HARDWARE
Lets kick it off with what kind of computer I am running; I am using an Apple G5 dual 2.0 with 2 gigs of ram. With 8 cores out there now this is no longer a beast but it can play real time uncompressed video so it gets the job done. Obviously the faster your computer the faster your render times are going to be.
I used a Panasonic DV1000 deck that is no longer made. Nothing special, firewire in.
The only reason I mention what kind of hard driveS i use is to make A VERY IMPORTANT POINT! Back up everything, every day. Read that again..... I have two 250 gig external hardrives, the second is a complete backup of the first. This is a lesson i learned a few times in the past, nothing is worse then losing your whole project.
Mac Users: I use SilverKeeper, a free program from Lacie (another drive maker) to back up my project.
SOFTWARE
Panzer Corps was edited on Final Cut Pro. After the edit was completed I did a general "color correction" to the whole film leveling the white and black points using the three way color corrector.
DE:Noise a plugin for Final Cut Pro that reduces noise using spatial filtering. Unfortunately I shot some brief scenes using camera gain (a big No No) but that was the only choice... What makes this plugin well worth the money is it uses other video frames to pinpoint what is noise and what is your "shot". Free filters including the ones in Final Cut Pro reduce noise by adding a general blur that destroys the sharpness of your picture. The difference is stagering! You can download a trail version at toolfarm.com.
I wanted to have light rays in the film, the real way to do this is to have a smoke machine and shoot light through it. No electrical generator meant no smoke machine (except for the end scene). Trapcode's Shine is amazing, the light rays it produces truly look like they are emanating from a real light source. More about this in a later tutorial.
EFFECTS
After each shot was ready for effects I exported an uncompressed file for each individual shot. I will discuss this more about each one of these in a later tutorials.
First up to bat is Adobe's After Effects. I brought my footage into After Effects then...
...created muzzle flashes using FXhome's MuzzlePlug plugin. This plugin creates muzzle flashes in a 3D environment producing quick effects that look convincing. Once the effect is created I exported the muzzle flash on a black background to be composited in Shake (you could simply do the composite in After Effects).
I created the shell casings using Trapcode's Particular particle generator. Particular is a 3D particle generator with real world effects such as gravity and velocity, this way i could match the angle of the gun and have shells "fly" out of the breach in any imaginable direction. once the effect was created i exported the file for shake.
My second particle generator is Wondertouch's Particle Illusion 3. This program has over 1000 pre-made effects including dirt hits, explosions and fire. Every particle can be altered in look and physics. Export for shake.
One more stop before going into shake, Adobe's Photoshop. If you don't know Photoshop you need to, any still images that are in need of manipulation such as matte paintings, the scope template were created in photoshop.
COMPOSITING
Finally after all the pieces of the shot are created each file was brought into Apple's Shake. The difference between After Effects and Shake is node based compositing versus layer based. Shake's node tree enables you to introduce the effects exactly how you want them. I will go over this in much greater detail in another tutorial, another program that is node based is Autodesk's Combustion.
ReelSmart Motion Blur is a handy plugin for Shake; it can take an image with no motion blur and add directional blur! I primary used this for the particles from Particular and Particle Illusion, it was also a way to make sure that my motion blurs remained consistent from different sources.
At this point stock footage is brought into shake. Below are the two sources that i bought from.
Detonation Films
nocontrol cinema
BACK INTO FINAL CUT PRO
After the effects shot is done i exported an uncompressed file from Shake then imported it back into Final Cut Pro. All final color corrections and editing are made.
AUDIO
As of right now this is still up in the air, one of a few things may happen. I might layout my sound effects in FCP or Sound Track Pro. Once everything is laid out the final mix may happen in Soundtrack Pro or Pro Tools... We'll see. :)
FINAL EXPORTS
After the whole movie is completed the film will be exported as an uncompressed quicktime...
... After doing a lot of tests I like Shake's film grain filter the most; the whole movie will get a nice coat of grain to give it the first in the "Film Look" process.
And export again to After Effects.
There are a few plugins that work in After Effects, so here we go.
The "film" was shot in 60i knowing that it was going to be converted into "24p" in the final stages Red Giant's Frames will be doing the conversion for me. Then...
... Instant HD from Red Giant will be convert the footage from anamorphic DV to HD resolution.
PLAY FORMAT
Either DVDs will be made in DVD Studio Pro or tapes will be made at a local dub house.
And that is it...