what's on my mind:

Amazon Studios has Premise Wars, real-time battles between actual movie ideas. A movie script I uploaded a couple weeks ago has won its first battle. Even better, it was the one and only battle it’s been in. That’s 100% wins. Woo-hoo! Of course, I know there’s a slim chance to remain at 100% – not everyone will enjoy the movie idea I posted. Still, it feels good…

There I go. I’ve done it. I’ve put my soul out for all to see. It’s on exhibition at the international stage called Amazon Studios (http://studios.amazon.com/projects/5899). My first truly original concept added to the contest with a chance to win a $10,000 prize.

It’s my passion project. And, it’s out there for all to rip apart. Please honest. Tell me it needs lots of work. Tell me it’s beyond repair. But, above all else, tell me honestly. Please…

America’s Ben Franklin in: The Electrocution String was recognized as the Best Screenplay on Amazon Studios for January 2011. At the time, I didn’t pay much attention, except to evaluate what an award-winning screenplay looks like.

However, the critics were adamant that the screenplay was horrible. That prompted me to take a closer look. I found the writing style to be amateurish, inactive; basically, “not up to professional standards.” Still, Amazon Studios is only looking for great stories – writing style is stuff that will never show on the movie screen.

Also, I felt I would only be interjecting my personal opinions about the story. After all, it was intended for an audience of which I am not a part. My main opinion of the screenplay was how it seemed to be picked since a certain Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter was about to be released into theaters. America’s Ben Franklin: The Electrocution String would be Amazon Studios’ pick to contend with Abe Lincoln’s success.

The main problem is Ben Franklin won’t be released into theaters for at least three years, the amount of time is typically takes to properly develop a major motion picture. By then, Ben Franklin would be riding on the coattail’s of Abe Lincoln’s success. Or, development halted if Abe Lincoln fails.

Either way, Amazon Studios should really be looking three years into the future and making choices based on what will be popular then. Of course, “nobody knows anything” so who knows what will or won’t be successful three years from now.

Time went by and Amazon Studios, on July 12, released official feedback for America’s Ben Franklin in: The Electrocution String. Surprised was I to find the feedback agreed almost completely with most of the reasons the critics didn’t like the screenplay.

The feedback sparked an opportunity for me. After letting the suggestions gel for a few days, I wrote some beats of what, I hope, will appeal to the judges of Amazon Studios. Last night, I detailed 60 pages of the screenplay. As customary, I needed permission from the original author in order to upload my draft.

I felt reasonably confident I can detail the final 60 pages. So, today, I asked for permission from the original author. He granted.

Over the next week, I will finish writing, proofread, and edit. All this to have a draft ready for upload sometime during the first week of August.

Wish me luck. Thanks.

so, someone has coded an application that converts the typical MIDI signals from a guitar to Rock Band 3. (it’s available at http://sourceforge.net/projects/midi2rbp/) I invested a few hundred dollars to equip an Epiphone Les Paul-style electric guitar to Rock Band 3.

But, what I really wanted to do was create MIDI files of the songs from Rock Band 3. I mentioned a few advantages in my previous posts:

1. print and play from sheet music
2. study the tablature
3. practice outside the Rock Band 3 game
4. be accompanied by the full band as I practice

It was no problem entering the notes into the sequencer program (Anvil Studio 2011), but I was never sure I had the timing, tempo, or fingering correct. I desperately needed to feed the MIDI sequence back to Rock Band 3 to verify the file. For full satisfaction, I needed to receive a 100% rating.

There are a couple reasons that guitar parts of the MIDI file could not be played directly to Rock Band 3. (obviously, the Midi-pro adaptor converts Midi messages to signals the game understands)

First, both the sequencer and the converter cannot simultaneously access the one and only usb-midi interface on my laptop. Both are software applications and only one application can lock the usb port at one particular time. I could have bought another usb-midi interface and hard-wired inputs-outputs together. But — (see the second reason) —>

Second, the guitar peripherals don’t transmit notes in the standard MIDI way. When I sent the stand MIDI notes (for example 64 means middle-C), nothing happened in the Rock Band 3 game.

Because, the guitar sends data that represents the fret being pressed, not the note frequency being played. For example, 0 for open, 1 for first fret, 2 for first fret, etc. Then, another Midi message is sent that indicates the string being plucked. And, the channel number represents the string number.

After some research, all solutions pointed to a product called MidiYoke (http://www.midiox.com/index.htm?http://www.midiox.com/myoke.htm). It allows two software applications to exchange MIDI messages. So, I configured Anvil Studio to output through Midi Yoke and midi2rbp to convert the messages and send them, through usb-midi, to the Rock Band 3 game. Success!

I’m using Bon Jovi’s Livin’ On A Prayer as a test case to iron out and improve the process of charting guitar parts and playing them back for confirmation. So far, I’ve charted 4 of the 8 parts in both six-string and bass in all (easy, medium, hard, and expert) difficulty levels. Putting the entire song together should just be a matter of copy-and-paste the individual parts.

The other advantage is I can practice outside of the Rock Band 3 game. As I mentioned in previous posts, practice through Piano Booster gives me options to 1) stop the piece while I find the correct note, 2) slow the tempo to under 60% – Rock Band 3′s limit, and 3) not be tied to an Xbox/TV, e.g. practice wherever I take my guitar and laptop.

I can also practice without any technological ties by printing the sheet music and/or tablature. Which is another benefit of Rock Band 3 charts entered into MIDI files – the notes can easily be converted between various notations.

I also plan to notate all of the guitar lessons. Again, I’m given numerous options to practice, notate, analyze, etc. For those who were/are concerned that a MIDI sequencer could cheat the Rock Band 3 game, you are justified to be worried. I don’t intend to cheat the game just for the sake of being #1 on a leaderboard. But, I would love to see a laptop/MIDI program play all the instrumental parts of a song through the Rock Band 3 controllers.

An interesting experience while playing Rock Band 2 last night. First, I went shopping to “explore options to expand my music room.” Specifically, I was looking for an entry-level MIDI drum kit. Along the way, I found some deals on drums (package with the Rock Band 2 game). And, a Bass guitar more suited for the Rock Band 3 game. (it has the ability to do split-finger plucking) I only picked up the drum set and Rock Band 2 game. The rest, I am submitting bids on eBay to acquire.

Anyway, I unpacked the drum kit, ran through a few lessons, and dove right into Cheap Trick “Hello There” track. After I had the feel for the rhythm and striking, I had a strange sensation – I felt like Bun E. Carlos on drums. Cool. Cool. Cool.

My next experiments will be 1) expanding the basic drum kit by adding cymbals (this requires a Drum Rock or MIDI controller, but I find no evidence that the pads plug right into either), 2) plugging the pads into a pro-quality MIDI drum box, and/or 3) building some electronics to trigger the pads through animatics control. I prefer the MIDI approach since Rock Band now has the ability to use any MIDI devices. But, I also think it would be awesome to have mannequin-like animatrons actually manipulating their fingers and swinging their limbs on the various instruments.

I’ve seen a few science projects where robots read light signals and press the appropriate buttons on the controllers. This would be the most challenging way to build the animatronic compared to programming each individual action into an animatronic show controller. I’m just not sure I’m able to achieve that challenge. Especially since Rock Band 3 needs actual chord fingering instead of just pressing/holding a few buttons and strumming. Also, I haven’t found a light circuit that can read the chord patterns/index-finger numbering from the TV.

…a continuation — how to actually learn songs from Rock Band 3.

Last night, I proofed my diabolical plan to get Rock Band 3′s game-play note fly-by patterns into a MIDI sequencing program on a laptop. From there, the MIDI file can be loaded into an open-source program, Piano Booster, to slow the tempo to a crawl and stop while you figure out the fingering.

I am totally not interested in the gameplay aspect of Rock Band 3. I want to learn the songs and perform them at a respectable, crowd-pleasing tempo. I used Ozzy Osbourne’s Crazy Train as a test case since I’ve already learned the rhythm guitar part through tablature.

So, I needed to slow the pro-mode, expert level to a crawl to see the hammer-ons and pull-offs that Rock Band 3 expects. On a side note, the guitar solo is way beyond my abilities. Even though, I’ve tried since the 90′s to learn it. At the tempo I can play it (about 30%), 1) there’s nothing spectacular in my performance, 2) my performance is nowhere near a fantastic, crowd-enticing shred, and 3) Rock Band 3′s tempo can’t be slowed enough to evaluate my performance.

I’ve practiced the rhythm guitar part with a metronome and still had trouble evaluating my performance as my oral multi-tasking skills are seriously lacking. I can only hear either the metronome or the guitar note. So, I may think I played the correct note in the correct rhythmn, but can neither confirm nor deny that I actually did. That’s where Rock Band 3 would be of most help; I focus on the rhythm and let the game decide if I hit the notes correctly.

Back to my plan, a.k.a solution to capture note fly-bys of the gameplay into readable music that can be printed and/or practiced outside the game. For this, I used a piece of technology that is standard in every new laptop sold on the market these days == a webcam. Point it at the TV and press “Start capture.”

It’s that simple; make a video of the game board as the notes fly by. I let the notes fly by in “practice” mode with no attempts to play any. Just let them fly by at 100% tempo. If you prefer, you can slow the tempo to 70% and get better shots of the notes/ arpeggios/ chords. In fact, for Crazy Train’s guitar solo, I had to record at 70% tempo to get clear images of the fingering.

Now that you have the video, put it in a video editing program where you go frame-by-frame while entering notes into the MIDI sequencing program on the pc. A time-saving improvement to the method would be an application that reads the video frames and converts them to MIDI notes, without human interaction. Unfortunately, I haven’t found an open source solution to do this, yet.

Just so you know, I have hardware that eliminates all outside auditory and visual interferences. Even though my first attempt was with a webcam, I transferred to the XBox 360′s output to a USB composite audio/video capture device and got a video resolution I preferred.

If you haven’t already, read the original #1 suggestion to learn what to do with the MIDI file that was created from the captured video.

If there’s interest, I might share my MIDI files with everyone. I would need to consult the copyright laws to see how these could be distributed through “fair use.” I would also need to charge a small fee ($5 or $6) to cover FTP transfer and storage fees. Let me know if you’re one of those without the time or technology to do this yourself and I’ll keep you in the loop about songs/files that become available.

An added benefit: playing the video frame-by-frame helped me understand Rock Band 3′s unprecedented chord diagrams.

From previously learning Crazy Train, I knew I was playing an E5 in the movable D chord-form. Rock Band 3′s chord diagram only had a 4 on the 3nd string with some shapes above and below it. My aging eyes had difficulty understanding which shapes meant above and below and how much space between.

After some careful analysis, I began to understand which shapes meant “press the barre on the 2nd fret with a pinky on the 5th fret of the 2nd string.”

The easy part (and I appreciate this the most) of Harmonix’s chord diagrams is the graphical indicator to “play these three strings.”

During the first hour of “Learn a Song” in Rock Band 3 for Xbox 360, I desperately wished for sheet music in front of me. The notes in the game fly by too fast, even at the slowest (70%) tempo, to understand the note/arpeggio/chord. It’s especially hard to figure out the chords.

Unlike Guitar mode, Pro Keyboards mode doesn’t stop and wait for you to find the note. Nor does it display chord names, fingerings, or key octaves. Of course, most sheet music won’t help with the game either since the note combinations may not be the published version.

Immediately, I searched for ways to create sheet music of the progressions flying down the game. The first solution seemed obvious, but I had doubts whether the game would recognize MIDI messages that didn’t come from the appropriate instrument.

First, I hooked Anvil Studio’s MIDI sequencer (an open-source computer program) to the Midi-Pro controller, via a USB-MIDI cable. By placing notes on the staff through the laptop, I could simulate keys pressed on the piano keyboard.

The early experiments failed. Which is understandable since, as one or more players stated in forums, a song could be put in a MIDI sequencer program and played through the computer to achieve five-star, high scores. I assumed a provision was built into the Rock Band 3 game to prevent this cheat.

Next, I tried running the keyboard through the MIDI sequencer/recorder program running on the laptop which would also send the signal through to the Midi-Pro controller. My hope was the proper instrument would be recognized as playing the notes and the game wouldn’t understand they were coming from a computer program. Again, the notes would not play in the game, but the sequencer recorded everything I played on the piano.

To eliminate any possibility that a MIDI sequencing program could not possibly enter notes into the Rock Band 3 game, I played the previously recorded sequence back from the laptop to the Midi-Pro controller. Surprise!

The MIDI sequencing program earned a 100%, five-star performance. Successful proof that the configuration of keyboard-to-USB-to-laptop-to-Midi-Pro controller could actually work. Then, I had a revelation.

I remembered advanced options in Anvil Studio. Some options that I had turned-off because 1) I didn’t really understand what they did, 2) I only had one instrument hooked up, and 3) turning them off didn’t affect my one instrument. So, I turned the “pass-through” option back on.

Pass-though sends MIDI messages to all devices. So, the Midi Sequencer program receives the message, records the note, and passes it to the next device(s).

Success! Rock Band 3 songs can be recorded while the notes fly by on the monitor. So, I do record the Rock Band 3 songs and simultaneously play the game. Oh-Yeah!

Bonus: I can practice the songs outside of Rock Band 3. With the use of another open source program, Piano Booster, the track stops and waits for me to figure out the note, fingering, and chords. Also, the tempo can be slowed way down to build to a 100%, five-star performance.

If you have any model of gaming station at home (PlayStation, Xbox, Wii), you may be familiar with the Rock Band game(s). I’ve had an interest since it’s introduction. The commercial’s concept of starting and playing in a virtual band, advancing from Garage to Clubs to Arena, was ingenious and original compared to guitar-only music video games. In Rock Band, they have real, plastic controllers (Guitar, Drums, and Vocals) shaped like their pro-quality counterparts to give a real feel of actually playing music.

Even though the plastic toy Guitars and Drums look real, you weren’t (especially on the Guitar) actually playing songs. You pressed (or hit) certain colors in specific sequences dictated by the game. Hence, the original Rock Band game was only a game.

By chance, I watched a demo of the 3rd version of Rock Band. I didn’t even know I was watching Rock Band. I was in a music store (not the type where professional musicians sell professional equipment; instead, it was a small corner of a computer/TV/video game retailer) looking for upgrades to my home musical instruments.

I’ve always had a passion for drums, but never had the space for a complete kit. Plus, I was not inclined to sit through hours of lessons for something that may only ever be a hobby. These days, multimedia has made learning some musical instruments easier. Specifically, anything that can be hooked to a computer.

In that configuration, the computer provides a lesson and evaluates/scores your ability. You don’t move on without mastering each “chapter” of a lesson. This has worked exceptionally well for piano by interfacing electronic keyboards to computers. But, not so well for guitars as the technologically-equipped models are very expensive. So, spending a couple grand on an instrument you may lose interest in is impractical. And, the cheaper models may hinder your progress and make learning harder.

Now, we’re in the 2010′s and technology has advised. Drums are easily interfaced to computers and the electronic kits take up a small corner of a room. It seemed like the right time to price the various models and options. While I was in the store, I decided to see if guitar technology had advanced to economically interface to computers.

To my amazement, I saw a Fender Squier guitar attached to a computer game. And, the price tag was reasonable – $279.99. Plus, the guitar was wood, not plastic. Upon further inspection, I was totally surprised to learn the computer game was Rock Band 3.

Not only has the game advanced to allow “real” instruments and includes piano keyboards, it has added a PRO mode – where you actually play the notes of the song. I was hooked and sold and brought the game home; again, surprised, the cost was $20. And, I already had a piano that hooked right into the controller – no need to purchase and additional instrument or gaming device.

Now, here’s another surprise: I can use the piano keys to play the drum kit in the game. It’s a bit awkward, but it can be done. Well, I had to take the possibilities one step further, could I use the piano to play the guitar in the game?

sadly, no. Not with my particular brand of piano. To get a bit technical here, if you have a MIDI piano (or any MIDI instrument) that sends Active Sense messages, you can use that instrument to play the guitar parts. I don’t have that. So, one final investment in the Fender guitar (there are two models to choose from) will put a full band together in my tiny music room.

If you’re considering doing this yourself, I have a few opinions about the Rock Band 3 game. First, it doesn’t have sheet music. You really need to trial-and-error each section of the songs to learn the patterns (thus, the exact notes) that come at you. Even if you have the sheet music, the game may not use that particular pattern.

Second, “learning” mode has limitations. And, this isn’t just my opinion. A few of us tried it yesterday afternoon. And, we all said, “it needs a slower tempo to learn the correct key fingering before the notes fly past you.” Guitar training mode has a “Chord/Note help” feature where the song stops while you figure out the correct fingering. Keyboards don’t have this feature and would benefit with this addition to figure out chord and note fingering.

The #1 benefit of Rock Band 3 is “music lessons.” You will learn a few scales. You will develop finger dexterity and play those scales at 100% of the tempo. But, a beginning pianist/guitarist/drummer may end of frustrated before they master an instrument. And, most gamers are only interested in receiving high scores and five-star ratings rather than playing actual musical notes.

Overall, the Rock Band 3 game is still only a game, with the added benefit of aspiring musicians to learn to actually play the songs in PRO-Expert mode. Just like real music, you must practice, practice, practice.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

3/28/2011 – Amazon Studios identifies 55 writers as top reviewers. Reviewers at Amazon Studios help moviemakers revise their work and make great story choices by giving helpful, high-quality reviews of test movies and scripts. The Top Reviewers list is Amazon Studios’ way of honoring the best of them.

While most of the professional writers live and work in Hollywood, the North Dakota city of Fargo houses the writing, reviewing, and coaching talents of Neal Barringer. Since inception, Neal has written 48 reviews for scripts and movies posted at Amazon Studios (http://studios.amazon.com). This is the most reviews written by any of the Top Reviewers.

Neal’s reviews are helpful for Amazon Studios to determine which works of art move forward in their movie development process. The top projects are evaluated by professional judges for a chance of up to $140,000 in monthly prizes. Each month, additional bonus contests also award additional cash prizes to winning projects.

About Amazon Studios:

Amazon (world-famous Internet bookseller) launched Amazon Studios as an effective way to develop commercially viable feature films. There are four characteristics that make the Amazon Studios process valuable (and different than “Hollywood business as usual”):

1. The power of the people. Amazon Studios gives artists and film fans around the world the chance to create and evaluate potential movies. We believe that feedback from a large number of people will be a helpful indicator of what is working and what is not.

2. Evaluate test movies, not scripts. With today’s inexpensive production and editing tools, it’s easier than ever to produce a visual expression of a script. People might find it easier to evaluate a story’s prospects as a movie by seeing it in movie form (even primitive movie form) rather than reading the script and imagining the movie.

3. Experiment. Complex problems often require a lot of experimentation to solve. Amazon Studios is designed to be a flexible environment where experiments are encouraged.

4.Collaborate. When a motivated group works together, openly experimenting and responding to feedback, it can make the most of everyone’s talent.

Last night, I watched season two of Project Greenlight, Matt Damon and Ben Affleck’s moviemaking reality show. Several moments resonated:

1. Directors have an uncanny ability to interpret pathetic, as well as well-written, scripts.
In this case, the audition process required the director to make a story from a nonsensical script. This affected me as I thought about how producers evaluate our stories based solely on the words we put on the page. Who knows what story they’re seeing in their heads; totally out of my control.

2. even A-list actors don’t respond to A-list material.
A preface to this bullet point is an observation of the number of rewrites the winning script needed to reach A-list status. I thought the winning script would be “perfect” story-wise, ready to be shot. Instead, it needed six rounds of production notes.

As writers, we often learn by reading and reviewing other amateur’s scripts. Reviewing scripts when we’re out-of-sync with the writer’s choices results in an overall low rating. These honest reviews hurt the writer’s ego; sometimes, it triggers a retaliation of low ratings of our material. We should all learn that stories don’t resonate with everyone. But, even an honest review with a low rating helps us — by defining the audience’s demographic.

3. don’t shut out the professionals, the ones with the experience; they are trying to help you. Conversely, what was Chris Moore trying to accomplish by coaxing the directors to speak their minds? A later episode, I think, answered this question: he saw right through them as “manipulative [persons]” and intended to resolve ensuing conflicts before production began and/or while on-set.

4. Jimmy Fallon would be perfect in the lead role of Kneel in Anti Virus Annihilators, the movie we’re producing this year (http://studios.amazon.com/projects/3836)