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.
Sunday, 30 September 2007
Monday, 17 September 2007
Principal Photography Complete
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...
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...
Thursday, 13 September 2007
Learning
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.
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.
Monday, 3 September 2007
First Edit
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.
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.
Friday, 24 August 2007
Slow Progress
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...
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...
Wednesday, 22 August 2007
Production Progress
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.
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.
Saturday, 18 August 2007
Set Building Progress
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!!
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!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
