And the rollout begins...

     This week in DarkTriforceFilms, we're finally getting around to releasing those videos we've been talking about. That's right, we're finally dipping into the backlog of videos from the summer now that production has mostly wrapped up on BACON (other than a few edits here and there for the upcoming episodes). So as we get into the Fall, expect more content on the channel with the Bacon episodes and to start us off with your regularly scheduled DarkTriforceFilms content, NARRATOR has finally been uploaded to the channel!
     It feels like it's been years that I've been talking about Narrator in these Reports, but it's nice to say that it's actually live and finished - and honestly I like it a lot more than I had expected. For those uninformed (somehow, I mention this a lot) Narrator was written in 2019 and we first attempted to film it earlier this year, I think like February-April? Somewhere in there. That version didn't end up how I wanted and I scrapped it after getting it all edited - you can watch that version now on the Website Extras page! So when we first sat on the bench to film this version of Narrator, I was a bit worried it was the premise and script itself I wasn't happy with - but I think the whole video came out great! Other than some out of focus shots, I think the entire video looks great and captures the like "end of an early 2000s movie" feel that I had in my head when I first wrote it.

     For the thumbnail, I used the opening shot for the video because it's one of my favorite shots we've gotten I think it just looks really pretty! It's also the first shot I showed to tease the video I believe! I don't think I've ever spoken much about the Thumbnail style I've been using, but ever since I believe 2017, I've tried to keep our thumbnails in a consistent style so that when you look at all our videos listed, they look good together - in 2017 I would brighten up the image and use light tints of Yellow, White, and Gray in the original "DarkTriforceFilms font" which was ConcursoItalianoBTN if anybody wants to steal it. I changed our style in 2020 to match the new graphics that were made for the year, our updated logo using Century Gothic as the new font and so I will box all the images in white to match the white background our intro is on and originally the white background our channel art was on (which was changed at the beginning of this year). There are some exceptions to the thumbnail style, like with BACON - but I'll touch on that later!

     But yes, if you haven't yet - go check out Narrator! The video was very fun to edit and it's nice to have a shorter sketch because we've noticed our tendency to write videos leaning towards the 7-9 minute mark, and having a short one in between those is nice both for our sake in time to edit and just an easier to digest watch for those who find our channel. And of course thanks to Woody Hamilton and our Number 2 Intern Kip Raymond for their help with this video, Kip does a great job and was the pick to star alongside me in this ever since I wrote it! I think my favorite tidbit I can say about Kip in this is that we had to rerecord his last line in the video because the original audio was so unintelligible from the wind that was blowing, but when I had Kip do a new take, we were standing in Cameron's house filming BACON, without any visuals for Kip to see - and so I told him how to say the line based on my memory of the clip, and Kip's read syncs up PERFECTLY with the footage despite not seeing it at all. He said it the exact same way without any form of reference besides my failing memory and it's honestly pretty impressive to me. 
     So please go watch Narrator, hit the like button, and leave a comment! (Do I sound like a YouTuber yet) but I think comments and likes do really help and I've been trying to get more comments on videos so go and do that THANKS!!!

     Following Narrator this week, will be the Second Episode of BACON! Of course coming weekly, on 10/23 Part 2 of Bacon drops! Continue the ever exciting story of Chief Bahcon as he uncovers the mystery behind what Governor Brekvist has planned for Appleton! Seen above is Episode 2/Part 2's thumbnail, which is what I was referring to earlier when I said we've got some exceptions to our thumbnail style - we wanted Bacon to stand out and look unified as it's own series, especially when we'll have videos like Narrator that aren't connected to Bacon at all going up in between episodes. I didn't have the first episode's thumbnail finished for The Report last week so I'll pop that down below - but you can see the difference in style clearly, the Bacon thumbnails ditch the white border and fill the screen with the BACON text behind whoever is in the foreground, and I set the layer to one of the other options that I can't remember off the top of my head but it gives it that dark and transparent look. Along with that there's a film dust type look put over everything and some other little touches to pull it all together - I like the style a lot and I think it fits the series well!

     So get ready for Episode 2 tomorrow and the rest of BACON on the following Sundays! To reiterate, that's Episode 3 on 10/30, Episode 4 on 11/6, and the finale, Episode 5 on 11/13! And if you haven't yet, please please please go check out Episode 1, it's live on the channel and is up here in various spots on the website! It's the start of this wonderful adventure for Chief Bahcon and you'll be lost if you try and start on one of the other parts! No skipping! For more information about Episode 1, go and check out the last edition of The Report! 

     Speaking of more content and updates that are coming soon, The DarkTriforcePodcast will hopefully be returning soon here on the website! We have an episode recorded from around the end of August that's currently being edited to serve as a "finale" to Season 2, featuring Myself, Woody Hamilton, and Charles Hufferd. The Podcast has been kind of flip flopping back and forth with what exactly we want to do with it, but I think we've definitely started to figure it out. Charles will be taking over as the producer for the show, and while we're still talking about what it'll consist of, I think the general theme of the podcast will be more focused on the behind the scenes and inner workings of DarkTriforceFilms rather than the kind of unfocused all over the place type of vibe it's had since it's beginning. Kind of a companion to The Reports, as the content they cover will most likely overlap. The Season 2 finale goes over some updates to fill in listeners between the last episode in 2020 and this one, and then goes over what got the 3 featured members into making videos! It was interesting and pretty fun to go over everyone's stories!
     Along with our restructuring of The Podcast, the Podcast page here on the website has been updated into a blog type page like The Report for easier viewing, as well as organizational reasons - right now it's just the links to the YouTube videos, but I'm looking to add the audio file once again just to have it as a second option. And if you remember in the last episode, I said the Podcast would live exclusively here on The Website, and I think I'll hold true to that slightly, with the YouTube counterpart living on our second channel DarkTriforceExtras as well as being hosted here, and on it's various streaming services like Apple Podcasts and starting today it'll also be on Spotify!

     Finally, just some organizational updates, for the next few weeks expect at least 1 upload a week with BACON, but as far as the normal DarkTriforceFilms videos go, it'll be a bit longer in between uploads for them as the videos following Narrator are definitely a bit longer and more involved as far as the editing process goes, so those will have a bigger gap - but you might see a DT Life or smaller videos like that sneak their way in in the mean time. So at least 1 video a week, maybe 2 as a little treat.
     The DarkTriforceReport will hopefully be moving back to weekly updates here on the website now that our schedule isn't all over the place with the Bacon production, and will return to it's original update day on Saturdays! I think the past couple updates have been coming out on Mondays/Sundays, but to be clear Saturday will be when you're gettin a new one of these insane ramblings from me. That should be everything we need to update for today, again go and check out Narrator and Part 1 of Bacon (as well as Part 2 tomorrow!), leave a like and comment and hopefully stick around for the rest of the content we have coming!
     But until that content does come, this is Logan, signing off!