Contributing to Lunatics
From Lunatics
Membership in the production team for "Lunatics" is fairly open to anyone with an interest who's willing to respect the project's procedures and contribute -- even in small ways. You're welcome to lurk and learn what's going on if you want. If you have any knowledge or experience with the software or technology we are using, then just being around to answer questions ("consulting") could be a big help.
I will ask you not to share plot "spoilers" outside of the project -- I know this can never be absolute and of course, some fans like to see work in production, but I would prefer not to spoil the story for others. We have a basic ground rule of only releasing information about the upcoming episode here on the wiki, so in fact, there are really only one-episode-ahead spoilers here, with very few exceptions.
To "join the project", you should:
- Read this and the appropriate linked pages on project procedures and needs (i.e. the ones that relate to the kinds of contribution you might make)
- Join this wiki by clicking on the "login/create account" button in the upper right-hand corner
- Join the Google Group lunatics-tv-production to participate in project decision-making and discussion, and to receive production team news
- Most contributions can be made through the wiki, but if you need actual production check-in privileges, you'll need to contact Terry Hancock (see contact information below).
The Production site is a Trac project site with a Subversion repository. Although the technology is working (I think), there's really nothing there yet -- I'm still organizing the original data for an initial import. I'll arrange accounts and passwords on this site for those who need it once we're ready to start taking actual production check-ins. Right now, though, I really feel we should be concentrating on pre-production anyway.
Most materials, including 3D models, can be contributed as files on the wiki, which will be simpler for most contributors and does not require so much inside knowledge. These can be imported into the production tree later when they are actually needed.
For discussion purposes, I am setting up a private ("restricted") Google Group, lunatics-tv-production. Contact Terry Hanock via email for an invite if you are on the production team and want to be involved in project decision-making and discussions. Please consider doing this if you have some expertise in the software tools or other aspects of the project, even if you don't have much time to contribute -- just making yourself available as a consultant to help us get unstuck if we run into technical trouble would be an important contribution.
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Contributing to Lunatics
If you like the idea of Lunatics, and want to make it happen, there's a lot of different things you can do, based on your resources, talents, and interests...
- Money is always nice. Donate, invest, sponsor, or just buy one of our Pre-sale DVDs or other fun stuff. We are currently running our first Kickstarter campaign to fund the commissions on character and technical design art. More will follow as we ramp up to producing the pilot, "No Children In Space", after which we will focus on a per-episode or per-volume approach.
- Designing for Lunatics. Of course, certain design elements are pretty well finished. But there will be a need for additional machine, vehicle, and habitat design concepts as we move along with the story. We expect that the primary character design will be commissioned, but there will be an on-going need for tweaks and ideas for background characters, wardrobe changes, props, and other design elements. Also, we'll need designs for 2D displays, logos, and other elements used within the show.
- 3D Animation Production. Lunatics is being created using free-software tools, most notably the Blender 3D application, and programs that are designed to work with it. If you have skills with modeling, rigging, animation, lighting, textures, or rendering, you will likely find a lot of opportunities to contribute.
- Voice Acting and Casting. Casting for Lunatics is completely open so far. We have a couple of ideas for a temporary track, but it's very likely that new actors will be chosen for final recording, and some of the roles will be challenging to fill (child actors, bilingual Japanese/English and Russian/English characters, and so on). Initially, we'll be doing a temporary track using production team voices (mainly Terry, Rosalyn, and family, but we'll probably need some other volunteers).
- Motion and Reference Acting. For animation purposes, we will need to collect either motion-capture data and/or video reference data. These will likely be different people than those who do the voice acting. Most of the challenges here are technical, and have to do with simulating natural behaviors in 1/6 gee (and occasionally in free-fall). We have no idea how or where we're actually going to do this part. We'll probably try to make use of some existing free data collections as well.
- Music. For the most part, at least at the beginning, we are constructing the soundtrack of Lunatics from "found" CC By or CC By-SA licensed music. However, there is still some need for remixing of tracks, and we may very well want to commission music later on. We do not yet have a final choice for the main title track, although we have a couple of ideas for it.
- Sound Recording and Effects. There may be no sound in space, but there's a lot of it inside of spacecraft and space habitats, and some of it will be hard to simulate or find. We'll be looking for a lot of different effects sounds and ambience recordings to work with in the audio-mixing process.
- Science and Engineering Advice is also wanted. Lunatics is hard science fiction, and we take the science and engineering much more seriously than most science-fiction media productions. We're also human, though, so mistakes will happen, and even with a body as supposedly well-understood as the Moon, we are still finding surprises. We welcome input from people with background experience, particularly in planetary science and spacecraft engineering. Please don't be insulted, though, if we ask for credentials.
- Writing for Lunatics. Presently, Lunatics is essentially "staff written," meaning that most of the stories come more or less directly from story sessions with Rosalyn Hunter and Terry Hancock. However, we are planning to open up some space for a few contributed stories later on in the series.
Commission Opportunities
If you want to be considered for commission opportunities for 3D models, music, or other resources, please contact us (email Terry Hancock at the address below). We'll include you when we try to find people to do certain parts of the job for advance payment. This will generally only be the case when we are trying to get new work created specifically for Lunatics (i.e. not when there is already-existing work that we want to use).
Profit Sharing
Artists who contribute significantly to the video production (unless they explicitly opt out) will participate in our profit-sharing arrangement. The shares of individual artists will be set and/or computed as part of the production process. Whenever we make a "Creator Endorsed" sale, get advertising revenue, donations, or other income, that income will be distributed according to this system, so that all contributing artists have a chance to earn something from their work.
Clearly we cannot make overly-bold promises on how much money this will turn out to be. It might be very little (or indeed nothing at all -- as with any other artistic project, we might find out that we just suck and no one likes the show. Or it could be that it only appeals to cheapskates who never pay for anything). But it could also be quite a bit if you contributed a significant amount and sales are very successful. The amount for any one artist, will of course depend on the nature of the contribution. A detailed ODS spreadsheet will be made available to both artists and donors to show how the distribution is made.
In any case, funds will be accumulated over the course of a year for each artist. If the sum is particularly large, we'll make more frequent payments (quarterly or monthly). If it is small, then we will make annual payments. This assumes of course that the artist has given us a payment mechanism (usually PayPal or paper checks). If payment remains unclaimed for more than a year, the funds will be redistributed among the other artists (so that will take care of anonymous or "abandon-ware" issues).
Spoilers, Production Site, and Other Philosophical Issues
Fiction is not like software. It's not really meant to be continually evolving -- we make a story, then we release it, then (if we're lucky) it becomes part of the culture. Perhaps it elicits a response, and that dialog is where the evolution happens. But the original expression isn't meant to be in a state of "constant release" because it is situated in time. Even the obvious counter-examples, like Lucas' "special edition" versions of Star Wars are often criticized for their revision of film history -- purists still want to see the original films as they were released.
Fiction, also relies to a greater or lesser degree on surprise. I can enjoy a story over and over again if I really like it. But there's nothing quite like the first time you see it. And as audiences, we want that experience to remain unspoiled. On the other hand, there's also a lot of fun to be had in watching a production come together. We're going to try to appeal to both types of entertainment, but it does require a little bit of a balancing act.
Public information will be published on our Plone-based "Community Portal". During Pre-Production, reference and production material will be accumulated here in this wiki. This includes such materials as the script, storyboards, and even some production art and models. These will be migrated into our Trac/Subversion project site as we start into actual Production phase. That will probably be managed by a smaller team, although it should be possible to anonymously check-out the data.
We have an honor code for not releasing plot details (or "spoilers") from that wiki (clearly we can't really do anything to you if you leak spoilers before release, but you should feel guilty about it. Very, very guilty. As in haunted). Of course, all you have to do if you really want to know is to join the production team. In general, the production site contains information for the upcoming episode. After the episode is released, much of the content will be exported and reposted in the Community Portal. As for our plans for later episodes, that information is top secret -- even the production team only gets hints in the form of what properties need to be developed.
"But wait, I thought this was an open source project?" Yes. After release, all the content goes into the open.
Join Us
If you want to join the project, please click on the "Login/Create Account" link at the top right of this page to create an account on this wiki. All you really need is an email address for this. You will also have to pass a simple mathematical "CAPTCHA" to make sure you're a real person instead of a spambot. It's also a good idea to email Terry Hancock to introduce yourself at this address:
Upon joining, I will also send you an invite to join the project's Google Group if you want.
We're open to just about anyone who really wants to help, and who is willing to take this just a little bit seriously. There are a number of guidelines you'll be expected to be familiar with (outline on this and linked pages), but it's really very easy to get involved.
