4/28/2006

Update for Friday

In the absence of anything better to do over my lunch hour, I thought a quick update would keep me entertained. Yep, I'm back at work again. Which means I'm back to the crazy business of part-time filmmaking, a luxury only available to paupers, animators and films set completely at night.

I've completed 3 out of the 5 tests I've done on my characters for the new film. The test I completed at one o'clock this morning, rendering hair, was a spectacular failure. Although it seemed incredibly serious late last night, it had taken a couple of days of modelling and painting to set it up, it's actually not much of a problem. Hair is notoriously hard to do, as some of the very funny out-takes of the CG feature The Incredibles illustrates (not that I'm using CG), so I'll try the test again with a different lighting set-up. If that fails, well, I have other options which maybe aren't as attractive (adding about 2 weeks to the production schedule) but I know from past experience will work.

I've also started storyboarding! Fun! I like to storyboard as I'm finalising the script because it helps me understand exactly where my characters are in relationship to their environment and how they're interacting with it and other people. Scripts are often subjected to little re-writes as the art design and storyboards are done on films (more so on animated films) because as the 'world' starts to evolve around the characters it subtly changes them.

I've worked on quite a few music videos or short films as a camera operator or DOP where the storyboards are really professionally produced, they tend to look like this:



Seriously though, if you're got a limited budget it doesn't matter how it looks as long as you understand what you're looking at. You don't have to be able to draw to do your storyboards.

Because I sometimes turn mine into an animatic mine tend to look a little like this.

Awww... he's sleepy, Awww. It's a little more work but I find drawing relaxing so I don't mind.

Anyway, Thanks to the hundreds of people who've checked out the two films on here (or the one person whose checked it out hundreds of times). I'll put another short film up shortly, anyone have a preference... humorous or serious?

4/23/2006

Knowing Strangers

It's been a while since I posted last. I've been busy finishing off a project, which has now been sent off to Amsterdam (mental pause to quietly celebrate), and doing some blue screen tests for my next film. I'm fairly impressed so far and with some new lights, a few more weeks of product testing, and a week of hard writing, I'm optimistic that the film's going to impress (me anyway).

Talking of things I've produced, some of you may remember this piece from the old blog. Yes, it was actually the script for one of my films. Enjoy.

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Knowing Strangers was my very first festival piece. I had no expectations for it whatsoever. The joy for me was actually making the film and seeing a finished product. How did it do?




Yeah, OK, it did pretty well. Winning awards is still a surreal experience for me. It's a completely seperate process from the business of actually making films. Although the majority of my films manage to sneak an award from somewhere the above award is the only one you'd see proudly displayed at home, even with the mispelling of my name. It reminds me that with hard work and dedication it's possible to make your dreams come true.

So, until next time, keep dreaming.

4/10/2006

Happy
Chocolate Egg Day
Everyone!


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A film for anyone who enjoys the Easter miracle of a Cat and Dog dancing around the world to find the Easter Bunny and thank him for all their Easter Eggs.



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It's time I put some of my short films, among other things, out on the world wide web. I should probably have a dedicated web-site seeing as I work in IT and 80% of my friends are either graphic designers or web developers but this is easier for now.

G3Tfilms (that's Get Films) started out its life as a part-time gig producing infomercial and training videos for various companies in Sydney. I often try to forget the experience because of the short shoot times, long editing hours and low pay but it really is where I learnt the underestimated art form of lighting for digital (DV does not look bad, just get a DOP who knows how to light it).

Luckily for me the focus of what I was producing changed one Easter. My niece and nephew were unable to make it to Sydney for their intended holiday. Armed with my camera (Sony DSR-PD for those who care about that sort of thing), some blue cardboard, a blue rubber glove, two finger puppets, and a chocolate Easter bunny (the latter two being my niece and nephews presents), the film ‘Cat & Dog find the Easter Bunny’ was written, designed and produced in 4 hours (including edit). Along with the finger puppets (I ate the chocolate bunny) the film was rushed into the mail as their gift. Despite the poor production values they loved it and much to my amusement they drove their parents insane by watching it over and over.

Strangely enough it appeared that anyone of any age I showed it too either cracked a smile or descended it fits of giggles. So emboldened, I sent a copy of ‘Cat & Dog find the Easter Bunny’ to every person I or my friends even vaguely knew with a child under 4 years old asking them to gauge their childs reaction. ‘Cat & Dog find the Easter Bunny’ was an instant Easter hit. When I started receiving orders for the video from people I had never met and fan-mail from a small, young and seemingly dedicated group of Cat and Dog fans I knew that G3Tfilms would never be the same again.

So, seeing as it's Easter, I will shortly upload ‘Cat & Dog find the Easter Bunny’ for you to enjoy in all it's silliness.