Project Updates 2025 February 16

It may not seem like it, but I’ve been up to a few things lately. I did a little work on “The Barrier,” and a new video I call “Speed Date.” I have started to submit “The Urgent Phone Call” to some Film Festivals.

“The Barrier”

It has been my intention to redo the film. My main objective was to replace the computer-generated voices with real actors. I started a rewrite but got stalled on the project after my wife died. I still want to go back to it. Someday.

Over the years some people have called my film “The Barrier” too slow paced. As an experiment, I sped it up by 20%. I decided to post that experiment on YouTube. We’ll see if I get a good response.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EgNWbc2N1Ks

The film was inspired by some of my experiences as a transportation engineer.

“The Urgent Phone Call”

The film is done now, so I am starting to look at distribution. I’ve submitted it to a couple of film festivals. No response yet.

Beyond that I haven’t decided on other ways to get it seen. I got some distribution for one of my earlier films through Ouat Media https://ouatmedia.com/, so I may try them again. The last few years I’ve been posting to YouTube and may go that way too.

“Speed Date”

I got aa script writing challenge to write a Chick Flick. I am not really sure what a chick flick is. So I was stuck for ideas.

I worked on a short video a few years back called “The Minions of Eros.” The feed back was rather negative, so I never finished it. I felt that the main problem was the computer-generated voices. I planned to redo it some day.

It struck me that it might be considered a chick flick, so I decided to go ahead and finish it. I changed the title to “Speed date.” I’ve been recording and altering my voice for the writing exercises I’ve been doing, so I decided to do the same for “Speed Date.” I’ve recorded the voices but haven’t added them to the video yet.

The CSIF Older Filmmaker’s Club

I’ve been running the CSIF’s Older Filmmaker’s Club for a few years now. I find the meetings well worthwhile, but I find that setting them up is a drain on my energy. I may need to cut back on the number of meetings. That would give me more time for my other projects.

This post is a mirror from my main blog http://www.dynamiclethargyfilms.ca/blog

Update on “The Audience for AI Films” 2024 December 1

I have been working on “The Audience for AI Films” off and on since May 2023. I have now made it a higher priority and might even get it finished this time.

I created the video with NAWMAL. Although it does not claim to be an AI system, the voices are computer-generated. It did strike me as ironic that I was using it to comment on AI filmmaking.

I had a version that I shared with a couple of people early on. They were positive about it, but I had some doubts about it myself. First off, it felt too short, at less than two minutes. Then, I was having trouble choreographing the characters and camera. So I procrastinated about finishing it.

When I went back to it later I was not happy with the voices. I used computer-generated voices. NAWMAL allows you to record or import actor’s voices, but since the two main characters are robots, I went with the computer-generated voices. The problem was that the voices did not sound robotic enough for me. That stalled me again.

In this go-around, I first concentrated on adding and revising the dialogue. I felt much better with how that turned out. The run length is closer to four minutes now, which is about the length I wanted. I got the choreography of the characters done to my satisfaction.

The next step that I’m stalled on now is the camera placement and choreography. NAWMAL allows you to set up multiple cameras and switch between them in the program. It can be a little finicky at times, especially when the characters move around, which happens in this video. In my previous NAWMAL videos this was not a big problem. This video is a little more complicated and I felt it would take me a long time to get the nuances right. I was stalled again.

I have come up with a different approach. Although NAWMAL allows you to do an entire video with it, I have on occasion gone back and manipulated the video in a video editing program. Usually this is to combine short videos on different sets into a single video, or to speed up action.

What I am thinking is to “shoot” the video the same way I would do a one camera live shoot. This would allow me to set up shots more precisely. It would also allow me to cheat angles to get the images I want. Then I could pull it all together in the editing program.

I am still waffling on the voices though.

This post is a mirror from my main blog http://www.dynamiclethargyfilms.ca/blog

The Executioner and the Jovial Dictator Posted

Image from Microsoft Bing

I recorded my exercise “The Executioner and the Jovial Dictator.” After I recorded it, I changed my mind about the title of the dictator. I rerecord just the lines that included the dictator’s title and replaced it with “Baron.” Then I reedited the recording to put in the new lines. I missed one line with the old title, but I was able to use a “Baron” from another line.

I posted it on SoundCloud and my Website.

The Baron would stand no criticism. Cyril made the fatal mistake of being honest. The Baron had a solution.

·         https://soundcloud.com/dynamiclethargy/the-executioner-and-the-jovial-dictator

https://dynamiclethargyfilms.ca/audio/
This post is a mirror from my main blog http://www.dynamiclethargyfilms.ca/blog