After A Long Absence

It`s been a long time since I`ve written in my Exploding Toad blog. A lot has happened in the meantime. Last summer I decided to take a step to do something I`d long dreamed of…go to Japan. I got hired by an English conversation school. After lots of packing, goodbyes and paperwork, I found myself here in Kobe, Japan teaching full time. Now after a couple months of getting adjusted to my new lifestyle, I`m ready to start working on my personal video/art projects and exploring this beautiful country.

One exciting development has been that Matt Morillo, a very talented Writer/Director and friend of mine, is going to have his hit play (Angry Young Women In Low Rise Jeans With High Class Issues) published. I designed the poster and logo so that will be on the cover as well as another poster of his newest play, which I also designed. I`m proud to have worked on these projects and I`m looking forward to seeing the finished book.

I`ve been working on some new tests sort of related to what I was doing last year. Now I`ve decided 2D animation (with perhaps some 3d rotoscoping of elements) might be better for the idea I have in mind. They are too short and sketchy to post, but once I have more than a few seconds of tests…I might start posting some of this.

Motion Capture Madness

(This is a very rough test of using modified motion capture for the male figure and preset poses for the cat figure. Sadly I didn’t pay attention to the ground levels and both characters pull underground a bit, still I was happy with the results otherwise. It’s kind of scary posting my imperfect animation attempts, however I figure I’m going to improve and it will be fun to see later where I started from.)

I’ve been working through the “Poser 7 Essential Training” tutorials by Larry Mitchell on Lynda.com and I’ve been so impressed with all the features of this program I didn’t know about. It’s a great tutorial to check out if you subscribe to Lynda.com.

I jumped ahead to the motion capture part (once I dutifully went through half of it sequentially) cause that’s something I’ve always wanted to know more about. I figured it would be fun to see how it’s done, but how could it be relevant – I mean, I don’t have thousands of dollars to spend on getting someone in a motion capture suit to catalogue movements for me. Much to my surprise, there are actually resources available for free to everyone who’s interested in seeing how motion capture works. Obviously, like clip art, they are just generic samples that may or may not work for your project, however I found that by downloading a few, I could use parts of it and modify it for my use as opposed to starting from absolute scratch.

I found 2 very good websites in addition to the mocapdata website Mitchell mentioned in the tutorial. One is BVH Files created by Aminazoo, a professional motion capture studio in the UK. What a cool thing for them to do to entice people to start using motion capture and then get potential future clients once they want custom motion capture. The other resource is Carnegie Mellon University’s CMU Graphics Lab Motion Capture Library. To use the data in Poser, you need to download BVH files and then import them. Also, some of the files will create a flaw where your figure will pull up 2 feet from the ground. To correct that, use the Drop To Floor script since this need to be done for each frame and to do so manually would be a hair pulling nightmare.

There was also a great section on how to use a reference video in Poser as a poor man’s/woman’s motion capture substitute. Lots more work, however the results of using real human references add a degree of natural movement when spending thousands to rent a motion capture studio is not an option.

Going 3D

(A very rough test of using the sword prop and figure interactions. Very brief music segment by Kevin MacLeod.)

After a long hiatus, I am back. I’ve been buring my head in books and video tutorials learning as much as I can about 3D animation. Here’s some screenshots of a test film I was working on…
I’m woefully ignorant on this subject, however it’s so fun to learn about something new.

Here I’m trying different test shots with different lighting treatments. It’s so exciting learning about what’s possible. I guess it’s time to get some more RAM for my computer soon.

Podcast About Filmmaking

Lately, I’ve really been enjoying this podcast called SO YOU WANT TO BE A FILMMAKER? made by Charles Tashiro, an indie filmmaker who also taught at the University of Southern California.

Probably his most popular show in the series is his “That List” show where he points out how many famous filmmakers didn’t go to film school and tries to answer the question of why that is. It is a very long list with some of the most influential, important filmmakers of our time. There were a lot of interesting points in another episode about why he has no nostalga for the days of filmmaking with celluloid. He goes into all the practical concerns and issues that hampered filmmakers then and more about how digital filmmaking really opens up new possibliities for films. After listening to “A Tale of Three Filmmakers” (and suggestions from friends in addtion to this), my eyes were opened a bit more about new media distribution of films. A few days later, I put my film on YouTube and SuperDeluxe and saw first hand the power of word of mouth, via internet.

He’s very entertaining to listen to and I like how you can really hear it in his voice when he’s disgusted or dismayed by something. Even if you don’t agree with his viewpoints, I think you can still get a lot out of it. You can get a hint of this by his description of the show “As more and more people believe they are budding Spielbergs and plunge into the abyss of film making, few stop to think about what they might be getting into.” There’s more passion in his podcast than in most I’ve heard and he doesn’t hesitate to tell it like he sees it in a humorous way. He also has another podcast THINKING ABOUT MOVIES if you enjoy his filmmaking one.

Second Life & Machinima Movies

(“A Better Life” by avatar Robbie Dingo, a film created entirely in Second Life)

Through my conversations with members of PodCamp NYC (Adam Broitman from Morpheus Media particularly) I’ve become interested in Second Life, this virtual world created by Linden Labs.

What is exciting about Second Life is that it allows for awesome creativity, networking potentials and makes learning how to use 3D graphics and animation more fun and exciting. It’s also completely free to visit and you can do lots of fun stuff for free also. It’s similar to online games like “World of Warcraft” except that it offers flexibility and the ability for people to make the world they inhabit virtually. Oh, and you don’t have to shoot at characters or engage them in swordplay, unless you really want to. Basically, you are given the tools to fashion an avatar (3d character) which walks/flies, talks and represents you in virtual space. The great majority of the virtual space fashioned into cities, towns, or fantastical unreal space that you see are created by users, not Linden Labs. So you get a mix of beautiful and ugly spaces, however some places are truly spectacular and unique. Other avatars you see walking/flying around are also representing real people in real time, so you can chat and interact with them as if in real life. It’s not really a game either, in fact some avatars I spoke to took great offense at the idea it was merely a game – since there’s not really set goals. You just sort of arrive and decide what you want Second Life to be for you.

To give you an example, here’s one of my favorite places in Second Life, Roma. It’s an elaborate rendering of ancient Rome, complete with temple, colosseum, inn, amphitheater and even has a Roman bath house. It’s all created by the avatar Torin Golding, who I met in virtual form during the first virtual event I ever went to, a Roman celebration of the New Year, which started March 1st for them. There was a procession to the temple, lighting of torches, and prayers in Latin followed with fireworks (there was disagreement over the historical accuracy of the fireworks amongst the crowd of approximately 30 avatars) at the inn. Here’s a picture of the event.

Also, on Blip TV there’s a great video by Rick Reil which shows in detail the intricate work and detail that went into this sim (jargon for the virtual space on Second Life). To find out more about the community of virtual Romans in general, check out Torin Goldings new blog – which also has info on how the virtual you can rent a virtual space in Roma.

Right now, the cons of Second Life are a general messiness, buggy code, and most newbie’s first experiences are confusing at best. This is expected for new technology though. Especially new technology that is experiencing huge user growth in the last few months. I bought the book “Second Life: The Official Guide” from Linden Labs and found that to be a very cool reference book to get my feet wet and sort of get my bearings. There are also lots of great tutorials and even virtual classes you can attend in Second Life.

One of the ways creative filmmakers/animators are using the medium of Second Life is to make movies from Second Life with their user created avatars and environments. They call this “machinima”, defined by Wikipedia as “the rendering of CGI using real-time, interactive (game) 3D engines”. In other words this is using Second Life or a computer game like “Half Life 2″ or “Halo” or “Call of Duty” to create an animated film. Red vs. Blue (created using Halo) is a very famous example. One of the most famous of the Second Life machinima movies is “A Better Life” created by Robbie Dingo (yes, that’s his avatar’s Second Life name). It really shows the possibilities for doing very creative things in the medium.

I’m very excited about the possibilities and am learning more so I can start working on a machinima movie of my own shortly.

Viacom Signs On With Joost

Just yesterday it was announced in a press release that Joost, formally The Venice Project, has gotten Viacom signed on as a content provider. That means content from MTV Networks, BET Networks and Paramount Pictures will be on this platform.

Joost is an internet television distribution platform still in development. The dudes who created Skype and Kazaa, Janus Friis and Niklas Zennströmthe, are the founders of the company. Joost does has the potential to be a very big leap forward for the integration of television and internet, especially considering their new Viacom partnership. Here’s a cool article about the story how the company started up from CNET news.

Check out the Joost website for more news and a blog about their development of this new technology. Also there’s a place to apply to be a beta tester. I applied and have been put on the waiting list. It will be interesting to see how they decide to approach this.

Also, I’m impressed that Joost has the foresight to include a section with photos to use specifically on blogs. I chose the weird looking fish one above.

The rest of the screenshots can be seen at https://www.joost.com/screenshots/

Wanna Promote Your Film With A Podcast Or Blog?

If you want to learn more about new media, including podcasting and blogging in particular, PodCampNYC is THE event to go to. Check out PodCampNYC.org, the website for the event at The New School April 6th and 7th. The website is already chock full of awesome content including a podcast, blogging buzz and even an online comic. It’s going to be lots of fun and is a free event also, so go to there and register!

The list of people getting involved is too long to include everyone, but to give you an idea, here’s the quick bios of the organizers from the website…

John Havens, About.com Guide to Podcasting and Founder of Podcast Vision and Voice

Laura Allen, Co-Founder of 15 Second Pitch

Eric Skiff, GlitchNYC

Jason Van Orden, podcasting consultant and author of Promoting Your Podcast

Howard Greenstein, Founder of Social Media Club; Podcasting at A Chat and A Song

Adam Broitman, amediacirc.us

Kathryn Jones, Co-host of Question of the Week on www.ifnotnow.net

Dr. Kathleen P. King, podcasting for education specialist, author and professor at Fordham University; www.podcastforteachers.org

Dawnja Burris, Associate Chair of the Department of Media Studies and Film at The New School

With the way marketing films in particular is changing, emerging filmmakers are at a disadvantage if they don’t stay up to date on the changes. Since the emphasis of this event is on collaboration and openness, PodCamp would be a great introduction for anyone ready to dip their toes into this.

I’m very proud to be sponsoring PodCamp with my freelance Graphic/Web Design business, ExquisiteBeast.com. The postcard I designed for them is above.

GRINDHOUSE Double Feature, Uh Huh!

(Teaser poster images from Robert Rodriguez’s website Troublemaker Studios)

Can’t wait to see Quentin Tarantino’s and Robert Rodriguez’s new movies, DEATH PROOF and PLANET TERROR. They are being shown as a double feature presented under the name GRINDHOUSE. Above are the teaser posters which look so deliciously violent and fun – totally building on the tradition of the exploitation film that has influenced them both so much. The website for GRINDHOUSE is also such a treat to see. Gorgeous motion graphics with dirty print film, dusty old movie theater details and blood dripping from logos and buttons. Really knocked my socks off.

And as far as my thoughts on the preview of GRINDHOUSE I have three words to describe my favorite part…

“Machine Gun Leg!”

Need I say more? I’m there!

And click here to see a cool documentary with Tarantino and Rodriguez talking more about the things that inspired this project.

Super Deluxe Loves CHEW!

“People, People who need people, are the luckiest people in the world” – Barbara Streisand

CHEW has been featured on the People page of Super Deluxe as one of their 6 recommendations this week “For All You Lovers Out There”! Horray!

Special FOUR EYED MONSTERS Screening

What are you doing for Valentine’s Day today? If you haven’t made plans yet and are in the New York area, IFC Center is hosting a special 7:30pm screening of FOUR EYED MONSTERS.

These kids really understand how to market online. If you haven’t seen their website yet, you should check it out. My favorite feature is the smart way they had people request to see their movie across the country. The requests are represented visually by hearts. The bigger the heart, the more people. And of coarse they podcast and podcast often.

In fact, they were part of what inspired me to start learning about blogging and podcasting. Since they were one of the first video podcasts out there on Apple Itunes, they introduced me to the medium.