Steve McBride

Download the program MPEG Streamclip. Whenever I have a video format that doesn't cooperate for some reason, I open it with Streamclip and export it as another file type and it works fine. I've never tried a M4V though.

I have a '96 Subaru Legacy that I got three years ago and I've carried around a full camera in a huge Pelican case along with a fluid head tripod on sticks as well as a few lights and misc. grip equipment with enough left over room to have another person ride shotgun (and even another person if they were small enough in the back). I didn't notice when I bought it, but the trunk size in it is very spacious, though the only thing that is back there now are my cleats and a few sleds for when me and my friends get bored, haha. But going with what David said, I would see a hatchback working better if your going to be carrying some grip equipment. Definitely go for a hybrid also!

I don't know what OS that program is for, but I use Hand Brake on my Mac and I know it's available for Windows and Linux also. It is an amazing program, check it out at www.handbrake.fr.

I'm shooting a short on Wednesday and one of the locations is a library where two of the main characters will be having dialogue and playing chess. I'm going to be shooting at a local college's library and the lighting in it is already decent. Check the pictures below to see the current lighting in the room. I don't know if I will be able to turn lights off, though I wouldn't want to because I don't have enough lights to light the entire space. What I'm thinking is just have a 500w fresnel bounced off of some foam core as the key and throw a bit of back light to set the actors apart from the set. Should this be enough for the location? (Note: when I saved it as a JPG, the levels got blown out) This corner of the library has East facing windows, and there is an exact same area on the other side with West facing windows, I'm not sure yet if the scene will be shot morning or afternoon (probably morning) so I'm guessing it would be better to shoot with the West facing windows so I don't get the harsh sunlight that comes in through the windows even with the blinds closed?

Thanks a lot for all of the input. I've gone though it a couple times and I'm really excited for Wednesday when the shoot is.

Not really, I guess I suck at phrasing my questions, haha. I've never shot at a ratio greater than 1.85, so I've never done something as wide as 2.35, so I'm wondering what I'll have to change with my framing like head room, nose room, rule of thirds, etc.

I guess I wasn't very clear. I'm asking what do I need to change about framing when shooting for the final 2.35 output from the recorded 16x9 footage that will be letterboxed to 2.35?

I'm going to be shooting a short next week on a JVC GY-HD200 and while playing around it with yesterday, I found it's overlay's and it has an overlay for 2.35, and I was wondering if I was to shoot in 2.35 and just letterbox the 16x9 to fit that, would I need to really change how I would normally frame my 16x9? The main reason why I want to shoot it 2.35 is that it is completely (almost) 100% dialogue based, and I think that with OTS's, the narrower ratio will give a bit more intimacy. But what I'm worried about is my wide/ establishing shots and how to set everything up. This is a student project that I wrote and will be just about everything else in it except for AD and sound (I'll have the help of a grip and maybe an AC, but I doubt I'd need one). The locations are in a library with no one but two characters in it, and the other is a crowded cafe midday with another conversation between two characters. I'll post more info probably in the In Production as I get stills and such from scouting as well as some test footage since I've never really shot on the GY-HD200 except for the small tests I did yesterday. Thanks in advance!

I think as long as the voltage is the same, you should be fine as long as it isn't too much over, but I'd wait for one of the pros to answer.

Look into getting any 1/3" sized sensor, if you can pay for a 3x 1/3" camcorder that is obviously better since you have a sensor for each R, G, and B inputs versus one doing all three. With this size sensor you're best bet will come from a MiniDV camcorder for a cheap price. I'd look into the Canon GL series or if you want to spend a bit more money definitely go for the Panasonic DVX-100b. I personally love FCS2 with everything it has, but in reality the only thing that it has other than the previous version of FCP is Color and some more filters and effects for each application. You can do basic color correction within FCP so you wouldn't even need Color if you're not working with hi-res video (which if you're doing this for web, you probably won't). For output to web, look into Vimeo.com for uploading and such. It offers "high-def" which is better than your average video uploader. Also make sure you export with the h264 codec on your video.

The number of scenes completely relies on the story and it's locations and elements. A better way to look at a number for scripts is to do page length. In general feature scripts run between 85-130 pages. Shorts run anywhere below that really (5-25 is where you'd want to keep it for a short, you don't want it going too long). Within the script you have your scenes which can be one three-line action block long before a new scene introduced, or it can go on for upwards of 5 pages (which will happen often in dialogue sections). But the actual number of scenes that go into a script, again is completely dependent on the story and it's locations as well as the length of the script its self.

You've only watched it once? I've already watched almost the whole marathon! Haha, gotta love it. Merry Christmas to all, hope Santa brought you some fun new toys. I finally got copies of 2001, Singin' In The Rain and Casablanca so I'm happy :) .

It's really nice. Summer to Fall is definitely the best since you have all the warm colors working around you, but Winter to Spring isn't too bad either.

Thanks for the interests, I'll definitely talk to my producer about it. I'd like to get someone that I kinda know rather than someone I don't (as well as closer to my own age). We're looking to shoot early spring because the story takes place over a long period of time so we're going to hopefully use the changing exterior to help with the progression of time.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/4978...tml#accessories Under "Accessories" look for "Mattebox."

A professor of mine who is an actual producer picked up a script of mine that I will be writer/ director for is starting to get rolling. We're almost done with development and hopefully after the holidays (and when my producer gets back from Sundance) we'll be able to get into pre-production. I was amazed when she picked up this script and said that we'd have a budget of around $40k to shoot a 20 page short with being that I'm only a 20 year old college student who has never done a production like this before, but I can't wait! We're going to be shooting on S16mm film but we haven't found a DP for it yet. We may be getting Chris Hart from Kodak to DP it or another local DP who I was dolly grip for on a production a couple of weekends ago. Fall semester is over now so I'm doing a quick pre-production for a short that I'll be producer, director of photography and editor for which will be shot early January.. Obviously this is a student piece with the number of rolls I'm taking part in. This will also be my first production with a higher end HD camcera (hopefully), so I'm really looking forward to that. The writer for a feature that I canceled production on during the summer finished the second draft of the script and so I've begun all the pre-production for that. I'll be producer, director, director of photography and editor for that project. Again, another student project that will probably be shot early to mid summer and unfortunately probably only on SD due to no budget.

Agreed, everything seemed way too cool and because of that the skin tones were completely washed out.

Haha, definitely wasn't what I was expecting. Very clever advertising, and with the new ridiculously sized sensors that they have coming out it will be interesting to see how digital steps up in the next couple of years.

I've never tried to record video to a card, but I know that it's main use is for stills.

Wow, I absolutely love that last grab. Amazing contrast within the car. Looks great!

Get a really high contrasting ball and put it on the end of the pen, shoot your footage, motion track it in AE or whatever other program and get the tracking data, then just put your animation in.

The first version of El Mariachi was done for $7k, but he literally did everything. Then once he finished the first version he went to distributors who then gave him more money to go back and touch it up and make it better. I consider zero budget to be literally spending nothing on a project. You have everyone bring their own gear knowing that they aren't going to be paid for this project and they are fine with that. Maybe the only thing that you pay for is a sheet pizza, some soda and a couple bags of chips to spread around while everyone is taking a break.

I'm going to retract my previous comment. I thought about it and I was completely wrong. I have read lots of summaries by DP's here saying that they talk to the stills photographer about lighting and checking out other aspects. Then comes the whole press and promotion as well as BTS, the stills photographer IS a very vital part of the crew. My apologies Alfeo.

It's just a weird question as the stills photographer isn't a completely vital part in a production. And yes, some DP's will go to their operator to choose what they think would work the best, but it is ultimately up to the DP and the director to choose what works best for the desired feel of that specific shot.

The still photographer works by himself, therefore they get all of the credit. All camera crew including the camera operator, 1st and 2nd AC's, loader, etc. all work according to what the DP says, therefore the DP has complete control over what is being seen through the camera and therefore they get the credit.