Project Updates - 2023 December 24

I made progress on a few small projects recently. One was one that has been hanging around for nearly two years. The others are a response to a script writing challenge to the CSIF Older Filmmaker’s Club.

“The Dread of the Daring Rocketeer”

I did a little work on my video “The Dread of the Daring Rocketeer.” I’ve been working on it, off and on, for almost two years. I really want to get it out of the way and move on.

Older Filmmaker’s Scripts

I’ve been a member of the CSIF Older Filmmaker’s Club for almost two years now. https://csif.org/clubs/

At the November 2023 meeting, we were challenged to write a short script in time for out next meeting in January. I made a list of issues that older people face. This gave me a couple story ideas. I joined the Shut Up and Write group I’ve been attending and wrote out the two ideas as short stories.

One I call “The Isolation of Arthur,” focusses on the isolation that some older people feel. I didn’t finish it and wasn’t too happy with what I wrote. It is kind of an experimental film idea. I haven’t gone back to it.

The other I call “The Old Lady and the Urgent Phonecall,” is about an older person dealing with a scam caller. This went better and I finished a draft of the story during the session. It was partially inspired by a scam call I got. Note: The scammer didn’t fool me. This time. The next day I revised it into the form of a film script. I made some changes as I revised it. Another “old person” issue kind of developed in the story as I worked on it. I worried that it might make the script problematic. However, I came up with a few changes that I think take care of that.

I want to finish off “The Isolation of Arthur” before I share both scripts with the other Older Filmmakers.

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

“The Dreadful Baseball Player and the Wide-eyed Biologist” Posted

I recorded, edited, and posted my latest writing exercise this week: “The Dreadful Baseball Player and the Wide-eyed Biologist.” 

Description: Carrie's experience with speed dating wasn't going well. Then Oliver sat down across from her.

Length: 3:19

You can find it on Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/dynamiclethargy/the-dreadful-baseball-player-and-the-wide-eyed-biologist

You can also find it on the Audio page of my website: https://dynamiclethargyfilms.ca/audio/

I used voice.ai to do the character voices. I’ve done that for a while now but hadn’t bothered to mention it in my posts. Since AI is getting to be an issue, I felt that I should disclose my use of AI when I use it.

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

“Ted Writes a Novel” Recording Demonstration Posted

Over the last 2 ½ years I’ve been recording the writing exercises I’ve done in the writer’s group I joined. Recently someone who heard about this asked me to do a demonstration video about how I did it. I’ve posted that demo video now.

I’ve used some of my writing exercises as the basis for a few of the short, animated videos I’ve done. Part of the reason why I started to record and post my writing exercise was to develop my skills in recording voices for my animation videos.

At first I was reluctant to do such a demonstration, because I felt what I was doing was rather primitive compared to what others could do. Eventually I convinced myself that there were some people who could benefit from my experiences.

For my demonstration, I wrote a very short story, “Ted Writes a Novel,” so the demonstration video wouldn’t run too long.

I use Audacity on my PC computer for recording and editing. The microphone I use is a Yeti Blue USB. I modify my voice for different characters using voice.ai. I use Natural Reader text to voice for some characters.

I used OBS Studio to record a video of the process of recording, cleaning up, and editing the video. After some procrastination I edited the 32 ½ minutes of raw video into a 10 ½ minute video. I wanted to keep the final video short, so I cut out or sped through repetitive sections. I also used the opportunity to cover up some of the mistakes I made.

I finally finished the video this week and posted it on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ffwmb9_XIs

I hope you find this useful.

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