Editing

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

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:

1. Numbering cameras - 4_1 is scene 4, camera 1
2. I will also number the avi's output like this, 4_1 will be avi for scene 4, cam 1
3. Seeing all the scenes that a location is used in and then planning cameras, action, etc, being wary of later movements affecting earlier.
4. 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

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!

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

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

1. Imagine in my mind
2. Basic shot list
3. 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
4. Review storyboards with Parms to chat through alternatives, discuss difficult bits and resolve potential problems
5. 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
6. 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
7. Working through shotlist, record action, add sound then cut between cameras
8. Output avi's
   - These will need to be saved in Set (location) libraries and clearly labelled, etc
9. Iterate steps 6-8 for each chunk of plan
10. Rushes should be pulled together with basic editing for each chunk of the plan
11. 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

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

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

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!