Steve McBride

You can get really good package deals off of eBay with extra 6hr. batteries and wide angle lenses for around $1,500-2,000. You'll eventually save money when you don't have to buy the mixer and have the center of gravity of the camera screwed around with making it easier to handhold.

I used GL1's for classes and I could of sworn it did have manual audio controls as well as an audio monitor on the LCD. Check the manual to make sure it does, you probably have to be in complete manual mode in order to access it. If it doesn't, you'll need a mixer. Any kind will do if you have a mic that has XLR connections. You'll have to output to analog (3.5mm) with a XLR to 3.5mm adapter since the GL1 doesn't have XLR inputs (unless you get the attachment that adds them). Here's a decent low budget mixer that has the audio levels right on it: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/4221...ield_Mixer.html. And I know for a fact that the GL1 has Zebra striping, you can turn it on as well as set the Zebra level in the Camera Setup menu. If you want another camera though, and with what you're going to be shooting, go for a Panasonic DVX-100, lightweight when used in handheld, has a large LCD as well as two Phantom powered XLR inputs right on it.

As someone who is still in film school, in my opinion I wouldn't do a project like this right now. The story sounds great, very imaginative, definitely has the 2001 mojo in it, but with your experience (no offense) and equipment along with budget, you will most likely not be able to get a final product that seems realistic enough to be believable. Definitely keep this idea in your back pocket and continue to develop it as you work on other projects and meet people who are more experienced and can help you in the future with this project. This would be a perfect kind of project for your thesis as it would be very technical and would have to be pre-produced amazingly as well as have amazing camera, lighting, and grip crew to make it work, all of these things you will get as you continue through with school. If I were you, take what you know now, and try to do a smaller drama that is more dialogue based instead of visual effects based and put all you can into that. Use it as a learning experience (this is what school is for!) and continue to do projects that are increasingly more difficult to produce until you have enough experience as well as resources to be able to pull off this dream project. This is just coming from another student. I've never attempted something so visual effects based, I'm more drawn to drama and emotion, so take what you will from what I've said. Good luck!

Great job, the editing was perfect with the composition and music (great choice by the way). The one thing that I would think about is using the two nude shots. While they're great shots, some people don't like seeing that kind of thing. Other than that it was great.

Yeah. The headphones I have, DT-770, get mixed reviews all over the place. But I just love them.

When your doing your equalization, use your two levels meters on the right side of the timeline (standard workspace Ctrl + U). Also, look into getting a nice set of headphones. I use a pair of Beyerdynamic headphones and I love them. I've used some sets that get very annoying and uncomfortable after 30 minutes to an hour of working with them on, but with the Beyerdynamic headphones I can go hours and I'm still comfortable :) .

Definitely sounds like it's going to be interesting and fun. Can't wait to see some stills.

I'm loving the flares you have in the grabs. Any information on your lighting?

Make sure that you connect and turn your camera to VCR before you open up FCP. If you open up FCP and then turn on the camera, FCP will not recognize it.

File > Export > Using QuickTime Conversion Not QuickTime Movie.

What Ross said. If all your audio elements are on separate tracks then just send it to Soundtrack Pro which comes with FCP and you can mix for surround sound.

You could also see if a local advertising studio could output it to Beta SP or whatever format for you.

Definitely not bad for a first film, but I found it very hard to watch the whole thing. I was very interested in it up until the dialogue started. When you're writing, do not spell everything out. You seemed to do that the whole time, you had the main character actually saying what's going on in her head. Your actor should be doing that through their performance. You seemed almost scared on keeping the camera locked and it often effected the framing and composition of the image. This made it very hard to focus on the action that was going on and was even confusing at a couple of points. Some of the cuts were very iffy. Some shots that lasted only a split second seemed very out of place since the vast majority of the film was longer shots so when a shorter one jumped in it sets you off a lot. The biggest thing for me though was the sound. The music was at a decent level, but the dialogue was very low and very inconsistent throughout the video. The mixing was also off when you had more ambient noise like when she was getting off the bike you could hear the bike's chain very clearly even though you could barely hear the dialogue that was there a few moments ago. The cutting of the levels when actions spanned multiple shots (coffee) was also off which made it very awkward to listen to. On your next project, definitely cut the dialogue down which will in turn cut down on time, this piece was very long for such a simple story. Don't be afraid to move the camera around. When you're finally done with your editing, run a normalizing filter through your audio and have it peak around -10 to -12dB which is where your dialogue should be with the music just below that and ambient around -6dB.

Batteries loose power faster when they're cold. Put them in a jacket pocket (winter jacket, big and puffy) and throw some hand warmers in with it. The hand warmers will keep the batteries warm and you can put your hands in your pockets also and use the hand warmers to... well, to keep your hands warm. Make sure you have good gloves that are easy to take on and off because you'll want to wear them when you're not doing much, but I would definitely go barehanded when doing your actual job (since precision is needed). Oh... Get some pairs of wool socks :P .

Without CG, double exposure would be the only way that I can think of. If you can, do a test shoot of the scene. If it works, use it. If it doesn't, try something else.

Why...

You're not looking at it the right way. A corky, funny, CUTE chick starts making small talk with a famous person who has randomly appeared in her town. Her own personality clicks with the now alive part of Zach Braff's character (the part that was put asleep by the meds) and through her he is able to start to really live his life. It would be odd if Zach Braff's character was completely normal to continue to hang out with Natalie Portman's character, but he isn't normal. He needs her in order to figure out who he truly is, the person inside of him that couldn't be brought out when he was away because of the meds that his father had kept him on since he was very young but had decided not to bring with him on his trip back to his hometown. If you still don't get it, put yourself in it. You are a complete zombie, you don't do what you want to do and you don't enjoy anything that you do. All of a sudden, this person appears to you and you feel different, you feel good. Wouldn't you want to stay around that person?

Use the search feature, this has been discussed umpteen times here. Your best bet is the Panasonic DVX-100.

@Alessandro Go watch the movie Brick, let me know what you think about it.

They're a scam. http://www.resellerratings.com/store/1_Way_Photo

Go to your local film offices and talk with some people there. That's where you're going to get the best advice for a small budgeted film. Also, it's much easier to get funding for a short than it is a feature, since it's a lot shorter of a time to be invested in and the final outcome will come sooner. That's what you need when you're building your career. Another way, probably not as good, would be to post on Craigslist and see if there are any producers that are looking for projects. Get credits from them as well as previous employer contacts (basically a resume). You're probably going to get a lot of people who don't know what producing is but just want to "try" it or just want to screw you over (sad but true). I got very lucky as my producer is a professor of mine for the class The Movie Business, which ironically is about being a producer for a feature film. I called her and asked if I could meet with her before class one day and show her a treatment for a script I was working on and we met and she loved the idea and saw that I was taking the right steps by myself so far and taking it in a professional manner, so she said that she'd produce it :) . Being professional is the #1 thing you need to do. You don't have to go suit and tie to meetings, just dress nice. If you don't have real experience in the field, don't lie about it, it WILL come back to bite you in the ass. Try to do a little pre-production before you meet with the prospective producer. Check out locations, check out rental houses, start contacting possible DPs and such. This is a lot of the work that the producer takes care of along with you, and if you already start some of it, they will see that you're serious about it and that some of their work is already done so they won't have as much to do. Oh, finally... About all the legal stuff, your producer is the one to handle all of that (if I'm not mistaken), they will get you all your liability insurance and get everything for you (if you have a good producer). The kinds of legal matters you're going to be looking into is your contracts with staff, location releases, general liability insurance coverage, and others. That's really all I can think of now. I'll definitely let you know if I think of anything else. - Steve

Get a producer. I got a producer for a short I'm doing soon as writer/ director. She's trying to get me $40k from investors. Don't go to just one investor, look for multiple producers to give you smaller amounts. If you say you can't do it, I'm a 20 year old second year college student. I didn't have a script, just a treatment for a script.

Without knowing where you got it from it's hard to tell. I just hope it wasn't from bestpricedcameras.com.

Reels are meant to showcase your BEST work. That is to say in a scene, you have many shots but usually your close-ups or dialogue isn't going to be as interesting as a long tracking or establishing shot. For a reel you want to put in your best shots that have the most meaning to them as well as the highest level of technical work within it. You also want to keep it short, don't let it drag on. Keep it around 3-4 minutes. Again, reels are to showcase your best work. A portfolio is to showcase your work in their entirety.

Right now I'm considering NYFA as my next school after CC here. I'm going down for their open house in November to check it out, can't wait! I just looked at LAFS and it looks good, but it doesn't give you as much information about the program as NYFA. It is also cheaper than NYFA. For the two-year program at NYFA it's $17k a semester and for an A.S. at LAFS it's $42k. I'll post back again after I go to the open house and let you know what I thought.