Postponed Again!

Turns out After Effects is good, but for what I want to do it can't be the main way I make these videos. I may not be able to have groups of people like I had hoped... unless I grow more hands but the best way this is going to be done is by holding the popsicle sticks.

I lose the comedic effect by editing everything together. So each scene might only have 2 people in it at a time, but I might be able to pull it off.

I'll show you the video clip I had and you'll see what I mean.

Restless Actors

Everyone on the set has been getting antsy to get started.

They've all read a few preliminary scripts and are enjoying the storyline, but setting up the stage and being a director has been slow going. The test video revealed a lot of problems with the way I had originally planned to make the series so I had to come up with a different way to do it. Unfortunately, now I'll have to manipulate their walking in the editing program. A process that could make it take much longer than I want it to. Of course maybe I could just... yep solution came to mind. I'll have to test it on my next weekend.

In the meantime the actors are practicing their lines and the writers are prepping more stories. We need to be able to have a few episodes ready for a rainy day.

Australian, Irish and Scottish Accents

I realized while thinking about the Pirate that I'd need to be able to speak "Pirate". I love accents and I've always wanted to speak in one, but now I actually have a reason to learn. The trick is getting it right.

I will be testing the microphone to see how the audio comes out as well as seeing how well they transfer to the video. I may have to buy another microphone so I can give one to my fellow actors if they need it and show them how to make and transfer the files. The problem with that would be if the audio files sound the same between my mic and theirs.

One other thing that I've been thinking about is where to I go to get permission to makes spoofs of movies. Maybe using the audio from trailers and making the video. The need for permission comes from the copyright stuff for using the audio, but I guess I'll see what the rules are later this week.

Robots, Aliens and Zombies

I couldn't really decide which group of apocalyptic destroyers to go with but I came up with the solution.

What if each of those factions were a separate mafia family after one thing? I don't want to give away much information for my stories but just having the 3 of them fighting each other will present plenty of fodder for short 3-5 minute videos.

Adding videos in between for PvN and Masterstick Theater will present plenty of entertainment as long as I'm not too terrible at storytelling. The trick still is getting it done and set up in a way that will allow them to be created in a timely manner. But good news! I found the voices I needed!

Enough for now, back to setting up the stage!

Voice Actors!

So we have the lights, camera, actors, stage, background music and a script... the last problem I have now is to find voices for them.

Finding voices is easy, but getting people to do it might be hard. I can do some voices but a high pitched girl voice and a jock-ish voice are going to be hard for me to pull off. I have people in mind, but getting them to "act" might be difficult to manage for every episode. My music guy might be able to do something but I'll have to see what he can do first.

I think during these next few days I'll just try shooting the scenes and getting that part done. The longest part is going to be the editing so I may as well just get the easy parts done. I have a great microphone so I just need to find the right setup to record the voices.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention I have special effects I can add to my videos; Fire, explosions, blood, gunfire, fog and all of them in various forms so that's gonna be fun too.

Editing might turn into a nightmare...

Pirates Versus Ninjas (PvN)

I'm sure there are more important things that cause division and spur debates among people. But in the geeky world of super heroes, fantasy games and Renaissance fairs no debate has caused more fierce debates than "Which is better? Pirates or Ninjas?" or even worse "Who would win in a fight?"

Of course my little article isn't about the debate itself rather than a wonderful idea. The pirates (yay!) would love nothing more than to see the ninjas (boo!) bested left and right. The same is true for the ninja camp, but to be fair what better way to exploit... utilize this debate than with a few short videos about these two formidable opponents.

The problem I'm running into here at the start is why would they be fighting in the first place? Pirates traditionally would be on the ocean and in the ports causing trouble, having fun and living how they want. Ninjas would be controlled by their clan without much real independence, assassinating enemies of the clan efficiently and training their skills until near death. So what would cause them to fight? If a ninja wanted a pirate dead it would happen without warning to the pirate so the pirate would probably die. If a pirate wanted to steal something from a ninja it would probably be stolen.

That's where I'm at. I'm not sure why they would fight, how would they meet? What would anger them so much to bear a grudge against each other? A ninja being prideful in their efficiency and never failing a mission might be a little upset if a pirate beat him to the punch or messed up his mission...

I kind of like that. If anyone has any ideas just post a comment, I'm sure you have your opinions on how a ninja would outsmart a pirate and vice versa.

Gonna need more light

Doing green screen is a lot easier than I thought it would be. The only problem I'm having now is having enough light. Daylight is the best but because of my job and sleep schedule I don't have enough time in the day to do many shots in the best possible light. Plus the light I have available is really yellow and I think I'll have to find a nice white light.

Shooting will have to be put off longer than I thought but I still have plenty of time to write more stories. Also I still need to set up my green screen, I'm thinking a piece of felt on a box will be good enough. Still building and setting up but I'm dying to get some vids up.

Graaarrr I need to work on this harder!