Documentary filmmaking

2010-04-23T18:31:00.002+01:00

Ok – I’ve had a break from blogging for a while – new baby and all that….

Anyway, a few odd jobs have cropped up – some more odd than others (I’ve made a birthday animation about somebody’s pets, created a logo for a student TV station, and I’m doing a montage of artwork for projecting on the side of a lighthouse….)

I’ve also just decided to jump on the 3dTV bandwagon – producing a 3dtv primer – partially to learn the 3dtv ropes and partially to flag up that I can handle this revolution if it comes.

My feeling is that it probably won’t come in it’s current form. At least, it’ll be restricted mainly to cinemas… nobody, I think wants to wear 3d glasses at home. I think the reason it’s being plugged so hard is to create the case for video content you can’t pirate. Whether that will work or not is anyone’s guess….

Anyway, the results of my foray into the 3dtv world are here (you need red/cyan glasses to watch this:)

2010-01-11T19:28:00.001Z

The new year has started with few resolutions and a lot of ideas. I’m still finishing off the trilobite documentary and I think the end is finally in sight on that project.

The client wants it cut down to 40 minutes – I’m not sure what slot he’s got in mind – but anyway, I think I’m getting there, and the edit does improve the flow of the thing. I’ve also managed to tidy up a few bits of editing that look messy.

Music is a bit of a battle – for some reason, it always feels right to put more music in while I’m editing, then when I come to review the work, I end up taking it all out again. Not sure why that is, but it’s also a bit true of narration – I’ve cut out a lot of my voiceover and it doesn’t seem to have made the story less clear, so obviously I’ve been rattling on for no good reason….

I’m also painfully aware that my tax recipts need adding up and presenting by the end of the month.

It’s not a fun job and every time I do it, I wish I could be organised enough to do it every month instead of every year. Calculating tax is one of those things you always feel bad about – even if you’re finally doing it, there’s always a dark suspicion in your mind that you’re doing something wrong and that someday someone’s going to turn up and have you arrested.

I’ve been doing the work in dribs and drabs this week as the new baby has meant I haven’t had enough sleep to be confident in my adding up….

Aside from this, I’ve dug up an old project – a children’s picture book on evolution I created about 5 years ago with the intention of submitting it to publishers.

For some reason (I think it was as trivial as my printer not working properly) I shelved the project and never sent it to anyone…. But now, I’ve dusted it off and I’m getting it out there.

I think this is partially because I’ve got another kids book idea (as well as a couple of grown up ones) and I want to see what happens when you submit stuff to publishers…

Well, I guess I’ll find out.

Looking through the websites of publishers, they vary hugely – some give clear guidelines for prospective authors – others (even big ones) make it very difficult to find out even basic information (like the fact that they don’t want writers sending manuscripts).

For that reason, a lot of the biggest publishers simply aren’t going to get a look at my book – I’m a professional, and I expect my publishers to be professional too – I’m not going to waste my time trawling through badly organised websites trying to find information (particularly when providing that information would save the publishers from receiving submissions they don’t want).

2009-12-23T14:30:00.004Z

Crashing back into work after my paternity leave, I’ve had quite a lot on my plate –at work and at home. So this is the first chance I’ve had to update this blog in a while…. Forgive me if I skip over some stuff….

The new showreel
The new showreel updated just before I went on paternity leave seems to have had a massive effect – instead of a couple of enquiries a month, I got about 1 a day while I was on leave (although it’s dropped off again in the run up to Christmas.

The change? Well, I put in a couple more shots to give a more rounded feel, but basically what I did was to change the music – from the gentle tones of “the blue Danube” to a piece of hard-hitting aggressive modern music (taken from http://www.istockphoto.com/).

Amazing the difference it’s made.

Book
Also, in the last couple of weeks I’ve written another book - on how to write and publish newsletters. It isn’t a massive book, and it’s not aimed at professionals, so it’s a fairly basic guide… However, I’m quite pleased with how it’s gone, and one thing it’s really made me think is that if I was really strict with myself, and really put some time aside, I could probably write a novel without affecting my other work too much.

When I say too much – it’d probably cost me about £2-3,000 in terms of the time I’d have to take away from other work and it would be incredibly hard work. In addition, I would have to give myself very firm targets and it’d have to be tightly written and planned without lots of arty digression and vagueness – but it’s something I’d really love to do… so maybe….

What I do for a living
This last couple of weeks, leading up to Christmas I’ve put aside for tidying things up – so I’ve managed to get all the admin and boring nonsense out of the way and even got some way to doing my tax for the year.

Doing all this involved doing a spreadsheet of all my work, and along side that I did a little playing with Excel’s chart function. In short, I used it to produce a pie chart of how much of my income comes from writing, artwork, documentaries, and animation.

Here’s the result:

Two music videos
I’ve worked on two music videos since returning to work – and they couldn’t be more different. One is completely animated – a really fun and fast moving piece of animation for a fun track. The other is a piece for a Norwegian goth band – on which I took the bluescreen footage they’d shot (about 60 shots in all) and did background and compositing including dragons and pirate ships.

Pitching article
I also – in my quest to work out how to pitch my work to new markets – wrote an article on how to pitch for 3d artist magazine. The idea behind this was to ask companies that were very good at getting 3d animation work how they do it, then try it for myself on a couple of projects.

I did get some useful tips from the research - including the fact that a lot of animation studios have a dedicated marketing person, so I’m planning to get one next year.

Christmas card mailout

I decided to send out a Christmas card to everyone on my mailing list with an offer of a free piece of stock footage to download at http://www.anachronistic.co.uk/ … it seems like something a lot of companies do and it just reminds people that you still exist…

I’m ambivalent about the results - When I checked my web visit stats, around 7% of people who got the email responded by visiting the site – and that’s not bad, I think. Or to look at it another way, I pay about 40p per click at google, and this got me 230 clicks, so the equivalent of nearly £100 spent on advertising. Which I guess if you look at the time spent on it isn’t much… Then again, they’re people I’ve targeted, so they’re more likely to be the right people… a couple of people responded by asking me to take them off my email list – but really very few (about 0.1% by proportion)

2009-10-09T19:28:00.001+01:00

Things that don’t work
I’m taking a good long look at my strategy for getting work. Since I’m playing a bit of a waiting game right now and I’ve scaled things down (partially on purpose – partially not) ready for the arrival of our next baby (any time in the next couple of weeks).

Anyhow, that leaves me with a bit of time to think about how I should be expanding (now that there seems to be more work about). I did a bit of that at the beginning of the year, and discovered a couple of things that don’t work.

SEO – search engine optimisation is one of them. I re-worked my website, and replaced it with a slightly easier to update, but less good looking site mainly because I thought it would appeal to search engines.

I also wrote a lot of how-to articles that I thought might appeal to my clients and got a company to post links to them on lots of interested websites so I got lots of backlinks (something search engines love) to my site.

It worked from the point of view that my site now appears much more frequently in web searches and comes up strongly when my favourite keywords are typed into google.

A success.

Or so you’d think. However, what I find is that it doesn’t make any difference. I haven’t got a single piece of work or even a contact (that I know of) from a normal search engine search.

On the other hand, I’ve got loads from the searches I pay for on google – the sponsored links.

In other words, if someone searches for an animator and I come up in the normal search they don’t bother clicking on it – or if they do, they don’t then contact me. If it comes up as a sponsored link, they do.

Which is a bit puzzling because I do the opposite – I assume that the sponsored links aren’t what I’m really looking for, and the really good stuff is the stuff that’s come up without being paid for….

Oh, well.

Another thing I did that doesn’t work is mailing lists - Getting a firm to find email addresses for lots of companies and sending out a mail to all of them. I’ve got a pretty good response in terms of people saying thanks for emailing, and I’ll keep your details, etc. but nothing to speak of in terms of actual work.

I have a feeling this is partially because I don’t really like doing this kind of mailing, and I’m a bit nervous about it, and it doesn’t sit well with me.

I think I’m finding myself forced by degrees towards a more serious and more personal approach to marketing. I have to do, what I guess I knew all along I’d have to do – just go out (or at least get somebody to go out) and personally meet and talk to the people I want to use my work.

It’s a tough job, but somebody’s got to do it. now, it’s just a matter of finding out who that somebody should be…

2009-10-02T18:19:00.001+01:00

Because I’ve not got very much work on (although I know it’s all about to kick off again just in time for the new baby), I’ve taken the opportunity to try to make my life a bit easier.

Right now, when ever I have to produce a pitch or give someone an idea of what I’m planning to do, I end up spending most of my time making things look good and not much time actually laying out my ideas.

That’s because animation and graphics is difficult stuff, and just creating a lighting setup, background and materials that work is pretty time consuming before you even start on the concepts you’re trying to create.

So what I’ve been doing is building effectively a set of ready made studios. These are sets I can just load up and start to customise knowing that whatever I create in them, when I hit render the results will be pretty. All the laborious playing around with hundreds of settings to get the best result will already have been done.

I’ve also created a storyboarding “kit” – with simple primitive shapes and characters I can hopefully drag around to very quickly create visual representations of what I’m aiming at, so clients, others I hire to work on the project and me myself can get a feel for what’s needed.

I’m hoping the ability to do all this will become more important because I really do want to start pitching for more and higher level work. My magazine article on the pitching process is helpful – allowing me to pester people on the subject, and get lots of good advice on what to do and how.

I’ll put all that advice here once I’ve collated it, but the thing that’s coming across most strongly right now is that I really need to take networking seriously – I (or more likely a salesman who I hire) needs to be out there calling and meeting with production companies and commissioners to ensure that I’m on the list when animation work is put out to tender instead of just waiting for that work to come in from my advertising…

2009-09-21T18:19:00.000+01:00

Stock footage is a strange discipline for the 3d artist. You have no brief so you can create anything you like, but at the same time, the overriding need is to be generic – if your footage doesn’t appeal to a range of people for a range of reasons, it just won’t sell.

And that, you’d think would work against the creative spirit – because it means you’re trying to create work that’s individual and beautiful and unique, but you’re trying to do it in a way that appeals to the most general market possible.

If that wasn’t problem enough, stock has very low margins. An average piece of stock might net you a few 10’s of dollars over 2 or 3 years, so when you’re creating it, there’s a massive requirement to work fast and efficiently, producing as much of it as you can (because at the end of the day you don’t really know what will sell and what won’t).

This wasn’t helped this week when other things kept cropping up to delay me – not least the fact that I wrote three reviews for a magazine, then lost them and had to do them again.

I also took delivery of another package for review – and I just had to try it out. This was videocopilot.net’s Action Essentials – a fantastic stock resource if you’re creating action footage. Take a look at this quick composition I did using a bit of CGI, a bit of shot footage, some photos and a few explosions from Action Essentials:

great stuff –

anyway, for the stock I’ve concentrated on simple settings and one character and just worked on really high quality rendering, so that hopefully the shots will look great – even though they’re fairly simple in terms of animation. I’ve also used a lot of motion capture data for movement, so that should give me a really effective look.

The downside is that rendering will take a long time even on multiple machines. The finished set of animations probably won’t be ready for weeks…

2009-09-11T18:23:00.004+01:00

So what did I do with my free time? Well, I didn’t sit on my arse if that’s what you’re thinking (which it probably isn’t). I decided to enter the pitching game at full pelt.

Firstly, the Sheffield documentary festival has a pitching free-for-all called meetmarket, and I decided to have a go at it with my latest idea – which meant producing a pitch video for it in 2 days…. Here it is:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1OkCRWWtWo

… hmmm… we’ll see how that goes.

I also decided to get myself into a few pitches for animation work, and came up with a cunning plan to allow me to do this. The plan involves writing an article about how to pitch for 3d artist magazine and using that as an opportunity to talk to lots of experts on how you do it…

Part of the plan is to get myself on the “pitch lists” for various interesting projects and getting the commissioners to give me a critique of my pitch which I can then write up for the mag.

In the meantime, I decided to concentrate on a bit of my work I’ve neglected recently: stock libraries.

I have a whole lot of footage (and still images) on various stock libraries and this provides me with a useful income whether I’m doing other work or not. The returns aren’t great and you need a large amount of footage out there to get anything out of it – which is why producing stock gets pushed down my ajenda most of the time. However, it does allow me to experiment with ideas I can’t otherwise do, so it’s worth having a crack at occasionally.

This time I’ve decided to do a series of buisiness-aimed clips using a high-tech android robot as a character. The initial renders look great and I’m hoping to get a finished shot or two after the weekend….

Here’s a taster:

2009-08-28T18:36:00.002+01:00

Trilobite documentary
Finally the trilobite documentary is ready to send to the client. It was supposed to be last week, but I had a problem. The motion on the DVD flickered in an unpleasant way during pans and fast movement.

I realised this had something to do with the fact that I’d shot it at 24 frames per second and was burning a DVD at 25 FPS, but I was really surprised by what turns out to be the industry standard solution…

Apparently, the way to broadcast 24fps footage is quite simply to speed it up! That’s right – play the programme 1/24 second faster. In other words a 2 hour film will run five minutes shorter on TV than at the cinema.

I’m still a little unsure if this can really be the answer. It just sounds like such a bodge.

Anyway, I’ve done it and it seems to work (despite my commentary sounding a little squeaky – which I’ll be able to correct with a pitch shift apparently).

We’ll have to see what the client thinks….

Work is definitely picking up – I’ve had a couple of enquiries this week, (I’ve now put my google advertising up to £300 per month) – one of them ( a charity animation) required my first attempt at actually pitching for work.

Pitching is fairly common in animation, and basically means the client gets a load of companies to come up with ideas and styles for an animation and compete for the job of doing it.

Of course, that’s only usually possible if you’ve got a decent budget – otherwise animators will judge that it’s not worth risking the time you spend developing the idea. On this occasion, it’s a charity, so there isn’t much of a budget, but it is a strong idea and a worthwhile cause, so I do want to get involved.

I’m not at all familiar with what a pitch really involves in this context, so what I’ve sent it a plot outline, a budget breakdown and a couple of rough pictures to give an idea of the visual style.… in fact it’s not that much more than I usually provide when discussing an idea with a client – it’s just that this time, I know it’s a competition. Will the pitch be enough? I’ll find out next week….

From the client’s point of view there are advantages and disadvantages to running things like this. It does allow you to get a range of ideas and choose the one you want to work with. However, it also means that very little time can actually be put into devising the essential themes on which your project is based – because the production company knows they stand only a one in four or five chance of ever being paid for the work they do.

That said, I think I’ve come up with a really good idea for the pitch – which is another annoying side to the process. If you come up with an idea you’d really like to make and then you’re told you don’t get to make it, it’s a real disappointment!

UPDATE
Well, I did the pitch for the charity, and I think my suggestion was pretty good. Nevertheless, I found out today (Friday) that I didn’t get it. I’m actually really disappointed – it would have been a tough job, but I’d have liked to have been involved.

I did get a sale for my “how to colonise the stars” documentary – (Portugal – 700 euros), so I had to quickly do the script and music cue sheet. Transcribing the script meant listening to the film play back, and repeating everything that was said for the benefit of the voice recognition – pausing every few seconds to correct whatever it had miss-heard. A really tedious job, but better than typing it all….

The pop video (this one http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XidI2qz10as) needed to be put onto digibeta for the TV stations – and that turned out to be a hell of a hastle – for no good reason. Two hard drives went to Stanleys (who I use to dub projects onto tape) and neither worked – I eventually had to spend half of Tuesday and half of Wednesday in London wasting my time…. Anyway, eventually it all worked, so that’s done.

And, this leaves me in the strange, unfamiliar situation of having no work… Ok, I’ve got the book coming up and various articles I know I’m going to have to write, etc. etc… but for the first time in months (actually since the beginning of the year) I’ve actually got nothing in my in-tray.

It’s a strange feeling, and leaves me with no excuses. I’ve got to finally make a start on my “project” documentary – or give up on it. Looking over my scene breakdown, it’s looking like a huge challenge with no guarantee of any kind of payback. It’s complicated, scary and a huge undertaking.

Unlike my last docs – which have been pretty basic science movies, this one is an issue. It puts me as the narrator right at the centre of it and it will either work, or it won’t.

Can I afford to spend the time? Can I even do it? I just don’t know….

2009-08-14T18:41:00.001+01:00

This week, it finally happened. I ran out of work.
Actually, that’s not really true. In fact I’ve got loads, but enough of it was on hold or out of my court by Friday that I actually had a chance to do some work on my new documentary idea….I’m doing a scene breakdown which should allow me to decide soon whether it’s a viable project for me or not. This is a big step. I haven’t had a full day to work on this since the beginning of the year, and it’s beginning to feel like I might actually get to start on it.

It actually felt a bit of a cheat - like I wasn’t really working – because, of course, this is a zero-budget project with no commission and no idea how it’s going to make me any money… anyway, more of that later – I might even reveal what it’s about soon, but until I know what I’m doing, it’s a bit sensitive.

So what’s all this about having no work? – well, it’s a lie. A complete lie.

The music video is now with the client – fast work, and there may be adjustments to be made, but it’s to all intents and purposes, done.

The zoom from deep space I’ve just got to complete a couple of renders and cut it together, so I can’t do anything more to that for now.

The first cut of the trilobite documentary is rendering as I write – very slowly, and because Premiere doesn’t seem to be able to handle it, I’ve had to break it into chunks (can’t work that out – a quad core 8gb machine should be able to handle it – HD or not!) – anyway, by the end of the weekend I should have a DVD I can send to the client.

Finally, the two reviews I’ve just had to do on Poser 8 and Director 11.5 have been done (a bit of a panic there because of tight deadlines, but done nonetheless, and I’m really glad to have been able to take a look at the new version of Poser).

Book
There’s more work on the horizon though. I may have a banner animation to do, but it also looks like I’m going to be writing another book in the “really really really easy guide” series - with a deadline of November. I’ve already done one on video editing using windows movie maker – so I know what’s expected – and at 20,000 words, it’s a relatively small book…

It’s also a relatively small fee. Books – or at least factual books – are much less well paid than you’d think. Typically you’ll get an advance followed by royalties depending on the sales. My advice to anyone thinking of writing one is to treat your advance as if that’s all you’re going to get – because it usually is. I’ve never had any royalties from any of the 5 books I’ve written.

Anyway, if this one happens, I’ll let you know more as I go along…

2009-08-07T18:27:00.001+01:00

This week was a week of finishing things… or at least getting things to a reasonably finished stage.

The music video is more-or-less done – there were some changes to be made on the first version, but that’s pretty normal, and the results look really good – especially considering the budget wasn’t massive.

I’ve also done – or more-or-less done a documentary intro sequence for another client – a zoom from deep space to the Earth. There’s still a bit more tidying up to do on this, and I’d like to add a few bells and whistles to give it some spice, but again, it’s looking good.

In addition, I’ve done a couple of illustrations for a book on interstellar flight by one of my interviewees from my last documentary (“How to colonise the stars”) and he seems happy with the results….

Finally, I’ve got the first draft of the fossil hunting documentary done – or more-or-less done. There’s still some balancing to do on the sound, and some tidying up, but this project has been going on since February, so having it in a watchable state is a massive deal.

I’ve learnt a lot on this project – most significantly about shaping a story you don’t have before you start and working with lots of material which you’ve shot reacting to events rather than as part of a plan…

Also, it’s really brought it home to me how important it is to create significant “moments” and then build the structure around them. Just telling a story full of interesting material isn’t enough. You need to pace it and create a kind of punctuation in which things are brought together.

Also, the places where I’ve managed to take out the narration and interviews and just let the visuals and music tell the story are the best bits of the film… Not having the shots to do that is the biggest frustration in the project… but a lot of that is down to the chaotic nature of the shoot.

I’m not saying I’ve succeeded in doing these things in this project – only that their importance has really come home to me!

All of which means I now have – or think I’m going to have some space in my working schedule – some time to think about the documentary project I’ve had on my mind for most of the year, but haven’t had time to do anything about.

This is the big one – a full length feature project that I think could be great –and a story I think needs telling in a popular form… but can I do it? do I have the nerve to take it on? and how can I make it happen given that it requires masses of interviews, a placebo controlled drug trial and the building of a battery farm for pixies….

Anyway, a couple of notes on the space documentary I finished earlier in the year: the distributors told me there’s a slight problem with the audio levels – they’re peaking at -6 rather than -8 – whatever that means… I think I’ve persuaded them to adjust them at their end rather than having to re-do the master tape which would be expensive and awkward.

More importantly, the documentary has been accepted by HD fest in New York – I’m not sure if I’ll be able to go (Lisa is expecting in October and the festival is in September, so we’ll see!), but It would be interesting.

2009-07-31T18:39:00.000+01:00

I’m now well and truly stuck into the pop video now – it’s a low budget job which means I really need to get a lot of animation done in a short time – and I seem to be succeeding. The cartoony style looks good so far and I think the story is going to make sense. The only worry now is whether the project can be given the kind of stylistic look I’m after. I’ve gone for a mix of art deco and modern imagery and I’m hoping it will fit together… I’m also doing a few over-ambitious things (like cloth simulation and a bit of 3d lipsyncing – both of which are things you’d mostly try to avoid in a quick-turnaround cartoon style project).

The animation will be done (it’s rendering over the weekend), so what I’m worrying about (I always have to have something to worry about) is that indefinable uniqueness that you need to give a music promo its style. You can’t just do a cartoon or just do a video shoot or just do a dance routine – it has to have an unusual quirk – a Look that’s unmistakable and unique. And that’s the thing that’s most difficult to get on a low budget production because you’re so pushed for time you end up putting most of your effort into just getting the thing done.

What you really need is time to experiment and play around with the imagery to get something you’ve never seen before, and that’s what you don’t have a lot of the time.

In this case, the individual style is going to come from overlays and transitions I create in After Effects as well as colour correction… I’ve tried a few ideas, but I don’t think I’ve quite got there yet.

I’ve managed to get another 8 minutes of the documentary cleaned up – so I’m now about half way through the polishing stage before I send it to the client. After I get his response to it, I’m sure I’ll have to go back and re-cut to some extent – then there’s sound and colour correction to do – so it’s not finished.

Google adwords
I’ve also found a bit of time to mess about with my google ad-words adverts – and I’ve more or less doubled my click through rate (the number of people who click on my ad having seen it) from 1% to 2% just by re-wording the ad.

The trouble is, more clicks don’t necessarily mean anything except my advertising budget gets used up faster

2009-07-17T19:02:00.001+01:00

Straight back into work after our holiday last week. I’ve got one confirmed new job – an animated music video which I’m already stuck well into, and it seems to be going well. I’m aiming for a kind of art deco/cartoony look which is going to be fun.

I’ve also been contacted by someone who asked me to do an intro sequence last year, but it never happened. It seems he’s now got a budget and is ready to go – so that’s another short job to add to the list.

I’ve started up the google advertising again (but not nearly at the level of the beginning of the year) and it seems to be paying off, so it’s possible the downturn I found earlier in the year might be coming to an end… though I’ve no idea why.

I’ve fine-tuned the advertising a bit, so it’s more targeted at people who are actually looking for animators rather than people who are looking to watch animations – although it’s quite difficult to separate the two groups by thinking of the keywords they might search for. I’ve also limited the ads to just the UK and Ireland. Not something I wanted to do because it really doesn’t matter whether I work for people in the US or Australia…. However, I seem to be getting more contacts from UK people, so it makes sense if my advertising budget is small to concentrate there.

2009-07-03T18:20:00.002+01:00

This week I got back the 3d model I sent to shapeways. Shapeways is a company that will take your 3d virtual objects and turn them into real solid objects using a process involving powdered plastic and laser beams.

I got them to reproduce one of my trilobite models as a full scale plastic creature – and it’s amazing to see your 3d visions bought to life. There are a few restrictions on the process (like you can’t have walls thinner than 2mm) and the finished objects have a rough, almost contoured look about them with tiny (less than .0.1mm) ridges, but I can’t help feeling this kind of bespoke manufacturing is going to be huge.

If only I could think of the killer app….

Anyway. renewing my advertising on Google is paying off by the looks of it - it looks like I’ve got a pop video to animate which should be fun.

I’ve also removed the email form from the front page of http://www.anachronistic.co.uk/ – it’s been nothing but trouble with lots and lots of emails coming from it, but no actual leads to speak of.

I’m still getting more graduates wanting to work in animation than I am animation jobs, but that’s a sign of the times, I suppose.

Next week I’m on holiday….

2009-06-26T17:44:00.000+01:00

I’ve managed to start (i.e. get about 15 minutes into) the final (ish) cut of the trilobite hunters. It’s really starting to look like a programme now – with music, captions and all the effects shots in place… I won’t have it finished before I go on holiday (a flat I’m looking after for a friend and a short-deadline review will see to that), but I’m getting there. This project will be finished – and soon!

Lots of work on, and possibly some more on the horizon, but unfortunately, the cover I’ve been working on for Nature isn’t now going to happen… a pity, but it sometimes happens.

I got an email back from my distributors – I was asking about possible pre-sales of new documentaries, but surprisingly it doesn’t look like it’s going to be that easy… I may have to actually talk to broadcasters. Hmm.. don’t know if I want to go that far.

2009-06-19T18:31:00.000+01:00

The rendering has finally finished for the effects shots in “the fossil hunters”. It would have taken half the time, but my 2nd (64 bit) render PC couldn’t be used because I had to order a new network thingy for it. when that arrived, the power supply on my main render machine blew up, so I had to replace it with the one from the 2nd PC, so I still couldn’t use it. Now that the replacement power supply has arrived, the rendering is finished and I don’t need it…. typical.

This week I’ve been writing articles (one, ironically enough on how to make your render farm more efficient!). and a couple of reviews (which means I’ve now got to play with Vue, EIAS, Quidam and speedtree – all very clever packages actually...) anyway, I’ve also been asked to build a couple of spaceships – which is always fun, so I’ve shunted that job to the front of the queue!

These are REAL spaceships – or at least proposed designs for interstellar craft based on known physics – i.e. they’re things we could build if we had the cash and the inclination, so it’s quite inspiring to see them take shape…

My meeting
Anyway, if you were reading last week, you’ll know I had a very important meeting scheduled with myself in which I decided to strategically plan a few things about my strategy for the next few months… I like to stand back every once in a while and try to work out where I actually should be going rather than just following where I end up going….

Anyway. here, in semi-ironic management speak are my ideas (or action plans, or mission statements or whatever) – these are notes to myself more than anything else:

Finances:
Having got my books (sort of) up to date, I’m on schedule to earn probably 16% less this year than last – but that’s not as bad as I thought – and there’s certainly the opportunity to catch that up – I’m not in a dire situation, or anything like it. In fact, I saved more than that last year anyway. I’d planned to grow – but global downturn and all that….

Mailing lists
I haven’t really done anything with the mailing lists I had made at the beginning of the year. I really should pursue this – and it’ll probably take me a day or so to come up with a couple of offers to send out .

New documentary
I’ve emailed a friend to see if he’s willing to help research the new doc I’ve got in mind. It’s a full length feature, and I’ll need to be fully committed if it’s going to work, but it’s a cracker. I need a little backup (if not funding).

Other documentaries
On the back of my last two docs being fairly popular, I’ve emailed my distributor to find out if there are any possibility of securing pre-sales or other funding, and what I’d need to do to get it. I’m waiting for the response on that, but we’ll see…

Google adwords
I’ve had my google adwords account switched off for months now because at the beginning of the year I spent about £2,000 and got nothing from it. I’ve now turned it back on, but at a much lower level and with more targeted keywords – just to test the water.

2009-06-12T19:11:00.001+01:00

A brief pause while 3d animations render means I’ve had time to clear away some of the admin that’s been building up, and re-asses where I actually am.

As it turns out, the recession, though it’s changed a lot of my plans, hasn’t really done much harm to my overall income…. It’s just made it full of smaller, bittier jobs, which in turn means I’m spending all my thinking time thinking about what I’m doing tomorrow – so my longer term ideas are suffering.

Using the enforced pause, I set up a meeting of everyone in my office along with all my departmental heads and the people in charge of each of my project areas.

In other words, just me.

My meeting overran (or actually, I got a commission to illustrate a cover for Nature so I had to postpone it) so I’m not going to write up the full minutes until next week, but I should have some post-recession strategies by then… and I should know what I’m going to do about all the projects currently waiting for me to get to work on them.

In the meantime, I’ve got my master tape back from stanleys – and managed to save about £200 by getting it to them in the right format on the right disk (a firewire 800 disk and an uncompressed avi if anyone’s in the same situation). I’m now hoping it makes it through Electric sky’s quality control and doesn’t need re-doing.

I also bought a copy of the EDN financing guide for documentaries – a sort of telephone directory for documentary commissioners - and so far it seems everyone commissioning documentaries has set up online submission for programme ideas. This is a shame because I’m very sure these are a waste of time.

I’m sure they’re just like publishers’ slush-piles – designed to give the impression of considering people’s submissions while they’re quietly binned with little serious consideration.

I’m sure that like in publishing circles, the actual work of commissioning gets done by another, less formal system of networking.

One of the things I need to do is start to discover a little more about what that system really entails and whether it’s something I want to get involved in. I don’t mind working hard, but I’m not willing to have my time and energy sucked up and spat out by the TV industry – I’ve got far too much else in my life – so if there’s no sensible way to go, I can always stick to no-budget fun…

2009-06-05T18:03:00.000+01:00

This week, I’ve finished (sort of) the animation for “The trilobite hunters”. It’s all rendering now – only since I’ve switched to 64 bit and a new version of 3ds max, I’ve only managed to get one system going on it so rendering will be slow.

That’s OK because I could do with a break on this project. It’s about time I finished it, and it’s close enough that I can almost see the result…. I don’t mind taking a breather and getting rid of some of the admin and other things on my desk while my trusty PC renders away at the animations.

It turns out some of the DVDs I’ve sent out of “how to colonise the stars” have not worked (I should have tested them before sending, but I was in a rush) – so I’ll have to do them again. Also, the drive with the master on I took in to be dubbed onto tape didn’t work either, so I’ve had to get a new drive and do a new master.

No problem – and actually quite a good thing because although I spent £60 on a new firewire 800 drive and took a night of rendering to create my uncompressed SD master, doing it that way made it a lot easier for Stanley’s to copy it – so the cost is going to be about £250 instead of about £550….

In other news, I’ve decided to have a go at 3d printing – via www.shapeways.com – if you’ve not heard of this, it’s a way of creating real plastic objects from your 3d designs. Basically you send them a model and they return it as a real object – for a price. The price seems pretty reasonable, so I’ve decided to give it a go. If it turns out well, I think this is going to be big… I might even start inventing some products… might be fun!

The European elections are taking place with the government falling apart – quite literally – the cabinet is looking more like a colander with people quitting left, right and centre.

We’re all supposed to be angry about the expenses scandal, but I can’t muster the energy to be outraged – I’ve never met anyone who didn’t stretch what was possible on their expenses and although it’s clearly something that needs sorting out, it’s a symptom of bad organisation and the fact that we don’t pay politicians enough rather than dishonesty, I think.

There are lots of things that were wrong with the culture to cause this and lots of people doing things they shouldn’t have, but it sounds as though all the civil servants were telling them it was all fine right up to the point where they all got told it wasn’t – and that’s a bit rubbish.

Strange though it may seem, I don’t think they’re a crooked lot – I think they generally try to use everything they get to it’s best advantage and they’re keen to push the limits they’re given, but then we wouldn’t want politicians that didn’t, would we?

Anyway – what’s interesting to me is that this whole thing has caused an explosion in little parties – maybe I should make a documentary following some of the no-hope candidates around before the election next year (or next week, which seems more likely)…. It’d be interesting to explore what democracy means when you’ve got no hope of being elected…

Mind you, I vote Lib Dem, so what does that tell you?

2009-05-29T21:11:00.001+01:00

A short week this week – but I’ve managed to do quite a lot of work on modelling and animating my trilobites. I’ve really gone for bright colours – without any scientific reasoning beyond the fact that trilobites are the first creatures with true eyes, and developed into such amazing shapes – so I’m treating them a little like reef fishes.

I’m doing some quite impressive shots – so I’m ending up with lots and lots of creatures in each shot, which really taxes my machine – and slows everything down. Still, I’m having lots of fun with physics simulations and crowd behaviour, so there are some interesting techniques being used.

Website
My SEO (search engine optimisation) work earlier in the year does seem to have placed me higher in internet searches, and it is driving visitors to my site (around 70-80 per day ) but it’s not generating any enquiries. The enquiries I got from 200 or so visitors garnered using Google’s sponsored links generated roughly an enquiry every day, so there’s a definite difference in quality of visitors.

It seems the searches are less targeted and a lot of them are image searches. It’s no bad thing to have people viewing my work in this way, but it would be good to be getting some actual work from it!

All I’m getting right now is a lot of people emailing looking for work experience….

Maybe it’s a sign of the times.

2009-05-22T18:44:00.002+01:00

I’m really getting somewhere with the documentary now – it’s almost the right length and almost the right shots. It’s also looking pretty interesting… I think we could have a good programme here.

Meanwhile, how to colonise the stars has been sold to an airline, so now I have the rather rubbish task of doing all the fiddly and expensive stuff – like creating tapes of the various soundtracks the distributors need…. It’s a real pain, and something I should build into my editing to make it easier – but I don’t.

Anyway, when I took the hard drive into Stanleys, they couldn’t get the info off my hard disk, so it looks like I’ll have to get a new one and do another copy….
I also got a bit more information on why transfer from disk to tape costs so much – or rather how I can make the transfer cheaper and easier. basically, I have to use uncompressed video and a firewire hard drive…. So I’ve ordered one and maybe that’ll give me a better chance…

Things have taken a lot longer than I thought they would this week, and lots of little jobs have made things a bit slow. I’ve got a logo I’m supposed to be designing and it’s taking ages – mainly because I don’t seem to be able to incorporate all the complexities into a simple enough design for the clients. That’s always the problem with logos I guess – there’s so much to communicate with them, but it all has to be clear and simple.

That’s why people charge so much I suppose (although I don’t – I don’t do the kind of logos that require masses of research and focus groups – it’s just not worth it!)..

Anyway, I finally got into the animation for “the trilobite hunters” documentary - and spent most of Wednesday trying out a technique for doing one particular shot which took ages. Basically I wanted a shot of a mountain rising out of the ground and the rocks inside it fracturing…

There’s an easy way to show this, but I decided it would look rather nice to model hundreds of breaking rocks as they shattered into pieces and create the animation as a simulation (rather than animating each piece one at a time). The problem is, it’s very difficult to get the rocks to break realistically, and it takes ages to simulate the effects on hundreds of rocks at the same time.

I don’t think the result is as good as it could have been – I had to abandon my idea of having sand pouring in from the top layer to flow over the broken rocks because it would have meant hundreds of thousands of particles flying about and even a quad core 8gb machine couldn’t handle it….

still, it's good to be doing a bit of experimental animation again - so often you end up just doing the same things over and over again the same way because you've got no time to play with new ideas!

2009-05-08T18:30:00.000+01:00

festivals
Ok – I’ve now pitched “how to colonise the stars” to 10 or so festivals. I have no idea what to expect. There are a couple of festivals dedicated to scientific programming, so they’re the ones I’m thinking I’ve got the best chance with. Still, anything (and nothing) is possible.

I did have a bit of good news. My distributor’s just returned from Mipcom and gave me a call to say they’ve had more requests for screeners for “how to colonise the stars” than for any of their other titles. That’s about 45 channels considering buying it – which is good news – and one airline has already taken it up.

That’s even though they’ve decided to market it as SD rather than HD. It seems as though HDV is no longer good enough for the HD market.

Lucky I’m now working in full HD for the next projects I guess…

My next documentary – the vegas, bug digging one without a name – is now coming on faster. I’m actually getting to the stage where I can see the whole production. And it’s even a bit over length – which is great considering it was shot over just a week. I always like to be able to trim down rather than pad out whatever I’m working on.

I’m hoping to have a rough edit by the end of next week, and start working on the animations.

It’s about time too…

And another piece of good news is that I’m going to be able to use the new version of Max, so things should be faster and smoother.

Max 2010, I can see already is a great step forward in subdivision surface editing – if that makes any sense at all to you….

I also got a chance to visit a big animation studio this week (Darkside Animation). It’s always good to see how the other half of the industry live… and how they work on very large projects (projects which I can’t tell anyone about right now, but which will hit the limelight later in the year). Anyway, the one thing you do notice is the very specific skills of the animators – each person seems to specialise in a small part of the process – very different from my work where I do everything from modelling to texturing animation, rendering and editing…

I can see why they work the way they do, and they certainly produce very good work, but I’m pretty convinced I’d rather work my way because I can bring in specialists for certain areas of a production when I need to, but at the same time I do have a pretty good overall understanding of every part of the job, so I can be flexible.

Pirates
There’s been a lot of discussion on documentary forums about the decision by the courts to imprison the owners of Pirate Bay – the bit torrent site which allows users to swap everything from music to films…

The discussion was mainly around whether it was right or wrong that people can now download pretty much anything they like regardless of copyright – and as my living depends entirely on copyright, I’ve got a bit of a vested interest.

However, it seems to me a bit of a pointless argument – copyright is on the way out. It’s not dead yet, but it’s not going to survive the internet revolution, and the best we can do as filmmakers, writers and animators is look for ways to make it work for us.

I’m not entirely sure how that will work out – or even whether TV and film will eventually become things that only get produced by people willing to do it for nothing… However, I’m pretty sure there will still be production one way or another because if there’s one thing that will stop file sharing dead in its tracks, it’s if there’s nothing being produced to share….

2009-04-29T18:12:00.000+01:00

I’ve had a pretty disrupted couple of weeks, with the Easter long weekend and Lisa’s trip to Krakow meaning I didn’t have that many working days – Plus, a couple of short notice deadlines suddenly appeared meaning I had to do some newsletters for Pinnacle, an illustration for a company hiring nannys and a couple of reviews (although the reviews do mean I’ve now been able to play with up to date copies of Lightwave and Softimage!).

Anyway, having decided that fine editing is best done in half day stints because it’s so demanding, I’ve made some pretty good progress with the Vegas documentary…

Which I may be going to call “Bugdig”, “the search for Bristolia Insolens” or “the best way to dig a hole”… hmm… not sure.

However, I’ve now got it to the stage where the first half is now in manageable, playable segments. Each of the stories involved has been laid down and sliced into 1-2 minute scenes.

What I have to do now is assemble these into an overall story that makes sense. Which should be fairly simple. I’m not sure if having scenes of 1-2 minutes is going to work or whether they’ll feel too bitty, but we’ll see.

The second half of the documentary is more a single strand so I’ll be able to edit in a more linear way.

Either way, I can see it beginning to take shape now, so I’m a bit more positive about it. I’ve written and recorded the script for the second half, and now need to start building the shots around it.

Overall, it’s looking good – running a bit over time, but only because I’ve included a lot of material I can cut out later. It’s better to have more than you need rather than less….

Withoutabox
I’ve just signed up to withoutabox and I’ve discovered how easy it is to use. I’m launching my latest (finished) project (how to colonise the stars) at a few festivals – just to see how I get on and how difficult it is.

Early results seem to suggest it’s rather easy with all the hard work being done by the website. All I have to do is make some DVDs and put them in the post – which even I should be able to do.

I’ve given myself a budget of a couple of hundred pounds to spend on entry fees, and applied to about 10 festivals all in all (in a bit of a rush because for some reason I don’t understand, all the deadlines seem to be may 1st).

Anyway, this has really pointed up just how little I know about the whole documentary selling business. What are good and bad festivals? What happens at festivals anyway? who goes? Should I go if my film is chosen? What kind of films appear? I’ve got this feeling that my project is a bit too traditionally made and not arty enough– but again, I really don’t know.

All this stuff I’m reading about pitching meetings and getting industry people to attend your showings – I really don’t know anything about it. The top five documentary commissioners (if that’s even a job title, which I’ve no idea) in the world could walk right past me and I wouldn’t recognise them or know their names – should I? should I have a list of them in my top pocket along with a pile of ideas to throw at them if I ever bump into them at the groucho club (ha! I know what the groucho club is at least)?

Do I need to turn myself into some kind of frantic, coked-up cross between a film nerd and a used car salesman just to get… to get… umm…

And there’s the rub.

What exactly do I want to get out of the documentary business? Sure, I’ve got this great idea for a documentary I want to make – but nothing’s stopping me making it apart from time… and sure, I’ve got a few series I’d love to get off the ground if a broadcater came up to me and offered me a slot – but that’s not going to happen without immersing myself entirely in an industry I think is a bit… well, crappy…

Hmm.. I guess what this whole festival submission thing is about is just seeing where it takes me. When I finish my current project – the trilobite digging one, I’ll want to put it into some festivals because that will be one way the guy funding it will be able to see it’s a successful project.

When I do the feature documentary I’ve got in mind, festivals will be crucial – I’ll be shooting high and looking for cinematic release, but that’s a way off yet – and I need to insure myself all the way along the line so that if at any point it doesn’t hit the mark, I haven’t wasted a lot of time on it with no return at all.

And there are ways of doing that – ensuring that the research phase, the filming, the editing all pay for themselves as parts of other projects… but I’ll take you through that as it happens…

Right now, I’ve made a small foray into the festival world just to see what’s out there….

2009-04-24T18:40:00.001+01:00

2009-04-03T18:44:00.001+01:00

This week I’ve been writing articles – a new 3d artists magazine has appeared which is great news because it looks like good regular work – and fairly flexible.

I’ve also been doing another feature for a magazine aimed at school children and focuses on general science issues – which is also good news because means there’s potential to partially fund the research of some of my documentary ideas by writing features about the same subjects. That means I can justify spending more time on them… which has to be good.

I’m almost there with the boat safety video – although the last few bits are taking a long time…

Aside from that, I still haven’t got the edit done for the debut of my latest documentary project at 10x10 next week. And there’s a problem.

Because the safety video and the documentary are on different disks, I’m having to swap every time I swap projects. Now, Premiere ought to be able to take this on board, but it can’t – each time I swap, I have to re-locate all the footage files before premiere will load. And that’s a pain.

Worse still, when I tried to switch back to the documentary this time, it wasn’t having any of it – it keeps asking me where all the files are, then when I locate them, it crashes.

I do hope I can solve this because there’s a couple of months of editing work in those files!

2009-03-30T18:16:00.001+01:00

I managed to get precisely nothing done to my documentary this week – except that I’ve volunteered to show some of it at the 10x10 documentary evening in London on the 7th. It’s a great forum to show your half finished documentaries, and get criticism from other documentary makers. However, you need something that’s in a good enough shape to watch, and right now, what I’ve got is a collection of clips and snippets of voiceover. I’ve no idea what I’m going to show or when I’m going to get to edit it….

The main reason is that I’ve had a couple of jobs come in that I really needed to spend time on. One is the yacht safety video from last year, which now needs a few tweaks (tweaks which are taking far longer than I thought they would). The other is that following last week’s autodesk press launch, I got an email from the editor of a brand new magazine for 3d artists. He was looking for freelancers and had some reviews which needed doing for an issue due to go to press on Monday.

it started off as three small reviews, but by today, that had grown to four pages of copy – two of which are on Softimage – one of the most complex pieces of software on the market which I’m not up to date on and which didn’t arrive until Friday afternoon.

Deadlines aren’t always this tough, but sometimes events conspire against editors and freelancers….

Anyway, that’s why I haven’t done any documentary work this week!

2009-03-20T19:05:00.000Z

Over the last couple of weeks I’ve gone to two software company dos – Adobe’s and Autodesk’s. These are both well worth attending for me as the companies tell me all about what they’re adding to the new releases of their software… it’s very enlightening and it’s also a good chance to catch up with people I work with or for, but only ever see at press events.

They’re also usually a chance to eat minaturised versions of proper food arranged painstakingly and artistically onto little china spoons or cut into bite sized cubes…

Plus I get to hear about all the free foreign trips other, better connected journalists are getting to go on, and, in recent cases, see how the credit crunch/recession/depression/global armaggeddon is affecting the various bits of the industries I’m connected to.

The answer to that last one is that it’s affecting them pretty badly, or at least most people are expecting it to. The media seems to be locking down right now with nothing much going ahead anywhere (although I’m not close enough to it to really be able to say that with any authority).

On the other hand, I’m choosing to see a couple of positive sides: Firstly, everyone in the creative industry has a whole list of personal projects they’d really like to be getting on with if it wasn’t for all this damned paying work.

Now the paying work is drying up, those exciting projects should be coming out of the closet and everyone in the industry should be working for free on what really fires them up…. At least if they’re not having to get jobs as waiters, that is.

Secondly, if you’re able to be a shark (see my previous blog), there should be new opportunities appearing around every corner as things change suddenly.

Personally, I’ve taken a quick dart back towards writing articles and proposed a few pieces for magazines which should support me for a couple of months (along with all the other bits and pieces I’ve got on).

Voiceover
I’ve recorded the first part of my voiceover for the Vegas documentary. It’s a big test for me as it’s the first time I’ve done my own voiceover work (or, the first time since I did a couple of packages for BBC radio 5 years ago and had my confidence as a presenter shaken by a producer who quite rightly didn’t think I was up to the job).

Anyway, my two big personal projects for this year, really do depend on me being able to be a strong and credible presenter, so recording the voiceover for the vegas documentary is crucial

What do I think of my performance? Well it’s hard to judge. I’m not at all sure I’m any good, and even if I am, I still need to find a tone of writing and a tone of speaking that work together. I feel a little like I’m PRESENTING too much and need to be more energised and conversational. At the same time, I feel I need to slow down and enunciate better – and I think the two are contradictory. You don’t have conversations at 60 words per minute, do you?

Anyway, until it all gets edited in, I won’t know. In fact I still won’t know then until other people hear it.

I guess the real problem is that even if I do get to be good at presenting, I’m going to be critical of myself as I edit, so I’m not going to have full confidence in the project…. Hmm… I need to get over it.

2009-03-13T19:41:00.001Z

The last couple of weeks feel quite bitty – as though I’ve done lots of work, but it hasn’t really got together into anything substantial.

I’ve got a little further forward with the documentary – and I’m now writing a first draft of the commentary. This started off being quite tough to do, because I haven’t really edited yet – I’m at the stage where I know what all the stories are that will combine into my finished programme, and I know broadly what shots and voice clips I’ll use to tell those stories. It’s now time to write the first draft of the linking narration.

However, once I really convinced myself that this wasn’t a final version of the narration, writing became much faster. I know I’ll have to add to it and change things, but that will come much easier I think, once I’ve got a roughly working programme.

I hope….

Anyway, my plan is to finish writing the narration next week and record it using my own voice. This will be a bit of a test for me. I’ve half decided to go with my own voice for the narration this time, because the whole programme feels like it needs to be me talking. I can’t quite explain why, but my previous two productions have felt like they needed a dispassionate narrator, whereas this one somehow feels as though the camera is more part of the action…

So, this is a test of my narration skills as much as anything, and it’s a test I need to do because I’ve got a couple of other projects in mind (one of which I did a treatment for this week). And these other projects will NEED to have me as a narrator.

I’m actually really excited about the project I wrote the treatment for, but it’s big and ambitious ( a feature length doc – which has elements of a drama to it) and most significant of all, it will depend on my ability to be a convincing narrator….

More of that later….

Still no work
Still no work from either of the mailouts I’ve sent – which is a bit worrying. Still, it’s promising that despite having turned off my advertising I’m still getting (around) 50 visitors per day to www.anachronistic.co.uk.

2009-03-06T12:32:00.000Z

The recession has hit
Ok – there’s no getting around it. The recession has well and truly hit me. Having decided at the beginning of the year to plough money and effort into advertising my work in an attempt to grow my business, I find myself at the beginning of March with little to show for it.

By putting a huge amount (£40 per day) into advertising on google (my best source of business so far), I’ve got one job, and a few positive enquiries from January, but nothing at all of any use in February.

I can’t keep up that level of spending, so I’ve taken the decision cut it right back. Which in turn means no chance of getting the work that is out there.

The other strands of my advertising are more positive, but not any more promising. I’ve now had two email mailing lists compiled:

One of 2,000 museums to which I’ve sent a note letting them know I’ve written a guide to commissioning animation. This is a very “soft sell” – I’ve offered them a feature they might find interesting along with a note that they can contact me if they need any animation done for future displays. From this, I’ve got lots of people saying how much they like my work, and that they’ll keep my details for the future – but no actual work right now.

The other, of 500 aquariums to which I’ve offered a very specific animation idea – to create a “virtual fishtank” containing animations of extinct, or un-exhibitable sea creatures. It’s a much more direct offer (albeit one at quite a high value), but the response was pretty similar “love your work, but haven’t got any money” was the overwhelming view.

Although the responses I’ve received have all thanked me for sending my email - I also did a little checking, and am worried by the legalities of sending out mail unsolicited – (something I hate doing – but running I’m a little short on ways to make people aware of my work). It turns out that generally, you can send out emails to companies as long as you give them a valid email address to respond to and tell you if they don’t want your emails. You also have to not disguise who you are.

The one problem is that you can’t send emails to named individuals. Only there’s no way of knowing whether you’re talking to a company or one individual trading as a company, so it’s all a bit confused.

Anyway, this means I have to worry about the legal side of emailing, but it doesn’t mean I can practically do anything about it.

In addition, the company I’ve employed to build up my website traffic by writing a couple of articles about my work and putting them on sites which link to mine have come back to me with the articles to check – and they’re awful! They’re really badly written and say absolutely nothing of any value. I wouldn’t be happy having my work associated with them at all, so it doesn’t look as though that avenue is going to work either.

To make matters worse, my website stopped working this week – somehow it’s code became corrupted (possibly as a result of someone hacking into it), and it’s taken 3 days to get it working again and I’ve changed all my passwords.

All in all, I’ve been a bit despondent - there’s not a lot of work out there. By the looks of it, there isn’t going to be for a while, and I have to re-think my strategy. And this is not going to be a cheap year – either professionally or personally…

Solutions!
I’ve worked out that if I finish the documentary project I’m on now, and manage to keep the monthly newsletter I write for Pinnacle (there seems no likelihood of that going under – in fact it may expand) and I get a few more pieces from magazine articles, then as long as the images I’ve got on stock libraries keep generating income, I’ll make enough to survive.

This also depends on the tenant in my property in Manchester starting to pay his rent again (he hasn’t been able to pay for 6 months now and the council are being scandalously slow in processing his benefit claim. I may have to evict him.

So what else can I do? –well, my new plan is to develop a series of emails making different offers every month to different sets of people… the next one will be a very low-cost offer (just a few dollars for giving video footage a certain “look”). It’s not something I can make a lot of money at – more of a “loss leader” but my thought is if people aren’t buying high-cost projects, might they go for something much lower cost initially?

There are a few other low cost, small projects I can pursue – like writing articles and doing one off illustrations… but I still need to get the work.

Relentlessly optimistic
Ok, so to be optimistic about it. The good thing about having no paid work is that it means I should have the time to work on some of my own projects that nobody’s going to pay me for anyway. Having no other work means working on personal projects isn’t taking time away from paying ones, so if I’m organised, I should be able to do some of the things I’ve really wanted to do:

A feature film documentary idea about something I think is really important… and a children’s animated series. Both, huge undertakings, but if other work is short… I’ll do a breakdown of just what it would take to get these projects off the ground…

Hmmm….

how to edit AVCHD

2009-02-25T18:22:00.000Z

how to edit AVCHD
It’s not easy to edit footage from the new breed of memory card camcorders – even those editing packages which can edit AVCHD do so very badly. Playback is slow and jerky and editing is a nightmare. It’s like stepping back 10 years to the old PCs that could barely handle DV.

There’s a set of solutions, but they all really involve re-compressing your footage in a friendlier format. The best I’ve found is neo scene.

It costs $130 but works fine. It also increases the colour range of your images (which has no effect until you start applying colour correction, when you’ll discover you can alter the image over a wider range without loosing detail).

The downside is disk space. My 70gb of footage (a lot to start with) now takes up 360gb, so I’ve had to buy a new hard drive just to edit it. No big deal, but worth remembering. It took 2 days to process all the footage, turning it from unfriendly avchd files to more playable avis.

Cutting
With that done, I load my footage into Premiere, and get going. It’s not bad. My 8gb quad core PC can play back the 1920x1080 footage pretty smoothly (although scrubbing is a bit crap, which is a problem). It also takes about 4 minutes to load up due to the 8 hours of footage I’ve loaded in.

A new kind of editing
Up to now, my documentaries have been talking heads based with a bit of computer animation and stock footage thrown in. I’ve been able to research the subjects in advance and I’ve got an idea in my head before I started to edit how the story would be told.

I’ve also been cutting around the interviews, so bringing out the important moments of them has been the first stage in my edit.

This new doc is something different. This time I’ve been following people round and basically filming what they do. The story is something I’ve got a vague idea about, but it’s all going to come together now.

What’s more, there are two distinct parts to the doc – the first being the fossil show we attended and the second being the dig we went onto afterwards. In some ways they’re different films, but I think I see a way of bringing them together… at least I hope I do.

First steps
Ok, so I’ve got 8 hours of footage – a few scraps of interview, lots of shots of people walking around and looking at things and hitting things with hammers.

How do I start?

Well, I could just plough in and start picking out bits of the footage I like. But that would mean I was completely lead by the footage I’d got – I don’t think that’s entirely right because there’s always underlying stories that need to be pulled out and aren’t immediately obvious from the footage.

For example, I know that two of my main characters got very excited on the last day at the show because they heard a rumour that some illegal Brazillian fossils were being offered. They went off to look for them, but found nothing.

So “in the can” I’ve got lots of shots of people pointing, and walking about, followed by them getting in a car and driving off. There’s a story there, but without some work it’s not told naturally by the footage.

On the other hand, I can’t write the story and then cut the clips around it because that would be ignoring the truth of what really happened.

What I’ve decided to do is make a list of the main strands of the story as I noted them when I was filming, and create a Premiere timeline for each one. I then make another timeline for each day of filming and dump all the footage from that day into it.

I work through each day of footage, and cut and paste any shots that are relevant to each story strand into that strand’s timeline (some clips appear in several strands).

From there, things are a bit more manageable. Each strand now contains between 5 and 30 minutes of footage, and I can work with it in chunks, cutting it down to shots I can use and arranging rough sequences. Each strand is organised into scenes so I can cut between the different stories thoughout the documentary.

Where the interviews and snatched dialogue don’t tell the story, I’m adding title screens with notes to myself about possible voiceover scripting. None of these will feature in the finished programme, but they’ll mean when I come to write the script I’ll know what I’m doing.

That’s the theory.

I’ve got some way into it now, and have the fossil show segment pretty well covered. I’ve still got to tackle the dig itself, and I have a feeling that will be a big harder. There’s only really three strands of story to this I think so the chunks will be bigger and harder to manage…. But we’ll see.

Mailout
The mailout has been done – 2000 museums contacted about my animation work. More specifically, given them a link to my article on commissioning video documentaries (specifically 3d animated ones) for museum displays.

I was a bit nervous. Even though I’m aiming to provide them with something they can use, there’s always a worry that if you approach someone without asking first, they might feel you’re spamming them.

Out of the two thousand emails, I got probably 200 returned as invalid addresses for one reason or another (that’s to be expected). I also got a few people emailing saying they were the wrong person to talk to, but that they’d passed my details onto the right person.

In addition, I got several positive responses from people saying thanks for the pointer to the article, and that they’d keep it in mind for when they were next building a display that might need animation.

Number of complaints: zero.
Number of actual jobs given to me as a result: zero.

I’m actually quite positive about this. All in all, the mailout cost me about £80 (for the list of names) and I think there may be a few people considering using my work who will get back to me later. I’m not sure I’ll get anything, but it’s pretty positive.

Next mailout
So I’m planning to do more mailouts. This one was quite “soft”. In other words, I wasn’t saying “buy this” I was saying “here’s some information about how 3d animation works in your industry – if you can use it, great – and you can always get in touch if you like.”

The next mailout will be a little more defined. I’m going to approach aquariums with an idea for a video display featuring extinct or deep sea fish. In this one, I’m going to talk very specifically about prices and ideas – giving people an offer they can choose to go for instantly if they want to.

And the next one…
I’m then going to talk to corporate video producers giving them a very specific low cost post production offer – i.e. that if they send me a video, I’ll apply a set of effects to give it a set choice of classy “looks” at a set cost per minute. Something they can easily get their heads around and use without feeling they’re making a big investment…

I’m very new to all this promotional stuff, so I’m just trying out ideas right now.

We’ll see what the results are.

Responses
Responses to my google advertising continues to be mixed. I’m getting 10-20 contact emails a week, but very few actual serious offers of work. Most of those I am getting are quite local too – which is odd. There’s no more reason for someone who works nearby to use my work than someone in (say) mexico, but for some reason, people are more likely to contact me if they live nearby.

I’m not desperate for work – I still have this trilobite documentary which will keep me busy for a while, and if I pursue it, there are magazine articles waiting to be written. However, it’s a little worrying that putting as much effort (and cash) as I am into advertising doesn’t seem to be paying off right now.

Be a shark

Still, I am in a bussinessy mood right now, so I’m coming up with lots of strategies to get my work in front of people. Although I still don’t like the whole “meet and greet” thing – I’m not considering going out in person with a portfolio right now. It just feels like a waste of time… and not one I feel comfortable with…

I am getting mailing lists done. I’m advertising in trade journals (like the Knowledge – the UK’s most important contacts book for TV). I’m also getting links from other sites to my website. I’ve got several one-a-month emails in mind to send out to people in different industries who might use my work…. So maybe this will help me buck the ressession.

I feel I’m in a good position to make things work despite the economic climate because as I’m one person with a wide range of arty skills, I can be as flexible as I need to in order to take advantage of whatever comes my way.

One thing I really got from making my film about the evoloution of sharks was that in times of crisis (i.e. the extinction of the dinosaurs) the specialists died out very quickly (or risked doing so) because as the environment changed, they found themselves without a niche they could exploit.

The generalists – those with a wide range of abilities and those who could change instantly from one source of nourishment to another (i.e. the sharks) actually did rather well – because without the competition, they were able to adjust to the new environment and exploit whatever new niches appeared.

Anyway, I’m taking publicity a lot more seriously now, and casting my net wide for different types of work.

Documentary publicity
I’m also considering hiring someone to send my documentaries off to festivals. I haven’t got time to do it myself, and I’ve so far avoided doing this. However, it might be worthwhile now getting onto the whole documentary making bandwagon…

Hmm… one to ponder.

Fossil hunting in Vegas

2009-02-16T18:25:00.001Z

The trip
I’ve spent the last week in America following a group of fossil hunters round and making a documentary about their visit to the world’s biggest fossil show and their attempts to dig up a rare species of trilobite…

How did it go? Well….

Vegas

I left London in the biggest snowstorm in 18 years. The snow made the whole of the South East grind to a halt, but for me, the worst problem was the post. Two deliveries I was expecting before I left didn’t arrive – one (a wireless microphone) I could do without, but the other, spare batteries for my new camcorder were essential.

I ended up with a practical, but annoying solution. I had to buy a new camera at the airport just to use as a charger and spare battery. Hopefully I should be able to re-sell it on ebay once I get the new batteries, and not loose to much money.

We arrived in Vegas late, and the place really is larger than life. Everything’s bigger – even the queue for the check in desk at Caesar’s Palace for which we had to stand and wait for an hour and a half before being told they’d “lost” two floors of accommodation.

This seemed a bit careless to me, but still, if there’s one thing that really works in America I’ve found, it’s the ability to make up for it when things go wrong. They instantly offered Lisa and Sam accommodation in another hotel, an upgrade, and free beauty treatments…. I, of course, am working, so stayed only for one night before jetting off on my desert adventure.

There was really just time for dinner and bed as I had to fly out at 6 the following morning.

Pheonix
Met up with Enrico and Luc, two of my fossil hunting companions and documentary stars at Vegas airport for the hour long trip to Pheonix where we immediately got in a car and headed for the fossil show in nearby Tucson (I say nearby – nearby in American terms, so a 3 hour drive. Nearby like Birmingham is Nearby to London).

Tucson
The Tucson Fossil show is a strange event. All the rooms in several of the town’s hotels have been taken over by fossil sellers – each with their own stall or shop marketing everything from pieces of meteorite to shark’s teeth to dinosaur fossils smuggled illegally out of China or Brazil.

There’s an ambiguity about fossil collecting – in that lots of academics and museums don’t like private collectors and accuse them of removing and damaging important finds. Also, most countries have strange and complex rules about what can and can’t be collected.

However, at the same time, academics and museums don’t have the time or resources to collect much, and a fossil left in the ground once exposed by the weather will quickly erode and be destroyed. In addition, if you took away all the finds made by private collectors from museums, there would be very little left at all…

For this reason, filming is a little dicey. Some stallholders (in fact most) are delighted to be interviewed and to show off their wares. Some are secretive and suspicious. Looking pretty amateur with a small camcorder and mic, and promising not to use anything I didn’t get a release form signed for seemed to placate most of them, but some of the most beautiful collections were pretty much off limits for me and my camera.

The group, Carlo (the collector) Jason and Jake (the diggers), Dave (the fossil preparer) and Enrico and Luc (the scientists) make a good team, and everyone there is enthusiastic. But there’s often confusion about what’s going to happen next, so it’s very difficult for me to plan my shooting. We change our minds two or three times about which day we’re leaving the show.

I’ve taken the decision that this is a rollercoaster. And you ride a rollercoaster, you don’t try to steer it. Instead of coming up with a set of things I plan to shoot to make the story I want to make, I decide to film everything I can, and hope it fits together into something that makes sense.

It’s a documentary and I’m documenting. It means I have to think on my feet and make sure I get the covering shots that will make any potential story I end up wanting to tell work. It’s quite scary in one way, but freeing in another. I have to work for the moment – thinking of ways to combine shots into sequences over which narration can be played before I know what the narration is going to be. I have to constantly ask myself what is happening right now and how can I make it into a sequence of shots without pre-judging what’s going to happen next.

Carlo is rushing from stall to stall, and constantly calling for me to catch up – but I have to get outside shots, and wide shots, and have people sign release forms….

I discover the microphone is making a strange ticking sound, but it’s too late to do anything about it. I’ll have to rely on being able to remove the noise in editing. I also find I’ve lost the screw which attaches my tiny hand held camera to the flycam – a weighted device for steadying my shots. I have to gaffer tape it in place and tear it off each time I need to change the battery or memory card.

Vegas (again)
Eventually we leave Tucson (coincidentally just when we’d originally planned to) and head back to Vegas. I’ve got a plane ticket, but I go by car instead – taking the opportunity to film as we travel.

After 5 hours on the road, we arrive at Stacy and Jake’s home in Vegas, and Lisa and Sam come over for dinner. This trip is filled with late nights and early mornings, and Carlo asks me to meet them at Caeser’s Palace (where Lisa, Sam and I are staying for tonight) at 6 am. They turn up at 7:30, giving me a chance to take a look around the Strip.

Time here doesn’t seem to make the slightest difference - whether it’s 6am or 6pm on the Las Vegas Strip, the lights still flash, the music still plays everywhere, and the streets and casinos are still full. It’s as though the whole city is dedicated to stopping you from thinking or acting for yourself. “do this now!” screams everything.

I can’t escape the feeling that Vegas is taking up valuable space which could more productively used as desert.

California – the marble mountains
We’ve received information that our original dig site – a town famous for polygamy just outside Vegas is under snow, and so we can’t dig there, so we set off early for California where a more sparsely populated fossil bed allows us the opportunity to search for one of the world’s rarest trilobites.

We reach there around lunch time, and it’s not snowing. But it is raining… something it continues to do on and off for the next two days.

During that time, we find very little, but eat a lot of cold beefburgers and get very wet.

We stay in a couple of really expensive hotels (expensive mainly because we turn up late to book in and have to take whatever’s going) and eventually get rained off the mountain.

That said, I think we’ve done well. We do find one of the rarest trilobites in the world, and there’s a lot of material shot for the documentary. I think I’m beginning to see a story forming in all this….

Vegas (again)
Back to Vegas again, in time for dinner at New York New York – which Carlo is paying for because he didn’t find the “big find” of the day. Several of the team accidentally order the wrong meal in the chaos and end up with a huge steak and a massive lobster each….

It’s Sam and Lisa’s last night so they’re off doing touristy things and don’t join us. Plans change about four times during the evening and I end up leaving to go and stay with Lisa at about 10:30 leaving Jake on the roulette tables. I hear later that he left about 5 minutes after us anyway….

Somewhere outside Vegas
Our last day is spent two hours outside vegas – in the place we’d originally planned to dig. The snow’s gone. It’s a sunny day and the digging is easy – plus, we’re eating slightly better since the remaining steak and lobster form last night are packed away for lunch. There are lots of fossils in this mountain and soon most of the team (including me) have made finds.

It’s a great day to be out in the mountains, but from a filming point of view, it’s not so good. The fossils here are common ones and there’s not the tension of the previous digs. Jake and Jason, the professional diggers see this as an amateur dig site – lots of fun things to find, but nothing really special like the $10,000 trilobite they found yesterday.

It’s clear to me that the climax of the documentary was yesterday, and I’ve got to find a way to put today’s dig before it in the film – without explicitly saying that it happened in that order. I don’t want to lie, but I don’t want to make the ending a damp squib.

Hmm….

Home
At the end of the day, it’s agreed we’ve had a good trip. I think I’ve got everything I need – at least I better had!

Over dinner, Carlo starts talking about wanting to dig up a Triceratops. A triceratops is a whole different ball game from a trilobite – for a start, it’s the size of a truck – and for another thing, virtually everywhere you’re likely to find one is filled with men with guns.

Still, it wouldn’t surprise me if he was serious.

New website
Before I left for Vegas, I managed to find time to re-edit my showreel adding in all my new footage. It looks great, and I’ve chosen the Blue Danube as the music. Take a look at http://www.anachronistic.co.uk/content/animation-and-visual-effects-showreel.htm

I think it’s working really well….

I returned to find 20 contact emails from my newly re-done 3d animation website http://www.anachronistic.co.uk/. Great – the new site is generating lots more enquiries than the old one.

However, emailing them back, I start to discover the news isn’t so good… about a quarter of the contacts return as unavailable addresses – why someone should take the trouble to fill in an email form with an incorrect address, I’m not sure.

Worse still, of those that don’t get returned, none of the recipients have got back to me. Ok, I’ve only given them 4 days, and it’s over a weekend, but I’m surprised to have received nothing at all…

It’s a little worrying – are my emails getting through at all? Are they being labeled as spam? Are people just ignoring them?

My solution is to email back with a “read recipt request” so I know if the emails have been read. The results of that, I’ll post next time….

Mass emails
While I was away the company working for me on researching an email list of museum curators got back to me.

This list is part of my publicity plan for my new site: I’ve written an article giving museum curators tips on commissioning 3d animation for their exhibits and hopefully when they come to do it, they’ll commission me! I’m using the list to contact about 2000 curators by email just to let them know the article’s there.

Is that spam? I don’t think so – I’ve been careful to target people who ought to be interested in the article and I’m offering them something for free that’s useful whether or not they decide they’re interested in my work.

Nevertheless, this kind of promotion makes me nervous. I made a big mistake a few years ago when I first did a bulk mail. A rogue server somewhere in the world picked up my email and duplicated it, delivering hundreds of copies to each recipient. It couldn’t have gone more wrong!

I hope I’ve insured that this can’t happen this time, but if you do anything on a big scale, there’s always the potential for disaster….

Shark story
As for my shark documentary, it’s definitely being sold illegally, and definitely by a company that’s gone out of business. The receivers have said they’ll give us the profits, but it’s a shame not to have been able to nail those responsible and at least get an explanation out of them!

What happens next, we’ll see…

2009-01-30T18:37:00.001Z

Ok – it turns out my documentary is available in WHSmiths, un-edited and packaged with a book in a very neat looking bundle and as part of a series of videos on all kinds of subjects –whether these are done without copyright, I’ve no idea.

It’s still looking very much as though whoever released them has done so without the permission of Electric Sky, my distributors, and I’ve posted off a copy to them so they can take action….

What they can do about it, since the company publishing the DVD has now gone into receivership, I don’t know…

New year, new website
I’ve now got my new website set up – due to a very helpful company http://www.agdesignpro.com/ who I found on Elance – as part of my new year resolution to do more outsourcing.

The new site (at www.anachronistic.co.uk) is written in html, and optimised as heavily as I can for search engines.

I’ve learned a lot in the past few weeks about how to create a search engine friendly website. Including the whole CMS thing…

A CMS for those who don’t know, is a website within a website which only I can access, which allows me to add and remove content and new pages. The new pages will appear in the same style as the old ones with all the text and images pasted in correctly.

In other words, I can update my website at any time from any computer without knowing how to code or layout HTML. Brilliant, and surprisingly cheap to do.

So all the text (and there’s rather more than I would have liked) is in, and today I finished creating a new showreel which I’ve now uploaded….

I’ve chosen the Blue Danube as my music which I think works well….

Anyway, results:

Ok – it’s early days, the new site’s been up for a week (with the new showreel having gone in today), so none of the search engines have indexed it, and that means my visitors have stayed roughly level – OK, they’ve increased slightly from about 275 per day to 300 or so.

But my old site, in the first 3 weeks of the year ( remember, I’ve only just started advertising at the beginning of the year) generated 6 enquiries.

My new site has generated 8 in the 7 days it’s been up. That’s not bad, and apart from the new sales-centric layout, it’s a result of the little form I’ve created at the bottom making it very easy for people to contact me.

Whether that will help me actually get work remains to be seen….

Still. Onwards and upwards.

The next step is to wait for the search engines to recognise the site and see if that helps, but I’ve also discovered that your ranking on google depends heavily on the number of sites that link to yours.

I’ve written some features that hopefully will attract people linking, but I’m also planning to hire in a company to “build links” basically, they go out and actively find sites with similar subjects to your own and suggest that they link to the fantastic content on your site.

You have to watch out, because some of these companies link you to things called “link farms” which are sites set up just to provide links and Google takes a dim view of this. So the game is to get as many sites with content your visitors would find interesting to link to you as possible. It’s sensible and useful, so I’m going to give it a go.

The tips section of my site (http://www.anachronistic.co.uk/tips.php) contains articles for people interested in CGI and animation for their own projects, so it’s a worthwhile link to have.

And of course, I’ve just linked to it from my blog, so that give me another incoming link!

a new website and a stolen documentary

2009-01-16T17:18:00.000Z

Back to work, and charged with new ideas. This year is going to be a year for growing and outsourcins. I’m going to try to take on more work (ressession permitting) and have other people working on my projects too so I’m not doing everything myself.

First step towards that has got to be bringing in customers, so I’ve re-instated my web advertising. I’ve also got someone in from elance to re-write my website.

Why?

Because, apparently, sites written only in Flash (as mine currently is) show up on google as just a single graphic. Which seems to be why I don’t get listed on search engines (except when I pay for sponsored links).

To put that right, I have to re-write my site as html and though I could probably learn the skills and do that myself, I’ve decided to start my new year’s resolution of outsourcing by outsourcing my web design.

In my quest for more visitors, I’ve done a little research and had a bit of a think about it, and the results are:

Apparently in search engine optimisation (SEO for short), content is king. In other words the more words you have on your site, the more important and useful google thinks it is.

Also, if you’re looking to appear in searches for targeted things (like “documentary filmmaking” or “3d animation”) you’ve got to keep mentioning those phrases throughout your text – crowbaring in keywords to your text every five minutes (actually more than that – I’ve seen recommendations which say to have at least 250 words with 3 keyphrases repeated 3-4 times each!).

Well, Ok – it’s put a bit of a strain on my writing ability, but luckily, writing to tight briefs in terms of style, content and wordcount comes pretty easily to me since I’ve written for dozens of magazines, newspapers, etc.

Anyway, it turns out I have to write a lot more words in my site than I thought – 250 being a good chunk for each page, so I’ve done an intro, packed with keywords, and an “about us” section – again with keywords woven into it.

I’ve also done a whole section of past projects – detailing about 15 projects where my animation work has been featured, and mentioning key-words for different sections of the motion graphics industry (I’ve also used google adwords keword tool to find out the most popular kewords and tied them in to my own advertising clickthrough rates – oh, yes, this is all very scientific!)

In addition, I’ve written a series of articles – about 1000 words each – aimed at different types of customer who are likely to use my work. These (packed with the requisite keywords, of course), offer what I hope will be helpful advice to people trying to get motion graphics, visual effects and 3d animation into their work.

I’m doing one for documentary filmmakers, one for music video makers, one for web designers, one for museum curators, etc….I’m hoping other sites will want to link to this content – because apart from anything else, links are part of the way search engines judge the quality of your site….

Anyway, more on the new site when it’s up and running in a couple of weeks.

Vegas
In the meantime I’ve also started planning for the documentary shoot in Vegas at the end of the month. This project, funded by Carlo, the hotel owner and trilobite collector, is going to be a fossil hunting road movie – and I’ve no idea what to expect when we start filming!

All very exciting, but I’m going to need some new equipment: primarily a new camera (a small solid state HD camera I can chuck about in the desert without worrying too much), some kind of apparatus to allow me to get steady shots with it, and a microphones system.

After reading a lot online, I’ve opted for the Rode Ntg2 shotgun mic (more on that when it arrives) - £250 including a boom, a shock absorber and what’s known in the trade as a dead cat (a fury microphone cover designed to stop wind noise – unavoidable in the desert).

I’ve also ordered a flycam – basically a frame with weights on the bottom – from India. It’s designed to keep light cameras steady and give shots a graceful floating motion even when you’re running over rough terrain. I’ll believe it when I see it, but it’s costing about £130 so it won’t break the bank.

Finally, the camcorder I’m leaning towards is the HF11…. But not decided yet. If I get it, I’ll get a wide angle lens too….

UPDATE: ok – I’ve gone with the HF100 – why? Because it’s £250 cheaper and is basically the same model but without the super high quality mode. As it turns out, the super high quality mode as far as all the reviewers are concerned has made no descernable difference to the quality of images. Saving £250 means I can now add a wireless mic (if I can find one) to my setup.

Can you believe it?

My previous documentary – the one about extinct sharks – has been out for about a year now and happily being distributed by Electric Sky. They’ve sold it to 5 TV channels, and not made me much money, but it’s certainly getting a fair showing.

I got an email from one of my interviewees today. It appears the programme is now on sale on DVD in WHSmiths – probably the UKs biggest DVD selling store.

Great.

I dropped a line to Electric Sky to say thanks.

It turns out they know nothing about it.

This is absolutely shocking! - Somebody, it would seem, has taken my documentary and decided to distribute it without telling me or getting permission. The company (Pinnacle Vision) is now in receivership, so what’s going to happen next isn’t clear. Someone is in deep trouble.

I’ll have to find a copy and take it from there. Luckily, Electric Sky are showing every intention of taking the case on for me (after all, it’s in their interest).

More on that story as it unfolds!

museums

2008-12-23T17:28:00.000Z

Today’s my last working day before Christmas, and instead of doing all the admin I really ought to have finished off, I did a little admin and spent the rest of the time putting together a short how-to article for my website giving museum and exhibit creators a few pointers on how to commission animation. Obviously it’s partially a way to get people to come to my website, but it should be helpful to people hopefully. I also set up a new domain name – something that only takes a few minutes but which I’ve for some reason not done.

I’m now officially www.anachronistic.co.uk – and the article is at www.anachronistic.co.uk/exhibit

2008-12-19T19:24:00.001Z

Ok – I think I’ve finished my “how to colonise the stars” documentary. I think because I haven’t actually watched the final render through to check it, but I’ve made all the changes I think it needs and tried to get all the shots fine-tuned, so I think it’s finished.

Does that mean the project is over? No. I’ve now got to send it to the distributors and hope they like it. Then I’ll have to do all the paperwork – music cue sheets, script, that kind of thing, and finally I’ll have to shell out for the full HD copy to be made along with all the audio versions so buyers can edit out my carefully written narration and replace it with their own…

In the meantime, I’ve been doing a little work on designing characters for my children’s animation series… I’m pleased with the way they look, and with the first script basically there, I should soon be able to start seeing how it all works in practice.

It may seem to you that this project is plummeting forward with undue haste, but it has to. I’ve only got a little time before I start taking on more paid work in the new year and if this project can’t be fitted in relatively easily around it, it won’t get done. This has to be a bit of a production-line job because I know it won’t make me much if any money. There’s no point wondering how good it would have been if it never gets made, so the aim has to be to do something that will look spectacular, and have the ideas in it I want to get across, but is easy enough to get done and get done fast.

So far, it’s looking great.

Expansion plans
I’m also thinking of ways to expand my work – and planning to go on an aggressive marketing drive at the beginning of next year (not that I haven’t got plenty to do already). Basically this mainly involves my Google advertising, but I’m increasingly thinking there may be other ways to get people interested – without shelling out money for advertising. And that will probably involve using my skills as a writer to create some content that’s useful to the clients I’m trying to attract, and publicises my site at the same time. That way, I can try to get it linked to by other sites my clients tend to visit…

More on that story as it comes in…

Back to documentary work – or at least a little of it.

2008-12-12T17:03:00.004Z

I’ve edited the footage shot in Mexico into a taster for the Nevada desert fossil hunt project I should be filming at the end of January. It’s looking like fun, but I really need some feedback about just how it’s going to work.

The idea is to take a team of fossil hunters into the desert to search for the remains of the world’s first super-predator – anomalocaris, and to film the adventure. I’m going to focus on the characters of the team – who I introduce in the trailer clip.

I’m not sure how much of this clip will appear in the finished program, but it’s aiming to give an idea of the style and rhythm of the project…

So the questions I need to answer – any comments you’ve got would be gratefully received:

Am I making the characters clear enough and engaging enough for a 50 minute documentary?
If this documentary works out, is there potential here for a series in which the team go to fossil sites around the world on quests to solve ancient mysteries?

Should I be in it? In other words, do I need to be a part of the programme too – would it work best from the point of view of MY journey with them, or should the camera be in independent observer with an impartial narration? Should I be helping them dig for fossils, or watching them?

Planning to expand in a recession
Ok – it looks like I’ve got a decision to make. Do I keep my business the same size – i.e. with a workforce of one – where I do everything – and only take on the work I can do. Or, do I expand and bring in other people at the risk of

A) Loosing creative control
B) Ending up managing rather than doing the work I enjoy
And
C) having to pay people for work they’ve done, but which the client hasn’t ended up using

hmm…

Obviously I don’t want to be a manager or a salesman any more than I am now, and obviously there are some jobs I’ll want to keep for myself. However, I’ll have to learn to be a manager – and a decent one if I don’t want to get sucked into making management my main job.

Equally, If I’m to do this, I’ll need a flexible system where I only have people working for me when I have the work to give them. This isn’t too much of a problem as much of the animation industry is freelance and wants to stay that way.

On top of that, I’ll need to have a policy of keeping on advertising even when I’ve got lots of work on – and know instantly what to do when things come in that I can’t do on my own…

Ok – I’m not sure what I want to do here – but I do know I need to find out more before I can make a decision.

Perhaps the first step is to find the artists I’d bring in if I have work for them – get a whole load of CVs and showreels together so I have the access I need to freelancers.

Next stop – Elance…. And maybe Amazon for books on management.

Should I even be thinking about this in a recession? Why not? It doesn’t seem to be a recession for me. I’m busier than I ever have been.

Colonising space
Anyway, as well as the new documentary outline, I managed to finally do the last few bits of work I need on my previous documentary – the one about colonising space. There’s a little more to do – I still have to make sure all my paperwork on music and stock footage is up to date, but the creative stuff is done now and at least now I can submit it to my distributors. The next step after that will be the costly process of getting HD and PAL masters created. This is actually the most expensive bit of my production.

More work
Having cleared the decks of work for the rest of the year, it now looks like I’ve got more magazine work and more newsletter work on the horizon – and with this kind of stuff, the horizon tends to come up on you pretty fast. I was, and still am hoping for a little slack between now and Christmas – but we’ll see!

Children’s TV
And the reason I want the slack is so that I can begin work on my idea for a children’s animation. I think a lot of kids TV talks down, and I’d like to make something that treats children as capable of understanding a lot more – because to be honest, even if they can’t and just see a lot of colours and funny faces – what does it matter? – at least I’ve tried not to patronise!

The idea, I hope, will be do-able both in terms of scripting and in terms of animation, and having checked out the competition, it seems that 11 minute shows in series of 13 are the way to go.

That means I’ve got to be able to produce 130 minutes of animation – and I’ve got enough “real work” to keep me busy, so I’m going to have to be able to do it fast – i.e. not taking more than a couple of days to animate each episode. Realistically if it takes more than that, it won’t get done.

This sounds pretty unrealistic – but in my defence, Oliver Postgate (the maker of the fantastic and surprisingly grown up kids TV shows I grew up with) -who died this week was forced to use very fast “production line” type methods and reduce his animation style to the barest essentials, and still created some of the best most thoughtful TV ever made.

I’m setting him as my benchmark – and some would call that reckless considering his style of TV doesn’t seem to be that popular anymore… We’ll see.

Still, the ideas are coming thick and fast and I spent today writing the first script – I decided to start with episode 3 for no very good reason.

It’s gone pretty well, but isn’t finished. I’ve also got an idea it’s too long. Anyway, more of this later – when there’s some animation to show… In the meantime, here are the clangers…

2008-12-08T17:11:00.001Z

Finished the boat safety video this week, or at least I think I did. There were a few last-minute changes, and this weekend. The whole thing gets shown to the brokers (who I assume, will want to make some alterations of their own).

The animation for Stafford Castle is also pretty much complete and we’re waiting for the council to take a look at to see if they want any changes. In addition, the cover for Nature is essentially finished, but we’re tweaking it as it is passed between different people within the magazine

One of the keys of any project like this, is that you really need to know exactly who it is that is making the final decisions about everything. Quite often the person commissioning you knows what they want, however, there are either people overseeing them or people holding the purse strings, or simply other partners in the business, who once everything is done will want to take a look and put their own ideas.

It also now looking as though the boat project might end up expanding. The same company want to produce some training videos for their staff -- and they want to do it in the same kind of style. It looks as though these projects might be substantially bigger. So that rather than creating a four-minute animation, it may add up to an hour or more. I think I might have to expand my operation.

3December
Every year, the 3-D industry (which is rapidly becoming just another word for Autodesk) runs a series of seminars all round the world. And I was invited to the London one this year.

Press events like this are always worth going to. You always end up getting something out of them. Even if it is not always what you expect.

This time, I met the editor of a popular science magazine aimed at convincing school students that science is a good thing. Leafing through the magazine, it’s something I’d really like to write for.

I email the editor the next day with a link to the shark documentary and my images on science photo library, and he immediately sends me back a cover of his magazine. It turns out they’d already used my pictures from science photo library as part of a feature on shark evolution which turns out to be based on the documentary.

Small world.

I’ll hopefully be writing something for them soon… having lots of ideas…

2008-11-28T18:32:00.000Z

Re-writes
this week, I had a magazine editor get back to me asking me to rewrite a tutorial. I had written for them. This is quite rare, at least for me. I can't remember the last time I got asked to do significant rewrites on an article. However, when I re-read the piece, it was obvious, the editor was quite right. It wasn't that there was anything particularly wrong with the style of the writing, but I had pitched it at completely the wrong audience.

The feature was for PC plus, a magazine aimed at a really techno-savvy group of readers. The sort of people who build their own PCs. In fact many of them are probably the sort of people who write their own operating systems. And here was I giving them step-by-step instructions on how to open a document.

The magazine has just changed the way it lays out its tutorials. Instead of having the tutorial written as a block of text (which is unusual, but which I quite like because it means you don't have to be quite so prescriptive and you have room to talk a little bit more generally about techniques) they are now going for a more traditional layout for their tutorials (where each job is broken down into a series of numbered steps). In changing from one style of layout to the other, I lost my grip on what kind of reader I was aiming the article at.

It's a tricky one, because the kind of tutorials I write for the magazine are showing people how to do quite complicated things, but with freeware software they can get for nothing. Whereas m is of the readers, if they are at the level of experience, where they want to do those things, are probably quite capable of obtaining pirated copies of the top-selling software packages. In some ways I'd like to be able to work with (for example.), 3-D studio or photoshop. However, it's not really on to admit that your readers have in all probability, nicked most of the software you use in your tutorials.

Nature
I’m now really feeling as though I may get to the end of the work I’ve got on. I've got the animation for the castle queued up and rendering on all the machines. I've pretty much finished and safety video (I've got a couple of shots to redo, but it's all under control) and I'm now making lists of all the stupid little jobs I've neglected over the last few months -- things like doing my accounts, tidying my desk, clearing my inbox and backing up all the files I'd be in deep trouble if I lost. Who knows, I might even be up to do some Christmas shopping before Christmas Eve.

Just as I'm ready to start doing this, another job turns up. It's the science journal Nature, and they want me to do an illustration for their cover. Actually, it's rather a nice job, and it should be quite relaxing. In comparison to the very detailed and fiddly work I've been doing on the animations over the last couple of weeks.

The extinction of Trex
I also have finally got an e-mail from the company who wanted me to do a poster of Tyrannosaurus rex. At the beginning of the year, the same company wanted me to do a human anatomy poster. I did an awful work on the project, including spending £300 of my own money, buying a 3-D model of various parts of the human body, and got the project almost finished, only to have the company decide they didn't want to use it. I was a little reticent when they asked me to do the Tyrannosaurus rex poster, in the middle of the year. However, I decided to give them the benefit of the doubt. Again, I did a lot of work on poster, and it was nearly finished when the company came back wanting to do the image of a completely different way, which would have meant me starting from scratch more or less.

I told them, then that they needed to either give me a firm commission (in other words, a promise to pay me even if they didn't use the work -- which is the way most engagements of artists work) or at the very least, agree to pay me an additional fee for the extra work I would have to do.

They decided to try a reworking of some of the image elements I'd already done and I did agree to do a bit more work on spec in shifting the images around to try to make something that would work.

Today, finally, they decided not to go ahead with the poster. No surprises there, and to be honest I'm not really annoyed about it. I had kind resigned myself to this being the final outcome.

Doing my taxes
I decided really quite responsibly to spend Friday getting all my accounts up to date. In preparation for doing my taxes. I managed to do some of the dull and irritating work in the morning, popped out to grab something for lunch, and returned to discover I'd locked myself out. Lisa had gone to IKEA, with Sam (the only other person with a set of keys), and I knew they'd be there most of the afternoon.

It was raining, far too hard to do any Christmas shopping. So reluctantly, I was forced to spend the afternoon, sitting in the pub reading a book I bought on Lordship Lane.

Its book called “bad science”, written by a guy named Ben Goldacre, who writes a column I always read in the weekend Guardian. Basically it's about the way people get intentionally or unintentionally hoodwinked by pseudoscience or badly done science. So, the column covers everything from how to fool fingerprint detectors using household jelly to why people end up dying unnecessarily because they abandon proper medicine in favour of homoeopathic nonsense.

I always find the columns entertaining, if a little shocking.

The first part of the book was concerned mainly with homoeopathy (apparently a really good homoeopathic “cure” is one where the active ingredient has been diluted to a level at which -- and this is no joke -- if the entire universe was filled with water, there would be one molecule of the ingredient in it) and the way clinical trials can be skewed by the researcher’s subconscious intentions.

It's fairly obvious that if in a trial, you don't take care to make sure that neither the doctor nor the patient knows who is taking a placebo and who is taking a real drug you’ll mess up your results. However, I was quite surprised by the degree to which this kind of mistake is made in real trials, and the degree to which the results are affected.

Apparently they've actually done analysis, to discover that simply by letting the person doing the testing know which patients are taking which drugs, even if they don't tell the patients, the results could end up being skewed by 40%.

The power of the subconscious is pretty impressive - which made me wonder how it was that I managed to lock myself out on the one day in the year when I was supposed to be doing my taxes, rather than a job I actually wanted to do.

2008-11-20T18:20:00.001Z

My latest new toy arrived yesterday. I'm having a go at replacing typing (I'm actually quite a good typist -- I took touch typing at school and that's one of the few things I learned there that I use regularly in my life now) with speech recognition. I've invested in Dragon dictate and the best microphone I can buy for that with £15. I'm actually quite amazed at how good it is. I can speak almost at normal speed and as long as I pronounce my words pretty well, it recognizes moral less everything I say.

I once say using it is instinctive, but it really is pretty good from the moment you install it. I've spent about 10 minutes training it (and all that means is reading a few paragraphs aloud), and it's spent a few minutes going through my “ my documents” folder getting used to my style of writing. It's probably been given a bit of a head start because I write a lot, and most of it I have to say is probably fairly formulaic -- after all, I write a lot of tutorials and reviews for similar kinds of magazine. There are also couple of books I've written in those folders, so there's a lot of material for it to do what it calls a collocational analysis on. Basically this means working out what words are unlikely to say given what's already in the sentence. As a writer, it's a bit dispiriting to realise that a computer can predict with a relatively high accuracy what you're going to write based entirely on how similar it is to what you've already written in the past. And there was I thinking I was being original.

And it said that the success rate is very high. I'm having to get used to saying the word comma and the word full stop, so this entry is probably lacking in punctuation. Dictating this sentence I realised that I don't know how to actually write the word comma -- I have decided with the keyboard because whenever I say it the computer adds a punctuation mark.

Not sure to what extent using voice recognition will change the way I write. The problem with typing is that however fast you type you tend to forget what you were writing before you get to the end of the sentence and that means you tend to rewrite as you go along. With voice recognition things go onto the page almost as quickly as you think them, so perhaps it's possible to be a bit more flowing. On the other hand, maybe that's not a good thing. Maybe you need the time it takes you to actually type to work out whether what you were going to say makes sense or not.

Probably, it's just about getting used to the system.

One problem I think and have is that the programme takes a lot of processing power so if I'm doing something else, which I usually am, it slows right down. Given that if I'm writing a tutorial I'm usually running the programme the tutorial is about in the background that might be a problem.

D-Day

Today is D-Day for the yacht animation. By the end of today I have to get finished version over to the client. I've realised that there's one thing I forgot to add and that's the on-screen text. I want the text to be a bit stylish, so it may take a while.

There's also a few fussy little details, the odd flicker here and there, and pieces of lighting and aren't quite right. That I'm hoping to correct and that could slow me down because I have to re-render a few shots.

I finally got everything done and had a completed movie by the end of the day however, getting effectually rendered out in a format that was high enough quality, but still small enough to be uploaded online turned out to be a bit of a pain. I had to keep going upstairs to the office throughout the evening to check whether whichever version I'd rendered was good enough and small enough to be sent. It was about nine o'clock before I got finished version out. Even then, I'm sure there will be some changes that need to be made. I don't think this is the end of this project.

Andrew
Andrews back problem, which has been troubling him for a while, has got a lot worse. He's had to take several weeks off work (something he never does) and move back into my parents house. And with mum recovering from her operation and unable to bend down and him on painkillers and unable to stand up it sounds like things are a little difficult in the house. It's a lot for dad to cope with I imagine.

20th of November 2008

Work
checking through my invoices and looking at them against what bank account, something I've only just had time to do, because of all the work I've been doing, I've now realised that there's an awful lot of them that haven't been paid. And we now going to have to go through and contact some of my clients to remind them to pay me -- sometimes the work I did months ago. This is a pain for two reasons. One is that I don't like having to pester people about money. The other is that it makes me feel as if I have been remiss in not knowing when I've got paid and what for.

Probably to most people who have regular jobs, where they get paid every month. It's difficult to understand how I can simply not know whether I've been paid or not. However, when you're doing dozens of different jobs sometimes all at the same time. You tend to think once you've completed the job and invoiced for it, you can forget about it. Checking my bank details for every deposit is something I don't really have time to do, unless it's a really big project. I suppose this is a bit of a weakness in the way that I work, but I tend to concentrate on the job but I'm doing, rather than the money that I'm paid for it.

Castles

Today I'm working on the castle animation. It's looking good already, but when only to add some extra detail, and that means people in period costumes, animals, farming equipment and furniture. I've also redone the texture of the landscape. I started off by using a very large (4000 pixel across) texture, drawn in z-brush but that wasn't detailed enough. I wanted to create a landscape with grass, but paths through the grass, and that meant a lot of detail, especially because I had to zoom in very close to the model. So, what I've done use, used a much smaller texture and used it to draw a black and white mask. I've painted the paths in white and the rest in black. Then I've used 'd use that in 3ds max to define where I place two different textures -- 1 of grass, and one of muddy earth.

The good thing about this is that it means I can now title. The grass and earth textures, so that they are repeated over the whole model. So now when I zoom in close, There's still a lot of detail.

The result is that I can have a very large area of texture, but I don't have to use a really huge image to map onto it. I can use several much smaller images and use masks to define where their place, which makes the whole thing much more manageable.

Hopefully, this is going to allow me to use a lot more of my processing power on the extra detail I want to add to the models. The people I'm going to place into the scene will be from Poser and so they will be fairly high resolution. I'm hoping I don't end up making the scene so big that it's impossible to render.

2008-11-17T18:23:00.000Z

Last week seemed to be a week full of interruptions – either having to stop work early or start late, or not being able to do the work I was supposed to do because I didn’t have the information I needed.

I got a lot done, but it was all chopped into segments – I spent the week wondering what should I do with this hour, or that 20 minutes, or what I should do while I’m waiting for that email, or this delivery.

Still, I did remarkably well. I got this months’ newsletters written – the company I write the newsletters for has suddenly sold off the arm producing one of the products I write about (a TV receiver for computers) and decided to concentrate on their video editing products. This is good news for me because obviously video editing is more my speciality. Also, there’s less and less to write about USB TV receivers and I really struggle to do a 400 word feature about a different aspect of them every month.

Conversely, concentrating the newsletter on editing makes a lot of sense because it means I can do two features per month – one aimed at novice users and done as a “push this button then push that button” style tutorial, and one more discursive feature that forms part of a series on something a bit more meaty.

I’m starting a five part series on documentary filmmaking – which should be fun.

I’m also toying with the idea of doing a filmmaking competition for users of the product… hmm.. might be fun.

Anyway, the newsletter’s out of the way, for this month. As is a feature I’m writing for PC plus on basic photo editing.

yachts
I also managed to do most of the work on re-doing the scenes that didn’t work in the yacht safety animation I’m doing for a luxury yacht… this project is nearing completion. Right now, I’m rendering out what I hope will be a final version (although once I check through it and give it to the client, there’s bound to be a few tweaks).

Anyway, that’s a long term project and it’s good to see it finally on the way to completion. There comes a time in every project when you’ve made all the creative decisions and done all the fun work, and it becomes about just getting the thing out of the door.

With this project, though, my last few days work on it have been (as well as re-doing some pesky animation shots that just won’t go right) putting in bought in sound effects and music – and that’s actually quite fun.

In contrast to the trilobites project finished a couple of weeks ago, adding sound effects to this animation has worked really well. I guess it’s a mixture of the fact that this project’s a little bit more comical and less realistic, so I can afford for the effects to be a little less naturalistic and the fact that it’s a lot easier to come across the sound of an alarm siren, or someone falling into the water than it is to re-create sounds made by an underwater creature that died out 300million years ago…

Castles
The castle animation seems to have been well received – and I now just have to add people, animals and a bit more animation to the movie. I think I’ve now got the details I need to do that. I’m going to buy in clothes and use them on poser characters because it’s a lot easier and will be more realistic than modelling everything from scratch.

Wedding videos
I also managed to upload the footage shot in Mexico to my new 8gb PC and install CS3 on it. This was a version of CS3 that was on my previous PC that totally crashed a few months ago, and I thought I’d have trouble installing it because there’s some de-registration process you have to go through before you can put it on a new machine. If the old machine is broken, you can’t de-register it….

Still, I installed it and for some reason it seemed to work….

And as a bonus, when I captured all my footage, there were no jumps in it.

I’ve been worried for a while that my HDV camcorder was breaking down because I kept getting jumps appearing in my captured footage. It turns out that this was just because my PC (a 2gb dual core) was too slow (or maybe the disk drives I was capturing to or the firewire port I was importing through)…. Whatever, the problem seems to have been solved by simply getting a new PC.

Who’d have thought it would be that easy.

Just replace everything and suddenly it works.

Anyway, the problem this problem has been replaced by is that the new PC keeps randomly crashing after it’s been on a few hours…. Hmmm… don’t like the sound of that.

Still, I did manage to edit together the interviews I took at Jake the digger’s wedding and upload them to youtube for him. Not actually work, but it did allow me to make sure everything was working on the new system before I had to do any critical editing work!

Just back from Mexico, and it looks like I've got a new documentary to make...

2008-11-07T18:11:00.003Z

As I type this I'm somewhere over the Atlantic on the way to Mexico to see the animation I've put together for the brand new trilobite museum in Cancun... and it doesn't look like the journey I started in a taxi at 4:30am is going to be an easy one. The clerk at check in looked through my travel itinerary and shook his head "you should change your travel agent" he said.

Anyway, the flight information boards weren’t working so Heathrow was full of bleary eyed passengers wandering aimlessly about, but after a change of plain and some trouble with the doors, we finally left 2 hours late. Meaning the trek across Washington to get my connecting flight from a different airport is probably going to be in vain.

It looks like I'll miss my flight and I've no idea how I'll get t Cancun. Given that I'm supposed to have a meeting as soon as I arrive, things are looking a little tricky. Oh,, and the flights are with different airlines so my current carrier will probably wash their hands of me in Washington.

The airline as always forgot I was a vegetarian, but as always, they found something for me anyway. Consequently breakfast was a Muslim meal. Hurrah for religious inclusive.

Monday
I'm very impressed with United Airlines. They didn’t abandon me in Washington. As soon as I found their counter they looked for the first way to get me to Cancun, quickly realised it wouldn't be until tomorrow, put me up in a hotel, got me a meal voucher and organised a cab to get me back to the airport for my 6am flight the following morning.

I'd have expected this if I'd been flying United all the way, but my connection was with a different carrier in a different airport, so the fact that they just dealt with it without hassle was a welcome surprise.

Customs was a bit odd - the guy took my passport and papers made me scan my fingerprint and have my photo taken and then handed everything back to me. A few minutes later in the toilet while waiting for my bags, the same officer approached me and asked to see my passport again. I opened it and it was someone else’s. I checked my pockets and found I was carrying my passport as well.

The guy must have kept the previous visitor's passport and handed it to me along with my own... for all I know he's also registered my photo and fingerprint on her details or vice versa...

Anyway, I thought I might wander over to the Smithsonian while I was in town... but this is America and nobody wanders anywhere. The hotel was far from the centre and all I managed to do was have a nice dinner in the restaurant and go to bed at about 8pm in time for my 3:30 wake up call.

I did turn the news on for the latest on the election and saw an unsettled looking McCain protesting that his campaign was still viable... It looks like Obama will win - which looks like a surprisingly good choice by the voters... I flicked through a few other news channels - I think my hotel was for businessmen as it only seemed to have news (and pay per view porn).

I thought the Simpson's newsreader, Kent Brockman was a caricature, but he's pretty representative of US journalism from what I saw.

From Washington to a very cold Chicago on an early flight, and then a connection to Cancun. Chicago airport is huge - big enough to make a good home for a Brachiosaurus - the tallest, heaviest dinosaur known. I can say this with a fair degree of confidence because there's one - or at least the full size replica skeleton of one - standing in the arrivals hall. Very impressive. it's an advert for the museum which also houses Sue - the world's most complete (and expensive) Trex.

The epic scale is even more in evidence outside. On the way in, we seemed to taxi for ages. And because I had a window seat, I could see we made a complete circuit of the huge airport, joining a long traffic jam of planes. Eventually our sarcastic pilot gave us the reason. New contracts had meant all the air traffic control staff had left, so the airport was in the hands of trainees who didn't know their way around the place.

For miles outside Chigago. the landscape is gridded. Sliced by perfectly straight roads into identically sized squares. Each square is given over to something different - a farm, a housing area, a car park, but they're all identically sized and they extend out of Chicago for miles... there seems to be nothing truly wild in this landscape - even as the towns give way to countryside, it's still just squares of different crops all the way out until you reach the messy border between land and water that I assume is the Mississippi delta.

I was met at the airport by the brand new wife of enrico through who I've been mainly working on the animation and the very soon to be wife of Jake the American Fossil hunter. Their wedding will take place apparently at Carlo's new hotel complex in five days time.

We drove out of Cancun to the resort and trilobite museum and I quickly realised what a project Carlo was involved in. The resort is far from finished. In fact the main lobby is pretty much a building site.

As for the museum, it's being worked on constantly by Jake, Enrico and their partners - who seem to have been completely sucked into the project. Enrico I'm told has barely left the museum all week.

The museum itself is not huge. It would take about 2 minutes to walk through, or 15 if you stopped and read everything. Nevertheless, it contains probably the best collection of trilobite fossils in the world.

Enrico is tall, Italian and the intellectual of the group. Jake is a cross between Indiana Jones and a Hollywood dealmaker, who travels the world unearthing and selling fossils, working with museums and private collectors like Carlo.

Carlo soon put in an appearance. He's quite a character, who lives with both feet on the accelerator and everyone around him is sucked into the vortex of whatever project he thinks up next. When Carlo wants to do something, I'm told it gets done - and I don't doubt it.

I've got a lot of time for people like that, but I realise that they can be dangerous too... You have to be careful not to loose sight of your own needs in their enthusiasm. but it's hard not to respect someone who's seen an alligator infested swamp smelling of bad eggs and built paradise there.

It's not eco friendly but you've got to admire his vision.

This is his third hotel complex. I'm staying in his second - just down the beach - it's an all inclusive luxury resort with fine dining and free drinks served by "beach butlers" Nice.

what's Carlo got planned for me? well, he's got an idea for a documentary series which basically involves visiting the world's most significant fossil beds on a series of five day expeditions. The three of them certainly have the characters to turn this into an interesting series, but it's a big project and my part in it would be demanding....

In the evening we all went into Cancun town - about half an hour's drive through the foul smelling swamp. Carlo took us to a steak house (I don't think he'd understand vegetarianism) but they did tuna steaks (very well). As an initiation the men all had to eat whole chillies. Oh joy.

it’s clear to me that Jake, Enrico and Carlo's partners (who are all with us) have become very involved - they all seem to have been digging in deserts despite the fact that none have chosen palaeontology as their passion.

Later we had tequila back at the resort before finally falling into bed at 12~30... a long day which didn't stop me waking up at 3 next morning.

Tuesday

Carlo meets us for breakfast at 8 and we're taken back to the museum to talk more. Carlo is spending a lot of time with us considering he's got a wedding in his unfinished hotel in five days (he's not only hosting, he's also the padre)

He's as busy as you'd expect but seems to take it all in his stride. I don't think this is going to be a relaxing break....
_
Ok, it looks like this documentary is going ahead. 2 weeks in February we're heading for Vegas - or at least the desert around Vegas. "What Carlo wants, Carlo gets" is a phrase I hear a lot around here. Carlo is an Italian who turned up in Cancun 15 years ago to open a dive shop. He's certainly done well for himself.

At lunch we ordered a dish which wasn't on the menu - called, in typical style, pasta Kier (Carlo's surname). It’s actually a traditional Italian dish, only with far more chillies (because if you don't eat very hot food you're not a "real man").

In the meantime, Guests are starting to gather for the wedding. First, a surfer dude and his girlfriend appear. They fit the stereotype so well that it's hard to believe I'm not watching one of those Californian beach movies. When I say I've never skied they look at me as if I must be from another planet. Still, they're nice enough.

Later, Dave the preparer turns up. A retired teacher, Dave's the guy who turns the finds from marks in the rock into beautiful intricate fossils. He spends his time with a .1mm sandblaster carving away the rock to reveal the creature within it. It's somewhere between dentistry and sculpture. He lives next door to Alaska and smokes his own salmon.

I hope Dave can be in the film. He’ll bring some careful sanity to proceedings.

Enrico and his wife should have flown back to Belgium but their plane was delayed so they joined us for dinner. The restaurant we ate at had three different menus - one serving only lobster. Mine was a stew in which pieces of bacon appeared unannounced (I of course ate them anyway - out of a mixture of politeness and the fact that it tasted good).

Wednesday

I suggested a few ideas for the film to Carlo and one of them involved a pre-expedition meeting. Carlo decided instantly that today would be the best time to start filming... I guess that was predictable.

He found me a tripod and two extra cameras, but then was so busy we couldn't actually have the meeting. I'm not unhappy because the museum is so noisy with all the building works and its acoustics so bad that with my one microphone, covering a meeting would be very tough.

Anyway, I now have to think of what I can shoot while I'm here without relying on Carlo - or at least by taking into account the fact that he's only ever around randomly (and at mealtimes).

It turns out Carlo 15 years ago bought up a whole strip of swamp along the coast at next to nothing. Now he owns a string of hotels. the new one has 500 rooms and there are 400 people working on site in the run-up to opening. However, his office contains two desks and a computer - and he's rarely there. He seems to run the whole show from an iphone. He's involved at every level from installing the lighting to putting the pictures up.

More guests are arriving for the wedding all the time. The free bar is taking its toll of most of them. Enrico and his wife made their way reluctantly to the airport last night. It's a shame I couldn't have done any filming of him, but it'll work out somehow.

Thursday

The meeting still hasn't happened, and with the wedding approaching it's looking less likely. There are too many agendas around here already without me trying to have one too. I've abandoned trying to organise things for a policy of simply taking the camera everywhere and being prepared for whatever happens.

So I managed to film a little of Dave repairing some of the specimens that were damaged in the building site that is the hotel.

The hotel is pretty much finished now - the roof did cave in in the morning and there was water dripping from the light fittings, but by the afternoon it was all repaired and the wedding guests moved in.

Jake's business partner turned up too – Jason, another digger who will probably be on the expedition. He explained to me over dinner that he has very dense bones so needs to eat a lot. mind you, he'd drunk a lot too by then.

Dinner was in the brand new restaurant in the brand new resort, and the chef was doing his first service - 60 guests all appearing at once, so there was no menu - spaghetti carbonara for everyone. I ate it - after all, in Italian meat cut up small counts as vegetarian food... besides, I too have dense bones.

I also met Jake's Dad. I liked him a lot despite the fact that he's a rampant republican and supports America’s foreign policy. We had quite a political discussion - mainly about American healthcare (he's an anesthesiologist).

I'm missing Lisa and George a lot. Everyone here knows everyone else and although they're doing their best to include me, I end up as a spare part a lot of the time.

Friday

Went for a snorkel in the morning, but there wasn't much to see. Then I walked over to the new resort along the beach. Between the two complexes is a third which was built by Carlo and then sold to another company. It's now called Desire and is a naturist/swingers resort. The beach was lined with fat naked Americans.

Grabbed an interview with Carlo in the museum. There's still a lot of noise going on there but I think it may be usable. I also managed to interview Jake, but the meeting I really want to cover looks as unlikely as ever.

Later I was moved over to the newly opened complex. My new room has a hot tub and a large screen TV. However, the TV isn't connected yet and neither is the hot water. The restaurants here are just running in too so they don't have choices, just set meals, and there's nowhere else to go, the resort is surrounded by mangrove swamps. I've come to the conclusion that it's not viable to be vegetarian here. If I want to eat, I have to eat what I'm given.

The evening is Jake's stag night, which involves Jason, his digging partner ordering tequila and whiskey shots throughout the night. whilst watching a display of world dancing in the Mohita lounge and listening to a band of big hatted Mexicans playing La bomba around our table at the Tapas restaurant

I'm not 25 anymore and I can see where this is going and rather than argue, I quickly pour each tequila shot away before the toast is drunk. Consequently I remain relatively sober. Which is lucky because when most of the party disappear off to the Desire camp, I remain behind and help Dave and his wife get Jason who's completely drunk by now despite his dense bones back to his hotel room (where his key doesn't work, so I have to get him a new one.

The new resort is clearly having a few teething problems, but not any more than you'd expect. My alarm clock goes off at 3am and again hat half past. I eventually pull its plug out.

Saturday
The day of the wedding. There's not a lot going on around the site today. The problems with the water have persisted and almost everyone seems to be having trouble.

I eventually get an interview with the dense boned Jason who comes from a family of trilobite diggers. The meeting with Carlo hasn't taken place and I'm loosing hope that it will.

The wedding itself takes place on the roof of one of the apartment blocks as the sun goes down. Carlo is the padre and Jake and Stacy are duly married. It's actually a sweet ceremony which seems to take place without anyone getting stressed or apparently organising anything.

Afterwards we have drinks on the beach accompanied by the Mexican band and for some reason a donkey which the Americans take turns in being photographed next to wearing big hats.

The tables at the reception were of course different trilobites. Carlo explains that the open area the reception was held in was going to be a garden until he went out and drew a large circle in the ground . I get the feeling that much of the architect's plans for the place were revised on the fly by Carlo. He tells me that by being involved in every level of the hotel he saved $27,000,000 on the price.

I grab video messages from thee guests for the couple - which I'll have to edit later, then grab a whiskey with Dave and his wife before going to bed.

Sunday

At breakfast I meet Jake’s Dad, the Rampant republican again. It turns out that he's not too convinced by global warming. However. I'm surprised to find he does humanitarian work in Peru. He's an anesthesiologist and helps out in hospitals there every year.

I'm determined to make this planning meeting for the vegas trip happen before I leave. if the film is going to work it'll be a useful starting point. Carlo has said he'll make some time this morning, but there's a problem. The water is off again and it turns out there's something big wrong with the whole water system for the entire resort. The system can't handle the 150 guests here now, and they're booked for 400 by the end of the year. Carlo is in meetings with plumbers.

In the end I pretty much give up, and start grabbing interviews with people about how things seem to get done without prior planning. Carlo, it appears just says "let's go" and everyone goes.

That’s one thing about documentary making – there’s a conflict between shooting what you think is what’s happening and shooting what does actually happen. Part of me says that there must be planning for a trip like this, and I ought to film it. The other part says if they’re not organising a meeting, trying to set one up is false – maybe there is no plan and trying to create one is my doing…

Eventually with about half an hour to go before I leave, Carlo turns up and we have the meeting. However, it's a little forced - possibly because it’s not a meeting they’d normally have – possibly not…

I say my goodbyes and get a cab to the airport. When I get there I find my watch is wrong and Carlo's estimation of check in times is a little optimistic. Check-in is closed. I'm half an hour late and have to run for my plane. I'm less than surprised. Order is the Mexican word for Chaos.

I end up getting my holiday gifts from Chicago airport – I’ve gone the whole week without finding a shop that sells anything.

by the way, didn't all aeroplanes used to provide sick bags? They don't now – not that I need one, but did air sickness just disappear when everyone started taking regular flights? Was it a psychological thing that we all just got over suddenly when everyone stopped talking about it?

Back home

Back home, I arrive at the airport to meet Lisa and George. It’s lovely to see them both again. George seems pleased to see me – I’d wondered if he’d take a while to remember who I was, but he knows immediately.

Lisa has had a busy week, and she’s been feeling ill too. I’ve been busy, but it feels like time off – she needs some now.

The prospect of the Vegas trip seems to have gone down well – since while I’m breaking stones and sleeping in the freezing desert, she, George and Sam are going to live it up on the Vegas strip.

A couple of days later, and I’m back into the swing of work. I’ve got one big deadline – an animation of Stafford Castle – but there are another two or three waiting in the wings. That said, things aren’t nearly as busy as they were before I went and soon, I hope to have things a little more balanced.

When I heard the news that Obama had been elected, US president, it was mostly a feeling of relief – pretty much as I guess the rest of the world was feeling. But later on, watching the news, it was really quite moving. The general point of most of the coverage was that this is something even the republicans will eventually feel proud of – that America is a different country now. I think of Jake’s Dad. I don’t think he’ll be feeling proud just now. Maybe in a few years.

2008-10-24T17:10:00.001+01:00

A day later, and the half a day of extra work has turned into a day – I’ve wrestled with getting the video into a format I can upload for the clients to see (the ‘real’ version is 2.8gb and even the compressed one is 450mb and that’s too large even for the large file sending sites – or at least the free ones). I tried one that claimed to be able to do it, but after uploading throughout the night, it had only reached 69%, so that’s not going to work.

The only solution is to take a physical version with me when I go to Mexico and post a really low quality version in the meantime. And that in itself is time consuming.

Plus, of course, they’re a different TV system and a different DVD region so I’ll have to carry multiple versions just to be sure of getting something that will work.

I’m going to take a DVD in Pal, and one in NTSC, a mpg version on a memory stick and a DV AVI on a DVD rom – that should cover it!

Still, I managed to get a few things tidied up in preparation for going to Mexico on Sunday – always, there’s the thought that I’ve probably forgotten something…

2008-10-24T09:01:00.001+01:00

It’s always the same – every project has that annoying last few days where everything’s in place and all you want to do is write it to a disk and get it out the door. Unfortunately, the more you look at it the more you see wrong with it. Tiny little errors creep in, things you either hadn’t noticed before, or had thought you could easily solve suddenly become time consuming and unsolvable.

Well, it’s that day for the trilobite animation. The deadline is close (I’d hoped to get it finished yesterday, but the real deadline is the weekend when I have to take it to Mexico).

Putting the voiceover in turned out to be a problem – I think my camcorder really does have a problem with it. Bits of audio keep disappearing and it’s only because I got the voiceover artist to record everything twice that I’ve got the script covered.

But also, there’s a recurring problem with bands of colour on my animations – they only seem to occur when I’m trying to do underwater scenes and there are large areas of empty ocean fading down into the darkness – and I think it’s got something to do with only having a limited number of shades of blue available on a TV screen.

Anyway, there’s also a problem with the depth of field effect I’ve used in After Effects – it doesn’t handle the edges of areas with different focus very well – and there’s a problem with flickering on some of the animations.

I’ve solved this by adding a slight grain to the image – which has the advantage of softening the CGI and making the whole thing a little grittier.

Also, there’s the old problem that Premiere won’t export more than a couple of minutes of finished work at a time, so I have to compile it in sections.

All of which adds up to about a day of extra work that I didn’t think I’d have to do. Luckily I’ve got that day in hand because I’ve scheduled everything with a bit of space.

The trouble with all this is that it focuses you on the bad points of your work and you end up not being able to appreciate the quality of what you’ve done. You feel disappointed with it and it seems to be rather tatty round the edges – despite the fact that looked at with fresh eyes, it looks really good.

2008-10-23T13:52:00.000+01:00

I’m now coming to the end of the trilobite animation – the voiceover was done last night and I just need to cut it into the video, tidy things up, add sound effects and polish up the whole project. Ok- that sounds like a lot, but it’s not too bad – the thing was well planned shot by shot before we started.

At the end of last week I did the first edit and located all the shots that didn’t quite work. I managed to spend time on Friday re-doing those shots and got the render farm going on them over the weekend. I’ve now sort of tracked down the problems with the rendering (machines kept disappearing from the rendering, and sitting around doing nothing). I’ve not solved the problem properly, but I’ve realised that if I turn the computers on in the right order, they generally work OK!

Anyway, by cutting the rendering resolution from High Definition to standard definition, I seem to have reduced render times hugely (by 10 or 20 times strangely – I was only expecting 4 times shorter renders). It’s a bit of a disappointment having to do it, but it has meant that I can re-do shots if they go wrong and I have time to add in extra shots if I need to so the advantages outweigh the problems.

I’ve also managed to spend some time re-doing shots for the yacht safety video animation (which does have to be done in HD) and that’s rendering now.

Because the last couple of months have been so hectic I haven’t turned back on my advertising on Google, so I’m not actively looking for new work. What that means is that when I get back from Mexico, I’ve got an animation for a castle in Stafford, two newsletters and an article for PC plus to do at the beginning of Novermber, and another animation waiting in the wings which may or may not happen.

In addition, I want to finish off my long-awaited documentary on space travel, look into making a children’s animated series and switch all my work from my current overloaded computer to the shiny new 8gb quad core machine currently rendering my animations.

2008-10-16T18:09:00.001+01:00

Work is frantic – trying to get the trilobite animation finished in time to take it to Mexico for the opening (I’m leaving on the 26th) is quite a job – mainly because I’m being very fussy about getting it right.

Well, actually it’s because it’s so long (10 minutes of animation) and complex (trilobites have many many animated legs!) and has to be scientifically accurate.

However, I’m getting there and I think it’s going to be really good.

I’ve had to down-size the rendering – even though I’ve now got 3 dual core pcs and 2 quad core machines working on the rendering. I’ve gone from HD to SD video – mainly because I know they’re not going to show it in HD and I was just doing HD to give them the option in the future.

SD feels very low resolution now, but it’s solved my rendering problems – what was going to take 20 days was done over a weekend!

I’m now at the stage of choosing music and writing the script – I’ve gone for the blue Danube which gives the whole thing a graceful, but unusual feel…

2008-10-02T18:17:00.002+01:00

having set up my new PCs, the render farm is having a few teething troubles. One or more computers in the network seem to be dropping off randomly so rendering isn't going as fast as it should.

I've also come to the conclusion that my schedule is impossibly tight for the trilobite animation. I've stripped it down a little. listing only those shots which are absolutely essential and concentrating on getting them rendering rather than working through the project scene by scene as I was doing.

hopefully there will be the chance to go back and finish off with some of my more interesting shots later, but I'm cutting it fine. I've just been contacted by the yacht people asking when the other project will be ready and I've proomised them something by early next week. in addition it's time to do the newsletter again and I've been given a small writing job by Computer Arts. This is something I can't turn down just now as I want to keep my hand in with the magazines.

All in all, I'm going to be doing overtime for the next couple of weeks. I'm not happy about that. but doing a couple of nights should make things more doable. Once my current projects are done I can relax the schedule a little, finish my documentary and look into developing the children's tv show I've just had an idea for....

Today I had to take most of the day out to go to the Avid offices in Pinewood studios for a meeting about the newsletter I'm writing. Most of it was stuff I already knew well, but it's always good to go to these things because it's the only chance you get to meet the people you're working for.

Pinewood seems to be about the only place in the UK you can still see people building things. There are carpenters, metalworkers, plaster of paris moulders, all busy building sets and props. In fact the site isn’t just a studio, it’s everything you need to make a movie – including the post production which is why I was there.

Our part of the complex was named Broccoli road – and went right past the Bond soundstage. You couldn’t see in though…

On the way back, my taxi driver gave out some free tips on the benefits of declaring yourself bankrupt… how to have £100,000 on credit cards and have them all wiped clean. He spoke from experience apparently.

Down on the farm
the render farm I'm setting up still isn't working properly. I'm coming to the conclusion that Backburner (the package you use to farm out jobs to each of the computers) isn't quite as bug-free as it should be. I'm slowly learning there are magic things you need to do before it will all work.

For example, you need to delete a certain file from the max installation on every machine. You also can't have computer names that begin with a number... when one machine is on, it throws others off the network... it's all a bit untidy.

On balance, of course, I'd rather have it than not have it, but I'm still not operating at full capacity.

That said, the rest of the project is going well - animations are coming along nicely and the clients seem very happy.

Looks like I'm paying a visit to Mexico in a few weeks for the grand unvieling...

2008-09-19T17:50:00.001+01:00

Managed to get the voiceover done for the yacht video – the voiceover artist was recommended by the client and turns out to be very good. The initial version of this project is getting very near to completion now and today I’ve set the renderers up with the last two shots. After that it’s all just tidying up and editing (and any changes the client wants to make).

I’m starting to render the other project too – the trilobite animation for the museum. The images look great – and it’s possibly my enthusiasm for the project, but I’ve gone with all the highest quality settings for my rendering. I need to keep a reign on rendering times, and so far that’s not happening. I’m also rendering in HD which doesn’t help. It’s also not necessary strictly speaking – the clients haven’t asked for HD – I just think that if I can I’ll do as much of the project in HD as my rendering times allow.

Unfortunately, that’s meant 2 hours per frame on one shot – so I’ve had to re-think a little… Having done a couple of tweaks with the lighting (I’ve found area lights are a real time killer – especially when combined with raytraced shadows).

I also returned from holiday to find another project landing on my desk – another animation for another museum – this one a medieval castle – which should be fun and not too stressful.

Today, I also got an email from an old friend from Computer Arts – he’s now working for an osteoporosis charity and needs some medical illustration done. It’s easy enough since I’ve got a high quality medical model I bought for a poster project which didn’t come off at the beginning of the year.

All of this means I need to by my extra rendering PCs as soon as possible. Which I can’t do until I get the first payment for the trilobites animation… let’s hope that appears in the next week and I can begin to clear the rendering log-jam.

It’ll also be good to get a new pc with a bit more memory and shift my adobe suite onto it. For some reason, capturing video is becoming a real problem, with stuttering playback and lost sound.

When I recorded the voiceover yesterday, I did it using my camcorder and a tie clip mic. Transfering it to the computer eventually had to be done through the PCs sound card because firewire wasn’t playing ball…

I also returned from holiday with the desire to make a series of 10 minute animations for children’s TV… is that going to happen? It’s a big job…. Hmmm. I’ve got a documentary to finish first (although with my current computer not behaving with video, that will have to wait until I get a new 4 or 8gb machine).

2008-09-05T18:56:00.001+01:00

3d stuff
today I spent the morning at an Autodesk press event. Taking time out to go to these things is always worthwhile, but I could have done without it today – with the pre-holiday rush and the fact that I got very little done yesterday.

I really must make an effort to get some writing work about the 3d packages – otherwise my position as a journalist writing about 3d is going to drift… Don’t quite know where I’ll find the time, but it’s well worth doing.

What I got from this event was a chat with one of the 3d guys who pointed me at the value of normal mapping and the importance of render passes. Neither of which I’d really understood before….

Normal mapping, by the way is creating a kind of fake painted on bump effect which can make simple 3d models look like much more complex shapes without slowing your computer down.

Using Render passes on the other hand means getting the computer to produce separate pictures for the colour, shadows, reflections, lighting, etc. in a scene instead of putting them all together. The advantage being that you can go in later on in After Effects and adjust the effect of each element of your scene without having to go back and do it all again. If someone tells you they’d like the same thing in a different colour, it takes 10 seconds to change instead of 48 hours….

Anyway, one thing worth noting is that even though the company is absolutely right at the cutting edge of technology, they still couldn’t get either their coffee machine or their TV to work… it’s not just me, then.

Work on the safety video is going well – and I’m very nearly at the stage where I can see it actually being possible to finish it. There are a few shots that are taking their time to render, and a few others that will need re-doing, but now everything is in place, and I can see the project coming to a close.

After my holiday next week, I’m going to jump straight in and get the narration recorded, and then there are only a couple of shots to do before I can present a preliminary edit to the client.

Just in time too – as the trilobite animation is really hotting up and I just know, if I’m going to get it all rendered in time, I’ll need to stick hard and fast to my deadlines.

The images are looking good, and I’m really discovering in these projects just how valuable a firm shot-list is. It lets me know exactly where I am at any point and allows me to see where the tricky shots are likely to be. Even if I end up leaving shots out or adding others in, it’s at least a framework I can depend on.

It’s also something that I tend to leave out when I don’t think I have time – and it’s always a false economy.

2008-09-01T19:34:00.001+01:00

10x10
On Wednesday I managed to get to the 10x10 documentary filmmaking night – where five filmmakers show 10 minutes of their work and get 10 minutes of (constructive) criticism from the audience. It’s a great evening to go to – and always makes me want to do more documentary work.

Time pressure is still pretty strong and I can’t see when in the next couple of months I’m going to be able to finish my current documentary – despite the fact that there’s only a couple of days work to do on it.

On the plus side, my other projects mean I’ll have to get a more powerful computer (actually 2 of them) so when I come back to the project I hopefully won’t have the same problems with Premiere crashing during rendering.

Anyway – among Wednesday’s films were a snippet from a film on Lost Vagueness – the bizarre festival/theatrical experience I’ve been to on a couple of occasions. Lost Vagueness is difficult to explain (and I think that’s going to be a problem for the documentary maker) but my experience of it involves a Victorian mental hospital, a fair featuring such games as “guess the name of my cat” and a man who only spoke backwards.

I look forward to seeing the finished documentary.

There was also a documentary made by someone who had William Shatner’s name tattooed on his right buttock for some reason he can’t quite explain – and his quest to explore the murky world of the star trek fan.

Good luck to him. They’re a funny lot.

…compared to us sensible Doctor Who fans that is…

A reality cheque
Just as a bit of reality for documentary makers. I got my first invoice request from my distributors for the shark evolution documentary – it’s been with them since just before Christmas and they’ve sold the programme to four different countries including Canada and Spain.

Pretty good going I think and their set-up charges (about £500) and commission (35%) aren’t bad deals, so I’m happy with their work.

The profit though, comes out at £1,700 with another roughly £600 still to come.

In other words, it’s not going to make a living for me. The documentaries are great fun to make and I’m not backing away from doing them. I enjoy it and it’s worthwhile. It’s just that even if the income continues at this rate for 5 years, the programme will just about have justified my time. I don’t imagine that it will.

Trilobites
The trilobite project – a museum display animation – looks like it will entail a trip to Mexico at the beginning of November.

The project is proceeding very well right now and I’m managing to re-create some fascinating creatures. I’m making them extremely bright and colourful and I’ve put together a storyline which turns this animation into a real documentary – or at least a fictional film based on real evidence….

The guys I’m working with are doing their best and seem very helpful but they’re both very busy and live at opposite ends of the world. One is getting married and the other trying to set up a museum and neither speak English as a first language – so I’m largely working on my own and hoping I’m getting things right.

I’m trying to send updates to them as often as possible so as to minimise any re-working of the models and animations.

Poster
The Trex poster, a project I was working on a couple of months ago but which seemed to grind to a halt, is now back on. This is a wall poster which I’d got very closer to completing when the company who’d requested it suddenly changed their minds about what they wanted.

Now, they’d previously done this with another poster (on human anatomy) and the whole image had eventually been cancelled after I’d done an awful lot of work for which I didn’t get paid. I told them I wasn’t willing to re-do the Trex poster unless they could do what most other clients do and issue a commission – a firm commitment to pay me.

They’ve instead suggested some minor changes – and I’m willing to do them – although when I’ll get time to, I’ve no idea.

Credit crunching
Last week I emailed a couple of other clients about some projects which I thought were pretty firm (a pop video and a documentary intro). They haven’t responded – which I’m taking to mean that they’re pulling out.

This would bother me if I didn’t have so much work on – especially as I’d already done a couple of days work on these projects). However, these are tough times, so if the clients don’t feel they can continue I’m not going to kick up a stink

I also dropped a line to another client who asked me to do a small piece of work illustrating some sales ideas he had. This work was finished and used, but he’s now said his business is failing and he can’t pay.
Well, it’s only a small amount (£125) but I worked hard for it and he had plenty of opportunity to contact me and discuss the problem earlier, so I’m afraid I don’t have much sympathy.

Luckily, there’s legislation in place (the late payments act) which allows small businesses to charge late payment fees (about £40) and interest if an invoice isn’t settled within a month. I’ve politely highlighted this to him, but not directly imposed it. I’m giving him every opportunity to pay, but if he persists in not paying, I will sue him through the small claims court. I’ve done it before (in fact I sued Highbury Publishing for about £3,000 and they payed up just before the company collapsed owing millions).

Anyway, as a small business, and especially as a creative one, you can’t afford to have bad debts and you especially can’t afford to be seen as a soft touch.

2008-08-14T17:29:00.000+01:00

Work is distracting me. I’ve got these two big projects on right now – the safety video for the yacht and a trilobite display for a museum in Mexico. Both are big, complex jobs and both have deadlines in September.

The problem with having these long term projects is you’re never quite sure where you ought to be on them at any point and you need to set (and keep to) goals throughout the project.

There are so many different aspects to these animations (both are really like mini films – involving narration, music, characters and editing as well as animation) that are all both exciting and difficult – so I sometimes end up getting preoccupied by them.

Although, obviously I want interesting and challenging work, it’s hard to turn that off when it comes to the end of the day.

I end up getting distracted – as though the real world is happening somewhere else with me – or my mind not connecting fully with it, and I don’t like that about myself. It must be obvious to people around me sometimes that I’m not all there…

The only real solution is to be as organised as I can – to plan out what I’m doing on what days. For some reason when I know I’ve got a difficult problem to tackle, knowing WHEN I’m going to tackle what portions of it frees me up somehow – it allows me to forget the problem for the most part – knowing that even if I don’t have the answers, I’ve at least dedicated a time-slot to dealing with them.

On Saturday I scribbled a few notes on a scrap of paper, planning out the next couple of weeks. It helped a lot – and even if some of those plans don’t work out, I at least know I’ve got time for most of what I’ve got to do.

Hopefully that made me a little better company for the weekend….

The joy of farming
I’ve now got so much rendering to do for the two big animation projects on my plate right now that it’s become pretty clear that one computer isn’t going to cover it. If you make a guess that each frame of animation takes about 5 minutes to render (the practice of getting the computer to draw out every beam of light bouncing off every object in the scene to create a finished 3d picture), and there are 25 frames per second, my museum animation on its own is going to be about 50 days and nights of rendering.

Since I’ve got to deliver it at the end of September and I’m not even going to be able to start the rendering until all the other work is done on the project, I’m going to be in a spot of bother.

Luckily 3ds Max (my animation package) has a trick up its sleeve. Basically you can install (for free) unregistered versions of the software on as many PCs as you like, and network them together so that each computer renders out a portion of the job.

Commercial rendering farms as they’re called turn out to be more expensive than buying extra computers and doing it yourself.

Anyway – I’ve now set up Lisa’s laptop, and re-energised my old PC (which fell apart earlier in the year) with a copy of Windows Vista. So I’m now rendering 3 times as fast at a cost of about £100.

So I’ve managed to get a good chunk of my yacht safety video rendered over one weekend. What’s more, it doesn’t matter that some of the renders need tweaking because I can go back and do them again overnight whenever I like. It’s a very freeing experience.

At the end of the month, when the museum animation starts in earnest, I’m going to buy and add a couple of quad core machines – bringing my processor count up from 2 to 14 – so I should be able to take on these big tasks without worrying about rendering time.

It feels as though I’m slowly scaling up my operations what with render farms and Elance. This is something I’m not used to as a freelance artist – but it’s going fairly well…

Render farm idea
Here’s an idea for anyone with a bit of web programming skill: set up a website which allows people to donate downtime on their own home computers for network rendering. You’d be able to call upon hundreds (even thousands) of PCs to do a rendering task, pay the contributors a small amount per frame, and charge animators to use the service.

You’d be able to undercut all the commercial render farms out there, plus you’d have no overheads, and an almost unlimited supply of render machines.

What’s more, instead of a render task taking weeks, you could typically finish the job in minutes.

Just an idea.

2008-08-08T18:32:00.000+01:00

I’ve been working pretty constantly on my two big projects this week – pausing only to write my video newsletter – which of course arrived after a long delay with a very tight deadline.

It looks like I will be making the trilobite animation and that’s great news. It also seems the same people want to meet me in Mexico to talk about other possible projects – which would be great.

Elance
Having decided to use Elance for the first time to hire in people to help with my animation work – and having given a team in India the job of rigging some of my 3d characters, I got the finished rigs back this week.

They weren’t brilliant, I have to say. I did choose the cheapest people – which I guess says something - and the results were mixed. I don’t think they’d done much character rigging before.

Character rigging, by the way is adding animatable bones to a 3d person so that when you move their arms and legs, the right parts of the body bend. If you get it wrong, you get unlikely looking bends and tears and the character’s bodies go out of shape. This is what happened in this case – and if I’d been using them in the normal way, the results wouldn’t have been satisfactory. Fortunately, I’m only using the characters as silhouettes, so it doesn’t matter too much.

I’ll definitely use Elance again – it’s a good way to farm out work you can’t or don’t want to do – but you have to be careful about who you choose.

I think the main requirement – aside from an understanding of the task – is an understanding of English. You really need to be able to communicate complicated ideas when working on an animation projects – and that means a common language is a must.

2008-07-28T18:20:00.001+01:00

Trilobites and newsletters
It looks like I’ve got another big job on – and right up my street too. It’s a trilobite animation for a museum and hopefully it’ll give me the chance to resurrect some critters from the Cambrian period.

Trilobites are complex beasts to build and animate, and they come in a huge variety, but there are some amazing fossils around because they preserve so well (even their eyes were made of stone).

The first few tests look very promising and I’m busily writing a storyboard for the animation which will have to be 10 minutes long and be scientifically as accurate as possible.

A quick calculation tells me that if I’m to bring this animation in on time, I’m going to need some serious rendering power – 15,000 frames – and let’s say 5 minutes per frame – that means 52 days rendering day and night. The deadline is the end of October, so I don’t have 52 days.

This means I’ll need a render farm – several computers all rendering different scenes. Now, you can buy time on render farms, but it turns out to be more expensive than buying extra PCs (especially as 3ds max allows you to render on multiple machines with one licence).

My solution: buy 2 new PCs, rejuvenate an old one with a copy of windows Vista and if necessary run more rendering on my wife’s laptop… four computers running 24 hours a day and my main machine available for the night shift should mean I can get the renders done in a couple of weeks.

In the meantime, I’ve probably got another job doing a web banner, a trademark for one of my previous clients and somebody emailing about another pop video – I’m going to insist on payment up front for pop videos from now on – small bands are flexible and do a lot of good stuff, but you never know when they’re going to disappear.

I’ve also turned off my advertising for a while – I’ve got two big projects on now and that’s enough to keep me going up to the end of October.

I’ve also got the video editing newsletter coming round again. This has now increased to include effectively 3 newsletters a month - and I’ve been trying to do that today.

All in all…. Busy busy busy – and although I keep saying it – I’m really keen to do some documentary work!

Elance
My venture into the world of Elance – farming out some of my animation work to other people seems to be working – although I haven’t seen any results yet. I’ve picked the 2nd cheapest offer and I’m hoping to see at least one of the characters I’ve asked them to produce bones for in the next day or so.

In the meantime, I think I’ve done something dumb – I’ve built all the characters and objects for my current animation separately and they’re all different sizes.

Resizing isn’t a problem usually in 3ds max, but there are some situations where it’s tricky and one of them is characters – re-scaling a character seems to distort its model for some reason and it’s going to be a real problem if I can’t sort that out quickly….

Outsourcing madness

2008-07-18T18:23:00.000+01:00

This week I’ve been working on the new safety video animation I’ve been asked to do. It’s a big project which I can’t say much about because of a confidentiality agreement.

Anyway, there’s a lot to do and I’ve decided to try out the outsourcing thing – that is, contracting out some of the 3d animation work on www.elance.com. Basically, Elance lets you put out an advert for any job, get quotes in (I’ve got 5 in the first day) and have the work done and returned to you online.

It sounds like a great system – we’ll see how it works out, but I’ve put out the rigging of four 3d characters. Character rigging is simply taking a 3d model, giving it bones and making sure the right parts of the model move when you bend the arms and legs.

It’s a straightforward enough job if you’re a character animator, but it’s not much fun for me – and having spent a day on it on Thursday and got some unsatisfactory results (the shoulders don’t look quite right, bits of the body bend out of shape when you move the arms, that sort of thing), I’ve put the task out to tender.

First responses look good, and although all look pretty reputable, there’s one offering a very low quote – maybe I’ll go with them, but I’ll have to check carefully because I know myself how long the job should take and… mind you, different countries, exchange rates, etc… you never know…. I’ll update as it goes along.

prehistory
Somebody who contacted me ages ago expressing an interest in the film I want to make about trilobites has got back to me. He’s working for a museum and might want to create some kind of 3d display. This is something I’d love to work on, but it’s another big project (they want a 10 minute animation featuring all the life from an extinct coral reef!) and I’m not sure they’ve got the budget.

I really want to do it though, so I’m busy thinking up ways they could do the project for less money.

I’ve also got word back about the Trex poster. The company has suddenly seen another poster and wants to change direction. Now, a few months ago, I did another poster for them – on human anatomy and after lots of work went into it and lots of changes were made they finally dropped the idea – so I was left getting nothing for my substantial work on the project.

I suppose I should have insisted on some kind of guarantee this time round. Anyway, I’ve told them if they want this degree of change, I’ll have to charge them more. I’ve also said it’ll take longer. I’ve got enough work on now to get me through till mid September…

Forearmed is half an octopus
I also got a call this week from someone wanting an animation of how to assemble a gun. It’s for a ministry of defence training video. Now, I do think we need an army – even though I disagree with most of the things they’re asked to do right now - and I certainly think that army should be well trained. However, this video isn’t just for training – it’s for sales as well – in other words, it’s an arms dealer and I’ve no idea who their other clients are.

While I’m happy to do work for the British army, I’m not quite so happy about doing an animation that will be used to train random gun buyers all around the globe….

I’ve asked them to send me more info, but if I can’t get more safeguards, I’ll have to turn this one down.

2008-07-07T18:30:00.001+01:00

On Friday I finally managed to start going through my documentary, doing the final tiny bits of editing. Balancing the sound, adding the odd bit of colour correction, removing flash frames, and trimming moments when I cut in or out too early. It’s a dirty job and not one you look forward to because what you’re really doing is going through your project with a toothpick looking for problems. You come out of it feeling that:

a) you’re a bit rubbish at editing because you didn’t spot these things before
b) your programme’s a bit of a tatty bodge job because everything you’re now doing is patching up holes and doing dirty fixes.
c) It’s all a waste of time anyway because you’re doing things you hadn’t budgeted time to do because you thought you’d pretty much finished.
d) You just want to get the whole thing out of the way and get on with the next project.
e) Even when you’re done, you don’t feel happy because there’s always the nagging feeling that you’ve missed something and nobody’s now going to check your work before it gets to the distributors.

Added to this, the process always takes longer than you’d anticipated and requires you to make some tough decisions.

Top of the tough decision tree on Friday was the fact that NASA hadn’t come up with the high resolution footage I needed of a solar sail test. I’d been given the footage at 320x240 resolution and used it in the edit where it worked well, so I was looking forward to getting it at HD quality (or even PAL or NTSC)… Unfortunately, nobody at NASA was able to locate it – and even trying to contact the people responsible for the test failed, so I’ve eventually opted to replace the test footage with some general CGI shots of solar sails created by me as a test at the beginning of the project…. It doesn’t really work brilliantly, as the footage isn’t totally relevant to what’s being said.

Still, I’m not going to get the footage I need and the main focus now is to finish the project.

Refusing work
Ok – having said last week that I owe it to myself to refuse work that I know isn’t going to be worthwhile, I’ve actually put it into practice. In fact, I’ve refused two pieces of work in two working days….

The first was a book cover: the guy had a very specific idea of what he wanted to produce, but he only had a budget of $125 – which was fine, but not going to work for me in the UK where the dollar exchange rate isn’t so good. I’d have wanted to spend a couple of days on the project at least and £60 wouldn’t get me minimum wage if I had done.

The second was this morning. A client I’ve done work for before came to me with a photo composite they’d seen before, but couldn’t find anything like in any stock libraries.

It was a fun image and one I could have reproduced and been paid for. They’re a good client and know what they want and have decent budgets, so I’d have been sure of producing some good work.

However, when I started to search for textures to use in the image, I came up with the exact image they wanted on a micro stock library… priced at $2!

Of course, I could have just ignored it and done the job. But I didn’t. I told them where to find the picture they wanted and saved them £400…

‘cos I’m nice like that.

2008-07-02T18:33:00.002+01:00

Well, I managed to finish off the film – pictures as I get them. And it was a very long job. I really should have known it was going to be. I ended up working Friday night when I should have been on the way down to Worthing to spend time with Lisa and George.

Right now, most of my projects seem to be on hold and I’m waiting for people to get back to me with small, but important pieces of information. This has meant that I’ve been able only to do small tidying up jobs and frustratingly slight progressions on work while I wait for the info that will let me really get stuck into jobs.

This is doubly annoying because I know there are a lot of jobs in the pipeline waiting for me to work on – so the longer I spend not being able to do them, the bigger the rush when they all inevitably turn up on the same day…

It looks like I’m doing one big project now though – which will involve me going to Palma next week for a couple of days…. Which would be a nice break if it wasn’t just a 24 hour visit.

Still, the one thing I can get on with is the Trex poster… here’s where I am so far – it’s really beginning to shape up.

the only problem is it’s so large (both in terms of polygon detail and scale) that the rendering is really hard – every little change takes ages to make, and ages to check by rendering…. Also, the finished piece is going to be so big (10,000x7000 pixels) I’m going to have to render it in pieces and that’s something I’ve never done with a single picture. And every time I try a different way of doing it I have to wait hours for the inevitable crash… and then start again.

Documentaries
Hopefully all this delay means I’ll be able to do at least some documentary work this week… I’m nearly ready to do the final tweaks to “how to colonise the stars” and then I need to launch into the next run of documentaries… which it’ll be great to finally start proper work on!

2008-06-27T20:12:00.001+01:00

This week I took on a job I knew I shouldn’t have. In fact, there were a couple of them.

The main one is a short film someone’s making for a competition. He had a grand idea involving multiple CGI characters in a hand drawn animation style running around in a real filmed environment.

However, it quickly became clear that the script involved a lot of CGI work and that the money and timescales weren’t nearly sufficient to do the job.

I took it on on the basis that I’d do the work in a day, but of course the director added shots and didn’t really know what he needed and it grew and grew.

Even on the basis I accepted the work, I knew it was going to be a struggle. It’s now taken 2 and a half days, and been very stressful. I’ve had to delay going away for the weekend and I feel as though the job was a bodge.

I really owe it to myself not to take on projects where the budget and deadlines aren’t sufficient for the work being asked for. I’m getting enough work now and I really am having to delay real properly paid work to do this.

The film will end up being a lot better than the producer thought it was going to be and I’m sure he’ll be happy in the end, but I’ve had a rotten couple of days doing something that was far too ambitious and getting paid the kind of rate I’d have been on 15 years ago.

It’s so easy when you’re freelance to just take on whatever is handed to you, but it’s not always worth it, and you really have to see beyond “I could do this” to “why should I?”

All I’ve really done, actually is convinced a young director that if he demands the impossible, he can get it. And that does nobody any favours.

I’m a professional and I need to treat myself as one.

presents
On the plus side, I’ve already used the money I did get for the project to buy a new widescreen monitor and a proper graphics tablet – two things I’ve been meaning to get myself for ages. It’s so good to be able to see High definition work in High definition as I’m working with it, and it’s also useful to be able to edit pictures and do 3d sculpting with a more responsive tool than a mouse!

2008-06-20T17:13:00.000+01:00

Ok, it seems the re-vamp of the website has paid off. Despite halving my investment on Google adverts, I’ve now got 3 more jobs confirmed and another 2 that might come off in the last week.

One was a pretty standard piece of illustration for a card company.. one is a short animated sequence zooming from outer space to the Earth – again, not difficult in itself, but I’m going to make it quite sophisticated looking… The third is a filmmaker who wants to add some animated figures into a real life scene.

Fair enough, except that he wants to do it by next Friday and he wants to do it for an absurdly low budget… I’m going to take the job anyway because it looks like fun – even though there’s a hell of a lot of animation, it doesn’t have to be strictly naturalistic, so it should be just about do-able.

Anyway, that’s for next week.

There’s also a possibility of a pop video for a group who have just finished touring with the Killers… and a safety video for a yacht on the cards.

All in all, the re-vamp is doing pretty well for me.

Apart from the fact that it’s so successful my ISP is complaining that I’m overusing my bandwidth… so it might be time to get another host for the site – or at least buy a domain name so I can switch if and when I need to.

Did manage to grab a quick look at my notes for my next documentaries – and I think I may be able to turn the plan from 4 60 minute pieces into 6 30 minute documentaries.

This will be a lot easier to manage, shoot and organise… not least because I can use the same interviewees without them looking overused. And that’s quite a consideration because there aren’t that many experts on specific dinosaur species, so I’m going to have to use the people I can get.

The next step here is to arrange interviews and write questions for them. But right now that feels a bit like taking the plunge…

Once I commit to when I’m doing interviews that gives the whole project a momentum… which of course is what I need to do, but it’ll mean putting other paid work on the backburner and I’m only just getting used to the idea that there’s enough of that around to keep me going!

In the meantime I’m really hoping to get somewhere towards finishing the space exploration documentary next week… NASA haven’t come up with the footage I need of the solar sail test, but I guess I’ll have to do without it.

2008-06-13T17:22:00.000+01:00

Managed to finish (hopefully, but there’s been no feedback yet) the advertising image for Vodaphone.. they wanted an impossible shape and although that was quite a challenge working in 3d (where you have to be able to really build whatever you want to draw!), the result looks good.

The rap video is coming together too, but I can’t go much further with it without the artist providing some visuals and photos himself. Hopefully these will turn up next week.

I’ve also had to do some extra writing work – three advertising emails – but they’re pretty much OK. I’ve even managed to hit another deadline I’d forgotten about: I’ve done the re-writes for my latest book “the really really really easy step by step guide to creating and editing digital videos using your computer”

Pithy title eh? Not my choice….

David Davis
After the Government barely managed to get through legislation allowing them to hold terrorism suspects for 42 days (although the bill will almost certainly not survive the house of Lords), David Davis – one time runner for leader of the Tory party has resigned on principle. His idea is to force a by-election which he’s going to campaign on the basis of fighting the erosion of civil liberties.

Good for him – and I told him so in an email:

Hi
Just a note to say that I thought your actions today were honourable and intelligent.

You may be feeling isolated without the backup of the party mechanisms you’ve become used to right now, but be assured, you are not alone in believing that the principles on which our democracy was founded are worth defending.

The British have always guarded our freedoms jealously, and the veil under which they are now being eroded is thin indeed. Our freedoms were forged in times far more dangerous than these, and we forget sometimes quite how hard won they are.

I am not a natural Tory supporter – and I’m unlikely to become one any time soon, but I’d like to commend you for your stand today. As an IT journalist I’m constantly reminded of the small, technical developments that are eroding our personal freedoms piece by piece and of the difficulties of bringing the real issues underlying those changes to the public eye. The excuse of terrorism may be allowing our police and our leaders to persuade themselves that more and more draconian measures are needed, but it is good for them to be reminded that democracy makes them our servants, not our masters.

Good luck with your stand.

Christian Darkin

It turns out this morning that the government aren’t going to stand against him and neither are the Lib Dems – but if they don’t, Kelvin Mackensie – one time editor of the Sun (and somebody I once had to sue to get my money out of Highbury house – a collapsing publishing company) will stand.

Apparently he’s being backed by Rupert Murdoch.

This would be fantastic – great theatre! I’ve got half a mind to go up and follow the campaign with a video camera – it would make a great documentary!

2008-06-11T18:08:00.000+01:00

Cut down my web advertising budget to half - not because it’s not working, but because it is. Right now I’ve got so much work, I feel like I’m in a constant rush… not good.

Anyway, this week’s rush is an advertising image and a rap video. Both are full on projects – the first because of it’s deadline (Friday) the second because of it’s budget (not enough to allow me to spend the time I’d like to).

However, both are things I want to do and both will be fun.

By Wednesday I’ve got a pretty good start on both. The rap video is set in a kind of half/videogame, half real world kind of environment which allows me to play with perspective and reality. I’m starting with photos, and constructing very simple 3d environments with the photos maped onto them, so that when I move the camera, the pictures sort of appear 3d and sort of get distorted. The effect is quite disturbing…

I’m also using after effects’ puppet tool to bring to life some stock photos of people for the backgrounds…

The advert also is going OK – the client wants to change lots of things, but that’s OK – that’s what happens.

Things appear to be going pretty well until a spanner appears in the works – I’ve now got another job doing three advertising emails from the company I write the digital videomaking newsletter for… and you’ve guessed it, it’s urgent.

Everything’s urgent these days….

2008-06-06T17:32:00.000+01:00

I’m now well into the Tyrannosaurus poster, but it’s one of those things that won’t come together until it’s nearly finished, so I’m feeling a bit as if I’m getting little done.

It looks like I’m going to be doing the rap video, but my tryout footage wasn’t any good as it turns out the reason the guy can’t shoot a live action video is that he’s recovering from an accident… so that means he can’t do any shooting at all.

I’ve come up with a solution that will fit his budget (although I’ll need to work very quickly to make it worthwhile for me) – the idea is to do a videogame type animation – somewhere between Californication and faithless’ “my culture” – that would allow me to use the artist’s previous videos as part of the backdrop – thus getting him into shot without having to film him.

Clever eh?

Well, maybe – if I can create the effect I want to do with just a few days work…

The wall st videogame animation thing is finally over (I think) and the client seems to like what I’ve done – which is a surprise to me because it took ages to get right.

It looks like there maybe another job next week too – a still for a print advert, so relatively well paid.

We’ll see.

Web hosting
I’m also getting emails from my ISP saying my website is exceeding their bandwidth limitations (probably because of the advertising I’m doing). They (of course) want me to upgrade my account, but I’m thinking now might be a good time to look at hosting it elsewhere.

It might also be a good time to finally get my own domain name for all my emails so I can change my ISP if I want to. I’m not planning to change because broadly I’m happy with Demon, but it’d be good to know I could and it’s really cheap to get a domain.

Can I be bothered? Have I got time? Stay tuned to find out….

Maybe what I really need to do (since I seem to have a virus brought on by overwork) is turn off my advertising and go back to making some documentaries – which though it’s not an easy job, is at least under my control….

Wall street

2008-06-04T19:07:00.000+01:00

The last couple of days have been filled with the wall street animation… communication with the company has improved, but information about what they want still comes in dribs and drabs and the requirements are always unclear. There are constant changes required to every piece of the work. The changes are always URGENT. The deadline is always TODAY, but once the deadline passes, there’s always a reason why the deadline never happened and ended up getting moved on to the next day so that the panicked rush can continue. I begin to suspect that the deadlines aren’t really deadlines they’re just picked out of the air, which is a shame for them more than for me because when you organise yourself to a very tight deadline the first thing you drop is any attempt at experimentation or creative interpretation. All you’re left with is a formulaic interpretation of the brief (or whatever brief you’ve got) and you’re forced to do everything in the quickest possible way rather than the best way.

In addition, nobody at the company seems to have any notion of working hours – they called me at 1;30 am on Wednesday morning and when I didn’t answer, they emailed to ask me to call them when I got into work (1am their time!). Once the work was finished, they still kept adding extra changes even calling me to insist on another update at 8pm when they must have known I’d stopped work for the day.

It didn’t help that I’d already spent the previous evening working on their animation, as well as some of the previous weekend. And the one thing I’m very definitive about in freelance work is that I don’t work evenings and weekends!

In fact, yesterday was my day for looking after George, so there was a limit to the amount of work I could do anyway.

Anyway, job done – it’s out of the way now (hopefully – they could still come back with other changes)!

So today I’ve been taking it a little easier. I did a brief bit of what I suppose you’d call pitching, but I don’t call it that. Basically someone emailed saying they wanted to make an animated rap video. Fair enough, but they really didn’t have the budget for it. What I’ve done is a quick mock up of the kind of thing they could do for their budget – with an improvised green screen and some pre-shot footage and stills. It’ll work well, and his budget will let me spend a couple of days working on the project. Plus it’ll be a bit of fun if it works out.

That only took a couple of hours, so I spent the rest of the day working on a TRex poster I’m doing for a company that make – well – posters. There’s still nothing ready to show for it, but I’ve done a lot of the groundwork, the 3d modelling (actually adapting and refining models I’ve already done). The results are pretty good, although the young Trex needs to be feathered and that’s a little tricky.

Anyway, it gives me a chance to work on some models and techniques I’ll eventually use in my theropod documentaries… if they ever get off the ground!

deadlines

2008-05-29T18:01:00.000+01:00

I actually managed to finish my work in good time today. The wall street animation seems to have gone off without too much of a problem (the clients haven’t come back to me about it wanting changes at any rate).

The deadline for the newsletter was moved forward to today (I heard about that yesterday). I’d have liked more time, particularly because the newsletter is announcing the launch of a new version of the video editor whose purchasers the newsletter goes out to – and I’d have liked to have seen the package before writing about it. As it is I’ve had to do the article based on the company’s press releases - but no problem, it’s done and seems Ok. Next month I’ll have the package and will be able to get to grips with it a little more thoroughly.

That left me with most of the afternoon to start work on another commission with a slightly less immediate deadline. This one’s a children’s poster of Tyrannosaurus rex. Fun stuff, and I’m aiming to bring a little of the latest thinking on the beast (like the fact that it’s young were probably feathered) to the picture.

I went out last night with a friend of Lisa’s and I’m feeling a little the worse for wear, so it’s good to have been able to spend the afternoon on something gentle… not that Trex is gentle, but sculpting in z-brush is a fairly relaxing job if you don’t have a harsh deadline for it!

2008-05-28T18:36:00.004+01:00

Faking it
Having re-organised my showreel, it’s clear there are a couple of gaps – areas in which the work I’ve done so far either isn’t stuff I can or want to show off, or just isn’t varied enough to appeal to the markets I know are out there…

The most obvious of these is web banners and intros. Video on the web has only really exploded into everyday sites in the past couple of years, and it’s only now people are starting to get the idea they can create intro screens and banners with content as rich as you’d get on TV – that means I’ve only done a couple of such projects (all in the last few months, which I guess is the point).

So I spent Friday faking work – producing a whole showreel of banners and intros… based on fictitious companies and made-up products.

See if you can work out which in this showreel are real and which are created for the showreel….

It’s not really a cheat – there’s no difference between a piece of work done to show off what you can do and one done for an actual commission except that commissions often don’t let you show off your skills to the same extent, so I don’t feel I’m making any false claims by introducing these elements – a showreel is just there to show what you can produce…

In the same spirit, I decided my main showreel was a bit limited in the area of combining video and shot footage, so I added a couple of “pop video” clips just to show I can work with people as well as cg sharks!

One I did in a very clean graphical style, the other, I gave a much more grungy treatment.

I think what people find hard to grasp when looking at showreels is that ANYTHING is now possible with CG. The problem is that unless you know your way around the software, you can’t really say what’s very easy and what will add weeks of design time to a project, and that’s probably where clients find it hard to work out what they can afford to do.

Maybe I should produce an effects crib-sheet for commissioning clients to let people know what’s easy and what’s hard…

Maybe when I’ve got a minute….

Wall Street Crash
… which right now I haven’t – primarily because at about 5:30 on Friday, the company I created a series of Mexican wrestlers for a month or so ago contacted me with another commission.

As before, the deadline was Wednesday (remember, Saturday and Sunday are the weekend, Monday was a bank holiday and Tuesday I’m looking after George)... and as before, the company are operating out of blackberries – so all communication for this complex project has to come in the form of ambiguous text messages.

What it turns out they want is a video clip to look like a videogame for a proposed Wall Street trading game. I have to fill an empty trading room with CG traders all standing around chatting, and place a player character in among them….

It’s not an easy job to animate a whole crowd of people in a couple of days.

I think I’ve nailed it now, but I did have to do some work over the weekend, and getting it done for the deadline was very tight… I was working until half ten last night.

I usually have a strict rule about weekends and evenings, but with this, it was either accept a little overtime, or not take the job on….

It looks like with the success of my advertising campaign, turning down work is something I’m going to have to get used to doing… it just never seems to be the right time to do it, but I’m going to have to find a way if I’m ever to get back to my documentaries!

2008-05-21T18:35:00.002+01:00

New website
I’ve finally got round to updating my website – on Monday I put together and uploaded a new showreel and today I’ve been re-designing the still images side.

Updating your portfolio website always involves a little self-reinvention. Each picture or clip you decide to include goes a little way to building up the picture visitors will have of you. And if you use the site for getting work, as I do, then you’re not only saying who you are, but who you’d like to be. You’re not just choosing your best work – I’m leaving out quite a lot of my best work – you’re choosing the work that you think is most likely to get the future commissions you’re after.

And that means some tough decisions. I thought about how to restructure it long and hard – after all, from my google advertising, I’m getting (roughly) one enquiry per week from about 800 clicks. In other words out of 800 people visiting my site, 1 decides to email me. That’s OK in sales terms, but I should be able to improve on it. Not least so that I can reduce my advertising spending!

And the conclusion I came to was this:

My website up to now has been about me. It’s been a boasting forum for me to let people know what a great artist and animator I am. All the decisions I’ve made about what to put up there have been about showing off the strength and variety of my work.

But I don’t need to do that.

I don’t need to show people that I can do 3d design and animation – that’s clear from the pictures. I don’t need to impress the visitors to my site because if they’re going to be impressed, they will be anyway.

If they were artists or animators themselves, they’d be doing the work themselves so they’re not looking at the mastery of different techniques – they’re looking for examples of the kind of work they need.

What I need to do is show them that I can produce what they’re looking for – that they can come to me with a brief – however vague – and that I can transform it into something that will work well in whatever they’re doing.

So, up to now, my website has been divided into sections for prehistoric art, science images, animation, etc.

What I need is to focus far more on sales – and that means directing visitors to images that mean something to them….

Reconstructions
Business communication
Advertising images
Illustration
Web graphics
Education
Editorial

Each section will probably only contain a few images, and there will be some overlap, but they’ll be very finely aimed at specific clients.

For video work – I think I’ll only do one video, but I’ll include buzz-words to make it clear what some of the clips relate to

Documentaries
Web animations
Music videos
Advertising
Logos
Videogames
Visualization
Title animations

It’s not quite finished, but the majority of it’s up there…www.darkin.demon.co.uk

windows, linux and friday afternoons

2008-05-16T18:23:00.001+01:00

I’m getting there.

I think I’m going to finally have some time next week to work on documentaries. I did get another couple of jobs yesterday (one a web banner for a property company and one an illustration for Nature) but neither are too taxing, so I should have finished them by the end of the day.

Curiously, I also got wind today of someone at a museum looking for a film about trilobites… one of the subjects I’d wanted to cover, but haven’t been able to (mainly due to time constraints) track down people to interview. Maybe if there’s interest, I can put it higher up my “todo” list.

That’s the thing with working with really low budgets – it just takes a little contribution to really get things moving. Also, because I’ve got no commissioning editors, I can move quickly if I need to change direction.

Updating my website
Because I had a little time this afternoon, I thought I’d start on updating my website… www.darkin.demon.co.uk

I think it looks good already, but I can’t help feeling I’m missing out on work from it because it doesn’t put enough stress on the corporate, businessy stuff and concentrates instead on science illustration.

Of course, the scientific stuff is still important, and it’s what I’d like to do more of, but I don’t think I need acres of shots of (for example) dinosaurs to show I can do that kind of work… whereas I do need a few examples of logo animations, text work, ident graphics and web banners to show the business and TV community that I can do that stuff as well – even though they’re not necessarily as pretty.

People looking for someone to do a quick piece of animation or a business graphic often don’t have time to look at the techniques used in a particular set of pictures and work out whether they can be applied to something they’re looking for. They’re more likely to simply see whether there’s something on an artist’s site that looks a bit like what they want and ask for something like that.

It’s more like buying a car than commissioning an artist. There’s a tendancy to say “can I have that in blue?” rather than thinking “well, if he can animate a Trex, then a logo will be child’s play”

So anyway…. I got about 2 minutes into the re-vamp before I hit a major Windows Vista orientated snag.

All my source files for my site are on a portable disk which was first formatted on my old windows XP machine. That machine now doesn’t work, and thanks to the fact that Vista Home Premium doesn’t support “dynamic disks”, I can’t get to any of the data on it.

Why doesn’t windows Vista Home Premium support dynamic disks? Not a clue. It’s just one of those stupid Microsoft things that suddenly make it impossible for you to work without giving you any prior warning of the problem.

I searched the Internet for most of the afternoon, and the only viable option I’ve found is to download puppy linux – a version of linux which can be run from a CD. Puppy linux will apparently allow me to access my drive and copy files over to another drive.

What a pain.

I have to add a whole new operating system just to get data from a drive because it’s in the form Windows told me to put it in a year ago.

On the plus side, My first experience with Linux is great. It’s easy to use and things just WORK – I guess it’s the advantage of that whole open source thing they’ve got going, but it’s a really good system.

However, I promise not to become one of those Linux bores – so I’m not switching and I’m not going to go on about how much better it is than Windows because I just can’t be that techy.

Friday afternoon
As usual, Friday afternoon ends with Monday turning into a headlong rush…. This time it’s the new newsletter – which I was asked to write, but which then disappeared off the map for a couple of weeks, but which now suddenly needs doing on Monday. Added to this, the web banner I did today needs finishing off and the image for Nature needs another tweak – all of these things came in at 6:15pm.

That’s Friday afternoon for you. Especially since Tuesday is my day for looking after George, so “any time before the middle of next week” now means “Monday or else!”.

synapsids microraptors and primitive amphibians

2008-05-15T18:05:00.006+01:00

Science Photo Library
As part of my plan to get back to doing some documentary work very soon, I’ve been dedicating this week to finishing off a couple of projects that have been going on for too long now.

One of these is a series of stock images I’m doing for Science Photo Library (http://www.sciencephoto.com/) on the subject of “Missing links” – animals which bridge the gap between one type of creature and another.

After the painstaking process of making the 3d models, and texturing and posing them, I’m finally ready to put them into scenes and render them out as finished artworks.

Science Photo Library demands very large image sizes (typically 4000 pixels along each side) and rendering such images in 3d is a time consuming and difficult process. That size of picture requires an awful lot of detail, and the more detail in 3d, the more complex the geometry, and so the more strain is placed on the computer.

This in turn means you have to make compromises – typically the renderer will crash if you try to include too much at too high a resolution – and it’ll often take hours to get to the point of crashing, so finishing the images is often a long job.

It also often requires a lot of post-work in photoshop.

Here are a few of the pieces I’ve finished today:

Microraptor – a four winged dinosaur

tiktaalik – One of the first vertebrate creatures to crawl out of the water – half way between a fish and an amphibian

Dimetrodon – an early (pre dinosaur) reptile - a synapsid

Titanophoneus – another synapsid – one of the creatures bridging the gap between reptiles and mammals

2008-05-14T18:17:00.003+01:00

Today is my actual 40th birthday, and I awoke to the rather disappointing news that a work project I thought was going particularly well, isn’t going to happen at all. I did a test for a children’s book illustration job which I’d way under-quoted for because it looked like a fun project. But it turns out that the book’s writer doesn’t like the illustration… here it is:

personally, I think the image works very well, but the author (who does a little sketching himself) would be better off doing the illustrations himself since he obviously has some picture in his head of exactly how he wants it to look, but doesn’t want to see somebody else’s interpretation of it.

I think the reality is that he’ll probably end up with the kind of hasty watercolour scribbles that most children’s books are illustrated with. Which is a bit of a shame, because I think doing it the way I was would have made the book into something unique.

Oh well, never mind.

At least it gives me a fighting chance of getting some of my other projects up and running…

2008-05-12T18:35:00.001+01:00

Having upgraded 3ds Max, it can now import and work with much larger more complex scenes… however, it’s not completely helpful because in using that extra power, I’m hitting the problem of my computer not being powerful enough… I’m getting a lot of crashes once I’ve put the scenes together and that’s really annoying. It’s also not something I can easily solve because my motherboard can’t accept any more than 2gb of RAM….

I really need a 4gb machine for HD video editing and high quality 3d modelling… but aside from the cost, I really don’t have the time to buy and set one up with all my software… I’m sure I could get my other PC working again, but I haven’t had time to even do that. It would even be a good idea to take out it’s graphics card which is far better than the one I’m currently using, but I’m working from one project to the next right now and don’t even have time to do that.

Actually that’s not true- installing the card would be the work of 20 minutes… however, if it went wrong, I could loose half a day trying to fix it – and that, I can’t afford!

It feels a bit like I’m on a constant cycle of work right now… now time to stop or work out what I’m doing.

Do I need to take on less, or organise myself better? Probably a bit of both – because I want to get back to my documentaries soon… Real work is getting in the way!

Got a call from a guy on Friday who wants to design a range of personalised vinyl transfers for custom motorbikes. And a call today from someone else looking for animation for a pop video…. Well, let’s see where that leads.

No news yet from the advert in malta I’m supposed to be doing. I’ve all but given up on it – since after the agreement to do the job, I suddenly stopped getting emails. Despite trying to contact the guy I’ve heard nothing, and the initial deadline has come and gone.

I’ve been assuming that the project they were trying to advertise has hit a snag, and that the person I’m dealing with has gone off work for a while, but with no replies to my emails, I can’t do anything on the projects and I’ll have to assume it’s not going ahead.

2008-05-09T18:32:00.000+01:00

only two working days this week due to George and bank holidays. The first didn’t seem to get me that far, so Friday has been a bit frantic.

Or maybe Fridays are always a bit frantic for several reasons:
1) There’s a big deadline on Monday – not this week, but deadlines are often Mondays – I suspect that’s because people think you can finish of over the weekend – which I make a determined decision never to do.

2) I’ve decided to do a whole lot of things in the week, and Friday is my last chance to meet my own targets. – Inevitably I’ve scheduled in too much.

3) I want to get videos or animations complete so they can render over the weekend… that means having everything perfect by Friday afternoon…. Weekends offer the computer a good long go at rendering difficult projects so if I’ve got anything animated or video to do, it’s good not to let the computer sit idle over the weekend – at least if I do a test render, I can see what needs changing.

4) I’ve just plain taken on too much.

It looks like I may have got the job of illustrating the children’s book I thought wouldn’t work out. That’s great news and unable to resist, I’ve started working on the main character. He’s looking great, but needs more work before he’s ready to show off.

The downside here, is as ever the deadline….. looks like it’s the 2nd of june –and for 20 illustrations, that’s a tough one…. Still, we’ll see….

In the meantime, I’ve got to get an illustration for a friend at the natural history museum done for a deadline in the next couple of weeks, and get the ethical investment fund animation rendering…. This last project is the most urgent currently and that’s what I want to start rendering over the weekend. I think it’s looking good now, but the rendering is awfully slow… that’s what’s going to slow this project down as it requires 7 different animated sequences – each of about 10 seconds.

The trouble is, there’s so much reflection and transparency involved that the renders are going to take a while…

The new version of Max is helping though it handles big, detailed scenes much better and it looks like I’m going to need big, detailed scenes for a lot of projects in the future.

Right now, I’m running two copies of Max working on two projects at once – so while one’s rendering I can edit another…I’m also tweaking textures in Photoshop while they’re both rendering, so I’m expecting a crash any time now….

2008-05-07T18:48:00.003+01:00

This week I haven’t got much time to work – Wednesday and Friday are my only working days.

And although I didn’t feel as though I got very far today, I did get some useful things done.

The first was that I managed to get to grips with my new copy of 3ds max which arrived yesterday.

How come I’ve got a new version of Max? well, it looks like I may be reviewing it for one magazine, and I’ve been in discussions with another publication about writing a series of tutorials on using 3d along-side other graphics tools to create animations, still images, and web design. Because the series will last a few months and will be in a high profile magazine, Autodesk have been kind enough to provide a copy of Max with a perminant licence (it makes a lot of sense to them because I’ll be publicising their package).

Anyway, the copy of Max is worth as much to me as the payment I’ll get for the articles as it means I can now make use of the new features – which primarily for me means easier animation of complex objects (like dinosaurs) and better integration with z-brush – the package I use to design 3d creatures….

Great news.

Plus, on a similar subject, it looks like I may be doing another poster – this time featuring Trex…. And the client for the ethical investments animation has got back to me with a “go” on a slight variation on my original design, so I can get on with that.

In addition, I got a call from Electric Sky saying they like the “how to colonise the stars” documentary, so I can get going on the final cut.

I also had a brief discussion with them about the idea of a series – and whether it would be best for me to make 3 hour long episodes or 6 half hours… no conclusive answer there about which will sell better, but it’s feeling right now as though shorter episodes would be easier to plan out for the “birds and dinosaurs” series I have in mind….

Hmm.. still not sure on that front.

In the meantime, my series of missing links is coming on well…. Here’s titanophoneus - an early reptile/mammal link…

slowing down

2008-05-02T18:25:00.000+01:00

Today was one of those days on which nothing seemed to be working…. The computer was slow and I was slower. My aim was to take the prehistoric creatures for my feature on evolutionary “missing links” which aren’t actually missing – and set them into scenes – combining photos and 3d to create virtual photographs of these extinct creatures.

I looked through some of my collection of natural history photos for inspiration – I’m trying to create not just mugshots of extinct animals, but real shots as that give a feeling for how the creatures and the world they inhabited might of worked… I even have a list of shots I want to create – a flock of microraptors turned mostly to blur as they cross between trees – a mud caked version of the first fish to crawl onto land – a dimetrodon advancing labourously over a sand dune.

However, I realised by lunch time that today isn’t the day this is going to happen. The computer kept crashing on rendering and my brain really wasn’t up to figuring out why. With no deadline, it wasn’t as though I HAD to make it work, so I resolved to hang back and wait until I could do it properly (probably Tuesday)…

I de-clogged my email, desk, computer and brain instead… the fact that I’ve always got a deadline and at least two or three projects on the go means I hardly ever do the basic tidying up things that I need to keep my brain and work area free from clutter. Those bits of paper floating around the office floor and desk – the emails I’m supposed to have replied to – the sticky notes, both real and virtual - and all the things I really need to have written on sticky notes but haven’t got around to writing slow me down in just the same way that leaving 20 web pages open and having 100 icons on my desktop slows the computer down. They clog the memory and take processing time away from the task at hand.

A tidy office is a luxury I can rarely afford, but at the end of today I have one, and that, I guess makes it a good day.

microraptor

2008-04-30T18:13:00.005+01:00

Doh
When you have so many projects on the go at the same time, you tend to drop the ball on something. I found out at the end of last week that in the rush of all last week’s projects I’d done just that.

When I got the job doing the animations for the ethical investment fund, I produced three alternative design ideas and emailed them all to the client.

She responded telling me which one she wanted and I got going on doing all the modelling and animation and rendering out all the animations needed to produce the final set of videos.

So far so good. When the first animation finished rendering, I was very pleased with it and happily sent it off to the client.

It turns out I’d misunderstood her – she actually wanted to go with the other option….

However, now I’ve done the first one, it looks great, so she’s now not sure whether to go with what I’ve done or get me to start again.

I don’t mind – it’s just that the version I did was much more time consuming than the other option, and I could have done with the time last week!

Anyway…

Monday I managed to polish off another of my monthly newsletters and get at least some way through my latest illustration commission for Nature.

Nothing is real
It’s all go, though and Tuesday was spent at a posh hotel hearing about the new version of 3ds Max courtesey of Autodesk…

Every year, they like to do a press event and it’s always a good opportunity to meet up with some of the other 3d freelance journalists (most of whom are journalist/animators/designers/all kinds of stuff). It’s also a good opportunity to hear from people who use 3d at the cutting edge of effects, animation and games… just to see what’s possible.

This year it included people designing green buildings by measuring the amount of sunlight light that would fall on an office worker’s desk before the building was built to stop them pulling down their blinds and turning on the lights.

There was also an interesting talk from a guy who works for a company servicing Ford motors….

Apparently when you see an advert or read a brochure for a new car, it’s highly unlikely that the photos you’re looking at are actually photos.

Most of the advertising for cars is created before the car is actually built. It costs them 2.5 million to build a prototype for photographing and even then, getting it to a location to photograph it means risking breaching its security – and in the paranoid automotive industry, leaking a car’s bodyshape before its launch is very bad indeed.

So instead, they build a 3d model and create the photos entirely digitally… the guy presented us with 2 pictures – one a real photo and one a CG model…. We couldn’t tell which was which.

I’m guessing this kind of replacement for photography is a lot more common than we think… and it’s probably on the increase.

Today
Today, I’ve been back on my new documentaries – or at least a very small part of them.

I’m designing a microraptor – one of the most bizarre dinosaurs ever to have lived.

The creature has wings on both it’s back and front legs and nobody is quite sure whether it’s a dinosaur or a bird. It clearly is designed to take to the air, though quite how it would have flown and how successfully remains a mystery.

Having roughed out a basic 3d shape and refined it in z-brush, I’m coming to the conclusion that this was a beautiful animal – such an elegant shape. That said, designing it is taking ages - This has to be one of the most challenging 3d models I’ve ever made. The combination of feathers, scales, and colours I’m trying to use means an awful lot of messing around.

I’ve created the basic shape as a solid object, which I’ve painted in z-brush (using some custom made feather brushes I converted from photoshop brushes I found on the net). I’ve then had to make the wing-tips semi-transparent with the shape of feathers – and I’ve had to do that by creating a separate transparency texture in Photoshop. In addition to that, I want the feathers to stand out – so I’ve had to create a bump map as well.

That’s the flight feathers, but there are also downy feathers on the body – and I’m experimenting with doing them as hair. The trouble with that is that hair is increadibly demanding and takes an awfully long time to create on a complex model (like the models produced in z-brush).

Even rendering the hair takes ages and I’ve had to create yet another matte to define which bits of the body need hair and which don’t.

All in all, it’s very time consuming.

However, since lots of dinosaurs apparently have feathers, getting them right is essential to my next documentaries… if I can’t get them to work, I’m going to find the programmes very difficult to make.

New Max
One of the problems is that I’m working on an old version of 3ds max – version 8… primarily because the new version which handles hair a lot better costs about £2500.

And having seen it in action yesterday it’s also got a lot of other features that would be particularly useful to me – the ability to easily animate quadrupeds is definitely one – as is the option of rendering just parts of a shot very quickly to see how they’re going to look…

So what to do?

Well, stand by, because I have a plan….

2008-04-25T18:32:00.000+01:00

finishing the book
I finished the book today – or at least the initial version. There are bound to be changes and a few bits to add, but it’s great to get it off my list of current projects for the moment.

The section I left until last was the introduction… it’s much easier to write the intro to something once you’ve done the rest of it – by then you ought to have some idea of what it’s about.

It took a while though because I couldn’t work out what I was trying to say… or maybe it was just because I somehow felt more precious about the last section I wrote – as though the whole book hinged on it – which of course it doesn’t.

When writing’s difficult like that, you just have to work your way through it – get down at least something that’s roughly right – after all, you can change it later, and you’ll have a much better idea of what you need to change once you do.

I sometimes hear other writers talk about writer’s block. I’m not sure I take it too seriously. I think it’s a luxury you only allow yourself if you don’t have a deadline. How many writers on daily newspapers fail to deliver copy because they’re not feeling inspired? Not many… and certainly not twice.

Yes, everybody has bad days and everyone has times when they don’t deliver their best work, but I think it’s a bit self indulgent to simply grind to a halt for days or weeks at a time…

After all – most of the time, when you read back the work you’ve struggled over, it’s just as good as and sometimes better than the work you do when things just flow.

When you find writing difficult, it can be for a few different reasons. Sometimes it’s because you’re worried about the work and just need to get over it. Sometimes it’s because you’re thinking about other things and just need to focus. And sometimes it’s because writing just IS difficult – it requires you to solve problems and work out exactly what you want to say and how you want to say it – in which case, whether you do it now or in six months time, you have to buckle down and solve those probems.

You don’t get to be a writer by talking about writing. You only get to be a writer by writing. When it’s easy. When it’s hard. And when you’re on a deadline, hung over or just bored sick of it.

More pics
Nature got in contact again today – looks like just as I got ahead of myself by completing the book, I’ve got another tight deadline looming….

Still, that’s for next week.

For now, Lisa, George and I are taking a break – we’ve booked into a hotel in Reading and as a big luxury, we’ve got a babysitter to come to the hotel room and look after George on Saturday night.

2008-04-23T19:03:00.002+01:00

Today was one of those Front Crawl days – where you take one look at the finish line, dive in and just keep swimming with your head down until you hit the other side.

Late last night, I got an email from a client in America who wanted an animation of a bottle (with a personality) for part of a video for children on recycling. The trouble is, they wanted it by Thursday (and I’m looking after George on Thursday). Adding that to the carbon nanotubes I had to get finished (the animation was rendered overnight) for the documentarymakers who were asking Science Photo Library for them (although whether they’ll be used, I still don’t know), you get a busy day.

Unfortunately, I still also have the book (another two chapters on my list to grab pictures for today) and the animation for the ethical investment fund manager and things begin to look hectic.

By the end of the day, I’m pretty well there on most of it. The book chapters are done (but not posted), the bottle animation is previewed and confirmed with the client – but now needs to be rendered in full size). The fund management animation looks good, but needs a little tweaking - right now the animation (which is quite complex) just starts up all guns blazing immediately. It needs to slow its pace a little to give viewers a chance to get orientated within (pompus phrase coming up) “the world of the story” before everything starts animating all over the place.

That’s a day’s work….

adverts, microraptors and nanotubes

2008-04-21T18:35:00.001+01:00

What’s happening with this advert?
We’re getting nearer and nearer the deadline for this advert for Maltese TV and I’m still waiting for the information I need to proceed with making it. I’m really not sure how I’m going to fit it in for the deadline (the end of the month) and I know the person dealing with me has been away, but now it’s getting very tight.

I’m assuming they still want the ad done, but I don’t know.

Of course it’s possible that the end of the month deadline isn’t as firm as I thought it was. Perhaps the conversion of their shops (which is what the advert is about) has fallen behind schedule and they won’t want to start the advertising until everything else is in place.

Still, it’s the uncertainty…whether I’ve got a huge amount to do in the next two weeks, or whether I’ll be able to get on with my own projects…Which include finishing the space travel documentary and starting the new documentaries….

Being a creative freelancer
Being a creative freelancer is different from being (for example) a self employed builder or plumber. If you’re a plumber and nobody offers you any work, you can’t just start plumbing something in the hope someone will buy it when you’ve finished.

If you’re a writer, an animator a graphic designer or a filmmaker, and you’ve got no work, you can at least start working on the projects you want to work on and hope they turn into real paid work somewhere down the line.

However, that itself causes a problem. When you have got work, and deadlines, you have to decide how to get a balance between the work you’ve already been commissioned to do and your own projects.

If you concentrate solely on what you’ve been commissioned to do, the job will stretch out to fill the time you have to do it and you’ll never get any of the projects you want to do off the ground.

On the other hand, if you spend too much time on your own projects – well, they might not get anywhere anyway, and you’ll have lost out on the paid work you could have been doing in the meantime.

My solution is generally to start work on any commissions I get immediately – or as soon as I can. I get them say 75% done or at least to a stage where I can see how I’m going to make them work and there’s at least something there that looks or sounds good.

If it’s writing work, I try to get the right number of words – even if the piece still needs details to be tied down. If it’s graphics or animation, I try to get something that looks right.

I then leave the project if I can – depending on the deadline, I might leave it for a week or two. That way when I go back, I can see it with fresh eyes. I don’t waste time perfecting everything before that because the chances are it will all have to change anyway.

By doing that, I can be pretty efficient and most of the time I can do at least some of my pet projects even when I’m busy.

Socially aware investments
So today I got a good chunk of my new animation project done (this is a series of animations for someone who’s setting up a socially responsible investment fund and is looking for investors). This means I can render some of the animation overnight and tomorrow while I’m looking after George (two days off work looking after George this week).

I should have something to show the client by Wednesday (and I think she’ll be pleased with it).

Microraptors and nanotubes
Of my own projects, I finally managed to start on designing a ”microraptor” – it’s a rather strange four winged dinosaur that nobody can quite place between dinosaurs and birds. The creature will eventually make it into a documentary on bird evolution, but luckily I can also fit its design in with another project for Science Photo Library who want me to make some stock images for their library – so I’m able to call this both my own project and commissioned work….up to a point.

I also got an email from science photo library saying they’d been contacted by a documentary maker was urgently looking for some animations of carbon nano tubes…. Creating them was easy enough, so I did it in a spare moment – hopefully they’ll be willing to go for it once they see them… I thought I’d do this even though it’s only a speculative project right now because Science photo have only just started thinking about video stock and I want to encourage them as much as I can.

Over the weekend, I had a little time to think. And I think it’s about time I did some charity work…. Not sure what yet, but some ideas are emerging…..

2008-04-18T18:50:00.000+01:00

Managed to get two chapters of the book off to the publishers yesterday – that means I’ve got three more to go – and I’ve got until the end of the month to do it….

The google adds seem to have really kicked off now – I got someone calling yesterday who wants a children’s book illustrated – something I’d really love to do – especially as the guy who wrote it is an artist himself and has some great visual ideas in the story.

It’d be really good to do it, but I have a feeling it’s not going to happen – he’ll need 30 or so illustrations and I don’t think the publisher will have the budget to get me to do them. I’m offering them a discounted rate because I’d like to do it, but he wants detailled realistic renderings of fantastic characters and scenes on every page (effectively what you’d see in a pixar movie– and I think they’ll have a budget for nothing more than watercolour sketches.

Oh, well, never mind.

Another call came in today from someone doing a scientific study and wanting pictures they can judge children’s emotional state from…. In contrast to the previous one, these images have to be completely without character or emotion. I have to try to create characters that are ambiguous in almost every way! Again, I’m not sure these people have much of a budget for what they’re proposing either, but the pictures aren’t quite so taxing, so this one might be doable.

On top of that, I got a call last week from someone who took some photos on Christmas day and found the images were full of “spirit orbs” – they want me to see if I can get them any clearer… I’m still waiting for the disk to arrive, so we’ll see what that turns up…

I’ve now got the investment fund animation job and I’ve spent most of today getting stuck into that. The idea for the animation is quite a challenging one to achieve – lots of animated light beams and movement going on everywhere…. There’s even a bit of motion capture involved and because it’s an ethical investment fund I’ve thrown in a few dolphins too… it’s beginning to look really good, but it’ll take a while to get everything in place.

Once finished, I think this will be one for the showreel – and re-editing that to give my website www.darkin.demon.co.uk a better range of work is another well overdue job.

Let’s just add that to my huge list of well overdue jobs, then shall we?

2008-04-16T18:22:00.001+01:00

I am, getting used to the one or two days a week of looking after George. I’m taking on more work, so it’s a bit of a strain having to take a day a week off (not that I begrudge doing it – he’s lovely most of the time – and it gives me time to get a bit of perspective).

I am able, when he takes his naps to leap onto the laptop and get a few minutes of answering emails and doing other non-intensive work done, so I don’t fall too far behind.

I don’t actually plan to get anything done on these days, so it’s useful to be able to snatch the odd half hour when he’s asleep to catch up – or at least get things prepared so that the days I am at work aren’t continually interrupted by bitty little jobs like invoicing, emailing and doing bits of research and corrections.

Another new project
Jobs from the Google advertising I’m doing aren’t flooding in, but they’re coming at a steady rate and when they do come they’re substantial jobs…

Another new one turned up yesterday from an investment firm. They want to explain a new ethical investment product to potential investors and need some graphics to do it. They’re not sure if they need animated or still pictures and like a lot of people who are now looking for graphics work, they spend most of their time doing other things, so I’m going to give them a rough version of a few different concepts with different budgets to help them work out just what they need.

It meant spending most of the day doing work that might not actually turn into a firm commission – I think you’re supposed to call this “pitching” but I don’t think I will.

It’s worthwhile doing this sometimes because it helps to clarify what’s needed from both sides and if you’re both working on very different notions of the job, it will all fall apart sometime anyway! in addition, most of the time, clients are surprised at just how much is possible – and by offering it in a visual form, you often get the chance to apply your own ideas which would probably be rejected if you tried to simply explain them.

meanwhile - I really want to get back to my documentaries - it's looking like the next couple of weeks are going to be too busy - but hopefully after that, I can organise some interviews with experts on Trex and the Raptors....

weddings and dimetrodons

2008-04-14T18:36:00.003+01:00

Weddings and Dimetrodons

Today I managed to get most of the next video newsletter written and finished off another chapter of the book… Strangely, both pieces of writing featured tutorials on how to shoot a wedding video….

Hopefully the book will be done ahead of deadline which will be great because the advert – which I’m supposed to be making for Maltese TV is going to be a big rush. The person dealing with me has been off for a few days and is now sorting through a mass of emails before getting to mine – and I really need some info and photos from him before I can do any more work on the add….

The end of the month will be tough at this rate so if I can get the book finished early it’ll be very useful.

I’m also still trying to make some prehistoric missing links for science photo library – Dimetrodon was my project for this afternoon and he’s coming on well (although he still needs some realistic skin textures… oh, and some teeth:

2008-04-11T18:50:00.002+01:00

Tax
I actually did get around to sorting out my tax today (or some of it at least)… and I found out that there are a few unpaid invoices I didn’t realise had been left so I’ve had to chase them up.

Hopefully doing some of my tax early this year means I don’t have to panic too much over it in January. I hope I’ll get a chance to do the rest of it, but that’s not looking likely for a while…..

Little Boxes
I also managed to design a cardboard box…. Ok, that’s not as exciting as a 3d dinosaur, but it’s something I really need to get right for this maltese advert… it’s got to look really realistic.

Why can’t I just get a real cardboard box, you might ask….

Well, I’ve got to fill a warehouse, then disintegrate it into a whirlwind… and I can’t do that with real boxes….

Anyway –continuing in the series of bits they left out of the bible - the gospel according to St Peter - it's not actually very helpful stuff I don't think - rather anti-jewish!

I can see why they left it out. What I can't see is why (if this has anything to do with Peter at all - most of the gospels were assigned pretty randomly) they decided to keep Peter as their leader - if I was going to be so cavalier about what I kept and what I through out, I'd probably edit him out altogether.

mind you - I'd edit out the current pope and his predecessor too - so maybe it's good that it's not up to me.

BUT of the Jews none washed his hands, neither Herod nor any one of his judges. And when they had refused to wash them, Pilate rose up. And then Herod the king commandeth that the Lord be taken saying to them, What things soever I commanded you to do unto him, do.
And there was standing there Joseph the friend of Pilate and of the Lord; and, knowing that they were about to crucify him, he came to Pilate and asked the body of the Lord for burial. And Pilate sent to Herod and asked his body. And Herod said, Brother Pilate, even if no one has asked for him, we purposed to bury him, especially as the sabbath draweth on: for it is written in the law, that the sun set not upon one that hath been put to death.
And he delivered him to the people on the day before the unleavened bread, their feast. And they took the Lord and pushed him as they ran, and said, Let us drag away the Son of God, having obtained power over him. And they clothed him with purple, and set him on the seat of judgment, saying, Judge righteously, 0 king of Israel. And one of them brought a crown of thorns and put it on the head of the Lord. And others stood and spat in his eyes, and others smote his cheeks: others pricked him with a reed; and some scourged him, saying, With this honor let us honor the Son of God.
And they brought two malefactors, and they crucified the Lord between them. But he held his peace, as though having no pain. And when they had raised the cross, they wrote the title: This is the king of Israel. And having set his garments before him they parted them among them, and cast lots for them. And one of those malefactors reproached them, saying, We for the evils that we have done have suffered thus, but this man, who hath become the Saviour of men, what wrong hath he done to you? And they, being angered at him, commanded that his legs should not be broken, that he might die in torment.
And it was noon, and darkness came over all Judaea: and they were troubled and distressed, lest the sun had set, whilst he was yet alive: [for] it is written for them, that the sun set not on him that hath been put to death. And one of them said, Give him to drink gall with vinegar. And they mixed and gave him to drink, and fulfilled all things, and accomplished their sins against their own head. And many went about with lamps, supposing that it was night, and fell down. And the Lord cried out, saying, My power, my power, thou hast forsaken me. And when he had said it he was taken up. And in that hour the vail of the temple of Jerusalem was rent in twain.
And then they drew out the nails from the hands of the Lord, and laid him upon the earth, and the whole earth quaked, and great fear arose. Then the sun shone, and it was found the ninth hour: and the Jews rejoiced, and gave his body to Joseph that he might bury it, since he had seen what good things he had done. And he took the Lord, and washed him, and rolled him in a linen cloth, and brought him to his own tomb, which was called the Garden of Joseph.
Then the Jews and the elders and the priests, perceiving what evil they had done to themselves, began to lament and to say, Woe for our sins: the judgment hath drawn nigh, and the end of Jerusalem. And I with my companions was grieved; and being wounded in mind we hid ourselves: for we were being sought for by them as malefactors, and as wishing to set fire to the temple. And upon all these things we fasted and sat mourning and weeping night and day until the sabbath.
But the scribes and Pharisees and elders being gathered together one with another, when they heard that all the people murmured and beat their breasts saying, If by his death these most mighty signs have come to pass, see how righteous he is, -the elders were afraid and came to Pilate beseeching him and saying, Give us soldiers, that we may guard his sepulchre for three days, lest his disciples come and steal him away, and the people suppose that he is risen from the dead and do us evil. And Pilate gave them Petronius the centurion with soldiers to guard the tomb. And with them came elders and scribes to the sepulchre, and having rolled a great stone together with the centurion and the soldiers, they all together who were there set it at the door of the sepulchre; and they affixed seven seals, and they pitched a tent there and guarded it. And early in the morning as the sabbath was drawing on, there came a multitude from Jerusalem and the region round about, that they might see the sepulchre that was sealed.
And in the night in which the Lord's day was drawing on, as the soldiers kept guard two by two in a watch, there was a great voice in the heaven; and they saw the heavens opened, and two men descend from thence with great light and approach the tomb. And that stone which was put at the door rolled of itself and made way in part; and the tomb was opened, and both the young men entered in.
When therefore those soldiers saw it, they awakened the centurion and the elders; for they too were hard by keeping guard. And as they declared what things they had seen, again they see three men come forth from the tomb, and two of them supporting one, and a cross following them: and of the two the head reached unto the heaven, but the head of him who was lead by them overpassed the heavens. And they heard a voice from the heavens, saying, Thou hast preached to them that sleep. And a response was heard from the cross, Yea.
They therefore considered one with another whether to go away and shew these things to Pilate. And while they yet thought thereon, the heavens again are seen to open, and a certain man to descend and enter into the sepulchre. When the centurion and they that were with him saw these things, they hastened in the night to Pilate, leaving the tomb which they were watching, and declared all things which they had seen, being greatly distressed and saying, Truly he was the Son of God. Pilate answered and said, I am pure from the blood of the Son of God: but it was ye who determined this. Then they all drew near and besought him and entreated him to command the centurion and the soldiers to say nothing of the things which they had seen: For it is better, say they, for us to be guilty of the greatest sin before God, and not to fall into the hands of the people of the Jews and to be stoned. Pilate therefore commanded the centurion and the soldiers to say nothing.
And at dawn upon the Lord's day Mary Magdalene, a disciple of the Lord, fearing because of the Jews, since they were burning with wrath, had not done at the Lord's sepulchre the things which women are wont to do for those that die and for those that are beloved by them -- she took her friends with her and came to the sepulchre where he was laid. And they feared lest the Jews should see them, and they said, Although on that day on which he was crucified we could not weep and lament, yet now let us do these things at his sepulchre. But who shall roll away for us the stone that was laid at the door of the sepulchre, that we may enter in and sit by him and do the things that are due? For the stone was great, and we fear lest some one see us. And if we cannot, yet if we but set at the door the things which we bring as a memorial of him, we will weep and lament, until we come unto our home.
And, they went and found the tomb opened, and coming near they looked in there; and they see there a certain young man sitting in the midst of the tomb, beautiful and clothed in a robe exceeding bright; who said to them, Wherefore are ye come? Whom seek ye? Him that was crucified? He is risen and gone. But if ye believe not, look in and see the place where he lay, that he is not [here] ; for he is risen and gone thither, whence he was sent. Then the women feared and fled.
Now it was the last day of the unleavened bread, and many were going forth, returning to their homes, as the feast was ended. But we, the twelve disciples of the Lord, wept and were grieved: and each one, being grieved for that which was come to pass, departed to his home. But I Simon Peter and Andrew my brother took our nets and went to the sea; and there was with us Levi the son of Alphaeus, whom the Lord.

2008-04-09T18:25:00.001+01:00

Yesterday was a day of looking after George and going to see flats. The one in the morning wasn’t very spectacular, but in the afternoon, Lisa got home a bit early and we went to see three different flats with a slightly lower price tag than the ones we’d seen in our road…. These are the kind of thing that might be possible as a way to make ends meet in a couple of years when Lisa stops working, we have two children and the mortgage deal on our own house runs out forcing us to buy into what I think will be a much worse deal (property prices are falling and interest rates are getting worse – it’s time to get security for the coming storms, I think)

Anyway, more on that as it develops.

What I should have done today:
Sorted out my tax for the last year (which for some reason ends on the 4th of April every year) and filed all my recipts ready for sorting through later.
Got my invoicing up to date and chased up outstanding stuff.
Talked to some of the magazines about what work I should be doing over the next month.

What I did today:
Did most of the illustration of the end Permian extinction I’m making for Raoul at the Natural History Museum.
Designed some prehistoric creatures for a long overdue series of illustrations for Science Photo Library – on evolutionary missing links (the first land creature, the first bird, the first mammal – that kind of thing). Actually, it turns out they’re not really missing at all – there’s good fossil evidence for most of them – lucky really otherwise I wouldn’t be able to reconstruct them.

It’s a whole lot more interesting than doing my tax.

The trouble is that everything is more interesting than tax, so it’s usually the 20th January before I do it… not a good move since I have to pay the bill on the 31st and it’s almost always a huge shock!

I also can’t help thinking I need to update my website – I’m putting a lot of money into advertising it now, so it probably needs to look a bit more corporate….

Anyway, tomorrow is another day with George… so Friday is tax day…

Well, maybe.

I also (very briefly) tried out secondlife for the first time. It’s something I’ve been meaning to do as everyone keeps going on about it and as someone who does 3d stuff most of the time, I really ought to be aware of this major phenomenon…

In case you’ve never met secondlife it’s basically a 3d videogame in which you make up the rules yourself. You pick a look for your character, then wander around in a virtual world meeting other virtual people controlling their characters anywhere in the world. The idea is that you can buy, or build objects, places, whatever you like…It’s not all that advanced, but there’s a huge variety of places and events built by people, so it’s probably worth exploring once I get time….

the gospel of doubting thomas

2008-04-07T18:53:00.002+01:00

book
Today I’ve finally outlined and got most of the flesh on the final chapter of the book – I now need to go through and start polishing, getting photos and screengrabs and generally making it all readable.

I’ve also made a start on an illustration I’ve got to do for a friend at the natural history museum (the people who wanted to talk to me there haven’t called back which is a bit odd- but I think their timescales are a little slow so I’m not too worried.

And I’ve been doing an illustration for an article on quantum computing in Nature – the brief has changed half way through which is a bit of a pain because I thought we had a really good image coming on (which I’ll post here):

I’ve now had to do something completely different which I don’t think is as good….
Still, that happens sometimes - the editor’s looking to what suits the article best whereas I’m just looking at how nice the picture is….

I’ll be looking after George tomorrow, so no work until Wednesday.

Comments are coming in about the documentary – all positive – so not to many re-edits hopefully… still I’m missing a piece of footage from NASA and I’ll have to chase them up..

Also the advert I’m supposed to be making seems to have ground to a halt – the people commissioning it have gone a bit quiet (possibly on holiday) and I can’t work on it without a little more information from them….

Anyway – I haven’t posted a lost gospel for a few days, so here’s the Gospel according to Thomas (that’s doubting Thomas – the one disciple who actually seemed to be able to think for himself):

Translated by Thomas O. Lambdin
These are the secret sayings which the living Jesus spoke and which Didymos Judas Thomas wrote down.
(1) And he said, "Whoever finds the interpretation of these sayings will not experience death."
(2) Jesus said, "Let him who seeks continue seeking until he finds. When he finds, he will become troubled. When he becomes troubled, he will be astonished, and he will rule over the All."
(3) Jesus said, "If those who lead you say to you, 'See, the kingdom is in the sky,' then the birds of the sky will precede you. If they say to you, 'It is in the sea,' then the fish will precede you. Rather, the kingdom is inside of you, and it is outside of you. When you come to know yourselves, then you will become known, and you will realize that it is you who are the sons of the living father. But if you will not know yourselves, you dwell in poverty and it is you who are that poverty."
(4) Jesus said, "The man old in days will not hesitate to ask a small child seven days old about the place of life, and he will live. For many who are first will become last, and they will become one and the same."
(5) Jesus said, "Recognize what is in your sight, and that which is hidden from you will become plain to you . For there is nothing hidden which will not become manifest."
(6) His disciples questioned him and said to him, "Do you want us to fast? How shall we pray? Shall we give alms? What diet shall we observe?" Jesus said, "Do not tell lies, and do not do what you hate, for all things are plain in the sight of heaven. For nothing hidden will not become manifest, and nothing covered will remain without being uncovered."
(7) Jesus said, "Blessed is the lion which becomes man when consumed by man; and cursed is the man whom the lion consumes, and the lion becomes man."
(8) And he said, "The man is like a wise fisherman who cast his net into the sea and drew it up from the sea full of small fish. Among them the wise fisherman found a fine large fish. He threw all the small fish back into the sea and chose the large fish without difficulty. Whoever has ears to hear, let him hear."
(9) Jesus said, "Now the sower went out, took a handful (of seeds), and scattered them. Some fell on the road; the birds came and gathered them up. Others fell on the rock, did not take root in the soil, and did not produce ears. And others fell on thorns; they choked the seed(s) and worms ate them. And others fell on the good soil and it produced good fruit: it bore sixty per measure and a hundred and twenty per measure."
(10) Jesus said, "I have cast fire upon the world, and see, I am guarding it until it blazes."
(11) Jesus said, "This heaven will pass away, and the one above it will pass away. The dead are not alive, and the living will not die. In the days when you consumed what is dead, you made it what is alive. When you come to dwell in the light, what will you do? On the day when you were one you became two. But when you become two, what will you do?"
(12) The disciples said to Jesus, "We know that you will depart from us. Who is to be our leader?" Jesus said to them, "Wherever you are, you are to go to James the righteous, for whose sake heaven and earth came into being."
(13) Jesus said to his disciples, "Compare me to someone and tell me whom I am like." Simon Peter said to him, "You are like a righteous angel." Matthew said to him, "You are like a wise philosopher." Thomas said to him, "Master, my mouth is wholly incapable of saying whom you are like." Jesus said, "I am not your master. Because you have drunk, you have become intoxicated from the bubbling spring which I have measured out." And he took him and withdrew and told him three things. When Thomas returned to his companions, they asked him, "What did Jesus say to you?" Thomas said to them, "If I tell you one of the things which he told me, you will pick up stones and throw them at me; a fire will come out of the stones and burn you up."
(14) Jesus said to them, "If you fast, you will give rise to sin for yourselves; and if you pray, you will be condemned; and if you give alms, you will do harm to your spirits. When you go into any land and walk about in the districts, if they receive you, eat what they will set before you, and heal the sick among them. For what goes into your mouth will not defile you, but that which issues from your mouth - it is that which will defile you."
(15) Jesus said, "When you see one who was not born of woman, prostrate yourselves on your faces and worship him. That one is your father."
(16) Jesus said, "Men think, perhaps, that it is peace which I have come to cast upon the world. They do not know that it is dissension which I have come to cast upon the earth: fire, sword, and war. For there will be five in a house: three will be against two, and two against three, the father against the son, and the son against the father. And they will stand solitary."
(17) Jesus said, "I shall give you what no eye has seen and what no ear has heard and what no hand has touched and what has never occurred to the human mind."
(18) The disciples said to Jesus, "Tell us how our end will be." Jesus said, "Have you discovered, then, the beginning, that you look for the end? For where the beginning is, there will the end be. Blessed is he who will take his place in the beginning; he will know the end and will not experience death."
(19) Jesus said, "Blessed is he who came into being before he came into being. If you become my disciples and listen to my words, these stones will minister to you. For there are five trees for you in Paradise which remain undisturbed summer and winter and whose leaves do not fall. Whoever becomes acquainted with them will not experience death."
(20) The disciples said to Jesus, "Tell us what the kingdom of heaven is like." He said to them, "It is like a mustard seed. It is the smallest of all seeds. But when it falls on tilled soil, it produces a great plant and becomes a shelter for birds of the sky."
(21) Mary said to Jesus, "Whom are your disciples like?" He said, "They are like children who have settled in a field which is not theirs. When the owners of the field come, they will say, 'Let us have back our field.' They (will) undress in their presence in order to let them have back their field and to give it back to them. Therefore I say, if the owner of a house knows that the thief is coming, he will begin his vigil before he comes and will not let him dig through into his house of his domain to carry away his goods. You, then, be on your guard against the world. Arm yourselves with great strength lest the robbers find a way to come to you, for the difficulty which you expect will (surely) materialize. Let there be among you a man of understanding. When the grain ripened, he came quickly with his sickle in his hand and reaped it. Whoever has ears to hear, let him hear."
(22) Jesus saw infants being suckled. He said to his disciples, "These infants being suckled are like those who enter the kingdom." They said to him, "Shall we then, as children, enter the kingdom?" Jesus said to them, "When you make the two one, and when you make the inside like the outside and the outside like the inside, and the above like the below, and when you make the male and the female one and the same, so that the male not be male nor the female female; and when you fashion eyes in the place of an eye, and a hand in place of a hand, and a foot in place of a foot, and a likeness in place of a likeness; then will you enter the kingdom."
(23) Jesus said, "I shall choose you, one out of a thousand, and two out of ten thousand, and they shall stand as a single one."
(24) His disciples said to him, "Show us the place where you are, since it is necessary for us to seek it." He said to them, "Whoever has ears, let him hear. There is light within a man of light, and he lights up the whole world. If he does not shine, he is darkness."
(25) Jesus said, "Love your brother like your soul, guard him like the pupil of your eye."
(26) Jesus said, "You see the mote in your brother's eye, but you do not see the beam in your own eye. When you cast the beam out of your own eye, then you will see clearly to cast the mote from your brother's eye."
(27) "If you do not fast as regards the world, you will not find the kingdom. If you do not observe the Sabbath as a Sabbath, you will not see the father."
(28) Jesus said, "I took my place in the midst of the world, and I appeared to them in flesh. I found all of them intoxicated; I found none of them thirsty. And my soul became afflicted for the sons of men, because they are blind in their hearts and do not have sight; for empty they came into the world, and empty too they seek to leave the world. But for the moment they are intoxicated. When they shake off their wine, then they will repent."
(29) Jesus said, "If the flesh came into being because of spirit, it is a wonder. But if spirit came into being because of the body, it is a wonder of wonders. Indeed, I am amazed at how this great wealth has made its home in this poverty."
(30) Jesus said, "Where there are three gods, they are gods. Where there are two or one, I am with him."
(31) Jesus said, "No prophet is accepted in his own village; no physician heals those who know him."
(32) Jesus said, "A city being built on a high mountain and fortified cannot fall, nor can it be hidden."
(33) Jesus said, "Preach from your housetops that which you will hear in your ear. For no one lights a lamp and puts it under a bushel, nor does he put it in a hidden place, but rather he sets it on a lampstand so that everyone who enters and leaves will see its light."
(34) Jesus said, "If a blind man leads a blind man, they will both fall into a pit."
(35) Jesus said, "It is not possible for anyone to enter the house of a strong man and take it by force unless he binds his hands; then he will (be able to) ransack his house."
(36) Jesus said, "Do not be concerned from morning until evening and from evening until morning about what you will wear."
(37) His disciples said, "When will you become revealed to us and when shall we see you?" Jesus said, "When you disrobe without being ashamed and take up your garments and place them under your feet like little children and tread on them, then will you see the son of the living one, and you will not be afraid"
(38) Jesus said, "Many times have you desired to hear these words which I am saying to you, and you have no one else to hear them from. There will be days when you will look for me and will not find me."
(39) Jesus said, "The pharisees and the scribes have taken the keys of knowledge (gnosis) and hidden them. They themselves have not entered, nor have they allowed to enter those who wish to. You, however, be as wise as serpents and as innocent as doves."
(40) Jesus said, "A grapevine has been planted outside of the father, but being unsound, it will be pulled up by its roots and destroyed."
(41) Jesus said, "Whoever has something in his hand will receive more, and whoever has nothing will be deprived of even the little he has."
(42) Jesus said, "Become passers-by."
(43) His disciples said to him, "Who are you, that you should say these things to us?" "You do not realize who I am from what I say to you, but you have become like the Jews, for they (either) love the tree and hate its fruit (or) love the fruit and hate the tree."
(44) Jesus said, "Whoever blasphemes against the father will be forgiven, and whoever blasphemes against the son will be forgiven, but whoever blasphemes against the holy spirit will not be forgiven either on earth or in heaven."
(45) Jesus said, "Grapes are not harvested from thorns, nor are figs gathered from thistles, for they do not produce fruit. A good man brings forth good from his storehouse; an evil man brings forth evil things from his evil storehouse, which is in his heart, and says evil things. For out of the abundance of the heart he brings forth evil things."
(46) Jesus said, "Among those born of women, from Adam until John the Baptist, there is no one so superior to John the Baptist that his eyes should not be lowered (before him). Yet I have said, whichever one of you comes to be a child will be acquainted with the kingdom and will become superior to John."
(47) Jesus said, "It is impossible for a man to mount two horses or to stretch two bows. And it is impossible for a servant to serve two masters; otherwise, he will honor the one and treat the other contemptuously. No man drinks old wine and immediately desires to drink new wine. And new wine is not put into old wineskins, lest they burst; nor is old wine put into a new wineskin, lest it spoil it. An old patch is not sewn onto a new garment, because a tear would result."
(48) Jesus said, "If two make peace with each other in this one house, they will say to the mountain, 'Move Away,' and it will move away."
(49) Jesus said, "Blessed are the solitary and elect, for you will find the kingdom. For you are from it, and to it you will return."
(50) Jesus said, "If they say to you, 'Where did you come from?', say to them, 'We came from the light, the place where the light came into being on its own accord and established itself and became manifest through their image.' If they say to you, 'Is it you?', say, 'We are its children, we are the elect of the living father.' If they ask you, 'What is the sign of your father in you?', say to them, 'It is movement and repose.'"
(51) His disciples said to him, "When will the repose of the dead come about, and when will the new world come?" He said to them, "What you look forward to has already come, but you do not recognize it."
(52) His disciples said to him, "Twenty-four prophets spoke in Israel, and all of them spoke in you." He said to them, "You have omitted the one living in your presence and have spoken (only) of the dead."
(53) His disciples said to him, "Is circumcision beneficial or not?" He said to them, "If it were beneficial, their father would beget them already circumcised from their mother. Rather, the true circumcision in spirit has become completely profitable."
(54) Jesus said, "Blessed are the poor, for yours is the kingdom of heaven."
(55) Jesus said, "Whoever does not hate his father and his mother cannot become a disciple to me. And whoever does not hate his brothers and sisters and take up his cross in my way will not be worthy of me."
(56) Jesus said, "Whoever has come to understand the world has found (only) a corpse, and whoever has found a corpse is superior to the world."
(57) Jesus said, "The kingdom of the father is like a man who had good seed. His enemy came by night and sowed weeds among the good seed. The man did not allow them to pull up the weeds; he said to them, 'I am afraid that you will go intending to pull up the weeds and pull up the wheat along with them.' For on the day of the harvest the weeds will be plainly visible, and they will be pulled up and burned."
(58) Jesus said, "Blessed is the man who has suffered and found life."
(59) Jesus said, "Take heed of the living one while you are alive, lest you die and seek to see him and be unable to do so."
(60) a Samaritan carrying a lamb on his way to Judea. He said to his disciples, "That man is round about the lamb." They said to him, "So that he may kill it and eat it." He said to them, "While it is alive, he will not eat it, but only when he has killed it and it has become a corpse." They said to him, "He cannot do so otherwise." He said to them, "You too, look for a place for yourself within repose, lest you become a corpse and be eaten."
(61) Jesus said, "Two will rest on a bed: the one will die, and the other will live." Salome said, "Who are you, man, that you ... have come up on my couch and eaten from my table?" Jesus said to her, "I am he who exists from the undivided. I was given some of the things of my father." <...> "I am your disciple." <...> "Therefore I say, if he is destroyed, he will be filled with light, but if he is divided, he will be filled with darkness."
(62) Jesus said, "It is to those who are worthy of my mysteries that I tell my mysteries. Do not let your left (hand) know what your right (hand) is doing."
(63) Jesus said, "There was a rich man who had much money. He said, 'I shall put my money to use so that I may sow, reap, plant, and fill my storehouse with produce, with the result that I shall lack nothing.' Such were his intentions, but that same night he died. Let him who has ears hear."
(64) Jesus said, "A man had received visitors. And when he had prepared the dinner, he sent his servant to invite the guests. He went to the first one and said to him, 'My master invites you.' He said, 'I have claims against some merchants. They are coming to me this evening. I must go and give them my orders. I ask to be excused from the dinner.' He went to another and said to him, 'My master has invited you.' He said to him, 'I have just bought a house and am required for the day. I shall not have any spare time.' He went to another and said to him, 'My master invites you.' He said to him, 'My friend is going to get married, and I am to prepare the banquet. I shall not be able to come. I ask to be excused from the dinner.' He went to another and said to him, 'My master invites you.' He said to him, 'I have just bought a farm, and I am on my way to collect the rent. I shall not be able to come. I ask to be excused.' The servant returned and said to his master, 'Those whom you invited to the dinner have asked to be excused.' The master said to his servant, 'Go outside to the streets and bring back those whom you happen to meet, so that they may dine.' Businessmen and merchants will not enter the places of my father."
(65) He said, "There was a good man who owned a vineyard. He leased it to tenant farmers so that they might work it and he might collect the produce from them. He sent his servant so that the tenants might give him the produce of the vineyard. They seized his servant and beat him, all but killing him. The servant went back and told his master. The master said, 'Perhaps he did not recognize them.' He sent another servant. The tenants beat this one as well. Then the owner sent his son and said, 'Perhaps they will show respect to my son.' Because the tenants knew that it was he who was the heir to the vineyard, they seized him and killed him. Let him who has ears hear."
(66) Jesus said, "Show me the stone which the builders have rejected. That one is the cornerstone."
(67) Jesus said, "If one who knows the all still feels a personal deficiency, he is completely deficient."
(68) Jesus said, "Blessed are you when you are hated and persecuted. Wherever you have been persecuted they will find no place."
(69) Jesus said, "Blessed are they who have been persecuted within themselves. It is they who have truly come to know the father. Blessed are the hungry, for the belly of him who desires will be filled."
(70) Jesus said, "That which you have will save you if you bring it forth from yourselves. That which you do not have within you will kill you if you do not have it within you."
(71) Jesus said, "I shall destroy this house, and no one will be able to build it [...]."
(72) A man said to him, "Tell my brothers to divide my father's possessions with me." He said to him, "O man, who has made me a divider?" He turned to his disciples and said to them, "I am not a divider, am I?"
(73) Jesus said, "The harvest is great but the laborers are few. Beseech the Lord, therefore, to send out laborers to the harvest."
(74) He said, "O Lord, there are many around the drinking trough, but there is nothing in the cistern."
(75) Jesus said, "Many are standing at the door, but it is the solitary who will enter the bridal chamber."
(76) Jesus said, "The kingdom of the father is like a merchant who had a consignment of merchandise and who discovered a pearl. That merchant was shrewd. He sold the merchandise and bought the pearl alone for himself. You too, seek his unfailing and enduring treasure where no moth comes near to devour and no worm destroys."
(77) Jesus said, "It is I who am the light which is above them all. It is I who am the all. From me did the all come forth, and unto me did the all extend. Split a piece of wood, and I am there. Lift up the stone, and you will find me there."
(78) Jesus said, "Why have you come out into the desert? To see a reed shaken by the wind? And to see a man clothed in fine garments like your kings and your great men? Upon them are the fine garments, and they are unable to discern the truth."
(79) A woman from the crowd said to him, "Blessed are the womb which bore you and the breasts which nourished you." He said to her, "Blessed are those who have heard the word of the father and have truly kept it. For there will be days when you will say, 'Blessed are the womb which has not conceived and the breasts which have not given milk.'"
(80) Jesus said, "He who has recognized the world has found the body, but he who has found the body is superior to the world."
(81) Jesus said, "Let him who has grown rich be king, and let him who possesses power renounce it."
(82) Jesus said, "He who is near me is near the fire, and he who is far from me is far from the kingdom."
(83) Jesus said, "The images are manifest to man, but the light in them remains concealed in the image of the light of the father. He will become manifest, but his image will remain concealed by his light."
(84) Jesus said, "When you see your likeness, you rejoice. But when you see your images which came into being before you, and which neither die not become manifest, how much you will have to bear!"
(85) Jesus said, "Adam came into being from a great power and a great wealth, but he did not become worthy of you. For had he been worthy, he would not have experienced death."
(86) Jesus said, "The foxes have their holes and the birds have their nests, but the son of man has no place to lay his head and rest."
(87) Jesus said, "Wretched is the body that is dependant upon a body, and wretched is the soul that is dependent on these two."
(88) Jesus said, "The angels and the prophets will come to you and give to you those things you (already) have. And you too, give them those things which you have, and say to yourselves, 'When will they come and take what is theirs?'"
(89) Jesus said, "Why do you wash the outside of the cup? Do you not realize that he who made the inside is the same one who made the outside?"
(90) Jesus said, "Come unto me, for my yoke is easy and my lordship is mild, and you will find repose for yourselves."
(91) They said to him, "Tell us who you are so that we may believe in you." He said to them, "You read the face of the sky and of the earth, but you have not recognized the one who is before you, and you do not know how to read this moment."
(92) Jesus said, "Seek and you will find. Yet, what you asked me about in former times and which I did not tell you then, now I do desire to tell, but you do not inquire after it."
(93) "Do not give what is holy to dogs, lest they throw them on the dung-heap. Do not throw the pearls to swine, lest they [...] it [...]."
(94) Jesus said, "He who seeks will find, and he who knocks will be let in."
(95) Jesus said, "If you have money, do not lend it at interest, but give it to one from whom you will not get it back."
(96) Jesus said, "The kingdom of the father is like a certain woman. She took a little leaven, concealed it in some dough, and made it into large loaves. Let him who has ears hear."
(97) Jesus said, "The kingdom of the father is like a certain woman who was carrying a jar full of meal. While she was walking on the road, still some distance from home, the handle of the jar broke and the meal emptied out behind her on the road. She did not realize it; she had noticed no accident. When she reached her house, she set the jar down and found it empty."
(98) Jesus said, "The kingdom of the father is like a certain man who wanted to kill a powerful man. In his own house he drew his sword and stuck it into the wall in order to find out whether his hand could carry through. Then he slew the powerful man."
(99) The disciples said to him, "Your brothers and your mother are standing outside." He said to them, "Those here who do the will of my father are my brothers and my mother. It is they who will enter the kingdom of my father."
(100) They showed Jesus a gold coin and said to him, "Caesar's men demand taxes from us." He said to them, "Give Caesar what belongs to Caesar, give God what belongs to God, and give me what is mine."
(101) "Whoever does not hate his father and his mother as I do cannot become a disciple to me. And whoever does not love his father and his mother as I do cannot become a disciple to me. For my mother [...], but my true mother gave me life."
(102) Jesus said, "Woe to the pharisees, for they are like a dog sleeping in the manger of oxen, for neither does he eat nor does he let the oxen eat."
(103) Jesus said, "Fortunate is the man who knows where the brigands will enter, so that he may get up, muster his domain, and arm himself before they invade."
(104) They said to Jesus, "Come, let us pray today and let us fast." Jesus said, "What is the sin that I have committed, or wherein have I been defeated? But when the bridegroom leaves the bridal chamber, then let them fast and pray."
(105) Jesus said, "He who knows the father and the mother will be called the son of a harlot."
(106) Jesus said, "When you make the two one, you will become the sons of man, and when you say, 'Mountain, move away,' it will move away."
(107) Jesus said, "The kingdom is like a shepherd who had a hundred sheep. One of them, the largest, went astray. He left the ninety-nine sheep and looked for that one until he found it. When he had gone to such trouble, he said to the sheep, 'I care for you more than the ninety-nine.'"
(108) Jesus said, "He who will drink from my mouth will become like me. I myself shall become he, and the things that are hidden will be revealed to him."
(109) Jesus said, "The kingdom is like a man who had a hidden treasure in his field without knowing it. And after he died, he left it to his son. The son did not know (about the treasure). He inherited the field and sold it. And the one who bought it went plowing and found the treasure. He began to lend money at interest to whomever he wished."
(110) Jesus said, "Whoever finds the world and becomes rich, let him renounce the world."
(111) Jesus said, "The heavens and the earth will be rolled up in your presence. And the one who lives from the living one will not see death." Does not Jesus say, "Whoever finds himself is superior to the world?"
(112) Jesus said, "Woe to the flesh that depends on the soul; woe to the soul that depends on the flesh."
(113) His disciples said to him, "When will the kingdom come?" "It will not come by waiting for it. It will not be a matter of saying 'here it is' or 'there it is.' Rather, the kingdom of the father is spread out upon the earth, and men do not see it."
(114) Simon Peter said to him, "Let Mary leave us, for women are not worthy of life." Jesus said, "I myself shall lead her in order to make her male, so that she too may become a living spirit resembling you males. For every woman who will make herself male will enter the kingdom of heaven."
The Gospel According to Thomas

the gospel of mary magdalene

2008-04-03T18:21:00.002+01:00

I had to write a chapter of the book today, I’ve also had to do more design work for the advert I’m making for Maltese TV and half way through the day I got an email from Nature wanting another illustration.

This one’s for an article on Topological quantum computing – and given that I don’t know what that is, and they’re expecting the initial draft of the illustration today, I’ve been quite busy.

I’ve eventually come up with something involving coffee cups made out of donuts… don’t ask. I still don’t understand it.

so it's been a pretty hectic day and very concentrated. I've been jumping between one project and another and back again to make the best use of time, and it's not something my brain handles well.

having sent off copies of the documentary, they've begun to arrive, and I'm getting good feedback. This is giving me a chance to rest the project and get some distance from it - which is useful - and I can go back to it in a couple of weeks to tweak it.

Anyway, for a bit of light relief, here’s the gospel of Mary Magdalene….
It’s a bit short and there’s a lot missing. She also seems quite keen on her own importance. Mind you, I guess you had to be as the only woman there – especially when they’re all pretty derogatory about her if the other gospels are anything to go by.

She definitely does imply she shagged him though!

this one isn't copyrighted by the way

The Gospel According to Mary Magdalene
Chapter 4
(Pages 1 to 6 of the manuscript, containing chapters 1 - 3, are lost. The extant text starts on page 7...)
. . . Will matter then be destroyed or not?
22) The Savior said, All nature, all formations, all creatures exist in and with one another, and they will be resolved again into their own roots.
23) For the nature of matter is resolved into the roots of its own nature alone.
24) He who has ears to hear, let him hear.
25) Peter said to him, Since you have explained everything to us, tell us this also: What is the sin of the world?
26) The Savior said There is no sin, but it is you who make sin when you do the things that are like the nature of adultery, which is called sin.
27) That is why the Good came into your midst, to the essence of every nature in order to restore it to its root.
28) Then He continued and said, That is why you become sick and die, for you are deprived of the one who can heal you.
29) He who has a mind to understand, let him understand.
30) Matter gave birth to a passion that has no equal, which proceeded from something contrary to nature. Then there arises a disturbance in its whole body.
31) That is why I said to you, Be of good courage, and if you are discouraged be encouraged in the presence of the different forms of nature.
32) He who has ears to hear, let him hear.
33) When the Blessed One had said this, He greeted them all,saying, Peace be with you. Receive my peace unto yourselves.
34) Beware that no one lead you astray saying Lo here or lo there! For the Son of Man is within you.
35) Follow after Him!
36) Those who seek Him will find Him.
37) Go then and preach the gospel of the Kingdom.
38) Do not lay down any rules beyond what I appointed you, and do not give a law like the lawgiver lest you be constrained by it.
39) When He said this He departed.
Chapter 5
1) But they were grieved. They wept greatly, saying, How shall we go to the Gentiles and preach the gospel of the Kingdom of the Son of Man? If they did not spare Him, how will they spare us?
2) Then Mary stood up, greeted them all, and said to her brethren, Do not weep and do not grieve nor be irresolute, for His grace will be entirely with you and will protect you.
3) But rather, let us praise His greatness, for He has prepared us and made us into Men.
4) When Mary said this, she turned their hearts to the Good, and they began to discuss the words of the Savior.
5) Peter said to Mary, Sister we know that the Savior loved you more than the rest of woman.
6) Tell us the words of the Savior which you remember which you know, but we do not, nor have we heard them.
7) Mary answered and said, What is hidden from you I will proclaim to you.
8) And she began to speak to them these words: I, she said, I saw the Lord in a vision and I said to Him, Lord I saw you today in a vision. He answered and said to me,
9) Blessed are you that you did not waver at the sight of Me. For where the mind is there is the treasure.
10) I said to Him, Lord, how does he who sees the vision see it, through the soul or through the spirit?
11) The Savior answered and said, He does not see through the soul nor through the spirit, but the mind that is between the two that is what sees the vision and it is [...]
(pages 11 - 14 are missing from the manuscript)
Chapter 8:
. . . it.
10) And desire said, I did not see you descending, but now I see you ascending. Why do you lie since you belong to me?
11) The soul answered and said, I saw you. You did not see me nor recognize me. I served you as a garment and you did not know me.
12) When it said this, it (the soul) went away rejoicing greatly.
13) Again it came to the third power, which is called ignorance.
14) The power questioned the soul, saying, Where are you going? In wickedness are you bound. But you are bound; do not judge!
15) And the soul said, Why do you judge me, although I have not judged?
16) I was bound, though I have not bound.
17) I was not recognized. But I have recognized that the All is being dissolved, both the earthly things and the heavenly.
18) When the soul had overcome the third power, it went upwards and saw the fourth power, which took seven forms.
19) The first form is darkness, the second desire, the third ignorance, the fourth is the excitement of death, the fifth is the kingdom of the flesh, the sixth is the foolish wisdom of flesh, the seventh is the wrathful wisdom. These are the seven powers of wrath.
20) They asked the soul, Whence do you come slayer of men, or where are you going, conqueror of space?
21) The soul answered and said, What binds me has been slain, and what turns me about has been overcome,
22) and my desire has been ended, and ignorance has died.
23) In a aeon I was released from a world, and in a Type from a type, and from the fetter of oblivion which is transient.
24) From this time on will I attain to the rest of the time, of the season, of the aeon, in silence.
Chapter 9
1) When Mary had said this, she fell silent, since it was to this point that the Savior had spoken with her.
2) But Andrew answered and said to the brethren, Say what you wish to say about what she has said. I at least do not believe that the Savior said this. For certainly these teachings are strange ideas.
3) Peter answered and spoke concerning these same things.
4) He questioned them about the Savior: Did He really speak privately with a woman and not openly to us? Are we to turn about and all listen to her? Did He prefer her to us?
5) Then Mary wept and said to Peter, My brother Peter, what do you think? Do you think that I have thought this up myself in my heart, or that I am lying about the Savior?
6) Levi answered and said to Peter, Peter you have always been hot tempered.
7) Now I see you contending against the woman like the adversaries.
8) But if the Savior made her worthy, who are you indeed to reject her? Surely the Savior knows her very well.
9) That is why He loved her more than us. Rather let us be ashamed and put on the perfect Man, and separate as He commanded us and preach the gospel, not laying down any other rule or other law beyond what the Savior said.
10) And when they heard this they began to go forth to proclaim and to preach.

Princess diana and the lost Gospel of Judas

2008-04-02T17:33:00.002+01:00

It looks like I’ve got another big job to do – A TV advert for a Maltese version of Argos – sounds like fun and quite a challenge…. Deadline at the end of the month – just when the book needs to be finished…

Today, I made a start on it. Basically I need to design a warehouse full of goods. I designed the shelving today and got a pretty good test of how it will look superimposed into a backdrop. It’s looking good – and it’s the first time I’ve used Photoshop’s vanishing point tool to turn a photo into a 3d environment for an animation. It seemed to work, but I’m still not confident with the tool.

I also made a start on another chapter of the book. I managed to do a little of it yesterday, but I was looking after George, so I could only work in the hour or so that he slept… still, I’m getting there and this month – though full – looks possible.

The inquest into the death of lady Diana looks as though it’s going to find no evidence of a conspiracy…The problem the royal family is facing over this, however isn’t evidence, it’s truth. It’s the same problem the Catholic church faced over the Da Vinci Code.

It’s not that there’s any evidence to suggest that the Royal family had Diana Killed. It’s just that we’ve had a monarchy for a thousand years, and there are certain things we’ve come to expect from them. The evidence says they’re completely innocent, but given what we’ve seen them do over the past thousand years, not having anything to do with Diana’s death would just be so out of character for them.

It takes a lot of believing.

In the same way, the Catholic church found themselves having to deny that they’d been trying to kill of the family of Christ with secret assassins – not because there was any specific truth in the book – but because people had tuned into the underlying truth that the church has covered up just this kind of thing time and time again down the years.

I saw a documentary a couple of weeks ago about the church’s rejection of several other gospels which had at least as much validity as those of Mark and John (apparently the Gospels of Mark and John never claimed to be written by or on behalf of those disciples – the church just needed names for them and invented them).

Anyway the one that puzzled me was the gospel of Peter – i.e. the first Pope. The founder of the church, the leader of the disciples. Apparently he wrote a gospel, but later when they came to assemble the bible, they decided it just didn’t fit in with the product they were trying to sell, so they junked it.

And that’s my problem – not that they left out parts – they were the church, so they’ve got a perfect right to edit the bible to tell their story.

My problem is twofold:

First that they left out really very central important accounts. As a journalist you’re constantly reminded that you have to edit the material you have to tell the story as you understand it in the best way you can. But it’s unethical to ignore the central core ideas because they don’t suit your view – you wouldn’t cover a murder trial and leave out the verdict.

And second that the other gospels weren’t just left out, they were deleted – almost entirely - from history by what must have been a sustained campaign of suppression – and even though we know about them now, they’re not even mentioned by the practitioners of the church. This is bad. Very bad.

If Shakespeare had written a whole load of other plays that didn’t make it into his collected works – either because they weren’t good enough or for some other reason – we might not consider them in the same way as Hamlet – but we’d still publish them. We’d still study them. We’d still recognise them and allow them to help us gain an understanding of Shakespeare’s work.

Not including material in the Bible is one thing. Failing to even recognise or discuss material which you know exists and which has as much validity as that which is included in the Bible (and some of it more validity) is something else entirely.

These gospels are (or claim with as much evidence as any of the gospels) the story of the life of Christ – so can someone who isn’t familiar with this material call themselves a priest? Or even a practicing Christian?

I don’t think so.

Even though I’m not a Christian, In the interests of fairness, I thought I'd publish it.

unfortunately the gospel (or at least its only translation) is copyrighted! it's owned by the National Geographic.

here's a link

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/lostgospel/_pdf/GospelofJudas.pdf?fs=www7.nationalgeographic.com&fs=magma.nationalgeographic.com

2008-03-28T18:22:00.003Z

Yesterday was a really crap day - I had to do a little work on a Flash animation - and it took almost all day.

Flash is such a rubbish program - everything is counter intuative and they keep changing the rules of syntax for the programming every time they release a new version so if you search for a solution online the chances are it won't work on your version!

Anyway, that's now solved and out of my way.

I was also contacted by a debt collection agency yesterday about a TV I rented from Forbes Direct years ago - I cancelled the contract 2 years ago and they've suddenly decided I owe them money - it's crazy and quite rubbish behaviour from what claims to be a reputable company...

anyway, I’ve decided that if Forbes are going to be difficult about this TV rental nonsense, I’m going to offer to donate the money to charity if they drop their claim – if they refuse then I’m certain they’ll loose far more in lost business when people hear about their behaviour than they gain from pursuing me…

In the end it’s too small an amount for them to take me to court over it – there’s just no justification- likewise, it’s too small an amount for me to concern myself too much with arguing with them over it. I have, after all, plenty of better things to do.

TV AD
The benefits of adding to my advertising on Google started to appear today. I got contacted by a company from Malta who want me to do some graphics for a TV add for them… sounds interesting and I’ll keep you posted as it develops.

DVDs
I rendered out a DVD of the semi-completed documentary and made copies to send to some of my contributors – just to make sure I haven’t messed up on any of my facts.

It looks like I’ve missed the boat for the documentary market – but it doesn’t matter – they’ll still be able to sell at the next one and the thing will be placed on the website as soon as it’s finished.

I also sent off a little edit of a 5 minute mini-doc based on some of the documentary to a company called CurrentTV. They’re a company set up by Al Gore for young people and they broadcast 5-7 minute documentaries… I thought it might be good to see if they’re interested in a small part of the project as it’s not that tough to produce a 5 minute edit when most of the shots are in place already.

The two minute rule
In rendering out the project I hit a problem that annoyed the hell out of me on the last project. Premiere Pro seems incapable of handling a 50 minute documentary all in one go and crashes constantly during rendering.

Now, OK I’m pushing it hard – There’s lots of effects filters and transitions. I combine different types of footage on the timeline and want an HD master and half of my doc is made up of HD rendered 3d footage – which is very nearly uncompressed – so I can see it’s problem.

My solution is to render the entire project 2 minutes at a time, load those sections into another Premier Project and re-assemble them. It’s a major hassle, but I’m not as annoyed with it this time round because I know it will eventually work.

I did get annoyed enough to decide to double my computer’s memory - (my system’s only got 2gb – and that’s pushing it for HD at the best of times). However, when I phoned the company who made the PC world (I know, a geek like me should build their own editing PC, and up to now, I have, but when my last machine got sick, I needed to replace it fast and it’s just so much easier to walk in and know that when you get it home, it will work the moment you turn it on – with an operating system and anti-virus stuff…)

Anyway – they told me the motherboard wouldn’t take more than 2gb… swings and roundabouts. I know if I replace the motherboard (which is what I eventually did to my other PC) all the software won’t work and it’ll be a major pain.

2008-03-25T18:20:00.001Z

At last, today I finished the first fine-cut.
OK – what I really mean by that is that all the shots are in. they’re all in the right order, the commentary is there and the voiceover is in. I still need to tidy things up, balance the sound, do colour correction, check a few facts, alter a little narration, get a couple of clips in, check everything works, put in the captions and do the credits properly. I don’t think these things are that huge or time consuming– but we’ll see.

However, I’ve now got a programme I can show people and they won’t be asking “what’s supposed to happen there?”

I now have to find out if the distributors can use the version I’ve got for the big market next month (I can’t remember what it’s called).

In the meantime, I need to render a DVD and check it to see what needs changing.

I also need to have a think about other projects. Writing the book is my next job, but I’ve realised it’s one thing I can do on the train between interviews (there are very few kinds of work I can effectively do in that way) – so it would be good if I can schedule some of the interviews for my next projects in the next few weeks.

Maybe I will. Maybe I won’t.

2008-03-20T18:08:00.004Z

fine editing
I hoped to get the first propper edit finished by the end of today, but it’s not going to happen. It’s slow work putting in the music, sound effects and narration and you tend to be so focussed on the minutiae of the project – how one shot follows the last – how loud each sound should be – where music is appropriate and where it just gets in the way – that you loose track of the wider themes and start to wonder whether the project actually says what you originally wanted it to say.

That’s not a bad thing – On any large project, this happens eventually. You loose the initial naivity and excitement about the project as you do the fine details, so you just end up having to trust yourself. Trust that when you planned out the story and worked out the basic shape of the thing that it was right… and that once you’re finished, that shape will return.

That’s not to say I don’t like this process. In fact it’s probably my favourite part of the edit. You finally get to see the “moments” in your film. The pacing and the pauses that make one point stick out more than another. The way the visuals and the sound track work together. The actual style of the piece starts to emerge fully formed from the raw material.

It’s slow, hard work, but it’s great to see the programme emerging.

I’m coming to the view, however, that editing – especially fine editing is such concentrated work that I can only do it for a certain length of time before I have to stop and do something else.

My productivity drops off in the afternoon and I find I’m getting less and less done. I find it harder and harder to concentrate and I start loosing enthusiasm for the finer details.

I wonder if the optimum editing time is half a day… I’m wondering if in future I should schedule to only spend about 4 hours at a time editing and switch to other more relaxint (or just different) projects in the afternoon. Maybe do a little 3d texture painting or writing work….

Anyway, that won’t happen with this project as I’ve got to get a finished version by the end of the month… Just 10 days away….I’ve sent off a copy of the first few minutes to my distributor and to the voiceover artist… it’ll be good to hear what they think.

I’m really getting annoyed with premiere Pro. It crashes every couple of hours, so I have to keep saving my work. I’ve just lost about 15 minutes of work. I guess it’s not too much – because I’ve made the editing decisions – it’s just that it’s fiddly work putting in sound effects…. Anyway, what can you do? I guess buying more memory might sort it… is 2gb enough for HD editing? I don’t know.

I suppose I’m asking quite a lot of the package, combining HD, SD and computer animation on the same timeline whilst animating 3000 pixel stills over several layers. Still….

2008-03-18T19:18:00.001Z

This week I’m busy….again. I want to get the documentary finished by the end of the month and that’s just about possible if I really go for it.

Unfortunately I can’t really go for it because there are so many other things demanding my time. I’ve paused on the book for the moment – because the deadline for that isn’t quite so tight. However, I’ve still got this company who want to produce a Mexican Wrestling game (no, I’m not kidding). They want me to create graphics for characters in this videogame, but their timescales are horrendous – they keep asking me if things can be done quicker, but they also keep adding to and changing the brief so I never quite know what they’re after and when they need it.

I’m doing my best to keep them happy, but it’s a tricky job.

Still, I’ve managed to get the first part of the documentary more or less finished….

2008-03-13T18:36:00.001Z

Rendering blackberries
The last few days have been busy. Horrendously busy. I had to do the two animations I thought I was doing (Nature luckily turned out not to want the illustration they thought they were going to need) – the first went very well. The second needed a couple of alterations – nothing too difficult, but it did mean I had to do more work and start the rendering from scratch.

This was OK – I expect people to want a certain number of changes to any project and the changes will make the animation better in the long run. I’m still rendering the changes, so we’re cutting the deadline very tight.

Both the deadlines were tight – just a few days - However, I also got an email from someone in the states trying to do a videogame based on Mexican Wrestling….

This originally started out as 2 illustrations of 9 figures each with their own costume… however the deadline was tight (one day) and unfortunately, the guy talking to me was using a blackberry – so could only communicate in one line text type messages.

Trying to get a complex brief (as it turned out to be) across using only a keypad an inch across while trying to do four other things at once is kind of tricky.

Anyway, the images worked out well, but it turned out that what he was actually after was a set of animations and pictures he could use to create a videogame (or at least a Flash pitch for one). The project started to spiral – suddenly there were 8 animations to do, and 9 more pictures… then there were another 8 animations…

But the deadline didn’t shift and it was still hard to find out just what was needed.

Eventually, I think we’ve got it (after a little re-negotiation on deadlines and fees) and the result is going to look great.

However, I’ve still got the deadline for the other animation looming – and I’m now trying to render two sets of animations at once on the same machine. It’s a bit of a nightmare and a bit of a panic. I’m having to be very firm about exactly when I do each part and how much time I allow for every element of the work.

It’s a bit annoying when you can’t be as fussy about the project as you’d like to because of time constraints, but I think I’ve still exceeded the expectations of all the people giving me these commissions, so I guess that’s a plus.

The thing is, when you’ve got deadlines like these you need to make sure the brief is clear and doesn’t change. If it does, you end up having to be less fussy about the finished result because there’s no time to change things if they’re wrong.

I was thinking of getting a Blackberry, but having seen how difficult it is to communicate properly through them, I’m not so sure…

I’ve now got the commentary through for “how to colonise the stars” – it’s sounding great – if only I had time to fit it into the edit… maybe this afternoon… but then I’ve also got a book to write….

I just got told that Digital Video magazine is closing. There was a lot of talk about this happening since before Christmas, but the closure kept being postponed. It was going to be replaced by a higher-end title aimed more at semi-professional videomakers – which would have suited me just fine – but it now seems that this has been abandoned and there’s not going to be a replacement.

Apparently although there was a good readership for the magazine, advertising revenue wasn’t justifying it, so it’s been cut.

It strikes me that there will be a lot of people that miss this mag – it’s been going for a long time (under different titles) – and there are lots of people who want to hear about digital video making and how to do it. Since Future brought up Highbury, there isn’t really much competition for the magazine out there, so there will be a bit of a gap in the market.

This is probably part of the economic slowdown, and part of the general turning off of magazines that most people in the industry have been predicting for some time (as more and more people get their information online).

The problem here is that online publications don’t tend to be as authoritative – reviews are often written by PR companies, features are shorter and therefore less detailed and information isn’t quite as well researched (primarily because the authors aren’t paid or commissioned in quite the same way)….

I’m sure something will turn up to replace digital video, but I don’t know what it will be. Highbury – one of Future’s biggest rivals collapsed a couple of years ago (I ended up suing them to get paid for my work) and Future ended up with many of their mags (including Digital Video. So now, if Future aren’t replacing Digital Video, that means there’s only a couple of other publishers who could replace it.

Hmm… I think I have an idea…

On top of that, Raoul just phoned saying he has a meeting with some people at the Natural History Museum tomorrow… one of them is looking to expand their audio-visual side and wants a producer. I don’t want to do this as a job, but maybe I could do it freelance… unfortunately, this means getting a CV or something like it together today.

I haven’t had a CV since 1998….

2008-03-07T17:11:00.001Z

Work is suddenly flooding in – as it always does when you’ve got tight deadlines already. Somebody who’s seen one of my animations on istockphoto wants me to make a logo animation for a corporate event. Someone else who’s seen another animation there wants (possibly) another job done. In addition, it sounds as though Nature want me to do an illustration.

The thing is, they’re all tight deadlines (two of them are for Monday!)… and given that I’m already writing the book and now have to try to get publicity for the new documentary out in the next couple of weeks – it’s looking like next week will be a bit tight.

Still, a little pressure’s good….

I spent today designing a dinosaur (or more specifically a pre-dinosaur reptile) for another project. It’s going well, but I may have to avoid the feet during rendering….

voiceovers distribution and trying to hold the camera straight

2008-03-06T18:29:00.000Z

Having spent the last day trying to get the script ready for the voiceover artist, it turns out his equipment has been borrowed by his girl-friend, so he can’t do the work until next week… it doesn’t matter – I wouldn’t be able to use it until then anyway and the pressure of the deadline made me work harder on getting the script finished, so it’s a good thing.

I also got a call from my distributors today – they want to sell the previous documentary as part of a package of other shark-documentaries at an upcoming market (mip something or other). Anyway, that’s fine with me. Except that if this big market is coming up in April, that means I really need to have something of the new documentary ready for them to show there.

In other words, I’ve had my deadline of writing the script relaxed even though I’ve now met it, and had it replaced by a much bigger and scarier deadline of getting a finished programme ready for them to start pre-publicity in a couple of weeks.

Will I have it done? Not sure… I do have a book to write, you know.

In any case, it’s not a hard deadline – if I can’t do it then so be it. It will have to wait for the next market.

Maybe I ought to be more in tune with when these events take place, but I can’t be up on everything! Anyway when the distributors called, they were also able to tell me of a couple more sales for Shark Story, bringing the total now to 3.

One is in Spain – and given that the end of the documentary is very critical of Spainish fishermen’s shark fishing techniques, I’m quite surprised (and pleased) that they’re showing it.

Anyway, again, the payments aren’t huge (one will be £500 and one will be £1,100) , but it all adds up and with each sale, I become more confident that I can make money doing this.

I also managed to write another chapter of the new book today. The basics of shooting. Keep in mind that this is a book aimed at those who are new to the whole video revolution. I’ve been trying to take them from how to find the record button right up to what an MCU is and how to shoot video for a later edit. It’s quite a stretch in a 3,000 word chapter, but I think I’m doing OK…..

Oh – and I’ve come up with a title for the new doc… instead of “going to Gliese” which has become less and less relevant as new science has revealed the planet to be pretty much incapable of supporting life, I’m calling it a much more catchy title: “how to colonise the stars”.

That should get people’s attention a bit more easily.

2008-03-05T19:23:00.000Z

voiceovers
Today the voiceover artist got back to me saying he’s got some time in the next couple of days to do the commentary. I’ve got a rough, but not a finished script, but it’s good to have a tight deadline, I think, so I’ve been trying to get a more polished version for him done today.

I’ve now sent about half the script to him. There will probably be pick-ups to do, but it will be much easier working with the real commentary than trying to do it with my voice as a stand in.

Once the real commentary is in place I can start thinking about pace and music – and it will really come together.

Beautiful rubbish
Last night, Horizon – the UK’s premiere science documentary strand – did a programme covering some of the same issues my documentary is about.

It was beautifully shot – using cinematography and visual metaphors that are way outside anything I can afford to do for my documentary. They took a scientist to the middle of a desert just to have her draw circles in the sand representing the habitable zone of a star… everything looked great.

However, the content (as I’ve seen Horizon doing quite often) was poor and the pace seemed to me dreadfully slow. Not trying to blow my own trumpet, but I think there’s more content in the first 5 minutes of my documentary (the clip I posted a couple of weeks ago) than in the whole of the horizon programme. Perhaps I’m doing something wrong.

2008-03-04T17:47:00.004Z

Yesterday I started on the new book – managed to write a draft of a chapter on simple editing with Windows Movie Maker. It’s a limited program, but if you really want to you can produce good results with it.

In fact, it’s a good deal more powerful than the editing systems used to make some classic films. Up to about 10 years ago, holywood feature films were all edited using nothing more sophisticated than a razor blade and sticky tape.

The fantastic new editing tools available ought to mean that films are much better now than they ever were – being able to cut and paste and alter edits to your heart’s content should mean editors can produce much better work.

Last night was the 10x10 documentary evening organised by the DFG – where documentary makers meet to show 10 minutes of their work and get 10 minutes of criticism from the audience… It’s a great environment to try out your work’s in progress in a way that doesn’t just involve showing it to friends.

The films shown last night were of a really high standard and were interesting in terms of their style and content. Everyone seems to have clever and quirky ideas about how to put their productions together. Watching them makes me feel as though I’m not being arty enough in my programmes – but at the same time, I’m not sure. I think a traditionally told story isn’t a bad thing….

Anyway, there were some really promising movies last night – one very unfinished about a German airman re-tracing his World War II bombing campaign over England… One about the killing fields of Cambodia which has such strong material in it that it’s bound to succeed…. One about a 10 minute journey to drop a child off at nursery – in which the mother and child were ignored while various interviewees discussed aspects of the journey… and one in which an unseen interviewer revealed to each of her ex-lovers and crushes the exact dates between which she thought she was in love with them.

With this last film, the genuinely unprepared responses from her exes revealed little, but the whole film cleverly asked strong questions about the filmmaker and her attitude to love…

Science reporting
I’m including here a video clip from a TV interview which I’ve been pointed at by the paleontological mailing list I’m part of.

It’s an amazing piece of television – showing just how low it’s possible to sink in terms of insulting the intelligence of yourself, your interviewees and your audience. It’s also a great lesson about the dangers of allowing yourself to be lead by the pictures you’ve got access to rather than the theme of the story you’re trying to tell.

I challenge anyone to learn, understand or be interested in the subject matter from watching this:

stills into movies

I had to write a feature for Digital Video today about turning still images into moving shots. The idea being to do something with a still other than just pan and zoom over it in the traditional rostrum camera way.

I’ve been doing this a little for my latest documentary, but I think the shot I did today really worked, so I’m posting it here.

I created this in After Effects using three stills bought on a stock image site.