Rob Belics

First things first. Make something, anything, any length and see if that's any good.

28 Days was very heavily processed afterwards with money spent in the hundreds of thousands to fix the images.

I've looked at ads from both sides now From near and far and still somehow It's ads illusions I recall I really don't click on ads at all.

Snaking between lanes isn't legal, is it?

Either could happen. It depends on whether they think you could handle the scale of the project and if they wish to have their own people. But the people with the money have all the leverage.

This doesn't sound like a rewrite request. This sounds like you had a friend at Pixar reviewing what you wrote. If Pixar requested a rewrite you would have been paid for it including the option. I say that because all three of the notes he gave you back are reasons why scripts are immediately thrown in the trash. So is this a buddy of yours or a friend of a friend?

Thinking of the "drag and drop" thing. The problem with PCs is consistency. Generally they are but if you drag and drop from the desktop to an explorer window it might copy it rather than move it. There is a setting (somewhere) that will change that behavior to deleting the original. Or you can hold down a key while dragging to perform a cut and paste. But you may not know which it will do from pc to pc. Same with applications. One program may have a setting under one drop down menu while another has it somewhere else. Then there are settings themselves. That's where wearing the hat of the aforementioned "systems engineer" has to come into play. The reason more programs run on the PC is Microsofts business model. Microsoft whole reason for being is based on selling operating systems. So the tools and information for creating programs are free or cheap. You can get all the compilers and debuggers for free directly from MS although, yes, you can also buy them. The Mac (now, I haven't looked into this in years) is more difficult and restricted on how things are done and that's about all I can say. Nowadays though the PC is so much more popular that, of course, most software companies develop for the PC.

Aliasing is caused by undersampling a scene. If you had an edge of an object, say a table edge, and your camera scanned that edge but the sensors didn't line up precisely with it then you would sample above and below the edge itself. When displayed on a screen that edge would either have to be "quantized" into a single point using information scanned above and below the edge, or, if your display matched the camera pixel for pixel, then at some point you would have to display the pixel above, then below, the actual edge which would cause "staircasing" because an "alias" for the actual point is created. I should say that every scene is undersampled. There is no perfect sensor that can capture every point of light.

I was told by an actor friend Oakwood apartments is a great place but I don't know if that's because it's geared toward actors or not. The price, iirc, was $1200/month with lots of services...or was it $2000?

I don't believe that. Video tape is dead.

Or, as we call it in the US, soccer. So its our national championship soccer game.

My wife uses Quickbooks all the time for her restaurant business. She just transfers certain files to her accountant and he's happy but he also uses Quickbooks. I'm wondering what the problem is? I can ask her how to solve the problem if you wish to discuss it or email me. (I'm not talking to her right now. I'm really pissed off.)

Got this letter today: "After 30 years at our present location we have lost our lease and find that we are unable to conveniently locate to another facility." It goes on to say they are ceasing operations within 30 days. They also say you can get film processed at Photoworks. For those who don't know, RGB Color Labs sold and processed motion picture film in canisters for use in still cameras.

Maybe you guys saw the animation "Bambi meets Godzilla"?

Nah, Phil. You don't need the pliers.

I agree that every artist wants others to love their work. I would think they would also hope to be loved indirectly because of their work. That might be true no matter what work you do. Unforuntately, I find too often those who wish to make a movie only for the attention and not for the art. In most cases, I think, those are the movies that are never made. In my case I went through periods of liking the special attention until I was working steadily; then it became no big deal, though I was a good name dropper. :rolleyes: When I got out of the film/tv biz and worked for Silicon Graphics, I liked to remind people that SGI did efx for Jurassic Park, as if it made me more wonderful in their eyes. At least I would admit I had nothing to do with it. I once worked with a computer programmer who's main pre-occupation was with religion. You could tell when you talked to him that he didn't breath code but would talk about which church he visited the Sunday before. I was a hardware guy then and could be called a "David Mullen for electronics". I had all the magazines and articles and could quote history and tell you all the ins and outs of the latest chips. I loved what I was doing but also loved when others deferred to my opinion on things. There I think is the difference. Striving to do what you do and being loved for it. Hmm. But what about the poor guy who is different. Doesn't follow the company line, the status quo? Strives for what he loves but is ridiculed for it and unloved?

Check out your states film commission. Write or call all the producers/directors/dps, etc. on their list, assuming there is one. Let them know your skills and availability. That's how some people I know get work in my area.

2 out of 3 ain't bad, eh? They may have just run out of money and I don't know what you could do about it. I was involved in this once where I was the payor and ran into a bill for $5K I wasn't expecting. I had to tell one group of people I was going to be late paying them by about a month because of that. I actually wound up paying them 2 weeks later but, hey, I'm just that kinda guy. :rolleyes: Since they paid for two of the weeks you'd almost have hope they'll come through.

Someone here once questioned why he hears that statement so often. I'm sure many of you have heard it here or on other boards, or even at a gathering of friends. Many of us say we got into this business because we loved photography, or art, or acting, or sound ... but how many of us want to "make a movie" because we like the attention? Look at me! Look at me! Look at me! I think there are two versions of that. One is the person who likes to be different; would never hold an office job. The other is the guy who wants the attention, maybe to be loved and adored because he feels ignored or neglected. I can't help but think the latter is the one who posts on dv message boards saying "I wanna make a movie" and then wants to know how to make Gone with the Wind using an XL1, only better.

If you want to stay in St. Louis check out Webster University. Washington U. also has a film course but not as hands on as Webster from what I was told. It also leans more toward film criticism than production. There are one or two in Chicago that are good but I don't recall the names off the top of my head. Check out the St. Louis Filmwire if you want to crew up on local productions. I could be bitch slapped for saying this but I do not consider most of the productions there "elite" but you can get a taste of some amateur productions that sometimes approach professionalism. Look at the Missouri Film Commission's website and contact some of the producers to see if you can PA or just come and watch during a shoot. If you want to go to Kansas City, they have more productions there for some reason. Yes, I am in St. Louis.

I read an interesting article not long ago that stated what should be obvious. People can now get digital projection at home so theatres must provide something they can't get at home. The author stated that digital projection is NOT it until they can project a much better picture than they can get at home on a wide screen. If the picture is of a lesser quality than they can get on a wide screen tv at home then what's the point of going out? I think the point of going out is a social one; getting out of the house for a night with a date or friends but I think the point is significant. A thought just crossed my mind. What if some of the big theme parks, like Universal and Disney, started providing less realistic displays and events. Would people still line up to go to them at the current prices?

Video tape is dead.

But you've got to pay for that software use don't you?

Without knowing the exact details, for me it would be the easy part. Better accuracy could be obtained using contrasting slits, like barcode, and scanning it with the led but I don't know that would be necessary.

You should have sent 101 cause you didn't ask me! :P I don't understand why those guys couldn't help. I probably could have but motors are not my thing even though I once designed vending machines. Go figure. Worked in television, hired by Pixar, worked on vending machines.