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Today is the end of everything...I was rushing in the morning to finish up finalsing the script and the write up about Crewsade...I got to say that I was kind of rude to ignore people talking to me, to cut the queue at Xorex and to just be a loner. However, there were greater things at stake and to heck with all formalities and stuff, I am the type of person that would do anything to accomplish a given task, especially when im minutes away from the deadline.
I finally took a breather while I watch the hardcopy of the script pass onto the hands of Wahidah, I ended the race there. Oh yea...there is still this blog thing that I have to print out and submit on Monday, no worries, I still have got 3 more days.
Sometimes, I prefer to be caught up with a little work so that I won't spend my time idling at home doing nothing. Then again, I would have the time to impove and research on stuff like editing, VFX, getting better camera angles & playing around more with lightings. Oh well, lets go those things started.
I really learnt a lot in this 2 months of Project 1. I realised that 1 man show is not the way to go about doing things. More rather, teamwork and magnifying & supporting each other is equally important. There is no such things as "Most Valued Person" for everyone is of great value and no one can do anything without the other. I am very proud of Crewsade, and most of all, our work.
However, like I said in the video "Normal is good, just like the rest. But its not the best" Although we are more than normal, we will not be complacent and lift our heads. I will definately continue to learn from more sources. To be honest, I think that everyone in Moi is definately good in something of their own. What Mr Ronald said was right, we should share our knowledge and help each other improve. Of course, there must be a case of give and take....haha.
My last words before I end this blog...The "best" are not defined by the people, for everyone's "best" differs from each other.
Crewsader...out~
We were excited, we knew how well we fared, we were ready.
However, I can't say the same for the other groups for some of them were still rendering files, some had technical issues, some weren,t even in school yet. Well, I guess al groups have got their troubles, so did ours, except that we saw all these coming. Raj told us to be early, I guess he made his point. He took the trouble to make sure everything would be in place, we learnt our lessons from the previous issues of puncutality. We made it happen by juts arriving on time, in fact, the first group to be at the location of the screening seession.
How ironic, the first will be the last, that sounds firmilar, I remembered somewhere in the bible that said something like that, except, in our case, its not realy a bad thing. Well, Crewsade sat through the whole screening and we saw what the other groups did. I thought to myself that we were facing some competition of being the best, my resolve was slightly shaken.
I personally like some like Snap and Stickman productions...I think that they were pretty good in terms of the effects and the content. I realised that some groups forgot their content which I thought was a pity for they had pretty good effects.
It was finally our turn. I felt this tinge of tension within, it wasn't a bad feeling, more rather, a good tension. Its like we know that we have done our best and this is it. I was so encouraged by the murmurs and wows that were emited from the audiences. The sudden clapping delivered in the middle of the showcase by Mr Ronald really took me off. I felt really encouraged. Then the clapping of all that were awed by our production, our hardwork and discipline in it. I've made it happen, no wait. CREWSADE MADE IT HAPPEN!!!
I was so relieved that it was over and we received such feedback. There was no need for words, it was more than words.
Special thanks goes to Raj Greg & Wendy...thank you guys for making it happen...Raj the leader, Greg the encourager & Wendy the most discipline. Words cannot contain the praise and feelings I have for you guys, just realise it in your hearts.
I would also like to thank those that stood by us, you know who u are, we love you all. Oh yea...and to the lecturers too, well, you wouldn't turn us down if we come to you. You guided us and helped us when to grow in this project.
Thank God for making a way when there seems to be no way. Thank you for making it happen.
Its the final interim, or rather, consultation.
I watched the results of what Raj did. I was taken aback. I could not believe my eyes that we actually done that. It was not just me, Wendy and Greg had the similar expression that I carried upon viewing what was almost finished. However, there were still some minor issues that Wahidah pointed out while going through the video like our voices competing with the background music. Well, I can say that I am very satisfied with the results, however, we have come so far so just take in all the comments and make it as perfect as it can be...
I am really grateful that I have such wonderful teammates for we all share the same goals and mentaility which was to be the best among the whole batch of Moi...but its not decided yet...theres still one more day before we prove ourselves. The comments of "you can't do it", "its too epic, too ambitious", "just play safe" and many other discouraging phrases that on the contrary boosts our moral.
What can I say, I like being the underdog sometimes.
Oh yea, I finished watching my animae till its lastest episodes, looks like I did had lots of time to spare.
I haven't updated for sometime from the last time cuz I practically had nothing to do for my role was over and Raj is taking over post production. Greg and Wendy are working on their animation I guess.
Its the first interim that we had and we showed Wahidah our progress so far...well she pointed out some very essential stuff that were in or not in the video. Well, I can't really remember what they were, it was some issues with the ideation takes and the articulation of our voices if I am not wrong. I have to confess that I am a man of blurred words for I tend to speak fast and due to that, I mumble without realising. Oh well, I believe in Raj's ability to make it right, though I know it is going to be hard for him.
Raj rushed for the interim thus he was deprived of sleep and he made some mistake in the renders, but I guess it does not matter much for it is just and interim. What counts is the final thing that we are going to present that will rock people off their chair and applauses will follow after. I can't wait for that day. In the meanwhile, I just have to trust on my other group members to finish up the remaining unfinished work.
I shall go research on animae, in other words, just watch the whole 100 over episodes.
Whatever we do, we had to complete the scroll scene by today, so it wont burden the time slot of post production.
We came to school with that goal in mind and prepared ourselves with lighters to burn the paper for a rather more ancient look. We learnt that no one in the freaking school would lend us a lighter even if they had one so yea(its exceptional for a person that I am really grateful towards)
We burnt the papers that we cut up, 21 in total including the actual scroll. In the midst of it, Alfie told us that coffee stains would bring out that effect even more...and so we went along with that idea. Its no wonder he teaches ideation.
With that done, after all the staining burning and drying, we rushed to our spot which was the bridge towards the library to setup the scene. We underestimated the scene. Thus, there were many problems like too little scrolls, we had to run up and down to pass the scrolls around, the wind that will blow the scrolls off course and etc.
IT WASN"T EASY I MUST SAY! We took like a lot of shots and I was getting a little hot then. But a cool mind was needed for success so yea...I chilled and continue with the shots. In the end, we didn't really get the exact shots that we had in mind, but Raj said that he can handle it...so I would just leave it all to him from then on...and this marks the end of the our production period.
Our goal was to finish up our production by filming the last and final scroll scene.
Although we had long decided on an original idea of how the scene is going to go about, however, it seems that instead of making things clearer, it created more misunderstandings. My view was pretty much different from what the rest had in mind. I must say that I was thinking a little too off the track by trying to come up with an idea of an arrow flying pass.
We were all pretty jaded for a while, however, we realised that we can never move on and things like this should have never happened in the first place. Thus, everyone tried thinking of ways to compromise for each of our personal ideas, to prevent further minor conflict. We finalised our idea within an hour, but we decided to film some other minor scenes like individual introduction scenes.
We started off with a group scene, with us walking in a very suave manner just beside the flag poles outside the corridors of Applied Science school. That was pretty easy and after a few takes, I felt that the last one should work out and carried on with Greg's individual scene. It was then where we experienced accident on the set. Well you see, Greg did not possess the ability to climb a ledge that is a just a little over his head thus, Raj tried to show him how. Raj failed. He injured his shin and was in pain. I had no choice but to quickly enlighten Greg, finish up his shot and render aid to Raj.
With that, Greg accompanied Raj to the medic room while I moved on to Wendy's shot. Its not like I did not want to help Raj but we were pressing for time and I had to make sure we finish by today. I am sorry bro, I am sure that was what u wished too...
It seemed that Raj was doing pretty well, at least he can still walk so we did his scene. It was pretty special I guess as he was the only one to get the unique way of introduction as we intended on him to get across to the middle of the fountain to get his shot taken. It looked pretty cool. How did we do that without getting wet? Simple, we used chairs borrowed from design school.
Finally it was my turn. I insisted on the amphitheatre for I really like that place and my group members had no qualms with it. So we decided on that area. I got to admit, my shot was pretty hard for there was no fixed concept and we were all trying out new angles. Greg did a great job in risking his life by climbing on top of 2 chairs at the peak of the amphitheatre. I am grateful. With that, it sums up for the day.
We could not finish the scroll scene, so we didn't really accomplished the target for the day but oh well, days like this are always around. We will just have to learn how to make use of the next day. In all, I considered it a good day for there were much learnt.
I went to school only to see Raj's lamp complete in action. I was like wow, thats really good! There are some funny things about the action though but it should be fine. He really made the lamp looked as if it was part of the picture. I think the lecturers that saw it would also give their approval of the work that he had done. Good effort.
We then headed off to the amphitheatre to finish up drawing essentials. We started off by planning the shots and where would the set be. We were pretty ambitious about this shots as we decided to use fast and slow motion in it. The thing is, I have never done anything like it and I am the one being filmed together with Wendy. Well, Raj said he knew how to take care of it, so that means all I had to do was just shoot things as per normal.
With that done, We wanted to move on to a reshoot of 2D art fundamentals. However, Greg had to fix his macbook so we idled till 6 before we actually started to reshoot.
This time, we weren't really concerned about the background noises for it was pretty quiest that day and the lighting were better of compared to the previous shoot.
We finally finished around 9, Raj and Wendy took their leave while Greg & I went for dinner. To sum the day up in a word : Tiring.
Its my turn to be shot, not really shot as in gunshot but camera shot, never mind.
The initial plan was to shoot at the Project1 classroom, however, I felt that it didn't really had anything to do with Photography or video fundamentals. Thus Greg and I went to look around and finally we found our ideal room.
I must say that it was the first time I have been in there, it was really creepy initially. The atmosphere was chilly and the area looked as though some murderous incident took place. Oh well, its just part of my wild imagination, after all...its just the very famous darkroom of Design school.
I tried to look for the switch to light up that area, however, we walked one big round and into the dark area. It was so dark, I couldn't even see my fingers. We didn't realised that we had actually walked one big round until we arrived at the entrance, where all the light switch were, something that we didn't take note of in the first place.
Raj then arrived, followed by Wendy then we started setting up the place, we decided to to use the walkway towards the room with red light for it gave a very interesting perspective and the lighting were ideal as it gave a warm feel to the shots.
For this shot, we decided to apply some new techniques like a very slow pan that reveals more of the area. We also thought of the idea of using the reflection to give an interesting composition. I can really rely on my teammates for they are rather skilled in doing all these too. Kudos to them.
I was actually surprised that Greg's hands were very firm in terms of handling the camera. Together with Wendy's role of maintaining the sound and Raj's directing the the scene, we were done in no time and I think we only used a small portion of the tape. All was finished fast that day, good job Crewsade.
The day started off with the criteria of finishing Raj's part on 3D animation.
Its about time that we film Raj, he's the last that we have yet to film. like what a cinematographer would usually do, I design the set using whatever Raj have got. I must say, he really got a lot of toys, kind of like me when I was a kid. Then moving on to the lightings & composition of the shot, Man, I sure love doing all those.
Greg again was just being himself, tying to lure Raj's attention away or rather, make him laugh, that guy is really one heck of an annoying person sometimes, we were like being serious and he was making fun out of it. It didn't really matter because Raj was not really affected, ok, maybe he was a little affected.
The process of shooting wasn't as easy as we expected it to be. We had serveral takes for some shots as it was not what we intended it to be. An example would be the last scene whereby Raj was supposed to say "You may ask me, why spend so much time on it? I would say, why not?" Greg didn't agree with the last sentence, he said didn't make sense. He said that it was confusing, I said it was film lingo. Well we finally agreed on sticking to that line for I thought that it would really set an impression. It kind of like my style to set people thinking for every module so that it would be interesting and interactive. To put it bluntly, it done so to either make the audience stay or prevent sleepers. The short discussion proved to be beneficial for it shows that everyone in the group is thinking, at least thats what I feel.
The final scene would be done with an animated lamp that Raj is going to create. I think that he is really working hard on this subject. Its not easy to create something like that. I learnt that in animation funadamentals. Let's just wait for the final piece to be done and appreciate the effort we put in...
