Wednesday, December 5, 2007

It's time for the december update. Last month has been very productive in means of compositing. Donkey is halfway the process of finishing the last scenes of the movie and I'm currently halfway the 6 min scenes I talked about last month. So we've definitely made a good progress. Our goal is to finish a rough composited version by the end of this year so this leaves us with another 3/4 weeks. It'll be hard because the christmas holiday is around the corner. But on the other hand we are highly motivated because Justin will be working on the music starting beginning of next year. So we really need to get it locked down.

Where do we go from there? First thing we'll do is tweaking and fixing the compositing into a final version. We really feel that the visuals need to be finally ready. This will take us probably the first 2/3 months of 2008. In that time we will also start preparing for the final soundmix. We will need another few months for this to be completed. And this brings me down to the results of last months poll.



The results turned out to be very interesting. 45% of the visitors really want the movie to be released in 2008 (no matter what). Well, rest assured... that's what we are aiming for. 32% don't give a damn when it's released. That's truly amazing because I never expected so many people to be true fans of the project. 15% of the visitors think we are way over schedule and should have finished the movie ages ago and a minority of 6% are fed up with the delays. We had a total of 185 votes which I think is pretty amazing. So I want to thank all of you that voted and I've started a new one. This time we're questioning about the size of the movie. Are you willing to download a huge file for the best visual experience or do you want to see it rather in low quality? Cast your vote now!

And with this update Donkey has prepared another compositing vid. I think you guys will love it because this is another fine example how much work goes into the process.

I also enabled RSS feeds. So from now on you can have all the latest updates through the RSS service. Hope it makes it easier for everyone.

So that's it for this month, cya'll in 2008! :)

90 comments:

Anonymous said...

un petit coucou , courage !

Driehoek said...

I think it's good that you give us an idea of how long the next steps will take. Now that I know that the compositing wil take a few more months I'll smack the Donkey in the face a bit more often so he speeds it up a bit. He has this routine to start slacking off after a few minutes of work.

Oh by the way, sometimes you see people on the news jumping around, waving their arms like lunatics on viagra, while somebody is being interviewed. Well, the first comments makes me think of somebody like that... Not meaning to offend somebody, just an image in my head...

Anonymous said...

Weee, thats great :D

Anonymous said...

file size....make it HD and as big as you want. No sacrifice in quality. Let Bit Torrent work for you.

stlava said...

@jaws I fully agree with you on that one. Plus like you said BT is the way to go..

Also I'm just curious what kind of aspect ratio are we going to be seeing for the movie? 16:9 or 4:3?

Anonymous said...

I'd prefer a big 4:3 version...

StRuPiE said...

haha, you guys know HD was not an option ;) resolution will be PAL 16:9

Anonymous said...

Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyyyy for updates! Yaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyy for SoF! Yaaaaaaaaaaayyyy for big filesize! YAAAYYY FOR STRUPIE, LITTLE DONKEY AND EVERYONE ELSE THAT HELPED! and Yaaaaaaaaaay for me shutting up!

Anonymous said...

:O i forgot! Yaaaaaaayy for a new vid!

Anonymous said...

As stated before use BT and you will be good make the file as big as you want. FOr the best reusults though I would use the matroska video format (MKV) if you want to but avi would work just as well. All HD or anamorphic HD movies I watch come in MKV or to a lesser point OGM. But being someone who uses the MKV format myself I can tell you that the image quality is much better which would be good for the composite shots you guys are doing.

StRuPiE said...

@lighning that sounds very interesting, contact me privately... really want to know more about the codec.

stlava said...

"It is NOT a video or audio compression format (video codec)
It is an envelope for which there can be many audio, video and subtitles streams, allowing the user to store a complete movie or CD in a single file."

Playing devils advocate here, I'm sure its a great concept but the same file must be able to be viewed on all computers, xbox306's, PS3's and other video players alike. The whole thing of downloading extra software to watch might turn people away.

Bedford Robotics said...

Generally, those of us who've been following this project and are really excited about it will NOT settle for anything less than the highest quality you have. I understand that you guys didn't shoot it in HD, but at least it'll be 16:9. I agree with the bittorrent idea, that'd probably be your best bet.

Anyway, looking very much forward to the next update and trailer. Keep up the excellent work!

Anonymous said...

Did you guys ever consider selling a DVD version of it? I've been following the progress since the start and from what I've seen and heard it sounds like it would be worth it.
Anyway, I know it's going to be absolutely awesome! Take as long as you need to. I'd hate to see you guys sacrifice quality for time because you're capable of so much.
Really looking forward to it!

stlava said...

If I understand correctly they can't make any money from the movie because they used EA's "property" to create it. EA would have to license them the engine for creating the movie if they wanted to make any profit. Plus whats the difference between a dvd and a high quality mpeg2? they're exactly the same thing..

StRuPiE said...

Yes slava is right (again)... We're not allowed to make any money from it because we don't own the rights. But that's ok, we don't do it for the money, we do it for you guys.

Anonymous said...

Feel the love!

<3

Anonymous said...

It looks sweet. Hopefully it will be worth the money.

Anonymous said...

You should do a high quality video to download. you should also upload it onto a video website for people with slow connections to stream.

It would also work very well if you torrent the hight quality video i would seed for a while if you did.

Been a fan since you released the Christmas trailer keep it up ^^

StRuPiE said...

Thanks people for all your support. Based on the current results of the poll I'm pretty sure we'll be releasing 2 formats. One with the highest quality possible for download and one high quality streaming.

Anonymous said...

You will always be your worst critic, and in any field completion will always feel like 90%. I understand why the delays happen, but I honestly dont think Ill find myself coming back to check for any more updates as I have for over a year and a half. Dont make the same mistake DaVinci did, wrap it up and ship it out before you sacrifice any more of your fanbase.

Bedford Robotics said...

I'm sure you'll find yourself back when it's released. I had to give up follow the site for a while, because I was getting frustrated. But it's like the movies in theaters, most of them suck because they were rushed or half-a$$d. In the end, even if you never come back to this site ever, you'll see the finished product. You know it.

stlava said...

Regarding bittorrent, torrentfreak did an interesting blog post regarding the distribution of independent movies on the internet.

http://torrentfreak.com/bittorrent-a-boon-to-independent-filmmakers-071215/

Steff said...

Hi!

I think you should provide different sizes of the movie. With a MPEG4 (real MPEG4, not DivX) codec you can save a lot of space and the quality is very good. x264 is a free encoder and works very well.

PS: very nice movie! Can't wait to see it!

Anonymous said...

Abit late but, merry christmas and have a happy new year, be safe :)

Anonymous said...

HAPPY NEW YEAR AUS!

Anonymous said...

HAPPY NEWYEAR BITCHES!!!

:)

Anonymous said...

I think an .iso file would be good, so we can mount it with Daemon Tools or burn it on a DVD-ROM. Sands of Fire in a DVD format with bonus material menu that include your director's cut will be great !

stlava said...

Looking forward to a January update!

Anonymous said...

Yep, January should be full of good news for the new year :)

StRuPiE said...

Hold on my friends, an update is coming soon!!

Anonymous said...

Hello, I'm excited to see your wonderful movie. But I'm deaf person, so means I cannot hear any sounds. Can please someone add Closed Captioning or Subtitles for me after SOF is released.

Thanks if anyone willing do it for me.

-Tom

StRuPiE said...

Hey Tom,

Yes we are looking at the possibility to add subtitles, not only in English but in other languages too. I hope we can have it finished by the final release but I can't promise you that... maybe we will release a subtitles pack afterwards. But sure, you won't be forgotten :)

Anonymous said...

Good thing for diseased person. Will there be French subtitles ?

StRuPiE said...

If we find people that are willing to help translating, sure there will be French.

Anonymous said...

Is it spoken in English?
And will there be dutch/flemish subtitles. You guys speak dutch don't you ?

StRuPiE said...

It's spoken in English and Arabic. And we speak dutch yes. And like I told earlier, we will forsee a pack with different translated subtitles, so Dutch will certainly be among it. Don't worry ;)

But let us first focus on the movie itself, these subtitles can be done any time after the movie, np.

Anonymous said...

What format will you release SoF in? Quicktime, RealPlayer?

stlava said...

Probably not in quicktime or realplayer. Most likely mpeg4 or divx but thats still ytd.

Anonymous said...

SOF rox! :) when the next update?

Anonymous said...

Soon lump, soon. :P

Anonymous said...

coming soon... ...after DNF2 :PP all (2 with me) SOF fans from Kazakhstan need it now!!! xD

Anonymous said...

yep. but slow down guy'z. maybe next update will be Fuckin' Great Piece Of Sweet :D

Anonymous said...

I need it now! NOW!^^

Anonymous said...

nice.^^ and run Anonymous, run far, far away :PP

Anonymous said...

update? 19th Jan now....

Anonymous said...

Guys, if there are some News they will post them. You don't need asking every day ;)

Anonymous said...

we need feel love xD

StRuPiE said...

patience my friends, patience! :)

Anonymous said...

Maybe the update is so big it's taking weeks to write :D ( We can always hope :P )

Anonymous said...

No update because some thing big is comming, ^^

Anonymous said...

well, lets hope that santa comes tomorrow xD

Anonymous said...

forgot(ten) hope-life is brutal ;D

Anonymous said...

forgot(ten) hope-life is brutal ;D

Anonymous said...

forgot(ten) hope-life is brutal ;D

Anonymous said...

sorry, its not spam. error on my phone :( delete it.

Anonymous said...

gogogogo!! ;P

Anonymous said...

Wanneer verschijnt nou de volgende update?

Anonymous said...

I don't know when it'll appear, and personally I don't care. Cuz I'm pretty damn that they'll be preparing something BIG. :D

Anonymous said...

maybe they are studying for their exams. That's important too :)

Anonymous said...

I don't think they're in school, anonymous.

Anonymous said...

well, maybe they have a social life Oo Nah, that can't be :p

Anonymous said...

Maybe they have a job AND real life! Thats doesn't leave a gigantic amount of time left for a huge project as this...

Anonymous said...

~05.02.2008 next update. simple ;P

Anonymous said...

Thanks Strupie

-Tom

P.S. Keep up the good work!

Anonymous said...

I am loking forward to this
awesome movie!!

Thank you
Little_Donkey
and StRuPiE!

Anonymous said...

What, no January update? :(

stlava said...

I'm sure they'll post a larger update for February.

Anonymous said...

Yay, it's the 5th, shouldn't be long now? :D

StRuPiE said...

Give us a little more time, we'll get the update out very soon... promised :)

Anonymous said...

Haha yaaaaayyyyyyyyy :P

Anonymous said...

we dont feel love xD

Anonymous said...

we dont feel love xD

Anonymous said...

is one coming today? or another day?

Zhi said...

Relax give them some time, I feel an awesome update coming up... he he :)
and hopefully they'll update the progress at the page's bottom ... nah just kidding :P take your time! We'll stick with you guys as long as it takes, some many great things to wait for in 2008 ;)

Anonymous said...

Don't worry guys. Next update 'll be great! ;)

Anonymous said...

Hell yeah ;)
SANDS OF FIRE ftw

Anonymous said...

come on guyz!!!!!!

Anonymous said...

come get some^^

Anonymous said...

The wait is killlllllllllling me lol

Anonymous said...

me 2 ...its horrible!

Anonymous said...

so... ...let's we make 100 comments^^

Anonymous said...

its dead face it

stlava said...

Highly doubt its dead.. in fact I know its not.. just give them time, obviously they have lives other than making the movie.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous said...
its dead face it

11 February, 2008 08:50

:')

You're a lowlife nobody will ever care about. It WILL be awesome :p

Anonymous said...

every 100 comments a new Update hmk ? ^^

Anonymous said...

yes sir ! ^^ maybe... xD PS. SOF ROKS :) feel big respect to makers. but i need it now^^ better in mpeg4/divx version. its very hard to download 2-3 gb with 128 kbps :(

Anonymous said...

yes sir ! ^^ maybe... xD PS. SOF ROKS :) feel big respect to makers. but i need it now^^ better in mpeg4/divx version. its very hard to download 2-3 gb with 128 kbps :(

Anonymous said...

yes sir ! ^^ maybe... xD PS. SOF ROKS :) feel big respect to makers. but i need it now^^ better in mpeg4/divx version. its very hard to download 2-3 gb with 128 kbps :(

Anonymous said...

WTF?! this crap named "phone with GPRS" make me mad :/ maybe it's virus/spyware?