Creating a video for "Toys" by Frost* (Part 5)

Eeek...December 1st

The chorus I've been working on is about 80% done which isn't bad for the time I've been able to spend on it. This will be the second chorus in the song just before John Mitchell's guitar solo. The first chorus should be a little easier to do now that I have a feel for the scale and timing of it. I've also worked out a few important things in the process of doing the chorus that will help the whole thing hang together a little better, hopefully.

I've been wrestling with the original Playstation2 "EyeToy" camera to get graphics and stuff into the game. It turns out that the PS3 version (the "Playstation Eye") has four times the resolution and a faster capture rate! Wish I had known this sooner...ho hum. Too late to redo stuff now....I think I'll ask Santa for it though.

Anyway, time to grab some kip now, off to work in 5 hours or so.

Creating a video for "Toys" by Frost* (Part 4)

Friday night was a non-starter, zonked out on the sofa at about 10pm and opened one eye at just before 8am this morning. Curse this feeble human carcass....

Suitably recharged, I turned my attention to trying to get one of the choruses (chori?) worked out. It's only taken me all day but I have the first line and a half of it in place now. It's waaay too long though and the chopping of it will not be easy without losing some of the point of it....hmm, good job the innuendometer is away getting a good seeing to....

Anyway, only two more weekends between now and The Peel, my self-imposed deadline. I could do with one of my rare spurts of inspiration around about now.

*screws eyes tight shut, Hiro style....nothing happens.... ¦o(

Creating a video for "Toys" by Frost* (Part 3)

Last night was slightly better in terms of progress....but as the above image of one of London's Graffiti Snails suggests, it's not too rapid.

The solo section is now looking quite a bit better, particularly with the lighting closer to what I was intending - "he" is still not tracking the melody of the solo very well but in the time available it may just have to do.

"Wasted" a fair amount of time producing some printed items that turned out to contain too much detail to survive the import process (D'Oh!). They'll have to be re-done a different way or binned for a much simpler version. I've got "fall-back" options for most of the scenes yet to be rigged and I still have the option of resorting to my "balloon-band-live" set-up for some cut scenes if all else fails.

The intro is pretty much sorted although one or two audio bits either from the EIMA DVD or elsewhere might fit nicely. I'm having to tack on a bit because the actual track is straight-in. Anyone know good filter/EQ settings to mimic that transistor radio effect - things are coming out a bit too phone-line at the moment.

Pacing versus detail is probably the biggest hurdle to be overcome - largely because I've never attempted anything like this before. I know that "less is more" and all that in many cases, but bland is always bland and I'm hoping to get enough detail into every bit to reward at least a second viewing.

It could all still come crashing down though. I guess everyone has those "what-am-I-doing?-this-is-rubbish" moments from time-to-time when trying to create something - and this process is very drawn-out....compared to, say, bunging a few one-liners at a forum every now and again.

I begin to wonder how comedy scriptwriters ever put anything out - they must get bored with their stuff sometimes and begin to doubt that anyone will laugh at it.

Just got to buckle down and get it all done - plenty of time for editorial decisions when there is something that half hangs together....

Creating a video for "Toys" by Frost* (Part 2.1)

Converting the video files seems to make them more usable so that's good. Just too knackered to do anything else constructive last night....that's not so good. :o(

Must try so much harder tonight....

Creating a video for "Toys" by Frost* (Part 2)

Well, to get this little blog up-to-date with progress so far. I started all this on the November 14th so I've been at it for about 12 days now. In that time I've had ups and downs in terms of progress - mostly positive but time is going to be the killer here.

As usual, the big mistake is telling anyone that you are trying to do something - I sent some incoherent ramblings to Jem and, while I know he's been mad busy, I suspect the lack of response was down to a major dose of "WTF is this guy on about??". Silly Pedro.

Anyway, the "story" for want of a better term, is pretty much set now. It's only changed half-a-dozen times or so!

I can "see" what I want to happen in 10 out of the 11 "scenes" and, as of last night, Scene#1 is complete. That means the set, props and mechanics are all done and saved and I can "perform" exactly what I need to record whenever I want. 3 or 4 of the other scenes are about half done - so I'm getting there, slowly. I just need to stop "re-doing" things to make them "a bit better" - that kind of thing should deffo wait for the end of the process...if there's time.

The technical ins and outs of getting the video clips onto the PC for editing is beginning to tax the little bubble of candy-floss I call a brain.

My "signal path" (if you like) is to record the PS3 output to DVD+RW load the clips from there into Serif's MoviePlus. I've only had a couple of goes so far and it seems to be a minefield of formats, resolutions, pixel shapes(!), codecs, and other cobblers designed to shackle the creative spirit firmly to the deck.

The other pain is that the PC really "chugs" when it is trying to work with data from the DVD+RW. It's a fairly recent Quad core 2.4Ghz beast so I'd have thought it would be better.
In the past, when I've edited clips together from my crummy point and shoot camera - it's worked really well so maybe it’s a format or sheer size issue?

I'm going to try converting from the DVD "VOB" format to either MOV or MPG format tonight to see if that operates any better without losing too much detail.

Too much to do...so little time....

....to be continued....

Creating a video for "Toys" by Frost* (Part 1)

Some time ago, Jem Godfrey (the genius behind Frost*) put a call out for video makers to make a video to accompany his new song "Toys" from their excellent new CD "Experiments In Mass Appeal". At the time I thought, "I wish I could say I could do that but I don't have the tools or the skills" and thought no more about it.

Then I got the game "Little Big Planet" on the Sony Playstation 3....and suddenly, I had the tools and the skills!

The concept behind the game is brilliant, you play the levels supplied (basically a very slightly 3D platform running-and-jumping-etc game) and in doing so you collect the bits the designers used to make those levels. Then you can use those bits to make your own levels, upload them to the web where other players play your levels and rate them while you play other people's levels, and so on.

At least, that's what it is meant to be used for....however from the moment I created my first cardboard cube in the level designer, the doorway to the universe of video production suddenly swung open before me.

Using the tools provided I found I could create just about anything I could imagine within a few minutes of picking up the controller. If you have the Playstation camera you can capture any image and turn it into a "sticker" that you can slap on to anything you create. This give the chance to create signs, labels, photos or just about anything you like.

So I've turned my thoughts towards Jem's video request. After a couple of test videos (posted on YouTube) I realised I could actually produce something worthwhile so I have started the mammoth task of constructing 3 minutes and 8 seconds of loosely connected twaddle to sit nicely with the lyrics of the song.

I have it roughly planned out, or "storyboarded" is the better term I guess. Now I just have to get it all done. I've set a target of having it done ready to hand a DVD copy to Jem at The Peel gig on Dec 20th. Hopefully it should be on YouTube at about the same time.

Just got to get the picture quality limitations sorted out (first few trials have revealed that some of my text and other details get lost in the YouTube compression) and then build and shoot it all.

Who needs sleep, eh? :o)

...to be continued...

The Perils of Familiarity

Events this week have damaged my faith in human nature...

I've learned a big lesson this week...and a very painful one it is too. Spending so much time in the virtual company of others can lead you to imagine that people actually like you, largely because you can easily allow yourself to like them - even though they don't know you and you actually don't know anything about them in real life.

When you think you are in the company of people who like you, you relax and feel easier about speaking - so you post in almost a "conversational" way. This can be tricky without so many of the cues you get when having a real conversation (expression, tone of voice, gestures, etc.)

Similarly when you think you know someone you change how you talk to, or about them and you might even begin to take liberties with them; joking with them or about them and, in doing so, testing the limits of their tolerance without really knowing if you are crossing a line.
The feedback you get on-line is very limited; with "smileys" used a lot to add additional meaning to written words, which in themselves can often be read in various ways.

Another aspect of this is how other people view that feedback - because in the same way that the author has to interpret the feedback, other people apply their own intepretation to the feedback too. This can lead to wildly divergent opinions on the nature of an author and their posts.

So, when some people misinterpret some things you have posted in a big way, one of the ways you might get to find out is via a private message. In fact, unless someone has the stones to contact you about it you might be blissfully unaware of it all forever.

One can never claim total innocence in such a situation because the original posts are, of course, open to misinterpretation - no matter how well written they are. Once a misunderstanding has occurred, however, a lot depends on whether or not those who have reached the wrong conclusion are prepared to be receptive to an alternative intepretation.

Unfortunately, pointing out what you see as the misunderstandings may have precisely zero effect on their position - you are judged purely on the ropey evidence of two-dimensional feedback. The more you try to explain, the worse things can get and you can go from just misunderstood to misunderstood and annoying. In the end it can become a definite case of "their way or the highway" so, in the end all you can do (if you want to stick around and try to rebuild the illusion of being liked) is give in and apologise.

After such a run-in, one can never be as free as one was and this may be a good thing in disuguise...after all, letting one's guard down when there are people so willing to think the worst is probably not a wise thing to do.

It's still a shame though...