Music: Piano Suite

Man, am I terrible at updating this blog...  The film has mostly been done for a while now (mostly... save for all the extra fine-tuning bits I'm doing while still trying to secure a time and place to screen it for family and friends [that's a whole post in and of itself]).

But let's get back to where I left off with my last post...

Man, it's been a long time since my last post.  At the time I was wrapping up the VFX for the film, and since then I just haven't thought of anything else to post.  I entered the sound editing stage, and, while very exciting for the filmmaker, for the general audience it's probably not that interesting to see posts related to sound work (unless of course you're doing something really cool, like making sounds for an epic fantasy with monsters and stuff).  So for the longest time, I couldn't think of anything to post.

Then, when entering the music stage I thought I could now finally start posting again. But that proved problematic as either the work was too rough (just quick tests, nothing very interesting) or was too finished (i.e. the final tracks of the soundtrack, but those apparently aren't supposed to be uploaded online too quickly or there's some rule that it might disqualify the film from being accepted into festivals; I'm not clear on that rule, so I decided to play it safe).

Needless to say, my posting to the blog was placed on the back burner for a while.

Well, I finally found something to post!  There's a long explanation as to why I didn't do it sooner, but I finally found the right time and decided to go for it!

So here it is... finally a glimpse into the music stage of the film: a piano suite of the various themes I composed!  There's still a lot I have to learn as a composer, but I'm quite proud of these themes.  They are more complex than anything I've written before, and I do believe some of my best compositions to date.  The audio in the video could be better, but regardless I'm very proud of what I've composed and I can't wait to someday share the full orchestrated score as well.

Anyway, enjoy!

Otherwise, I'm thinking my next post might be a trailer, which would be really exciting to share!  Gotta fine-tune some audio first though, and I'd like to write a new music track specifically for it, then edit the whole thing.  So it may again be a while before I post again, but we'll see how it goes.  Fingers crossed!

Looking forward to posting more as I finally near the finish line of this thing.

- Erik (Director)

Final VFX Update

Back again with what should be my final update on the VFX (visual effects) for the film.  Feels great to say that!  Can't believe I've finally gotten to this point; feels like it would never come!  Now my main focus is on music and sound design, both stages I have been waiting to work on for the longest time (I've been waiting to write the music for years!).

Anyway, without further ado, here's just a sample of the many VFX shots I've worked on since my last VFX post:

First up, a view out a window.  Both day...

And night...

And speaking of night… some scenes with emergency vehicles.

I even got to animate the lights on the last one.  Had fun figuring out the pattern for it:

And here's an RC car disappearing down a foggy road:

Many shots required foreground elements to be added, such as a ceiling fan:

Branches:

And rain on a window:

Sometimes these foreground elements needed to move as well.  Like turning this shot...

Into this...

Often it was the background that needed to change instead (like adding this woodsy road behind the character):

And some phone screens needed to be replaced to make it look like another character was calling:

Finally, a spooky shot looking up at a street sign:

Plus some fun lightning effects:

There are tons of other VFX shots I worked on, many of which I couldn't post as they contain spoilers.  In hindsight, I shouldn't have designed this film with so many VFX shots in mind.  A dilemma between simplifying the workload and simplifying the story.  The next film I make will definitely be more practical.  Nevertheless, I had fun, and I'm very proud of the work I created.

Now on to music and sound!

- Erik (Director)

New Year's Resolutions (Revisited)

Hey everybody!  It's been a while.

Last year I wrote a long wall of text, a speech to myself more than anyone.  A declaration of goals, and an acknowledgment of failures.  I revisited it throughout the year, feeling its energy over and over, and have again come back to view it once more today, and take stock of where I am now.

And now, without further ado… here's an update.  An update for 2018.

I won't write as much as I did last time.  I said just about everything there is for me to say.  But I will say that I am in a much better place now than I was then.

I was sure I'd finish the film last year.  Certain, even!  But alas, I am still not done.

That's the bad part… but that's really the only bad part.

I am pleased to announce that the visual effects are almost completely DONE!  This is a HUGE milestone for me, and I will soon be sharing a new post dedicated to just that!  One of the longest stages of this film, and now… they're essentially DONE!

PHEW!

All that's left now is music, sound, and simple final touches.

Music is no problem for me, as I've been practicing composing for years, and been waiting to compose for this film for practically as long as I can remember!  Sound I have less experience in, but I'm going with a simplistic approach to make its creation much more easy and fun.  Then final touches should take no more than a week or so, just watching the film a few times, making simple notes, and correcting little things here and there.

But with that said, I feel like a huge weight has been lifted since last year.  Last year I was feeling pumped, but also scared.  I couldn't see the light at the end of the tunnel, and that was difficult.  I had to keep myself motivated as best I could: there was a lot I'd accomplished, but a lot still left to go.  But now… now we're really nearing the finish line!

I still hold onto my ideas from last year, my suggestions on how to fix things.  And of course, I still fail at them sometimes, but they have remained in my mind ever since.

But speaking of ever since… I'll leave this post with one final message.

Last year I said I'd learned a lot from this film, about filmmaking as well as life itself.  Well, there's one good thing that's come out of this whole experience.  A great thing actually.

A new story idea.

I can't reveal too much of it now, but basically it's something I could never have written without experiencing "Down the Road" first.  Based almost entirely around this experience, it will be a crazy philosophical, psychological exploration of the mind that not only focuses on, but lives, the things I have felt and learned over these past 10-11 years.  It will be the cap to my days of amateur filmmaking, and with any luck… the start of my actual career.

Stay tuned, because I'm very excited to share what's up ahead.

- Erik (Director)