so it took almost exactly a year to write and record and now my next album “with the moon alongside racing us home” is mixed!  complete! done!  finito! pung! bahoogled!  i made a lot of those words up, feel free to use them (CC non-profit, attribution, share-alike).

now all this mixing’s done i’m focusing on my live show and getting axis out into the world.  i’m also enjoying playing with max for live as an audio visual environment.  getting sensors to the party is the next step i think… like some sort of reactive audio-visual “thingy”.

artwork for the album has to be done too… might start on that now.

bob out.

The Agnes Kain clip is finished!  I’m very happy with the end result. There are no effects in post, everything was shot in camera… which is probably obvious right up until the end. You can check out my previous posts to see how it was made from conception to birth.  Big thanks to Chanelle and Stef and ultra-mega-big thanks to Ryan for wearing ridiculous things,  standing in uncomfortable poses for extended periods of time and just being generally rad.

i threw together a little max patch to convert a cheapo keypad into a midi controller (a bit like this one i made a little while back).  these little things are great.  got me thinking, what the hell did we do before usb?

in other news, the Agnes Kain clip is finished! i’ll send it live in the next few days.  now that’s done i’m back into music mode gluing together bits and pieces to finish my NEW ALBUM.  some gigs lined up too…  zeal reemerges from the makey-cave to obliterate your senses!

i’m knuckling down and editing the agnes kain clip over the weekend. it’s the first time i’ve tried final cut and it’s not that bad. i had to shed some prejudice brought on by my hatred for itunes and all apple software by association. but final cut’s actually alright. it runs much faster than premiere (which i made this with) but i’m still yet to find anything as intuitive as vegas (which i made this with). if anyone out there knows of any secret superstar video editing software let me know – i don’t think any developers have quite got it right yet. meant to put up this super exclusive behind the scenes pic last post. i’m all about ruining the magic.

ok, i should get back to editing instead posting stuff and playing in the world of text (which i made this with).

shot one of the final scenes of the agnes kain clip last night. it was a full size rear projection shoot exactly like the mighty boosh just with less crimping.

a few little scenes left to shoot and edit and then that’s a wrap. it’s pretty exciting to see how the clip’s turning out, especially seeing how it’s evolved from the original idea. i’m animating the clip “in camera” with no effects in post. it moves a lot of the problems that usually need to be solved from inside a computer out into the real world where they’re easier to deal with. mainly because in the real world every single problem can be solved with gaff tape. ryan the birdman agrees.

winter’s the best but the weather’s been holding back shooting on the agnes kain clip again. i’ve been working on everything that can be done inside out of the way of the falling sky water which luckily includes experimenting with projected backgrounds – parallels are cropping up between the agnes clip and the cuba is japan clip again. planning a big rear projection shoot this week. should be a sort of scaled up, person size version of what’s going on down there. i’ll be sure to post something about it. for the moment i’m setting up the mini version…

if you follow my twitter you’ve probably noticed the robot binge. it’s had it’s effect… behold the homunculus!

more soon.

these are the birdman wings i made for this agnes kain clip. all heshen, bamboo and cable ties. the opacity of the heshen in a few silhouetted shots turned out real nice. and i’m seeing some unintentional parallels pop up with the cuba is japan clip. now i’m making a small cardboard set to double the aerial footage.

shot some aerial video over hallett cove’s seaside cliffs for the agnes kain clip two days ago. it’s the best weather i’ve taken the camera up in and also the first time i’ve flown it over the water. on the first flight there was a bit of a scary moment where the radio dropped out and the plane headed out, uncontrolled towards the open sea with my camera onboard. luckily control was returned and my camera avoided a bath which it probably wouldn’t have enjoyed. ended up with a lot of good footage which might make it’s way into other projects as well. more filming to be done over the weekend.

i’ve been plugging away at a new music video for melbourne/sydney band agnes kain. check ‘em out! they’re great. they’ve got a new album on the way (like me:) and this clip will be for the first single… i’m not sure if i can mention its name so i won’t. the concept involves a collection of 2 second video clips, aeriel video, toys and a birdman. it’s a mix of both animation and video – the first clip i’ve done that’s not purely animated. went location scouting today for this scene:

and found this:

which is just about perfect. i’m making the birdman’s wings out of bamboo and heshen tonight. then all that’s left to do is jump off the roof to check they work. if they don’t i’ll just have to jump off something higher.