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!

Shooting to begin today.

I just realized I forgot to learn how to do green screen at work last night. So I'll be playing catch up before I actually start filming.

Before then I'll probably steal some green felt and find a way to mount it to a stable surface. I figure if I set up a folder and have several clips of stick movements I'll be able to edit them all together without needing to reshoot them over and over again. At that point it'll just take a few hours to make an episode so I'll be able to crank them out on a regular basis.

The only parts that will take the most time after that will be adding music, special effects and doing the voice work.

Speaking of which I managed to meet an Audio Engineer who offered his help in giving me background music and effects to the voices. I'll have to give him a call this weekend and see if he can whip me up some background music.

And I'll need a catchy intro...

The Cast of my Zombie Webseries

Well last night for about 6 hours I made several Popsicle stick people that I'll be using for my Zombie skits and series as well as a few extra Sticks for other ideas I had for the future. Alien Overlord, Ninja and a Samurai... hehe this is actually turning out to be a lot of fun.

During all this I was trying to figure out how I was going to film them. I can only hold 2 of them and be able to control their movements as well as keep them lined up in the frame of the camera. So I had to figure out a way to be able to have several sticks on the screen at the same time.

Green Screen! When playing with Adobe After Effects I can manipulate pictures anyway I like. So the same can actually be done with video. The problem is that the background of the video would block the background I would actually use. So that's where movie magic comes in. I can record a single stick or a few sticks at a time in front of the green screen then just place them where I want in AE. After that's done I'll add the audio and other special effects in another video editing program and be done with an episode.

I just hope that I can crank these out on a regular basis.

Approved! Now For Finding the Inspiration

My account was approved so I celebrated yesterday which is why there was no blog (as if anyone's actually reading this)

And now today as late as it is, I'm trying to get things in order to get started. But really the only thing I need to do is come up with a story I can run with.

I have a nice long 12 hour day tomorrow so I'll have plenty of time to jot down ideas as I come up with them. I like the idea of having a running gag that can be popped in every episode or close to it. If you know the new My Little Pony - think Derpy Hoof.

But as for quality, since I'm just starting out I figure I may as well just run with what I can do. There's no reason to try and be super fancy at the start, I can be moderately fancy when I get things set up... I keep saying that but I really just need to get up and get started.

Now that the account has been approved I have no reason to be putting videos up and helping them circulate to find a viewer base. Ahh work and luck!

Finding a Niche

Good Afternoon!

Days off are fun thinking times. I'm piecing together a few stories today, all just ideas and outlines but I figure if I have a notebook full of ideas I'll be able to throw a few videos together for when I don't have time to make one and can just post it.

Of course here in my little town where I have 1mb internet a 5 minute video will take like an hour to upload... pretty sad.

So! I think unrelated shorts are the best way to start until I establish the characters and their voices. Yeah I can change my voice around and create new characters but I'll definitely need to find a few female voices I can rely on now that I think about it.

I'm excited! There are a lot of ideas I have, the trick is expressing them in well told stories.

Masterstick Theatre

I decided to stick with the Popsicle stick people. It's the easiest thing I could think of without needing a lot of outside help. The only problem I'll run into is having more than 2 sticks on the screen, but maybe I can just edit them in.

The next question to ask is do I want a series of shows and skits with no particular direction? Remakes of classic movies or scenes? Or a series of shows with an underlying plot that reveals itself over time? I'm not well versed in writing so it'll probably be the first 2 at first. Then, when my writing gets better I can go ahead and try for something deeper.

I'll also be able to use all this to practice writing different styles. Action, romance, comedy and thriller type of scripts.

There's so much potential here I'm going to have a hard time deciding where to start. Plus with my erratic work schedule getting them posted on a regular schedule might be difficult. I may just have to do like the tv shows do and film ahead of when they're actually shown... do they still do that?

Either way I still have a lot of planning to do. If you have any ideas for a scene or story or any idea at all just post a comment.

Until tomorrow strangers!

The Creative Process

I have no idea what to do for this thing.

Even if YouTube decides to not approve my account it has enough views to keep grabbing their attention. So regardless I'll be doing videos on it whenever I get the chance. I have a bunch of free time and any reason to keep my mind busy is a great thing right now.

But where to start?

Whatever type of videos I decide to make I should be sure I have fun making them. I was thinking about doing a soap opera type of deal with Popsicle stick people. Or could do simple skits. I'd been writing a movie script so maybe I could make the movie for YouTube and just put it in a bunch of parts when the script is done... hmm that's an idea..

Then there's a Vlog... but my life really is kind of boring and recently I talk alot and I'd probably end up boring people to death... but people dying from watching my vids would be good publicity, kind of.

On top of this YouTube thing, I'm working on a project for my church. I've done something like it before but I want my next one to look fancier so that means it'll take longer. Then there's my exercising.. I need to find a way to work it around my erratic schedule, I want to really look physically different by spring, I'll feel better about me and a self-confidence boost is seriously needed.

Time for shower and bed I was home for an hour and I will get 7 of sleep if I'm lucky then up for work at 4 am... but the job really isn't that bad strangely enough.

If anyone actually reads this (doubtful) what videos would you make?

Like a Phoenix

Hurray for Cliche`s!

I had a separate blog that I started from a break up so I'm just going to use this one as like a diary. It's the easiest and simplest way to find out what I'd actually like to blog about as well as making videos for youtube.

They sent me an email saying I was invited to be a partner so I thought I'd give it a shot. But I do need to actually make videos now.

I've played with adobe after effects and can pretty much learn how to do anything with it so fancy stuff won't be hard, just time consuming. I work 12 hour days so I have usually 4 days off in a week so as long as I actually start I'll have some kind of content.

So for now we'll see if youtube still wants me, but if not maybe I should just do the vids and this blog anyway... just for me.... that actually might be a better idea.

Because I had no choice...

Well, here is the first of many (maybe) blogs.

This started with a desire to make YouTube videos and to possibly become a partner in the future, I'm not counting on it though. Regardless here is this thing and I will probably continue on with it as I go since starting was always the hard part for any task I set up for myself.

You're lucky though!

You're reading the first one and maybe in the future someone will be looking back at this and think... why did this guy think this was a good idea?

....well hopefully this turns out better than I expect it to.

Here's to wishful thinking!