ANNOUNCEMENT:- Control Loss Released today

Hi. Writer, Director and Producer Sophie J Lees here.

Big news, the final film is released today at 1:00pm on youtube and vimeo. It is a 3 min 30 sec Sci-fi thriller exploring what happens when something goes bump in the night and comes for Lilly.

I am so happy that this film is finally finished and ready to distribute. The end result is quite different to how i first imagined it but it is still a piece of work that I’m so proud of. I had 3 re-writes / 3 re-workings of the overall narrative, I meant to shoot this in 2014 but everything fell through and I meant to finish all the edits by xmas 2015 but it tok much longer and I had personal stuff come up. However, all these unforeseen events and obstacles made this journey much more worth it and meant the end project was a better one. There’s lots I’d do again but have learnt lessons on how not to and how to do them different and better next time. I have to say a big thanks to all my cast and crew who were ace during the shoots. I also have to give thanks and gratitude to all around me who put up with me on this project.

This is a fun short film exploring nightly phenomena and close encounters. I hope you will be able to sleep tonight after watching it, I’ve had some bizarre dreams and night stuff since working on it LOL

Director’s Weekly / Updated Production Blog:- Monday 30 November 2015

Up to now I have made great progress in the editing of Edit 4, Scene 6. I am still working through shot 5 of scene 6 and trenching through all the rotoscoping / masks on this shot and theres quite a few key frames to get through. Its now been cut (this shot – shot 5) to only about 5 and a bit seconds so imagine 5 x 25 frames. Its going so well and though it seems like hard work, working on after effects and final cut and etc is so much fun especially when i use youtube to listen to self help or etc or watch tv while doing it. I eventually get into a rhythm and flow which makes it go much quicker. I also am glad as this week i have absolutely nothing on but this editing. My (loa and manifestation and general film) deadlines i set my self are to have this film project created, filmed and produced and ready for distribution by 11:30 pm on 1st December 2015 – yes 11:30 pm tomorrow so I’m working overtime now and getting on to this asap, I’d be well high and buzzed to get it done by tomorrow and love the impossible challenge but will be just as happy to get it done by the end of the week which is another good challenge in it’s self. This has taught me a lot on self discipline and the way in how working on film projects and for myself looks and how i can improve in future projects.

I have done a lot of cgi composition with my film and masks which has been fun editing from after effects to blender 3d then from blender 3d to after effects.

I have also got the second trailer up which is an updated trailer with date and etc.

https://www.facebook.com/controllossfilm/?ref=hl

https://www.facebook.com/SjLeesProductions/?ref=hl

 

 

Director’s Daily Production Blog:- Monday 16 November 2016

Today I finished shot 2 of scene 6 in after effects by adding in the cgi set from blender (a blend swap product). I fitted it in with the scene and perspective then added all the lighting.

I then moved on to shot 3 where I started on the masking, I created the first 2 masks and started key framing mask 2 which was small and took a very little time. Mask 1 was quite a big chunk of the picture frame and I did 4 to 6 key frames. Then I exported / rendered shot 3 to the cgi add on folder ready for the cgi set add on project. It will be a background and reference for the cgi SET set up.

I opened the blend swap set in blender 3d and loaded up the background video / reference. I got the set up i wanted and rendered to the folder.

https://www.facebook.com/controllossfilm/?ref=hl

Director’s Daily Production Blog:- Thursday 12 November 2015

Today I did loads of editing in the 3d software, B;ender 3d on a model set from blend swap. i rendered it and prepared it to go in to scene 6 shot 2. I’ve also created and uploaded a new trailer to youtube. And finally I’ve done a load of pr and stuff

Director’s Weekly Production Blog:- General update from last post to now

Up to now, the trailer is up and running with the 2nd one being uploaded as we speak.

Also mainly I’ve been slowly editing Scene 6, which is a much bigger visual and sfx / cgi post production operation that originally thought. I have been doing mainly the PR and Marketing and getting distribution and PR plans tied up, updated and finalised.

However due to personal and family illnesses, things have been stopped to a rest and stagnated. I was very annoyed and put back by this but things have kept going by doing little tiny things and starting to progress again. By this i mean I’ve been doing all the prep and loose end tiring work possible and getting blend swaps CC (creative commons) content and etc.

UPDATE AND URGENT ANNOUNCEMENT

The film is now to be released on Friday 8 January 2016.

This is instead of Friday 18 December 2015.

This is due to edit progress and the need for more space to get the finalised distribution cemented.

https://www.facebook.com/controllossfilm/?ref=hl

Director’s Daily Production Log – Friday 30 October 2015

I opened my Trailer project in Final Cut Pro X. I then started by messing with the effects, taking them all off and starting from base again, this is because rendering was really slow and messing up. I know this could be taking the jip (p**s) a bit but yesterday I had a brain spark in the bathroom and felt I didn’t need sound effects for this trailer just music. Plus I will probably make more bonus and advertising material in all forms so this could just be a trailer with music. Also in this brain spark I was thinking of other trailers which led me to this conclusion.

Don’t get me wrong, I know exactly all the effects I want and transitions etc, but starting from scratch may help a bit. I finally managed to get started on it fully and add effects however I found two different and better looks and effects that were closer to what I wanted.

I tweaked and key-framed the effects on each clip. I did all the transitions and added all the music and then finally I shared it to the destinations.

Director’s Daily Production Blog:- Thursday 29 October 2015

Today I am focusing on the trailer of the film.

I started this morning by doing drafts and narrative breakdowns plans for the trailer; this was continuing on from yesterday when in the late evening I had some late inspiration.

I downloaded sounds and music for the trailer and for all film too.

I did all the text and transitions and then I got all the clips in position and for the duration i wanted. I added and experimented with the effects.

This is all I did for today. I still have to tweak effects and add sounds and music, which won’t take that long at all.

Look out tomorrow for the trailer !!

Director’s Daily Production Blog:- Wednesday 28 October 2015

Firstly I opened up After Effects and the Scene 6 Project. I started and attempted green screening with my footage, on Shot 1,but was having problems. While struggling with keying and masking, i re examined set set-up and thought it actually would look fine with tweaking and colour grading and lighting add ons and effects and light colouring.

I then moved on to shot 2 and started masking and etc. I tried to work out how to get a load of plug ins down loads cgi add ins / objects and set etc as a possibility to add on to my stuff. I will get free use and creative commons stuff from places like blend swap etc.

The rest of the day (work day) was spent working out the trailer for the trailer dead line of this friday / saturday coming. As i am far behind on my whole editing but have the key scene and stuff for the trailer. I just need to get sound effects and make a trailer score and then create it for friday. I will pend rest of the week focused on the trailer then finishing the edit. At first I was really struggling to think how i was going to get film done with visual effects, sound dub and music scoring still left to do by this coming week end  – especially this friday – and to get trailer made and uploaded for the same day on youtube it seemed an impossible task. I really thought i failed myself but had a brain wave this morning and remembered My film release is december in vimeo on demand and video on demand sources by december to january, (obviously i hadn’t forgotten my distribution plan just I was thinking I needed whole video to be complete before i did trailer as thats how my last video project at uni happened). However I realised that I had all material for the trailer complete as was my last resort plan. I also had a breakthrough in my trailer ideas and design and set myself the action plan and target i mentioned above for trailer. My film is not far off being finished – especially this visual effects stage – its just that the scene I’m on is the second big section to work on and bugger scale stuff which is quite a challenge for me. However this whole thing is so fun and challenging that i love the growth the work has caused me.

Director’s Daily Production Blog:- Tuesday 27 October 2015

Firstly I reviewed the scene / sequence finished yesterday, Scene 5 / Sequence 5. Because of a few problems I had to re-render again. While waiting for render to finish and to preview, I worked on my sound mind map. This was only a small mind map as I pretty much knew what I wanted. Also while waiting for previews of clips to load etc, I started the music mind map too. Again this is only a small one as I know pretty well what I want in the music.

I previewed Scene 5 (also call sequence 5 but I’m sticking with scene and no) and noticed a couple tiny mistakes and errors that need tweaking. These include an eye effect for the villain that appears on screen when it shouldn’t and a missing eye effect key framing section on a bit where I didn’t realise needed it until looking over the footage again a couple times. This is annoying but should be quick to redeem.

While on a short coffee break, I completed the music mind map.

I corrected all the errors in Scene 5 and rendered it again. While waiting for render, I previewed the next scene sequence to make notes for the next edit and visual effects. I then previewed scene 5 again just to make sure.

I set up Scene 6 project in after effects, and created some materials and add ons and visual effects in blender 3d. I then set up the 6 shot pre comps and imported all the resources. I also looked over the whole scene 6 to get a feel for how to work the visual effects and etc. I know what I want, its just adding it on and how to work round the footage etc.