George Ebersole

I was wondering if anybody here worked on this German made for TV film. It's exceptionally well shot for a TV movie. It's somewhat like a German "Raiders of the Lost Ark".

Personally I really didn't see any shots in this film that had any awe-inspiring artistic quality. Cinematically, other than the 3D, it's a pretty basic film. The 3D technology is interesting (though old, and probably outdated in my view), but it really didn't add any kind of emotional weight to the film. All the shots in and of themselves were fairly basic (though good).

You haven't pissed me off :). To me the all-white-male crew is an oddity. We had a couple of homosexual gaffers, some lesbian grips, women directors, ethnic grips and PAs of all races, and the Jewish guys I worked with were in lower management; Stage Managers, one of my positions. But again, most of my work was in San Francisco. Yet Asians of all stripes, hispanics, blacks and what not, were fairly well represented. A lot of it's demographics; i.e. there were more Asian and other different social/ethnic groups in SF, where there were more black crew members and film makers across the bay in Oakland. The local crews I worked with and on were always professional. The only ego trips and discrimination I ever witnessed were from the LA crews. No joke. A crew from Japan or New York or Canada, or anywhere else, never gave any problems to any of the facilities I worked for, and were fairly diverse in crew makeup for what they were. But a Los Angeles crew (not always, but more often than not) really threw their weight around, and if there was a black on the crew, then he was there because his family had money. The only time tools were stolen from the stage was when an LA crew came through. The only time tempers flared on a set were mostly with crews out of LA. I know that's not true of all Los Angeles personnel. Reading the posts here confirms that. But, it may also be that there's just a certain social structure in certain parts of the globe in the local media-industries that's just been there from the start. Example; how many Pakistani born crew members are able to work in Bollywood? Probably few to nil. Or, as many Japanese Americans or Black Americans direct movies down in Los Angeles. Just my take. Hope I didn't offend anyone.

So, an establishing shot?

I'll see what I can do for pictures.

Ironically enough I had a videographer hire me as a camera assistant and PA because at the time I was driving a new car. Go figure. *EDIT* Heh, even more ironic, I used to work directly under one of the founding members of Apple, and also used to videotape Steve Wozniaks board of directors every now and then. Maybe I should've put that on my application :P

Interesting observation. What kind of shot do you think benefits fro 3D?

No doubt it is discrimination. But that's just the nature of the beast. Case in point, a couple months back I tried to get a job at one of the Apple stores in lieu of the director I was interning for not coming through with a much hinted at salary position. I've used Apple computers since the very first Apple. Heck, as a kid I was playing with teletype computers. My middle school was the first to offer any kind of classes for kids on how to use computers. I've been to the Apple learning center many a time for many a shoot years back, and saw and toyed with the first Apple Macintosh to roll off the assembly line (now under glass as an exhibit). My list of Apple credentials and computer knowledge is respectable. But you know what? For all that, I did not get hired. The reason I didn't was because I didn't "look geeky" enough. An acquaintance called it "casting". To me its no different than not hiring me as if I were black, asian, Jewish, a lesbian or whatever. But what am I going to do about it? I went and got two other jobs. In my freelancing heyday I worked on shoots with people of all shades and origins. This includes quite a few female personnel in key positions; directors, art directors, camera ops and everything else. Having said that I should say that that was 15 years ago, and I've been told the Bay Area is a little different from LA in this regard. How true that is I don't know, as I've never worked for a major Los Angeles studio. I will however say that every crew I've seen come out of LA tends to be mostly white males. Why that is I don't know, but will refer to previous post as a possible explanation. Most of the cinema student body at USC is probably wealthy white males, and so that probably resonates within the industry.

I think largely because interest in the creation of media doesn't cut across all demographics equally. I also think social circles, regardless of who they are (religious, social or ethnic) dictate who gets hired for whatever job. Not in the form of direct discrimination (although that does happen), but more or less in what your social circle values or exposes itself to.

I think it's an interesting tool, but I didn't feel emotionally impacted by the new effect. I thought it was unique, and it seemed to visually add to the experience, but I didn't notice a shot in the film that to me said "this needed to be in 3D". I'm just curious what kind of shot would benefit from a "third dimension".

Interesting. What would be a good use of 3D for a dramatic effect?

Hope this doesn't sound too nutty, but I think that's probably the future of movies. Artist/futurist Syd Mead whose worked for Cameron on a number of his projects, has several books out of his conceptual art. In one painting he shows a cocktail party of some future society where the guests are actually sitting within the film being projected. I'm sure one of the more technical savvy here can say how far off something like that is.

As I posted on my Avatar thread in the General Discussion forum, this film didn't make me want to see more 3D movies. The film student manning the ticket counter talked me into buying a ticket for the 3D showing, stating "Cameron waited 15 years for the technology to catch up to his vision!" I shrugged my shoulders and bought a ticket for the 3D showing. I shrugged at it. The 3D system is no different than what I experienced at Disneyland some 20+ years before with Michael Jackson's 20 minute "Captain EO" film. And as interesting as I found that film, it didn't make me want to see more 3D films. Needless to say I was somewhat let down, but I did enjoy the film for what it was. That makes sense. I think there's a realization that the theatre experience might be needing some new legs to stand on. Getting back to the technology though, some 10 to 12 years before Disneyland's "Captain EO" film, there were a couple of local Bay Area guys down in Sunnyvale who were pioneering a 3D system for NTSC standard television. You could actually see the 3D effect somewhat on the news program that broke the story. I always thought that system would have taken off by now, and am disappointed that the 3D system used for Avatar is in fact and essence the same twenty year old technology used at Disneyland. I'm not sure hard drama benefits from 3D. This may sound obvious, but I have a hard time picturing something like Truffaut's "Day for Night" in 3D, or Kurosawa's "RAN" or any other high drama film. The computer/video game industry on the other hand, has been looking for a 3D solution for a long time.

VR No. 662437 2C No. 11389 hi-hat mount one magazine battery cable 50mm lens matte box with arm carrying case

I've had this camera for about 16 years. Rarely used. Make me an offer.

Years back I saw "Captain EO" at Disneyland using the same 3D technology. Whether you like Michael Jackson or not the 3D effect was fairly interesting. But it didn't wow me to the point that I wanted to see more films in 3D. I don't think either drama or story benefit from it too much. Imagine "Citizen Kane" in 3D, or "The Godfather" in 3D. Imagine a Kurosawa film in 3D. Again, I think 3D is interesting, but this film, for all its visuals to dazzle folks it just didn't make me want to see more 3D.

You're way ahead of the game. Years back I bought a Canon L1 thinking Hi-8 was going to be the new format. The thing rented a handful of times, but two writers' strikes, the Bush Sr. economy, some personal problems and what not, and it just wasn't clicking. These last couple of years as I've tried to get back into the industry (banging my head against the wall) I nearly lost my home. Not just any home, but a home belonging to the family that I was given charge to take care of. I saved it by working two jobs, but they weren't media jobs. I had no choice in the matter. Work another job, save money from that and invest it in whatever project you want to do. It's what I've been relegated to. I don't like it, but I've got no choice.

I saw "Avatar" yesterday, and was wondering what the pros on this board thought of the 3D effects. Good? Bad? Gimmicky? An evolution? Thoughts?

I met Eddie Keen a couple months ago, but lost his contact info. He's a videographer out of Sausalito in the SF Bay Area, but he's not listed in the Reel Directory, and he doesn't appear to have an account here. Any info would be appreciated.

Fantastic, that's kind of the reply I was hoping for. I've been trying to get a couple projects off the ground, but both keep running into roadblocks, so I thought I'd do a study in motion using HD time lapse. Before digital an SFX artist I worked for told me about some of the ILM guys engineering Nikon and Pentax cameras for go-motion and time lapse kind of stuff. Kind of like what you're doing, though the resolution they got was no where near what you're getting here. Thanks for sharing.

Tom; have you ever used a HD camera shooting at normal speed, then manipulating the stuff in post to simulate time lapse? What's been your experience with that kind of route?

Hope this doesn't come across as a spam, because I asked it on another section of the BBS, but it's probably more appropriate here; I'm guessing none of you ever used the time-lapse function in Final Cut. Is that right?

Can anyone post a link of some footage manipulated by Final Cut's time-lapse function? I'd be greatly appreciative. Thanks much.

Thanks. I went to Apple's website, and apparently there is some kind of special function for Time Lapse. Not sure what it looks like though.

None of you people know anything about editing time lapse footage in Final Cut Pro?