fae_alba

I hope that isn't the formal launch announcement. That will need a fresh new thread to get everyone's attention with the rules and guidelines and downloads front and center at the very top so no one can reasonably miss them. Don't launch this yet. no, simply just trying to let folks know that things are moving forward, albeit a tad slow.

I'm looking over mouseman's project right now. But I have a few thoughts on the overall concern of the size of the set. In my mind, unless your short requires a view of the whole set, you don't need it. The most you should need is enough of the exterior building for the opening and closing frames that I will use to set the fade ins and outs. I would imaging that unless you want to use the apartment models done for the set, you can get started on your chors without it. What I intend to do with my piece is to simply copy the model for the scene I want to another one, then work from that. Hopefully Robcat will be kind enough to come up with a list of camera settings for everyone to use (since I'm not totally up to speed on that just yet) that everyone can adhere to. The long and the short of it is I see no reason why everyone can't start working on their projects. Mousemans (Chris Daley) has been kind enough to set up a svn project with credentials for our "public" consumption. But I've noticed that there are some action files missing from the repository, and since he is on vacation until the 29th, I'll hold off just a little bit longer in releasing the info to get to the project. If anyone hasn't used svn, or doesn't want to install it on their machines I'll set up an ftp account so you can grab an archive of the project. Get to work. Block out your scene, work on the acting, then when the set is released you can put it together with the opening and closing frames.

go for it Rob

Robcat, I might be missing something but... I just cracked open your project, and while I find your set of 23 images, but I see no change between them. The project only has a begin and end keyfram for shaggy. Was there to be more, or were you just trying to set length and scene? That is intentional. I did that to test the process. A finished segment would have Shaggy performing something in the middle but the beginning and end might be very similar to what is there now and the beginning and end are what you will need to engineer transitions to and from. What I did is within "the rules" as we have them now. If something like that absolutely cannot be transitioned to/from then we will want to think about the rules more before this project is launched for real. But I think a transition can be engineered for something like that. No prob...just wanted to be sure

Robcat, I might be missing something but... I just cracked open your project, and while I find your set of 23 images, but I see no change between them. The project only has a begin and end keyfram for shaggy. Was there to be more, or were you just trying to set length and scene?

dude, get the hell out of there. There is such a thing as home work balance (even though I don't pay much attention to that myself)!

First off, send your tests to me..you can upload to the same ftp site you got the project from.. I have several thoughts: 1) if we are to be stringent with our adaptation of Hitchcock's movie then we need to stick with the one camera location. I had thought that we could be a bit more loosely, and allow all of the apartments to be used. 2) if we are to stay within Hitchcock's movie, then yes, windows will need to be reused. I'll just break them up when assembling the final movie 3) when doing your clip, you needn't worry about the pan into or out of your window; that's for me to do. 4) if your story needs to be day or night, do it that way; I'll assemble them to make the time consistent across all submissions. 5) as for the final camera settings, I'm not entirely up on that, so I'm hoping that someone will specify that for all of us.

Robcat, I tried sending you an email a few weeks back, but it was bounced because your inbox was full. For the test I'm looking for a simple animatic, so I have something to experiment with. I'd say that for the submissions, the same criteria used for "Bus Stop" would do.

Gotcha, then why not go for the apartment 5?

45?!? 45?!? try 49..try working 2 jobs just to get by (barely) try paying college tuition bills for 4 people, with another starting up in a year. Try getting a job offer for $100 an hour, for six months. Only hitch, is it's in Boston, and I'm in Albany, NY, so I'd have to drive 4 hours there, put myself up for 4 days, away from home and hearth. Pay my own health insurance, taxes (%40 of gross) then run the risk of being unemployed after wards. After considering all that, believe it or not, I think I have to pass on the gig; risks are way too much, keeping in mind I have a family to look after. My current job has me working every day (worked over Christmas as well as New Years without so much as a thank you), had to give up a weeks worth of scheduled vacation for my daughters' wedding. Hate the job, hate the schedule, but it pays the bills. Will, your project is great, your art is fantastic. I've watched you develop it for quite some time. If you have money in the bank to pay the bills, keep the lights on, if you think you can turn Zandoria into a viable business entity, go for it. Wish I could do the same. At some point down the road, we all are going to look back on our lives and wonder if we really enjoyed living it, or regret the missed opportunities. Believe it or not, I started typing this response intending to consul you to keep the job, and carve out time on the side; but now, if you can swing it, go for it. You never know, you might be able to parley it into a silver screen project.

why not the picnic table?

First off, my apologies for my tardiness. My day job has had me balls to the walls for since the beginning of December. But I'm trying tonight to get things moving again. The first thing I need to update you with is a misstep on my part with the room numbering I released a while ago. I numbered the rooms without really cracking open the set. What I discovered later on (and the folks working on the test projects as well) is that the windows belong to multi-room apartments. What this means is that some of the windows that you have called for overlap others. This is illustrated here: I made the outer wall transparent so you can see the apartments. Here are the current room reservations: window number name 16 ernesttx 25 nancygormanzano 12 bruce del porte 8 paul forwood 22 ilidrake 7 Mouseman / shelton 13 thekamps 1 glob studios I need paul forwood, and thekamps to choose another room. To help with that, here is the side building for you to pick from. This image doesn't have numbering on it, but let's number this from the ground up, Apartment 5, Apt6, and Apt 7.

That does look better.

Can i do a test segment? of course! I'll set up the ftp tonight (I'm at work right now)

If you still need people to put together shots for experimenting putting things together, Steve Shelton and I can put something together, especially if it means that we get quicker access to the general set. Let me know, my email is mouse at intranet dot org. I just need something to test transitions to from a short. I can work one up too, so if you and Shelton give me a quick bit that'd be great. Send me your email to pappbearstudio at gmail.com and I'll forward to you ftp acct info to grab the project [Edit] Corrected email: pappabearstudio@gmail.com

as long as it takes to tell your story (and get it done, of course)

you got it...

Since shots from this vantage are only to be used to establish the scene, and to provide transitions from one short to the next it is really irrelevant to what each contributor will be doing. You will simply animate your scene as you see fit, I'd think typically as seen thru a window up close. Deal with your short, don't worry about the rest. Having said that, let's get moving. Who's in, what window do you want, who wants to put together a quickie or two so I can experiment while the shorts are being done...no more debating over establishing shots.

agreed

So with a window to anchor the view, this looks ok...

exactly my point Robert.. This is largely what the link I provided yesterday describes. A master shot to give the viewer such things as time of day, location etc. If a scene changes from night to day, another master shot is inserted to give that transition...But we need the opening master shot to start it off, then fit the other shots in as we get them, using whatever transition device we need to make it work.

The issue with the original camera positions is that it is floating in space. If the foucs of this project is to as closely match Hitchcock's movie, then the POV needs to be anchored to a room, or in this case the fire escape. Yes, from that vantage, it limits the scene somewhat, but we are not locked into that position for the entireity of the work. Master shots, as well as shorter pieces involving the alley, and courtyard are all possible, as long as there is something, sounds whatever, that provides a method to tie it all together from one shot to another. I don't want this to be nothing more than a bunch of shorts strung together, that won't work for me. There are two threads going on in the forum of folks wanting to be involved in a project that they can point to and say, I'm proud to have been a part of that project; and also to say that project was done in A:M. My goal is to do that with this community project. For that reason, I want employ as many best practices as possible. The most important, for me at least, is continuity.

OK, so objections noted. I'm saying that these are the only options, but rather the pov of the camera. Shots can be all over the courtyard. Interesting side note, I was out looking for clips of Hitchcock's mover Rear Window, I came across this site. Good read on the movie as well as movie making. Essentially scenes can be anywhere, as long as there is some continuity to it, which is the point of the practice round. Rear Window Continuity

so here's a start. Pick a window, any window. What I think will work best is for those who want to contribute to call dibs on a window by reserving a number. First come first serve. If you think you can crank out a concept quick enough let me know and I'll get you the project. This a way I can work out transitions, etc ahead of time then we'll open it up to the world to have at it. So look over the scene, pick a number, then respond here. The first 3 to volunteer for a quickie raise your hand.

I'm on it! I've got the project in my hot little hands. What I was intending on doing was creating a still to show the pov of the camera, so that contributors can pick windows. Then as suggested 2 or three initial contributors to work up at least an animatic so transitions can be planned before I get inundated with a nutload of shorts to put together. So tonight, I'll have the still, then we can take it from there.