Interesting article on using 3D printers to fine-tune stop-motion character expressions: 3D printer brings animated movie stars to life.
Susan Ee
www.feraldream.com
I finally got my W700 issue resolved (I hope). Lenovo took back the computer and sent me a new one (after about 6 weeks and a dozen calls or so) and UPS is supposedly paying for the computer that they left out on the porch in freezing weather for 6 days. I'm supposed to be grateful that I don't have to pay extra in addition to all the hassles -- gosh, thanks, Lenovo and UPS.
Moving on... So I'm finally setting it up. So far, so good. But I want to set the default display brightness to half of what it comes with for 2 reasons:
1) It's a waste of electricity unless I need the extra bright screen.
2) I work with two computers simultaneously - one for the graphics/footage and the other to look up the eternal question of "how the heck do I do X?" The W700 is about double the brightness of my other computers and it makes my other displays look really dim. It's hard on the eyes to go back and forth between them. (I got the bright screen because I want the option to use it as my on-site production computer in places where it will be quite bright.)
I called tech support and he told me to do the following to set the default display brightness:
- Restart computer
- press F1 (before Windows initiates)
- go into Bios
- go into Config
- go into LCD (or display) setting and choose your brightness setting
- press F10 (this will save the setting and you'll come out of Bios)
The tech guy said that I'll still have the option to ramp up the brightness when I need it, but that it'll default to what I set it to whenever the display turns on. I don't like messing with the Bios but I think it's worth it because even when I manually reduce the brightness, it defaults to 400NITS whenever the screen comes back on, which, since mine turns off after 10 minutes of non-use, is pretty annoying.
I would have been out-of-my-mind excited about this computer if I hadn't gone through 6 weeks of hassles with it. So I'm reserving judgment for now and will report back on the results.
Cheers,
Susan Ee
www.feraldream.com
I went through a vampire phase, but that was like a bazillion years ago. I have a hard time believing that vampires are still all the rage. I'm so tired of it. So it was a big surprise to me that I really liked Underworld: Rise of the Lycans. Sure, I've seen all the Underworld movies but I'd be hard pressed to tell you anything about the stories or characters - nothing happened in them that was worth remembering. So why do I keep watching them? Because I'll happily watch a dozen bad scifi/fan movies just so I'll be sure to catch the one great one. This is one of the great ones. Go see it.
Now that I'm getting into CGI, I noticed technical things I'd never notice before, like how well they blended the live action with the CGI background. The lighting was so seamless and the color was tinted a cool blue/green. I have learned that tinting is dangerous -- what may look beautifully moody on your display may look like aqua marine on someone else's. But what really carried the movie, as usual, was the story. The whole thing could have been in jerky animation and I still would have enjoyed it. When I asked Aaron, my technical advisor on TOOTH FAIRY, how they blended the live action with CGI so well, he answered that they blended it with money. :-)
Susan Ee
www.feraldream.com
The WGA is auctioning off a walk-on, non-speaking role for the show, "Numb3rs" on Ebay. Starting bid is $1,000. Must be great to be in a position to get an actor to pay for the role instead of the other way around! On the other hand, "Numb3rs" is a recognizable show and maybe a performer might find it worth the cost to have that on his/her resume.
Now that I think about it, maybe it's not so unusual a situation. When an investor offered me $100,000 for me to make my film (which was later rescinded due to the economic crash (*sigh*, so sad)), the primary thing he wanted was to have a speaking but non-major role in the film. He loved my script and he wanted to be IN it, not just behind it. Other than that, he was willing to give me total creative control so long as I stayed in the budget... Ah, the good old days prior to the economic crash... (Waahh!!)
Susan Ee
www.feraldream.com
Footage Firm is marketing heavily right now, both through individual emails and through a blast via Movie magazines. They are offering "free" stock footage for the cost of an exorbitant "shipping and handling" cost. It's a scam. I fell for it the last time they did this, thinking, why not have a collection of low cost footage that I might need someday? It cost me $50 and the HD DVD was totally unusable. It had severe interpolation problems (lines streaking the footage). Also, their DV DVDs have random people in them - you don't get the rights to use those people in your projects. No releases or permissions come with the DVDs. You can tell most of them are taken by tourists or something with a camcorder because the footage shakes and has the look of your dad taking footage with a camcorder. People randomly look into the camera, making the footage self aware. Virtually all of it is unusable for real projects. I sent several emails and complaints to the "company" but none were answered. Also, I bought 5 or so of these DVDs and they all came in a single envelope. Somehow, I'm supposed to believe that it costs them $50 for shipping that.
San Francisco Film Society is now taking applications for a sweet grant for local filmmakers. Winner gets $35,000 + a chance to get in on their filmmaker residency program for up to 6 months where they give you free office space. They'll be offering this grant twice a year. Sounds awesome. They want films that "through plot, character, theme or setting significantly explore human and civil rights, antidiscrimination, gender and sexual identity and other urgent social justice issues of our time."
If anyone hears of a grant for pure commercial thrills and chills, let me know...
Best of luck to those who apply!
Susan Ee
www.feraldream.com
I submitted my novel, WAR GAMES, to the Amazon Novel Contest today. The prize is a publishing contract with Penguin and a $25,000 advance. Contest submission period runs from today through 2/8/09 or until they receive 10,000 submissions. I'm assuming they will get their 10,000 contestants (world-wide) so the competition should be fierce. But I'm learning that the competition is always fierce.
This is my first novel contest. One of the things I've come to appreciate about writing novels is that it's so cheap compared to filmmaking and screenwriting. Aside from all the crazy costs involved with making the films, the cost of simply submitting films and screenplays to contests/ festivals can be surprisingly high. Each festival submission fee is about $25-$80, with most falling in the $35-$60 range. It's pretty common to submit a film to at least 20 festivals. But with novels, it's a no-no to charge for submitting a manuscript. Novel writers start to scream "SCAM" when they see those kinds of fees. Yay for novel writers! Hence, I'm pleased to say that the Amazon contest is fee-free. :-)
Cheers,
Susan Ee
www.feraldream.com
