Question for Dartanbeck

Dartanbeck · February 2017

I think it's going to be a while before I'd be able to afford HitFilm Pro, so instead of waiting, I think I'm going to switch my learning endeavors to BlackMagic Design's Fusion 8 as a compositor and, while I'm at it, look into their (also free) DaVinci Resolve 12.5 as an Editor/Final Color Grade.

Excellent example of Fusion 8's 2D to 3D power - a LOT more to learn!

Intro to New Features of DaVinci Resolve 12.5 - I'll still need to learn the rest

My VFX Inspirations YouTube playlist has these two videos and a lot of behind-the-scenes type of programs to watch, while my Playlist section contains several playlists on tutorials for Fusion and many other things - soon to contain one for DaVinci Resolve, I think.

My Playlist area also contains playlists that I've saved from other channels which I thought might be helpful in our endeavors. One of which is an excellent series: Corel VideoStudio Pro X7 Tutorials, which is excellent for those whom may own that, but that same author also has playlists for other versions of VideoStudio Pro as well.

In filmmaking, pacing is very important. How long to allow a single camera to roll without a break to another angle, when and where to cut from one scene to another, all manner of things to consider to keep the interest of the audience as opposed to having them turn the channel or leave the theater.

Well trailers can be even more difficult. We've got to sell the story in only two, possibly three minutes - the contents and timing of everything helps to determine whether or not there will even be an audience.

So I've been adding videos now and then to a few other playlists to feast our eyes and ears to some of what's out there:

Inspiration through Cool Movie Trailers

Inspiration through Game Trailers

And then some tutorials to help us decide upon perhaps which vfx tools to use

VFX Tutorials

I made this one just to kick back and relax to, while enjoying some nice art

Inspiration through Artists

Along with my Howler playlists and my VFX Inspiration playlist mentioned above, one of the most inspirational sources of ideas for creating my movies has got to be my Clone Wars Inspiration playlist. Perhaps it helps that it's my favorite show ever. Throughout the six seasons of Behind the Scenes material they cover all manner of topics needed to catch the grasp of the task at hand, which is a lot - especially for any one person to undertake. But I enjoy it.

No... I'm not slipping back into Study Study Study mode.

Carrara Beast is updated and her cores have been hot all day for the past three days. I'm back in the saddle, hoping that nothing pulls the reigns in on me now. I still have a lot to learn, so I'm not going to stop learning. But I'm also not going to be so obsessed with it that I'm not rendering. I have a lot of stuff down on paper ready to assemble and animate - so I can keep this rolling so long as I don't keep getting dragged away from my home - like what's been going on for months now! LOL

My friend, magaremoto has made a fine new Carraranimation in presentation to the question as to whether Carrara can hold up to the Big Boy software.

I already feel that it can - but that's me, and I Love Carrara. I'm sure folks that work in big studios get used to theirs too... and would find Carrara to be lacking their usual flow. I guess I'm fortunate in that regard - I feel like I'm holding the better end of the rope on that one! ;)

Anyways, check out how smoothly magaremoto can traverse a camera. This is some awesome dollying!

magaremoto · February 2017

thanks DB I was surprised how it can be easy in carrara to manage the camera, and I haven't been using the storyboard room yet

another thanks for the Fusion things, really useful

PhilW · February 2017

magaremoto said:

thanks DB I was surprised how it can be easy in carrara to manage the camera, and I haven't been using the storyboard room yet

another thanks for the Fusion things, really useful

I never use the Storyboard room, almost forget it is there.

3DAGE · February 2017

Dartanbeck · February 2017

+1 more

Edit: Although there was a time, not very long ago, that I tried to use it in a beneficial way, and just decided that I wasn't doing myself any benefit! LOL But I applaud theur effort for trying.

And who knows? Maybe one day we'll all find it useful for something?

Hmmm... now where's that first cup o' coffee?

magaremoto · February 2017

dunno about storyboard room, the idea is good and should be useful to see and correct the preprocess before rendering, i'm going to take a deep look

Dartanbeck · February 2017

magaremoto said:

dunno about storyboard room, the idea is good and should be useful to see and correct the preprocess before rendering, i'm going to take a deep look

I'll be investigating it more to.

Dartanbeck · October 2017

TangoAlpha said:

I'm not so much into animation - as Phil says, it's to big of a wall to climb for me right now, and i wouldn't want to produce something that didn't look like it had a crew of thousands! (I am incredibly self-critical!)

I would love to produce a graphic novel though, but it's still hugely time intensive. I have the stories, just not the time!

Dart: the key to becoming a writer is quite simple: write. Doesn't really matter what, just do it. Set aside an hour every day (or half an hour, or...) It's obvious looking at your posts that you don't have much trouble putting words on paper.

There are lots of techniqies for telling stories, and I personally advocate something called the Snowflake method, or at least a variant of it. It's basically top-down storytelling. Start off with a basic one line premise- your story in a nutshell. I'm going from one of your renders here:

Dart and rosie land their spaceship in a cave.

And then expand it out to a paragraph: Dart and Rosie have to land their spaceship in a cave because it's been damaged by Fenusian fire and they need to make repairs. Why are the Fenusians shooting at them? The three metric tonnes of Fenusian gold in the cargo hold might have something to do with it . . .

Now we've got the basis of a plot, a potential goodie and baddie (not saying which is which) and a whole bunch of intrigue and unanswered questions. You just keep growing it until you've got enough of an outline that you can sit down and write the words.

The second key to writing is: read. Particularly in the genre you plan to write, but others too. Want to write thrillers? Read James Patterson, Lee Child, Tom Clancy etc. See how they do it. Same principle for other genres. You get the drift.

One thing you ought to get behind is a storytelling technique called "3 act", particularly if you want to write with video in mind. Most TV is 3-act, most movies too, and a lot of novels. It's basically a framework that sets out how the story works, its pacing, when things go wrong or right for our hero etc. its beats and rhythm if you like. You can google the basic structure, then just watch out for the different beats as you watch & read things.

I've got 3 novels under my belt, plus some shorts, novellas and a stack of things that should probably never see the light of day. I'd be happy to act as a sounding board, or an alpha reader, beta reader or whatever you need.

Very cool post. Thanks TA!!! (just reading through all of this again - yikes I can go off topic easily eh? Sheesh!!!)

mindsong · October 2017

was a needed bump w timeless wise advice. sadly, based on on my review just now, one would never know I read and appreciated it once (?) before...

good stuff,

--ms

Dartanbeck · October 2017

I know. I'm glad I'm glad I'm combing through this again. Looking at it now, I think I missed TA's above quote the first time through :(

Pjotter · October 2017

Not idea how far your project is, but maybe you should already start a new thread here about this. Tell us your basic idea if you want and some images. And ask for input. Positive and negative. You will get new ideas and it will be a stimulation for you. And try to create a large scene. Like I did. This is not online anymore, because working on a new setup with a different name. With a large scene and many characters, you have options. If you have one house, one day you can't think of new things. If you have a large scene, many buildings, more then one enemy and other (sub) characters you can create many situations and conflicts. Try cooking with three ingredients.

For you it is important to teach / communicate with others. So involve them. Ask them for names of your characters if you do not have them. Or how can I solve this situation / make it better. Etc. But stick to the story you have in mind. Do not let your story go everywhere. Otherwise it will be confusing. Write down how a certain character is (Sheldon, Rambo) or what the theme is (MASH) and stick to that.

So the same here (but you know that), stay on topic for the best progress. You need a new thread for this, because this one is the startup only. And keep reading books.

Dartanbeck · October 2017

Thanks, my friend!

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