Inspiration

This dude, James Lee, posted these amazing and inspiring images on Renderosity nigh on 10 years ago. I love how dynamic the scenes are. And the costume design is astounding.

Long Days

I do not understand the "work 'till you drop" ideology in the filmmaking world. I can't see how it's somehow cheaper to work really long hours because the number of mistakes you start making grows exponentially the longer you go.
Not having time to take a look at what you've been shooting while you're shooting is just... incomprehensible to me. I can imagine under a TV schedule that you're trying desperately to get something finished under a deadline although honestly I don't get why production doesn't just start a few weeks earlier instead.

There are some fixed costs of rentals, sure. Sometimes your soundstage is a huge part of your budget so from a financial point of view you want to have it working constantly. And sometimes your key talent has a limited schedule. But seriously, those are exceptions, not rules.
Putting the producer under a chopping block and telling them that they get whacked if they go over 10 hours has a magical ability to make things happen on time. Not allowing a production to go into overtime simply means that production will mysteriously become vastly more efficient at shooting. I've seen it happen on so many shows. It's a kind of fascinating thing to watch.

Carbon Copy Key

The key art at this year's AFM for Carbon Copy (formerly Android Masquerade).

Sound Check

A while back I wondered exactly how long it would take to do the dialog, music, and effects mix, with Foley and "sound design" cut effects, for a feature-length motion picture -- you know, the kind of movies we make.
I estimated 144 hours. That is 144 "man-hours" at a computer with a Foley stage of some sort available and doing the sound effects, ADR, dialog edit, and final mix as you go along. The other caveat is that the effects are not done "100%". No, instead you do just the effects you need, not wanting to Foley the entire movie and cut effects for the entire movie. Just add the stuff you're going to use.
How much is 144? I mean, how much does that cost with overhead, computers, electricity, sound effects, your time? Is that about $50/hour? So 144 is what, I don't know, about $7,000?
Now the fact is that I do virtually all this work myself on most of our movies. So that's work that does not incur a cash cost to us. But it does, you know, take up a month of my time. And then there's the music. On shows I'm composing for, that's some additional time.

So these are my thoughts of which I am thinking. Still. Thinking.

What is now

Oh, the footage is pouring in from our shooting days over the weekend. That is, the composites Ian is doing.

The German Blu-Ray of Android Insurrection

This Lima backup dongle thing is very interesting. I'm using (multiple) Backblaze accounts and also iDrive (and also Sugar Sync) but if you wanted to keep your backup local, the Lima seems pretty cool. The advantage to, say, Backblaze is that you don't need to buy new hard drives for it. With the Lima you'd have to buy and power your drive.

Speaking of power, our crazy landlords for our studio have cancelled our lease. At the same time they've started leaving the front doors open overnight. So if you're in need of a bathroom just come down to 356 Broadway I guess. Doors are always open.

Dig the color reel for the dude just down the hall from us (until we're out at the end of the month) -- Ray Levé.


Lacra Color Reel 2015 from Ray Levé on Vimeo.

Backup Sound

Glen Trew suggests not running a backup recorder on set.

I have to agree with him there. I used to run one thinking that at least twice in a movie I was going to not roll on one machine. But the fact is that hitting two record buttons does indeed make it somewhat easier to miss one of them.

The Japanese version of Robot Revolution.

The other thing is that the sound department is the only department that even considers running a backup. There's no "backup camera" running while the regular one is running. And, of course, sound can be replaced in post. And sometimes that's just easier anyway.

Ian Hubert = Genius

Arielle Hope, Sarah Schoofs, Ashley Mundy. Uh. Twice.

Day for night is flipping hard. It's just obnoxious because lights don't work the same way. The sun, it turns out, is really really bright.
On the other hand, without really huge lights at night it's impossible to really get exposure.
So you need to do about ten million tricks just to get things to look like they're night. You have to make flashes of firearms light up around them, which is a fancy bit of compositing. Lens flare, sky replacement, they all come into play.
I'm really glad I didn't have to do it! ;-)
Ian Hubert. The man is a genius. Check out Karma Pirates.

Sunrise, Sunset

Remind me why daylight savings time exists again?
Well, we're out of light by 5pm once it ends, that's for sure. The last day (ha!) of shooting additional photography on Carbon Copy is on Sunday the 1st.

Reshoots

Exteriors. We're doing them. Here's the position of the sun.
Funtimes, no?

Logo

First Aid Kit

As far as I know we've only had one serious injury from someone on-set. And it was during a take in a scene where an actor sat down but because she was measuring the distance behind her she ended up wrenching her thumb. Badly.
Ow!

We have first aid kits on set but I've never really put a lot of deliberate thought into what should be in a first aid kit. Like a decent, real, first aid kit.
For twelve hundred bucks you can buy a defibrillator. But in most of the places I'm in EMS will get there by the time you remember where it is and get someone to get it while you're giving compressions and rescue breaths. So they don't seem terribly practical for actual first aid kits.

A Pocket Mask, however, seems like a super useful thing to have in a first aid kit.

Honestly, I'm a bit surprised they don't come standard in more kits.
But most of what one needs in a first aid kit that gets opened and used on a daily basis is much more pedestrian. I find it hard to locate a pre-stocked kit with exactly what I think we'll need in it. In no particular order, and with some items as definites and others as somebody's gonna want this:

• Eyewash kit
• Saline solution
• Tampons with applicator
• Feminine pads
• Ibuprofen
• Anti-diarrheal medicine
• Hand sanitizer
• Antacid
• Bandaids -- more bandaids is always a good thing. Everyone needs bandaids
• 3-in-1 ointment or Bacitracin or whatever
• alcohol wipes 
• Examination gloves
• Trauma shears
• Forceps
• Instant cold packs

I may update this list. But these are the sorts of things I think I want to have just, you know, around.

Kristina Leath-Malin!

Groove to this interview with Kristina Leath-Malin. And dig her documentary My Final Girl.

And here is a picture of a bunny.

Readying shopping order

We need clothes for our combat androids. Basic suit Gloves Harness Boots are still an issue.

Sketches for Henry

Edge of Oblivion needs a giant robot.
And Mars needs women.
It's just the way things go.

I was talking about how I thought Henry was essentially a 40-foot tall oil platform surrounding a huge rocket engine with a platform overhanging the side with a T-34 turret on top. So Ian Hubert was like "Send me a sketch of what you want for Henry."

My skillz as an artist are unparalleled. This is what I sent.

He was not impressed. I tried again.

But of course it needs to be less dog-like and the tower has to go higher than the turret and there has to be a rocket engine, etc.