Alex Ellerman

You have to take into account that this was an aesthetic choice as well... the bleak future of the film was forecast by the bleak look of the camera... in that sense, it works really well... this is underscored by the decision to use film for the ending to give you a subconscious feeling that things are looking up. The practical nature of the shoot (5 minutes and one take to get a multi camera shot on a crowded public place in London) also dictated the camera choice, as well as the ability to get really good glass on the XL1. I love this movie. A great example of letting the film dictate the technology used. theturnaround

I'd like to add that most screenwriters worth their salt aren't interested in a 'movie with a movie.' It's been done to death. See Living in Oblivion for a great example. I'd encourage you to meet some writers, toss around some ideas that get you excitd and which in turn might get a potential screenwriter excited. Or learn the basic tenets of the craft and write your own piece. Best, theturnaround

Hey everyone - first time poster - this looks like a great site with some very knowledgeable posters I recognize from other forums... I'm a repped writer in preprod on an indie feature which I'm financing in Chicago. It's a college type thriller, small cast, devoid of any SFX, written with budget in mind, location on lockdown... I've been looking at the workflow from the Varicam or S16 to Finalcutpro HD, and it's mind boggling... The only problem I've been having is understanding the essentials after the usual G5, 4gigs ram, some kind of storage system like a RAID, HD & NTSC monitor type stuff. Can anyone help me understand: The cinewave card is for HD capture and playback, the Kona card (same thing?) and the AJA card do what exactly? What are all these other SDI Input/Output devices for? What is essential? What is a bell/whistle? What is a low cost system you can put together? I've been surfing all the promax, sharbor, cow, 2pop sites and people sometimes jump on you when you ask such a newbie question, but I lack the hands on experience to understand some of the terminology and i'm trying to increase my learning curve. I watched all the tutorials at apple and i've been doing tons o' reading, but if you can give me a primer, i'd be much obliged. Anybody ever color correct a feature on FCP? *Anybody ever consider shooting S16 and going DI and entering festivals via a digital projection b/c a 35mm print is not in the budget? Thank you thank you, theturnaround