Sunday, September 20, 2020

The ZOOM Bomber – Update 5

I completed the story board for "The ZOOM Bomber". I have started to ask for feed back on the story. Based on what I hear back, I will decide where to go with the story.

I got quite energetic a couple weeks ago and finished off the story board in just a couple of days. Since then I’ve been asking people for their opinions before I decide on my next move.

I posted a video of the story board on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jePgb298O_k

If you have the time and inclination, I would like to hear what you think of it.

Production

I used WonderUnit’s Storyboarder 2.01 for most of the story board. For the most part I found it easy to use but struggled when I tried to create custom body positions. I think if I used it for longer, I would eventually develop amore skill at it. I got feedback that the characters lacked facial expression. Storyboarder does have a sketch tool that would allow you to add facial features, but I lack the artistic skills to do that.

I found it took me a long time to create the background in Storyboarder, so I used other tools to do the backgrounds.

I took some photographs and then used https://www.cartoonize.net/ to create more abstract images for the backgrounds. I used ArcSoft PhotoStudio 5 to modify some of the images as well – both before and after cartoonizing. I used Blender 2.79 to create the escape across the roof top.

I used Microsoft PowerPoint to combine the various image elements into each story board image. I also used it to add the character labels.

I used Adobe Premiere Pro CS4 to compile the individual images into a video story board. I overlay the images on a blank ZOOM page in Premiere Pro.

I added some dialogue and sound effects to finish off the storyboard.

I used some text to speech voices, David, Zira, and Hazel, which were available in Windows 10, for the dialogue. These voices do lack some character, so I would likely want to have actors do the voices if I were to do a revised version.

I used some free sound effects from SoundEffectsPlus.com and SoundBible.com. I also created some of my own sound effects. I used Audacity 2.3.2 to modify some sound effects.

Thoughts about making the Movie

The video turned out to be much more violent and brutal than I feel comfortable with. That said, I am not ready to abandon the project. Part of the reason I want feedback is to gauge if I am too squeamish.

I have given some though about how to shoot the movie.

First off, I think that for most of the characters I should look for people with martial arts training. I worry a lot about safety issues and would feel better if I worked with people who did this kind of thing on a regular basis. Also, when I think about safety, I would like to use sets with padded floors.

For the escape scenes, where you don’t see the characters, but rather their point of view, I think I could use a small camera drone. My sense is that would also be cheaper. I would certainly want to do this with the roof top scene. I am not so sure about how to do the crash through the window. For some of the other escape scenes I think a camera mounted on a stunt person would be safe enough.

I want the movie to come across as if it happened in real time, but I would like to shoot most of it in short segments. This make sense for the scenes with Scarlet, and Hunter. I would shoot those in probably 6 or 7 separate segments. I would combine those and then shoot Mother’s piece as she reacted to the pre-recorded video.

Feedback Request

Again, I want to get a sense of how people react to the video before I decide my next move. If you have the time and inclination, I would like to hear what you think of it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jePgb298O_k

Thank you.


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

Sunday, August 16, 2020

“The ZOOM Bomber” – Update 4

I made a little more progress on “The ZOOM Bomber” story board. I think I am close to two thirds done.

I did the pictures of the building Scarlet jumps on using Blender. I tried to do an animation of the run across the building roof. The trees are extraordinarily complex objects, which slows down the animation to the point that it doesn’t seem to work at all. I removed the trees and tried again. I wasn’t happy with the timing, so I think I will just stick with the images.

In addition to Blender, I used Wonderunit Storyboarder, PowerPoint, Arcsoft Photo Studio and a cartoonifying website.

Scarlet looks at escape

What Scarlet sees from the window

Scarlet jumps on to adjoining roof


Scarlet runs across roof

Wolf Prepares to shoot Scarlet in the back of her head

Hunter arrives and shoots Wolf before he can shoot Scarlet

Hunter checks to see if Scarlet is still alive

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

Sunday, August 2, 2020

"The ZOOM Bomber" – Update 3

I did some more images for “The ZOOM Bomber” story board. I think I am about a third of the way through the story board.

Although I have jumped around a bit. I skipped the images I thought were more difficult. I do need to pick up the pace.

I used Wonderunit Storyboarder to create the initial images, then used PowerPoint and Arcsoft Photo Studio to create the final images.

"Mother" calls Scarlet on ZOOM


"Mother" tells Scarlet she is on mute


Scarlet talks to "Mother"


"Mother" talks to Scarlet


Scarlet fights off the "Bad Guys"


Scarlet fights off the head bad guy while "Mother" calls for help

 



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