The Gifted Babies

I’ve renewed the address for another year, can’t say for how long we’re going to keep the name but we do intend on maintaining a small repository of strange films we’ve made for the past few years .

I’ve been keeping somewhat of a low profile on this website, the last film, Cat Burglar, took a lot out of me throughout all the production steps, so I’ve felt I took a somewhat well deserved break after all that. Well, it looks like that break is over, my does time fly. I’ve already started working on the script for a new film tentatively titled “If you go down to the woods today”, a take on Grimm Fairy tales with bit of an Oirish twist. I’m aiming it to have a running length of at least 12 minutes, at most 14.

It’s going to be somewhat less ambitious than previous films we made, Flipping Channels and Cat Burglar being prime examples, but the aim of this film is to focus not only on cohesive storytelling but also improved filming discipline. We’ve actually formed a bad habit of spending the majority of preproduction on writing rather than practice rehearsals, storyboarding and scheduling. I also hope to have a larger undertaking of the project, I will possibly announce something within the next month or so.

Getting tired now from writing this post. will write something later …

Just a quick announcement that production has begun on a new short animation, ‘The Beast of Bath’ since April. Dialogue has already been recorded and the animation is more or less 50% done. No set release date yet but my best guess it should hopefully be done before the end of the summer.

… is now online.

Here’s a clip for the upcoming Milton film that should be released early next year.

With Principle Photography behind us, we are currently deep in Post Production. Progress is a little bit slower than I’ve anticipated but this would be largely due to an additional set of tools we’re currently working with, this time around we’re trying to give this film a somewhat more professional feel to it so we’re adding an animated title sequence and our own custom soundtrack ( previously we used public domain music ) for sheer fun . I’ve also been quiet busy doing the tedious task of removing visual artefacts ( strings, peoples heads ) from the shots to a certain degree. ADR has been relatively ok, thankfully having little dialogue and narration really helps.

Here’s the list of Free Software tools I’m currently using for the films production:

• KDEnlive 0.7.8 – The main NLE Editor, largely video sequencing editing and colour correction. This tool has matured greatly over the past 2 years
• Cinelerra 4.0 – Mainly for Audio syncing, since it still works far better than KDEnlive. I’m also using this for matting and some colour correction as well.
• GIMP 2.6.11 – Rotoscoping. Only used it on shot to remove a moving piece of string from the shot.
• Audacity 1.3.12 – Audio recording, specifically for ADR work.
• Synfig 0.62.02 – Animated Title Sequence. Farely usable kit but the learning curve is quite steep and the interface isn’t as intuitive.
• ZynAddsubfx 2.4.0.1 – Music composition and sound effects. Recent updates have made it more stable on x64 platform.
• Blender 2.55 – SFX but only small ones. New interface isn’t too difficult to get around to but it does feel slightly more cramped.
• LMMS 0.4.5 – Music sequencing and sound effects, can be buggy at times but it’s a powerful piece of software.

I can’t give any specific details as to when we’re going to be finished with the film given that there are still a lot of small tasks still to do, but we’re aiming at the end of December.

We’ve had a lengthy 3 day shoot last weekend that left most of us drained of all energy by Sunday evening but the good news is that we’re well on our way to completing the film thanks to the fantastic work put in by the crew. I’m aiming to have the principle photography finished by the beginning of October and complete Post Production by the end of October or early November.

Now for some screens:

Decided to create a Facebook page for the film where I’ll be posting news and media specific to the film there as well as here.

Link

I should have updated the site sooner but better late than never as they say. Memoirs of a Cat Burglar is well into production at the moment.  This would mark Milton’s fifth outing in a Gifted Babies production ( including two abandoned projects ) and his first outing where he doesn’t kill someone. We had begun shooting since the end of July and are hoping the get the principle photography completed before the end of September, so far the shoots have been a great experience. Memoirs of a Cat Burglar tells the story of one man, Klaus Sharpe ( played by Fabian Sweeney ), who documents his struggles with life as he occasionally turns into a feline kleptomaniac whenever the opportunity to steal something presents itself.

Depending on the final product and the reception it receives, there may be more parts/sequels being made based on this character. I will post more updates on our progress as the production continues.