Production Blog 2: Chasing A Dream

The second scene that I worked on is the chase scene. This is a lead on from the previous scene but it's a different part of the same section of the facility. I decided that two of four scenes would take place within' the facility before a final showdown in the last scene. These scenes would be the cornerstone of a big finale by showing two incidents of people being screwed by their circumstances and causing them to die. Something Mr. Freeman was lucky to not because of a little help from an unknown benefactor but this second scene became important due the lead up after this scene which would be a tram that has two people on it trying to escape the facility. The next scene is important for that regard but I needed to set up the scene in a way so that the tram would be obvious and visible so that it's not an random prop.

Work on this scene was much easier compared to my first animated escapade in SFM. It was easily done in the pipeline because I figured out the ins and outs of character movement within' SFM. It was complicated but it was what I needed to understand or else I wouldn't be able to animate harder and more difficult scenes if I wanted to do them. And there is more difficult scenes to animate because the final scene of the film will have multiple elements of animation and tons of models on screen at one time which is why I feel every scene up to that point will help me get at a skill level where I might actually be able to pull off how difficult the scene could and will be. This chase scene was just a stepping stone of making movement look good and just seeing if I could make a basic lead up to somewhere where the tram can be visible.

The nameless scientist sees that his way onto the tram is impeded.

Now the movement from point A to point B is easy and was easy for me. As I stated, the process of understanding movement in the 3D world by use of keyframes became understandable. I managed to grasp what needed to be done in order to properly assess what amount of distance would need to be done for animation to work. That's why after the second major animated scene I learned that I should use as much space for each shot then cut it when I feel it works for what I want it to do. Obviously I made one mistake this time around with this entire sequence but that's better than the last scene which i'll have to go back and fix to be less of a major mistake. It's good though because I managed to learn the exact limitations of what I can and can't do. Limitations which might have killed me had I not managed to endure the high learning curve of SFM. A high learning curve is good though because once you get over the hump then you're fine to do what you couldn't manage to do before. That's something I don't hate either because my efficiency has gotten much better and I can animate more scenes in a shorter amount of time.

There's not too much I can really say about this scene without much spoilers. I've neglected many elements but i'd prefer to leave it that way till I get every scene done, sound mixed in SFM with effects, rendered, and shipped into Premiere for final editing. The first trailer will be out sometime within' the next month or two. I'm sure of that. There's no doubt about it. The next scene to be discussed with little spoilers is the third which sets up the final act in a way which will become the most complicated and complex scene I have to animate.

Stay tuned for more production blogs.

Lambda Incident is a Source Filmmaker film slated for a 2015 release. All stills and preview footage is a work in progress and as such nothing is final. San Danne Studios is using Valve Source Filmmaker, a free released animation and video editing program, and the assets of Black Mesa: Source to create the film. All copyright of Half Life belongs to Valve Software and has been made with respect to the user agreement stated by both Valve Software and the Black Mesa: Source team.

Production Blog 1: Learning the Source

The Source engine has to be one of the greatest engines to ever leverage creativity. I think that's one thing i'm not afraid to admit. It has allowed many mods to become fully featured experiences on the engine and made many great games come out of it. Alot of those games are artsy or just plain amazing but they're still Source games. It's truly a feat by Valve to let those games see the light of day. Source Filmmaker is no different because it allows the everyday person to access the assets of not only Valve games but Source games. Valve has leveraged it to a point where talent hasn't gone to waste in their videos from the Team Fortress 2 shorts to any related one concerning a list of games in Valve catalogue.

I have to admit that I don't really have a background in animation outside of After Effects and Premiere. I've constantly refined my skills with After Effects by learning different techniques to make new and interesting videos for what I need. I've done alot of technical stuff with it and still don't know everything but I did learn something of importance from both Premiere and After Effects which is keyframes. It's the one thing i'm glad to have known before getting into the Source Filmmaker. It is slowly paying off as I become proficient and knowledgeable about the quirks of the program. Lambda Incident came to be out of a simple test I did by a sequence shot which gave me the push that I needed to go deep into it.

The above is a title sequence I made in After Effects for my production company.

 The opening sequence was me getting wet with the program but it wouldn't be till the third "scene" of the film where i'd begin to truly learn the essence of what makes any animation program difficult. This third scene is by far the weakest of them all but it simply sets up for the second act. Timing is a little off because I didn't over extend in order to properly to see what would work best, didn't take my time on everything to make sure it looked nice, as well as a lighting test for myself. Things just didn't work out so it's probably the worst part of an otherwise perfect movie. Perfect to my standards anyway. I was required to animate a face of a model and I tried my best to figure out what would work but this is all set in the constraints of what I put myself up to. This ate away at me though because it kept getting difficult and I hit more than one hurdle trying to complete this scene. I had issues after issue trying to get this scene done. It broke me down so much that it forced me to take a month long break from producing the film in order to properly get anywhere. 

This is the opening shot of the scene which features a simple left, right, left head movement.

I didn't put many elements in this scene because of simplicity, atmosphere(as cheesy as it will come out to be won't mean much for it), and the fact I was not skilled enough with SFM to get anywhere comfortable. I have utilized the official Valve tutorials, tutorials of other skilled SFM animators, the SFM wiki, and the SubReddit for SFM. It has allowed me to get this single scene off the ground and actually get somewhere even if I really didn't have a clue as to what in the hell I was doing. I just don't believe that anyone will like this whole entire scene except for the cheesiness factor of an otherwise serious film. I might make it worse in post production when I actually manage to add music. I don't know how well that will go but that's all up in the air till every scene of the film is done in principle photography which might be before the next blog of this goes up.

It's not to say that I hate myself for attempting to learn the ins and outs of SFM. It's not an easy program by any sense of the word. I feel like i'll be saying this alot. No video program is easy especially if you're reliant on the use of 3D space which After Effects has reminded of again and again. There's alot of variables that you have to account for and you might screw up or the program might screw something up that you thought would work. The biggest thing is that 3D space is all about illusions and manipulation. This applies to all film but especially animated films. You have to really time things perfectly in order to get the shots you want with SFM and it comes down to animation timing to camera placement. Will it show this and will this move to where I need it to be when I want it to be there? There's these questions which come up and I have them still. Can I trick the viewer into not seeing the inconsistencies or attempt to hide them well enough? The one downside of film and any type of film is that you're always going to have those and it's just a flaw. 

The Headcrab was the second major thing to come out of this scene and had its own hurdles.

It took me over twenty four hours of editing to to do this one scene. Well over it. This scene was simply the hardest scene for me to do but I every scene after has come out stronger and better because of it. Yes, this will be the weakest scene of the entire film due to the faulty animation, the cuts, and etc. I might be able to salvage it in post production but this blog will simply be a reminder of the torment that one scene has caused me. It might give the correct atmosphere that I want or it'll just turn out cheesy but my hope is that the rest of the film recovers due to the following scenes. This is after all my first machinima but not my first short film. I'd hope that it at least gets recognized for the time that I put into it and that any criticisms of my film technique in SFM will help me be better for my next time around. I believe that if you dedicate enough time and passion to something that you will get somewhere good. Somewhere comfortable and safe. This film is at that point where even if I hit a hurdle then I can come back from it. 

I sleep every night thinking of what good things can come out of this scriptless first attempt of machinima. A machinima that I had an idea for one day and simply went with my gut. A film that while not nothing new or truly original will lead me to there or better. To a place where I can hit my machinima peak and become a better person out of it. I know i'm not much to speak about this stuff being that this is if my first machinima but i'd hope that it does see the light of day. I didn't announce a year of release because it wouldn't be finished. I know it'll be done before the deadline but my hope is that I won't have to deal with diminishing returns during editing. That's for another time though and for the post production blog. 

Lambda Incident is a Source Filmmaker film slated for a 2015 release. All stills and preview footage is a work in progress and as such nothing is final. San Danne Studios is using Valve Source Filmmaker, a free released animation and video editing program, and the assets of Black Mesa: Source to create the film. All copyright of Half Life belongs to Valve Software and has been made with respect to the user agreement stated by both Valve Software and the Black Mesa: Source team.