October Update (Project Progress)

 Heya Gang!

 Quite a bit of work going on this month, though it hasn't resulted in a video. The timeline you're seeing here is for the Better Call Saul video- which was going really smoothly, until I lost confidence a bit with the second half, which didn't quite ring true to me when all assembled together. I didn't have a spooky video planned for Halloween to replace it this time, and I didn't really want to release it in the back end of October with all the parties and the vibe going on around then, so I'm going to work into this one a little bit more. Do bear with me, we'll definitely have this out eventually.

 I also worked extensively on another video as I thought over those issues...

 This is the extremely messy timeline for the very first episode of The Real Thunderbolts story, and I wanted to breakdown the process so far- what you're really seeing, essentially, is me assembling as much of the final audio for the individual performed scenes. I'm getting the pacing, placement and levels sorted, experimenting with pieces of music, and using very simple edits of the comic pages above to better inform what sounds and sound effects I need, as well as what I want to add to the existing art to better punctuate the phenomenal voice talent. Obviously all the major dialogue is here, that's how all these scenes can be assembled, but there's a very small amount of retakes and additional material we're getting covered just to pave over a couple of oversights here and there from the script. The bits right at the very end you're seeing, separated from the others, are to be inserted in other parts of the body of the video, but I wanted to feel the flow of the main action before really committing to where they'll go just yet.

 The plan at this point is to have all the audio timed and sorted out for these and then to export them as their own files, and then do the final visuals in a separate sequence with those tracks. Then I can insert those scenes into the final timeline and work my own narration, final music cues and edits around those, so i'm not just working with a big messy timeline that freezes up every time I want to make an edit like the FF one ended up doing. What a shock, I've finally hit on a production pipeline, it only took 4 years.

 It feels like it's on track to come out before the movie next year, and the rest of the series is in a good place too. While fighting writers block on my BCS revisions I went ahead and started laying down audio for the later episodes- with everything up to the penultimate episode now 95% recorded and everything up to the beginning of the first episode in the timeline. The final episode is about 50% there- we're still trying to organise a final reading with the core cast, but everyone's on board to make it happen. The most important thing to me, even if I can't hit every visual high I'm aiming for, is that the entire story is completely told in audio form, and that's absolutely where we're headed. Cannot wait to show you all what this talented bunch has done with this material. Truly, I'm in awe of how these performances are sounding, and I think you'll feel the same. A huge thanks, once again, to every one of you for ensuring I can keep everyone on the payroll into the home stretch.

 Alas, I didn't hit on an emergency Halloween video as usual to compensate. Honestly, I can't say I've really been feeling it this year, what with everything I've been trying to accomplish and where i'm at right now, I haven't even got a party to go to! I'm a little bummed about that as it's one of my favourite times of the year and I'm hoping to change that next time around, but I was pleased to see a little bump in views for all the Halloween stuff I made in the years prior. Feels like it was worth putting in the time way back then to ensure there was some B-content to enjoy.

 Have a fangtastic Halloween and don't open the door, keep the Musketeer Bars to yourself. Mmm.

 -B