Stuntie Progression and Effects Resolution

Greetings, one and all! After doing test renders through the entire movie, I was finally able to compile a list of everything that needed to be changed or finished, then broke that down by the type of work that needs to be done. We’ve already made good headway on going through the final visual effects, with the most challenging one thus far being hiding the evening sun that blazed through a crack in the set.

With all the rain and snow lately, we are still waiting on an opportunity to do our next big pass of Foley work, which should include things like rams on stone doors and an attempt at wolf snarls. We’ll see how that one goes.

Last but not least, the stunt team met again, and we picked up where the hail cut us off last week. After a review, the veterans finished the choreography they had started, while we put the new stunties through parrying. After the veterans finished their part, we combined the two groups, and had them run the exercises together. This eventually spiraled into a game of one stuntie fighting blind, while the others try to tag him.

This was a lot more difficult for the people who could see than you might think…

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

Initiating in a Hailstorm

Greetings, one and all! Well, third time’s the charm. After a month of trying to swing it, our new batch of stunties was finally able to join us this week. While a few of us gave them the Swordplay 101, the rest of the stunties choreographed a very specific scenario. All of this was interrupted by a hailstorm, so we pivoted to shooting some effects plates for the Nine Isles project, and then when the hail turned to snow, it was back out to train in parrying…

I’ve gotta say, all in all, this has been a fairly unusual winter for the stunt team.

The rest of the week has been filled with the thousand things one needs to do to finish the last ten percent of any movie, including but not limited to yet more soundscapes, and long lists of new sounds to record. In the end, all the footage that was shot this week got integrated into their respective shots, and will probably undergo some minor adjustments between the time of writing, and the blog going live.

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

Ships and Spears

Greetings, one and all! So this week we have a bit of a preview. Ladies and gentlemen, may I present to you one of the first images of the work-in-progress ship in a storm…

On top of that, more scenes have been rendered and analyzed for what needs to be changed or added. Some blocks are better than others. Block 5 (each block being about ten minutes of run time) has fourteen changes that need to be made, but Block 6 only has one shot that needs to be finished. Many of these issues have already been resolved, with mostly only obscure sound related issues remaining.

Lastly, yet more scheduling hiccups led to the events of Sunday, but in the end we did a spear focus day.

Some love the spear, some hate it, but in the end it was energetic, and a workout for all concerned.

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

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!