Cold Storage Movie

New Year New Project

noreply@blogger.com (Dreamacrome) — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 21:44:00 +0000

Not strictly Cold Storage but we're now onto our next project. It's going to be a promo for my script Free Run. I'm gonna blog it so you can see how the newer version of Antics works and for me to see how much I learnt from last time!

OK, so it’s been a few months since I’ve done anything of substance with Antics. And now I have the latest version, 3, loaded with a bunch of new content available.

So I started with a “spike” – a quick prototype to see if I can get near the capabilities that I want in this animation. So I need a street - loaded the UK pavement from content. Then a decent character who looks the part. Having browsed locally I don’t have what I need. So I’m onto the website and browsing to find male child – a hoodie, just the part! Downloaded in 2 minutes and he’s in my set – smooth.

I created the first spike using male running, then a jump which worked well. Had to “interrupt” both animations to prevent him returning to naff standing position. The “Fall” animation didn’t really work as he falls on the spot and I wanted a forward roll after the jump – more searching of the content warehouse – man it really needs a proper tag search rather than hierarchy of folders - so Windows 95!

I then got him to run around a corner at a quicker speed but the auto-path created is rubbish and doesn’t look realistic.

So I created my own follow path and used that.

The problem is then blending between the end of the jump and snapping to the follow path. These transitions are always the problem and I usually use cutting between cameras and close up shots to “hide” them.

Running around corners is very upright and gives the impression of slowness so to get a dynamic pace I am going to have to him to lean. This probably means focusing on the upper body only and angling the whole animation so it looks like he is leaning in. More work.

The spike also showed that I will have problems with him jumping different levels as the jump animation will have him landing at the same height. Will probably get around this by creating a pose from the middle of the jump, place that in the air halfway down the steps and then have a starting and ending pose. Then use blend to get him to hump down. Will use this for roll also.

So need to check out all the animations and the poses to get me up to speed with the armoury I can use.

So this shows how a “spike” can get you lots of feedback with a small amount of work. I now have a few next steps laid out as well as challenges I will be facing for this project.

As well as focusing on these steps I know I also need to write out the story. I will also spike this by writing it quickly and roughly. This will throw out lots of ideas and questions around what I will need in Antics. I will note these as I go, thus building up my task list of things to tackle. Easy huh!

Onwards and Upwards

noreply@blogger.com (Dreamacrome) — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 23:26:00 +0000

We've slowly been expanding the website. I've added another process page and have the Antics details to load up as well. We're putting on multiple download version over the coming months along with loading into YouTube and Google Videos.

The problem with YouTube is they only accept 10 mins max and CS is 11m 30s. So initially we are going for 2 parts but it may mean a recut.

Antics have just released Version 3 which is looking very funky and also now has a basic version for free. So if you haven't tried it yet give it a go. They've revamped their website and have a budding community... along with plenty of competition in with MovieStorm who seem they are just up the road in Cambridge!

Anyway, Antics are keen for me to do some work with them. It looks like I will be invited to a workshop to comment on what to get in for future releases. Very exciting. I'm also going to pitch putting together a promo for them (and me). So it'll be back to hacking heavily in Antics - looking forward to creating something new again!!

Watch this space for developments...
Pete

The end of The Making Of...

noreply@blogger.com (Dreamacrome) — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 14:18:00 +0000

I think that’s all for the backdated blog. There’s a few more entries after we posted the movie up but I’ll add those in as I go along.

So, where are we 7 months (wow!) after entering Cold Storage onto the MySpace competition?

Well we didn’t win :-( but there weren’t any animations in the final 12 shortlist. We got good feedback from friends and a few independent nods.

The next task was to really get it out there. The obvious place is YouTube but we didn’t want to miss the inevitable spike in traffic and wanted to drive it to a new Cold Storage Movie site. So, I started building that… and 6 months later I’m finished! Not because it’s a massive site but other things get in the way – like the rest of my life, work, etc!

The recent focus of energy to finish the site has come because Antics have seen Cold Storage and love it! They want to showcase it and I may work with them to do an Antics promo. I’ll be talking to them very soon.

And of course, there’s always the next project. Film-wise for me it’s going to be “The Killer Job” although I may do a few smaller things as I continue to develop the script. I want it to be a live shoot, 90 minute, horror film. So I might start a new blog for that…

So keep coming back for updates for Cold Storage and our other films...

Website Launched!

noreply@blogger.com (Dreamacrome) — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 21:13:00 +0000

At last! It's taken longer than we wanted but we had a push this weekend and the site is now up and running.

Go take a look!

Please go and take a look to see the movie again or read some background to the story and the project as a whole. There are also details on other scripts and projects we have in production and have worked on over the years.

I think that’s it for the backdated blog. There’s a few more entries after we posted the movie up but I’ll add those in as I go along. It's real time now, but plenty more to be talking about.

Now we've got the site we'll be posting on YouTube. I've also got some very exciting news (I hope) later this week around Antics who have seen Cold Storage and absolutely love it!

Beyond Post Production

noreply@blogger.com (Dreamacrome) — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 19:20:00 +0000

25/5/07
The film has been out almost a month with around 116 views. Not bad considering we've not done much promotion. That is starting next week.
So what have we done? Well, after a week's rest (well deserved I assure you!) we did a quick re-edit. The aim wasn't to change too much but there were a few areas that I wanted tidying up. In the end it was less than I thought. I think because after seeing the completed film a few times and discussing it with people you realise the bits you see really aren't important.

Next was drawing up a plan for the next steps. Although both Parmy and I are keen to kick off another creative project, we need to do this justice first with some distribution and marketing to get it out there. Enter Lance Weiler and his film "Head Trauma" which he has self distributed and written some great articles about. I used this as the basis for our own web promotion.

Along with our other ideas we came up with a list of 40 things we could and should do to get the movie out there and promote it. Many were more creative things (posters, trailer, brand new website design in Flash, etc) so we've opted for the less creative stuff first - getting a presence on social sites first. If you're reading this, then you're already seeing the results!

I've also been looking into how the music needs to work. If we can't license what we have we may have to recut the music using production music libraries. See my other blog on music.

Plan Review

noreply@blogger.com (Dreamacrome) — Sun, 30 Sep 2007 20:11:00 +0000

24/4/07
Not finished yet but a quick plan review reveals that I didn't even start animating real action until the week it was meant to finish! 29/3
I took a week longer than planned and started 3 weeks late meaning an overrun of 4 weeks.
We are now squeezing post proper into 3 days, although Parmy has been editing for almost 2 weeks.
Editing is 8-10 times quicker than shooting. A 12 shot scene that will take about 1.5 days to shoot and a day to prepare takes less than half a day to visually edit.
All Antics had no sound so interesting to see how well that will work in Adobe.
Titles not even started yet so they will be simple.

Principal Photography Complete

noreply@blogger.com (Dreamacrome) — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 20:17:00 +0000

24/4/07
Wow! The last week or so has been pretty intense. The end in sight and pushing, pushing, pushing. Still I put in a few nights and evenings and got there.

Have also been reviewing Parmy's edits which are also time consuming and stressful when you want to push on with your own stuff! Still, it is coming together nicely. I think the music and sound will be more time consuming than we imagined so it's important to make a start.

I predict that we will fall short of what we want but it will still be pretty good. I've got to read up on music and copyrights today and will also make an early start on the MySpace page. The upload is bound to be a technical nightmare. I hope it comes out close to what we want.

So getting there. I've made some notes in my learning Blog. Onwards and upwards...

Learning

noreply@blogger.com (Dreamacrome) — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 07:20:00 +0000

16/4/07
OK, entering the final 11 days and it's getting tense. Made a discovery today and thought it worth noting some top tips for next time:

When trying to match different shots the Antics auto animations can be problematic - like opening doors. Characters have to be certain distances, etc, so they add extra movements that you don't need. To get it smoother, record the animation in the timeline. Then use the scrub to get to a point where you can cut to and save the pose there. Then start a new take and blend from a previous pose to the one you just save. The movement is smooth.
EG 1. save a pose once the char has his hand on the door
2. Run a new take that has him stepping into this saved pose
3. Then cut into the original take after he already has his hand on the door

Don't delete things to readily, like poses or objects as Antics often crashes. Save changes first!

Planning.
In retrospect, I think it would be better to plan the order to shoot the scenes in getting a mixture of hard and easy and also taking into account shots which may get reused later. So I should have recorded Miles on the balcony and the shots for Jad at the same time.

Also plan in shooting and editing. It would have been better to review completed scenes soon after they are shot rather than waiting. If this can be planned into shooting schedule it also makes it less stressful.
So I would recommend plan scenes in blocks - I will shoot 2-3 and then review the first, next one, and so on. Also bear in mind which scene changes may affect subsequent so space them a bit to allow any learning from editing to be applied in the shooting.

Having such a large set in Antics definitely makes the whole thing slow. Consider JPEG backgrounds or just a lot less buildings or something. It can become painful.

Too many poses and takes slows scenes down. After about 15 takes the whole process of saving and loading gets lengthy.

First Edit

noreply@blogger.com (Dreamacrome) — Mon, 03 Sep 2007 17:51:00 +0000

12/4/07
Had our first editing session yesterday. A bit of a slow start hampered by Antics output avi's with sound not loading into Adobe Premiere. But we got into the swing of it and it's pretty handy. We moreorless completed 2 scenes with around 20 shots in total. All without sound. In flow I reckon Parmy could knock out 40 shots in a day. So I reckon we have around 3 days editing max to do. Much nicer compared with the creation of the shots!

Spent this morning exporting the sound avi's without sound and updating the shooting schedule so that it lists the order that I think the shots should be edited with my comments on cut points, alternatives, etc. This should enable Parmy to create a very good cut and minimise any issues I might have.

This leaves any transition effects and of course the sound to do, along with credits (I have written a separate entry on credits).

So all is looking good to pull it together. The big hold up is me and creating the actual animation. I will try to get another batch out in the next few days.

We also checked out the MySpace competition which now has 500 entries! As ever, some good quality, some not. Let's hope we make it.

Slow Progress

noreply@blogger.com (Dreamacrome) — Fri, 24 Aug 2007 16:01:00 +0000

5/4/07
The last week has been pretty tough. It's such slow going that it's painful and I really think we are going to miss the MySpace deadline which will be a real shame, although we may come out with a better movie if we take longer. I guess this is the frustration of all film-makers!

I had a mini review to see if there was any way that I could speed up. There were the obvious time losers (coffee, breaks, finding something else to do) but I've got on top of these and this week has been pretty intense. And still it goes slow.

I added a previous evening review of the scene I was shooting so I was prepared when I started the next day. Really helped and made focus much better. Antics itself isn't really adding much time. OK so outputting avi's and fiddling with the timeline can add a few seconds or minutes, and I'm onto about 3 crashes a day, but regular saving means I'm not doing much backtracking.

Yesterday I worked through Scene 16 and did over 23 scenes. A record. But I'm still behind. The good news is that I think the quality is much higher and the stamping scene looks real, so that is great. I'm going to record my progress in a separate entry and also for future reference so that I know how quick/slow things will be (especially if I consult!!).

So still looking for ideas to speed up. I think as I get quicker I actually spend more time making things better. Good for quality, not for time. We shall see...

Production Progress

noreply@blogger.com (Dreamacrome) — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 21:11:00 +0000

30/3/07
After discussion with Parmy I backtracked on my decision to output 4:3 ratio and went back to a more cinematic 16:9 in HDTV. It meant re-rendering 5 avi's which did involve some re-hashing in Antics. Lost a morning.

Now using the skeletons from the Storyboard set in the Production to save time, for Jad's headstand. Deciding on shots is tricky but I think I've got it. I will pick up some "coverage" as well. All in all it feels very time consuming and I'm a bit worried about hitting the 27 April deadline. We'll see.

Set Building Progress

noreply@blogger.com (Dreamacrome) — Sat, 18 Aug 2007 11:06:00 +0000

26/3/07
Head down stuff for the last few days. Doing the internals is quite hard work as there are the odd shots through other storey windows so it's necessary to have some stuff in them. Not difficult, just a long process of placing and positioning stuff - furniture, plants, pictures, etc. I've also expanded Miles' lounge so that it looks more realistic and there's more space to film. Have now duplicated the set and started working on the lounge sepcific shots.

Also re-ran the storyboard to check that my main camera angles are all possible and the set is dressed properly. Moreorless OK, although I'm bound to have to add something later!

Also read that Spielberg introduced the camera moving and then I saw some Jurassic Park. Sure enough, it's always moving and the blocking works so that a camera moves through a set as the actor does and the camera gets to a detail (perhaps a close up of the hand) as the actor moves into the space. Need to apply to my cameras just to make it a bit professional. Will be interesting.

So now testing specific animations for Suzie and Miles as these are going to be the real thing. Then adding starting poses for people and cameras and then will be ready for shooting the Lounge shots. Hope to have them completed this week and have some stuff for Parmy.

As for 27th April deadline - tricky. But let's see how it turns out.

Finally, realised that we haven't recorded the dialogue yet and the lip-syncing may change as a result. So I hope it won't change too much. I may have to save all the sets to that scenes with dialogue can be easily recreated. Also started to make notes of this sort of thing to remind me!!

Storyboard Review

noreply@blogger.com (Dreamacrome) — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 16:59:00 +0000

14/3
Parmy and I had the review of the Storyboards which went really well. Brought up quite a bit of discussion with a few changes and enhancements coming out. The main area now is pulling the music together and the final edit.

I started to build the sets "for real". I started with the block, copied the existing rooms and then changed how the balcony sits. Then built up the block again and then added surrounding buildings. This took a while and I used the old Hollywood trick of angling streets away so that you don't have to build as big a set!

I'm now going to work on the internals, probably building it into the block first for realism when looking through the windows. I'll then copy the room and enlarge for internal shooting. This means I get realistic externals through the window too and minimises copying, etc. Let's see how it goes.

Also lost some time ordering a new graphics card. It should arrive today so fingers crossed for a smooth install and then much better avi output!

Editing

noreply@blogger.com (Dreamacrome) — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 22:03:00 +0000

26/6
Parmy

Loaded Adobe Premiere Pro today.

Starting reading the help and tutorials. These are ok if you've used Editing Software before or want to brush up on an Adobe Premier feature.

However they fall short of a Getting Started Tutorial.

I surfed the Adobe Site and found no "free" offerings.

So in the end I just played until I got the basics running:

Switch from one video clip to another
Overlay multiple audio tracks

Overlaying the Audio tracks is ok, but I haven't found a way to fade in and fade out audio, or even how to adjust the volume of an audio track during a sequence (scene). There must be a way to do this, as I can't imainge it is so limited that the audio tracks have to be pre-edited before loading into Adobe Prem.

The structure of Adobe appears to be multiple sequences. Each sequence can contain multiple assets which can be loaded into different layers. It is possible to add audio and video affects to the asset within a sequence, however what I want to do is add morphing audio and video effects to layers. I haven't found a way to do this yet. Once this has been achieved then the fun of putting Cold Storage can begin.

Tomorrow I plan to continue to reading the help - however if by Thursday I'm no closer to achieving what I want to, then I'll consider paying $80 for a downloaded video tutorial.

First Dig into New Process for Storyboards

noreply@blogger.com (Dreamacrome) — Sun, 29 Jul 2007 20:30:00 +0000

23/2/07
I finished the shotlist today and started on the new storyboard scenes in Antics. I went into the Penthouse Set and started by copying the building, which means copying all the rooms using Copy Tree, pasting and moving them. Striaghtfoward but repetitive. I then started work on the "new" Jad - meditating and falling off. I immediately realised that having done this once already really helped. I created 3 or 4 poses much easier and quicker and the effect looks like it will work.

Adhering to the shotlist really helps, and also enables you to do things different if necessary - you always know that you have the original shot to come back to if you need it.

As ever, I found the lack of a search on the content library a bit of a pain as I'm sure searching with Meta tags would help find different things. It's slow to use the dropdowns and then have to click on each item individually to see if it is suitable. Needs improvement.

Today I will record the storyboard and see if the prep has paid off. Then move onto the next set.

Other ways I have found the shotlist useful:

Numbering cameras - 4_1 is scene 4, camera 1
I will also number the avi's output like this, 4_1 will be avi for scene 4, cam 1
Seeing all the scenes that a location is used in and then planning cameras, action, etc, being wary of later movements affecting earlier.
This also helps with thinking about replicating certain rooms to get specific shots with new cameras (like a closeup of the chair). Currently I've kept this all in one room, but it might be useful to do the CU in another room and seprate shot.

First Full Review

noreply@blogger.com (Dreamacrome) — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 20:24:00 +0000

22/2/07
Had the first review of progress so far with Parmy on 20/2 and it went really well. We started by viewing avi's so far and of course a couple haven't come out correctly. Subsequent follow up means I need a better graphics card. Coming soon.

We then reviewed the 2 scripts that we had as Parmy has always felt the first much better. We ran through both and came up with a great hybrid which I pulled together yesterday. It is 8 pages and has the depth of the intro of characters of the first script, but the unfolding of the seperate stories of the second. Nothing is ditched so there is no work lost except the bits of "foot leather" which I decided should be dropped after working on it anyway.

The shotlist is a great document as well and is going to be invaluable throughout. It's already giving Parmy an idea on the edit. I'm finding that I invent once when I write it, then use it as a guide for the Storyboard where I might make further changes. No doubt, other smaller changes will appear in shooting.

We looked at the editing and I still think we will mix it between Antics and Adobe, although we came up with a way to output the action as separate AVI's for each camera. This would involve cutting to the specific camera in the timeline, then export the avi, then change camera and start again. The downside of this method is that the specific camera won't be stored and if we need to export then you would have to go again. It does give maximum benefit to editing though. Realistcally, I think I will do this for the more complicated scenes, leaving the simple scenes cut in Antics.

It was great to chat things through and share ideas and we are both motivated from it. I have now almost finished the new shotlist and can then continue with churning out the rest of the Storyboard for our review next Wednesday. The plan is to finish pre-production by Friday.

Change and Release of Energy!

noreply@blogger.com (Dreamacrome) — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 20:12:00 +0000

15/2/07
After detailing the process it really made things clear for me. I realised that the position I was in wasn't great and there's an alternative. Within 2 hours I felt much more energised on the project.

I must admit that I really wasn't spending the time I needed to to make it all happen. Secretly I knew I wasn't massively motivated so all those procrastination tricks kicked in. This is part of the learning process but sometimes it's hard to be disciplined when you know you are going to be demotivated as you're not as good as you want to be. A teacher can push you through it. It's harder on your own. So I was gonna do a pour out of feeling to help me through it but it seems documenting the process has done the same.

The major things I am now focusing on:
Finish my rough run through only up to the end of the fridge going over the balcony.

I am using new takes and creating poses for everything (cameras, Jad falling, the Fridge). With the realisation that multiple cuts can remove some of the awkwardness of the animation I am much happier with creating some half decent action knowing I can review, focus and improve. Because of the smaller take size, everything is quicker!

Once I have finished with Miles, I will continue the rest by creating more of a Storyboard using Antics. I will create the basic settings, character poses and camera angles and then just cut together these "stills" rather than trying to link with proper actions. I think this will flow much quicker.

With Multiple avi outputs I can improve much quicker and zap the good stuff (throwing fridge over) to Parmy to show progress.

We have agreed to review a storyboard next week prior to a session to understand the editing suite.

So all of this has released my energy and all of a sudden an April deadline seems reasonable. After watching Guy101 (Bafta animation short winner) I reckon we can knock a few out this year and start progressing towards that film-making goal!

Finally, maybe the thought of collaboration has also energised me. It's been a bit lonely on CS with no feedback and nothing to show.

Time for a change!

New Thoughts on the Process

noreply@blogger.com (Dreamacrome) — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 21:51:00 +0000

14/2
This brings me to what the process should be:

Imagine in my mind
Basic shot list
Hand-drawn storyboard of shots. This starts to focus on what may be possible or not
- If needs be use Antics to model some of the more complicated shots
Review storyboards with Parms to chat through alternatives, discuss difficult bits and resolve potential problems
Create a more detailed shotlist with updates. Break this down into a shooting schedule
- Decisions here will include understanding easy shots & sets, what we want first, what might be re-used.
- Chunk the shotlist into a timebox plan with specific deliverables for each stage
Work to the shotlist creating and dressing sets
- Potentially take a basic "Mastershot" recording of the set zooming through it for a review with Parms
- Add cameras and characters
- Add all necessary animations, props, etc
- Add any tracks for cameras anticipating where stuff will move
- Record all start poses
- Record any sound
Working through shotlist, record action, add sound then cut between cameras
Output avi's
- These will need to be saved in Set (location) libraries and clearly labelled, etc
Iterate steps 6-8 for each chunk of plan
Rushes should be pulled together with basic editing for each chunk of the plan
Once all avi's in then the "Big Edit" can start.
- Presume this could start before if all the chunks for a section are in

Not sure how sound fits in with all of this. Needs to be added in for specific avi's but not sure when overall sound is put on - probably editing?
So need to plan out the score for the film as well as sound fx.

Can avoid this process but it seems to be sensible. My question - what to do right now?

Mid Build Review

noreply@blogger.com (Dreamacrome) — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 20:26:00 +0000

13/2/07
What I didn't realise was just how cumbersome building a 1.5 minute take had become, with any change in the timeline taking 20 seconds. Painful, unworkable and leading to instability. So I had a chat with Parms and realised that we are going to use multiple avi's anyway so I should restrict an avi to a particular scene/location. This enable me to use camera cuts in Antics to stage the scene but then allow the different scenes to be cut together in the editing stage.

Other realisations and learning points:
I can output multiple avi's from 1 set by creating different takes. This is fine but camera moves in one take still affect another. Therefore, I need to create starting camera "poses" and snap to at the start of a take (along with all props and people). This means any later moves can be catered for.

The above means I don't have to have so many cameras! This is an alternative way to posing.

It's probably beneficial to keep each location as a separate scene. Copy over elements if necessary. This means moving different cameras and people will not effect each different set. This could facilitate having duplicates of one location so that I can overlap action
Eg Miles runs in to pick up a hammer. I can cut early from this avi (in editing) to him running out with the hammer in the second location.

I need to pay attention to my shotlist! Obviously the hammering is action lead and will benefit from multiple shots of hammering and clever hiding to make it look realistic (as a hammer on fingers close-up looks tricky). These multiple shots may result in having multiple avi's and cut the action together in editing.

Also, the shotlist shows which scenes are short and which are going to be large in terms of cuts, etc. Ignore at my peril.

Back into it

noreply@blogger.com (Dreamacrome) — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 19:58:00 +0000

8/2/07
Some time away from the animating... Getting back into it was slow and started with readjusting some of what I had already - speeding up the rush into the bedroom.
The new scenes I've moved onto are much more fun and I am flowing a bit more. Overall, it's still basic but it will be good for me and Parms to review and see what I can do differently. The process is easier and I am finding that going back into Construction, adding poses and cameras and then returning is better, although I still created a problem in scene 1 by re-using a camera later on - d'oh!
The other problem is whether due to my disc being fragmented or the size of the Antics file, but Antics crashing is lot more frequent (once an hour) and moving anything in the timeline takes 10 seconds which can be laborious. I will backup and then defrag so hopefully this will speed things up.

First Timebox Complete

noreply@blogger.com (Dreamacrome) — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 16:47:00 +0000

13/1/07
Started recording basic action. The real frustrations come out when you get a run at it. So I started creating my big take. Of course, an hour in and Antics crashes and then is unable to load the autosave version. So my first hour of work lost! Moral of the story - save often when recording!

Anyway, started the camera flow and not working too bad. Overall I have a 1m 7s take. Learning points:
- In different rooms ensure you load in different people so that you can then overlap action (end scenes early
- Cutting from different bits of action in the same room definitely isn't ideal. Even exporting individual AVI's could be very messy but I guess more akin to real film making where it is put together in the edit. Obviously naming and managing the different takes would be key then.
- Getting the pacing is difficult especially with characters running. Antics tends to jump them on my PC (probably crappy graphics card & processor) so it is difficult to judge real-time. On playback I found some takes very slow and really elongating the action (particularly the camera pan around the bedroom)
- I am edfinitely suffering from a lack of planning shots and did actually add a camera to record some extra footage. This could have been avoided with better shot planning
- I also moved around some action to make the cuts tighter. However, in such a long run of action this then knocks onto to subsequent actions and isn't really manageable. Would be easier if all takes were smaller (ie all separate AVI's)

Overall it's better than nothing but I didn't get as far as I wanted or get to add much sound. But it's a start and will be interesting to get Parm's opinion.

My decisions are whether to start again, either re-building sets or recording or whether to push forward and get a complete rough cut before starting again. I could also sit down and storyboard and plan more before starting.

Still, pretty pleased and some good learning. Even getting the hang of camera keyframing. Lighting to tackle at some point!

Moving Along

noreply@blogger.com (Dreamacrome) — Sat, 30 Jun 2007 10:55:00 +0000

9/1/07
Not much more to report today. Another few hours racked up. Finished the block and adding trees. Had the brainwave to copy multiple windows and doors to each level... only to find they didn't make holes in the wall! So had to delete and do each one individually. Not great, but not hard. Just more time.

Then moved onto some tentative blocking of the hallway scene which I have done before. Didn't take long and got a starting pose. Not going to dwell but instead move onto the next scenes tomorrow. I estimate I will be ready to record action the day after.

This should give me 2 days to rack through all the action in one long take. I will add dialogue but not necessarily effects and then come back for that. Might have to put the thing onto DVD and send to Parms if it's too big (I reckon it will be).

Progress Continues

noreply@blogger.com (Dreamacrome) — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 21:45:00 +0000

8/1/07
Made some good progress in set construction today. The main piece of work was creating the block of flats. Firstly, I managed to place my main room 4 stories in the air so it can look realistic with trees below.

I then got to work building the block. But first I watched another of Antics great tutorials on creating sets. It showed how to use the floorplan and how to put rooms on upper floors. Basically, copy, paste and use a number in the Z axis field. This made it so much easier and will also help me in some of the other sets I've created where the doors aren't working properly.

So it goes to show that I am learning the software as much as the film-making process. I will continue the build tomorrow and will hopefully move onto dressing the sets and blocking the action for starting positions.

Also been working through "Shot by Shot" which is focusing on the history of sets and storyboards. Watched Bladerunner and immediately realised where Ridley Scott comes from and potentially the sorts of films that appeal to me - ones with lots of production design and interesting lighting! Inspiring. There is also a chapter on how to do very simple storyboards which has inspired me to start drawing more. Plan to get a pencil and draw storyboards whilst I am on hols.

Trial and Error

noreply@blogger.com (Dreamacrome) — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 21:42:00 +0000

6/1/07
Today I've been truly experiencing the idea of iterative development! Whilst it is always good to try things yourself, it can also be a tad frustrating. After spending 3 or 4 days trying to work out how to cut different takes together, I got it to a reasonable point today. However, Antics is still a bit messy and often overlaps certain actions in each take. So I end up moving these around with the inherent problems that causes (think about moving the action of somebody walking to which you have already added 6 sounds of footsteps. They are not connected and now you have to move all of them separately.)

I also find that Antics is inconsistent in where it wants to place objects and people once you start pasting different takes together. In my mind I see blocking as the answer to this. IE have a specific starting position for everybody and everything saved as a pose which you can "snap to" at the start of that part of the take.

With all the to-ing and fro-ing I decided that although it is possible to create a third take from 2 existing takes I would just start from scratch. So now my process looks like:

- Create all the separate script sets in one Antics set - so imagine multiple rooms in a large studio and you get the picture
- At this stage I am using basic dressing
- I then intend to add props (incl cameras), and play around with non-recorded animation to ensure I have the right dimensions, etc
- Once happy, create all the poses necessary
- Then move to animation recording the action in one massive take
- The beginning of each section will require "snap to blocking" which should move characters from one room to another instantaneously!

This is my plan! However, I've only just created the hallway and so have a lot of set building to do before I get to placing people in each scene. I'm sure there will be more learning as this moves on. Hopefully, I can apply what I have learned so far and make it quick.

This bears out already as building the hallway the third time around was quicker! Second time around left Miles with so many options of what doors to go through that he ended up walking through walls!

To get more immediate feedback, I could build a set and then animate, build the next, animate. However, I am worried about what Antics starts to do when you move back and forward between set construction and the timeline. They recommend doing it in blocks so I am going to follow that. It just prolongs the fun bit! I realise what my directing book was saying when Hitchcock is quoted as saying he would keep directors away from a camera for 2 years!

So back to where I started: the frustration comes in feeling your way though things. It's the best learning, I know, but to have a better starting point (based on other people's knowledge) just might help speed up the process. Fortunately, the Shot by Shot book arrived today so this will form a formal part of my learning. I'm thinking 10-20 pages a day combined with animation, but we'll see. In a way, what I am doing now will be me before that learning but if I read it alongside, it will be a combo. In the intro, he talks about making a film hands on as the best learning. So hopefully I am getting the best of both worlds.

I guess ultimately (but time will show) I would just create separate scenes and takes, export separate avi's and then edit them together in Adobe making a lot of my fiddling around irrelevant. BUT, there is still the learning and fiddling with Adobe which I can avoid for now.

Wow, I never expected it to be so in depth, but this is the challenge I was after. Keep having to remind myself that I am in the conscious incompetence stage so my motivation will be low (struggling to get more than a few hours a day proves this). As always, let's see how this progresses.

AFTER THE EVENT
Reviewing this entry today is very interesting! A lot of what I was trying here came to pass and has also been recognised in the new release of Antics, 2.5. Once I get tot the end of the "making of" story of blogs I will return to these key entries and comment on them. That will also facilitate my learning for the next time!

One Step Forward, Two Back

noreply@blogger.com (Dreamacrome) — Mon, 18 Jun 2007 07:38:00 +0000

5/1/07
Although I am gaining enthusiasm and getting my head around the small problems that Antics throw up that you may not get in the normal camera world (no fade to black so used a billboard) I make one breakthrough and seem to set up a load more probs.

Today I got to set up the positions of people and cameras and even objects so that they wouldn't persist from other takes. However, as I have created the first two takes the wrong way around, when I place them next to each other it goes barmy either putting the briefcase in Miles hand at the start or trying to find a camera tilt curve and then going into a barmy and crashing.

I guess this is because I'm learning a few things and then protoyping my learning. So right now I am trying to get 2 takes to play out in a third take so that I can film and edit continuously to avoid exporting multiple avi's. If I can't get it all in one then I will have to rely on Adobe and Parmy.

Things definitely getting worse! Can't drag takes into a new one now, even though I've been doing it all day! Time for a reboot so probably last entry here today.