Articles with science fiction

Sci-fi film producer Royce Essig interview – Far Point 2018 – youtube

 

Royce Essig has been pursuing a 25 year dream to produce a sci-fi drama. He and his team are close to completion and have used virtual reality technology to finish the product. I interviewed him at Far Point 2018.

1:07 – Royce Essig and his team are doing an independent sci-fi series called Dark Operations Terminus. It’s been a 25-year dream and ten years ago they released their first DVD. It’s a three part sci-fi drama.

2:32 – They hope to release it next fall. It has a virtual reality element to it. One is the Oculus Rift where you get into the world. They have also applied the Microsoft Hollow Lens technology. It projects a hologram you can see and record and import into the game.

4:49 – The game is done in memoriam to some developers who they’ve lost. One of the people who helped with Terminus was a Major who passed away in Iraq.

5:52 – He uses Magic Vegas to edit. Everyone on the team is self-taught. He uses music to inspire his work. Muppets music and tv for example. He also loves to edit.

7:37 – They all started doing this twenty-five years ago when they were all in a sci-fi club and wanted to do a fan film. The realized they needed a good camera guy, good equipment and so on. Now they can do it professionally.

10:03 – Royce likes The Greatest Showman because it breaks the typical mold of American television actors and actresses. Star Trek inspired the film they’re working on now. He also liked Space Battleship Yamato, Star Wars and Battlestar Galactica. The people into this nerdy stuff are the best people around. He loves John Williams and James Horner. Horner used his Battle Beyond the Stars music for Star Trek II.

13:07 – He wanted to be a pilot when he was young.

13:27 – They’re on Facebook/Dark Operations and post updates from the set.

 

Links

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Battleship_Yamato

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080421/

https://www.facebook.com/DarkOperations/

 

For more “Creating Sci-Fi and Fantasy – An Inside Look” please follow me on Facebook at crisalvarezwlc, on youtube at Cris Alvarez and on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi

 

Guests: Royce Essig

Host: Cris Alvarez

 

Fantasy and sci-fi artist Amanda Schank interview – Super Magfest 2018 – youtube

Amanda Schank is a digital artist. I interviewed her at Super Magfest 2018 about her art, inspirations and method of working.

1:26 – Her Demon Slayer picture on an alligator rug is one of her favorite works because it’s very much “her”. It’s a line art heavy piece of work. It has a pin-up style. She likes adding shadows to the work. She combines urban wear and medieval images.

4:49 – She’ll stare at a piece of 40 minutes to see anything that needs to be fixed before she declares something done. She’ll even paint over prints once they’re ready for sale at conventions.

9:39 – She grew up watching Inuyasha and got into the mood of painting those characters. It’s influenced her throughout her career. She does everything on computer. She likes using a Cintiq for digital drawing and sketching.

12:57 – Lately she’s been inspired by lots of sci-fi. She’s creating a space station universe art book. Star Trek Deep Space Nine and Cowboy Bebop are currently inspiring her. She watches a lot of sci-fi to finish the book. She loves both the visuals and the characters and their motivations too. Evangelion also inspires her but she isn’t drawing lots of mechs.

16:14 – Her tablet is her most important tool. It’s about a 16 inch screen and she feel comfortably working on it. Photoshop has a nice textured brush too.

18:11 – In 2012 she had done a large painting of Red Riding Hood in armor. Now she revisited the character for a new piece. Right now she most enjoys doing textured line art for pin-up style work. She likes creating tattoo friendly art.

21:30 – She started making art when she was one. When she was nine or so she started watching anime and it was so different from Western cartoons she was fascinated by it. She didn’t care about art museums on school field trips until she got into art. She started posting the art online and she’s had a big following since then.

23:20 – She was on a site called Guyana online where you had an avatar that you could buy clothes for. She started selling her art to buy avatar clothes and then she realized she could make real money for her art. She realized she could make a living from art. She’s been doing commissions for 14 years.

26:14 – Artists are behind the scenes in everything in business. Art directors and artists create media, billboards and so on. They’re crucial to anything visual.

29:20 – She loves the Fifth Element and she watched it all the time with her dad. Star Wars is an inspiration. She loves Child Thief by Brom. He’s a writer and illustrator.   Cowboy Bebop has stuck with her throughout. Neverending Story is one of her loves. She’s been trying to do Fifth Element fan art for a long time but wants to make it perfect so hasn’t finished it.

32:41 – She loved the concept art for Valerian but she wasn’t happy with the movie at all. The visuals weren’t shown as much as advertised. The movie was too rushed to enjoy the art in the movie.

34:51 – Her gallery is on https://amsbt.artstation.com/.

 

Links

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0290223/

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0106145/

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0213338/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neon_Genesis_Evangelion

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119116/

https://www.amazon.com/Child-Thief-Novel-Brom/dp/0061671347

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088323/

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2239822/

https://amsbt.artstation.com/

 

For more “Creating Sci-Fi and Fantasy – An Inside Look” please follow me on Facebook at crisalvarezwlc, on youtube at Cris Alvarez and on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi

 

Guests: Amanda Schank

Host: Cris Alvarez

Game developers Christian Plummer and Zenas Bellace interview – Super Magfest 2018 – youtube

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I met one of the programmers and one of the developers of the indie game Super Rock Blasters at Super Magfest 2018 and interviewed them about making games.

1:36 – Christian explains what Super Rock Blasters is about. It’s Asteroids but blowing up each other.

2:27 – He’s worked on various projects in the past. He’s done a lot of game jams too.

3:42 – He uses Unity to port the game to other systems. It’s better than in the past but it’s not an easy process.

4:58 – His most important tool is a white board and markers.

5:46 – Special effects is what he most likes working on.

7:25 – Computer games are like raising children.

8:55 – He defines success as people spreading interest in the game through word of mouth.

9:50 – One of the the programmers, Zenas Bellace joined the conversation.

13:35 –Zenas talked about his method in developing games.

14:50 – They see games as a form of information and communication between people.

16:10 – Dune has been an inspiration for Zenas. Christian has been inspired by anime. The hero’s journey also.

17:45 – Zenas would like to create a sort of role playing type video game. Overall, they said to just make games if you want to. Just do it.

19:49 – The game can be found at rockblasters.quadratron.com or on twitter @quadratrongames

 

Links

http://www.quadratron.com/portfolio/super-rock-blasters/

 

For more “Creating Sci-Fi and Fantasy – An Inside Look” please follow me on Facebook at crisalvarezwlc, on youtube at Cris Alvarez and on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi

 

Guests: Christian Plummer, Zenas Bellace

Host: Cris Alvarez