Jul 25

Earthbound Episode 7: Production Update 2

What have we been up to lately in the world of shooting Earthbound videos?  Feast your eyes:

Day 4 (July 20th) was a day of green-screen shooting.  We recently bought a fancy $150 green-screen complete with lights and a sheet that actually stretches to the floor.  Gone are the days of walking in place!  Hopefully this will make the final episode all that more awesome.

On Day 5 (July 21st), we returned to the Gloss Mountains outside of Fairview, Oklahoma in order to finish a scene that we started a year ago.  We also filmed in the alley behind our house, where we originally filmed the meteor landing site for Episode 1.  In this video, you can hear us complain about being tired and only being halfway through principal photography.

Day 6 (July 22nd) had no video.  Oops!

 

On Day 7 (July 23rd), we returned to the site of Saturn Valley to revisit old faces from Episode 3.  In this video, you can hear us talk about our grand plans to build a real Saturn Valley with our vast budget.

Day 9 (earlier today) saw tensions running thin as our plans to build a real Saturn Valley fell through and we had to resort to computer generating the entire village.  Also today we filmed some more stuff for the DVD-only fan-made video.

Also today, Anton filmed an awesome 3D production update with his 3DS.  Best viewed with classic red-and-blue 3D glasses!

Tomorrow is our alleged last day of shooting for Earthbound.  We would probably be feeling sad about this if it weren’t for the fact that we still have a truckload of scenes to crank out before tomorrow ends.  Normally, we would just extend principal photography a few more days, except for the fact that we immediately have to switch gears to finishing the Three Day Weekend project (which is currently 50%-60% complete) before everyone returns to school / returns to college /moves away.

But on the bright side, everything has been going exceptionally well, despite the scheduling insanity.  We’re getting amazing footage for both Earthbound Episode 7 and the Three Day Weekend project, and I think you guys will love the final results for both movies.  Stay tuned!

Jul 20

Earthbound Episode 7: Production Update 1

In case you haven’t been keeping up with our Facebook page, principal photography for Earthbound Episode 7, the final episode in our Earthbound series, began a few days ago.  We’ve been posting a series of iPod videos to keep people quasi-updated on our progress (without giving away any actual details about what’s in the episode).

Our first day of shooting was a night shoot at our house.  We had a bunch of lights set up outside to simulate unnatural lighting coming through the windows, and the results were pretty good, though it was probably one of the more complicated shooting days we’ve ever done, since it involved moving big umbrella light stands around the outside of our house to different windows in the middle of the night, as well as stringing extension cords all over the place.

Day 2 took place at our grandmother’s house, which you may remember seeing in earlier episodes of Earthbound.  As you can see in the video, we used a green rubber ball with motion trackers on it, to be replaced with a computer model later.

Day 3 (yesterday) took place mostly on a green-screen, but we did go out to a local lake to shoot a beach scene towards the end of the day.  It started raining as we left town, but luckily, the cloudy skies added to the scene we had to shoot at the beach, rather than hinder it.

All in all, shooting for this episode is going extremely well so far.  I wish I could tell you guys more about what’s in the actual scenes we’ve been shooting, but it’ll probably be best to keep everything a surprise, to make the episode as exciting as possible when it actually gets finished.

Subscribe to our secondary page to be the first to see these impromptu production updates!

Jul 04

Status Update on Projects

As we celebrate the birth of grand old America today, as well as observe the two-days-late third-year anniversary of ridgwayfilms.com being online, let’s take a moment to give an update on all the recent news at Ridgway Films HQ.

Prop test (shot on Panasonic GH17)
Prop test, shot on Robert’s Panasonic GH17

 Three Day Weekend:  Currently, we are in the thick of pre-production for Three Day Weekend, an original film project we will be shooting next week.  The story was written by Elliott Ridgway and will star Robert Thomas, Brenen Hankins, Andrewblake Cullen, and Matthew Thomas.  It will be a road trip comedy, as well as our summer swan song, since it will most likely be the last major non-Earthbound project we’ll all be able to shoot together.  Right now, we don’t know if the film will appear online immediately when it’s finished, as we’re going to try to enter it into different film festivals first.  However, you’ll be able to keep up with the status of filming next week by following our Twitter page, where we’ll be retweeting posts by Robert.
Earthbound:  Combined principal photography for Earthbound Episode 7 and the currently half-finished fan documentary will begin immediately after we wrap shooting for Three Day Weekend.  We can’t really say much about Episode 7 other than the script is nearly ready, and this episode does indeed go all the way to the end of the game.   On the topic of the fan documentary, those of you who submitted comments (albeit comments that are now a year old) will be happy to know that we are going to be able to answer EVERY question you asked!  We’re really happy with the way the documentary is shaping up and hope you guys will find it funny and interesting. Earthbound shooting at da park
Supah awesome Earthbound DVD Earthbound Part Two DVD:  Which brings me to the upcoming Earthbound:  Part Two DVD.  This DVD will contain high quality versions of Earthbound Episode 4:  Dark Side of the Moon and Earthbound Episode 5:  Cake.  Also, the aforementioned fan documentary will appear ONLY on the new DVD, so you’ll have to get the DVD to find out what crazy way we answered your question or shot your suggested idea.  There will also be tons of bonus footage, outtakes, interviews, extra movies, as well as commentary on nearly everything!  We will probably be producing the DVD at the end of this summer, after we wrap production on Episode 7.  Stay tuned for a full list of what’s going to be on this DVD!

UbseyTrip 2012:  The remainder of the footage from UbseyTrip 2012 will be posted after we get all these other projects off our plates.  UbseyMovies will be posting videos of full songs from the Super Soul Bros. show at Iguana’s Burritozilla in the near future.

Fangamer Podcast 127:  Last week, Elliott made a guest appearance on the Fangamer podcast, alongside hosts Jeff Benson, Melissa King, and Ben Carignan of Fobbies Are Borange fame.  The topic was video game movies, as made by Hollywood, Uwe Boll, and independent YouTube filmmakers like ourselves.  Give it a listen!

That’s all, folks!

Jun 15

UbseyTrip 2012: Part 1

In case you’ve been missing it on YouTube, we’ve been uploading footage and shorts from our recent trip to visit the great guys from UbseyMovies.  Here’s a list of what we’ve uploaded so far…

A Night at Taco Bravo – We went to Taco Bravo at 1 am on the first night of the trip.  Robbie Benson eats a monster taco/burrito sandwich and Travis attempts to consume meat through a paper tube without losing his life.

FanimeCon 2012 – A montage of cosplayers and convention footage from our afternoon at FanimeCon the following day.

“I Just Can’t Wait to Be King” – An interim number during the first night of Super Soul Bros. at Iguana’s Burritozilla.  Jon Magram and Jeff Benson take a shot at the classic Lion King song.

“The DK Rap” – Yet another excellent rendition of a classic song, once again brought to you by Jon Magram and Jeff Benson.  Also filmed during the first night of the show.

“Put That On YouTube” – A short film based on true events from the 4th Street Bowl parking lot.  Filmed May 27th.

Come back soon for more videos!

Jun 03

Capitalism

Recently, I took a ten-day trip to the west coast to visit Jeff Benson of UbseyMovies.  An insane amount of fun happened over the course of those ten days, and hopefully we’ll be posting the more notably fun moments from the trip in the near future.  The first thing that’s been uploaded, however, is a short film that Jeff and I created while we were both at Fangamer.  Cryptically entitled “Capitalism,” it’s a short film about me trying to get myself hired at Fangamer.  You may think I’m joking, but the real question is…?

Come back soon for more fun moments from the UbseyMovies / Ridgway Films crossover vacation!