Kid Scorpion

5 replies [Last post]
NotQuiteSpielberg
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Joined: Aug 3 2007

Hi,
First time post, first time movie :)
Hope you enjoy it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVjXzUI788g

Thanks

Rob James
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Joined: Jun 26 2001

Welcome NQS,

Lots of fun! The graphics are very good.

I could pick holes in the sound (but then I'm a dubbing mixer by profession). Tell us more about your circumstances and ambitions for this and we can be more helpful.

A nice story, well told, with a beginning, middle and end.

Rob The picture is only there to keep the sound in sync

NotQuiteSpielberg
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Joined: Aug 3 2007

Hi,
Thanks for your reply! Always nice to get a positive response!

This was a first attempt at movie making, something I've always wanted to do. I wanted my son to get a glimpse of the process behind the movies too. It did the trick and we got the chance to do a bit of everything including original design sketches (mostly in crayon), scripting, acting, editing, etc.

Funny you should mention the sound because my focus was always really on the visual effects but we had SUCH a good time when we came to add the audio that I wish we'd spent more time on it (although we spent a fair amount of time getting as far as we did ;-).

I did consciously try to synchronise the audio/video because it made such a massive difference to the "feel" of the film. I was happy enough with how the action seemed to fit the changes in the music but I know the transitions are awkward (to say the least :-). There are a number of pops and clicks which I really couldn't get rid of for some reason - more noticeable when we play the DVD version really loud! The effects are really just various free sound effects plastered over the action - man you could spend forever getting it just right (and I can see how satisfying it would be to spend real time on that!). We did a fair bit of banging pots and pitch-shifting voices too. Good fun.

I put this out there for 2 reasons. Firstly to give my son and his friends a laugh about him being "famous". Secondly, we plan to do more and the sincere feedback we've been getting will certainly help.

Thanks for the input!

Rob James
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Joined: Jun 26 2001

You should certainly persist!

I've had (and am still having) a lot of fun helping my teenagers with their movies (when they let me, I usually just get to do the boring bits these days!)

I'm still curious about the graphics, the 'Transformer' etc. If you feel like sharing how you did them I'm sure I won't be the only one who would find it interesting.

Rob The picture is only there to keep the sound in sync

NotQuiteSpielberg
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Joined: Aug 3 2007

I wish I could say I modelled that robot :-) but it's one of the standard models included with Poser 5! I changed the colours a little.

I did have to come up with a solution to get him to "transform" like that. I thought it would be difficult to compact it down and then start from there to unroll him, so I did it backwards - e.g. I had say 200 frames of animation, so I moved him into a standing pose, and keyframed all his components at frame 100. Then I moved back to frame 0 and collapsed him as tightly as I could and keyframed again. Of course, when you play it you end up with a fairly convincing "unfolding" motion between 0 and 100.

Rob James
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Joined: Jun 26 2001

Thanks NQS! That's really interesting for 3D novices like me.

I really must try to find time to get into Poser. I'm just at the very beginning of the learning curve with Vue and Lightwave and I think if I try anything else at the moment what's left of my brain will explode ;)

Rob The picture is only there to keep the sound in sync