Sony Vegas Pro 11

Looking around on all websites & shops to find the cheapest deal.
I prefer a CD as internet downstairs doesn't work and I don't want to buy it and not be able to use it...
Plus $700 is a tad ridiculous, since you can get it on ebay for $200...
Searching and searching, will have it for next weekend, possibly earlier!

Unfortunately.

Unfortunately however great and simple trakAx is to use, it doesn't support the Chroma Keyer (the effect which takes away all sorts of green screen etc.) And WoW Model Viewer doesn't support a transparent background.
*facepalm* *rage*
I have to wait for my dad to get home to continue VIDEO EDITING.
Before that happens, I'll just record the script and the sound effects. >.>

Just throwing this out there!

http://trakax.com/software/pc/download/
Installing right now, I'll see just how good this is/whether I can use it at all!

Setback/software issues (again!)

I woke up an hour ago with one purpose:
Go downstairs and finish your machinima. Or work on it as much as possible, no facebook, no movies nothing. And so I walk downstairs, sit at my desk, double click "The Last Storyteller" and out of nowhere a pop up comes up saying "Your free trail is up, buy now to continue using" Well played Sony. Well played. No reminders, no such information (maybe somewhere written in font 8) to let me know how long the "trail" is. The full program costs 599$. This will be a fun conversation with my dad.
But before he gets home ill try and do anything else I can on this. I'm definitely not giving up and not letting software bring me down.
Oh and also:

Explanation and more progress

Just came home from Oklahoma (which was a great performance!) and maybe it would be best to explain the short notes I've written.
This is not an outline, nor is it the style of writing I will use in my final write-up!

I simply work much better if I have a sheet with a few key bullet points written down (obviously this required more than that, but you get the idea) and so below this post are the notes for each of the key areas I will explain in my write-up.

Progress - the first 20sec are 70% done (this was after 2 and a bit hours of work) and so this weekend I will try and work my "bum" off to finish as much as I can. If I get over 70% of the project done, I'll be a very happy bunny. I'll try to aim at the full 100% although that would be very difficult.
Right now I'm just taking all the animations, cutting them to appropriate length, adding them to a black background and making one appear after the other.
Once that is done, I will add backgrounds. With the backgrounds added I will fine tune anything that needs to be fine tuned (cut down more, moved around a bit, etc) afterwards simply adding sounds and the spoken track (which will be the shortest step) will result in a completed machinima!
But for now, sleep it is. My eyes feel rather heavy!

(SPOILER: I'm actually really proud of the script)

Rough Notes for Final Write-Up

Notes for Write-Up

Introduction

-Clearly state your goal; to make a movie using the recent developed technique of machinima.

-Talk about new and upcoming style of film making; machinima, mention your research and it’s beginnings.

-Inspiration: Since I watched TotP3 I was inspired to one day make a machinima. As I verged deeper and found more machinimators and more movies that made me laugh or that I really enjoyed, I simply knew that for a personal project a machinima would be my product.

-AoI: Human Ingenuity (I fully explained this on a handout, thus a small bullet point) Movie making is all about human ingenuity. The script, the actors, the costumes, the voices, they are all created to find a new form of entertainment for us as every movie varies, either in plot, special effects, actors, etc. Not only is machinima a totally new way of movie making on its own, my movie also focuses on the art of creating such stories and what impact it has on people!

-The format I selected is a machinima movie, and this was for a couple of reasons. Normal movies take too long and are too difficult to make over such a short period of time, I was fascinated by machinima since a year or two, allows me easy access to a later career (machinimators get payed quite a fine amount and their work is enjoyable) and because I love video games and anything relates to them, therefore the idea of a machinima excites me!

-changes: I had to change my script a several times. The main reason for this was time, there wasn’t enough time to make an advanced, fully voice acted machinima without any prior knowledge on the subject. After changing the script, I also abandoned the idea of a “live-action voice acted movie” meaning that the story would be told as a flashback by just one voice (me!) This is far easier and faster then having multiple characters acted by various people. There were also changes in the software, I ended up using other programs than I primarily thought I would use due to most of them not functioning correctly!

Description of Process

-       In here include the various youtube links, the guide from buffed (magazine) and interview with TauriMovies to clearly show how I found out how to machinimate, what it means and how it works.

-       From the various techniques that exist for machinima making, I used the WoW Model Viewer to extract models from the game, dress them up however I want and animate them with their preset animations from within the game against a green screen. Afterwards I put it together in Sony Vegas Pro, which is a very tricky and time taking process. I recorded sound with Garage Band, extracted it and added it onto the machinima. I then took sounds from the WoW folder using an MPQ extractor and added actual in-game sounds to the machinima. Lastly I took backgrounds from WoW Map Viewer and added them behind all the scenes.

-       There were many other techniques to use, but in my personal opinion none of them looked as good as the one I used in the end result. There was the WoW machinima tool which allows you to change around the game world while you’re playing the game, but I found that rather annoying as there is a very limited amount as to what you can do with your actual character in the actual place he’s in. Also you can’t equip him with any clothing, he must have the gear that you obtained in game. (And picking the clothing can take up to an hour per character)

-       AoI links, as mentioned above these are all listed on a piece of paper, I can scan it in and upload it to my process journal

Analysis

-Inspiration: TotP3, Oxhorn’s short shorts, Druidboyz, GiGi, Nyhm, The Hunt, and various other small comedy machinima skits (Who’s the tank, Do you speak English, how to not be seen)

-Reflect on methods used: I think that the method I used has a lot of positive sides but also some negative side effects. The positive sides are that this is the most widely used method for machinima making (WoW machinima at least), it is recognized as a standard if one wants to work for machinima. It is also the simplest way, where the user barely needs to research to know what he’s doing. The side effects are that most of the software one uses in this method are created by very small group of hardcore game fans and so the software will often have bugs and not function properly as the small teams do not have enough resources to spend on constantly improving their programs. That is definitely a major setback but nothing that can’t be worked out.

-I had to do a lot of changes to my original idea and I’m quite glad I did! My first idea for a script wasn’t as good as this one (in my opinion) and the various software changes I did, either from programs used or how I used them also surprised me in a positive way!

-Why I did things the way I did them: I wanted to create a machinima that would be enjoyed not only by gamers and young kids but also by adults. This required an interesting story and no gaming references. I needed to make the viewer feel as if he was watching a short movie, and not a video game montage. Therefore I have written a script, which in my opinion would interest people of all ages. The software doesn’t really require much explanation, I needed to put the machinima together, make it look good but also make sure it doesn’t take too long! I made sure to choose the fastest and most efficient ways to do so, with software I used previously (WoW Model Viewer) or software with plenty of online tutorials and such, so I wouldn’t need to buy a book or read the instructions manual.

Conclusion

-What I found difficult in my project was actually quite surprising. It wasn’t the multitude of software issues, or the fact that at first nothing wanted to work and a lot of time and money was spent on something which ended up a bummer. The biggest problem for me was to sit down and edit the entire machinima. Video editors know what it’s like. When all you do for several hours is stare at long, thin strips (timelines) and move them left to right, cut bits and pieces out, stick them together, etc, etc, it gets pretty boring. A machinimator has an even more dull task as the video he is editing has nothing already put together. This means he must add the backgrounds, add the characters, place the characters where he wants them, move the characters where he wants them to be, then edit all of that together and add sounds. It’s not necessarily more difficult, just very time taking and over a long period of time; dull. And that was the biggest issue for me, the rest I found easy, as creating a good scene or cut was quite fun, to play around with camera angles and feel like a director. But the repetitive nature of the production period kept putting me off slightly from continuing my work.

-AoI – once again, it’s all on a piece of paper!

-Strengths and weaknesses: As my first try in machinima (not in movie making!) I have to say that I’m quite pleased with how it’s turning out. Although as mentioned above, quite dull and repetitive, I think that it’s not the worst machinima I’ve seen. It could of course be improved and it isn’t on a level of Oxhorn or TauriMovies (two famous WoW machinimators) but for a beginner I’m quite pleased. To be honest I’m also happy about the script that I’ve written, and the response I get when I tell people my story or the script is always very positive and the person seems interested!

The weaknesses are definitely the short period of time I had to this (blaming myself and software) (although software just slightly) without such a time restriction I could study more on lighting, camera angels, successful usage of Sony Vegas and so on. This is the tricky part in machinimating, not only do you need to know how to machinimate, you should know everything a good director knows as well as you’re creating a movie. Other than that the only other weakness I have is that I wasn’t able to use all the settings that I wanted to, since WoW map viewer doesn’t work right for over a year now, and was never fixed.

-I always wondered what it would be like to be a machinimator as a career, and I found it interesting enough to consider a career (at least at a young age) but after looking at the general response YouTube has towards WoW machinima, the amount of time and resources it takes (forcing me to use a windows computer, ugh) I was put off slightly from the idea. I’ll see what my subscribers and fans think of the machinima, and if it receives positive feedback I might make another and submit it to machinima to earn money. I do not however see this as a career choice anymore, although I still believe that it is a very interesting, new and developing art. A new art form that is just rising and will be fascinating to observe how it evolves in the future.

Progress!

Since I've come back on late Sunday morning, I didn't have much time to work on my personal project. Monday was taken up by a chemistry write-up, and during the four day weekend I had no access to a computer or anything I've done so far. But today was spent straight on working on personal project, and I'm actually quite pleased with how much worked out!
I have the first 20 seconds of the video 80% DONE! All the animations are in place, one or two of them need a bit of editing (very easy, which is why I focused on other things) and I think they will fit quite nicely with my voice acting!
Right now I only have the characters moving to a black background, and the scenes are literally just chunks (shows one guy talking, then 4 people casting a spell, then some characters dying, etc, etc) but using movie transitions (lighting, speed of movie) it will look fantastic when done with it!
I will then add backgrounds and sounds (plus of course voice acting!)
I am now sure I can finish this before christmas!
For the past 30 minutes I have also been working on notes for my report.
Now notes because I hate writing things twice (I barely ever edit any of my work.... even essays and such) This is why I'm making notes which will be a huge help to me in writing my final report!
Maybe not everyone would say the same, but when I have simple and general notes based on a subject I know a lot about, it's very easy for me to hugely expand on them, add detail, refer to my knowledge and research, etc.
Therefore, notes.
Right now I have the goal and the AoI done, meaning I still have some work before uploading the notes on here on Thursday!
With this small entry, back to work it is!