Week 12 - Last Entry.

Hours: 1 - 2

I'm not sure how the project is going. Kim gave me a call on the weekend to ask about one of the other audio tracks I had included with the voice-over cd. It was music that was composed by my friend Roz, she had given it for me to listen both just for me to keep up with her music endeavours and for a bit of 'critique'.


Kim was thinking about using one of the songs - but I suggested getting the one that Kall had found on freeplaymusic.com - called Lone (I think) coz that was more fitting in with what I had in mind, but I said to him that if he thought that it sounded good, to just simply give it a go.

I asked if there was anything else I could help him on - coz he said that he was finding it a bit difficult, but he said that it was simply timeconsuming coz he had to clean up the footage as well as slog through all of it to find the one he was looking for before he could arrange it. He said that it was okay and that he was doing alright.

I dropped the butterfly off to Kall's on Saturday with instructions on how to transfer the tiff files into After Effects so that it simply read the first file but automatically knew how to and where to find the other files and play it in sequence as an animation without having to load every single TIFF file. And also to import with alpha-channels, etc so that it became transparent and to ensure that the import rate was set as the same as PAL settings - 25 frames, because if not, we'll end up with less footage than before and also it would mess with the animation of the butterfly - which I mentioned before.

So.
Last Entry.
Maybe 13 weeks is a bit much for a short film in retrospect.
The documentation and a lot of the paperwork we focused on early on probably did set us back a bit, I'll grant. Kall said that she wished we didn't have to do the documetation coz a lot of it wasn't quite relevant - but I said that well, they have to have something to mark us on and to ensure that we're keeping on track as well as to give a fair kind of assessment.

I thought we wouldn't need so long - but I guess I didn't take into consideration personnel issues, and scheduling stuff as well as weather, etc.
Then again having it a year long wouldn't be as good anyway due to the nature of the project being majority outdoors and the weather being what it is.

It's hard I think to do a film when we all have so many other things to do. I think we would have been able to succeed (not that we haven't anyway) better had we the time to really devote to it, we wouldn't feel as stressed and short-changed for time. It was also very hard to have actors who are friends and who have other dedications to concentrate on - it's hard not being able to have them on call (as Kim mentioned in his presentation) when we wanted them and thus we had to work according to their schedule. Melinda (the main actor) was great, she made as much time as she could for us, but it was hard. :)

Still, I think we'll have done something we can be proud of.
We conquered what was from the start a very hard narrative to transfer and properly evoke. I think we did alright with the limited equipment (LIGHTING!) that we had. I don't know if I'll get to see the final product before this last entry, but I'll end it here for now.

Week 12 - Presentation and Butterflies.

Hours: Can't remember. A few. :)

Our Rehearsal Meeting:
It went well. We all were pretty confident at what we were doing and saying - I had pretty much mapped out the entire presentation notes anyway and exactly what each person was saying, rather, notes they had to cover for the talk... so I think most used that as a template, if not the basis for their talk.

Kim was fine with editing - I think he was quite happy with that fact actually.
Warm fuzzy feeling! Somehow I got the impression that because he pulled me aside to tell me his feelings, that he thought that I would try to do something about it (which I guess, inadvertently I did...) and a thought just occured to me that maybe he just felt more comfortable talking to me because we knew each other in first year orientation - we had met then, though we had lost contact during the interim years.

We were quite set for the presentation - the powerpoint was about done except for some aesthetic values.
We talked a bit about the poster, DVD and labels etc... which Peter took on being the designer.
I talked to them about organizing the butterfly to be completed and got the appropriate footage as did Kim.

Presentation:
Hehehehe. Both Kall and Kim forgot slides!
They completely skipped them. :p
That was okay. Kim wanted to go back and talk about it, but I thought - they said not to do crossover things, swapping people, so I thought it was better to just not do it and follow the rules of the presentation.
I think we had a pretty good structure - I didn't expect to be as nervous as I was, I was shaking a bit, though I was also feeling rather green that day, so I don't know what it was... pretty sure it was nerves.
I thought I had shaken it off by about late high school early Uni. I used to be quite bad, red in the face, shaking like a leaf - quite terrible to watch really! But I got over it somehow...
... and I was a bit wobbly in the knees.

I think it was because of the set up - Brad and Jason were quite far from me, it was a very open space and I was facing a glass wall where anyone could see me. :)
I guess I had gotten used to a more enclosed space - the interviewees being more close to me... in Communications, it was either smaller tutes, or I had something I could lean on OR I was facing people who were a lot closer to me (maybe as an added strange factor - the fact that there was more people made me less terrified? Safety in numbers...) or at least in Multimedia - people were behind/in front of computer screens. :p

Ah well. Something I didn't expect to happen.

But everything went well, I think everyone did really well.
I thought I didn't need the script/cue cards - and I mentioned throughout the rehearsal and practice I did that I kept using them even though I didn't need them at all - but in the end, I'm glad I had them since I was that nervous!

After the presentation - we just discussed quickly whether everything was okay and everyone had their roles: Kim was going to do the basic, core of the film and give it over to Kall to complete the effects.
I was still organizing the butterfly.

Butterflies:
It's finally done!
I had gone over to drop the footage off on Tuesday - and we basically discussed what I wanted the butterfly to do, and the specifics of it.
I just got it back today (Thurs-V.EarlyFriday) after we made sure that I knew how to export the 3D into Premiere/After Effects and I knew the logistics about how it worked... but more importantly, how the butterfly looked!
It looked pretty good! I think it's still a bit bright against the backdrop of the footage, but seeing that it's going to be brightened up, I'm not so worried about it.
Hopefully I don't need to take it back to get it done - though really, it's crunch time and time to play hardball. :p I think it looks fine. And with After Effects and having the alpha channel, it can be moved around appropriately. I was thinking of exporting it as avi and save Kall/Kim some time, but I won't need to - as while it has been given to me as 214 frames (footage I had given and edited down to) of Tiff picutres, After Effects is such that it just reads the first frame and knows appropriately to get the next frame without having to upload every single frame - as I first thought - that is if the naming conventions have been done correctly, which they have, of course! :)

So it's not a hassle. I think it looks pretty good. Can be a bit funny in places but nothing that can't be fixed with a little clever key-framing. :)

INSERT LOTS OF BUTTEFLY PICTURES HERE!

Week 11 - Conversations.

Hours: 1 1/2

Our rehearsal has been pushed back an hour. We were suppose to meet at 430, but I think Kim is still working. He said 5-530, which is fine except we both have dinner commitments - but all we really need is a group run through which shouldn't take us so long.

I am picking Peter up due to his car troubles.

I feel like we seem to be having a lot... excessive issues, and in a way I feel terrible about it because I wonder if it's normal. Peter and I have had a bit of bad luck with Studio 2, and we've had a fair issues with this studio subject too - and I'm feeling a bit whiny, even though it has all been relevant and all valid issues. I suppose it's all part of the group process.

Kall and I spoke for a very long time about the project and the issues.
She and I both are feeling very run down (as I'm sure most people are), we are getting sick - she's getting constant migraines, I woke up this morning with a bad headcold and not knowing whether I feel cold or hot. :p
Consequences of being stressed, not getting enough sleep, too many assignments due at the same time and being in a place where bugs and viruses live in abundance. :p

Anyway.
Kall said that she felt as though she was feeling like she had to do everything and a lot of the weight was being pressed onto her. It wasn't that she felt we weren't pulling all the weight - it was just general stress issues.
I was a bit irked at that but explained reasonably that a lot of us feel that she speaks as though she knows a lot and what she's doing and we just bow deference to her. I think the boys especially feel like that.
I realised that early on - as we were discussing effects/color issues and I pressed doing it in color, but applying effects and she really pressed for black and white - and the boys didn't say too much. I think they didn't want to stir the pot, so to speak and didn't understand it was more of a group/creative process.

It was understandable, I suppose, especially for such a quiet person like Kim. And two rather louder speaking characters like us (who also speak as though we know what we want and what we want to achieve and in a somewhat authoratative process) it would be a bit hard for them to feel as though they were being heard or could be, for that matter.

Anyway. I was feeling a bit irked on the inside when Kall said that she felt she was or had to do all the work.
It had been discussed in the beginning that Peter and I did Pre-Production, Kall and Kim were editing.
I said to her that I always thought that they were editing - and she said that she thought so to but because Kim didn't say anything she just thought she had to do it all and went ahead to do it.

Understandable, but also everything was at her place... so it was hard for us to speak up. I know at times it was hard for me to speak up as well because it was her place, her space and her equipment, I don't really feel comfortable, or have a right to ask her to 'shove over' :) and let someone else have a go.

She admittedly said that she was a bit loud - which probably didn't help.
I explained to her about Kim's feelings - and she said that she felt like she wasn't being told anything... but I assured her that it wasn't the case, that yes, Kim had spoken to me in passing about his feelings and that the only reason why Peter knew and she wasn't aware was because he had spoken to Ruben, and Ruben had approached us in Studio 2.

She felt like it was her fault, or our fault that he felt that way.
I said that it is partially our fault, but also his fault. The blame doesn't lie with one person - yes perhaps we should have spoken up or delagated things to people, which we did, but he has to speak up, that is how the group knows what's going on and how you're feeling. To her credit, while Kall may ramble on about something, she does stop and ensures that the group understands and ask for their thoughts.

Personally, I think Kim just doesn't feel comfortable enough speaking out in a group situation, which is fine and understandable (I used to be as quiet and shy as he did and it doesn't help that he's very soft-spoken too) but he has to find a way to communicate, and speak about what he wants to do.

Anyway.
Here's the solution we finally come up with.
In context, Kim is doing only one subject. He works full-time, yes, but his nights are generally free as he has no homework apart from Studio. He's been feeling he hasn't done enough for the group. He wants to be involved with editing, he has been researching throughout the semester about Premiere, etc.
I suggested that we allow Kim to edit. Give him the footage, give him a week to get together the base of VB.
Realistically, if we all were doing one studio subject, either one of us could be editing. But as us three are pressed with other major assignments, and he does want to do something - let's give him the chance to be involved.

Kall is afraid that he won't know what he's doing or what he's doing is good - but I argued that we have to give him a chance. He has been there for every meeting, he knows all the creative processes that VB has gone through, he has seen and heard our arguments of how the film should be and he knows the structure of the film should be like.
Sure that Kall has done film studies, and has done several little films - but as she even admitted, that doesn't make her an expert.
Let Kim breathe some fresh air into it.

The DVD and posters need work, which we'll discuss at the meeting.

As for Music: I really do want to compose something - but I don't have the time. I need the creative time to sit down and relax and brush up on my skills and figure out the right notation so we could use a program like Garage man. I can sit down and play a composition - I know my skills are okay enough for that, that I can play a melody at the top of my head and it would/should sound half-way decent but it's the recording and/or the notation that I have trouble with.
Not that I felt comfortable enough with composing in the first place!

My suggestion was to do Ruben's: find a classical piece. But then again, I need the time to find the right one (though I had found some earlier) that everyone is happy with and the time to enter it into the program like Garage Man.

So at the moment, for the presentation we'll find some freeware stuff.
We'll see how we go for the rest.
If we run into troubles - we submit it with freeware music - and over the hols, I'll have time to compose.

Week 11 - Presentation & Post Production

Hours: 3hrs

We were focusing a lot on the presentation when we met up.
Peter was in an accident last Wednesday - so things have been a bit hard for him to get around, so Kim, Kall and I worked without him at Kall's place and we had a short MSN conference with him. :)

We discussed what we needed for the presentation: processes, client, proposed story/narrative.
I wrote down key points to cover and we split the presentation into three sections: Client, Story, Success & Failures. Each section, we surmised, can take about 5 minutes, approximately, though as it looks the third section will probably take the bulk of our presentation - but we'll see once we meet up to do a rehearsal.

I typed up my notes and sent it off to everyone to have a look at and find a foundation in which to work on their talk.

Kim and I worked on my computer that I lugged over to Kall's so we had a template of the powerpoint...

Kall seems to have a change of heart regarding the voice-over, something I was quite surprised about seeing that I originally thought that I would have to fight her tooth and nail over it - did you say something Ruben? :p
Maybe she just thought that my friend's voice (Roz) wasn't so cheesy after all.
It was pretty good, quite dramatic in parts - though Kim thought that it was a bit too 'soft', in the sense that it was too quiet, too peaceful.
I thought it was perfect poetic irony.
Though I would have wished that it could have been a little more bitter, angsty.
Still. I think it will work.

As for a music score - eep. I'm still working on it.
Maybe we can use some stock, free sounds (freeplaymusic.com) but I would like to try some composing, though of course we run into a lot of issues there with quality.
Speaking of which: I'm real surprised how good the quality of the sound in the voice-over came out. It was quite fantastic. I have to pick up a copy from her coz she made it into a music cd and we couldn't rip it properly and get the original.

I just discussed it with Roz - she has simply burnt the cd from her home studio not a computer... so it just makes audio cds from what I can gather. What she does to get it from the studio to the computer is ripping it off the cd as mp3s using Windows Media Player.
I thought it would be nicer to have a WAV file - but I'm thinking that its going to be hard to access it off her system.
We had a few troubles with ripping at Kall's - it ripped as a WMA but it was just noise when we had a look at in in Audition.
Nevertheless - I have organized to meet up with her on Friday, but its back to attempt ripping.

Maybe there's a program that can get a WAV file?
Though I suppose mp3 is CD quality.

As for the music score: I wonder if we can get away with just the voice over and some sound effects in the back...?

Week 10 - Production Shoot: Night Scenes.

Hours: 6-7 hours.

Well.
I take it back about how well we worked.

I wasn't too pleased with the time that was wasted with the night shoot. Granted, we had a few problems with lighting, and Kall wasn't feeling well that day, but I had said to her that we should work as fast and efficiently as possible, that way she gets an early night.

It didn't quite work out.

I suppose that's the way it is when you haven't seen your partner for 3 weeks because he's been sick and with friends around it doesn't help either.
I just thought there was too much mucking about. No disrespect to Kall, and I think she's a lovely girl, but it reached the point where even the actor, Melinda was telling her to focus.

And with very few weeks left - we couldn't afford to muck around.

Personally, I felt like I was simply a stage hand, running around and setting up for her and then everyone just sat there and waited.
She was feeling very sick as the night wore on - and I kept asking if she wanted to switch over and she finally gave up at around 11, which was good, because she really didn't feel well.

I managed a bit more shooting - we tried to emulate the bush as best as we can while being in the streets of surburbia, but it was very dark and that got me thinking that if it is this dark on film now, with street lights, garage and house lights going - how much darker is it going to be out in the bush?

All of us were pretty tired by then so we didn't do too much more before we called it a night.

Today, Kall gave me a call.
She's a bit worried about the footage and she thinks that we won't have enough.
I think she's a bit of a perfectionist :) and has a bit too high of expectation when it comes to VB. We are only a student amateur film...:)
Maybe in a way we all do - but I haven't seen the footage yet, so I don't know.
She doesn't think it looks good - she tried to do some editing before and found that she couldn't and that she needed something to work with.

I think she has changed her tune about the voice over though...?
I just listened to it before - and for a draft, it's pretty good. I'm quite pleased about it. I doubt we really have to rerecord it, so it should be fine. I'm glad for her 'home studio'!
My only fear is that becaus she has made it an audio cd - I can't access the data. But I'll see if I can 'rip' it. Or get someone to figure it out. Otherwise I might go into the city and drop in on Friday and pick up the actual wav/mp3 file.
It's quite fantastic - I'm quite pleased... and I think we should insert some wind sounds and just general environmental sounds to add something further - and it might be able to function without a musical score... though I think we should have one - even though we no longer have the time to make one, I think... not by week 13 anyway.

She's doing some filming tomorrow - I won't be able to make it since I'm working and I don't think the boys can. She didn't seem to fussed about it and I think in a way she almost prefered it. I suggested that she try filming just before it got dark (dusk time) which might be better seeing as everything comes out darker on film - so we'd have the advantage of a bit more natural light while also emulating the dark.

Tuesday I'm lugging my computer over to Kall's and we're going to edit, work on DVD interface and also presentation.
Here's hoping everything goes okay.
Everything seems to be piling up but I think it either hasn't sunk it yet - or it has and I'm trying to attain a positive outlook...

Week 10 - Recap on Production Shoot.

Hours:3-4

It went well, I thought.
We certainly were a lot more efficient than I thought we would be... seeing how long it took us to set up for the animatic, in comparison, the production went very smoothly.

Kall did some basic sketchy storyboards for the shoot, which we ended up using as a basis to figure out what scenes we needed to film and what shots we were looking for in that day's shooting. Melinda (the actor) was fantastic, I felt a little sorry for her coz it was overcast, she was in a short sleeved top and a skirt, barefooted and lying on the grass freezing.

I'm not sure that her facial expressions that Kall tried will come across when we view it on film - but we'll see.

There is a shot that I want to have filmed that we might do this week - it was based on the start credits in Six Feet Under - I wanted a shot of Melinda with her head turned away... (so all you would see is part of her cheek, her hair and neck) I thought it just looked beautiful. The camera would be on a mid to close up shot of her and as a hand comes to obscure part of the camera and reaching for a lock of her hair - she would turn away and end up with the shot as described above.

I'm not sure how it all came out - Kall is suppose to try and review the footage sometime over the weekend to see if there was anything we missed that we might need.
I'm a little apprehensive that we hadn't caught with the beauty of the film, which is part of the purpose of the film, that despite all the things that have happened to her, she sees the stark beauty around her, and in a way, that both angers and amazes her... that all this nature around her, showing off their beauty and they don't see the darkness that has happened to her - though of course, at the same time she is trying to block it out.

We'll see what we get I suppose.
We'll be filming the night shots tomorrow night - but I'm not sure if we'll need to be in the park again this week - we shouldn't need to, but it depends on what's on the DV, really.
Though I suppose we should see Ruben... he's probably forgotten what we look like.

As for other developments:
I'm a bit worried about the voice over of the CD I'm suppose to be getting - I have yet to receive it in the mail and I think it's gotten lost and ended up in the dead letter office, so I think I might have to chase up another copy.
So I have yet to hear anything about that.
I'm still thinking about the music - and I think I'll try to borrow an MD player off a friend (hopefully with a mike)... that way I am not rushed to return it to school and I'll have time to start tinkering.

The butterfly is now moving - and is simply awaiting for me to describe how it's moving within the frame so it can be animated. (Did I mention that in the last entry?)
I think it looks fantastic, very realistic - and he said that it was simply a draft... so I hate to see what the real product will look like.
Granted, it may not look as good when it's superimposed onto film - I'mm have to get the 'buttefly' scene that we filmed last Tuesday and try it out to see what it looks like and what can be improved - or fiddled with.

I wanted a leaf scene as well, but that didn't work realistically either - Peter and Kim were throwing leaves at me and I'm not sure that it came out well enough, or that I caught any within the shot.
So I'm thinking of getting that 3D-ed as well, I had a chat with my friend over the weekend and he seems to think that it shouldn't be too hard to achieve.
So I should email him requirements and details so he can get started on a draft - which I will do right now.

Week 009 - Butterflies.

Hours: 1-2hrs

My friend finally got back to me in regards to the butterfly.
I think it looks fantastic, very realistic. It's all done in 3D, so it means that it can move as well and if we do it right - and I get him to put in on a blue background (i.e. bluescreen) then hopefully it will be quite realistic looking.

I'm pleased at how the 3D came out actually, it really does look like the Monarch butterfly we captured in the park (sadly which has died, their lifespan really is 2-3 days) so I am quite pleased.

If this is only the draft version of it - I'm looking forward to seeing what the perfect one will look like!
I should be getting an animated version later tonight hopefully.

Peter has done an After Effects version (2D) so I guess we'll just put the butterflies to vote and see what happens.

My friend Roz has also completed a reading for me of the story which should be in the mail in a couple of days. She had warned me that the sound quality wasn't fantastic - which is fine. It's just for me to get a feel for the mood that she evokes.

Production starts tomorrow: I'm a little apprehensive at how it will work out and at the same time a bit excited. :) We'll see what happens tomorrow, I guess. We're meeting at 11am and Kalli has managed to secure some actors, so hopefully it will all go well without too many hitches.