Freekstorm VFX Blog

My oldest son (also leading star of our latest movie) is learning Media Studies for his GCSE’s at Hogwarts School. This is very handy for me because it incorporates a huge amount of Film Studies, so I am learning along with him and soaking up any juicy crumbs of filmmaking lore that he drops along the way.

Last week his most learned Professor taught him a new word: "diegetic."

For the completely clueless such as myself, “diegesis” means the fictional story world and everything that happens within it. Conversely, a “non-diegetic” scene is one which happens outside the story world that is inserted into the main narrative, for example, if the actor talks directly to the viewer in the film.

Titles, subtitles and voice over-narration are also non-diegetic and some clever filmmakers can switch between the two as a way of connecting with the viewer. Think of “Scrubs” where J.D. usually talks to the cast as part of the internal story-line, but he also often addresses the audience directly. He readily switches between diegetic and non-diegetic, which acts as an effective and humorous mechanism for drawing the viewer into the story.

Similarly, sound in a movie is diegetic if it forms part of the story of the film. For example, if a film character is whistling a tune or playing a piano in the movie, then that would be "diegetic sound" or "actual sound." In contrast, if music cannot be heard by the film’s characters (e.g. the score, or the suspense music in our own little movie) then the sound is “non-diegetic,” or more accurately “extra diegetic.”

Some directors loathe non-diegetic sound and refuse to use a score. However, with Diabolus Domi we have used it extensively. As this is a horror-short, we are trying to get a similar feel to the T.V. series “Supernatural” (of which we are all huge fans) so suspense music is definitely required as a mechanism for setting the atmosphere which, along with subdued lighting, is used to stimulate a reaction of fear in the viewer.

As to whether or not our efforts to scare your socks off succeed, that will be up to you wonderful viewers to decide. As with all elements of filmmaking, effective use of diegetics takes practice, practice, practice!

Labels: filmmaking

The title of this post says it all.

We have a week to go to the movie festival deadline. We are now on the final lap, and Rich was all set to do the sound this weekend. It's only a short film, so we were confident that the sound wouldn't take too long. Needless to say, our confidence was misplaced.

Unfortunately, it appears that Acid Pro 7 does not work on 64 bit PC’s. The program crashes constantly and it changes the playback speed of audio files, so the timing is inconsistent. Sony says Acid Pro 7 is Vista 64 Compatible, and we purchased the software a while ago on that basis. Now we discover that Sony does not guarantee stability on 64 bit. My opinion on this is quite vocal and unprintable here. Suffice to say, we wasted a lot of money on software which doesn’t work. Sony needs to fix Acid Pro 7c and issue a new version 7d with a specific Vista 64 bit driver. Our guess is that Sony won’t bother fixing this problem until v.8, then they can fleece customers for an upgrade charge.

However, our more immediate problem is: OMG! Our movie has no sound! We’re doomed, DOOMED, I tell you!!!

Solution: Rich is now trying Adobe Audition 3 on the 30 day trial. So far the signs are good (apart from the small problem that we can't afford it.)

Welcome to the uphill struggle that is “making an indie VFX movie.”

Filming the movie is the easy part. It’s battling the bloody software that causes the headaches.

Time to put up our resident British motivational sign, methinks.

Labels: problems, visual effects

I am a filmmaking widow.

Rich is totally consumed with a short, skinny monster and is working 70 hour weeks (yes really) to make him look authentic. If it was a choice between me or the demon, believe me, the demon would win. Never has so much time and effort been devoted to lovingly perfecting something so incredibly revolting. He spends all day and night rendering Merv, right down to the last bloody tendril spilling out of its guts. The thing now looks so darn real that it’s starting to scare me a little.

I guess for most folks who will see Merv in low-definition then he probably won’t seem overly disturbing, but I see this creature in all its gory glory, day-in-day-out on a high resolution monitor. It hisses at me whenever I go near Rich’s computer, and I can swear I can feel its evil eyes following me around the room. Combine that with suspense music and atmospheric lighting, and it’s all too easy to imagine that wretched thing creeping around the house after you at night.

Am I a wimp to be afraid of my own film-character?

Yeah, probably. But it’s just so darn REAL.

Labels: Diabolus Domi

After several weeks of filming, including two marathon eleven-hour-straight-shoots, we’ve finally finished the shooting part of the movie. Hurrah! Our young thespian actors performed magnificently! Indeed, they acted their little socks off, and we’re mighty proud of both of them!

Looking good so far....so over to the Visual Effects Department for a week or so of planned and prepared CGI and hey presto, the movie is finished!

Aren’t theories grand?

Of course it all went horribly wrong. This time the scriptwriter is DEFINITELY NOT to blame, thank goodness. Let’s just say we hit a few technical issues...

Well it all started with the release of Softimage 2010, which Rich had been wittering on about for months. He was really excited because not only would the new version of Softimage be smoother, faster, cooler and whizzier than the old version 7.5 that he was using before, but it also included the apparently-totally-amazing Autodesk Face Robot...free of charge. Yep....thousands of pounds-worth of cutting-edge software, totally FREE!

Woo hoo! Finally Rich could animate Mervyn The Monster so that Merv could do something other than just sit there and look handsome. We even delayed the start of production until mid-September so we could wait for the release of the latest version. So it was with no small amount of anticipation that our trusty director loaded Mervyn into the new software and began the horribly complicated task of rigging and animation.

As my daughter likes to say, “Oh disaster! Oh calamity!” (we’re a tad dramatic in this house I’m afraid.) To cut a very long (and incredibly technical) story short, the new 2010 version of Softimage has proved to be totally unstable. Several weeks' work has been lost, and for a horrible couple of days, we actually thought we would have to abandon the movie altogether.

The first problem became apparent when Rich discovered that the new 2010 file format was incompatible with the old version 7.5. Apparently the new 2010 version could load the old v7.5 files, but it saved them in an updated format so that you could not load them again in 7.5. Upgrading was a one-way trip. The second problem was that the 2010 version was completely unstable. So many things caused it to crash that it rapidly became totally unusable.

Face Robot was also totally useless. Mervyn’s mesh was so complicated that it just crashed the software all the time, resulting in huge amounts of frustration (and that’s an understatement, by the way.) Rich has now scrubbed the whole lot and has been forced to go back to version 7.5 and the original Mervyn he designed a few weeks ago.

This Producer estimates we have lost around two weeks' solid work and a great deal of money has been wasted because of this truly crappy software, and production has been severely delayed. We will be lucky to make the 30th October deadline.

The Director and Producer were sitting contemplating their woes over coffee this morning. They remembered that movie-making was supposed to be an enjoyable and relaxing hobby.

Whoever thought having fun could be so darn stressful?

Labels: autodesk, visual effects

Well it’s been a completely hectic few weeks over here at Camp Freek. Lots of brainstorming, planning, filming and yes, I’ll admit it, a teensy weensy bit of arguing.

This was IMPORTANT ARGUING though – genu-ine existential angst betwixt scriptwriter and director which took a few hours (or three) to sort out. Let’s just say our artistic visions...umm...kinda parted a little. We had a differing of opinions. A moot. A clash of wills. A parting of the (artistic) ways. An entirely measured and mature adult discussion about the future and mutual co-operation of our creative inputs.

Meanwhile, our tremendously patient actors got bored with the grownups acting like grotty kids and wandered off in search of milk and cookies, leaving the Freeky Entertainment Board of Directors to slug it out.

So after several hours the pecking order was resolved and the scriptwriter learned (the hard way) the difference between a scriptwriter’s script and a shooting script. I guess this is a new experience for me: being told what to do. I’m most excellent at giving orders but terrible at taking them. Let’s just say that the producer hat fits me better than the scriptwriting one!

Anyhoo, arguments aside, the movie is going splendidly. Filming is now complete, even if it is an essentially different movie than the one I originally wrote (subtle dig there) and even though the unpredictable weather meant that we had to re-write the start of the movie (can you believe it? He blamed the weather?! I ask you!) So I’m SURE it will be a much better movie because it we did it HIS way....after all, the Director’s Cut is always the best.

No egos bruised here. Nope. No egos at all. I’m just fine and dandy. Thank you for asking.

Incidentally, when we started Freekstorm, I do recall many kind-hearted folks promising me that making a movie with the family would be a wonderful, heart-warming experience, a way of creating lasting memories, strengthening family ties and deepening the bond of respect between all of us.

Oh yes indeed, they promised me a stress-free, warm ‘n’ fuzzy experience.

I have nothing to say to these people. Nothing that can be printed here, anyway.

Labels: Diabolus Domi, scriptwriting