Eco-Hero!

Alright, guys, I'm here...
Sorry I haven't been updating my blog. I've been extremely busy lately...

Uhhh, throughout the past week, I:
1. Went to the "Second Prefect's Camp" at Teratak Riverview, Ulu Bernam, Tanjung Malim, Perak for 3 days ( 2-4 July )... Tonnes and tonnes of interesting stuff happened there, but unfortunately, I simply don't have the time nor effort to blog about it all! Well, at least you guys know that I went for it! [ smiles ]
2. I've been quite preoccupied with "The Star NiE Mini-Magazine" competition thingy... Who knew making a simple 3-page mini magazine could be so stressing and frustrating?
3. And then there's the usual mountain of homework, graciously supplied by our loving teachers...

Okay, then...
I bet you're wondering why my post header is titled "Eco-Hero", correct?
Let me start from the very top...

Uhhh, Pn Azlina ( my class English teacher ) instructed my classmates to divide into groups of 5 people. Each group had to create and submit a 3-page mini-magazine relating to the theme "A Better Life".
However, Jannah, Evo and I already created a group before Pn Azlina instructed us to. The other two people in our group were Jas and Lynn, both from another class, 4 Epsilon...

Well, my group decided upon the sub-topic "Environment", since Jannah, Lynn, Evo, and Jas were all members of the school's Nature Lovers Society, so I assumed that they had loads of experience about stuff related to the environment...
Fortunately for us, Jannah already typed a main article about how to save the environment beforehand. So, obviously, the magazine's focus for this issue would be about what you can do to save the environment, hence the term "Eco-Hero".
But wait. That's still not the reason why this post is titled "Eco-Hero"...

In the "NiE Mini Magazine" competition, there's also a video clip category. Along with the mini-magazine, contestants can submit a video clip based on the theme of the magazine...
So, my group decided that we should also submit a video along with our magazine. And Lynn proposed the idea of incorporating my lightsaber rotoscoping skills into the video...

So, yeah, I made another lightsaber video... But again, just like "Force Lightning Rocks", I don't consider this as one of my serious lightsaber projects. Anyway, moving on...
On filming day, two of my friends decided to join in: Lee King and Ashman. They appear in the final video as well, even though they're not part of our group.
So, uhhh, the video, titled "Eco-Hero", stars:
- Myself, as the lightsaber-brandishing Eco-Hero.
- Ashman, as the "bad guy" who litters.
- Jaslyn, Lee King, Jannah, and Lynn, as the civilian onlookers.
- Evo, as the girl who litters at the end of the video.

Alright, I guess it's only right if I post the video here...
So, yeah here it is.
Oh, and a warning, at one point in the video, the video and audio quality will reduce DRASTICALLY! I'm not by any means exaggerating! Seriously! Our 14-Megapixel camera's battery went dead while we were halfway filming, so we had to resort to a 2-Megapixel handphone camera instead...
So yeah, I apologise. And please, I don't want to hear any comments about the horrible quality, kay? Seriously, make sure you tell me something I don't know!


Well, yeah, that's "Eco-Hero"...

Oh, and FYI, we started filming on Tuesday, but we didn't manage to finish filming, so we continued on Wednesday. I only received the video files on Thursday.
And the deadline to submit the NiE mini-magazine was Friday! And the worst part was that I had to stay back at school on Thursday until 5pm for extra-curricular activities! Unbelievable, right?

Normally, rotoscoping and editing a video usually takes around at least 2 to 3 days. But in this case, I had to finish both editing and rotoscoping the video by the next day!
So, I had to work late into the night. But I wasn't alone. Jannah and the others kept me company via Yahoo Messenger. I'd like to thank very much them for doing so...

I finished rotoscoping the video at roughly 1am, and I finished converting and applying the audio at around 2am. After adding the subtitles and publishing the completed video, it was almost 2.30am! My God, you wouldn't believe how sleepy I was at that time!
So yeah, I actually managed to rotoscope and edit a lightsaber video in a mere 8 hours! I never thought I could do it, but somehow I did... I really just wanted to abandon the whole thing and go to bed, but I was determined to finish what I started. So, I persevered, and in the end, I actually did it... I was so glad when I could finally shut down the computer, head to my bedroom and get some much needed shut-eye......
I'm just so glad that that ordeal is finally over!

Well, yeah, that's pretty much it for now.

May the Force be with you...