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!

Small Docks and Larger Raids

Greetings, one and all! So… After last blog, I promptly got sick, which I found highly bizarre, given how little contact I had with people at the time, but it is what it is. Anyway, thankfully an arrow animation had been farmed out to my brother, so something got done in the early stages of the week. After my head cleared enough, I managed to cut the pieces for and assemble a miniature dock, which I’m now in the process of weathering.

On top of that, I also managed to get in some small adjustments to color correction for a few scenes, as well as some timing edits.
Last but not least, the team met again, and further developed their understanding of close-quarters room clearing. Though it was not without its challenges…

By the end they managed to pull off most of their missions without forty percent plus casualties.

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

Tracking and Storming

Greetings, one and all! Well, the work this week has continued apace. Highlights include a team work day where we spent most of it trying to figure out Blender’s new system for tracking objects into the shot. Even the tutorials fell a bit short…

That said, we eventually figured it out, though it required quite a bit of trial and error. We also plotted out how we were going to time each of the shots, which is what we were doing in the above picture.

On Sunday the team continued its training course with storming practice…

Clearing a building can be brutal for a small team, but when you finally start to get it, things do come together.

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

Back in Action

Greetings, one and all! Ah… it’s good to be back. Okay, so it’s clear I really needed the break, because a lot of this past week was fixing poor decisions I made earlier in the editing and effects process, but at least they’re fixed now. On top of that, we’ve finished a few new effects shots, and continued to flesh out the soundscape. It’s interesting what sounds can be repurposed to what. For instance, a large rock being dropped onto soft earth made a decent giant club swoosh.

Also, at long last the team is back in action! After almost a month out of practice, we limbered them back up with a series of skirmishing exercises.  

We were all definitely noticing the rust that was starting to form, but in the end we seemed to have it mostly worked out. Even some of the younger stunties were upping their survival times in the drills.

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