I'm a filmmaker who uses practical effects puppets, miniatures, and animation to tell mature sci-fi, horror, and fantasy stories. Here, you will see my storyboards, builds, and uncensored material.
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A New Animated Sci-Fi Series From Christopher "Moonlight" Cooksey and Doug Mayfield
Producers Christopher "Moonlight" Cooksey (The Quantum Terror, Ray Bradbury LIVE Forever) and Doug Mayfield (The Quantum Terror/The Warning) are proud to announce the production of their new animated sci-fi series, ESCAPE FROM PLANET OMEGA-12. Inspired by vintage science fiction and adult-oriented animation such as Fire and Ice, Heavy Metal, and Love Death + Robots, OMEGA-12 is looking to bring back the raw and sexy energy that used to come with pulp science fiction in a style that Cooksey calls Sci-Exploitation. It tells the story of Tera, the beautiful lone survivor of a doomed space expedition, marooned on a savage alien planet, along with her little robot assistant and a strange alien blob that has absorbed the consciousness of her murdered husband. Hunted by an unseen enemy who means to kill her, she must learn to survive in her new environment while evading ravenous monsters and deadly robots, all while uncovering the deeper mysteries of the planet she seeks to escape.
"This is really exciting for us," says Cooksey. "Rather than just being drawn or computer generated, we're using all of this new open-source and AI technology that indie filmmakers just couldn't get their hands on without the backing of a major studio, just a few years ago. The playing field is now leveled and we wanted to really make something that Hollywood wouldn't take a chance on, blending miniature sets and puppets shot in-camera, traditional hand-drawn animation but also using the latest in AI-driven motion capture, like what the programmers at Rokoko are offering, along with VTube technology and open-source 3D, to create a wholly original look. We're taking cues from the best of both Western and Easter animation but no one has ever seen anything like what we're planning before." The two producers, who also used miniatures and animation combined with live actions to make their first movie The Quantum Terror, are now excited to bring this unique vision to life and offer audiences an engaging, visually stunning, and thought-provoking experience with ESCAPE FROM PLANET OMEGA-12. Stay tuned and be the first to get exclusive behind-the-scenes looks at the first season, upcoming stellar cast announcements, as well as info on possible NFTs, comic books, and future game dev by joining us at https://www.subscribestar.com/christophermoonlight.
*** Christopher Cooksey is available for interviews ***
See something you like? Subscribe to see even more!
A New Animated Sci-Fi Series From Christopher "Moonlight" Cooksey and Doug Mayfield
Producers Christopher "Moonlight" Cooksey (The Quantum Terror, Ray Bradbury LIVE Forever) and Doug Mayfield (The Quantum Terror/The Warning) are proud to announce the production of their new animated sci-fi series, ESCAPE FROM PLANET OMEGA-12. Inspired by vintage science fiction and adult-oriented animation such as Fire and Ice, Heavy Metal, and Love Death + Robots, OMEGA-12 is looking to bring back the raw and sexy energy that used to come with pulp science fiction in a style that Cooksey calls Sci-Exploitation. It tells the story of Tera, the beautiful lone survivor of a doomed space expedition, marooned on a savage alien planet, along with her little robot assistant and a strange alien blob that has absorbed the consciousness of her murdered husband. Hunted by an unseen enemy who means to kill her, she must learn to survive in her new environment while evading ravenous monsters and deadly robots, all while uncovering the deeper mysteries of the planet she seeks to escape.
"This is really exciting for us," says Cooksey. "Rather than just being drawn or computer generated, we're using all of this new open-source and AI technology that indie filmmakers just couldn't get their hands on without the backing of a major studio, just a few years ago. The playing field is now leveled and we wanted to really make something that Hollywood wouldn't take a chance on, blending miniature sets and puppets shot in-camera, traditional hand-drawn animation but also using the latest in AI-driven motion capture, like what the programmers at Rokoko are offering, along with VTube technology and open-source 3D, to create a wholly original look. We're taking cues from the best of both Western and Easter animation but no one has ever seen anything like what we're planning before." The two producers, who also used miniatures and animation combined with live actions to make their first movie The Quantum Terror, are now excited to bring this unique vision to life and offer audiences an engaging, visually stunning, and thought-provoking experience with ESCAPE FROM PLANET OMEGA-12. Stay tuned and be the first to get exclusive behind-the-scenes looks at the first season, upcoming stellar cast announcements, as well as info on possible NFTs, comic books, and future game dev by joining us at https://www.subscribestar.com/christophermoonlight.
*** Christopher Cooksey is available for interviews ***
Hey there, friends and newcomers! I’m thrilled to announce the launch of my brand-new YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/@SciExploitation), dedicated entirely to the world of Sci-Exploitation animation and filmmaking, including my passion project, Escape From Planet Omega-12.
For those who don’t know, Escape From Planet Omega-12 is a bold, gritty sci-fi adventure inspired by old-school epics like Forbidden Planet and Princess of Mars, with a dash of the edgy, adventurous spirit you’d find in Heavy Metal or Barbarella. It’s about Tara, a lone woman stranded on a hostile alien world, who must find her way with the help of a quirky robot and a strange alien entity.
This new channel is where I’ll showcase everything related to the Omega-12 universe and my broader Sci-Exploitation brand. Here’s what you can expect:
Behind-the-Scenes Content: Watch the creation process unfold as I blend AI animation, practical effects, and VFX.
Exclusive Clips: Be the first to see sneak peeks of the show itself.
Deep Dives into the Creative Process: Tutorials, workflows, and insights into the innovative methods I’m using.
Inspiration from Classics: Comparisons and breakdowns of the iconic sci-fi and fantasy works that influenced this project.
Right now, you can check out the animatics for the opening scene, which features Tara’s escape pod crash-landing into an alien swamp. This rough cut is the first glimpse into the world we’re building, and I’d love to hear your thoughts.
https://youtu.be/wmEU7HnEluY?si=oRxxrGvQCaui-eTK
Why Subscribe?
If you love:
The classic sci-fi vibe of Star Wars and Star Trek,
The bold, adventurous edge of Heavy Metal and Fire and Ice,
The artistic innovation of indie animation,
...then this channel is for you.
By subscribing, liking, sharing, and leaving a comment, you’ll not only help this project grow, but you’ll also become part of a community of sci-fi fans who value creativity and storytelling.
What’s Coming in 2025?
The channel is just getting started, but 2025 will be packed with:
More Animatics and Previews: As we bring the story to life, you’ll get to see the journey.
Exclusive Clips: Early looks at finished scenes and key moments.
Interactive Content: Opportunities to weigh in on creative decisions and help shape the world of Omega-12.
How You Can Help:
Subscribe to the channel and turn on notifications so you don’t miss a thing.
Like the videos to show support and help them reach more people.
Comment to share your thoughts—what excites you? What do you want to see next?
Share the channel with friends and fellow sci-fi fans who might love this project as much as you do.
This is an indie journey fueled by creativity, innovation, and a love for storytelling. Every subscriber, like, and share helps bring Escape From Planet Omega-12 closer to completion. Thank you for being part of this adventure—I can’t wait to hear what you think of the opening animatics and everything else we have in store!
If you’re new here, welcome to my little corner of the internet where I’m chronicling the making of my indie sci-fi project, Escape From Planet Omega-12. For the uninitiated, it’s a film about a stranded woman named Tara, her robot sidekick, and the wild alien world they have to survive. I’m blending practical effects, traditional VFX, and cutting-edge AI to bring it all to life on a shoestring budget.
Now, I’ve talked before about how AI tools like Stable Diffusion, LivePortrait, and Roop have been instrumental in building this world. But today, I want to share something I’ve been experimenting with lately: Nim.Video, and how it’s solving a pretty big problem for me.
Animation is one of the hardest parts of this whole process. Services like Kling, Minimax, and Krea deliver stunning results. I can take a still image of Tara that I made using Stable Diffusion and Photoshop and they’ll animate her fantasically some of the time but they’re way out of my budget for the amount of shots I need. Plus, they can be a little… picky. Tara’s outfit, while true to her character and the film’s Sci-Exploitation tone, sometimes gets flagged, which leads to even more hurdles.
See the videos below for our animated version.
That’s where Nim.Video has really come through for me. It doesn’t deliver the same polished output as those high-end platforms, but it’s flexible and gives me the freedom to generate as many ideas as I need without worrying about restrictions. The quality isn’t perfect, but that’s fine—I’ve found ways to make it work by rolling up my sleeves and refining the results myself. Plus, it’s a startup and startups grow and improve with time, so I think it’s going to be worth sticking with them for the long haul.
See the videos below for our animated version.
Here’s how I’ve been doing it:
Once I get an animation from Nim.Video, the first thing I do is run it through FlowFrames to smooth out the motion and make it feel more natural. Then, I bring the video into After Effects to break it down into a PNG sequence, since my next tool, Upscayl, only works with individual images.
Upscayl lets me batch-upscale those frames, sharpening the details and bringing them closer to the polished look I want. Finally, I reassemble the upscaled frames back into a video. It’s a bit of a process, but the results are well worth the effort, especially for the kind of dynamic visuals I need in Omega-12. They’re both free to download so as my producing partner Doug says, “The price is right.”
From there, I bring in Roop for face-swapping and LivePortrait to map facial expressions and lip movements onto Tara. These tools are a lifesaver for keeping her look consistent across shots and for making her feel like a living, breathing character, at least so far as an animated movie will give you. I still want this movie to feel like animation, rather than going on the quest for realisum that so many othere AI projects seemed to be striving for.
I’m also doing something similar with Viggle, which will take a still image and animate it according to a video input you give it. I’ve either been using the performance of actress Isla Cervelli or for the more stunt heavy action, assets from Mixamo to get the action I want.
For now, this is “good enough” for putting my scenes together. I say good enough because at the end I’ll be feeding these animations back into another service called Krea, which I think I’ve talked about before to really bring the quality up. However, again, their monthly subscription is not cheap so I want to wait until I’ve got something close to final cut before I pay the monthly subscription to use their video refiners.
I’ll also not that it works with environmental elements, like this animation of water I made using Midjourney and Nim.
See the animate version below.
This workflow has definitely been a labor of love, and there are still kinks to work out, but it’s given me so much more control over the final product. Every frame gets refined by hand (or at least by tools I’ve chosen), and that means the final look feels less like “just AI” and more like something uniquely mine.
It’s still early days, but I’m excited about where this process is heading. If you’ve got questions about Nim.Video, Upscayl, or any of the other tools I’m using, drop me a comment! And if you’re here to keep up with Escape From Planet Omega-12, stay tuned—there’s plenty more on the way and plenty more info about it that you read by subscribing for free. Or, if you feel like supporting this project and getting access to my pay-walled content, it goes a long way in helping me with this and other projects to come.
Thanks for being here and for supporting this journey.
We have started a YouTube channel for all things Sci-Exploitation. Follow us for sci-fi/fantasy that blends classic, old-school esthetics with a grown-up twist.
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