Welcome to the video conference.  The purpose of this conf is to
discuss the making of video and filmaking techniques, scripting, editing,
special effects, video/film projects you are working on, references. etc.

12 responses total.

Greetings.  One of the best ways (I think) to start a video project is to look
at other low budget films, the lower the budget the better.  This is
especially helpful when you don't have fancy video equiptment or gobbs of
money to throw away.  Take notes about special effects, film angles, etc.
Keep in mind that even low budget means that many thousands of dollars were
spent in it's production.  Most films have a list of some of the
equipment at the end of the end credits.  Sketching roughly ideas for
scenes can create

~p

Hi Vanessa and Matthew :-)
I have been working for two months now on setting up an animation movie unit
in India, and to a large extent I have been successful. I have done a decent
lot of samll flicks and ad-films and so on. I feel it is nearly time to move
on the rally BIG BIG !! business of making a full fledged animation movie.
The outline has just been completed, adn I would start the storyboarding
sometime next month.
I wanted to know whether there is something that is really good on the s/w
front for anim production. The tools I use are cumbersome and ill-equipped.

Hope to hear from any one of you soon :-)

I hear macromind Director is decent though I haven't tackled it yet because
the learning curve and price are steep for me.  I hope you check back in,
I would be interested in hearing more about your project.

I have tried MM Director .. and it has a lotsa glitches when it comes to
really fast and thorough rendering . Which means I have to use something like
3DS
MAX to do some neat stuff that MM doesnt allow me. Also, I have tried
something called TicTacToon :-) seems to be the current rage. But the system
does nto love it . Also the price is blooming high ;-) 

To give you an idea how behind my info is, the last great thing that I know
of that's great for all kinds of special effects and animation is
Video Toaster for the Amiga.  Also, Paint VII was supposed to be a great
thing for animation, as well, as one could save your work on the medium of
your choice.  (including VHS and other format tape)  I hear that they have
something similar (don't know who) and are calling it "new technology".
Give me a break.  How very 1982 of them!
I have also heard that Silacon Graphics stations are great to have, and
that they actually come with some of the best software in the business.
(doesn't everyone know that???)
The only other lead I have is that Xaos is coming out with a new Engine for
graphics that's  supposed to be unpresidented.  (aren't they all?)
I Think it's called "Flash" and that it's coming out (in the US) in December.
I am very curious about this one, for new standards are always in my interest.
(Microsoft must *die*, and Adobe is too comfortable in it's business.)
Chao,
v

While this is sorta off topic, I just thought to say that one of my favorite
examples of computer animation was a television show called "Reboot."
What we (in the USA) saw on ABC was only a small fraction of what MainFrame
Intertainment can do.  This current season, running in Canada, has been some
of the best script writing in an animated series *I have ever seen*.  The
graphics are also nothing to sneeze at, very beautiful and more entropied than
last season.  While "animae" does have much of the plot complexity and beauty
that you'd expect, reboot has more character development for main characters
than I have even seen there.  bumblbee, if you have seen it  (esp. the late
stuff... the ABC stuff was simple and bouncy because that's what ABC wanted)
let me know what you think!
Font

Still watching saturday morning cartoons, huh Vanessa? ;)
Anyways, speaking of actual computer animation, I just saw a *new* coca-cola
polar-bear ad, and thought it looked great. There was some water in it, which
I am not sure whether it was animated or not. Does anybody know the technical
details of these ads? I think that they are about the most 3d looking full
cgi that I have seen in a while... so I would like to find out the tech
details of their production...
On another note, I would also like to mention the WORST comp animation i have
seen on broadcast television: a cartoon called BeastWars. The animation is
positively dreadful -- to the point that it is hard to figure out exactly what
is going on, and what character is what. (Of course, the fact that their
voices are all terribly overacted doesn't help too much either). The animation
in this is definitely not terribly much better than MechWarrior 3 <grin>.
Anyways, for those of you doing animation, i suggest taking a look at this
show to figure out what NOT to do. I don't really know when its on, but the
entertainment section of the A2 news probably does. :) I personally think
about the only thing this show does well is textures. Hell -- if they were
doing comp graphics for a steel ad, it would be downright formidable... :)

Doesn't anybody make non animation films anymore! I work for aN NGO - we
make video documentaries - and we haven't really felt the need to use 3D
animation in our films. Could we discuss some short cuts that any of you
are practising to cut costa - in the pre as well as post production
stages. I'm in India BTW.

Re 3: I hear that Macromedia hasn't called itself Macromind in many, many 
years now.

Re 5: Yes, your info is quite dated. The name of the company is "NewTek", 
not to be confused with "Newer Technologies", which makes CPU upgrade 
cards. The Video Toaster was once the breakthrough piece of video gear. 
When the Amiga started turning belly-down, they switched to NT. You can 
still get a "New Video Toaster", which is D1 through and through, but the 
real news is happening elsewhere.

A bunch of people from NewTek defected (including Kiki Stockhammer) and 
formed a company called "Play", which makes, among other things, the 
Trinity, which is very much like a Toaster. On crack.

While the Toaster is no longer anywhere near the leading edge, I wouldn't 
worry about NewTek. There were many people who once considered the 
Toaster a "$5000 dongle" that you had to buy to be able to run LightWave 
3D, and that was their main use for it. NewTek had the sense to unbundle 
it from the Toaster, and it's still one of the leading 3D apps. 

And they're also doing quite well with their Calibar, which is a $300 
signal/test pattern generator, about the size of a tire pressure gauge. 
We have one. It's pretty effin' handy.

Toaster Trivia: One of the primary people behind the early days of the 
Video Toaster was Brad Carvey. He later animated the dragonfly sequence 
in "Men In Black". And he also served as the model for his brother Dana's 
"Garth" character on "Saturday Night Live".

And Flash had already come out and was well on its way to establishment 
during the summer of 1997. Memory is failing me about who developed the 
first version, FutureSplash, but since it's been called Flash it's been a 
Macromedia product, all the way.

Re 7: Many of the key people behind the Coca-Cola Polar Bears ads were 
also behind "Stuart Little".

Re 8: Depends on what that question means. You can see "non-animated" 
films all the time. But if your question is "doesn't anybody make films 
that have exactly no computer animation in them at all", well, that 
figure is dwindling. A lot of time animation is snuck in, 
surreptitiously, to fill in sets or locations, or to make stunts look 
more spectacular.

i feel that more movies concentrating on comedy should be produced so that
people who are really stressed out could ease seeing them. i want a public
opinion on this.

I hate most movie comedies of the "stupid" variety. I find Tom Hanks'
comedies tolerable. But I don't think comedies relieve much stress
since whatever causes one's  stress is there waiting for one when the
movie ends.

i have tried mm director and found that it conflicts with a lot of ati video
graphics i would suggest finding another directing porgram........wokka11

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