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Heh, this deserves a proper post besides that really rushed recap that came before. Here’s my team’s winning entry from 48 Hour Film Project 2009. We got the awards for Best Editing and Best Use of Line of Dialogue. More than anything, being on time this year was awesome. My first 48HFP experience is still pretty fresh in my mind, and this one definitely did not disappoint. The video is the director’s cut, not the one we submitted.

Mockumentary was the genre that our producer/editor/zombie fan pulled out of the hat at the kickoff event. Our required character  was either Andy or Amy Yeo, a journalist. Scissors were the requisite prop, and “Is it supposed to look like that?” the line of dialogue we needed to fit in somewhere. Armed with those three things we were off to HQ. Well, I got there a bit later in the night. When I walked into our fortified attic space for the weekend, there was already a webcam conference going on with the Perth Unit. Script was settled the first night, shooting proceeded smoothly throughout the next day.

Being a mockumentary the effects were in more of a supporting role, unlike last year’s which needed to set the mood and context for the film. Till around Saturday night I was anticipating doing a more involved VFX shot with the CG scissors composited into the footage from Perth. I think the editorial decision to have the actual impact of the scissors happen off camera, with animation to illustrate exactly what happened alongside the Scissor Expert’s scholarly commentary led to a more emotional reveal. Given that the time taken for footage to be compressed,uploaded from Perth, then downloaded here, we probably wouldn’t have been able to afford that extra scene anyways.

The scissors were modeled and textured from photos of the actual prop in Perth as soon as possible. I relied on the use of free 3d models for the more generic stuff like the human scissor holder and the rib cage within. The time saved was spent on trying out different shaders for the see thru CSI type look for the Scissor Expert footage, the motion graphics of the ever growing battle between the two bands and sleeping (quite a difference from my last two crazy film making weekends).

I had a lot of fun as I thought I would, and it was great working with everyone again. I’ll be working on some other stuff for Xiphos Films & Team Seja this week, then it’s off to a new adventure!

Heh.. a couple of events have converged upon me this past month like a pack of rabid animals (slightly paraphrased – I can’t quite remember how Neil Gaiman said it).

Started out April getting to know the good folks at One Animation. Many thanks to everyone there for inviting me in, putting up with my questions and generally supporting me! Having had a tantalising taste of what XSI (or should I say Softimage) is capable of, you can bet I’ll be back for more in the future.

Also, a fantastic opportunity has come my way, and it’s still pretty surreal as I think about it now. For one of my first few steps out into the world of CG it’s definitely a rare event to be treasured and explored to the fullest.  Probably the only downside to it all is I don’t really get to share the full experience with everyone.

The excitement is definitely building, though tempered with the fact that I still need to whip myself into shape in many areas. Thanks everyone for all the support and congratulations! Heh, it seems like practically everyone knows about it already somehow, might as well tell the other 2 or 3 people who don’t.

May started off with a bang, my second go at the 48 Hour Film Project. An international co-production between Singapore & Perth, Beyond the Band: Johnny Axel was definitely one of the more interesting things I’ve worked on. It wasn’t as hectic this year for me, but I’m glad I could help out with supporting graphics for our very awesome Scissor Expert (Seriously, who else has a scissor expert?).

Being on time this year was awesome, though not as awesome as making the top 8 and getting the Best Editing & Best Use of Dialogue! Looking forward to more collaborations with Xiphos Films. C’mon Sueanne & Eunice, get that director’s cut online already!

Kudos to Team Vanguard for their side splitting “Is there money in this?”, well deserved Best of Singapore & Best Directing for 2009.

The Team with No Name’s Quest for Crime was a really funny look at how safe Singapore is from the eyes of a visiting Superhero. Hmm.. something tells me I’ll be seeing more of them sometime soon..

And.. I think that’s enough for now.. I mean, there was my KL trip.. but I was too busy eating to take photos. So yeah. Sorry for the load of text, that’ll teach me to try and cram two months into one post..

Team Gladius’s 48 Hour Film is finally up on Youtube. I’ve been meaning to take part in one of these 48 hour film competitions for some time now, so when I heard from Sarah this one was coming up I just had to join.

Most of the team (myself included) were kinda hoping for the Musical/Western category, which would have allowed us all to go completely insane with it, but we got Sci-Fi.. which made me utter the prophetic words “I’m so dead..” . During the discussions on Friday night it was like “We need Space” -Everyone looks at me- “And some space ships” -Everyone looks at me again.. Heh, anyway after a few hours of being locked in a room together we came up with the story.

The next day, while principle photography was being shot till 3 in the morning somewhere in Tanjong Pagar, I modeled a few spaceships and generally sat around waiting.. lol.. Then the whole team came together for the marathon editing/post production session. Lots of food from McDonald’s was consumed.

Many thanks to Eunice, Sarah, and Mike. Without their skills in After Effects and piloting of various classes of space vehicles I would have been swamped by the number of effects shots we had.

In all it was even more fun than I thought it would be, thanks to our stellar team of crazy people.

Looking forward to see the Director’s Cut..