Balance of Power II -- Video Editing Complete!

[Novastar]

Video compilation is complete. Finally!

It looks *GORGEOUS*, despite the tough setup that we had to deal with at BayCon, including a not-so-ideal space to work in--but I am not complaining. Just saying that since the ceilings were low--Anthony & Phil were unable to safely do their acro... although I chanced a move of mine and didn't kill myself, so that is good.

Additionally, some camera angles were not usable for a large percentage of the shots, so I often stuck with one camera, or just used the shot my girlfriend got up there in the front row! GREAT WORK, JEN!

Her shot actually ended up the best one for Nova kicking the ST in the throat, hahahah...

Also, I'm not a video editor, so I had a tough time syncing everything up the way some pro might. Although--I think I did pretty darn well all things considered. I only wish one camera could have captured it all, just as we had at SCU last year... but that was impossible for this show at BayCon.

I'm pleased to announce that Balance of Power, Episode II: Ashes of The Phoenix... is finally here!

Special thanks to my cast, for sticking through a tough and grueling process, and understanding the demands of a performance of this nature. Also, a very grateful thank you to Christine Doyle and the BayCon 2007 camera team--the footage was fantastic to work with in compiling a great look at BOP II. Finally, super special thanks to my g/f Jen for capturing a great amount at BayCon as well!

BOP II -- Part 1 --> http://youtube.com/watch?v=fwETQVQeS1o
BOP II -- Part 2 --> http://youtube.com/watch?v=O5hUe0cEbKM
BOP II -- Part 3 --> http://youtube.com/watch?v=G5p8UfQgZbw

The video is split into 3 parts since YouTube only allows for so large and so long a video file at a time.

High-quality files to come later, if I'm able to pull that off... and BOP III rehearsals/auditions have already begun!

Enjoy!

And keep in mind--we're still in "production" so to speak, with live performances and all that.

Thanks for all the support everyone. Grateful to have a bunch of folks out there who are digging on the entire project.

If you liked BOP I... you're gonna go *NUTCAKES* on BOP II, since it's 4x as better in almost every way imaginable...

[Ravage179]

Kudos! I love BOP I and cant wait to see BOP II in all its splendor, in regard to the poll question I really respect what you have done, as a veteran of live staged combat I can relate to how much work goes into your performances, unlike fan films (or any film for that matter) you only have one take to get it right, zero room for error.

[Novastar]

Thanks Ravage. Yeah, zero room for error is stressful... especially when you consider that the saber props are easily 5x as heavy as any carbon fiber jobby, and also could "fail" at any moment electronically. You never know.

I myself was surprised at BOP II in that not a single saber failed or caused issues in and of itself. There are a few places where people didn't "pick up their cue" and ignite / de-ignite their sabers at the right time... but hey--details, details, lol...

And again, yeah the acro can be dangerous with no padding and no failsafes. Low ceilings don't help either. After seeing the footage, even though I "shorted" my tuck off the console table... I later realized that my feet were about a foot from the ceiling. 12 inches or so. If my feet had hit--well, we'd be doing brain surgery now wouldn't we??

I took the chance though, and trusted I'd be fine. I was... but... I would NOT do that again given the low ceiling setup, heheh

And what was the venue to do? Make NEW ceilings? I think not. The point is--we have to "plug in" the performance into spaces as best we can... which is an entirely different animal altogether rather than doing a broadway show that stays in the same place to rehearse and perform in for 6+ months...

[arcana]

excellent! I look forward to seeing it.

[DACOTA]

Man I wanna see it now.Oh well I'll wait.

[Novastar]

I'm literally waiting on TWO headshots of my cast members. Geez.

[Jacen_Aurion]

I can't wait to see it Nova. It looked really awesome in the full teaser.

[Novastar]

BLAST.

There have been some MAJOR problems compiling my footage, thanks to stupid "codec" errors and all sorts of other things that only super-uber huge nerds would ever know about. Probably doesn't help that all of have is Windows Movie Maker--wheeeee.

Anyhow, I've been able to salvage half of BOP II, but the latter portion won't compile into a movie file no matter what I do. Sometimes, even starting mostly from scratch still does not allow for it. Makes very little sense, as it comes from exactly the same camera angles as does the first half.

Weird. Suffice it to say, BOP II will be FURTHER delayed thanks to me having no real video experience. *sigh* I only wish I had a "crew", each with their specific role, heheheh...

[Jetsi]

Yeah, WMM is giving me headaches as well. Even though the file is right in front of me and in the folder, it says it can't find it to convert it to a MPEG even though it can find it and let me edit it.

Pretty much everyone agrees that if you want to do video, you need a Mac. I am just not ready to fall to that dark side yet.

[Novastar]

The real problem lies in all the idiotic "codecs" and their variants that are out there.

Did you know that there are like 50+ ".avi" types out there, and even more ".mpg" types? The last three letters may be "avi" or "mpg", but it doesn't mean a bloody thing.

Then you have the stupid "FourCC" header, and then you have a gazillion "bad frames" sometimes with a video conversion from DV tape footage to DV on your hard drive. It's mind-numbing trying to keep up with it.

Good luck if you're Joe Schmoe who wants to make a movie of your newborn. Not going to happen until you decide to spend 8327238783275 hours studying huge nerd codecs and "lossy" this 29.95 fps that or 30fps, no 28fps, no wait interlaced vs. de-interlaced, and H.264hugenerd.5 and "Sorenson"who-never-saw-the-sun-but-made-his-own-huge-geek-video-codec.

Weasels.

lol...