we’re at the end of our rope! hohoho
We premier in less than a week! Will we make it?! WILL WE MAKE IT?*
Scrubbing through the timeline is super fun; just a crazy strobing mass of absurd colors and visuals. We’re not entirely done yet- we still have a couple hand-replacement shots to wrap up, and we’re probably going to be re-rendering some of the big shots till close up to the end, but 98%(ish?) of the film is at least at ‘Final 1’ status. ‘Final 1’ means, ‘yeah, it’ll work. We won’t cry if we show that at the premier**’.
Some of us are working on wrapping up the few remaining shots, but most of us are actually going in and upgrading ‘Final 1’s to ‘Final 2’s or 3s or 4s (or… far far more.) Which is super great for pleasing our perfectionist sides.
And the music and sound! Joram Letwory’s been delivering some fantastic things these past few weeks, and whhewhwhew it’s incredible how much it elevates*** the film. Since the film is so short, and we’re trying to cover so much ground, it goes all over the place pretty quick, so being able to come up with a score that follows the beats of the film without feeling like it’s being yanked all over the place is a huge feat, and especially towards the middle the music takes the form of a polite host, staying out of the way, but still giving you tips on how to best enjoy your dinner, or where the bathroom is****.
Joris and I are going to start grading tomorrow using Sergey’s new incredible grading tools he’s put in the sequencer (I suspect a rad blogpost will be coming out about this at some point- but they’re nifty!). We’re gonna convert the STFU room into a little grading suite*****, and lock ourselves in there till the film’s done.
So yeah- a lot’s going on this last week, and it’s probably going to get pretty hectic, but man- oh man- it could have been so much more so. somuchmoreso.
so.
much.
moreso.
*yup.
**at least nothing that can’t be smothered gently into a pillow.
***This is a producer buzzword meaning, ‘makes better’.
****This is a metaphor, and I am the first to admit it kinda fell apart towards the end there.
*****room
I am so excited about this and am looking forward to the final film when it comes out. Well done all round.
Nice! I hope the result will rock!
Do you guys have a date for the online premiere btw? ;)
It’s incredible how much you can improve a shot by working on it’s colours… This shot with the man descending by a rope now it’s much much better.
Great work******
****** *******
******* guys!
Ian, you never cease to amuse! :)
It seems like just yesterday you were working on that little tester video.
I must admit; some of the renders I saw made me question how realistic the 3D would be, but after seeing the team’s latest work, well, I’m pretty darn impressed!
Also, when Ton suggested dropping Cycles altogether if it’s a bottleneck made my heart break, as Cycles was one main area this project aimed to improve. If I remember correctly; you’ve used BI for some shots, but still mainly Cycles (right?) – excellent!
I’m really looking forward to seeing the finished film, and I hope you, Ian, stick around (good luck with Project London premier, by the way!). On a side note; do you have any project ideas to jump into after Tears of Steel and Project London? :)
To the whole team- good luck with the premier!
Too bad I can’t get the cash together to go to this year’s Blender Conference to see it (would’ve been my first Blender Conference too)! =[
Rock on!
Ah! Yeah, cycles was pretty awkward at first, but the developer team amped some stuff way up, and we’ve figured out how to use it better, and I’m really digging it now. We basically just use internal for haze/glow/holographic effects.
I think the film’s gonna surprise people, with any luck. I suspect most folks are where you’re at; they’ll watch it, but they don’t have too many expectations (which is super preferable, IMO). We’ve done tons of revamping, and I’m getting pretty proud of where it’s at. That, and almost all of my favorite shots are in the ending that we haven’t shown yet :P
Yeah, I have some freelance stuff lined up for after, and will probably go back to working on Dynamo (karmapirates.com) :)
Bummer you can’t go to the conference! Thanks for the comment!
Please, PLEASE go back to working on Dynamo. I’m absolutely hooked on the series already and I want MOAR! =P
(please take this as a compliment and not a threat)
Just thought I’d add: ending Dynamo would be like ending Firefly – a crime against humanity.
Hi there Mango team!
I was thinking how much the terminology has changed between projects. For example, the Durianders* called the initial render “final”, the improved ones “final final”, the most improved ones “final final final” etc.
Now, this recent addition of numbers makes render notation more precise so I sense that real progress has been made! :)
Is this funny or what?
*Dolf’s Blender 2010 Conference talk (the one with Pablo on compositing Sintel)
Bear up and good luck with completing the film!
Super awesome work man! I am very much looking forward to the premier and I already bought my DVD! Rock on man, whatever gets delivered will be some of the best vfx work done with Blender. And of course it will be stamped all over with Ian’s classic wit and style! :)
Oh, I am going to miss checking this blog every day to see whats new, I’ve been doing it ever since the project started
and now what? Cant wait to see the movie!
By Campbell, Ton, Sergey, Kjartan, Jeremy, Ian, Sebastian, Andy, Francesco, Rob, Roman, I’m gonna miss you guys. :(
you naughty fanboy ! :)
@.@ @.@ @.@ @.@ @.@ @.@ @.@ @.@ @.@ @.@ @.@ @.@ @.@ @.@ @.@ @.@ @.@ @.@ @.@ @.@ @.@ @.@ @.@ @.@ @.@ @.@ @.@ @.@ @.@ @.@
Sry but its finally here and no more blog post to follow from now on, I have learned so much by just checking this blog once to twice a week. Thank you a lot Mango Team :-D
I think I will have to indeed get this Dvd, this curiousity of making of is already killing me(need to eco) @.@ goodluck for the Final of the finals Mango Team. =D Its indeed the real meaning of “tears of joy”
Lookin’ wikid! Now, who’s up for Gooseberry? :P
I think there has been an excellent effort from this Mango team. Many good improvements to the software arrived along the way too. Enjoy your premiere! :)
Lol, the post reads like you could use some well earned hours of sleep :)
Ian! I love you! Good luck! *hugs!*
It’s great to have the masks run in movie clip editor, but how do you sync your shots from the VSE timeline? You can’t send them there from the timeline, so how do you know where to set start and ends of the movie clip?
Will we see a last weekly tomorrow? Is it indeed the last weekly or will you continue with this meeting until the online release is out?
Oh Ian, just wondering, what is the overall budget of this film?(Minus the cost of actors and artist) Rely would appreciate a reply! Thanks! :D