Getting in "Japan Mood"

What you see here, is part of a matte shot I did for a film, THE iDOL, shot in Japan, directed and written by my very good friend Norman England. Norman is a writer for FANGORIA magazine,doing excellent interviews and articles about Japanese horror films, Godzilla, etc. He then decided to make his own film on a shoestring budget, and, asked his friends to help out. I did some conceptualization of several scenes and, in the end, this "pink planet" matte painting. The actor, is real, but the flying saucer is a CG generated element that looks incredible when moving, and the background is my painting. I had specific directions to pay homage to that end shot Chesley Bonestell did in WHEN WORLDS COLLIDE. This is a slightly unfinished test shot, but you get the idea.

Some of the most talented people in Japan, and the US collaborated on THE iDOL, and the result is a fun, catchy film that's played some film festivals, and has gotten some really good critical praise. MY advice to all artists is have your hands in LOTS of different things!!! If you want to see and read more, go here-it's a fun site:

http://www.theidol-movie.com/index.htm

I'm doing more work with Norman on his next project as well. That is really exciting so far, so stay tuned.