On-Screen Animation for 'Muppets from Space'

In the winter of 1998, I was fortunate enough to land the screen graphics supervisor role on the Sony / Columbia Pictures film, Muppets from Space. It was an awful lot of fun to work on. Even just hanging around was a blast. The art direction was highly stylized and there was a fairly tight range that I was allowed to work within. While this was challenging, it was very rewarding to work on a film that I had so much involvement in. All in all, there were about 15 unique screen animations that were created for the film. Below, you'll find some screens and video clips from them.

Screenshots | Video Clips | Photos From the Set

Screenshots
Although most of these screens occupied scenes in the film that were eventually cut to keep the film short enough for kids, they're still fun to look at. If I can get my hands on a copy of the director's cut, I'll see if I can upload some short clips.
Wind Tunnel Gonzo's pal, "Rizzo the Rat," is run through a series of 'medical test' gags. These are screens from the control panels during the 'Rodent Aerodynamics Test / Wind Tunnel' scene.	As the scene progressed, Rizzo's digital proxy stretched and screamed, matching the muppet's real expression.	'Rodentrifuge' The control panel for a hillarious take on a classic scene from the Bond film 'Moonraker'.
'COVNET' Video Wall The villain in MFS, K. Edgar Singer (Jeffrey Tambor) - played the leader of this X-Files takeoff called 'COVNET.' In this scene, a video wall in his office displays this world map,	which he directs to plot points leading to the location of the suspected alien, Gonzo. Pretty silly stuff, but the video wall looked cool. This actually made it into the film.	Impulse Control This was the control screen for a gag where the rat was supposedly being taught to pick the food over the poison, but in the movie, he was beat over the head for either choice. Funny?
More Background Graphics This is one of the many prop screens that was used in the COVNET laboratory set. Film Industry folks sometimes refer to this stuff as 'wallpaper.'	Security Camera Array One of 3 screens from a security camera control panel featured on the COVNET set.	Maze Run In one of the funnier scenes of the film, Rizzo and his fellow 'lab rats' run around in a maze to the 70's hit "Survival" by the O'Jays. Stepping on the wrong floortiles results in slapstick explosions, pratfalls and much consternation.

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Video Clips
Zoom in to see various shots from the construction of the centrifuge set. The 'Rodentrifuge' The centrifuge gag was a lot of fun - there was this necessary synergy between the physical prop we'd constructed and the control screen which needed a digital proxy for the control panels. In the photo to the right, when you zoom in, you can see various shots of the real thing, along with the model I created in Strata Studio Pro. Below are some Quicktime video clips (Quicktime Plug-in required) of the modeling, shading and animation process.

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Photos From The Set
A bank of computers from the lab rat scene.	This is one of the many prop screens that was used in the COVNET laboratory set.	A control screen built so that the actor could decide which animations to cue.
Another angle on the computer bank from the lab rat scene.	This is a GREAT shot of Brian Henson (Jim's heir and President of Henson Studios) as Dr. Van Neuter. He is preparing Gonzo for the Brain Suction procedure (see screen in background.)

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