Julie Smoking Gunn @skyrunners - Tumblr Blog

Who else has watched that 2009 movie called Skyrunners it’s so good!

The two main brothers sometimes bicker but their relationship is so sweet and the older brother Nick is protective over his younger brother Tyler. They even have a really sweet reunion hug towards the end and Nick is shown to be so worried about him

#you get it

christopherwilde

Skyrunners (2009) + Letterboxd Reviews

#facts #we love to see the skyrunnerers going strong

disney-xd

Today in Disney XD History…

Skyrunners premiered on Disney XD (November 27, 2009)

#obviously must reblog here #it is a world no a galactic holiday

RANDI ALTMAN

ISSUE: NOVEMBER 1, 2009

VISUAL EFFECTS: HELPING DISNEY XD'S 'SKYRUNNERS' TAKE OFF

AUKLAND, NEW ZEALAND — While New Zealand might be known as home of visual effects giant Weta Digital, there is another large VFX entity in the country that keeps just as busy with film, commercial, television work and more. Auckland’s PRPVFX Ltd. (www.prpvfx. com), the second largest visual effects house in the country (yes, Weta is the largest), recently provided more than 300 shots for Disney XD channel’s made-for-TV movie, Skyrunners, which follows two brothers who find a friendly UFO while out on an evening drive. Of the 320 shots that PRPVFX supplied for this sci-fi feature, one-third were completely CG. The studio’s main shots on Skyrunners included the “dogfight” sequence, the “alien’s lair,” an alien morph, and a scene involving CG dodgeballs that will make any of us ever forced to play this violent gym game shudder. Weta Workshop, in Wellington, was hired for the alien creature design and provided the practical alien creature effects. In the dodgeball scene, our hero Tyler is being tormented by bullies in gym class who don’t realize that a UFO ride in space has left him with super-human strength and abilities. As they whip dodgeballs at him, he is able to slow everything down, making evasive moves with cat-like agility. “This sequence was quite involved,” explains VFX supervisor Carol Petrie, adding that PRPVFX created 3D simulations, via Autodesk 3DS Max, of all the dodgeballs. “Footage from the Phantom camera was used, so everything was slow motion. Our sims with CG dodgeballs had to match that slo-mo footage. The challenge was getting the CG dodgeballs to look the same as the real ones and matching reflections on the shiny gym floor.” PRPVFX also provided wire removal on these scenes — the young actor playing Tyler was on wires, which allowed him to move in superhuman ways. THE DOGFIGHT PRPVFX artists used the practical UFO set piece as a basis for its CG model of the boys’ spaceship, built in 3DS Max. Concept art was used to create the alien UFO, which tries to shoot down the boys. According to Petrie, “The boys’ practical UFO has a glass canopy that could be removed, so when they shot the dogfight greenscreen, we took the canopy off and replaced it with a CG one in order to control reflections and the environment they were flying through.” Another challenge on the greenscreen shoot was all the movement involved in making it look like the boys were flying the practical spacecraft. “We had tracking markers on the UFO so we could track the canopy, but a lot of the time the boys would be moving around, so we had to do hand tracking to get it to match,” explains Petrie. “It was tricky to get the canopy on and have it look exactly right. We used SynthEyes when we could but not every track will work perfectly, so we had to rely on animators to match-move by eye.” Petrie points to quality previs created at the storyboard stage in making the dogfight sequence work smoothly. “Our on-set VFX supervisor Giles Molloy built previs scenes and had those QuickTimes on set during the shoot to make sure we were getting right angles,” she explains. “It was refined, and Giles would try a few different cameras and moves, and take it back on set and run it by the director [Ralph Hemecker] again.” THE ALIEN LAIR To match to concept art provided of how the producers wanted the alien hive to look, PRPVFX built it from scratch in CG using a combination of 3D modeling and 3D compositing. “There was an underlying theme so it looked corrosive and twisted, like a yucky toxic environment,” describes Petrie. “We kept getting feedback and refining that look with producers; we were refining right up until delivery.” She says getting the feeling of scale was biggest challenge for this sequence, which was meant to look like a humongous bug factory. “It would be like if the Titantic landed in a cave vertically. We needed to show the factory as the focal point, but there was a hive of activity spreading out from the central focus, so there were lots of depth cues added. However it was a challenge not to let any of the elements we were using betray the immense scale we were trying to convey.” ALIEN MORPH In one scene, the NSA agent who has been after the boys turns out to be an alien, and we know this because he morphs into one right before our eyes. “We tried to get a chrysalis feeling, where the alien was breaking out of the skin,” explains Petrie, “and the challenge was to get the alien peeling off the real guy. We had one person — Stephen Donoghue— working on that entire sequence, trying things out. We didn’t want it to look too grotesque but more organic and natural. We got an interesting look that hasn’t been seen before. It’s definitely not your standard morph.” PRPVFX’s 3D tool of choice was Autodesk 3DS Max. They even created digital versions of the aliens and boys in the software. Autodesk Combustion was used for compositing and The Foundry’s Nuke was called on to compile elements. Petrie credits early intervention with making the project go smoothly. “Because we talked so much with producers [Richard C. Okie and Janine Dickins] and the director before hand, we understood what they wanted.” She calls the preproduction process invaluable. Something else that helped was getting high definition QuickTimes of shots before the cut was locked so PRPVFX artists could start trying things out. “And once we got the DP’s [Rob Marsh] proper footage we could replace it and carry on, so there was no break in the process. We try to do that with everything we work on,” she concludes.

#skyrunners #this is cracking me up

““alive”“““

#help ive fallen down a skyrunners hole #this description is so funny fsdklfjslkj #skyrunners

Skyrunners: Disney’s SciFi for Tweens

If you have a young scifi fan in your house, tune in to Disney XD channel on November 27 at 5:00 pm for the premiere of their new scifi adventure Skyrunners. The movie was written by Richard C. Okie (“Quantum Leap” and “Earth: Final Conflict”) and the alien creature effects were designed by Weta Workshop Ltd., the Academy Award-winning special effect shop that work on The Lord of the Rings trilogy and The Chronicles of Narnia” films so it has a great scifi pedigree.

The story revolves around two teenage brothers Tyler (Joey Pollari) and Nick Burns (Kelly Blatz of Disney XD’s “Aaron Stone”) who find a small UFO crashed outside their town. They take ship home and after spending time with it Tyler begins to develop superhuman powers. Part of his powers is the ability to communicate with the alien who owns the ship and that leads him to an ominous plot to take over the world. With brother Nick occupied by school and girl troubles, Tyler goes to the authorities but that only makes the alien more angry and soon Tyler is in deep trouble. Can his brother save him and the world from an alien meanace? Find out when Skyrunners premieres on Disney XD (the Disney channel for tween boys) on November 27. Sounds like fun.

#the disney channel for tween boys adgfdjhghfgh #skyrunners #this discription??? is incorrect?????#but like who knows what this movie is actually about so good enough

Calif.-raised 'Skyrunner' star Blatz settles in to life in Toronto

By Bill Brioux (CP) – Nov 26, 2009

Not that long ago, Kelly Blatz worked at a Starbucks in Burbank, Calif., fetching coffee for executives who worked at the neighbourhood TV and film studios. As he puts it, "I used to serve all the people I work for now."

Blatz just wrapped production on a second season of the Disney XD series "Aaron Stone" (Family Channel). He was in Toronto earlier this week to promote his latest project, the sci-fi 'tween drama "Skyrunners" (premiering Friday, Nov. 27 on Family).

In the TV movie, Blatz plays high school senior Nick Burns, who, together with his younger brother Tyler (Joey Pollari), discovers a UFO has landed in their town. The boys seize the saucer as their own personal spacecraft, and soon, "weird stuff starts happening to Tyler," says Blatz.

Not surprising, given that Tyler has been abducted by aliens. Nick has to rescue his brother, distract a persistent government agent and appease an uptight girlfriend - all before he graduates.

The TV movie - the first for the U.S. cable channel Disney XD - has an odd history. It all started when Blatz won the lead role of video game ace and secret superhero Aaron Stone by accidentally pulling a fire alarm at his audition. Blatz walked in and sheepishly admitted to the panel of producers, casting agents and network executives that he was the dummy responsible for the racket. The panel smiled, looked at each other and knew they'd found their klutzy super hero.

Most young Canadian actors dream of one day making it in Hollywood. Blatz - born and raised in Burbank, where he could walk to three or four major Hollywood studios - boarded a plane and flew to Toronto to shoot "Aaron Stone."

When the pilot episode was done, Disney execs told their likable young star that they wanted him for "Skyrunner."

Blatz was thrilled.

"There was this amazing script, all about alien invasions, very Spielberg-esque," he says. He went straight into production on "Skyrunner," also shot in Toronto.

That was in the summer of 2007. Production was halted on the TV-movie while Blatz finished the first season of "Stone." When the filmmakers went to resume work on "Skyrunners" over a year later, Blatz's co-star, Minneapolis teen Pollari, had grown "like a foot and his voice changed and everything," says Blatz. The filmmakers wrote that into the plot, turning puberty "into the coolest movie special effect ever."

Most of the other actors on "Skyrunners" are Canadian. Linda Kash - best known as the angel from those long-running Philadelphia Cream Cheese ads - plays the boys' mom. Vancouver's Conrad Coates ("Kyle XY") plays the government agent tailing the teens and the aliens.

Toronto has become something of a branch plant for the thriving Disney 'tween sitcom factory. "Aaron Stone" has already wrapped production on a second season in Ontario's capital. Earlier this fall, the Jonas Brothers, including younger "bonus Jonas" Frankie, quietly shot a sequel to the 2008 summer hit "Camp Rock" in and around the city. Demi Lovato ("Sonny with a Chance") reunited with the Jonas boys on that venture, as did Toronto-native Jasmine Richards ("Naturally, Sadie").

Blatz already has his favourite Toronto night spots, including the Drake Hotel, as well as eateries like Fresh. The 22-year-old is the lead singer of the alternative rock band Capra, named after Frank Capra, the director of such Hollywood classics as "It's A Wonderful Life" and "It Happened One Night." The group even wrote and performed a song featured on the "Skyrunner" sound track, and Blatz is pumped about an upcoming record deal as well as a new video release.

He's also cool with being one of the few young actors today who is not being fitted for fangs in order to play a brooding vampire dude.

"We're going to all look back on this time and think, 'Why did we have this weird obsession with vampires?"' he says. "It's going to die out real soon."

Bill Brioux is a freelance TV columnist based in Brampton, Ont.

#this needs to be preserved #skyrunners