The Making Of "Knife Juggling Accident"

The Knife Juggling Accident

Well this was not only our first sketch of the revitalised Bubblegummonsters, but also our first of 2015. For those who haven't seen it, here it is again.

You've Been Maimed

In the UK there has been a long running video clip show called "You've Been Framed" (YBF) where viewers send in their home video howlers, quite often involving clips of someone getting hurt. One of the funniest things about these clips of someone getting hurt is the canned laughter which follows the incident. Well this is like a red rag to a bull where Bubblegummonsters are concerned and we took this to the next level... well an extreme version of it.

We always try and create a character or theme for our sketches and "You've Been Maimed" is a series we would like to do more of, which is a great opportunity for you to send us your suggestions. The character we created for this series of sketches is actually behind the camera, as with YBF has the canned laughter, our sketches has the laughter of the cameraman who finds these extreme accidents really amusing. 

How did we do it?

Well the sketch takes place indoors, however this wasn't where we originally shot it. Our first shoot of the sketch was filmed outdoors on our Panasonic AF-100, however went it came to post production we found that due to the harsh shadows, (created by the surprisingly glorious evening), we found tracking a real challenge. Using our new Panasonic GH-4 (4K DSLR) not only did we have more information for the tracking software, it was a great excuse to put it through it's paces, however, as we don't yet have ND (Neutral Density) filters for it and because we needed more control over the lighting we opted to re-shoot the sketch indoors. For more information on ND filters follow this link >> Click Here << which is a great article written by Carey Duffy. 

As with all our videos which involve CG effects we use what is known as HDR (High Dynamic Range) which is really useful when lighting the CG scene/animation. This video actually has two separate CG scenes, the first being the knife juggling, the second was the knife embedded into the head.

HDR Ball

For some detailed information on HDR follow this link >> Click Here<<

The Knife Accident

Normally, we would simply (we say simply... the theory is simple but a hell of a lot of work goes into it) have a model of the subjects head and track the CG knife on to it, however in this instance and due to time constraints we didn't have an accurate model of the head and found that tracking the knife accurately was again proving to be a real challenge. After some research we came across a really useful app from Autodesk  called 123D, (available on both Android and I-Phones) which allows you to generate 3D images from photographs.

We took a series of photos of Stuart's head and imported the 3D generated image into Z-Brush where some further alterations were made to perfect the model. 

This allowed us to have a reasonably solid reference point for the embedded knife to track against as Stuart turns around to reveal the knife stuck in his head. Previous attempts had resulted in the knife appearing as if it was floating off the head and didn't move with the subject in the way which appeared realistic enough for us to pull off the sketch.

Peter Comments

We have filmed a commentary where Peter comments on some of the challenges we faced and goes into some more detail which will be released on www.youtube.com/bubblegummonsters later today.

We would love to read your comments or receive constructive criticism on our videos and blogs. You can get in touch with us through our YouTube channel, twitter or this blog.

Until the next time, thanks for reading and have a wonderful day!

A Film Makers Beginning... again!

The Beginning

Just over 4 years ago we set out to film a silly unscripted sketch to try out a new piece of software and spent a couple of weeks working on "Giant Robot Goes Out Of Control". It was great fun to be working on something creative and making a different use of our spare time, but it was soon finished. With our attention to detail and trying to push the boundaries on what we had ever created in the past, armed with software we never had in the past and a new wealth of experience we could both call upon, ultimately we were very proud of this short sketch and thought how we could show it?

With little thought of what would transpire we uploaded our first video to YouTube and thought, wouldn't it be nice if we got 100 or so views and 10 or so likes. We never planned for what would happen next.

With over 300 views in under a week, we were blown away with how well it seemed to have been received and that people were watching our work, which could be best described as quirky! Our odd sense of humour, coupled with our passion for film making saw the birth of Bubblegummonsters.

The Story So Far

It is funny how life gets in the way and our enthusiasm and dream for Bubblegummonsters slowly disappeared, our passion for film making has always been there, but it was getting harder and harder to make it a reality.

We have always had ideas for making films and saw the birth of "22 Days Later", where we would script, film and produce a short film in 22 days. The Lollipop Lady Killer being our first and The Great Spielron the second. However, time and circumstance was always the enemy. Ultimately it has become very hard to pursue our life time passion of becoming film makers... until now!

A New Start

A few weeks ago we got together once more over a pint and discussed our hopes and dreams for Bubblegummonsters, in short we want to revitalise it and continue making short sketches, films and continue to entertain the YouTube community. One of the great things with YouTube is being able to engage with people, which in the beginning we was very good at doing. With a number of social outlets out there it should be even easier now to answer questions, share ideas and engage with... dare I say it... fans?

One of our new mission statements is consistency, as we have come to learn that to build up a faithful following, people demand consistency. Our plan is to release one video each week, on a Friday at around 6pm (GMT). The first Friday of each month will be a sketch, the second Friday will be a behind the scenes/making of, the third Friday will be Bubblegummonsters News and the 4th will be an interview with another YouTube creator.

Obviously this is early days and is not a format set in stone but we have met some great people over the years through YouTube and enjoyed making videos for people's entertainment, quite simply it is our wish to want to continue this for as long as we can.

A New Beginning

Our first... well... first release of the new, revitalised and re-enthused Bubblegummonsters will be out today 05/06/2015 @ 6pm (GMT). A blog about the video will shortly follow, where we will get the opportunity to go into more detail.

We want you to get as involved as you feel willing to do, whether it is asking questions, providing constructive criticism or just following our latest antics on Bubblegummonsters YouTube Channel, BBGummonsters on Twitter or even via this Blog!

Until the next time, we hope you have a fantastic day and thanks for reading!

Here is our first "You've Been Maimed"