Production Diary Part 4.1

I just wanted to upload the very rough edit of the video clip I've been working on. All it is, is the cuts of the footage I am using. You can still see the green background etc. Some of the cuts are slightly out of time with the beat because of lag from the hard-drive. This has been fixed in the final version.

Enjoy!

Production Diary Part 4

Well, today has been extremely productive for me. I decided to skip learning Apple's Motion for now, as it is just too close to the assignment due date for more hiccups. What I did instead, was to focus on getting a pretty good chroma key out of Final Cut Pro, using the edit suites at TAFE with the proper broadcast monitor and also a big 42" Samsung LED TV to really be able to see how it will display as a final product.

I must say, I have been fairly negative about this project, because nothing has gone right for me in the making of this film clip- but I am really pleased with myself and my nearly finished product! Anything that looked a bit yucky after I keyed it, I just added a squillion FX (disclaimer- you can't actually use a squillion fx as there are not that many in FCP) to so you couldn't tell the green screen was still partly there. Plus I have a really good grasp on the inbuilt Chroma keyer in Final Cut Pro, which means I don't really need to go and spend money on a 3rd party suite for this, but it would still be beneficial eventually. Perhaps when I get a proper video capable MacPro with the Final Cut Suite and stuff...

Yes, I most certainly do take endorsements. :)

Anyway, I think everyone will be happy with the final film clip when it's done. I really only have to work out how to keyframe in some background colour changes and also do some opacity changes for a couple of nice little effects I have going. Shouldn't take me all day, and then I shall be done with an entire day to spare in case something goes wrong. But I'm hoping nothing else will go wrong...

Production Diary Part 3

I have now filmed the green screen part for my music video, and let me tell you that I am regretting it now! Because I didn't get to use the green screen for my other filming it looks a bit silly just being against the fake gothic background I drew in Adobe Illustrator and then cutting to my characters in a nice green luscious garden setting, next to a river. I might have to go back there and film 4 minutes of a background plate to make it look like I was filming my parts there. Nothing has really gone to plan with this project, so been thinking while running a lot! Good experience, I suppose, but I would have liked something (or anything!) to go right during this final assessment. Having a nice finished product is lower on my list than actually finishing the project.

Have lots of work in Apple Motion lined up for me on Tuesday- so hopefully a rather large Zarraffa's coffee and a lot of self discipline will get me through. I have to learn how to chroma key in Motion, too. So that should be interesting. Final Cut Express does a decent job of keying surprisingly, but when I start to move and shadows come in and out of nowhere it leaves a little bit to be desired. Fantastic for when I'm not moving about, however! And I would recommend people get Final Cut Express and a Mac over Sony Vegas for PC for this reason alone. If Apple read my blog- Yes, I would love a copy of Final Cut Studio's latest incarnation. And perhaps a nice shiny Mac Pro. Not too much to ask, is it?! Thanks in advance.

At any rate, my song is 100% finished and I even entered it in the Q Song competition yesterday just minutes before the deadline! I also put Making Things Worse in the competition, too. Only after I spent 6 hours tweaking it to make the mandolin sound more in time since I no longer have a mandolin to play and couldn't record it again. Hopefully they will not notice all the timestretching I did to it...

Wish me luck for 10 hours of chroma keying on Tuesday. Or maybe just pop in with a nice steaming hot short latte for me. Cheers.

Production Diary Part 2

So, I have pretty much finished my song. I will probably do a few more edits and really tweak the guitars with EQ and compression and maybe throw a bit more distortion on them- even though I used a pedal to start with, because you can never have too much distortion! I also DO NOT USE ANTARES AUTO-TUNE. Therefore, I sound ever so slightly out of tune, because the human voice is not designed to be perfectly in tune like a sine wave. It is supposed to sound emotional, organic and beautiful. Which is hopefully what I have achieved. I think this is what I have achieved, at any rate.

I have also started editing the video portion of my music clip. This is sort of hard right now because I am missing over half of the footage I need- the parts where I play guitar and sing to the camera! Hopefully when that part is finished, life will be slightly easier in that regard.

Here's the more finished version with a rough mastering job done on it. I won't be posting a final mix until I put the entire video up here when it's completely done.

Production Diary: Part 1

Suppose I should start a blog diary for my final project at GCIT... It's been a bumpy ride to get here! I have shot half of my video and recorded the bulk of the song I am using for my Music Video Clip/MVC. The video turned out alright- bit shadowy in some places, but still usable.

I will upload some photo's when I work out how to get them out of iPhoto. In the meantime, hopefully this MP3 will upload so you can hear *half* of my song.

Taiko Drumming

Over the Summer holidays- on the 16th December and the 13th January, Kizuna Wadaiko were kind enough to provide locals with a free workshop and performance at Thrower House. This is a shortened video of the second workshop they did in Summer which had a pleasing turnout. I was lucky enough to attend both workshops and the first one had a far smaller crowd than the second, which meant I got to have a rather long turn at playing every drum they had brought with them! And I wasn't completely terrible at it, which was nice.

Being able to play normal "rock" drums, I found the Taiko to be a lot more demanding technically and physically. The drummers took us through a series of stretches to warm up, as well as a few simple drum patterns to play as a group. At the end of the first session, my arms were sore and my legs ached from the drumming stance! It was worth it as it's a great way to get a feel for part of another culture. Plus, they had just got brand new drums shipped over from Japan and one filled the entire back half of the trailer by itself! I could have made a house out of it.

Filmed on a Canon HV-40 MiniDV camera and edited in Final Cut Express 4.0, with mild colour correction.

"Swell"

"Pacific Ocean Furballs" by Marcus Edwards

"Cocooned" by Kelly-Ann Lees

"Winds of Resistance" by Brett Allen

"Portal" by Craig Medson

"Outcrop" by Shelly Kelly

"Flower Power" Lynne Adams and Currumbin Primary School

Although this picture was taken while at Swell, you don't have to wait for the festival to start to see the beach like this. Almost every day of the year you can watch the waves roll in, crystal clear. Every year there is a fantastic display of talent, and I'm looking forward to this year as it seems to get better each festival.

These photos are all taken on a very compact, but feature heavy, Canon Powershot SX110 mostly using the aperture function.

For full website go to:

http://www.swellsculpture.com.au/