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Showing posts from March, 2010

Past the halfway mark! ^ ^

So I just finished off animating sequence 18 which brings me just past the halfway mark of the film %52 to be exact.... It took 6 months to finish the first half... there was a 3 week break in there too... and I'm going to finish it in 6 more months so animation will be complete October 1st 2010... I just did some calculations and I did 836 shots in the first 6 months and I'm scheduled to do 796 in the next 6 months... Things I've learned through the first half of the film... +  Shots with multiple characters interacting with each other take the longest to animate.... 2 isn't so bad... when you get 5-7 it gets kinda crazy... + I animate everything in passes.... first animate the camera then the first character... first I block out the hips, then the neck, then the head, then the arms and legs... then the fingers... then the face... when that character is done I sometimes render an opengl preview if the viewport cant play it back smooth at 24fps then I move on to t

Have I gone too far? Probably ^ ^ BOHACHI MADE ME DO IT!

So I'm finishing up the sequence that has the second like "boss fight" in the film if I were to equate the foes my main character meets during the film to teh games...and yeh this guy is FUCKED UP ^ ^ I mean we've probably all seen some awesome twisted 3d stuff with the bosses in the Silent Hill games, and those dead space d00ds.... BUT they usually stay away from graphic sexual stuff... NOW I restate there is NO PORN in HSM but WHAT would happen if you took some of those 3d silent monsters and threw in a little influence from legend of the overfiend? WELL your PAL M dot has taken up teh challenge 0_o I CHALLENGE YOU!! 50 WOMEN n00D FOR NO REASON!! !?! I must remember the first anime film I ever saw and loved was NINJA SCROLL which isn't actually wholesome family entertainment ^ ^ In my research for HSM as I wrote a little before I watched a ton of old Samurai films... there were a few that were really WEIRD and artistic and I'm not talkin HANZO the RAZOR

Gotta keep hustliN

So I was supposed to do about 200 shots this month... then early in the month I got sick from working too hard so I eased the quota back so I would have to do about 140 shots this month... but lo and behold I've been hustlin the past 10 days and I'm going to get to 200 after all ^ ^ Then on one of my two days off a month I'm going to go see "How to train your dragon" at the local theater... Usually I avoid 3d animated features in the theaters cause like they are all the same and Pixar is cool but those like "nice" films don't excite me... but I read an article somewhere? Variety maybe? I da know... Wherein it done sayeth that the directors didn't do the usual committee thang and like took charge and tried to do somethin unique so that got me interested...So I'll go check it out on Thursday most likely... Once I finish this sequence off in the next 2 days I'll be a little past the %50 mark of the film which I think is the MOST DIFFICULT

Once there's a formula its DED

I try to follow all the going on's in the world of COUGH "independent film"... seems like theres a lot of checklists and stuff about what your supposed to do to promote a film... when in reality the checklists were made after the fact by looking at what successful campaigns done DID... and when those promo campaigns were done it was probably something new... like they didn't follow any checklists... So who are all those checklists and crap for? Probably people that will pay $1000 to go to some "independent filmmaking" seminar or some shit... there's a lot of people making a lot of money off of wannabe filmmakers who have convinced themselves that they need to attend all these seminars or buy all these books or whatever to be "successful" I think that its just another form of procrastination... NOW since the world is so connected and information is so easy to share and spread amongst millions of people I think if you as a filmmaker spend all t

I guess I'm supposed to focus ^ ^

So a few posts back I wrote about some live gig I was gonna do in June where I was going to do live electro, freestyle and do my own visuals... well I was going to do that off this old Mac laptop BUT yesterday the hard drive errrrrrr'd out and I had to reformat it and reinstall the OS...in the process I lost all my audio samples/loops and ALL my visual clips 0_0 I dont back that stuff up because it doesn't have to do with the film so I guess I won't be doing that show... Now I has to tell the organizers...they r going to be kinda sad but I has no sound or video now so I make boring show.... When thaNGS like this happen I always try to find the HELLA GOLD lining mayne... So I worked harder on the film... AND over the past year I've grown to LOVE FILTHY GRIMY DUBSTEP and like I want to rebuild all my loops and stuff with a little influence from the stuff I listen to all teh time... oh yeh... there's another musical style I was obsessed with a year ago.... and it mi

KEN (1964) Mishima+Misumi+Raizo = Magick

While researching my new film I tried to watch every "Samurai" film I could find... I mainly found myself attracted to ones from 1960-1970... and usually by a handful of directors Kobayashi, Okamoto, Gosha and Misumi... Also through all those films I have a few favorite actors Tatsuya Nakadai, Raizo Ichikawa and Isao Natsuyagi... Also on my research path I came upon the work and life of novelist Yukio Mishima who is a very interesting man.... So a few of those people came together on this film KEN... it stars Raizo Ichikawa whom I came to love through the "Nemuri Kyoshiro" series which if you haven't seen it yet go hunting on ebay as that is where I found it... Its directed by Kenji Misumi who directed 3 of the better Nemuri fillms as well as the excellent "Destinys Son" "Sword Devil" and "The last Samurai" The film was based on a short story written by Yukio Mishima...which when you know how Mishima lived his life and choose to e

There comes a time to throw down

You know a lot of the time we are saving up things for an event, action, time or place somewhere in the future... whether we are trying to save time, money, energy or whatever... it always seems people are waiting... Trying some big artistic or filMIC venture is scary and will probably eat up all your time, money and energy... So I can see why people hesitate to jump in... I used to mosh a lot when I was younger....  you stand at the side of "the pit" it seems chaotic and dangerous...certainly too fast for you to jump in without getting hurt or something... you can wait and wait for a perfect looking moment when it seems like theres enough of a gap but IT NEVER COMES... you just have to make a decision and jump in anyway... you'll get thrashed around for a bit but after you get centered you'll do the thrashing IF you have readily prepared your core skills/abilities for such a venture ^ ^ With art/film life... it always seems like people are waiting for that "

LONG LIVE YOUTUBE! DEATH to OLD MEDIA!

I just read this post by Youtube's main counsel... Viacom's tactics are so hilarious and pathetic 0_o That's why when I had the choice to get mixed up with movie studios and talent agencies or stay independent as a rogue on Youtube...I Choose Youtube...the G team BOI!!!... Google will undermine and destroy all they markets and open up things for people like me... I hope they rid the world of the movie studios, ISP's, TV and Cable networks, Book and Newspaper publishers... I want them all to be dismantled... the world doesn't need them anymore... they are dinosaurs... they are living in the past with they old ways...they are hindering human progress... they are stopping culture... they are preventing the world from becoming a better place!!! So I vow no matter what happens in my career I will never sign any deals with any companies etc that oppose Youtube and or Google... I'm loyal like a samurai retainer ^ ^ EDIT: THIS OLD PASTY RICH BASTARD owns VIACOM

Putting it all together

Ya know before I got into making "videos" or films as a teenager I was trying to make "beats" and the like... starting when I was like 11 I used to record this underground hiphop show then try to like remix the stuff with my dual cassette tape deck... I did that for awhile then used Soundedit16 on a Quadra610... Then I got into making live action films... then I got back into making electronic music, rapping and animation all at the same time bout 2001... and I've continued to do so for like what.... 9 years now? From 2003- 2005 I did live performances of my freakeh music... In 2008 I started doing live visuals for my friends Panthelion.... I also started freestyling a lot for fun.... NOW in 2010... I'm going to combine all that into one thing... I figured out how to create and tweak live electronic madness with Ableton Live while having it all synced to visuals of my creation while I'm rapping and acting like a madman...  It appears as if I will do i

Get LOST when you CAN

I just finished doing four 15-18 hour animation work days in a row... why would I do that? Procrastination beckons to me as it does with anyone else so when I'm tired and faced with a ton of really complex shots I'd rather just sit down and GRIND and GRIND until they are finished without taking a breath because as soon as you stop to take a breath procrastination grabs you... if I let that happen these last few days of work could have turned into 2 weeks easy... its in those times you need to just focus on the task and lose yourself... stay on it and keep fighting no matter what happens... work through it... before you know it the challenge will be over and you'll tell yourself "oh that wasn't so bad" So tenacity is important to work this way... when faced with a challenge I HAVE TO overcome it.. I won't backdown until I have conquered it... some times I'll let it think it beat me and like get in bed... and pretend to sleep... then I'll get back

I'm down with Google... free fruit if you eat the seeds

As I was eating a kiwi this morning.... the fruit! not the people 0_o I thought a bit about how nature works and as my mind was already swirling with thoughts about the Google ad supported future... Let's say tree's were like businesses ^ ^ Tree's give fruit away for "free" to animals... they want the animals to eat as much as they like because after enjoying that fruit they know the animal has to p00 out the seeds thereby leading to more tree's...  So the animals get what they want and the tree's have some HOPE for the future... Now when you give away most of the stuff you make like me... I'm like that tree except I REALLY hope you don't p00 my music or something 0_o  I'll give it away in good faith and hope that you tell someone else about or somethin... ya know plant those seeds ^ ^ Or at least leave them around so they have a chance to grow... So when people talk off this whole like "free culture" thing being new so they can

Helpful 3d character animation e-books

Since I never went to school for animation or took any classes or anything I'm always scouring the internets for useful learning materials... its actually really tough to find free in depth useful learning materials when it comes to 3d character animation... yeah there's tutorials here and there about HOW to set keyframes BUT not much at all about the important things like workflow... the process... when to do what? In what order?! These two free pdf's put out my Animation Mentor have been pretty handy... theres a tip in there about doing the first pass of your scene with the characters legs turned off... I tried it on this scene yesterday where this swordsman runs in and tries to cut someone in half and it worked great... You can get part1 here and part2 Part 1 is almost all information... most of part 2 is like an ad trying to get you to enroll in they school... which I'm sure is great but poor folk like uS can't afford that AND if you TRULY HAVE THE DESIRE yo

What a great idea?! ^ ^ Hollywood studio to make $100,000 films

I was just reading this article about Paramount Pictures starting a new "micro budget" film studio where they will make ten "Crazy...Unpredictable...and Awesome" films a year apparently... Aren’t you tired of being fed the same movies wrapped in different paper?”  “We want to find and distribute crazy, unpredictable, and hopefully awesome movies - movies that make you want to line up to see at your local theater with all your friends (and us).  Movies that a big studio would never release because they’re too risky, too silly, and they don’t star Sandra Bullock.”  Huh that kinda sounds liek what I R about... good thinkin Paramount! ^ ^ Horror films, comedies and animated movies are among the projects the division is aiming to produce, according to a source, targeting moviegoers in the 13 - 34 year old age range. Whoa I'm making an animated horror comedy right now targeting like those moviegoers too?! Fans of the site will be invited into the production pr

Tis who you know or who you BLOW to teh OScars we go!

So to start dis storY....my sister worked in "Hollywood" for like 15 years... She was a location manager/assistant and scout on a bunch of films... she worked with Tim Burton, Ridley Scott and a bunch of other directors in the 80's - 90's... She said Divine almost broke her jeep when she had to give him a ride to the set on "Lust in the dust" haha... I remember her telling me this story about this movie she was working on... she said the director had no idea how to direct or what she was doing... she told me the DP really directed the film and the director even asked her, a location scout how to set up a certain driveway shot which my sister told her how?! She also told me that everyone on the crew knew that this woman only got the job because she was the girlfriend to this bigshot director who would visit the set in his Ferrarri or some shet.... and my sister would yell at him and tell him to move it cause she didn't give a fawk ^ ^ Have you figured

Damage Over Time: A look into my workflow/workload in HSM +

So I got done with animation a little early today..... oh wait now its LATE but whatever I thought I would make dis fancy chart to show you the work I've done and what is ahead for me AND so I can reassure myself that I can handle the work to come ^ ^ Click the image for the full size version... So as you can see its pretty evenly spaced out... the shots were down in Dec/Jan because I was on Xmas break from Dec 19th - Jan 11th so I ramped it up in Feb to make up for it AND made myself sick in the process haha... I try to keep the monthly quota around 4-5 shots a day... I've done as many as 20 a day but thats TOUGH... when there is swordfighting and multiple character action even 5 a day is difficult... I think the longest I've spent on a single shot is around 6 hours... I usually take a little over an hour is things are going smoothly but sometimes little mistakes and glitches can make them drag on for hours.... AND another note on survival...so just o

Gundam Unicorn: Pure WIN mech anime

So I've been watching most all Gundam and Macross stuff for a long time as I do have a thing for mech's ^ ^ I also play the Armored Core series when I can cause like yeh.... BUT ANYWAY this new series just came out called "Gundam: Unicorn" I just watched the first episodes and it is AWESOME it might be the best one yet! They took all the best thangs from the Gundam and MAcross universe and put them in this one with great animation, a compelling story, HIGH drama that brought a tear to meh eye, insane mech tech and crazy battles with beam sabres, laser probes and all kinds of dope shet! So if your looking for something good to watch check it out! I remember the first time I went to Japan I was standing in the middle of the street in Akihabara and G-Gundam was playing on a huge screen on some building... and I looked around and me and all these other geek dudes of all ages were marveling at the supreme power that is SHININGU FINGAHHHH!!! So yeh Japan has been doing

Filmmaker <----> Artist

I'm going to make some generalizations in this post cause life is too short sometimes.... "Filmmakers" as a whole I've found are boring people... I wouldn't call them passionate... I wouldn't call them driven... I wouldn't call them crazy... I wouldn't call them unique and I just wouldn't call them... cause me and them boring muthafuckers just don't get alonG mayne  ^ ^ What I would call them is opportunistic... The "artists" I know hmmm... I would call some of them exciting, passionate, driven, crazy and unique... When I talk to a filmmaker for 5 minutes he/she gives me they like tagline pitch... "I'm working on developing this short film to shoot on the "BLANK" camera its sort of "BLANK" meets "BLANK" I'm getting "BLANKS" brother from "BLANK" Tv show to star in it and we think "BLANK" might be interested in optioning it as a feature"... WHAT TEH FU

DIY or DIE- SINK or SWIM

I've been thinking a lot about survival...how to survive as an independent interneTting artist type person... I survive because of affordable and powerful hardware like the Workstation and lil render farm I put together... big cheap drives... cheap ram etc... A free international exhibition platform like youtube... and I survive because of you... all my supporters who pitch in when things get rough... Now since what I make is so "counter culture"...its like really far from teh mainstream and the bland tastes of the masses... I don't have an audience big enough to make thousands of dollars from adsense revenue on my vids etc... or raise like $50,000 through donations.... but the reason I survive is because I don't need it ^ ^ I'm sure there's a thousand people out there right now trying to raise money to get people to make they 3d animated feature film for them... while I sit here in a bedroom grinding out frames all night... If your one of those people

My lil audio show will go on thanks to you!

Thanks to the mega support by Brad, Adam, Ricky and Jemilla wif they donations I just ordered one of these! So thank you again for supporting weirdo meh... I promise to continue to kick out albums as fast as the madness fires out meh face ^ ^ Shows... about teh radio show if anyone was wondering... I'm so swamped with film work for the time being I probably wont be able to do the show until the end of the year...around October... BUT when I start it up again I'll probably do it weekly instead of monthly ^ ^ Thanks again and BestesT! M doTs Here's the link if anyone wants to get the same thang...  its only $150

What a STRANGE world?! 0_o

So a few years ago I met this guy here in San Jose... and he was all "I want you to do animation for my film Birdemic" he gave me a teaser trailer DVD... I watched it... it was 3 minutes of locked down pans of beaches then a shot of a city with really bad 3d bird animations looping in the sky with random explosions so like... yeh The I saw this posted on some forum... THE ACTUALLY MADE TEH WHOLE MOVIE?!? 0_o Just jump to 1:20 for the amazingness! ^_^ And to think I COULD HAVE WORKED ON THAT... he was actually paying a lot of money...but ya know stupid lil impractical m dot doesn't work like that.

Teh give a weirdo rapper a voice donation drive ^ ^

So some of yall 8 people enjoy my hella rapping and all thats... I've had the same audio interface that I got in 2001 that I've used to record everything I've ever made... it died this week... So I was no way to record wif my microphone now... Some of you expressed some concern as to the loss of my stream of mp3s.... I've consistently put out free music for as long as there's been an internets for me to be on and I want to continue to do so... Heres a bunch of teh free music I have giveNS So I'm like lets try a pledge drive for a new audio interface ^ ^ I started by putting in the money I has right now... here's teh paypal balance... I only need the simplest audio interface with one XLR in with Phantom power... any of these... AudioBox Fasttrack Pro Tascam USB So only like $120 - $180 USD needs to be raised for this... For me, teh new film is my priority so I'll let yall choose whether I keep making tracks or not... I'm aight either way... b

Month END ranT Feb 2010

If ya see my little progress moved up to %40 completion as a month ended... my work is broken into monthly chunks... the last day of the month I backup the render files from that month... then I import and organize them in After Effects and render out proxy quicktime Movs for the offline edit... THEN the first day of the month I look over the storyboards for that months work and rework them if necessary THEN I record the temp voices for the shots in that month and prep any additional 3d objects etc that are required for those shots if I have added anything new in the reworked boards... And thanks for yalls concern with my health... the Dr. didnt like call me or anything after my tests so I guess I'm ok... I started feeling better and I look forward to getting to %50 after this month! So since the months over I'll dump months worth of textS..... CineWHOREquest I've had a chaNCe to watch some films at the Cinequest film fest here in San Jose... and I must say its the