Some of the footage for Mena’s video are effects-heavy, and render times can be extremely long. So, what to do when estimated time of render completion is 3 a.m. in the morning?
I discovered Free Download Manager which – in addition to being a great download manager, and being honest-to-God FREE – is great for unattended shutting down of the computer at ungodly hours, allowing you to go to sleep and find finished renders the next morning.

I know, I know – not exactly what the makers of FDM were thinking, but hey! Free software! That works!

It’s been 3 weeks of grappling with pixel aspect ratios, letterboxing, 9+ hour renders, codecs, 3:2 pulldown, Xvid, Lagarith – who said making videos is fun? Some lessons learnt, so far:

1. Sony Vegas – bad audio/video sync, no crashing;
2. Adobe Premiere Pro – good sync, crashes a lot;
3. Dirty greenscreens are harder to key out.

Sigh.

I mentioned earlier that we were using a cheapskate greenscreen consisting of bits of bright green paper stuck onto a cardboard box.

Will it work?

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I’m really impressed by how simple-looking gadgets can have such a massive impact on the look of footage. Take the sun-shade reflectors I keep talking about. Now I have the photos to prove that they work. Methinks the look below would have been impossible without the reflectors, or artificial light.

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Being an amateur/cheapskate/dummy (delete where appropriate), I’m using ordinary household objects as substitutes for professional filmmaking gear.

Inspired by people who think like this.
Some examples:

8,000 bob collapsible reflectors? I’m using the sun-shades they use in cars to protect them from heat. 200 bob each (MPPS or Motor Boutique).

5,436 bob muslin green screen? I’m using bits of violent-green sheets of A3 paper stuck onto a refrigerator carton. Sure, it sucks and it’s fiddly, but it costs 50 bob for 2 sheets of the paper (Nakumatt). And the carton was free.

Gazillion bob wind machine? Two large sufuria (saucepan) covers, operated by enthusiastic friends taking turns on either side of the cast. Free, if you don’t count buying the friends lunch afterwards and apologizing for cheating them that making videos was glamorous.

And so on. Will it show in the final product?

I certainly hope not. Fingers crossed.