I've definitely been missing the con experience lately. Getting to be a part of so many amazing things and interacting with so many interesting people. So when the folks at Hulu and Stoopid Buddy Stoodios invited me to take a virtual tour of the set for Crossing Swords, I jumped at the chance.
One thing that struck me right away was hearing Tom Root and John Harvatine IV talk about all of the practical elements of the show. Almost everything was build by hand out of wood. Everything from the character, the set pieces and special elements (like fairies and other creatures) were made and hand painted to give things a true stop motion animation feel. The only thing that was CG, according to them, were the water elements from a couple of episodes. They even described how they made the blood, which was mixed from different glues and coloring.
Just watching this virtual walk around the set, and seeing how condensed everything was, really gave me a new appreciation for how they presented such a vast world. They also talked about how it could take days just to film one scene, nevermind an episode. Imagine the attention to detail that would have to go into creating 10 episodes of television. You can certainly see why their work on Robot Chicken won several Emmy Awards.
Speaking of behind the scenes, check out this featurette for Crossing Swords:
Coming up on Episode 321 of the podcast this week (June 19th), you'll hear from two members of the cast in Yvette Nicole Brown and Adam Pally who will give you even more of an idea at just what it was like to be a part of the series. You'll hear Yvette reference a "death machine" at one point. This is what she was talking about:
Watching a show and getting laughs at some of the crazy things you're seeing and hearing is one thing, but seeing how it's all put together with such attention to detail, it really gave me a new appreciation for the show. Literally seeing the elements being put together, and hearing them talk about how much difference paint can make, you just know that ever detail was carefully thought out. So when you're watching Crossing Swords on Hulu, take a second to appreciate that what you are seeing is a handmade product that certainly didn't happen overnight.
To find out more about the series, check out our original story.
Photo Credit: Hulu