Sean Azze

Hand held? I've gotta guess it wasn't a very steady shot. I know the film "Vanilla Sky" used a similiar technique with one of the opening shots in the times square sequence where an operator was on a crane platform and as it lowered to the ground, stepped off and tracked the Tom Cruise character. Of course, he was a steadicam operator so that's why the shot was so smooth. I wouldn't know for sure how they achieved the particular shot in question, but my assumption is either they used cgi techniques to generate a computer image of said house and window and seamlessly cut to a live action shot once inside the house (think of the impossible shots David Fincher does in movies like "Fight Club" and "Panic Room" - craning down a 100 story building, going through keyholes, etc) or they could have maybe used a greenscreen.

Hey guys and gals The new Kanye West video is a throwback to the 70's. Just wanted to know if someone can explain to me how they achieved that look? It's almost uncanny. Is it just the way they process the film, or does it have something to do with the lenses or how they lit it? (I know those cheesy 360 degree handheld moves they do while hes standing at the Grand Canyon are pretty nostalgic - - reminded me of the 16mm stuff in Boogie Nights.) Thanks!

Hey Guys and Gals Sorry for essentially posting the same question as the ones mentioned in the Reference Monitor post, but I could really use a quick answer to see if I can avoid having to fork over $400 to rent an HD monitor from a rental house. So, please, someone tell me - can you use a standard definition tv as a monitor for the HVX200? Specifically, I wanted to use a portable DVD player I have by a company called Mustek that has some av inputs. Thanks

So can you use just a standard def monitor when shooting on the hvx? Is a High def monitor required to just get an image, or more to get what the image will truly look like in post?

Give it to Elswit for Good Luck... B&W hasn't looked that good since Citizen Kane.

Hey Man Amazing stuff. Really loved how you cut it to that Kanye track - has a real light, playful feel to it. Some of the stuff in the bedroom was really dark (at the start of the 2.35 sequence) but that might just be my monitor. Really the only thing I'd recommend is you cut it down - 2 minutes sounds like the way to go. Congrats

Aren't you the same guy that posted "Cinematography is dead"? Why are you guys even bothering with this maniac? Just to leave my two cents before I'm out the door, Brokeback's taking the statuette, hands down.

I think my avatar says it all - Memento was by far the most original film I've seen in the last 5 years. The basic premise is fairly simple and trite - a man wants revenge for the murder of his wife. But the way the film goes in reverse to capture the affliction the main character suffers from was pure genius. I'm fully aware that stories have been told in reverse chronological order before (Jeremy Irons starred in a film some twenty years ago called Betrayal that utilized it), but the way the device is used to allow the audience to vicariously experience the protagonist's disorientation is supremely effective - it's like virtual reality. I'll never forget the first time I saw this film in a theater - I was so wrapped up in following the story. I usually drift off a bit when watching movies, but with this picture I was literally sitting up straight with a supermodel's posture, trying to follow every little detail. I truly adore this movie and think it is like nothing I've ever seen (and yes it was adapted from a short story, but it was written a short time before the making of the film by the director's brother no less, so I don't think it counts as an adaptation).

hmmm...he should have shot it on mini dv. Could've saved himself a bundle :lol:

Where'd you get that from? I've got buddies who wanted to work on it but couldn't because they're all mag loaders lol Saw the trailer and I couldn't get over the amount of grain thats in all the night shots. Really looks like crap if you ask me.

This topic reminds me of an ad I designed for a class back in college a couple of years ago that I won a people's choice award for (meaning it was the best one out of a class of 30 - just to show I'm not bragging). This is what It looked like - The camera tracks right across a timeline. A date scrolled on the timeline comes into frame reading "1800's". A bunny rabbit is sitting just underneath. An announcer's V.O. comes on - "Over a century ago, the Easter bunny chose us as his preferred treat. I bet you've never heard of kids going on a hunt for Easter carrots". We dissolve further down the timeline. The camera tracks right to the date "1950's". The Dr. Seuss book Green Eggs and Ham pops into frame. The announcer continues - "Then we made our first book cover when we starred alongside ham in Dr. Seuss's blockbuster novel Green Eggs and Ham." We dissolve again. Now the camera tracks to the date "1987". We see a cooking pan. A hand enters screen right and cracks an egg into the pan. The announcer reads "We even gave life lessons when we showed you what your brain looks like on drugs." We dissolve to a WS of the entire timeline. A column with an egg sitting atop rises from behind the timeline. We dissolve to a CU of the egg. The announcer finishes by saying "We're eggs. And we've been doing this for a long time." I sent the egg committee a few emails to see if they'd be interested in doing the ad, but the gentleman who responded to my mails kept telling me they already had a campaign in full swing and that they had no way of incorporating an ad that fell outside their strategy (let alone accepting something from a kid who didn't work for an ad agency). Always was kind of bitter I couldn't use it for anything. Well, at least I hope I was able to regale a few people on this board. B)

Give us a name! I think CG still has a ways to go. A lot of the CG sequences in the last Star Wars film looked more like a Pixar film than reality. I think ILM should have focused on making the puppet Yoda more mobile than creating a CG version. But hey, the majority of film audiences aren't as nitpicky as we are. Even I didn't notice most of the little flaws that people had mentioned with King Kong when I watched it (though it did irk me that the Naomi Watts character didn't even get a headache from Kong swinging her around in his palm!)

Buzz? Really? I don't think Sin City's gonna end up on any college curriculum anytime soon. I think it's just a fun popcorn movie made by a director who's speciality is just that. I think down the road Robert Rodriguez will be remembered more for pioneering digital filmmaking then any of his films. And I'd have to think he's just fine with that. (Hell, his book Rebel without a Crew is a necessary read for anybody trying to make an independent film - but the film he made while writing the book, El Mariachi, is pretty awful :lol: )

Let me preface this by saying that this is merely a guess and I don't have any information on the War of the Worlds shoot, but I'm assuming they shot it against a green screen and that any movement on the actual vehicle was done in computers in post.

That one is tied for 1st along with the aerial shot from Kong where he plunges to his death and as the camera slowly pans across the cityscape, a pair of airplanes fly into frame. Jackson truly is the next Spielberg.

Wow, never would have thought of that. I guess its like disinfecting the needle before a lethal injection :lol: Thanks a lot.

I figure the information written on a slate indicates to the editor which take is which, but whats the purpose of clapping it if the sound is already in sync? Thanks

Ok - I'll concede and say that it can be interpreted as ambiguous. lol But don't forget, a big theme of the story is the contrast between Ennis' guarded behavior and Jack's willingness to be open. Jack approached men in bars, solicited prostitutes, cohabitated with another man - he drew enough attention to himself that a beating by a group of bigots in the midwest isn't necessarily so far fetched. Jack was much braver than Ennis in respect to showing his true self and thus paid for it - there's a lot more meaning that can be ascertained from the film that way than from a freak accident (in my opinion). You're right. Even Spielberg makes missteps. :D

I'd have to respectfully disagree with you, Mr. Mullen. I think the scene afterwards when Ennis visits Jack's parents is a very telling one. They mention how Jack spoke of wanting to run a ranch with Ennis, and how he ended up doing so with another gentleman. Jack's father appears almost disgusted when relaying the story to Ennis. To me it's a clear indication that not only were they aware of Jack's homosexuality, but lost their son because of it. I think because there was only one flashback shown prior to this one, you cannot constitute two flashbacks as a pattern, thus it doesn't necessarily have to be classified as a device used to show merely Ennis' thoughts. A possibility could be that it is Jack's wife imagining the truth that she is hiding from Ennis. After all, she never met Ennis and probably had no idea that he was aware of Jack's homosexuality, thus covering up the truth with a well rehearsed story about a spare tire striking Jack in the face.

SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER From articles that I've read on the film, in the short story written by Annie Proux there is an actual gay bashing that takes place. Therefore it isn't something that's simply in Ennis' mind. I think if Lee didn't include that flash, we'd never even suspect that anything aside from that "spare tire" story took place. Therefore I think it was a necessary element. Amazing film, I must say. Loved the final shot with the photo of brokeback mountain on the closet door, juxtaposed with a window leading into the real world. Really speaks volumes about where Ennis' journey will take him next.

Here's a pretty good article on the shoot - Punch Drunk Love

From what my Israeli girlfriend tells me, you're likely to hear people speaking English 50% of the time on the streets of Israel. Regardless, the majority of Avner's conversations are with his band of assassins who are all from various countries, and with his French contacts. The American filmmaking industry is lucky in the sense that English is the most widely spoken language in the world. It isn't so far fetched to find foreign people speaking English with one another, especially if their respective countries speak different languages. We Americans are very spoiled that the entire world seems to learn English in school as a prerequisite! :P Oh, I just recalled this hilarious sketch that aired about a month ago on some comedy program (can't remember which it was, sorry my memory is so shot!) They were talking about how everyone on the miniseries Rome spoke with a British accent, and how if they really wanted to be accurate, they should all sound like a group of Italian mobsters! I wanna say it was The Soup..I dont know, funny sh*#...

You should register your film on a site called "Withoutabox" (withoutabox.com). They give you access to a GARGANTUAN database of film fests. You can keep an electronic presskit on their site which they send out to every film fest you enter (saving you tons of dough you would have otherwise spent on publicity photos and such) and they give you a $5-$10 discount on every film fest you enter so after a few the thing basically pays for itself. Oh yeah, and $300 for a film fest is unheard of. Film fests on average charge between $10 to around 50 or at the most $60 if you're submitting your film way past the regular deadline.

Alan Smithee has directed a lot of stuff. Very mysterious fellow, that Smithee. Never seen a picture of him...

Hey Wanted to know if someone could either visually demonstrate to me or give me a link to a site that specifies what the differences are in terms of aspect ratio between Super 35, anamorphic, 1.85:1, etc. I've had this subject explained to me in words, but must admit that I still don't have a clear understanding of what the differences are. Thanks