segment of this 45 second clip was a 14 second bit showing DRAKE…our hero in a pretty cool pose with a zoom in on his face and everything. I set the scene up in my 3D application, added the lights…applied all the animations to the character and then saved it all…just in case.

This segment is 210 frames long. The estimated time to render the 210 frames of 3D data into a viewable movie clip was 28 hours!! I kind of panicked at this point. HOW THE HELL are we going to produce this thing if it takes that long to render out?

Well, at Midnight on Monday…going into Tuesday…I pushed the render button. At 5:30 in the morning on WEDNESDAY, it still had about 74 frames to go. I had to go to work, so I did, and expected to come home to a completed clip.

YEAH RIGHT.

I came home to a computer that rebooted itself sometime during my work day. 34+ hours of rendering…ALL LOST!! I thought I was going to puke. There is a lot of mind numbingly boring stuff that explains WHY my computer decided to give me an ulcer…but Technically speaking…it was a disaster.

Disheartened…I decided to reset the scene, and tweak some render settings, hoping for a quicker render time. I pushed the render button again…and held my breath.

Not really. Because if I did…I would have died. It took FIVE hours to complete, as opposed to a DAY AND A HALF!!! While that’s a long time…it is still much more manageable than days at a time.

It looks great and I am excited about getting this clip done for you all to see.
I am hoping that it will be done in a couple of weeks…keep checking back to get updates.

Thanks for letting me rant,

Luke
MADHouse Studios

We’re kind of a big deal around here.

No shit, there I was laying around watching TV, when the cell phone rang. It was Michael. I was pretty amped, because I thought this meant that I was about to find out studio times for October.

I was wrong.

What I did find out though, gave me goose bumps that still haven’t gone away. Apparently there was a meeting at the Montgomery County Public Access station recently. It involved some of the big wigs and they talked about TV Station stuff…as one would expect.

What I didn’t expect was that CRASH SQUAD was one of the big topics of conversation! Michael went on to tell me how his supervisor was ranting and raving over the ingenuity and innovation of the CRASH SQUAD. She told the other staff how excited she was about the project and how good she thought it was for them.

Well…what’s good for them is good for us!! Terms like “outside the box,” and “Ground breaking” were used. So…the whole place is buzzing about CRASH SQUAD. They are excited…which makes me excited. So…as I said in the subject line…

…We’re kind of a big deal around here!!!

Luke
MADHouse Studios

Site Updated

Luke has been working on the Crash Squad Website. I love the new look. Of course, I’m biased because my alter ego is as big as life right on the home page. What can I say? I like being a Hot Sniper Chick!

Anyway, my point is, if you haven’t peeked at the site since yesterday, then you haven’t seen the changes. Go. Take a look. Getting hits on the site inspires Luke to work on it more!

<–Click on Aspen to go there now.

~Jenny

A Couple of Photos

Here’s a peek behind the scenes from our recording session last Thursday. I didn’t get a shot of myself, but I was there – the token girl, suffering through the boys’ humor.

Well, O.K., I participated in the humor and pretended to be mildly offended at times.

~Jenny

Luke and Brandon reading lines.

Michael recording the dialogue. Bobby, John and Kurt in the background reading.

Studio Time…Controlled Chaos?

Alright…so we’ve had Five sessions in the studio so far. The voice over recording method we are using is NOT what you would call traditional…but we have our reasons.

Traditionally, when voice over work is done actors go into a recording studio one at a time and read their lines. They may never see other actors involved in the project. We have neither the time to dedicate to that method, nor the luxury of being able to afford that much studio time. As a matter of fact, on our budget of $0.00…we can’t afford much. Thanks to Michael (our technical producer and one of the writers) we are able to use the local Public Access studios.

Our method gets all of us together once a week (roughly) in the same room, reading off the lines as if we were acting it all out for the camera. We find that this creates a more natural flow to the dialogue. It also gives us some KILLER OUT TAKES!!!!

Last night we moved on to Episode Two. (Episode One is all but recorded. We are short five lines due to a casting issue.) For some reason, as I walked into the studio building I could tell tonight would be different than the others. We all pretty much arrived at the same time. Michael’s face told me all I needed to know. It had already been a long day…and the next five hours were going to prove…interesting, at the very least.

As usual, there was a lot of laughter and everyone had a good time. Last night, though…I asked a question that I have never asked before. At one point the cast was all up at the microphones, and we were rolling. The scene was done, save the last line. It never came. I looked up at Michael (working the board) and he turned to see what they were doing. THE ENTIRE CAST in the scene was red faced, fighting back bouts of nigh uncontrollable laughter. Just as I was about to ask what was going on…it happened.

Someone farted.

Ten minutes later…as they began to calm down their laughter…I asked the never before asked question. “At what point did we lose total control?” Michael’s response…”Maybe we should wrap a little early tonight.”

So…that all said, here’s where the production stands:

We are five studio sessions into the voice over recordings. At five hours each, we have spent roughly 25 hours in there. (Allow for set up and tear down times…technical difficulties…etc.) I have ONE HOUR and TEN MINUTES of usable audio so far. (There is more…it’s just not ready to use.) I have tweaked the MAC voices to their proper effects, and have started to apply the VO tracks to the characters. Animation has begun…albeit slowly.

As always…keep checking back to see how we are doing. Once I get the pictures from the last few sections we will put some up here, and on the website. Thanks for checking us out.

Luke
MADHouse Studios