What a Day!!!
Greenscreen, Music and More...
BTW...I stopped using iBlog's auto photo import
because the it doesn't compress the images enough. So now I will be able to put
up more pictures for less bandwidth. For instance, all the images here took up
about the same space a one of the images in previous postings. I will also be
going back and converting the older ones...and fixing some typos. I am horribly
dyslexic and even after 4-5 passes over my work...I will still leave holes. :)
So today was my Birthday...and I had one of my best to date. I spent it doing what I love the most...Making Visual FX and Music. Ok...I'm a geek...I know...
I started today walking the 3D team through modeling a Zulu Shield with a TV screen in it for the digital set in FormZ . FormZ is so deep that you really have to walk people through processes in detail. There's just too many side streets to take in the application. I don't think the team completed understood everything...but I realized it would make a good tutorial (I'm working on FormZ training for dvGarage currently) so they will get something in more detail soon.
The composite team spent the morning in After Effects working on lightning shots for a music video...they had it perfected...just before the power went out. It's actually the first time in 5 years ZIVA has lost power. For the rest of the city, rolling blackouts are part of life in Zimbabwe but ZIVA is on the same grid as ZANU-PF...which has generally exempted them from the typical power issues...not today...They lost all of the mornings work...a good lesson about saving files for the team...regardless, their work on the video should be head and shoulders over the rest of market here.
The students waiting for the power to come back up.
Saki giving an interview for ZIFF
The Video Team continued finishing their two video shorts in iMovie , one on Weya Art and another on Stone Sculpture. I hope to post them over the weekend if they are ready. They will re-build them next week in Final Cut Pro ...
The Immersion team is still working through Image Modeler . It's really more an exercise in attention to detail than technology...and they are starting to get it. It's a foreign concept for anyone anywhere...but when they have it, they will probably be the only ones in Southern Africa to be able to do it.
In the Afternoon, we went over to Ideas At Work, a local production company. They offered their studio to use for the show. I was expecting a few lights and a place to hang our screen. Instead, we found a full Greenscreen Cyc and a lighting system ready for us to use. It was quite a happy surprise. The Composite Team managed the shoot...with some input from me...mostly dealing with performance. Nozihpo had not done something like this before and getting the performance took a little work. The actually shooting was predictably straightforward. Hopefully the plates will work. Fortunately, if they don't, Ideas At Work offered the location for more shooting.
Nozihpo on Set.
We also checked out the trailer for a stop motion movie created here in Zimbabwe. I will post the URL when I get it. It was fairly impressive...and the full movie is 90 minutes long! The larger sets where built at Ideas of Work (Spud built the rigs for the cameras himself...a truly impressive array). By staying in Zimbabwe, Ideas At Work have become very busy. I think Kathy dreams Final Cut Pro editing at this point...:)
Kathy at Work...
From there, we picked up Adam, an mbira player here in Zimbabwe, and went over to Media For Development's Sound Studio. Adam has worked with most of the top artists in Zimbabwe as a studio musician...and when we got to the studio, we found out why. He is a machine...everything was one take, he played 3 parts (2 mbira tracks and shakers) for each tune, 3 tunes total...just dropped each track right into place. It all took about an hour and was really fun to watch. It also helped immensely to have a rock solid crew at MFD and a killer studio. Rick and the rest of the crew didn't miss a beat and the room has completely flat. We'll post some of the MP3s soon. I also shot some video that I will try to cut down this weekend.
Adam Shaking it up
An Electric mbira!
Roddy, Me, John, Adam, and Jason
The day ended with a visit to the National Art Gallery for an opening of a Photography exhibition from Zimbabwe as well as other countries in Africa and South America. I enjoyed the photos alot...many where photo journalist style and I mostly became present to the fact that very few people in the world live like we do in america. I knew it before...and become more present to it just being here...but the photos made it more apparent.
National Art Gallery
Tomorrow, I'm finishing up at ZIVA and visiting the Baobab, a bed and breakfast outside the city. See you then...
So today was my Birthday...and I had one of my best to date. I spent it doing what I love the most...Making Visual FX and Music. Ok...I'm a geek...I know...
I started today walking the 3D team through modeling a Zulu Shield with a TV screen in it for the digital set in FormZ . FormZ is so deep that you really have to walk people through processes in detail. There's just too many side streets to take in the application. I don't think the team completed understood everything...but I realized it would make a good tutorial (I'm working on FormZ training for dvGarage currently) so they will get something in more detail soon.
The composite team spent the morning in After Effects working on lightning shots for a music video...they had it perfected...just before the power went out. It's actually the first time in 5 years ZIVA has lost power. For the rest of the city, rolling blackouts are part of life in Zimbabwe but ZIVA is on the same grid as ZANU-PF...which has generally exempted them from the typical power issues...not today...They lost all of the mornings work...a good lesson about saving files for the team...regardless, their work on the video should be head and shoulders over the rest of market here.
The students waiting for the power to come back up.
Saki giving an interview for ZIFF
The Video Team continued finishing their two video shorts in iMovie , one on Weya Art and another on Stone Sculpture. I hope to post them over the weekend if they are ready. They will re-build them next week in Final Cut Pro ...
The Immersion team is still working through Image Modeler . It's really more an exercise in attention to detail than technology...and they are starting to get it. It's a foreign concept for anyone anywhere...but when they have it, they will probably be the only ones in Southern Africa to be able to do it.
In the Afternoon, we went over to Ideas At Work, a local production company. They offered their studio to use for the show. I was expecting a few lights and a place to hang our screen. Instead, we found a full Greenscreen Cyc and a lighting system ready for us to use. It was quite a happy surprise. The Composite Team managed the shoot...with some input from me...mostly dealing with performance. Nozihpo had not done something like this before and getting the performance took a little work. The actually shooting was predictably straightforward. Hopefully the plates will work. Fortunately, if they don't, Ideas At Work offered the location for more shooting.
Nozihpo on Set.
We also checked out the trailer for a stop motion movie created here in Zimbabwe. I will post the URL when I get it. It was fairly impressive...and the full movie is 90 minutes long! The larger sets where built at Ideas of Work (Spud built the rigs for the cameras himself...a truly impressive array). By staying in Zimbabwe, Ideas At Work have become very busy. I think Kathy dreams Final Cut Pro editing at this point...:)
Kathy at Work...
From there, we picked up Adam, an mbira player here in Zimbabwe, and went over to Media For Development's Sound Studio. Adam has worked with most of the top artists in Zimbabwe as a studio musician...and when we got to the studio, we found out why. He is a machine...everything was one take, he played 3 parts (2 mbira tracks and shakers) for each tune, 3 tunes total...just dropped each track right into place. It all took about an hour and was really fun to watch. It also helped immensely to have a rock solid crew at MFD and a killer studio. Rick and the rest of the crew didn't miss a beat and the room has completely flat. We'll post some of the MP3s soon. I also shot some video that I will try to cut down this weekend.
Adam Shaking it up
An Electric mbira!
Roddy, Me, John, Adam, and Jason
The day ended with a visit to the National Art Gallery for an opening of a Photography exhibition from Zimbabwe as well as other countries in Africa and South America. I enjoyed the photos alot...many where photo journalist style and I mostly became present to the fact that very few people in the world live like we do in america. I knew it before...and become more present to it just being here...but the photos made it more apparent.
National Art Gallery
Tomorrow, I'm finishing up at ZIVA and visiting the Baobab, a bed and breakfast outside the city. See you then...
Posted: Thu - July 10, 2003 at 05:49 PM Africa, Summer (Winter) 2003 Email Comments
Quick Links
Calendar
| August 2003 | ||||||
| Sun | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat |
| 1 | 2 | |||||
| 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 |
| 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 |
| 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 |
| 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 |
| 31 | ||||||
Categories
Archives
XML/RSS Feed
Statistics
Total entries in this blog: 31
Total entries in this category: 31
Published On: Aug 05, 2003 10:45 AM
Total entries in this category: 31
Published On: Aug 05, 2003 10:45 AM