Collin’s Lab: DIY Sci-Fi

Computers & Mobile Photography & Video Technology
Collin’s Lab: DIY Sci-Fi

YouTube player

While waiting patiently for what is likely the galaxy’s slowest turbolift, spacefaring duo Metalmags (Erica Magrey) and The Alien Ambassador (Collin Cunningham) take a casual stroll through the seams of their own chroma-keyed reality — in search of an answer to that age-old question, “Why are we here?”

Read more on how the vid was made:
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2010/04/collins_lab_diy_sci-fi.html

Discuss this article with the rest of the community on our Discord server!
Tagged

ADVERTISEMENT

Inspired by last month’s DIY Movie Making theme, I present to you the above-seen piece of homegrown science fiction. While waiting patiently for what is likely the galaxy’s slowest turbolift, spacefaring duo Metalmags(Erica Magrey) & The Alien Ambassador(yours truly) take a casual stroll through the seams of their own chroma-keyed reality, in search of an answer to that age-old question, “Why are we here?”

If the two pressed on in their search, they’d eventually stumble upon the two-dimensional plane of my laptop display running Apple’s Final Cut editing software. Luckily, FC’s chroma keying filter was able to accommodate our somewhat shadowy green-screen with a bit of tweaking. (FC Tip: be sure to try adding a Color Smoothing filter to the top of your stack + a Matte Choker @ the bottom)

The soundtrack for the vid was composed entirely in Ableton Live along with a monome 64 controller. Like most digital audio apps nowadays, Live can handle concurrent video playback – which makes the scoring process more or less a cinch. Also – the dialogue’s campy vibe is a pleasant side-effect of our necessary vocal dubbing (original audio had much unwanted background noise!)

All of the included sets, artwork, and costumes come courtesy of Erica’s handiwork – except for the Ambassador’s ocular prosthesis which I upcycled from a couple of Poland Spring bottles ;) More Metalmags+Ambassador antics can be found over at Tag Sale Cosmology – and be sure to check out our DIY Movie Making roundup(s) for more homebrew cinema goodness. See you @ the Elsinor launch!

Subscribe to the MAKE Podcast in iTunes, watch it on YouTube, Vimeo or download the m4v video

More:

4 thoughts on “Collin’s Lab: DIY Sci-fi

  1. Gareth Branwyn says:

    Thanks for posting this, Collin.

    I love Metalmags and the Alien Ambassador. The intergalactic ennui is palpable.

  2. Carnes says:

    hah, loved it.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Discuss this article with the rest of the community on our Discord server!
Tagged

ADVERTISEMENT

Maker Faire Bay Area 2023 - Mare Island, CA

Escape to an island of imagination + innovation as Maker Faire Bay Area returns for its 15th iteration!

Buy Tickets today! SAVE 15% and lock-in your preferred date(s).

FEEDBACK