Anyways, it was a good experience. Hope to be able to do the next one.

“Hello National Film Challenge Teams:

The Audience Award voting is over and the Round 2 Judges have completed their ratings and determined the winners for the 2009 National Film Challenge! There were many, many great films this year.  But, of course, decisions have to be made. The website will be updated soon, but for now, here are the winners:

BEST FILM
$1,000 and a screening at the 48 Hour Film Project Filmapalooza at the NAB Show in Vegas

The More Perfect Yellow
Team: Viva La VHS
St. Petersburg, FL, USA
Mockumentary

RUNNER-UP
Will receive screening at the 48 Hour Film Project Filmapalooza at the NAB Show in Vegas.

Bound
Team: Twitch
Utrecht, Netherlands
Film de Femme

AUDIENCE AWARD
$500 and a screening at the 48 Hour Film Project Filmapalooza at the NAB Show in Vegas

The More Perfect Yellow
Team: Viva La VHS
St. Petersburg, FL, USA
Mockumentary

BEST DIRECTING
The More Perfect Yellow
Team: Viva La VHS
St. Petersburg, FL, USA
Mockumentary

BEST ACTING – LEAD
Bound
Male Lead: Turan Furat
Female Lead: Jenny Hsia
Team: Twitch
Utrecht, Netherlands
Film de Femme

BEST ACTING – ENSEMBLE
The Jenkins County 5th Annual Bumper Sticker Contest
Team: Exigence
Los Angeles, CA, USA
Mockumentary

BEST CHILD ACTORS
The Three Labors of Oliver
Team: Exempt From Consideration
Cambridge, MA, USA
Buddy Film

BEST SCREENPLAY
The More Perfect Yellow
Team: Viva La VHS
St. Petersburg, FL, USA
Mockumentary

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
My Birthday
Team: Hahoozhafax J Productions
Broadview Heights, OH, USA
Thriller/Suspense

BEST EDITING
Bound
Team: Twitch
Utrecht, Netherlands
Film de Femme

BEST SOUNDTRACK
The Sleep Monitor
Team: Barbecue Dreadlock
San Rafael, CA, USA
Thriller/Suspense

BEST ORIGINAL SONG
Squatch Watch
Team: Stumptown
Marquette, MI, USA
Mockumentary

BEST SOUND DESIGN
The Find
Team: Whisper Productions
Dawsonville, GA, USA
Western

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
The More Perfect Yellow
Team: Viva La VHS
St. Petersburg, FL, USA
Mockumentary

BEST MAKE-UP
WOW
Team: Arizona Ink Studios
Des Moines, IA, USA
Mockumentary

BEST COSTUMES
The Essentials
Team: Skeleton Key Films
Port Chester, NY, USA
Superhero

BEST SPECIAL EFFECTS
Sstzng Siang Shyr (Déjà vu)
Team: C.O. Group
Greensboro, NC, USA
Thriller/Suspense

BEST GRAPHICS
WOW
Team: Arizona Ink Studios
Des Moines, IA, USA
Mockumentary

BEST CREDITS
Game Night
Team: Critical End!
Portland, OR, USA
Musical

BEST USE OF COMEDY GENRE
Breathless
Team: Freeman Pictures
New Kensington, PA, USA

BEST USE OF DETECTIVE/COP GENRE
The Specials
Team: 3 Marvelous Cloppers
Edinburgh, UK

BEST USE OF DRAMA GENRE
Unlocked
Team: Two Toddlers
Portland, OR, USA

BEST USE OF FANTASY GENRE
Square One
Team: Montage 4
Cape Girardeau, MO, USA

BEST USE OF FILM DE FEMME GENRE
Bound
Team: Twitch
Utrecht, Netherlands

BEST USE OF MOCKUMENTARY GENRE
The More Perfect Yellow
Team: Viva La VHS
St. Petersburg, FL

BEST USE OF BUDDY FILM GENRE
The Three Labors of Oliver
Team: Exempt From Consideration
Cambridge, MA, USA

BEST USE OF HOLIDAY FILM GENRE
It’s Nice to Meet You
Team: Pretty Pretty Picture
Richmond, VA, USA

BEST USE OF HORROR GENRE
Grave Mistakes
Team: Nectar of the Gods
Media, PA, USA

BEST USE OF MUSICAL GENRE
Game Night
Team: Critical End!
Portland, OR, USA

BEST USE OF ROMANCE GENRE
Your First Date
Team: Halcyon Video Productions
Nashville, TN, USA

BEST USE OF SCI FI GENRE
Measure of a Man
Team: Down The Block Films
San Diego, CA, USA

BEST USE OF SUPERHERO GENRE
The Shepherd
Team: The Virginia Marti Party
Cleveland, OH, USA

BEST USE OF THRILLER/SUSPENSE GENRE
The Sleep Monitor
Team: Barbecue Dreadlock
San Rafael, CA, USA

BEST USE OF WESTERN GENRE
The Find
Team: Whisper Productions
Dawsonville, GA, USA

BEST USE OF PROP (A Pack of Matches)
Fire Fight
Team Midas
New York, NY
Mockumentary

BEST USE OF PROP (A Flask)
Auto Care
Team: Four Corners Filmmakers
Farmington, NM, USA
Sci-Fi

BEST USE OF PROP (A Bumper Sticker)
The Jenkins County 5th Annual Bumper Sticker Contest
Team Exigence
Los Angeles, CA, USA
Mockumentary

BEST USE OF PROP (A bicycle)
M-Power
Team: Celluloid Fire
Tupelo, MS, USA
Film de Femme

BEST USE OF CHARACTER (Mary or Mark Shapiro, Unemployed)
My Birthday
Team: Hahoozhafax J Productions
Broadview Heights, OH, USA
Thriller/Suspense

BEST USE OF CHARACTER (Dawn or Don Richards, Mechanic)
Auto Care
Team: Four Corners Filmmakers
Farmington, NM, USA
Sci-Fi

BEST USE OF CHARACTER (Morrie or Mandy Fielding, Lab Technician)
Safety Not Guaranteed
Team: Jesse and The Rippers
Studio City, CA, USA
Sci Fi

BEST USE OF CHARACTER (Jordan Gordon, Systems Analyst)
Video Jungle
Team Cinethusiasts/Rannosaurus Rex
Fargo, ND, USA
Buddy Film

BEST USE OF LINE (“This is like déjà vu all over again.”)
My Birthday
Team: Hahoozhafax J Productions
Broadview Heights, OH, USA
Thriller/Suspense

BEST USE OF LINE (“What did you expect me to do?”)
Party In My Pants
Team Raw
London, UK
Superhero

BEST USE OF LINE (“That’s what you call teamwork.”)
The Jenkins County 5th Annual Bumper Sticker Contest
Team: Exigence
Los Angeles, CA, USA
Mockumentary

BEST USE OF LINE (“This could get very complicated.”)
Straight No Chaser
Devinshire Jamestown Pictures
Kansas City, MO, USA
Buddy Film

***SPECIAL JUDGES AWARD***

MOST INVENTIVE FILM
Orpheus & Eurydice
Team: The Last Quest
Seattle, WA, USA
Drama

Thanks again to all of the competing teams and congratulations to all of the winners! In the next few weeks we will try and get all of the award winners on the website for viewing.

Good luck on your next film projects and we hope you’ll participate again next year!

Doug Whyte
Film Challenge Producer”

Next year we will try again.

“Hello Film Challenge Filmmakers,

The moment you have all been waiting for: our first round judges have completed their voting, which determined the 16 finalists for the 2009 National Film Challenge. (Due to a tie there are 16 finalists instead of 15.) There are many, many great films this year. Many more than just 16: in total, 165 films were finished by the deadline and eligible for awards.

This is the hardest part of my job because there are always more disappointed filmmakers than happy ones. As a filmmaker myself, I know exactly how much time, energy and mania went into the creation of your film. And I also know the sting of what feels like rejection (but is really just non-selection). But please believe me when I reiterate what many have said before: that film selection is subjective, and what’s selected by our judges represents a small sliver of the many quality films submitted. I want you to know that many of the films were rated highly and it is a narrow distinction between being a finalist and missing the cut. So, if you’re not on this list, keep your head up and keep making films.

All finalists will go to a second round of judges who will determine the Grand Prize Winner. These 16 films will also be posted on our website (in the next day or two) for Audience Award voting. The Grand Prize Winner will receive $1,000 and the Audience Award Winner will receive $500. Both films will screen with the 48HFP City Winners at the NAB Show in Las Vegas next April.

Here are the finalists (in alphabetical order by film name):

“Bound” by twitch
“The Case” by Red Hot Sun
“The Find” by Whisper Productions
“Grave Mistakes” by Nectar of the Gods
“Heaven” by Ultimatum Pictures
“The Jenkins County 5th Annual Bumper Sticker Contest” by Exigence
“The More Perfect Yellow” by Viva La VHS
“My Birthday” by Hahoozhafax J Productions
“Orpheus & Eurydice” by The last quest
“Over and Over Qualified” by Ciscovaras Pictures
“The Sleep Monitor” by Barbecue Dreadlock
“The Specials” by 3 marvelous cloppers
“Sstzng Siang Shyr” by The C.O. Group
“The Stash” by Argali Films
“The Three Labors of Oliver” by Exempt from Consideration
“Unlocked” by Two Toddlers

Audience Award voting will be open through January 9. Winners will be announced within 72 hours of the end of the voting.

NOTE: Non-finalists are still eligible for some awards such as Best Use of Elements, special effects, etc.

Congratulations to all of the finalists! And to all of the other filmmakers who finished their films by the deadline – a heroic feat in and of itself.

Cheers,

Doug Whyte
Film Challenge Producer”

Anyways, here’s our film submitted.

This is just an update to let you know that the judging is almost complete and we will be announcing the 15 finalists (and have them on the website for audience voting) by the end of the week. I know many of you are anxious, but judging all of the submitted films fairly is no easy task and we don’t like to rush the process. Hope you all had a nice Thanksgiving break. You’ll hear from me later this week!

Doug Whyte

Film Challenge Producer

Following is a list of the teams that we received a film from by the deadline (so far). If your team is not on this list but you think it should be, first check your tracking number to see if we signed for it. (Some of the international shipments might not have reached us yet.) If you have an issue with not being on this list, please contact me. Also, we have not checked all of the DVDs/tapes yet. If we run into a problem with your film, we will let you know.

2009 ELIGIBLE TEAMS:

1985 Media
3 marvelous cloppers
3dollar50cents
40th Floor Productions
712 Studios
936 Productions
Adaska Four
Adventure Star Pictures
Ai MInnesota
Aloft Films
Anderson High School
Apt
Argali Films
Arizona Ink Studios
Arrowood Films
Barbecue Dreadlock
BB-Cue Productions
Beardface Productions
Bed Monster
Black Forest Bridge Productions
Boston Accent Films
Brew Pop Productions
Brown Bear Productions
Bug-Juice Productions
busy doing nothing productions
Celluloid Fire Film
Chak De Phatte
CHS Films
Cine Apparatus
Cinescope
Cinethusiasts
Ciscovaras Pictures
Cocoon Tales
Command Performance
Crazy Phoenician
Critical End!
cup o’meat productions
CyBoRg Productions
Dark Walnut Features
Darkness
Dayedreams
Deadbeat Club
Defective Umbrella
Devinshire Jamestown Pictures
DiaboliCo.
Distracted Films
Diversified Industry
DoActCrazy
Don Frye Experience
Double O Disco
Down The Block Films
Dudes Productions
ETC
Exempt from Consideration
Exigence
Fire By Night Productions
Four Corners Filmmakers
Freeman Pictures
Green Door Productions
GreyComm
Halcyon Productions
Hands Off Productions
Happy Tree Friends
High street productions
hill cinema tech
Ideogram Films
Instant Noodles Film
IPFW Film Productions
Ishmoe Productions
Jack Of All
Jesse and the Rippers
Johnny Axel Films
Joon Chang Film
Jungle Rules Films
Justice Group
Karma Vs Mojo Productions
Landdolphins
LB Productions
Longlost Pictures
LongWalkProductions
Look Number 7/Opossum Man Productions
Los Hermanos Politicos
LTC Productions
Made for TV Productions
Many American Productions
Midnight Cowbells
Moleskin Productions
Montage 4
Monumental Idea
Morning Wood Productions
Nectar of the Gods
Nickel and Dime
Night Of Productions
Nils Osmar
Nimble Squirrel
Not Obvious
Nothing Sacred Productions
octateuse films
Opposable Cucumber
orangetree productions
OX Productions
OZ Films
PA Underground Dancers
Pilot Penguin Productions
PlumbBob-Standard Productions
Polyglot
Pozole Films
Pretty Pretty Picture
Questidores
Rational Spirit
RealLifefilms
Red Hot Sun
Remember That!!!
Ripe Media Films
Rogue Taurus
Salsa Cat Productions
Schmidt Video Productions
Scrambled Egg Films
Skeleton Key Films
Slim Productions
Smooth
stumptown
Super Night Productions
SuperHouse
Talking Cat Productions
Team Chonch
Team Midas
Team Raw
Team Werewolf
the backwoods
The C.O. Group
The Cingulate System
The Classy Narwhal Team
The last quest
The Morgan Brothers
The Noble Bavarians
The Quick Time Pros
The XOF Project
Tomato Boy Productions
TPX Productions
Tumult Productions
twitch
Two Toddlers
Ultimatum Pictures
Unfinished Productions
Vagittarius Films
Virginia Marti College of Art and Design
Viva La VHS
W.H.O. Productions
Weirdos from Another Planet
Whisper Productions
WildType Films
YellowCake
Zedzay

Good luck with the judging!

Doug Whyte
Film Challenge Producer

This is copied from my Facebook. For those who didn’t get to read in full of what wrote. Happy reading.

Think I’ve really had enough. Problem is that it’s just me. I can’t work with someone like that. I don’t have that kind of patience. That’s it. After this job is done. I’m gonna pull myself out of this mess. Time to get my act together, rebuild my life. Good luck, and spare me from all your 大道理.

I know what I can do and have to do. I don’t need someone else to tell me what I should be doing or telling me how experienced you are. Don’t treat me as if I know nothing about my job, or what I’m doing. You don’t teach man how to pee, or teach a woman how to give birth. Just because you teach, doesn’t make you an expert. Good luck again to you, and whoever is going to work with you.

Your thinking of I’m not as good as you, but that does not make the fact you are that good either, compared to me. I may have been labouring my life for the past 13 over years, but does not mean that I don’t see or work with many different people.

Don’t think you are the one who faces challenges all the time. The fact is, we all do. And how you overcome it, is what makes people respect you. Not by telling me all your woes and experiences, plus I’m still new and this and that. Save it. It may work on others but not me.

That’s the last straw. And if your motive is to bump me out, you did it. Congrats. Now go find yourself someone else good enough to work with you.

Ciao~!

Back home in Singapore, the number of infections are rising rapidly. I’m seriously wondering if situation is going to get any worsed than this. While buying coffee, saw the headline on the Newpaper which says “H1N1 has went over the tipping point”, if I remember correctly. From the looks of it, the world has not seen the worse of the virus yet.

Yesterday evening was the Best Of screening plus award presentation. I thought there would be trophies but it was just a simple certificate in the end. Anyways, winning an award is already the biggest consolation and squeezing into the competition is the biggest achievement in my opinion.

I was contemplating whether to go for the screening until an email from Mike and Meghan revealing the details for the evening event. And so I decided to go and was so proud of our work. I managed to see some of other better works and it was fun. Best part of it, other than winning and watching other winning films, was that the 2 tickets that were complimentary for each team and $5 for any other, were Chuppa Chups!

Lollipops!

After that weekend, everyone kind of disappeared. some went on course, some on study leave and some on leave and some on off. It just left with me, trying to clear up some work for the week before going on course today and tomorrow. It is not the work that drives me under. It’s the exhaustion from work in recent months and last weekend’s project that brought my immune system down. I knew that coz’ I didn’t had symptoms of flu till I woke up on Monday morning to get to work. Anyways, it was a good break though, taking offs in the middle of the day and a day off and another MC within the week. Glad that I’ve managed to push out some completed works before the weekends and now I’m relaxing in a corner in Starbucks after course typing this post.

Speaking of which, Stefano was surprised to see me here. I’ve told him that I didn’t register for the course and it was my friend who did the registration. But anyway, it was interesting to recap on things which I haven’t been doing for a long time, especially the basics. Recalling the basics is the toughest thing when it comes to simple animation in After Effects. It’s just day one for me and tomorrow is going to be real interesting as we’ll be touching on expressions. Something whihc is more complex than just drag and drop.

One last thing, tomorrow is the premiere of our film along with all other teams short film. Hope that we will win some award!

Good luck!

I wished if I could come up with something like that. Afterall, they are from a team and I’m just an individual. Oh by the way, my concept was about video conferencing made possible. Since the theme is impossible made possible, so I thought of several ideas but none of them seemed right. Then just one fine day while some big business on the toilet bowl, this idea of video conferencing came to me and got me started finally. And so there it was and I submitted my work for the competition. Crossing my fingers now and hoping to win, although I don’t have much confident of it.

Anyways, past weeks including this had been a real rush for me. Quite a lot to do and finish up especially after finishing and submitting the competition work. I was also looking at some training opportunities from 3dsense.net. I am particularly interested in the Specialist Certificate in Autodesk Maya. In order to extend myself further, I guess I have to go ahead with this training. I know I won’t last long enough to see myself graduating from private degree studies, especially when I’ve been there and done that. So short courses to get the industry standard skills is still the way to go for me.

Feasibility of a proper qualification versus industry skills. Anyways, I would certainly agree that some proper qualifications would be appropriate if I’m climbing a corporate ladder. But what if I’m looking at industry skills that are necessary to increase my worth? I guess, I’m a more pragmatic and would really want something that enables me to do my work better. So that explains the reason why I’ve been looking at creative related diplomas and certifications of industry skills.

Kind of same feel when I decided to go into regular service with the navy in the past. Always there are people who discourage me and see alternatives.

Well, currently I’m working on my own portfolio to put up on the web. I’ve also encouraged my wife’s younger brother to do his. Coz’ I guess for a creative personnel to be recognized easily, his/hers portfolio is a must have. Qualifications come later.

I don’t know how but I just some how realized that. Especially after I left the service and got my current job, I realized my direction which I’m heading and had been wanting to do a lot of animation and motion graphics designs.

Looking on the bright side, I can spend more time on improving my skills in After Effects, Final Cut Pro and Cinema 4D. I’ve finished animating the road safety video for a project and received quite a good general comment from people who have watched it. From the requestor, probably it’s the generartion gap, couldn’t interpret the overall concept that well and hence some adjustments were needed to be made.

And because of that, I got to learn something new. I learnt that Cinema 4D can import 3D models designed in other 3D tools and use them with Cinema 4D. What happened was that I had to change the model into something more human-like than the orginal King chesspiece. So, as suggested by the requestor and with the help of boss, I managed to find an interesting model to replace the King. I used, a Lego man. And not just any other Lego man. He is, Darth Vader! Hehe.

I wasn’t really looking for him actually, I was just browsing through and hoping to find some interesting models to use with. And there I found this model. Well, much work was done to explore the possibility to import and use the model. After all was done, I had taken the time to map the textures provided and some other stuffs related to the model before even start animating the model all over again, starting from scene 1.

Animating isn’t much of a hassle, especially when I already had all the ideas in my mind when animating the first model. Animating was done swiftly and boss and seen it. Some comments from him were that the colors of the model is little too dark, and afraid that mroe commenting on the appropriate model would come. Another comment was that instead of the model turning into a pool of water, I had made Vader to be of a more violent character by using the force and threw a car out of the way. Haha, that was original, and that was from boss. Great to hear that form him.

Up to this stage, I’ve finished rendering the final output of the video and had converted the video into a Windows Media Video format (WMV) at 2Mbps . Easier for sending out attachments for preview. I had hope to reduce the size further but a video with a frame of 1920×1080, it is really difficult to reduce the size of the video to less than 10Mb. Unless I crop the frame to a smaller frame.

Anyways, leave till Monday to settle. It’s the long weekend and a good break before the tedious week starts.

Yey, coz’ I will be catching The Fast and The Furious 4 tomorrow. Hopefully nothing will upset the plan though. And I’m thinking, should I wear my new glasses watching movies? Hmm…I have Astigmatism, leave it till tomorrow to decide then.

Finally, I will post some screens of the road safety video to show the difference between Darth Lego Vader and the King Chesspiece.

I promise!