Semester 02 - Week 06

It's the week before filming (provided everything goes to schedule). I'm not too thrilled with the weather reports for Saturday and Sunday; it's supposed to be raining and cloudy, and all our scheduled scenes are outdoors. The few indoor scenes we do have can't be filmed until week 07 due to our other actors' availability. So I suppose we will have to make do with filming in the rain...

I finished my process diary, chronicling our production up until this week. So far the group has been working really well together, much like last semester. It's good to be in a group with friends you can rely on, as nobody wants to drag the group down. We all want this project to be as successful as possible, because it will make a great folio and showreel piece for our resumes.

Another slow week, but after we film on the weekend we can start spending our studio time ripping footage from camera to Mac and begin the post-production process; my favorite part of film production.

See you next week.

Semester 02 - Week 05

With our pre-production phase finished and our project plan submitted, there wasn't much to work on this week in terms of our major project. We have our locations and filming equipment organised for Week 06, so we are all ready to commence the production phase.

This week, I used my time to work on my process diary and folio. I have the folio about 80% complete: it has working links and the majority of content, however I would like to add more interactions and information on each project I am showcasing within it. As it stands, I have a section for my 2D CGI, 3D CGI, Web Design (empty) and Video FX. I would like to add a section for 3D animation.

That's all for this week, a slow week in all but looking forward to filming soon.

Semester 02 - Week 04

Over the weekend, Jason and I finalised the storyboards to go alongside our script. Bec built us a Gantt chart of our timeline for the semester.

The storyboards turned out quite well; there are about 16 scenes worth of shots, bringing our final project plan to a total of 35 pages. We printed the document, got it bound and submitted it on Wednesday. So that's phase 01 of this semester complete!

With our project plan finished, our next step is to begin filming in Week 06 and 07. In the meantime, I'm going to do some work on my online portfolio. I created the placeholder website last semester, with several categories of my work: 2D CGI, 3D CGI, WEB and VIDEO.

I have to touch up the interface a little bit and create a demo reel of my work.

Semester 02 - Week 03

This week we completed our entire script!

Combined with our script from semester 01, the entire plot is now 30 scenes long. Of course, some of these scenes are optional, and the player won't see them all in one viewing.

The film has 3 alternate endings that we have dubbed 'good', 'neutral' and 'bad'. The idea of having a branching ending and different conclusions is to invite the player to come back and try again, aiming for a different ending.

This week we are going to commence constructing storyboards based upon our script. We are using the same software as last semester, FrameForge Previz Studio. It allows quick rendering of 3D environments and characters, and camera angles can be set up in any position to help visualise the final film.

We also received some good news this week. Our actors have confirmed they are free to film during Weeks 06 and 07, so this keeps us on a good schedule. We'll have the filming done by the end of Week 07, and then have weeks 08 - 14 for post-production. Post-production will be relatively stress-free this semster due to our decision to decrease the amount of special effects we will be using.

I'm happy to report that as of this week, everything is on track. Next week we submit our project plan, and then we have a few weeks before filming to work on our online folios.

Semester 02 - Week 02

We finalised our plot points this week. It looks like we have a very exciting script to write!

We also presented our project to the class and gave them a quick run down of what we achieved last semester, and what we are continuing to work on.

So, this week we began writing out our script. We got the first few scenes done, keeping in mind our ideas to give this part of the film a traditional horror and thriller atmosphere.

Rebecca started drafting an overview of our report, which will summarise our efforts last semester. We'll add in the script and storyboards we complete before week 04, and submit this as our revised project plan.

It was a breezy week. See you next time.

Semester 02 - Week 01

This week begins the second semester of Studio for 2010. Since we are continuing on our project Aether from first semester, we spent today's class discussing ideas and plot points for the second half of the movie.

Topics we discussed:

• Introduction of new characters: Sammi Morris will return as an Infected person, after her demise at the beginning of the film. Richard Lochtenberg will join the cast as the scientist Samuel Collins, co-creator of the deadly Aether chemical.
• New locations for filming: We are looking for a forest location with a creek or river for some atmospheric outdoor scenes. Somewhere that seems far away from civilisation, which fits the theme of our movie perfectly.
• We want to place less emphasis on visual effects this time, and instead focus on creating atmosphere with camera work and locations. Because of this, we will introduce new elements of horror and thriller films, such as suspense scenes typical of slasher films.
• We also want to considerably extend the duration of the film, so we are aiming to film a plethora of new and alternate scenes.

From this week on, we will begin our project plan document for this semester. In the document, we will include our successes up to this point, and where we plan to take the film from here. We will also write up the rest of our script and design storyboards.

We are aiming to film during week 05 or 06, so that we can spend the remainder of the semester in post-production mode. We learned in semester 01 that post-production consumes a lot of time, so we want to allow as much as possible.

That's all for this introduction week. Please look forward to week 02!

Week 12

Our last week of classes, and final full week to finish our project.

Since we spent every day Monday to Friday in the Mac labs, we made stacks of progress. Every scene, save for scene 2, is 100% complete. Scene 2 just needs a voice over which we plan to record on Monday.

Jason has nearly completed developing the Flash version of our movie, which is a great achievement.

As for myself, I created a fully functional DVD version of Aether! Using DVD Studio Pro, I managed to set up the entire film, complete with QTEs and player decisions.

The way it works is like so:

• The first scene from the film plays normally.
• When scene with a decision occurs, the scene transitions seamlessly into a DVD menu, with the two choices available.
• The player can select either choice, and the corresponding DVD track will play next.
• For Quick Time Events, a clip will play, then transition into a DVD motion menu. Because it's a motion menu, one of two outcomes can occur:

1. The player pushes the correct button within an allocated time frame, and proceeds to the next clip.
2. The player fails to push the button in time, resulting in the DVD menu 'timing out' and playing the 'failure' clip.

• If the player gets to a failure clip that results in death, the movie returns to the main menu.

After spending all day authoring the DVD, I burned it to a disc and tested it at home on my DVD player...

SUCCESS!

The movie plays superbly. There is some slight lag as the DVD accesses the different motion menus, but it's nothing that detracts from the experience. I'm really happy with how it's turned out.

At the start of next week, we will burn the final product to DVD, with the Flash version as DVD-ROM content.

Our presentation is on Wednesday, and as such this is my final blog post. I hope you've enjoyed following my 2010 Semester 1 Studio Project.

- Zak Ford