Steam and My New Perspective on Uni

My week of work experience at Steam Motion & Sound (a post-production house) was really enlightening. I got a good idea about what types of software is commonly used for post-production and what it’s used for. I also learned quite a bit about how creative people work within tight deadlines to deliver high-quality products. Sometimes the hours are long, but I got to see creative, professionals working efficiently and getting their various jobs done.

During the week, I watched a lot of green-screen work & compositing being performed which I hadn’t really witnessed previously. This has got me really excited because it has given me several clear ideas on how I could finish an old script idea of mine. I had an concept about three years ago for a cool animation, wrote the first draft of the script but didn’t really know what to do next. I don’t really have the patience for detailed illustrations, so I balked at the idea of drawing an animation frame by frame. Now I feel that I have a really clear plan for finishing this project. I can visualise the process involved and the software that I would use. I could get access to this expensive, industry-standard software on the computers at uni, so I think I’d like to attempt this as a side-project over the next few months.
The working title is Cherry Blossoms and I’d like to have it completed by the end of the year so watch this blog for updates…

At uni today we had another mini-film shoot, this time using 16mm cameras and sync-sound. I was being the sound recordist so for the most part I was able to concentrate on my thing, try to get good quality results and not worry too much about the other crew-members. But, in hindsight, I was a bit unhappy with the shoot because I felt that several people in the class hadn’t properly researched what was required for their specific crew roles within the group. This meant that a couple of vital members of the production crew didn’t really know what they were doing and had to rely on help from others which slowed the whole process down. I don’t really have a big problem with that because we’re all learning and we’re all doing new things in these classes – that’s what education is all about. However the attitude of one of these people bugged me a bit because he refused to listen to constructive advice from other crewmembers. I have deep misgivings about the quality of the footage we’re going to get back due to this stubborn intractibilty.

But, looking on the bright side, here’s where the learning comes in.
For the next in-class film shoot I’ve been given the dual roles of Producion Manger/ 1st Assistant Director which means I should talk to each individual crew-member and make sure that they fully understand what it is their specific job entails. I don’t want to be too bossy but this is a group effort so we need everyone to be working as well as they can towards the same goal. It also means more research for me because I will have to know the duties attached to every crew-member’s role…
I’m looking forward to it, though.
It should be rad.

The New Doctor Who

I'd been avoiding watching the new Dr Who series because I liked the old series when I was younger and I was worried that I would hate the updated version.... but...

[begin rant]

...I caught half an episode last night... and I think I hate it.
Any series that has a sequence like the following in it, needs to have a new word invented to describe how bad it is.

"As the Cybermen climb the stairs, intending to escape back to the parallel Earth, they are met by a Cyberman with a female-sounding voice, that of Yvonne Hartman. She declares that they shall not pass and shoots them with an energy rifle. As she repeats that she did her duty for Queen and country, a tear of oil leaks from the duct below her left eye."

That is so bad, I feel faint.
I want to have an out-of-body experience so I can avoid reading/seeing/hearing/thinking that ever again.

I'm sorry to my various friends and family members who may like the show but, how could anyone take pantomine melodrama like that seriously?
OH MY GOD!

[end rant]

*Phew*
I feel better now that I've got that out of my system.

Nature vs. Nuture

Yesterday morning, shortly after waking up, I went to get a loaf of bread and a toilet freshener from my local supermarket. I had walked half the distance back to my house before I realised that I hadn’t actually paid for these goods. I had picked them up and then absent-mindedly walked straight out of the shop. Alex reckoned it was my natural, thieving instincts kicking in but I mustn’t have the balls for a life of crime because I went back and paid for my ill-gotten gains.

On reflection, I believe that at least one of my several convict ancestors was deported to this lovely island for stealing bread so maybe it really is in my nature to thieve and steal.
If that’s the case, hats off to my parents for neutralising these evil genes and bringing me up to believe that this behaviour isn’t helpful. I don’t think anyone has ever been deported for keeping their loo blue.

Today I went back to my kung fu class for the first time in about 4 or 5 months.
I’m not surprised to find out that I’m really unfit and when my Sifu asked me to remind him which colour belt I was training for, it took me a few seconds to remember.

I also created my first auction on ebay today.
A rare, slip-cased, first edition! (By David Eddings)
Somebody out there must be a fan of this fine fantasy author’s work!
C’mon!

Next week I’m doing some unpaid work experience with a production company named Steam Motion and Sound. The company is based in Sydney and London but unfortunately I'll only be seeing the Sydney side of the company this week. They make ads mostly but also some video clips and they specialise in green screen and 3D animation so it should be really interesting.
Looking forward to that.

I’ve been procrastinating for ages this evening by playing Age of Empires II. Yeah, I know it’s an old game but my computer is almost 5 years old and can’t take really good games.
Most of the time it’s not so bad – I can play a lot of older games designed to be played on a bone abacus – but it would be nice to be able to play Age of Mythology. I’m getting a bit tired of Age of Empires’ lack of strategy (build some towers, build some walls, build a castle, kill everybody).
What I really should be doing is working on rewriting my 1-page synopsis for a 10 minute short film for my script class at uni. I had the first draft given back to me last Wednesday, covered in red ink and question marks so I need to have another crack at it. The lecturer didn't really get the point of the film but liked the setting and general idea. It was helpful in that she pointed out what information needed to be conveyed that I either hadn't addressed or hadn't described clearly enough. Anyway, I shouldn't be surprised that the thing requires a re-write.
So that’s what I’ll do now.