Month: October 2024

Every project starts with an idea. What separates someone’s casual idea into an actual reality is the work one puts into that idea to bring it to life. THE LOST ONES was initially my concept of an Asian-based team of superheroes that I brought to reality as a comic book that was published by Image Comics.

Since I didn’t have the funds or time to self-publish after the 1st issue was released to the public, the concept sat on my shelf for several years. Around 2006, I was hired to do storyboards for the series KING OF THE HILL, and during that time, I had access to various classes that taught how to utilize a number of software programs which I took advantage of.

Learning how to use Adobe After Effects, Nuke, Final Cut Pro and other software programs would demystify the process of how a film utilizing visual FX could be made on the cheap and with equipment I had immediate access to. By the time I finished those classes, I decided to move forward with putting together a live action trailer featuring THE LOST ONES. By creating the trailer, there was the hope of selling the concept to a studio or production company with the intent of me expanding the trailer into a feature length film.

The first step involved putting together a cast and crew. It was now 2008, and the economy was in the toilet thanks to a crashing real estate market. Everyone was looking for an opportunity that could hopefully lead to better things. IRON MAN and THE DARK KNIGHT had hit theaters and became massive hits, so when I showed people what I wanted to do, I had their attention. Here was a project that was different from anything else they submitted themselves for.

After meeting with a number of actors, I soon had my cast.

For whatever reason, I can’t seem to find the title card listing Tracy Bautista as TSUNAMI at the moment, requiring me to dig further through my files. In my defense, I suspect part of the reason is due in part to her changing her professional name to Malia and in part due to the number of visual FX I was working on with regards to her character.

While I was selecting a cast, I was also recruiting a crew. The most important addition would be my Director of Cinematography Chris Leplus, followed by Costume Designer Mike Philpot and Make-Up Artist Abigail Bradley. Josh Glass and Josh Van Meter were also invaluable filling in on a number of positions throughout the process.

I also had a script featuring scenes I wanted to showcase in the trailer along with storyboards. I had also recruited Patrick Luque to construct a couple of CGI set models that were designed to be composited with live action photography.

Patrick provided the following clip so I could shoot the live action photography to match the camera movement in the clip.

And here’s a shot showing live action composited with the set model.

Chris committed to the project because despite his 40-plus years in the business, he had never shot with a green screen, and so he was eager to try something new. In hindsight, even though we had problems with lighting the green screen properly, Chris was a great teacher regarding all other aspects of filmmaking. He even liked the fact this was my first film, as – from his perspective – I had not been corrupted by attending any film school. He believed experience was a better teacher.

As the project grew and developed, other people wanted to get involved. One person tackled making my car design into a 3D reality as his main project for his Maya software class.

This model was featured in no less then 3 different sequences, including this one:

As you can see with the shot above, we actually shot on a rooftop of a parking lot near downtown Los Angeles in the middle of the night. The base layer is the shot without the car. Then a shot of the car properly positioned and animated was placed over the base shot. Finally, the base shot was duplicated with everything rotoscoped out of the shot except for Vito’s portrayal of Agent Sikorski.

What I’m showing here is but the tip of the iceberg of the work that was done. It wasn’t completed because I was offered a chance to make a full film based on what I accomplished with THE LOST ONES. The film I ended up making is titled THE REPUBLIC.

At this time, THE REPUBLIC’s footage previously had been upgraded from 720dpi to 1080 and is now being upgraded to 4K. Once that process is completed, I will be announcing its public release.

As for THE LOST ONES, at some point I hope to revisit the project. But first, I have THE LARA-SU APP, KEN PENDERS’ KNUCKLES OMNIBUS Volume 1 and THE LARA-SU CHRONICLES: SHATTERED TOMORROWS to take care of.

So let me know if you want to see more. Thanks for your time and consideration. Take care.

While I was working out the settlement with Archie Comics, I began work on the early version of THE LARA-SU CHRONICLES, starting with the character redesigns.

Above is an early version of the evolution of Dmitri, who was established for all intents and purposes as Knuckles’ greatest enemy in another form.

Recently, I asked readers who have followed the stories featuring Dmitri, his brother Edmund and all their descendants, including Knuckles, Julie-Su, Lien-Da and Lara-Su, how they felt if I made a change to those stories. A tiny change, at least from my perspective, but a change nevertheless that a lot of people felt strongly about to express how they about it.

Over the years, I’d been hearing complaints that Knuckles and Julie-Su’s relationship was incestuous despite Knuckles born 16 generations later on the Edmund side of the family tree and Julie-Su born 5 generations later on. For my money, I didn’t see this as I felt the family history mirrored European monarchies where power was consolidated among certain families through many generations. But still, the accusations persisted.

So I opened the subject up for the readers to express themselves. Those who preferred me establishing Dmitri and Edmund as the closest of friends as opposed to brothers still expressed their opinion they had no problem with the original relationship, but they were tired of the accusations as well.

Since the vote was essentially 50/50, my preference was to leave things as they are. what sealed the deal for me is how the issue of marriage between 1st cousins is dealt with here in the United States.

The surprising answer is that marriage between 1st cousins is legal in the majority of American states, with sexual relations between 1st cousins allowed in a greater majority of the states whether married or not.

So Dmitri and Edmund remain brothers, with all the tragedy of the family history preserved.

And as readers will eventually learn, K’Nox and Julie-Su weren’t the first members of their respective sides of the family tree who had a relationship with a child the result of that relationship. That’s a story I’ve been sitting on for quite awhile that will unfold in THE LARA-SU CHRONICLES. The excitement is only just beginning so stay tuned.