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Sunday, November 20, 2005 -- Parting is such sweet sorrow...
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So it's finished. And this is the last log entry. I've actually gotten used to talking to myself, scribbling my mad little project thoughts for all to see. Maybe I'll actually use my Livejournal account now. You never know.
The final thoughts are from the album I was listening to as I wrote the last bit of code to make the site work. I did for me, I did if for you, I did it to share it, a virtual world for the both of us...
Ich komm' zu dir
Halt deine Hand
Wir gehen gemeinsam durch dies' wunderbare Land
Das ich für dich erfand
Mit mathematischem Verstand...
Ich zeig' dir Berge
Zeig' dir Seen
Hier brauchst du alles nur mit meinen Augen sehen
Und nicht zu verstehen
Keine Angst, du kannst ruhig mit mir gehen
In ein großes All
Ganz für dich allein
Hier kannst du endlich mal du selber sein
Im Neon-Sonnenschein
Fang ich dir deine Wünsche ein
Wolfsheim -- Künstliche Welten
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Saturday, November 19, 2005 -- OMG!
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I'm writing the final text to finish the site. I'll probably publish this afternoon. I can't believe that it's nearly done. I almost feel... lonely.
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Thusday, November 17, 2005 -- Well...
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As I write this during the late night, another laptop is quietly uploading the rough cut of the site. I've learned a lot from this experience. This production was larger than first conceived and needed to have more project management applied. Even more than that, I suffered from a good deal of hubris. I thought this would be significantly easier than it turned out to be. Truth telling, I really got the petunias kicked out of me. The production was just the start; it was seriously time consuming work in editing and post-production, just as a movie is. It took me completely by surprise. I won't make the mistake twice.
The work that remains is to polish the sequence of photos and write surrounding text, ensure everything works correctly, check that I'm happy with the final edits of pictures and music, and then publish the URLs.
It should be published this weekend.
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Wednesday, November 16, 2005 -- Dammit, Jim!...
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... I'm a photo doctor, not a sound engineer!
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| Thousands of times more power than was used to go to the moon! |
"Well, doctor, now you're an engineer!" Ah, RIP, James. You know, once I'm done with all this, I'm probably going to grab one of my guitars and play "Limelight" until my fingers bleed, just for fun. Anything that doesn't deal with computers or web sites or photos. At least for a week. Anyway, what you're looking at here is my server room, which happens to be my book storage room as well (long story) and the only place where I have multiple high speed connections leading to three different computers. We had recently dumped a bunch of boxes into the room (coinciding with this photo shoot -- funny that) so... here I was on the floor with twin laptops, plugged into the local net. One of them is running Vista, doing the main sound loops. Worked great.
The interesting thing about sound. Just as the photographer in me can't stand the artifacts in .JPGs, the guitarist in me finds downresolution .WAV/MP3s likewise annoying. It's all a compromise between size and quality. Unfortunately, my tools seem to be limited; the compression artifacts in the created MP3s have a mild flange-like effect in the bass notes which I find distracting. It's hard, however, to argue with the 5:1 compression factor. I doubt anyone was interested in a twenty megabyte sound file (even downsampled). Choices, choices. I've worked through all fifteen tracks and I'm not sure I want to engineer it any further or actually *buy* better tools for dealing with this. I'm certain there's someone who could do a better job, there's just the time factor involved. I did it all in an evening, including track selection.
You see, and that's another thing. Did you ever notice how John William's orchestration became more lush as the years went by? Yeah, I'm thinking you probably didn't... unless you rapidly marched through all six Star Wars sound tracks one evening with headphones on while connected to two laptops analyzing soundwaves. :P
So, ALL the photos are web sized. ALL the soundtracks are finished. ALL of the coding is finished. SOME of the commentary is done, as are SOME of the supporting web pages. I need to do the thumbnails, which is about an afternoon's job. I need to assemble it all into a "production package" and move it into production, test it, and fine tune it. Then release it.
After all that, I rest.
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Monday, November 14, 2005 -- One will make the choice, all will make the journey...
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285 photos left to web size; fewer done today than expected, but it goes that way.
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| Good? Bad? I'm the guy with the lightsaber! |
What's left? Um... one more set of studio shots, one more fight, one more story, one more set of outtakes. Automatic thumbnail creation. Comment files and sound mixing. What's after that? A whole lot of Bushmills Irish whiskey and coffee. But now? Sleep. Sleeeeeeeeeeep...
[Edited to add: Oh, I know what I was going to say and why I used this photo. As I put material in production, I'm going to be using certain URLs. Well... don't peek. I'll be watching my referral logs. I find people accessing them who shouldn't... bad things will happen with server side redirects. If you're lucky, a server redirect will send you to Disneyland. Or Dilbert.com. If you're not... your corporate proxy will melt and network admins run screaming from the building in horror, their hair on fire. No kidding. All depends on my mood. I'm really mercurial that way. One will make the choice, all will make the journey. Be nice. Don't peek at URL's I didn't give you. Just a few more days. Promise.]
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Sunday, November 13, 2005 -- So... tired.
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Code. Done. PMP class. Done. Cast party. WOOOOOOOOOO! Done. 400 (out of 780 photos) left to web-size, doing 380 took all day today. Need to write the comment files for some galleries. Get the sound files for others. I have another weekend's worth of work is my guess. :I
All this with the coffee maker broken. It had an accident on Thursday night and had to go to the repair shop. I thought I was dead and would have no coffee, but I forgot that we used to be coffee snobs. Before the coffee maker, we used to only drink coffee made with a coffee press. We still have it. So... it's been a weekend of "squish coffee". I'd forgotten how much better "squish coffee" is. I'd gotten used to the five minute instant (and more or less okay) Krups version of coffee. "Squish coffee", however, is vastly superior. Unfortunately, you only get two cups at a time and it is an incredible mess.
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Thursday, November 10, 2005 -- Lord of the Sith
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Okay. Let's not talk planning, acting, or any of the rest of it. Let's just talk PHOTO EDITING. One piece. What I spent... um... morning to night on for six days. I made an estimate of time and I figured that I have at least 82 hours into photo editing (lightsaber effects and so on) alone. At my standard rate of $150/hour for editing, that's $12,300 into this project. You know, if anyone were to leak full-resolution pictures *anywhere*... :I
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Thursday, November 10, 2005 -- Lord Ba'al in Seattle
Monday, November 7, 2005 -- Return of the Jedi
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I know how Revan felt. I looked at my own code and it was like seeing it for the first time. I stared at subdirectories and realized I hadn't touched them in three years. It was like they belonged to someone else. Then, I actually tried to *do* something...
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| The Director |
OMG. You'd think I was a monkey handed a spaceship. I'd forgotten more than I'd remembered. I spent most of Sunday looking things up. Once I did, however, things started coming together by five or so, and I was "oh, yeah -- hold on. Why do a lookup on that array? Why not just write the pointer with the HTML and pass it to the next page when you need it? That'll save processing cycles and increase performance." Next thing I knew, the code was improving and I was writing as I was designing. Fewer errors and "trials" as well. Things tended to work on the third try, rather than creating test pages to see what was happening with all the variables.
So much of the navigation is done, the pages render. I still have an odd bug in sound generation (works on my office machine, not my laptop -- different versions of Java), cleanup on arrangement, lots of text to write, render down the photos to web size and... viola. The end is actually finally in sight.
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Saturday, November 5, 2005 -- Monsters!
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Did you know that monsters live under your stove?
I only know this because this morning at 4AM I made a *nice* ten cup pot of coffee. Without the pot. Coffee. Everywhere. Now, in my grandmother's day, the bottom rack of the stove contained the broiler, but in our day, it's just a storage bin. That comes out. Which I never knew. I figured that out this morning.
And there are monsters under the stove.
So I cleaned them out. And all the coffee. Lots of coffee. Eight cups of it, in fact. Inspected the stove piping and wiring, etc. while I was at it. The builders did a nice job, everything is neat and tidy. Dusted it all off, cleaned the floor, made everything neat, put the little storage bin back. Well. No more monsters.
I'll likely hack code tonight and tomorrow. I've found the necessary supporting music files I wanted (the soundtrack to the first Indiana Jones movie is out of print and the Benny Hill song is called "Yakety Saks" -- who knew?) and things are moving along. Probably another delay of a few days -- I don't want to screw up the coding, then have to do a fire drill on release trying to figure out why it doesn't work right. I'm wedded to Windows and IE (loyalty or laziness, you decide ;), but try to code to common standard. Most of what I do is in PHP, so should be invisible; the annoying parts might be in style sheets, tables and JavaScript. I'll do my best with bug descriptions against other OSes/browsers, but without the test bed to repro, it's pretty hopeless; I'm happy to share source if you want to debug. Not sure what I can offer in return -- maybe a photo print if the bug is awful enough and your skills are l33t?
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Friday, November 4, 2005 -- Revenge of the Sith
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So, has it ever been 6PM, you're feeling a little tired, you close your eyes for a moment, then it's midnight, you go "oh, crap, I better finish the presentation for the VP" so you furiously put together a Powerpoint deck and go home at 4AM to start again at 8AM for the draft review, but not to worry because the presentation was well-liked? Um... not that I did that or anything.
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| "The code won't write itself, Revan." |
So I've been looking at the clever, clever code I wrote to run this site... nearly three years ago. I have a test bed in place, and my ideas in place... I'm just going to have to tinker. I've been reluctant to just code some things and see what works. I'm not certain why. I think it has to do with the idea that I hate hacking code together, but I'm just going to have to do it. It won't be pretty, but it will work. It doesn't have to run a nuclear power plant, just a subsection of my site. I was originally going to make it part of a general rewrite, but I've now decided against that -- I think the changes will be too specific and of a particular nature, although the style sheet changes will have to be global.
Getting photo prints made the way I want them has been a challenge, but Kit's Camera in Bellevue Mall has been an enthusiastic participant in the process (cha-ching! Marketing plug!). I have spent hours chatting with the staff about photography and lighting and fan films. And they tolerate the cigarette-driven Sith Lord quite well. "Yes, turn off automatic adjustment. The lightsabers will force the prints to come out at least half a stop too dark. Hmmm. Give me +20 blue on these while you're at it." I even got to dial in the machine myself one time. Touching the machine. It was positively pornographic. I'm sure they had to wipe it down after. ;)
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Sunday, October 30, 2005 -- Trumpets play. Hallelujahs sung. God rejoices.
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9:44 AM. Done editing. Last of the Force Lightning is complete.
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| Okay, okay already... |
I owe Louise a great deal, although it became apparent that I was not going to learn Adobe After Effects for the life of me. It did give me an idea, however, and it turns out that Alienskin has a lightning effect filter in their Xenofex 2 Lightning Effect package. And they have a 30 day demo. Well, glory be to Lord Ba'al... er... me. Turn off the glows, and much of TheForce.net tutorials for AE work. It goes like this:
Against the background layer, use the lightning filter with an arc of 34, jag 92, branch 2, turning off the glow. Position correctly. Render. Undo. Create a new layer. Redo filter in new layer. Create more lightning. Merge layers. Ripple lightning 100% medium filter. Copy lightning. Change opacity of copy later to 65%. Gaussian blur original "Shape 1" layer about 6 to 9 pixels, depending. Use a "Hard 10 Blue" lightsaber glow. Viola. Force lightning, per other tutorials. Done, done, done, DONE. Hahahahahaha. *DONE*.
Now, I'll arrange the photos into their proper story order, write the script, and prep for designing/coding web pages. I'll save web-sizing the images for later when I can write the Photoshop actions to do so. I just can't look at any more Photoshop right now. :P
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Thursday, October 27, 2005 -- Happy Birthday!
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Happy Birthday Hermione! :D And a new job, too -- woot!
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| *BZZZZZZZZAP!* You're dead, Revan. Dreadfully sorry. |
So, there reaches a moment when the triple constraint of time, scope and cost indicates that you just aren't going to make it. There are no more resources to apply, so cost isn't going to change; scope won't change because quality isn't slipping, the number of photos stays the same, and the work remains unchanged... so schedule has to give. We're looking at a week slip. The master photos are nearly done, and should be complete by Sunday. I've got, perhaps, thirty left. Adobe After Effects trial version will take care of the Force Lightning.
What remains? Rescale final photos to web size, watermark, write text for web pages, design/code web pages, and post. Then party. Party some more. Did I say party? Yes. Party.
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Sunday, October 23, 2005 -- On the seventh day, He...
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... went stark raving mad. Actually, not really. Nearly finished. Would have completed everything today, but decided to do a photoshoot instead. Sonnet Manon, lots of Star Wars costumes, much goodness.
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| Sonnet Manon, Queen of Naboo |
So, there are something like ninety photos left, stretched across five sections. That's about eight hours work, especially since some are simple crop and rotates. Most are rotate and lightsabers, which I've become masterful at by now. Polygon lasso, fill, blur and lightsaber glow? No problem. Want a Force Crush to go with that, or maybe a Heal and a Battle Meditation? Sure thing. Yeah, *ordinary* people don't see anything when Force powers are in use, but this is from the Force user's point of view -- live a little. ;)
By the way, let's talk about hard drives and 1210SA Adapters. See the drive problem below? See this article right here? Now, those WD Caviar JD drives are my drives. Here's the story: New ROMs, newer drivers, on 1210SA's are not compatible. From testing, I have figured out what works and what doesn't. Who knew? Drives used to work, don't anymore, but it's clear where the choice came from. I see a lot of these adapters, personally and professionally (like my OFFICE, thank you!), so I've taken a huge interest in cleaning up that problem for customers everywhere. I'm just driven by curiosity. YES, I'M A GEEK. You got a problem with that? "Good, bad, I'm the guy with the gun." :)
Oh, and look, photos of Hermione and me from the wedding here, her here and me here. :)
The end is in sight. I think we should reasonably be on schedule.
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Friday, October 21, 2005 -- Well. That's complete.
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Okay. Finished the last of the studio shots last night. Finished all but eight of what I wanted to do this morning. Ammie visited for a while, we chatted about PhotoShop and stuff in general. It was nice to have some company. Completed the photos. It's 5PM. I think I'll sort photos tonight, set up for remaining to be edited, then edit sometime over the weekend.
There are a few things that I've learned from all this:
1) During the shoot, I learned from Brandon's workflow. I'm like other photographers -- every photographer has things in their workflow that they *know* are screwed up, but they keep doing because they're either too busy to fix or simply can't think of a better way to do them. Well, I picked up some things, thinking "Oh, yeah, that's clever -- I like that P2000 device, I see how that's easier" or "Oh, I like that for whitebalance" or "Oh, I see how burst mode is better in this spot for action" or "Oh, I see how natural lighting functions better here, yes, that makes sense, I would have shot it differently and that wouldn't have been as good." Of course, there were a couple of spots where I went, "Oh. Huh. I do that simpler." ;)
2) A director is a must. Can't be an actor or camera person in a production and be a director as well. Too many details get lost. People walk in frame. The blocking is wrong. You name it, it will get glitched. For all that, lots of things will work out right of their own accord, but it can go much more smoothly.
3) Fight scenes. Everyone debates Hollywood fights for realism vs. showmanship. We really needed more practice and choreography; we had no planning in the fights, save for a single manuever. The clear thing here is that Masun knows what he is doing, and the rest of us needed six months in "sword play boot camp", combined with "evil punches and kicks 101" and "dives, rolls and other gymnastics". Masun would still cream us (probably while telling us that violence is never a solution to a problem), but at least we'd look cooler while getting turned into butter. This comes up because I can't count the number of photos I discarded because of things like "Huh. He's wide open. Why wouldn't she just stick a lightsaber in him? Okay, that photo is gone." Let me tell you though -- that was fewer than when *I* broke character. Adam was deadly serious about chopping my head off, and I just couldn't stop laughing. Once I realized what he was doing and he was using *that* manuever, I had the giggles.
Ah, well, live and learn. It's still been a blast. Ammie liked what she saw, and it's been worth the hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars. The end goal is in sight. Construct the story out of the last set of pictures, don't turn it into a massive editing job, maybe I'll still meet the original schedule.
Oh. After this shoot? I think we're done lighting cigars and cigarettes with lightsabers. Waaaaaaaaaaaaaay done. :)
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Thursday, October 20, 2005 -- Ugh. I'm poisoned.
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Can you die from too much coffee? And I woke up with a runny nose. I *think* it's allergies.
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| More lightsabers than a Jedi Picnic |
Okay, I expected to be working on the "Theed" photos, the first day shoot, but nope. I'm working on the last sixty photographs from the studio shoot and from Coruscant (UW). What-a-pain-in-the-ass. Studio, I was retouching backdrop oopsies. At UW? Don't get me started. Freaking EVERY FRAME had the "Suzzallo" stone that had to be clone-stamped out. Then there was the reader board. Or the colored flags. Or *my* favorite -- the folks who were walking through, and lingered to watch. Come on! At least get out of frame! Unfortunately, it was late in the day and no one was paying attention by that point. So... stamp tool. Or crop the photo where possible.
Which puts me behind. I'd hoped to be done with this set, best case, on Tuesday, worst case yesterday. I'll be lucky to finish at midnight tonight. That leaves me with... um... DVD1 to work on. Containing "Conversation on Bridge", "Invictus Appears", "Fight", "Force Lightning", etc. You get the idea.
The DVD1, the first day's photos, I'm going to go through more carefully to tell the story better. I can't keep editing like this. It's been four fourteen hour days. At least at this point, when it comes to creating web pages, I could sit *anyone* down and say "Hey, play these scripts -- they'll create web sized images automatically. See you in a few hours. Here's a latte. Have a blast."
*Sigh*. I have to get back to work. I can't even decided what music CD to listen to anymore. I think, though, that I'm done with coffee and it's time to switch to... um... anything else. Blah.
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Tuesday, October 18, 2005 -- One quarter of the way there...
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There are a lot of subtle things missing in this tiny version of this photo. If you saw the full version, you'd see all the touches to remove the tiniest imperfection, the soft filter, the touches around the eyes, everything. It's what changes an ordinary image into a magazine cover.
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| Glamour Girl |
So, I'm about a quarter done, which is on schedule. If I finish the rest of the studio shots and all of Coruscant today, I'm right on schedule. I only drank about a pot and a half of coffee yesteday. Fewer cloves than expected.
I *did* get the unexpected treat of driving a Mustang Cobra. Oh. My. God. I forget what it's like to drive a real car. Don't get me wrong, I love the Miata. It's nimble and quick, but not the raw power that can be delivered by a V-8. "Don't worry, it's got a limiter -- feel free to redline it" my friend says. Okay. So, 11:30PM, I start it easy, just to get the feel. Blurp, blurb, blurp, blurp. Learn the backroad route I choose. Mmmmm, V-8. Hmmmm. 80MPH in 3rd. Coming back... tear it up. Holy hell. Thankfully I pulled the radar detector from my car for the feeling of extra security. Plastering-in-the-seat acceleration. Through the backroads in the turns, VA-ROOOOOM! Not as race-worthy as the Miata, IMHO, which is lower to the ground and less massive, but WAY faster. On to I-520... and speeds which shouldn't be put in print. *Unreal*. I never did figure out how to turn off the fancy stereo, so I just cranked a heavy metal station, FLYING. An hour later, I was back. Sweating.
Overall? I still felt better driving the Miata about 20MPH faster than the Mustang; it just feels more controllable. Maybe I'm just more used to it. Still, I want a Shelby Mustang so bad I can taste it. I love V-8s. The sound, the feel, the excitement. I should spend time on the track.
Mmmm. Well, it was a good break from photo editing. There's good stuff in all of this. And so far I'm on schedule.
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Sunday, October 16, 2005 -- And so it begins...
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After my first day of certification training on Saturday, we went to Jen and Bryan's wedding. "Formal required; extravagance encouraged" -- ah, license to kill. I wore what you might expect, something directly out of Labyrinth. So, we had the boots, coat and leather pants from here and the white shirt from here, topped with a blue crystal cross matching Hermione's outfit and the black leather gloves Adam wore in this photoshoot. With the hair and beard -- oh, yeah. Hermione wore this with a blue velvet skirt and matching earrings. Lucky we were top-of-form goth... because everyone else was as well.
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| Congrats Jen and Bryan! |
It is *so* odd to be at a wedding and not working it! And I am unbelieveably pleased that, for this time at least, I wasn't. It was charming. There were so many giggle moments, like when Jen jumped the gun on her vows and then looked at us all and said, "Oh. I do, I do, I really, really do!" How can you not love a wedding like that? And all the usual suspects where there and we *danced*.
There was one thing, though, that was very special -- the last song of the night. At our own wedding, we'd planned "As the World Falls Down" out of Labyrinth. Well, Hermione and I missed our own song when it played. Well, it played last night. And there we were. At a wedding. With me dressed as Jareth. Now how awesome is that? :D
Anyway, enough warm fuzzies. I'm editing photos. You won't see them posted until the web pages are done, but I'm hard at work. Oh. And I met an old friend last night who will be the adult Hannah Shan-Revan -- she's awesome and beautiful. You'll love her.
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Friday, October 14, 2005 -- Legend of the Drunken Master and Schedule
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What can you do with a Force FX lightsaber if you didn't have m4d PhotoShop skilz, it's 4AM, you're pretty wasted after a cast party, and you don't dare go to sleep because you'd wake up with a migraine? Take pictures! First curtain sync, quarter second exposure, pause, then clean arc on the saber. You, too, can do this in a dark room and no other special effects -- and probably much better if you were sober!
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| Drunken Master |
It's confirmed, I'm taking next week off, although my Saturdays are dedicated to training for the Project Management Professional examination (another checkbox allowing me to... erm... "offer greater value to my customers"). So, schedule looks like this:
Sunday, October 17th - 23rd: Edit photos
Monday, October 24th - 30th: Construct web pages
Monday, October 31st: Publish! (How Goth of me!)
Saturday, November 12th, 7PM: CAST PARTH (Revenge of the Sith showing)
One of my best friends has graciously offered her home for photo editing (ours is smoke-free) so I will be able to have a pot of coffee on one side, a pack of cloves on the other, and go right to town. The cast party is late because both Tara and Brandon are out of town the weekend after the photos are done, so... there we are. La, la, la, la... ;)
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Monday, October 10, 2005 -- Kneel before your God
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Anyone watch Stargate SG-1? Hermione and I went clubbing on Saturday night, and I just wanted to mention that...
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| BA'AL LIVES! :) |
So what did we wear? Well there's always more than just a pretty face, don't you think? Of course there is. Matching outfits! It's actually all Captain Morgan. So... Captain Morgan and Mrs. Morgan:
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| Captain Morgan | Mrs. Morgan |
Good news! I'm taking vacation next week, which means I should get most, if not all, this stuff finished. That'll be cool, won't it? :D
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Saturday, October 8, 2005 -- The Train Keeps Moving
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So I'm starting to put things together. Pictures are grouped into sections, like "Coruscant", "Revan and Bastila", "Family", "Cast Party" and so on. Now, I've also thought about the web site and how I want to create a little toggle for mood music to go with each gallery. Music default to off, but you can hit a button and have a theme song to go with each gallery. Some things are easier than others. Take the picture below, where Ammie is chasing squirrels with a lightsaber.
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| Squirrel Killer |
Now how can you NOT have the Benny Hill Theme going when you flip through pictures like that, huh? In the same set you'll watch her duel vs. Brandon and a cigarrette, watch us crack up after (during a tender scene between Bastila and Revan) she accidentally stabs me with a lightsaber, and all sorts of other outtakes. Benny Hill Theme. It just *has* to be playing while you see the photos. Every time I flip through them, it's all I can think about.
Cast party? "Rock You Like a Hurricane", by the Scorpions. No doubt about it. It's a moral imperative. The series of pictures where Ammie gets rid of the Bastila costume? "Move", off the Kaskade album In the Moment. Trust me -- you'll want the music for the giggle factor. Other pictures? Well, there's the Bastila Theme from the game, Anakin's Dark Deeds from Revenge of the Sith, various bits of Star Wars music, you name it. It will add to the effect.
So, things are moving along. I have the good fortune of having stayed at a friend's house this Friday. That means I have gotten to have an evening of romantic comedy movies, coffee and cloves. Morning? Latte, more cloves. I've edited some photos, moved others around. I need to ask for some opinions as to web-size for photos. I've traditionally made my web-sized photos about 560 pixels in maximum height/width, but I'm thinking that's too small. These photos really have details that get lost in the smaller size. Also, when I do the edits, I edit in full resolution -- that means that it is possible to make photo prints of anything that is produces, up to 10 x 15 in size. It is a lot of trouble to edit in full resolution, because EVERY lightsaber has to have THREE composite passes instead of one; some photos have five blades in them, making for FIFTEEN layers -- ugh. Enough to make me want to take a blaster my behavior core. *Sigh*. I should really draft some assistance here, but I'm just stupid.
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Sunday, October 2, 2005 -- Signs and Portents
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Yesterday, I sorted the photos and created the master DVDs. These are the DVDs that will copied for cast and crew. Just as I was finishing, Seattle was hit with the first thunder and lightning storm of the year. I rapidly shut down and unplugged equipment, moving to laptops on battery, and watched the storm from underneath a balcony overhang, clove in hand. Interesting, I reflected. Of course, sometimes a massive storm is just a massive storm.
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| Second guessing hairstyle |
As I go through photos right now, this is where things start happening. Just as I find incredible jewels, I also start second guessing myself. In particular, Ammie's hair was forward for most of the shoot. I remember the point I made that snap decision in studio. It's supposed to be ten years after KOTOR, Bastila is more relaxed, this reflects a little change, I like the look, I thought. Now, looking at the photo above and how much "more Bastila" it is (also, I played the game and know how to photograph certain angles to enhance the illusion), I second guess that decision. I should have asked Kate -- that's what she was there for. Why didn't I do that? What was I thinking? Maybe it'll be okay -- people complain she looked the same in KOTOR II as she did in KOTOR. No, I should have asked for more opinions. ARGH!
So it's a process. Three DVDs worth of material must be reduced to a reasonable number of photographs for gallery display. Then they must be put through post production. This first "rough cut" reduces 3.5 gigs to about half a gig per DVD. I know I'm getting tired when I start failing to cut different versions of the same pose thinking I'll get to it later. NO. The time to get to it is NOW. Later is for fine tuning the best of the best images, not deciding between two of the same studio pose. The real trick is to work backwards. Going through the images in reverse sequence lets me see the END before I see the beginning of a sequence. That way I don't cut anything that winds up turning out interesting, even if it didn't start that way. Conversely, if something fizzles, it's gone. That's just how things work. Work backwards. Only way to go.
After rough sort comes the fine sort. That takes less time than the rough sort, and I usually involve Hermione in that. She'll catch things that I'll usually let go. I tend to judge on technical perfection first, emotion second; she judges on emotion first. By bringing that back to the forefront, it makes for a better situation.
Post production (mostly exposure correction and saber glows -- some Force Lightning and other special effects) is where the meat of things takes place. How long that takes depends on how many images there are and how complex the work is (we have FIVE sabers in some images). Working on full frame images takes longer than working on web images. Because we want to make PRINTS from these, working in full frame is essential.
After post production, I have to do the necessary web site programming to support the new images. This isn't likely to be difficult, just requires some thought, design and time.
I'll probably draw up a schedule later in the afternoon and see what I can farm out to other people. Right now, it doesn't look hopeful.
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Thursday, September 29, 2005 -- Mea Saura, Mea Saura, Mea MAXIMA Saura
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Darth Diskus was brought before the Council in a neural collar and iron chains. A twisted expression was on his demented face, an indication that not all was right in the odd thing he called a mind.
A pained expression was on Revan's face. “You were a trusted servant, but you have been convicted of high crimes against Republic and the Jedi Order, including murder, willful destruction of property, unnecessary endangerment of life, and other crimes listed here.” Revan paused, and looked at Jolee before continuing. “We recognize, however, that you are… broken. And it is not the way of the Jedi to execute our prisoners. You will be wiped, healed and returned to productive purpose in society. May you find some peace in that thought.”
Darth Diskus giggled manically, and rattled his chains. He stopped, then looked at the ceiling sedately. Revan snorted, waved to the two Knights guarding him. Diskus leapt forward, struggling against the chains, and said clearly to Revan, “You’ll see me again.”
Revan stared carefully into the mad eyes. “I very much doubt that.” He nodded to the two Jedi, and Diskus was hauled away, screaming wild and insane phrases.
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| The evidence is clear |
I detached both drives in the array. The server had been fine for twenty-four hours. I reattached one. This is the result of Drive A. It failed within fifteen minutes. Just *BOOM*. Okay.
I reattached Drive B half an hour ago. So far, it has been clean. Just sitting there, humming along. The card has complained that the array is missing a drive (yeah), but no other errors. I check again, now two hours later. Clean. I. am. stupid. I'll leave it alone for twenty-four hours worth of burn-in, but I'll order a replacement drive this morning.
I must go report to my mentor, Master JAV, that after three years of dealing in devices and drivers, having been a manager and lead and many things, I am still just a foolish Padawan and thank her for the idea about the drives.
Excuse me, I need more coffee and another clove.
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Wednesday, September 28, 2005 -- I am Darth Sebastian, Dark Lord of the Sith
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Hermione: "Have you quit cloves?"
Sebastian: "Yeah, yeah, I'm cutting down. Just give me --"
Hermione: "Well... could you stop? Here. Have a lighter."
I guess I've gotten a little hard to live with lately.
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| "There is that." |
| "Yeah, there is that." |
For *days*, I have been trying to get the new server online. It hasn't been going well. It started out fine, but I started getting some of the same errors as the old server. The hardware is completely new, except for the two drives that make up the mirror RAID array. Over time, it progressively gets worse. It starts out fine, but the longer it is on, the worse things get, until it starts locking up within five minutes to half an hour of restart. You'll love how the progression goes:
Event ID 9: Source: aar1210 The device, \Device\ScSi\aar12101, did not respond within the timeout period. The machine slows down, then completely locks up. Nothing helps but hitting the power button.
Event ID: 1003 Category (102) Error Code 000000d1. Boom. Restart. Well, that was nice. Didn't even get a blue screen. Hmmm. Is there a memory dump? Should be...
Event ID: 1001 Bug Check 0x000000d1. Blue Screen. Memory dump. *Niiiiiiiiiiiice*. Frack me.
Now, I'm thinking "This started in July, I've stripped this config to the metal, it must be some hotfix", but my mentor says, "Well, someone took a debugger to your old machine and found hardware faults -- what about bad drives?" My eyebrows went up. I have NO ERRORS coming from the array, but that might not mean anything. I know how drivers are written -- you don't trap for an error condition that you don't ever expect to see. So if it never comes up in testing, the driver won't be able to deal with it. If one of the drives is doing something... unusual... hmmmm... this idea has merit. This morning, I pulled the control cables from the drives and just let the machine sit there, spinning the controller without the drives. An hour and a half and it's been fine.
I'm feeling a little foolish.
I'm reluctant to buy new drives because... what if *still* doesn't fix the issue? Then I'm out dollars again, and STILL SCREWED. Of course, I buy drives and it's fixed... oh, choices. I replace one drive, I have a 50% chance of it being the "right" one. If the problem doesn't go away, I break the mirror, and go for the other one and rebuild. That would be $120. Or, I could replace the whole 250GB array (half full) with a 320GB array for $240. Then all the hardware is new.
There's also other things that the studio could use. An 70-200f2.8L IS. A Microtec Scanmaker i900. An Epson P-2000. A Kodak Q-60E3 Target calibration. An Expodisc Digital White Balance Filter. Even selling old gear, that's a few buckets of cash out of the company -- about a wedding's worth.
In other news, my old Dell server's motherboard died because of the "Chinese capacitor issue" (read about it here). This isn't their fault -- a LOT of big companies got stung by the problem. New motherboard was a $65 eBay item, but I don't want to do that again. I didn't buy a service contract on my new server at the time because I didn't know what killed my old server. Now, the thing is -- one of their sales reps called me *personally* to follow up, then failed to follow through. Anyway, after a month, I've finally gotten a promise that *someone* will help me GIVE THEM MORE MONEY for a service contract on the new server. Well, spiffy. They'll certainly want to keep that promise because... they don't know who I am and they haven't even begun to comprehend the power of the Dark Side of the Force.
I'm thinking I should take some vacation time from my day job. I have more available than I know what to do with.
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Sunday, September 25, 2005 -- Riding at Masun's
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Okay, I've never been on a horse before. Neither has Hermione. So Masun and Donna had to teach us *everything*, starting with dress in layers and wear good boots. The boots were easy -- reach into the costuming closet, get riding boots. Hermione actually had riding pants. I opted for this entire little Ernest Hemingway outfit, complete with Indiana Jones Stetson (official licensed, no less). More on the hat later.
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| Unbearably cute wife |
I didn't get any photos of us brushing horses, and I should have. Star was very dusty (bird term -- dandruff), and a little cranky, but Rosie and I got along very well. At different points, she just leaned right into whatever I was doing, which I figured meant she appreciated it (*I* like a good back scratching and scalp massage, so I treated her like I would want to be), so I made extra-sure those spots got all the dirt and loose hair bits out. This seemed to be a good tactic, since when I moved to the front, I got all sorts of nose-nuzzles. Rosie is one of the biggest of Masun's herd, but they're all well-trained -- you give them the signal to move one way or the other, they move. Rosie and Luke seemed to pick up my (inept) cues best, to the point where it seemed telepathic at moments; Star ignored me without some pretty overt signal to move (no, go *there*, or Rosie will pick on you!).
After brushing, it was lesson time. Hermione won the toss.
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| A lot to remember... |
Mounting, dismounting, sitting up straight, walking, stopping. I paid attention so Masun wouldn't have to repeat himself. Luke, a 35 year old horse, was absurdly tolerant. I missed some *awesome* pictures of Luke standing absolutely shock-still as Masun climbed all over his neck hopping around, eventually landing over him like a dead man:
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| Come back with your horse, or on it. |
All through this, Luke is all "Yeah, yeah... okay." He's also good with cameras. Just poses like a champ. As a matter of fact, later he stopped walking because he saw a flash go off. Pop. Oh. Must be time to take pictures. I'll stop now and let them get pictures of me. Cheese!
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| Woot! :) |
Here's me and Rosie. You'll note I have dumped my Stetson in favor of a stylish black helmet. This turned out to be a wise choice, for as well as Rosie and I get along, she cares NOT ONE BIT for tree branches and things that come up on the trail. So, lower your head and let the helmet do the work, WHAP! Handy. I was glad for the leather jacket as well. I made passable marks, managing to keep up with Donna. This involved a trot on a few occassions and it went fine, although there's some motion things to it that I'd want to practice more. I'm positive I could make it better.
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| Like my new girlfriend? ;) |
There really isn't a lot to compare in riding horses and motorcycles, other than you don't want to let either get away from you. The next thing is the most *awesome* thing of the day, and I'm glad I had the Big Iron camera with me, because...
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| Ride, cowboy, ride! |
... Masun took off! I insisted on taking these photos while perched on Rosie to get the height and perspective right. What a dedicated photographer, eh? I've got a pile of photos, but I didn't check the settings, so the white balance is off. The rest is fine. I'll have to do this again with a longer lens next time I go up.
We finished the day with Donna's Oh My God Venison Meatloaf (I totally pigged out on five slices), Pan Fried Potatoes with Butter (pigged out again) and Little Tomato Salad with Apples and Grapes and Mint and Dill and I Pigged Out Again. I was soooooooooo stuffed I started falling asleep around the little camp fire brazier. Thank God Hermione drove us back. I passed out in the car at the ferry dock, and didn't wake up until we hit the Seattle terminal. I mentioned something about not remembering getting on the ferry, she said that she didn't even bother waking me. I passed out again until she poked awake that we were home. Took the gear inside, dumped everything in the washroom, showered, bed.
So, what does this have to do with getting the photos done? Well, I'm tanned, I'm rested, I'm READY. I am a f**king MACHINE. I'm going to rebuild my dead server today (to be more precise -- configure my NEW server and bring it online), copy forty gigabytes of photos over and back them up, and start the massive sorting process. I'm going to make some phone calls and draft the assistance I need to GET THESE THINGS PROCESSED. I AM PUMPED.
You should be, too. Within three weeks, you're going to see some cool stuff.
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Thursday, September 22, 2005 -- A Wish Fulfilled
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Ammie, dearest, I am like the Lord of the Lamp who fulfills wishes, the Jinn who makes your slightest desire the mightiest of commands. For the rest of you, what inspired the parody.
You may repay me later.
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| Will the Real Ms. Shan Please Stand Up? |
I love shooting weddings. They are beautiful, sentimental affairs -- and for a day, although I am all business, I'm also a part of something bigger. Yet, they are over too soon. That is where this project has been so astounding. It has exceeded the "Playtoy" project by leaps and bounds to be the greatest thing I have ever participated in. In scale, scope and vision this has been huge; the results have been outstanding; the experience has been lasting. In all ways, this has been a worthwhile thing to do.
I never did go to sleep last night. Oh, well. :)
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Sunday, September 18, 2005 -- Refreshed
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“I am Revan. I've walked the darkness and the light. On the whole, everything is a matter of perspective -- although heresy, and I would be surprised if it isn't struck from this record, there isn't much the separates the Jedi and the Sith. Future generations would do well to be mindful of that.
“The thought that once you start down the path of the Dark Side, it will forever dominate your destiny, is commonly misunderstood. There are always choices. Although difficult, an adept of the Dark Side of the Force can choose to leave it behind at any time, to turn away from the downward spiral of death and destruction and return to a path where the strong do not prey on the weak. No, what the phrase truly means is that you will always have to live with the things you have done. Once you come to your senses, you will have to atone for your actions. Your deeds will weigh on your conscience. Others will rightfully hold you responsible for your past ways. Some measure of guilt will always remain with you. And all those things affect every choice you make from that point forward, no matter how slightly. That is how the Dark Side dominates your destiny.”
-- The Memoirs of Master Revan, Head of the Council, 3944 BBY - Jedi Archives, Coruscant
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| Jedi Master and Dark Lord |
The post-production schedule will go out in the next few days. It will contain information on the schedule for photo release, CDs of images for actor's portfolios, and so on.
It might be a little self-worshiping to release photos of MYSELF, but you know, my father was always behind the camera lens, and we have very few photos of him -- save for the few I managed to snap in later years. I have regrets about that. Now, as I look in the mirror and see lines I don't remember and stray grey hairs here and there, I find images of myself at least as important as any other image that could be taken. Rest assured, though, that I'm working through the other images. There's plenty of good ones to choose from and it's proving to be difficult. Brandon is simply The Man. Round of applause, everyone.
Well, back to work. Things to do today. You should go to Shiro's Sushi. Eat at the bar, make sure Shiro himself serves you. Your life will change.
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Thursday, September 15, 2005 -- Thank You
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“Padawan, do you get angry at the rain?”
“No, Master, it is the rain. It comes as it wills. Do you get angry at the rain?”
“I am the rain.”
And the Padawan was enlightened.
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| Master Bindo |
9:05PM -- Stick a fork in me, I'm done. It's time to take a breath and get a grip. This morning, at 4AM, before I went to bed, I was working on a document. It was important to me. Now, I'd like to blame it on a system mess up, but I'm pretty positive I blew it away while backing it up. One window looks like another at 4AM and a dialog box isn't too carefully read. A couple of days of work, gone. And I haven't been following the chain of command for the past week. You know...
Major Software: "You know what the chain of command is, son?"
Sergeant Sebastian: "Um.... the chain of command is the line of authority and responsibility along which orders are passed?"
Major Software: "WRONG MAGGOT! It's the chain I beat you with until you follow my commands! You've been laying down on the job, son! Get it in gear, ASAP!"
Yeah. I think I need more than two or three hours of sleep a night and I need to concentrate a bit on getting a few other things in order, along with realigning my mental state.
And Happy Anniversary to my lovely wife who has managed to be a good influence in my life for four years of marriage and eight years of "going steady" today. ;)
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Monday, September 13, 2005 -- Sneak Peak
Monday, September 13, 2005 -- Sneak Peak
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“Hannah, look at the nice holographer!” Revan said.
“Fingernails dirty,” Hannah replied.
“See, he’s smiling! Wave!”
“Fingernails dirty.” Hannah examined her tiny fingers intently.
Bastila smiled, “She does not want her image taken. It is hopeless.”
“No, it will be fine. Come on, hon, look!” Revan waved his hands.
“Fingernails dirty.”
“She will not cooperate, Revan, ” Bastila sent mentally, “Hannah has decided, and that is that. You might as well give up. ”
“Jolee always manages to get her to do things. ”
“Jolee bribes her and spoils her rotten. ”
“Oh. ”
“And he acts like a three year old most of the time. They are of like minds. ”
“Where are my pretties?” Hannah pouted, referring to the dancing bells usually tied on her. Luckily she liked them, although their practical purpose was to ensure she could be found when she chose to play hide and seek. Her ability to mask her presence with the Force was uncanny and had manifested young.
“Later,” murmured Revan.
“Now,” insisted Hannah.
“Later,” soothed Bastila.
Hannah made a face, but settled more firmly into Revan’s arms.
Revan rolled his eyes. He thought a moment, and then sent to Bastila, “Maybe if I was more persuasive –”
She narrowed her eyes at him. “Revan, so help me, if you use the Force on her –”
“What? Bas! No! I was thinking of a lollypop or something. Geez! You’d think I was the Dark Lord of the Sith or something! ”
“Well… ” she sent back sheepishly.
Revan raised his eyebrows. “Point. ”
| | Family Portrait |
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Monday, September 13, 2005 -- That's a Wrap
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What did I *drink* last night? During any production, your cast and crew are your closest friends. The end of a production is always a sad thing as you go your seperate ways. The wrap party brings closure. That's when the thespian mask is removed and you learn you have a few things in common with your fellow actors. For example, in a way, I've known Ammie a lot longer than I thought -- twenty years, through my friend Mike Owen. I had no idea -- "OMG, you're THAT Ammie... I remember now. You were... oh. My. You've grown up."
The studio and my home are a wreck. Dishes, liquor bottles, costumes, makeup, photo equipment, computer gear -- all over the place. I seem to have lost all my CF card readers, along with the CF microdrives that were with them (that might have happened anytime since the wedding last week). It's fortunate that I have such an fantastic alarm system and that the safe is big enough to just drop the most valuable equipment right in. Otherwise... a war zone. I hope to clean up a bit at a time. I'm thinking move things into piles. Then put away the piles.
The wrap party resulted in photos for my home album. Then there is, of course, the Bastila photoshoot that Hermione and Ammie planned that KOTORians (well, the men at least) would pay *money* to see:
Being in front of the lens instead of behind was a different experience. The collaboration was unique. It was interesting to see a different workflow, and it highlighted some of the things that I really hate about my own. I must get an Epson P2000 -- I'm simply finished with the way I currently do things. Also a negative scanner for all my old negatives, I understand the Microtek is what I'm looking for. And the IS version of the 70-200 f2.8L, selling my faithful Monster for UberMonster. Little improvements, highlighted by watching what Brandon was doing (not that he was scanning old negatives -- that I was thinking about for a while, just that I was on the topic of upgrades).
The photos will get triaged. Then again. Then again. Then again. I'm going to outsource for some talent. I need some PhotoShop gurus for things like Force Lightning, sparks, and smoke effects. My domain server has plenty of space to be securely trading huge files. This means teaser photos will pop out on a new page here and there, but the bulk of the photos will not be released for about three weeks. Brandon -- no prereleases.
Thank you to every who has and will be participating. It is truly an honor to be working with you all.
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Sunday, September 11, 2005 -- Best Laid Plans
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Well, that went pretty well. The weather cleared up, which was both good and bad. Really, cloudy-bright would have been best. Sun was the idea for Coruscant. As you'll see in the rough dailies that I have here (and they are *very* rough -- do not look at them as anything near the finals), sunlight complicated the exposures. We wanted to avoid using flash to keep the exposures natural. In retrospect, some fill might have been in order; we'll see what PhotoShop can do. The area was not set up in such a fashion that reflective panels would have been of any help; we'll bring some to UW, assuming we have any sunlight. In some cases, this resulted in some great shots; in others, the exposures were suboptimal. With six gigabytes of images to sort through, it will be interesting to tell the "story" of this fight. Some of the fight and studio images are here. Studio images of Revan will be today, along with more studio images of the others today and images of Jedi Temple.
| | Lots 'o sabers |
| | Tough exposure moment |
| | Do *not* piss Revan off! |
| | Our Jolee knows Kung Fu... for real! |
| | Darth Invictus is MEAN! |
During the whole shoot I had "Anakin's Dark Deeds" going through my head. Hermione just *hates* it when I play that first thing in the morning. Loud symphonic music just isn't her thing. Me, I get up, get coffee, start doing my aikido exercises on the deck, crank music. She pops out of the bedroom, conks me on the head, turns down the stereo, goes back to bed. I'm all "What? It's 7AM! Time for work!"
Anyway, cleaned up the studio, cleaned up the house, cleaned up myself. I'm thinking of going with a black t-shirt instead of undertunic for the remainder of the shoot, Exile-style. This morning we have cloud cover and I'm wondering if it will hold. Also, the studio shoot will ensure my best angles come out. On the limited dailies, I can see I look too much like me and not enough like Revan -- it's the lighting. I can fix that. Must have my closeups. ;) Bastila, too, will be awesome. I can already feel that the studio work will be good.
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Saturday, September 10, 2005 -- The Hour of the Wolf
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3AM. Well, I've learned a lot about putting little snaps onto leather belts. The studio is clean. It is raining outside. I get up in the morning, do some last minute items, then become Revan.
That's the damnest thing.
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Friday, September 9, 2005 -- THE SHOW GOES ON!
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Meet at my place tomorrow per the posted schedule.
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Friday, September 9, 2005 -- I'm John Crichton, Astronaut
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Why can't I light my clove cigarette? Huh? Huh? Huh? Because it is frelling raining so hard outside that my cigarette is soggy! Aeryn? Hello?
Never fails. September. Welcome to Seattle. Frell. Dren. Hasmata. See? What I tell you about getting even worse? Where's Sparky? I should talk to D'hargo. Maybe Pilot will have an idea...
Needless to say, that isn't exactly the lighting I had intended. Grey and overcast is completely flat and uninteresting. Boring. Lifeless. Admittedly, Stargate SG-1 has shot in drizzle many times, but... I don't know. They had movement and flashpots to help them out. We won't be setting off explosives.
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Thursday, September 8, 2005 -- I Know Why Revan Turned to the Dark Side
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So people who act and direct and produce these big Hollywood productions -- how do they do it? I get into this thing with the neighbor over the height of overgrown hedges (solved with cigarrettes and band stories), my sister calls with woes (won't be solved without attorneys), I still need to do some little leather things myself, inner tunic looks like a gonner, storyboards are just in my head, I have a vague headache, yada, yada, yada. This is not to say that NEARLY EVERYTHING isn't fine. It is. Clean up studio, set up lights, we're fine. People are ready. Phone calls are made. Still... I feel like that guy in the Airplane movies -- "Wrong week to give up drinking/smoking/cocaine/whatever."
It's funny. I had Jolee say something in a story. “When it looks the worst, that’s when it will get even worse. After that, it gets better. Never fails. So don’t worry. We’ve all gotten this far, we’ll go the distance. The Force protects the innocent, children, and fools. We’re not the first two, but we’re definitely the last, so we can’t possibly fail.” So we're all set. :)
I have to run by Display and Costume to get some makeup. Jolee needs bushy eyebrows and some wash-out white for whiskers. I also have to make sure I have enough scar makeup for Revan. Getting blown up on your own bridge tends to give a guy a few ouchies.
So, the other night while working with Adam on swordplay, I got whacked. Never let it be said that I don't suffer for my art. ;)
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Wednesday, September 7, 2005 -- Jedi in Boots!
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They promised Wednesday the 7th -- and here they are. Final hemming of the Jedi robes can now take place. Notice how they match my other new brown Jedi gear. To make them look right, I would have to "weather" them (scuff, say with sandpaper, wear them in by wetting them down, then wearing them while they dry out, letting bald patches wear in), which I'm totally reluctant to do. I think the most I might do is go out to a playground and get a whole bunch of dirt and dust on them. I'm wearing Dockers in the photo; I should have switched to skin-tight Goth jeans which would have been waaaaaaaaaaaay sexier:
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Wednesday, September 7, 2005 -- Confirmed Shooting Schedule
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Saturday, Sept 10th:
11:00AM -- Makeup call, Adam
12:00PM -- Cast & crew call at 231 NE 92nd St.
12:30PM -- On set, studio Adam/Masun/Sebastian
1:30 PM -- Travel to location
7:00 PM -- Done shooting
Sunday, Sept 11th:
10:00AM -- Makeup call, Christina/Ammie (makeup takes a couple of hours)
11:30AM -- Makeup call, Adam
12:00PM -- Cast & crew call at 231 NE 92nd St.
1:00 PM -- Set call (Tara, Brandon & Maia probably arrive a little before now)
1:15 PM -- On set, studio
1:30 PM -- Shooting starts, FIRST with Maia Sheets (get the children done!)
1:45 PM -- All done with Maia
3:00 PM -- All done, studio -- start of pickup shots from Saturday
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Tuesday, September 6, 2005 -- The Adam Family and a Site Visit
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Occassionally, the world is filled with irony that only the Force can appreciate.
I start this series of pictures with Adam McLeod of the Clan McLeod. :) After we did some sword practice this evening, I took a few snapshot photos of him. It seems I couldn't take a decent photo of him (only the third on the right is mine), so I borrowed some *old* photos of him that I liked. I only *wish* my hair could do that. Nope. Goes long, get it wet, ringlets. The rest of the photos are where we will be doing the outdoor shoot. We had planned on Ravenna Park. Brandon pointed out it wasn't "wild" enough. We needed either very wild or very manicured. He had a better location in mind, Kubota Gardens. After a walk through, I completely agreed. See what you think...
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Monday, September 5, 2005 -- Bastila Gets Dressed and Undressed
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So Ammie tried a Jedi outfit and pronounced it warm ("too many layers!"). Hermione and Ammie wondered what a Bastila swimsuit photo calendar might be like. Anyway, here are a few snapshots of our outfit for Sunday. As you can see, it can be difficult to stay on task, and the outtake photos are likely to be pretty funny:
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Sunday, September 4, 2005 -- Voice Clips
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Wedding was wonderful. Only a moment did the decorum slip, when Loreena Mckennitt played, I looked at Hermione and just... had... to... DANCE.
I've constructed some sound of Bastila and Jolee's voice, in case you haven't played the game. They're set to some music from KOTOR. I did them in a rush and neglected to put in pauses and things, my bad. Anyway, they're *huge*, so don't bother if you don't have broadband.
Bastila Talks About Herself and Berates Revan a Bit
Bastila Loves Revan... Awwww...
Old Man Jolee
Jolee Relates the Story of Andor...
If someone wants to mix better files, I have the originals hanging around, but prior to compressing the .wavs, they are even bigger. Anyway, I have to get back to work... ;)
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Saturday, September 3, 2005 -- Lightsabers Arrive and Revan's Costume
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LIGHTSABERS ARE HERE. Hermione pointed out that there is a left and a right, based on the placement of the LED. I had missed that, but she's right. They are designed so the emitters can be changed. Also, the grips can be made different -- I'm considering differentiating them. In my stories, Revan had always carried one saber he made and one saber that had been Nemo's. Revan had tried to give it back to Zhar, but been told to keep it and remember. He did, probably longer than any of them had intended. Anyway, check out Mike and Connie at Lightech. They wound up bouncing like gizkas to send stuff. Also, don't forget -- we also use Parks Sabers, the Echelon and M2, which are featured prominently.
Work on Revan's costume continues. It hasn't been hemmed yet and the hand stitching isn't completed, but the major bits are complete. It looks good with a black shirt (ala Exile-style), even though there is a complete Jedi style undertunic. I'm not wearing the tabards in this photo, giving it more of an ANH Obiwan-style look. When completed, it will be more along a Revenge of the Sith Obiwan/Mace Windu sort of look, but somewhat shorter. The masters always had a very "long" style, practically knee-length, and I want to keep this more dynamic and action-oriented in terms of a costume. Perhaps I might style Bastila along Exile lines.
A bitter wind blew and Bastila shivered. She looked to Revan to see if he was all right, but he showed no sign of noticing the cold. He merely quietly regarded the vista in the distance, his handsome features cutting a portrait in the early evening. A small silver loop piercing gleamed at his ear, the only remaining sign he had ever been a Sith Lord. - Fractured Image
Love to chat more, but I'm photographing a wedding today. I've been prepping since Thursday. All the batteries are charged, all my gear is packed, just a matter of slathering on sunscreen and packing the Miata (always a challenge). I expect it to be a SUPER gig. I usually don't talk about professional work, but I've been thinking about this wedding for weeks, going over it step-by-step in my head, just like the protagonist in "Hero". Perhaps I'll put up the photos sometime. I've been meaning to update DELAOSA.COM for a while. In addition to standard weddings, I do specialty weddings, ala Renn Weddings, science fiction weddings, etc. -- and I don't advertise this well enough. I mean, after all, why NOT hire the specialist who understands these things, right? You need your photographer dressed up to match your wedding... no problem. :D
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Friday, September 2, 2005 -- KotorFanMedia, Where it All Started
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Cloak arrived from MPM Costumes. Very cool, great color. Lighter than I thought it'd be, but that's actually good. Made by Michele. Thanks, Michele! It's fantastic!
MotorCowboy emailed to say that the boots are on their way; they sent a tracking number.
Last thing is Lightech sabers. They said on Sunday that they would be sent on Tuesday or Wednesday, so they should be in transit. Fingers crossed that they make it. Otherwise it gets interesting.
It's actually 1AM on Friday. I am *tired*. Good night. See you in... uh... four hours when I wake up at 5AM. Blah.
*BING!* Good morning! Miss me? 6AM! Rise and shine! Say, if you can't get enough reading about this project, there's even more! Here's a thread over on KotorFanMedia:
The Thread Where I Tell It All
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Wednesday, August 31, 2005 -- I am Revan
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Almost September. Unreal. There's a package waiting at the mailbox -- boots, sabers, or something else? I have to wait an hour to find out.
Costumes are coming along. Outer tunic needs to be hemmed, now the inner tunic needs to be made and the tabards/obi finished. Then Revan is done. Lack of hemming on the outer tunic lends itself to a new Jedi tunic idea, one where the back sort of flows in a semi-circle, the front doesn't cross, and the belt holds it in place. This would be my "first thing in the morning, no coffee, where the f**k is my clove cigarette?" face. My one shoulder is high because I had all sorts of trouble getting my fist in frame as I had the camera take this self-portrait...
Adam postponed sparring. No pictures. Sorry. I know you were looking forward to them. Sorry, ladies, you'll have to save your fan-mail for later...
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Tuesday, August 30, 2005 -- Happy Birthday Neil
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Happy Birthday to my brother Neil. May I have many, many more years of torturing you. :)
Up until recently, I looked like Lord Ba'al from Stargate SG-1. It was a SACRIFICE to change my appearance for this role as Revan. A sacrifice, I tell you! Here's the side-by-side comparison, a couple of self-portraits taken with a timer on the camera:
Tomorrow night, Adam and I will meet to go over some things for the shoot -- and beat on each other with bamboo swords. Maybe I'll get a picture or two of him so you can see what he looks like before costume and makeup.
NEWSFLASH! After spamming Alpha Base with mail, Lady Sonnet's (livejournal) husband wrote back and will lend us a Jedi outfit for Bastila! Woo-hoo! That means Hermione can work on an inner tunic for Revan! OWNS! And I'm going to probably get to photograph these outfits. Win for everyone. I'm already *dreaming* of the studio work I can do with her and that dress...
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Monday, August 29, 2005 -- Read about Revan
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Someone pointed out to me that not everyone is versed in Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. For those who need a primer *AND* are willing to read spoilers, here you go:
All You Ever Wanted to Know About Revan and Then Some
It contains all sorts of interesting links to follow. Everything you could possibly want to know. It is Wiki, so might not be accurate, but it is pretty good and reasonably written.
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Sunday, August 28, 2005 -- A Location Scouting Trip
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You don't realize how *lucky* I am that I coded this website the way that I did. Getting the photos up? Easy. I can create a page that will autogenerate all this HTML that I then can hardcode into this weblog. I feel like this web-guru ever time I do it and I pat myself on the back for being so clever as to use my own code objects (they aren't really, but that's the best way to think of them).
Stargate SG-1 often films at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver B.C. I took a trip to the University of Washington to scout some locations. Buildings have gone up and the place has changed since I graduated twelve years ago. I think that the entrance to Suzzallo Library is about to become the Jedi Temple on Coruscant. These test pictures were taken with a Canon G6 point-n-shoot around 2PM. The place is deserted on Sunday and the library is closed, so no traffic. See what you think...
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Sunday, August 28, 2005 -- News on Props and Costumes
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I sort of gave up on the clove cigarettes. At least before this project. Now I'm... mostly given up.
The Lightech folks just emailed me. Lightsabers on the way! JOLEE HAS A LIGHTSABER! DARTH INVICTUS HAS A LIGHTSABER! They should be here by Friday! We were *so* screwed otherwise. I'd been keeping that little bit of news to myself, wondering precisely what I was going to do. Ha! Studly! Round of applause!
Hermione changed the production schedule of outer tunic, inner tunic, and tabards of my outfit. I was having *two* made of different materials. We're going to make two outer tunics and tabards, in the event we can't borrow one for Ammie, and then sew together an old cloak that I've used in other photos. That's an aggressive schedule. If I don't have an inner tunic, I'll wear a white turtleneck. If I do, then I'll use that. What I owe my wife is... unimaginable. My house is an absolute wreck right now.
Melanie sent the belt for my outfit. I have to run to Tandy Leather and whip one together for Ammie. I already know how I'll do it.
My cloak is coming out of *England*. The first one they made was flawed (undetected bad bit of fabric), so they rushed a second. Dig this: "Also a note of caution. As you know this cloak was made quickly for you due to finding a fault with the first one we made for you. The Maker of this cloak has mentioned that she may have left some dress making pins in by mistake, usually we check the cloaks for pins before they are shipped but we had no time to do this with your order. Please check your cloak along all stitch lines for the odd stray pin before you put it on." Wow. Now *that* is service! We've got three weeks until shooting. It should make it.
I look to the sky, and see September storm clouds. It's only August. That's... disturbing. It reminds me that I really should call the handyman and have him do the household projects that I had wanted done. So many things have slipped...
People look at me and say, "You could use a drink or something." I wish. Mixed with my migraine medications, and I just fall asleep. *Really* asleep. Totally asleep. Knocked out. Hermione just leaves me in whatever chair I'm sitting in until morning because after one itty-bitty cocktail, no one can wake me up. At least I don't get a headache. That probably doesn't sound like much to you, but to me that's a HUGE thing.
I'm excited. I don't think about anything but photography and project management these days.
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Saturday, August 27, 2005 -- Shooting Schedule
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Saturday, Sept 10th:
1:30 PM Meet at 231 NE 92nd St. -- travel to location
7:00 PM Done shooting
Sunday, Sept 11th:
10:00AM -- Makeup call, Christina/Ammie (makeup takes a couple of hours)
11:30AM -- Makeup call, Adam
12:00PM -- Cast & crew call
1:00 PM -- Set call (Tara, Brandon & Maia probably arrive a little before now)
1:15 PM -- On set, studio
1:30 PM -- Shooting starts, FIRST with Maia Sheets (get the children done!)
1:45 PM -- All done with Maia
3:00 PM -- All done, studio -- start of pickup shots from Saturday
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Saturday, August 27, 2005 -- Email Exchange
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Sebastian:
I was going to get a hold of you this weekend. This is sort of a critical weekend for everything. It's nearly all done at this point, finishing touches are being applied.
Since I stretched to two days (your good graces willing, otherwise my wife is holding a camera on Sunday), here's where the creative aspects come in:
What do *you* think? I was thinking good midday light for the outdoor shots, but this is as much your shoot as it is mine. Now, the glow rods don't emit a whole hell of a lot of light, but they *can* illuminate faces in twilight. With PhotoShop, you throw in the bright blades and you have something. You don't want to do the whole shoot in twilight, and we can stagger things. You *will* have a CREW at your disposal. They will clear landscape, get you water, food, cigarettes, carry gear, whatever you want. There will also be lighting panels and scrims, and people to hold them. Also, you'll have MY 550EX's and battery pack, lens assortments, rechargables, so an infinite amount of flash power.
(You know I love you when I let you... touch my things... :)
I suppose I should draw the story boards and send them. We don't have Bastila on Saturday (no makeup artist), so it's between Jolee/Revan and the Darth Bad Guy on Saturday. We'll have a wooded scene. I figure a fight scene, someone takes a saber cut, gets knocked down, individual fight scene, we drive off our bad guy, then we limp off our good guys. Why are they fighting? Doesn't matter. They're always fighting.
Brandon:
I think a braintrust on the first day would be helpful (the 10th I think) and do as many of the rougher shots as possible on that day with pick up shots, retakes and nice-quiet-while-sitting pictures being on the second day. Times will help me out too ;)
PS:
And I don't think for a second if we have rain we should stop...a rain/lit saber/glowering looking shoot would be awesome.
Sebastian:
(On the rain.) Word.
Of course, some part of me is thinking, "My Dark Jedi costume in black is SILK and LEATHER and those lighsabers are EXPENSIVE. Damages could run well into a THOUSAND DOLLARS."
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Friday, August 26, 2005 -- A Documentary?
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So, guess what? We're going to have a behind the scenes documentary and everything. Not only photographs, but Kate's kids are going to do a video project. Now how freakin' cool is that? Unreal. Talk about feeling all rock star. I thinking that I almost have... credibility.
A word on lightsabers. The blades are made of polycarbonate. I might substitute wood dowels for some of the blades in shooting. Regardless, they are sturdy, but not unbreakable. It's easy to get enthusiastic, but actors -- have mercy. The Force FX sabers are $140 each. The other saber hilts are twice that. Let's not be Conan. And please don't drop them. ;)
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Thursday, August 25, 2005 -- Bastila is Born?
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Photos from the makeup test from last night. I was totally lazy on contrast correction, so the photos aren't perfect. The hair style is correct, but the hair is is obviously just test colors. :) Also, Ammie isn't wearing her blue contacts the way she was at NorwesCon. ;)
(Photos will pop up in a new window. You must have javascript enabled. Read the FAQ for important information on seeing images as they were meant to be seen. Enjoy!)
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Thursday, August 25, 2005 -- Force FX Lightsabers rule!
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Well, exciting update for today.
Last night, we did make up tests with Ammie for Bastila. I have photos that I haven't edited for web use yet. Those will follow this weekend. The transformation is astounding. We had a lot of laughs along the way, trading crazy stories of the goth community that probably should never have seen the light of day (dark of night?).
After the make up session was over, I pulled out the various lightsaber props and the Force FX lightsabers (the ones that not only glow, but make all the right movie noises) received the proper "ooh, nifty" response. It was impossible to resist a sparring session, and given that I was not going to get my head handed to me by Masun, I gave Ammie a half hour lesson in essential sword-play in the front yard. At the sound of lightsabers crackling in the darkness, my neighbor was screaming out "All RIGHT!" from next door. So, guard... block... whap! whap! whap!... see? Reverse the grip, you can spin Conan-style... whap! whap! whap! Synchronized, side by side, it was pretty cool. I have to say, all the time I've been doing this, I never actually *felt* like Revan before. We halfway posed our way through some of the potential photos, got an idea of what some of the blocking (photographically, not fencing) would look like, it was good.
Word of the day -- if you can buy a Master Replicas Force FX lightsaber, they rule.
I *have* to get on the stick and make a better effort to get a hold of Lady Sonnet from Alpha Base of Seattle. I sent email a little bit ago, but have gotten no reply. Right now, we have no Jedi outfit for Bastila. This is a problem. I have a cloak to use, but we need belt, obi, outer tunic, and tabards at the least. We can fake the inner tunic with a turtleneck, as we're doing in some other places. Pants are easy, boots... well... we'll deal with boots. Brown boots if we can find 'em.
Things are moving along. This weekend I'm working on story boards and outdoor locations. If you have suggestions for parks, please send them. I have to nail down the location for September 10th, which can best be described as "boys day out". It's when the Dark Lord beats on the good guys.
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Wednesday, August 24, 2005 -- Start at the Beginning...
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I'm confirming two days of shooting, Saturday outdoors (guys bashing sabers) and Sunday in studio (more or less, depending on what Brandon wants -- my backyard as well, possibly).
I'm happy to report that Revan's costume is coming together. The people in England are barely going to get the cloak shipped, the nice girl working on the belt is doing wonderfully, I'm not sure what's happening with some lightsabers and I have confidence in the boot people. On the topic of costumes, first look at what the kids wore in the movies. It is here. Now, look at what Tara whipped up for her daughter one evening right here. Is that out of sight or what?
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Sunday, August 14, 2005 -- Is Invictus a Dumb Name?...
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Hi.
I'm working out the shooting schedule based on people's availability.
Neither Ammie nor Christina is available on Saturday, September 10th -- that means no Bastila Shan that day. This also negates the need for Hannah Shan-Revan. So, we push the studio shoot to Sunday, September 11th. This becomes the Essential Day. If I can have One Day, that's the one. This day is essential for Ammie.
Now, if I can have TWO DAYS, well... I'll exhaust everyone and get outdoor shots as well.
September 10th. Outdoor shots with Revan/Jolee/Darth Invictus and whatever other Darth Baddies we can get. This day would be essential for Masun and Adam. This is where Much Amusement can be had and where we could use Kevin's assistance as a weapon's master. Also, I have yet to scout an outdoor location. I've had some good suggestions that I'll be checking out.
Now, the only one of you who has met Adam is Hermione, but I have to tell you -- he's our man for Badness. Some of you in the goth community will probably recognize him from the Mercury. All I can say is that I'm happy to finally be able to get him in photos. We've got him covered in props and costume.
The other thing we're going to need to be aware of is that Adam (and I) are going to be hopelessly outmatched by Masun. :) Were it not for a quick backstep, I'd have clearly lost my head in our living room shuffle. So, it's imperative that we find some extra Darth Baddies with their own costumes/props, able to match Adam's good looks (you think *I'm* good looking? Oh, wait until you see *this* guy...), to pile onto Masun. Otherwise, this is going to look hopelessly one sided no matter how I storyboard it...
So, if you know any good-looking Darth Baddies, pass them my way for interviews.
I have to get a hold of Lady Sonnet and see if anyone in Alpha Base can help us out.
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Sunday, August 7, 2005 -- It's Official!
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Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic Photo Shoot
A Sebastian Studios/Studio 819 Production
September 10 & 11, 2005
Exploring the relationships of the characters through the lens of photography
Director: Sebastian DeLaOsa
Photography ~
Principle Photography: Brandon Bones
Secondary Photography: Sebastian DeLaOsa
Cast ~
Revan: Sebastian DeLaOsa
Bastila Shan: Ammie Hague
Jolee Bindo: Masun Nieshitau
Hannah Shan-Revan: Maia Sheets
Darth Invictus: Adam Sandford
Crew ~
Key Grip: Kate Hardesty
Makeup: Christina Schock
Weapons Master: Kevin Inouye
Costumes and Props ~
Hermione Carsten
Donna Nieshitau
Tara Sheets
Eleanore Drummond
Sonnet Manon
Badger Manon
Melanie Mattson
MPM Costumes
MotorCowboy
Parks Sabers
Lightech Industries
Master Replicas
Behind the Scenes Documentary ~
Photos: Kate Hardesty
Video: Jared Hardesty
Video: Nathan Tompkins
Location ~
In Studio
Kubota Gardens
University of Washington
Additional Inspiration ~
Irma “Aimo” Ahmed
Carolyn Staehle
Props and costumes:
We're set on sabers, although our staff saber is a Darth Maul Master Replica, meaning it has no dueling potential. Bastila's choreography will be complex unless wooden dowels can be affixed for reference points.
Scene points:
Family moments between characters, along story lines, demonstrating relationship and interaction -- think wedding photography
Outdoor story lines, ala "storyboard moment to moment" shots of action
Photographic possibilities:
Revan Lighting a Cigar
This Party's Over!
A Dark Side Pose
Two Light Sabers
The Romance of it all:
Two Jedi Kissing
The possibilities of action in storyboards:
A Story Told in Pictures
Thoughts in the distance:
A Traditional Look
The fiction:
Fiction on Which Photos will be Based
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