After Effects Tutorial Website

Bismillah ar-Rahmaan ar-Raheem,

The two example After Effect samples I made was based on the tutorials I followed on an awesome Japanese After Effect website that I found on the web.
The site is clean and simple but only one section is in English. It is a great site for all those who want to learn some After Effects techniques. Please note that site assumes that you already know what you are doing so the instructions are not always detailed (yes, it can be VERY frustrating).

Anyways, check out the website and try a few of the tutorials. If you don't know anything about After Effects, I strongly recommended signing up for one of these month to month video class subscriptions on the web. Personally, I find both www.vtc.com an www.lynda.com as great sites and definately worth the $30 a month. Best of all, there is no contracts with these two great sites and you can quit after the first month and you can take as many video classes as you want! All the classes are recorded via video and put on the web so they are easy to follow. You can watch sample clips for free on their site. Goto this link and click on any of the blue icons to watch the sample clips (the gray clips will be active once you purchase a membership)

More cool filming techniques (on DVD!)

Bismillah ar-Rahmaan ar-Raheem,

I found an awesome site, Hollywood Camera Work, which offers DVDs instead of books and classes, which explain cool film techniques.

Check out the sample video (3rd party site). You can find more sample clips on their own site).

The biggest drawback is the cost. The price for the set of 6 DVDs are high ($479 + tax). I tried to Ebay it and didn't find anything but I did find a website which RENTS technical videos and offers to rent the DVDs! http://TechnicalVideoRental.com

Its one of those ideas that you say "I should have thought of that". Apparently, the buy these expenisve technical DVD sets and rent them. To rent the entire set of DVDs will cost you about $75, which opens the door for all those who don't to cough up $479 for a set of DVDs.

Ummah Films logo effect

Bismillah ar-Rahmaan ar-Raheem,

Ok I'm back at the drawing board again. Yesterday, I played with water...today I decided to try something completely different. I guess I'm going to keep experimenting with different effects and then pick the best one to put in front of all our future clips/movies InshAllah.

After Effects is really cool but it takes a long time to put something simple together. Unfortunately, there isn't a simple one special button that just makes effects. The program has lots of powerful tools but you have to play with a bunch of them just to come up with one simple effect. On the lighter side, the program lets you customize each and every effect to the smallest detail which is the reason the program is so powerful. Nevertheless, this is what I made today. Not sure what the effect would be called but maybe something like space blur.



windows media player version

Ummah Films under water

Bismillah ar-Rahmaan ar-Raheem,

After Effects is awesome but its pretty hard to pick up, especially if are learning on your own. When I first wanted to learn flash, I tried to sign up for a course at the local Univesity but due to the popularity of the class, I couldn't get in. Instead of giving up, I went and bought some books and played with the software. With the mouse in one hand and a pillow in the other (hitting the pillow out of frustration because earlier versions of the program sucked big time). About year and 1/2 later, I was teaching two classes at the local technical school on the same program. My point is that if you want to learn a complex program like After Effects, you have to have more than just "weekend motivation"....otherwise it is not worth it. If you can learn the software, it will open many doors when it comes to making films.

Anyways, I'm starting to experiment with different ideas for the Ummah Films logo intro to put at the beginning of our future films InshAllah. Here is the Windows Media Player version of what I made today:

larger 640 x 480 quicktime file

No Filming - Reminds you of the Groundhog's Day movie

Bismillah ar-Rahmaan ar-Raheem,

Last week about 8 (of the 19 cast members) showed up for the shooting. This week, we had even less people show up. I was told that since it was Mother's Day, a Birthday Party going on, etc...that most people were busy. Thus, instead of putting band-aids on a dead body, we decided to cancel filming and have a meeting to figure out what our next practice project would be.

We had brainstorming session and we decided on making a few commercial style clips. Until now, all our clips look like they are taken from a middle of a bigger project but in reality those clips have no before or after scenes. They were just random clips we filmed to practice filming techniques. The nice thing about commercials is that they are short and suite, and most importantly something that is complete. The goal is to record each commercial in a day. Brother Hootan has volunteered write and direct the commercial for the glow in the dark Muslim Wristband while Sister Aurelia has volunteered to write and direct the second commercial, which will be for Mecca to Medina game. Although this sounds like a page out of the Apprentice TV show, its not a competition at all. We're all on the same team and those involved in the first commercial is most likely going to be involved in the second. The group decided that it would be good to have two storylines started at the same time so we won't have downtime between filming days (like we do right now). The idea is to learn film techniques by doing these practice projects InshAllah.

The goal is to have the storylines completed by the end of this week. InshAllah, we can film shortly afterwards.

Never trade a Light Saber for a plastic bat with a kid. Period

Bismillah ar-Rahmaan ar-Raheem,

This was shot with a cheap miniDV with poor lighting (sorry). I wasn't even sure if I could pull it off (that's why I didn't care much about the quality it was going to be filmed in). I figured how to do in AE. If you are interested, just post a response in the comment section and I'll explain. Otherwise, I don't want to type out the instructions just for the sake of it. One thing to keep in mind is that the process isn't hard but its VERY time consuming. I would say at least 1 hour of work for 10 seconds of light saber footage.

By the way, I'm have no plans of making a Star Wars parody. Personally, I think the Ummah has enough knock-off parodies (that's a post in its own) but I do think we can use light sabers as weapons in a film (might be cool) as long as we don't copy the Star Wars storyline.

(the file is about a 1 megabyte..give it a chance to load)
Btw, in the original footage, the little girl was holding a stick but I used After Effects to convert it to a light saber.

Sisters in the Masjid - Ummah Films Movie Clip

Bismillah ar-Rahmaan ar-Raheem,

I was able to edit some footage from our first day (and possibly the last day) of filming. I’m still brand new to editing so please excuse my flaws. I didn’t have time to color correct. I discovered inconsistent background audio noise when I was capturing the footage, which is the result of us moving the scene closer to the freeway side of the Masjid. The sun was too hot for the sisters on the original location of the scene and we wanted them to be comfortable, InshAllah. Hence, we found a nice shaded area but it came with the price of traffic noise. Ideally, we should have recorded some "natural" background noises from a quieter location to blend into this clip but since we forgot to do that, I added some natural birds sounds in the background to hide the inconsistency.

As mentioned in the previous posts, we were limited on what we could film because we found out about half hour before filming that 12 of the 19 people couldn’t make it. Although we have the location reserved for next Sunday, some of the sisters who made it this past weekend can not make it so I don’t think we can finish this film. Maybe we can do something else but nothing has been planned and I'm totally burned out with working on the 62 page storyboard shooting script , which has now been tossed.

It took us about 2.5 hours to record two scenes. We actually had a total of 3.5 hours of filming but I'm not counting the first hour because we redid the entire scene again when we found out that the footage was never recorded.

Anyways, I have decided not to show the 2nd scene. Let me explain why: Ummah Films is a project which is put together by a volunteer staff with the aim of promoting thought in the minds of the audience. Many Muslims, like myself, need reminders from time to time to make sure that they are Iman is on track. Our goal is to make Islamic films, which Muslims can relate to and cover issues that we face but done Islamically.

When I came home that night, I noticed that some girls had parts of their hair showing in the 2nd scene. Some sister's hair were not fully covered and that is not the image that I want Ummah Films to portray for many reasons:

1. Islam comes first. Although the western world’s definition of “naked” is constantly changing, Islam's definition is very clear and precise. Women in Islam have honor and respect and Ummah Films will not compromise their honor InshAllah.

2. A sister who isn't covered fully or who doesn't wear hijab full time, may one day decide to. Thus, having a film floating around in the future with her not wearing her hijab properly is not correct.

3. Allah Alim where the films or clps from Ummah Films may one day reach to. A viewer watching a character in one of films, may look at that character as a role model or as an example, especially if she can relate to that character’s personality or situation. I do not want to give the idea that "its ok" to not wear hijab correctly or just wear it partially. I have a deep respect for my sisters who swim against the waves of society and wear hijab. Its not easy. It takes Iman. May Allah (swt) reward them InshAllah.

If Ummah Films never releases any films at the expense of doing everything halal, its well worth it. I refuse to use haram means to do a dawah project. Its no different than going to gamble at the casino and using the winnings to build a Masjid. The halal path may not be as easy as the haram path. Although the haram path can be tempting because its easy, I refuse to compromise their Deen. We must look at Islam for all actions, even when it comes to making films. Some use the excuse of being “artistic” or “this and that” for whatever reason. I am not trying to get into the industry, and I won’t compromise my Deen for the sake of winning an award from this or that film association. My judge is Allah (swt) and the only reward that is worth all this effort, is the one that Allah (swt) will give. In short, our Deen must come before anything, and that includes Ummah Films.

Anyways, here is the clip (it took about 1.5 hours to film because of the different angles....it looks like we had a bunch of camera setup but in reality, we only used 1 camera to film it):

Beyond obstacles - First Day Filming

Bismillah ar-Rahmaan ar-Raheem,

The plan sounded simple. Come up with a idea, write an outline, storyboard the concept, take pictures of the location, get a script written, cast, and film the movie. Uh...it wasn't simple (if you are smiling, you were probably on the set…haha).

I expected some minor obstacles...maybe 1 or 2 people not showing up so I prepared for “adjustments” but when we found out 30 minutes before shooting that 12 of your 19 cast members can't make it...well, it got pretty crazy. We had to rewrite parts of the script on the spot and make adjustments. Eventually, after penciling in this, crossing off that, and scribbling in this and that, we soon found ourselves flipping through the script and realizing that the story wasn't making sense anymore.

I didn’t to just call the whole thing off because everyone put aside time of their weekend to do this project. Plus, we had a location and a cast and it would be a shame to just say “ok, everyone go home”. You know, I expected things to come up for some of the people involved, but not the majority of the main characters to be absent. That leaves us 1 day (next Sunday) to try to shoot the entire film and make adjustments. By what we learned so far, that doesn't look like its going to happen. What if the some people show up and some don’t. and we don’t find out until the last minute again.

Alhamdulillah, the sisters that could make it put in a great effort and were very patient. At one point, we found out our external hard drive wasn't recording so we had to reshoot the entire scene (that was a killer). I felt so bad because they scene was in the sun and the sisters were getting hot.

I have to give credit to the Ummah Films staff. They were on que most of the time and every brother and sister involved really made a huge difference in making things go smoothly. Seriously, they were very professional. I learned a lot of what to do and how to make things better. Also, I learned that having a staff a 5 is bare minimum for a project like this, 6 is ok, but 7 is ideal! Delegating one part to each person allowed us to concentrate on our tasks.

I felt like I was the project manager on "the apprentice". The network would eat this episode alive because they could come up with so many what-went-wrong highlights and I could only imagine the promo commercial:
"Tonight on The Apprenctice..."
"What happens when half of your people don't show up...watch 'bad' become 'worse' as a film director is sent packing home!"
cut to: "Your fired!"
fade in Ali in Taxi confession scene: "I didn't know what else to do. I tried to modify the script but we just didn't have enough time. Directing just ainn't my thing."

I have written a script, done editing on a few projects, storyboarded another script, completed some post production work, and now have directed a few scenes in a film. The goal was to try each thing once so I can get a feel of what I can do and what I can't well. I don’t think directing is my cup of tea (sounds English huh?). I feel much more comfortable in the editing room and enjoy that part film making the most. Maybe its because I took on such a big project as my first project. I'm not sure. 19 cast members, 17 scenes and a few hours to film does sound a little insane. Three words of advise for anyone planning to film their first short.

Make it short.

Update on upcoming film

Bismillah ar-Rahmaan ar-Raheem,

Please ignore my grammer and spelling as I will try to type this fast in the limited time I have. So here it goes:

For the past few days, I've been working on my first shooting script. I look like I know what I'm doing but I'm just picking it up as we go along.

When the idea was just floating in my head, the film sounded like a simple idea...something that can be completed in a few hours. As the script came along, I quickly discovered that simple idea become 18 page idea. Plus, I then added shooting notes to just a few of the scenes of the script (key word: "few") and we now we're at 56 pages!!! Keep in mind that we have to coordinate 19 charactors in the this film, 14 scenes, and possibly over 200 camera angle shots in 3 hours (can you see the gray hair yet?).

Next time you "fun stuff" in the Director's job description, please read the small print. Its a lot of management, a lot of work, a lot of headache, and in our case a zero (can't-even-afford-the-shoe-in-shoestring) budget and we have to pull it off in just a few hours. The icying on the cake is that there is a fight scene and a basketball scene (both are action scenes) and no camera notes have been written for it. In other words, we have to do all that improv.

I'm totally down for improv but our situation can't allow us to make any mistakes. My biggest concern is that the story will come out chessy and there are holes in the story (because we may forget to film this or that shot). Then again, it is my first real film that I'm doing and I'm just making up the "how to" part as we move along. Alhamdulillah, I got a great group of brothers and sisters to work with. Like I said in previous posts, its a learning process and you can't expect the best results with your first try. Like anything, it takes practice and the only way you can get that practice is by going through the motions of making a film.

For me, the biggest learning curve has been the preparation and the planning phase. I have learned a great deal of how to "organize" things to make sense. As a group, we have been learning the "how we could do it better next time" concept for the storyboard and there will more for the actual filming day. Nevertheless, the more we do this type of thing, we more we learn what works and what doesn't. It will be a great training for a bigger projects InshAllah.

The Message behind Ummah Films

Bismillah ar-Rahmaan ar-Raheem,

From the time of Adam until the Day of Judgment, it has been a constant battle between man and shaitan. All we see, hear, touch, and taste is Dunnah so it is very easy for him to occupy us with this life and to forget about what is more important: The Hereafter. There will come a time when human beings will be judged for their actions. Those who did good deeds for Allah (swt) will be rewarded by Him InshAllah and those who did evil will be punished by Him.

With a pen in your hand and a camera nearby, you can write and make a movie about anything you want. The idea is to write stories and make movies that impact those who are watching them. Often times, all we need is a reminder to put us back on track and if there is a movie that has a message, which reminds us to do good deeds, be a better person, or to help others then that is a movie that has value to me. If a movie just looks cool and stops at that, then what have I really gained from it?

I want Ummah Films to break the Muslim "chessy" movie making stigma. We have a beautiful religion and it seems like the only way we make "comedy" in our films is by making fun of our Islamic practices (which is sad). You can be funny without mocking yourself. If you want to make a comedy, how about mocking the ignorance that you use to follow (before Islam)? Do you remember the story of the Companion of the Prophet (saw) that looked at a date and laughed? I can’t recall who it was (maybe Omar) but he said he laughed because before Islam, he used to worship idols and one time he was worshiping a date and then when he became hungry, he ate it. So he laughed. You can even make documentaries that are funny. How about a film about Muslim Marriages and the struggles young Muslims go through (that's can be funny). Maybe follow a brother around who wants to get married and watch him go through the different stages.

I think we live in a time that we do things without thinking. We just see other people doing it, so we do it. Soon we have a bunch of imitators that have no identity. Look at MTV for example. MTV defines what is "cool". Cool meaning "acceptable". Thus, if you listen to x & y band, then "that's cool". If you wear last season’s pants, which are “so 2004” (a.k.a. out of style then "that's not cool". Being spiritual is "cool"...being religious is "not cool". You get the point. Parents are so worried about losing their children to different schools of thought in Islam while they are not aware they have lost their children long ago to the society that has cultured their children. The media and films have such an impact on the youth of today that it impacts the language we use, the way we talk/walk/eat, what we buy, wear, and most importantly our culture. While many of the youth mock the older generation for practicing their old school culture which conflicts with Islam, they forget to look in the mirror where they will see a person who also practices a culture which conflicts with Islam as well (I’m only referring to the culture that conflicts with the practices of the Prophet (saw) not all culture).

Today, we see brothers wearing gold earrings....sisters dressing half naked....children disobeying their parents...parents dealing with riba….and at the end of the day it seems like everyone from the Masjid board members to mom & dad to brothers and sisters from neighboring countries are fighting each other. Worst of all, people have become reactionary to their situation and base their actions on emotions rather than what Islam says. This is why it has been such a tough time defending Islam as being a peaceful religion (because people who don’t know any better think that violence is the way to spread this religion). The Prophet (saw) didn't preach violence but today you have Muslims doing so. The Prophet (saw) didn't imitate the ignorant but today you will see people doing so. Then again, if we followed the practices of the Prophet (saw), we wouldn’t’ be in the situation we are today.

I think a lot of people get caught up with life and forget about what is really important. They, like me, need reminders to keep them in line...to keep their intentions straight. My goal for Ummah Films is to make films that will remind them…films that will get the gears moving…films that will remind me....films that will make people think…InshAllah.

Update: Youth Group Film Project

Bismillah ar-Rahmaan ar-Raheem,

We have been confirmed to film this Sunday InshAllah. It will be a short film with a cast of 19 people. The script is about 18 pages long. Usually, it will take weeks to film such a movie, but because of our time limitation, we have hours to film the entire movie. That is no hard..its INSANE!!

In real life, you don't have access to unlimited resources, actors available whenever you want them, locations available whenever you want them, etc...You have crazy deadline and tight budgets. So far, our budget is zero. Its not even a shoe-string budget (shoe strings cost money..haha).

Here is the process of the script so far:

1. It all started off with an idea
2. I put together those ideas in a sequence of events (one page summary of the story)
3. I took pictures of the various locations of the Masjid and attached at least one picture to each scene.
4. Sister Aisha (Mahdi's wife) took that document and wrote a script.
5. I went through it and revised some of the dialogue and added some scenes
6. I went to youth group, found out who was a no-show and who was serious. Learned about their student schedules. Spoke to 2 of their teachers and got their advise on who should play which part.
7. In order to pull off this crazy filming schedule, I wrote a "shooting script", which basically notes shows the specifics of what the camera should film during each and every line of the script (so far I have finished part of it). It explains the action of the characters, where the camera will be, what type of shot it will be shooting, etc...I also drew up a diagram (layout of scene) showing where the people will be sitting, walking to, etc...

The idea is to plan and prepare as much as possible so you can film as much as humanly possible. Once I finish making shooting notes for the entire script, I think I need to prepare for the worst case scenario (running out of time). Thus, I have to mark the scenes that are VITAL vs that ones that can be erased without ruining the story. Ideally, I want to film everything but I know that there is a possibility that it may not happen so I have to have a backup. The goal is to film everything in 3 hours (crazy!!!). There is a possibility that most of the students will be available for another 5 hours (the following Sunday) but you never know with students. They are super motivated one day about being in a film...the next week something else might be funner (yeah i know..."funner" is not a word but hey, this is a blog so its ok)