Details

 This week has been about the little things, some of which turned into big ones. For instance, last week we mentioned a test screening that resulted in several new items to add or replace. Some of that work entailed pickup shots, which occupied this last weekend.

 The most memorable shoot took us back to the alley where we started the movie eight months ago. At the end of one take a man walked into the middle of the shoot, and seemed a bit uncertain about what he'd walked into. No surprise there, but he then proceeded to take the long way out, walking all the way around our Bein Sidh, whilst reaching for something in his back pocket. He flashed a quick hand sign before walking to the far side of the alley where he stopped, whistled, and bowed toward said Bein Sidh then turned and proceeded down another block, where he was stopped by someone who stepped out of the shadows. All in all an interesting evening.

 In the effects department, another scene is being expanded with a shot of earth from space, when something unusual happens... but I'll leave that to your imagination for now. (Mwahaha...!)

Vision and Revision

 Sometimes in a project you get tunnel vision. You’re so involved in the process that you lose perspective. That is why it is important to step back and look at it through a fresh pair of eyes, which is what I did this last week. One of my actresses was in town for the weekend, and had asked to see the rough cut. Saturday I rendered out a copy and we sat down for a late night viewing. That’s when the perspective came. Things that I’d been worried about blew by me unnoticed, while things that I thought were good stood out like neon signs screaming “CHEAP EFFECT HERE!” Fortunately the latter can be fixed, but I never would have known had I not taken the time to look at it through different eyes. Well, I’m off to finish my laundry list of revisions. Thanks for being a great audience. Until next week!

Trailer + One Week

Hey, Everyone! Thank you so much for sharing around the Othersight trailer, we went from zero to over one hundred twenty in the space of two days. We are now around one hundred forty five. It has been really exciting seeing so many results and feedback in such a short time and we look forward to hearing more from you. We’d really appreciate it if you continued to tell friends, relatives and the garbage truck man about it and keep the news going. Thank you again and have a great week!

The Othersight Trailer is Out!

It is with great pleasure that we officially announce the release of the Othersight trailer! Have a look, leave a comment, and pass it around. In this day and age, independent Christian film lives or dies by word of mouth, so please share it with your friends and family. Enjoy! (We have a better version here.)

News Flash

News of the week: The Othersight trailer is now officially in the works! After a week of toying with physics and solving CGI problems, we have decided to change up the pace a bit. With enough material completed, but still being in the final details phase of post-production, (sound design being a big part of it,) editing out the trailer seemed like a good idea. Besides, those of you who have been following us have waited long enough :)

Comps, Characters & Sound Effects

Well, here we are again; another week, another blog. This week has been a little bit of everything as far as movie “phases.” With the primary CC (color correction) done, I have been simultaneously working on the sound design and making refining tweaks to the edit. Everything from frying pans to the Pit itself must be simulated, recorded, and integrated into the scene. Sometimes a recording is too good, too clear, and you must make it grungier, with more noise or echo, so that it fits the environment. On a related note, we are on the hunt for some good ominous voice actors to play the non-actor characters, (specifically a narrator and two CGI characters,) as well as a voice for the lead Bein Sidh, Hunter.

 In the visuals department we have completed the shot where a Bein Sidh phases through a car, and comped Hunter into another shot. We also got to experiment with interactive lighting related to one of our green screen shots from a few weeks back, (I’ll leave you to guess which one.) A wild experiment with black fire also generated a very intriguing effect that may see more use in the near future. Unfortunately we do not have any screen captures from the work this week, but maybe our web lady will post some more BTS shots this week. Who knows :)

The Plane, The Mesh and The Vertice

Hey, 3D animation department here.

            In order to give the director and web person a break, I volunteered to do today's post. (Must have been one of my crazy moments.) So, I'm taking this chance to ramble on about planes and vertices and explain to you something of what I do.

            3D animation, the art of making what isn't there there. It can be frustrating as well as fun and exciting. I can't tell you how many times I wanted to strangle the computer I was working on. The only problem being it was a laptop and had no neck. 

            One of the simpler projects I am working on is a metallic, three dimensional version of the Othersight symbol (image 1). After several failed attempts at replicating it in different ways. I discovered how to place the image we used for our shirts in the background of my animation software's interface (image 4). Ah, the wonders of YouTube. (Note to all would be animators: YouTube and other places are overflowing with people who have gone before us and recorded it for our benefit. Make use of these sources if possible. They make our work infinitely easier.)

            After getting the image in place it was a simple matter of trimming and shaping a flat plane's mesh to fit the image. (Mesh is what everything in the 3D animation world is made of.) (image 3) Then extruding it upwards into a 3D image (kind of like those dough machines some of us had as kids,) and beveling the edges. (image 2) 

            Next stop, lighting and reflection....