Since you're doing a war movie, You're probably going to want some gun flares at some point. I wrote a detailed description on how I do flares a while ago, and it may or may not be useful to you.
*le link to gun flare how-to
I'd recommend doing it with more realistic colours though.

I too animate with no frame capture software, I'm pretty weird. This has it's downsides, but I think I've proven that you can still make a good film without it.
I'd suggest getting a wire remote for your camera, this way, you can take pictures without touching it and bumping it, which adds a horrid shake through the film.
If you cannot get one, use a short 2 second timer, and be very careful. This can sometimes mitigate that sort of wiggle, as it moves slightly when you touch it.

For microphones I used a Logitech 600 for several years, which has decent quality, and I don't think they're incredibly expensive, but I've now switched to the Blue Snowball, which is really, really great.
For audio recording and editing, I'd recommend downloading a free program called Audacity.

24 FPS is quite an ambitious undertaking. Are you sure you can pull it off? If you can't do it really well, I'd recommend practicing a whole lot, or possibly moving down to 15 which can still look really, really nice if you are really skilled and careful.

Regardless of what you plan, it's a good idea to do lots of test animations and post them on the internet to get peoples thoughts on them.
I made a load of tests just recently to get back into the swing of things (it's the second link in my signature), and it can be really helpful.

I hope that I've been somewhat helpful. Welcome to BiM.

Okay guys I set up a vimeo for tests, and once I start actual animation I will set up a youtube.

Last edited by PrestigePie (June 22, 2012 (06:17am))

Here's Another Update for those who it concerns:
The humvee with all the PMW's onboard

Shooting range, doubles as a hobo area, I know any area is a hobo area, but this is his "home"

A cave with a truck filled with terray, the crystal that triggers chemicals to bind rapidly.

It'll look better in the movie, the bright colors are to make it look ghetto. And I especially didn't want it to look like a giant cinder block. I realize how it can be unappealing and sloppy, but it actually took a lot of time and detail to the interior and making it look sloppy yet still like a building, not a slab of vomit.

yeah I have spent the last week working on taking it apart then putting it back together with darker better colors. some are harder to get to than others so I'm still working on it. on sunday I'll probably post pictures of the interior of the hotel. It's really cool and detailed.

You know, you don't have to update it daily. ANP updates his thread (I am the Night) only every once in a while, and BuilderBrothers updated their's semi-weekly until production was temporarily halted.

These threads are for when you have updates, it's not like a blog where you're locked into saying something on a regular basis. If you want to leave it alone for a while that's fine, there's no need to lock it.