Alright Pirates, this is it!!!
I've uploaded 1 Gigabyte worth of video data to the onadarkandstormynightmovie.com server. It is approximately 1 hour of footage of Rachel Lynn singing in a variety of settings, and little over 10 minutes of select footage from the actual movie. No, you don't get any spoilers, or anything that's not in the synopsis/trailers anyway :)
Tomorrow at around 7 PM Eastern Time, all contestants will be sent an email with instructions to download and unrar the footage. You will need this tool, at the very least, to uncompress the video files: WinRar, so I'd suggest installing it ahead of time. The Rachel Lynn footage is a 750 plus megs avi file, the movie footage is a 144 megs wmv file, get your converters ready, I personally use VideoLan, but suit yourself. Keep in mind that the audio of the footage is intentionally bad, this is because you're not supposed to use it! The only audio you're supposed to use is here: http://www.karmacritic.com/files/Dar...
You may use other footage, as long as you legally own it! More on that in the rules below.
Now, the Rules:
- You are to create a music video for Rachel Lynn's song ON A DARK AND STORMY NIGHT using only materials:
- For which you are the copyright holder (proper documentation will be required from the winner), or
- Which are Public Domain (again, burden of proof is on you), or
- Which were provided to you in the package mentioned above. (All of the above means: don't just steal video! If you don't own it, or we didn't give it to you, you can't use it! Of course, if another filmmaker gives you footage, like the moon shot Lady Parker placed on Vimeo for this contest specifically, that is certainly acceptable, but we'll need documentation, in this case, her post in KC is enough).
- You must make Rachel Lynn look good. This is her song, and her video. Don't let her go out of synch, don't use shots that aren't flattering. This is the easiest of all rules to enforce, because if you fail at this, she simply won't choose your work as the winner, and you lose :)
- Keep in mind this is a commercial product. Do not show any material that would make this inadmissible in mainstream national television. No blood, gore, murder scenes, swear words, etc. Use your common sense. Again, if you fail at this, you simply lose cause Rachel wouldn't choose a video that is inappropriate for the airwaves.
- You have until next Wednesday to finish. First thing in the morning on Thursday, the contest closes to submissions! All of this hints at the method by which the winner will be chosen:
Rachel Lynn herself! She will see all videos, then simply choose the
winner, which will be announced in our radio show (after Peter
Jackson!) :)
- Now, to make sure Rachel does not know which person made which video, all contestants will submit their work via ANONYMOUS VIMEO ACCOUNTS. Instructions to create these accounts will be provided to contestants tomorrow. You will be able to upload your video, and title it as you wish, but if anyone is caught anywhere providing details as to who the author of which video is, disqualification applies. Let's keep this a fair contest, gentlemen! Be sportsmanlike!
- Work in as high definition as you possibly can, remember this work may be seen outside of the web world, including potential for Cable Television, DVDs, etc.
- DO NOT share the source material provided to you with ANYONE! In fact, to prevent this from leaking, the
material will be deleted from the server the day after tomorrow, you
will only have around 24 hours to download it.
After the contest is over and a winner has been chosen, everyone is welcome to post their videos here in KC, under their own names.
The winner will sign a legal contract so that his work can be used by Rachel; please don't expect compensation other than seeing your work promoted by a well-connected and very talented artist, in as many platforms as she feels motivated to! I wouldn't be surprised if this leads to networking which leads to other (paying) jobs, but that's up to you and where you take things from here :)
Have fun, show your creativity, and may the best Pirate Win!
Whiskey Boots
Good luck to all participants. May the best vid win.
Praise Rachel Lynn.
"Baffling the critics since 1971."
THE WHISKEY HAS SPOKEN
Hey BOOTS! this is going to be fun! And Turzman was there, so he knows how much cool shit was shot!
EZEQUIEL
Which winrar link do you
Which winrar link do you download? They're so many of them.
It depends
It depends on which computer you have.
If you have a PC running Windows, try WinRAR 3.71
If you have a mac, try RAR 3.71 for Mac OS X
You dont have to use WinRar, just your favorite compression tool that handles rar files; nearly all of them do :)
On a Mac
I am on a Mac. Do I need the extra software? Won't Stuff It decompress the files?
Also, in terms of the files, how will you know which contestant uploaded which file to Vimeo if you can't credit yourself? Or did I misinterpret that part of the rules? Someone, somewhere, has to know that so-and-so uploaded filename DSNA1.mov as their entry.
Finally ... where's the link to the footage? I've been to onadarkandstormynightmovie.com and I don't see any link to the contest footage we're supposed to use, just a lot of production blogs and promotional footage.
"When a man lies, he murders some part of the world." - Merlin
"The giants have fallen!!! Let us retake Valhalla!" - Me
Dies und Dass
I am on a Mac. Do I need the extra software? Won't Stuff It decompress the files?
No idea about Stuff it, but you can download winrar for mac.
Also, in terms of the files, how will you know which contestant uploaded which file to Vimeo if you can't credit yourself? Or did I misinterpret that part of the rules? Someone, somewhere, has to know that so-and-so uploaded filename DSNA1.mov as their entry.
You're right, and also, I realized Vimeo imposes a 500 meg per week quota per account. So each person will need its own anonymously named Vimeo account, of which I'll keep track. There will be exact instructions in the email tonight.
Finally ... where's the link to the footage? I've been to onadarkandstormynightmovie.com and I don't see any link to the contest footage we're supposed to use, just a lot of production blogs and promotional footage.
Tomorrow at around 7 PM Eastern Time, all contestants will be sent an email with instructions to download and unrar the footage.
:)
List of Contestants
Based on this roll call post, and in no particular order, the following are the contestants who will receive the footage to cut the music video:
Did I miss anyone? Post here if you wish to be included, and you'll get a message via KC on how to download the footage. The email goes out tonight at 7PM Eastern!
AND HERE WE...GO!
Good luck to all the participants! I really can't wait to see what you all do! Straps your battle boots on!
Go!
Go!
Go!
EZEQUIEL
Emails were sent!
If you are in the list of people above, check your KarmaCritic private messages, I've sent the details!
The contest has officially started!! BEST OF LUCK EVERYONE!!
P.S. When you have uploaded your finished work to vimeo, please let me know via PRIVATE MESSAGE, do NOT post it here, and do NOT let anyone know you did which video! keep it fair!
I got it
Great Work Captain!!
Rum Bless all the contestants!!
The show must go on!!
Thanks to you all
I just want to show my appreciation to all those participating in this contest. Rachel Lynn is a true talent and this will help her big time. Also, having had a meager participation in the film myself, I am proud to see so many talented people taking an interest in Ez's film. Any promotion is helpful.
So, win or lose, know that the Turzman thanks you...
...and the Joker thanks you.
"Baffling the critics since 1971."
I CONCUR!
I also applaud all of those coming together for this event!
Ok. I'm off to Beverly Hills for a lunch meeting, and I'm taking Big Sugar with me!
...it's all part of the plan...
EZEQUIEL
After waiting an hour for
After waiting an hour for the first one to download, it doesn't seem to want to extract for me. It looks like I might have to pull out of this one.
Rar files
Once you have downloaded -all- rar files to the same folder anywhere in
your harddrive, use any compression tool to uncompress them (I
recommend WinRar, but that's just me). The wmv file needs no
decompresion.
I'll say it again: you must have ALL rar files in the same folder in your harddrive. ALL. Eight of them. Having just one will do nothing. You need all eight, and then the magic of RAR will combine them like Voltron into a single 750 meg avi file, that you almost certainly would not have been able to download in one piece without breaking, hence its given to you broken up in 8 pieces using rar technology.
Welcome to the world of Digital Editing = Large Files.
THE RACE HAS BEGUN!
*THE COMMENTATORS:
"It seems all the racers are having trouble starting their engines!"
"You think maybe they're all just gay?"
"Gay like Michael Bay"
"Did you know Rachel Lynn rides a motorcycle?"
"Then my new name is Harley Davidson"
"haha/haha"
EZEQUIEL
I too am having a hell of a
I too am having a hell of a tie getting the video. Video # took almost an hour... Is there a faster way... Can you send out a DVD?
Faster than an hour?
Video # took almost an hour... Is there a faster way... Can you send out a DVD?
Brad.... are you asking me if burning, packaging and mailing a physical disc across several states of the federal union would take less than an hour? :)
THE COMMENTATORS!
*THE COMMENTATORS:
"And...it Looks like we've got a whiner!"
"What did one butt say to the other butt?"
"Can you send me out a DVD?"
"Nope"
"So what did one butt say to the other butt?"
"Would you like to dance cheek to cheek?"
"haha/haha"
EZEQUIEL
uncompressing...
da .rar files is a bitch... I'll figure it out though... hAhA
Uncompressing Rar files....
...takes two clicks, once you've downloaded all eight of them to your hard drive, and are using a compression tool. Let me know if you have any specific problem.
THE COMMENTATORS!
*THE COMMENTATORS:
"And here we are in day number one of this much anticipated race!"
"It's starting to remind me of the Olympics"
"Yeah. Me too. The special Olympics!"
"In fact, I have to go download something too!"
"Don't forget to download all the files first!"
"What are you talking about?"
"The download procedure"
"I'm going to the bathroom! Mine requires three steps. A fart. A dump. And a wipe!"
"haha/haha
EZEQUIEL
I got
problems too
rar files don´t want to work
What is the error message?
What error message do you get? And have you downloaded all eight rar files to the same folder?
Rar It Captain!
Rum it be..
A chantey's a callin'
Good luck ta ye!
THE COMMENTATORS!
*THE COMMENTATORS:
"One of the contestants has just stepped out of his racer...he looks like a....pirate?"
"He's drinking...rum"
"He is a pirate!"
"YO HO/YO HO!"
"haha/haha"
EZEQUIEL
Haaahahaha
you Captain Pirate!
are having so much fun with
all this
Rum Bless Karma Forever!!
MARCO...
can you put some Rachel Lynn footage as .wmv files... ?
It would be even bigger
Before decicing on avi, I tried several formats including wmv, and they're all larger than avi. MOV was the largest at nearly 2 Gbs, followed by mpg, followed by wmv, and finally avi, at 750 megs, was the smallest to download, but I still had to break it in 8 pieces via RAR, so you guys could download all 8 pieces, and then put them together back into one avi piece, via rar.
THE COMMENTATORS
*THE COMMENTATORS:
"Since the racers are having problems with their engines, I gotta ask, do you think girls like big downloads or small downloads?
"I would say it has to do more with the hard drive"
"How many times a day to you think they push enter?"
"I don't know. But I prefer the control button. Which is something that we don't have in this race at the moment! These racers are out of control!"
"haha/haha"
EZEQUIEL
Haaahahaha
it is so fuck...funny
hahhaha
Wmv
I did all
putting all ther rar in a folder on my HD
double click and then I have to go to every rar to download, the first one works but no the others
it is possible to get that Wmv even if that is longer
but wmv works with problems, I got without problems Ez movie shots
but not rar files
I want to go with rar files to take some beers
they are hard pirates!!
Rum Bros!!
New Strategy
Here's what I'm going to do as soon as I get home:
I will take the 750 meg avi file, and will split it into 8 wmv files, which you can download separately. Its the same size to download, the difference is that they will not be interconnected, so you can work with either one even if you don't have them all.
I'll post this new set of files in the same address all contestants received via email, by 9 PM EST tonight, hopefully that will help!
Thanks Captain!!
I hope that works
like I said before I have alredy all the shots from Ez movie without problems
it was in wmv
a little bit more time to download but finally works..
THE COMMENTATORS
*THE COMMENTATORS:
"It seems one of the racers now finally has the upper hand!"
"I once had the upper hand"
"Really?"
"Yes! Then I found a girlfriend!"
"Well, this might have been a slow start, but it looks like they're coming around the bend!"
"Yes! And I hate it when my girlfriend gives it the bend with the upperhand!"
"haha/haha!"
EZEQUIEL
You say
five PM east?
I can´t wait to start!!!!
11:30, its done :)
I started at 8 pm, and its now 11:30, but finally there are wmv versions of the Rachel footage in the same address given to contestants via email. Its not as good quality as the avi file that is broken up into rar pieces, but at least now its wmv so people can download individual pieces and use them without having to have all 8, and without having to decompress.
Best of luck!!
when I try to cut it up...
da .wmv file gives a "made with flip4mac" logo on it...
gotta love LEARNING... hAhA
I dont like macs :)
But i dont say that often because it gets me booed out of starbucks :)
I'd say... try another editing software, maybe iMovie? I don't know enough about macs to know what software to recommend, but yeah, we can't have logos in a commercial music videos. Good luck!
I have a MAC.
I have a MAC.
THE COMMENTATORS!
*THE COMMENTATORS:
"He said he has a mac!"
"A Bernie Mac?"
"That isn't funny"
"I'll tell you what is funny"
"What's that?"
"I asked the same thing!"
"What?"
"What's that"
"When?"
"When I saw your mom!"
"haha/haha
EZEQUIEL
I'm out ...
WinRar won't work and StuffIt won't work to unstuff the "Rachel" files because all the rar files are linked together somehow.
Good luck to all the other editors out there ...
"When a man lies, he murders some part of the world." - Merlin
"The giants have fallen!!! Let us retake Valhalla!" - Me
Goodbye
Of course the rar files are linked together, I've typed four times now that they form one single avi file. Here it is again for a fifth time: the file rachel.avi is 750 megs large. If you try to download it in one piece, it'll surely break because even a fast connection breaks with such large files. So you'd be stuck starting over from scratch enough times for the server to quit on us, and then nobody gets the file. So instead I've broken up that 750 megs file, into 8 pieces, like pieces of a puzzle, that are about 96 megs each. 96 takes me three minutes to download on my cable connection, but even a 56kbp dialup could download them at most in an hour each. Once all 8 pieces of the puzzle are in your hard drive, as the instructions email explained, any rar application can put them together again into the original 750 megs avi file. So that's why they're linked. Of course no compressor tool in the world can do anything with them on their own, just like no one can put together a puzzle unless you have all the pieces. Once you have all 8 files in your hard drive, two clicks of any uncompressor tool would generate rachel.avi for you. But certainly not before.
Anyway, every problem has a dozen solutions, and I could have gladly helped you find them, but there's one problem that has no solution: quitting. I can't help you with that, nothing can.
Good luck and may the road ahead be 100% obstacle-free for you.
I understand ...
... what you are taking about about the necessity of having to break up the files for transfer purposes and the necessity of having all the files in the same folder. I have all the files in the same folder; that is not the issue.
I have tried to use the Mac version of WinRar, exactly as per the directions that come with the program. However, it does not work. There are NO clicks in the Mac version, it is all command line interface. So, when I follow all the directions to the letter, it finally says to type "rehash." When I do so, it says that there is no such command - "command not found." So, if I contnue on and try to unrar the files anyway, it says the same thing about the command "unrar". When I click on the unrar icon to try to activate the program, all I get is a series of CLI commands that do nothing.
I have also tried Zipeg, RAR and UnRarX, all for Macs. Zipeg and UnRarX tell me that there is an unexpected end of file or CRC error. Although UnRarX at least tries to do what it is supposed to do and tries to decompress the files, in sequential order, before telling me it finds the unexpected end of file error. RAR is another CLI program that simply says that the files don’t exist, even when they are in the same directory as the rar or unrar program.
When I use StuffIt, the first file (part1) decompresses about 95% of the way and then just sits there looking for the end of the file, which it never finds, and it just locks up. If I try to deompress the other files separately, it just says there is a file error and stops without decompressing anything. I have tried selecting them all and clicking on them to get StuffIt to process them all and decompress them, but then I just get a combination of the two results.
What I do not understand was necessity to use this oddball compression scheme that links one file to another in order to be decompressed. Why not just use industry standard compression like .zip, .stuff or .tar? So what if you have to click once on eight separate files to decompress them? At least it would work! So what if you have 8 separate decompressed files? Any real editing program will allow you to reconnect them seamlessly. Moreover, since the visuals of Rachel need to be synced up to the .mp3 music track, AND insert edited with visuals from the film and other sources, it is completely useless to keep these in one continuous file, even after decompression because we'll just chop them all up and move them around anyway.
If these files were not digitally connected together, I (and apparently others) could just use StuffIt to decompress these files and get to editing. I simply don't have enough time to play techno-geek all weekend long trying to find out what's not working. I've already lost 1 day out of 7 just trying to get files to edit together. Between all the time it will take to resolve this issue, and work, and the other necessities of life, I will lose tomorrow and probably Friday. I am losing sleep and my blood pressure is sky high over this. So why should I continue to play this game if I'll only have half as much time, or less, and crank out something that's crap because I just rushed through it and did a half-assed job? It just is not worth my time.
"When a man lies, he murders some part of the world." - Merlin
"The giants have fallen!!! Let us retake Valhalla!" - Me
Marco purposely fucked over
Marco purposely fucked over the mac users. Ha ha ha ha ha!
yes he did, he did in deed.
yes he did, he did in deed.
No I didn't.
I don't have the time to do this kind of shit. I would have to care a whole lot more than I do, and I would have to be a lot more free than I am, as far as time, in order to do that on purpose. For the record, I used the macintosh at work, to UnStuff all 8 rar files and it worked just fine. Other contestants have sent me emails (privately for some reason) telling me they were able to uncompress the thing too.
Chaz, my guess is at least one of the rar files got corrupted as you downloaded it. Its all moot for two reasons, one is that I've posted broken up wmv versions so that the rars arent needed anymore (see post comment called "Good news bad news" in this thread), and two, that you've left the contest anyway. Still, I've learned the lesson so in the future I won't compress anything.
P.S. Rar is not exotic.
I saw ...
... the "Good News Bad News" post, but still it begs the question of why? Since the .wmv files are not as good quality as the .avi files, why not, from the start, just compress and upload the the .avi files separately using an industry standard compression method? Certainly, if they were in .zip, .stuff or .tar, I could have decompressed them individually, come to the realization that one of the files was corrupt and finally downloaded it again to make a 2nd pass at it, or ignore it and use the remaining good footage. Keep in mind, I am not accusing you of any intent to skew the contest toward PC users (someone else did that) but you have made this more difficult that it needed to be, for everyone, including yourself.
The lesson to be learned here is not to "not compress" but to do things the simplest, least technologically fancy way. Remember what Mr. Scott said in Star Trek III. "The more they over think the plumbing, the easier it is to stop up the drain." And that is just what happened here. All it took was one small error, that was initially undetectable, that brought me to a screeching halt because I couldn't have access to any of the files, not just the one corrupted one.
Oh, btw, a Wikipedia article on something does not make it a standard or "not exotic." There are millions of wikipedia articles on more minutia that you can possibly imagine. Here's one on vampire watermelons:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vampire...
certainly, not your garden variety plant, or vampire, for that matter.
"When a man lies, he murders some part of the world." - Merlin
"The giants have fallen!!! Let us retake Valhalla!" - Me
THE COMMENTATORS
*THE COMMENTATORS:
"And I always thought that all you had to do was put the key in the ignition"
"That's what my ex-wife always used to say"
"I thought you were still married"
"No. She ran off with a some guy named Mac!"
"haha/haha
EZEQUIEL
I THINK HE DID TOO
Marco is competing also. So it makes sense that he would make it hard for everyone else to get started. Marco, I thought you played fair! damn you!
And damn you too Brad. I don't know why, but it's fun to damn you!
EZEQUIEL
THE COMMENTATORS
*THE COMMENTATORS:
"Somebody throw in the towel!
"A towel for what! Somebody already is washed up!"
"haha/haha
EZEQUIEL
Do me a Favor
wait!!
we can work it out
I have a mac too
we are still working
to make it easy to everyone
five or nine?? hahaha
he will get new footage
a favor
ha ha ha dracu wants a favor.
THE COMMENTATORS!--- FIRST CONTESTANT BITES THE DUST! OUCH!
*THE CONTEST COMMENTATORS:
"And there is a nasty crash not even close to the finish line, but at the starting line!"
"At the starting line? Why even get into the car if you aren't prepared to go even a one lap!"
"I had this friend once. He was so drunk, that when on top of his girlfriend initiating sex, he passed out on top of her!"
"Are you implying that this guy was driving under the influence? A D.U.I?
"Nope. E.U.I. Editing Under the Influence"
"haha/haha"
EZEQUIEL
dang, computers are a bitch
I'm glad to see I'm not the only person having problems. My downloads are now quiting on me barely half way through.
Download Managers
See, if your download breaks in a 96 mb file, imagine how it would feel if it breaks near the end of a 750 mb file? :)
I suggest you try a download manager, here's what that means: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Downloa...
I recommend this one, which is free as beer: http://www.freedownloadmanager.org/
It's all a learning experience!
THE COMMENTATORS
*THE COMMENTATORS:
"You know what this reminds me of?"
"Your stupid ex-girlfriend that couldn't ride a bicycle and chew bubble gum at the same time?"
"My Grandmother"
"Your Grandmother?"
"Yeah...she's a slut even at her old age"
"I don't get it"
"Neither do I....neither do I..."
"I see some movement out in the track! The referee is waving his hands!"
"Either the race is moving, or somebody just farted"
"haha/haha"
EZEQUIEL
That program
Only works on a PC. I know you hate Macs man but I believe most of these people are using Macs so this download needs to be Mac friendly.
Wow
babbling for Lady Parker
Mac is the best for Video and Graphics
I am a Mac, I am a PC
Well, there are download managers for mac too, here's a list:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compari...
Go PCs Go! :)
Haaahahaha
please stop that
hahahahaaha
- The referee is waving his hands!
hahaaha, Pirates forever!!!
please
I can´t stop laughing
"Your stupid ex-girlfriend that couldn't ride a bicycle and chew bubble gum at the same time?"
and
"I see some movement out in the track! The referee is waving his hands!"
hahahahahaaaaa
THE COMMENTATORS
*THE COMMENTATORS:
"Wait a minute! Pull your pants back up! An unmarked car has just taken speed!"
"Holy shit! It's Hillary Clinton!"
"You can't use words like that!"
"Shit?"
"No! Holy! This is a disclaimer to our listening audience. This show in no way or fashion reflects our political or religious views"
"What kind of show is this!"
"It's a one man show as the unmarked car races off!"
"I've got your one man show right here-"
"Pull your pants back up!"
"haha/haha"
EZEQUIEL
Marco, do you have the movie
Marco, do you have the movie footage in AVI instead of wmv?
THE COMMENTATORS
*THE COMMENTATORS:
"And it looks like we have our first pit stop"
"I once fell into a pit"
"What's an AVI?"
"I don't know, I'm just a commentator"
"Comment on this-"
"Pull your pants back up!"
"haha/haha
EZEQUIEL
Good news bad news!
The good news for everyone having trouble with rar files, is that you no longer need such arcane black magic, and are now able to download 8 wmv files instead, for the rachel footage. I wont delete the rar files, since they render a better quality avi.
To summarize: for rachel footage you now have two choices:
a) Download all 8 rar files, decompress them and obtain a single high quality avi,
or
b) Download up to 8 wmv files, no need to decompress, but its slightly lower quality.
The bad news, Brendan, is that I don't have an avi version of the stormy footage.
The good news, is that you can easily convert from wmv to avi. My favorite tool to do that is VideoLan Player, but there are hundreds of other options.
Best of luck!
THE COMMENTATORS
*THE COMMENTATORS:
"He said rar"
"I believe his last name is Leon"
"The lion!"
"rar"
"haha/haha
EZEQUIEL