Proper Audio Syncing

I know I haven't posted for a long long time, but I've got a 1001 things on my hand, so please bear with me.
Anyways, I'm gonna talk about how you would typically get better audio for a low budget and how you would retrieve that audio and make it sound good.

I would imagine that you dont have access to a camera with a microphone(line in) input jack. If you dont then you have other ways of getting audio by means of using other devices as well. These would include, but not limited to :

 1)Any smartphone
 2) Old audio recorder(the ones used for meetings,etc)
 3) USB player stick(usually have mic inputs, could be bought for cheap)
 4) Any Music player with mic capability.

For Every device and its way of retrieving its recorded audio files to the computer. If its a smartphone then you could easily retrieve it directly through its accompanied software or if you have a micro SD card in the phone itself you could record into it and then retrieve them easily by a usb adapter or whatev.
Music players and small mp3 players from china do come with mic inputs and everything recorded should land on the memory card itself or on the built in memory of the device itself.

What you would usually do when filming something, is to start recording audio shortly before filming your shot or your scene; you better leave it recording the entire scene if space is not an issue and your scene is short. Place it or mount it near your camera, you could do a small rig from some PVC pipes attached to your camera with a nail bolted towards from the tripod mount hole of the cam and having the pipes extending sideways.

So, once you've got your recordings it's time to EQ(Equalize) them, you could use free or paid software, but both would get you good results.
There are are Parametric EQ's that have several bands that are situated in different places(frequencies), and there are 3 band simple EQ's that mainly control the Highs, Mids , and Lows. You should probably lower the mids along with some of the lows(bass).
What you want to accomplish here is to remove the "muddiness" from your recordings and if there is some noise too you could remove them by using a de-noiser from any audio software package of your liking(eg: FL studio).

Then render out the EQ'd audio and import them into after effects or premier or any video editor of your liking. Sync the audio by exposing the waveforms and matching them up. You could use both microphones of the camera and recorder if u want stereo sound but you would have to EQ both of them and make sure that the quality matches up well.

12 Golden Rules of Cinematography

Yesterday, I enrolled in a Directing workshop that would hopefully provide me with any missing elements that I would need in directing my films. It was not more than a precautionary course that I enrolled in just to make sure I knew everything about filming. And no, I'm not going to brag that I know everything or almost everything in cinematography, because I don't...

Anyways, I just wanted to give you some things we spoke about in the session yesterday. As it was our first session, we talked about:

• Types of lenses and it's affect on the scene or the shot you are shooting.
• Types of shots and their terminology (eg: close ups, long shots, wide shots, etc)
• The 12 Golden Rules of cinematography

-Here are some of the 12 Golden Rules:

1)Cutting of long, un-important scenes to simpler shots that would tell the story in the same way.

2) Emphasizing a scene or an event-can be accomplished trough several techniques(eg: slow-motion, repetition of the same shots with different angles within the same scene, etc)

3)The Rule of thirds(you might say that this rule applies only to photography, but it isn't) The rule of third implies that there should be a balanced number of elements in your shot, or at least try to make your shot as balanced as you can. This involves dividing your shot into thirds, hence the name rule of thirds.
4) Imagine an equator-like line when you shoot people in the same room for example, and prevent the audience or viewer noticing transitions when cutting.
5) Try to use angles that would show a bit of depth when shooting two or more actors engaging in a conversation. You shouldn't shoot behind a character all the time when he's speaking to another character. Don't be like sticky white glue, instead try transitioning the position of the camera just enough to provide a visual feedback of some of the space between the actors.
6) Lighting: A- Key Light B- Fill Light C- Back Light
7) Composition of your scene. Make a well balanced composition with paying attention to what the viewer should focus on instead of distracting him/her with unnecessary details.
8) Clean entrances and exits of your characters.
9) The Main construction of a scene and how the camera should move accordingly.

The last rule states that if you have perfected a rule, you are then eligible to break it and do whatever you like based on it.

And as a director you should also be wary of the scenario/scripts as knowing them will give you a better shot of making everything better. Rehearsing or "pre-performing" a shot or scene before the actual shoot is a plus as well. This would make you more acquainted with the location of shooting and would grant you the ability to brainstorm perfect angle spots during the shoot itself instead of constantly thinking where would you start off.

So, before you go and shoot your short film you should make sure that everything connects. For instance, make sure your actor looks like the character that he is going to portray or at least being as close as possible to the look wanted from the character. Make sure that all the visual and aural elements connect together well.
You should make sure that the shot's composition matches with the actor's emotions or acting(eg : light, DOF, crop-age. etc ). Be engaged with your actors in every way you can think of, get friendly with them and start what they call a workshop. You should discuss what every shot looks like and ask him/her what postures are you most comfortable and put their answers in mind while shooting . Don't make the mistake of choosing the wrong kind of actor, because, unfortunately, that happens a lot here were i live and it makes everything turn out to be bad eventually.

Designing a game

    A game should really define what you would really do if you were given a chance to live a fictional life. Think of all the things you wanted as a child, even if they were weird or simple. And actually you might come up with a block-buster game.
1) Determine what your game is about and what genre it would most fit in.
2) Get some scrap paper and start drawing some concept art. Even if you're not an artist, just draw everything you would dream of that would fit in your game. Start thinking about the overall them of the game.
3) Plan how would you develop your game. And what things or programs would you use to develop the your game .
4)Gather your friends' opinions, Do some R & D(Research & development) and use the internet as it's meant to be used. Never give up even if the goal seems to be too far.
5) If you have settled on a program or two that would help you develop the game, learn them and get acquainted with them.
6) Get creative! Define your objects; get your concept art and start modelling based upon what you drew. If you don't know how to model then leave everything alone and start learning how to model. you'll get the hang of it, it's pretty easy if you think about it. But make sure you've got all the basics so you wouldn't frustrate yourself in the process.
7) It's not necessary to model first. If you're a programmer kind of guy then settle to getting the dynamics of the game right then apply the models or have a friend who is knowledgeable about graphics to help you in the process, if not all. Use simple building blocks in your game(eg: primitives) till you get to the modelling part.

A note to all the lazies out there, there is no excuse to stop doing what you are capable off If you've successfully done at least one step of the above, then i see no reason why could be incapable of going further.
It's not hard, it just needs some of your time and perseverance.

Improvising

The sole title of this post is not nearly a mistake, nor a coincidence. What i'm wanting to emphasize is the importance of improvising; not only in film-making or game designing, but in your life as well. As i stated before in one of my posts, that there are surely guidelines, or a scripture to follow when you're doing a certain activity.

 But this doesn't deter you from the fact that if you find yourself stuck in a particular something, you have the choice of making up your own mind or decision in that matter. Anyways, I would like to present to you a couple of examples in which I have been a victim of guidelines ( a victim of my own brain,actually).

1- When I was learning after effects, I never knew that there were adjustment layers, so I had to Color correct every object in the scene as well as the original footage, I didn't even know(at the time) that you could copy effects and paste them to other objects as well .But what I really did is that I messed about in after effects after some time and I found out that i can copy and paste effects (I was happy as a bird, a hummingbird to be exact) .  So in short, it was a long night...

2- There was this other case that was related to cinematography; in which image/video stabilization was a pit for me, a really deep one. Anyhow, I resorted to using my brother's bike as a dolly. and later on i used a combination of a DIY stab. rig and the same bike.

So yeah, not much but you get the overall idea.

Since the title of this post is "Improvising", I would like to note that to accomplish something you want in a film or a game, you would need a satisfactional amount of smaller elements in your scene or level. That's where this simple phrase " Some of each makes you a peach". Hence, the peach here is your goal or the wanted result or effect. Let us be honest here, how many of you out there are tired of the fact that there is a humongous amount  of vfx artists that do their effects in a vague manner(I'm not saying that i'm perfect or anything). But at least try to make your footage or elements used in your shot look like the real thing. Resort to techniques no one have ever thought of before, even if you have to go big and use a bit of your budget. What really matters is the final result. I'm of course speaking here to those of you who has the budget to do a project and can't accomplish the aforementioned things.
For example you want a realistic fire effect, you have 2 ways to go:

• Use or create a cg fire element( a bit limiting and time-consuming)
  
• Get out your pyrotechnical-ish side and get yourself some firewood and a some gasoline(BE CAREFUL!!) Light 'em up, but make sure you've got everything under control, firstly and lastly!
  Lay your lit materials in front of a green screen and try for heaven's sake getting an HD camera or just borrow one  for a change . And if you have a microphone you can record the firey noises as a bonus.
  Make sure you have a friend with you at the time of filming so if anything goes wrong you would have someone to aid you).
• Film it and key all unnecessary things in after effects (you might need to do some manual rotoscop-ing work)
  

Don't complain if you find everything to be hard at first. That's just how it is, but it's really fun if you do it safely.

Oh, I nearly forgot: If you dont know how to use Mattes in after effects, I suggest looking for a tutorial on mattes. Whether they are luma mattes or alpha mattes, they both are really really really important and you'll find out why if you didnt already find it out to be so. Luma mattes are layers that changes the transparency of the original layer according to the brightness or "whiteness" of it. Just experiment and you'll get the hang of it.

If you need anything regarding VFX or game design or even if you want to have a normal chat just contact me @ nja.4rtist@live.com

Great Resources to help you with Mastering VFX

I know that it's been a long time since I last posted something, but I was a bit busy doing some personal work. In the mean time, i would re-emphasize the importance of being self-taught. I hope you have been doing some digging(not physical digging, ofc) and whatnot in the past couple of days, because I have got a couple of really awesome resources that would help ease your frustration in dealing with VFX.

A pretty useful Handbook called "The Core Skills of VFX"; In my opinion it's a masterpiece of written material that will surely & positively help beginners or intermediates in editing or compositing. It has it all,: from basic techniques of visual editing to finishing off your CG work with the "cherry on top". Alright, enough  talk, here is the link(just right click and save as...) :

• http://www.creativeskillset.org/uploads/pdf/asset_16673.pdf?2

I know it's pretty tempting to look at all the eye-catching imagery in it, but we're not done yet!

Once you've got that, go to videocopilot website and make an account(if u want). There are amazing tutorials there for after effects, and is hosted by yours truly, VFX Guru Andrew Kramer ) He also gets into other applications (3ds max, fumefx, etc)  & and even makes tutorials for them.

Ok, and that's that. I really apologize for not doing any actual tutorials for anything, but the simple matter is this; time is a really scarce resource for me(nowadays, that is...).

So till next time, cya!

Creating your own Sound Effects

So i guess you've been wondering, why can't I make my own sound effects instead of downloading them? Also, why should I be obligated to go through the whole licensing issues and whatnot.

Never worry again. If you don't have a microphone, go get one now! For now, it doesn't matter which kind of microphone you buy, just buy one. Preferably, you should buy one with a windsheild (i know that cheap ones dont count as windsheilds, but they do their job). If you cant find a microphone with a windsheild, then buy the windsheild seperately.  The 2nd one will do, but you might need to get an extension cord

Also if you don't have a studio or you don't have a friend who owns one, chances are that you will not be able to use a big microphone because of impedance issues(the mic needs an amplifier to work).

Now that you've got your microphone, you should start thinking of what noises or sound effects you might want. You can start by making noises by your mouth, and yes, i did say mouth. Believe it or not, your mouth is a sound effects machine. If you are skeptical about such a point(as well you should be), then i will recommend that you not only record noises you made with sound effects, but to also play with them.
I recommend using one of several audio mixing programs:

• Mixcraft
• Audacity
• FL studio
• Cool Edit (Pro)

The reason that I stated fl studio is because it does have built-in mixing and layering capabilities. All of which are starred in the aforementioned applications. Pick one of the stated applications and start learning it. I recommend using FL studio because it would teach you most of the stuff that you would need in creating soundtracks or music for your film, so it's like taking out two birds with one stone. 

To get started you might imitate the sounds of guts flying around by making nasty sounds with your mouth(The sort of noises that you used to make when you were a kid). And you might do some grunts or shout noises if you want. The point here is that you can do a lot of things with your mouth, but you just need to experiment and improv.

The next step is to try making some gun noises or explosions. What you can do is get some random firecrackers and start blowing them off near your mic(just make sure that there aren't any wind/unwanted noises while you're recording). To create a huge explosion, you might record a firework and then layer it with other firework noises and slow it down a bit in the end.

Yeah, sure that the sound effects you might create using such a microphone wouldn't have top-notch quality, but it's a great way to start if you want to get through the licensing issues and creating the sound effects you specifically need.

Tripod Tip + DIY'ing

Yeah, sure that the tripod is used to make stable, stationary shots used in opening scenes, cutaways, etc. But it doesn't matter which tripod you've bought, as long as it's more than a meter and a half in length, you can do a lot of things with it. For example, you can do short dolly shots with it by raising one of it's legs and rotating the tripod using the other two legs, but while you rotate the tripod, you should use the handle to counteract to the unwanted rotation. It gives a pretty convincing result, and it ain't bad(as it's free) If u didn't understand what i have just written, then this simple illustration should hopefully will :

Remember: you can always experiment with a lot of stuff; depending on your tripod and what kind of features it has, you can experiment with them to get what you want and more out of em.

There are a great deal of DIY gadgets you can make by yourself; just check out instructables.com and search for camera related stuff (rigs, dollies, etc) They tell you how to make everything step by step and what materials you require, so even if you dont get what materials do they need, just print out he materials page and give it to your local hardware store employee (he should understand it if he knows english). If no, then google translate is your sole companion.