Celtx Against Maleria Student Challenge

Check this awesome challenge: Celtx Against Maleria Student Challenge.

The video on that page is inspiring, especially the words of the filmmakers:

I make media that matters

If I can get my video editing problems figured out into a consistent, reliable, and proficient workflow, I would love to participate in this challenge.

I am now participating in the Morevna Project and am working on learning how to draw one of the main characters, Ivan, as well as drawing a soldier design suggestion.

Check out our new Minosa Films Production Forum! Sign up to the Forest Quest forum (follow the link and hit “Register”) and start discussing current projects (uh… well, we don’t really have any current project discussions on there yet… LOL)

So, anyhow, those are some updates.

God bless, and, as always, best wishes,

-b

Not sure what to write…

Not sure what to write, so here’s some news:

I’m now part of the Morevna Project team. I don’t know all that I’ll be contributing at this point, but I definitely want to get better at my manga (anime) drawing!
The Morevna Project wiki on Synfig.org

Still haven’t resolved all my software (editing) issues. I have been sidetracked on that. Also have a hardware need.

I hope to edit a film some friends and I worked on together. It’s not a Minosa Films production per se, but it will really help me to learn my editing and test out whether or not I really can or cannot edit (at least with this workflow…) And besides that, I will get part one of a film done, gain skills, and make my friends really happy! ;D

Production Plan:

Title	Status	Scheduled Shoot	About
Is This Love?	WIP	N/A	A (very) short film depicting the true sacrifice of love
Family First	>Some work has been done	N/A	A lovely drama short film about a father/daughter turmoil and resolution
Promo	WIP	Optional moon shot done	Minosa Films’ very own promotion video!

Hope to get this all worked out… glad for possibilities, wishing for resolutions…

Also, we now have a production forum of sorts.  Check it out here.

Create an account and start posting!  Some sections in this category (of the forum) may eventually be locked for Minosa Films users only – that is, those who I give the password to.

Aaanyhow, thanks for all, and your prayers especially,

We’re gonna make it together!

-b

The Morevna Project

Yes! Finally! Praise God! My first real article has been accepted to BlenderNation (BlenderNation is the central news site for Blender, the free open source 3D content creation suite.[1])

Read the article now!

I am so glad and highly appreciative that my article as been accepted. I have been endeavoring to get an article submitted for some time now, and had somewhat given up hope (for a time) that I would ever get something submitted. But Bart (Bart Veldhuizen, BlenderNation’s primary contributor and founder) has been cleaning out the backup of article suggestions that the Blender open source community has been sending in. A recent addition to BlenderNation has been the “Rapid Fire” articles, shooting off multiple, short article suggestions and links. A wonderful idea!

So, I am very thankful for Bart accepting my article! And I am also thankful to Zelgadis (Head of the Morevna Project) for leading the open source community of Synfig in an endeavor to create this open source animé film and for letting me know my article had been submitted (I hadn’t found out yet!) Also many thanks to the Morevna Project open source community contributors and all the open source developers, artists, and enthusiasts of many kinds spanning the globe.

See the Morevna Project official website
See the project wiki

God bless and best wishes,
-b

A prayer for filmmaking

Lord, please help me to be able to make films. Thank you for the grace you have allowed me and showing me how to get this far.

May the road ahead be brighter than the night behind, may the sun rise swiftly upon my weary face, may my soul be refreshed at the springs of justice, my hope renewed at the wells of mercy.

May my path be guided upon each turn I make, and may my feet find swiftly the road I am to take.

God bless me, my friends, and all those who want to be filmmakers.  May our journey be sweet and ushered upon the dirt paths to quiet victory, down the dales of February frost and early June flowers, to the river of conquest unto the sea of rest.

May the journey we choose be worth all our lives.

God, please hear our prayer, amen.

-b

Pendulum upon the precipice

I am not sure what is ahead.  Every step is a new direction – all feet set forward upon one path, each stride turning upon a seperate trail: my interests split, my concentration fractioned, my hope dispelled.

Regathering my wit and course, I set once more for my goal – but swirve all too soon upon some spurious idea that has tinged my curiousity to the point of action.  And alas, I am left bare of results once again.

But the tide does not always carry me this way, nor the wind press my path in such a scurried manner – it is I, unsure of my future, who takes on every new legend and occupation that could hap fall upon someone seeking a victorious conquest.  Unwise, yes.  Nieve, perhaps.  Who I am, yes.

So here I am, still trying to figure out video editing with a limited budget and waning time – my friends I hope have not found lack in my progress, though most likely their hearts are ticking on as the clock’s pendelum swings back and forth, each moment bringing full tide of another hour and two days.

But here I am, yet I stand, endeavoring to conquer.

And perhaps I will.

-b

Stalemate – well, sort of

I’ve run into a stalemate of sorts due to hardware limitations.  It’s better than it could be, but a solution will need to be found before I can absentmindedly run ahead with this video editing business.

So, anyhow, I ask for your prayers in this matter and that God would provide for what I need.

Thanks for listening and sticking in there with me!

Working on various video editing things, trying to get my workflow going, working toward a Minosa Films demo video… whooo!  See ya,

-b

“The Soloist” – a very promising film

The Soloist, a feature film to debut this November looks to be one of the best dramas this year.  Directed by Joe Wright (Atonement and Pride and Prejudice,) The Soloist is a true story about a journalist, Steve Lopez (Robert Downey Jr.) who stumbles upon a gifted musician playing violin on the street (Jamie Foxx,) a bedraggled man in his 50’s who was once a musical prodigy.  The two men become friends and the drama unfolds.

The Soloist (2008) Trailer (from YouTube)

See the high-quality trailer on Apple.com: http://www.apple.com/trailers/paramount/thesoloist/

This film may turn out to be a wonderful drama with a heart-felt story, well worth watching.

Looking forward to the days ahead!

-b

YEEES! Video editing is becoming possible

YEEEEES!  It’s working!  Praise the Lord! Whoot!  Yahoo!

OK, onto the point:  I have successfully produced a very short video clip from a 720×480 (or was it HD SP?) mpeg2 video file into a final output of a 720×480 mpeg2!  This may sound like “So what?”, so let me explain:

Using Rob Scott’s BunnyHopHop workflow I have used Blender 2.47 to do a minor edit to a 720×480 (or was it HD SP?) mpeg2 file with proxies, exported an excerpt of the video to PNG, optimized an AVS script in AvsP, (find the AviSynth wiki here,) ran it in QuEnc to encode the video to mpeg2, and the final result was a compressed 720×480 video with a/v in sync!

See a screenshot:

Current video editing workflow: Blender, AvsP, QuEnc, and VLC Player

Praise the Lord!  This is a  big mile marker in my video editing journey!

Now I hope all my editing needs will be met by open source software and Blender, and that BlenderAVC will rise to meet the standards of editing HD in the open source world!

About BlenderAVC:

BlenderAVC is an open-source project to provide the “glue” between Blender’s Sequence Editor and video in the AVCHD format. It provides a way of automating the creation of AviSynth scripts and proxy files so that AVCHD and HDV video can be efficiently edited within Blender.

[from the Open Filmmaking page on BlenderAVC.]

God bless!  I look forward to the journey ahead,

Thanks a million, Rob Scott!!!

-b

P.S. The video I tested was from a number of .tod video files through CyberLink BD: PowerDirector Express and exported to mpeg2.  In future testing I may use other workflows to optimize the time spent/quality.

Testing Blender VSE with HD proxy

Hey everyone!

Testing Blender’s VSE (Video Sequence Editor) for my editing needs.  So far it’s working well, once God helped me figure out how to get the audio and video the same length.  (Clue: import the audio and video separately, then make a meta strip to keep them together if you want to.)

Testing Blender VSE with HD proxy

(Watching the video real-time with a 25% proxy is great!  Unlike using Premiere Pro 1.0, playing the video back on Blender’s preview window is fast enough and sweet for viewing!)

Interlacing is bad, so I may use VirtualDub for that.  Depends.

If I can get good results from Blender, I may go with it for now and keep the JVC Everio GZ-HD7, instead of downsizing my camcorder.

Hopefully BlenderAVC will continue to be developed so I can import my video directly (without worrying about conversion.)

I hope this all works out!  Thanks to all who recommended using Blender for editing my video.  I should have tried it again earlier – then again, what’s wrong with now?  “The road goes ever one” as Bilbo sings, and it’s the journey that brings memories and experience.

Best wishes, peace out,

-b

Next step

We all have our journey, and I praise God for his grace and provision in my life.

Very soon is the next step for me.  Be ready for your leap of impossibilities, because if you wait and persevered long enough, the rush of the river may spill out and you will be amazed at what unfolds in your path.

But please, know this: God is love, and he will make a way.  He works out all things for good, and, if you hold on and seek him, you will find him.  It is promised.

God bless and best wishes down the road, friends!

-b