OT2 : Time An' A Half - The Online Diary

[fraught]

Cheers Dave. I already have a 4 year old who makes life very interesting for me. I'm also doing the VFX work of an evening now, so i'm not leaving it all until the last minute. As long as i get the film in the can by the end of Jan, i reckon i get it completely finished by the end of Feb... Just in time!!!

[fraught]

ENTRY : 28th January 2010

Things are dragging again, i think that's the story of this film! Still haven't managed to get permission to film in a Car Park. I'm half tempted to do it Guerilla Style like the old days and just turn up and shoot and to hell with the consequences! I have though... managed to sort out a lift, so filming on that sequence will happen next week.

In the meantime i'm cracking on with the VFX.

One thing i am happy to have cracked is the creation of a Jedi Spirit Character. I was having a hard time getting anything half decent using the inbuilt plug-ins within Studio 14... but after much perseverance i have cracked it! It's not perfect... but it's pretty damn good if you ask me.

So now that that has been cracked, i will carry on with the lightsaber work. It's boring and sometimes soul destroying... but the final product is always worth it!

[Dave Watterson]

That sounds to me like the experience of any artist mid-way through a project of any kind ... tired, slightly frustrated, recognising some achievements and breakthroughs but not attaching much weight to them ... nonetheless determined to continue and complete the project because you have faith in it.

Feel the force!

Dave

[fraught]

Cheers Dave!

If you want to see an example of the Jedi Spirit work i've done... i've put a clip up on YouTube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JkOxSx4Dcbk

Enjoy.

[fraught]

ENTRY : 2nd February 2010

Spent 7 hours last night purely doing rotascoping for the Lightsaber effect. Got more done than i thought, so i am really chuffed.
I also spent some time making slime, as one of our characters oozes slime. It needs to come out of their mouth, so i had to make sure it was non-toxic! What i used in the end was water and Ground Arrowroot. Made a mix that was slightly stronger than what is required for a glaze, and then boiled it enough so that it went clear. Looks great, and is edible.

Filming the lift scenes tonight. Got everyone turning up, so should be fun!

[fraught]

ENTRY : 4th February 2010

Not happy about the Lift scene at all. The filming felt very rushed, as some people had to leave as soon as possible. The slime sequence that i had in my head just didn't work in reality, i think i made the slime too thick. Also, we never actually got around to shooting in an actual lift as at the last minute we were told we didn't have permission! I ended up squashing people into the corner of a room, and i hope with some digital lighting and sound effects, it'll come across as a lift.

Problems Problems!

I'm tempted to remove the lift scene altogether... but the thing is i love the performances in it.

I need time to play with the footage, as it's getting increasingly difficult to get everyone together to reshoot sequences.

On a plus side... things are looking more positive on shooting in a Car Park. Just waiting to hear back from someone.

[Dave Watterson]

Aaaargh! You are too restrained to scream on the forum, so I'll do it for you.

As if it were not hard enough to deal with the art of film, the writing and directing, and the technicalities ... having to get permissions for what are innocuous activities which inconvenience no one is maddening. It is all people trying to cover themselves against the most unlikely scenarios. I wish we could enshrine in law and engrave on every lamppost and park gate: "Life can be risky, so be careful. Don't expect us to bail you out of trouble."

-Dave

[fraught]

LOL... cheers Dave.

The thing that drives me mad is everyone's sudden need to worry about Health & Safety, Customer Confidentiality, Own Brand, Law Suits... the list goes on. Now i understand the importance of some of it, but some people are taking everything just a little too far!

[Brian Saberton]

I think I've said this before but in this country we seem to fall into two groups. The first group of people have vision, get on with life and create things. The people in the second group do everything they can to stop the people in the first group.

[fraught]

My final trailer... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXdSWw7zFI0

[fraught]

ENTRY : 8th February 2010

Have finally managed to secure a Car Park to film in! Hurrah!

Annoyingly the snow has started to fall once again in sunny Basingstoke! I'm hoping it doesn't settle! As that is the last thing i want at the moment!

The visual FX are coming along nicely. Around three quarters of the edited film so far have had the FX completed. Hopefully after this week's filming, i can then crack on to get the film fully edited so that i can pass it to our composer to start work on the music! Good Times!

[fraught]

ENTRY : 19th February 2010

Car Park scene filmed? - Check!
Edited? - CHECK!
Visual FX completed? - CHECK!

What now i hear you ask?! Well... after watching the film through with most elements complete, i feel i need to shoot a couple of additional shots to make the film flow better. So i'll be back out with the camera next week to get those shots done.
I'm working through the sound FX at the moment too... which is proving to be interesting. Some Sounds don't appear to work... so i'm having to record my own and then mess about with them in Audacity... which is proving to be a fantastic tool!

[fraught]

ENTRY : 1st March 2010

Wow... had a mammoth session at the weekend, and now the film is pretty much done. I worked on completing the Sound FX and shooting some small pickups. The film has now been burn't to DVD minus the Score, and i've now passed it to the score composer!

I can relax a little now... someone else can do all the hardwork!

[fraught]

ENTRY : 14th April 2010

Thought i would throw in an update as it's been a while.

I've been very busy recently (see previous posts) so i haven't been up to much except feeding, burping, and changing nappies!

I'm currently still waiting on the score to be produced for OT2, fingers crossed i'll have something to listen to soon. In the meantime i have put a temporary score to the film just to see if the film is smooth enough... and i'm happy with the product. Not completely happy with the FX though... partly down to the software and partly down to me rushing the work due to my deadline. Perhaps i may revisit some of it while i wait for the score to be produced.... although with my personal life being as hectic as it is... i'm not so sure i'll have the time for the moment!

[fraught]

ENTRY : 5th May 2010

Things are starting to move again on the score front. Having a meeting tomorrow with the composer and the guy who is going to enable us to get the score compiled and laid down to a WAV file. He's a talented musician, so hoping for big things!

Not much else to add... except that i've started writing the script for my next film! And it won't have any Lightsabers in it!