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).
Saturday 30 June 2007
Wednesday 27 June 2007
Progress Continues
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.
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.
Tuesday 19 June 2007
Trial and Error
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!
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!
Monday 18 June 2007
One Step Forward, Two Back
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.
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.
Thursday 14 June 2007
Basic Sound
4/1/07
Second day getting back into it. Recorded the 12 or so lines of dialogue for CS but as I don't have a proper mike on my PC I used my phone and then converted it. Not hard but it still took about an hour. Also recorded a door shutting which was novel! So have started to put these into the rough cut.
Because of my worry of cutting the whole movie together, I actually created the first scene (realising the importance of scene numbers) and tried cutting it next to the following scene. Problems arise with where the characters start a scene which I can solve with creating poses.
The second problem is with what they hold. So Miles has ended up pointing a briefcase at his head rather than a gun. Not exactly life threatening! There's no way to snap an object out of the hand so might have to look at bridging scenes to put things down. At the moment I've tried hiding but it's not great as the briefcase also needs a starting position (might try that).
Otherwise my enthusiasm has picked up and I have promised Parmy a rough cut in a week before I go on holiday. I will timebox and get him whatever I have by then (maybe some scenes before?) with a list of things that I want him to comment on/discuss.
Second day getting back into it. Recorded the 12 or so lines of dialogue for CS but as I don't have a proper mike on my PC I used my phone and then converted it. Not hard but it still took about an hour. Also recorded a door shutting which was novel! So have started to put these into the rough cut.
Because of my worry of cutting the whole movie together, I actually created the first scene (realising the importance of scene numbers) and tried cutting it next to the following scene. Problems arise with where the characters start a scene which I can solve with creating poses.
The second problem is with what they hold. So Miles has ended up pointing a briefcase at his head rather than a gun. Not exactly life threatening! There's no way to snap an object out of the hand so might have to look at bridging scenes to put things down. At the moment I've tried hiding but it's not great as the briefcase also needs a starting position (might try that).
Otherwise my enthusiasm has picked up and I have promised Parmy a rough cut in a week before I go on holiday. I will timebox and get him whatever I have by then (maybe some scenes before?) with a list of things that I want him to comment on/discuss.
Monday 11 June 2007
Back into it
3/1/07
First Entry of 2007!
So it's been a fair Christmas break where I haven't thought about film-making at all. Well hardly.
Consolidated in my mind was that I would make Cold Storage all on one scene with multiple takes all spliced together. The first cut is definitely rough in order to run through it with Parmy and then improve. Looking at the single scene today I reckon I can do it all in one scene.
Over the holiday I also found some notes that I made in the summer listing each camera shot I saw in my mind for the script - excellent! So I've already done an important part of the work (albeit on the old script) and had forgotten. An added bonus was that this is where I was struggling. So for me an important part of the process is to do that imagining in a quiet place with the script and make a note of what I see.
I've also noticed a tendency for me to just sit at the software and do what's in front of me, not referring to any notes. Now as I have done the "director's investigation work" this seems a bit stupid so I am trying to keep my notes out to help me. I've also realised that I didn't do the shot list as I wasn't sure of the format and have regretted this. Now substituted with my own list but this is something I need to get more familiar with.
Got answers back on the audio and a result for lip syncing today as well. So can now record all my dialogue and get that in which i think will help a lot.
I still managed to spend 45 minutes trying to get Miles to point a gun at his own head! This is the frustrating thing for me. But I've also realised that people study being a director for 3 years and I am not going to do it in 3 months. So I must "give myself a break" and realise that every project and film is great practical experience but I am still learning and this could well take over a year to get fully up to speed. So give myself a break!
Have also been looking at various directing books and will probably go for "shot by shot".
First Entry of 2007!
So it's been a fair Christmas break where I haven't thought about film-making at all. Well hardly.
Consolidated in my mind was that I would make Cold Storage all on one scene with multiple takes all spliced together. The first cut is definitely rough in order to run through it with Parmy and then improve. Looking at the single scene today I reckon I can do it all in one scene.
Over the holiday I also found some notes that I made in the summer listing each camera shot I saw in my mind for the script - excellent! So I've already done an important part of the work (albeit on the old script) and had forgotten. An added bonus was that this is where I was struggling. So for me an important part of the process is to do that imagining in a quiet place with the script and make a note of what I see.
I've also noticed a tendency for me to just sit at the software and do what's in front of me, not referring to any notes. Now as I have done the "director's investigation work" this seems a bit stupid so I am trying to keep my notes out to help me. I've also realised that I didn't do the shot list as I wasn't sure of the format and have regretted this. Now substituted with my own list but this is something I need to get more familiar with.
Got answers back on the audio and a result for lip syncing today as well. So can now record all my dialogue and get that in which i think will help a lot.
I still managed to spend 45 minutes trying to get Miles to point a gun at his own head! This is the frustrating thing for me. But I've also realised that people study being a director for 3 years and I am not going to do it in 3 months. So I must "give myself a break" and realise that every project and film is great practical experience but I am still learning and this could well take over a year to get fully up to speed. So give myself a break!
Have also been looking at various directing books and will probably go for "shot by shot".
Friday 8 June 2007
The Challenges Begin
21/12/06
A couple more hours in today. Whilst creating multiple scenes I thought I'd better check Antics ability to be able to make a final output video using multiple scenes from different sets. Not sure it can so I have queried it with their techies. Worse case scenario is I will have to output multiple separate AVI's and then edit them with something else.
Also have queries outstanding on:
- Use of my own voice file (more likely to be my prob)
- Snapping hats, etc, onto characters.
Also need to check about fading a camera to black or from black.
Another workaround that is apparent is showing somebody leaving a door open. The standard animation has a person walking through a door and closing it - not good for a man in a hurry! So getting around it by trying to cut away from the action early. But the above editing question will dictate if I can make this happen. Otherwise it's going to get fiddly or I will have to render the action differently.
Think I would have benefitted from drawing out the overall apartment first and sticking to it. At the moment I have kept bits separate, which may still work. Time will tell.
A couple more hours in today. Whilst creating multiple scenes I thought I'd better check Antics ability to be able to make a final output video using multiple scenes from different sets. Not sure it can so I have queried it with their techies. Worse case scenario is I will have to output multiple separate AVI's and then edit them with something else.
Also have queries outstanding on:
- Use of my own voice file (more likely to be my prob)
- Snapping hats, etc, onto characters.
Also need to check about fading a camera to black or from black.
Another workaround that is apparent is showing somebody leaving a door open. The standard animation has a person walking through a door and closing it - not good for a man in a hurry! So getting around it by trying to cut away from the action early. But the above editing question will dictate if I can make this happen. Otherwise it's going to get fiddly or I will have to render the action differently.
Think I would have benefitted from drawing out the overall apartment first and sticking to it. At the moment I have kept bits separate, which may still work. Time will tell.
Tuesday 5 June 2007
More Cameras
20/12/06
A few more hours development today. I was chatting with my friend Mark who has made a short film and is has been editing for some time. He was lamenting the fact that he didn't always have the camera angles that he wanted and wished he had been able to shoot more. I asked if there were any "standard" camera setups that he had been taught at his directing course, and he immediately mentioned 3 - a master and then a focus on each character (assuming 2). This immediately gave me some simple ideas for extra cameras in the opening Lounge scene and will be useful in getting basic setups.
Also chatting through the process with a non-film friend and have confirmed to myself that I should build a "rough cut" and then refine - iterative delivery.
Pressed on today with the 2 new camera setups and started building the hallway set. Even managed to get the dolly camera working OK by targeting correctly. I know it can be done with key frames too, which I'm sure I'll end up with.
A few more hours development today. I was chatting with my friend Mark who has made a short film and is has been editing for some time. He was lamenting the fact that he didn't always have the camera angles that he wanted and wished he had been able to shoot more. I asked if there were any "standard" camera setups that he had been taught at his directing course, and he immediately mentioned 3 - a master and then a focus on each character (assuming 2). This immediately gave me some simple ideas for extra cameras in the opening Lounge scene and will be useful in getting basic setups.
Also chatting through the process with a non-film friend and have confirmed to myself that I should build a "rough cut" and then refine - iterative delivery.
Pressed on today with the 2 new camera setups and started building the hallway set. Even managed to get the dolly camera working OK by targeting correctly. I know it can be done with key frames too, which I'm sure I'll end up with.
Monday 4 June 2007
Animation learning
18/12/06
Another couple of hours under my belt. Today was spent creating the first rough action - well exploring creating it. Once again, quite a bit of time spent choosing content - this will reduce when I become more familiar. However, the library could do with a keyword search. I have found an animation for reading a newspaper but no newspaper object! So I tried out a few animations on my characters and then my focus turned to where to put the camera.
This was much harder work than I originally expected. OK, so I placed the first one really easy but as I walked through the action I realised I didn't know how to start or end the scene. When to cut when people move - before, after. Do I need a close up? Wow. I can imagine being on set and real people asking these questions and just freaking out. In a way I was just assuming that somebody (even the software) would pick the best angle and it happens! Of course it isn't, and every time you move that camera to try a new shot, getting back to the original isn't always easy!
Invaluable is the ability to look through the camera and manipulate it. Of course, I am also learning how to do this in the software so that is slowing me down as well. After 2 hours I had done quite a bit of learning, but not much on the finished product which can be frustrating. Also I have started to realise what a MASSIVE job this is and it's easy to be disheartened (went a bit AWOL worrying that I would never finish anything). So I am going to constantly remind myself that I am learning, celebrate even mini successes and use a few Michael Neill tips to underline that I knew more than the day before!
Lots of Xmas stuff on so I am also worried that I will not have any focus for a few weeks and progress and learning will be even slower! Still...
On the plus side, got some feedback today from Rory on "The Killer Job" - my latest script. At first it was much more than I expected and I was worrying about another big rewrite. On reflection, there are only a few points and most valid. There may be a difference in our thoughts on tone and we may just have to leave that as is. However, I want to meet up to discuss because I need to explore his POV more and understand if I can make changes to improve and meet his needs.
Fingers crossed that this goes all the way. Back to Xmas card writing now!
Another couple of hours under my belt. Today was spent creating the first rough action - well exploring creating it. Once again, quite a bit of time spent choosing content - this will reduce when I become more familiar. However, the library could do with a keyword search. I have found an animation for reading a newspaper but no newspaper object! So I tried out a few animations on my characters and then my focus turned to where to put the camera.
This was much harder work than I originally expected. OK, so I placed the first one really easy but as I walked through the action I realised I didn't know how to start or end the scene. When to cut when people move - before, after. Do I need a close up? Wow. I can imagine being on set and real people asking these questions and just freaking out. In a way I was just assuming that somebody (even the software) would pick the best angle and it happens! Of course it isn't, and every time you move that camera to try a new shot, getting back to the original isn't always easy!
Invaluable is the ability to look through the camera and manipulate it. Of course, I am also learning how to do this in the software so that is slowing me down as well. After 2 hours I had done quite a bit of learning, but not much on the finished product which can be frustrating. Also I have started to realise what a MASSIVE job this is and it's easy to be disheartened (went a bit AWOL worrying that I would never finish anything). So I am going to constantly remind myself that I am learning, celebrate even mini successes and use a few Michael Neill tips to underline that I knew more than the day before!
Lots of Xmas stuff on so I am also worried that I will not have any focus for a few weeks and progress and learning will be even slower! Still...
On the plus side, got some feedback today from Rory on "The Killer Job" - my latest script. At first it was much more than I expected and I was worrying about another big rewrite. On reflection, there are only a few points and most valid. There may be a difference in our thoughts on tone and we may just have to leave that as is. However, I want to meet up to discuss because I need to explore his POV more and understand if I can make changes to improve and meet his needs.
Fingers crossed that this goes all the way. Back to Xmas card writing now!
Saturday 2 June 2007
First Animation Steps
16/12/06
Took my first steps yesterday and immediately got caught up in the process of creating a detailed set. Mainly in the detail of the apartment, balcony, etc. Whilst useful and necessary I realised straight away that it's pulling me away from directing (as I was prepared for this).
Obviously it is part of a director's role and made me realise how extensive that role is and the different hats it will require.
So I think I need to be prepared for the various roles of the process which will be something like:
- Location scouting (finding the right buildings)
- Set building - and the right props
- Casting (finding the right characters)
- Staging
- Camera placement, movement and usage
- Take planning (camera takes within a scene)
- Editing (shotline)
I'm sure there will be more.
Also thinking about being iterative - start with a rough set, only necessary props and cut it quite rough. Sort of experimenting. Although I would like to continuously build on the end result, I'm not sure how well Antics works once you have a number of actions in place and you want to start moving them around. My initial experience is that it is tricky. But I can always reset the take and maybe bring over specific actions?
There's also the debate about building the story in non-chronological order. I think this is down to the director's plan. So I have to think more about that (I am thinking too linear right now).
Finally, I want to apply software processes of iterative development - make the film, show it, refine it, review, refine, release. This should give better camera angles, etc. It may mean some rework but hopefully minimised in being able to reset and re-run stuff quickly even if building action from scratch.
Let's see how it works.
PS Some of this came from a very useful chat with my mate Hugh - nothing like talking through your own process and realising how it needs to change... Thanks Hugh!
Took my first steps yesterday and immediately got caught up in the process of creating a detailed set. Mainly in the detail of the apartment, balcony, etc. Whilst useful and necessary I realised straight away that it's pulling me away from directing (as I was prepared for this).
Obviously it is part of a director's role and made me realise how extensive that role is and the different hats it will require.
So I think I need to be prepared for the various roles of the process which will be something like:
- Location scouting (finding the right buildings)
- Set building - and the right props
- Casting (finding the right characters)
- Staging
- Camera placement, movement and usage
- Take planning (camera takes within a scene)
- Editing (shotline)
I'm sure there will be more.
Also thinking about being iterative - start with a rough set, only necessary props and cut it quite rough. Sort of experimenting. Although I would like to continuously build on the end result, I'm not sure how well Antics works once you have a number of actions in place and you want to start moving them around. My initial experience is that it is tricky. But I can always reset the take and maybe bring over specific actions?
There's also the debate about building the story in non-chronological order. I think this is down to the director's plan. So I have to think more about that (I am thinking too linear right now).
Finally, I want to apply software processes of iterative development - make the film, show it, refine it, review, refine, release. This should give better camera angles, etc. It may mean some rework but hopefully minimised in being able to reset and re-run stuff quickly even if building action from scratch.
Let's see how it works.
PS Some of this came from a very useful chat with my mate Hugh - nothing like talking through your own process and realising how it needs to change... Thanks Hugh!
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