Tech, Gaming and Bile!
Posts tagged podcast
verticalslice.tv – we can rebuild her!
0As mentioned in my mini-post recently, I am currently rebuilding the verticalslice.tv website with a view to converting it into an Internet TV portal, rather than the single show, blog-style it is currently sporting.
This gives me the chance to really play with CSS, PHP and (attempt) SQL in ways that I never have before. It’s not gonna be pretty and I may still end up in a huff at not being able to get the job done >.<
During the arduous task of designing and building the new site, I will be recording a sort of comedy diary-type affair titled “We Can Rebuild Her”, where I will chronicle my hap-hazard attempts to put the site together with almost no knowledge on what I’m doing! I plan on dragging you guys into the hell-hole nightmare fun with me!
After a bunch of screaming at the monitor as if I were lost in a creative tundra, I now have the basics of a layout for the index page… it needs a few items adding to it, such as the itunes, youtube and plex (yeah, I’m going to be publishing to plex once this is off the ground) logos to the blurb under the highlights carousel and the Latest section needs filling in.
I think it’s getting there as a design, still needs a bit doing to it but it’s certainly workable as a landing page. Eventually I’ll be carving out the show pages and getting the backend working… but this will do for now. I worry at the SQL component needed for that *shudder*
To turn the layout into HTML, I have built up a map using the <DIV> tag. Doing it this way allows me to see just where I can split the page up into logical units and where I can push certain aspects into being includes. It also means I’m not staring blankly at the layout crafted in Photoshop, confused as to where I need to start.
That’s everything for this short update, as I build up the HTML it is being uploaded to http://www.verticalslice.tv/revamp and, after some tweaks to the layout, I will be recording episode one of We Can Rebuild Her… the fun has begun 
Videos from the archive – Press To Continue 2
0Video number 2 in the Press To Continue series, if you want me to restart production of them just let me know @alphaxion.
Videos from the archive – Press To Continue
0I thought I’d repost some of the various videos I have created over the years. This one got me an honorable mention in the 2010 Escapist Film Festival. Still think it should have won me a contract to produce them!
Major overhaul of equipment
0The money finally came in… and quickly went out as I splurged on some much needed hardware and software.
First up was the single most needed item – a real camera!
Bye bye lil’ webcam at last!
In the end, instead of the 200 to 300 quid I wanted to spend; it turned into 450 as I stumped up for a Canon HF100 flash based HD camera. What made me break the limit? A mic input! This means I’ll be spending on a tie-clip mic tomorrow and hopefully retiring my samson c03u mic from general use in the shows.
In the most recent show I used the onboard mic from the camera in order to gauge the capabilities (sucky!) which is why I’ll be looking for some mics to plug into it and didn’t sync up separate audio from my samson because of the next purchase…
A macbook and a copy of final cut express 4.
Yes, Vertical Slice has gone dirty and is no longer produced 100% on windows.
And because I had a whole new video editing app to contend with, I didn’t lump syncing audio onto my shoulders too – as it turns out, the only things to give me trouble were the differences in chroma keying and garbage matte between Premiere and Final Cut. That and a little flap about where the videos were hiding on the memory card – it wasn’t an outright video file, imovie nabbed them easily tho after Final Cut claimed there wasn’t any devices to capture from >.<
Still, the result of a brand new camera and editing platform can be seen here below… well worth it I think!
Oh, and I’ll post pictures of the latest edition uber shiny to my network. (the screen is the only thing I find annoying about this macbook!)
More playing around…
04 years ago
Well, at the suggestion of my GF I put together a makeshift green screen out of some green material and a 4×4 slab of plywood. Total of £15 spent on materials… not bad 
A few pins down the sides and those creases cleared up nicely. However, the crappyness of my webcam is beginning to really show up now. I had to use the zoom since the board was just a little too small, this has lead to some pixellation on the video.
When messing about with the chromakey effect in Premiere, I had to use 4 of them at some points and I still couldn’t get rid of the green halo without causing my neck to vanish too (and it does in some clips).
It is becoming clearer every video I do that I really need to be investing in a new camera that can keep pace with the meddling I am getting up to. I also have a bit of news that cheered me up no end.
Next week I’ll be announcing just what that news was… Until then, please enjoy the first vertical slice using a green screen!
mondays vertical slice
04 years ago
Well, I’ve decided to not wait any longer for people to take interest in the show and begin producing it.
Hopefully I’ll be able to string it out to 5 days a week, if I fail to do that it’ll be 3 a week. This is ’cause it’s difficult to juggle script writing, shooting, editing and a fulltime job all on my own, so if you fancy helping out with script writing lemmie know.
And no, it won’t be a paid position since I’m not getting paid for it either 
This is the typical news format show that I hope will make up the majority of the episodes, the other two types I have in the can are my buttonmasher test number 14 which I’ll release on wednesdays and Tuesday will see a very strange “timeless” item.
I’m hoping to build up plenty of the timeless ones and they’ll not always be limited to the confines of the output of a game I’m playing.
Anyway, you can check out all of the vertical slice stuff on its own site over at verticalslice.tumblr.com.
Oh, and the “hoo-fuckin-ray” outburst was after I finally finished reading out my lines after I took almost 3 painful hours to read a page and a half of them… I hope it’s only practice I need and that this won’t be the norm!
PHN episode 66
0Stream it here – podshow
Show notes
song: Lit – My own worst enemy
catchup episode! Jobs, bumps and windows battles
song: The brighton line – Four dollar popcorn
more catchup
song: screaming banshee aircrew – going down
Forgot to mention something + a bonus bit of music
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PHN episode 65
0Stream it here – podshow
Show notes
Song: Paul and Storm – Oh, no
cathcup time – Gig on wednesday, rick rolled by JoCo, doctors appointment, lil sis turning 18.
Visit their sites: http://www.paulandstorm.com/ http://www.jonathancoulton.com/
Song: Paul and Storm – A better version of you
Catch up continues, Paul and Storm adverts, interruptions and babble.
Song: Paul and Storm – Randy Newmans theme to “The lord of the rings”
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PHN episode 64
0Show notes
Clip from Question Time – 16/10/08
Song: Rage against the machine – Wake up
Me ranting about civil liberties
Song: Rage against the machine – Take the power back
Socialgo.com review, going to see Jonathan Coulton, still at rocketboom, doctors appointment and freezing to death!
Song: Suede – Beautiful ones
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More evolution of the show
0Well, I’ve been playing around with Garageband – side note: now I know where some of the music in my fav podcasts come from! Was flicking thru the sample loops and going “OMG, that’s blahblahblah show!” every so often >.<
Anyway, main reason for this is to solve the problem of there being very little music in my show. Though, I do have a friend of my GF making some 8bit music for me, I thought I’d fill the gap until then and give Garageband a try.
First, a little disclosure: I’m shit with music. I enjoy listening to it, but I’m totally buggered when it comes to making it – not a damn clue. Which means whatever I make out of this app will likely be pure dross.
After about a couple of hours I finally end up with a 3min track that I will be using in the “Gadget Show Live” footage episode that I’ll be uploading a little bit later today.
If you want a little sneak peek or if you even want to use it in your own shows, just grab a copy here as you’re free to use this in whatever way you want, just as long as you slip a credit to me and/or a link to this site.
Grabbit here
Preview [audio:http://www.alphaxion.com/podcasts/random_score_1.mp3]