The perfect soundtrack

The perfect soundtrack is unnoticed.  It achieves atmosphere and mood without hindering the story.  It should also try and make up for mistakes in other areas, if possible.  This is in much the same way that beautiful visuals can try to make up for poor acting, something very much a concern and hope of Weathercock Productions.  With an independent film that will almost certainly never see broad distribution, practically any and all music and sound is available.  YouTube has gotten better at recognizing copyright violations, however, so if we do decide to make use of copyrighted material, YouTube is out as the primary venue.

Fortunately, we do have a small but vigorous library of original music of which we can make use.  I think I'll add another page to the blog to showcase the music created by our man-behind-the-scores, John Max McFarland.

Blog Updates

I enjoy getting my hands on a blog template now and again.  As will probably be a theme throughout this campaign, I'm reminiscing about all the change in our lives (Joe's and my own) since we started this project way back in 2003.  Some changes are long-since past and settled.  One change is my grasp of CSS and web-design.  Traditionally very rudimentary, but I've recently been able to take some classes that have made me more confident in fiddling with settings I previously knew not to touch.

How will this translate to the movie project?  Well, the same University that pays for my web classes also provides free access to Adobe Creative Suite 5 Premium.  That, in turn, translates to free copies of Dreamweaver, Acrobat Pro, Photoshop, Premiere, and After Effects.  The raw footage itself is in Joe's capable hands, but after the video feed has been more or less prepared, it comes to me for Foley work (sound editing).  This can be something as subtle as noise reduction and volume leveling, or as in-your-face as amplified mech footsteps and explosions.  There are also titles and certain sequences that I've agreed to handle.

A lot of our cooperation is based on self-delegation.  Our partnership is incredibly organic, with practically no chance for regrets or second guesses.  I'm not sure what the ideal work environment will be in my future career, but I know it'll compare poorly with what Joe and I have going.  Then again, that's probably always the case between one's hobby and one's profession.

Rebirth

This production blog is about to get off the ground! The film of the century, Weathercock Production's "And Honor Rode Shotgun," is once again in production. Easily the most unique film to come out of the US in the past 20 years, it's sure to win your heart. Look to this blog for information, exclusive interviews, stills from the production, and treats from post-production.

A brief history

The following was originally written in July 2008. I swear, this time it'll stick.

It's tough to remember exactly how it began. Sometime in the spring of 2003, Mike and I started talking about doing another film project. The general idea stayed constant from the beginning: the story would follow a military squad in a dystopian future, where countries would war over scarce resources. Everyone would pilot a giant robot.

The challenges became clear as the script developed. There would be dozens of characters, with many scenes dependent on special effects. And Honor Rode Shotgun would be our most ambitious project yet, even more so than the sprawling Deadening II.

Months were spent revising the script, shooting test footage and building props (including two 'mech suits that may be the greatest things I ever create, barring future children). Mike and a friend wrote and recorded a musical score. Principle photography took place over the summer of 2004. By August, we had most of the dialogue in the can, but much of the challenging action footage was still an open question mark.

After August, the project slowed to a crawl, for a number of reasons. One of them was Final Fantasy XI, which took up a number of hours in the fall (a Galka doesn't get that Ninja class qualifier on his own, let me tell you). Another reason was the insidious climb of production standards: after putting in some time with a blue screen and compositing software, we got some really great results. We found out that our crappy special effects didn't have to look "so-bad-it's-good", and could instead just look "good". This was an entirely new and intimidating prospect, and brought a new level of pressure to the editing process.

Of course, distance was the biggest challenge to overcome. I moved to Seattle for grad school, Mike was getting ready to join the Peace Corps. I love pouring time and energy into creative projects, but my motivation for actually finishing a film comes entirely from collaboration. A film needs feedback, it needs compromise and sacrifice, it needs a deadline (aghh! that word, it burns ussss).

Since I've been unable to get this project out of my head for the past four (ed: six) years, it's about time to get some closure. As we piece together a final product, I thought this would be a nice place to post the progress and keep the momentum going. Even if it takes a few hundred hours over the coming months, at least we can provide a continuous preview. My goal is to release And Honor Rode Shotgun as a set of short internet-appropriate chapters, with the first completed around the end of the summer.