November 2014

The Duel – The Beast

Posted on November 23, 2014

The Beast is the name I have affectionately given to this last shot, as it is the longest single shot in the film (10 seconds) – which is a lot of keyframing… especially at 60fps (why did we decide to shoot it like that…?!). It’s also a lot more time consuming, as instead of using 2D elements and moving them around to look like they’re interacting in 3D space, I’m using 3D elements and a virtual camera. This makes certain things easier, but ultimately makes it harder for me to animate and control elements (more due to my lack of experience than the elements themselves).

The good news is that it is the last shot left on the film… sort of. There’s still some finishing touches and things to fix up on other shots, but for the bulk of it, this is the final one. So that’s exciting. Although it’ll take a while to do just this shot, so don’t hold your breath. Then there’s still sound effects and music to finish.

It’s getting closer though… and oh my, I just realised, it’s been almost a year since we filmed this. We filmed it on the 18th of December, 2013. So it looks like it will take over a year just for the post-production. That’s a little depressing. But it’s also exciting because that means it’s almost Christmas! Hooray!

Miracles Denied

Posted on November 2, 2014

We don’t stop often enough to consider and appreciate the unfathomable miracles we take for granted in our everyday lives. Although I say they’re unfathomable, let’s give it a try. Let’s do a little fathoming.

We walk our own path; one that only we can fully understand. Only we can know our own journey in its entirety, for it is too vast, too complex to be able to express or communicate to anyone else. Everyone has their own worlds to deal with; their own experiences, and yet this causes us to be oblivious to the fact that everyone else also has a complex path of their own, leading them to the moment they’re currently living.

It is a miracle every time you pass a stranger in the street. The chances of you being at exactly the same place, at exactly the same time as that other person is astronomical. Your many years of living, likely taking you around countries, states or cities; each decision made, big or small, ultimately leads you to this moment. And it doesn’t end there.

There are an enormous amount of decisions made by those before you and around you which lead you to this moment. Hundreds, if not thousands of years work might have gone into placing you on that particular street on Thursday at exactly 4:12pm. You might have only been there for a minute. Only sixty seconds. And yet for the first time in history, and quite possibly the last, your long, winding, complex path crosses with a certain stranger’s. Someone you have never crossed paths with before and may never again. Someone who has their own entire world of experiences and decisions; their path stretching back years and years, carefully leading them toward this exact point in time, where the two paths momentarily intersect.

This immeasurably unlikely miracle is often not even considered. It goes by unnoticed. Perhaps we should let our worlds collide. Interact with those around us and take advantage of the impossible opportunity in which we’re lucky to have found ourselves. Let’s at least appreciate the incalculable odds of two strangers crossing paths, for every second of every day there are paths crossing for the first and last time, all over the world. Missed opportunities; miracles denied.

Let’s change that. Let’s interact with the other paths; join them for a moment. Become a part of their world, their experiences, their story. Let’s impact their journey, even if in the smallest way.

Who knows what waves we might cause with our ripples?