THE SKY BENEATH OUR FEET is a young adult science fiction series presented as a period drama . In this vision of the future, corporations have replaced governments, while war has become the most popular form of sports entertainment with hero soldiers receiving the same type of fame we dedicate towards professional athletes today. Every power country has a space elevator, after Disnemerika has shown the world how to physically create one. Being the only territory to own two. They are constructed from top to bottom, utilizing natural gravity forces for stabilization in the building process. Spherical spaceships shaped like one-person pods are docked at the space stations and allow a select few trained professionals to explore distant planets in the hope of colonization, as land has become the most sought after commodity for our species. The first episode follows a young couple as their romance blossoms while both are set on the same carrier path, trying to obtain a chance to venture into space and evaluate new possible living habitats. John eventually goes off to explore Gliese 581 C, an Earth-like planet discovered in recent years, while his girlfriend Lisa stays behind, unexpectedly becoming a key figure in humanities stance against the surprise alien attack back on Earth. We follow their emotional long distance relationship roller-coaster ride and watch as they both learn who they truly are and what really matters to them in life. Through specific attention to detail in the filmmaking process the audience will be able to simultaneously but unconsciously pick up on the development of the greater picture around our heroes, without getting distracted from the unfolding love story. When John goes missing in action, after discovering an alien base on the planet he was scouting, Lisa suddenly receives eight years worth of messages, which have been held back by the authorities until then, just as she believes she has finally managed to move on. Their struggle throughout the entire episode communicates true love and hope with an underlying romantic theme amongst all the chaos and hardship surrounding them both. This series is a modern glimpse into the future with a late 1950s street colour photography look and a fast-paced storytelling style. The timeline spans across multiple generations. Every imaginable aspect has been conceptualized and developed to various extents. The way people live, space travel, the future, down to how they prepare a meal or what shoes they wear. Especially technical aspects like the space elevator or the Space Acceleration Gate Ring for intergalactic travel. With such extensive and well-documented world building, the series does not need to progress in a linear fashion but rather allows us to follow different compelling stories, ultimately letting the viewer connect the dots, forming a complete picture by the end of the season finale. The objective is to keep the visual effects to a minimum by utilizing time and cost efficient matte painting techniques in order to prioritize and concentrate on an enticing character driven viewing experience with a beautifully mesmerizing 16mm cinematography aesthetic. Therefore, the next episode concentrates on John and Lisa’s daughter Nala and her best friend Frank, as they fight their own battle in the new world while coincidentally discovering bits and pieces of their peoples’ history as well as revelations about their own past. Nala grew up as an orphan and at this point humans believe that they originated from Gliese, until these kids’ exciting adventure reveals the painful truth about Earth. Consecutive installments will explain how Lisa made her way to Gliese in order to find John, and also introduce the audience to the K’harg, a sentient alien species, informing us about their motivation and believes. Procon Pictures is currently in the process of creating a live-action proof of concept, which has already been fully storyboarded, and has a vast amount of artwork to present a visual aid to the existing original screenplay written by Milan Schere.

After putting out the initial casting call, we had an overwhelming amount of applications, even though all positions were completely unpaid and described as such right from the beginning. As the creator, I envisioned Sonoya Mizuno playing the key role of Lisa Jogoo, and, together with producer Robert Crocco, we based our initial round of narrowing down the selection on aesthetics for the female lead. Under the guidance of casting director Celine Zoleta, we invited a select few possible candidates for a personal audition in downtown Toronto and had to fill one cancellation last minute, adding Drew Catherine to the lineup, even though she did not exactly fit the profile at the time. Drew had the last auditioning spot and came in at the end of the day, blowing us away with her interpretation of the character. She truly emanated an incredible feeling of knowing Lisa better than I do and immediately gave me the confidence that my vision will be in the best hands if I entrusted her with this responsibility. For the male counterpart we went through a similar process and had the list of actors down to two at this point. However, each applicant gave us a very different take on their idea of Jonathan Baker. When watching back the recordings we realized that Michael Hallam was the one most willing to work on his performance right away. Asking questions and visibly pushing himself on the spot, taking direction very well from the start. Drew and Michael are both represented by Elizabeth Rotenberg from Redd Skye Talent Management and we're very much looking forward to working with both of them on THE SKY BENEATH OUR FEET this year.

SBF - Space Acceleration Ring Gate: In my story, humans travel across the universe through a chain of acceleration gates. When a spaceship goes through it gets catapulted at a high speed into the direction it was pointing at, not the angle at which the object entered. The scale is supposed to be massive and the material a futuristic type of alloy. I had some rough napkin sketches I quickly scribbled down, which I sent to Alex Bobylev to build upon. The ring gate is in outer space, so most shots are wide and in full frame. No real close-ups unless this asset turns out to be so killer that I end up wanting to show it off. The way it's built is by transporting the small bits and pieces in large spaceships to a far distance and then assembling it over years. The idea is that humans only have to do this once and then traveling from one gate to the next takes merely minutes after that but setting up the initial one took like decades. It is maintained by a small crew on shift work but with the Acceleration Gate they have quick access to home, anytime. It's like a futuristic catapult but with the sci-fi feel of something like the original Stargate. The overall diameter is 500m and I prefer it to be a thin structure. Alex suggested that these gates would have to be almost like a mix of airports and large service way-stations that you'd get on highways due to the maintenance requirements. He created a series of concepts inspired by a mix of blade runner type of business and complexity + neon signs but closer to my original idea. The look transitioned a bit more into Mass-Effect type of designs with a more obvious space-port gate. These concepts are currently being built as 3D models by Sajeel Shukla. Stay tuned for more work in progress soon.

Jonathan Baker: The male hero of the story is like an Ender Wiggin in his early 20s. The character is extremely smart and kind, while understanding the necessity of physical exercise, as well as complete focus in all situations. Physically, he is somewhat like the Tron: Legacy dude. Prior to joining Space Command, John’s clothing is rather casual and was mainly driven by Priscilla Parizeau’s storyboards. The wardrobe for the shoot is being fully handled by our clothing designer Talisa A. Timla! The real challenge was his ISC costume. The guy is like a sponsored soldier, so his suit is more like that of a Gundam pilot but with sponsoring logos all over. We had multiple very talented artists working on the logo designs simultaneously, which will be attached to the final suit after the initial costume fitting. I was really thinking along the lines of Pacific Rim just less worn and shinier, since John’s suit would be new. Like a pro race driver of intergalactic war. During the early stages of pre-production Sue Jang took on the task but could unfortunately not dedicate as much time towards this project as she was hoping to, due to her other professional commitments. To move things forward, we migrated the task to Patrick Chen who did a wonderful job seeing the designs through to final with a list of nit-picky notes which I was constantly providing. I basically wanted a wet suit underneath and some motorcycle protectors on top. Probably a variation of different greys, and ultimately something cool that would make sense while looking awesome on screen. The process included some back and forth with our Production Designer Mai-Anh Tran to make sure we’ll be able to recreate everything within the physical world. We ordered a bunch of motorcycle gear and have scheduled our first official costume fitting for the end of May.

Lisa Jogoo: The female lead has to transition from a naive young Wizard of Oz Dorothy type of girl into the Hunger Games' Katniss Everdeen. The ideal candidate would be able to portray both these extremes emotionally as well as aesthetically. To tell the story, her wardrobe had to evolve through three different stages: 1. Summer dress when she is still at home The concept was for deciding how short, long, revealing, etc. it should be and what type of feeling it communicates. I really didn't want to make her a sex object like most female costume design always ends up looking. This is more of a hot summer practical nice dress of a small town farm teenage girl. Toronto-based artist Jacqueline Li handled the conceptual development of this, emphasizing Lisa's free spirit and lifestyle. The tricky part was to adapt the wardrobe into the physical world, which was handled by international fashion and clothing designer Talisa A. Timla with a variety of options before going to camera. 2. Young business woman in the big city outfit Something elegant and sophisticated but with a touch of catholic school uniform. Again, without making her a teenage boy fantasy though. Jacqueline Li also took on this task but approached it with more of a kit-bash technique, working more within the limitations of the currently established office culture because the movie's not so distant future reflects a similar social image to what we're used to today. The final products will be provided by Tendu for our upcoming shoot in July. 3. Fighter plane pilot of the future Basically a jump suit with a steampunk flair. I wanted it to be like a flight suit but without losing Lisa's female shape. In an ideal world, I wished for a life action version of Tatiana Wisla (タチアナ・ヴィスラ) or Alis Agrew from Last Exile but with more attractive boots! We had Sébastien Hue and Nika Rukavi work out the early stages of the costume and help me figure out the logistics of the suit before getting Steve Hong on board. Whatever we would come up with needs to be made without breaking my wallet, so my brief to Steve basically was something between April O'Neil and Moon Bloodgood from Terminator Salvation. This had to be realistic in the physical world. Meanwhile we were in constant contact with our wonderful production designer Mai-Anh Tran who would have to obtaining all the materials once we had the measurements of the actress, and create the final suit in time for our first costume fitting at the end of May. Once Steve's character conceptual art was complete, we had to hurry and cast the perfect actress in order for Mai-Anh to be able to hit the deadline, or else the entire production schedule would snowball down to hell.

Brief: Create your vision of a space elevator set in an Earth environment of your choice using digital matte painting techniques. Your image is not limited to a view of Disnemerika's main elevator in Torontokyo but you are free to set your scene in your own future vision of any place you want.