Venus Rises - J.G. Birdsall

Posted by Steve on 1 June 2010 | 0 Comments

Tell us about your sci-fi web series.

The events of Venus Rises transpire in a possible near future, where Earth has become uninhabitable, forcing humanity to find its fate among the stars. The affluent settle on Mars, bringing with them the best and the brightest the human race had to offer. The working class were sent to colonize Venus to allow those on Mars to continue to live in the style they grew accustomed to on Earth. After decades of being treated as second class citizens, the seeds of unrest are sown throughout the Venusian colonies, bringing with it the inevitable day where... Venus Rises.

Where did the idea/concept for your web series come from?

The inspiration came from a fondness for history combined with speculation of how the world would end. No matter how sophisticated we believe we have become as a people, and no matter how many Golden Ages of discovery we achieve, corruption, decadence, and complacency often cause the seeds of unrest to be sown between the haves and the have-nots. I wanted to create a science factual series containing those historical and speculative elements leading to a conflict between two factions of people on very different sides of the social hierarchy.

Name some of your sci-fi influences. Any favorite movies, TV shows, novels?

Babylon 5 was a big one. From the perspective of animation, it made ships fly in a realistic manner and that was the kind of thing I hoped to include in my show. It was also one of the first shows that I was familiar with that maintained storylines between episodes and that was another element that I strongly wanted to portray. The set design was influenced by Alien and 2010: The Year We Make Contact. I felt it was an excellent mixing of cinema and science. They were able to keep the scientific feel and not have it be so overbearing where it would ruin the cinematic experience of any scene.

Tell us about the technical production of your show. What camera & equipment did you use? Editing software & hardware? For visual effects, etc?

We shot with a Panasonic dvx100b, edited with Adobe Premiere, and used primarily Newtek's Lightwave for 3d animations.

Can you tell us any interesting facts or trivia about your show? Any funny stories?

While the story takes place in the near future, I wanted to have an antiquated look and feel using technological aspects that are more related to now. Living, storage, and working space is a commodity. I wanted a cramped, unkempt feel to the station and ships where the story takes place.

I built 7 sets in total, spread out between two houses. The Ikarus cockpit sat in my living room, the Moonbase was in my garage, and the X-38 cockpit was kept in a spare bedroom. The 2nd house had the Space Station, Cargo Bay, Pipe Room, and Holding Cell. The sets were also rented out to other production companies and local schools.

Venus Rises episode "Freefall" Part 1 premieres June 14th.

You can Venus Rises online here and on Facebook here.

Venus Rises - SciFinal page

More Behind the Scene images from Venus Rises below:

 

On location with Venus Rises

On set of Venus Rises

One fo the many sets for Venus Rises

One of the many sets for Venus Rises

One of the many sets for Venus Rises

The cast of Venus Rises