Theta-G

04:39 am - Wikia Update

I cut down the verbose entry on "Theta-G" in the Doctor Who fan fiction wiki; that page is simply an overview.

02:13 pm - Beeblebrox Update

Vary pleasure incessantly (never more than two hours at the same task) and from all these successive pleasures, make one continual pleasure. - Welcome to the Pleasuredome, liner notes

Some personality types really *need* to shift their focus away from something for at least a minute in order to make a decision about it. - David Allen

I'm doing some work on the blog reprint of the KITH newsletter again. Staring down a serial list of hobby tasks isn't doing it for me. Lighting a convention deadline fire under my ascot isn't the answer either. My happy place is basically built out of the two quotes above.

The Beeblebrox gang were all KITH contributors and if you remember, the editor sent me the full run of the issues (12 or so) and nathanrsfba helped me get it all in the computer.

I think the progression goes like this for my creative work: neighborhood stuff, KITH, Beeblebrox Company stuff, post-Beeb and other things.

So don't be surprised if three days later the KITH nattering stops and it's back to Theta-G. And then suddenly I spend the weekend digitizing Ultra Bike or The Waste Band album.

Hopefully all this should culminate in a lot of loveliness as everything becomes Mostly and then Completely done at more or less the same time, although I'll probably group some stuff and try to put the right word in the right places at the right time for the different bits.

09:47 pm - Ever see this board game?

Does anyone recognize this board game? I'm trying to identify it.

06:42 pm - The fate of Shuttle Macross

I rewrote the script post-premiere, I might as well build out some of the backstory.

( Shuttle Macross )

12:12 am - Restoration Plan Update

Restoration Plan

It's not a huge ever-growing pulsating mess anymore but I hope it'll be easier to do than write about. not gonna let up now!

Anyone seen "Out of This World Sound Effects" in a form other than LP?

12:46 am - Respect for the Restoration Team

At right is their fresh scan of the 1980 Doctor Who opening titles and at left is one of my VHS recordings off public TV. It's good to have something more stable to work with but it's a pity I'm just going to end up VHSing and otherwise degrading it to match my mess :-)

07:13 pm - Theta-G by the Numbers

I just did some column sorts on the scenes to see the pile of work from a higher altitude.

I've mentioned before my vague usage of the term "scene" but I'm thinking it all evens out for judging relative amounts. For the chart below I disregarded the various kinds of scene numbering and just counted entries on the sheet that weren't credits or deleted scenes.

Here's the breakdown. Due to my previously disorganized conduct of this project, I'm only seeing these numbers for the first time today:

Scenes in the original four-part script:         207
Scenes shot in North Carolina:                   123
Scenes NOT completed:                             84

Reworked or additional scenes shot in CT:         71

Scenes in the Movie Version videotape:           194

Scenes in the Restored Version scene breakdown:  194 (coincidence)

* * *

Length in minutes of our previous fan film:       34
Length in minutes of "Logopolis" by the BBC:      98
Length in minutes of Theta-G: The Movie:         102

04:09 am - Theta-G Music

Scene descriptions, track lists and music for the trailers and rough cuts.

(Theta-G Music List)

11:06 pm - Theta-G storyboard

It's not a storyboard. I don't have word for what it is. But I never did a proper one so the term was available.

When you put a script through a few more drafts *after* it's been shot, edited and premiered you need something visual enough to work out editing details but simple enough to rearrange and edit without swimming around in actual footage. This is it.

Now I'm done reworking the beast I've used a clean, new set of scene numbers going from 1 to about 200 across the four parts, credits not included. I did keep a column on the right with the old movie scene numbers in case I need to trackback for some reason.

The distinction between scenes and shots in Theta-G was always blurry; here that's just expedient. In unchanged sections I've got a single panel representing a whole scene. Down at the end where it gets tricky, one scene takes up lots of numbers since almost every panel is a shot.

There are little drawings amid the framegrabs to represent the new pieces. Here's a screen shot outta the print preview. The text there looks a bit sparse but some panels are flush with notes.

( really geeky formatting note in here )

I'm effectively working two jobs now since I've taken on this challenge but I come home and this is what I want to do - how cool is that?

06:31 pm - Warning

(Do Not Click Here)

12:16 pm - Theta-G opening sequence

before:   vardans  movietitles  docandadric
          nomusic  music        nomusic

roughcut: dwtitles 1docandadric 2vardans
          music    1nomusic     2music

09:06 pm - Theta-G Sound Effects

Cum on feel the noise - Effects List Draft

10:14 am - Colour Incorrection

http://www.beeblebroxcompany.org/doctorwho/theta-g/restoration/color

12:37 am - Fan Video Database

I'm on the sound effect chart now and ripping relevant CDs and avoiding the last bit of junk drawer work.

*Still* can't decide if I'm supposed to leave the movie-style Theta-G ending or do the classic ending.

The very devil of it is that I WON'T KNOW 'TIL I SEE the thing as a completed whole... something else I can't see yet is the viability of my proposed T-day deadline *crossed fingers*

Upside: LOTS to keep me occupied 'til I get there, so I'm dumping this quandary in LJ and attempting to get on with things.

While yer waiting for my DW fanvids, how about 108 more?

renn - has my copy of this fanvid database gone out of date since you sent me my copy way back? I put a link to this over in the DW Expanded wiki, in the hopes that someone will find time to port it before I do :-)

11:47 am - Picture Imperfect

There are a few picture issues I'm still worrying about.

Color correction: Theta-G has some color problems due to one of our cameras malfunctioning. It bothers the heck out of me but maybe it's not such a big deal.

Dropout compensation: Dropouts are those white streaks that videotapes get, especially old ones like these. There are a few solutions available, but some could hurt the overall picture quality and others are possibly impractical (eg. cloning them all out by hand).

Chroma key: The Vardan ghosts are generally flat, motionless abstract blue shapes. I could ship this flick with no changes but I wouldn't mind seeing a little more movement there. I got hold of the right kind of silver mylar a while back but I'd need to take care to match the "distressed VHS" look of the footage.

11:13 am - Restoration Plan

This should be a better read.

Theta-G Restoration Plan, distilled from the eyesore of a scene breakdown I posted earlier.

09:51 pm - Theta-G Scene Breakdowns

You can't handle these. Seriously. Hundreds of lines of excruciating detail. And spoilers.

Script scene breakdown | Movie scene breakdown

02:01 am - Beeble beeble beeble

Web site update and foray into Doctor Who Expanded.

10:13 am - SDF-2

Slight side-trip while re-applying a piece of Robotech music into Theta-G Part 3.

10:15 pm - Today's catch: DV work print

I've had several brainstorms to date about how to repair certain broken bits in Theta-G. I'll need to do some test cutting to see if what I'm thinking is viable.

To avoid wear and tear on the master tapes (and because I'm not ready to properly capture them anyway) I dug up a VHS dub I made and captured that.