A New Writing Exercise, Animation, Trigger Warnings, and a Video

I posted a new writing exercise this week. I took a deeper look at Unreal Engine. I got into a discussion of trigger warnings. I procrastinated about a video I did.

"Time Enough for the Anxious Social Media Manager"

At our writer’s group we did a writing exercise based on this title. I recorded it a couple days later and then posted it on-line.

Albert meets with his social media manager. Derek is anxious about the new campaign.

·         https://soundcloud.com/dynamiclethargy/time-enough-for-the-anxious-social-media-manager

I've been posting my recordings to Soundcloud, but there is a limit to how much I can upload. So, I did some experimentation to see if I can post them on my website instead. It worked, but I don't think there is a high priority to start doing that.

NAWMAL, Blender and Unreal Engine

My plan was to stick to NAWMAL and Blender for my animations, but I saw a video about Unreal Engine that suggested that it was much easier to learn than Blender. I know how to do some things in Blender, but I find it hard to learn how to do the more sophisticated animation I want to do. So, I installed Unreal Engine on my computer. I had a quick look at it but didn’t try to do anything with it yet. I did download some of the free assets that they provide.

Trigger Warnings

At our script group meeting this week we talked a bit about trigger warnings. Apparently, the idea is controversial, since some writers feel that a warning can undercut the effect of their story. I felt that you need to be aware of your audience and avoid anything that would cause someone to 'drop out' of the story. I've dropped things from my films because of that, even though I felt they would have added to the story.

"The Desperation of the Wretched Senator"

I haven't done anything more with the video I did. Next week, for absolutely sure, definitively, I will get it polished off and posted.

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

The Dread of the Daring Rocketeer

I finished recording my writing exercise based on the title "The Dread of the Daring Rocketeer". I’ve posted it on SoundCloud.

Circumstances force a rocket scientist to take a risky chance. He hopes he won't regret it. https://soundcloud.com/dynamiclethargy/the-dread-of-the-daring-rocketeer

I was a bit stumped by the title, but once I started to write, the story just seemed to flow out of me.

I think the story would work well as a short video. I just need to create a video image of a rocket. I’m not sure when I can get to it. I have a couple of unfinished videos almost ready to go. I should get those done first.

 We generated the title randomly on the page: https://dynamiclethargyfilms.ca/random-title-generator/

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

A New Writing Exercise and an Old Video – 2022 March 6

I’m a bit stumped by my next writing exercise. My last video still isn’t finished. I made some progress though. It has been a learning experience.

The Script group had their 100th meeting (I joined about meeting 24). We had a lot of discussion and so we ran out of time to do the writing exercise. The title was "The Dread of the Daring Rocketeer". I haven't done anything on it yet, other than come up with name for the rocketeer: Don Brown.

I showed the script group the first version of "The Desperation of the Wretched Senator.” They had a lot of suggestions. Mostly they felt it was too slow. I went back and electronically sped up the dialogue. Then I adjusted the pitch so that the characters didn't sound like Mickey Mouse breathing Helium. I eliminated some of the pauses in conversation. I sped up the walking as well. I can't do that in NAWMAL, so I had to do it in the video editor.

I wanted to add a final shot that I couldn't do in NAWMAL, so I used Blender instead. It is only a short shot, but it has already taken me more time than the entire rest of the video, and I'm not done yet. It is looking good. It has been a learning experience, and I've picked up a few tricks.

I removed Blender 3.0 and went back to Blender 2.79. The main reason was that the new version was slow. I had installed a software fix so it would work with my graphics card. That worked, but I think that may be why it is so slow. It may be time to look at a new computer. I read that the best choice for people doing video on their computer is to buy a gaming computer. I’m likely to procrastinate on that for a while yet.

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