Green is the new Jak (Blog and Making-of) (Patreon)

Hey guys, glad you all enjoyed the latest Croc episode! I've got a brief behind the scenes detail down below once you've read this week's update so be sure to give it a look!

What's Coming Up?) We've got a Testing Episode (more of a special really) coming up at the end of this week, as planned for my 22nd Birthday! Bad news is that I wasn't sure if I'd even have the time to get it out. Working on it and it'll be finished tomorrow but that means there will not be Early Access for it. I did mention that possibility when I uploaded the Croc GBC episode to Early Access guys, just a lot gone into it and I'm stuck between a lot of projects at the moment so, that's just how it is.

On that note, don't expect to see much from me next week. Due to E3, it'd be a waste of time uploading reviews, Top 10's or any of that opposite the event since the entire internet just shuts down for a week (or a month) and for all the work gone into the current review series, I'd hate to see the finale be missed in favor of some garbage trailers for games we played 20 years ago! Though if we see Croc at E3, I'll be laughing all the way home. I'm not covering E3 on the channel this year in any way either so next week I'll be smashing out this review for the 19th! On that note, I will be keeping up with announcements and watching the Sony conference. Myself and Cal will be discussing this year's event in the podcast this month so keep and eye out for that after the event.

Other News) There really isn't much going on at the moment to be honest, despite there actually being a lot of stuff going on, not much to really comment on. I'm planning on having my birthday off as I do every year (being your own boss has it's perks!) to chill and play some games. Most likely, it'll be something in preparation for something later this year like a Spyro or Tony Hawk but it's not grinding away on videos so I can't complain! I'm still trying to figure out a solution to me 100 Episodes dilemma from last week and of course, I've had lots of awesome ideas... for other stuff. I dunno, I'll keep working on it.

The Making-of: Croc on Game Boy Color) Now of course, I'll have a full making-of episode for this entire series review once it's all said and done. But for now, I'd just like to present a few behind the scenes facts and show you guys how I achieved a few effects!

================================================

YES, that was me painted green (in case you couldn't tell from my chiseled physique). These shots I think stole the entire show for this video. It's simply my body running around, I shot the Croc head on a blue screen wearing my blue Sly hoodie and then keyframed it onto my body. I had to make sure you couldn't see my head which was kinda hard and didn't work too great. As long as you couldn't see the skin from my face then I was happy with it. I'd already shot the live action portion and the following day, used it as a reference for the timing so that head movements and such fit with how my crocodile body was moving. It's an interesting effect, obviously not realistic in any way but it fits that old B-movie feel I'm going for!

Here is a similar shot done with the same method, how it looks without the croc head! Ignore the weird transparency on my legs, this wasn't in the final product and is the result of incorrectly tweaked chroma key settings. Was a real bitch because this was shot maybe an hour or so apart from each other. Square Eyed Jak first (obviously) on green screen and then I had to react like my croc snout was getting whacked for the background layer. This was the last thing I shot as Croc aside from the shots before he enters the room so I was exhausted from doing this shit all day. I took this bump onto my hip maybe 20 times in the space of an hour because I just couldn't get the movement right. It's a week later and still I can feel it in just the right spot. OUCH!

Finally, another cool effect I tried for this video. No I didn't actually pour anything into the Gamecube. What I did was fill an empty bottle with tea, so that i had something that was the correct colour and then poured it into the most square and transparent container I could find in the house. It wasn't the best obviously, in the early stages the liquid was actually green so I had to added a second layer masked on top with an effect, switching the colour green for brown so it wasn't as obvious. Then I lined it all into place and there you go. Again, not realistic at all but I still think it worked for an otherwise throwaway joke about Australian stereotypes and of course, the undertone of Square Eyed Jak giving a newborn child alcohol moments after being "birthed" early.

So I hope you learnt something about the process with this post. Again, I will be doing a full episode once the Croc saga is complete so say tuned for that. But until then, thank you so much for reading and I hope you have a great fucking day. Cheers guys! :D