dr_gonzo

Hi,

 

I think kinda the same.

 

The concept was fantastic! - I think you should re-write it an shoot it again but get a George Bush lookalike to play the President...

 

I think the dialogue wasn't up to much...just not believable. I can't imagine a real president talking like that.

 

Also the actor playing the President wasn't that great.

 

And also I feel that the way you used the camera left much to be desired - I can't put my finger on it but I feel that for many of the shots the camera was in the wrong place. There was no mystery to your film, it was all on the surface and everything happened to fast.

 

I think my issue is that you didn't set it up so that it became 'believable'

 

I really think you should redo it - it could be really great.

I'll have a new cut online in a week or so...thanks all for your feedback.

There is no re-doing this film. I would love to have the cash for it, but if im sinking any money into a project it will be a new one.

Im also correcting the images in the new version. the rough cut on youtube is straight from the negative I didnt put in any contrast or add any filters...

And as far as people not believing a president could be that moronic I only think every bush speech backs up my point, and the fact that Nixon used to talk to the portrait of Lincoln when he got into his gin late at night.

Hey David,

 

Just saw a spot on TV for Astronaut Farmer. Looks delightful. Can't wait to see it. Good luck with the masses.

Looks like its really nicely shot...but the SFX look a bit spotty and the story is likely saccharine.

There are many ways to copy a DVD -- just do a Google search on "DVD Copy" -- you're bound to find several that way.

 

For the Mac, my personal favorite is Toast by Roxio:

 

http://www.roxio.com/enu/store/mac.html

 

It retails for around $100, but I got my copy for free, bundled with a FireWire DVD recorder.

 

Regardless, I'd say it's easily worth the retail price, especially if you're doing a lot of DVD and CD recording.

toast works alright....i use roxio popcorn which is easily downloaded for free. if your on a mac you can also download mac the ripper and rip video ts files to burn commercial dvds!

If you have seen the movie "Firewall" (although many other action movies use this), then you will probably remember the quick scenes from a security camera POV and edited to have a fish-eye lens, interlaced, slow frame speed, etc. (Even the occasional "glitches" and scan lines)

 

So, equipped with Adobe's Premiere 2.0, After Effects 7, and Photoshop CS2, how could I pull this effect off with maximum authenticity? Any filters would be great, too.

 

Thanks!

 

Mike

Before you digitally manipulate your footage why not play it on a tv and shoot it off the screen first...

I don't think that's particularly fair. I read the script and interviewed for the movie about a year before it actually got made because the director liked my work on "Northfork" (in fact, I see a little influence there in terms of the cold greyish widescreen landscapes.) Didn't get the job ultimately but I enjoyed talking to the director. It was a very interesting and engrossing script, something that I rarely come across in the stacks of scripts I read every year.

 

I don't think anyone sets out trying to get an indie film made just motivated by the chance of winning an award -- it's just too darn hard to get a movie made for that to be what drives you to put up with all the years of developing a project and trying to get it funded.

 

It doesn't take a genius to figure out what interested the makers and actors of "Capote" to do the film. It wasn't the chance to win meaningless awards but the chance to make an interesting drama.

 

You have to separate what a filmmaker goes through in making a movie versus what a distributor goes through in trying to market a movie, part of which is courting film critics and the award organizations, and the using reviews and awards to help sell the movie. You don't have to do that song and dance when you make a horror film, but for a drama, it's essential.

I do see your point. I think my big complaint is really how the film was marketed...I also dont understand how two films with pretty much the same subject matter were both released within several months of each other. It doesnt seem to make any business sense to me!

Rob,

 

Luke's right.

 

One of the Filmmakers is a very good friend of mine and I will hopefully be there to support her, but... simmer down with the voluminous posting. It is undignified and makes the event look cheap, could possibly discourage people from attending. Had I not known of this event beforehand I'd probably had scanned over the three successive posting assuming they were spam. And, had they been in the section of the forum I moderate, they would have been deleted without even reading them.

 

Now, with spam in mind, attending won't enlarge my 'membrum virile..' might it? Or will it possibly land me millions from an swiss bank account from some deceased Nigerian bureaucrat/prince? Cheap meds? Mail order bride?

 

No?

 

How disappointing.... hopefully yours and your fellow filmmakers' work will cheer me up.

 

- nathan

I AGREE WITH YOUR VIEWS AND WOULD LIKE TO SUBSCRIBE TO YOUR NEWS LETTER. Amy's film is going on first so dont be late!

I don't know how you would fill in the clipped audio, but making ADR look good is a sod in itself.

 

Just make sure you save backups of everything before you edit this stuff.

Luckily the ADR for this scene is just a guy screaming in despair. I hate to ADR it since his performance on set was so good, but Ill see what I can make work.

Im also going to shoot a pickup shot with my shitty K3 camera and then record ADR on my mini DV camera. I figure it wont go out of sync since this is literally for a 2 or 3 second extreme close up pickup. I Just hope the 16 footage can mix decently with the S16.

If you can get hold of Adobe Audition there's a noise cancellation feature in it, you basically train it by playing back a wave with just the background noise, and then the program detects what frequencies there are inside it and removes them but leaves the rest. Works pretty well actually.

 

Although, don't expect the sound you want to come out 100% perfect.

 

It just depends on what frequencies the background noise is using as to how good the sound you want will come out. (for instance if a background frequency is similar to that of the sound you want it will strip both)

 

But it's always best to get the best sound possible on set as opposed to fixing it later in post.

 

If you really want, send me an MP3 of the clip and I'll see if I can do anything to it, if I can, send me the raw video and audio with timecode stamps prefferably and I'll master the whole thing. Free of charge, but a place in the credits.

 

If you don't like what's been done to it, there's no obligation to say yes. So it's a win situation either way.

What is Adobe Audition, Ive never heard of it?

How do you light the background seperately from the actress like in the Kanye West "Gold Digger" video?

I've seen a very similar style in fashion and product photography.

 

 

I want to replicate this style for a music video.

 

Matt

that shot just looks like its greenscreened.

So I recently transferred all my S16 footage from digi beta to uncompressed quicktime files thanks to my friends editing suite at his job. The only problem is that I dont have the 8-bit uncompressed codec so I can edit. At this point every clip I put on the timeline needs to be rendered in order to view.

 

Any help would be amazing. Thanks!

So I now have the standard FCP 8-bit uncompressed codec, but whenever I drag my files to the timeline I still need to render...whats goin on???

So I recently transferred all my S16 footage from digi beta to uncompressed quicktime files thanks to my friends editing suite at his job. The only problem is that I dont have the 8-bit uncompressed codec so I can edit. At this point every clip I put on the timeline needs to be rendered in order to view.

Any help would be amazing. Thanks!

So I got my dailies back from the lab...I had footage xfered to digi beta and then dubbed to mini dv. I was gonna edit from the dv copies and then online...only to find that I didnt get a timecode burn in my mini dv copies! I wasnt able to watch the digi beta copies so I dunno if the timecode is burned in to those at least.

So if the lab refuses to fix it and re-do everything and burn my timecode for free what other options do i have?

Could I rent a digi beta deck and capture from my high res copies is FCP and then be able to forgoe having to online at the end??

Any help would be much appreciated!

That would be great. Are you using their DVcam telecine or thier Spirit? I understand there is a huge difference in price. I am using one then the other. If you can also tell me what the quality is like. I have heard nothing but good from spirits, and hear that PWNY has excelent color timers, but I am just sort of anxious I guess. First shoot on film and I couldn't be more excited. After october, I can truely call myself a film-maker (well I will be closer to my desired profession than I am now.)

 

I suppose as long as it works anything would be better than the DVX-100, HVR-ZU1, HDCAM setups I have used on all my other movies.

I'm using their spirit to transfer to Digi Beta, and then dub copies to Mini DV. Hopefully Ill be able to use on of my editor contacts to get back in their to online my film for free....

My footage is B&W so I wont have much to tell you about their color timers:(

Good luck with your shoot!

I'm going to be picking up my transferred footage at PWNY tomorrow, and then hopefully onlining within a few weeks...so Ill let you know what my experience is with their workflow.

That was a nice little film man...despite a few scratches to the negative the images look pretty nice. Keep it up!

Looking forward to seeing it. The De Palma / Vilmos Zsigmond collaborations are always visually stunning. "Obsession" (1976) is one of my favorites.

the film looked great, and i especially loved the black and white "test" footage in the film...but ugh was the plot, dialogue awful! How could they screw up such an interesting event!

Well the cheapest 35mm camera you can get besides an eyemo is a Konvas. For about 2g's you can get a Konvas 2m with 17ep motor, lenses, mattebox and a couple of mags. Although it's rare, I have seen Arri 35BL's go for under 10k. Maybe look into an Arri 2c package? All this said, can you afford the stock and processing? Or is this just a camera that you and your partner can use on other people's shoots?

Kev

Thanks Kev, Ill look into the Arri 2c....

We've got the money for the feature pretty much in place...but this camera will primarily be used to earn extra cash on other peoples shoots to put towards the film budget and paying rent while we are in production.

If you use your real name you will probably get a lot of good advice. If not, you probably won't get any more replies.

This is the anonymous internet why would posting with my name make any difference. But for the record its Guy Incognito.

So my producing partner and I are looking into buying a 35mm camera....

The plan is to use it to shoot films while we freelance as DP's to help pay it off, and then use it for a feature that is in pre-production stages at this point to be shot in a year or two down the road.

Is it possible to find a decent 35mm rig for 25 grand or less??? Obviously it would have to be a used camera....Also would it be money better spent to just grab a S16 camera?

Photography is stunning, the sound great and the music perfect, but the trailer doesn't tempt me to watch the film, possibly too many things happening in it. The editor, without doubt, has 'bags of talent' and with all that well shot footage should easily put together a more concise tempter. But well done and best of luck with it

Its a nice trailer, but waaaay too overlong and far too revealing. I feel that after seeing it I pretty much know the entire plot of the film and dont need to watch it.

If you just hold back a bit from the audience you should have them eating out of your hand!

For loading my K3, I go to the bathroom (no windows) and crack the door until I can barely see. Once my eyes are used to it I begin the loading process. Haven't had any foging since I started doing that.

ive never have a problem while loading a daylight spool in broad daylight. Sure you flash the ends of the negative, but they can prove usefull at times.

And once due to a rip in the changing bag I had to load and download all my 400' cans in my bathroom. Its not completely light safe with the door closed but there were no negative effects at all!

Camera Features: If you want the amount of features like one of my Nizo's in 16mm, get ready to shell out some big money... single frame, intervolometer, disolves, time exposure... shutterless to 45 degree shutter, frame rates 1fpm to 54 fps. When you mix all this with portability and compactness, the creative element just can't be matched by 16mm.

that is pretty sweet...I just completed a s16 short on an SR which pretty much bankrupter me. I think the spec commercial Ill be shooting in a couple of months will be on super 8. How much did that Nizo run you?

Last I checked Kodak sells 100 ft. of Vision 16mm for $36

But my comment is not meant to get us off track here.

Another reason (#3) I like super8 over 16mm is the quickness in setting up a shot.

Run and gun seems easier.

I went and bought my film stock at Kodak on 31st street in NYC a couple of weeks ago and Im positive that the 100ft roll was far cheaper than that. You can also scam them into thinking that you are a college student and get a 30% discount!!!

Super 8 run and gun is easier...but easier does not always make a better film!

With S16mm you have much more resolution, and much better lenses to shoot on. I love the look of Super 8...but it has its uses and limits.

Plus recording live sound with super 8 is a bit of a pain compared to the quieter 16mm cameras.

Also, Super 8 has the cheapest per-roll price for beautiful Kodak Vision2 neg stocks.

(Per-roll price directly impacts a format's accesibility for new filmmakers -- moreso than per-foot or per-minute prices.)

this is also misleading considering the size of a super 8 cartridge. Last time I bought it was roughly 14 bucks for a 50 ft cartridge of vision two neg. To buy a 100ft roll of 16mm vision two its about 19 bucks. So your not really saving any cash by virtue of shooting super 8.

I borrowed a Sony PD 150 off a friend to digitize some footage.

 

My computer never seemed to sense the camera there, so I could not use it to digitize. I returned the camera to the person (good friend of a good friend). Now he cannot read the camera from his computer.

 

He took it in for repair, and was told a power spike fried the particular part of the camera.

Could it have been me, am I liable since I was never able to see the camera on my computer or could my PC have fried the camera circuit?

 

History; I have never previously and since that date had problems with other cameras (only last week I used a Panasonic to digitize), nor have I had problems with my USB stick. Against me, I do not have a surge protection board on my computer. Another friend of mine had problems with his portable hard drive.

 

I am inept with computer technology, being involved on an internet forum is novel to me. What would people suggest is the appropriate or just course of action?

Firewire's get fried all the time it seems....it likely could have been your computer, but it just as easily could have been his. I'dmaybe pay half for the repairs....it cant cost that much anyway I would think.