The entire script of Pocky Monsters is avaliable here to film. According to the Members page and other factors, the following scenes and parts of scenes out of the posted material can be filmed (Note: This does not include voice actors parts. They can be captured at any time, and how many parts are finished are not reflected here.):

• Act 1 - Scene 1: Finished limbo except Dearia
• Act 1 - Scene 2: Whole scene (See Signs)
• Act 1 - Scene 3: Finished limbo
• Act 1 - Scene 4: Ash and Pikachu (See Pika Walk)
• Act 1 - Scene 5: Finished limbo except Team Rocket
• Act 1 - Scene 6: Finished limbo except Pending Explosion Announcement
• Act 1 - Scene 7: Finished!
• Act 2 - Scene 1: Whole scene
• Act 2 - Scene 2: Whole scene (See Staryu vs. Pikachu, Go! Wait... Return!, Special Abilities, and Pika Walk)
• Act 2 - Scene 3: Whole scene except Nurse Joy (See Pika Walk and Signs)
• Act 2 - Scene 4: Whole scene except Team Rocket (See Pika Walk)
• Act 2 - Scene 5: Whole scene
• Act 2 - Scene 6: Whole scene except James (See Pika Walk)
• Act 2 - Scene 7: Whole scene (See Staryu vs. Pikachu, Go! Wait... Return!, Fly Away, and What's on the Screen?)
• Act 2 - Scene 8: Finished!
• Act 2 - Scene 9: Whole scene except James (See Pika Walk)
• Act 2 - Scene 10: Finished!
• Act 3 - Scene 1: Whole scene except Officer Jenny(See Fly Away)
• Act 3 - Scene 2: Whole scene except Nurse Joy and Team Rocket (See We Have to Get to Hogwarts, Harry!)
• Act 3 - Scene 3: Whole scene except Nurse Joy (See Pika Walk and Mobs)
• Act 3 - Scene 4: Whole scene except Team Rocket(See How to Make Chuck Norris Disappear)
• Act 3 - Scene 5: Whole scene (See Special Abilities)
• Act 3 - Scene 6: Who scene except Team Rocket
• Act 3 - Scene 7: Whole scene except Team Rocket (See Special Abilities)
• Act 4 - Scene 1: Whole scene except Team Rocket
• Act 4 - Scene 2: Whole Scene (See Special Abilities)
• Act 4 - Scene 3: Whole scene except Team Rocket (See Special Abilities)
• Act 4 - Scene 4: Whole scene
• Act 4 - Scene 5: Finished!
• Act 4 - Scene 6: Whole scene except Officer Jenny
• Act 4 - Scene 7: Finished!
• Act 4 - Scene 8: Whole scene (See Special Abilities and Pika Walk)
• Act 4 - Scene 9: Whole scene excpet Mr. Ole
• Act 4 - Scene 10: Whole scene except Jessie (See Pika Walk)
• Act 5 - Scene 1: Whole scene
• Act 5 - Scene 2: Whole scene excpet Mr. Ole
• Act 5 - Scene 3: Whole scene
• Act 5 - Scene 4: Whole scene (See What's on the Screen?, We Have to Get to Hogwarts, Harry!)
• Act 5 - Scene 5: Whole scene (See Special Abilities, We Have to Get to Hogwarts, Harry!)
• Act 5 - Scene 6: Whole scene except Jessie (See What's on the Screen?, We Have to Get to Hogwarts, Harry!)
• Act 5 - Scene 7: Whole scene except Jessie
• Act 5 - Scene 8: Whole scene except Jessie
• Act 5 - Scene 9: Finished!
• Act 5 - Scene 10: Whole scene except Jessie
• Act 5 - Scene 11: Whole scene
• Act 5 - Scene 12: Whole scene
• Act 5 - Scene 13: Finished!
• Act 5 - Scene 14: Whole scene
• Act 5 - Scene 15: Finished!
• Act 5 - Scene 16: Whole scene
• Act 5 - Scene 17: Whole scene except Jessie

1. Don�t spray the camera.
2. Don�t spray the camera.
3. Don�t spray the camera! Alright, so what does this mean, and why is it so important? Spraying is when you flash the camera around like it�s a hose (thus the official term is �spraying.�). For an example, let�s say you�re filming a scene with three different characters that are spaced out in such a way that you can�t film them all from where you�re standing. Whatever you do, don�t panic and start flashing the camera around trying to catch all the characters saying their lines. Instead�
4. Use camera angles. I know we�ll already have plenty of these since we�re filming in several different cities, but if you find yourself in a place where you can�t get all the characters on screen, you�re better off using a few different camera angles. Get as many people in a shot as you can in this situation though. Camera angles can be filmed in three different ways. You can either have the actors stop and start their lines as you switch angles, film one actor saying all their lines then film the next actor saying all their lines, or have the actors act out the scene several different times until you�re satisfied with the number of camera angles. Switching camera angles also come in handy if someone forgets their line and you don�t want to go back and film the whole scene again. Just switch camera angles and keep going.
5. Use a tripod or brace the camera on a flat surface whenever possible unless an unsteady effect is what you're going for. This goes a little way in preventing spraying, and it keeps the audience from getting motion sickness. It is especially important to keep the audience healthy in a longer film like this. Bracing the camera also makes video editing a lot easier in scenes that require extensive special effects: the Nurse Joy mob scene, Officer Jenny flying onto a scene, Dragonite flying onto a scene, Chuck Norris walking into a wall, etc. In fact, if you are filming a special effect scene, bracing the camera is a requirement! If you�re doing stop frame animation, having a tripod is almost a must as well.
6. Leave a few seconds before and after the actors start talking. This is so lines don't get cut off of course. We don't want another line like, "What are we doing here and where is it and wh--!?" It is a bad idea to leave a few seconds in between lines though. If an actor forgets their line and this happens, use a different camera angle for at least the line they missed.
7. Keep and eye on your lighting. Don�t film while you�re facing into the sun. Don�t film to the point where it�s so dark outside you can�t see anything. Watch the windows. They are the enemy of video editors and cameramen/women alike. Think of stuff like that. When you�re filming an indoor scene, use artificial light (lamps, ceiling lights, that sort of thing) as much as possible if the script doesn�t call for dark lighting. This will allow you to film indoor scenes in the night or day without having a major lighting change. It also helps light the subject better (duh) so they�re not a black mass in front of the camera.
8. Avoid filming outdoor scenes when it�s rainy, wet, snowy, very foggy (though it would look really cool), or windy as much as possible. Clouds don�t matter as much (they�re everywhere). This rule is so that people in other cities don�t have to wait to recreate the conditions your scene was filmed in. They have a better chance of recreating sunny or cloudy weather. As for wind, wind does a very good job of contaminating the audio. If you have to film in the wind, be courteous to the video editors and provide voice overs recorded in a quiet area on a decent microphone.
9. Watch your distance from the subject. Don�t get too far away from the subject if they are supposed to be saying lines. Video cameras in general are awful at getting decent audio as it is. Getting far away from the subject won�t help. If you want to film from a distance, set up something to record audio nearby the subject or send voice over audio later.
10. Check your audio. Did an airplane fly overhead while you were filming and kill an actor�s line? Was your finger over the microphone, and now you can barely hear anything? Did you �tee-hee� over someone�s line? If this is the case, once again, be courteous and send voice overs from the actors to the video editor. Consider using an external microphone to film audio in a scene. A microphone can be a Nintendo DS, a digital recorder, or even a tape recorder (if you have a tape recorder that actually picks up better sound than your video camera does).
11. Do not record/play music during a scene unless it's required for syncing. Music played during filming will only reduce how much the actors are understood, or you will barely be able to hear it, but it will be loud enough to make adding in new music that sounds good nearly impossible. Music will be added in during the video editing process when the volume of the music and the volume of the audio from the video can be balanced.
12. Be creative! But keep the other teams in mind, if you don�t have all the actors in a scene in your area. Give the missing actor(s) a place to stand off camera at all times.

After spending two weeks trying to edit out one green screen, I have realized that I would be asking too much of the members of the Pocky Project to find a green screen that can be keyed out easily. Many of you may have a solid colored blanket that would work perfectly, it�s true, but during my many tests over the past month, I�ve found that there�s a lot more to it than just having a solid colored background. Your background may have wrinkles in it. This leads to shadows which lead to problems. Lighting is huge, and I doubt any of you have enough lights in your house to eliminate every shadow caused by your subject and by the wrinkles in your green screen.

We can still have keyed out backgrounds however. It requires drawing a mask around the subject, and then editing that mask every frame so it stays around the subject. This is a tedious way of keying but will probably end up being faster than messing around with different keying tools for weeks at a time. It comes with mixed results but should work (and you can trust me because I said the same thing about green screens :D).

You can help me out by doing the following, most of which are already stated in the Rules of Thumb: film in a well lit room, have the subject to be keyed in front of a solid colored background (this is not absolutely necessary), and keep the camera still. Feel free to try and find a background that I can key out. I will leave the Acceptable Green Screens article on this page for this purpose. If I can't key out the background, I can still use a mask on your shot. Any of the Special Effect Instructions mentioning using a green screen can be done using the process outlined in the previous paragraph.

Acceptable green screens are described in several places in the Special Effect Instructions, but for the easy reference of all, I will explain them here. First, for those of you who don�t know, a green screen allows a video editor to remove a color from a scene and replace it with something else through a process called keying. The green screens that can be used in Pocky Monsters can have the following attributes:

• Can be a towel, piece of fabric, piece of cardboard, piece of wood, piece of paper� anything really.
• Must be a solid color not found on the actor(s), not necessarily green. ^_^
• Must be big enough to go around the actor(s). If the floor can be seen and the actor(s) feet need to be in the shot, another green screen is needed underneath them unless you have a solid colored carpet (a color not found on the actor) or your green screen is big enough.
• Multiple green screens do not have to be the same color.

The background is also easier to key if you eliminate as many shadows as possible. If you�re wondering whether your green screen will work or not, send me a picture or short video of what you wish to key out in front of your green screen, and I�ll test it.

My extremely awesome video editing software allows me to put signs on buildings. The camera doesn't have to be motionless for this to work (though generally you should be filming with a stabilized camera). Just don't move the camera around too much, and I should be able to put a sign up on a builiding.

The most simple way to film Pikachu or any Pocky Monster walking or doing some other action is to film them in front of a green screen. You may use stop frame animation, puppetry, or some other means to get the Pocky Monster to do the desired action. Just keep these rules in mind: (1) don't get anything in front of the Pocky Monster if you're using puppetry and (2) eliminate as many shadows as possible. I will insert your Pocky Monster into the live action scene later. If you don't have a green screen handy, you don't need to use stop frame animation. You may use a thin string or sticks to get the Pocky Monster to do an action. Keep in mind I can edit out a person as long as the camera is perfectly still and I get a shot of your background with no one standing in front of it. Knowing this, I'll leave it up to you to decide how you want to make your Pocky Monster do an action. Have at. I'll be here if you need any help. ^_^

There are a variety of ways to film this scene depending on whether you�d like to do this scene using stop frame animation, live action battling, or by taking advantage the awesome video editing software. These instructions are for if you decide to take advantage of the video editing software. These instructions can also be followed for any battle between Pocky Monsters in which case Staryu and Pikachu are only examples.

For the best level of understanding, I should probably explain how I plan on editing this scene. Two stage hands will be on the set during filming to control the Pikachu doll and the Staryu doll by attaching strings (to make the dolls into a puppet of some sort), sticks (for a more controlled puppet), or simply holding the dolls and bashing them together. During the video editing process, I can edit out the two stage hands, and strings or sticks, by painting over them using a previous frame where they didn�t exist. At the end of the process, only Pikachu and Staryu will remain to battle. Yes, this process requires lots of frame by frame video editing, but I believe it would take longer to do this whole scene using stop frame animation rather than doing it frame by frame in post production.

How do you film this so I can edit it properly? First, you need to determine how your two stage hands are going to control the two dolls: strings, sticks, or hands. Editing wise, strings are easiest to edit out. However, they offer you very little control over the two fighters. The battle would probably look more like two wrecking balls smashing together if anything. Sticks are probably the best way to go for both editing and filming as they are fairly easy to edit out and give the stage hands more control over the two dolls. Hands are the hardest to edit out but give the stage hands the most control. For all three methods, the stage hands cannot get in front of Pikachu or Staryu. I can�t edit them out easily at all if that happens. Oh yeah, sticks and hands can�t get in front of the characters either. ^_^ There�s a little wiggle room for this since a conversation is going on over this battle. I can just cut to something else if a stage hand gets in the way.

Second, you need to determine if you�re going to have a moving background or not. Remember that this scene can take place on anywhere from a wet side walk to the ocean. If your background is not moving, congratulations! You�ve chosen the simplest route and should follow these steps for filming the scene:

1. Stabilize the camera. It cannot be hand held or moved.
2. Film a few seconds of just your background.
3. The stage hands may enter the set with Pikachu and Staryu at this time and start battling. Do not turn off the camera as you may risk bumping it.
4. The stage hands should avoid getting directly behind Pikachu and Staryu as much as possible.
5. Do the scene in slow motion if needed. It can be sped up later.
6. Feel free to use more than one camera angle. Just follow the steps outlined here for each angle.
7. Review your footage for major errors (a hand or stick getting in front of the character for a long period of time, etc.).
8. Repeat as needed.

A moving background is an entirely different story and can also be filmed in a couple different ways. The simplest way to film this scene, that will also give the best results, is in front of a green screen. For those of you who don�t know, a green screen allows a video editor to remove a color from a scene and replace it with something else through a process called keying. To film this scene using a green screen, follow these steps:

1. Find possible green screens that have the following attributes.
   • Can be a towel, piece of fabric, piece of cardboard, piece of wood, piece of paper� anything really.
   • Must be a solid color not found on Pikachu or Staryu, not necessarily green. ^_^
   • Must be big enough to go around Pikachu and/or Staryu. You may want two small screens to hold behind the two characters as they move around during the battle. If you are battling the characters on the floor, another green screen is needed underneath the characters unless you have a solid colored carpet.
   • Multiple green screens do not have to be the same color.
2. Film a test video and send it to me so I can make sure I can key it out without affecting the two dolls.
   • Stabilize the camera. It cannot be hand held or moved.
   • Doesn�t have to be the full length battle.
   • Use the approximate camera angle(s), camera distance(s), and lighting that you plan to use.
   • Must at least have Staryu and Pikachu sitting or floating (being held) in front of their green screens.
   • Repeat as needed.
3. Film the fight scene.
   • Wait for me to give you the go ahead to make sure your green screens will all work.
   • Stabilize the camera. It cannot be hand held or moved.
   • Film from the distance you would like it to be at with the moving background in place.
   • Have two more stage hands hold the green screen(s) behind the two characters as they move around.
   • If a stage hand must move in such a way that he is standing directly behind the character, the green screen goes in front of the stage hand.
   • Do the scene in slow motion if needed. It can be sped up later.
   • Feel free to use more than one camera angle. Just follow the steps outlined here for each angle.
   • Review your footage for major errors (character moving outside the boundary of the green screen for a long period of time, a hand or stick getting in front of the character for a long period of time, etc.).
   • Repeat as needed.
4. Film the moving background that you would like to use for the length of the fight scene. Stabilize the camera. It cannot be hand held or moved.

If for some reason you can�t find anything to use as a green screen, then the scene can be filmed on the set with the moving background though the results won�t be as good. Follow these steps:

1. Stabilize the camera. It cannot be hand held or moved.
2. Film a few minutes of just your background.
3. The stage hands may enter the set with Pikachu and Staryu at this time and start battling. Do not turn off the camera as you may risk bumping it.
4. The stage hands should avoid getting directly behind Pikachu and Staryu as much as possible.
5. Do the scene in slow motion if needed. It can be sped up later.
6. Feel free to use more than one camera angle. Just follow the steps outlined here for each angle unless an angle does not have a moving background in which case you only need a film a few seconds of just the non-moving background.
7. Review your footage for major errors (a hand or stick getting in front of the character for a long period of time, etc.).
8. Repeat as needed.

Sound like too much work? Hand it all to the video editors. All you have to do is take a still picture of Pikachu and Staryu with a solid colored background not found on either of the characters, record the background of the fight scene for a minute or so, send it all to me, and you�re done. In fact, you may just choose to film the background for about a minute as this scene can also be done using 3D models of Pikachu and Staryu. The video editors with animate the entire battle (I�m getting Butters in on this endeavor for sure).

These instructions are on how to send out and return Pocky Monsters what with their disappearing and reappearing and all. Butters or I will probably draw in some red �energy� before the Pocky Monster appears or disappears too.

1. Pick the camera angle and spot where you would like the Pocky Monster to appear or disappear from. The summon-er or return-er may appear in the shot, but they should stay as still as they can during steps 3 and 4.
2. Stabilize the camera. It cannot be hand held or moved.
3. Record a few seconds of the spot without the Pocky Monster. Do not turn off the camera between this step and the next as you may risk bumping the camera.
4. Place the Pocky Monster on the set and record for a few seconds.
5. It doesn�t really matter the order that steps 3 and 4 are filmed for returning or summoning a Pocky Monster.

Yes, I can play a video on a screen that an actor is holding using my video editing software. Shots like this are optional for you to film though. If you decide to film like this, all I really need is for you to film a full view of the screen at all times (e.g. the actor�s shoulder isn�t covering a corner of the screen), to stabilize the camera, and to film this shot for at least three minutes, so I have a lot to work with. If you�re feeling really nice, tape a piece of solid colored paper, a color that doesn�t appear anywhere else in the shot, over the screen of the device. Then, I can just key out the color and put in the video. Under perfect conditions, I would ask that the camera and the screen was still at all times, but hey, I can�t think of a time in Pocky Monsters where someone actually puts their generic electronic device on something before watching a video on it.

The actor�s motion for flying away or landing should be filmed in front of a green screen with a stable camera. I will key out the background, insert them into the scene, and make them fly away later. When you are filming the scene, make sure you leave enough empty space to allow them room to land and fly away.

The actors playing in the mob should all be filmed in front of a green screen with a stable camera for a little more than the amount of time you would like the mob to appear in one shot. I will key out the background, insert the actors into the scene, and possibly duplicate some actors to increase the volume of the mob especially in the Nurse Joy mob. >:-D When you film the scene on the set, leave enough empty space for all the actors to stand.

Film Chuck Norris (the only actor who ever walks into a wall) walking across a green screen being filmed by a stable camera. Film the wall that he walks into also with a stable camera with the camera parallel (||) to the wall. I will key out the background of the green screen, create a mask that Chuck Norris will disappear behind when he reaches a certain point, and insert him into the scene with the wall.

When I (and possibly Butters) insert electricity, laser vision, fireballs, explosions, and Heterobeam 3000s into scenes, I don�t really need anything special from you as long as you remember the number one Rule of Thumb (I shouldn't have to remind you of that). Just pretend that you�re casting super powers or being attacked with super powers, and I�ll take care of the rest.

While this special effect instruction has nothing to do with Harry Potter, it does have something to do with cars and how to film inside of them safely off the road. I doubt any of you were looking forward to having a giant penguin statue drive around with rap music blaring. First, find a spot to park where a bright background isn't going to turn your subject into a mysterious dark mass. A garage is perfect for this. Second, make sure your subject is well lit. A garage is not perfect for this, but I�m sure you can figure it out. You may film from any camera angle inside the car. Try to keep you camera still. Use a tripod if at all possible. During post production, I will insert a moving background into the windows of the car.