We've crossed a few milestones recently, and have some more coming up!

About 2 weeks ago we finished tracking and layout on 99% of the show. There are a few very specific shots left that have interesting demands, but essentially all of our ~120 shots have had their camera tracked, laid out in 3D sets with Conrad and image planes for Laura, and slap-comps to marry it together.

That means, after ~14 months of part-time work since the bulk of the VFX on the actual show started, we are at a stage where every shot is represented and the road to a final film is one of iteration. We have a pipeline buildout stage coming up before we're churning through final shots, but it is very close, and we're very excited to be where we are!

The animation team will be delivering their experiments on their first scene in the next few days, and then we'll unleash them upon the rest of the show. We are working through the typical VFX/post-production pipeline in a very non-linear manner, so having final animation means we can (1) do 95% of the sound work long before the film is otherwise done, and (2) have a final to-do list for our assets.

It has been slow going, but we've been picking up steam the whole time, and a film is finally in sight!

~ Mike, Matt, and the SitG team

Hello dear Friends, Family and Supporters of Shadows in the Grass,

We’re trying to keep the spam low and the excitement high, so here is another update to keep us on your radar! We’ve been hard at work and have been making tangible progress that we’re excited to share with you!

Despite the massive endeavor of moving their offices across the city, the visual effects company we partnered with last year continues to impress us with their enthusiasm for the project. With their help, we have now modeled ALL of our interior assets and Conrad’s design has been finalized, his modelling refined, and his body rigged for animation. Check out the videos below if you want to see a small sample of our modeled assets!

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TL;DR: We are making progress, slowly but surely marching towards a finished film.

Our apologies for the radio silence since the campaign. While our IndieGoGo campaign was quite successful, 60% funding isn't quite letting us work on the film as smoothly and quickly as we had hoped. Matt and I have been doing other (paid) work in order to add to the budget ourselves, there has been time put into grant applications, and we've been meeting with a number of freelance artists and vendors to get the film made within our means and non-linear pipeline.

We are happy to say that it is working out quite well, despite not being able to meet the projected schedule!

At this point we have rough versions of all of the environments, and rough layouts of the entire film. We're working on near-final layouts (e.g. camera tracking and placement within the environments relative to the characters) so that we can make final calls on the environments and move forward in the pipeline.

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We were nervous before the campaign started that it would flop, and we wouldn't be able to finish the film. While we didn't hit 100% of our ideal goal, we certainly have the means to finish! We will need to be a bit crafty about it though.

I think Matt and I both have some other work we've been neglecting during the campaign, so now that the pressure is lower I need to refocus for a bit. I'll get back to you in the near future with our thoughts on the timelines for the film, the timeline for perks (some of which need us to finish the film first, and some do not), and what we need from you for the various "colony" perks.

My biggest thanks to the 275 generous people who are helping this film happen!

~ Mike

There is less than a day left in our campaign; it has certainly been a roller-coaster!

We're sitting at ~60% with ~$21k. We do have a "flexible" goal, so we will get that amount at the end even if we don't hit 100%. Which is amazing, because thanks to your generous support we are certainly past the threshold of being able to make the film reasonably(-ish). We will be able to hire artists to fill whatever skill voids we have, we can pay for render-time, and cover some other small supplies.

It might be a bit of a long-haul because Matt and I will still need to do so much of the labor. We might miss the estimated delivery dates because of it, but we will most certainly make this film. We are focused on it, and are so passionate that we simply must make it!

The campaign tagline is "A visually stunning, emotionally engaging short film about space travel, A.I. & human evolution.", and I promise you that the film is certainly that. Even being so close to it, my spine still chills at certain parts. We've seen friends tear up watching the current cut.

When we finished Blind Spot, I thought it was okay, but it took me years to distance from it to be able to really appreciate it. Not so with Shadows in the Grass. The science (of evolutionary psychology, AI, and space-travel) is not only accurate (or at least plausible), but also really compelling. The characters, and the dynamic between them, are really wonderful and subtle. You really empathize with them after only 9 minutes.

We're going to make this short. It is going to spark a ton of great conversations. I'm going to love the final product, and I think you will too.

So on our last day, please support a handful of indie filmmakers in following their passion, and try to share this campaign one last time. You can participate in our referral contest; you could easily take the lead by convincing someone to pick up one of the sale perks, or into the top-10 with a digital download. We also just made a "secret perk" for our Mission Patch for only $5 for you to share!

Thank you all so much for your support! We would not have been able to get this far (and be able to make this film) without you!!

Wish us luck on this last day.

~ Mike