I'm still categorizing everything. (See my last post.)
Today a killer whale at Sea World killed a trainer. Years of doing the same show for screaming kids, but this time, for whatever reason, instead of jumping out of the water and grabbing a fish, it grabbed the woman, shook her around like a dog with a bone, and dragged her under the water.
I get what the whale was feeling. Captured and taken away from your family and friends, then not only kept in a tank most of the time, but forced to perform for the amusement of sugar-addled kids who just want to get splashed. I'd flip out too. It's called a killer whale for a reason. What do people expect? Still, you can't just kill someone no matter how pissed you are. Not cool, whale.
Today, I killed two mice in my home. I mean, indirectly. I didn't even put the trap out, Ken did. But I signed off on it, and when the CRACK! happened an hour later, I came out to the kitchen and saw that we killed two mice with one stone. One fully cut in half by the metal bar, the other with just a broken skull, still squirming a bit. I think that's all of them, but there may be more in the wall or something.
These weren't big rats, just mice. They mostly lived in the kitchen during their short life inside my apartment, rarely seen, but they'd started getting ballsier recently. Last night, I heard one scurrying around under my bed. It wasn't all that bad, sharing a room with a mouse. I went back to sleep fast. All it wanted was some chips I dropped. And for that I let it die today? Not cool, Josh.
What's the moral here? Maybe it's "Mother Nature's a bitch." We kill, we get killed. It'll happen. Animals aren't here to be our friends. Maybe we should stay the fuck away from each other.
I don't have any interesting editing tidbits, and won't for a couple weeks yet, probably, until I get to the "rough cut" stage. Diamond Bar is inexorably in progress, but it will take time to take shape. I want it to come out right, after all. For the curious, though, I've got two screenplay ideas floating around in my head to write as soon as I'm done with DB, and one of them is about the relationship between pets and pet owners. I've never been a pet person, and I think there's something a little deranged about the whole idea, honestly. It's going to be a science-fiction action epic. In the meantime, watch Werner Herzog's "Grizzly Man" if you haven't seen it yet.
Listening to: "I Am Trying To Break Your Heart (Live)", Wilco (Every Wilco song is better live.)
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Sunday, February 14, 2010
It's Labelin' Time!
Shooting is done! Hurray! Now to start editing, which is one of my favorite parts; I love editing. Picking the best takes, establishing the right rhythm for the story, trying out color schemes...
Wait...I forgot. I can't edit yet. Because I have to prepare my video and audio for editing first. Which, for the record, I don't love, because it's really, really tedious.
I've already taken the first step by labeling all my video files. Thanks to shooting via Flip, each take is already in it's own separate file...so all I had to do is label each file by Scene Code, Daily Take #, Shot Code, Shot Take #, and Auxillary Code. For example, what is W023CLEL003b.MPG?
W = "Lunch With Eloise" (each scene has it's own letter code, from A to SSS)
023 = the 23rd take that day. (for syncing with audio files)
CLEL = Close-up on Eloise (Each camera angle has a two letter code, and so does each character, so I can easily identify the type of shot, and who's in it.)
003 = The third close-up on Eloise take.
b = Filmed with the backup camera. (Most files don't need an auxillary code, but its there so I don't confuse what might be different aspect ratios, etc.)
What looks like gibberish at first becomes easy to read when you know what to look for. I'm not an editor normally, I don't know if other editors use a system like this, but I think it's pretty genius.
But naming each video file turned out to be the easy part, and even though it was tedious, I could listen to Eugene Mirman and Todd Barry while I skimmed the videos on mute to figure out the name.
Not so for the audio files; those need my ear's full attention. During shooting, I didn't use an audio mixes; each actor had a lav mic which went directly to an independent digital recorder. The advantages of this method is it's fast and easy; the downside is, I have to manually sync each actor's audio tracks together for each take. Which takes forever. And the aud files are often hours long, and have to be cut before they can be labeled. And because most scenes have 2 or more actors, there are more than twice as many aud takes to label. (These files are a bit easier to label, it's just scene code, take, and actor, e.g. W023EL. Still takes forever.)
Once I'm done with labeling, I can FINALLY...convert the files from H.264 MPEG to HDV MPG so I can edit it in Final Cut! Which isn't as tedious; I just have to press a button and let my computer run for the better part of a day. At least I can go to a movie or something for this part! Isn't it fun to see how the sausage is made? I promise most of these posts won't be so technical, but you should all know how much ridiculous busywork I have to do before I get to the fun part. I'll be fully organized by the end of February...I hope.
Listening to: "Fairytale of New York", the Pogues. (Works just as well on Valentines Day as Christmas.)
Wait...I forgot. I can't edit yet. Because I have to prepare my video and audio for editing first. Which, for the record, I don't love, because it's really, really tedious.
I've already taken the first step by labeling all my video files. Thanks to shooting via Flip, each take is already in it's own separate file...so all I had to do is label each file by Scene Code, Daily Take #, Shot Code, Shot Take #, and Auxillary Code. For example, what is W023CLEL003b.MPG?
W = "Lunch With Eloise" (each scene has it's own letter code, from A to SSS)
023 = the 23rd take that day. (for syncing with audio files)
CLEL = Close-up on Eloise (Each camera angle has a two letter code, and so does each character, so I can easily identify the type of shot, and who's in it.)
003 = The third close-up on Eloise take.
b = Filmed with the backup camera. (Most files don't need an auxillary code, but its there so I don't confuse what might be different aspect ratios, etc.)
What looks like gibberish at first becomes easy to read when you know what to look for. I'm not an editor normally, I don't know if other editors use a system like this, but I think it's pretty genius.
But naming each video file turned out to be the easy part, and even though it was tedious, I could listen to Eugene Mirman and Todd Barry while I skimmed the videos on mute to figure out the name.
Not so for the audio files; those need my ear's full attention. During shooting, I didn't use an audio mixes; each actor had a lav mic which went directly to an independent digital recorder. The advantages of this method is it's fast and easy; the downside is, I have to manually sync each actor's audio tracks together for each take. Which takes forever. And the aud files are often hours long, and have to be cut before they can be labeled. And because most scenes have 2 or more actors, there are more than twice as many aud takes to label. (These files are a bit easier to label, it's just scene code, take, and actor, e.g. W023EL. Still takes forever.)
Once I'm done with labeling, I can FINALLY...convert the files from H.264 MPEG to HDV MPG so I can edit it in Final Cut! Which isn't as tedious; I just have to press a button and let my computer run for the better part of a day. At least I can go to a movie or something for this part! Isn't it fun to see how the sausage is made? I promise most of these posts won't be so technical, but you should all know how much ridiculous busywork I have to do before I get to the fun part. I'll be fully organized by the end of February...I hope.
Listening to: "Fairytale of New York", the Pogues. (Works just as well on Valentines Day as Christmas.)
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Fingers Crossed!
Remember my first post (cue flashback music), when I said " Tomorrow, we reshoot a couple driving scenes that needed better lighting...Tuesday, I resume negotiations with Beggars for music rights for the trailer. (Fingers crossed!)" Well, it took another 10 days to get the informal thumbs up for using the tUnE-yArDs song in the trailer, and the ink still isn't dry on our contract. Then, we finally reshot the driving scenes last Thursday, thanks to unusual rain, then an insane schedule at my day job. There's a reason I wrote "Fingers crossed!" You just never know.
But this Wednesday, we shoot the final scene and so FINALLY wrap. (Fingers...you know.) It's a really short scene that takes place at a doctor's office. Problem is, it's pretty tough to get the rights to film on location at a working doctor's office, and it's even tougher to find a spare room/office that would make a convincing set. I've checked out so many disappointing leads. Of course, the only person I have to blame is myself. Why would I write a scene in a doctor's office? Stupid writer.
(Fun fact: the first draft of Diamond Bar had a scene in a futuristic supermarket, with shelves full of lab-grown meat and a fully automated checkout row. And I wrote that AFTER I decided I would be filming whatever I wrote. What was I thinking? How was I going to build a supermarket set? Why, 2009 Josh?)
Anyways, I can't even start thinking about editing until shooting is wrapped. I can't explain it; it's a psychological block. I can't overlap production and post-production. So Wednesday (assuming it happens, F.C.) will be both a relief and a kick in the pants to get going on editing. And before editing, categorizing and naming the video chunks and especially the audio chunks, which is going to be long and boring. Ah well. Onward and Upward!
Listening to: "Shock The Monkey", Peter Gabriel (I could lie and say something cooler, but at least I'm not listening to Phil Collins...)
But this Wednesday, we shoot the final scene and so FINALLY wrap. (Fingers...you know.) It's a really short scene that takes place at a doctor's office. Problem is, it's pretty tough to get the rights to film on location at a working doctor's office, and it's even tougher to find a spare room/office that would make a convincing set. I've checked out so many disappointing leads. Of course, the only person I have to blame is myself. Why would I write a scene in a doctor's office? Stupid writer.
(Fun fact: the first draft of Diamond Bar had a scene in a futuristic supermarket, with shelves full of lab-grown meat and a fully automated checkout row. And I wrote that AFTER I decided I would be filming whatever I wrote. What was I thinking? How was I going to build a supermarket set? Why, 2009 Josh?)
Anyways, I can't even start thinking about editing until shooting is wrapped. I can't explain it; it's a psychological block. I can't overlap production and post-production. So Wednesday (assuming it happens, F.C.) will be both a relief and a kick in the pants to get going on editing. And before editing, categorizing and naming the video chunks and especially the audio chunks, which is going to be long and boring. Ah well. Onward and Upward!
Listening to: "Shock The Monkey", Peter Gabriel (I could lie and say something cooler, but at least I'm not listening to Phil Collins...)
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