Small Update

   Lately we have been putting out some videos of our experiments. No real purpose, just showing what I've learned in editing and where we are going.
   The first part of this (for the summer) was making a video with a ton of cuts. Now this video was to prove to Chase and Ethan that a lot of cuts is needed to make a film; they didn't believe me. Until they saw this video and I told them about the 3-4 sec cut rule. But now things are all in good order and we are taking this little concept to heart, which in and of itself will improve our videos drastically. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MiXKAEPeU-g
   Another little video I made the other day was a quick 15 sec video (took me 15 hours to edit) that showed off some cool effects and explosions I made in After Effects. This video kinda blows you away, but more importantly the audio brings the piece together. I found every free explosion I could, and as many good explosion sounds as I could get, just for this video. But the reason it took so long to edit was due to me having never used AE before, so I had to watch tutorials and spend time learning the ways.

   As far as audio goes. So we've started using ADR, as you may know, and so far it is turning out really nice, and helpful. The chasing video with a lot of cuts was about 20% (extra audio/replaced). And this keeping in mind that most movies are 70%. But ADR does help out by making the scene a little more epic. Just stand somewhere, anywhere, for a minute and try to pick out as many different audio sources as possible. One day while doing that I picked up about 10 or so; wind, grill, people talking, birds chirping, ocean, cars driving by, people walking in the grass, and a bunch of others. But you can see the importance of fully creating that ambiance.
   Well that is all I will leave you with for now, head on over to the LO2 blog to check out what I said about the first filming (if it's not up yet it will be soon)

Thanks for reading,

Alex

Living In Filth

FYI this post is a bit different than the norm.


   Ever wonder how hobos get by? Or how people, so long ago, could possibly live in the terrible conditions that havocked the world? Pondering along one may think, is it right that Africans live in such terrible conditions? Or right that there are Kenyans who run miles a day just to go to school?
   How can it be. Is there some force around us that brings these conditions to be, in some way, bearable? There may be an answer.
   I like many of my teenage friends live in a room that is commonly seen to be "filthy", "disorganized", or "in need of a cleaning." Where as I perceive it to be simply natural. Easy to live with and proactive in my creative process. Not to say I don't clean my room [though I do much more over the summer] but to say that this "Living In Filth" is a matter of perception.

   Back in the day conditions were rough. You lived in times of war and amputation was the best cure. "Live with the pain or lose it." Now a days, doctors will prescribe you pills that can fix anything. From migraines, to inherited diseases. Is there still wonder why those conditions were bearable. Or why, when you go back even further you lived in war. Where a slow death by blood loss and a dagger wound was more common than the unwounded troop count.
   Or perhaps we consider pain. How long does it last? At what point are you Numb? Have you ever fallen? Well of course you have, and what happens, soon after you find yourself in this sort of Numb state. A place between in pain and joy. A mix that really isn't conceivable in words.

   Try imagining the future? To bad you can't see into the future, and even if you could would you want to? Would you want to look at a Thanksgiving turkey feast, or live with what you have, not knowing of other existing ways of life.
   If the future has transportation beyond that of cars...what would they think of our lives? Would they feel sorry for the few hour commutes we have to take...that life wasting time, that could be spent better with family, friends, kids, pets and EVERYONE ELSE!
   It is a true shame that humans pity those of the past, who in their time, thought highly of themselves or did not care. How many in the industrial revolution thought they lived in the best conditions that there would ever be. And look at us now, with worldwide connectivity through the internet, TV and so many other devices!

   If we take a look in my video editing experiences I find multiple examples that show this well. I use to think what I did on the green screen couldn't get better. But it slowly got better, and increased in greatness, and even now I realize that in the future there will be a better green screen for me. And when I first started trying to do flame effects I had a better idea at the end of the week. I look back now and consider what I saw as impressive then to be my worst works ever. Even when some of them took me hours of work. All in all, it is a learning experience that builds to become who you are, and what you are, in the now and future...
   It's one of those things where you know something better is out there, but you don't know how, you just can't fathom it. Which in itself is a good thing as it makes you a much happier person.

   Another good example of crap conditions would be of the AE (After Effects) establishing body. Many think that you are more or less born into greatness. Which as we all no is only true for f'd up actors and musicians...
   But anyway. The AE team started out with meetings in an apartment building where one of the team lived with his Girl Friend and a couple other guys. This is the start of AE, right there, pretty crappy huh? They soon moved into a bigger building. At that time they were likely thinking, "Damn this is nice." And with all the odds piled up against them, it was likely the best they'd ever get. But everything got better they moved on in life and got greater, and look now, we just got AE CS5 [which I'm getting this summer--yaya].

   But all of this just goes to show you that, even in the past when things look bad, or in the present when you see something like a dirty room. It is only going to get better for the person. And they are living in an awesome place right then. Why try and teach them to live better when they are doing just fine? Yeah, sure, we can help the Kenyan school kids out, but it is their normal, they grew up with it. That's just how they live. And showing them little bits of a beastly thanksgiving, just pisses them off.


Thanks For Reading,


Alex Chandler


(and yes this was written just to prove to my mom that I can live with an unclean room for a bit)

Busy...But a New Understanding Since Last Time...

   Everyone has made a good short. But what many don't attempt, but need to attempt, is a serious series, or a significantly long video.
   We have been working really hard to make are series LO2, but it is draining in all forms of the term. We spend multiple afternoons to script an entire episode, it takes about three hours to write up a day plan, and then getting actors for all the parts takes a long time. In fact we have yet to fill three of the main parts...we are three weeks away from the first film day...hah
   From many afternoons of lying on bed ignoring homework and trying to find ways to make LO2 a success I learned something of great importance. In all honesty I've had a very pessimistic attitude to the probable outcomes of LO2, but I think I solved my biggest problem of all - the one that has been driving me nuts for months. We need the humanoid actions.

   When you read something you wrote up and you know there is something wrong with it...well it tends to drive you nuts. I wrote something up with my two co directors and I could tell there was something wrong with it.
   Our script was a problem. It's not that it wasn't amazing, it was that we didn't show enough detail. We would say what the scene felt like in our minds, but did not convey the shots, the expressions and everything that really goes into filming a movie.
   Today we started something that will, in the optimistic perspective, bring LO2 from the grave it had dug itself out into the sky where every movie deserves to be. We created a list that holds all of the different types of Gestures, Facial Expressions, Cuts & Lighting Techniques that we may use.
   In each of these lists our a series of our own thoughts and complexes that will bring about the sort of mood we describe in the script. In the future...likely this weekend...we will be implementing these humanoid expressions into the script.
   But in short I have cleared much of that worry off my chest with this single fix and we have great hopes in where we are going.

If you are further interested in some of the works being done on LO2 visit:
http://picasaweb.google.com/alexrules94/untitledalbum/#

Thanks For Reading
The Director,