The Beginning of the End

So it's begun. Soon we will begin to construct the final 2 episodes of the season. As I've said before, these will take more time and effort than any of the previous episodes. Episode 9 was expanded to about 5 pages, and came to almost 13 minutes. Episode 11 is floating around the 8 page mark, and more stuff happens, so it's really hard to determine how long it's going to be, though 15+ minutes seems like a good guess to me. Any how, they're going to be long (12 is about 14 pages by the way) but good. A lot of stuff happens, a lot of ground gets covered, and the actual story starts to unravel. So, we're stoked to see the final product.

As for the "Halloween" episode, sadly it didn't work out as we had hoped. We're still going to make it, but it's not going to be out by Halloween. After moving and such, it makes getting people together that much more difficult, so all I was able to film was the first minute or so, which only needed one person. Actually, I have done a bit of work setting up the green screen, which is proving more difficult than I had hoped. Cross-game machinima isn't as easy as it looks. Anyway, I don't really have anything else to say pertaining to machinima, so I'll end it here.

Diez es un numero en espanol!

So episode 10 is actually close to being finished at this point. I was expecting to waste my day away with Dead Space, but apparently it only gets shipped today, so us west coasters don't get it until the 15th. Lame. Seems like they could easily remedy that, but whatever. With any luck, 10 will be done by Monday, but that all depends on how the first draft turns out and how long it takes for one of our friends to get the piano part done (just because I'm multi-instrumental does not mean I play the piano ... yet, it's next in line, after that maybe a banjo or something). There's a scene in this episode that I've been particularly excited to see (which is why I finished editing that scene before the scene before it), which sheds some light on Smith, what exactly, I won't say, but it's definitely my favorite flash back so far. Length-wise, it's longer than I expected (a little over 7 minutes), which is perfect. I hate it when "webisodes" (it's not a real word!) are less than 5 minutes, not to point the finger at any particular show, involving the colors Red and Blue, that happen to be fighting each other. 5 minutes or longer is my rule. I think that's it for that.

In mostly unrelated news, my midi controller (keyboard, the musical kind) comes tomorrow, which I'm excited for. Reason will be so much easier to use, if only Cubase 4 LE was ReWire compatible ... ah, my life would be complete. Not really, but it'd help, though I'd rather just get Pro Tools (which means I've got to replace my $300 hardware with $700 hardware, because Pro Tools is only compatible with M-Audio brand hardware). In other news, my chair is falling apart. Awesome.

So the voices are all recorded for the Halloween short. Just have to go into Halo and act it out, though not everything in this short will be done in Halo. I'm not going to say anything more, other than it's hard to get a bunch of people in a game, and then drain all their swords, and calling them zombies. That's a lot of unnecessary work that doesn't turn out as well as we'd like (especially since it'd be almost impossible sometimes to tell the difference between zombies and non-zombies). Basically, we're gonna go another route which is going to take a bit of work on my part, but the end result will look much better. Plus this way, we can have as many zombies as we need.

Working on smaller projects definitely has it's perks. Instead of working on a part of the bigger picture, we're working on the whole picture, which is very small. As a side note, I've also noticed that I finish episodes faster than songs (sometimes). Episode 10 will hopefully be done a week from today, but as always, I'm making no guarantees.

I also--and I say this mostly to my shame--spent about a half hour making a logo for the Halloween short. Here it is.


Again, I say this probably to my demise. :-)

Halloween Candy, Anyone?

So as of today, we've decided to do a Halloween special, a short (unrelated to the actual story). The hope is to actually get it out by Halloween. We think we can do it, given that it's almost 3 weeks away, but juggling work, school, episode 10, and the song I'm working on might prove difficult, but then again maybe not. Episode 10 is all filmed (minus a short flash back that was recorded, but Halo was kind enough to delete it for us, so we'll have to re-shoot it, though I can probably do that myself) and cut up (again, minus the flash back). Should have a draft in a few days, and then depending on if there's any additional work, it'll be done. It's not going to be one of the longer episodes, but that's ok. Episode 9 was pretty long, so it all evens out. :-) We've also got some commentaries (for at least a few episodes, not all of them) for when we're working on the last couple, since it's going to be a long time between episodes after 10 and we at least want you guys to have something to watch. That's about it. Or aboot it if you're Canadian.

Uuuuuh

So filming for 10 is theoretically done at this point. Whether it needs any modifications, we'll have to see until this is all together. Other than that, not much to report. If we have any addition lines for Shepard, then we have a problem, due to the fact that his actor is leaving for boot camp on Monday, and won't be home for 7 or 8 months. This also means season 2 is going to have an interesting twist for Shepard. What exactly, you'll have to wait and see, but we believe it's bound for greatness.

Other than that, I'm figuring out the Source engine and Garry's Mod for an upcoming project, which is also going to rule. I definitely like working with the Source engine much better than Halo 3. You can do more than move your head up and down! It's amazing! I always like being sneaky, so that's all I'm going to say about the project, which really is nothing, but that's ok. I'm done for now. God bless! Oh, and remember to vote. I can't wait till this election is all said and done, I'm so sick of politics right now (and always, really).

No playlist today, as I haven't bought any new music in a while and I'm tired of typing it out. I will say that Zunes are cool. And I don't like IPods. Or I-Tunes. Disagree if you will, but I can't hear your argument so take that! Haha!

So it's been like a week since I posted something, though there really isn't anything to post. We're just having some down time, trying to take it sort-of easy. I've gotten a little burned out trying to pump these things out as fast as possible, and once episode 10's done, the rest are gonna be a ton of work, and since 10 probably won't be one of the longer ones, we can take our time with it to an extent and still get it out in a reasonable time.

In the down time, I've started writing some music again after a 2 or 3 month break (and by music, I'm not referring to our soundtrack). I've finally started using Reason heavily for the drums, which sounds amazing; obviously not as good as an actual audio recording, but 1) I'm not quite good enough at the drums, 2) my microphone collection is pretty pathetic (though my kick drum mic rules) and 3) I'm not the only person living in my house, so recording time is scarce to say the least. I'll stick to guitar and bass for now. Recording vocals is similar to drums, especially considering my style of vocals, but they don't typically need as many takes and they can be auto-punched, whereas drums can only punch-in if there's a complete break. I'm hoping this song won't get stuck due to writer's block for months on end, I'm pretty stoked for it (and it's in a 7/4 time signature, which also rules, and is much more fun than I thought it would be). Probably no one cares, especially considering this isn't a music blog, but that's ok. It's my blog. I say what I want. :-) God bless!