The creative team sent over some concept art for the of the crest of “The Order” aka.. the good guys in their new game.

We created the base of the shield out of Poly Dense Foam and hard coated it and gave it a very unique stylized paint job to follow allowing with the new world there creative team has worked so hard to create. If you get a chance to go to PAX east make sure to swing by booth 761 to check out all the fun stuff that is Orcs Must Die!.

You can read up on the details of the game, details about what to expect at PAX, and check out some behind the scenes pics of the creation of the shield booth bling we made on Robot Entertainments blog http://www.robotentertainment.com/blog/detail/Play-Orcs-Must-Die-PAX-East-Next-Week.

We sat down with Michael Chance, the writer/director of ‘Project Arbiter’ to discuss the movie and its potentially expansive future as a feature-length trilogy.

In late March of 2010, we were introduced to a teaser trailer for a short concept film entitled Project Arbiter. The teaser got us excited to learn more, so we spoke with writer/director Michael Chance about the project.

The 20-minute concept film is designed to pique interest in a proposed feature trilogy that includes trans-media integration — meaning video games, toys and novels. As the director of a number of short films and commercial projects, Chance is ready for the next level, talking on a potentially career-defining franchise. If a studio is as impressed as we are by the work he has done on Project Arbiter so far, expect big things in the future.

The short film is still a mystery to many, so we discussed it with Chance in detail over an hour-long phone call. All we really knew back in March was that the story twists the reality of World War II into a genre-bending action sci-fi movie. But Chance doesn’t want audiences to see this as an alternate reality like Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds — it falls closer to an untold story based firmly in reality, according to the director:

“It is NOT an alternative reality or new history. This IS very much rooted in historical events. I would consider it more like a Saving Private Ryan or a Band of Brothers in that we are following a group of people encountering key battles and individuals within the history of World War II.  I think what [Quentin] Tarantino did with Inglourious Basterds was awesome in that you just didn’t see that twist coming at the end. But at the same time I think our film strays away from that type of fantasy in that ours is very much rooted in reality. More so we’ve gone very deep into what is technologically possible and the amount of electrical hertz that can go through a body for example. Jesse Boots and our visual effects team are working hard with me to create a cloaking technology that is visually different from anything you’ve seen — this is just one way we are taking the WWII experience in a completely new and virtually unexplored territory on film. That type of open collaboration within our team is what has allowed us to continually expand the story and its presence.”

The cloaking technology he refers to is a major aspect of Project Arbiter. While it may look like a run-and-gun action movie, it actually focuses more on the stealthiness of a soldier who finds temporary invisibility with an unprecedented chemical and the situations that ability gets him into.

“In science fiction, there has been much emphasis on weaponry as in explosives, guns, and different kinds of battle armor. I thought what would be more interesting is if a soldier has the ability to go invisible and moreover put the emphasis on the difficulties that come with that responsibility. There are personal moral decisions with such a power and there are severe consequences when using raw chemical materials that have the capability to change you forever. You are basically an invisible person that could go into virtually any room undetected and do whatever you want. The possibilities are limitless and when put in the hands of a trained soldier, it’s a lethal combination.”

Project Arbiter is as much a character study as it is an action film, if not more. Chance is proud of the emphasis on character, stating that the main character of Joseph Colburn has a “darker turmoil inside that is personified by the way the suit looks.”  The engaging short film should have no problem finding a core audience, but the story always takes precedent to cool weaponry.

“The story follows Joseph Colburn [played by Lex Cassar] who is part of the O.S.S. and he is paired with his S.O.E. handler Tom Hardy [played by Jake Lyall]. At the beginning of the film they are on a mission to secure more information on a specific individual who created the German version of the suit. On this journey, they switch up the plan to potentially capture this target, which increases the risks and rewards. The Arbiter parachutes out of a prototype aircraft while they are hit by anti-aircraft flak fire from the location they are trying to infiltrate. Along the way, there is a series of battles and confrontations that the Arbiter encounters with specific individuals on the Nazi side of the story. We focused on creating a conflict that unfolds Joe through action, mystery, and personal growth.”

The future of Project Arbiter relies heavily on the reactions to the 20-minute concept short. While it has been designed as its own short film, it exists for the greater purpose of jump-starting a franchise. But as any independent filmmaker will tell you, getting the right attention is the hard part. Chance has made the rounds by attending 2010 San Diego Comic-Con, speaking with the press and simply getting the word out through social media. We noticed the work before filming even finished, so he must be doing something right.

But the big question is how Chance, producer Vicki de Mey, and the rest of the Project Arbiter team will push the film to the next level. Independent filmmaking is a tough market, but short films have been picked up in greater numbers lately and Chance sees his opportunity to pounce.

“What’s been interesting is having the comparison to District 9 or The Raven, which was recently picked up by Mark Wahlberg. It is a really exciting time for independent filmmakers to get their films seen. The biggest thing that Hollywood and the industry looks for is an immediate reaction to a concept. If you can solidify your concept within two minutes, and then gather enough steam to create a concept short that’s 20-minutes, you can show beyond the concept that the group of filmmakers that created it have the ability to follow through on a feature film.”

TRON: Legacy was pitched to Disney with a concept short in the same vein as Project Arbiter and that resulted in a mega-million investment. While Project Arbiter may not have a predetermined fan base like TRON, there is enough to get excited about in just the teaser trailer from last year.

Chance says they are at the halfway point in post-production, with nearly 50% of the 220 visual effects shots finished and an original score in the works by composer Ryan Leach. If you have any doubts about the visuals in the original teaser, rest assured only a half-year has passed since production wrapped and they are already enhancing it further. Below are the first stills to be released. Chance expressed how thrilled he is with the imagery and detail that cinematographer Jason Beckwith and colorist Tashi Trieu have created.

It will be interesting to see the finished product and follow the attempt to turn this into a bankable franchise.

Original concepts are difficult to come across these days in the movie business. While it is an appealing aspect of Project Arbiter, it will also be its biggest enemy. With a few strokes of genius marketing, like the unexpected Arbiter custom LEGO mini-figure created by Amazing Armory in Hong Kong, Arbiter has a chance to mimic Neill Blomkamp’s journey from Alive in Joburg to District 9. But Michael Chance will be the first to urge you to stray away from comparison and experience Project Arbiter as its own entity.

If you haven’t seen the teaser from last year, watch it one more time and share your thoughts with us on the short film.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Finally, check out the exclusive new Project Arbiter “CODE: Red” poster below, by concept artist Robert Simons (Click for a larger version):

You can visit the Project Arbiter website for more details and follow production updates on Twitter and Facebook.

Making a game accurate functional ODST ballistic rucksack backpack…
or…
Costume Prop making with hand-carved solid foam and vacuum forming.

It’s been a millennia since I’ve posted a build thread here. Please accept this with my gratitude.

I’ve long promised to make game accurate backpacks available for my ODST costume and others. The ODST ‘rucksack’ is such an iconic and integral part of the character design, however it is often overlooked by costumers. Due to the bulk of the part and the potential to design something that could function practically for carrying around gear and swag at conventions I have been taking my time and collecting ideas/requests for my build.

While there are a few good fan made 3-D files for the backpack available I felt obliged to fabricate my own model instead of using pepakura. Because of the wide planes and lines my opinion was that there was too great a risk for warping. Also I figured that if I would have to hone and straighten the edges of the backpack in bondo, I’d rather make something entirely from scratch..

Years ago I saved a block of high density urethane foam left over from an architectural restoration project. Frequently used for dimensional insulation and rapid prototyping in industry this dense, easy to carve material is becoming more available to artists as ‘carving foam’. The denser weights of foam can be rapidly shaped, cut, carved, sanded and hold fantastic detail. The resulting object can be sealed and molded or hard coated with resin and sanded.

I began by sketching a rough side profile of the core body of the rucksack onto tracing paper and transferring the outline to the foam. I rough cut the block leaving plenty of space for shaving down to my dimensions. Once the block was cut I used ‘Surform’ planers and shavers to square it up then sketched the front profile directly onto it, then planed and cut down to my profile. I repeated this process for the left and right side compartments that attach to the body of the backpack.

Now that I had rough geometric shapes to work with I made successive shaping passes over the backpack parts, first honing and beveling, then carving in the fine details of the design. I used a variety of tools to shape the surface: rasps, sandpaper files, planes. Through this process I frequently re-checked the symmetry using calipers and a bevel gauge. I fully detailed the main body before moving on to the side parts so that I wouldn’t have to keep re-adjusting their fit to each other. I removed the top and bottom panels of the backpack to prevent damage to their finished surfaces. As all these pieces would need to be formed separately, I bisected the main body of the backpack when all detailing was complete..

To prep the pieces for reproduction, I had a choice to make between hard-coating the foam forms, or molding the parts and casting them in a more durable material. If I were only making a single backpack, and it didn’t need to be hollow for functionality, or if the goal was to be a silicone mold, I could have just hard coated the foam. The hardening process could lose some detail that was carved, but it could be sanded and re-defined with more surfacing work. I wasn’t totally confident how the hard coated foam would stand up to vacuum forming, so I decided to mold and recast the backpack parts in a more durable material.

Since I only needed a single cast of each part, I opted to make simple plaster waste molds. I painted the forms with two coats of latex house paint to seal the porous foam, then lightly greased the surface with petroleum jelly to prevent the plaster from adhering to the paint. I hand applied the plaster to form the molds, building up a shell that was an inch or two thick. I embedded burlap into the mold for reinforcement. When the plaster was fully hardened, I flipped the molds over and carefully scraped and crumbled out the foam from inside the mold. Since the surface had such a good barrier coat between the foam and the plaster, the foam popped out fairly well once I cored out the undercut areas.

To cast into these plaster molds I again lightly greased the surface then brushed in successive coats of Bondo/Resin mixture and alternating layers of fiberglass matte. To reduce shrinkage I used the minimum amount of hardener in my batches. I built up the casting to about an even 3/4″ thickness then chipped away the plaster mold. I was left with a very durable duplicate of the foam backpack elements that could easily withstand the rigors of repeated vacuum forming. To prepare the parts for reproduction I smoothed out the models, fixed a few warps, then added MDF risers and structural attachments.

Part Two:

I individually vacuum formed the parts in .080 black HIPS thermoforming plastic. I then carefully trimmed the excess material from all the parting lines. I straightened out the cut seams with an emory board until all the parts neatly fit back together. I cut the opening for the top lid and hinged front hatch and assembled the main body of the backpack with pop rivets, and fastened the bottom together with the end cap. The side compartments of the backpack then were riveted to the structural risers. Once the main body and left and right compartments are together, the final ‘Compartment Rail’ cover parts are glued onto the side pieces with high temp hot glue (or epoxy).

To hinge the front and top lids of the backpack, I used A few strips of 3″ wide elastic that were hot glued to the inside lip of the openings. Once glued into place, these elastic hinges not only flex to allow the lids to open, but also snap back, automatically pulling the lids closed. I wasn’t expecting that feature, but it turned out to be very helpful! All the closure needed was a male tab on the top lid cut from scrap styrene and a little velcro and the lids were secure.

The last elements the backpack needed were some urethane cast handles and decorative pieces. I made these parts by fabricating them in metal and plastic and making silicone molds. The molded parts were cast in gray urethane, trimmed and fitted to the cut out holes in the side compartments of the backpack. I also made a cast faux closure buckle for the lid attachment tab just as a finishing touch. These cast parts would be glued in place 5 minute epoxy after being painted separately.

The paint application for the backpack was fairly standard for ODST gear. The entire backpack assembly was painted with a brushed nickel silver basecoat, then a paint resist was dry brushed on edges to simulate wear and abrasion, then the top coat of Duplicolor Gunmetal Gray Metallic was applied. The resist was removed after the topcoat dried, exposing the bare silver coat below. After painting the entire backpack with this process I airbrushed detail accents and grime in brown and black tones. The center body was painted a little brighter than the Gunmetal, and the round central button was painted nickel silver as per the in-game coloration.

With the paintjob complete, the backpack was strapped for attachment to the ODST shoulder pads, and EVA foam pads and the ODST buckles were attached over the left and right side compartments. I used black parachute buckles to hang the backpack from the shoulders of the costume, and a EVA foam receptacle glued to the backpack to cushion against the raised detail on the back of the ODST back plate. This foam piece secures the backpack from bouncing while moving around in the costume and reduces wear and noise from the parts rubbing together.

As is the backpack is pretty functional. however I might install an EVA foam liner and some sub-compartments to keep stuff from shifting around in the packs. I figure as a base model they’ll be pretty useful for carrying around batteries, cameras, tool kits, small prop weapons, and other convention swag.. The parachute buckle attachment is nice for easy access and removal. For my own personal costume I’m considering installing an amplified sound system for use with helmet mic’s, Ipods, etc. I’m also thinking about making some standard backpack straps that you can switch out so you can wear the backpack when you’re not in costume too.

 The original 3d model was built by Sloan Hood, the video editing was done by Adam Grumbo

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.