November 21, 2010 (Sun)

A slow day.  I got some screencaps of possible cover images for a DVD label for Doppelganger.  Not sure how to place them, though.  InDesign, maybe?

Update:  Well, I'm using InDesign to create the DVD cover.  This is kind of surprising, because I haven't even touched InDesign, ever.  Although a lot of it is very arcane, and I can't seem to get certain things (angled text, for example) that I'd like, still...that's probably the shortest learning curve I've experienced.

A bit of painting but nothing really major.   And then tomorrow.

November 20, 2010 (Sat)

Well, I thought I'd relax and watch the 1980's remake of The Blob.  But part 12 kept nagging at me, and I'd take various breaks to work on sound things.  And I got it finished.

The next step is to put them all together and see what needs to be papered over.  Which sounds like a good Saturday job.  (It's a bit after 3 AM as I type this.)

Update:  I assembled part two, then went in and wallpapered over all the weak transitions.  So part two looks really, really good (and sounds great, too).  The problem comes with part one--now the soundtrack there just seems...not as good.  Do I want to redo the whole thing?  No.

Well, to be fair, part two's soundtrack is quite dense and plays to the action much better.  I hadn't realized just how much could be done within the Sony software.  So, I will probably go in and give each chapter of part one a good, solid look, but I think much of the current soundtrack will probably do quite nicely as is.

Update 2:  And it's done.  I reworked the first seven chapters, not so much replacing things as just enhancing them.  Created part one, and then joined it to part two.  Doppelganger, the Special Edition, is done.  Maybe I should think about a nice cover image for it.

Right now, I'm moving most of the source files to the NAS to free up some C Drive space.

And I think that's a good day's work.  See you tomorrow!

November 19, 2010 (Fri)

I finished up Part 11 last night.  Loaded up part 12, but right now I'm feeling far too sick to contemplate working on it.  We'll see how the rest of the day pans out.

Update: I've done most of it.  Still a few bits to add here and there.  I don't really know if I want to do any more tonight, so I'm going to post this now.

See you tomorrow.

November 18, 2010 (Thurs)

Difficult night last night.  I think I am getting, at the least, a cold.

No swimming today, as noted yesterday.

Went out and bought some cold medication.  Let's hope this does something good.

Update:  well, I completed DG part 10, and this one was a bear.  A fun bear, though.  I thought I might add some effects to the dream sequence, and this turned out to be more arduous and time-consuming than I originally thought.  The end result looks really good, though.  Sound track completed as well, and on the whole it works.

It's only a bit after 8 at the moment, but I already feel somewhat tired.  Nonetheless, let's see what the rest of the evening holds in store.

Update 2: worked some on DG 11, coming along nicely.  Perhaps will be done tonight?  We'll see!

And to tomorrow.

November 17, 2010 (Wed)

I finished up the "resurrection" scene last night, and put all of Part One together in one clip.  It works pretty well, though in some cases the volume is a little off.  And I'm still not sure if the driving scenes need more audio work.  But overall I'm happy.

Loaded in the next clip and wow, this one is going to be hard.  It's almost entirely scenes of a car driving, so it's going to be hard to make it interesting.  Oh well, a challenge isn't bad.

Fifty laps in the pool.  All in one go.  While I certainly don't want this to become a habit, it's nice that I can do it without any strain.

I don't think I'll go to the pool the rest of the week, however.  I'm feeling rather unwell, and I hope it isn't the flu.  Not sure what sources of vitamin C I can eat/drink.  I ate some carrots and that seemed to help, oddly enough.

As for DG Part 8, it all went really well.  The soundtrack is multi-layered and works really well for what is almost entirely driving scenes.  It makes me want to redo all the rest of them.  (Not really.)

Part 9 is the bleeding photograph.  That should be less of a challenge, though I hope I can do as good a job.

Update: not too bad on the photo scene.  And on to tomorrow.  

November 16, 2010 (Tues)

Up shortly before 7 AM, and into the pool around 8:45.  Did fifty laps in the pool, which is certainly not usual but doesn't seem that difficult.   I even managed to do them before the swim class started at 10, which was a real surprise.

Added sound to part 5 of Doppelganger.  Loaded up part 6, and we'll see how well that goes.  I think part 7 is the murder scene, which ought to be fun.

Update: well, Part 6 had the murder, and I've made it even more unsettling now.   Part 7 is the brief resurrection, which I may be able to do tonight.  It's only a bit after 10 after all.

Bored and depressed.  Not sure why.  Cat is also restless.  Must be the onset of the holiday season or something.

Update 2: almost finished with scene 7, but wanted to post this before midnight.  See you tomorrow.

November 15, 2010 (Mon)

Up pretty late working on paintings and soundtrack stuff.  For the latter, I was trying to tweak the closing credits music to include the main title.  More difficult than I thought, with some work still to go.

Swam around noon.  Rainy day today, so not much impetus to travel.  Even the cat doesn't want to go out.  By the way, Leela ate her regular cat food without any fuss.  With enthusiasm, even.

Scored a complete section of Doppelganger (part 4) relatively quickly.  A nice little rollicking theme, with a touch of the main title tossed in.

And then, it's tomorrow.  See you then.