Filming: Shadow - Short Film

Filming started today on our new short film hopefully coming out soon.

Looking forward to see the result. Since I'm working very close to the director and I'm filming it, I can see the film being edited together. Let's hope everything will be good! Scene 2 and 3 are finished today. Next Sunday we will be filming the first scene.

Among Thieves 2 Finally Out!

Our Sequel to our first film Among Thieves is finally here! We worked on it for 4-5 months. We had some problems with over-exposure in the fight scene and colour grading in the second scene where the street turned pink for some reason and I didn't notice it. Sound improved although in the final scene it could be better. Since it was a darker film than the first one we had a lot of dark locations and we needed lighting.. that was a little problem. In the next film, we need to improve the lighting. Overall quite happy with the result. A third film won't be happening. This is the epilogue to the Among Thieves series.

We also released the bloopers today including an Alternative Ending and all the accidents!

Photography Lesson: Light Painting

Today we learnt how to paint using light. Camera on a Tripod and move the light while taking the picture.

 Shot using white light

Shot using yellow light

I shot this today with the help of my lecturer. I'm impressed how it turned out. Really great. Will be using this technique more often.

Contacting Mark Doneo for the Interview

For our interview with my colleague Johann, we decided to make it on directing films in Malta and how films are funded.

We think that Mark Doneo could be the best interviewee because he's one of the most experienced directors in Malta. We contacted him and he accepted to do us a favor.

After he accepted, it was time for research...

Ratchet and Clank Movie

It's almost 2015 and the Ratchet and Clank Movie is almost finished in production!

Can't wait for this movie.. 

This movie will be a retelling of the original game. 

Also, the Movie company has released a new poster! Looking great so far!

DVD and CD Cover for Trailer - The Darkness

For the final Graphic Design assignment we had to create a DVD Cover based on the trailer. From my sketches, I came up with this cover and I am quite satisfied of how it came out. My intention was to make it really dark and red smoke to show the darkness within and that there will be violence in this film. 

We also had to create a CD Cover for the DVD. I made it similar to the front cover.

Re-filming CSR Advert

We got feedback from our lecturer and I knew what he was going to say. It has plenty of room for improvement. We decided to re-film it for a better quality advert. We decided to film with a DSLR this time and use the same Lights.

The Lighting and colour turned out better with the DSLR without any colour correction and we also took care of headroom. 

Shadows are better, even the lighting.

 The lighting was hard to set up to do it as the first time. The lighting was so dark so one member of our group suggested this nice shot and so we improved this part. 

We also decided not to show the messy things and focus more on the messages being sent to the victim.

 Due to low lighting we came up with this interesting shot. Lighting is definitely better in the new re-shoot.

The first filming shot is so over exposed! We managed to take care of it the second time and focus more on his face by filming a Close up.

In my opinion, if we didn't re-film I am still saying to myself how badly it is filmed. I am really satisfied now with colour, lighting and even acting. The message is more clear.

Our Lady of Sorrows

I love these days when we're in the holidays and I listen to funeral marches to get into the good friday spirit.

Yesterday was Our Lady of Sorrows and I made a painting of the statue in Qormi St George. 

Working on CSR Advert

One of our assignments was to do a Corporate Social Responsibility Advert. We discussed as a group we were going to do it on Cyberbullying. 

This day didn't go quite as planned. Something happened and I stayed 3 hours in the sun protecting the equipment! When I arrived home, we began filming instantly. I think we didn't set the back focus right on the JVC and filming outside came like crap. The sharpen was very bad. 

We filmed the inside also but only 2 lights were working out of 3 and we had problems setting up the lighting to ensure that there aren't any shadows. The lighting ended up being bad too in some shots.

This advert also exceeded the time limit with 18 seconds. Re-filming this advert is the best thing we can do now. 

Filming the Trailer - Behind the Scenes

These are some photos taken during filming of our trailer - 'The Darkness'

 

Me, drawing the birthmark on the character's hand.

 The classroom scene is an extra one which didn't make it in the trailer.

I was a Boom Operator in this scene.

In this scene I was an Assistant Camera Operator and I also drew the birthmark on Jake's hand.

Recording with my Weasel-Pal!

In late 2013, Pirate Weasel was born and we started Let's Plays together (co-commentary gaming). With Pirate Weasel, there is also the cameraman. This cameraman is not like any other cameraman. He controls the camera(or in some cases, starting and stopping the recordings), annoys us and also serving as a kitchen-man cooking us meals. He makes good crackers! and pizza!
We are almost finished with our first Let's Play I love working with my friend to entertain our fans! :)

Changing Black and White Photos to Colour

My lecturer showed us a way how to change a black and white photo into a coloured one. This is a very interesting thing to do since I have a lot of old photos I plan to change.

This was an exercise so I could practice doing it. 

This was the result.

I also used it in a project to change old Good Friday photos into colour. 

Producing a Fan-Made Movie - Part 4

I finally finished the Trailer for this movie I have been working on for these two weeks!
I tried putting all 4 games in one trailer, but I tried to focus more on the new content (Jak X). So 'Commentated by Jak' is for Jak X since that's the new thing, while the trilogy stays the same with Daxter.

The new release date got set to June this year but unfortunately my laptop is getting worse every day and it will never handle a 2 hour movie render! The release date had to be pushed once more to a TBA till someday I'll get a new computer.

Producing a Fan-Made Movie - Part 3

Some weeks passed and we continued posting more comparisons with my video from October to the new video.

I also showed Jak X for the first time in my editing program and the results were quite satisfying. 

Since Jak X was never released as an HD version and is only on PS2 with only 480p quality, I showed them a picture of the intro in HD. I had been working on remastering all the cutscenes since 2012. 

We finally settled a release date - Late December from about 20th-31st.

A Year had passed since the last video - October 31st. We realized we weren't going to finish it. We decided to delay it till Early 2014.

Producing a Fan-Made Movie - Part 2

It was in November 2012, when the writer sent me the first draft of the first cup(out of 4). I started sending them to the Voice Actor to see how they will turn out and I liked them. I kept working especially in early 2013 till Summer. Script was half-way through. My goal wasn't just to do the add-on but to improve my last video from October as well, meaning that since I now had a recorder and wasn't on a deadline, I could take my time and do it as I like till I am really satisfied with my video. Till June and beginning of July, I had recorded every Jak 1-3 gameplay similar to how the original was, and every other cutscene as well in HD.

The first one is the original Standard Definition one from the developers.

The Second one is the "upgraded sharpened and saturated one from the 'Remastered in HD' Video (October)

The third one is the new true HD Quality upgraded and sharpened

The original and the new HD quality.

For editing, I didn't just remove my old clips. I started from scratch so I won't have any problems and it will be much closer to the original one. 

August/September - Editing of Jak 1-3 was finished and script of Jak X was still in progress. I kept in touch with the writer and we worked together so the movie will be the best experience for the fans as if it was done from the creators. 

We created a Facebook and a YouTube page to post updates or trailers confirming this is true and that it was going to be published sometime that Fall (Fall 2013) so that we could finish Jak X as well. I also made a poster similar to the original one to show that the story continues and everything will be in HD.

Producing a Fan-Made Movie - Part 1

Back in October 2012, I remade a game movie in HD released by the developers themselves. I got all the permissions needed and this was just for fun so no profit was going to be made. The movie took about 3-4 months to finish. After publishing the HD version of the movie, it was a success and received many positive reviews and an 8.8/10 rating from a reviewer. On the movie itself I leaked a teaser of an upcoming video as an EXTENDED Edition to the Trilogy Movie. This will have the next game in the series - Jak X and it will be a fan made add-on based on the original one.

I started production right after I finished the other project and I made auditions for those who can voice the main character to serve as a commentator for the movie. Most of the fan base sent me recordings and I picked one voice actor. One then offered to help write the commentary script and I accepted.

I then posted another picture with a ':)' on our fan page. The fans realized this was in production.

Favourite games are getting a Movie!

Two of my favourite video games of all time are getting a movie in 2015 and 2016!

The vibrant world of Insomniac's Ratchet and Clank is set to come to the silver screen in early 2015. 

Following in the footsteps of Sony brethren Ratchet and Clank, everyone's favorite platforming raccoon, Sly Cooper, will be getting his own feature film too, headed to theaters in early 2016.

The movies are both being made by Rainmaker Entertainment, the animation studio behind Escape From Planet Earth, and Blockade Entertainment. Primary production is already underway on the films, which will feature voice cast members from the game franchises. 
All I can say is that I can't wait for these films since these were my childhood games. The only thing I hope for now is a Jak and Daxter film! :) 

Illustrator and Photoshop

I am new to Illustrator and as a class the lecturer taught us the basics. We then had to cut out several shapes from the picture given.

We then made a simple photo collage using Photoshop.

Editing the Film

I edited Scene 2 and 3 (the ones I directed) in Premiere Pro. Some editing was started right after filming.

 Other Effects such as blood was made with After Effects.

Filming Day 3

Yep, we had another filming day because composition for the first scene wasn't very good. 

"This is it!"

In my opinion, we improved in Composition, even the acting turned out better than last time.

Alex reading the Riddle.

Filming Day 2

30th December was Filming Day 2 and this was my turn to Direct Scene 2 [Ellie's House] and Scene 3 [Outside Warehouse]. The weather was cloudy and while shooting outside, it rained. We stopped for an hour and continued after. 

The Crew and Actors discussing the scene and ready to shoot.

The guards scene was not planned like this. Basically, what I had in mind was to stealth the guards from 

behind and enter quickly. But since it was a big place we decided to do it better by having the two guards have a little funny conversation, then a fight. We then decided that they'll knock out the guards by first using a distraction (stone) and then Ellie knocks out the second guard.. When the first thug goes to see what has happened, Alex knocks him out with a big punch. (Originally having a small fight scene with Thug 1)

The Cameraman explaining his idea for the fight between the thugs.

We then filmed Scene 2 in a bedroom for Ellie's House.

Actors revising the script

After that scene, we filmed Scene 4 - Inside the warehouse

Me (or Jack..) tied to a chair in Scene 4

Filming Day went very good and better than expected. This was the end of filming (well.. that's what we thought)