Hey!

Audio/video sync is shaping up nicely!  I am being hindered by the frame processing that I need to do before I can animate with them!  But that is 85% complete, and I'm able to get enough done to sync about 25 seconds per day!  There are thousands of frames of animation in the very long segment 2, which is even longer than segment 1!  It takes a long time for Vegas Studio to perform even a second of adding frames to the project!  But Each segment of episode 3, like episodes 1 and 2, are individual files, so once I get to the very short segments 3 and 4, syncing will be a breeze once again.

Episode 3 is the final episode animated with the original camera.  From episode 4 on, processing frames will be much more straightforward.  Not only that, there will be fewer frames that will have to be "fixed" to reduce light flicker, and any flicker that DOES exist is very minor and infrequent.  As for episode 3, once all the audio-video sync is complete, i do have to finish "fixing" some of the severely messed-up frames in Corel Photo-Paint while the sound effects are added.

Very excited for this episode, which I hoped to have completed about 8 months ago.  Oh, I made a hard drive backup, which I didn't do in a few weeks, so if something goes wrong, the project can resume at that point, with little to redo.  21000 files, including 13000 still frames.  24 Gigabytes of information!  30 minutes to back up!  WHEW!

I use Vegas 11.  Importing a frame at a time isn't the problem; I prefer to work this way.  It's the delay as it imports the frame.  But if you know of the function, LMK and I'll look into it.  Maybe it can aid me.

Oh, okay.  It does look it's handy in some situations, but I'd rather manipulate every individual frame, as I sometimes re-use frames, sometimes reuse them in reverse order (like when a character turns his/her hand then turns it back), use a frame for varying lengths of time, etc.  Still, I will try it and see if it helps.  Also, can you tell me if it uses non-destructive editing?  The contrast/brightness settings of a few frames will be adjusted using an outside program.

Each of a Holding Our Own episode's four segments is an individual project.  So every time I start a new segment, I'm back to working at full speed again.   Segments 1 and 2 in episode 3 were both 9 minutes long.  Now that I'm into segment 3, things are back to full speed.  They won't get nearly as bogged down as the animation in the first two segments were, because they will be very short: segment 3 is estimated to be four minutes.  Segment 4 is estimated to be two minutes.  After segment 4, I'm done!  Then it's just a matter fixing extremely deviant frames and adding the sound effects (and sending the 10 second song to Brick 7 to sing), and it's finished!!!!

Easter Sunday was a time for family and to celebrate the ressurection, and so I rested from animation for one day.

On Easter Monday, over 40 seconds of animation was placed into the video.  According to the one page of script = one minute, I'm within 3 minutes of the end of the episode, excluding the closing credits, which don't take long to produce.

While polishing up a few of the frames, anf by that I mean simply reducing lighting variance and adjusting frames that aren't stable, I will finally get that arrangement mastered for the organist in the church scene, one of a couple pieces of audio still not recorded.  I'll insert that as I insert the sound effects.  I expect to use more sounds that episodes 1 and 2 combined!  There's also the laugh track, which is only in the first six minutes so far.  My library includes over 300 laughs, almost all of them taken from three seasons of "Everybody Loves Raymond".  They were all painstakingly edited and processed to be as clean as possible.  I don't think the sound work will require over a week's time.  It all rides on how long the simultaneous frame fixing takes.

I'll be relieved to finish this episode, as it took much longer than expected, and it's really episode 4 that I want to do.  I honestly think that my writing skills improved around that time.  In a self-assessment, I think episodes 4-6 are funnier and have more engaging plot lines than 1-3 (2 is my favorite in the "Trilogy").  This is perfect, as it matches where my new camera comes into play!  I hope you tune in beyond episode 3, and let me know if you also think episode 4 shows an improvement!

A few other things to do are to make the teaser commercial, and after posting, putting together the DVD.  One of the many extras on the DVD includes a projected commentary track with myself and Eric Kutepow, the voice of Mark Manchester.   The Epiosde 2 DVD has a really awesome commentary track with Mary Charles (Brick 7) and I discussing the show's production.  She's just as awesome in the commentary as she is as Angela!  There are tons of other extras as well.  LMK if you want an episode 2 DVD.

Last edited by HoldingOurOwn (April 7, 2015 (07:00am))

- Laugh track is complete.  Now compiling sound effect list for the episode.  It should be only 2-3 days work to finish that.
- Working on fixing some frames.  This will take longer.  Maybe a week.  This is being done at the same time as the sound work.
- That's it!  Expect a commercial soon!

Audio is finished, with the exception of a few changes in musical parts and some background vocal ambience!  Yay!
I'll be recording the audio for the trailer today.

I've started fixing what I call "errant frames": still shots that have major light variance or bumpiness.  I'm fixing the worst offenders.  Here's my system:

1) If it's a dialogue sequence, where frames are used multiple times, or any keyframe, I fix the lighting of every frame possible and adjust the picture's vertical position.  Most of the "bump" problems have to do with the vertical position, not horizontal.  Here's how I fix a frame: I make a copy of an adjacent frame that's correctly positioned.  I open that frame and the one that needs fixing in a Photoshop type program.  I'll superimpose the frame that needs fixing atop the adjacent frame, then move it vertically a few pixels until the frames are lined up.  Then I save the adjusted frame and give it the filename of the frame it replaced.  I thought I'd share that process with everyone because you may find it useful if you ever have a stray frame that's not in position!

2) If it's a motion sequence that's only used once, I fix as many lighting variances as I can, but only fix the bumping on keyframes or ones that are really bad.  My old camera (which I retired from brickfilming) was the cause of it, not me bumping it, and the problem is rare with my new camera.  So I am only fixing the worst offenders in such sequences and allowing the improvement to show by episode 4!  So when you watch episode 3, please keep in mind that this really was a struggle compared with episodes 1 and 2, and so you will see technical issues on screen, but keep in mind that they were much worse than what you will see!

Once I complete this process, I'll be making the final render for Vimeo.  Scheduled ETA of Episode 3 is about 10 days.

I kept a nice log of the episode 3 process on my tumblr page, complete with pictures.  If you want to see what's coming, just visit http://holding-our-own.tumblr.com

Last edited by HoldingOurOwn (April 16, 2015 (06:40am))

Neat! I'll watch it when it comes out!

"Bless you for making this." -Sloth 2016 * on "Chicken Shaped Lighthouse Attacks Police"

Ephesians 4:29 -"Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers."

All that remains is a bit of dialogue I had to add.  Waiting for the voice work to come back.  That all that awaits before the final render.

Excited yet tired.