Mike Washlesky

Hey man, thanks for taking the time to peep em out.. yes, TONS of blood. we actually used a commercial pool pump. First shot of the day was the blood spurt and it just happened to hit me directly in the crotch. Very sticky day to say the least.

If anyone is interested in viewing 2 shorts I DP'd and operated on you can see 'em here. Both were selected in Sundance in 2005 and 2006. "Momma's Boy" has recently been expanded into a feature that we shot in March, same characters and story. "Oh My God" is a bloody mess that we shot using the DVX100 and the Anamorphic adapter. Both were blown up to 35mm for the Sundance screenings, which obviously on a large screen side by side to films shot on 35 cant compete, but there you are. Enjoy. Or dont. http://www.atom.com/funny_videos/oh_my_god/ http://www.atom.com/funny_videos/mommas_boy/

Wow, thats really strange. Try this: http://www.thinkfilmcompany.com/ Go to DVD's and on page 2 you can see the film synopsis. In the right corner you can view the trailer.

Yeah, sure here's the trailer: http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi2945319193/ I have DirecTV and not sure what other cable services carry SciFi. It is available on Netflix and at select Blockbusters however. -MW

It was independently produced here in Austin, then bought by ThinkFilm. Released first on DVD 1:78, then premiered on SciFi in March. Please check it out and let me know what you think.

Well, the baby foot thing was pretty funny..

A film I DP'd and operated on is showing again this Sunday at 4PM (central) on the SciFi network. Its called the Insatiable and we shot it on the VariCam in 2005 anamorphically using Canon's ACV235 CInemascope adapter. Although in ThinkFilm's infinite wisdom, for some reason they cropped it to 1:78, why? I really have NO IDEA. So, sometimes the frames will seem really weird with faces on extreme sides of the frame. This is not how its supposed to be, but, I would like feedback on lighting, movement, or anything else you think sucks. Danka..

Yeah but unfortunately you cant use a canon stabilized lens on an HVX200.

Thats a valid point. But if you are going so fast as to have to fight the wind, you might want to slow down. 40 MPH+ would be a problem, but I would use the glidecam, at say 20 MPH, and shoot slow mo since you are using the HVX200 so you can hold longer on the shots that are decent in the edit. plus if you do it in the early morning when the water is calmer, backlit with the rising sun at 60fps, it should look pretty kickin. Show us some footage with what ever you end up going with. Curious to see how it will turn out on a small budget..

How about renting a Glidecam rig? http://www.glidecam.com/ At the very least it will help dampen the bounce from being on waves.

Thats pretty cool man. If you get any images outta that thing, post em for us to see. I actually like the smeared archaic look of Pixel Vision cameras for nostalgic effect at the very least. Curious how this will look.

Well I have an Etch-A-Sketch and will do it for only $500.00 a day. Call me. Lets chat.

The D40 is great, and considerably cheaper.

Glad you got it working. That can be soooo frustrating sometimes..

Wow, didnt realize it was a problem with Maxtor's as well. It is pretty annoying to have to use such work arounds.

Skip the adapters. Simply punch in on a longer focal length for shallow DoF. You will have to be further back from the talent, but it looks pretty good on the XL1. Done it a million times and you wont be loosing light/quality especially on such an old camera.

Do you have an external hard drive connected? I have run into this problem frequently with specifically Canon cameras and LaCie hard drives. For some reason, when a LaCie ( I have the big Disk Extreme), FCP wont recognize the camera and you cant import video. Both Apple, Canon, and LaCie blame each other for this problem. There's no way to fix that I know of, except to import to a different make drive, or import to your internal hard drive then migrate to the external. I know its a pain, but its the only way we've worked around it on a doc I have been working on for the past year. The Director contacted all parties, and received really no help at all. Just finger pointing.

Or how about a fisheye?? Wow. really vague info from that director.

Making films is extremely hard work. Most of the public see it as a glamorous profession, and sometimes it can be, but most of all, its gritty, stressful work. But satisfying in the end. Look at it this way, when you are on day 2 of a 30 day shoot and its stretching into hour 18 and tempers are short, just remember all your other friends who are working at an insurance company, or in the home mortgage industry. That alone gets me through the tough days.

Of course its a matter of personal taste for everyone. I too didnt like History of Violence. I cant put my finger on why. It wasnt the cinematography for sure, as thats obviously the first thing that I critique. The opening shot I love, but it felt flat emotionally like most other Croneneberg films. The characters always feel so distant and removed from the events around them. I liked Eastern Promises and never noticed the cinematography. Which generally means I didnt find anything annoying or too pretentious, but also that it wasnt really noticed. It was subtle, which for me allows me to focus on character and less on visual style. The last shot in Eastern Promises I did like however and is what I remember from the film.

Eastern Promises is fantastic. Viggo's character represents a new type of good guy/bad guy amalgam similar to Clint Eastwood in the spag westerns. He's the new high plains drifter for this era and Cronenberg shot a great film. The scene in the bathhouse alone is equal in impact and suspense as the dinner scene in The Godfather where Micheal Corleone assasinates the police commisioner. They are simple, yet brutally effective. I do hate the yellow kicker ala CSI Las Vegas at times. Sometimes it works fine. Just curious why its yellow and not green or purple, or paisley. Why is it always yellow?

Take your $17K and make a film. Fastest way to learn it all and by definition is hands-on.

The Panasonic is fantastic. Just got off a 6.5 week shoot using this monitor. The fan motor can sometimes get noisy and your sound guy might whine, but you can easily turn off the fan motor. Plus its big enough for comping but also not so large its annoying carrying around. Great monitor. Look into it.

AKA breaking the axis, off axis

The reason it is being used more often it seems, is that the audience is now conditioned to the look and editing style of reality TV unfortunately. But, that allows for greater freedom in shooting off the line and not confusing the audience. Watch some shows like Dexter and they have shots of 2 people across a desk having a conversation where one subject is in a WS in the lower right frame looking frame right with tons of negative space filling the rest of the frame. They then cut to a normal OTS clean on the person across the desk, and they are looking frame left in a CU. By the "rules" this shouldnt work by convention, but it does. Our eyes as an audience have changed it seems.