Hello everybody, as you may know, I am a movie fanatic. Not only do
I like watching movies, and writting stories for "soon-to-be-made"
movies, but I also like to talk to people involved in movie making.
Some time ago I discovered that Ian Hubert [also known on
Renderosity as Mrdodobird] was working on a movie project
titled Ideality. It turned out that this was not
his first movie project, which to me, made Ideality even
more interesting. Ian is a storyteller, and he's also been using 3D
software for some time now. Which makes for a powerful combination
... I give you Ian Hubert.
Tell us a little about yourself  Howdy! My name is Ian Hubert. Im a senior in high school.
At least, I will be once school starts. Wait am I a senior merely
from graduating from 11th grade? I dont know. Ive been making
videos for probably 10 years now, give or take. Most of them were
really dumb, but the fun dumb. It all kinda springs from a passion
Ive had for telling stories. I used to draw little comics, then
progressed to flip books, then little stop-motion movies, and
finally ended up making the good ol videos. Now, in the olden
days, I would cover a paper plate with aluminum foil and hold it in
front of the camera and hope people would guess it was a spaceship
from Mars. Eventually, however, that got kinda old. I mean, tin
cans and foil can go a long way, but I was never the greatest model
maker. This led to my experimentation with computer graphics. My
uncle had given me Bryce 3D for my tenth birthday, and I started
experimenting with it. I eventually figured out to combine the
computer graphics with the live action footage we shot with the
camera. All just to help tell the stories. What drove you to
make Ideality? The last movie I made took an entire
year. Because of this, when I choose an idea for a movie, it has to
be one that I think Ill be excited about for a year. If not, Ill
lose interest and the movie will never be finished. That would irk
a lot of people. Theyd be like, Hey man, I helped you make this
movie, and then you just stop? LAME! and Id be like, Yeah. I
am. So I do, so I dont, and thus Im not. But why am I trying to
make Ideality in particular? Well, as I already said, I
think its just a good ol fun story to tell. It embodies a lot of
things I wish I could have done when I was younger, like fly and
build giant robots and stuff. Ive found that whenever an idea I
have comes from a childhood experience, those are generally a lot
more powerful and universal than ideas that spring up in
brainstorming sessions. But the biggest reason is really because
its fun. I know that sounds simplistic and stuff, but its true.
Especially when things go wrong. I mean, theres nothing like
getting twelve people in a far off wooden clearing in hot costumes
on a summer day and realizing that you forgot the tape for the
camera. Haha! Hey, you guys wanna hear something funny? Yeah ...
I also liked it cause the idea dictated a lot of superfluous
special effects, which I enjoy.
Could you explain the concept behind your movie? Well, the
basic idea isnt too complex; in fact, its on the verge of clich
A guy named Sword is dreaming, but he doesnt know hes dreaming,
but see, the trick is that theres this other guy, from real
life, and he gets into the dream too. Hes trying to take it over,
so Sword has to break through the barriers of reality and achieve
lucidity, a state in which he can do anything he wants in the dream
world. The hard part is that dreams are such an overused concept
that Nick LaFleur and I have had a hard time not accidentally
stealing ideas. So far, I think weve done a pretty good job.
Probably. You mentioned you've created other movies. Can you
tell us a little about some of them? What's your favorite project
so far? Ah! Yeah, Ive done quite a few. As I said, most of
them are kinda dumb, but the movies know theyre dumb, so
its okay. Theyre not trying to be something theyre not, and the
audience accepts that. Dang. I dont think that made any sense. Oh
well. Carrying on I pretty much do three different types of
projects. The first is video projects that I need to do, like, to
get money or to help someone out, or to do for a school project or
whatever. Those can sometimes be fun, but generally its just
something you gotta do. The second kind are projects I make just
because I feel like it. Those are generally a bit more unique. The
third category is a mixture of the first two; I make a movie for a
school project crazy. Some teachers love em others hate em. My
favorite video I ever did, (excluding Ideality, which isnt
done yet, so I cant even talk about it in the past tense yet) was
probably a couple years ago. The plot was lame: An alien robot
comes down from space and is befriended by some crazy youths, who
eventually end up going up to the mother ship and saving Earth.
See? Lame plot. But the characters were cool. The three main
characters were good friends, so the chemistry and spontaneity in
that movie was great. Its fun just to watch them interact. You
said you began experimenting with Bryce, which is a big coincidence
because that's also the one I started with. Currently, what is the
main 3D software that you prefer for creating visual effects?
Currently Im using Blender3D. That program blows my mind in so
many ways. I mean, its free, and yet, its amazingly awesome. It
was my first time to ever use a program that included Inverse
Kinetics as a feature. I think its called that, anyway. I just
know what it does, not the lingo. The IK has made animation
so much easier. Instead of having the foot parented to the
ankle, and the ankle to the calf and so on all the way to the body,
and having to animate the body then key frame every joint so that
the feet stay in the same place (well, almost stay in the
same place), I can just key frame animate the body, and the feet
stay in the same place by themselves. Im lovin it so hard.
Actually, I wasnt able to figure out the IK by myself. I was
amazingly fortunate in that I had a neighbor, Andy Rhodes, who was
into Blender, and he showed me the ropes. He was the one who
figured out most of the skeleton for the spider (which was tricky,
as it had 5 legs. Ack!). Im kinda glad I decided to do something
crazy like a giant robotic spider as my first Blender project
though. It was a great way to learn a lot without realizing that I
was learning a lot. That concept about the guy that is able to
do anything he wants in the dream-world sounds extremely familiar
to me (The One?). How did you come up with that concept? And
the name (Sword)? Heh. If I had a quarter for every time
someone related something in one of our movies to The
Matrix, I would have probably $15.85 (assuming I already had
a dime). Aye, it is similar in ways. Both people realize that their
reality is false, and that they can pretty much do whatever they
want. Ive always been interested in dreams. Now, I know, I know,
this isnt really unique. Lots of people are. Unnaturally so, but
Ive always found the science of it fascinating.
You mentioned your weapon of choice is Blender. and I've heard
some good things about it (check out Project Orange: The First Open Movie by Nick
Sorbin). Have you used any other app besides it? How does it
compare to other tools out there? Aye. Blender is indeed
awesome. I never cease to be amazed at what it can do. But, yeah.
Ive used quite a few other 3d programs, as I said, I used Bryce
for years, but the very first 3D package I ever used was Corel
Motion 3d. No ones heard of it. Its crazy. Its like, The
Program that was Never Made. Which would be creepy. It was a
pretty simple program, but it taught me the basics of working in
3D, especially animation. It was such an easy program to learn and
use, that it made animating easy. You didnt have to worry about
checking all the boxes or anything like that. You just set
auto-key and went. Yup. Those were good times. In my opinion,
Blender is the best of the three. Of course, everythings relative,
but it has the most features, and can do more than any other
program Ive ever used in regards to creating digital elements that
will be composited with live action footage. Now that you
mention that spider robot. What's the role of that robot in the
movie? Ah! The robots pretty much a minion. Alexander (the guy
who can create anything simply by willing it) thinks giant robot
spiders are awesome. Which, they are. So, he decided that for
minions he would have giant robot spiders and the Iron Dagger
(Black Clad Martial-Artists of Death, or Something). Im afraid the
spider may have been slightly over presented. In all honesty, hes
really not onscreen all that much. However, I think hes awesome.
See, personally, Ive always wanted a giant Robotic Spider. I used
to draw them like crazy when I was younger. It was almost an
obsession. And now, its in the movie. So Im hyped. Can you
describe the process of building and animating the robot? Phew.
It was nuts, let me tell you. Making a five-legged mechanical
spider is not really the easiest thing in the world. Especially
since it was the first thing I ever attempted to make in Blender.
As I say elsewhere, the only thing that saved me was Andy, the
neighborhood computer genius from down the street. I made a robot
leg, and a robot body, but I had No Idea how to attach the
two. See, this was the first time I had ever worked with Inverse
Kenetics, or Bones, or whatever, so I really had no idea what I
was doing. It was a difficult setup, because I kinda did everything
all wrong. Andy spent, probably a hundred hours trying to figure
out how to fix what I messed up. It was crazy. Every time we fixed
one problem it opened up a different one, and after that one was
solved you get the idea. After two months we finished. Man. If it
werent for Andy. Animating is actually really fun. Ive kinda set
up everything so that it works time wise as set on frame amounts.
As in, 20 frames for a footstep at normal speed, at 7 frames the
foot is at its peak, and 2 frames for quick jaw biting, with
another 3 for them opening. Stuff like that. Its kinda fun.
Blender can import video footage as a background, so I just kinda
set up the robot in front of the background so that it all lines
up, then I animate. Pretty easy and fun I love it! We try to film
so that the robot is actually affecting the environment a bit. When
possible and matching up the robots movements to those cues in the
actual footage is challenging. I remember that during the off
the record conversation, you mentioned you take on different
aspects of the production. What are your main tasks during the
making of Ideality? Well, it kinda depends on whats
going on. When were filming, it depends. I started out the movie
co-directing with Nathan Oquist. Actually, Im gonna go back
further to the idea. Id had the idea of the whole dream thing
for a while, and so one day I presented it to Nathan. Wed just
finished filming Echoes, and that had taken a year. In an
effort to make a movie faster which weve failed at [laughter]
we decided that not only would we create a shorter movie, but wed
also both play main characters, which, by coincidence, are rarely
on the screen together. That meant that when one person was acting,
the other could direct, and the other way around. It was really
just gonna be a short movie. Then we started writing the script,
and it turned into a not so short movie. Which was cool, I
mean, Im fine with a long movie as long as its not dragging on,
but it also meant a lot more work. Eventually, Nathan left for the
Marines [though as I type this, hes having his ten-day break
before he goes back for six months], so Nick LaFleur joined up.
Hes awesome [Great visual person, awesome grasp of the story].
Its cool. I cant praise him enough. Currently, I personally am
kinda producing, directing, acting, editing, lighting the sets,
which I built, doing visual effects, and writing the script; but,
not without a ton of help. Its been awesome. Besides the
spider, what was the biggest challenge in the movie? Well,
Non-Effects wise it was probably just coordinating everything. I
mean, people joining the Marines left and right, coordinating a
huge filming event only to have a main character say, I have to
leave in 15 minutes after arriving man. But FX wise Im not
sure. Actually, to be honest, the hardest part of the Effects was
coordinating. Again. Coordinating is hard. Some people are naturals
at it Im not. Im too disorganized. I double-book myself a lot.
Thats hard, but fun! Yeah. The most difficult part is really the
sheer mass of Effects in Ideality. Not all of them are
complex. In fact, most are fairly simple, but there are more than a
few scenes in which every single shot requires some additional
digital element, like buildings in the background, a waterfall
outside of a window, an airport sticking out of the side of a
cliff, stuff like that. Are you already trying to come up with
another idea for a movie? [laughter] Thats an awesome question
actually, yes but only partly. See, this movies probably gonna
end up takin more than a year to make. That means I have to keep
my excitement up about the movie for that long, otherwise I dont
really care about the movie anymore and Im just Doing it to get
it over with. Thats when stuff gets uninspired and dull. If I
were to have a different idea already formulated, I would get more
excited about it than the current project, and it would quickly
make Ideality more discouraging, especially when compared to the
future greatness of whatever is coming next. Ive found a way
around it, though. Im just kinda writing my next idea as a story.
As if it were never even going to be made into a movie. This helps
me keep the distinction clear.
Do you plan to pursue a career in animation or
cinematography? If Im lucky, yeah. Thats what Im trying to
balance right now. I mean, having a career in animation or
cinematography would be awesome, but its a really competitive
field. So do I want to try for that, or do I want to go with
something more secure? Do you have any final words that you want
to share with the readers? Thats really fun to be asked. Just
that question its fun. Lets see dang, this is hard. How
about communication! One of the best things you can do before
talking, is quickly check about how what you say will sound to the
other person, or how it would sound if it were said to you. Thats
pretty much it. Have a good life, everyone! Bake some cookies!
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 Animation Alley is a regular featured
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September 5, 2005 |
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