Foundations

 Well, the Willamette Valley has finally thawed out, and all the busted pipes have been patched. With that out of the way, we turn once again to series duties. With the edit and effects of the first three episodes completed, and the bulk of the remaining work turned over to our composer, our attention shifts to the next block of three, and the next season as well.

We're well into the episode 4 edit, all the way through the dragon scene. The animation for that scene is currently in the coloring and texturing phase, and work has begun on the Solensgate model.

 

 The Season 2 script has been finalized, and copies printed out. If all goes well, we may have a first reading within the next couple weeks.

We are looking forward to putting the first few episodes out there and seeing the audience reaction. Hopefully that will draw enough support to go ahead with Season 2, which promises to be bigger in every way.

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

Get Me Out of Here!

 Ten days. Ten days stuck up here on the hill, thanks to ice and snow. If I'm up here much longer, I may just go nuts.

Still, it has allowed me to get a lot done (in between fixing pipes and such.) The website has been updated, including Becca's bio here:

http://www.brightswordproductions.com/cast--crew.html

Also there was the awkward and slightly sad moment when I realized a cool scene I'd been working on for weeks was hurting the episode. So it had to go. Sound cleanup has continued, and David currently has three more files in his inbox. The sound effects for the first three episodes are pretty much locked, and test viewings have helped me refine the edit further. The dragon for episodes 4 and 5 is also being re-textured.

Basically this last week has been about refining the product before delivery. Soon now, very soon... (well, if the UPS will let David loose for any length of time.)

That's about all for this week. Until next time!

The One About Words... With Pictures!

 Funny enough, this week we'll be talking about words. But we'll be doing it with pictures, so I guess that'll make it a lot of words... Um, yeah... anyway...

This week was half taken up with Thanksgiving and family visits, but we still managed to complete the fae audio, fix badly corrupted sound, (thanks David!) and finish up a couple effects. Which brings us about here in the storyline:

 But the big accomplishment for the week is this:

 

 

 We have subtitles! Now the elven dialog in episodes 2 and 3 can be understood by the audience! Needless to say I'm just a little happy about finishing that. It was eye-wateringly dull. My biggest joy, however, is buried in the middle of that second paragraph. Thanks to some cleverness on David's part, we were able to eliminate some severe noise pollution from a bit of dialog in episode 1.

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

Frost and Filming

 It's with great joy that I announce that we've officially wrapped Season 1 shooting for another two of our leads, and one of our supporting actors. We have two more supporting characters and a historical flashback to go.

Thursday we filmed Mike's final scene, which had Elijah in a t-shirt while the temperature was in the lower 40's, and falling fast. Needless to say, we didn't do very many takes. Saturday we wrapped Iallafan and Aurbren, which was a much longer shoot, but at least it was in the upper 40's that day.

 Monday and Tuesday we ran recording sessions for various creature and environment noises, including creepy laughter, and an ethereal hum...

That's about it for this week. Until next time!

The Sound of Success

 So as we come to a new blog update we also approach an important tipping point in the process: The completion of the first three episodes! Today and tomorrow should see the last steps of the process reach completion. Friday we recorded dialog for the places where environmental noises overtook the actors voices. A simple raven animation turned into a three day effects marathon, swinging back and forth between what was too little or too much.

Today we will record grunts and groans, cuts and stabs, then apply them to the edit. A bit more challenging then it sounds. Once that is done, it's off to David for the music.

Well, that's about it for now. Until next time!

First Batch

 Well, this week has been somewhat unexpected. Long story short, what was supposed to be a generally productive week has turned, through a series of unforeseen events, into three insanely busy days. Not that this has made the rest of the week any less productive. The first three episodes are almost ready to deliver to our composer. The first scene will finally be shot tonight, and the next three days will feature a string of ADR and general recording sessions to round out the audio.

Sunday saw another training session, which went rather well, if I do say so myself. (Digressions into wholesale slaughter notwithstanding.)

Episode 4 is proving to be quite effects intensive in its first minute and a half, with several different energy, smoke, and fire events. Thus far an interesting challenge, but unfortunately we have no pictures to share of the process.

Well, that’s about it for this week. Until next time!

A New Generation

  As the Season 1 shoot moves into its final stages, we turn our minds toward preparing for the next step. In this case, it's training the newest actors and stunties in the fine art of killing things and dieing.

 Thus far there is little to report on that front, except that everyone is progressing pretty much as expected.

A rough breakdown for Season 2 has also been made, pending final revisions.

The sound sync has been finished on all of the first three episodes, and trouble spots have been pinpointed for ADR adjustments, which have been scheduled for Friday. We're into the edit on episode 4, but there's a minor snag, I need to figure out how to make important exposition more interesting than it is right now, with very limited resources. Fortunately that can lead to some of the best results, so I look forward to the results with great enthusiasm.

That's about all for this week. Until next time!

Fall Filming

 Well, Fall has officially come to the Pacific Northwest. Unfortunately our shoot has dragged on longer than hoped, so this has the aggregate result of a bunch of people shivering in summer costumes in 40 and 50 degree weather. That said, in spite of the challenges, we did finish the equivalent of four scenes in one day.

 

 

 The color correction through Episode 3 has almost been completed, along with the effects work. Next up, sound design. Special thanks to Daniel Chase for his help in that avenue.

Sunday we had a meeting to discuss set design for Season 2, as well as a rough overview of the fight scenes for that season. Things really ramp up that season, with three times the number of scenes that will need choreography.

That's about all for this week. Until next time!

Family Reunion

This week finds us half way through the edit on episode 3, and with another shoot under our belts, which has given this blog its name. In this scene, Savara and Aurbren meet again after a long absence.

 We have another shoot slated for tomorrow, this time with Elijah and Silas, so this promises to be a productive week. There is some more news, but unfortunately that would give away key plot points too soon.

So, that's about all for now, until next time!

Intercuts, or Dieing... Again.

Intercuts, or Dieing... Again.

This week had two events of note, one was shooting the intercuts (aka. "B-roll") of a scene that was shot almost exactly three months ago. Tricky, but satisfying.

 The second was the cast party/reunion on Saturday. One of the requirements was that everyone had to bring their old movies, which were remarkably good in their own unique ways. As the big finale for the night, we ran an improv game where everyone took on the roles of characters within a sci-fi story, either trying to solve a mystery or tie up the loose ends. It ended, after almost three hours of hilarity, with a climactic showdown in an astroid-base security vault.

 Special mention goes to Paris and Sam, who played the annoying ship's AI and the galaxy's worst ranger, respectively; as well as Nathan, (with "Veechie" and his endless cousins) and "The Gang." Ladies and gents, your performances were quotable.

That's about all for this week. Until next time!

Step 2

  With the edit and CC done on episode one (save for the "hook" scene,) we're moving on to episode 2. I must say that it's really quite gratifying to see this all come together. Maybe I'm just easily amused, but I took great pleasure in the fact that within the first minute and a half of this episode there are two shots that were re-purposed for the scene by playing them in reverse. So there's a game for you: When episode 2 comes out, find the two shots that were reversed. Happy hunting!

The weather is once again proving uncooperative, but that has allowed us to get a lot done in post-production.

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

Click... Click...

 Yeah, that's pretty much been my week. With record rainfall for September shooting hasn't been easy this week, (though there was that one day...)

 

 

...so the current order of business has been effects and color correction for Episode 1.

Before...

 

...and after.

On top of that, and the goblin skin correction, which was finished this week, we've also been working on the Fae effect. An early phase of the animation (pre-color and detail,) can be seen here:

Well, that about sums up the week. The forecast looks promising for early next week, so if we're very fortunate, we'll have more shoots to report on. Until then!

Strangest... Shoot... Ever!

That pretty much sums up our Thursday shoot. Once again we were forced to cram an all-day shoot into a couple hours, this time as the sun set...

 We weren't 100% successful, and with the changing weather, it's doubtful we'll be able to shoot there again, but we did come up with a sly in-universe explanation for the changing light. See if you can spot it when the episode comes out.

After that we had a considerably more relaxed shoot (plot exposition! Woo!)

 

 

 Also the tedious job of downloading and organizing footage has taken up a good portion of the week. All in all, a productive time. That's about all for now.

Until next time!

Well...

Good news: More filming! Bad news: No pictures. That's our week in a nutshell. Everything we've done has mostly been under the hood, filling in scenes, preparing materials, etc. Of course, the weather is changing, so a lot of effort goes toward protecting sets and raw materials that have been outdoors through the summer months.

The shoot of note this week was a somewhat sadder scene between two major characters, which would give away major plot points if I were to provide any more details.

Tomorrow we start shooting again in earnest, hoping to knock out four or five more scenes before the weekend.

That's about all for now. Until next time!

Silence Will Fall

 Okay, bit of a nerdy reference there. In this case, it's poking fun at the fact that, thanks to a combination of torrential rain, electrical storms, and the start of a school year, we have shot exactly zero footage this last week. Not to say we haven't been busy. Final costuming touches have been added to boots, rings have been made, and the column at Byd Echel has been constructed.

On top of that, we're working on the Solensgate skybridge, location of... well, you'll just have to wait and see. :-) Oh, and we've also been rewriting some of the scenes we have yet to shoot, plus editing the season 2 script. Suffice it to say that things are ticking along, in their own strange way.

Until next time!

I LIVE!

Yes, that's right ladies and gentlemen, the wild and crazy cram week is finally over and we're still up, still sane. (Well... mostly.) We finished the week up with several vital scenes, including the tense diplomacy between two sides of a certain family, the prelude to war, and Kate's experiences at a charming local village...

 

That's not to say that we're done, far from it. There are still several key scenes to film, but the crunch is over, and I'm trying to catch up on sleep. On the to-do list: the meeting at Byd Echel, several scenes with either Iallafan or Cylavar and their respective officers, and two important episodes with Aurbren. Still much to be done before winter comes. Now if I could just find my brain...

Until next time!

The Rush

 Well, with only a couple days left until half our leads are suddenly unavailable, we are scrambling to cover all the ground we can before then. Thus far we've made good progress, but several more hurdles await. Not the least of which being utter exhaustion. Shooting two or three days worth of footage in one is quite the experience, let me tell you. Shooting two days in three hours... that's something else entirely. It reminds me of a dance called the Sicilian Circle, where you keep changing partners, sometimes as the tempo accelerates to absurd levels.

  Anyway, on to the shiny stuff. We did several horse shoots this week, in one case quite literally... but that's a story for another time.

The elven camp was a highlight of our compressed shoot, as the two elven brothers had a chance to meet for the first time.

 

To cap it all off and bring two plot threads together, the depredations of a witch and the machinations of the Solen collide, leading to this pivotal scene...

Well, off we go again. If I survive, you'll hear about it next week. Until then!