The Scatter Shot Approach Doesn't Work for Me

In the past I've run into trouble when I try to do too many projects at the same time. I think I've fallen into that again. I need to pick one project to focus on.

"The Barrier"

I left "The Barrier" for now. I'll pick it up again when the new version of Xtranormal becomes available.

"My Most Difficult Case"

I started to work on "My Most Difficult Case" again. The files were very badly organized, so I tried to clean them up. To start I tried to get rid of duplicate files. I reduced the number of files from 42,109 to 21,789. I cut the number of folders from 716 to 265. The size of the files went from 324Gb to 187Gb.

There are still thousands of duplicates, but I'm not sure which I can get rid of. It also looks like I got rid of some files I should have kept. I generally hang on to all my intermediate files, so that it is easier to go back and fix mistakes. I got that habit when I worked in transportation planning. I think it is a good idea, but I need to document what I do better, so I can clean up the files later.

Triond and Wikinut

Some years ago I used to post articles on a couple of websites: Triond and Wikinut. I haven't posted new articles to either for a couple years now. I haven't had any payments from either of them for well over a year. I decided to cancel both accounts and repost my articles on my own site.

Wikinut doesn't seem to have a "close account" function. I found some discussion of that on some web posts. Someone said that they will close an account if you sent them a message and ask them to close the account. I sent a message, but they haven't responded yet.

There seems to be some problem with Triond. I can't log in at all. I did a search and found that people have been complaining about problems with Triond since July. I will try again later.

I'll likely wait for a while after I close these accounts before I start to report my articles on my website. I'd like to revise some of them. There are also a few that I think I just want to get rid of.

Website

I want to do some work on my website. In particular I want to set it up to be more iPhone/iPad friendly. I use WordPress for my website and use a theme that I created from another theme. It is a bit clunky and I can't see how I could easily modify it to be iPhone/iPad friendly.

I looked at some other themes, but I would need to make some major changes to any I choose. The last time I did a major revision, I set up an alternate website to test the new theme. I found that awkward to work with.

I wanted to see if it was possible to set up a site on my local computer and do the experimenting there. I found a couple of systems that seem to do the job: https://bitnami.com/stack/wordpress/installer and XAMPP https://www.apachefriends.org. I don't know much about either, so it is hard to decide.

Pick a Project

I think that I really need to get "My Most Difficult Case" over and done with. On the other hand I really want to redo my website. Maybe it will be easier to choose when I get up Monday morning.

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

"The Barrier" Version 0.6 Now On-line

I created a new version of "The Barrier" this week and posted it to YouTube. I made several changes to the first two scenes. Next week I plan to move on to a new project, or do some of the house work I've neglected.

Over the last week, I finished the first scene of "The Barrier" that I've worked on over the last month. Then I did a new version of the second scene of the movie. Finally I combined them with the rest of the movie to create a new version (version 0.6) of "The Barrier".

http://dynamiclethargyfilms.ca/the-barrier/

or

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATcKnFAwlU0

Scene 1

I only made a few minor changes to the previous version of scene 1. I added some more cuts after the car passes the truck to give a more frenzied impression of what happens. Since I planned to use this version to replace part of the previous version of "The Barrier", I used the same artificial voice from before, rather than my own voice. That voice is a little slower than mine, so I had to extend the background shot a bit.

I am sure that there is a lot more that I can do with this scene to make it better. However, I decided to call it done for now. I plan to redo the entire movie with real actors for the voices, and will have another chance to revisit the scene then. It is easier to see opportunities for improvement when you've had time to create some distance.

Scene 2

In the records I keep for the movie, I call the second scene 1.5. It is a fairly simple scene, so I decided that as long as I planned to revise the movie on-line, it would be an easy addition.

In the original version of the scene a woman passes Arthur on the street. She smiles at him, but he is caught up in his own thoughts and doesn't notice her. Someone thought that she was a prostitute, which is not what I intended. I wanted to revise the scene so that people wouldn't see it that way.

I had the woman sit at a table outside a coffee shop with a third character that I added. The two women are talking, although I don't actually have them talk, just gesture at each other. When Arthur walks by, the woman glances at him, then turns back to smile at him. As in the original version, Arthur doesn't notice her.

Version 0.6

When I uploaded version 0.5, it took something like 14 hours to finish! I didn't want to do that this time, so I took advantage of YouTube's on-line video editor. I combined the first two scenes and a short piece of the third scene, and uploaded the combined video. Then I used the editor to cut off the first two scenes from version 0.5 and add in the revised scenes.

I never used the on-line editor before and I found it difficult to work with. It didn't seem to have precision I wanted, although, that could just be my inexperience. I wanted to cut at the end of the short piece of scene 3 that I uploaded.

I fiddled with the cut for a long time. I couldn't see any way to test it, except to create the whole movie, which took many hours to generate. Fortunately it turned out OK. I can see a slight glitch a few seconds into the third scene, but I think most people wouldn't notice it. If I had managed to cut out one or two frames more, it would have worked just fine.

I don't plan to do much in the way of promotion for this version. I want to save that for the "final" version I plan to do. I will leave this project until the new version of Xtranormal becomes available.

I have a bunch of unfinished projects I could work on next. "My Most Difficult Case" has been hanging over me for far too long. I would like to get it out of the way, so I can move on to other things with a clear conscience.

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

"The Barrier" Scene 1, and Xtranormal Updates 2014 October 12

I think the latest version of scene 1 only needs a few tweaks and then it is done. Xtranormal asked me (and many others) for feed back this week. It looks like they are nearer to a rerelease

"The Barrier"

I did another version of scene 1 of my transportation planning movie this week. I think it is very close to the final version.

It took Blender a long time to output the video. It is a big complex file and creates only about 3 frames a minute, so that a 4 second clip took over a half hour to create.

I made several changes for the new version:

• I added some interior lights to the car so you can see the inside of the car in the close ups of the driver.
• I modified the steering wheel; I had placed too high. I spent a long time fixing the steering wheel. It was joined to the car and I had to un-join it before I could do anything with it. I converted it into a child of the car and then moved it. It would have been easier for me if I had made it a child from the start. If nothing else, I am learning more tricks in Blender.
• I did two versions of each of the close up shots. In one I added a purple screen where the driver would sit, to make it easier to add the driver. I've noticed that when I composited the shots that the steering wheel pulses, which I will have to fix somehow.
• I changed the driver's expression at a couple of points. I think that helped convey what I wanted.

When I watched the final video, I could see several places where I wanted to make more changes.

• Near the end, where the car veers out of control, I think I need to cut back and forth between the cameras faster. I hadn't out put the video from Blender that I needed to do that.
• The truck currently has no writing on it, such as the name of the company. I did create some for the truck but didn't use it: "Arrogant Jerk - Transport Services - Why should we care about your junk?" It seemed too flippant. On the other hand, it would pass by too fast for people to read it, so it wouldn't make much difference.
• I'd like to improve the sound effects. The car sound, doesn't really sound like car to me. The tire squeals aren't continuous, so I'd like to do something to fix that.
• As I noted above, the steering wheel pulses in some of the close up shots. It is really distracting, so I really do need to fix it.

I had some positive feedback about my voice in the video I posted last week. I'm not a big fan of my own voice. Who is? It has me thinking I should do the voice rather than hire a professional. The one big advantage is that I work cheap.

The scene should be done soon, so I have started to think about what to do next. I would like to update the existing video on YouTube with the new scene. If I do that I want to redo the second scene as well, which won't be hard to do. There are a lot of other changes I want to make, but I'll leave them until Xtranormal is rereleased.

Of course I have other projects to work on, like "My Most Difficult Case" and "Felix". They are both projects that seem to drag on forever, so it would be nice to put them behind me.

Xtranormal

This week, Nawmal send me an e-mail about Xtranormal. They asked for feedback from former users about what they'd like to see when they rerelease it. I wrote a long note and sent it off. They didn't reply yet, but that might be a good sign, since it could mean they had a lot of responses. I am optimistic that a rerelease will be available soon.

Someone posted the letter on FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=726158394131069&set=gm.646440082140320&type=1

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

"The Barrier" Update 2014 October 5

I've added the driver and some sound effects to the demo video of the new scene 1 for "The Barrier" this week. It isn't done yet, but I managed to put together an early version of the scene that gives a good indication how the final version will look.

I added more trees and animated the river, but didn't add them to the demo video yet. The car needs to be developed a bit further, so I want to do that first.

Some people suggested that I should get actors to do the voices, rather than the robot voices I had. It looks like I would need to pay for the robot voices in the future, and I would prefer to give my money to a local actor.

I recorded my own voice and use it in place of the original robot voice. I included two versions of the driver speaking; one with my voice and one with the robot voice I used before. I'm not happy with my voice or my acting chops, but I think that a real voice does work better. If I get some actors with better voices than mine, then it would make a big difference.

I would like to start contacting actors to see what it might cost me. If you can suggest people I would like to hear about them.

I think I am close to the point where I am done with this project for now. Before I can redo the rest of the movie, I will need to wait until Xtranormal is rereleased, and I can get a licence.

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