ASK & DISCUSS INDEX

11 years, 3 months ago - Mark Towers

Hi Paddy,

That is great and we have that in place as our final backup. The problem is that it's green on black which is a little too Matrix for my liking. We'd like white on black.

11 years, 3 months ago - Mark Towers

Hi Marlom,

Thanks for your response. The terminal effect is indeed what we are after. Can't we simply get a video capture of someone's key commands? Ideally ones that produce long strings of response text.

You seem to know your stuff, would you be able to do this? :)

11 years, 3 months ago - Michael Spry

Thanks for that Paddy, we knew about the website but changing the code to change the colour is an excellent idea.

The ideal solution is to have the text continuously writing itself without input from the programmer. It's difficult to explain exactly what we need without revealing too much of the story. I suppose what we can do is record ourselves typing on that website and set it on an infinite loop (with a 30 seconds roll around).

Exactly what is written is not important, in fact it's better that it is ambitious and not code that people recognise as the programmer is not programming a piece of software or hardware as such.

11 years, 3 months ago - Andrew Morgan

How about this: http://www.nextofwindows.com/codesaver-is-a-geeky-screen-saver-that-animates-typing-codes-while-your-away-the-computer/

Or this: http://bit.ly/1n1OG3S ;D

11 years, 3 months ago - Bojan Brbora

http://hackertyper.net/

11 years, 3 months ago - Paddy Robinson-Griffin

You can probably tweak the pages style sheet with a little effort TBH, I expect all the processing happens client side in JavaScript so it's likely quite easy to reconfigure

11 years, 3 months ago - Paddy Robinson-Griffin

I think this http://hackertyper.net is what you're looking for...

11 years, 3 months ago - Peter Ward

You don't need Linux; Terminal in OS X (OS X is a type of Unix) or even Windows CML/Power Shell does the same thing (in the former you can set the colors to whatever you want). And you can even install Cygwin on Windows to get the full Unix/Linux/Posix Bash shell experience.

Depending on how authentic you are trying to be, you can just run a script that prints to the shell. Also, running many operations with the verbose switch ("-v") will spit out text: e.g., "cp -rv " will print all files and sub-directories in as it copies them to a new location. On Mac you can set the computer to verbose boot if you want a Unix-style bootstrapping effect by holding Cmd+V as you turn it on (or you can set it permanently from Terminal). Finally, the Free BSD build (install) process is mostly printing Unix CML text, and takes days. Just install Oracle Virtual Box and then install Free BSD in a virtual machine.

11 years, 3 months ago - Vasco de Sousa

If you have a decent writer/researcher, it's not hard to find the code for the programs you need. I've programmed in Java before, white on black as you say. There are plenty of places you can find open source code these days. Ask a twelve year old who wants to get into game design.

I create stock footage from time to time. So, I have a few ideas how I'd do it.

What's your computer's resolution? Which operating system?

The screen size, in pixels and dimensions (wide screen or old screen.) Certain screens will create a glare, so it might be an idea to greenscreen it on (put a thin green film on the screen, and make sure it's well lit from the outside, not the inside), and take it into Motion or After Effects.

If I were hired to make code for the film, I'd want to see the whole script, to understand the character. Then, I'd have code that made sense storywise. About 20 percent of your audience will be able to read the code, so if you're just scrolling CSS for a bog standard website and suddenly a giant monster comes out, it'll be unintentionally funny. Perhaps if it's an older language (pre 1980s), then only 2 percent will understand it.

Decide what you want the code to say first. Alternatively, you can scroll 1's and 0's in something like Motion or Whatever you create titles with.

(You can also write a simple Javascript which will automatically generate random snippets of code, or code from a list. Again, something I might do if I were getting paid to do this film.)

11 years, 3 months ago - Marlom Tander

Ok, so I can be bit pedantic, but here goes :-

1) Code doesn't scroll any more than a Word doc does - when you scroll it to get to the bit you need to edit.

2) Modern code is written in black, on white, maybe with colour highlighting to make the structure make sense. Much like this very page :-)

Get a copy of notepad++ and drop any open source php you can find into it.

3) OTOH if what you really want is a Terminal effect just get a mate with Linux box to fire up Terminal while you record, but note that this is about driving the machine so it's stop/start.

In fact, BORROW a Linux laptop from someone who will also give you a few key commands to create screeds of screen output (directory lists etc) and not only will it look right, but it works with the actor too.

If the actor is a sysadmin/hacker and you want to drop in some geek mind candy, get your linux guy to write down an SSH access to a real (mates) server plus a few lines to get directory output etc. It's the sort of off the cuff detail that gets geek discussion areas buzzing, maybe even attention from WIRED :-)

4) Does this matter?

Yes, because your film is about a programmer.

To get it wrong would be like a film about a Syrian youtuber that has him charging around shooting video, but what he holds is a 16mm Bolex.

cheers

11 years, 3 months ago - Chris Payne

You say you have no programming knowledge or expertise - I sure hope someone on the project does, or your film about a programmer is unlikely to convince.

I strongly recommend you get a real programmer on board as a consultant. They could fairly easily control your actor's machine remotely to run onscreen interactions. More importantly, they would be able to point out any technical inaccuracies with the plot or dialogue that may not be apparent to you, but might undermine your story if not addressed.

I can consult remotely if that's any help, although I'm a games programmer, not a hacker, sysadmin, web designer or backend programmer. Same skillset, different knowledge base :)

11 years, 3 months ago - Paddy Robinson-Griffin

Yes indeed - just checked - if you use Chrome and 'Inspect Element' you can find the CSS the page loads and the second attribute in the block

body {
background: #000000;
color: #00FF00;
font-family: monospace;
}

can be changed to

body {
background: #000000;
color: #cccccc;
font-family: monospace;
}

for grey on black (or #FFFFFF; for white)

11 years, 3 months ago - Andrew Morgan

That's genius Paddy :D

11 years, 3 months ago - Marlom Tander

The best way is to have a linux lap top on the set and just do it live. Whoever you borrow it from will be able to make it do screen filling things like directory listings.

Or just talk to a local geek and shoot it seperately.

I'm in the West Country so prob too far, but if you wanted to spend a day driving over, knock yourself out :-)