My friends and I have started filming the new Animus shorts at the weekend and we are currently working on them more or less concurrently. Things are going well, although, after yesterday, I am starting to realise how useful it would be to be able to drive. One of my friends, who is playing Penny in the shorts, lives about 30-40 minutes walk from mine, and most of the rest of the group. Yesterday Dave and myself walked to hers, did some filming there, and back with her, did a little more filming at mine, and then walked her home, and once again walked back to ours. It was rather tiring, and it would help a lot if I had a car, or some other means of transportation with which to move both myself and the camera equipment.
My christmas present, a microphone, is awesome. If you are interested in that sort of thing, It is a Rode StereoVideoMic. I am currently in the process of making a boom for it, and hoping to do so a lot cheaper than the boom pole that Rode offer for sale. I am also planning to replace my camera equipment at some point in the not to distant future, although the major problem I am having in that respect is my current complete lack of paid work. I am aiming to replace my 6-7 year old video cameras with a HD Prosumer camera by the end of the year.
On another note, I have moved the entire back log of my blog to Blogger. I am currently planning to keep both this blog and the blog on my website in sync, although depending on the amount of time I have there might be several hours between an update on one and the same update on the other.
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Friday, January 01, 2010
Happy New Year
Well, it’s the end of the year, and a time to stop and think about the year that is ending, and look forward to what’s to come in the year ahead. I thought about making a little twitter post, and then a slightly longer Facebook status update. But then I realised that I really don’t blog as much as I probably should, and this is the perfect opportunity to make a blog post.
So, let’s look back at the year on it’s way out. 2009, what a year it was. I started the year in a bad spot. I was working for Zavvi, and just before Christmas last year they went into administration, a victim of the credit crunch, we were caught in a rip-tide from the fall of the giant that was Woolworths. Things were uncertain, but we carried on. Honour the 505. They were, and still are, great friends, wonderful people that made the five months I worked with them a really happy time. Sadly, it was only a matter of time, and one morning, in February, while I was on a week’s holiday, I got a text message from my manager, the lawyers had come in, and we were closed... I rushed back as soon as possible from my holiday, and was able to help with the final day, and certainly around for the mournful goodbye drinks.
Then I was back on the job market... looking high and low for something, anything... and some friends in Cambridge were able to help with something. Some of my friends from University work for an online gaming company located there and I was able to get a contract to work for their player support wing. I held the job for three months before the contract ran out and then... well... I’m back in Harlow, Back looking for another job, and currently that I where I am at the end of the year. I have taken a couple of unpaid freelance jobs, and interviewed for a couple of other paying jobs, but the job market seems flooded at the moment.
So, on to the year ahead. Well, who knows, I couldn’t tell you what is going to happen. I am hopeful for the best. I am looking forward to a better and brighter tomorrow. My New Year’s resolution... well... I am hoping to make a lot more videos in the new year. Lots and lots. Phrase that into a resolution and there you have it... although I am also hoping to update this blog more too.
Anyway... must dash, my family are coming for a gaming afternoon, and I have to get some finishing touches ready... I hope everyone out there has had as interesting a year as I have, and I hope people are looking forward to a happy new year, and not dwelling on the sins of the past.
See you in 2010... a brand new decade.
So, let’s look back at the year on it’s way out. 2009, what a year it was. I started the year in a bad spot. I was working for Zavvi, and just before Christmas last year they went into administration, a victim of the credit crunch, we were caught in a rip-tide from the fall of the giant that was Woolworths. Things were uncertain, but we carried on. Honour the 505. They were, and still are, great friends, wonderful people that made the five months I worked with them a really happy time. Sadly, it was only a matter of time, and one morning, in February, while I was on a week’s holiday, I got a text message from my manager, the lawyers had come in, and we were closed... I rushed back as soon as possible from my holiday, and was able to help with the final day, and certainly around for the mournful goodbye drinks.
Then I was back on the job market... looking high and low for something, anything... and some friends in Cambridge were able to help with something. Some of my friends from University work for an online gaming company located there and I was able to get a contract to work for their player support wing. I held the job for three months before the contract ran out and then... well... I’m back in Harlow, Back looking for another job, and currently that I where I am at the end of the year. I have taken a couple of unpaid freelance jobs, and interviewed for a couple of other paying jobs, but the job market seems flooded at the moment.
So, on to the year ahead. Well, who knows, I couldn’t tell you what is going to happen. I am hopeful for the best. I am looking forward to a better and brighter tomorrow. My New Year’s resolution... well... I am hoping to make a lot more videos in the new year. Lots and lots. Phrase that into a resolution and there you have it... although I am also hoping to update this blog more too.
Anyway... must dash, my family are coming for a gaming afternoon, and I have to get some finishing touches ready... I hope everyone out there has had as interesting a year as I have, and I hope people are looking forward to a happy new year, and not dwelling on the sins of the past.
See you in 2010... a brand new decade.
Saturday, December 19, 2009
5 second projects
In my previous blog post I mentioned entering the 5 second projects. They are a small competition run every couple of weeks over at greyscale gorilla’s site. He offers a time limit (5 Seconds), a theme and a deadline, and then allows you to be creative. The idea is to make something interesting for your showreel.
The other part about this contest is that it encourages you to experiment with something new, or something that you haven’t done for a while. My first entry was the first time that I have fired up Flash to do animation since I was at University. It was interesting to work with something that I haven’t for a while. The newest theme is “Milk and Cookies” with which I am thinking of testing realflow. Looks like this could get very interesting.
On a personal side note, I wish my brother a happy 21st birthday today.
The other part about this contest is that it encourages you to experiment with something new, or something that you haven’t done for a while. My first entry was the first time that I have fired up Flash to do animation since I was at University. It was interesting to work with something that I haven’t for a while. The newest theme is “Milk and Cookies” with which I am thinking of testing realflow. Looks like this could get very interesting.
On a personal side note, I wish my brother a happy 21st birthday today.
Monday, December 07, 2009
Save every five seconds...
So, today I remembered the first rule of working in 3D on a computer. You have to save everything every 5 seconds or it will crash and lose everything. Today I was modelling a character called Miyo-chan, a flying blue cat, for a future Animus short. While modelling the arm, the program randomly closed and lost all the work.
I am also planning to use the character as the main character for my first entry in the 5 second projects contest, which is entitled “Home, Sweet Home”, which I will be uploading to my site as soon as it is done. If you are interested in making animations, it would be a good idea to check them out as they offer you a brief to work on and rules to contend with and in the end you have a little of interesting little clips that you can use to make an interesting and exciting showreel, which, if you keep entering, will always have something new to look at. The website that hands out the brief is over here: http://greyscalegorilla.com/
I am also planning to use the character as the main character for my first entry in the 5 second projects contest, which is entitled “Home, Sweet Home”, which I will be uploading to my site as soon as it is done. If you are interested in making animations, it would be a good idea to check them out as they offer you a brief to work on and rules to contend with and in the end you have a little of interesting little clips that you can use to make an interesting and exciting showreel, which, if you keep entering, will always have something new to look at. The website that hands out the brief is over here: http://greyscalegorilla.com/
Thursday, October 29, 2009
A couple of updates
Okay, been making some minor tweaks around the site. The front page will soon have the latest version of my showreel. The Twitter feed on the About Me page seems to have broken so I have taken it away. Not sure what will replace it at the moment.
The Animus: Runaways Trailer is now online, and the final touches are being added to the full length short.
My brother’s web site, which I have helped with the design work on, has been updated as well, so check that out too.
UPDATE
It’s been a while in the making but I decided to update the look of the website and continue making the changes I started the other day. Enjoy the new look.
The Animus: Runaways Trailer is now online, and the final touches are being added to the full length short.
My brother’s web site, which I have helped with the design work on, has been updated as well, so check that out too.
UPDATE
It’s been a while in the making but I decided to update the look of the website and continue making the changes I started the other day. Enjoy the new look.
Monday, October 26, 2009
RIP: Geocities
I found out this morning that Geocities, the site that hosted a ton of free sites during the 90s, including several of my own, closes down today. To commemorate this event, XKCD has undergone a redesign. Sadly this was the level of web design that people who had never had the opportunity to make and host a web site were suddenly able to make with the free website. I couldn’t let this event go unmentioned.
UPDATE:
In unrelated news, I have just made a major overhaul to my brother’s photography website, go check it out.
UPDATE:
In unrelated news, I have just made a major overhaul to my brother’s photography website, go check it out.
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Animus: Runaways Wrapped
As they say in the business, That’s a Wrap!!! No time for a party yet, but that is a wrap. Animus: Runaways has finished filming and now awaits a few tweaks (mostly sound effects and music) before it makes it’s debut.
It has been a couple of months in the making and just kept extending and extending as things went on in people’s lives, and as the vision got grander and grander. Originally intended to be a short involving a couple of characters from Animus (A role-playing game my friend Jexus runs from his web site) being chased, it reached the end of the short, and it was unfulfilled. So I kept writing and it grew into what it is now. I have pitched it to people as the opening episode of a series, it doesn’t resolve all the plot lines in a neat bow at the end, some even reveal themselves in the concluding scenes, but they will evolve over the course of the season. It would be a short season, a mere 5 episodes, but I have been plotting recently and things may move forward with further adventures from Peter, Penny and Kim.
It has been a couple of months in the making and just kept extending and extending as things went on in people’s lives, and as the vision got grander and grander. Originally intended to be a short involving a couple of characters from Animus (A role-playing game my friend Jexus runs from his web site) being chased, it reached the end of the short, and it was unfulfilled. So I kept writing and it grew into what it is now. I have pitched it to people as the opening episode of a series, it doesn’t resolve all the plot lines in a neat bow at the end, some even reveal themselves in the concluding scenes, but they will evolve over the course of the season. It would be a short season, a mere 5 episodes, but I have been plotting recently and things may move forward with further adventures from Peter, Penny and Kim.
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