Leaping Forward

Well, hello again! In all honesty, this has been a very long week. Fortunately, our productivity has expanded to match. We have edited all the way through Episodes 7 and 8! I had hoped to get through 9 as well, but that was before this two second shot consumed my day:

Since there were only three goblins on set that day, I think it went fairly well.

Sunday we once again worked our people through the "dances," this time with spear (shown,) and knife (not shown.) Apparently some people were wondering about all of the new muscles they were discovering...

 Behold the riveting depth of act and emotion that is our peanut gallery!

In other news, our Season 2 reading is officially scheduled for 10 AM on Saturday the 1st.  We'll have a large portion of the core cast there, and given our collective gift of gab, that could be very entertaining.

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

"Buffering"

 Well, another week has come and gone. Episode 1 is ready to be published, but we're waiting on the soundtrack for Episode 2 to near completion so we can have a work buffer in place. Motion tracking on the opening dragon shot has proved problematic, so we're looking into other options. Editing is going quite well, we are finally getting into the edit for the scene we shot on The Day Which Shall Not Be Repeated. Working around all the corrupted data is proving challenging, and the frame rate glitch is also proving entertaining. The following picture is one I have dubbed "Why 60i Has to Die."

Notice the sawtooth pattern around the moving limbs? Why an engineer decided this would be good for video is beyond me.
On a more positive side, here's an uncorrected teaser image for the final shot of episode 6.

Coming into Episode 7, we found several problems, what with the data corruption issues. Fortunately this had the side effect of inspiring a more humorous opening sequence than was originally shot. A reminder to myself that even bad news can be a good thing.

Sunday we continued training, but this time in a more independent fashion. We practiced what we've dubbed "the dance," a system of moves and counter-moves that allows the  team to come up with basic fight sequences very quickly.

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

Light(s)

 Well, that was... unexpected.

Due to several situations arising, such as storms and technical glitches, the final version of the Episode 1 soundtrack took four days longer to sign off on, pushing the release date back slightly. In spite of that, progress has been made, particularly in effects. The new fae are pretty much solid. In fact, here's a preview:

 

 Trouble is, I've been working on it for over a week straight. So? Well, basically I've seen so many different variations of the animation, so many subtle tweaks, that they're all beginning to look the same. Ah well...

Training for Hashurun infantry maneuvers has gone quite well, with each new concept being picked up faster than the one before. Staggered reforming could use some work though...

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

Soon, Very Soon...

 This week has been one of explosive progress. David is 90% complete with the Episode 1 soundtrack. He has just received what we hope will be the final director notes for this episode, along with the video file for Episode 2.

There is one final effect to be revised before Episode 1 will go live on the internet. Funny that I chose the fae as an early "monster" because I thought it would be fairly straightforward to animate. Weeks later, I'm rethinking that view.

Friday we tried out our first candidate for a Season 2 role.

 

Sunday was a quick catch-up session for the stunties who were behind, followed by a "where the rubber meets the road" experience. The choreography of a micro-battle.

On top of the fae effects, we are also currently working on integrating the dragon into episodes 4 and 5, starting with extensive storyboard plotting.

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

Happy New Year!

With the new year upon us, we find ourselves in a strange pre/post-production zone. For instance, we are working on completing and/or integrating two big CGI elements into episodes 4 and 5. Samples can be seen below:

 

 The dragon is ready for integration.

 

 

 Solensgate is still under construction, and a city (not pictured,) has sprung up around the fortress.

Yet on the other side, we have training for the new recruits. In this case, formation maneuvers.

 

 

  Though their drills will be applied to a historical montage in season 1.

The edit has progressed into episode 6, but finding the appropriate cutoff for the episode is proving challenging. Color correction is also complete to half-way through episode 5.

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

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!