Work on The Gnomes spans a wide range of activities, so other non related activities must take place to support that range of activities as well. One arena which has been pushed aside in lieu of the Core Creative Materials for the Gnomes has been the maintenance of assorted vehicles belonging to IMS. So because forward momentum is expected in the assorted production arenas, it is critical that the trucks be reviewed and serviced. With that in mind, the primary focus of attention is replacing the engines and transmissions of the work vehicles. The need has been growing and this service now needs to be addressed.
In terms of actual production activities, the stop-action puppetry is the primary focus of attention, even though work is still proceeding on publishing. I've evaluated the equipment needs for the animation work we are planning and I am impressed with the Sony still cameras for our particular application. I am anticipating building a three camera set-up on our model sets, but first I will be doing tests using a green screen as a backdrop for the model stop-action puppets. Along those lines, creating the proper sized sculptures for the puppet heads will be a priority. I think the first level in this regard will be heads that are not animated.
Since our family business is a machine shop, I am inclined toward robotics as a focus. The larger Puppets have been constructed taking animatronics into account. Of course they are far from finished, in part because I am trying to devise a design that will emulate muscular movement. I won't get into that right now, but I have a conceptual design for an artificial muscle. I may like to continue to pursue that, but that is a complicated endeavor which will be too distracting from the primary direction we need to proceed in. But I do think producing the sample of a stop-action film is important, so I am proceeding with the basic puppet design for that, figuring on the green screen being the factor that will integrate the puppetry into the existing art work we have of Gnomeville. I have been planning the set construction. Computer issues so I will continue this later. AG
