How to create a schedule

        When it comes to creating movies, TV shows, magazines, podcasts, and every other type of media; a schedule becomes one of the most important things for producers and directors. The breakup of jobs and managing on time helps bring down production time, allowing us to view weekly or bi-weekly shows. Schedules become highly important for larger productions, as they allow for different Production Units to all work together.

        One great example of this is in literally every action movie that uses a stunt double or needs a variety of "Pick-ups" (shots that do not require the main unit eg. closeups, establishing shots, cutaways, etc.). Were it not for schedules, movies would take much longer to make, as all these different production units would not be able to work without the preceding unit finishing up their work.

        I am having this problem. Kind of. As I am a mortal man, I can only do so much by myself. I plan on starting with the most important scenes that take the longest amount of time, CG. Good CG scenes can often take months of production time. Production for them usually begins at the start of production, and they are often the last of the scenes to finish up. For the 2012 movie, one of the final earthquake scenes took 20 hours on average to render a single frame. Keep in mind there were 7,000 frames to go through. Had the production not accounted for multiple artists and computers, as well as artists breaking scenes up into easy-to-manage components, it would have taken 141,120 hours to render the scene alone. If you want to look more into the astonishing numbers and work that went into CG scenes for the movie, check out Popular Mechanic's article on it.

        If you couldn't tell already, I need to start working on a good CG scene, and pronto. As soon as I am done with CG, I can move on to recording live action. Seeing how most of my scenes are done at home, I can keep my render going while recording, which helps save time in case I need to make a quick change or something goes wrong. Post-production should come shortly after. Starting of with a simple rough cut is ideal, as I'll be able to add/delete scenes quickly, without wasting too much time on more complex editing, such as transitions, effects, and color grading. 

        I am purposefully not including many dates and expected completion times as this is mostly dependent on how well some scenes come out. While loose schedules are bad for productivity, I'm working alone, so I'll be able to make  sure everything comes out ideally, especially with CG (more on that later).

So, what's next?

         Looking back at all the analysis I've made, I plan on using most, if not all of the thing's I've analyzed. I want to include some sort of flawed character, with a creative design for a monster, and obviously a horror genre. Recently there have been quite a few popular and well-made horror movies, so I certainly have lots of inspiration.

        The idea I feel most comfortable going with is a thriller-horror about a monster that haunts nightmares. The idea is very similar to A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984), as there is some sort of safety net protecting the characters while they aren't being hunted down or chased in their dreams. While this can go against pacing, it does provide a sense of preparedness, as the characters are able to devise some sort of plan, while at the same time providing a setting for character change and development. 

        However, I want to take inspiration from A Quiet Place (2018), Alien (1979), and The Thing (1982), as they all had creative designs for monsters that either played into the plot, or had a plot centered around those monsters. I would like to avoid the latter, and create a story that doesn't pander to the point where there is no sustenance. But this will take quite a bit of time and effort, and I see myself writing a few scripts and drafts because of it.

        While I do not have the time, money, or desire to include a full-scale monster, I don't see why I wouldn't be able to hint at it using close-ups or renderings such as pictures and drawings. I really want to bring the antagonist to life, and make it a valid threat, but going for the funny jumpscare and closeup approach seems like a bad idea. I plan on building up the characters and plot within the trailer, giving basic insight into what the characters are like as well as establishing some sort of presence that drives the movie forward.

Our favorite flawed characters

         Conflict plays a great part into almost all movies and TV shows, but often times we see something that relates to a character's flaws or shortcomings, whether it was their lack of decisiveness or a lack of knowledge. As we follow these character's stories, their flaws will often intervene, either by causing a problem or worsening it. These weaknesses and shortcomings are what makes us want to see their success.

        A perfect example of qualities and shortcomings impacting the plot and story is Death Note. As we follow every character, their flaws and qualities start to clash, bringing about an enjoyable dynamic to them. In the end, Light loses because his traits (precision and independence), were lost as he grew his following.

        

        Even Superman has flaws, whether it's his impulsiveness, or his immense naivete. And it's those flaws that serve as a drive as well as a hindrance to him when someone is kidnapped so as to distract him.

        In horror movies, a character's flaws usually boil down to a lack of knowledge, and only once they learn some vital piece of lore are they able to triumph. However, there are quite a few movies that are able to do away with this trope (sort of).

        Believe it or not, but in IT (2017), and later in IT Chapter 2 (2019), the Loser's Club does in fact lose to Pennywise, twice. While this was partly due to something outside their control (the ritual not working), the final victory only comes when all the characters managed to get over their fears. 

        It's this growth and development that keeps us wanting to see our characters succeed. Think back to any character you know, and you'll most likely see their flaws, but if you look a bit deeper, you'll be able to see that those flaws shaped up the character into something you could grow up with.

Unmasking horror movies and thrillers

         Taking a step back to look at the overall conventions of movies we consider  "scary", we see the uncanny resemblance of inhuman monsters. There are quite a few movies that prey on our innate fears of things such as sharks, birds, piranhas, snakes, spiders, bats, crocodiles, and many other types of animals. As you may have guessed, there have been numerous movies with the antagonist taking one of those forms. But ask anyone if they'd rather take on a real animal or a monster from hell, I can guarantee most people will refuse to go with the latter.

        So what makes non-real things so successfully scary? The mystery is certainly and important factor. When you have a monster that does not follow our well-known biology, the audience is constantly wondering about what it may look like, as opposed to an already discovered animal. When refusing to follow conventional norms, directors are able to create terrifying monsters, from the indestructible Michael Myers to the nightmarish Freddy Kreuger.

        One great example of character design playing into tension is in Predator (1987). Throughout the entire movie we do not see the alien's face, not even a glimpse. However, as the final showdown begins, he removes his mask, showing his true face. This was not something unexpected, as the movie built up to this moment. We see the predator's "honor", as well as the malfunctioning technology, and we come to expect the moment, yet we are still surprised when it happens. 

                        In case you needed a reminder as to what he looked like

        We see this trope in many movies, both in literal and rhetorical way. Most times we see some sort of monster, we know nothing about them, but as the movie progresses, we learn more and more about them. And it's this discovery that we feed the audience that keeps them entertained, whether it's Jason Voorhee's physical unmasking, or the more figurative unmasking of Freddy Kreuger's past, we all want to learn and see more of the monsters that haunt our dreams.

What we don't see in monsters

         Hello again! Today, we're gonna be researching techniques in horror/action/any movie with a focus on big things. Are you ready? Neither am I, but let's get started.

        I'd first like to name a few of the objectively best horror movies (and you aren't allowed to disagree). Alien (1979), A Quiet Place (2018), Jaws (1975), The Cabin in the Woods (2011), and Reign of Fire (2002) are among the best, both in the amount of detail and creativity put into composition as well as the astounding effort put into having everything come out the way it did. I will try to not talk too much, but if you appreciate horror and good filmmaking, check those out, as each film includes the techniques I will talk about in this post.

        To start with a very well-known example, we'll take a look at Jaws. We all know it was a scary movie and not because of what was shown, but rather what wasn't shown. The lack of the shark in many scenes could be blamed on mechanical malfunctions (who knew it was a robot?) and a comparatively low budget, but because of the movie's pacing and unique approach, the substitution of any shark shot with a POV did not seem forced, and played into the movie's elements perfectly. When watching the clip below, notice how infrequently the shark appears, and when it is shown, it is usually obstructed by something, such as blood, darkness, a cage, or the edge of the frame. This obstruction and framing makes it seem like we are seeing something tangible, that is able to interact with the environment, while at the same time making the subject much more threatening and massive.

        To hit a higher word count and help you understand these concepts a bit more, here are some more examples. Remember that both techniques can be used seperately, or joined together to create any sort of shot.

        We very clearly see how massive the dragon is in Game of Thrones, but not because of a size reference. If you are able to recall the Jaws scene you just saw; how many shots included a full view of the shark? Not many. When you obstruct something that the audience clearly knows is larger than normal, said thing appears to be much larger. Similarly to how a low or high angle shot makes a subject appear larger or smaller, cutting out parts of an already massive thing makes it seem even larger.

        In this shot from Pacific Rim, the kaijus are given a sense of size by the comparison to the surrounding buildings, but the focus of the shot is the occlusion that is happening. While we know that kaijus aren't real (yet), we see that they are real at last in the movie, given how they interact with the environment and other physics. The same technique was used in Jaws, as the shark was hidden behind the cage and other elements in the scene.

        Obviously there are more differences and specifics to these techniques, such as some characters being physically real, while others are CG, but the incorporation of occlusion and framing remain the same. I will eventually go over the incorporation of these techniques in both a real and virtual environment, but I will leave you with an overall view on occlusion and framing for now. Until next time.

Late Night Ramblings Part 2: Electric Boogaloo

         Yes, I know I made that joke twice, but it's my blog and I can say it as many times as I want.

        Anyways, it is time for some unfortunate news, I will be working alone. The not-so-bad news, I have some ideas. Following the slightly more technological approach we had with Neue, I wanted to create a  3-D render of some sort. So far that's the only really thought out idea I have, but I do have ideas on how I can incorporate it. 

        One idea I had was creating a glass-breaking simulation. The overall idea is simple, but learning exactly how to make it work and how to make it look good will be a challenge. How do I plan on incorporating such a wonderful idea? By making a horror flick. I'm mostly inspired by ultra-realistic redners made in Blender (the 3-D graphics engine I am most comfortable with). It's simple yet complex nature has helped me quite a lot, as there are tons of online tutorials to help newcomers get used to it. I managed to make a render myself actually (pictured below).

        

        Yeah, it's pretty hard to see it's full 4k glory due to compression, but it's there. It also helped me get used to nodes and texturing, both of which are pretty important in renders in general. 

        So, what does this have to do with my project? Not much, maybe I'll find a way to incorporate the moon or something. Still too early into the planning stage to actually come up with something.

        As for my inspiration, I've been looking to my second-favorite thing, horror. One idea of having a glass-breaking render be used would be by having some sort of monster hunt a main character. The idea of an all-powerful beast looking for humans to eat and the hero finding some way to fight back has always been cool, especially when done well. I'll list a few examples and note what I enjoy most about them. 

        Hopefully it works, if not, click here. But as you saw, the trailer presented us with a terrifying threat, but we never saw the full scope of it, just a few shots, where wouldn't you know it, the creature was obscured. This type of filmmaking is brilliant, as designers, editors, directors, producers, and everyone else knew that fully showing us the monster would not only get rid of fear, but make the model itself seem fake.

        I've studied my fair share of how to make renders look convincing, and I think that implementing it into a minimal amount of scenes would add to the project as a whole. This is just the transitional post, but it is what has been on my mind. I'll keep jotting down more ideas and hopefully come up with a more conclusive idea later on, but until then, adieu!

Late Night Ramblings

         It seems like there will be no break for us in AICE Media. We just finished creating an internet sensation and now we have to create a short film trailer. We have time, which is good, but creativity doesn't come instantly. Not too sure what I want to do, but I do have some ideas. For Neue, we heavily focused on creating a "techy" vibe, and I intend to keep that going for this new project as well. While datamoshing looks cool and all that, I think using it again shows a lack of creativity, so I was thinking of doing something else.

        One idea I came up with was animation. I have taken a liking in it, but never really found a way to fit it into my other projects. Using some filter just to get the outline and tracing over it would be cool, and seamlessly merging it with other shots would be a challenge; but hey, it's an idea. Stoklosa DID advise us against it (hi by the way :)), but what else am I supposed to do late at night other than tracing over 60 frames per second? I'll obviously have to pitch to a group, but I know some people in class like those types of ideas.

        As for my other idea, I was thinking of doing a bit more visual effects. We have time, which is good, but I'm not too sure my future team or I would want to put ourselves through that. We could keep it to a minimum, but it would still be a hassle. I'd rather do something a bit more complex than a green screen or basic 3-D asset, but there certainly are limitations. Again, I'll have to wait until I have an actual group before suggesting.

        I'm pretty sure I have been using After Effects for three years now, but I never went into VFX territory, and focused mostly on line editing , graphics work, and pacing. I have also been picking up on Blender, but I feel like it would be hard to incorporate it into the project. 

        At this point every possibility is a possibility, and I don't do well with possibilities and choices. I'll come up with a cool little thing I can do both well and in a relatively short amount of time and create a story that fits it or uses it in some way.

        Just to hit a higher word count and get attention from colleges, I wanted to reflect a bit more on Neue. We created an entirely original story for him, which is funny for a single music video, but this time we will have no social media (I think?), so we'll have to create a project filled with information. It sounds easier, but condensing marketing and story without a full-on presentation is pretty hard, so we should primarily focus on story, which in itself should be enough of a marketing tool. I personally enjoyed taking care of the more technical things like the website and social media, and I feel like I'm way too adapted to that. I did have some creative input, but my ideas were mostly based either on someone else's ideas or a problem we were having. I feel like I can manage to create a movie trailer by myself if worse comes to worse. If you want to find out if I actually managed to get a group or not, tune in next time at this very same spot.

Music Marketing Part 2: The Electric Boogaloo

            Say, did you wanna hear more about our fictional band and processes? Me neither, but here's some more info in case you find yourself in AICE Media, are interested in R&B Virtual bands, or a fanatic of Neue. I'll be breaking down my team's process for everything, including but not limited to our research, brainstorming, production, post-production, and final presentation. 

            To start our music video project, we were assigned the R&B music genre, and had a few songs to select from to base our music video on. We started by researching the genre and looked at some more popular artists that focused solely on it and some artists that on delved lightly into it. We researched the RCA records label and Republic Records. Both of these had smaller companies and sub-divisions that focused on more specific styles of music, but we decided to research Khalid, Drake, Chris Brown, and the Weeknd as they had songs/albums that dealt with R&B. We ended up choosing these artists as they were  popular and all had unique approaches to R&B, which helped with inspiration (more on that later). We also paid extra attention to the short film Free Spirit, which accompanied Khalid's album.

            After discussing each individual song, we chose to go with Bernhoft's Cmon Talk as it had a unique and techy style to it, which played into our idea of a glitchy and technological video. Nicholas, Luis, and I all had a leaning to this style as we've done effects relating to datamoshing and similar techniques, so we decided on an intro and built the story from there. Nicholas and Luis took over the video production, with me occasionally jumping in to give ideas and suggestions. Biana and I started working on the presentation slides and information while the other two focused on that. Luis had lots of experience with editing and rendering, so we all chose him to take over the post-production. Nicholas had a camera and was willing to record the video with a friend, so we decided to let the two of them take care of the production. With the major jobs out of the way, Biana and I took over what was left, but we all tagged in and out to make sure everyone had some sort of input in the final project. Nicholas, Luis, and I created a script and storyboard, which greatly smoothed out the rest of the process. Towards the end of planning and a bit into production, we managed to come up with a name and image for our fictional character, Neue. Remember kids, planning is the most important phase of any production. 

            Nicholas finished recording in a day as we knew exactly what we were looking for. He and his friend quickly recorded everything, both to limit exposure to the virus and to pass everything to Luis as soon as possible. We would keep contact with Nick so as to make sure any alterations were planned for and communicated. After finishing, both he and his friend were promptly quarantined to make sure everyone stayed healthy. The production process would've definitely gone well had everyone been present, but there was only so much we could do before endangering our group member. More communication would've been nice, but it went smoothly and didn't really cause many problems with further production.

            Post-production was the lengthiest and most intrusive of the processes, primarily due to a single person handling it. Luis was constantly busy and we had to remind him to send any screenshots he had so we could use them for the social media and presentation. The final product was great and everyone seemed to like it. We did nitpick a little, changing a few errors and sequences to better fit the rules and our own view. Towards the end, we had a large call where Nicholas and I gave our input, and came up with a more cohesive ending. The effects and final render were spot-on, and definitely helped cement Neue as an icon.

            Much like the rest of our project, our presentation was also divided among team members, with peer revision and input occurring constantly. Luis focused on the overall video, with Nick taking over Neue's image. I focused mostly on showing off the social media and website, which I primarily made. Biana also helped with the social media, but focused mostly on the presentation slides themselves and the research. Biana and I started working on the presentation around the same time as production, with the final additions of pictures to the slides and social media being placed a bit before post-production finalized. We wrote major points in the slides, but for the presentation itself we used a Google doc with cues for Luis to go into the social medias or to change slides. This doc certainly helped everyone reorient themselves as we knew exactly what was going to happen and when. As for the presentation, we looked over every aspect of production, including our research and promotion for Neue. The presentation was the most enjoyable part of production, as we all came together to show off what we had been working on.