The Quantum Enigma short film is finally here. We have worked on this short film for months trying to smooth it all out. Now that it is complete, it's time to see it. We have entered this piece into a music challenge contest and we need your vote!

CAST YOUR VOTE HERE!

Quantum Enigma Musicbed Challenge from Black Fly Productions on Vimeo.

Our previous short film won numerous awards and we're working hard to do the same with this one. The live-action short film was originally created to promote the new Graphic Novel Quantum Enigma.

The Quantum Enigma graphic novel will be released later this year.

LEARN MORE ABOUT THIS PROJECT HERE

Quantum Enigma Mothership is ready to fly.

After many long months of model building and lighting tests, she's finally ready to set sail.

A few close ups of some of the detail.

This is the zone lighting controls that were created to get the right lighting in different parts of the ship for different shots.

Here are some more details for this studio sized kit bashed model.

You can see there are lots of different types of weathering on this model.

This ship looks like it's been around a while.

This shot is of the scratch built mothership model created from a series of concept design sketches.

The model will be used to film various sequences in space and with the shuttle flying out of the landing bay.

Here is a close up of the model which is still a work in progress.

Testing scale with miniatures and then getting the wiring correct for all led lights and fiber optic cable.

Here's a shot of the space shuttle prop used in the Short film.

The full ship here. We will do an entire post with lots of close up images of this ship soon.

Three of the Quantum Enigma robots used in the short film and teaser trailer.

This is the animatronic Grifon 1 robot used for space exploration in Quantum Enigma.

Here are a couple of shots with some of the lighting activated.

This robot has 4 remote controls and usually requires 2 people to animate it. Grifon and the other bots are created from a range of found objects, kitbashed parts, electronics, 3d printed parts, sheet metal and foam. All hand painted to have an aged, weathered look for the film.

These are images of the animatronic robot prop GRIFON 1 rover from the work bench of the artist.

We will have a full write up on this rover complete with build log and video in the coming months prior to release of the film.

Here's a full shot of the robot being prepped for a scene.

A little better angle while changing batteries.

A shot of the Astronaut suit and G.R.I.F.O.N. 1 on the green screen set.

Above is a life size android hand and blaster prop used in the Quantum Enigma live action trailer and short film. Linder is also a sculptor and has done several props and effects for TV and film. This exciting piece already tells a story without any caption needed.

These two close-ups really show the detail of this prop. This is the Alien blaster used in the film.

Here's another close up of the same blaster.

Above are images of the prop build for the astronaut helmet used in the film. Below are more detailed images of the finished prop.

Lots of details and added lighting.

Final helmet all lit up with fan installed for night time shots.

Another daylight close up.

Below are some of the creatures that will be seen in the film.

There will be numerous static creatures as well as some animatronic ones.

This guy is one of the animatronic puppet creatures that waddles along in the film.

One of the rough character sketches for this one.

Check back for updates.

We know updates for Quantum Enigma have been slow. It takes a lot of work to create not only a Comic Book but a Live Action Trailer, Short Film, NFT art and much more for the comic book, so we do as much as possible. 

Good news! We are getting closer to the release of this book. You only have to wait until the end of this year for the release of Quantum Enigma in print and digital. 

We are keeping updates on our progress in a few places while you wait patiently. In between updates, we will continue to post stories from around the globe about science, space and science fiction as it pertains to our own project here.

Areas that have been updated:

Storyboards: Here we will continue to bring storyboard thumbnails sketches and changes for the live action trailer.

Concept Art: A lot of interesting art leading up to the finished ideas. Multiple changes are made frequently to work out problems and detail of the props and effects that we are trying to create. We will continue to drop new art here all the time.

Props, Animatronics and Practical Effects: This is the good stuff that takes so long to make. After we sketch it all down, it is s trial and error process using various materials to create a practical effect and prop. We'll try to update this area as much as possible.

Behind the Scenes: This is some behind the scenes shots from production of the trailer and more.

Film Festivals: During this process we are submitting our teaser and soon to be trailer to various film festivals which are responding very well to our work.

If you've waited this long, it will be worth it. Check back in for more details soon.

We've been pushing the teaser for Quantum Enigma to film festivals all winter long and it's starting to bear fruit. This is our 5th selection and we are stoked that we have been chosen as a finalist! 

Check out the official movie poster above and if you haven't seen the teaser yet check it out below!

Quantum Enigma Teaser

We have a new trailer coming soon.

Step 1, the idea:

I have decided to re-post this series after many emails from the last one I did.

I started this site many years ago to document my experimental path to making a graphic novel. I have deviated on occasion from the real purpose here, but lately I've been getting back to the mechanics and art of visual storytelling.

This is a multi-part series on how to make a graphic novel based on my own experience. There is always more than one way to do things so keep in mind that if you've done it a different way and you’re reading this now, congratulations! Keep going in the direction you're going and we will both get there together. There is no wrong way of doing things, only a different way.

Sometimes I outgrow my tiny studio and overflow into the dining room.

The professional comic book industry does things a certain way which I will mostly adhere to. However, there are several things that I do differently to achieve the same or similar results. In the end, my book is as professional as anything on the market is today.

Prisoner of the Mind prototype. I have gone through over 100 revisions and counting. It takes a while to get it right. We'll get into more on that later.

The difference is, that I employ time-saving devices to streamline my process. Remember it is only you, not a company full of writers, pencilers, inkers, letterers, graphic designers, and editors. You can see that you will wear many hats in the graphic novel making process.

I like to see things visually, so wall placement is part of my process of elimination.

Throughout this series, I will give you many links and resources to help you. I suggest you read my entire post first, then go back and click on the links for more information. If you click on the links as you go, you might get lost on the way to the light at the end of the tunnel because the tunnel is long.

Ok let's get to work, so, you want to make a graphic novel or comic book. You are creative, artistic and a decent storyteller. That’s good, you’ll need all of your skills to pull it off. First of all, don’t think about anything format related yet, like the number of pages, size of the book or any of that. We will have plenty of time to get into the technical details later. The first and most important step is a good story idea.

 Some of my early character sketches for Prisoner of the Mind

If you have a good imagination, you probably already have several ideas bouncing around in your head. Before you proceed, you need to figure out which one is the strongest. I will approach this in two parts.

1. You have too many ideas and don’t know which one to develop.
2. You have no idea what to write.

I have a solution to both problems, let’s tackle number one first.

You have too many ideas. Let’s say you have five different ideas. Take all of the ones you have and compare them to what’s been done already.

If I really need some inspiration I go back through my sketchbook and pluck out one character then develop it further until I have something interesting.

Example; If you have a story about an average character that develops some type of superpower, check out what’s gone before. Chances are you’re not reinventing the wheel here. Spiderman, Daredevil, Hulk… You will most likely find it hard to beat those stories without copying them in some way. 

If it’s already been done, cross it off your list. Unless, it really, really, really stands out in some unique way that perceptive comic readers will say hmm. Ok, now after you are down to say three final ideas figure out which one makes the most sense and which is the strongest. Here is what I do to figure this out.

Creating the best idea: Come up with a working title for only three ideas and then write one or two sentences to describe what the story is about.

These are mine:

1. Prisoner of the mind is a neo-noir thriller set in the near future of New York, the Unforgiving City. An agent accidentally uncovers a seventy-year-old secret, which opens a door that cannot be closed.

1. Vault of Heaven: The vault of heaven opens once every millennium. A burning star falls to the earth and new life is born.

1. Ghost Circus: Do you believe in magic, werewolves, or the supernatural? If you came face to face with your disbelief, would you die from fear? Throughout history, one ringmaster has taken his mysterious circus of freaks to one lucky town somewhere in the world. Children watch and believe, without fear when they are young, but when they grow up everything changes and fear creeps in. No matter how old you are, it’s not too late to believe, is it too late for you?

Here is some additional info on writing a story synopsis:

Now that you have three ideas, think about what your main character will look like. Start sketching. Many times, you’ll make two or three sketches right off the bat, and know that this story isn’t your strongest. Great! Save that one for later. Focus on the one that rises to the top of your list. It is all about process of elimination. Once you have it down to one story, then you need to write.

Here is a stack of P.O.M. scripts that I have collected for each revision over the years. Eventually, they will probably be recycled.

In my case, I chose Prisoner of the Mind because I already wrote the first treatment many, many years ago and I always wanted to draw a spy noir thriller so I had a jumping off point. Second, there are too many crappy stories about aliens and ghosts floating around out there anyway. You can only choose one because you are going to be working on it for a long time. Keep the other stories in a file somewhere and when you finish your first one, revisit the others down the road. Write them in a word document, don’t write them directly into your blog. Why, because the web is notoriously unstable and you would hate to lose everything because a server went down somewhere and wasn't backed up. I also print out all of my stories just in case that happens.

Back to problem number two. You have no idea what to write your story about. OK, start by breaking it down.

The Ancients was a story about discovering an old civilization that I started to develop in the 90's.

Is it a story about superheroes, on the other hand, non-superheroes? Is it set in the past, present or future? What era do you want to re-imagine? WWII, Neanderthal, a distant alien planet orbiting a double star? Remember, it’s all about the process of elimination.

Once you have an era or an idea, expand on it. With my stories, I like to include historical facts that are somewhat re-imagined for today. Think Forest Gump or Captain America, both stories had some historical foundation that really grounded the viewer/reader in facts, and then twisted them into fiction.

I am personally a huge fan of Science Fiction, so all of my stories tend to have a bit of that in them. If you’re still hurting for ideas try reading these, and play a little game called.

WHAT IF?

Be creative, what if this didn’t happen, or what if someone else got there first, or what if history got it wrong?

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_science
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_technology
3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_physics
4. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_United_States_inventions_(before_1890)
5. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spacefaring

From this list, you should be able to generate some cool ideas.

Still don’t have any solid ideas? Try this: Writing techniques using the snowflake method: 

Once you have one idea write it down and keep going until you have three. Go back to step one above. You want to start with three ideas then pluck out the strongest to develop your story.

Part 2 Write it down. Coming soon...