Round Robin Fights and Refining Edits

Greetings, one and all! So, as teased last week, we are getting into work on the ship in a storm shot, and I’ve seen the still frames, but no animation, as yet. On my end, production has consisted of rendering out effects shots and applying them to the edit, to see how everything flows, then adjusting as needed. I’m currently into the fourteen adjustments that need to be made in blocks three and four.

The stunt team met again this week, and while events conspired to change both the group size and the general plan, but we still managed to make it work.

The team choreographed a three way fight over artifacts, and then broke into assorted exercises, including a variant on the infamous “Wall” drill, which is the fastest way to wear out a small group of stunties.

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

Faster Fights and Finalization

Greetings, one and all! Of course, the big news from the week is that the last of the automaton shots have been rendered and will be integrated into the scenes as of the time of publishing. However, our success there has made us wonder if we can make the challenging “ship in a storm” shot, so stay tuned for updates on that...

Next up, a somewhat smaller stunt team met and worked on a pair of more kinetic duels.

As we are too familiar with how fast a fight usually ends in reality, we needed some more practice in prolonging the thing, and giving it more dramatic flow.

Lastly, the week was rounded out with solving effects and color correction challenges that have been perplexing me for the last few months. So, all in all, a good week.

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

Audio and Automatons

Greetings, one and all! This week we finished up the city and ship soundscapes. While tedious, it was very satisfying, as it was the first moment where I could really see the scenes coming together, as the places now sound like places, and not sets.

The other big milestone was the automaton animation, as we finished the first shot, and got it comped into the edit. We’ve already animated two more, but the renders have yet to be integrated. If all goes well, we’ll be animating the remaining shots, and should be rendering them right around when you’re reading this. This is a significant step forward, as this will be the first CGI character in one of our projects that we've built from scratch. However, previews likely won’t be coming any time soon, as it’ll probably be best to have its big reveal when the movie comes out.

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

Striking and Soundscapes

Greetings, one and all! This week in filmmaking has had one massive focus: Soundscapes. The week has been dedicated to compiling and building out the audio profile of the various locations in the movie. The biggest aspects have been giving each city its own feel, and turning the tavern set from a set into the inside of a ship like it’s supposed to be.

Next up was an incredibly finicky set extension model shot. The angles had to be just so, which proved interesting.
Then, of course, the team met on the coldest day of the winter for a little striking practice.

It lasted a bit less time than usual, due to how fast the temperature dropped the moment the sun touched the treeline.

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