Money
Currently forinvoicing clients I use a database in Filemaker Pro 5.5. The software is currently on version 10, so I could probably modernize my workflow slightly here. My workflow for sorting out invoices is something along the lines of:
Enter what they owe me > Enter what its for > Export PDF at the end of the month and email it to the client
To track time I simply use iCal. While this is by far the most elegant system it has worked quite well for me for a few years now, but I originally started using this workflow because I had to set up an invoicing system rather quickly, and simply haven't really had time to think about finding a better solution since then!
Well, over at his blog, Sebastiaan de With just posted an overview of Billings 3, his time-tracking and invoice-management software of choice. Now I must admit, this post is partly fueled by the promise of a free license to anyone linking back to his post, but that isn't all. It actually got me thinking about how dated my own workflow is, and billings looks like an excellent piece of software that I am now thinking of migrating to anyway.
I think the key point here (plucked nicely from Sebastiaan's interview with Billings' developer) is that pretty much all of the team responsible for the app had some form of freelance experience. Too much software is developed by people who don't actually use it for what they are designing it for, or properly understand the needs of their target customers, and it really shows.
I look forward to giving Billings a whirl when I next have some paid work going on!
The Dark Side of The Earth
The Dark Side of The Earth is a fantasy sci-fi film in development by writer / director Neil Oseman. The website contains everything you need to know and a really cool journal chronicling the past few years that Neil has been developing the project.
Anyway, last year Neil shot a 3 1/2 minute pilot scene from the screenplay (on no less than the same cameras used for The Dark Knight) with the goal of using it to get funding to make the feature. The scene features a character called The Wooden Swordsman - the name says it all. This amazing scale puppet was operated by a team of 3 puppeteers during the shoot, and although they did their job incredibly well they inevitably do pop up in almost every single shot of the pilot!
My job, along with a friend from college (and under the supervision of a very knowledgable VFX supervisor from Double Negative) was to help the shots appear as if the puppeteers were never there; and although we weren't able to complete every shot 100% in time for the pilot's screening at the Sci-Fi London festival last Saturday (what with an intensive degree course on the go at the same time), we did manage to get a good 80 - 90% done on the majority of the shots.
Below are a few screenshots of the shot that is closest to being completed:
The original shot
Puppeteers removed
Swordsman added back in and a new left frame edge with better smoke element added in
Ropes and ceiling element added into shot
The only thing missing here is the colour grade, which really made most of the shots look fantastic at the screening. I'll post again when we are nearing completion and there is more to show, but so far it has been great fun and I have learnt a huge amount. Please spread the word of the project if you can, it will be a really unique and special film when it is made.