Exporting is Hard - Update 09/15/2021

Hey ya'll! Hope you're doing well ^^

Just wanted to touch base really quick and let ya'll know about the status of the new preview. It is currently done and ready to go, but has taken slightly longer than anticipated to actually export for Reasons, one good, another frustrating. So, I'd like to take a moment to explain what's happening and, in the process, give you a bit of a look inside the more technical side of how I do these things.

Originally I was gonna be uploading the preview almost a week ago. I had a full export of Days 6-10 ready to go (and I still do for those who are truly beyond eager to see it) BUT, the same day I was going to post it, I began to receive just an avalanche of lines from a number of my fantastic collaborators. As such, needless to say, I felt it prudent to get those plugged   in as soon as possible so they could be a part of this new preview, particularly given that the performances really are just incredible. However, it's been such a consistent flow that I would often finish plugging in one batch of lines only to immediately receive another. This is a very good problem to have and means that Days 6-9 are all about 90-95% complete with the majority of dialogue in place. However, it does mean that I've very consistently had something that I felt was very important to get added into the video ASAP if I had the opportunity, and this does tie in somewhat with my second problem.

The other issue, and the main reason this post doesn't have a preview link attached at the moment, is quite simply because exporting a 2.5 hour long video is a lengthy and difficult process that takes up a massive amount of PC resources and which is prone to errors.

Naturally as the video grows in length, scope, and size, so do it's rendering and export times. At this point, trying to render this video at 100% full quality, on the level it would be as the final product, takes about 18-20 hours to export the whole thing into a single file fit for human consumption. This, obviously, is not viable for someone who still has a LOT of work to do on the video and can not be wasting that kind of time to meet the deadlines she's set for herself. To make matters worse, the process often takes up nearly ALL the resources my PC has to offer (CPU, RAM, etc.), which means that there's no real way for me to use it to do any other work I would/could/should otherwise do while it's exporting.

As such, I've been learning some work arounds and tricks to bring the render time down before leaving it to render overnight while I sleep so that I can watch it back and upload it in the morning. Currently have the render time down to 'only' 6-8 hours, but I'm sure you can see why I've been careful to export overnight all the same. Otherwise, I'm losing valuable time that could otherwise be spent actually working on the thing. However, that also means that, if any issues arise with that export, I basically have to choose whether or not to sacrifice being able to do anything with my computer that day for another shot, or just bite the bullet, decide to get back to work, and try again the next evening.

Now, with all that said, this is where the real frustrating bit comes in: For the past 3 days, all my export attempts have ended with random errors. Nothing terrible, all manageable and all a result of Premiere Pro being somewhat temperamental more than anything else, these happen from time to time and the odds of them happening again increases as the project expands, but it does mean that I've been struggling to get my hands on a complete file. As such, I was given the choice between halting work flow completely in order to get the preview out, or just keep trying each night and hope for the best. Thus far I've opted for the latter for the sake of efficiency, which has allowed me to keep making really strong progress on everything else, especially as I've been getting all those new lines to plug in. The video definitely does look and sound way better now than what I was going to post a week ago. However, it does mean that I don't have the preview quite yet.

With any luck, I'll have the new preview in hand for you all early tomorrow. If this continues to be an issue into the weekend, then I will finally set a full irl day aside to make sure we finally get that, because I definitely think you've all had to wait entirely too long for it and for that I apologize. However, I hope you can all understand why I've considered producing and polishing the actual video to be my top priority first and foremost, especially given just how big this thing's gonna be when all is said and done. That said, I can promise you that I have been and will continue to put that time to good use. I have absolute confidence that it will be well worth the wait.

Thank you all again for your patience and understanding. This issue aside, everything else is still coming together really well. About 80% of the performers have gotten me their lines already  Still fully expecting the main rough cut to be done by the end of the month and I am only more and more excited to see it come together. Not gonna lie, never been more proud to see a project come together like this. Been a long time since I've been this eager to share something with people and I can't wait to do so. Hopefully Adobe will allow me to very soon.

Talk to you again soon ✌️
Ruby Seals ~