Last weekend I went to Universal Fan Fest Nights and really enjoyed it. Last year was their first attempt at this Halloween Horror Nights-sans-Halloween event, and I didn't bother going, and it sounded like I didn't miss much. This year I was really excited for it, mainly for the big event, which was a lightly-puzzle-based scavenger hunt themed to Scooby Doo and the Universal Monsters on the Little Europe backlot set. This is where a lot of the exteriors of the original Universal monster movies were shot (or more specifically, they are recreations of those sets from the 60s after the originals were destroyed by a fire). This area is also maybe better known in modern day as The Good Place from The Good Place.
It was honestly nearly worth the price of admission to be able to wander these sets on foot, but the extra thematic trappings made the whole thing really fun. I was there with one of my brothers and his fiancée, and we spent probably an hour or more of our six-ish-hour attendance roaming around, taking in the decorations, judging the live actors, and hunting for the monsters who would arrive and depart at regular intervals to perform little recurring scenes. The puzzles have been described as escape room-like which I think is pretty generous. They probably nailed the balance of what an average casual attendee wanted to bother with, but I wonder if it would have been possible to layer in an optional, more challenging experience for the hardcore nerds. The Mystery Machine gang was all there as live actors that were talking to guests, and every one of them was great, but their presence didn't impact the game at all. Again this makes total sense, but some kind of structured LARP element would have made this an essential experience.
Kathryn Yu's review of the event at No Proscenium is quite good and touches on some of the other parts of the night, like the Dungeons and Dragons and Jurassic Park areas. I hope they continue to expand this event and I'm excited to go again next year!
Last week's musical performance was one of the most complicated film projects I've ever completed, mixing three simultaneous camera angles. DaVinci Resolve's multicam feature makes this process really easy and satisfying; I felt like what's-his-name in Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip as I was cueing different angles of the recorded footage in real time. I decided for future takes that three angles is a little too much for what I'm doing; one angle that's mostly gear from overhead and one that's mostly me from eye level is probably plenty, so that's what I'll try next time. I also ordered a new tripod that is so tall and allows me to retire my precarious improvised mic stand camera solution, and I have another lower-profile camera stand on the way that will also reduce the awkwardness of this ritual. I'm really tempted to buy a Blackmagic Design ATEM Mini Pro ISO which accepts four HDMI feeds, allows for real-time switching, but also records all the source footage separately and spits out a project file that can be edited later in DaVinci. I can't justify this yet but it would really streamline the video capture side of this project. What a cool piece of equipment.
In an effort to learn more about how other people made music, I faithfully recreated the song "Cazenove" by BICEP, and you can listen to that on SoundCloud. I love BICEP, they are probably my favorite electronic musical act and one of the biggest influences on my own music. I was shocked at how simple this song is in terms of composition and individual parts! Here's a screenshot of my Ableton Live project:
Ten tracks, and almost all of them are just one four- or eight-bar repeating pattern that comes in and out at predictable intervals. I didn't even really mess with velocity or too much modulation to get this sound. It's like that old saying: Keep It Simple John! This was a huge revelation and will inform my next music improv a whole lot.
I also finally started trying to draw a new scene for my diorama. Giving myself another few weeks to get that finished, and also thinking that whatever comes out of that thematically and aesthetically will lead into my Halloween plans. More on that whenever!