I had a fun time talking to David Mendez of the Film Noobs podcast about Robotica Destructiva and other projects. See it here:
Tag Archives: special effects
Emerald Universe
We had a lot of fun making Robotica Destructiva (now available on Amazon Prime Video). Check out this collection of bloopers and behind-the-scenes footage.
The Construction of Destruction
Check out this short documentary about my fellow bandmates and cohorts, The Killer Robots and the making of our latest movie Robotica Destructiva.
Robotica Destructiva Now Available at Prime Video
The new movie I made with The Killer Robots and a bunch of new friends is out now and available for purchase or rental on Prime Video. Check it out and leave a review if you can as it helps out the algorithms. Click on the photo below to see!
Robotica Destructiva
My newest feature film, Robotica Destructiva premieres at The Enzian January 6th, 2023 as part of their Freaky Fridays series.
Strobo, Max, Auto and Trog once again find themselves hurtling from one adventure to another but this time they are antagonists to a trio of android warrior sisters activated to retrieve a doomsday device from them. Amber Belko, Torie Martin and Kristal Theron take on the roles of the warrior sisters, Mytra, Azalla and Luna.
The movie combines practical costumes, effects and people with digital sets, spaceships and environments. It was a lot of fun to make and we think you’ll have a lot of fun watching it. Look for a streaming release sometime in Spring 2023.
Check out the trailer on YouTube
The Killer Robots Movie on iTunes
This July 15th 2016 – The Killer Robots! Crash and Burn will be debuting on iTunes. It can be pre-ordered right now at https://itunes.apple.com/movie/killer-robots!-crash-burn/id1119811410.
We’re really excited to be working with Leomark Studios to bring this movie into the world. We’ll be presenting some promo-videos as we approach the release date so keep a look out for bloopers, clips, behind-the-scenes, etc…
Also, The Killer Robots! Crash and Burn movie will be playing at the Super Geek Film Festival during Florida Supercon in Miami, Florida. The other robots and I will be set up at our filmmakers table the whole festival, so swing by and say hi if you can make it. The film will be playing their Friday, July 1st at 11pm and Monday July 4th at 8:05pm.
Space Blast
I’ve just figured out that if I composite 10 different shots per day I should have a rough cut of the Killer Robots Next Movie by then end of December (2013). The workload is somewhat daunting but the notion that the film could be finished by February is inspiring.
Here’s a shot of some model work and compositing. I like the abstract form it takes on when frozen.
Until next time!
Recyclable Barbarian Battle Machines
Just another Sunday afternoon waiting for a 4 second shot to render – 9 hours and 4 minutes to go. In the meantime I’ve been putting some thought into how how better to promote the new Killer Robots movie. Unfortunately, I’m not too fond of promoting. As someone hoping to be a successful artist and filmmaker, I realize this is something I should probably put more energy into.
Photo by Mike McGowan
So in the spirit of promotion, here is a shot of actor, Scott Yuken as a club-wielding barbarian battle machine. One of hundreds and the reason the above described shot is taking so long. Can you guess what recyclables were incorporated into this costume? This is of course assuming that Scott is not actually an android sent from the future to help us finish our movie.
Thanks for checking in. Next week, more stuff.
-Sam
Revenge of the Tower Bots
Hiyahh!!
Here’s a cool interview by Kirsten Nelson of Rogue Cinema about the Killer Robots new movie:
Aside from that, still at work on the new KR movie. Currently in the middle of tons of rotoscoping for Strobo’s footage. His legs keep disappearing so there’s been quite a bit of layering and patching.
Also making quite a bit of headway with miniatures. Having built the majority of required models, they’re currently scattered all over the house awaiting paint jobs and filming. Yesterday I was able to shot some footage of the Towerbots – 3 story tall machines built to annihilate unwelcome visitors to the planet Vidya. Now working up the motivation to film some Galaxon battle-cruiser shots.
Creating Worlds with Plastic and Pixels
I love Computer-generated imagery (or CGI) for opening up the 
possibilities of imagination and allowing one to bring their visions to the screen without limitations. For a reasonable price you can be your own visual effects unit with off-the-shelf software. Despite all of this, I find myself building models and compositing photographic backgrounds for The Killer Robots Next Movie.
For my first feature, The Killer Robots and the Battle for the Cosmic Potato, I utilized Lightwave 3D to create the worlds that the characters would inhabit. Now, I did have limitations: my computer was old and slow and my experience with 3D modeling and texturing was basic at best. But, I had a list of 800 shots filled with sets, locations, costumes and alien characters that would have to be realized somehow. Without the resources to build sets and miniatures, I felt CGI was the way to go.
To get around the aforementioned limitations, I modeled everything simply. Instead of gritty realism I went for a cartoonish hyper-reality. All of the monsters and aliens had giant pool balls for eyes. Every set and spaceship glowed with color. The subject matter leaned toward the absurd so I felt an absurd presentation would be best. Some might say that it all looks like a video game and they’re probably right, but I’m ultimately satisfied with the final product in all of its primitive glory!
As happy as I was with the Cosmic Potato I couldn’t help 
but wonder what it all would have looked like with miniature sets, puppets and models. With production of The Killer Robots Next Movie underway, I thought to myself, “Would folks be more inclined to sit and watch my movies if the settings were more rooted in reality?”
I did some more CGI tests to see if I could approximate a more realistic look. I added extra detail and worked on my lighting. Finally I had to admit that although it was no longer cartoony; my CGI work still looked like illustrations. I decided then that the old-school style of special effects may be more conducive to what I was trying to achieve.
With the advances in digital editing and compositing I began to realize those older techniques were actually within my grasp. I built a couple of robot monsters out of recycled plastics and broken toys. My friend, Samuel Williams began building a series of miniature buildings. I found some open-source photos of engines, tunnels and refineries. I then composited everything in Adobe After Effects and added some rich color grading to the proceedings. I must admit I was quite pleased with the results. 
Personally I felt more immersed, but then again I am immersed, so I’ll let you be the judge!
Rock on!
Sam Gaffin 