Josh Bass

Thanks. I've been through my issues of AC already (I had a subscription for about 2 years), and googling "car night scene" or any variation thereof results in very little gold, lots of coal.

Hi guys. I'm prepping to DP a short film, and I was wondering if there is some large database of stills from movies/tv shows/etc. that exists somewhere with different lighting styles for any type of scene/location/mood etc. you could think of. . .things I could draw on for inspiration/theft. For instance, we'll be doing some people sitting in cars at night. NOthing fancy, and I have ideas of how I'd like to light it, but it'd be nice if I could do a search and see what others have done. Thanks.

Yeah. One of the dudes on the selection committee said he wanted to lobby my film (or lobby for my film. . .whatever the right grammar is) before the rest of them and that a shorter cut would help my case.

Wow, good memory! Ok, so here's the deal. . .I do remember telling you all I was going to embark on a low end fest adventure with my then 24-minute short and report the results. So, I"ve sent it to around 45 fests, gotten into 15 (including slamdance) and won 3 best of awards. AFter the wins, I started to get depressed that I hadn't entered any larger/more prestigious fests, and started at looking at what was out there. There were some where my film was too "old", and some that wanted it to be a premiere, so those were out. But Slamdance was still eligible, and a few others. So I sent it off, sure I'd never get into any of 'em. A month or two ago I get contacted on two consecutive days by two different fests (one Slamdance, one a first year local comedy fest), telling me essentially the same thing: they liked the movie but it was unlikely to get into the festival at its current length. So after going through (in my head, mind you. . .I'm far too polite and too much of a puss to say this stuff to actual humans) the "**(obscenity removed)** you it's perfect you don't what your talking about go rape a horse" thought process, I went back and tried to excise as much as I could while keeping all the "A" material. Got it down to 17 minutes, resubmitted, and it got into both fests. As far as I'm concerned, this new cut is a new movie and thus, for submission purposes, the "new" completion date is October '09. Mwahahaha. Granted, there are only a few that I'm still interested in submitting to.

Hi, guys. I haven't posted here in a LONG time. Mainly 'cause I don't have many questions about cinematography right now, and I the only thing I'm qualified to contribute on are XL2 questions. Har har. Anyway, a digital short I wrote/directed/shot/edited, "Joey and Jerome's Artististic Meaningful Independent Film", somehow made it into Slamdance 2010, and just in case any of you will be there/have friends there/would possibly want to see something made by someone you share the internet with, here's the info: a quick synopsis: “I’ll detonate the nukes in 24 hours unless you surrender the command codes.” If those words aren’t spoken in a movie, Joey and Jerome don’t wanna watch it. After spending their entire lives watching Bruce Willis, Jason Statham, and Vin Diesel fill various Englishmen, Russians, Germans, nonspecific Middle Easterners, and the occasional Asian full of hot lead, the two get a wake up call when Jerome’s sister lends them several of her arthouse flicks on DVD. After an indie movie marathon, the pair are so inspired they immediately begin work on their own independent masterpiece. . .with no money, resources, or experience. Movie's website: http://joshbass.com/jj2_main.html Trailer: And here are the pages for it on two places I never thought I'd be last year: Facebook http://www.facebook.com/pages/Joey-and-Jer...lm/379879645108 twitter twitter.com/joeyandjerome Screenings are in the Gallery Screening Room, 5PM 1/22/10 and 1/26/10, at the Treasure Mountain Inn in Park City, Utah. Any questions, just ask joshbass1979 (at) gmail (dot) com.

I bought my first camcorder in 2002, and this was still the conventional wisdom. It wasn't necessarily "don't use Sony" so much as it was "don't mix tape brands." They say to find a brand you like and stick with it, since the stuff can mix between the different brands and cause problems. I've heard the different grades of tape (most miniDV brands have several different "levels" of quality you can choose from) can have this issue. Some say myth, some swear they've had issues when they mixed brands. Who knows? Until it's proven one way or the other, if you own the camera, why not play it safe and choose a brand and stick with it. Just try not to get into emergency situations where you need tape but no one who has your brand is open 'cause it's too late in the day/the weekend/whatever.

Here's another thing to watch out for: There's a story about a local filmmaker who sold his film/got distribution/whatever. The important thing is that his guy made $400,000 off his movie, on which all crew had signed deferred pay contracts. But this guy just. . .didn't pay them. Period. So watch out for that kind of stuff.

The one I suggested is very similar to the Litepanels, both of these being not very directional (they're essentially tiny softlights, but not exactly, 'cause they're made of many tiny point sources). They are NOT like fresnels.

Hey, before you go buying that, look into the Prompter People/Flolight Microbeam. . .I just got one myself. I believe it's a lot more powerful than the Litepanels, and around the same price (Microbeam is $329 USD). It can be powered off of several types of camcorder batteries (they will custom build it to the type you choose--mine uses my XL2 batteries). Has a dimmer, and also comes with a few color correction gels. I posted a review with lots of photos at "another forum."

As in native to FCP/compressor/Vegas? I suppose the unduff solution is like $2000 or something?

If it's any consolation, I sometimes have these issues (Or maybe always and the project sometimes doesn't make them apparent). In camera, in NLE, blacks are deep, rich, gorgeous. Output to DVD. . .milky. Sometimes green too. Good times. This happened when I was using Vegas, haven't really done enough with FCP to have an issue yet.

I just have a "Play" button on my "menu". There's nothing to select. . .it's the only button. Pressing "enter" or "play" on the DVD remote will play the movie. I would think a DVD that starts playing as soon as it loads could be an issue 'cause what if they viewer isn't ready? What if they put the DVD in, THEN turn on the TV, etc. etc. and the film's already off and running? Now, granted, I've only entered (and occasionally gotten into) what are considered "third tier" festivals. . .so who knows what the Cannes-es and Sundances of the world want?

Speaking from personal experience, the Amvona stuff is crap. Someone said they were good stands, so I bought one. Firstly, yes, it was sent to me with a crack already in the one of the metal pieces that secures one of the legs to the column. When I got a replacement, they did something weird where I was sent two of the exact same piece and missing a piece I needed. I now had two bases for this C stand, neither of which was functional for one reason or another. By swapping pieces between them, I finally had a working base. The grip arm and head was always crap. . .even when brand new, would not hold tension no matter how hard you tightened it. Bad design, I guess. I bought the Avenger head/arm, kept the Amvona stand. And yes, whatever that darker grey metal is on these stands, it's some kind of weird, fake-seeming metal.

I like ASP. I am only barely familiar with it, and it has its quirks, but like I said, pretty powerful if you can draw well in the first place, and learn to use the software. From what I've seen, with some serious time put in, you can get stuff indistinguishable from traditional 2D. What I mean is, it's not all "cut out style" like the new sealab, or aquateen, or metalocolypse. Though you can do that (and who knows, maybe some of that cartoon network stuff is made with this software).

CAn I jump in with another suggestion? Not knowing a lick about Toon Boom, I'm not going to NOT recommend it, but I got turned onto to a program called Anime Studio Pro. It's a 2D animation program mainly, though it operates in a 3D environment (You can do some cool 2D/3D mixing, and also import 3D models/animations, but you CANNOT animate your 3D models, except in a very limited way). It' has a bone system to make animation easier. Simple example: say you create a character; arms legs, etc. You bind each arm and leg to a bone, and then, instead of moving every single limb individually for each keyframe, you just drag, say, a hand, and that pulls the forearm and arm with it. . .kind of a 2D marionette. The bones have other uses too, and there's a lot of other stuff you can do if you draw well and learn the program. Take a look at the lost marble forums to see examples of what some of the members on there have done. I've been working it with it for a year putting together an animated short film, and I"ll post a short teaser/demo here when I get there. It runs about $200, works on Mac and PC.

According to the manual, the XL2 has s clear scan function specifically meant for this application. You have to hold the shutter up button til "CS" appears in the viewfinder, then go to the menu, go to camera setup, select clear scan, and adjust the frequency 'til the scan lines disappear.

Hi, gang. My quest has finally ended (temporarily, at least). I finally settled on a pair of clarks.

Let me ask you this. . .which foreign countries, or festivals, would be more likely to accept something with very American humor? Some things are universal, and some things just don't translate well. Even in the same language.

Hey, cool! Well, then I might as well send this next one off, when I finally get it finished. I still think sending the 23-minute one is pointless.

He wants to know the freq range. The 700 range will be dubious come the big digital switchover on (well, maybe not anymore) Feb 17th.

WAs that the one that was like 30 Rock, only dramatic and not comedic? With Matthew Perry? I think I heard it went away because people generally aren't interested in the behind--the-scenes workings of the film and television industry (save for other people in said industry). 30 Rock doesn't count, 'cause it's about as concerned with the TV show where it's set as Scrubs is with medicine. Remember "Action?" with Jay Mohr? I caught some reruns years after it aired, and found it pretty entertaining. I guess the rest of the country didn't.

Sundance does, yes. A miniDV (DVX100) features, November, won an award there (cinematography, I think). Of course, it starred Courtney Cox and was shot by an ASC member. Will yours get in? Truthfully, likely no. That's the most sought after film fest in the world (I think), in terms of people trying to get in . They have something like 80 actual slots for films, and over 3000 entries a year. Plus, there's a lot of politics and bullshit where people can get their movies in without actually submitting (folks with big money/connections), further reducing the number of slots open to submitting filmmakers. In case you're wondering, no I'm not speaking from bitterness or sour grapes. I didn't bother submitting this film there. I'm not crazy, I know it's not getting in. By the way, if you DO submit to Sundance, they require your film to premiere in their fest. That means that if you submit, you have to wait to hear back from them before you submit anywhere else. I could tell what you fests I've submitted to, but it's a long list. And I aimed really low/small unless they were ultra cheap (10-15 bucks), in which case I said (sometimes) "so what if it's a fancy schmancy fest, for $10, why not?". If you're looking for major fests, my list wouldn't really help you. I aimed for ones I thought I could get into, not the best festivals. If I had a shorter piece, or more star power, or some great hook (scenes with real sharks or something, a la "Open Water"), it might be a different story. There's a well-respected book by Chris Gore called "The Ultimate Film Festival Survival Guide" that has tons of info as to how to use the fests to launch yourself, which ones are the best to enter, all kinds of stuff like that. YOu should probably take a look. Unfortunately for us, one of the key pieces of advice in that book regarding shorts is that they be no longer than 10 minutes unless you really have something amazing to say. Without buying that book, you can probably google around and find the top 10 (the 'A' list) festivals, and some 'B' listers too. A listers I can think of offhand are South by Southwest, Sundance, Toronto, Cannes. Can't recall the rest. Palm Springs is supposed to be the Sundance of shorts. PS regarding your experience at the fest you attended with your friend, that's been my experience at most of the ones I've gotten into. There really aren't people who just go to film festivals on their own; they're usually there to see something specific. So if you want that something specific to be your film, you'll have to find a way to get the word out, as opposed to relying on a festival's built in audience. From what I've heard, this is not just limited to tiny fests. Even at the biggies, you still have to get people to come to your screening, as opposed to just expecting an audience to already be there. PPS Many fests take shorts longer than 15 minutes, sometimes considering anything up to 59 minutes a short. The definition of what a short is in terms of length is up to the actual fest. A great database of festivals, as well as a way to streamline the submission process can be found at withoutabox.com. It's a service (can be free, depending on what your needs are) that lets you search for fests, and submit online. A great many fests use it as their only way to submit. To decide where I would submit, I just went through pretty much their whole list, checking out each fest's website, and seeing if looked Bass-compatible.

I don't have much experience, but from what I've heard: 10-15 minutes is the ideal short length (or less), a lot of folks recommend ten or under. Seems like 99% of 'em accept miniDV. Whether any of those submissions actually MAKE IT THROUGH and get into the festival is another story. I've done exhaustive research looking for fests that might take my overly long (23 min) short made on miniDV with no name actors. Sometimes, on a fest's website, you can find screenshots from the entrants for each year. If I look at those and see that everything looks like it was shot on film or at least HD with a "real" budget, SKIPPO for me (documentaries are apparently the exception--without fail, almost every screenshot that does look like something within my budgetary range is a doc). Likewise, if I see party pics with celebs everywhere, SKIPPO for me. It also doesn't hurt to see (if you can) what general length are the movies that made it in each year (i.e. if there are short films, are they all around seven minutes long, or are there some that approach your length?). In my opinion, they ALL want to be Sundance, that is, have their programming be high end projects with major stars. Find the fests that are exceptions, and your video-shot 35 min short might have a chance. P.S. One I'd advise you to avoid (it's a known scam; google it) is a festival based in NEW YORK with the words INDEPENDENT and FILM in it's FESTIVAL name.

I don't have much experience, but from what I've heard: 10-15 minutes is the ideal short length (or less), a lot of folks recommend ten or under. Seems like 99% of 'em accept miniDV. Whether any of those submissions actually MAKE IT THROUGH and get into the festival is another story. I've done exhaustive research looking for fests that might take my overly long (23 min) short made on miniDV with no name actors. Sometimes, on a fest's website, you can find screenshots from the entrants for each year. If I look at those and see that everything looks like it was shot on film or at least HD with a "real" budget, SKIPPO for me (documentaries are apparently the exception--without fail, almost every screenshot that does look like something within my budgetary range is a doc). Likewise, if I see party pics with celebs everywhere, SKIPPO for me. It also doesn't hurt to see (if you can) what general length are the movies that made it in each year (i.e. if there are short films, are they all around seven minutes long, or are there some that approach your length?). In my opinion, they ALL want to be Sundance, that is, have their programming be high end projects with major stars. Find the fests that are exceptions, and your video-shot 35 min short might have a chance. P.S. One I'd advise (it's a known scam; google it) is a festival based in NEW YORK with the words INDEPENDENT and FILM in it's FESTIVAL name.

Ditto Tadpole, which I think was PD150s