Talking (Pumpkin) Heads

 

This amazing creation (which was designed for Scooby-Doo 2) is animatronic, not CGI. It was made at WCT Productions under Bill Terezakis. Vince Akira Yoshida and Jim Gawley were responsible for the mechanics and the sculpt was done by Jamie Salmon.

Yoshida (who has done SFX work for Lake Placid, Freddy vs Jason, and many other films) comments that there were 11 movements altogether: “1 for the jaw, 2 for the upper lips, 2 for the bottom lips, 2 for the smiles, and 4 for the brows.” Though you can’t tell in the test (“because I used the brow to make it look like it was blinking”), the Head has a lot more expression than is revealed here.

Yoshida also programmed the gilderfluke system to lipsync the monologue from Pulp Fiction.

He says that this character was cut from Scooby-Doo 2 at the last minute. “This lipsync with the Pulp Fiction line was just a test to see if I could do it,” Yoshida said. “The actual dialogue for Scooby2 was not recorded at the time of my testing”.

    • Source: Todd Tennant
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      3 Responses to Talking (Pumpkin) Heads

      1. Todd says:

        Yeah, Vinnie has “a tough job, but someone has to do it”.
        Hmmmm…. maybe I should move to Vancouver, “eh”?;0)

        btw: Vinnie also added this:

        “On my off times, I’ve been playing around with After Effects and 3dsmax, I’m improving, but I’m not there yet, but I think I can now do the King Komodo trailer with the footage that Dan shot. I was always afraid it would have looked very amaturish so I wanted to hone in on learning all I can about the programs I was using. Now, all I need is a good model of King Komodo, that’s still a bit tough for me, not familiar with the modeling program, but I am learning and I think I can make something pretty cool. Here’s an example of what I can do now with the programs, it’s kind of blurry… youtube… oh well.”
        http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-F8C9XojXyU

        Here is a quickee-pencil story-board I did for this project:
        http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=trAt1t3hs2U

        Todd

      2. Backbrain says:

        That is very cool, Todd. It’s surprising how effective a few drawings, some “camera” movement and dramatic music can be!

      3. Todd says:

        Thanks! Who knows; this King Komodo trailer just might just get made yet.
        BTW: Is there anyone out there skilled in 3D modeling and animation who would like to join our team and help us out with creating a 3D KK model?

        Stay tuned…..

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