[film] x
Posted: Sat Dec 20, 2003 6:15 pm
Flak asked a <a href="http://www.bulldrek.com/Live/viewtopic. ... uestion</a> about the <a href="http://www.bulldrek.com/Dev/x.wmv">x trailer</a>, and it occurred to me that no one had done any film projects in <a href="http://www.bulldrek.com/Live/viewforum. ... ">Artistic License</a>, so...here we go.
The project was done in <a href="http://mediasoftware.sonypictures.com/p ... 808">Vegas 4.0</a>. I used stillframes from <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0137523/">Fight Club</a>, including the burning trees image Flak asked about. I also used a couple images off the web, probably violating some copyright or another. The footage of me is from my webcam, and heavily processed. Mostly, I just dug the color scheme applied to the webcam clip, and the <a href="http://dictionary.reference.com/search? ... conceit</a> of treating a software release as if it were a movie release appealed to me.
The toughest thing in terms of video was getting the text and its timing just right. Because 30 frames per second doesn't always match up absolutely perfectly with quarters of a second, some of the timing of the audio had to be very precisely placed, and Vegas doesn't have the tools necessary to do that. If I weren't such a stickler for detail, I guess it wouldn't be a problem, but I was under the impression that part of the appeal of filmmaking in the digital arena was its precision.
The audio track is entirely sample-based, and that's not as ordinary as it might initially sound. The "snaps" are a mixture of real drum recordings played in <a href="http://www.propellerheads.se/products/r ... me">Reason 2.5</a> and recordings from a DVD rip of <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASI ... ">Space</a> of the firing of the <a href="http://www.lle.rochester.edu/">Omega Laser</a> at Rochester, made during firings by <a href="http://www.sprl.umich.edu/research_proj ... >Professor Paul Drake</a>. The vocal sample toward the end ["one, two, x is coming for you."] is from DMX's <a href="http://mfile.akamai.com/3171/wm2/muze.d ... 0605">X-Is Coming</a>.
The music is a remixed version of a song of mine done in Reason called <i>repeat after me</i>; this version by necessity is much shorter, and doesn't feature most of the effects automation used in the original. The two drums lines orbit each other in opposition, and are both filtered and processed digital recordings of real drums. The ascending "synth" line is made from two different heavily filtered and processed digital recordings of pure sawtooth waveforms, each somewhere between 5 and 100 milliseconds long. All the functions being applied to the resulting waveform are "pure" mathematical functions, none massaged for the purpose of aesthetics. [That's how all the music I make is recorded, for what that's worth.] The laughter is David Boreanaz, from the end of <a href="http://www.tvtome.com/Angel/season4.htm ... akening</a>. I think it's an amazing laugh, and it's a scene I really enjoy; some fair amount of my music is recorded in-between or as interruptions to my diet of downloaded TV, so it's only natural that some of the TV leaks into the music.
I think that's everything. It's not a complicated project, although Vegas made it a little harder than I felt it needed to be, and significantly delayed me. But when it comes to anything artistic, I'm like a bulldog, refusing to let go until I'm satisfied with the result. And actually, events forced me to comprimise somewhat in this case, but overall I'm pretty pleased with the result. It's my first film project of any length, and while simple, it was a real learning experience in terms of using Vegas and beginning to think in tune with its somewhat counterintuitive interface. My next project, I'm quite sure, will be significantly more complex. And mathematical.
The project was done in <a href="http://mediasoftware.sonypictures.com/p ... 808">Vegas 4.0</a>. I used stillframes from <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0137523/">Fight Club</a>, including the burning trees image Flak asked about. I also used a couple images off the web, probably violating some copyright or another. The footage of me is from my webcam, and heavily processed. Mostly, I just dug the color scheme applied to the webcam clip, and the <a href="http://dictionary.reference.com/search? ... conceit</a> of treating a software release as if it were a movie release appealed to me.
The toughest thing in terms of video was getting the text and its timing just right. Because 30 frames per second doesn't always match up absolutely perfectly with quarters of a second, some of the timing of the audio had to be very precisely placed, and Vegas doesn't have the tools necessary to do that. If I weren't such a stickler for detail, I guess it wouldn't be a problem, but I was under the impression that part of the appeal of filmmaking in the digital arena was its precision.
The audio track is entirely sample-based, and that's not as ordinary as it might initially sound. The "snaps" are a mixture of real drum recordings played in <a href="http://www.propellerheads.se/products/r ... me">Reason 2.5</a> and recordings from a DVD rip of <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASI ... ">Space</a> of the firing of the <a href="http://www.lle.rochester.edu/">Omega Laser</a> at Rochester, made during firings by <a href="http://www.sprl.umich.edu/research_proj ... >Professor Paul Drake</a>. The vocal sample toward the end ["one, two, x is coming for you."] is from DMX's <a href="http://mfile.akamai.com/3171/wm2/muze.d ... 0605">X-Is Coming</a>.
The music is a remixed version of a song of mine done in Reason called <i>repeat after me</i>; this version by necessity is much shorter, and doesn't feature most of the effects automation used in the original. The two drums lines orbit each other in opposition, and are both filtered and processed digital recordings of real drums. The ascending "synth" line is made from two different heavily filtered and processed digital recordings of pure sawtooth waveforms, each somewhere between 5 and 100 milliseconds long. All the functions being applied to the resulting waveform are "pure" mathematical functions, none massaged for the purpose of aesthetics. [That's how all the music I make is recorded, for what that's worth.] The laughter is David Boreanaz, from the end of <a href="http://www.tvtome.com/Angel/season4.htm ... akening</a>. I think it's an amazing laugh, and it's a scene I really enjoy; some fair amount of my music is recorded in-between or as interruptions to my diet of downloaded TV, so it's only natural that some of the TV leaks into the music.
I think that's everything. It's not a complicated project, although Vegas made it a little harder than I felt it needed to be, and significantly delayed me. But when it comes to anything artistic, I'm like a bulldog, refusing to let go until I'm satisfied with the result. And actually, events forced me to comprimise somewhat in this case, but overall I'm pretty pleased with the result. It's my first film project of any length, and while simple, it was a real learning experience in terms of using Vegas and beginning to think in tune with its somewhat counterintuitive interface. My next project, I'm quite sure, will be significantly more complex. And mathematical.
Thanks Kai, I'll ask teh 32! 
