Our production team has recently been joined by a new 3D graphics artist, Keneisha Perry, who will be working primarily on characters and character costumes!
Vyacheslav has been an enthusiastic supporter for Lunatics! since our modeling project last Summer. He contributed to the Soyuz interior set model and created the initial model for the Lunar Transportation System lander that we used in our animatic. He’s also been instrumental in providing Russian proof-reading and translations for us. Most of the labels on the Soyuz console were checked by him, and he has helped us with creating Russian subtitles for our teaser/demo, our Kickstarter pitch video, and the entire pilot episode.
The idea for Lunatics! came from a discussion between Terry Hancock and Rosalyn Hunter on space-homesteading, the problems of space settlers, and the potential personality conflicts of the space advocates who would be most likely be involved. It was Rosalyn Hunter who conceived the characters and basic story ideas that grew into this series.
I’ve introduced most of the team already, but of course, I need to introduce myself as well: I’ve been interested in space technology and science-fiction since I was a small child, and I’ve been actively involved in free-culture since before the word was coined. Lunatics! is a unique opportunity for me to put all of my skills and training to work on one project. As both an astronomer and a life-long space advocate, I’m very familiar with the reasons for going to the Moon and settling there (and also Mars and other places). And I have some pretty good ideas about how it can be done, having seen a lot of different proposals over the years.
Sathish Kumar, who was part of our Summer 2012 modeling team , has branched out on his own with his new studio, Spark Multimedia. He and his company will be partnering with us on creating many of the large virtual sets we need to create for Lunatics!
I’d like to introduce you to the people who worked on Lunatics! last year, during the Summer of 2012. We worked on pre-production during the Spring of 2012, and then put out a call for Blender Internships for the Summer. As a test project we created the assets required for the 2-minute short demonstration video on the front page: By design, this used a minimum of 3D assets: just one set, only one character model that required facial rigging and animation, and otherwise pretty simple animation. It shows the initial flight into space, from Georgiana’s point of view. Here’s the team that made those assets: Cosmin Planchon
Since the plan is for Lunatics! to be a series, rather than a one-off film, we have somewhat more ambitious requirements for making our models reusable for the long term. If we can invest a little more in a better rig or design something to use physics simulation rather than manually animating it, this is a good idea, because there will be a payback every time we reuse that model in a later episode.
We’ve individually introduced our principal cast members: Karrie Shirou, Ariel Hancock, Paul Birchard, Lex Quarterman, Veronika Kurshinskaya, and William Roberts, as well as pilot episode guest star Sergei Oleinik. These are joined by a number of other very talented cast members in the pilot episode: Melodee M. Spevack
We found Sergei Oleinik, who is a voice-over artist from Moscow, via an online voice-over casting site. He’s a pretty great guy, and hardly made any fuss over having to do all of this acting in English. In the pilot, of course, he has to speak quite a bit of both Russian and English, which I think he managed very well. Sergei Oleinik is a voice-over artist, currently residing in Moscow, Russian Federation. He has worked as a translator, voiceover artist, and musician. He has been involved in many different projects ranging from international television productions to documentaries, music videos, and commercials.
William Roberts is an excellent and experienced actor, and he does a terrific job with the part of Rob Lerner, the colony leader. In fact, he’s so perfect at it, there’s isn’t much specific to say, except “it’s perfect”. He’s got the right tone, the right mix of inspiration and realism, and just that little touch of worrying charisma. You do feel that if this guy talked you into walking off a cliff, you just might do it. But fortunately for you, his heart’s in the right place.
