Revealing Comments About Character Development

As I contemplate some new projects, I've thought about how to develop characters. I've thought about this before, but it never hurts to revisit my approach.

Character Tags

I've found Lester Dent's formula helped me a lot with my writing. I added his article to one of my earlier posts: http://dynamiclethargyfilms.ca/the-lester-dent-master-fiction-plot-test-drive/

In his article, Lester Dent talks about giving characters tags so people can recognize them when they show up. Tags can be based on appearance, disposition, mannerisms and so on. I thought this would create superficial characters, although I also thought they would create the impression of more depth to the character than there actually is. I've found it much easier to write dialogue for more fully developed characters. At times it almost feels like they dictate their own lines.

My thoughts on this has evolved somewhat though. While the tags can be superficial, as you develop them, you look for tags that will define the characters. The exercise of developing the tags, causes you to get into the mind of the character.

Verbal Catch Phrases

To be more specific, I feel that a character's unique verbal catch phases give clues to who the character is. For example, it is common to say “hello” when you meet someone, but people use a wide variety of variations. Some examples include: hi, hey, howdy, top o' the morning, give a silent nod, or say the person's name. Which word a person chooses to use tells you something about their personality and mood at the time.

In my own case, I usually just smile and nod, but say nothing when I meet someone. The reason I do that is that I don't have a lot of confidence in my memory for names and I worry I'll get their name wrong. That would embarrass myself and might insult the other person. I wouldn't want to do either. The word, phrase, or action a character adopts would reflect a similar thought process.

People tend to associate certain expressions with types of people, and you need to be aware of that when you choose. An example of this is the word “howdy”. This is usually associated with a “folksy” or rustic person. Or, someone who wants to appear that way. Of course some people make their choice based on what people around them use. Of course that tells you something about the people they associate with, which tells you something about them.

The verbal catch phases people use can include how they say “yes”, “no”, “goodbye”, “but”, “thank you”, “I think”, and of course, the expletives they use when surprised or angry. Some catch phrases have no meaning and are used just to make a noise; an alternative throat clearing.

At the end of a conversation, I usually said, “I should let you go”. Recently, I realized that it was way for me to end the conversation and make it seem it was the other person's idea. Now I try to say something where I accept that I want to end the conversation. I haven't a standard phase yet, but I would use something like, “I have some things I should do.”

Expletives can very often reflect a person's character very explicitly. Some examples of words and phrases can include: damn, drat, golly, holy characterization batman, and the wide variety of four letter words that are available. For myself, I usually don't say anything out loud. When I do, it is usually something like darn, or damn, depending on the intensity of my feeling. I don't verbalize anything stronger than that. These choices reflect my desire to remain calm, or at least appear to be calm.

What comes first, the catch phase or the character?

In my, limited, experience, it can happen both ways. When I used Xtranormal to make “The Barrier”, I had to choose the voices and appearances of the characters before I began to write. I also had some preliminary ideas for dialogue. As I wrote and rewrote the scenes, the voices, the appearance and the words they said began to define their character. As the characters developed, they generated ideas for dialogue, which further developed the characters.

Character Traits and Tags List

Some writers have developed lists of words that can be used to describe emotions. I'd like to have a similar list that linked character traits to verbal catch phrases and other types of character tags. While I have found that I can sometimes get a sense of the links without a formal process, I think a list and a process would make it go faster. I haven't come across that kind of list, but maybe there is one out there I don't know about.

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

"The Barrier" Script Match and the Next Step

I continued to match the script to the movie this week and I had some more thoughts on the where I go next with the project.

Match the Script to the Movie

The script I had was done before I finished the movie. I knew it wouldn't match exactly, so before I could start to revise the script, I needed to conform it to what was in the movie. I thought this would be a long slow process. I'd watch the movie and note the changes against the script along the way.

I wanted to find a quicker way.

I remembered that I had created a captions file for the first version I posted. It didn't match the current movie exactly either, but it was only a few lines at the start of the movie that were different.

I reformatted and imported both the captions and the script into Excel. This allowed me to align each line of the script to the corresponding line in the captions. There wasn't a perfect match because in the script each dialogue line in the script was a paragraph, while in the captions each dialogue was a sentence.

As I went through the file I had to split up the script paragraphs into sentences so I could do the comparisons. I had a formula that compared the line from the script with the line from the caption and flagged them when they were different.

So far I haven't found many cases where the actual dialogue was different. Most of the time I had modified the script to help the artificial voices pronounce some words. For example in the name Campbell, you don't hear the "p", so in the script I have it was cam-bell.

I am about half way through the script at the moment. It shouldn't take too long to get that completed. I'm unsure how I'll convert the Excel file back into a script format. I wonder if I really need to do that though. Certainly for the rewrite I won't need it. When it comes time to hire actors to record the voices, I likely will.

Notes on Changes to the Script

As I go through the script to conform it, I have started to add notes about the changes I want to make. I plan to go through the script again, but I thought it would be easier to make a note when I happen to spot something I want to change.

I noticed that I had many of the characters use the same phrases. Real people usually have their own pet phrases for how the express different feelings. I need to think about what kind of phrases each character would use, and come up with ones that add some uniqueness to each character.

I've had comments from some people that they found the transportation planning jargon confusing. I know I can likely come up with ways to replace the jargon with more common words. What I am reluctant to do is eliminate the jargon entirely because I think it adds realism to the story. I want to avoid "As you know Bob ..." kind of dialogue to explain the jargon. What I might do is have the character Vincent Campbell claim to misunderstand the jargon and force other characters to explain. This could be played as humour so it isn't so distracting.

An Intermediate Step to the Final Movie

The plan I have now is to rewrite the script and then hire some actors to redo the voices and then create a new version of the movie. This week I started to consider a different approach.

I made the movie with Xtranormal Desktop, which has now been replaced with NawmalMAKE. At some point I'll need to convert all the movie files to the new system. What I've started to lean to, is to do the conversion first and produce a revised movie with the same artificial voices from before. Then later, I would get actors to replace the dialogue.

NawmalMAKE doesn't have the same artificial voices as Xtranormal Desktop, so I'd either have to use the voices that are available, or buy the rights to use the old voices. The voices are from Acapela and you can create and buy clips of their voices on-line. https://acapela-box.com/AcaBox/index.php I figure it could cost me close to $1,000 to do this. That is quite a lot.

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

I Actually Did A Little Work on "The Barrier" This Week

I've procrastinated on "The Barrier", my transportation planning movie, for a long time. This week I actually did something.

I began to prepare a new version of the script that conforms to the movie as it currently stands. Once I have a baseline script, I can start to decide what changes I want to make.

I found an old version of the script that I created from the Xtranormal STATE files. It was a LibreOffice file and when I opened it, nothing showed. It turned out that the styles I'd set up for the script format had gotten deleted somehow. I managed to convert the file to MS Word and was able to fix it there.

According to my notes, after I created this script, I made some more changes to the STATE files before I created the video that I used in the movie. I might have cut some lines out when I did the edit. I don't remember for sure, so it is better to assume that I did. In 2014 I replaced the first scene. The original version had no dialogue, but thee new one did.

I tried to run the conversion program I created to turn the STATE file into the script format, but that didn't work. Rather than try to fix the conversion program, I just edited the STATE file and extracted the dialogue I wanted. I added that to the old script.

One of the limitations of my conversion is that it can't convert the actions into description. A few scenes had no dialogue, and so consisted solely of the slug line. I began to work my way through the script to add in the actions. I got through about 12 scenes, out of 60 scenes in total.

I wanted to check my script against the dialogue in the current version of the movie. My original plan was to play the movie and read the script along with the audio. I remembered that I had created a caption file for YouTube, and I realized I could use that instead. I haven't started on that yet. It may be a better idea to play the movie and use that instead of the caption file. It might help me identify changes to make.

It looks like this could be a long slow process.

Note: the current version of "The Barrier", version 0.6, can be seen at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATcKnFAwlU0

I would like it if you could watch it and tell me what you think.

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

More Thoughts on a Final Version of "The Barrier"

I've given some more thought to the next, and hopefully final, version of "The Barrier". From that I developed a sort of to-do list.

I have a version of "The Barrier", my transportation planner movie, posted now.

(See http://dynamiclethargyfilms.ca/filmlist/the-barrier/). I am not totally happy with this version and want to do a revised version before I try to promote it more widely. The main change I want to make is to replace the artificial voices with real actors.

Because of my personal responsibilities, I will need to rely heavily on other people to make this work. As I talked about in my last post, I may try to recruit a collaborator/co-director to handle much of the work. (See: http://dynamiclethargyfilms.ca/a-final-version-for-the-barrier/)

I see several major steps I need to take to get the project done.

·         Produce a script of the existing movie

If I want to revise the script, I will need a script. When I made the movie, I didn't write a script, and then create the Xtranormal files; I created the Xtranormal files interactively. I did create a script from these files, as I documented in an earlier post: http://dynamiclethargyfilms.ca/the-barrier-progress-and-file-conversion/.

That was before I finished the final movie, and I didn't update the script with changes I made later. That in itself could be a major project. I could go back and rerun the file conversion system I created, but I seem to recall that when I tried it later, it didn't work. The converter only converted the dialogue and not the action. That could be an issue.

·         Compile the ideas I had and others suggested for changes to the script.

Several people were kind enough to suggest some changes that they thought would improve the movie. I have some of my own ideas for changes as well. I also had some criticism, which I might be able to address as well. I want to compile all these ideas together before I try a rewrite of the script.

One example of a change I want tot make is the scene where Arthur shows Meera the simulation that Dennis did. It starts at 35:50 of the movie. In the current version, she is impressed with the simulation. I want to change it so that she isn't convinced, but Arthur convinces her to send it to Brandon. I think that is a more realistic response for her to have. I think it works better with what happens later.

·         Revise the script to incorporate changes

While I "wrote" the script in Xtranormal, I think that I will do the rewrite in a script format. I can always fine tune the dialogue and action when I redo the scenes in NawmalMAKE.

·         Revise some of the computer screen images

When I did created the computer screen images for the earlier version, I mostly used PowerPoint to create the screen images. I also indulged myself in some inside jokes. As a result I cut the length of the shots of the screens quite short, so that people wouldn't be distracted by the images. Some people didn't like that.

I should remove some of the inside jokes so they won't be a distraction. While I'm at it, I should also try to improve the look of the screen images.

One of the things I'd most like to do is replace the simulation Dennis did in the scene I mentioned above with Arthur and Meera. Like the other screen images, I used PowerPoint. It doesn't really look too convincing. I think I can do a better job by revising the Blender animation I created for the opening scene. It's been a while since I used Blender, so I worry that I'll need to relearn how to use it.

·         Character descriptions for the actors

I want to write notes about each of the characters to help the actors understand what I want. If, as seems likely, I am unable to work closely with them in recording the voices, this kind of information could make a big difference.

·         Dialogue descriptions for the actors

I need to write notes to describe the emotions each character has for each of their lines. These notes could also suggest what the characters want or think. For example: when a character says something, are they angry, sad, bored, frustrated or have different feeling. I want to make it clear what I want, but at the same time, I want to give the actors some leeway about how they interpret the lines.

A good actor can bring more depth to the character in ways that I can't. I would like to get some feedback from the actors about the facial expressions and gestures the animated characters use.

·         Recruitment of a collaborator and actors

I find it quite daunting to recruit people to help me on projects. I'm always somewhat reluctant to ask for help, but I'm also unsure who would be a proper choice. I think the most important thing is to find people who buy into the story, and believes in what I want to say.

This is particularly important with the collaborator/co-director I want to work with. Since I will not likely be able to work directly with the actors, this person will have to communicate what I want, while they allow for their own input and that of the actors. I have some ideas about who to approach, but I'm reluctant to ask them unless I am willing to commit to them. A kind of chicken and egg problem.

If I do decided work with a collaborator, I would like to have them handle the recruitment of the actors. If not, then I'll have to do that part of the job. AT the moment I tend to lean toward people I've already worked with, but then there are several characters for whom I don't know people who might work.

·         Recording and sound quality

Since I plan to record the actors and then use those with the animation, the arrangements for the recording and the recording sessions themselves will form a major component of the project. I've done a little bit of that, but this is a much larger effort.

I'll likely do the sound recording piecemeal, so I need to be concerned about consistent sound quality between sessions, and maybe between studios. I am not a real audio guy, so I'm somewhat unsure what I need to be concerned about. That is another reason I'd like to work with someone else.

·         Combining audio and video

One of the nice things about NawmalMAKE is that you can import pre-recorded voices and the program will sync the lip movements to the voices. This will make it much easier to do a new version. I haven't done much with this capability before, and worry that they're may be some challenges when I comes to the timing of actions.

Once I have the scenes output from NawmalMAKE, I plan to use Adobe Premiere to edit them together. The experience I had before makes me think this will be relative straight forward. The hardest part at this stage is to drop in the background images and computer screens I've created elsewhere. This can be tricky, but it is also the kind of work I enjoy.

I'm a little unsure where to start. Either I start to recruit an collaborator, or I start work on the script rewrite. At the moment I'm inclined to start with the script because I worry that if I bring in a collaborator too soon, then they'll lose interest and drift away before I finish the script. On the other hand, if I have a collaborator in place, that will be an incentive to push forward with the project.

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

A Final Version for "The Barrier" ?

A few weeks ago I wrote about my plans for my next project. I had decided my next project would be my Agatha Christie in Egypt video. Since then I got some encouragement to do a final version of "The Barrier". That got me to have another look at it.

Two Barriers

There were two barriers I have to over come to make a final version of "The Barrier".

The first was that Xtranormal, the program that used to make it, had been shut down and was no longer legally available. I did look at what other similar programs were available that I could use, but didn't find anything I felt would work for me. Fortunately, the  rights for the Xtranormal software was sold to Nawmal, which has made it available again as NawmalMAKE. That solves my first problem.

The second was that I want to replace the artificial voices with voice over actors. Several people said they found the synthetic voices annoying. I didn't mind them, but I they do lack emotion. Voice over actors would bring more depth to the characters, and would be more pleasant to listen to.

Unfortunately, I can't commit to any kind of schedule to work with the actors or attend recording sessions. I've started to think about ways I might be able to work around that.

Option 1: Co-director

The first option I came up with is to recruit a co-director, who could work with the actors and attend the recording sessions. The big advantage of this approach is that the actors would have a better opportunity to collaborate with the director. In my experience I know that when actors are given some flexibility, they can often come up with something much better than what I wrote.

The issue for me is that it may be difficult to find an appropriate collaborator. The movie is very personal to me. With its focus on transportation planning, people with out that back ground may not be attracted to work on it.

It might also leave me out of the loop.

Option 2: Independent Recording

A second option I thought about earlier was to arrange for the actors to record their parts on their own. This would make it easier for me, and give me the flexibility to use actors from out of town. The downside is that the actors will not have the same experience and direct feed back.

A short time ago I read some where that when Douglas Rains recorded the voice of HAL for 2001, the recording session was in Toronto. I had expected that Kubrick would have attended the session, but if it was in Canada, he would not. While I can't be sure if this is a true story, it does make me wonder if I need to attend the recording sessions for "The Barrier". I am no Kubrick though.

Supporting Actors

Another issue that would come up for either of these options, is do I have the actors work on their own, or do I try to have them record scenes as a group? When I did the voice recording for "Who Shot the President", I wasn't able to get both actors together at the same time, so I recorded them separately. I had the first recording available when I did the second, which made it a little easier for the second person.

On the other hand, I know that some actors prefer to have the other actor there to help them. I suppose the best approach is let the various circumstances dictate the approach. If it is easy for the actors to meet, and prefer that, then that is what I should try to do.

Script Revisions and Notations

I want to work on the script some more. There are a few places where I want to make changes. So far, nothing too major. If I try to make too many changes it could delay completion of the project for a long time. I would prefer to get it done sooner and then move on to new projects.

Since I wouldn't be able to work with the actors directly, I would want to add notations to the script to indicate to the actor what I had in mind for the character. That could be a lot of work. For that matter, I don't really have a script anyway. I did the writing inside of Xtranormal. I did, at one point, export the dialogue into text files and reformat them into a script, but that wasn't from the most recent version of the movie. I did set up a converting program, but it didn't work the last time I used it.

Money

There is a final problem: money. With the uncertainty with my wife's health, I worry about how much I can afford to spend.

I know some actors would be open to working for the credit. However, I really would prefer to pay them, even if it is only a token payment. I would need to work out how much I would need to spend.

At any rate, I do have a lot to think about.

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

Experiments With the Trial Version of nawmalMAKE

I downloaded and tried out a trial version of nawmalMAKE, the replacement for Xtranormal. I wanted to see if I could use it to do a final version of "The Barrier".

I had planned to leave any evaluation of nawmalMAKE until later when I was ready to redo "The Barrier". This week I got a notice that I could download a trial version. The notice said it would only work for 7 days, so I thought I'd better have a quick look at it.

I did have some trouble initially because the password word wouldn't work. The support person at Nawmal was very helpful, and in short order everything was hunky dory. I remember that about a week before Xtranormal shut down, my copy of Xtranormal Desktop(XD) crashed. I didn't expect that I'd get any help, but when I contacted them, the person was also very helpful.

First Impressions

My first impression of nawmalMAKE was that it looked like a rerelease of XD. Of course, it has been over two years since I last used XD, so there are likely some differences I haven't recognized. As I worked with it, I did start to notice some improvements. The version number for the XD files (3.6.993.3994) was different from the version number nawmalMAKE files(4.0.50.109), so obviously they did make some changes.

When Nawmal asked for user feedback last year I suggested that they rerelease XD as soon as possible, then incorporate improvements from the original STATE and STATEPlus later as upgrades. It looks like they have started off in that direction.

Characters

My first concern was if the characters I used "The Barrier" were available. The trial version included the Suitz characters, which were the ones I used. All of the speaking characters are there. I didn't check for minor characters or background characters. If they are not available I can use some of the others that are available.

I noticed that the ability to customize characters is greatly improved. At least I don't recall the same flexibility with XD. Not all of the characters can be customised. Fortunately Phil, who I used as my main character is one of them.

I was able to change the style and colour of his clothes. Since he appears in almost every scene, it would add some variety if I can have him wear different clothes in different scenes. It is also quite easy to change skin tone, some facial features and hair style.

Most of the other characters I used could be customised.

STATEPlus provided similar capability. The version in nawmalMAKE seems to be more limited, but is also easier to use.

Voices

The voices provided with nawmalMAKE are different from both XD (Acapela) and the original STATE program (Nuance). I found the new voices were from a French company called Voxygen https://www.voxygen.fr/en/. They offer the voices as Android Apps. I must admit that I don't like these voices as much. Maybe I'm just not used to them. Most of the English voices are British. I got the impression that they expect that most users would used the TTS voices for scripting the video, then have actors do the voices for the final version.

I noticed that nawmalMAKE also picked up some voices I had installed for another program. The trial version said it provided a limited range of assets and I wonder if the full set includes other voices, or it is possible to buy the Acapela or Nuance voices.

I did find a work around for the Acapela voices. On their website you can create audio files for their voices. (See https://acapela-box.com/AcaBox/index.php). That would be expensive for a project like "The Barrier". I had planned to hire actors to redo the voices for the final version of the movie.

Project Files

Maybe it is the engineer in me, but I probed into the project files. XD and the original STATE program used the .STATE extension, while nawmalMAKE uses the .nwml extension. The .nwml files seem to be very similar to the XD version, although the some of the sub-file names are different.

The document.xml file looks as if it is the same format in XD and nawmalMAKE. The format for the original STATE files is different.

One thing I was a bit surprised to find was that when you ran the render, the program saved mp3 files of the dialogue in a sub directory of the .nwml file. I suppose that this saves time when re-rendering a scene, since you'd only need to use the TTS for only those lines that were changed.

Project File Compatibility

Since I have a large number of STATE files I already created in XD for "The Barrier" I wanted to see if I could convert them into the new format. I renamed the test files with the .nwml extension. I got errors because the voices were not compatible, but the file opened and everything seemed to work just fine.

Later I discovered that I didn't need to change the extension. when you open a file, it gives you the option of .nwml files or XD .STATE files. That worked just fine too.

My last experiment was to try to open a .STATE file created by the original STATE program. Initially, I couldn't open the project file. The program would report the problem with the missing voices, and then some kind of error with the set. It took me a while to realize that the set I'd used in the scene wasn't one of the sets available in the trial version of nawmalMAKE. Once I switched to a file with a set I did have, everything worked fine.

Final Thoughts

The goal of my evaluation was to see if I could use nawmalMAKE to create a final version of "The Barrier". I conclude that it will. Furthermore, the added ability to customise characters would let me add some variety to the movie.

I still have 4 more days to experiment with the trial version. Off the top of my head I can't think of any thing more I want to test. If you have some suggestions, please let me know.

My other experiences with Xtranormal

I have some other posts related to my use of Nawmal and Xtranormal. I used Xtranormal to make two videos: "The Barrier" and "Make ’em Squirm: The Sharkbiter Way". I've listed links to these two movies, and the blog posts I did while I made them.

http://dynamiclethargyfilms.ca/the-new-nawmal-good-news-for-the-barrier/

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

http://dynamiclethargyfilms.ca/category/film-projects/the-barrier/

http://dynamiclethargyfilms.ca/filmlist/make-em-squirm-the-sharkbiter-way/

http://dynamiclethargyfilms.ca/category/film-projects/orville-sharkbiter/

Additional Note (2015 September 27):

The new program seems to have a limit of 6 characters. I tried to add some background characters to create the impression of a busy office, and ran into the limit. In some of the scenes for "The Barrier" I have more than six characters. It may be that the limit is just in the trial version.

Another issue with the background characters is that they keep looking at the main characters and the main characters look back at them. I can control where specific characters look, which I've done before. But it is a tedious task.

Note (2015 November 1):

I added the section "My other experiences with Xtranormal" to provide links to my other posts about Xtranormal and Nawmal.

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

The New Nawmal: Good News for "The Barrier"

I used Xtranormal to make "The Barrier", but was unable to properly finish the movie because the company shut down before I could finish it. Now a new company, Nawmal, is releasing software based on Xtranormal. Maybe I can now finished my movie.

Nawmal (http://www.nawmal.com/) sent me an e-mail this week that the official release of their new software, nawmalMAKE, would be September 30, 2015.

Target Market and Cost

So far there isn't very much information on the website. The impression I got was that the initial release, a commercial version, it is aimed at the corporate video market. The applications they list for the software are pretty much limited to that market.

The price they have set for it, $1,000 a year, which I think would be appropriate for the corporate video market. They offer a monthly rate of $100.

Finishing "The Barrier"

I don't consider the version of "The Barrier" I have on YouTube to be final. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATcKnFAwlU0)

My objective for the next version of "The Barrier" is to hire actors to redo the dialogue. With my current personal commitments, I don't think I can devote the time and effort to make that happen for a while yet. There is no real urgency for me to make any kind of decision about how I'd use the software just yet.

The Nawmal website says that they plan to release two more versions of the software. One aimed at the education market, nawmalEDU, and the other for "fun" users, nawmalFUN. I don't really fit into any of the markets they seem to be going after. I would need many of the features that would only be available in the commercial version. But, the price is kind of steep for me.

I thought I might be able to use nawmalFUN to develop the movie, then switch to the commercial version when I want to finish the movie for release. From the description of nawmalFUN, that doesn't look like it would work.

If there are enough movie makers like myself, maybe we could negotiate a different kind of license that would work better for us. Of course it wouldn't work if there were too many.

nawmalMAKE as Script Writing Software

I know that one of the original goals of the software was to help script writers visualize their scripts. Their thought was that writers would transfer their script into the program to generate the movie.

My experience with the software makes me feel that it would work better the other way round.  When I created "The Barrier" I transferred some scenes from the short stories I wrote, while other scenes I created from scratch within Xtranormal. I felt the scenes I wrote within the program worked much better and were easier to write.

A good example of this was the scene between the Mayor and Brandon Baker. My initial idea for the scene was a few short lines that set up the threat to Arthur. But, as I worked on the scene, the personalities of the two characters started to solidify and that changed how they interacted. I started to see how the history between the two characters underlay the scene.

You can watch this scene at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATcKnFAwlU0 starting at 1:36 and running to 3:09.

I think there would need to be some additional features added to make it viable option as a script writing tool. For example it would need to output to a script format. I created a simple process to do this with the old STATE files. (http://dynamiclethargyfilms.ca/the-barrier-progress-and-file-conversion/) It wasn't very reliable, but I think it shows that it can be done.

I hope Nawmal is successful. I want to use it in the future, but I know they can't make a go of the business if I'm a typical client. The focus on the corporate market, if it works, could ensure their future.

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

Return to Blogging

My wife was in the hospital from mid December until a week ago. I dropped all of my other activities to help her. Now that she is home, I think I can get back to my creative projects.

Wife's Health

When my wife went into the hospital last December, my top priority was to help take care of her. I dropped all work on this blog, my films and my writing projects. While she is home now and things are stable, we still have a way to go before she is healthy again.

While she was in the hospital, I visited her every day. I took her home cooked food; the hospital food was not to her taste. I know I am fortunate to be able to drop every thing else and just focus on her. Many other people don't have that luxury.

Now that my wife is home and more capable of taking care of herself, I feel I can start to work on my creative projects again.

Normally at the start of the year, I write a blog post about my plans. It is well past new years, but it is time for me to do that again.

Blog

I want to get back to my blog with a post every week. Until last December I had only missed a few times since the beginning of 2010. I hope to keep to that schedule again.

My Most Difficult Case

http://www.dynamiclethargyfilms.ca/my-most-difficult-case

This project has been on my to-do list since the early 1990s, and I finished it last year. It is nice to be done with it. I do need to try to promote it. I have it posted on a pay per view site. I think that is the way to go with my films. This is an experiment to gain some understanding of the process.

Website Theme

In December I started to work on a new theme for my website. The old one was not mobile friendly and a bit clunky. It was a version of the Core theme that I had fiddled around with. I set up a test site using Bitnami. I did some preliminary work, but didn't get far with it.

A few weeks ago I discovered that someone was injecting a spam link into my main page. I didn't have time to fix it, so I tried a different theme: Candour. It took care of the mobile friendliness and the injection problem. It doesn't look exactly the way I would like, but I don't see a need to do anything with it for a while.

Summer is Too Short (and the Rabbits Ate All the Seeds)

This is a short movie I worked on last year. Everything is shot, but it will take a lot of post production to get it ready. It will be finicky work.

Felix

I had started a rewrite of this story, but have left it for a long time. I had planned to do that anyway. It is time to get back to work on it.

The Barrier

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

I have a version of this movie done (version 0.6), but I want to do some more work on it. There are some changes I'd like to make to some of the dialogue, but the big change is to replace the "robot" voices with actors. Xtranormal can do that, but the status of the program is still up in the air, so I'm reluctant to start.

I don't think a movie about transportation planning will find a large audience, so I don't want to spend too much money on it.

Pete's Plan

I'd written this short short story a couple of years ago and submitted it to a few Science Fiction magazines. I had rejections from all of them. I had planned to submit to some others, but got side tracked onto other projects. The main comment I got was that it read like a treatment for a story rather than a story. While I like what I did do, I think I should try a rewrite in first person. I'm inclined to post it on my website rather than try to submit it to magazines again.

Bright Freedom

I'd done this as a movie script, but then decided to redo it as a novelette. I got a 17,600 word draft done and started to make revisions to it, but put it on hold. I'd like to get back to it and get it into shape to have some other people read it.

Another Story

When I reviewed where I left off on my projects I came across a post: http://dynamiclethargyfilms.ca/another-story/. I talked about a new story idea, but didn't say anything about the story itself. I could not remember anything about it. I managed to find the material I wrote up. It is a short detective story.

A New Transportation Planning Story

About a year ago I did some work on the outline for another transportation planning story. I'd forgotten about this one too. I had a look at the outline this week and developed it a bit further. It still needs work, but I think it has potential. For a story like this, I think I should spend much more time on the outline than I do on the story itself.

Ancient Astronauts

When I first heard of this idea I was convinced it was true. Later, as I learnt more about it, it all seemed to evaporate in smoke. There was nothing there.

I still find the idea intriguing, but there seems to be very little serious study of the idea, even though it is plausible that aliens visited Earth in the distant past. The field has been taken over by people who recycle old claims that have been debunked.

I would like to do something with the concept. Initially I want to write an article that takes a serious look at the idea. Then maybe I can develop a story.

My Priorities

My wife, of course, is my top priority.

I find it hard to pick one of these projects to work on first. As a start I think I will do some work on Summer is Too Short and then work on Felix. Then we'll see where that goes.

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

"The Barrier" Test Animation 2014 September 6

My goal is to create a new version of the opening scene for my movie, "The Barrier". In the current version of the opening scene it isn't clear what happens. I completed a short test animation this week.

So far I've concentrated on building the set, but also did a test animation. I used Blender to build the set and do the animation. At one point I got very frustrated with Blender. It seems like I get something the way I want it, and then it stops working after I made some more changes. Late in the week I seemed to find a way around that and got a test animation done. You can watch it here:

I'm a long way from completion. I plan to add more trees and some vehicles. I may also add a yellow stripe down the center of the road or more detailed trees. I don't want the set to look too realistic because it would look odd when I combine it with the Xtranormal animation I used in the rest of the movie. I plan to shoot the scene from several different cameras and then cut them together in Premiere Pro.

"The Barrier" is the story about the struggles of a transportation planner when he tries to do what he thinks is right. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-LOUNSEKac

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

"Felix" and "The Barrier"

I worked on both "Felix" and "The Barrier" this week. The "Felix" rewrite progressed well, but with "The Barrier" it just seemed like I spun my wheels. I still would call it a productive week though.

"Felix" Rewrite

I tried my new approach with "Felix" this week. I printed off the most recent version, then sat out in the back yard, went through the printout and made my revisions. I got about a quarter of the way through. I thought this approach worked and I felt positive about the revisions I made.

Later in the story I have some sections that I will likely have to completely replace. I may even need to add totally new material. That will take a bit longer. I think that I will need to go through the whole story at least one more time before I'm done this revision. It should be ready to share with other people then.

One of the problems I have noticed is some of the technology the astronauts use on Mars seems outdated. I can't mix 2020's technology with 1960's technology. For example, I gave the rover a considerable level of autonomy, but the astronaut's have to drive their own vehicle. I can fix much of that fairly easily, since the technology is mostly in the background. Unfortunately, some of it is tied to major plot points.

I thought it would be enjoyable to sit outside and listen to the birds as I worked. Unfortunately, we only seem to have crows and magpies around here, so not much in the way of  beautiful songs. The chattering of the squirrels sounded better, but after what they did to our garden, it's hard to feel too kindly toward them. I did find it more restful to be outside though.

"The Barrier"

I did some more research on one of the programs I want to use to do "The Barrier". I used up a lot of time, but I can't say I have much to show for it. I can say I did learn more about what it can do. I can't really get too far along with the new version until Xtranormal is rereleased.

I've given some thought to what I'll do with the movie when I get it done. My current plan is to use a site like http://distrify.com/ to distribute the movie. There are several sites that look similar, so I should do some more investigation before I sign up for one.

I believe that this is the first movie ever made specifically about transportation planning, so I need to promote it transportation planners. There might not be much of an audience beyond people who work in the field.

I've done some posts on a few LinkedIn transportation planning groups, but I think I need to look at other options. There are a number of transportation planning magazines, newsletters and journals. I don't think they would have movie reviewers, but I still think I should approach them.

I could use some contacts at these outlets. If you can help me I would appreciate it.

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

Mid-Year Review of My Goals for 2014

At the start of this year I laid out my goals for 2014. With the year more than half gone now, I thought it was time to review and revise my goals. This year hasn't been as productive as last year.

"Felix"

I set the rewrite of "Felix" as my top priority for the year. I thought that would take me a couple of months. While I have done some work on it, I am nowhere near a completed rewrite.

I must admit that it isn't a very original idea. It began as a rewrite of a H. P. Lovecraft story. Although, as I worked on it, it did drift away from the original story. I don't want to do a bad imitation of Lovecraft.

I have been very erratic in my work habits, which I think is the main reason I make so little progress. I need to get into a writing routine. That is a mater of will power.

Sometimes I find it easier to write in long hand rather than on the computer. I'm not sure why, but it feels more creative.

"The Barrier" / Replace Xtranormal

The primary barrier to my work on "The Barrier" was the discontinuation of Xtranormal, the program I used to create it. Xtranormal does seem about to return, but hasn't been rereleased yet (see http://xtranormal.com/). I don't want to put much effort into the project until I know for sure that I can continue to use Xtranormal, or a compatible program.

I have done some work with Blender (see: http://www.blender.org/) to animate some scenes that I can't do very well in Xtranormal. There are a couple of scenes that I can do that way with out Xtranormal that I think would improve the movie and it may be worthwhile to do that to give me more of a final version of "The Barrier".

A movie about transportation planners does have a small audience, so I can't expect to redo it as a even a low budget movie. Best to stick with Xtranormal, if I can.

I will hold off on this project for now and see what develops.

"My Most Difficult Case"

I think I have left this project too long for any serious chance of getting a sale. Even when I contacted a distributor five years ago, they thought it was almost too old to get a sale. I'm inclined to do a quick fix up and post it on-line.

I'd like to try out one of those pay-per-view sites. I want to do that with the final version of "The Barrier", so I want to get my feet wet. "My Most Difficult Case" might be the film to try. Hopefully, I can avoid some missteps later with "The Barrier".

"Bright Freedom"

I have thought about this project from time to time, but I don't see that I'll do anything on it any time soon. It is hard to write a story where the protagonist is a woman and you've never been one.

"Pete's Plan"

I submitted this story to several Science Fiction magazines in 2013. I thought it was good enough to get published, but no one was interested. One person that read said that it seemed to be more of a treatment than a story. It is short, about 1,000 words, but it says all I want to say. I planned to submit it to other magazines, but held off on that.

As I've thought about it, I think it would be better to rewrite it as a first person narrative. It would force me to focus more on the hero and how he feels as he executes his plan. What I have now may be too detached from the character.

Other Projects

Over the year a number of other ideas have popped up in my head. I usually write up the idea for later. Sometimes I forget the idea before I get that done. I think some of these ideas have a lot of potential, but I don't want to delve into them until I get a few of my current projects put to bed.

One idea I've toyed with is another "transportation planning adventure" story. I've come up with some ideas and would like to move on with it. I plan to write it as a story, and if things work out, I would develop it into another movie like "The Barrier".

My Priorities

My first priority is to get back into a writing routine. Even an hour a day will help me accomplish something, if I keep it up consistently.

My second priority will be to finish off the rewrite of "Felix" and get some feedback.

My third priority will be to finish off "My Most Difficult Case", post it and promote it.

After that, it will depend on what happens with Xtranormal. If it is available, I would like to do a new version of "The Barrier". Otherwise I would work on the rewrites of "Bright Freedom" or "Pete's Plan".

I will also allow myself to go with the flow when the spirit moves me on other projects.

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

Some More Experiments for "The Barrier"

Xtranormal State will be rereleased, but it isn't clear just when that will happen, and what will be available. In the mean time I will do some experiments with StatePlus on some changes I want to make to "The Barrier".

There are several changes I want to make to "The Barrier" that I wanted to try out.

For example, I want to replace some or all of the synthetic voices with real voices. I tried that out with my own voice and it looks like it isn't problem technically. I do need some people with better voices than I have though. I'll need money to pay them too.

This week I focussed on changes to the opening scene. In it, my protagonist drives along a road and then narrowly avoids a collision with a big truck. In the version I used for the current version of the movie, I just have a close up of his face and appropriate sound effects. From the responses I've had, this doesn't make the situation clear to many people.

The kind of action I want for the scene really can't be done directly in State or StatePlus. There isn't a set that is appropriate and there isn't a big truck. They do have a car though and I think I can work around the limitations to get what I want.

My plan is to create the appropriate set in Blender, like I did with the open house scene where I created a small gymnasium. I would need to create a big truck in Blender as well. I plan to work on those changes in Blender later.

If I want to incorporate the car and my character from State/StatePlus I will need to modify the set with the car so that it has a green screen background. I played around with that this week.

The set for the car is a bit tricky to alter to create the green background. Some of the elements of the set are actually props rather than parts of the set, so I needed to find those props and change them as well.

I still have bits and pieces of the set that are not green, so I still have some detective work to do. However, I may be able to get the shots I want with what I have now.

The next thing I need to do for this scene is to create the set in Blender, then I can start to match up the car and the set.

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

Xtranormal Rebirth and Facebook Issues

I've devoted most of my time recently to caring for my wife as she recovers from surgery, so I haven't done much about my movie and writing projects. This week I have some thoughts about the return of Xtranormal and problems with Facebook.

Xtranormal Rebirth

I used Xtranormal to make "The Barrier" last year. It was a shock when they suddenly shut down last July. I was barely able to get all the stuff I wanted for the movie done. As it was, I would have liked to make some changes to what I did have.

For the last few months the company who owned the rights to the Xtranormal technology has had it on sale. Just yesterday I learned that they've now sold the technology to a new company called Nawmal (http://www.nawmal.com/). There isn't much information there yet. You can sign up for a news letter.

It looks like they still need to work out just what they have before they can release anything. Hopefully they'll have some kind of product out soon. I just hope it isn't too expensive.

I want to make some changes to "The Barrier". I had hoped that I could redo it as live action, but I don't think that is very likely now. I would like to have a "final" version of the movie though.

Facebook Issues

I've seen a lot of complaints about how changes to Facebook have affected Facebook pages. One example is: http://www.thisistrue.com/blog-facebook_starting_to_circle_the_drain.html. I've have some of the same problems.

My Facebook page has 125 followers, but often as few as 4 or 5 see my posts. I can increase that by paid advertizing. I've done that a few times, and it does help me increase the number of people who see the post. However, since this doesn't generate any revenue, it is hard to justify the expense.

I think that pages must be primarily intended for companies who sell something. While I hope to make money from my movies and stories, the page isn't likely to generate any money.

Some people say they will abandon Facebook, but I don't want to do that. I already have an e-mail list, but I don't have a lot of people on that. I set up Facebook groups in the past and think that may be a better option for me. It seems like I can send out a group e-mail, which doesn't cost anything.

The main problem with a switch to a group is that I'm likely lose some of my followers. On the other hand I do think it is better to have a small group of active followers than a huge number of passive followers, who you can't contact. The best way would be to keep the page, but also add a group.

My to do list gets longer every day. :)

The picture of the cat has nothing to do with the post, but I heard that cat pictures attract people.

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

STATE as a Writing Tool for "Felix"

I continued to use the STATE animation program to help me rewrite "Felix" this week. I finished a couple of scenes.

I made a few changes to the scene I started on last week. In it the two astronauts explore "the target area". Then I extracted the dialogue from the STATE file. STATE stores the dialogue and other information in an XML file. All I needed to do was open it up and do a little reformatting.

I transferred the dialogue to Word, and then I used that as a basis to write the version for the story. I did make some minor changes to the dialogue, but most of the work was to add in descriptions of the location and the action.

I felt that it went quite smoothly. I feel that the text flows quite well.

I went on to do another scene. In it the astronauts explore a cave next to "the target area". For some reason this didn't seem to work as well. I'm not sure why. Maybe I tried to go too fast. I went through the same process to convert the dialogue into text for the story. Nevertheless, I felt that the process did help and the result was better than if I had just worked with the text and not the animation.

Next week looks like I'll be busy with other things, so I won't likely get much done on "Felix".

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