SovietWomble

Feedback and Half Life: Alyx - Jeff

Thank you very much for all your feedback on the last post, everyone. I promise I have read it all, even though I can't respond to everything I'm afraid. Thank you for being so understanding and supportive.

I don't necessarily want to abort the Sons of the Forest video follow up.

But I do think I should take a second stab at a script. Greatly streamlining the setup and focusing on what matters. With the goal of making it much more to the point. There's no need to try...

Sons of the Forest problems

This has been a very difficult preproduction week thus far. And this will be a difficult post to make. But here goes.

For the last couple of days I've been intensely stressing over the footage for the Sons of the Forest video. As I've been wrestling with an uncomfortable realisation as a creator.

I don't think this is working as well as I was hoping. And the principle problem I have is the duration. I think I have indeed made the script too long.

2024-08-15 16:07:44 +0000 UTC View Post

Preparing for the next project & pre-production

Good afternoon everybody. Just to let you know that with HELLDIVERS 2 public and then a week taken off as a break, I'm ready to get started with the next edit.

Actually the timing was really excellent. For last week saw me finally secure a new place that isn't this cramped little flat in Brighton. I'm exceedingly grateful to you all for that. Thank you very much! And Lulu would thank you too for this place has a small garden for her to roam around in.

I've not moved ...

Helldivers 2 bullshittery - Update #4

Good evening all. I'm back from a family BBQ. Lulu got lots of cuddles from various family members as she was passed around from lap to lap. And she came back thoroughly full of chicken and cheese.

She's currently flopped to my left, utterly tuckered out from all the fun.

Now I have a bit more ...

NEW VIDEO - Random HELLDIVERS 2 bullshittery

Good afternoon everybody. It's the end of the 5th week of work on HELLDIVERS 2 bullshittery. And I've been able to finish it and get a render ready. Here is the link. Thank you very much for waiting - https://youtu.be/FXjEs46j8Eo

Let me know what you think and whether you spot anything weird/wonky. Admittedly, there are some things I'd love to tweak/change/add to. 2024-07-28 13:13:27 +0000 UTC View Post

Helldivers 2 bullshittery - Update #3

Good evening all. Quick post to update you all as I'm deep in the editing trying to deliver the video for you all.

It's the 5th week of work of Helldivers 2 bullshittery and I'm working it through quality assurance. For those interested, I've made another one of those worksheets to track the progress of bug fixing -

https://...

Helldivers 2 bullshittery - Update #2

Good evening folks. Hope you're having a lovely week. It's the end of week 3 on the latest bullshittery video this is the progress so far:

• Week 1 - Pre-production to find the necessary scenes from about 35 hours of footage

• Week 2 - Properly cutting about 60 scenes together to make a 10 minute video.

• Week 3 - Keyframing and text animating the first 6 minutes.

The object...

Helldivers 2 bullshittery - Update #1

Good evening folks. Thank you again for partaking in that poll in the last post. Helldivers 2 was the clear winner. Therefore I've enthusiastically spent the last 8 days on it.

For those unfamiliar - at the start of each bullshittery project - a "master" project file is created. This is an Adobe Premiere file where all the standard templates can be added for my workflow. Most notably "sequences", little timelines of clips. Alongside other folders for audio, images,...

June 2024 - Which project would you prefer I focus on next?

Good morning all. This is the follow up post to the one on Saturday.

Having worked on that video-essay for 3 months or so, it would be nice to have a change of pace before going back to it afterwards. Is there a potential bullshittery you'd like me to make?

Brainstorming with the chat a couple of days ago, I came up with 12 possibilities. But filtered it down to 6 to ease up on choice-paralysis.

For those unfamiliar with this process:

• I'll do my best, but I can...

  2024-06-24 07:45:13 +0000 UTC View Post

Sons of the Forest - Update #9 - Next 20 minutes

Good afternoon all. I've been able to finish another work-in-progress chunk of this Sons of Forest video-essay. An unlisted video link is here for those interested - https://youtu.be/p7ROvAjV7-w

This one consists of segments 16 to 22 (out of 40). So over the halfway mark now.

It contains the following categories from the...

Sons of the Forest - Update #8 - First 45 minutes

Good evening everybody. I've managed to complete the first chunk of that Sons of the Forest video. I've made an Unlisted link for you here. Sorry that this took ages. I was hoping to have it by last Friday. But I ended the week with about 60 issues that had to get worked through - https://youtu.be/QOQ716pGVmQ

So this segments ...

Sons of the Forest - Update #7

Good morning everybody. It's the end of week 9 on the latest project and here's summary on progress:

• Broadly I'm working on a follow up to The Forest video essay. This time on Sons of the Forest. It consists of 40 segments and is roughly 3 hours long.

• Segments 2-15 are my current goal. Getting them out to you in a work-in-progress render. It's about 45 minutes long.

• All audio is cut. Nearly all visuals are cut. There's probabl...

  2024-05-24 10:01:22 +0000 UTC View Post

Sons of the Forest - Update #6

Good evening all. It's the end of week number 7 on the latest video-essay for Sons of the Forest. And here's a summary on progress.

I must apologise for week 6, for despite my desire to dive into the project immediately, I came down with a common cold. Normally it wouldn't be an issue. But since an important first step for the production is recording narrated dialogue, I felt it best to wait until my voice wasn't so nasally. So I ...

Sons of the Forest - Update #5

Thanks for taking part in the polls everybody. So the final tally of opinion was

• 1.) Option 1 - Just continue with Sons of the Forest = 556 votes

• 2.) Option 2 - Set this to one side and continue it later = 195 votes

And thank you for those who provided feedback in the comments or by email. It's all very much appreciated. A wide array of good points made by all.

So for the moment I'll contin...

Sons of the Forest - Update #4 - Pre-production complete

Good afternoon all, hope you're all smashing. It's the end of the 5th week of pre-production work on a Sons of the Forest video-essay. And it went something like this:

• Week 1 & 2: Reviewing the 17 livestreams and marking lots of useful clips and highlights.

• Week 3: Built up the broad structure of a video-essay. Organising the point...

  2024-04-27 16:00:17 +0000 UTC View Post

Sons of the Forest - Update #3

Good evening all. It's the 4th week of work on a Sons of the Forest video-essay and here's an update on progress:

• I've finished planning out the overall structure (completed last week) - resulting in about 40 points to talk about in sequence. Which currently occupy my wall as a guide.

• I'm penning the actual draft script and have finished half in roughly 5 days.

• No major problems and the work is on going.

After t...

Sons of the Forest - Update #2

Good afternoon everybody. It's the second week of work on the current video-essay. Here's how things are currently going. My current objectives are:

• Review the Sons of the Forest streams for useful moments.

• Identify the points in the prior video-essay that I'd like to bring up again.

• Plan out the broad structure of the video and plotting out what does where.

All three elements of that plan have been going very well. I'm pretty confid...

Sons of the Forest - Pre-production and script (for now)

Good afternoon everybody. I'm back from a week-or-so of rest after the last video. During that time I did a bunch of cleaning and cooking projects - the latter being a minor hobby of mine.

And sufficiently inspired by a recent playthrough of Sons of the Forest, I realised that I'd never tasted an Oyster before. You can harvest and eat oysters in that game, you see.

And so it became a minor goal. Something to at least experience once in real life right?

One trip to the fishmo...

NEW VIDEO - Arma 3 Prairie Fire Bullshittery

Good afternoon everybody. It's been a week of quality assurance since the last update. And I think I've been able to iron out the errors in the latest bullshittery. I have a link for those interested? Let me know what you think of it and as always, thank you sincerely for your extreme patience and kind support :)

Random Arma Bullshittery - Prairie Fire -  https://youtu.be/cRtQVSNpc0w 

Arma 3 Prairie Fire Bullshittery - Update #3

Good evening folks. Apologies for the fairly late post. I should have typed up one about a week ago. I've actually jumped quite far ahead in the edit.

• In the last post I said that I'd completed the initial cut and was moving onto keyframing/animating.
• I was actually able to complete that process in just under 2 weeks.
• It's now in the quality assurance phase. The final part before getting the video to you.

On that front, gah...some nasty challenges are...

Arma 3 Prairie Fire Bullshittery - Update #2

Good afternoon everybody. Hope you're doing well. It's been a week and a half since work started on Arma 3 Prairie Fire Bullshittery and here's an update on how things are going.

Things have properly conspired against me a bit, corr blimey. It's been a real uphill battle:

• Last week I was struck down with (presumed) food-poisoning. Which greatly damaged my overall efficiency in the "scrubbing" phase.
• No sooner had I recovered from, that was I struck down wit...
  2024-02-15 19:37:43 +0000 UTC View Post

Arma 3 Prairie Fire Bullshittery - Update #1

Good evening folks. Thank you for participating in the recent polls. It appears that Arma 3 Prairie Fire (Vietnam) was the clear winner. I will endeavour to deliver you a Arma bullshittery - starting today. 

For those unfamiliar with my process, there are 4 phases:

•  1.) Scrubbing/finding the highlights - from the saved livestreams with their assorted .txt file notes.
•  2.) Cutting - getting various clips into a watchab...
  2024-02-05 19:42:41 +0000 UTC View Post

Feb 2024 - Which project would you prefer I focus on next?

Greetings folks. I hope you're all doing smashing.

I'm currently taking this week off to chill, whilst also penning some (potential) video-essay scripts that might take off later. All is well over here. In the meantime however, I figured I'd go through some potential bullshittery options and present some polls.

For those who are new to Patreon, traditionally I like to alternate between audience polls and then something of my choice. Divinity was my selection,...

NEW VIDEO - Divinity Bullshittery (part 4)

Good evening everybody. I've managed to finish the latest bullshittery and have a link for you if you're interested. It's Divinity bullshittery (part 4) - https://youtu.be/8H_R8dJ7x8o 

Blimey that was a grindstone. It has been scrubbed and cut over the month of November, keyframed over December, and polished over January. A 25 minute long bullshittery with a lot of moving...

Divinity Bullshittery - Update #4

Happy New Year everybody. I hope you've all had a smashing one. And Christmas before that.

It's been a couple of weeks since the last update. And I've been squirreling away on the keyframing/animation phase for the next bullshittery. And though the second week proved difficult due to sickness, I've been able to get about 81%.

On the timeline, 84 of 130 scenes are in place and rendered.  With more being slotted in as they're finished. The bulk of the work is n...

Divinity Bullshittery - Update #3

Good evening everyone. A short update, as it's been a week since the last post and I'd like to keep everyone in the loop.

Thank you for all your feedback concerning the draft. It's restored my confidence considerably. I felt happy enough to proceed to full keyframing. It's already started and I'm about 13% complete.

Alas, this is where the grind truly begins. Each week is going to see me come back with a completion figure as I work to handle each After Ef...

Divinity Bullshittery - Update #2 - Draft version

Good evening everybody. Hope you're all doing well this week.

Over the course of two weeks I've been able to cut together a Divinity bullshittery. And have also perform some quality assurance (mostly audio) to bring it into a watchable state. I've intentionally skip the middle part, for the moment. It has no text and animations. Yet at least.

For those not following previous posts - this is because of a lack of confidence in the editing style of the prior Divinities. I feel I stra...

Divinity Bullshittery - Update #1

Good evening everybody. A quick update on progress. Keeping it as succinct as possible in a TL;DR:

• Off the back of a couple of weeks of pre-production, I was able to cut together a rough draft of a Divinity bullshittery last week.
• I'm currently trying to trim it down. It's a bit long at 35 minutes.
• And also hoping to prepare a watchable version for the sake of feedback this week.

So the cutting job last week went pretty smoothly. I ha...

Divinity Bullshittery - Preproduction scrubbing #3

Good afternoon all. Another update. With a TL;DR first:

• I've spent a couple of weeks reviewing livestream footage for Divinity 2. Trying to determine if there are enough gags for a bullshittery episode.
• I feel the answer is yes. And will start cutting one together to see how it plays.

This preproduction phase has proved very useful. I've tagged dozens of little moments across many of the livestreams. This gameplay chapter sees the party explor...

Divinity Bullshittery - Preproduction scrubbing #2

Good evening everybody. Hope you've all had a lovely weekend. A complicated post below. But for those swinging through, here's the TL;DR:

• Last week I've been categorising highlights in a "master" project file for Divinity. Carefully watching through the livestreams to identify useful moments.
• I'd like to continue that process for another week please. I need more time.

So the Divinity II project is something of a headache.

Before each bullshittery cut, I ...