We just finished DAY 1 and DAY 2 of shooting for the Nufonia live action series…
much fun was had… haven’t laughed this hard in ages… Here are some stills from the rushes. enjoy.
Director Lori Chodos and Robot (Paul Labonte) at the sandwich shop.
Nufonia Must Fall reference page, 25.
Robot/sandwich artist.
eric’s final blueprints…
6 days, 3 sheets of aluminum and 8 rolls of duct tape later… + baby.
scene from the park.
at the lake.
This month I have also been working on the soundtrack to the Mosquito Book. I stumbled upon this article about our favorite parasite. woah. I had no idea…
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=99133147
There will be a quiz about it at the next gig.
in the studio this month…
recording the quiet soundtrack to Space Cadet…
baby says: practicing is boring.
Nobody puts baby in a snowsuit.
For some reason or other, I’ve recently decided to pursue an education in the almost extinct craft of cutting vinyl. I found a record cutting machine at vinylrecorder.com and phoned the company. The designer of the vinylrecorder, Mr. Ulrich Sourisseau, politely told me,
“I cannot sell you this machine unless you come to Germany for training.”
“Oh.”
Fast forward 4 months… it turned out I had 3 days off between gigs on my last tour in Europe so I made arrangements to visit vinylrecorder HQ which is somewhere in the middle of the German countryside.
Mr. Sourisseau has been cutting vinyl records for over 40 years. The vinylrecorder is his life’s work. The machine looks simple enough but is in fact quite a complicated beast… and I don’t know how he could have possibly explained how to use this thing over the phone. So… yes… the training session is recommended.
here is a pic of the cutting head.
this is Mr. Sourisseau looking through the microscope to make sure the grooves are good.
Mr. Sourisseau and his vinylrecorder.
Some pages from a notebook that I filled with record cutting jargon during my 18 hour crash course in vinyl cutting. I just looked through some of these pages and realized that I don’t remember what half of these notes mean. I wrote “microscope” and then drew some lines underneath it… um… apparently it struck me as important at the time. Oh well, it will take me a few months (if not years) to figure out how to cut records consistently. Wish me luck. When I finally figure this machine out I’ll be cutting special records for every show! Imagine a double sided chicken clucking 12″ vinyl… I’m sure you’re looking forward to that gig…. oh the possibilities.
I am such a nerd.
Here are some scratch boards from the forthcoming Space Cadet book+soundtrack. This is the quiet album that I have promised many of you. Timing-wise it’s working out as we are heading into winter here in Montreal. And once that snow hits… you scratch all tear-jerky like… it’s kind of inescapable. The book is about 120 pages long. The soundtrack album will be recorded over the next few months. We have a special tour planned for it’s release but I’ll keep you posted as it all comes together.
Here are some test pics from Chapter 1 of the forthcoming book about the clarinet-playing mosquito. I finished the storyboards a few months after Nufonia Must Fall was released. Louisa Schabas and I had so much fun working on that book that we decided to start another project together. I showed her the storyboards and went on tour. When I got back she had made me a gift and wrapped it in a 1′x1′ box. It was a model replica of the mosquito’s bedroom from Chapter 1. At that point we decided to shoot each panel of the book by way of photographs of miniature 3D models. That was almost 4 years ago.
Since then Louisa Schabas and Corinne Merrell (Set designer extraordinaire and head mistress of wackness control) have been busy building the sets for each of the scenes. In between tours I sculpt as many mosquitoes, cinnamon rolls, and corn kernels, as my fingers will allow. It’s been quite the steep learning curve, lots of clays and paints drying up under the lights but we’re getting there. We are still only about a third of the way into the project. I will keep you posted as we move along… these are test photos… some are missing backgrounds and proper lighting etc… we’re just posting these because some of you wanted to see what was going on in the studio up here.
here is the mosquito in the tent at a music festival waiting to get on stage…
what the hell am i doing here?
the audience at the county fair. Louisa made some denim overalls for the cobs of corn.
very enthusiastic starches…
more light/shadow tests inside the house…
A shot of the kitchen at the mosquitos parents’ house in the country. This photograph was taken by the very talented Mr. Paul Labonte. notice the tomato. yes. the tomato.
here’s a shot of the stage at the county fair in the studio.
