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The Other House

Chris — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 19:11:55 +0000

I am proud to announce the launch of The Other House–My new creative production and post production company! Chrisroth.net will remain the home of my paintings, stained glass windows, and older work, whereas theotherhouse.com will showcase the newer commercial projects I am working on:)

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Traffic Doodles

Chris — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 05:22:41 +0000

In a follow up to Jury Doodles, I offer you the results of 8 long hours of traffic school on Saturday morning… (or rather the 4 after my iphone died…)

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No Mercy

Chris — Tue, 14 Dec 2010 05:15:30 +0000

Once again I collaborated with my brother Steve Roth to create a dynamic 30 second trailer for the latest installment of the Dark Hunter book series by Sherrilyn Kenyon. With the help of costume/styling goddess Amber Votel, we set out to bring the dark underworld of werebears, demon hunters, and Daimon-slayers to life.

PLAY VIDEO

"Stryker" holding it down.

After receiving final approval on our script, we began casting our talent. Over the course of two audition days, we saw over 60 individuals finally settling on the seven who would appear in the final 30 second spot (not counting extra demons).

In a similar process to The League, our entire production took place on a green screen sound stage in downtown LA over three days.
A great deal of attention was put towards the lighting, which can make or break the final outcome when other elements and backgrounds
are added to the scenes in post.

[above] an example of the many layers and elements that can go into each shot, this one had over 40.

The story takes place at the infamous “Sanctuary” -a fictional bar in New Orleans where all of the super human individuals tend to hang out. Starting with a picture provided by the author (below), I was able to achieve our opening shot by working some “day for night” magic, and adding other elements, such as sky, street, lights and fog to the scene.

A little elbow grease...

For the shot of Dev in front of the bar, we opted to use a practical set piece. This was necessary in order to capture the headlights from the motorcycle accurately as they played across Dev and the entrance to the bar behind him. The signage and bar interior were added in post.

Dev hates demons.

For a scene in which Chi, Samia, and Nick are cornered by a gaggle of approaching Daimons, we broke the shot up- shooting the heroes separately from the bad guys. In post, they were put together and combined with various photos and textures which were lit virtually.

A screenshot of a typical day in the world of Adobe After Effects.

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Jury Doodles

Chris — Tue, 02 Nov 2010 20:29:07 +0000

I just finished serving jury duty at the Van Nuys Superior Court. My case involved a man who was suing a stripper and strip club for a “fractured penis” injury he received while getting a nude lap dance. The stripper was from Sweden. The strip club owner was a retired porn star. There were many experts. Needless to say, this case was kind of awesome. As a member of the jury, I was given a pad and pen for note taking. The case lasted 7 days. Below are my diligent notes.

UPDATE: Footnotes!!


1) Judge Kaddo was fantastic, witty and charming. 2) Brad Barnes aka. Brick Majors single handedly designed and built Xposed, a true visionary. 3) The defendant. His penis was crushed when the “intoxicated” stripper fell on him. 4) Under him is Brick’s lawyer. Scheming.

5) Stripper’s lawyer. Made a strong case for “hard grinding.” 6) Random audience guy. 7) The stripper, who was from Sweden despite my making her look asian. 8 ) The plaintiff’s lawyer. A big fan of the phrases “On the night in question…” and “with respect to…” 9) Juror #11. Thanks to my diligent notes I was able to deduce that he got a haircut shortly after this sketch was completed. 10) The Stenographer. Unrelenting. Warrior.

11) A bit of a digression into holiday card designs. 12) Starting to lose it a bit…

13) There are a LOT of massage parlors in Van Nuys. 14) Stripper’s lawyer making a case for “hard grinding.” 15) Imaginary guy. 16) The E.R. doctor that stitched the laceration in the plaintiff’s penis. “A straight forward zipper injury.” 14 stitches. -what? 17) A reenactment of the plaintiff being transported from ambulance to hospital while a more substantially wounded patient is being flown in via helicopter.

18) Timeline. 19) A worm and hook. 20) The eagle of justice. 21) Gun. 22) Plaintiff’s urologist #1- Explained the difference between a penis “laceration” and a penis “fracture.” 23) Photographic Evidence. 24) The Capitol Building. 25) Covered Wagon, the only way to travel during the gold rush. 26) Stripper’s Lawyer #2. He filled in a couple times when the other one was off being a lawyer elsewhere. 27) A somewhat classy ride. 28) Grain storage and transport.

29) Skull. 30) Evil Taxidermy. 31) Assorted faces. 32) cat w spider. 33) Halloween! 34) Lots of spiders in Topanga right now.

35) Urologist for the defense. According to his tests, the plaintiff had “wonderful erections… superman erections” 36) his upcoming book “Penis Power.” 37) Xposed lawyer explaining the difference between an “employee” and a “private contractor.” 38) Tent. There was a farmer’s market outside. 39) Do any young children yearn to grow up and become lawyers? 40) Dune buggy. 41) Olive branch.

42) Plaintiff friend #1 – he agreed, “she seemed intoxicated.” 43) Lunch was approaching. 44) Suspicious looking audience member. 45) Psychologist- “He lost his sense of manhood.” 46) Farmer.

47) Owl? with mouse trap. 48) Clock. 49) “Guy who was there” can’t quite corroborate stripper’s intoxication. 50) Updated covered wagon. 51) Snare drum. 52) Street corner. 53) Succulents. 54) Urologist #2 for the plaintiff. “Penis fracture, urine leakage, premature ejaculation.” 55) Classroom collapsing into oblivion.

56) R.C. remote. 57) Hot air balloon. 58) Creature of the deep. 59) Chair. 60) Gopher 61) Gopher killing methods: The smoke bombs don’t work that well but are the most fun. Many online sources say the cat is the ultimate weapon. 62) A house with a well that leads to an underground river and secret “man pad.” 63) Bouncer and security guard.

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Lost Souls

Chris — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 18:57:24 +0000

This latest commercial is for the new book from Dean Koontz’s Frankenstein series: “Lost Souls.” It was created from a mash up of different photo elements: Clouds, trees, and pictures of a random cabin for sale. Rain, water drops, and lightning were created digitally. Voiceover by “Zeus” The Voice.

Direct link: http://www.chrisroth.net/animation/lost_souls.mov

FRAMES:

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The Pallbearers

Chris — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 00:57:21 +0000

I had the esteemed pleasure of writing and directing a commercial for none other than Stephen J. Cannell, creator of The A-Team and 21 Jump street (among many other things). The commercial is promoting his newest novel: The Pallbearers, the latest installment of his Shane Skully book series.

All of the footage is original material shot on location in Los Angeles by my brother Steve Roth.

Direct link: http://www.chrisroth.net/animation/pallbear.mov

FRAMES:

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2010 REEL

Chris — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 03:37:34 +0000

Direct link: http://www.chrisroth.net/animation/chrisroth2010.mov

Music by:
Alert & Animal Collective

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The League

Chris — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 19:33:49 +0000

The League • Born of Night • Born of Fire • Born of Ice
(click to watch)

I recently had the super fun opportunity to produce and direct three dynamic commercials for the new League book series by #1
bestselling author Sherrilyn Kenyon. The books are set in a distant universe and feature a colorful assortment of deadly space
assassins and hot chicks… aka good books AND a perfect occasion for some awesome imagery and special effects!

Each commercial promotes a different book from the series and will air daily on the Syfy channel from Oct-Dec 2009. The casting and research began in early September and shortly thereafter the production commenced in Los Angeles in the form of a two part, three day shoot on a green screen sound stage. Post production took about a week per commercial. All the costume and styling was put together by Amber Votel and the lighting and Canon 5D camera work executed by none other than my super rad bro and kick ass cinematographer Steve Roth.

Once the scripts were finalized, all the spots were first carefully planned out via storyboards. Storyboards are especially important when planning a shoot involving so much green screen action and post production work. A great deal of pre planning is necessary for just about every shot. Many things such as improper lighting and camera angles can seriously hamper post production efforts later down the line. So once the boards look good, I give them a “test run” in the form of an animatic. This is basically a rough cut of the boards to an early audio track + voice over. Here it will be discovered if all the action can actually fit into the given time frame, in this case- 15 short seconds per commercial.

To create the highly detailed Sci-Fi surroundings in the commercials, many different elements were digitally “collaged” together in post. This typically would consist of a great deal of high resolution photos as wells as various stock videos of moving elements such as smoke and fire. Also, many subtle details such as sparks, embers, weather, and breath were created with particle effects and simulations. Motion tracking software was used when working with moving shots and for things like iris replacement and/or enhancement.

Below is a breakdown of the many different pieces that come together to make one shot. With a little cutting out, and a whole bunch of color correction… pretty much anything is game. The final “kidnapping” sequence utilized over 70 different layers in its composition.

Next is a fun little motion test I made early on for fun. It gives a good demonstration of background keying in action!

Some assorted production stills:

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Urgent Content

Chris — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 16:28:59 +0000

Urgent Content

This is a one minute intro animation for my friends at Urgent Content. The voice over was recorded by another good friend Carl Bishop. The rough animatic can be viewed below too!

Direct link: http://www.chrisroth.net/animation/urgent.mov

The Animatic:

Direct link: http://www.chrisroth.net/animation/urgentmatic.mov

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Evil At Heart

Chris — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 17:22:29 +0000

The fourth installment of a series of trailers I’ve created for Chelsea Cain’s “Sweetheart” book series. The new book Evil At Heart is available in stores now.

This piece used bits and pieces from the 3 previous book trailers, as well as some new materials.

Direct link: http://www.chrisroth.net/animation/sweetheart4.mov

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