Hump Day

It's Wednesday, the hump of the week. I'm working away on our last commercial for GM. Two more shots that need to be completed for our Friday delivery. And then I move onto Charlotte's Web next week!

The independent Sundance film that a bunch of us are doing has a deadline of early next month. Our director will be coming at the end of this month to tell us if we're on the right track with our effects. I completed a temp shot over lunch yesterday that's pretty neat. I'm not sure if allowed to talk about this film, so I'll find out from our director when she comes in. The film hasn't been submitted to Sundance for qualification just yet, so our effects won't be in it when it is shown to the committee.

At the moment I'm listening to some ShoutCast radio while I do my work. ShoutCast has been around for a while. I remember listening to it back in Vancouver a mere three years ago, and recall racking up a HUGE amount of gigabytes downloaded (Think 40+ GB a month)! So much so that Shaw.ca called several times to find out why I downloaded so much. At least I wasn't serving it out! Shoutcast is streaming radio. On their website there are a wide range of channels that you can listen to, at various bit depths, of different music. My favorite channels that I've listened to over the years are mostly Digitally Imported and Groove Salad. Right now, it's Euro Trance on Digitally Imported FM. The great part of the channels that I'm listening to is that they have no commercials, and play mostly underground music (well, at least music I've never heard). This allows me to sample new music, and if I like it enough, I just jot the artist down and go web surfing to find the song. It's enabled me to find new tunes that my peers have never heard of; Dadamnphreaknoizfunk, Nautilus, Shpongle, Lemon Jelly, to name a few. Some of the sweetest music is underground.

Which brings up another topic. Just going to toss this out there, so feel free to comment. Would any of you be interested in a podcast of tips, tricks, and how-tos for Shake (or compositing in general)? This would enable you to learn while you listen. It could be beneficial, allowing people to learn about how to composite effectively without reading a book, and just by listening to my wonderful voice, guiding you through the tutorial. I'm going to look into it. I don't portray myself to be the be-all-know-it-all about visual effects, but who else is going to do it?