60 is the latest production from Spinneyhead Presents at Venn.tv.

After a hiatus over winter, the next set of Venn episodes is now in pre-production.

There have been two meetings this week; last night's was a meeting of the script-writers. We spent most of the time adding weight to the characters, discussing the major story arc and what each episode would show.

Change in role

This was my first time being involved in the initial stages of a script. Usually, I'm happy to be reviewing and commenting someone else's work. It's a different feeling to be part of the script-writing script.

I wrote last week about how DIY equipment for indie movie-making is becoming more important as the recession takes hold. Many prices are increasing, but incomes are stagnant and even disappearing. Before you dive into building your own kit instead of buying branded equipment, have a read through this list and figure out if DIY kit is for you.

With the recession firmly in place, more than ever it's now time to keep an eye on costs. But we still want to move forwards, still want to produce the epic sagas we've always planned. Right?

Well, the equipment for even modest indie film production quickly gets expensive. I'd say that now it's prohibitive unless you have a supplemental income stream. None of that should stop us from starting or completing projects. It does mean that we'll have to think more about how we'll achieve them or even which aims we're going to achieve now.

How I Met Your Mother easily stands out above the crowd of sitcoms and comedies. It's intelligent, thoughtful, funny and incredibly well thought out. I decided to learn what makes it tick.

Background

Episode 2 of Venn has been released.

Celtx

The New Haven project uses Celtx for screenwriting. I was all set help out in some other areas of production, when I received a warning from the project-lead. Essentially, although Celtx allows for multi-user collaboration, it doesn't facilitate it at all. In fact, it gets in the way.

I've been on the look-out for a Sci-Fi movie series a to get involved with. I wanted a side-project and after coming across a few old books I read and a few movies, I decided on the Space Opera theme. Lots of scope for over-the-top thematic music, a bit of rock and some atmosphere.

New Haven

I picked the New Haven project (previously known as Ticonderoga) as it fitted everything I was looking for out of a side-project. This had to fit alongside the normal jobs and projects.

The Award Sounds website had its first birthday yesterday. One year old. Wow. I posted the first articles on 15th July 2007. They were mainly placeholders stating what I was going to place on the site.

The vast majority of Space Operas have the same flaws. A moment's reflection and they seem obvious.

1. Lightyear is a measurement of distance, not time.

Although it could be considered colloquial hyperbole nowadays, like saying some car is lightyears ahead of another in its technology, would it still be colloquial in the same sense when there is a more basic need to space-faring humans for measuring distance in terms of lightyears?

2. Advanced technology is out of context