“Melonpool: The Motion Picture” director Jon Stout will be screening his short film “Bottles” at Dragon*Con this weekend! If you’re attending the con and want to see it, it’s playing Saturday night at 7pm over at the Hyatt (Hanover C -E). Tickets are included in the price of Dragon*Con attendance, so this is a great opportunity to see some of Jon’s pre-Melonpool work as well as pick his brain for spoilers on our new film! Who knows? Maybe next year we’ll both be there screening our little puppet movie?

As I near completion of the Bridge (yay!), I’ve started thinking about the way I can re-use parts of it on other sets — most notably, the Engine Room. I’d say other than the Bridge, this is where most of the action takes place, so I doubt I can get by using my parent’s heater closet like we did in the original Melonpool Movie. It also will have a full-scale hamster wheel in it, so it’s going to be one of our largest sets, too!

Since I’ve been storyboarding some of the Engine Room’s first sequences, I had to make some rough plans for this part of the ship to help figure out exactly where everything’s going to take place. Pretty cool, huh?

As seen in Melonpool Chronicles #1:

As seen in Melonpool Chronicles #4:

Concept Art for 2010 set:

As I said, I have a LOT of work to do!

Here’s a quick side-by-side of Jalea and her puppet. I think she turned out great!

As a side note, as I was sending the script off to the director, I noticed that the first draft of the screenplay was dated July 22, 2009. Not counting the time it took for the actual writing of that version (which, if I recall, took about 20 days), that means that we’ve officially been working on this film for an entire year!

As long as it’s taking, I’m still very happy with the amount of progress we’ve been able to make in what little spare time we can devote to it.

Next up: findraising!

Enjoy!

Still, I feel as though this is the best writing that I’ve done — largely through input from our director, Jon Stout, and my wife, Sarah, who have read and helped shape just about every word on the page. Every time I work on it, I try to cut what I can, but always end up adding a little more than I take out. I’m happy to report that the script, as it is today, is  95% locked down and tightly written. And, most importantly, it should appeal to people unfamiliar with Melonpool without offending all of you that have followed Melonpool’s webcomics canon along the way. Pretty much, once you get used to Mayberry’s new organic webshooters and Ralph’s high midichlorian count, everything will be fine.

With the script done, the storyboarding phase begins. As much as I’d like to say that we should be able to film “on the fly” like a regular live-action film, the use of puppets pretty much necessitates the use of storyboards for planning all of the different set ups. I’d hate to get ready to shoot a scene where Mayberry has to walk across the Bridge, only to realize that I never got around to cutting a hole in the floor or building him a set of legs.

Speaking of the Bridge, it’s almost ready to paint. Once painted, it’s just a matter of lighting and making some back-lit displays and it’ll be done! Then, I just have the Engine Room, Airlock, Galley and a half-dozen other sets to build… but that’s not as daunting as it sounds since a lot of the other sets are made up of sections and flats. The Bridge was the most difficult, so the other parts will be a piece of cake… I hope.

Last, but not least, Jalea’s head is almost done. She’s unlike any puppet I’ve ever built, so there’s been a lot of trial and error involved in her construction. I’ll post pictures of her sometime this week. Maybe I’ll even shoot a little test footage to show off some of the mechanisms in her face. Exciting!

Anyway, back to work!

In other news, I finished the prototype mechanics on Jalea Bates (yes, I suppose this is a spoiler of sorts — Jalea IS in the film — as a puppet). I’m really happy with the way she’s coming together and will post pictures as soon as she gets her skin. Right now, she looks like a wig form with a wire jaw… which is essentially what she’s made from!

The Bridge is coming along as well. We’re very close to painting and lighting it. Look for some more interesting camera tests than a lifeless Mayberry sitting in his Captain’s Chair in the very near future.

I’m still super excited about the progress. If only there were more hours in the day to devote to it!

When the movie gets closer to completion, I may get a new forum, but in the meantime, feel free to comment on the various blog posts. Provided that you’re not trying to enter me into a Russian lottery, you’re welcome to post there!

As far as I know, the old posts will not be archived, so if you feel like reminiscing — or proving how valuable a resource the old forum is — post now or forever hold your peace!

On May 15th, we had the first “table read for Melonpool: The Motion Picture and I’m more jazzed about this project than ever! We had a small audience and 95% of the cast in attendance, and I’m pleased to report that for the most part all the laughs were in the right places and most of the non-Melonpool fans could follow along.

One thing I came away with, however is that as the script has progressed, I keep fighting the same battle: make Mayberry less annoying (like Screech) and more lovable (like Gilligan). While he’s getting there, I’m sure he still has a way to go.

If you haven’t “Saved by the Bell,” count yourself lucky. There was a super dumb, super annoying character in the late ’80s played by Justin Diamond that — at leas in my mind — is the epitome of all that’s bad about this type of character. If you need a little evidence, check out the following clip:

They’re all like this, unfortunately.

Here’s a favorite episode of Gilligan’s Island — sorry it’s the whole episode, but I couldn’t find a clip:

In a way, I think this has been a major hurdle for Melonpool since it’s inception. It’s such a fine line between the two characters — and I’m sure there are plenty of people out there that would never classify Gilligan as more than “the guy that kept those poor people stranded on that island,” but there is section of the audience (myself included) that really root for the guy. I doubt there is a similar camp for Screech from “Saved by the Bell.”

That said, how do you make a character that’s essentially an idiot lovable without being annoying? I keep thinking of other characters like George McFly (from Back to the Future) or Jerry Lewis in a lot of the Martin and Lewis movies that seem to always get the audience on their side (for the most part, anyway).

I’ve made a lot about how I’ve been trying to keep the comic’s canon intact. For all intents and purposes, this film is not a reboot — sure some of the facts have been changed to make the story work on its own, but Ralph is still an egomaniac hothead and Sam is still the voice of reason, etc. And I believe that Mayberry has always been a sort of a Gilligan — at least in my mind.

I just have to make sure he doesn’t come off as Screech.