Video Production Improvements

BREAKING POINT has been a serious step forward in my video production skills. Overall, the video doesn't look like it was filmed by a 15 year old and a 12 year old. It looks, in some parts, like a professional video (I might be a bit biased but whatever).

A lot of the angles in the video were inspired by Slumdog Millionaire. That movie had so many amazing angles and action shots, that I just had to implement some of them. The frame was sometimes not level with the ground, but that adds to the edginess of the shot. Also, a lot of zoomed closeups were used, and it created a better sense of suspense. Overall, the zooming and crooked frame effects definitely worked toward a better video.

Editing was different this time around. Unlike UNDERFIRE Deathmatch, I added the muzzle flashes before I placed them into the timeline. This gave me a better sense of what I was working with, and ultimately gave me more control over where the sounds go and how fast I was supposedly shooting.

I finally figured out a shortcut to color correcting a billion scenes at once also. Saved me an hour of work :D

The muzzle flashes from my "assault rifle" were custom made in Photoshop. I created these after I completed UNDERFIRE Deathmatch because I was unhappy with how the flashes looked in the end. They were about the best I could do manually, but I think they looked pretty decent. Ryan's rifle flashes were from the internet. I gave him different ones to make more of a contrast between the 2 different shots, but you probably didn't realize it :D

Workflow was definitely slow on this particular video because of all the file rendering I had to do. But, on the contrary, I did learn many things about HD video. HD is definitely nice, and makes the videos look very clean, but to go through all that work isn't quite worth it in my opinion. I'm not a professional, so I don't have all the equipment or the right computer. Standard definition would work just as well with me.

BREAKING POINT was a big learning video, and definitely helped me step up my video production skills. Hopefully my next video will implement these new skills. I'll have to show my friends first though.

BREAKING POINT

The video is done, yay, finally.

Nothing much to say. 12 minutes long, over 30 hours of combined work I believe?

Not gonna be on Youtube yet. I'm debating whether or not I should put it on.



If you want to watch it, tell me and I'll give you a copy :)

I bet you like that shirt I'm wearing huh? I also bet you're jealous ;D

Portal for the win!

Editing HD SUCKS

HD has been an enormous headache for me. There are so many problems I've been having with HD that I really don't want to film with it again any time soon.

Let me tell you what's up.

First off, in my last post, I explained how I had to convert the files into .avi files. Adobe Premiere Pro CS3 does NOT support AVCHD, so screw HD HDD cameras. Each conversion takes a few minutes, and I have a LOT of clips, so it can take up to a fucking hour sometimes.

Next, HD is so big that my computer, no matter how awesome, lags when I play the footage. IT LAGS. That pissed me off from the get-go. My computer should SO be able to handle that kind of stuff. But I guess not huh??

Then, this comes up. After compiling the 3rd scene together, Premiere Pro starts crashing every time I do something to a clip. This worries me, and pisses me off at the same time. After a bunch of thinking, I realized that the HD footage, 5 minutes of it on the timeline, TAKES UP ALL MY COMPUTER'S RAM. WHAT THE FUCK.

So this is what I have to do for every fucking scene: I have to split each scene up in its own project (that sucks because this video has turned into like 6 different project files). Then, I have to CONVERT the files AGAIN to MPEG-2 so it's smaller size without reducing too much quality. Each scene takes about 30-40 minutes to compress. I have to do this for every fucking scene.

COULD THIS GET ANY MORE FRUSTRATING?!

Thankfully though, once you DO compress and compile it all, it works just fine. Today I finished the first 3 scenes, with music and everything. I don't really want to start the 4th scene yet, but I guess I'm going to have to.

But, so far, the video looks phenomenal. It flows extremely well, the music fits perfectly, and it just looks great. I'm very happy with how it's been going.

I'll post a few more screenshots, just for you people :)









The framing in the last picture isn't great, but remember, we're filming most of this video ourselves. Whether or not it's framed right, you can see what's going on.

Well, I haven't told you guys the name of the video, but I think you can figure it out if you're good ;)

Post later :D

Summer Video

The past 2 weeks I have been hard at work with another video of mine.

I'm not going to release much information about the storyline or anything, but I will say that this video should prove to be my best. With the scenes we do have, we've used some extremely effective angles to capture our shots. I'm very happy with how it's turning out so far.

Filming is somewhat slow though because we have been busy, the weather has not been pleasant, and it's just a lot of work to walk from set to set. Also, importing AVCHD film data has not been easy. Adobe CS3 does not support AVCHD, so I had to buy another piece of software just to import the files. Video production is hard work, folks. It can take over an hour to shoot just one scene, getting all the angles and scripted sequences right.

But this film so far is a pretty good video. I'm proud so far.

We're back to using NERF guns as props again, but in a less Call of Duty-esque fashion. More, they're used as real weapons, however, it's roughly as real as NERF guns can get. I'll start adding the muzzle flashes eventually.

Here are some screenshots. They don't show a whole lot, but I don't really care.







I may potentially add some filters to these shots eventually, but for now I'm worried about the flow of the video. I'll add effects later.

I also have not settled on a title yet. Yeah, I brought together a video idea, but I have no name for it. Yeahh.

Anyway, update later people.

50 Posts + 1

I just noticed that I've accomplished 50 official blog posts. Whoopiee!!

It's not a big deal but I'd say it's pretty good considering I'm a lazy son-of-a-bitch. I figured I'd just say that because well, why not? It's my blog.

Anyway still nothing happening.

Post latahh

Getting Lazier

I know I haven't posted in a while. Saying that I have nothing to post about is just a lame excuse that is half-correct regardless.

What it all comes down to is laziness. I haven't had much inspiration to post about anything lately. Wait, no, that's another excuse that is somewhat true. I'm just too lazy to write about anything. I don't have the patience to put a lot of effort in this anymore. I should be better at this, because it strengthens discipline.

But I never have anything to write about. Actually, I do, but those things are private and I don't have to share them with you people do I?

I'm leaving for Toronto in a week. It's kinda sad because I wanted to go out with my friends more. But some were in school, some couldn't make it, and some I just didn't feel like hanging out with.

And it all comes down to laziness.

I wanted to go to the beach, but so much to organize! Not for me. I want to go out with my friends, but where to go? What to do? How to keep them and me busy? Yeah I'm not good at this stuff. I'm indecisive and I don't follow through on a lot of things.

I did get them over one day though. We played Monopoly for a few hours... Then I saw Transformers 2 with my other friend. Terrible movie... Megan Fox isn't that hot. She's a bitch.

Hopefully I can go out with my friends at least one more time this week. If not, then I'm gonna be pretty sad....

Well I'll post later...