I’m overjoyed to tell you that the Seattle-based band Twizzle is letting us use two of their tunes in the movie! We can’t thank the incredible duo of Sir Mildred Pitt and Spacecake enough!
Honestly, I was terrified about contacting them, because I’d fallen so completely in love with the songs and if they said no, I was going to be devastated. Really devastated. And sad. Really sad. In fact, between you and me, I’m so in love with the songs and so averse to being really devastated and sad, that if they had said no, I probably wouldn’t have taken the songs out at all, and would have moved to Kazakhstan and sold the movie illegally on street corners for 300 Tenges apiece. I know what you're thinking: 300 Kazakhstani Tenges sounds like a lot of change. Believe me when I tell you, it’s not. It would be a hard, dangerous life and I’d have to move often and quickly, as the Kazkhstan Secret Police doesn’t take kindly to that sort of thing. But, that’s how much I love these songs.
[Edit: The Legal Department of Northanger Productions would like to take this opportunity to state unequivocally that at no time did Guy ever seriously consider engaging in copyright theft or any other illegal activity. We won't let him. We promise.]
Thankfully, Twizzle just agreed to let us use the songs, and none of that happened, so I’m pretty happy with how everything worked out. Although the more I think about it, the fine citizens of Kazakhstan may quite possibly be our target demographic.
The two songs we’re using are “Falling,” from the 1999 album “Soda Fountain,” available (for free!) on Comfort Stand. And “Don’t Geddup,” from the 2007 album “S’Prise Inside.” Listen to some tracks from the album on the Twizzle website, then run out and buy it here!
But, wait! That’s not all! Mildred has another band, Library Science, and the latest album is available here! And here! And of course here!
And don’t forget “The Bran Flakes,” Mildred’s band with Otis Fodder. A new album is being released this Summer!
And if you order right now, they’ll include this ABSOLUTELY FREE!
See you at Hansen’s! I’ll order you some mayonnaise bites!
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Sunday, March 23, 2008
A Brief History of “Zorg” Upgrades
I know what you’re thinking: Two posts in a day and three within a week from Guy! Something’s terribly wrong! Any second, it’s going to start raining frogs!
Not to worry, it’s all part of my post-audio, delayed-onset, procrastinator’s New Year’s resolution to blog more consistently, which like so many of my past resolutions, of course leads me to massively overdo said resolution, ending in total burnout before the research-based conclusion that one simply needs to repeat any activity for 21 days for that activity to be habituated.
But that won’t happen this time! And I'm going to start exercising, too!
And what better blogging material to share with you than my latest post production dilemma?
Basically, “Zorg” post is, sadly, a history of working with HDV on a Mac (yes, it’s been that long). My first editing computer was a Powerbook G4, running Final Cut 4.5, neither of which could really effectively edit HDV. Well, I gave it a good go, though, using a program called Lumiere HD (now irrelevant and out of business) to convert my footage to a lower-resolution format for proxy editing, until I discovered a rather severe audio drift problem. Ugly. My next computer was an Intel iMac, running Final Cut 5, which did offer native HDV editing and did a great job finishing the rough cut, until it wasn’t able to cope any longer with audio work. My latest computer is the 2.66 GHz Mac Pro, still running Final Cut 5.1.4 and has been up to all tasks, wonderfully stable, without even a program crash.
So, why throw all that good Karma away and upgrade to the latest, greatest version of Final Cut Studio yet again, you ask? Well, Apple has come out with two compelling reasons. The first is Apple ProRes, a new codec that offers a larger colorspace to work with, meaning that if we convert our existing HDV project to ProRes HQ (the high definition flavor), we’ll be able to take advantage of a far superior format to work in for both visual effects and color correction. Which would mean a better-looking final product. In theory, at any rate.
By the way, since I seem to throw the term “color correction” around quite a bit, if you’re interested in seeing what a dramatic difference it can make, check out this post by visual effects pro Stu Maschwitz on his ProLost blog.
Speaking of which, the second good reason to upgrade is Apple Color, a dedicated color correction program that ships free with Final Cut Studio. On the downside, it looks massively complicated, has a steep learning curve and appears to be fairly finicky, judging from the posts on the Apple support forms pleading for help. Nevertheless, again, using it should provide a better-looking final product.
Hard to learn? Buggy? Sign me up!
So, I’ve been wrestling with this decision for a couple of weeks now, trying to weigh the advantages of my beautifully stable system and staying in HDV versus the risk/rewards of upgrading, when I ran across this thread on Creative Cow. Exactly what I was looking for. Seeing the differences in the HDV and ProRes footage sealed the deal. Tomorrow, I’m wiping my hard drive with a clean install of the OS, then installing my shiny new copy of Final Cut Studio 2.
I’ll keep you posted on the upgrade.
Not to worry, it’s all part of my post-audio, delayed-onset, procrastinator’s New Year’s resolution to blog more consistently, which like so many of my past resolutions, of course leads me to massively overdo said resolution, ending in total burnout before the research-based conclusion that one simply needs to repeat any activity for 21 days for that activity to be habituated.
But that won’t happen this time! And I'm going to start exercising, too!
And what better blogging material to share with you than my latest post production dilemma?
Basically, “Zorg” post is, sadly, a history of working with HDV on a Mac (yes, it’s been that long). My first editing computer was a Powerbook G4, running Final Cut 4.5, neither of which could really effectively edit HDV. Well, I gave it a good go, though, using a program called Lumiere HD (now irrelevant and out of business) to convert my footage to a lower-resolution format for proxy editing, until I discovered a rather severe audio drift problem. Ugly. My next computer was an Intel iMac, running Final Cut 5, which did offer native HDV editing and did a great job finishing the rough cut, until it wasn’t able to cope any longer with audio work. My latest computer is the 2.66 GHz Mac Pro, still running Final Cut 5.1.4 and has been up to all tasks, wonderfully stable, without even a program crash.
So, why throw all that good Karma away and upgrade to the latest, greatest version of Final Cut Studio yet again, you ask? Well, Apple has come out with two compelling reasons. The first is Apple ProRes, a new codec that offers a larger colorspace to work with, meaning that if we convert our existing HDV project to ProRes HQ (the high definition flavor), we’ll be able to take advantage of a far superior format to work in for both visual effects and color correction. Which would mean a better-looking final product. In theory, at any rate.
By the way, since I seem to throw the term “color correction” around quite a bit, if you’re interested in seeing what a dramatic difference it can make, check out this post by visual effects pro Stu Maschwitz on his ProLost blog.
Speaking of which, the second good reason to upgrade is Apple Color, a dedicated color correction program that ships free with Final Cut Studio. On the downside, it looks massively complicated, has a steep learning curve and appears to be fairly finicky, judging from the posts on the Apple support forms pleading for help. Nevertheless, again, using it should provide a better-looking final product.
Hard to learn? Buggy? Sign me up!
So, I’ve been wrestling with this decision for a couple of weeks now, trying to weigh the advantages of my beautifully stable system and staying in HDV versus the risk/rewards of upgrading, when I ran across this thread on Creative Cow. Exactly what I was looking for. Seeing the differences in the HDV and ProRes footage sealed the deal. Tomorrow, I’m wiping my hard drive with a clean install of the OS, then installing my shiny new copy of Final Cut Studio 2.
I’ll keep you posted on the upgrade.
Otis Fodder!
I first heard of Otis when Quentin forwarded me a link to the awesome Comfort Stand site, a Net Label that Otis founded dedicated to offering free music. We were both completely blown away by the album “Two Zombies Later,” which Otis not only produced, but contributed a tune to. We were so blown away that we used most of the album for our temp soundtrack!
I emailed Otis shortly after finishing the audio to ask if we could use some of his work in the final film. Fully expecting to have yet another restraining order slapped on me, I was pleased when Otis wrote back to say that we could! He’s as nice as he is talented. Simply put, we love Otis!
“Two Zombies Later” was a revelation for me and I'm now a confirmed exotica fan. You should just really do yourself a favor, stop whatever you’re doing right now and wander over there and take a listen.
I’ll wait. No problem.
See? I wouldn’t steer you wrong.
Check out Otis’ website, and also listen to his other band, “The Bran Flakes,” where he performs with the amazing Mildred Pitt (who we’ll be talking more about in the coming days).
Happy listening!
I emailed Otis shortly after finishing the audio to ask if we could use some of his work in the final film. Fully expecting to have yet another restraining order slapped on me, I was pleased when Otis wrote back to say that we could! He’s as nice as he is talented. Simply put, we love Otis!
“Two Zombies Later” was a revelation for me and I'm now a confirmed exotica fan. You should just really do yourself a favor, stop whatever you’re doing right now and wander over there and take a listen.
I’ll wait. No problem.
See? I wouldn’t steer you wrong.
Check out Otis’ website, and also listen to his other band, “The Bran Flakes,” where he performs with the amazing Mildred Pitt (who we’ll be talking more about in the coming days).
Happy listening!
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Famous Last Words!
I’m done with audio! Yep, it only took me a scant year to finish that phase of post-production.
Geez.
I can’t begin to tell you how happy I am to have that behind me. There were times I wasn’t really sure if audio editing was going to end. Ever. Maybe I’d already died and just didn’t realize it yet and this was hell and I’d be laying in footsteps by hand for eternity.
I suppose I should explain “laying in footsteps” a bit. I choose to explain this, as opposed to the deranged fantasy of already being dead and eternally punished. Anyway, sounds that are created to accompany the on-screen actions of actors, like footsteps or the sound of a door opening, are called Foley effects. And they’re usually created in real-time by a Foley artist on a soundstage watching the movie. So for example, if an actor walks across a room in a film, her footsteps would be rerecorded later by a Foley artist mimicking her actions, wearing similar shoes and walking across a similar surface, trying as best as possible to match the action on the screen.
But, we didn’t have a Foley artist or a soundstage, so I used Foley effects from the free (and royalty-free) sound effects libraries that I could find: the 5,000 + effects that come with Apple’s Final Cut Studio and two online libraries, the amazing Freesound Project (http://freesound.iua.eupf.edu), which I made extensive use of and can’t thank enough for its mere existence, and Soundsnap (www.soundsnap.com), which I didn’t use as much, but which also has some excellent recordings.
Which leads us back to footsteps. After locating the right sound (sneakers walking on a wood floor, for instance) I would then chop that clip up into individual steps and place them to sync up with the actors’ movements. Which doesn’t seem so bad the first, oh, hundred times, you do it. But, after adding footsteps to the whole movie…well, let’s just say I think I would have been better off building my own Foley stage. Next movie maybe.
“Things We’ll Do Differently on the Next Movie!” is going to be a rather lengthy future post.
To be fair, there were some parts of audio work that I really loved. Mixing, for example, although it would have been a lot easier with some sort of control surface (I just used a mouse and set keyframes where I wanted to make changes in volume, panning, etc.). And sound effects were a lot of fun to put together. There’s a camera flash sound that I particularly like that was made by putting together the sounds of an instamatic camera, a gas stove lighting, an Uzi, as well as a few other effects.
While I’m thinking about it, there are a couple of fantastic sites focused on sound in movies, if you're interested: www.filmsound.org, in their words, “dedicated to the art of film sound design,” has tons of great information and links; and www.filmsounddaily.com, which has some very nice interviews with sound professionals, as well as awe-inspiring (to the guy who used a mouse) pictures of real audio post facilities with their beautiful, enormous mixing consoles that I desperately want for my very own.
Next movie…
Geez.
I can’t begin to tell you how happy I am to have that behind me. There were times I wasn’t really sure if audio editing was going to end. Ever. Maybe I’d already died and just didn’t realize it yet and this was hell and I’d be laying in footsteps by hand for eternity.
I suppose I should explain “laying in footsteps” a bit. I choose to explain this, as opposed to the deranged fantasy of already being dead and eternally punished. Anyway, sounds that are created to accompany the on-screen actions of actors, like footsteps or the sound of a door opening, are called Foley effects. And they’re usually created in real-time by a Foley artist on a soundstage watching the movie. So for example, if an actor walks across a room in a film, her footsteps would be rerecorded later by a Foley artist mimicking her actions, wearing similar shoes and walking across a similar surface, trying as best as possible to match the action on the screen.
But, we didn’t have a Foley artist or a soundstage, so I used Foley effects from the free (and royalty-free) sound effects libraries that I could find: the 5,000 + effects that come with Apple’s Final Cut Studio and two online libraries, the amazing Freesound Project (http://freesound.iua.eupf.edu), which I made extensive use of and can’t thank enough for its mere existence, and Soundsnap (www.soundsnap.com), which I didn’t use as much, but which also has some excellent recordings.
Which leads us back to footsteps. After locating the right sound (sneakers walking on a wood floor, for instance) I would then chop that clip up into individual steps and place them to sync up with the actors’ movements. Which doesn’t seem so bad the first, oh, hundred times, you do it. But, after adding footsteps to the whole movie…well, let’s just say I think I would have been better off building my own Foley stage. Next movie maybe.
“Things We’ll Do Differently on the Next Movie!” is going to be a rather lengthy future post.
To be fair, there were some parts of audio work that I really loved. Mixing, for example, although it would have been a lot easier with some sort of control surface (I just used a mouse and set keyframes where I wanted to make changes in volume, panning, etc.). And sound effects were a lot of fun to put together. There’s a camera flash sound that I particularly like that was made by putting together the sounds of an instamatic camera, a gas stove lighting, an Uzi, as well as a few other effects.
While I’m thinking about it, there are a couple of fantastic sites focused on sound in movies, if you're interested: www.filmsound.org, in their words, “dedicated to the art of film sound design,” has tons of great information and links; and www.filmsounddaily.com, which has some very nice interviews with sound professionals, as well as awe-inspiring (to the guy who used a mouse) pictures of real audio post facilities with their beautiful, enormous mixing consoles that I desperately want for my very own.
Next movie…
Monday, January 7, 2008
Bad Pig, Good Pig
Bad Pig
Good PigSometimes it's hard to tell the difference. Hope you all had a felony-free holiday season.
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Imagine Some Audio Here
I know you can't hear the audio mix from a screen capture, but trust me--it's fabulous.
Our heroes
Zombie finishing school
Our heroes
Zombie finishing schoolTuesday, December 11, 2007
Trevor Fanning in Assasination Attempt!
Funny, most of us assumed it would be Nick.
In all seriousness, Trevor Fanning, who played Pete for us, writes to announce his new show:
--
Sondheim's Most Controversial Musical, ASSASSINS, Shoots Its Way Into The Hedback Theater for a Limited Run by Lowbrow Productions
Indianapolis, IN, December 14 – 30, 2007 — Stephen Sondheim's musical, Assassins---the dark-humored, poignant musical about nine of the fourteen Presidential assassins throughout American history---will be presented for a limited run this December in Indy at the Hedback Theater, 1847 North Alabama Street. Sondheim is an American stage musical composer and lyricist, one of the few people to win an Academy Award, multiple Tony Awards (seven, more than any other composer), multiple Grammy Awards, and a Pulitzer Prize. He has been called the greatest writer of American Musical Theater and Assassins is no exception. Some of his greatest successes have been "Company", "Follies", "Into the Woods" and "Sweeney Todd", now a major motion picture. Mr. Weidman co-wrote the book for the Broadway revival of Anything Goes. A former editor of National Lampoon magazine and a writer for television's Sesame Street, Mr. Weidman's first theatrical venture was another collaboration with Sondheim, "Pacific Overtures."
Assassins is based on an idea by Charles Gilbert, Jr., with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by John Weidman. The musical evokes a fraternity of Presidential and would-be assassins across a hundred years of our history (including John Wilkes Booth, Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme, and John Hinckley, Jr). and climaxes in a surreal sequence where the assassins convince Lee Harvey Oswald that his act is the only way he will connect with them, history and the world. The cast includes many Indianapolis based actors including Eric Karwisch, Bobbi Bates, Scot Greenwell, Amy Reynolds, Triston Ross, Michael Davis, Trevor Fanning and Dean Reynolds. The production is produced by Doug Johnson, Nick Carpenter and Brian Noffke. Direction is by Brian Noffke. vocal direction by Brenna Campbell, and musical direction by Larry Bonebright.
Assassins will run December 14-30, 2007. Show times for Thursday, Friday and Saturday will be at 8pm; Sunday will be at 3pm, (except Sunday, December 16 is at 4pm). The production will be held at The Hedback Theater, home of Footlite Musicals. 1847 N. Alabama St. Indpls, IN 46202. For reservations please call 317-523-7462 or visit www.lowbrowproductions.org
Ticket prices are: $15.00 for reservations, $18.00 for walk-ins, $15.00 for students and senior citizens.
Lowbrow Productions is an Indianapolis based company. We strive to facilitate theatre, music, film and video arts productions of the highest quality to entertain, challenge and enlighten in order to bring positive change to the community. Assassins is the perfect inaugural piece because it dares the audience to understand the right way in order to achieve the "American Dream" and examines success, failure and the questionable drive for power and celebrity in American society.
"Nothing quite prepares you for the disturbing brilliance of Assassins" - New York Times
"Dark, Demented humor, as horrifying as it is hilarious" - Associated Press
"Intelligent and thrilling musical Theater. Dazzling in its originality" - Theatreweek
--
If you're in the Indianapolis area, check it out. After all, Trevor would go to your show.
Remember, send us your announcements. northanger (at) cox.net. That's us.
In all seriousness, Trevor Fanning, who played Pete for us, writes to announce his new show:
--
Sondheim's Most Controversial Musical, ASSASSINS, Shoots Its Way Into The Hedback Theater for a Limited Run by Lowbrow Productions
Indianapolis, IN, December 14 – 30, 2007 — Stephen Sondheim's musical, Assassins---the dark-humored, poignant musical about nine of the fourteen Presidential assassins throughout American history---will be presented for a limited run this December in Indy at the Hedback Theater, 1847 North Alabama Street. Sondheim is an American stage musical composer and lyricist, one of the few people to win an Academy Award, multiple Tony Awards (seven, more than any other composer), multiple Grammy Awards, and a Pulitzer Prize. He has been called the greatest writer of American Musical Theater and Assassins is no exception. Some of his greatest successes have been "Company", "Follies", "Into the Woods" and "Sweeney Todd", now a major motion picture. Mr. Weidman co-wrote the book for the Broadway revival of Anything Goes. A former editor of National Lampoon magazine and a writer for television's Sesame Street, Mr. Weidman's first theatrical venture was another collaboration with Sondheim, "Pacific Overtures."
Assassins is based on an idea by Charles Gilbert, Jr., with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by John Weidman. The musical evokes a fraternity of Presidential and would-be assassins across a hundred years of our history (including John Wilkes Booth, Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme, and John Hinckley, Jr). and climaxes in a surreal sequence where the assassins convince Lee Harvey Oswald that his act is the only way he will connect with them, history and the world. The cast includes many Indianapolis based actors including Eric Karwisch, Bobbi Bates, Scot Greenwell, Amy Reynolds, Triston Ross, Michael Davis, Trevor Fanning and Dean Reynolds. The production is produced by Doug Johnson, Nick Carpenter and Brian Noffke. Direction is by Brian Noffke. vocal direction by Brenna Campbell, and musical direction by Larry Bonebright.
Assassins will run December 14-30, 2007. Show times for Thursday, Friday and Saturday will be at 8pm; Sunday will be at 3pm, (except Sunday, December 16 is at 4pm). The production will be held at The Hedback Theater, home of Footlite Musicals. 1847 N. Alabama St. Indpls, IN 46202. For reservations please call 317-523-7462 or visit www.lowbrowproductions.org
Ticket prices are: $15.00 for reservations, $18.00 for walk-ins, $15.00 for students and senior citizens.
Lowbrow Productions is an Indianapolis based company. We strive to facilitate theatre, music, film and video arts productions of the highest quality to entertain, challenge and enlighten in order to bring positive change to the community. Assassins is the perfect inaugural piece because it dares the audience to understand the right way in order to achieve the "American Dream" and examines success, failure and the questionable drive for power and celebrity in American society.
"Nothing quite prepares you for the disturbing brilliance of Assassins" - New York Times
"Dark, Demented humor, as horrifying as it is hilarious" - Associated Press
"Intelligent and thrilling musical Theater. Dazzling in its originality" - Theatreweek
--
If you're in the Indianapolis area, check it out. After all, Trevor would go to your show.
Remember, send us your announcements. northanger (at) cox.net. That's us.
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