2 weeks left

2 weeks left to go and nerves are frayed well mine are anyway.

Video: The video is close to being finished with the exception of a couple of bloopers i spotted that need fixing.

3d Animation: The animating is nearly finished just waiting to see if it matches up with the video and then the final renders.

Audio: The audio is about 75% done, just a few animation clips left to add sound too and then I have to lay music down over the final scenes.

The report: Im hoping to get a start on the report on monday or tuesday when the audio is finished. It might be a tight squeeze getting it all done in a week but if we plan it well it should come together ok.

Rules of Render

Ok, rendering is well under way. Some important points to note:

When animating the camera; make sure to keep the settings as close to these as possible:

- Cameras -
Camera height should be at 116m (C4D dimensions) while still, and while walking can 'bob' up to about 120-122m. Walking steps should take about 30 frames (1 second) when walking fast, or 40-45 frames for slower steps. Step should move a distance of about 50m - varying depending on the scene.

- Exporting -
In the C4D render settings; make sure to use the following:

Output Page:
Resolution - 756 x 480 px
Film Format - PAL, Quicktime.

Save Page:
Format - Quicktime Movie



Here is a link to the generic door opening shot, which we will use whenever possible to save animation/rendering time. This will be layered over the scenes in After FX.

I've cut stills out of the video footage of all the characters. Look at these when animating scenes to figure out angles and where the actors should be appearing. Some of Sean's shots are missing; I'll be updating this file asap to include stills of every shot.

Render Render; Never Surrender!

Just under 3 weeks to go

Its all stress at the moment with getting everything together in the next 2 weeks.

3d: 3d is pretty much finished. Only a couple of things to tweak during the animation.

Animation: Animation is about a third finished at the moment and should hopefully be finished by sunday.

Video: All our video is captured and Keith is going to be working on the effects this weekend.

Audio: Almost all the sound effects are recorded bar 2, someone humming a nursery ryhm and the sound of a piano lid slamming. The music will be finished off on monday. I started editing the dialog today and im hoping to get it all done by sunday leaving me with monday to thursday to finish working on the soundtrack.

Be not afraid of the blog, it is your friend

There still arent enough posts being made in the blog by the entire group so Ill soldier on myself and try to keep track of what everyones doing.

3d: Still a few bits and pieces to be done that will be definately finished by sunday even though Im sure I said that last week but little things keep cropping up that need finishing. Ronan is finished the girls room and leona is putting the finishing touches to the chamber.

Voice Recognition: After a panicky few weeks Dave finally managed to get the voice recognition working with Declan completely by accident, something to do with word pad.

Video: Keith is still working on capturing and editing the footage, I estimate him to be about halfway through.

As from monday the group will be sort of splitting into 2 groups. Leona, Ronan and Keith will be working on putting the production together in terms of video, animation and director. Leona will also be finishing off the animatics while the footage is being captured and keyed out.

Me and Dave are going to be working on the audio although this will be mainly my responsibility as Dave will be working on the voice recognition at the same time. Ive studio booked for the band to come in next week and record our music and Ive time in c123 booked to edit our soundtrack using soundtrack pro. All the voiceovers are done so its just foley work and music that need to be added and everything cleaned up.

We are going to have it all done by the 18th leaving us a week for user testing, working out kinks and finishing the report.

Set setbacks

No studio time was booked last week so we came back after easter to find the studio had been booked out all week leaving us to get everything done on saturday afternoon and after the mishaps of last week Its not looking good. the plan now is to spend all day friday working on setting up shots so we'll be ready this time for shooting Shane.

We are concentrating our efforts on 3d and hoping to have it all completed by tomorrow evening. Leona is doing the chamber, Dave is still working on the hall and then will be joining me to work on the attic and Ronan is working on Victorias room.

Keith has begun capturing the footage we have already shot and he will be working on that all week.

Dave is having some problems with visual studio and cannot get in touch with Declan for help so thats another area that needs attention this week.

on set 2

Its the end of day 4 of filming and as predicted Christophers filming went smoothly. Unfortunately we couldnt get Shane in on Wednesday but we did 5 hours filming with him today. We were beset with mike problems from the start of the day so we didnt get as much done as we thought we would. Hopefully we should get the rest done on wednesday and friday.

And now to watch Green Wing.

On set

We are on day 2 of filming and so far its going well. We had Barbara and Sarah in for filming on monday and they did well although I had to leave as soon as I had Barbaras off camera lines recorded in studio 1 and did her hair and makeup so I could bring Sarah home.

At the moment we are shooting Simon, its going a little less smoothly because Ronan forgot to give Simon the script. Hopefully Christopher's will go fine tomorrow.

The 3d is going well, Ive completely finished the piano room, kitchen and study. Im currently working on the 2 bedrooms and Dave is nearly finished the hallway.

We had a meeting last week about people posting on the blog more often but so far only Ronan has posted. Need more input guys!!!!

Preparing to Shoot

We've now found all our actors and are going to commence shooting next week. Before we could do this, we had to re-work the script. The most recent, final draft is located here. We've sent it to Pat Brereton and our friends to read, to gather opinions.

We also hope to update out animatic accordingly, so that we will have a shot-by-shot guide to work off while filming. Dave recorded some demos with his band for our soundtrack - sounds great! Orla has updated the house layout - this will be instrumental in working out light placement & green screen angles in the TV studio. We did some more testing last thursday, filming some test scenes.

Currently making some materials for the modelling of the house:


I'll be updating the archive as i add/edit more images.