Sunday, February 26, 2006
Day 21 - Pray for Completion
It was three weeks ago that this project was handed to us, and while I haven't personally had a worse three weeks in my life, it had nothing to do with the scoring of this movie. (Unless the project was cursed) Today, we revealed the progress of 21 days of hard labor to Avindair, GothTrooper, MonkeyBoy, and none other than the Uncanny Cassie Banning herself.
I was right to say that I would be close to done: there were 3 minutes of unfinished footage, leading up to the Wheel of Death scene. That equates to around 3-6 hours of work left to do. We handed off the audio score anyway, and the remaining parts will probably end up using the directors temporary tracks.
Our initial plan of covering the major sections first was a good one. It gave us a solid starting point to work into and out of. Coming into the project with written songs was a real pleasure. I could not imagine trying to write full songs for the sections we did. We managed to get 11 of our 9 songs into the score (No, that is not a mistake. There are pieces of two songs which made it into the score which were disowned - songs we gave up on long ago.) The songs actually tended to get cut up quite a bit, and only tiny pieces of them used. *Monsters* for example, is a song that we worked on for a number of weeks, and less than a minute of it actually appears in the score.
If anyone with any taste has anything to do with this movie, they will strip out the music over the Gator's Bar scene - a joke song we called Techno, because, well..., its a techno song. Nnn-Tsss-Nnn-Tsss, you know... Anyway, it makes Cassie and Garrett look like they are meeting in a gay bar. That's what we had, and that's what we used, fully intending to strip it out later, but way it affects the percieved mood of the characters is Hysterical.
Everyone liked the preview of the score. It really pulls together sections that make little sense without music on them, and accentuates so much in the video. Working on this project has really made me realize that the audio is every bit as important as the video in telling the story.
The scoring is done, but the project is not. There is still the director's commentary and the actor's commentary tracks to be recorded, and the Master DVD will be rendered here in Encore. [Editors Log, Stardate Mar 2007 - Sadly, these things never came to pass...]
All in all, it has been a fun project to work on, but a worse period of my life could not have been picked out to undertake it. I am really looking forward to putting February behind me.
Blog on,
-CZ
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I was right to say that I would be close to done: there were 3 minutes of unfinished footage, leading up to the Wheel of Death scene. That equates to around 3-6 hours of work left to do. We handed off the audio score anyway, and the remaining parts will probably end up using the directors temporary tracks.
Our initial plan of covering the major sections first was a good one. It gave us a solid starting point to work into and out of. Coming into the project with written songs was a real pleasure. I could not imagine trying to write full songs for the sections we did. We managed to get 11 of our 9 songs into the score (No, that is not a mistake. There are pieces of two songs which made it into the score which were disowned - songs we gave up on long ago.) The songs actually tended to get cut up quite a bit, and only tiny pieces of them used. *Monsters* for example, is a song that we worked on for a number of weeks, and less than a minute of it actually appears in the score.
If anyone with any taste has anything to do with this movie, they will strip out the music over the Gator's Bar scene - a joke song we called Techno, because, well..., its a techno song. Nnn-Tsss-Nnn-Tsss, you know... Anyway, it makes Cassie and Garrett look like they are meeting in a gay bar. That's what we had, and that's what we used, fully intending to strip it out later, but way it affects the percieved mood of the characters is Hysterical.
Everyone liked the preview of the score. It really pulls together sections that make little sense without music on them, and accentuates so much in the video. Working on this project has really made me realize that the audio is every bit as important as the video in telling the story.
The scoring is done, but the project is not. There is still the director's commentary and the actor's commentary tracks to be recorded, and the Master DVD will be rendered here in Encore. [Editors Log, Stardate Mar 2007 - Sadly, these things never came to pass...]
All in all, it has been a fun project to work on, but a worse period of my life could not have been picked out to undertake it. I am really looking forward to putting February behind me.
Blog on,
-CZ
Labels: A Day In The Life, audio, indie movies, Pray For Daylight
Day 18 - Pray For One More Day
So the scoring continues, and today I am flying solo, as my partner-in-crime has to make some International Connections today. I called Avindairthis morning and postponed his visit till tomorrow. Difficult to say if I will be finished by then, but I would say very close.
The project is over 5GB now, and that does Not include the 14GB video file. My computer protests as though it were a GMC Gremlin, and I were trying to pull a Mobile Home. Periodic Lock-Ups and Lots of lost work have taught me to backup often, often, often. Especially since the automated periodic backup was hanging my computer, so I had to turn it off.
A good estimate now is around 1-2 hours per minute of video to score. Of course, this depends more on the complexity of the scene, and the number of transitions.
The major scenes left to score are
Blog on,
-CZ
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The project is over 5GB now, and that does Not include the 14GB video file. My computer protests as though it were a GMC Gremlin, and I were trying to pull a Mobile Home. Periodic Lock-Ups and Lots of lost work have taught me to backup often, often, often. Especially since the automated periodic backup was hanging my computer, so I had to turn it off.
A good estimate now is around 1-2 hours per minute of video to score. Of course, this depends more on the complexity of the scene, and the number of transitions.
The major scenes left to score are
- Cassie and Garrett discussing on Couch
- Lucretia's bedroom scene
- Cassie's Discussion with Saveau at his house
- Intro Fight Scene at Lucretia's Lair, leading up to Wheel of Death
Blog on,
-CZ
Labels: A Day In The Life, indie movies, Pray For Daylight
You are preapproved! Your Karmic Credit Limit has been raised!
Easily the worst month of my life to date, and it sounds from many others that I am not the only one. I dread to imagine how it could actually get worse. The thought that keeps me going is that after acruing so much Karmic credit for all that has gone wrong this month, we should be able to pull off some pretty wicked things later this year, right? I mean, it all has to balance out, right?
Think I will start by parking in the handicapped spots for the rest of the year...
Blog on,
-CZ
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Think I will start by parking in the handicapped spots for the rest of the year...
Blog on,
-CZ
Labels: A Day In The Life
Saturday, February 25, 2006
Letter to Councilman Lindsay Krantz, Ward 3, Crystal MN
Dear Councilman Krantz,
Thank you for the invitation to the meeting concerning the recent pedestrian accident at Co. Rd. 81 near 48th Ave.
While I don’t mean to belittle the accident, it was an isolated incident, and certainly not any kind of trend. The accident rate for Co. Rd 81 is far lower than anyone would expect; given the volume of traffic on 81, and the neighboring population density. Therefore, to suddenly come to the decision/reaction that, '...something must be done to make this stretch of road safer...' is a poor one, when compared to other areas we could focus resources on. For example, on 12 October, 2005, a group of masked men broke into the house next door, and beat and robbed their family at gunpoint, which, to me is much more horrifying than a traffic accident, and if you will check the statistics; Much More Common. I don’t recall any mailings sent out about it, or meetings to discuss '...what we want done, and how we should go about getting it done.'
I don’t agree with using up resources on sensationalistic and extremely rare occurrences, when they could be used more effectively to handle daily problems like crime, pollution, disabled access, etc... In other words, I would rather see the City of Crystal install cameras at major intersections to deter crime, than to install a giant grounding rod because someone walking through town was hit by lightning.
The meeting is a good idea - it allows those feeling outraged and powerless over this extremely emotional event to vent their frustrations, and feel as though they have ‘done’ something. But, before anyone decides to build a bridge, or fence, or tunnel, or run floodlights down the entire length of 81, please make sure the decision is based on reason and statistics, not emotions. Otherwise, we end up with a really expensive memorial that provides little value to the people who have to pay for it.
Respectfully,
Conrad...
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Thank you for the invitation to the meeting concerning the recent pedestrian accident at Co. Rd. 81 near 48th Ave.
While I don’t mean to belittle the accident, it was an isolated incident, and certainly not any kind of trend. The accident rate for Co. Rd 81 is far lower than anyone would expect; given the volume of traffic on 81, and the neighboring population density. Therefore, to suddenly come to the decision/reaction that, '...something must be done to make this stretch of road safer...' is a poor one, when compared to other areas we could focus resources on. For example, on 12 October, 2005, a group of masked men broke into the house next door, and beat and robbed their family at gunpoint, which, to me is much more horrifying than a traffic accident, and if you will check the statistics; Much More Common. I don’t recall any mailings sent out about it, or meetings to discuss '...what we want done, and how we should go about getting it done.'
I don’t agree with using up resources on sensationalistic and extremely rare occurrences, when they could be used more effectively to handle daily problems like crime, pollution, disabled access, etc... In other words, I would rather see the City of Crystal install cameras at major intersections to deter crime, than to install a giant grounding rod because someone walking through town was hit by lightning.
The meeting is a good idea - it allows those feeling outraged and powerless over this extremely emotional event to vent their frustrations, and feel as though they have ‘done’ something. But, before anyone decides to build a bridge, or fence, or tunnel, or run floodlights down the entire length of 81, please make sure the decision is based on reason and statistics, not emotions. Otherwise, we end up with a really expensive memorial that provides little value to the people who have to pay for it.
Respectfully,
Conrad...
Labels: americans, idiots, Open Letter, political
Friday, February 24, 2006
Tagged
Thanks alot to Trees for the tag, here is a bunch of crap you really didn't need to know about me.
Four Jobs I've had...
Four movies I can watch over and over...
TV shows I love to watch...
Four places I've been on vacation...
Four favorite dishes...
Four websites I visit daily...
Actually, I don't visit websites daily, since I have discovered RSS, I download the latest posts from my favorite sites and read them daily, which is pretty much the same thing, only geekier. Anyway, if I could only pick four they would be...)
Four places I'd rather be...
Four bloggers I'm tagging...
Blog on,
-CZ
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Four Jobs I've had...
- Midnight Shift Electronic Component Placement Specialist
- Swing Shift Avionic Navigational And Communications Systems Specialist
- Midnight Shift Recording Studio A/V Tech
- I.T. Shaman
Four movies I can watch over and over...
- The Crow ('There Ain't No Comin Back, Man!')
- Aliens ('Game Over, man!')
- Clerks ('38?')
- Pray For Daylight (Just kidding. Actually, I *have* watched this movie over and over... and over and over. I meant to say, Monty Python and the Holy Grail)
TV shows I love to watch...
- NONE. There is nothing on TV worth wasting your time on. Nothing. Rave all you like about the latest piece of Sci-Fi-Fluff, if it was any good, I still would wait for it to come out on DVD.
Four places I've been on vacation...
- San Francisco , CA
- The Badlands, SD. Motorcycle Camping trip. We had to pull off the road and set up our tents really quickly because there was purple lightning. I shit you not, *PURPLE* lightning.
- Circle Tour of Lake Superior. Motorcycle camping trip.
- Zweibrucken, Germany
Four favorite dishes...
- Diet Coke
- BBQ Chicken Sandwich at Ruby Tuesday's
- Brown Sugar Cinnamon Pop Tarts (Uncooked)
- Pancakes From Eggie's Diner in Crystal, MN
Four websites I visit daily...
Actually, I don't visit websites daily, since I have discovered RSS, I download the latest posts from my favorite sites and read them daily, which is pretty much the same thing, only geekier. Anyway, if I could only pick four they would be...)
- www.digg.com (for geek news)
- www.dilbert.com/comics/dilbert (of course)
- Lefsetz Letter
- www.actiongirls.com (just checking if any of you are actually reading this...)
Four places I'd rather be...
- In bed (sleeping)
- In bed (reading)
- In bed (writing)
- In bed (other)
Four bloggers I'm tagging...
Blog on,
-CZ
Labels: A Day In The Life
Thursday, February 23, 2006
Dual Rants
[ed note: Sorry, but I am in a really bad mood today, and the doctor prescribed two rants per day on the blog to minimize my misery...]
Rant 1 - How come car repairs only come in $300 increments? A radiator leak prompted me to take my car to a trusted individual who moonlights in such things. Strangely, every time he calls me to give me an update on the progress, the price has gone up $300. Head gasket? $600. OK, that sucks. Having the head milled at a machine shop? $900. OK, Looks like I'll be selling some things on E-Bay. Cracked timing chain guide? OK, Now we are at $1200 and I now have his number blocked. That should at least keep the price fixed...
Rant 2 - Does anyone else *get* Paris Hilton? At least Brooke Shields appeared in one movie and a Calvin Klein series of commercials before we called her 'famous', and she spent the rest of her life Doing Nothing Being Famous. Paris Hilton shows every lack of talent that Brooke Shields has (or is that 'doesnt have'?) but she hasn't done anything except look smarmy. She just oozes Self-Ritious-Pretentious-Bitchiness. If there was any justice in the world, she would be living under a bridge, begging for scraps. I wouldn't screw Paris Hilton with my neighbor's dog's penis, although I wouldn't mind screwing her out of $1200 to get my car fixed...
Blog on,
-CZ
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Rant 1 - How come car repairs only come in $300 increments? A radiator leak prompted me to take my car to a trusted individual who moonlights in such things. Strangely, every time he calls me to give me an update on the progress, the price has gone up $300. Head gasket? $600. OK, that sucks. Having the head milled at a machine shop? $900. OK, Looks like I'll be selling some things on E-Bay. Cracked timing chain guide? OK, Now we are at $1200 and I now have his number blocked. That should at least keep the price fixed...
Rant 2 - Does anyone else *get* Paris Hilton? At least Brooke Shields appeared in one movie and a Calvin Klein series of commercials before we called her 'famous', and she spent the rest of her life Doing Nothing Being Famous. Paris Hilton shows every lack of talent that Brooke Shields has (or is that 'doesnt have'?) but she hasn't done anything except look smarmy. She just oozes Self-Ritious-Pretentious-Bitchiness. If there was any justice in the world, she would be living under a bridge, begging for scraps. I wouldn't screw Paris Hilton with my neighbor's dog's penis, although I wouldn't mind screwing her out of $1200 to get my car fixed...
Blog on,
-CZ
Labels: A Day In The Life, rant
Wednesday, February 22, 2006
Day 15 - Pray for Mad, Howard-Shorian, Movie-Scoring Skillz
[Editors Note: sorry about the lack of posts. With the death of my good friend, and the near-death of my car, I have not been able to muster the energy for more than the minimum of life's requirements, which does not include blogging...]
Last night, Colin and I scored quite a bit of the movie, Pray For Daylight. We finalized several sections, including the death of Lucretia, for which Colin wrote some awesome music right on the spot.
Colin: 'We cant use Plung there when Lucretia dies.'
Me: 'Why not? It works really well.'
Colin: 'Because we just used it for Cassie's turnaround scene.'
Me: [Scrolling back on the timeline about ten minutes] 'Hoover Damn! Youre right. Can you make something up?'
Colin: 'What were you thinking?'
Me: 'Something acoustic and hollow, like the start of Plung, with some slow bass'
Colin: '...like Plung.'
Me: 'Right. Like Plung, but not Plung. Like if someone else wrote it, we would sue them for copyright.'
Colin: 'Hang on...'
[30 seconds of sheer musical creative genius later]
Colin: 'Hows this?'
Me: 'Im writing you hate mail already.'
Measuring out the timeline, we have 33 min of unscored footage, which is almost exactly half the movie, but the parts we have finished are the most difficult ones, and therefore I know we are over halfway done.
The most difficult part of the movie to score (by far) has been the backyard fight scene. We have spent more than half of our time on this scene alone, with minimal progress. The quick changes between fighting-talking-fighting are difficult to cover with any one piece of music, and shifting the music back and forth makes the scene disjointed. What would Howard Shore do?
Regardless, we are shooting for Sunday as our finish date. At this point, it seems a very reasonable goal.
-C
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Last night, Colin and I scored quite a bit of the movie, Pray For Daylight. We finalized several sections, including the death of Lucretia, for which Colin wrote some awesome music right on the spot.
Colin: 'We cant use Plung there when Lucretia dies.'
Me: 'Why not? It works really well.'
Colin: 'Because we just used it for Cassie's turnaround scene.'
Me: [Scrolling back on the timeline about ten minutes] 'Hoover Damn! Youre right. Can you make something up?'
Colin: 'What were you thinking?'
Me: 'Something acoustic and hollow, like the start of Plung, with some slow bass'
Colin: '...like Plung.'
Me: 'Right. Like Plung, but not Plung. Like if someone else wrote it, we would sue them for copyright.'
Colin: 'Hang on...'
[30 seconds of sheer musical creative genius later]
Colin: 'Hows this?'
Me: 'Im writing you hate mail already.'
Measuring out the timeline, we have 33 min of unscored footage, which is almost exactly half the movie, but the parts we have finished are the most difficult ones, and therefore I know we are over halfway done.
The most difficult part of the movie to score (by far) has been the backyard fight scene. We have spent more than half of our time on this scene alone, with minimal progress. The quick changes between fighting-talking-fighting are difficult to cover with any one piece of music, and shifting the music back and forth makes the scene disjointed. What would Howard Shore do?
Regardless, we are shooting for Sunday as our finish date. At this point, it seems a very reasonable goal.
-C
Labels: A Day In The Life, Pray For Daylight
Thursday, February 16, 2006
Goodbye Gabby (???? - 2006)
At 4:21 this morning, Gabby (Gabrielle) couldn't hold on any longer, and let go of this world. Her purring and labored breathing faded away, and she died in my arms, after five hours of me holding her, and telling her what a good girl she was, and how much she was loved.
It wasn't enough.
She was my very best friend. I could tell her anything. She never judged me, labeled me, or made me feel bad about myself. I can't say that about many human beings I've met.
I can't tell you how much it fucking hurts, losing a familiar...
-C
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It wasn't enough.
She was my very best friend. I could tell her anything. She never judged me, labeled me, or made me feel bad about myself. I can't say that about many human beings I've met.
I can't tell you how much it fucking hurts, losing a familiar...
-C
Labels: A Day In The Life, Ubersuck
The End is Near
My cat is very near death. I wish I were kidding. I took the day off from work to take her to the vet today, and they ran blood tests. Preliminary guesses are cancer or a problem with her Thyroid. She has lost a lot of weight, and doesn’t have much energy. Somehow, the trip to the vet made her worse. Now she cannot stand up, much less walk, and she cries if I put her down. I really don’t expect her to make it through the night. As if this weren’t enough to worry about...
My car started leaking radiator fluid on the way back from the vet. I stopped at a local shop and they pointed out that my head gasket is leaking, and quoted me $1100 plus parts to fix the problem. I have found someone who will do the work for half that cost, which is still too much. Also, I am without a car till at least Monday. I called work and told them I will not be in tomorrow. Still working on how I am going to get to class tomorrow night.
Honestly, this rates right up there with the top ten worst days ever. I bought a ticket for the Powerball today. If I win, this day will almost break even.
Almost.
Blog on,
-CZ
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My car started leaking radiator fluid on the way back from the vet. I stopped at a local shop and they pointed out that my head gasket is leaking, and quoted me $1100 plus parts to fix the problem. I have found someone who will do the work for half that cost, which is still too much. Also, I am without a car till at least Monday. I called work and told them I will not be in tomorrow. Still working on how I am going to get to class tomorrow night.
Honestly, this rates right up there with the top ten worst days ever. I bought a ticket for the Powerball today. If I win, this day will almost break even.
Almost.
Blog on,
-CZ
Labels: A Day In The Life, Ubersuck
Tuesday, February 14, 2006
Olympic Waste
So I was ripping on the Olympics over dinner when Xtina set me straight.
'What a waste,' I said.
'Whats that?'
'The Olympics. Its an absolutely amazing worldwide waste. If all those people with all that money wanted to actually do something *constructive* they could. Rebuild New Orleans. End poverty. Repair the damage from the Tsunami. Stop the war in Iraq. But NO, they fuck around Skiing.'
'But...'
'And Skating,' I iterated.
'...well...'
'*Figure* Skating,' I reiterated.
'...but the world *needs* to get together.'
'Fucking ***Figure Skating***?' I re-reiterated.
'Its like this. The world needs to get together and do something Pointless together. The same way people need to go out and get drunk and play Darts with people they work with.'
'Hmm. I guess.'
'Or Bowling. Now if all those people with all that energy and money focused it on something more *constructive*...'
'Right,' I admitted, 'Good point.'
Long pause.
'Well,' I continued, 'at least they could get rid of the sports commentators. Whatever they pay them is a waste...'
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'What a waste,' I said.
'Whats that?'
'The Olympics. Its an absolutely amazing worldwide waste. If all those people with all that money wanted to actually do something *constructive* they could. Rebuild New Orleans. End poverty. Repair the damage from the Tsunami. Stop the war in Iraq. But NO, they fuck around Skiing.'
'But...'
'And Skating,' I iterated.
'...well...'
'*Figure* Skating,' I reiterated.
'...but the world *needs* to get together.'
'Fucking ***Figure Skating***?' I re-reiterated.
'Its like this. The world needs to get together and do something Pointless together. The same way people need to go out and get drunk and play Darts with people they work with.'
'Hmm. I guess.'
'Or Bowling. Now if all those people with all that energy and money focused it on something more *constructive*...'
'Right,' I admitted, 'Good point.'
Long pause.
'Well,' I continued, 'at least they could get rid of the sports commentators. Whatever they pay them is a waste...'
Friday, February 10, 2006
Aspartame Kills!
I'm sorry to disprove the findings of the site www.aspartamekills.com, but I have proof that aspartame does (in fact) NOT truly kill.
Because I drink 1.5 Litres of Diet Coke per day.
Before Lunch.
On a good day.
And I don't have many good days.
So get a fucking life.
You
Gorram
Freaking
Idiots.
Say, how are those commodity shares doing, boys? Sugar prices doing OK with all that FUD you are spreading? Super.
Hey, go right ahead and tell the people aspartame kills you. I think that's great, because it keeps the price of Diet Coke down. Long as I don't have to buy it in an alley and inject it (because I totally would)
Blog on,
-CZ
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Because I drink 1.5 Litres of Diet Coke per day.
Before Lunch.
On a good day.
And I don't have many good days.
So get a fucking life.
You
Gorram
Freaking
Idiots.
Say, how are those commodity shares doing, boys? Sugar prices doing OK with all that FUD you are spreading? Super.
Hey, go right ahead and tell the people aspartame kills you. I think that's great, because it keeps the price of Diet Coke down. Long as I don't have to buy it in an alley and inject it (because I totally would)
Blog on,
-CZ
Labels: anti, consumerism, idiots
Sue - Get Checked!
A friend whose name I will not divulge told me that someone named Sue not only reads my blog, but actually enjoys it.
Suzy-Q, I'm telling you for your own good, this shit will warp your mind. If this blog were a soda-pop, it would be TaB. Worse, it would be TaB Clear.
No, even that doesn't do it proper injustice. It would be Diet TaB Clear. No benefits to speak of, and all the drawbacks. It's an intellectual toilet where my brain-poo gets flushed out onto the cesspool of the internet...
Hell, I don't even read this blog, and I write the damn thing.
...but thanks for reading, Sue...
Blog on,
-CZ
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Suzy-Q, I'm telling you for your own good, this shit will warp your mind. If this blog were a soda-pop, it would be TaB. Worse, it would be TaB Clear.
No, even that doesn't do it proper injustice. It would be Diet TaB Clear. No benefits to speak of, and all the drawbacks. It's an intellectual toilet where my brain-poo gets flushed out onto the cesspool of the internet...
Hell, I don't even read this blog, and I write the damn thing.
...but thanks for reading, Sue...
Blog on,
-CZ
Wednesday, February 08, 2006
Survey
I like surveys. They are like a test that you always score 100% no matter what you answer. So I was taking a survey for the University about leadership when I tripped over this question:
'Being seen as a person of integrity is important to me.'
and the accompanying bubbles to click on, indicating that I strongly agree or disagree on a scale of one to five.
I instinctively clicked Strongly Disagree, because I truly could give a shit what anyone thinks about me. But for some reason, I could not move on until my Inner Philosopher could get a question answered: 'What does that answer mean?'
When I looked at my answer, it seemed strange, as though this were a question I was in very real danger of getting wrong. My Inner Philosopher piped up again, 'Does this mean you don't *care* if you are non-integral person?'
The problem is whether the question was related to *being* a person of integrity, or *being seen* as a person of integrity. Assuming the second, my answer was simple.
'Of course I do, I just don't care if you see it or not.'
That shut my Inner Philosopher up right quick. I don't care what he thinks about me either. Nosy bastard.
Blog on,
-CZ
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'Being seen as a person of integrity is important to me.'
and the accompanying bubbles to click on, indicating that I strongly agree or disagree on a scale of one to five.
I instinctively clicked Strongly Disagree, because I truly could give a shit what anyone thinks about me. But for some reason, I could not move on until my Inner Philosopher could get a question answered: 'What does that answer mean?'
When I looked at my answer, it seemed strange, as though this were a question I was in very real danger of getting wrong. My Inner Philosopher piped up again, 'Does this mean you don't *care* if you are non-integral person?'
The problem is whether the question was related to *being* a person of integrity, or *being seen* as a person of integrity. Assuming the second, my answer was simple.
'Of course I do, I just don't care if you see it or not.'
That shut my Inner Philosopher up right quick. I don't care what he thinks about me either. Nosy bastard.
Blog on,
-CZ
Labels: Inner Philosopher, Philosophy
Tuesday, February 07, 2006
Day Two - Pray for Bullets
Tonight, (In a Cat-Piss-Free environment) Colin and I were able to preview the entire locked-down version of Pray For Daylight. We listened to the director's cut with the temp tracks installed, and made notes of the mood for each scene.
Actually, if Colin and I were both killed by ninjas tonight, they could use the royalty-free tracks the director has in place (and the few songs of ours that he used already) and the score would be fine. 'Fine' as in OK. 'Fine' as in Adequate. But I think we can do better.
We decided on a plan of action for the project - instead of progressing linearly through the movie, we will place the largest pieces of music first. The opening credits, the time-lapse montage with Monsters on it, the Wheel of Death scene with Let it Out, and so forth. Then, we will go back and work through the largest remaining sections where there are extended scenes of a constant emotion (fight scenes, reflective scenes, sad scenes...) and try to cover the largest sections first, and proceed in layers, until we reach a point where it seems prudent to take the movie a scene at a time, to completion.
There are two notable items slightly outside the score of the film which we have to deal with. The first is the sound cue for what is being called 'celerity' - that is, the magical ability of the vampires to 'teleport' or move quickly from place to place. The second is the 'freezy-eye' look, when the vampires freeze people in their tracks with fear. Both of these events have sound cueues Tony has put in place, but he told us he is not 100% happy with them, and has invited us to see if we can do better.
J-man came over and helped us put a thin coat of polish over the song 'Not Enough Bullets' and called it Done. Complete. We don't have to retake any tracks, edit any mistakes, or tweak any levels. Done. And we each smoked a cigar. A Middleton's Cherry Blend Cigar, to be exact. A major milestone in both the 'Days From Evil' project, and the scoring.
Later tonight, I may drop 'Bullets' onto the timeline and we will have our first edit. That is what I wanted to accomplish last night, instead of shampooing carpets. So, I can safely say that I feel we are one day behind schedule on our second day into the project. This implies the project will take twice as long as I thought...
What we learned today:
Blog on,
-CZ
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Actually, if Colin and I were both killed by ninjas tonight, they could use the royalty-free tracks the director has in place (and the few songs of ours that he used already) and the score would be fine. 'Fine' as in OK. 'Fine' as in Adequate. But I think we can do better.
We decided on a plan of action for the project - instead of progressing linearly through the movie, we will place the largest pieces of music first. The opening credits, the time-lapse montage with Monsters on it, the Wheel of Death scene with Let it Out, and so forth. Then, we will go back and work through the largest remaining sections where there are extended scenes of a constant emotion (fight scenes, reflective scenes, sad scenes...) and try to cover the largest sections first, and proceed in layers, until we reach a point where it seems prudent to take the movie a scene at a time, to completion.
There are two notable items slightly outside the score of the film which we have to deal with. The first is the sound cue for what is being called 'celerity' - that is, the magical ability of the vampires to 'teleport' or move quickly from place to place. The second is the 'freezy-eye' look, when the vampires freeze people in their tracks with fear. Both of these events have sound cueues Tony has put in place, but he told us he is not 100% happy with them, and has invited us to see if we can do better.
J-man came over and helped us put a thin coat of polish over the song 'Not Enough Bullets' and called it Done. Complete. We don't have to retake any tracks, edit any mistakes, or tweak any levels. Done. And we each smoked a cigar. A Middleton's Cherry Blend Cigar, to be exact. A major milestone in both the 'Days From Evil' project, and the scoring.
Later tonight, I may drop 'Bullets' onto the timeline and we will have our first edit. That is what I wanted to accomplish last night, instead of shampooing carpets. So, I can safely say that I feel we are one day behind schedule on our second day into the project. This implies the project will take twice as long as I thought...
What we learned today:
- Middleton's Cherry-Blend Cigars don't taste like Cherries at all.
- Egyptian Musk incense smells W-A-Y better than cat urine.
- Middleton's Cherry-Blend Cigars taste much better on Halloween after 4 or 5 drinks.
- A track is never finished. But, at some point, you must pick a level of 'completedness' you are willing to live with and answer to. (See Zeno's Paradox.)
- Middleton's Cherry-Blend Cigars taste like crap.
Blog on,
-CZ
Labels: Pray For Daylight
Day One - Pray for Incense
I have to say, I was quite excited to get started on this project, and came home from work looking forward to beginning scoring the film the same way I looked forward to coming home and playing Half-Life or Unreal2 or F.E.A.R. Ah yes! An evening strapped into the command chair, issuing orders to Anubis, who steadfastly obeys my every whim (unless there is a Mac user in the room, in which case, Anubis tends to BSOD...) The very fate of the soundtrack was in my hands! Every drumbeat would line up like a headshot! Every moody synth track would lay down like fire from a flamethrower in a narrow hallway (note to self: Flamethrower in hallway = bad, remember?) Ambient noise effects would ricochet off the video like full-automatic gunfire! I smiled as I made my way downstairs to the studio, but was stopped short - the smile fading from my face the way it probably does when I click the trigger and discover I am out of ammo.
"...um, what the fuck is that smell?"
It turns out Gabrielle had laid down some suppressing fire of her own. 'Oppressing' actually. Strong enough to make my eyes water. 'Jesus H. Christ!' I blasphemed. (and to this day, I still don't know what the 'H' stands for). Despite my best forensic efforts (blacklight, sniffing around) I was unable to find the source of the offending smell. It was as though someone had burned an entire package of CatPiss Incense in my studio. Either that, or Gabby had pissed on the ceiling. Her sandbox was clean and dry. Interrogation proved useless.
And so, a quick trip to the hardware store, and $20 for a Rug Doctor later, I was dismantling the studio, and shampooing carpets until the wee hours of the morning. Not exactly the start I was hoping for. Gabby coughs up hairballs on an almost daily basis, but this was some kind of communication, and my Cat Urine Dialect is a bit rusty. I assume this is some kind of negative message, perhaps her disapproval of me spending too much time not petting her instead, but it could be she watched the 'Pray For Daylight' clip and it scared the piss out of her. Regardless, that is one more room she is grounded from.
So Day One was literally 'pissed away', but at least we have clean carpets to start the project...
Blog on,
-CZ
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"...um, what the fuck is that smell?"
It turns out Gabrielle had laid down some suppressing fire of her own. 'Oppressing' actually. Strong enough to make my eyes water. 'Jesus H. Christ!' I blasphemed. (and to this day, I still don't know what the 'H' stands for). Despite my best forensic efforts (blacklight, sniffing around) I was unable to find the source of the offending smell. It was as though someone had burned an entire package of CatPiss Incense in my studio. Either that, or Gabby had pissed on the ceiling. Her sandbox was clean and dry. Interrogation proved useless.
And so, a quick trip to the hardware store, and $20 for a Rug Doctor later, I was dismantling the studio, and shampooing carpets until the wee hours of the morning. Not exactly the start I was hoping for. Gabby coughs up hairballs on an almost daily basis, but this was some kind of communication, and my Cat Urine Dialect is a bit rusty. I assume this is some kind of negative message, perhaps her disapproval of me spending too much time not petting her instead, but it could be she watched the 'Pray For Daylight' clip and it scared the piss out of her. Regardless, that is one more room she is grounded from.
So Day One was literally 'pissed away', but at least we have clean carpets to start the project...
Blog on,
-CZ
Labels: A Day In The Life, Days From Evil
Monday, February 06, 2006
Day Zero: Let the madness begin!
Colin and I met with Avindair last night, and picked up two copies of the 'locked cut' Pray for Daylight; one with his temporary music score, and one with no music score. Our goal is to completely score this puppy in three weeks. Not an impossible task, even for those who haven't done this before (Disclaimer: We haven't.)
Thank goodness for portable USB drives, otherwise I am not entirely sure how we would have transferred two 15GB files between our systems. I don't think e-mail would take kindly to attachments of that magnitude.
Ran the import on the video .avi last night, pulled it all into a Sonar project in under half an hour, scrolled through it, the video syncs nicely to the timeline. *Really* nice... Child's play. A cakewalk. Simple Simon.
In the spirit of Avindair's blogging his adventure, I will keep posting updates of our progress here, as often as seems blog-worthy.
Blog on,
-CZ
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Thank goodness for portable USB drives, otherwise I am not entirely sure how we would have transferred two 15GB files between our systems. I don't think e-mail would take kindly to attachments of that magnitude.
Ran the import on the video .avi last night, pulled it all into a Sonar project in under half an hour, scrolled through it, the video syncs nicely to the timeline. *Really* nice... Child's play. A cakewalk. Simple Simon.
In the spirit of Avindair's blogging his adventure, I will keep posting updates of our progress here, as often as seems blog-worthy.
Blog on,
-CZ
Labels: Pray For Daylight
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