Queens of King's

We're moving!!!

2010-11-06T10:09:00.001-04:00

So, for my birthday, my husband bought me my own domain!!!

So, I'm relocating all of my project blogs and RSS feeds to http://CrazyRaven.org. Hope to see you there!

--Liz

Blowing off the dust

2010-10-17T23:36:00.002-04:00

Hi there!

I know, it's been an age and a half. And I'm afraid the news isn't good.

As you've probably suspected by the fact there hasn't been a new video in a couple of...yikes...years, QoK has hit a major hurdle. I just don't have the time to program demos these days, and to be honest, I don't remember how at this point.

But, I do want to finish the story.

So, come this winter, I will be completing it via motion comic. Less animation, but it'll still have the story and the voice acting of my awesome cast. I hope to start production in mid-November, and complete the tale by spring. We'll see how fast I pick up the skills again.

For more updates, and to see what's else is going on (a LOT), check out the Crazy Raven Productions blog!

Much love,
--Liz

The Story Thus Far

2009-07-01T22:15:00.002-04:00

It occurs to me that new visitors to this site might have a little trouble finding the series to date, so here 'tis:

More coming soon.

Team-up Time!

2009-03-20T00:07:00.002-04:00

For those who are both viewers AND players of CoX, there's a new way to enjoy the Queens of King's characters. Mission Development has been added to the Test Server, and I have put up a QoK mission.

"Rescue Captain Yarr" allows you to team up with Flamey Pete, Ms. Quito, and Raid E. Ation to find Captain Yarr and defeat She Who Drowns, the Eidolon. It's a little different from the show (I couldn't make Yarr face down in the muck, so she'll be alive and helpful), but it's fun!

So, pop over to Test and check it out!

Now, back to editing the episode!

Queens of... ah, fuck it!

2009-03-05T20:34:00.000-05:00

Last one, I swear. I'm a dork. I know.

Queens? Of King's?

2009-03-05T20:27:00.001-05:00

OK, now I'm just getting silly.

Queens of King's?!?

2009-03-05T19:39:00.002-05:00

Here's another from xtranormal.com ... it turns out making someone scream or laugh in text-to-speech is a little challenging.

Queens of King's....???

2009-03-05T19:06:00.002-05:00

OK, the show is back on the road, and there will be an Episode 7 up soon. In the meantime, here's a little something I was playing with on www.xtranormal.com ...a quickie-movie-maker. Here's Part 1 of "Queens of King's?"

Update on Episode 7

2008-12-24T17:17:00.002-05:00

Heya. It's been a while, so I figured I'd update everyone on what's up with the show.

Episode 7 is written. Unfortunately, there was an unexpected illness and subsequent death in my family (diagnosis in October, passing in November), so we at Crazy Raven have been dealing with both the loss and her apartment's worth of belongings. Hopefully, after the holidays, we'll be able to pull the cast together and get the show back on the road.

Until then, enjoy the holiday of your choosing, and have a happy new year.

--Liz Reay

Oh yeah!

2008-07-30T18:06:00.002-04:00

A lot of people contact me about wanting to be in the show.

Here's the deal:

I already have more story and character ideas than I know what to do with. I also, for legal and personal reasons, want to control the characters used.

Episode 6 had a lot of cameos in it from people who wrote to me. If you are interested in just having your character in the background, send me a demorecording of your toon and the name of the toon, at the contact email on this blog.

For those who don't know how to demorecord:
1. Log into the character you want to record
2. Type /demorecord nameofdemo
3. Sit for a second
4. Type /demostop
5. Go into your City of Heroes folder on your pc.
6. Find the client_demo folder
7. Your demo will be nameofdemo.cohdemo
8. Send that file to me.

Done!

Episode 7 update

2008-07-30T18:02:00.002-04:00

Hey guys.

The momentum is strong this time around, so I have the first draft script of Episode 7 finished. I'll give it a little more polishing, then see about corralling my voice crew. Maybe the next episode will be out a little faster than the last. :)

I figured that the point of a blog is to update people on stuff, so I'll try and post here a bit more often from here on out.

Much love,
Liz

Episode 6 - Favorite Possessions

2008-07-26T18:40:00.001-04:00

FINALLY!!!

The gang takes a day off from hero-ing, and an intervention is held for Anne.

AAARGH!!!

2008-07-26T11:52:00.001-04:00

It was up for about 5 minutes last night. Then, as I peeked through it, two things came to light. One, the color was washed out and it looked really shitty. Two, I hadn't noticed in my half-a-million viewings that a costume bug was plaguing Anne and made her look crappy. So, I'm redoing her costume and re-re-re-regenerating the video file. *beats head on desk*

insert nervous breakdown here

2008-07-26T01:11:00.001-04:00

Ok. YouTube is being surly, which is making me surly. I just did a few repairs, and will regenerate the video file. If I haven't fallen asleep on my keyboard, I'll start it uploading tonight. If not, it should be up sometime tomorrow afternoon. Fingers crossed.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you...

2008-07-25T22:39:00.003-04:00

Uploading right now. Will have the link up as soon as YouTube processes it. I'd like to thank everyone who reads this and watches the show for being so patient with me. It's been a rough few months, but it feels good to have another show out.

Good news: The script for Ep. 7 is underway...I have it outlined and just have to write the dialogue.

Bad news: You remember that LASIK process I had to go through earlier this year. On August 6, I go through Round 2 of it. They under-corrected me, which isn't surprising since they took me from 7 diopters to about 1ish (0 being 20/20). They'll be doing my right eye first, then my left a short time later. I could live without it, I see worlds better than I could before, but I've come this far, so I might as well be able to see clearly. Y'know, be able to read street signs and busses and my wall calendar. :) So, there will be time to mend, and time to deal with all the medical mayhem and appointments that go with this process. Blargh.

With luck, I'll get the script done and gather people for audio recording considerably faster this time. A couple people involved with the show are working at the Sterling Renaissance Festival in Oswego, so they'll be busy through the end of summer. But, we'll see. At any rate, this show will continue, and hopefully will get closer to the 2 month schedule and farther from the 9+ oh-my-god-I-suck month schedule.

Much love,
--Liz

WOOOO!!!

2008-07-25T00:05:00.002-04:00

For those of you special people who actually follow this blog:

Episode 6 should finally be up on YouTube tomorrow!!! I just finished the editing, now I just have to cut it together and ship it out.

*passes out*

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

2008-07-10T22:46:00.003-04:00

Ahem. Scene from Hell is done done done done DONE!!!!! Much rejoicing. 1 more scene and this baby's ready to patch together and send out to you guys.

Happy dance!!!!

PROGRESS!!!!

2008-07-10T13:23:00.002-04:00

Programming is 80% complete. I finally figured out how to use the tools I was working with, and my husband (the voice behind Raid E. Ation and the reason I stay even remotely sane through this frustration) designed a couple more tools to help me out. So, it's smooth sailing here on out. *knocks on wood, goes outside and finds more to knock on*

This weekend is my kid sister's birthday. She's the voice behind Ellen Carter, and is an awesome awesome person. Give her love in the comments! I'll make sure she gets it.

Update: The Saga of The Cursed Episode!

2008-06-09T17:04:00.002-04:00

OK, who hexed this episode? :)

Was set to program the weekend away, so, of course, all of my notes vanished into the ether. All of them. The numbers I need to code all of the animation? Eaten by some strange note-eating monster in my house. !@#$^%(*&^%$#@ I spent the 90+ degree weekend scouring the house, to no avail.

So, I just recreated the notes. Will work on coding over the next few days. Will get this episode done if it kills me.

Accounting

2008-06-03T17:38:00.002-04:00

Hi there.

No, it's not finished yet. I'm sorry.

This episode has been rather challenging. I had LASIK surgery in January with mixed results, limiting my ability to stare at a computer screen for the required time. A cast member had a death in the family. Seasonal depression was extended by several weeks because I live in the Grey Hell of Upstate NY. I'm learning a new tool that, in theory, will make editing easier but there's a steep learning curve and I'm slow. I'm about halfway through the worst of the programming right now, after which there will be a week of editing. I'm hoping to get the programming done in the next couple days, but expect it to be closer to another week as I've hit a really thorny snag and have to decide how to work around it.

On the plus side, I've managed to sketch out the remainder of the first story arc, and will be able to write scripts and record audio much faster. So, hopefully, this will be back on a more frequent schedule very soon.

Blargh.

Queens of King's Blooper Reel #1: The F Word

2008-03-17T17:22:00.002-04:00

While I gather content for Episode 6 (recording vocals this week), I've decided to do some very quick blooper reels. The video is cobbled together from previous work so I won't have to spend time animating it when I should be working on the episode, but the soundtrack is the gang and I screwing up. Hope you enjoy, and I'll program as fast as I can, I swear! :)

Episode 5 fixed

2007-10-03T12:17:00.000-04:00

I've gotten some complaints about the audio in Episode 5, so I posted a fix. Here it is.

FINALLY! Episode 5 - Waking the Dead

2007-10-02T15:39:00.002-04:00

The thrilling conclusion to Episode 4. Sorry it took so long to get this episode out... busy summer, uncooperative editing tools, and general mayhem has prevailed for a while now. The next episode may take a while to get out. I have a very busy couple months ahead of me, then there's the whole holiday mess. I'm hoping to have it out before the new year.

Thanks for waiting!

One. Single. Scene.

2007-10-01T15:46:00.001-04:00

Not even a full scene. One small set of shots. Editing combat blows, especially when the !@#^!#&!^%!$#*%!#$!^ FINAL CUT WON'T DO WHAT IT'S TOLD!!!!!!! I have a concussion from beating my head on my desk, my monitor, the walls, etc.

Ahem. This episode is finished tonight, or I eat my Mac. Seriously. I'll do it. I've got the fork ready.

AAAAAAAUGH!

Sincerely,
Liz Reay
Very Angry Animator

WOOT!

2007-09-25T16:45:00.001-04:00

Ok, for those of you following the play-by-play: I found a serviceable audio program (FREE Hi-Q Recorder) that has allowed me to get the combat audio I needed. Tomorrow will be spent doing final tweaks/sound effects and finally cutting this bad boy together into actual movie form.

Thanks for your patience. This summer's been insane, I've been slammed at every turn, running around every weekend, playing catch-up during the week, and generally out of my head for the past couple of months. With luck, I'll be back to my crappy roughly-2-month update schedule (or, hopefully, somewhat better than that) after I release this one.

Huzzah!

2007-09-25T15:59:00.000-04:00

OK, all video has been captured. There's still some quirkiness with the audio, but it seems that demolition in my neighborhood has stopped, so it'll be fixed hopefully by tomorrow night. Give me a day or two for assembly, and cross every appendage, and I should have it up by the weekend. That is, if I can find a way to capture audio from a demo playback that DOESN'T sound like its been filtered through pure unadulterated white noise.

Anyone know any good audio capture programs? MCIRecorder is sucking my will to live.

Urge to kill rising...

2007-09-25T13:43:00.000-04:00

OK, here's the status:

I am one filming scene (to be finished today) and some audio editing away from getting this thing put together and out to you guys.

Challenge: Someone, I kid you not, is RIPPING UP PAVEMENT two houses away. Even with my noise-cancelling headset I can't hear for crap. As soon as I think they're done, BWAAAM!!!!!

Gaaaah. I'm hoping I'll be able to concentrate enough to even get the filming finished.

Grrrrrrr....

A blast from the past!

2007-08-27T17:51:00.000-04:00

Not a Queens of King's, but an animation nonetheless. This was my very first City of Heroes film, a project with my husband and our friend Jesse for a Cryptic Studios fan video contest. It's very rough compared to my current work, but amusing nonetheless.

New blog!

2007-07-30T19:31:00.001-04:00

Hey there!

I've started a new linked blog for Crazy Raven Productions updates, news, and associated stuff. Now you too can hear my lameass excuses for not getting the next episode up RIGHT NOW YOUNG LADY!!! *ahem*

So, if you're interested, you can find it at http://crazyravenproductions.blogspot.com/ There'll be a link in the sidebar as well.

Much love,
--Liz Reay

Queens of King's Episode 4: Team Players

2007-07-01T12:19:00.000-04:00

Ellen and Anne team up to rescue a retired superhero in the sewers of King's Row.

Queens of King's Party!

2007-06-28T23:48:00.000-04:00

Episode 4 debuts on Sunday, July 1... join Raid, Pete and Yarr for a party at Pocket D on Justice from 1-5 PM!!!

Queens of King's Special Edition: Oh, Statie!

2007-06-15T19:19:00.000-04:00

A special newsflash: Statesman, that wacky doer-of-good, announces his plan to invade the Rogue Isles and capture Arbiter Sands. Shh. Nobody tell Sands. He'll never know what hit him!

Episode 3.25 - Coming Soon

2007-05-14T21:46:00.000-04:00

The creator of Queens of King's has a few words for those who look forward to the next episode.

The full story: Hi, I'm Liz. I make the show, and I'm a slack-ass bitch. It's been a busy couple of months for me, so work on the show has been slow going. Audio is nearly completed recording-wise for the next two episodes, plus a couple short vids that I'm hoping you guys will enjoy.

Queens of King's Episode 3: Field Work

2007-03-01T20:38:00.000-05:00

First, I'd like to thank everyone for their patience...the mid-winter blues made this kinda slow-going. But it is done. Yay!

In this episode, Anne works while Ellen and Pete go off and play.

Episode 3 coming in February

2007-01-23T19:33:00.000-05:00

Hey all,

Just wanted to reassure people that episode 3 is in progress... it's just running a bit slow due to the holidays and a bit of illness on my end. On the plus side, I got my annual ER visit out of the way early. :) All is well now, all audio has been recorded, and I'm rarin' to go on the programming/filming end.

Thanks for your patience!

Much love,
Liz Reay

Episode 2 - Orientation

2006-12-19T11:52:00.000-05:00

Anne and Ellen head out into the heroing world and learn it's not all spandex and glory.

EDIT: Special thanks to Altoholic Monkey from the Repeat Offenders for one of my favorite lines in this episode ("healing arrow") :)

Episode 1 - Pilot

2006-10-19T23:03:00.000-04:00

Introducing Ellen "Cosmic Rewrite" Carter, Anne "Captain Yarr" Barker, Captain Rum "Dude in the eyepatch" Baker, and "Flamey Pete" Jacobs.