Jule78 Films

2009-10-31T22:56:00.001-03:00

No updates at this time. Check back later.

Miscellaneous Projects: "Contemplation"

2009-10-18T21:37:00.003-03:00

See description here.

"Contemplation"

2009-10-18T21:24:00.005-03:00

Made this picture a while back before starting on the new film. The background's a completely separate picture, but would you believe me if I told you the "monk" is a half-naked Sim I made in Bodyshop and that I just painted a robe over his body?

New Section: Miscellaneous Projects

2009-10-17T03:27:00.005-03:00

I've decided to throw up some short non-related video clips and art pics I've created out of pure experimentation.

Misc Project - Aurora from jule78 on Vimeo.

Music: Brian Eno - An Ending (Ascent)

2009-10-17T03:24:00.002-03:00

Misc Project - Aurora from jule78 on Vimeo.

Music: Brian Eno - An Ending (Ascent)

The First Snag

2009-09-26T15:42:00.002-03:00

With the filming going as good as it has been, I figured my winning streak had to come to an end someday.

This morning I ran into a bit of a problem doing a scene. I imagine it wouldn't be looked at as a problem for some, but to me it's all wrong and it's inevitable that I have to fix it and film the entire scene again. The set looks good (if you like the shot above, you'll love the bar piece on the other side of the camera when the video is finally released), but the actors were doing stuff that I didn't like and the parts I filmed didn't co-operate with video time. I'll work on fixing it later, but right now I'm just too frustrated.

Sigh.

A Beautiful Night In The Alley

2009-09-19T19:45:00.037-03:00

It occurred to me while working on this bloody thing all day that I might want to show off my set work. Prepare for a treat - tons of pictures here.

Since this set is going to be used for most scenes in the video, I have to say that this is by far the biggest and best one I've made to date. This is what I had so far earlier this morning...

Pretty cool so far huh? As you can tell, I started with a long lot and covered it with asphalt terrain and threw together two buildings. Let's see what I decided to do next...

Call me paranoid, but when I shoot scenes on a certain angle, the last thing I want to see in the background are those damn sky holes through the windows. Thankfully Apartment Life has taken care of that with the ceiling feature, but to keep my ass covered I go the extra mile by painting the inside walls black and throw curtains or a blind in the window. Not only does it keep you from pulling your hair out over the littlest shit, it gives your building some character.

I like the idea of placing a stage on the top of buildings to give it a little more depth. Nothing pisses me off more than a flat roof with nothing on it. I was tempted to throw some rooftop accessories on here as well, but since rooftops are not going to be the focal point here, let's move on...

*Do dee do dooo...do dee dooooo...*

Slowly but surely. Hmm. Let me see what I can do with this one...

Eww. Methinks the rooftop won't work. I'll come back to that later...

Yay! I'm done! Hee, yeah right. I wish...

Okay. Here's where things get interesting. You see this whole blank side of the lot? This is the part I always dread, because now I'm going to start filling it in...

...and as usually, I'll get jammed up placing windows and doors because of the other buildings being in the way...

Okay. Maybe I won't go crazy with this one. I'll just put some windows and some cool fencing. It's a night scene after all. Speaking of which, I wonder how it looks at night so far. But first, let me change this asphalt, because honestly...it sucks.

That's much better. Now. Instead of seeing how it looks, I felt like surprising myself for the nighttime shot after all is said and done. Let's get on with my favorite step. Time to cram the set with decorations!

Damn, that's just nasty. Love it. And now for the most important part in any night time scene. The lighting...

Wow. That looks sweet. For all the beginners out there who wondered how I managed to get the lights on without sims on the lot, just switch from day to night mode. When you select the light for placement, it's on by default.

Almost done, but something's missing at the end of the alleyway. Hmmm. Oh yeah! I know what I got to do. Let's pop out to neighborhood view for a few seconds, shall we?

Okay. Here's the alleyway. Now let me bring out some neighborhood objects and surround the lot...

Some trees...

...put something across the street just in case. (I love you Criquette!)

Okay. Let's go back into the lot and see if I like what I see!

Alleyway: Daytime/Nighttime.

Wow. This turned out even better than what I thought it would. This is definitely a keeper for the video. Thanks for joining me. I enjoyed showing you all of this just as I hope you'll enjoy the video as soon as it's finished.

:)

Update...

2009-09-06T21:53:00.013-03:00

Phase one and two of the new video are almost complete with still a lot of scenes to go. After sequencing the clips together comes the slightly long process of adding color adjustments and effects to the video for the final render.

I'm totally excited with how this will turn out. I did a rough testing sequence the other night, and to my surprise the outcome wasn't as jammed up as I thought it would be. It's going to come together quite nicely.

The one thing I'm finally starting to realize about making sets is that they don't have to be built as elaborate as I once thought they should be. Little details are always necessary, but once you start cutting down your raw clips, you'll slap yourself in the head thinking about how much time was wasted building huge sets, particularly for your shortest scenes. I exercised this theory with the one scene depicted here. The set was only half constructed, but when I brought it over for editing, nothing seemed wrong. It came out perfect.

I'd also like to take the opportunity to let you know that I might have something else in the works in between videos from now on. I might as well give it away by saying that I've been thinking about doing something along the lines of Sims 2 stories, which is an excellent medium for any future Sims 2 artwork I'm working on. It's only in the back of my mind right now, but I'm tempted to go a different way with the whole thing if I'm going to proceed.

That's all for now. Back to work for me!

:)

Progress: Step One

2009-08-08T21:59:00.012-03:00

Picture DO speak a thousand words. Progress on the video's been a workout so far.

I still got a ton of sets to work on (or at least it feels like I do). The main thing is I've begun filming and I'm feeling better about how it's looking so far. Ran a few raw test clips through Sony Vegas and I'm starting to feel the flow.

Filming has relatively been easy. For a first, I've been screwing around with the first person camera configurations for smoother movements. After seeing films by Jaydee and Sixfeebullets, I figured it was time I matured with my camera work. Other than switching back and forth between the game and camera files, it's not as difficult as I thought. It's pretty neat looking when it's all said and done. It always reminded me of "The Matrix" with the whole bullet time thing.

If you want to do a comparison to the actors from my previous films and artwork, something you might be noticing by looking at these pictures is that the actor looks more realistic. Hell knows we all can't thank the custom skinners enough - rowr!

Something that has been a little bit of a challenge - I'm not fond of the face expressions during certain actions. For instance, I was trying to film this guy on the tread mill earlier but he's smiling all the way. Even using the overlay doesn't seem to work. This isn't supposed to be a happy film. Hmph. This one isn't too bad...

Doing this video is apart than anything else I've done before. Besides working with camera configurations, this video is going to be done as a constant film sequence. Forgive me if I don't know the technical term for it, but there's going be a lot of going back and forth between events, shit going on in between, flashbacks, slowmotion clips. In other words, all of this going to take place in a roughly three and a half minute song.

That said, I decided to go with the second extended version of the song which gives me three minutes longer, which brings up an interesting point I've discovered and would like to share with you...

TIP OF THE DAY:

I wouldn't suggest this is a rule as much as I would say it's my opinion, but when it comes to making all these rapid time videos everyone seems to be directing these days, go the extra mile and find the longer version of the song instead of cramming all of it into two minutes. It might look cool, but I've seen it backfire. Too much going on in too little time is not always a good thing.

Building Sets: Practice Round

2009-07-29T23:18:00.013-03:00

Okay,

Contrary to the last post, I simply couldn't resist showing off a little, so here's a few raw pictures containing sets that I've considered for the next video - a dumpy looking bar.

I constructing these a few weeks ago, but considering how I've changed the story line so many time since then, I don't think I'll be using these sets. I just thought I'd post the pictures just to give you a good idea of just how damn perfect I want this video to be.

While constructing other sets, there's been times I simply don't know where to begin. It's been a while, but I've hardly forgotten how challenging this can be.

It's hard to imagine that at one time I never thought about using the really good cheats to get certain objects the way I wanted them. I used to simply go with the "moveobjects on" cheat, but lately I've been dabbling more with "boolprop snapobjectstogrid false" and "boolprop constrainfloorelevation false." I mean, holy shit. What a difference!

With that in mind, let's not forget the classic way of doing things. For instance, in the picture below, the shelves of bottles behind the bar are not objects. It's just simple wallpaper used as a backdrop. When used under specific lighting conditions, it'll jump out at you and make all the difference.

One of the other challenging things I'm working on is the numerous custom poses that I've found online that I think will work well in the video.

As you might tell, my favorite feature in "Apartment Life" is that we now have the ability to see the ceilings. Whether you're making a video or just playing the game, it adds so much more dimension and realism.

That's all for now.

:)

Something Calls Me

2009-07-10T02:45:00.006-03:00

It's been a little over three years now since I've created a video, but considering the innovations I've seen within the machinima community as of late, I have to tell you that it's inspired me to slap the dust from my coat and get back into the game.

I'll admit that it feels a little strange to be talking about what I've been seeing in the "community." For those of you who know me best I've always been such a reclusive little shit, yet when I checked out my friend's blog roll the other day, I was pleasantly surprised while visiting a machinima forum I was led to the actual machinima channel on Justin TV. I have to mention that I almost cried after two hours watching Sims 2 videos made by veteran and newbie directors. It was a nostalgic and refreshing experience for me; kind of like re-discovering a toy you haven't played with for years. As a result I've happily contributed my little pieces of history to the channel, and now I want more.

Of course, again, for those of you who know me best, I'm refusing to tell you about my project(s) at the moment. Please understand when I tell you that I'm not being a snob. I've just become rather superstitious of such things since it's been a valuable lesson from my past that I'll never complete the project if I revealed screen shots, test films or even let loose the biggest mistake and tell you about the video concepts entirely. I'll let it out eventually, but only after there's a finished project, or at best, when the process is nearly finished and I'm comfortable heading towards the end result.

A New Look. A New Start.

2009-06-20T15:42:00.011-03:00

UPDATE:
Archived Jule78 films are now hosted at Vimeo and are finally available for viewing here.

2009-06-20T15:40:00.000-03:00

Eleanor Rigby from jule78 on Vimeo.

2009-06-20T15:38:00.001-03:00

Gabriel from jule78 on Vimeo.

2009-06-20T15:10:00.001-03:00

You're Missing from jule78 on Vimeo.

2009-06-20T14:49:00.002-03:00

Stripped from jule78 on Vimeo.

2009-06-19T01:27:00.006-03:00

Life In A Northern Town from jule78 on Vimeo.