Still working on multiple things. Still moving slowly, but getting done bit by bit. A lot of the writing stopped this past week while my parents were in town, as I spent most of my free time with them. But now that they're back home, work on the script will pick back up. Meeting with Nick on Saturday to go over some more stuff for TC.
Preservation is three FX shots closer to being finished. I finished the final comps for one of the 'kill' scenes in the movie. The one I was writing about in an earlier entry. It's not perfect - I think I could get it to look better, but I also want the movie to get finished, so at some point I have to call a shot 'done'. I think I reached that point with these particular shots tonight.
Now just have to go down the FX list, find the next one, and start getting that one finished. Hopefully at some point soon there will be no more shots on the list. That will be a happy day.
Oh. Also set a date for the wedding today. August 6, 2011. Should be fun. Stay tuned.
Catch ya later!
Rob
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
One page at a time...
Over the last week I've been attempting to write the rough draft of 'The Chrononauts'. It has proved to be challenging - not because I don't know where the story goes - but more because of other things going on in life. Trying to get the apartment organized for my parents' visit, running around to different wedding type places.....lots of stuff. So, it's going a little slower than I'd hoped, BUT, I did manage to complete a rough draft of the first three chapters so far.
Today Nick came over for about an hour and we read through them, and I was surprised that they sounded better than I'd thought they were going to. I hadn't gone back to read any of what I'd written before this because I didn't want to get stuck doing revisions on a rough draft without just pushing through and finishing said draft. So, getting to read it today and hear it was pretty helpful. I'm still not going to go back and re-write anything yet (even though there are definitely some changes I'd make) I'm going to keep pushing forward toward finishing the whole draft. Nick, on the other hand has what I've written already, and can sort of "follow behind me" working a next draft out of what has already been written. Then, when I get to the end, I'll go back to Chapter One (of his revisions), and work on revising that - "following behind him". And we'll keep dancing that dance until we have a shootable script.
Other than that, I've been hanging out with my parents the last few days, and Robin's mom as well. We did tourist-y things yesterday in Philly and that was fun. Saw the Liberty Bell, Betsy Ross's house, and inside Independence Hall (which I'd never seen the inside of before even though I was born and raised here). Also saw a kick-ass possible location for some Chrononauts stuff near the Betsy Ross house.
That's about it. More work to do. More fun to have.
Catch ya later!
Rob
Today Nick came over for about an hour and we read through them, and I was surprised that they sounded better than I'd thought they were going to. I hadn't gone back to read any of what I'd written before this because I didn't want to get stuck doing revisions on a rough draft without just pushing through and finishing said draft. So, getting to read it today and hear it was pretty helpful. I'm still not going to go back and re-write anything yet (even though there are definitely some changes I'd make) I'm going to keep pushing forward toward finishing the whole draft. Nick, on the other hand has what I've written already, and can sort of "follow behind me" working a next draft out of what has already been written. Then, when I get to the end, I'll go back to Chapter One (of his revisions), and work on revising that - "following behind him". And we'll keep dancing that dance until we have a shootable script.
Other than that, I've been hanging out with my parents the last few days, and Robin's mom as well. We did tourist-y things yesterday in Philly and that was fun. Saw the Liberty Bell, Betsy Ross's house, and inside Independence Hall (which I'd never seen the inside of before even though I was born and raised here). Also saw a kick-ass possible location for some Chrononauts stuff near the Betsy Ross house.
That's about it. More work to do. More fun to have.
Catch ya later!
Rob
Friday, August 6, 2010
Animating Fluid Simulations
Yeah, sounds weird right?
Actually, it's kind of interesting what 3D animation programs can do these days. Of course, it's also maddening as there is no end to what you need to learn to operate them. I'm sure for some people it's super easy - but I'm not a computer programmer, so some of these things take me a little longer to do.
Well, that and I find that a lot of amateur CGI artists figure out how to do something, but then don't go all the way with it. So, instead of a really great final shot you get something that looks like really bad CGI. Now, I'm not saying that I do really good CGI, but sometimes it takes me a little longer to get stuff done because I keep trying to see if I can make it look just a little more realistic. I don't think I'll ever really be happy with a finished shot - I just try to refine it as much as I can before I feel like I have to call it done.
With 'Preservation' that time is fast approaching. I have a number of FX shots still to do, and I want them to look great. So, I'm working toward that end. But I am keeping conscious of the fact that I also NEED to get this film done SOON. It's already been 3 years.
So anyway - back to the title of this post - I've been working on a specific shot for 'Preservation' over the last two days. It's a shot where the killer rams his machete through the abdomen of one of the characters. Weee! Horror movies! Anyway, I've managed to model the torso and machete in the computer, and animate the blade moving through the abdomen. I've been able to use the animation program's physics simulations to make the abdomen model "deform" as the machete pushes through it. Like I said before - it's not 100% where I would take it if I had all the time in the world, but I think I can probably live with it.
I've rendered out that animation (rendering is the process of having the computer draw each frame and save them to be able to play back in a movie file) and I've composited the animation into the live action background plate that we shot on location. That was completed yesterday.
Today I spent some time work on fluid simulation. Pretty cool, but very complex. The computer is able (based on settings and other things that you tell it) to simulate various fluids and how they flow, etc. So using that I've created a "blast" of blood to shoot out of the wound with the machete blade. It's a separate animation that I rendered today, and composited into the shot from yesterday. I think it looks pretty cool. You can judge for yourself.
Now, it's not quite finished yet. It still needs color correcting, and I'm going to add some more blood to the blade itself, as well as adjust some of the texturing/shading on it. And this frame may look a little blurry, but that's because the actual moving shot has a zoom in here, and there's motion blur on it. It's a little dark, but it's supposed to be to match the lighting of the live action shot.
So, that's what I've been up to lately. Still writing on 'The Chrononauts'. Getting closer to a draft of that. Have a meeting on Wednesday with Nick to go over whatever I get written up to that point.
In the meantime, I have a couple more shots to do for the machete scene and then I can put that to bed.
Feels pretty good.
Catch ya later!
Rob
Actually, it's kind of interesting what 3D animation programs can do these days. Of course, it's also maddening as there is no end to what you need to learn to operate them. I'm sure for some people it's super easy - but I'm not a computer programmer, so some of these things take me a little longer to do.
Well, that and I find that a lot of amateur CGI artists figure out how to do something, but then don't go all the way with it. So, instead of a really great final shot you get something that looks like really bad CGI. Now, I'm not saying that I do really good CGI, but sometimes it takes me a little longer to get stuff done because I keep trying to see if I can make it look just a little more realistic. I don't think I'll ever really be happy with a finished shot - I just try to refine it as much as I can before I feel like I have to call it done.
With 'Preservation' that time is fast approaching. I have a number of FX shots still to do, and I want them to look great. So, I'm working toward that end. But I am keeping conscious of the fact that I also NEED to get this film done SOON. It's already been 3 years.
So anyway - back to the title of this post - I've been working on a specific shot for 'Preservation' over the last two days. It's a shot where the killer rams his machete through the abdomen of one of the characters. Weee! Horror movies! Anyway, I've managed to model the torso and machete in the computer, and animate the blade moving through the abdomen. I've been able to use the animation program's physics simulations to make the abdomen model "deform" as the machete pushes through it. Like I said before - it's not 100% where I would take it if I had all the time in the world, but I think I can probably live with it.
I've rendered out that animation (rendering is the process of having the computer draw each frame and save them to be able to play back in a movie file) and I've composited the animation into the live action background plate that we shot on location. That was completed yesterday.
Today I spent some time work on fluid simulation. Pretty cool, but very complex. The computer is able (based on settings and other things that you tell it) to simulate various fluids and how they flow, etc. So using that I've created a "blast" of blood to shoot out of the wound with the machete blade. It's a separate animation that I rendered today, and composited into the shot from yesterday. I think it looks pretty cool. You can judge for yourself.
Now, it's not quite finished yet. It still needs color correcting, and I'm going to add some more blood to the blade itself, as well as adjust some of the texturing/shading on it. And this frame may look a little blurry, but that's because the actual moving shot has a zoom in here, and there's motion blur on it. It's a little dark, but it's supposed to be to match the lighting of the live action shot.
So, that's what I've been up to lately. Still writing on 'The Chrononauts'. Getting closer to a draft of that. Have a meeting on Wednesday with Nick to go over whatever I get written up to that point.
In the meantime, I have a couple more shots to do for the machete scene and then I can put that to bed.
Feels pretty good.
Catch ya later!
Rob
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Script Writing and Rendering
What do script writing and rendering computer generated images have in common you might ask?
They take FOREVER to complete.
And they both need to happen in order to have yourself a finished movie. (Unless you have no CGI in your film, but whatever)
So, as I write this I am taking a short break from some writing work on the rough (or crap, as some might say) draft of the first season of 'The Chrononauts', and my computer is also rendering part of an FX shot for Preservation. Two movies at once!!
The writing is coming along well enough, I guess. I finished Episode 1, and I'm a little over halfway through Episode 2. I'm kinda hoping to finish Episodes 2 and 3 before bed. We'll see. It definitely helps to have the story outlined beat for beat. Keeps me more focused as to what to write. Still takes time though. So I just plug away one page at a time, and eventually it will be finished.
Then we'll revise it like fifteen times, and maybe then we can shoot it!
There's really less to tell about the CGI rendering for 'Preservation'. The computer takes care of most of the work there. I just go do other stuff, cause it's like watching paint dry. In any case, it needs to be done. So there ya have it. A few more hours, and a TON of compositing and color correcting later, and I'll have another completed shot for the movie. One step closer there!
All in all, it's nice to keep productive - especially when I don't have much (any) work coming in and I'm trying to avoid thinking about being broke.
I guess that's it for now. Off to get a frozen fruit bar!! Mmm....cherry.
Later!
Rob
They take FOREVER to complete.
And they both need to happen in order to have yourself a finished movie. (Unless you have no CGI in your film, but whatever)
So, as I write this I am taking a short break from some writing work on the rough (or crap, as some might say) draft of the first season of 'The Chrononauts', and my computer is also rendering part of an FX shot for Preservation. Two movies at once!!
The writing is coming along well enough, I guess. I finished Episode 1, and I'm a little over halfway through Episode 2. I'm kinda hoping to finish Episodes 2 and 3 before bed. We'll see. It definitely helps to have the story outlined beat for beat. Keeps me more focused as to what to write. Still takes time though. So I just plug away one page at a time, and eventually it will be finished.
Then we'll revise it like fifteen times, and maybe then we can shoot it!
There's really less to tell about the CGI rendering for 'Preservation'. The computer takes care of most of the work there. I just go do other stuff, cause it's like watching paint dry. In any case, it needs to be done. So there ya have it. A few more hours, and a TON of compositing and color correcting later, and I'll have another completed shot for the movie. One step closer there!
All in all, it's nice to keep productive - especially when I don't have much (any) work coming in and I'm trying to avoid thinking about being broke.
I guess that's it for now. Off to get a frozen fruit bar!! Mmm....cherry.
Later!
Rob
Monday, August 2, 2010
Re-animated like a Zombie
MMMmmm.......BBBbbraaains!!!
Sorry. No, not a zombie, not undead - just really lazy. So, sort of the same thing. Anyway, it's been a long time since I posted anything here. So long, in fact, that I had to ask Nick what the address of my blog was.
Anyway, I'm here now. Thought I'd try to start doing some more blogging about the projects I'm working on - (some that I'm STILL working on), and some upcoming projects.
Right now the two main projects are trying to FINISH 'Preservation', (GAH!), and proceeding through development on a web series that is based on a short film that we made two years ago called 'The Chrononauts'. Right now that is also the working title for the series, though who knows if it will change or not.
Preservation:
The movie actually is in a very close to finished place. Even a lot of the FX are done. There are a few that I'm still working on - (it's been slow though because of paying work, and because I've had to actually develop some techniques to do some of the shots) The film is getting there, though. We've got some music in place, and we're looking to have more written. Most of the dialogue re-recording is edited in, and we have a lot of the sound fx recorded. Just have to add that stuff in, do a sound mix, and color correct. Then we show it somewhere, at some time. Stay tuned for more info about that.
The Chrononauts:
Development is going well for this. It's been an ongoing process for about two years, during which time the project has gone from being a web series to being a feature film, back to being a web series again. This time, web series is where it will stay. Although we are in many ways still writing/developing it like a feature film - just one that will be cut into 13 separate 8 minute episodes. We will also likely shoot it like a feature film so that we have all of it ready to go once we premiere the first episode.
Today Nick and I finished the story outlines for the whole first season, and it's pretty sweet so far. Lots of action, adventure, suspense and the like. We also have a pretty decent idea of where the rest of the series will go. (How many seasons, how the whole thing ends, etc.)
So, now it just needs to be written. I'm going to take a crack at the first pass over this next week, and we'll see how far I get by next Wednesday. Then we'll do the revision thing, and start trying to put together info packages, and ways of raising the money to shoot. Don't know when we'll actually start shooting, but (like always) I'm pushing for sooner rather than later. Although I want the final product to be really good, so that will ultimately dictate the timeline of the process. But if I have my way, the first episode will hit the interwebs on Friday, November 11, 2011.
We'll see.
Until then I still have Preservation to finish, and a couple of short films that need to be put on final dvds.
More info about that as we go. Hopefully I can make myself keep up with this blog this time.
Anyway, that's it for now. Catch you later - and remember:
"Accept the Paradox"
(it will make sense eventually)
Sorry. No, not a zombie, not undead - just really lazy. So, sort of the same thing. Anyway, it's been a long time since I posted anything here. So long, in fact, that I had to ask Nick what the address of my blog was.
Anyway, I'm here now. Thought I'd try to start doing some more blogging about the projects I'm working on - (some that I'm STILL working on), and some upcoming projects.
Right now the two main projects are trying to FINISH 'Preservation', (GAH!), and proceeding through development on a web series that is based on a short film that we made two years ago called 'The Chrononauts'. Right now that is also the working title for the series, though who knows if it will change or not.
Preservation:
The movie actually is in a very close to finished place. Even a lot of the FX are done. There are a few that I'm still working on - (it's been slow though because of paying work, and because I've had to actually develop some techniques to do some of the shots) The film is getting there, though. We've got some music in place, and we're looking to have more written. Most of the dialogue re-recording is edited in, and we have a lot of the sound fx recorded. Just have to add that stuff in, do a sound mix, and color correct. Then we show it somewhere, at some time. Stay tuned for more info about that.
The Chrononauts:
Development is going well for this. It's been an ongoing process for about two years, during which time the project has gone from being a web series to being a feature film, back to being a web series again. This time, web series is where it will stay. Although we are in many ways still writing/developing it like a feature film - just one that will be cut into 13 separate 8 minute episodes. We will also likely shoot it like a feature film so that we have all of it ready to go once we premiere the first episode.
Today Nick and I finished the story outlines for the whole first season, and it's pretty sweet so far. Lots of action, adventure, suspense and the like. We also have a pretty decent idea of where the rest of the series will go. (How many seasons, how the whole thing ends, etc.)
So, now it just needs to be written. I'm going to take a crack at the first pass over this next week, and we'll see how far I get by next Wednesday. Then we'll do the revision thing, and start trying to put together info packages, and ways of raising the money to shoot. Don't know when we'll actually start shooting, but (like always) I'm pushing for sooner rather than later. Although I want the final product to be really good, so that will ultimately dictate the timeline of the process. But if I have my way, the first episode will hit the interwebs on Friday, November 11, 2011.
We'll see.
Until then I still have Preservation to finish, and a couple of short films that need to be put on final dvds.
More info about that as we go. Hopefully I can make myself keep up with this blog this time.
Anyway, that's it for now. Catch you later - and remember:
"Accept the Paradox"
(it will make sense eventually)
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Posting Bail
So, the Blog Police arrested me - the charge: Not keeping up with my blog.
Someone must have tipped them off.
I pleaded not guilty, but since the blog is in writing it was pretty easy for them to prove that I was lying. Anyway, some time cooling my heels later, and I'm back.
In any case - not a whole lot new, except for this little film Nick and Adam and I made for a film contest this past week. Five days to make a five minute film start to finish. More info can be found on Nick's blog - but luckily we got the damned thing in on time. The screening is on Wednesday, Nov. 12 at 7pm - Montgomery County Community College. More info on that can be found at www.fivedayfilmfestival.com.
Be there! Or don't. Up to you, really. But, in case you can't be there, we'll hopefully be putting the extended version of the film online sometime next week. In the meantime, you can check out the 40 second trailer for the movie.
Enjoy!
Rob
Monday, August 18, 2008
Oh yeah....Blogging
Okie dokie....so I've been a bad little blogger - in that I started a blog, wrote two entries, and then disappeared from blogging completely. Eh, what are ya gonna do?
I'll tell ya what I'm gonna do, climb right back up on that web-laden binary horse and start blogging again. Or at least attempt to for a while. I'm sure that Nick will continue to yell at me if I forget. He's good for the motivation.
Anyway, things have been about the same since last I blogged. Still trying to get answers for this computer. Still no tech guy living amongst the jackets in the closet. Oh well.
But, on the plus side work is progressing on the finishing of 'Preservation', the little $1,600 (approx.) feature film that has been in the works for just over a year now. Didn't think it would take this long, but I should have known better. Somewhere in the back of my mind I did.
Anyway, after a marathon week of work on it last week, we're almost at picture-lock. Which is cool. All (mostly) of the ADR has been recorded (don't know what that is - stands for Automated Dialogue Recording, long process - but basically a way to fix scenes where the sound of the dialogue sucks for whatever reason)....so we spent five days doing that. Now just have to spend forever and a day editing it into the movie. We started recording sound effects and foley, and so that's good. And we may have a music guy lined up to do the score. Which is tooth-rotting sweet.
I spent a good deal of time working on an effects shot tonight. There are a few of them in the movie that need to get finished. Since I'm pretty much the effects guy on the movie as well, it kinda falls to me. But, they'll get done in time....in time for what? Well, the premiere my friend, the premiere....which will hopefully be sometime in mid December. More specific date to follow. Unless you're in the cast or crew, and then you might get an advanced screening on or very near Halloween.
Anyway, Nick said that I should do some blogs about the work that I'm doing on the movie - maybe with some pictures, etc. It's not a bad idea. If I can find the time, or simply REMEMBER that I have a blog, I just might do that.
Till then, catch you around!
Rob
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