Patrick McGowan

I took History of Film last year, so I will attempt to answer this one. In the really early era of cinema, 1890's to 1920's, there weren't too many options for cameras. I would guess that the Great Trian Robbery either used Edison hand-cranked cameras, or something from Biograph. Edwin S. Porter worked for the Edison Company and Edison had a pretty big control on the market. He would crush competitors like Biograph and the Lumiere brothers through legal battles, so many people were likely to use his cameras. I don't know how to answer your question because I'm not really sure. Imdb says "Pathe Camera" for The Birth of a Nation.

The camera trainee gets people coffee too? Wow. I guess I have a lot to learn. (although I am sure Dunkin' Donuts has plenty to offer in the world of cinematography advice). I guess all trainees have to get a little bit of punishement before they can move on in their careers.

I think I still have my VHS of "The Making of Jurassic Park" narrated by James Earl Jones from when I was 10. That was the first time I had ever heard of CGI and it is still a good chronicle of where it all began. (The Abyss, Terminator II, etc.) It also shows all of Stan Winston's wonderful model making and robotics. Not to mention some geat footage of Speilberg immitating dinosaur screams for the actors. There isn't too much about Dean Cundey though. Definitley worth watching if you can find it.

Why not make up a real sounding fake name? I could call myself Conrad Hall and start a thread about the reasons why Jesus loves Snakes on a Plane. I guess I could put down my name as Jesus Christ, as long as I have a signature, and talk about Cool Hand Luke. I'm not sure where I am going with this, but you can still protect your precious anonymity and follow the rules. Call yourself John Smith or something. Maybe my real name isn't Patrick McGowan... Maybe I'm not a douchebag... You'll never know. I could be the phantom gourmet... I could be high right now. You'll never know! You'll never find me Capt. Video! Because we both have anonymity!

Oh Steve. I think if someone wanted to, they could put together a half hour reel of all the times Steve has almost died. There are countless (recorded) times that Steve narrowly jumped out of the way right before a crocodile maims his body. He precariously held his son in his arms as he fed a crocodile! Whether or not this was kind of eventually going to happen, the man had a wife and child and it is a really sad event. I feel bad for his family and he seemed like a really nice man. I do have a morbid curiosity in the footage of this stingray incident. Is that bad? Am I a bad person? Maybe.

Anybody? Come on people.

I would most certainly get it from the online Apple store, and I would definately get the Apple Care protection plan. Don't buy any expensive Apple without that whether it be from ebay, B+H etc. If your ebay mac dies on you, you're screwed.

I am looking for a music video I saw in this forum. I believe it was shot somewhere in England with an XL2 and mostly stedicam work. Is that too general? I guess it was a rap song. I don't know but it was a very interesting looking video with some impressive stedicam work and I can't find it now. Is this ringing any bells?

Very nice sound design. But have you seen this? http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0312843/ or this? http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0249172/

I am interested in this, do most labs charge a set up fee? Will labs do a bleach bypass for small productions, let's say a couple thousand feet of footage? I know every lab is different so I guess will something like DuArt New York provide this service for small productions?

This is yet another question about storing media. How should I store my DV tapes in my excruciatingly hot dormroom? Is there anything besides magnets that could damage them? I guess the hours of drumming footage with the sound blasted out is expendable, but my friend might not be happy if I lose his wedding footage master tape. I love you all. Remember that.

Drums since age 11. So, 9 years? Maybe. 11-13 probably don't count. There are too many people that think they can play instuments. You need some serious experience to be good.. Maybe 15+ years. (except Tony Royster Jr.) Most people, myself included, are just having fun with it.

I don't know anything about USC, but I sat through enough "college lectures" in high school to pass on some advice. What kind of standardized testing do you have? You will need SAT scores and really fu**ing good ones. You will also need very good grades. Any school, even film etc. will hold academics and high school achievements as the number one factor in the admission process.

This is my new favorite movie poster. http://www.numberonestars.com/movies/images2/volver.jpg Penelope. I love you.

After looking through these forums, I rented Northfolk from Netflix and went to see Akeela and the Bee when it was in theatres. Those are fantastic movies! I really loved both of them. I honestly think that Akeela is one of the best movies I have seen so far this year. D.E.B.S.? I don't really know how I feel about that one. I am not going to criticize it, but I don't know, it was very strange. Just keeping it real.

Thank you Phil.

Ok, sorry for my stupid jokes, but can anybody seriously recommend me an adapter? I don't even know what I need.

I wanted to bring an NTSC camera over to see my relatives in Northern Ireland. Here is the question for all of the inhabitants of the British Islands! Can you read this ok? My typing is in English so I don't know how well it will tranlate for you but... Are there any adaptors I can use to convert my good old fashioned American 120v 60 Hz red white and blue electrical device to your Al-Queda lovin' 50Hz? Thank you. Oh, I also have a giant NASCAR beer dispenser, would that violate TSA's ban on passengers taking liquids on the aircraft? Can I take my gel padded extreme Bible?

Is it going completely to sleep? That might be an issue. Do you have a system preference to put you in sleep mode after a few minutes? Are you plugged into the AC adapter while you run your power hungry program? If you are not plugged in, and you are in the battery saving mode, the screen will dim and sometimes sleep. My powerbook starts to drift off to sleep a few minutes after it leaves the plug. Powerbook batteries are SHIIIIT.

OK, I promise I won't reply.

Go ahead. Make my day... (hit delete) (please don't just kidding!) I have no Btothe Atothe LL's.

Don't worry about it. I began a short script that delt with abortion and most people told me not to do it. I ended up not finishing that because it just wasn't working. It is too tough for an inexperienced writer and I think can only be handled in wierd "experimental" movies or lifetime movies. Has anyone even seen a movie (other than Vera Drake) that delt with this subject well? My advice on short films: pick a concise little story, but film it in a different way or bring your own look to it. That's not the most original way, but it will allow your film to have originality without falling off the deep end. Other point of advice: be your own critic, if something seems like it sucks, don't just immediately try to justify it. I liked the opening shot though.

I've used this feature on footage captured in 24p advanced from the DVX100 in the past, which made me wonder... Here comes the newbie question: ready for it? I said, "ARE YOU READY FOR IT!?!" That's more like it. Here it is: If I tranfer film to tape, upload it into FCP, and use the pulldown remover, will it bring the footage back to 24 fps? Thank you in advance. Keep the dream alive.

I think my original question was more about: "how do you appreciate directing by watching a film?" I probably should have made that the topic instead. I agree with the comment on originality, particularly in many of the new wave films, they are really films of the director. By that I mean from my understanding, films by Goddard used improvisation and he would come on set with a new treatment for each day. I can also see the originality when I look at scripts and compare them to the finished movie. I guess I always felt that the script, actors, cinematographer etc. were (almost?) as important as a "great" director. This is taking into account that the acting, cinematography, art direction etc. are all guided by the director and he or she is the boss on set. Even though everything is guided by one person, that person relies on the talents of others as well. I don't think I am total newbie, this question came out of having good and bad experiences with directors. in the end the people I really respect are the directors who have an exact idea for what they want to achieve. In student productions, that is useful...it's not fun when productions fall apart.

Craigslist? mandy's? I am not too familiar with the west coast but I live in Massachusetts and I have worked on plenty of strange little movie shoots. I usually go to nefilm.com, but I don't think that is going to help you too much. I think that is what most students want, we are not looking for money or some mythical quick route to the top, just some experience. Well, I am going to be out of school soon. Then I will probably be wanting money. Actually I'm broke. Does anyone know where I can get paid for this poop? Just Kidding. Good luck little mister grahamcraker. (I think you need a new nickname.)