#behind the scenesies

[romilly-jay]

The Fall Guy (movie)

*** still not a review, also not a book, this time ***

Whimsical rom-com blended with action adventure comedy. Leads in their forties. Lots of stunts. Behind the scenesy-ness. YES PLEASE.

We have already established that I love this stuff. Hmmm. Perhaps this is really a series about how much I love it when the creator does something meta... Authors! Writing their books! (Beach Read). Anthony Horowitz! Appearing as a character in his own books! (Hawthorne and Horowitz). And now, a movie about making an action movie. With lots of great stunts. A viewpoint character who's a stuntman, from a director who was previously, yes, a stuntman.

Oh yes, and the supposed-movie is science fiction.

There's been lots of chatter now about how this movie has flopped, or, at best, stumbled - example article by Catherine Shoard for The Guardian, link below. [I'm really hopeful that it will hang around on the interwebs for a long time and slowly find its place but there's no doubt that it hasn't been an immediate Barbenheimer-ish smash.]

Am I sad? Yes, sure. I would love it if everyone had loved it.

Am I surprised? Nope. Not very. Not really.

Learned from Brexit what I should have learned over and over again from youth, namely that - just because something makes sense to me, doesn't mean it makes sense to ANYONE else.

[Actually, what I failed to understand from Brexit and have painfully, slowly learned since then, is that I also wasn't a Lone Martyr Type and part of the issue post-Brexit has been that it WASN'T a landslide. The only-just-ness has been constraining without noticeably being helpful, if by helpful, I mean - ANY of us "getting what we wanted".]

Funny that they poked fun at the idea that "nihilism is a viable worldview" (screengrab at the top is from a piece of dialogue about what we should have learned - again - from Marvel [??] movies).

Funny because I had a close-to-nihilistic catchphrase as my big personal favourite line from Buffy/Angel from years and years - "If nothing we do matters, the only thing that matters is what we do".

[That's said by Angel, in an episode - Epiphany - that has Tim Minear credited as the writer, borrowed/adapted from Nietzsche, and, I'm pretty sure, the eponymous epiphany name-checked in the title.]

Funny/sweet because this movie, as I read it, doesn't come down on the side of nihilism and is strong on second chances. Again.

I loved it. Maybe not every single beat, but mostly. Would see again.

References

Minear, T. (Writer) & Wright, T. (Director). (2001, February 27). Epiphany. [Television series episode] In J. Whedon & Mutant Enemy Productions (Producers). Angel. Los Angeles, CA: The WB Network.

Shoard, C. (2024) 'Blunt, stunts and Gosling: how did The Fall Guy flop and what does that mean for cinema?', The Guardian, 10 May. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/film/article/2024/may/10/blunt-gosling-the-fall-guy-box-office-flop-cinema (Accessed on: 2 June 2024).

The Fall Guy (2024) Directed by David Leitch [feature film]. Universal City, CA: Universal Pictures.

[readingoals]

Finished a third book for Queenathon! I think I enjoyed this one a little more than the first one. Which might be because the second season of WTNV had more of an overarching storyline that carried through the whole season. Or maybe because I wasn’t expecting as much from the little explanatory/behind the scenesy introductions to each episode. I also listened to a few episodes as I read which was a very good choice if I do say so myself. Also this was the 25th book I’ve read this year so I’ve officially reached my goodreads goal!

[lilgruntsshane]

undefined

Week 10 - Working on My Final Scenes

I have completed the background for the birdcage establishing shot and the silhouette animation to take place in front of the cage. I used the trees to frame the scene and I feel that the trees leading to the cage help to lead the eye to the action. However Niall feels that I should move the action to the left slightly so It is happening directly in front of the cage for readability, which I had noticed and considered, but I didn’t want to move the characters without talking to the rest of the group as they are directly in front of the cage in the next scene. This can be easily changed in composting anyway.

The backgrounds have been completely finished now, so I have completed my main role, and I have one more animation scene to do which is the door opening and Zach and Lyra stepping out which I am currently beginning, 

Niall has been giving ongoing feedback on discord throughout the animation process, and this has been helpful to keep us on track, as I have been told that a lack of communication through the animation process in the other group over easter has led to issues now, but the animation for our project has been kept on track and to a high standard because of consistent feedback from out mentor and teammates.

Gabe and I have been in contact over easter as he is designing the birds for the cage, and I have solely worked on all the backgrounds involving the birdcage. I had to consider the fact that the cage needed to be on different layers throughout the drawing process, as we need to have the birds behind the front bars but in front of the back bars. It is valuable to have first-hand experience of how other roles relate to each other in the animation pipeline, and how any time delays can effect other roles. For instance as gabe is character designer for the birds, he needs to see what the birds look like in the cage, in terms of scale and also as he is animator for the birds he also needs to composite the background and the cage to see if the animation blends well or if there is too much going on. Although I could have composited it also, he wants to decide for himself what works best before showing the rest of the group in discord for their opinions.

I, of course, had everything on different layers, as anyone who has ever worked on backgrounds can appreciate that layering up gives extra options when compositing, allows for making changes quickly and adapting to feedback, but is also necessary to create depth and perspective sometimes, as with the birds.  This was a slightly strange process to me in this case, however, as you would usually use colour to make the layers opaque, but as as the animation and the backgrounds aren’t going to be coloured, they are transparent between the line art. To solve this, I coloured the cage white, behind the line art on each layer, keeping everything on separate layers, including the bars and the base. I then sent one of the files to Gabe so he could test his bird designs against the backgrounds and scale them to fit. All of the backgrounds are finalised and layered correctly, and are ready to be used at the final compositing stage.

19/04/23

[weakforarwen]

Arwen Deleted Scenes

I cannot believe they deleted that Gwen and Arthur scene from The Wicked Day! Everything about it is excellent. 

First of all, Arthur takes Gwen by the arm from where she’s nursing Uther to go somewhere safe to talk, which is already kind of cute; even the bit of dialogue in front of Uther’s bed is great. Arthur inquires about his father’s condition and Gwen asks why he hasn’t yet left with Merlin. It’s so domestic. Arthur was going with Merlin to find Dragoon, but he had to talk to Gwen first because he “will not keep secrets” from her. The trust. They tell each other everything. I already knew Arthur and Gwen spent a lot more time together than what we saw, but this just confirmed it.

Secondly, Arthur asks for Gwen’s opinion on using magic to save Uther, since it’s her opinion that he values “above all others”. WBK. This is exactly what Arthur tells Uther in The Death Song of Uther Pendragon. 

Third, we hear a bit of Gwen’s opinion on magic. To her, magic was behind her father’s death, and although that isn’t quite true, she has that in common with Arthur whose mother died as collateral in a spell. In The Disir, when Arthur had the choice to either accept the Old Religion or let Mordred die, he sought advice from Gwen who was fearful of magic, more so than Arthur. I felt a bit confused watching that scene, because I didn’t know where Gwen stood on using magic but had assumed she viewed it more positively. Despite being Uther’s son, Arthur himself is more open to magic, but Gwen’s had less encounters with it than Arthur, so she only views magic with fear and suspicion. She’s a smart girl, so I figured she’d be more open minded, but I guess she had no reason to be. It was somewhat surprising to realize this. Other than those born with magic, no one in Camelot accepts it. But I don’t believe for a second that Gwen would’ve immediately exposed or condemned someone with magic unless she knew they were dangerous. 

Lastly, this scene is incredibly important for Arthur and the show itself! Arthur’s destiny is to unite Albion and restore magic to Camelot, but this was the first time in the show he spoke of magic in a neutral, if not positive, way. This scene and the identical one in The Disir were the few times Arthur explicitly questioned the laws regarding magic and gave us any evidence that he could one day actually bring about the future Merlin so desperately believed in. It’s ridiculous that they cut this scene out.

[Edit: In the scene, Arthur also touches Gwen’s face as a goodbye before walking away! That was super tender and cute.]

I also read a few other nice, small moments from The Wicked Day script that I don’t believe were even filmed. Gwen wished Arthur a happy birthday (when I watched the episode I wondered why the most important person in Arthur’s life hadn’t done so...), in Arthur’s coronation he exchanged a “poignant” look with Gwen, and Gwen was by Arthur’s side when the King died. I wonder how many small, but relevant, scenes were cut from the series, especially Arwen ones? These clearly show the close bond that exists between Arthur and Gwen, and that they’re in a happy and normal relationship despite class differences.

I also watched the cut scenes from Lancelot Du Lac. 

There was one frankly unnecessary scene of Arthur getting “cold feet” about proposing to Gwen. It was offensive and cliché that Arthur was even questioning his decision, but Merlin actually had the nerve to hold up a bunch of coats that were supposed to represent Arthur’s different choices (Elena, Gwen, etc.). As if women are objects to hang off of a man’s arm! As if Gwen was simply the best choice among all the women he could’ve chosen! That’s fucking ridiculous. He doesn’t want to marry anyone else, because he only loves Gwen. He doesn’t need to hear his “options”. And why would he question his decision to marry Gwen aside from the possible repercussions of marrying a servant? Merlin told Arthur it was normal to get cold feet and fear being with the same woman for the rest of his life, and Arthur was like “That must be it!”. Well, I’m sorry, Arthur, was there someone else you wanted to be with instead? Would you have rather had a different woman every week? Have at it! No one’s stopping you. This scene is downright offensive to Gwen and to women in general. Since when are men the ones who stand to lose something when they marry? It us, women, who forsake much of our freedom. I wished Gwen had witnessed this heartwarming moment between Arthur and Merlin and knew how Arthur really felt about marrying her. God, this scene made so angry. I’m glad it got cut.

In the same episode, they cut a small scene of Gwen telling Gaius how weird Lancelot’s return felt after she’d mourned him. While the scene wouldn’t have contributed a whole lot to the episode, it showed Gwen wasn’t at all interested in Lancelot. The scene ended with Arthur kissing her on the cheek and her going inside his tent, so I wish that bit, at least, had made it. There wasn’t enough normal Gwen in the episode. I also wish we’d had more scenes of the wedding preparations and scenes of Arthur and Gwen discussing their marriage. The writers were obviously only interested in the Lancelot drama. It reminds me of With All My Heart. Even in Arwen episodes, Arwen, and particularly Gwen, are sidelined.  

[bakersimmer]

Behind the scenes

I don't like this animation. Can we get a new and better one?

[myrmidryad]

hi, would you feel comfortable talking a bit about you writing process? I know you have many (pretty meaty) fics, but I'm familiar w/your Shadow Work story and was just So Impressed by how neatly plotted every second was. everything felt totally necessary and the character beats were deeply emotional but still impacted the plot. Just hoping to get a peek into your process/or any advice on plotting/writing a comprehensive story like that because! It really blew me away and I would love to learn!

inasmuch as I have a process, sure! and thank you! :D

I put it under a cut because it got more behind the scenesy than I expected, whoops. I’m just the normal level of narcissistic when it comes to my own writing, right?

edit: I tried to put it under a cut, and that....did not work. cheers, tumblr, this is one of several reasons why I never post anything. 🙄

Shadow Work is kind of an interesting one because I started it with the idea of it being quite short, and while usually my process is ‘sit down, write the whole thing in chronological order, done’, Shadow Work is one of the only fics where it went in a completely different direction which ended up not working, so I pulled back to an earlier point and did it differently. originally, the timeline was shorter, Alex called his mom at one point, the Air Force purchase of Foster Ranch for a base was a Project Shepherd thing where Max, Isobel, and Noah were being kept. Michael and Alex found the Project Shepherd bunker and caught Jesse and Jesse was the one who revealed the Rosa coverup. Alex tricked him into believing he bought the xenophobia and let Jesse take them both to the base before Michael used his powers to break free. there was a firefight and I think Jesse was killed in the crossfire. no Maria at all, far more military personnel, and it didn’t work because there hadn’t been enough time for the relationship between Michael and Alex to develop and there hadn’t been enough time for the world to feel as fleshed out as it ended up being in the final fic.

so process wise, the way it developed was with me needing it all to make more sense. not even emotionally, just in terms of real-world impact. it didn’t make sense for a Project Shepherd base to be on the Foster Ranch land, because that had been an official Air Force acquisition, and Project Shepherd is a secret. it didn’t make sense for Alex to be so easy with confronting Jesse. it definitely didn’t make sense for Jesse to trust Alex was on his side after only one manipulative conversation when he’d spent the majority of Alex’s life thinking he was inferior because of his sexuality. so everything needed to be reworked to make actual sense. no plot holes, no out of character decisions by anyone. Noah had to die very quickly, because Michael had to be free to find Alex and rescue Max and Isobel. if Alex was going to be so confident in Michael, he needed more time to develop that bond.

in practical terms, for any fic that has a Plot, I use Evernote to keep track of everything.

for me that just meant keeping track of exactly what was happening and when. I also made a thing to help me decide how the hell haunts worked, so when Alex referenced the classification system I could keep it consistent.

but yeah, keeping track of things, and editing as I go is kind of the key. originally there wasn’t a Friday at all (as in, the events of that day didn’t exist), but I wanted Alex and Michael to have more time just stewing together, so I made up some shit for them to do. all things that developed the relationship they were building, and developed the world too. they could’ve spent the whole day indoors on their laptops, but it made more sense for the story for them to go out and show off what the world looks like through their different perceptions.

with a fic this long, I noticed multiple mistakes in continuity as I went, and had to keep going back to fix things. I added in the part where Michael and Alex went to get spare clothes for Max, Isobel, and Noah, because I’d just gotten to their rescue and decampment to Kyle’s and realised, oh fuck, they have nothing but the pyjamas they were abducted in to wear, and they’ve been wearing those for about two weeks now so they must be disgusting. a tragedy occurred when Michael took Alex to the pod cave and I wrote a beautiful description of the way the pods looked to him...only to realise as I finished it that I’d written the pods being snatched as well, so there was nothing for Alex to look at. 😂

to get the emotional beats...I’m not sure, it just sort of happens. it might help that I picture each scene as if I was watching it, like it was happening on the show itself. so I imagine exactly how the actors would deliver the lines, what their body language would be like, where they are in relation to everything around them, etc. I think it helps me keep track of the physicality of the scenes. for anything with a real location, like Roswell, I use Google Maps a lot. even if the town as they portray it on the show isn’t what it looks like irl, it’s very handy for describing things like residences and deciding how long a drive from one location to another would take. I definitely went on real estate listings for actual Roswell to see what the houses were like in the neighbourhoods I’d semi-arbitrarily decided the Manes and DeLuca houses were in. interiors, exteriors, street layouts, everything. the lane out the back of the Manes back yard was based off what I was seeing on Google Maps.

oh actually for emotional beats, having a solid handle on what the characters are like and what all their issues are is key, and for that I highly recommend reading meta about the world and those characters. the RNM fandom has some absolutely killer meta, particularly character meta, and it’s really helped me nail down what motivates the characters, reasons for why they act the way they do, and giving extra resources and insight into what life is functionally like for a real disabled vet, or someone whose mother is suffering with undiagnosed early-onset dementia, etc etc.

I hope this was helpful, or at least interesting!

[chiwoopsie]

11, 14, 24 for the ask game!

11. List your top 10 biaswreckers.1) Hoshi2) Soonyoung3) Kwon Hoshi4) Edward Kwon5) Kwon Fire6) Kwon Soonyoung7) ホシ8) Seventeen's 10:109) Prince Hoshi10) j-hope :)14. Favorite MV of all time?aaahh how to choose just one?? I think I'll go with Thanks :3 The aesthetic, lighting, and coloring is just so 😍😍😍 ALSO the concept of Seventeen going through the whole production process and behind the scenesy stuff is ingenius24. What idol do you think you have the most in common with? KIM MINGYU LOL i feel like i get where he's coming from most of the time especially when he gets super salty/pouty cuz i have been in those situations before and i know what it's like. Also, we both have mom tendencies...THANK YOU FOR ASKING 😘😘😘😘

[how-to-best]

Senator Casey recognizes mask-sewing efforts of Lebanon County women

Senator Casey recognizes mask-sewing efforts of Lebanon County women

[ad_1]

4 min readPosted June 8, 2020

U.S. Senator Bob Casey (D-PA) held a call in late May to recognize the mask-sewing efforts of Women Working Behind the Scenes. 

Women Working Behind the Scenesis a group of women in the Lebanon area who sew masks for those in the community who need them. The group is co-chaired by Sharon Zook and Lebanon County Commissioner Jo Ellen Litz (D), who were…

[alchery]

I'm thinking of doing a writing live stream for my Klance story (( because I'm currently a gimp on crutches and bored out of my mind )). If anyone actually wants to watch, it'd either be a private one with a select few via my skype (( where we can chat and get to see more behind the scenesy stuff )) or on google docs for a larger group where y'all can watch as I finish up and edit the first chapter and possibly work on the second. Would anyone actually watch?

[kristen-parisi]

A tweet

@kpar_ @BigTentOfficial @sunkencitybeer A QUIET MOMENT --- "A Quiet Moment" Behind The Scenesi warming up... https://t.co/fDSgYRf68t

— Kristen Parisi (@kpar_) June 17, 2017