Well, no, so you can relax.

If there is anything extra-special about today, it’s that Ryan Peterson, the character/creature  sculptor & designer for The Price is celebrating his birthday! And since he features so prominently in our next Videoblog, what better day could there be to post it than today?

This one is just loaded with goodies (in fact, I had to take large chunks out while continually stopping myself from adding more), so let’s take a look:

I got the very best man for the job, didn’t I? And if you’d like to learn more about Ryan and his work, you can check out his blog/portfollio, read this great interview, or you can write him at ryankpeterson2003@yahoo.com … Happy Birthday, Ryan!!!

And one last thing: the doodle I made for National Doodle Day’s charity eBay action only has 2 days left (recognize it?)!!!

Check it out, along with other celebrity doodles (a term I apply rather loosely to my own piece) by my Co-Producer Cat Mihos and by Mr. Neil Gaiman himself!!!

Despite the numerous times I’ve felt prompted to post some little blurb of news, I’ve found that instead I continue to postpone writing anything here until something more notable has actually happened …

… and then somehow, 4 months have flown past!

So, I’m throwing my apprehensions to the wind, and offer up the following in hopes that you will realize that, yes, both The Price and I are still alive and fighting everyday to make some kind of progress towards the finish line!

Now, about those “Bad Hair Days:”

Let me just say that when you look at the closing credits of an animated movie and watch the cascade of names that roll past under the header “Hair Team” … well, there’s a good reason for that endless procession: getting a computer to “make” hair is really, REALLY difficult!!! One of the primary hold-ups in our production has been creating decent hair — and since both of our protagonists have rather copious amounts of it, I’m sure you can appreciate the significance!

“But wait-a-minute,”  I can hear someone exclaiming, “you already posted a picture with hair; what was wrong with that?”

You mean this?

Let me explain: the 3D Sculptor/Designer of the characters (Ryan Peterson) and I had originally wanted the hair to be somewhat stylized, and so he sculpted the hair into the initial “Neil” model. While the forms were terrific, we couldn’t get the color and texture to look enough like hair, and found it was detracting from the overall look. For the image posted above, I had to laboriously paint each of the hairs on top of the shapes already there, and although it looks okay for this one shot, there is no way for me to use a similar technique for every shot in the film!

That lead us to using 3D hair systems (which, although they have been around awhile now, are still notoriously difficult to work with). After much trial and error, we’ve gotten most of the bugs worked-out, but I thought you might get a kick out of some of these not-quite-successful experiments:

Pretty crazy, right? And I know what you’re thinking: what’s with the green? Well, Ryan was trying different presets in ZBrush, an absolutely amazing digital sculpting program that recently added a tool called “Fiber Mesh” to their arsenal. The green “hair” pictured above is actually the “grass” preset, and although we weren’t considering using the actual color (which is easily changed), we were liking the clumpy, more stylized look (as opposed to Captain Frizz-Head over on the left).

We finally started to get somewhere we liked with this version:

From here, we had our resident Zbrush guru Michael Hoopes generate a test render:

And although the camera used here distorted the facial proportions a bit, the hair is actually starting to look like … hair!!!

Rest assured that the final look will be worth the wait, and know that my little team of warriors and I still have an awfully long way to go until we get to Mordor & actually kick-down those Black Gates … but the end is in sight!!!

Last week I completed a whirlwind-trip to LA for a couple of highly productive soundtrack ‘spotting’ sessions with master composer Zain Effendi. Since the score is the one area of creating this film that I have to relinquish the most control of, the precious child I have to hand over to someone else to ‘raise’ (yeah, a little bit on the melodramatic side, I know … sue me), it has become an enormous matter of trust for me. Spread out over two days, these intensive sessions spent reviewing the animatic multiple times and discussing each scene and nuance in detail with Zain were absolutely critical. Our conversations delved into a wide array of related topics, and we both came away from the experience with a vastly improved sense of one another as creative partners and as friends.

Photo: Cat Mihos

We also had a chance to hang out with Rob King at his amazing facility, Green Street Studios (which you can see featured in The Recording Of Neil video). Rob (whom I’ve known for going on 8 years now) will be designing the sound for the film, a variegated task that includes mixing music, dubbing sound effects and recording performers. Weaving all of these elements together will produce the sonic tapestry for The Price, which in itself will be as responsible for helping to properly tell the story as any visual element.

Speaking of visuals, here are a couple of tests I thought you might find intriguing:

This frame is from an animation test utilizing the same base animation throughout a grove of 30 trees! Finding a way to create complex animations with a relatively small time/equipment footprint is a key goal for my Tech Director, Christian Perry.

He created these renders of the texture-mapped leaves from a red maple model, and it looks just like the ones from the massive tree that dominates the front yard of the Gaiman property. (While both images are made from the same model, the one on the right has translucency, allowing light to partially pass through and illuminate the geometry in a more complex way; although beautiful, it takes a lot more time and processing power to create.) While both seem photo-real, I am leaning towards the less realistic (yet more ‘illustrative’) look of the leaves from the animation test. To borrow/paraphrase from the genius of Pixar’s John Lassiter, I want the world of The Price to look believable, but not realistic (in a literal way); does that make sense?

And this is a quick test render of the preliminary build of the legendary front porch, where so much of our little story transpires (being modeled by extraordinary artist and good friend Todd Sheridan). I still cannot convey what it felt like to actually stand (and sit, and lay down upon) the wooden boards of that porch. Even the wood itself was striking — just look at the photo below!

Producer Extraordinaire Cat Mihos continues to help me connect the dots while monitoring our progress and investigating the film festival scene; in addition, she keeps me in the loop with exciting news from several developing projects (!!!) and even got me to sign a few of the 1-sheet posters from the Kickstarter campaign for promotional purposes. (For the record, I felt like a dork despite Cat’s admonishment to “get used to it!”)

Photo by: Cat Mihos

With everyone in town for the Sundance Film Festival this week,  my team is cranking hard to help me get all of the pieces together so I can push this beast over the finish line and be up in Park City this time next year!!! And here’s one last image that perfectly illustrates the length of the long road ahead that yet remains:

‘Nuff said, right? More soon …

(click on it to see a bigger version!)

Please know that my small (yet dedicated) team and I are continuing to working long and hard to bring The Price to the screen; I hope this glimpse of what is to come will help you keep the faith and stay as excited as I am!!!

Wow. Time, as they are wont to say, truly does fly … and that’s particularly true when you are fortunate enough to spend that time realizing a 6-year dream of bringing one of your very favorite stories to cinematic life!

In light of the Thanksgiving season and to celebrate this anniversary of so much genuine kindness and goodwill, I’ve put together a quick Videoblog to update everyone on the current state of things, and to express how very grateful I am to all of the wonderful backers who made it possible.

That gratitude is especially extended to Mr. Neil Gaiman (also a backer), whose generosity, trust and cooperation have created real magic in my life, as well as in the lives of so many others.

WARNING: This video contains a brief but rather gory special make-up effect, so be ready to cover your eyes if you’re the squeamish-type!

I also want to thank Cat Mihos, Rob King, Ryan Peterson, Dave Laub, Zain Effendi, Christian Perry, and many others on my team who are putting their hearts and souls into this project right along-side my own.

And most of all, I want to publicly thank my very best friend/overwhelmingly-supportive wife Glynis, and all of our truly amazing kids who have (more or less) cheerfully put up with Dad’s incessant ramblings and countless hours locked-away down in his basement dungeon!!!

Because of all of you, The Price is moving forward, making its way from somewhere deep inside my heart and mind and onto the screen — thank you all SO MUCH!!!

Zain contacted me back in August after viewing the Kickstarter project page, and sent me his website link to sample some of his compositions. His history of working with one of my favorite film composers ever, the hugely talented Hans Zimmer on such films as Pirates of The Caribbean 3, Transformers, and a little movie called The Dark Knight was staggeringly impressive; listening to his work impressed me even more.

The following month I had a chance to go to L.A. and meet with Zain and Brianne, his “Business Partner, Confidant, Best Friend or even Twin Flame” (this last designation he defined as: “two souls that derive from the same source, and continue to meet through past and future lifetimes”… a bit of a romantic to say the least!). I sat and watched the animatic with Zain and Brianne in their tastefully appointed, downtown studio along with my Co-Producer Cat Mihos, and was immediately encouraged to see their emotional reaction to this temp version of the film.

Brianne Gates, Zain Effendi, and myself; photo by: Cat Mihos

A short while later, Zain produced a “rough demo” based on his impressions of the animatic and on several conversations we had shared. It was of immense importance to me that whomever was tasked with creating an original soundtrack for The Price could make me fall in love with their music and set aside the seemingly unbreakable bond I had forged with my temp track (whose copyright remains firmly in the grasp of others).

For whatever reason, my filmic muse is tied directly to music. The first two elements I began with when creating the animatic were a recording of Neil’s narration and a repurposed soundtrack. All of the images and pacing and even other sounds developed and grew from that sonic foundation. And because of my particular creative process, the final music composed for The Price would be hyper-critical in maintaining the emotional impact that was already present.

It was hard not to cry when I first listened to Zain’s demo. He maintains that, although heart-felt and earnestly crafted, that piece of music was only the start of a much longer process to come of identifying  just the right musical themes and cues, and assembling and polishing and refining … but still, in those simple, elegant phrases, I recognized the same emotional language I was attempting to use. The ‘feel’ was absolutely right.

And for those who wish to hear a sample of this amazing music, you may have heard it already: I used it in the Castle Gaiman teaser trailer (which you can see towards the bottom of my last post, or if you prefer, on Vimeo or YouTube).

Another astonishing example of the way pieces have been seemingly finding their way together to help form this little film. I remain gratefully humbled, and wildly enthusiastic …

Photo by: Cat Mihos

About two weeks ago, I got a chance to fulfill a dream that had been percolating-away in my brain since first beginning work on the film version of Neil Gaiman’s The Price way back in 2005: to visit with the author at his wondrous home and film an exclusive interview with him as a behind-the-scenes featurette for the BluRay/DVD. Well, I was finally able to do just that, and got much, much more than I could’ve possibly imagined!

The entire trip was made possible by Cat Mihos, my most excellent Co-Producer & Mr. Gaiman’s assistant extraordinaire. Brimming with excitement, I packed up all of my camera equipment and drove off to Salt Lake International on a sunny October afternoon … where  I almost blew the entire adventure before it even began by missing my flight — literally by about 30 seconds (I’ve never done that before, and never plan on doing it again)!

All anxiety was swept away later that evening as we drove up to that amazing house, where we were warmly greeted by Neil and his glorious, white German shepherds, Cabal and Lola. Over the course of the next few days, I would come to know each of the wonderful animals Neil has rescued and with whom he shares his home (there are areas designated as “Cats Only” or “Dogs Only,” and even “Humans Only”). And from that first night, I began to see several recurring examples of his generosity, beginning with the gift of his time.

Cabal

Princess photo by: Kyle Cassidy

Joey photo by: Kyle Cassidy

In addition to recording the interview (which contains many enthralling stories and revealing insights regarding the genesis of The Price, and of the process of creation itself), I was also invited to wander about his gorgeous house and the sprawling woodland it lays nestled against, and encouraged to take as much video /photo-reference as I wanted! (An offer I absolutely made the most of, to the tune of more than 86GB worth — score!!!) In opening up his home to me, Neil pointed out specific places where events occurred in real life that eventually found themselves into his story of a stray cat that came to protect their house from … something.

Photo by: Cat Mihos

Self portrait by: Cat Mihos

Photo by: Cat Mihos

Then there was the warm and friendly group of people who work at Castle Gaimain (a terrific name coined by the equally terrific photographer and frequent house-guest, Kyle Cassidy). I was treated to a complete tour of the grounds by “Hans The Woodsman” (aka Hans Newstrom) and laughed out loud at his hilarious recounting of how he elected to “test” the electric fencing  installed to protect the precious beehives from the threat of hungry/curious bears.

Hans Newstrom

I was also able to chat with the “Merry Housekeeper” (Mary Edgeberg) and Neil’s right-hand woman, the one and only “Quiche” Lorraine Garland (or “Quiche Me Deadly” as she is known by in local Roller Derby circles), who graciously invited me to visit her lovely home that she shares with a group of stunningly beautiful Bengal cats, all of whom she has rescued and now cares for.

Mary Edgeberg

Lorraine Garland

Magic the Bengal

I had the tremendous good fortune to record the thoughts and reflections of these people who each play an integral role in Neil’s world. There is a genuine, familial love between them, and all were more than willing to share their impressions of Neil, his home, and all of the extraordinary animals that live there.

Let me share one example that really says it all: “Quiche” was organizing/producing her team’s Saturday evening Derby match, and had invited her famous boss to join in the festivities. As seems the norm with him, a conflict arose with yet another event requesting his presence, but which would put him miles away in the opposite direction and make it impossible for him to attend the bout. So what did he do? Had himself flown back in a private plane after finishing the first event in order to sit on the floor of the local community events center with the rest of us, and happily cheer-on Lorraine’s team. She was walking about 10 feet off the ground for the rest of the night.

I soon discovered that what I was actually gathering  were the makings of a wonderfully intimate documentary about a man who could create a story as affecting and deeply moving as The Price, and the people, animals and things he surrounds himself with. Now much more than just an interview, this film will be called Castle Gaiman: The True Stories Behind The Price. Here is a teaser trailer that will give you just a taste:

My hope is that this film will not only showcase all of the true stories that came together to help form The Price, but will also convey a glimpse of the man I saw, one whose every minute seems to be not his own, but whose graciousness with others is truly astonishing.

So many of my experiences there reflected his tendency to give and to share. One afternoon, I got to ride shotgun in his car as we listened to music and talked about books and movies and all sorts of things (I mostly listened … above all else, he is an incredibly interesting person). I was included in not just one, but two late-night dog walking escapades with Cabal and Lola, braving the near freezing blackness of the Midwest as Neil, Cat and I made a list of our favorite horror films (you can read about our choices in this CNN GeekOut article). I remember having that distinctly disorienting feeling of complete unreality hit me while hungrily listening (with a big, stupid grin plastered/frozen across my face) as he told us about his favorite episode of Night Gallery.

And finally, this incredible moment:  we had been watching a truly bizarre British TV series from 1960 called The Strange World of Gurney Slade, and as we sat down to sample the final episode, Neil casually pointed to the coffee table and remarked, “I thought you might like to take those with you …”

I followed his finger and had to blink for a few moments before I understood what I was looking at. It was the actual pair of “see-in-the-dark binoculars” from The Price. Sitting there, right in front of me. And he was giving them to me. Just to see and touch them, and to take some pictures would have been astounding…

I’m staring at them now as I write this, sitting in a place of honor on my desk. Look:

But there is still a more precious gift that I brought back with me from that unforgettable stay: to have had the rare opportunity to visit one of my heroes up-close and still come away with all of the magic intact.

Happy (early) Birthday Neil, and thank you for all of the many gifts you’ve given us. To have so much and then to give back so liberally to others (be they people, animals, or even fans), is a quality that in my mind would certainly entice whatever guardian angels there are to bestow their protection.

You can right-click on the image to save it on your own computer — even use it as a desktop if you don’t mind having a big, mean-looking blue devil glaring down at you, that is!

My little team has been very busy refining the character models that will be used to create the hybrid animation technique I’m developing for The Price. In particular, Ryan Peterson has been toiling away for (literally) hundreds of hours designing and crafting these astounding digital sculptures. I shot quite a bit of footage with Ryan earlier in the year to introduce him and his previous work to all of you (some of which will be featured in my next Videoblog). We have also been very fortunate to have some terrific software partners on this project, including Abode and Pixologic, which you will hear more about in later posts.

Thanks again for the comments and continuing interest/support! It’s hard to remain patient when this process takes such a long time (especially for me), but the results will be more than worth it!!!

This is Christian Perry who has been helping me with several technical issues, most recently with researching the best way to generate fur that looks the way I want it to, but that also ‘renders’ on the computer at a reasonable speed. (And since one of the main characters in this film is, after all, a cat, the method for creating its fur is a major consideration!)

Below you can see the test model with the fur “guide hairs” selected (that’s why they look green). There are about 600,000 of them on this guy, and they control the way the computer ‘grows’ the rest of the literally millions of strands. These guide hairs can be ‘groomed’ for length, direction, fluffiness/clumpiness, etc.

This test render gives a basic idea of how the fur will look.

While Christian is delving deep into techniques, Ryan Peterson (my character sculptor & 3D designer) has been hard at work over the last several months producing highly detailed models based on conceptual artist Dave Laub‘s designs. (You can see my Videoblog featuring some of Dave’s work here.)

Here they are discussing a particular area of Ryan’s 1st stage devil model.

Ryan and his amazing work will be the subject of an upcoming Videoblog, but I wanted to give you a sneak peak (literally over their shoulders) at some of the sheer awesomeness he has been crafting away at:

Getting to work with these guys — especially when we are literally in the same room and throwing ideas at each other — has easily been one of the most fulfilling and rewarding creative experiences of my life. They are genuine masters at what they do, and yet have little or no ego as collaborators. Any idea is a ok to share, and that kind of openness is a crucial element for allowing creativity to thrive! More goodies to come soon!

As many of you know, in June celebrated author Neil Gaiman was touring across America doing readings to sell-out crowds in support of the release of the 10th anniversary edition of his widely acclaimed novel, American Gods.

As it turned out, his final date was on the 28th in Los Angeles … where my good friend Rob King – composer & sound designer extraordinaire – maintains his recording studio.

I spoke to my incredibly talented Co-Producer Cat Mihos (who, handily enough, is also Mr. Gaiman’s truly amazing assistant, merch-queen, and all around go-to-gal) about the possibility of arranging a recording session for The Price’s narration track with Neil while he was in town. Somehow the planets aligned, and the appointment was made for the day after his performance on both The Late Show with Craig Ferguson, as well as his reading later that evening at the Saban Theatere in Beverly Hills with comedian Patton Oswalt joining him onstage (as well as surprise guest reader Zelda Williams).

I arrived the day before and was invited to attend the show — in fact, Cat asked if I’d like to come early to “meet The Boss.” I’m sure I stuttered something in response, but I can’t recall it now. I had never met Neil in person before, and despite all of the wonderfully generous things he has done for me … I found that I was more than just a little bit nervous.

Here is the Saban theater and the start of the wrap-around-the-block line:

Backstage at the Saban:

Cat introduced me to many of the celebrities who were there to meet Neil and share a moment with him before things got underway. I was definitely out of my own element; it was electrifying and dizzying and a little disorienting all at once. Neil was incredibly gracious with each person who stopped by, taking time to listen and share a moment or two with all of them. His patience and enthusiasm really impressed me, to the point when I finally got to say my own hello, I couldn’t help but remark, “This is all pretty crazy …”

He tilted his head slightly and replied, “You know, it is what it is.”

Cat amazed me in her own right, skillfully maneuvering each well-wisher into a gentle queue, alerting Neil to who was next and making everyone feel welcome … impressive!

Here is the astounding Cat Mihos at work:

And her magic clipboard (details discreetly blurred-out, of course):

The show itself was a roaring success, and although Neil said that standing up in front of an audience is not his favorite thing to do (“I’m an author. I sit alone in a room and I write!”), you could never tell by the way he held all of us enrapt. Check out this crowd photo (by M.C. Valada):

Can you spot me? I look like a student in Professor Indiana Jones’ class … just look at all of those googly-eyed females!!!

I met more wonderful people backstage after the show, including a few who actually recognized me as “that Kickstarter guy!” All in all, it was a most surreal and memorable night. But then, there was the following day …

The only way I can even come close to sharing what on earth it felt like to be lucky enough to have a private reading by Mr. Gaiman is to share some of the video I shot before, during, and after the recording session; please enjoy Videoblog #02: The Recording of Neil …

Videoblog #02: The Recording of Neil from Christopher Salmon on Vimeo.

Again, my sincere apologies for the huge gap between postings, but don’t despair: there will be more to come in the next few days and on a regular basis thereafter. I have been soundly scolded by one of my Backers/Associate Producers about not including all of you in the various production processes (more on him later), so consider me chastened. See you all again soon, and thanks so very much for your continued interest and support!!!