Thursday, July 12

Do It Yourself Sound, New Composer on Film

It seems that I had another change of plans for my short film, "The Pet". I handed it off to numerous composers and sound engineers just to have them either disappoint or disappear. After waiting a few weeks, I feel that I should just push harder to get this short film finished.

The new game plan is for me to finish the post-sound and hand the music off to another composer. This is a great example of why you should have backup plans, especially when you are not working with a budget. Credit and nice words alone will not keep your crews on your project; approaching and keeping contact with several potential crew/cast members can give you some insurance. If all else fails, at least one person you know offline or online can point you to a friend of a friend that knows how to work a keyboard or a c-stand.

As far as adding additional sounds, you have two options. The first is to record sounds yourself. The second is visiting the free sound project. The website hosts thousands of user created sounds, all royalty free and some absolutely amazing. If you do use these sounds, be sure to thank the original authors. Another alternative for free sounds is visiting FlashKit's Sound FX page. While not as user friendly as the free sound project, it does have seniority by collecting sounds for years before the free sound project existed.

I'm working on an uber-post, as well as a video tutorial for you guys, so keep checking this blog!

Sunday, July 1

Rotoscoping Video Is For Dummies

After shooting another short while waiting for the post-sound and music for "The Pet", I've come to this logical conclusion: Never think that rotoscoping is a reasonable alternative to chromakeying!

During this arduous journey through the post on "Little Man", I'll put up a comprehensive tutorial on how to rotoscope a mask to lift elements from a shot. Before doing so, I do want my readers to remember that rotoscoping is a time and patience consuming process. After three nights of rotoscoping, I haven't even put a dent into the two minutes of footage I have.

After subjecting myself to this self-induced torture, I will do my research on a cost-effective way of building a greenscreen. Until then, may the gods have mercy on my soul...