Experiments, Improvements, and Flow

Greetings, one and all! After several days of trying to wrap my head around the ship building challenge, I decided to stop trying to do things right, and just try something. The result was turning a large plastic egg into a starship. (Work in progress shot below.) It was a very free-form process, figuring out how to work with the different shapes and materials in real time, along with trying new techniques. The result has a lot of mistakes, but it seems to have broken the initial productivity block on the process. Plus, better to make those mistakes on a test project than on the model you'll be shooting with.

I think it has the look of a freighter or colony ship. What do you think?

Next up, we had a four hour session in a dark room touching up the Nine Isles movie in preparation for release, using the more powerful new tech and the aforementioned friend's greater experience to finalize the color correction on the project. One down, several more to go...

Lastly, the team met again Sunday, and spent the day working on flow...

Working from the foundation of the flourish, we then worked into a strike, then a sequence of strikes, followed up by application via a short choreography exercise.

Well, that's about all for this week. Until next time!

Models, Modifications, and Mayhem

Greetings, one and all! This week was divided into a couple different key lines of development. The first was working on the mounting mechanisms for the ship models we're making for the mock trailer. Unlike a standard model that you can just build, one intended for filming requires you to build the model around some mechanism that will allow you to attach the ship to a rod that's "behind" the ship, relative to the camera, so that you can get all the shots you need. This means that the rod will need to be stuck into the model from multiple different angles, and that the attachment point will then need to be concealed when you shoot from a new angle. This process will then need to be repeated for a model of a radically different design. Needless to say, it's very much still a work in progress.

Next up, footage and edits were transferred to a portable drive, and we've begun the final pass on the Nine Isles project. What it's revealed, thus far, is that most of the technical difficulties I've been struggling with were likely due to the archaic format we had to render the project with, in order to make sure the quality was as high as possible for the next pass. But, naturally, none of the tech liked it, so day one was conforming everything to a more workable format. 

Lastly, the stunt team met again on Sunday, and as a couple of the members are moving away for college, we had a bit of fun on their shared last day, putting the newer team members through the real-life dungeon crawl challenge...

It's fun to see different people handle the puzzles, and work through their problem-solving process. It also works with their agility and combat training, as they have several obstacle course-like puzzles, as well as a few combat encounters. All in all, a fun day.

Well, that's about all for this week. Until next time!

Tech Challenges and Training Intent

Greetings, one and all! So... the first feature render attempt revealed a few technical gaps that required some more research. In short, the new software is designed to work on computers ten or twenty times times more expensive than mine, so it takes some finessing to render things out without the audio getting horribly corrupted. Chatting with a friend who has way more experience in this software gave some useful pointers, and we'll probably be working together on getting everything smoothed out and refined in the near future.

In the meantime, further refinements are being made to the edit, with a scene being trimmed, a shot being slipped, fixing an effects shot, and some more cleanup being done on a few lines, using the new software's slightly more advanced tech. Interspersed through all of that has been a lot of research to figure out how to use the software, and more importantly how to get the results you want out of it.

Concluding a very busy week, the stunt team met again, and this time focused on drilling technique, precision, and intent, cycling between partners as the did so. 

This turned out to be useful for just about everyone involved, because the new people had to learn, and even those with more experience can get a bit rusty with time.

Well, that's about all for this week. Until next time!

Shoots and Audio Trials

Greetings, one and all! This week was bookended with shoot days, but both were undermanned to the point that we only have pictures from the beginning of the second shoot. 

That said, if all goes well, this marks the end of the actual shoot days, and the beginning of the modelmaking and ship shoots.

In between those shoots, the music sync was completed, but during the final edit block I noticed that a particular line just didn't have the audible punch that it was supposed to. Some experiments led to research, and we discovered that the audio renders weren't in the right format. More research and more renders finally put the dialogue and sound effects at their proper quality. Now we simply have to re-level the music to fit the new audio tracks (and maybe edit the credits sequence) before rendering out the first feature version of "The Nine Isles: Chaos Crown".

Lastly, the team met again on Sunday, and we opened the whole thing with timing, distance, and reaction drills, before breaking into a bit of fun...

The creation of some stunt stools encouraged yet another barroom brawl, but this one became 80% improv session, with 20% choreographed violence. Given the headspace of the team at this point, it seemed appropriate, and it nicely filled the remaining half hour of the stunt meet. 

Well, that's about all for this week. Until next time!

Feature Progress and a New Old Fight

 Greetings, one and all! The challenges mentioned in last week's blog, specifically surrounding the tech on the new editing computer, were finally resolved this week. On top of that, the renders of the video, audio, and music were also completed, so we have now begun the process of syncing all the elements up. Next up, adjusting the levels of the music to match the dialogue and action. On top of that, we have been finalizing the sets and costumes for the two remaining mock trailer shoots, which should take place this week.

Lastly, the team met again this Sunday, and tried a new angle on an old choreography theme...

Utilizing the acrobatic skills of one of the newer members, as well as the growing skill of others, we managed to turn a classic 4 v 2 fight scene into a chaotic yet beautiful scramble where the term "attack of opportunity" pretty well defined the entirety of the action.

Well, that's about all for this week. Until next time!

Tech Week and Team Work

 Greetings, one and all! After the busy shoot week, we settled into a quieter week of tech work. First, finishing the renders of the music for the Nine Isles project, along with what will hopefully be the final renders of the different blocks of the movie, for assembly in the new software. This was then followed by troubleshooting a few issues that have been plaguing the newer editing computer, keeping it from being fully viable in its role. 

These problems were resolved just before the weekend, and the wedding of one of our long time stunties. I was second camera for the ceremony and reception, which meant that I was quite tired by the time Sunday finally rolled around, and the stunt team met again...

We opened the session with a group maneuvering exercise, followed by some three way team sparring, and finishing up with a longsword duel choreography exercise that focused on flair.

Well, that's about all for this week. Until next time!

First Shoot Week

 Greetings, one and all! We started the week moving hard and fast, opening with a full shoot day with six distinct "scenes," plus a monologue. Through the rest of the week the costuming department scrambled to finish a major character's costume before the Friday shoot, which went incredibly smoothly for as chaotic as the lead-up was.

This also marked the first time where we shot two different fight scenes in the same week. Compared to that, the remaining shoots seem relatively straightforward.

Moving on to Sunday, the full team was together for only the third time since Christmas, so we focused on group maneuvers, and did some heavy review in the use of the spear.

After the rush of the last few weeks, now we just have to reorient, figure out what's next, and when we're doing the final shoots.

Well, that's about all for this week. Until next time!