iSundae: The Way of the Wielders (Part 5 of 7) from Phantom Moose Films on Vimeo.

You can also watch part 5 on YouTube.

We’ve broken the movie into seven parts for faster download, and we are posting a new part each week. So be sure to check back next week for part 6.

 
Ten Second iSundae Trailer from Phantom Moose Films on Vimeo.

iSundae: The Way of the Wielders (Part 4 of 7) from Phantom Moose Films on Vimeo.

You can also watch part 4 on YouTube.

We’ve broken the movie into seven parts for faster download, and we are posting a new part each week. So be sure to check back next week for part 5.

Here are a few posts on Phantom Moose that are related to part 4:

• The Making of Cheese Soufflé
• Cheese Soufflé Lyrics

iSundae: The Way of the Wielders (Part 3 of 7) from Phantom Moose Films on Vimeo.

You can also watch part 3 on YouTube.

We’ve broken the movie into seven parts for faster download, and we are posting a new part each week. So be sure to check back next week for part 4.

Here are a few posts on Phantom Moose that are related to part 3:

• Reyshar’s Costume
• The Making of a Monster

We’re all set for the world premier next week, which is extremely exciting for us, considering that we’ve been working on iSundae II for more than two years. Pre-screenings have had quite good responses to the film, meaning the funny parts drew laughter.

But anyway, here are some pictures of the initial 40 copies of iSundae II. Obviously, I’m thrilled, although I’m a bit tired of punching out DVD cover inserts.

While I’m here, I’ll mention how I do DVDs. I prefer to use the punch out DVD inserts, since the only paper cutter I have access to is in pretty poor condition. Designing of the inserts happens in Apple’s Pages, which is new for this movie release. Previously I had used some other software that I decidedly disliked.

The disc art is designed in Discus RE, which is the previously mentioned disliked software. When I find something to replace this, I will be very pleased. Generally, we use Photoshop to create the design, and then Discus is used as the print driver for an Epson Stylus Photo RX580, which prints directly on the discs, giving a more professional feel. Label kits are fine, too, but I prefer printing on the disc.

After all the designs have been printed, it’s time to assemble. We’re on a budget here, so I put each DVD copy together by hand. Hey, it’s the personal touch! Once I get going, I can average about one complete DVD assembly per minute, depending on what’s being played on the other computers in the room.

I have never done any of the little booklets that you see inside of professional DVD cases. The only thing that I could ever put on them is the scene selection. So I figure that I can save some money on ink that way. We’re on a budget, remember?

So that’s how I do DVDs. Generally, I’m pleased with the results.

iSundae: The Way of the Wielders (Part 2 of 7) from Phantom Moose Films on Vimeo.

You can also watch part 2 on YouTube.

We’ve broken the movie into seven parts for faster download, and we are posting a new part each week. So be sure to check back next week for part 3.

Here are a few posts on Phantom Moose that are related to part 2:

• Reyshar’s Costume
• A Lava Lake in a 9 x 13 Pan

By the way, the arrows, sword wall, and phantom moose were created in Blender.

First: Check, check, and re-check

Never assume that you have all the props and equipment loaded into the car. Once during the filming of iSundae we got all the way to the park and started setting up when we discovered that Somindeo’s wig was still at home. It took twenty minutes for my grandma and me to drive home, find the wig, and bring it back. During that time the others had to film whatever they could.

Second: Know what you’ll be filming

I can not tell you how much time we lost by not knowing what angles we wanted to film. We would check the storyboards, film one angle, then everything would come to a halt while we looked to see what we needed to film next at what angle with which camera and with which actors. Repeat a dozen times and you can see what I mean. I’m estimating that we probably lost ten to twenty minutes out of each hour of filming time by not knowing what we were going to do next.

The easiest way to prevent this is to make a written list of shots divided by angle. It looks like something like this—

—Close shot Anthony:
“But what do we do?”
“Could we try the door?”
“Are you crazy? We’d be creamed!”
—Wide shot Anthony, Miranda, Charles (Zoe in the background):
Run through whole scene.
—Two shot Miranda and Charles:
Dialogue from Charles’ “Do you think we should try it?” through Miranda’s “Even a mouse would think twice.”

You get the idea. Experiment to see what works best for you. We’re still in the baby stages of this.

Third: Bring a repair kit

Things will always break. Whenever possible they’ll wait until it’ll be the most inconvenience to you. I put together a basic kit that always comes with us on a filming expedition.

• A needle and neutral thread colors
• Safety pins
• Tape of various kinds (Gaffer’s, Scotch, etc.)
• Hot glue gun and glue sticks, if you’ll have an outlet handy
• Scissors

You might also want to bring Kleenex, glasses cases if your actors aren’t supposed to wear their glasses during filming, band-aids, and yarn for tying things.

Fourth: Remember that you’re filming out of doors

Plan accordingly. Camp chairs for members of the cast to use when not in front of the camera, sunglasses, bug repellant (I never thought of that, but I wish I had), bottled water, snacks, umbrellas, and a quick getaway plan if it starts to rain.

We were filming a section of iSundae under the threat of rain, so we kept a kid’s wagon ready and gave everyone instructions. Ruth and Jordan would grab the equipment and run for the cars, while the rest of us would pile any loose props on the wagon and follow. The moms were in charge of the folding chairs.

Fifth: The basics

Make sure you’re allowed to film in that location, know where the restrooms are, don’t say you’ll be there for one hour and stretch it into three. Keep the actors and crew happy, encourage as much as possible, and give peppermints freely. You might just have the most fun of your life.

We’ve broken the movie into seven parts for faster download, and we will be posting these parts during the next several weeks. Be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel or our RSS feed so that you don’t miss anything.

Well, enough of me talking! Here’s the movie!
 

iSundae: The Way of the Wielders (Part 1 of 7) from Phantom Moose Films on Vimeo.
 

You can also watch part 1 on YouTube.

Here are some making of iSundae posts that are related to part one:

• Operation Kitty Set
• Operation Kitty Set, Part 2
• Think Inside the Box – The Making of Malfhok
• Emcracy’s Costume

So, what did you think of part one? We’d love to hear your thoughts, so be sure to leave a comment.

Transitions

If there is no transition specified, iDVD will simply jump to the menu or movie that you click on. While this works in a pinch, we can enhance the viewing experience by choosing a built in transition.

Get your project loaded in iDVD and select a button from your menu. Bring up the info window. At the bottom is an area for setting transitions. iDVD ‘08 comes with twelve transitions to pick from. Simply choose one from the top pop-up menu. My favorites are Dissolve, to go between two menus, and Fade Through Black, to go between a menu and a movie.

Once you’ve selected your transition, the bottom pop-up menu will display further options for customizing your transition. These controls allow you to change the direction of effects such as Flip, Push, and Wipe. The best way to choose one of these is to use iDVD’s test mode to try out different settings until you find something that you like.

Easter Eggs

Professional DVDs often contain hidden features, generally known as “Easter eggs.” For my latest movie, I couldn’t stand not being able to do them any more. So I set out to create an Easter egg on my DVD.

Drag your Easter egg movie into iDVD to add it to the project. You should do this on the menu that you want the egg to appear on. You may have to tweak the new button so that it matches the others. It’s pretty visible right now, isn’t it? Let’s fix that. Select the title of the egg by clicking it twice (pause between clicks or you’ll play the movie).

This next part requires that you have Apple’s great Character Palette application open. It’s kind of hidden, so I’ll tell you how to find it. Open System Preferences and get to the International preference pane. Click the tab labeled “Input Menu.” At the bottom of the preference pane is a little check box for enabling the input menu. After you click this, a little flag will show up in your menu bar. Now go back to the top of the preference pane and enable the check box for Character Palette.

With the Character Palette enabled, you can close System Preferences. Click the flag that appeared in your menu bar and select the Character Palette item. You now have a palette of all the characters that your computer is capable of producing. Just browse through them and find something that you like. Make sure your Easter egg’s name is still selected, then go back to Character Palette and click the “Insert” button. This types the character in the egg’s name. You might have to edit the font size to make your Easter egg large enough. We now have a cute little symbol for the Easter egg icon.

It’s looking good, but the egg is still visible. We want it to be hidden until somebody navigates to it. To hide the Easter egg, first move it to the place where you want it to be. Most professional DVDs hide their eggs in places off to the side of the menu items.

Click the button to bring up the info menu. First, uncheck the box that enables the button’s drop shadow. Next, click the color swatch to bring up the color picker. If you click the magnifying glass on the color picker, you will get a color select tool. Use this tool to pick the color of the background that your egg will go on. This sets the Easter egg’s text color to the background color, effectively hiding it. When someone navigates to it, however, iDVD will highlight it with a different color, which will show the Easter egg.

Other Little Tweaks

Speaking of highlight color, you can change that quite easily. Make sure nothing is selected, and then bring up the info menu. Under the “Buttons” section of the menu is a highlight color option. Set this color just like button color. I’d choose something bright, like yellow or orange. Note that this is global highlight color, so it’s the same for all buttons.

Depending on the theme, iDVD will either highlight the text, or add a bullet next to the highlighted button. If you’re like me, you probably want to change this. Just select a button (or all the buttons), and then click on “Buttons” at the bottom of the iDVD menu. This changes the side menu to display button editing options. Select “Bullets” from the pop-up menu at the top, bringing up a long list of bullet types to choose from. Choose one you like, or choose the “no” symbol to turn off bullets altogether. This only affects selected buttons.

And there you have it. There’s still plenty that you can tweak on your menu, but I’ll leave that up to you to find, or up to future articles.