Thursday, December 31, 2009
As Freddie Once Said, "Another One Bites The Dust"!
I just wanted to blog quick and wish each and every one of you a happy and safe 2010!
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Flaws, Epic Fails, and Murphy's Law
October.
I really thought I could do it. Finish a movie I was only halfway done with? No problem. Film a 3 minute short for Halloween on top of it? Piece of cake!
Oops!
So here I sit with both movies still unfinished and egg on my face. Why?
Several reasons, actually. First is a small laundry list of personal flaws. I bite off more then I can chew. I put the cart before the horse sometimes. I don't plan for things going wrong. And...sometimes when I get really passionate about something I say things without really thinking about what I'm getting myself into...and this is clinically proven to create Epic Fails in laboratory mice!
So I think to myself "Things are going smooth, I should be able to wrap up 'I Zombie" in a couple weeks, and a week of intense work for the Halloween special should wrap things up rather nicely. I think to myself "I'm just going to post a blog announcing this stuff".
No problem. In a perfect world.
Then Murphy's Law takes effect. Yup, you can see this coming.
A scene I was working on, involving about 15 characters (most with guns), 6 police vehicles with flashing lights, all on a large set causes Moviestorm to crawl, and frequently crash (issue resolved with latest release thankfully).
My version of Adobe After Effects starts crashing for no apparent reason. I know I must have changed something in the settings, or maybe it's something else. The only thing I know for sure is I don't know what's causing it. So, some things I intend to do in the movie can't be done until I fix that.
The band I am in (I'm a singer/guitarist) is breaking up, and in October a couple of friends and I had an acoustic jam....and decided to form a new band. So now there is learning new songs, rehearsals, etc. This isn't something going wrong, because music is my original passion, but it does mean no time for movies.
All this happens at the same time, which makes October a huge bust! It's only in the last couple weeks that I can even turn my focus back to movies and blogs and all that great stuff.
You know, I really should have known better then make that announcement. Lessons are repeated until they are learned, and just in time for the new year I think I've learned a few.
1) One thing at a time.
2) Don't announce a movie until it's in Post-Production, or until it's done...either way, make sure it's firm that I can deliver.
3) Know when to keep that mouth shut.
4) Always plan for Mr. Murphy and his blasted law.
With all that said, I make it my New Year's Resolution to follow these lessons. I also resolve to actually complete I Zombie in 2010! And who knows...maybe I'll make other things too!
But don't quote me on it ;)
I hope you all have a wonderful new year...best wishes!
I really thought I could do it. Finish a movie I was only halfway done with? No problem. Film a 3 minute short for Halloween on top of it? Piece of cake!
Oops!
So here I sit with both movies still unfinished and egg on my face. Why?
Several reasons, actually. First is a small laundry list of personal flaws. I bite off more then I can chew. I put the cart before the horse sometimes. I don't plan for things going wrong. And...sometimes when I get really passionate about something I say things without really thinking about what I'm getting myself into...and this is clinically proven to create Epic Fails in laboratory mice!
So I think to myself "Things are going smooth, I should be able to wrap up 'I Zombie" in a couple weeks, and a week of intense work for the Halloween special should wrap things up rather nicely. I think to myself "I'm just going to post a blog announcing this stuff".
No problem. In a perfect world.
Then Murphy's Law takes effect. Yup, you can see this coming.
A scene I was working on, involving about 15 characters (most with guns), 6 police vehicles with flashing lights, all on a large set causes Moviestorm to crawl, and frequently crash (issue resolved with latest release thankfully).
My version of Adobe After Effects starts crashing for no apparent reason. I know I must have changed something in the settings, or maybe it's something else. The only thing I know for sure is I don't know what's causing it. So, some things I intend to do in the movie can't be done until I fix that.
The band I am in (I'm a singer/guitarist) is breaking up, and in October a couple of friends and I had an acoustic jam....and decided to form a new band. So now there is learning new songs, rehearsals, etc. This isn't something going wrong, because music is my original passion, but it does mean no time for movies.
All this happens at the same time, which makes October a huge bust! It's only in the last couple weeks that I can even turn my focus back to movies and blogs and all that great stuff.
You know, I really should have known better then make that announcement. Lessons are repeated until they are learned, and just in time for the new year I think I've learned a few.
1) One thing at a time.
2) Don't announce a movie until it's in Post-Production, or until it's done...either way, make sure it's firm that I can deliver.
3) Know when to keep that mouth shut.
4) Always plan for Mr. Murphy and his blasted law.
With all that said, I make it my New Year's Resolution to follow these lessons. I also resolve to actually complete I Zombie in 2010! And who knows...maybe I'll make other things too!
But don't quote me on it ;)
I hope you all have a wonderful new year...best wishes!
Thursday, December 24, 2009
'Tis Better to Give
So Moviestorm announces a Holiday Movie Contest, and this being my favorite time of year, I couldn't resist entering.
After 1 1/2 weeks of intense ranting and wrangling, I've put together what I think is a pretty good movie. At nearly 17 minutes long, this is a story with a very important holiday message.
Here is the description:
Michelle is very naughty. After a big snow storm, she finds a snowman has mysteriously appeared in her yard, and before the holiday is done she learns a very important lesson.
This movie contains no dialogue. I've attempted to tell the story through gestures, music, and the expressions of the characters.
This is released under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 license.
The last time I made a movie this long (with the sims) it took me 6 months! The production of this movie was a whirlwind affair, so if you see any glaring flaws (I didn't), please bear that in mind ;)
You can check it out at TM Underground and at the Moviestorm site under featured movies...but if you don't feel like going to those places to see it, I've embedded a flash version of the movie on the main page of my site.
www.darklordproductions.com
I hope you all have a happy and safe holiday, and my best wishes to you and yours for 2010!
Oh, and I'll post about my Epic fail over releasing those movies in October in the next few days here ;)
After 1 1/2 weeks of intense ranting and wrangling, I've put together what I think is a pretty good movie. At nearly 17 minutes long, this is a story with a very important holiday message.
Here is the description:
Michelle is very naughty. After a big snow storm, she finds a snowman has mysteriously appeared in her yard, and before the holiday is done she learns a very important lesson.
This movie contains no dialogue. I've attempted to tell the story through gestures, music, and the expressions of the characters.
This is released under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 license.
The last time I made a movie this long (with the sims) it took me 6 months! The production of this movie was a whirlwind affair, so if you see any glaring flaws (I didn't), please bear that in mind ;)
You can check it out at TM Underground and at the Moviestorm site under featured movies...but if you don't feel like going to those places to see it, I've embedded a flash version of the movie on the main page of my site.
www.darklordproductions.com
I hope you all have a happy and safe holiday, and my best wishes to you and yours for 2010!
Oh, and I'll post about my Epic fail over releasing those movies in October in the next few days here ;)
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