The Lucasfilm/ESPN Commercial

The commercial we shot for Lucasfilm and ESPN back on August 17, 2011 is now airing, so I can finally share more details about it. First, here is the commercial on YouTube:



As you can see, R2 has a very small roll in the ad, but I couldn't really say much about the other characters until now. The real stars are the ESPN crew and Vader.

Storyboards on the set gave us an idea of how the ad would flow.



501st members Dean Amstutz and Michael Bender served as the stormtroopers, and Christi Ladnier was our Boba Fett. Lucasfilm provided the Vader, Chewbacca and Admiral Akbar characters. ESPN hosts Mark Schlereth and Tedy Bruschi rounded out the cast.





Lucasfilm's archivist accompanied the Lucasfilm costumes for the shoot.




The commercial was shot with two cameras, and many, many takes were done from different angles, with different characters on the set at any given time.

The audio for Vader and the stormtroopers was piped in via speakers on the set, so the characters kind of pantomimed their rolls (although "Can't wait" was missing, so Vader spoke the line through his helmet on the set, and the final audio was added later).

One of the particularly interesting things to me was that even though we were on a green screen set, they used a system that was able to composite an animatic background in real-time as they shot, so the director could get a good idea of what the finished shot would look like. I was able to get a picture of the computer system that modeled the finished design. Neat stuff.




Most of the morning was spent shooting Vader and the stormtroopers with poor Mark Schlereth, who must have done that choking at least 50 times during the day. Because of the somewhat crowded set and the fact that I couldn't use the camera flash, I wasn't really able to get anything other than blurry pictures of the monitors.



After the lunch break, there was more shooting with the troopers and Boba Fett, along with some of the others. I was able to move in a little closer.




I'm sorry, but it's the law, I have to say it: "It's a trap!"




Finally, at the end of the day, R2 was called to the set for his shots. First, we set up the profile shot, and then the over-the-shoulder shot, which open the commercial. This was easy stuff. No driving around trying to hit my marks. Just turn the dome and stop at the right spot.






We also did the head-on shot of R2 flailing his arms and turning his head, while playing the scream sound. Since I only had two hands to work with, I worked the transmitter with the director, as he opened and closed one of the arms, while I handled the other arm, the dome, and the sound.

With R2's final shot complete, they called it a wrap and started striking the set.



The crew and others got the usual photos with R2.





It was another fun an interesting shoot, and I appreciate having had the opportunity to participate.

The full photoset is here.

Clone Wars Season 4 Premiere Benefit Screening

Today was R2's 100th event, a benefit for the Boys and Girls Clubs of Southern California at the Aquarium of the Pacific, in Long Beach, CA.



The event was a special screening of the first two episodes of season 4 of The Clone Wars. There were probably at least 100 kids from the Boys and Girls Clubs in attendance. They all got goodie bags, light sabers, and other prizes, in addition to being able to see the season premiere early. This was courtesy of Lucasfilm and Cartoon Network, both of whom had representatives on hand. Cartoon Network and G4 TV had camera crews as well.

The characters greeted the kids and other visitors throughout the day.






We also had the Jedi Training Academy going.




Around lunch time, we entered the VIP area to join members of the voice cast, along with director Dave Filoni and others. Everyone was super-nice. I've always found that to be the case with the Clone Wars group.

Ahmed Best, everyone's favorite Gungan.



Cat Taber, the voice of Padme in the series.



Director Dave Filoni. Later, he chatted a good 30 minutes in the changing room with us about the show, especially the clone uniforms, easter eggs and other fun trivia.



Former Angels shortstop David Eckstein is the husband of Ashley Eckstein, the voice of Ahsoka. Remembering the good times with the Angels.




Daniel Logan also stopped by to say hi for a moment.



Matthew Wood, who supplies the voice of General Grievous and the battle droids, and is a very accomplished sound editor, kindly signed R2's back door, and checked out the insides of the droid afterward.




Lest I give the impression that I was getting undue attention, I was mainly lucky, and pretty much all the guys got to talk to the Clone Wars crew, and do some TV as well.





After the VIP session, we went back to entertaining the crowd.





It was a fun day.

The full photoset is here.

Installed Rear Power Coupler, Finished Droid #2

Today I installed the rear power coupler, thus finishing droid #2.

First, I lifted the droid onto a couple of chairs, to get the frame parallel to the ground.



I cut the fuzzy side of some Velcro to size, and stuck it on the back of the power coupler.



The other side of the Velcro gets attached to a wooden block.



I applied some wood glue to the block, and glued it down onto the bottom of the frame.




I then attached the back door with the power coupler in place, and made very slight adjustments to the location of the wooden block, so that it holds the power coupler in perfectly.




And with that, droid #2 is done.



Poor droid #2. He didn't get any of the fanfare that droid #1 got. For one thing, droid #2 is not yet remote-controlled. I'm going to leave him static for the moment. At some point I'm sure I'll R/C him, but I don't need to for now. He does have the dome and sound automation circuit installed and working, so he's not completely moribund.

So, what's next? Well, no more droids(!). I do have a couple of projects for the two I already have, though.

First, I have an A&A R5 dome that I want to build, so that I can change R2-D2's personality to R5-D4, along with some red overlay panels. Second, there are some improvements on droid #2 that I'd like to apply to droid #1, such as the electronics panel, and I want to bring the shoulders a little closer to the body on droid #1, and apply the same aluminum flashing on the shoulders that droid #2 has.

So things will slow down here a little bit, but I have events on the calendar, and I can't stay away from building for too long. :)

Thanks for following along, it's been a fun ride, and it's not over yet.

-Victor

Wrangling for Matthew, Finished Installing Back Door

This morning I assisted Matthew Henricks, as he brought his droid (not mine) out to the Orange County, CA fundraiser kickoff at the local Boy Scouts of America office.



As the scouts and parents waited to view an instructional video, Matthew talked about and showed his droid to them.




A little later, he went upstairs for an incognito bird's-eye view, while I worked as droid security. "Be gentle..."




In the afternoon, I was able to finish up installation of the back door on droid #2.

I sanded smooth the area where I glued in a toothpick and some JB Weld last night, and then I temporarily installed the bracket.



I drilled through the hole in the door, and through the bracket.



I then removed the bracket, and took it to the vise, for tapping with my new #4-40 tap bit.



I installed the bracket one last time, and then countersunk the remaining three holes on the back door.




Door installation is complete!



All that remains is the installation ofl the rear power coupler, and then droid #2 will be done.