In-World War

...And we're back!

A funny thing happened during the Covid-pocalypse: we started working on the film again.

Many folks took up new hobbies while stuck at home during the pandemic. Some folks learned to bake, some learned a new language, and others became insane anti-vaxxers.

We decided it was time to finish this fucking film.

So over Memorial Day weekend in 2020, editing resumed on In-World War. We worked on a major re-edit -- completely re-structuring the film based on some initial feedback to the most recent edit.

So, to catch you up: the road got bumpy after that edit was completed in 2015 -- and things stalled out for a while. That year, our director had his second child. Turns out, very young kids are quite time-consuming, especially in bulk, so this sucked up most his available energy for the following few years. Then we encountered ANOTHER major technical snafu with our video project library that effectively locked us out of the edit completely. Yay. We won't go into the gory details but this resulted in over a year lost in getting it fixed. Happily it did not require us to re-build the edit this time. But it meant no progress in the meantime. 

With the project library back online, everything was ready to go by the end of 2019, just in time for the pandemic to upend everything in early 2020. After those first few crazy rona months, we realized it would be far more productive to get back to work on the movie, rather than self-medicate with Hulu to avoid the next round of panic attacks.

So in late May 2020, we went back to work on the movie.

Here's the timeline since then:

• Memorial day weekend 2020 (May 2020): Completed the new rough cut, reorganizing the story and taking somewhat of a Rashomon approach. It was a major re-edit. It's looking great.
• Summer 2022 (through Labor day September 2020): Completed the locked edit. We went through every scene and every shot to trim and select the right performances, given this new storytelling approach. It's tight.
• Fall 2022: Design direction and "look books" for all VFX animation groups, as well as a proof-of-concept for the first VFX animation shot. Seeing the first shot with full animation composited was awesome, even if it was only a test.
• January 2021: Full audit of all shots that need VFX animation and/or clean-up. ~220 shots total. Holy shite.
• February 2021: Started working with animators on some initial shots, to test out the right animation approach.
• Spring 2021: The first set of finished animations were delivered.
• Summer 2021: Continued animation exploration, both with 2D and even stop motion.

Where do we from here? The next steps are:

1. Expanding the animation team so we can get more of the animations in the can (200+ shots is a LOT).
2. Also, we will be doing the last couple final pick-up shots (all pretty simple thankfully). 
3. Then, more animation work until we work our way through all the remaining shots. 

Thanks to everyone for their patience with this crazy project. Literally hundreds of people have contributed since the early days, across multiple countries and through all the phases of production and post-production. 

We're on the way again.

See us at San Diego Comic-Con Portfolio Review

We're part of the official Portfolio Review program at San Diego Comic-Con 2015 and looking to meet upcoming VFX talent.

Please pass this along to anyone who might be interested.

We're seeking Modelers, Riggers, 3D Animators, Texture Artists, Look Development & Lighting Technical Directors, Motion Graphics Animators, Compositors, as well as Concept Artists (characters, props, environments) and other illustrators.

Working on In-World War is a great way to build your portfolio and hone your experience, besides the excitement of working on a smart independent sci-fi feature film.

Studio Lo Mismo Portfolio Review schedule:
Sails Pavilion Portfolio Review area
    Thu 7/9 - 2:30pm - 6:30pm
    Fri 7/10 - 2:30pm - 7pm
    Sat 7/11 - 2:30pm - 7pm

Important: you must sign up after 9am each day at the Portfolio Review area. Time slots are limited and often run out.

More information: about Comic-Con Portfolio Review

If you have any questions, cannot make it to the Comic-Con Portfolio Review or are not able to secure a slot with us, please send us a link to your portfolio or reel: [email protected]

Students and recent graduates welcome.

And...cut to editor

Hurray! The trimming (with a pole axe) is done! We've slashed 37 minutes from the (rebuilt) assembly edit. The film is now a trim and tantalizing 107 minutes (including anticipated end credits).  

Yes, entire scenes and sequences ended up on the cutting room floor sadly. But the film is significantly stronger because of it.

Editor Vincent Cortez now has the film and is currently starting work on creating the fine cut. He's trimming more, tightening more, evening out the pacing and polishing it.

We even hope to shave a few more minutes off the running time. It's possible we might even get it under 100 minutes. Dare to dream.

The final cut done should be done by the end of the summer. A huge milestone (long overdue).

After that, we'll be focused on the VFX and audio work.

Update on trimming the edit

After a few months off around the birth of his second child, Director DJ Bad Vegan is back to work on IWW. We need to cut out 35 minutes in order to get the rough edit under 110 minutes long (including credits). 

Progress has been great. Scenes have been cut -- whole sequences in fact. Montages have been trimmed. Darlings have been slaughtered.

The cutting is continuing, but we're proud to announce that the edit is officially below 110 minutes excluding credits!!! We've already cut 31 minutes out of the first and second acts -- so we have only 4 min to cut to squeeze in the end credits. That's an average trim of 9.3 seconds per remaining scene. And there's a good chance we'll get well below 110 minutes including end credits, which would be ideal.

Meat cleavers are in action....

The rebuilt assembly edit is done

After more than a year of rebuilding the edit due to a catastrophic corruption on our original file, we can proudly say: we're done!

This is a huge moment for the project, since we've spent the better part of three years trying to find the problem, fix it and then rebuild from scratch once we abandoned the old corrupt file.

Hurray!

Okay, enough with the celebrations. There's still a ton of work ahead.

The current rebuilt assembly edit weighs in at a hefty 141 minutes long -- that's about 15 minutes longer than the original revised assembly (the one we lost). But that older edit didn't include some additional 2nd unit work we shot since then, including a big sequence in NYC. So we knew our day of reckoning would come and it would be painful. 

We need to cut 30+ minutes from the beast. That's one minute for every 4.7 minutes in the current edit. More than 20% of all this newly-edited footage must be cut to get to a reasonable running time.

That's going to feel like taking a meat cleaver to a sonnet. 

Still, it's pretty awesome to be back on track.

Audio recording in NYC

On Monday we spent the day at audio studio Bang in NYC recording additional audio for In-World War.

Actor Sara Ahmed lives in Pakistan and we had a rare opportunity to record some audio while she was visiting the East Coast. The work on the film's edit was put on hold so we could get out to NYC from the Bay Area to meet Sara and record the dialog.

Sara plays Mo, one of the main supporting roles in In-World War. We needed to record her dialog for an important animated scene in the film -- it was one of the last remaining production tasks. Without her dialog, the scene would probably have been cut.  It's a crucial turning point in her friendship with Mary, the film's hapless protagonist -- and prepares the story for the start of the 3rd act.

We were also able to re-record some dialog cleaner than it sounded on location, called "ADR" in industry-speak (for Automated Dialog Replacement) but commonly known as dubbing.  And we even had Sara read a number of alt lines to clarify the story in places. We'll use creative editing to hide the fact that her lips in the film won't match the new lines.

Sara was a natural at ADR. Within three takes for each line, she was able to match the original cadence and timing of her filmed performance (crudely called matching "the flap" in ADR parlance).

Overall, a really important day of production. Thanks to local NYC actor Peter Halpin for stepping in to help read with Sara -- and above all to Brad, Nick, Evelyn and the rest of the amazing team at Bang.

If you're in NYC and need a kick-ass audio production studio, go Bang. They will have your back, for sure.

Now, back to the edit.

75% done rebuilding

Short and sweet: we're now 75% done rebuilding the edit.

For those of you screenwriting nerds out there, that means we're starting work on the third act, when things get really interesting.

Back to work.

 

 

50% done rebuilding and new artists onboard

We're at the halfway mark at last: 50% of the assembly edit is rebuilt! Progress! Feels great! Big yes!

Also, welcome to the new concept artists that we met at Comic-Con at the end of July! We're excited to see their work in the coming months. Very talented and creative crew.

Thanks to everyone who stopped by to meet us at Portfolio Review this year.

By the way, congrats to In-World War Asst. Director Lena Khan for wrapping production on her feature The Tiger Hunter! Can't wait to see it.

Seeking concept artists and VFX artists at Comic-Con

Want to see your art come to life as VFX in a sci-fi feature film? 

We'll be at Portfolio Review at San Diego Comic-Con 2014, July 23 - July 27. 

• concept artists (characters and props -- all styles)
• storyboard artists
• 3D modelers
• 3D animators
• 3D textures, lighting and rigging
• 2D animators
• motion graphics designers
• ...and other illustrators.

We want to see your portfolio!

Working on In-World War is a great way to build your portfolio and hone your experience, besides the excitement of working on a smart independent sci-fi feature film.

Studio Lo Mismo Portfolio Review schedule:
Sails Pavilion Portfolio Review area
    Thu 7/24 - 3pm - 6:30pm
    Fri 7/25 - 3pm - 7pm
    Sat 7/26 - 3pm - 7pm

Important: you must sign up after 9am each day at the Portfolio Review area.

If interested, please see: detailed information about Comic-Con Portfolio Review

If you have any questions or cannot make it to the Comic-Con Portfolio Review, please send us a link to your portfolio or reel: [email protected]

Students and recent graduates welcome.

25% done rebuilding the assembly edit

Hurray! We're officially done rebuilding the entire first act of the assembly edit of the film: 25% of the full show. 

That's the good news.

The bad news -- obviously -- is that we've still got 75% left to rebuild.

It's taking longer than originally estimated because we're doing more than just rebuilding the corrupt edit. Instead, we're taking a creative scalpel and reviewing each shot choice and often making different editing decisions now that we've grown intimately familiar with all the footage (re-organizing your footage three times has a way of doing that).

In the VFX dept, we're starting on new concept art for the animation for the front of the Griefers Ball invitation and for the Ethereal Woman (who welcomes Mary to the Griefers Ball), besides continuing design work on concepts for the Griefers Ball itself.

Okay, back to work.