So I haven't blogged in a while so this must be a real doozy.
However it is not. I have done a lot of things, attended MovieBars, been to comedy nights, theatre shows and film screenings. I've had fun times and bad times. I've posted about a lot of them here.
However I find that ever since the introduction of the blogspot stats viewer, I've become a little disheartened on my readership. I wish it was up there with the best of them. I wish people would stop me in the street and say "You're right, Congo is actually really good" but alas they do not. Instead I fill these pages with mindless rants and raves, only for horny teenagers to get sidetracked as they look up pictures of Babydoll from Suckerpunch.
So I'm not saying this is my last post. More likely I'll be back on tomorrow with a rant about the endless circle of script notes I get (I seriously think it's time to submit draft 1 again).
I think I will shut the power off for a time though. But rather than let it die here, I'll give it closing statement to send it off into the world.
Thank you to those who have stuck by me, especially as I probably know you in person, and will have probably performed a lot of this information live, in the past.
But the time has come.
No more ghostly games, trick or treat.
For now at least.
Wednesday, 28 December 2011
Wednesday, 19 October 2011
Harrison Ford plays Uncharted 3...
I've just seen this video where Harrison Ford plays Uncharted 3 in a passing of the adventurer torch. I'm supposed to be rendering a video for the Halloween Moviebar but wanted to share the video with you.
Enjoy! There may be slight spoilers within, just a bit of gameplay stuff, nothing too revealing.
I can't tell if this is awesome or embarrassing, but I like the idea of Harrison Ford playing games. Especially Uncharted. It's taken from the Japanese Uncharted site and I guess is marketed as Indiana Jones passing the torch. Not sure it really works this way, but it's nice to here him discuss a game he has absolutely nothing to do with.
Next time I want to see Adam West playing Batman Arkham City. That would be truly awesome!
Enjoy! There may be slight spoilers within, just a bit of gameplay stuff, nothing too revealing.
I can't tell if this is awesome or embarrassing, but I like the idea of Harrison Ford playing games. Especially Uncharted. It's taken from the Japanese Uncharted site and I guess is marketed as Indiana Jones passing the torch. Not sure it really works this way, but it's nice to here him discuss a game he has absolutely nothing to do with.
Next time I want to see Adam West playing Batman Arkham City. That would be truly awesome!
Wednesday, 21 September 2011
Page Views...
So I come to blog, after a while not doing so, and I find myself confronted by a new view. Upon this view, as other blogspot user will know. is the ability to see ones stats.
Now I know other methods and programs exist for this type of review, but I'm lazy. Now I can easily see what a difference I'm making to the world.
Absolutely none.
Well 49 people, of which I'm probably a handful, wanted to see my thoughts on Sucker Punch. Beyond that I seem to average out at 3 page view per post.
The sad thing is I pretty much know who these people are, and would probably benefit more, if I either just rang them up, or sent out a monthly Newsletter of my adventures in not much at all.
I was going to do a proper post about how I may be changing projects again, how I'm busy writing things and generally how Jenny Ringo is awesome, and now on the IMDB.
But instead I'm going to wallow in sadness and stare at my stats to see just how many people view my blog.
I was under the impression that people would want to know "how it all went down!"
Perhaps not.
Editors Note:
I have looked more closely at my stats and discovered that I was only looking for the last week. I now realise that Sucker Punch got 2172 page views. So I stadn corrected, clearly people just want to know how Sucker Punch went down.
Now I know other methods and programs exist for this type of review, but I'm lazy. Now I can easily see what a difference I'm making to the world.
Absolutely none.
Well 49 people, of which I'm probably a handful, wanted to see my thoughts on Sucker Punch. Beyond that I seem to average out at 3 page view per post.
The sad thing is I pretty much know who these people are, and would probably benefit more, if I either just rang them up, or sent out a monthly Newsletter of my adventures in not much at all.
I was going to do a proper post about how I may be changing projects again, how I'm busy writing things and generally how Jenny Ringo is awesome, and now on the IMDB.
But instead I'm going to wallow in sadness and stare at my stats to see just how many people view my blog.
I was under the impression that people would want to know "how it all went down!"
Perhaps not.
Editors Note:
I have looked more closely at my stats and discovered that I was only looking for the last week. I now realise that Sucker Punch got 2172 page views. So I stadn corrected, clearly people just want to know how Sucker Punch went down.
Wednesday, 7 September 2011
I really need to blog...
So the last couple of months have been a bit mental, some good stuff, some bad.
I should really do an extended blog but I'm at work so can't.
Maybe next time.
I should really do an extended blog but I'm at work so can't.
Maybe next time.
Saturday, 25 June 2011
Denied...
Ok, for those who don't know I've had a lot going on recently, creatively speaking.
Along with the E Sting, Jenny Ringo making of, 20 minute animation, and a host of writing plans I really need to start working on, I decided to enter a competition to make Flogging Molly's next video, Revolution.
When I say decided, I dived in basically. I've teased before about it, trying to find help on Facebook, deciding to use a puppet and such, and the final nail in the coffin, finding out that I needed to shoot in HD. But I'll get back to that.
So, there are five weeks until the deadline of 23rd June 2011, I wrack my brain for an idea. I get one. Lots of people singing the song cut together. Simple I thought, but only a handful of takers. So I go back to the drawing board.
Ok A puppet, and one person. But the person works in a shop and has a party. More sets and people required. I roughly storyboard and don't like what I see. Back to the storyboard.
This is all going on as the day job gets slowly and slowly busier, not giving me much time to focus on the video, so stress levels are rising.
Eventually I decide to scrap leaving the house (a decision I often fall back on, and is often the right choice). So the video will be 1 person, 1 puppet 1 location. Sorted. Girlfriend Charlotte stars, Brother Chris did most of the camera work and Brother Tim pressed play on the CD Player/PC (he will be more prominent in the next project.)
So I spend a week making a puppet, ready to film on the Saturday. I didn't quite get there so Sunday (12 June 2011) it is.
We begin.
We start late, around noon, film till about 5 with Brother Chris, me crawling into some seemingly impossible contortionist positions to give the puppet life. All is going well. Until I remember the specifications of the video "ALL VIDEO MUST BE IN 16:9".
Crap.
We shot all day in standard 4:3, as I forgot to change to widescreen. We grab a couple more shots, now in widescreen and call it a day to reasses.
The widescreen I decide I can get around, not in the best way, but I can crop the edges of the 4:3.
So we continue to film over the next couple of evenings. By now I only have just over a week to finish but by the weekend I have everything I need.
It's around this time that I find out it also has to be HD. I have been using a MiniDV camera, nothing special but it usually serves its purpose. I don't do much filming being an animator so never thought of upgrading, plus the funds I do not have.
With this problem facing us, we all decide we can get away with it, add enough of an effect to make it look as if we want it low quality. Which in a way, is the point of the video. 1 person in a house trying to find a job. It's real and down to earth. HD wouldn't add anything to the video, just quality for the sake of it. I persevere and continue on my merry way.
But now the Parents are visiting. I can't and don't want to ignore them to edit, so have to edit around them. This means on Saturday night (18/17 June 2011) I'm up until 3am editing. And I win. Edit complete. It's all working out. Then I do a quick test and it won't render/export. 2 hours later I get the program to export properly and retreat to bed at 5 o'clock in the morning.
5 hours later I'm awake to start again. I need to get it uploaded on the Tuesday so I'm getting panicky. I needed Sunday to do the rendering but instead spend the day working on the little effects shots. By Sunday night it's ready. I start it exporting and wait. But the file's massive. Managing to watch it on th PS3 on the 32inch HD TV, all looks good. Except the effect is too much and doesn't work.
It's getting late. It takes hours to render so I have to leave the PC on overnight. I go to sleep then to work. Monday evening (20 June 2011) I get the video which hasn't worked. I need to render out again. Once again it doesn't quite work and the file size is massive. Stress levels are at max as I have to leave it until Tuesday. The day I needed to upload it.
At this time I have checked the specs and realise it has to be no larger that 300Mb. At the moment I'm clocking in at 700Mb.
Tuesday evening, I get in and go back to basics. Cut out everything that isn't needed for a smooth render/export, simplify the effect, do a bit of online research and email a couple of friends about compression. Deciding to reduce the bit rate I get it down to 287Mb. Excellent.
We watch and it's all good. Excellent.
I upload it and wait for the response...
"Hi Peter,
Do you have a higher quality version of your video you can upload? We're a platform for official music videos and only publish entries we believe have the potential to be used in that capacity. The version you uploaded seems to be fairly low resolution, even when watched in HD.
Thanks"
Crap. I didn't fool anyone.
At this point there was a mad dash to try an make it better quality, around going to see Green Lantern...
(Side Note: I enjoyed the film, however, the four writers really didn't help. There was lot's going on, but then at the same time, lot's of hanging around. Kind of like Thor. I think if they were introducig Oa and the Green Lantern Corps then they should have used them, rather than as a short "this is what's happening, let's train, ok done." It should have been more earth based to give more room to play with the ring and the things it can do. Overall it was just too jumbled. Ryan Reynolds was good, the CG was ok, reminding me of the original Tron. Not sure if this was their goal. I think WB need to stop thinking about money and get the animated movie writers to make a live action leap, or at least consult. As I've said before, they need to employ someone to say "Yep, that doesn't really work")
...but ultimately time was up. I had been denied entry to the competition for not having an HD camera, and ultimately for not having money.
This is the state of the world we live in. I wrote a nice calm reply back stating that it's supposed to look a bit rough as an artistic choice. I also took this chance to had a quick stab at their insane requirements. They want their videos to be HD so they can show them on a variety of formats. Another of their specifications is for the video to be 1920x1080 pixels. For those that don't know, this is the size of a small house. Well ok, not really, but it is roughly the size of a large TV. Yet the website that host the video is on a tiny little window itself. So to be helpful, I did point out that most of these formats were on the internet, iphones and such. Where mostly the video is in a small window.
Anyway, I reasoned that to fit into there MASSIVE specs but reach the TINY files size something had to go, so this could also be the reason.
At this point I wished him on his merry way.
So thats the end of my epic tale of stress. I am happy with the result and think I've made a great video, and think it would have had a chance at winning.
But there's one thing that still frustrates me. All the time and effort that I've used, has ultimately gone into a fan video. A copyright infringement heavy video that can only be seen on the youtube.
If I'd know this was the was it would end, I could have just edited together shots of Buffy and Angel or the Bella/Edward/Jacob love triangle and been done in 20 minutes. But at least it will get seen.
So on that defeatists note I bring to you my rejected entry for Flogging Molly's Revolution:-
Flogging Molly - Revolution
A short afterthought:-
Youtube like to crack down on copyrighted material so I'm not sure how long this will exist on youtube. They've already flagged it up, not sure what their policy is these days.
Finally:-
I'mm pretty sure the puppet (Marshall Bravestarr) will return in something much much better. Mark my words, my puppeteering hands are not dead yet.
Along with the E Sting, Jenny Ringo making of, 20 minute animation, and a host of writing plans I really need to start working on, I decided to enter a competition to make Flogging Molly's next video, Revolution.
When I say decided, I dived in basically. I've teased before about it, trying to find help on Facebook, deciding to use a puppet and such, and the final nail in the coffin, finding out that I needed to shoot in HD. But I'll get back to that.
So, there are five weeks until the deadline of 23rd June 2011, I wrack my brain for an idea. I get one. Lots of people singing the song cut together. Simple I thought, but only a handful of takers. So I go back to the drawing board.
Ok A puppet, and one person. But the person works in a shop and has a party. More sets and people required. I roughly storyboard and don't like what I see. Back to the storyboard.
This is all going on as the day job gets slowly and slowly busier, not giving me much time to focus on the video, so stress levels are rising.
Eventually I decide to scrap leaving the house (a decision I often fall back on, and is often the right choice). So the video will be 1 person, 1 puppet 1 location. Sorted. Girlfriend Charlotte stars, Brother Chris did most of the camera work and Brother Tim pressed play on the CD Player/PC (he will be more prominent in the next project.)
So I spend a week making a puppet, ready to film on the Saturday. I didn't quite get there so Sunday (12 June 2011) it is.
We begin.
We start late, around noon, film till about 5 with Brother Chris, me crawling into some seemingly impossible contortionist positions to give the puppet life. All is going well. Until I remember the specifications of the video "ALL VIDEO MUST BE IN 16:9".
Crap.
We shot all day in standard 4:3, as I forgot to change to widescreen. We grab a couple more shots, now in widescreen and call it a day to reasses.
The widescreen I decide I can get around, not in the best way, but I can crop the edges of the 4:3.
So we continue to film over the next couple of evenings. By now I only have just over a week to finish but by the weekend I have everything I need.
It's around this time that I find out it also has to be HD. I have been using a MiniDV camera, nothing special but it usually serves its purpose. I don't do much filming being an animator so never thought of upgrading, plus the funds I do not have.
With this problem facing us, we all decide we can get away with it, add enough of an effect to make it look as if we want it low quality. Which in a way, is the point of the video. 1 person in a house trying to find a job. It's real and down to earth. HD wouldn't add anything to the video, just quality for the sake of it. I persevere and continue on my merry way.
But now the Parents are visiting. I can't and don't want to ignore them to edit, so have to edit around them. This means on Saturday night (18/17 June 2011) I'm up until 3am editing. And I win. Edit complete. It's all working out. Then I do a quick test and it won't render/export. 2 hours later I get the program to export properly and retreat to bed at 5 o'clock in the morning.
5 hours later I'm awake to start again. I need to get it uploaded on the Tuesday so I'm getting panicky. I needed Sunday to do the rendering but instead spend the day working on the little effects shots. By Sunday night it's ready. I start it exporting and wait. But the file's massive. Managing to watch it on th PS3 on the 32inch HD TV, all looks good. Except the effect is too much and doesn't work.
It's getting late. It takes hours to render so I have to leave the PC on overnight. I go to sleep then to work. Monday evening (20 June 2011) I get the video which hasn't worked. I need to render out again. Once again it doesn't quite work and the file size is massive. Stress levels are at max as I have to leave it until Tuesday. The day I needed to upload it.
At this time I have checked the specs and realise it has to be no larger that 300Mb. At the moment I'm clocking in at 700Mb.
Tuesday evening, I get in and go back to basics. Cut out everything that isn't needed for a smooth render/export, simplify the effect, do a bit of online research and email a couple of friends about compression. Deciding to reduce the bit rate I get it down to 287Mb. Excellent.
We watch and it's all good. Excellent.
I upload it and wait for the response...
"Hi Peter,
Do you have a higher quality version of your video you can upload? We're a platform for official music videos and only publish entries we believe have the potential to be used in that capacity. The version you uploaded seems to be fairly low resolution, even when watched in HD.
Thanks"
Crap. I didn't fool anyone.
At this point there was a mad dash to try an make it better quality, around going to see Green Lantern...
(Side Note: I enjoyed the film, however, the four writers really didn't help. There was lot's going on, but then at the same time, lot's of hanging around. Kind of like Thor. I think if they were introducig Oa and the Green Lantern Corps then they should have used them, rather than as a short "this is what's happening, let's train, ok done." It should have been more earth based to give more room to play with the ring and the things it can do. Overall it was just too jumbled. Ryan Reynolds was good, the CG was ok, reminding me of the original Tron. Not sure if this was their goal. I think WB need to stop thinking about money and get the animated movie writers to make a live action leap, or at least consult. As I've said before, they need to employ someone to say "Yep, that doesn't really work")
...but ultimately time was up. I had been denied entry to the competition for not having an HD camera, and ultimately for not having money.
This is the state of the world we live in. I wrote a nice calm reply back stating that it's supposed to look a bit rough as an artistic choice. I also took this chance to had a quick stab at their insane requirements. They want their videos to be HD so they can show them on a variety of formats. Another of their specifications is for the video to be 1920x1080 pixels. For those that don't know, this is the size of a small house. Well ok, not really, but it is roughly the size of a large TV. Yet the website that host the video is on a tiny little window itself. So to be helpful, I did point out that most of these formats were on the internet, iphones and such. Where mostly the video is in a small window.
Anyway, I reasoned that to fit into there MASSIVE specs but reach the TINY files size something had to go, so this could also be the reason.
At this point I wished him on his merry way.
So thats the end of my epic tale of stress. I am happy with the result and think I've made a great video, and think it would have had a chance at winning.
But there's one thing that still frustrates me. All the time and effort that I've used, has ultimately gone into a fan video. A copyright infringement heavy video that can only be seen on the youtube.
If I'd know this was the was it would end, I could have just edited together shots of Buffy and Angel or the Bella/Edward/Jacob love triangle and been done in 20 minutes. But at least it will get seen.
So on that defeatists note I bring to you my rejected entry for Flogging Molly's Revolution:-
Flogging Molly - Revolution
A short afterthought:-
Youtube like to crack down on copyrighted material so I'm not sure how long this will exist on youtube. They've already flagged it up, not sure what their policy is these days.
Finally:-
I'mm pretty sure the puppet (Marshall Bravestarr) will return in something much much better. Mark my words, my puppeteering hands are not dead yet.
Thursday, 16 June 2011
...and shit it is...
That was in reference to my job. It got busy. It got annoying. It got in the way of trying to finish the music video in a week.
Except I'd like to upload it before the deadline so less than a week.
I have less than a week to film three more shots, capture the footage, edit the footage, make sure it all looks 16:9 (forgot about this when we started filming), give it a nice visual look...
...and it will be complete.
Except now I find out it had to be in HD!?!?!?!?!
I think I can get away with it. I think I can magic Standard Definition to High Definition.
There's a puppet for gods sake. Surely you can accept an SD video if it has a puppet.
...I may have bodged.
Except I'd like to upload it before the deadline so less than a week.
I have less than a week to film three more shots, capture the footage, edit the footage, make sure it all looks 16:9 (forgot about this when we started filming), give it a nice visual look...
...and it will be complete.
Except now I find out it had to be in HD!?!?!?!?!
I think I can get away with it. I think I can magic Standard Definition to High Definition.
There's a puppet for gods sake. Surely you can accept an SD video if it has a puppet.
...I may have bodged.
Thursday, 2 June 2011
Everyone loves a puppet...
So all of a sudden it's June. Which means it's technically summer and my day job is about to become a joyous, wonderful place to work, with rainbows and unicorns. Obviously there are lashings of sarcasm on that last desctiption.
Basically it will be shit.
But enough about that.
I haven't blogged much due to general busy-ness, hence my last blog giving a quick run down of what I have going on at the moment. But now that's all changed.
I say it's all changed, but really I've just added another project. Another music video in which I haev until 23rd June to complete. That's just 21 days from now to complete.
So I imagined a quick idea, put a call out on the facebook and got 3 replies. Not this was kind of a test as I needed at least 7 responses. Granted I didn't go about this the right way, but with only 21 days, who can be bothered with casting call outs wen friedn will do.
So with only a handful of people I went back to the drawing board to see what else I could come up with. What else did I have at my disposal?
I have a puppet!
And as I said before everyone likes a puppet.
Right???
Basically it will be shit.
But enough about that.
I haven't blogged much due to general busy-ness, hence my last blog giving a quick run down of what I have going on at the moment. But now that's all changed.
I say it's all changed, but really I've just added another project. Another music video in which I haev until 23rd June to complete. That's just 21 days from now to complete.
So I imagined a quick idea, put a call out on the facebook and got 3 replies. Not this was kind of a test as I needed at least 7 responses. Granted I didn't go about this the right way, but with only 21 days, who can be bothered with casting call outs wen friedn will do.
So with only a handful of people I went back to the drawing board to see what else I could come up with. What else did I have at my disposal?
I have a puppet!
And as I said before everyone likes a puppet.
Right???
Monday, 23 May 2011
An update of sorts....
So I'm just checking in. I really should be talking about the short film I'm making, but I wanted to do a massive update on that with pictures and things.
So I could talk about the making of Jenny Ringo, but that's still in it's early stages and not much to say other than I'm editing it.
I could talk about the recent draft of a script I've been working on with Brother Chris. Except I can't actually talk about that.
I could possibly talk about another ESting I'm working on for the annual competition at E4. Not much to say at the moment. Brother Tim will hopefully be involved, and it will feature E4. That's all I dare say for now.
I guess I'd better stop talking about all this and actually get on and do something.
Catch you later when I'm not so busy.
So I could talk about the making of Jenny Ringo, but that's still in it's early stages and not much to say other than I'm editing it.
I could talk about the recent draft of a script I've been working on with Brother Chris. Except I can't actually talk about that.
I could possibly talk about another ESting I'm working on for the annual competition at E4. Not much to say at the moment. Brother Tim will hopefully be involved, and it will feature E4. That's all I dare say for now.
I guess I'd better stop talking about all this and actually get on and do something.
Catch you later when I'm not so busy.
Monday, 2 May 2011
It's all been done...
So I really should have blogged about this whilst it was all going on. I just couldn't find the time.
But I'm still not ready. See it's the end of my long Easter break, and I don't fancy spending my time blogging when I need to really find a distraction from the fact that I now have to go back to work tomorrow. Unfortunately I can access my emails at home, and thinking I could lessen the blow if I check now rather than starting blind tomorrow. This blew up in my face as I now find I have an extremely stupid amount of emails to contend with on the morrow.
So now I'm depressed. So I'm going to play games instead.
I'll blog properly about the Jenny Ringo making of, about the status of Everyday Joe, and about any writing projects I may be working on.
Bye...
But I'm still not ready. See it's the end of my long Easter break, and I don't fancy spending my time blogging when I need to really find a distraction from the fact that I now have to go back to work tomorrow. Unfortunately I can access my emails at home, and thinking I could lessen the blow if I check now rather than starting blind tomorrow. This blew up in my face as I now find I have an extremely stupid amount of emails to contend with on the morrow.
So now I'm depressed. So I'm going to play games instead.
I'll blog properly about the Jenny Ringo making of, about the status of Everyday Joe, and about any writing projects I may be working on.
Bye...
Sunday, 24 April 2011
I think it's best if I hide...
I've finally started editing the behind the scenes footage of Jenny Ringo. It's cool how it's taking me back to the time spent making the film, and all the memories connected with it. Also how hot it was over those few weeks. Granted, it also helps that it's rather warm outside today. Strange for April.
It's good to see how we all worked together and I was wondering if I am missing out on a lot of experiences by making a animated short, on my own, using my friends for voice cast (a conscious production decision).
I was thinking that, until I see the footage when the camera was turned on me. The uncomfortable mumbles I make when answering questions; the long stares at nothing in particular as I avoid the camera eye contact. Nope, it isn't for me. I'm purely a behind the scenes guy.
And so, with the doubts I had about animation cast aside, I continue to set forth on a journey to finish something I started 6 years ago...that is if I can actually get the cast recording done.
So what was this blog actually about?
It's good to see how we all worked together and I was wondering if I am missing out on a lot of experiences by making a animated short, on my own, using my friends for voice cast (a conscious production decision).
I was thinking that, until I see the footage when the camera was turned on me. The uncomfortable mumbles I make when answering questions; the long stares at nothing in particular as I avoid the camera eye contact. Nope, it isn't for me. I'm purely a behind the scenes guy.
And so, with the doubts I had about animation cast aside, I continue to set forth on a journey to finish something I started 6 years ago...that is if I can actually get the cast recording done.
So what was this blog actually about?
Saturday, 9 April 2011
Sucker Punch...
I feel I'm going out on a limb here...but I liked Sucker Punch. Only I'm not sure I'm supposed to.
I'll try to keep spoilers at a minimum.
There's been a lot of bad reviews regarding this film and to be honest I wasn't quite sure what I wanted to get from it. I'd seen the trailers and really liked the visual style of genre mash up in the action. Samurai with Machine guns? Can you really go wrong with that?
So I made an effort to get out of Worthing, something that nearly defeated me, and went to see Sucker Punch.
I'll start with hmmm. I started off not enjoying it as much as I thought I would. The opening was cool, minimum dialogue, just depressing visuals with a depressing cover version of Sweet Dreams playing over it. Then the plot begins, with Baby Doll taken to a mental home and is put in line to be lobotomised. This is the drive of the character, to escape before literally losing her mind.
However, in the institute, as part of their therapy, the girls have to act out their problems on stage, in order to work through them. Baby Doll reacts to this by escaping into her own head, thinking that they are dancers locked inside a club unable to escape and having to put on a show each night for the seedy clientele.
Ok so far it's a bit messy, the transition from the institute to the club could have been smoother, but a few jerky movements and we're there. So now we're escaping from a club.
Another reason for the messy transition comes from some of the set design. It seems to jump between the Club and Institute. So for example, one minute Baby Doll is in the dressing room, all lit up, and the next she's running through the dingy corridors of the institute, but still in dance club costumes.
Anyway, along the way she enlists the help of fellow inmates/dancers and together they try to gather the 5 items required to escape. This is when it all goes very video gamey. I've read that Zach Snyder didn't think he was making a video game style but it can't be helped when characters are given mission objectives.
So rather than 90 minutes of sneaking around the club, which would have been a completely different film, Baby Doll has to use the weapon of dance. A dance so completely mesmerising, it can hypnotise those watching, enabling her cohorts to steal the required items.
This is where we get the action, Zach could've just shown a dance, but no dance would've been enough to convince the audience, so when dancing, he has Baby Doll escape further inside her head to some other world where she has to fight samurai with machine guns, zombie Nazis, knights, orcs, dragons and robots.
So to keep you up to speed the action is as follows:
You have fighting Baby Doll...
...inside the head of the dancing Baby Doll...
...inside the head of therapy performance Baby Doll.
So she fights/dances/performs to steal what she needs. Therefore the film is pretty straightforward, in a round about way.
The film is pure escapism, rather than facing the truth, you escape to somewhere more exciting. I've done it before, especially in times of distress. Dentist's chairs come to mind.
As you can see the more I thought about this film the more I found I did enjoy it. I was a little disappointed when I started, but during the film, gave up trying to work out how it was wrong, why it was bad, whether the female leads are anything but eye candy and came to a realisation that the girls on film are locked in a mental institute, so why should this make any sense. You have WWII bombers fighting Dragons for example. I'm not going to try to work this out, just enjoy it as is. This idea of the film being purely insane, is also backed up by the video on the end credits, the main villain of the film (Oscar Isaac - awesome by the way) sings Love is the Drug, cabaret style with the Institute's therapist (Carla Gugino). This film is meant to continually come at you with surprise attacks. Hence the Sucker Punch.
I was going to hide this in a spoiler box, but you may want to hear my other thoughts as to what it could be. I have been thinking that maybe all the girls are just personalities of Baby Doll. For example, she is taken to the mental institute because she accidentally killed her sister. Once there she meets two fellow inmates who are sisters, the older Sweetpea looking out for the younger Rocket. Surely an extension of BabyDoll;s character that she tried to look after her own sister. So now she has become bother older and younger sister.
THIS IS A SPOILER:
This is also present in the ending when Baby Doll is lobotomised, but we see Sweet Pea escape. Although she doesn't escape, She is the only personality to survive in the lobotomised Baby Dolls mind. This is why Scott Glenn, the mysterious advisor in all the action dreams, is present at the end. Sweetpea is still inside Baby Dolls head because she doesn't exist.
Baby Doll is content to live out the remainder of her days, in her own mind, as the protective Sister Sweetpea.
END OF SPOILER
There's an obvious omission from this review. The portrayal of the female leads. This is not a black and white thing to answer. On the one hand you have the strong, fighting women, albeit wearing festishied costumes. One the other hand, when not fighting they are all a bit weepy and seem to accept their roles as objectified dancers.
However, I think, this is far to easy a judgement to make. The girls are the same characters. You can't simply split them up into their different emotions. They are strong to fight back, but also vulnerable. You also have to take into account the subject matter of the film. It's set in a Mental Institution. I think it's pretty safe to say that they aren't the strongest of minds if they're in their in the first place. You can't have a group of Warrior Women in the mental home, otherwise surely you;d have to question why they were they if they were so strong in the first place.
I'm not getting into this on here. I enjoyed the film. I also enjoyed 300 and didn't think it wrong that there were no fat men in pants on their team. As with many other films, the male heroes are usually Adonis types. I should really be on side with Seth Rogan as he is a heavier build and was recently the lead as the Green Hornet, but he's not very good.
So back on track with Sucker punch, a quick mention to the soundtrack which includes some cool covers and is actually awesome. There's a great cover of Search and Destroy by Skunk Anansie played over the dragon sequence.
Overall I think the reviews have been unfair to Zach Snyder. There's a lot of great ideas in Sucker Punch. The fights are exciting, using some insane camera techniques that I have no idea how Snyder kept track of. I think the main problem was the way the film is put together, which I admit, is a little confusing, resulting in a lot of bad reviews. Who knows if the studios had a hand in messing it about.
But who says that every film has to be the greatest film ever made. Sometimes you just want to escape from day to day life. Sometimes you just want to have something else to think about. Sometimes you just want to watch an anime school girl fight a samurai with a machine gun!
Too much?
I'll try to keep spoilers at a minimum.
There's been a lot of bad reviews regarding this film and to be honest I wasn't quite sure what I wanted to get from it. I'd seen the trailers and really liked the visual style of genre mash up in the action. Samurai with Machine guns? Can you really go wrong with that?
So I made an effort to get out of Worthing, something that nearly defeated me, and went to see Sucker Punch.
I'll start with hmmm. I started off not enjoying it as much as I thought I would. The opening was cool, minimum dialogue, just depressing visuals with a depressing cover version of Sweet Dreams playing over it. Then the plot begins, with Baby Doll taken to a mental home and is put in line to be lobotomised. This is the drive of the character, to escape before literally losing her mind.
However, in the institute, as part of their therapy, the girls have to act out their problems on stage, in order to work through them. Baby Doll reacts to this by escaping into her own head, thinking that they are dancers locked inside a club unable to escape and having to put on a show each night for the seedy clientele.
Ok so far it's a bit messy, the transition from the institute to the club could have been smoother, but a few jerky movements and we're there. So now we're escaping from a club.
Another reason for the messy transition comes from some of the set design. It seems to jump between the Club and Institute. So for example, one minute Baby Doll is in the dressing room, all lit up, and the next she's running through the dingy corridors of the institute, but still in dance club costumes.
Anyway, along the way she enlists the help of fellow inmates/dancers and together they try to gather the 5 items required to escape. This is when it all goes very video gamey. I've read that Zach Snyder didn't think he was making a video game style but it can't be helped when characters are given mission objectives.
So rather than 90 minutes of sneaking around the club, which would have been a completely different film, Baby Doll has to use the weapon of dance. A dance so completely mesmerising, it can hypnotise those watching, enabling her cohorts to steal the required items.
This is where we get the action, Zach could've just shown a dance, but no dance would've been enough to convince the audience, so when dancing, he has Baby Doll escape further inside her head to some other world where she has to fight samurai with machine guns, zombie Nazis, knights, orcs, dragons and robots.
So to keep you up to speed the action is as follows:
You have fighting Baby Doll...
...inside the head of the dancing Baby Doll...
...inside the head of therapy performance Baby Doll.
So she fights/dances/performs to steal what she needs. Therefore the film is pretty straightforward, in a round about way.
The film is pure escapism, rather than facing the truth, you escape to somewhere more exciting. I've done it before, especially in times of distress. Dentist's chairs come to mind.
As you can see the more I thought about this film the more I found I did enjoy it. I was a little disappointed when I started, but during the film, gave up trying to work out how it was wrong, why it was bad, whether the female leads are anything but eye candy and came to a realisation that the girls on film are locked in a mental institute, so why should this make any sense. You have WWII bombers fighting Dragons for example. I'm not going to try to work this out, just enjoy it as is. This idea of the film being purely insane, is also backed up by the video on the end credits, the main villain of the film (Oscar Isaac - awesome by the way) sings Love is the Drug, cabaret style with the Institute's therapist (Carla Gugino). This film is meant to continually come at you with surprise attacks. Hence the Sucker Punch.
I was going to hide this in a spoiler box, but you may want to hear my other thoughts as to what it could be. I have been thinking that maybe all the girls are just personalities of Baby Doll. For example, she is taken to the mental institute because she accidentally killed her sister. Once there she meets two fellow inmates who are sisters, the older Sweetpea looking out for the younger Rocket. Surely an extension of BabyDoll;s character that she tried to look after her own sister. So now she has become bother older and younger sister.
THIS IS A SPOILER:
This is also present in the ending when Baby Doll is lobotomised, but we see Sweet Pea escape. Although she doesn't escape, She is the only personality to survive in the lobotomised Baby Dolls mind. This is why Scott Glenn, the mysterious advisor in all the action dreams, is present at the end. Sweetpea is still inside Baby Dolls head because she doesn't exist.
Baby Doll is content to live out the remainder of her days, in her own mind, as the protective Sister Sweetpea.
END OF SPOILER
There's an obvious omission from this review. The portrayal of the female leads. This is not a black and white thing to answer. On the one hand you have the strong, fighting women, albeit wearing festishied costumes. One the other hand, when not fighting they are all a bit weepy and seem to accept their roles as objectified dancers.
However, I think, this is far to easy a judgement to make. The girls are the same characters. You can't simply split them up into their different emotions. They are strong to fight back, but also vulnerable. You also have to take into account the subject matter of the film. It's set in a Mental Institution. I think it's pretty safe to say that they aren't the strongest of minds if they're in their in the first place. You can't have a group of Warrior Women in the mental home, otherwise surely you;d have to question why they were they if they were so strong in the first place.
I'm not getting into this on here. I enjoyed the film. I also enjoyed 300 and didn't think it wrong that there were no fat men in pants on their team. As with many other films, the male heroes are usually Adonis types. I should really be on side with Seth Rogan as he is a heavier build and was recently the lead as the Green Hornet, but he's not very good.
So back on track with Sucker punch, a quick mention to the soundtrack which includes some cool covers and is actually awesome. There's a great cover of Search and Destroy by Skunk Anansie played over the dragon sequence.
Overall I think the reviews have been unfair to Zach Snyder. There's a lot of great ideas in Sucker Punch. The fights are exciting, using some insane camera techniques that I have no idea how Snyder kept track of. I think the main problem was the way the film is put together, which I admit, is a little confusing, resulting in a lot of bad reviews. Who knows if the studios had a hand in messing it about.
But who says that every film has to be the greatest film ever made. Sometimes you just want to escape from day to day life. Sometimes you just want to have something else to think about. Sometimes you just want to watch an anime school girl fight a samurai with a machine gun!
Too much?
Saturday, 26 March 2011
A short respite...
So this post has absolutely nothing to do with film...shortly.
First off I just want to mention that I've just finished a treatment for, what is in essence...Editor's Note - I decided to take out the description for this treatment, should it all be changed at the last minute. Let's just say, it's both familiary and arty at the same time.
On the Everyday Joe front, i got some notes back, some of which I'm now trying to implement into Draft 10.5 or 11. There were other notes that I think I may let slide as I don't want to stray to far from my original intention. Put this down to artist discretion.
So enough about films. I just wanted to highlight a random point of what a good year for games this year will be, or to put it another way, I have an expensive Christmas period this year. Now, I'm sure there are quite a few games coming out that should be mentioned, but its my blog and I just wanted to post a video about this:-
Originally I simply thought Uncharted was just a Tomb Raider rip off with a bloke (Funny how Tomb Raider is an Indiana Jones rip off with a girl) Although I still wanted to play it. I'm a sucker for these adventure games. Upon moving in with my Girlfriend and inheriting a PS3 I know now that they are a hell of a lot more. And I'm afraid to say, may even be better than Lara Croft's exploits. I still have a place in my gaming heart for the original PS1 Tomb Raider, but everyone knows the yearly release dates considerably weakened the series. I'll get back to this in a bit anyway, back to Uncharted.
Uncharted is great. It's fun to play, has great dialogue, and can be annoying as bloody hell; but it always leaves you wanting more. There's great chemistry between the main character Nate Drake, his old friend Sully and the is she/isn't she possible love interest Elena. I should really give more of a back story, but you really need to check them out yourselves if possible. I'm currently finishing up Uncharted 2, but I'll definitely be in the queue for the next installment, unless my girlfriend beats me there.
The next game on my radar so far is kind of obvious:
The original Batman: Arkham Asylum was a really fun game. The first to really put you in the Batman's boots. Once again Batman: Arkham City is written by Paul Dini, and features voice actors from the original Animated Series, as well as newcomers. I love how the story has taken on a darker tone akin to the films of Christopher Nolan. A much more suitable place for Batman that the Day Glo world of Scumacher.
I may be biased because I've bought almost every Batman game made, and enjoyed most of them. I just glad that now they've found a system that really does the Caped Crusader justice.
Finally there's this:
First off I just want to mention that I've just finished a treatment for, what is in essence...Editor's Note - I decided to take out the description for this treatment, should it all be changed at the last minute. Let's just say, it's both familiary and arty at the same time.
On the Everyday Joe front, i got some notes back, some of which I'm now trying to implement into Draft 10.5 or 11. There were other notes that I think I may let slide as I don't want to stray to far from my original intention. Put this down to artist discretion.
So enough about films. I just wanted to highlight a random point of what a good year for games this year will be, or to put it another way, I have an expensive Christmas period this year. Now, I'm sure there are quite a few games coming out that should be mentioned, but its my blog and I just wanted to post a video about this:-
Originally I simply thought Uncharted was just a Tomb Raider rip off with a bloke (Funny how Tomb Raider is an Indiana Jones rip off with a girl) Although I still wanted to play it. I'm a sucker for these adventure games. Upon moving in with my Girlfriend and inheriting a PS3 I know now that they are a hell of a lot more. And I'm afraid to say, may even be better than Lara Croft's exploits. I still have a place in my gaming heart for the original PS1 Tomb Raider, but everyone knows the yearly release dates considerably weakened the series. I'll get back to this in a bit anyway, back to Uncharted.
Uncharted is great. It's fun to play, has great dialogue, and can be annoying as bloody hell; but it always leaves you wanting more. There's great chemistry between the main character Nate Drake, his old friend Sully and the is she/isn't she possible love interest Elena. I should really give more of a back story, but you really need to check them out yourselves if possible. I'm currently finishing up Uncharted 2, but I'll definitely be in the queue for the next installment, unless my girlfriend beats me there.
The next game on my radar so far is kind of obvious:
The original Batman: Arkham Asylum was a really fun game. The first to really put you in the Batman's boots. Once again Batman: Arkham City is written by Paul Dini, and features voice actors from the original Animated Series, as well as newcomers. I love how the story has taken on a darker tone akin to the films of Christopher Nolan. A much more suitable place for Batman that the Day Glo world of Scumacher.
I may be biased because I've bought almost every Batman game made, and enjoyed most of them. I just glad that now they've found a system that really does the Caped Crusader justice.
Finally there's this:
Yep, no video yet of the next Tomb Raider, but I know I'll be there paying the extortionate price for the new game once released. As I was saying, they were getting worse. The Angel of Darkness pretty much destroyed the series. Despite having a few good ideas, Core managed to kill the series with poor delivery. So Crystal Dynamics had a go.
Tomb Raider: Legend was good. Great story, awesome new control system and style. It's a pity then , that after remaking the first Tomb Raider (Anniversary) they managed to drive the series back in to the ground with Underworld. I personally liked this game. However, it didn't really do much than to expand the story from Legend, and every level seemed to be in another cave. Imagination got a little lost here.
So now they've rebooted the series. This time it looks as though we're in prequel territory, and possibly a Bermuda Triangle of sorts. It also looks like she'll get a bit beaten up as well: 
So there we have it. A brief respite from work to talk about some great looking games. Now I'm off to work on Everyday Joe, or maybe play Uncharted 2. Or possibly one of the other 20 odd games I have piled up that I've yet to start playing. I'd better get busy...
Thursday, 17 March 2011
100 posts = 100 things to talk about...
So here’s how it was...
I started the blog about just under 3 years ago. On Thursday 14th August 2008 to be exact I’m not particularly sure of the reasons off hand. I was going to mention that according to my original post it was because of this...but I don't seem to have given a reason. I think I started it, as Brother Chris said, so that I can look back on what I was moaning about months ago. That, and people will want to know how it went down.
It’s always been difficult continuing to blog when you can count your readership on your fingers, and see most of them in real life regularly. I have managed to keep it up over time though.
So over the last couple of years I’ve talked about things that annoy me, things that excite me, things I’ve been working on and a lot of complaining. I also gave up at one point, only posting occasional musings.
Fun fact time, whilst this blog has existed I’ve lived in four houses/flats, 3 towns and had 4 jobs, included a period of unemployment.
I’d just finished a making of, completed a shorter making of, made a 2nd E4 ESting and a music video. I’ve seen a number of bands, seen a load of films and mused a lot of random musings.
So that’s basically how it went down...
...and here’s how it is.
So here’s how it will be...
Some stuff I guess.
Here's to the next 100 posts.
Monday, 7 March 2011
They asked for 1000 Lawman, they got only 1. He was enough...
So I need to post simply because I haven't in a while.
Things have been busy since the last time. I say busy, I had a week of so I've really just been lazy. Time off should really mean I get a chance to catch up on all the things I need to write/create that I normally don't have time to do. However in this instance I used the time to play games. I did take in a spot of theatre to see the Dickensian 'The Black Veil'. It's based on a Charles Dickens short thriller. It's not a bad story, slow to get started. It could have done with a few ghosts but enjoyable non the less. It was just a little odd to go on the Wednesday Matinee with the retired community of Worthing.
Now I say I had a week off, but I blatantly lied. I had to work again on Thursday and Friday.
This is what else happened:-
I saw I Am Number Four - A bit muddled, with too much Twilight influence. Not sure the studio knew what they wanted to do with this.
I saw Paul - A slow starter with a few jokes. Not a clever/sharp as Hot Fuzz or Shaun, but better than Superbad but not as good as Adventureland.
I couldn't see Drive Angry 3D - stupid Odeon only had it on for one week. ONE WEEK!! This is crazy. I blame the world...and Yogi Bear 3D...and most of all the stupid Odeon.
Finally, on Saturday, after many double bookings my girlfriend Charlotte and I went to see KT Tunstall at the Brighton Dome. This was a strange experience, mainly due to small coincidental happenings (Mark Wahlberg wasn't there though, I think). I was talking about previous gigs I'd been to and how Rob Zombie had used Devo (who Brother Chris ans I saw a couple of years ago - See here) in his playlist before the gig. At this point Whip It came on. Awesomely weird I thought.
I then mentioned how the first ever gig I went to was to see Ash play in Wolverhampton, over ten years ago. then who should come out on stage as pat of KT's band, but Charlotte Hatherley. Once again. Awesomely weird.
Overall it was a great show. She's a lot better live than on the CD's and the band were really good. There were a few annoying people throughout the evening. We arrived early to get a good spot and started queuing at 6:30pm. Doors were at 7:00pm. This didn't stop everyone behind us sneaking forward to see why the doors hasn't opened yet - because doors were at 7 maybe. Or complaining that THEY were making us wait outside - BECAUSE DOOR WERE AT 7:00.
Once inside we got to the second row back and found ourselves next to Veruca Salt and her first gig experience. This would have been fine if she wasn't hurling abuse at the support - The Pictish Trail. A one man singer/songwriter, who was brave enough to come on alone, only to be heckled by 10 year olds.
People just didn't seem to understand what exactly happened at gigs.
Anyhoo here's a video. I'm at work so not sure how good this is.
As with other gig reviews I need to point out that we were standing on what was essesntially the second row just to the left of centre stage. At about 20 seconds, KT Tunstall was directly infront of us. I think we may be on this video in the darkness of the crowd.
I also managed to nab myself the plectrum shrew threw out to the audience. This time using my Eyes of the Hawk. Having already used Speed of the Puma to get the Alice Cooper money I only need to utilise Ears of the Wolf and Strength of the Bear to confirm my Bravestarr status.
Now I'd better do some work.
Things have been busy since the last time. I say busy, I had a week of so I've really just been lazy. Time off should really mean I get a chance to catch up on all the things I need to write/create that I normally don't have time to do. However in this instance I used the time to play games. I did take in a spot of theatre to see the Dickensian 'The Black Veil'. It's based on a Charles Dickens short thriller. It's not a bad story, slow to get started. It could have done with a few ghosts but enjoyable non the less. It was just a little odd to go on the Wednesday Matinee with the retired community of Worthing.
Now I say I had a week off, but I blatantly lied. I had to work again on Thursday and Friday.
This is what else happened:-
I saw I Am Number Four - A bit muddled, with too much Twilight influence. Not sure the studio knew what they wanted to do with this.
I saw Paul - A slow starter with a few jokes. Not a clever/sharp as Hot Fuzz or Shaun, but better than Superbad but not as good as Adventureland.
I couldn't see Drive Angry 3D - stupid Odeon only had it on for one week. ONE WEEK!! This is crazy. I blame the world...and Yogi Bear 3D...and most of all the stupid Odeon.
Finally, on Saturday, after many double bookings my girlfriend Charlotte and I went to see KT Tunstall at the Brighton Dome. This was a strange experience, mainly due to small coincidental happenings (Mark Wahlberg wasn't there though, I think). I was talking about previous gigs I'd been to and how Rob Zombie had used Devo (who Brother Chris ans I saw a couple of years ago - See here) in his playlist before the gig. At this point Whip It came on. Awesomely weird I thought.
I then mentioned how the first ever gig I went to was to see Ash play in Wolverhampton, over ten years ago. then who should come out on stage as pat of KT's band, but Charlotte Hatherley. Once again. Awesomely weird.
Overall it was a great show. She's a lot better live than on the CD's and the band were really good. There were a few annoying people throughout the evening. We arrived early to get a good spot and started queuing at 6:30pm. Doors were at 7:00pm. This didn't stop everyone behind us sneaking forward to see why the doors hasn't opened yet - because doors were at 7 maybe. Or complaining that THEY were making us wait outside - BECAUSE DOOR WERE AT 7:00.
Once inside we got to the second row back and found ourselves next to Veruca Salt and her first gig experience. This would have been fine if she wasn't hurling abuse at the support - The Pictish Trail. A one man singer/songwriter, who was brave enough to come on alone, only to be heckled by 10 year olds.
People just didn't seem to understand what exactly happened at gigs.
Anyhoo here's a video. I'm at work so not sure how good this is.
As with other gig reviews I need to point out that we were standing on what was essesntially the second row just to the left of centre stage. At about 20 seconds, KT Tunstall was directly infront of us. I think we may be on this video in the darkness of the crowd.
I also managed to nab myself the plectrum shrew threw out to the audience. This time using my Eyes of the Hawk. Having already used Speed of the Puma to get the Alice Cooper money I only need to utilise Ears of the Wolf and Strength of the Bear to confirm my Bravestarr status.
Now I'd better do some work.
Wednesday, 23 February 2011
Some stuff happened...
So yeah, some stuff happened.
Fine, I'll elaborate a little. Yesterday Brother Chris and I had a meeting regarding said script that was co-written and moaned about previously.
I'#m not sure exactly how much can be revealed at this stage in case, in a fit of rage, we destroy all memory of said script, only to be remembered as a fun anecdote in those winter nights of the future.
"Remember when we wrote a script?" Brother Pete excitedly declared. "Yes." replied Brother Chris.
Saying all that it went pretty well. Brother Chris is continuing to redraft form the plethora of notes given and hopefully we can successfully complete Level 2. So enough of that for now.
However, that is not the end of this story. I have also been resurrecting an old script I had originally sent to Screen West Midlands, only to be told that it was "Visually, narratively and stylistically a mess."
So a little disheartened was I until I realised that they knew nothing. Especially as I wasn't making a two people in a room film about the death of the world, juxtapositioned with the lack of Wheatabix left in the box on a Monday morning.
so I'm pulling the script out or retirement and moving ahead. Basically, I had written a short introduction to said project, but until I'm actually ready to go, I think I'll save the announcement until a few blogs later.
But it is coming...
Fine, I'll elaborate a little. Yesterday Brother Chris and I had a meeting regarding said script that was co-written and moaned about previously.
I'#m not sure exactly how much can be revealed at this stage in case, in a fit of rage, we destroy all memory of said script, only to be remembered as a fun anecdote in those winter nights of the future.
"Remember when we wrote a script?" Brother Pete excitedly declared. "Yes." replied Brother Chris.
Saying all that it went pretty well. Brother Chris is continuing to redraft form the plethora of notes given and hopefully we can successfully complete Level 2. So enough of that for now.
However, that is not the end of this story. I have also been resurrecting an old script I had originally sent to Screen West Midlands, only to be told that it was "Visually, narratively and stylistically a mess."
So a little disheartened was I until I realised that they knew nothing. Especially as I wasn't making a two people in a room film about the death of the world, juxtapositioned with the lack of Wheatabix left in the box on a Monday morning.
so I'm pulling the script out or retirement and moving ahead. Basically, I had written a short introduction to said project, but until I'm actually ready to go, I think I'll save the announcement until a few blogs later.
But it is coming...
Thursday, 17 February 2011
Rob Zombie stole my ears...
In a Brother piece to Brother Chris blog, which can be found here, I also felt the need to make you all wish you where with us last night. Rob Zombie was amazing. Seriously, I have proof.
During this next one at about 4:46 Rob Zombie left the stage an was a mere foot away from where we were standing. This was cool. Also at about 9:20 listen out for The Munsters theme. By this time Rob zombie was somewhere round the back.
These videos do make me wonder whether getting so close to front is worth it. The sound is a lot better on these videos than what we heard thanks to the giant speaker we were next to. Also we had a couple of strobe lights in our eyes. And were standing next to a large cannon. We didn't explode though thankfully.
Saying all that though, you can't the replace atmosphere of being close to the stage. I'm sure the next gig I'll have this same discussion, and still end up at the front.
That's the only way I can actually hear the music.
During this next one at about 4:46 Rob Zombie left the stage an was a mere foot away from where we were standing. This was cool. Also at about 9:20 listen out for The Munsters theme. By this time Rob zombie was somewhere round the back.
These videos do make me wonder whether getting so close to front is worth it. The sound is a lot better on these videos than what we heard thanks to the giant speaker we were next to. Also we had a couple of strobe lights in our eyes. And were standing next to a large cannon. We didn't explode though thankfully.
Saying all that though, you can't the replace atmosphere of being close to the stage. I'm sure the next gig I'll have this same discussion, and still end up at the front.
That's the only way I can actually hear the music.
Friday, 11 February 2011
Strange things are afoot at Circle K...
It's all a bit odd at the moment. I can't gauge how this year is going. On the one hand we had our first MovieBar which went down surprisingly well. A couple of sound related hiccups but nothing too disastrous.
We also showed Elasto!. Yes Elasto. For those in the know, Elasto is a film I made just out of College with my Dad. I still had the fresh creative urges and needed something to keep them busy. So he provided a music tack he had from 1982 called Elasto. now this is where I like to remain tight lipped. There is an explanation to Elasto. Quite a simple, yet mundane explanation. However, I feel it actually speaks for itself. You can take what you want form it. At the root of it all, it's just plain weird. And Awesome.
Elasto had a good response. There was a short Q&A where I tried to remember how long it took and why I'd made such decisions. Once again, I think I left everyone just as confused as the film did.
Anyway, MovieBar is working and continues next month. The complete rundown of the first night can be seen on the MovieBar blog here
So far so good.
Then came the email conversation. I'm not too good at covering these things. Brother Chris has already post his frustration with the state of play at the moment.
In short, as we previously joked, I loaded in Chris' Save Game and have joined him co-cooperatively on Level 2 of script writing. It would seem I obviously don't have all the necessary experience points as he does and couldn't afford the bionic arm power up, but I continue plugging away the best I can. I just have to learn to block more.
This whole game analogy has gotten a bit messy. What I mean to say anyway, is we had a script, production company was and is interested, but only it seems once we've defeated hoards of enemies. We're talking Level 2 here, not final boss. Things shouldn't be this difficult. I mean if this was the same with every game, how do things like Sharktopus ever get made.
Anyway, you can read the in depth frustration here.
We also showed Elasto!. Yes Elasto. For those in the know, Elasto is a film I made just out of College with my Dad. I still had the fresh creative urges and needed something to keep them busy. So he provided a music tack he had from 1982 called Elasto. now this is where I like to remain tight lipped. There is an explanation to Elasto. Quite a simple, yet mundane explanation. However, I feel it actually speaks for itself. You can take what you want form it. At the root of it all, it's just plain weird. And Awesome.
Elasto had a good response. There was a short Q&A where I tried to remember how long it took and why I'd made such decisions. Once again, I think I left everyone just as confused as the film did.
Anyway, MovieBar is working and continues next month. The complete rundown of the first night can be seen on the MovieBar blog here
So far so good.
Then came the email conversation. I'm not too good at covering these things. Brother Chris has already post his frustration with the state of play at the moment.
In short, as we previously joked, I loaded in Chris' Save Game and have joined him co-cooperatively on Level 2 of script writing. It would seem I obviously don't have all the necessary experience points as he does and couldn't afford the bionic arm power up, but I continue plugging away the best I can. I just have to learn to block more.
This whole game analogy has gotten a bit messy. What I mean to say anyway, is we had a script, production company was and is interested, but only it seems once we've defeated hoards of enemies. We're talking Level 2 here, not final boss. Things shouldn't be this difficult. I mean if this was the same with every game, how do things like Sharktopus ever get made.
Anyway, you can read the in depth frustration here.
Wednesday, 2 February 2011
Imaginary games...
So I was sitting at my PC, editing the new MovieBar logo, in it's seven part logo. I split this up with checking the Internet for randoms as one does when I happened upon on an XBox 360 game trailer about psychics or whatever. Initially this looked a bit run of the mill, however from memory, the end of the trailer had a really cool twist. I continued to work, then checked the time, suddenly it was half seven and I thought it best to get some dinner.
So away I went, ate some food and returned to the PC to continue the logo. At this time I remembered how cool that game was but couldn't remember the title. Mind Warp or something along those lines. I decided to look for it online. However I didn't seem to be able to find anything about this game.
I then thought back, I couldn't actually remember watching a video online. This trailer just happened to start playing, but I couldn't remember where I'd seen it. I don't think it was on TV and I hadn't watched any videos online, that would be preceded by a game trailer.
At this point I started to freak out a little as the only explanation I could come to was pretty far fetched. Whilst editing the logo, I must have blacked out and dreamed about the trailer. this would explain why it didn't exist, and the sudden realisation of the time.
I'm sure I'm probably jumping to conclusions, but until someone can show me that game, and the cover art for confirmation I am convinced of my theory.
Blacking out whilst editing logos. That's not so good is it!
**UPDATE**
And it totally didn't happen. It's good to know my brain isn't about to explode from a hidden tumor, or a scanner.
I found the game. It's called Mind Jack. Check it out. Luckily it still looks alright.
Blacking out at the PC. Seriously, like that would hap ...
So away I went, ate some food and returned to the PC to continue the logo. At this time I remembered how cool that game was but couldn't remember the title. Mind Warp or something along those lines. I decided to look for it online. However I didn't seem to be able to find anything about this game.
I then thought back, I couldn't actually remember watching a video online. This trailer just happened to start playing, but I couldn't remember where I'd seen it. I don't think it was on TV and I hadn't watched any videos online, that would be preceded by a game trailer.
At this point I started to freak out a little as the only explanation I could come to was pretty far fetched. Whilst editing the logo, I must have blacked out and dreamed about the trailer. this would explain why it didn't exist, and the sudden realisation of the time.
I'm sure I'm probably jumping to conclusions, but until someone can show me that game, and the cover art for confirmation I am convinced of my theory.
Blacking out whilst editing logos. That's not so good is it!
**UPDATE**
And it totally didn't happen. It's good to know my brain isn't about to explode from a hidden tumor, or a scanner.
I found the game. It's called Mind Jack. Check it out. Luckily it still looks alright.
Blacking out at the PC. Seriously, like that would hap ...
Friday, 28 January 2011
Long time no see...
...or write.
Ok, I've neglected this blog in recent times. I'll be honest. I'm lazy, and didn't have much to say. Actually I did have things to say, but I was likely to go off on a rant, therefore taking up time that could best be spen on other activities.
So way back in October I was plannign something. At that time I thought this was best represented by quoting Back to the Future, click here to remind yourselves >>>
Ok so that was supposed to be the start of something big. And then it got too big, and I didn't move forward at all and it slowly became simply a blog post with a Back to the Future quote.
However, I'm getting back onto the proverbial horse. I will release bits of information regarding whatever projects I'm working on.
This is also due to the fact that I have, at this time 7 projects on the go in some state or another. 8 projects actually as I'm going to drag another out from the past.
This means that things are going to get more interesting on here, but also equally as vague as I still believe in the idea of not giving too much away.
Just think if I'd announced the project back in October, and still no closer to actually showing anything. Damn. I should have actually said it was just a Back to the future quote. Now if I had a DeLorean I could go back and change what I said. Actually I suppose I could just scroll to the top and remove it.
It's been said now. I suppose I'll just leave it for future generations to see. People will want to see how it went down.
And I suppose that's the point of the blog. In years to come the Future Men and Women will look back at this blog. Wonder what happened in the gaps but ultimately will see how it all went down.
That is if my career mirrors Bill and Ted and at some point I'll have to fight a future robot version of myself and save the world with film.
Be excellent to each other and party on dudes!
Ok, I've neglected this blog in recent times. I'll be honest. I'm lazy, and didn't have much to say. Actually I did have things to say, but I was likely to go off on a rant, therefore taking up time that could best be spen on other activities.
So way back in October I was plannign something. At that time I thought this was best represented by quoting Back to the Future, click here to remind yourselves >>>
Ok so that was supposed to be the start of something big. And then it got too big, and I didn't move forward at all and it slowly became simply a blog post with a Back to the Future quote.
However, I'm getting back onto the proverbial horse. I will release bits of information regarding whatever projects I'm working on.
This is also due to the fact that I have, at this time 7 projects on the go in some state or another. 8 projects actually as I'm going to drag another out from the past.
This means that things are going to get more interesting on here, but also equally as vague as I still believe in the idea of not giving too much away.
Just think if I'd announced the project back in October, and still no closer to actually showing anything. Damn. I should have actually said it was just a Back to the future quote. Now if I had a DeLorean I could go back and change what I said. Actually I suppose I could just scroll to the top and remove it.
It's been said now. I suppose I'll just leave it for future generations to see. People will want to see how it went down.
And I suppose that's the point of the blog. In years to come the Future Men and Women will look back at this blog. Wonder what happened in the gaps but ultimately will see how it all went down.
That is if my career mirrors Bill and Ted and at some point I'll have to fight a future robot version of myself and save the world with film.
Be excellent to each other and party on dudes!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)