View Full Version : From the maker of Jake Hard [OT]
Hell-demon
08-02-14, 02:01
I like writing as some of you may know and I like to entertain. One thing I do in my spare time is video production and I would like to show you my latest endeavour:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ef8NPEbLo30
Hope you enjoy and I hope it entertains. :)
Drachenpaladin
08-02-14, 04:52
Er mah hole sheet....
Drachenpaladin
08-02-14, 05:49
The message is a bit late, the work is timeless.
That was actually quite entertaining :)
One of the reasons I enjoy surfing YouTube, is to reminisce over my TV / video production days (yes folks, that was my previous career in the 1990s!) while I enjoy the production values and efforts of young wannabe film-makers. You can find some real gold if you dig deep enough.
Your video is spookily reminiscent of some of my own work, especially my experimentation with puppets and voice acting.
If you're happy to receive some constructive criticism of your work and technique, I'll be happy to oblige. Just let me know if you'd rather it be kept to PM or shared with the world.
... to reminisce over my TV / video production days (yes folks, that was my previous career in the 1990s!)
I hope it's not what I think it is.
Doc Holliday
20-02-14, 04:14
I hope it's not what I think it is.
Does it involve large moustaches?
William Antrim
20-02-14, 11:55
I think I saw some of Hoder's work on an amateur channel once; p-hub or something like that.... the acting was poor but the German lady involved really seemed to enjoy herself!
Hell-demon
20-02-14, 16:49
That was actually quite entertaining :)
One of the reasons I enjoy surfing YouTube, is to reminisce over my TV / video production days (yes folks, that was my previous career in the 1990s!) while I enjoy the production values and efforts of young wannabe film-makers. You can find some real gold if you dig deep enough.
Your video is spookily reminiscent of some of my own work, especially my experimentation with puppets and voice acting.
If you're happy to receive some constructive criticism of your work and technique, I'll be happy to oblige. Just let me know if you'd rather it be kept to PM or shared with the world.
Hoder that would be great. Please share with us :)
I'm very passionate about film making and I've been teaching myself film over a few years. I've learnt through trial and error and work with very low budgets. If you look at my channel you can see my humble origins and (hopefully) see my skill set improve.
Currently trying to save up to do my masters and then go into teaching. I would still film and make it a hobby but I really want to enthuse other people with my passion for writing and video production. It can be a steep learning curve and I have massive respect for anyone in the business, especially amateurs such as myself and other underdogs.
Was it puppet porn, Hoder?
William Antrim
20-02-14, 17:31
Can you make a NC Real Life film HD? Like with some actors and some shit special effects? That would be sick. Coincide it with an NC gathering and have actual community members playing themselves in the game.
DJ could be rainbow bear :) hehe.
No really though for advertising purposes it would be cool - if done well enough to not look amateur but at the same time clearly marketed as a community effort it might get a few hits?
Hell-demon
20-02-14, 19:06
Can you make a NC Real Life film HD? Like with some actors and some shit special effects? That would be sick. Coincide it with an NC gathering and have actual community members playing themselves in the game.
DJ could be rainbow bear :) hehe.
No really though for advertising purposes it would be cool - if done well enough to not look amateur but at the same time clearly marketed as a community effort it might get a few hits?
I was going to begin work in the summer on a video version of the neocron timeline, you know the one on the website and in the manual.
Who knows. Might come to fruition.
Anyone interested, here's another film of mine from my student days:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ReWc_cmsR4
Dribble Joy
20-02-14, 19:40
Can you make a NC Real Life film HD? Like with some actors and some shit special effects? That would be sick. Coincide it with an NC gathering and have actual community members playing themselves in the game.
DJ could be rainbow bear :) hehe.
I was planning to buy a camcorder and take it to the last meetup. I was going to do some sketches and silly things with all of us, edit it together and put it up on the tubes.
Alas munnies were a bit short due to a rather hefty MOT bill.
Probably getting it next month. Will definitely be bringing it to the next one.
William Antrim
20-02-14, 19:48
I saw a video for apb that did this. If you guys do it it would be well smart.
Hoder that would be great. Please share with us :)
Was it puppet porn, Hoder?Ok, you asked for it!
No, I didn't do any puppet porn, but my dabbling with puppets took place after I became a big fan of Spitting Image (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spitting_image) in the 1980s. No recording was ever made, despite making a full-size makeshift puppet for a screen test. Only some polaroid stills survive. No, I won't be posting them :p My next endeavour in the puppet world was a variant of Morph (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morph_%28character%29) where I was to use stop-motion film animation (yes, I even had the multi speed film camera) to bring it to life. The set was built, but my model making skills were frankly crap, so what with a deformed looking creature on a wire skeleton I'd made too thick, together with the lack of a good script, I simply lost heart and scrapped the production. If only I'd known a good comedy writer when I was a teenager!
Anyway, growing up beyond my teenage years, I got my City & Guilds in TV & Video production, cut my teeth at the BBC in Manchester at the old Oxford Road studios (now demolished), then spent a few years making wedding videos, corporate and promotional videos before leaving the industry at about the time I really got into computers. My technical prowess was pre PC editing days. None of this drag-and-drop onto the timeline nonsense (although I did learn all that before I changed careers), my skills were analogue AB roll VT editing, optical film splicing and other pre-21st century goodness. I still have a standalone analogue caption generator that plugs into any analogue TV / VTR. Not a mouse or hard drive to be seen!
All of these fun skills I learned were ancillary to my main passion, photography and lighting. To this end, I'm happy to share with you my honest appraisal of the camera-shot sections of your video, together with some tips to help you improve your in-vision technique.
Framing and Composition
The background of a bookcase, sash curtains against a mansion window is an excellent idea and works well. It sets the scene of a "batty old professor's study" beautifully. Unfortunately, when the professor is placed in front of this elegant set, the framing looks somewhat awkward.
Look at any television interview and you will see the "rule of thirds". Imagine the screen divided into 9 squares, 3 high by 3 across. If a presenter is directly facing the camera, his head and body combined should occupy the centre top, centre middle and centre bottom squares, leaving the leftmost third of the screen mostly empty, as well as the rightmost third. This is generally what you have achieved, but the vertical placement of the puppet is the concern. The head occupies the centre square, the body occupies the centre bottom, but the centre top is totally empty. In other words, there is far too much "headroom". Now fast forward to 10:20 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=ef8NPEbLo30#t=620) and here the framing is much better with the correct amount of headroom. This continuity needs to be kept throughout the video. You may have the camera zoomed in or out for long shots, mid shots or close ups, but the headroom should remain balanced in relation to the amount of body in the shot.
Focus
I can see what you've done here. Every lone cameraman (without an actor in place when setting up the shot) will focus on the background, only to walk in front of camera but closer to it, making your face out of focus.
If you're working alone, a good idea is to place the puppet over an empty vertical microphone stand while you set up your shot and focus on the puppet. Depth of field (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Depth_of_field) is far less at longer focal lengths, so zoom fully in to the target, set your focus there, then zoom out again to the desired shot width. For continuity, you may even decide to keep the microphone stand inside the puppet at the same time as your hand, so you have the reassurance that you don't accidentally move the puppet out of shot or out of focus during a take. After all, no-one will see what's inside the puppet. Use of a monitor close up to where you are puppeteering is vital. Not only for the feedback while moving and acting, but to keep a close eye on focus problems which may cause you to retake the shot if necessary. Of course, there's no substitute for staff. A cameraman permanently behind the camera will take care of all of this, even while actors and puppets ad-lib and bounce around the set.
Lighting
The background is excellently lit. It's natural and evenly spread. The way you side lit the bookcase on the left really highlights the book spines that adds a nice depth and detail to the background.
Unfortunately, the poor professor is comparatively dimly lit, and his light (which looks incandescent) clashes with the cooler background daylight. It looks like you have a lightbulb directly above or slightly behind his head, which illuminates the top of his bonce, but his face, chin and clothing are all in shadow.
What you are missing here is a filler light. A filler should be above (and generally behind) the camera, shining forwards onto the subject. Even on a BBC miniscule budget, a simple desk lamp will do, providing you diffuse the light through some thin tissue paper. The filler should be a similar colour temperature (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colour_temperature#Categorizing_different_lighting) to the background light. If you have daylight flooding the bookcase and the back of the prof, then simply pop a daylight bulb (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Crompton-Daylight-Bulbs-Bayonet-Craftlight/dp/B005QLW2MM) in to your desklamp filler light and you can see the eccentric old chap in all his smoking jacket glory, what what!
Audio
You have an obvious talent for voice acting, and this comes through really well in your voice-overs of the in-game footage. The dubbing is balanced well with the background game soundtrack, seems to be closely miked, and the overall soundtrack is normalised (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audio_normalization) well.
This clean audio does clash with shots of the professor, where his voice actor now sounds echoey and distant. Were you underneath the puppet shouting towards the camera's built-in mic? Oh dear! A headset mic is the puppeteer's friend :) You probably use one for gaming, so give it some love while puppeteering. With the right adaptors and cables, even a gaming headset can connect with a video camera or a mixing desk. As a last resort, even if you need to shoot pick-ups or retakes, you can dub a voice over a pre-shot puppet clip as lip sync will be less noticeable with a puppet.
I hope you find this information useful. I look forward to seeing your next project :)
Hell-demon
22-02-14, 01:18
Ok, you asked for it!
No, I didn't do any puppet porn, but my dabbling with puppets took place after I became a big fan of Spitting Image (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spitting_image) in the 1980s. No recording was ever made, despite making a full-size makeshift puppet for a screen test. Only some polaroid stills survive. No, I won't be posting them :p My next endeavour in the puppet world was a variant of Morph (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morph_%28character%29) where I was to use stop-motion film animation (yes, I even had the multi speed film camera) to bring it to life. The set was built, but my model making skills were frankly crap, so what with a deformed looking creature on a wire skeleton I'd made too thick, together with the lack of a good script, I simply lost heart and scrapped the production. If only I'd known a good comedy writer when I was a teenager!
Anyway, growing up beyond my teenage years, I got my City & Guilds in TV & Video production, cut my teeth at the BBC in Manchester at the old Oxford Road studios (now demolished), then spent a few years making wedding videos, corporate and promotional videos before leaving the industry at about the time I really got into computers. My technical prowess was pre PC editing days. None of this drag-and-drop onto the timeline nonsense (although I did learn all that before I changed careers), my skills were analogue AB roll VT editing, optical film splicing and other pre-21st century goodness. I still have a standalone analogue caption generator that plugs into any analogue TV / VTR. Not a mouse or hard drive to be seen!
All of these fun skills I learned were ancillary to my main passion, photography and lighting. To this end, I'm happy to share with you my honest appraisal of the camera-shot sections of your video, together with some tips to help you improve your in-vision technique.
Framing and Composition
The background of a bookcase, sash curtains against a mansion window is an excellent idea and works well. It sets the scene of a "batty old professor's study" beautifully. Unfortunately, when the professor is placed in front of this elegant set, the framing looks somewhat awkward.
Look at any television interview and you will see the "rule of thirds". Imagine the screen divided into 9 squares, 3 high by 3 across. If a presenter is directly facing the camera, his head and body combined should occupy the centre top, centre middle and centre bottom squares, leaving the leftmost third of the screen mostly empty, as well as the rightmost third. This is generally what you have achieved, but the vertical placement of the puppet is the concern. The head occupies the centre square, the body occupies the centre bottom, but the centre top is totally empty. In other words, there is far too much "headroom". Now fast forward to 10:20 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=ef8NPEbLo30#t=620) and here the framing is much better with the correct amount of headroom. This continuity needs to be kept throughout the video. You may have the camera zoomed in or out for long shots, mid shots or close ups, but the headroom should remain balanced in relation to the amount of body in the shot.
Focus
I can see what you've done here. Every lone cameraman (without an actor in place when setting up the shot) will focus on the background, only to walk in front of camera but closer to it, making your face out of focus.
If you're working alone, a good idea is to place the puppet over an empty vertical microphone stand while you set up your shot and focus on the puppet. Depth of field (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Depth_of_field) is far less at longer focal lengths, so zoom fully in to the target, set your focus there, then zoom out again to the desired shot width. For continuity, you may even decide to keep the microphone stand inside the puppet at the same time as your hand, so you have the reassurance that you don't accidentally move the puppet out of shot or out of focus during a take. After all, no-one will see what's inside the puppet. Use of a monitor close up to where you are puppeteering is vital. Not only for the feedback while moving and acting, but to keep a close eye on focus problems which may cause you to retake the shot if necessary. Of course, there's no substitute for staff. A cameraman permanently behind the camera will take care of all of this, even while actors and puppets ad-lib and bounce around the set.
Lighting
The background is excellently lit. It's natural and evenly spread. The way you side lit the bookcase on the left really highlights the book spines that adds a nice depth and detail to the background.
Unfortunately, the poor professor is comparatively dimly lit, and his light (which looks incandescent) clashes with the cooler background daylight. It looks like you have a lightbulb directly above or slightly behind his head, which illuminates the top of his bonce, but his face, chin and clothing are all in shadow.
What you are missing here is a filler light. A filler should be above (and generally behind) the camera, shining forwards onto the subject. Even on a BBC miniscule budget, a simple desk lamp will do, providing you diffuse the light through some thin tissue paper. The filler should be a similar colour temperature (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colour_temperature#Categorizing_different_lighting) to the background light. If you have daylight flooding the bookcase and the back of the prof, then simply pop a daylight bulb (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Crompton-Daylight-Bulbs-Bayonet-Craftlight/dp/B005QLW2MM) in to your desklamp filler light and you can see the eccentric old chap in all his smoking jacket glory, what what!
Audio
You have an obvious talent for voice acting, and this comes through really well in your voice-overs of the in-game footage. The dubbing is balanced well with the background game soundtrack, seems to be closely miked, and the overall soundtrack is normalised (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audio_normalization) well.
This clean audio does clash with shots of the professor, where his voice actor now sounds echoey and distant. Were you underneath the puppet shouting towards the camera's built-in mic? Oh dear! A headset mic is the puppeteer's friend :) You probably use one for gaming, so give it some love while puppeteering. With the right adaptors and cables, even a gaming headset can connect with a video camera or a mixing desk. As a last resort, even if you need to shoot pick-ups or retakes, you can dub a voice over a pre-shot puppet clip as lip sync will be less noticeable with a puppet.
I hope you find this information useful. I look forward to seeing your next project :)
All valid and most come from my budget. All I have is a camera and tripod to my name. No lighting equipment, no mic and not really that fancy a camera. I did not have the patience to redub the footage of the professor in his library, because it's difficult to sync the mouth. All voice over work for the footage was done by me recording myself under bed covers to get rid of echo.
It is tough being out of university and being a one man production company. Yet, we must all start some where. I do enjoy working with low budgets and making something entertaining for very little money. That video cost me £35 and that was the cost of the puppet :p
Dribble Joy
22-02-14, 01:44
Does your camera have an external mic input? The right mic (especially a shotgun mic) will greatly help in this sort of endeavor.
Hell-demon
22-02-14, 03:22
Nope. :(
I need better tech behind me. And money. Mostly money. :(
Currently am unemployed....
All voice over work for the footage was done by me recording myself under bed covers to get rid of echo.Great minds think alike! I still do that when recording my voicemail messages :cool:
By the way, is your comedy style in any way influenced by Kenny Everett?
Hell-demon
22-02-14, 21:06
Great minds think alike! I still do that when recording my voicemail messages :cool:
By the way, is your comedy style in any way influenced by Kenny Everett?
I would say it's a mix of Charlie Brooker, Ben Croshaw, Chris Morris and my own eccentric style.
I do find that being a cheapskate makes you be more creative a resourceful. My green screen is just green card bought from a craft store for £3. Made gore out of a severed pigs head for £1 too but that's another story.
Hell-demon
01-03-14, 09:30
New vid if anyone's interested.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aERwYT1UacE
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