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What are y’all doing these days?


Gregory Irwin

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I would expect most stability problems to be fixable in a postprocessing step. What tools are you using? I'm surprised they couldn't handle the results from any reasonable scanner.

My biggest concern was the cyclical exposure variation; is that perhaps the shutter timing issue you mention? What sort of camera is it?

P

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53 minutes ago, Phil Rhodes said:

I would expect most stability problems to be fixable in a postprocessing step. What tools are you using? I'm surprised they couldn't handle the results from any reasonable scanner.

My biggest concern was the cyclical exposure variation; is that perhaps the shutter timing issue you mention? What sort of camera is it?

P

I had some connection issues with the LED at times, it may be that it had slight flicker as well. I am using GH4 as a pickup camera with 1/4000 shutter and shooting full res raw stills. appropriate macro setup to get the full academy frame plus some borders in the shot. I have a optical trigger which drives a relay which connects the wires on a wired remote control cable which triggers the camera. The problem with the timing seems to be that the relay itself has some slightly varying latency which causes the framing to differ a little from frame to frame especially when the scanner speed varies slightly. So I will need to change the relay system to a transistor based one which has less latency but is more complicated to make (I was using the relay only because it is very very simple system and thus practical for the first prototype). 

I am not able to get the perforations in the frame with the current setup, would need to machine a completely new gate for that. The current one has pieces from Konvas camera gate and magazine but they don't allow enough modification. I used AE's tools for this test but I would really need the perforations to show up to be able to stabilise this much jitter without the manual correction stage. Some very good film restoration program might understand that the image can jump up and down even 1/5th of its height between frames...but the basic tools seem to be unable to cope with that.

The film is pulled through the system at slow speed and the optical trigger takes one image for every frame. It works, yes, but needs to be refined to get better accuracy on trigger timing. Too fast scanning speed also causes rolling shutter issues to the image, this has lots to do with the current film track. I will add three rollers more to counter the friction variations which cause the film to move irregularly at times with the current prototype. 

I will probably do a separate system later which uses intermittent mechanism to move the film. Register pins might be possible too as well as a faster scanning rate. These systems are mainly practical for film tests and that is why I am developing them in the first place... to run small 50 or 100ft rolls of home developed film through to check grain textures and contrast and similar stuff. Probably for arts projects too but for larger scale stuff it is still more practical to use pro lab and scanning services ?

1st prototype after all. We'll see how it goes ?

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My life hasn't changed much because of the coronavirus.  

I'm reading a lot, exercising a lot and paddleboarding in the canals near my house, which is what I usually do when I'm not working.
I miss surfing though and I'd love to be in Cornwall or Lanzarote riding some waves.. but I'll do that over the summer ? 

Oh, I'm cutting my first reel too! Shocking!

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3 minutes ago, Robin R Probyn said:

I think Sony is doing a trade in on steam run camera.s ..  ? 

Oh nice! Time to pull out the Russian ones. I need to clean the ashes out of one of them, these coal fired cameras are such a bitch to maintain. 

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Making a case for an Arri 235. I like to chase trains sometimes, and I need to carry assembled rig securely and be able to set up and shoot in just a couple minutes.

My narration is pretty sloppy. IVS, not IVR. And I misstate negative vs positive image (of camera) a couple times.

 

 

Edited by Dennis Toeppen
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15 hours ago, Dennis Toeppen said:

Making a case for an Arri 235. I like to chase trains sometimes,

Ohh a a fellow railfan! I use a Tenba backpack for my film cameras. The 235 SHOULD fit in the 2nd to largest bag no problem, but I'd measure. It's great because for my Aaton's at least, I can store the camera in the bag fully built. So when I land at a location, I can literally pull the camera out and start shooting. I do a lot of documentary work with them, so it's critical to be ready. 

This picture is of my "travel" kit in the bag. 

IMG_E7820.JPG

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OK if we're talking about railfan stuff...my first foray into filmmaking was shooting trains on a little sonycam and making DVDs to sell to other railfans. Was kind of lucrative for a while and helped me learn a ton of stuff about lighting, framing.  

My go-to for railfan videos is the ol' Canon XH-A1s. Pop it on a tripod and fire away. This thing must be 15 years old at this point. It's not good for anything else I do these days but it suits these trackside trips just fine. I do see some fans are out photographing the lines in the NYC area during the pandemic, but I'm content with sitting inside and working on building up some more cinematography skills. 

And just to ensure this post stay on topic, some of what I'm doing in this down time is learning more about exposing with false color, setting up little scenes to film myself in different types of lighting, playing with DaVinci Resolve trying to get better at it. 

 

 

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18 minutes ago, Michael Hammond said:

OK if we're talking about railfan stuff...my first foray into filmmaking was shooting trains on a little sonycam and making DVDs to sell to other railfans. Was kind of lucrative for a while and helped me learn a ton of stuff about lighting, framing.  

Very cool! Yea, I've been doing it since I was a kid. My early films (mostly shot on super 8 and my VHS camcorder in the 80's and early 90's) were all about steam railroading. I'm more into the historical aspects, but I can appreciate the modern stuff as well. 

I do little mini-docs like this mostly: 
 

18 minutes ago, Michael Hammond said:

My go-to for railfan videos is the ol' Canon XH-A1s. Pop it on a tripod and fire away. This thing must be 15 years old at this point. It's not good for anything else I do these days but it suits these trackside trips just fine. I do see some fans are out photographing the lines in the NYC area during the pandemic, but I'm content with sitting inside and working on building up some more cinematography skills. 

Oh I've shot a lot with the XH-A1 actually, for the time and what was available, it was a great little camera. I even strapped it to my laptop at one point to record when I ran out of tapes. 

18 minutes ago, Michael Hammond said:

And just to ensure this post stay on topic, some of what I'm doing in this down time is learning more about exposing with false color, setting up little scenes to film myself in different types of lighting, playing with DaVinci Resolve trying to get better at it. 

Oh good, yea that's lots of fun. I work with resolve all day long most days and it's super fun to learn those tricks. 

I find myself so unmotivated these days. I figured being stuck at home would be great to catch up on stuff I've been meaning to do, but all it's done is made me more lazy! ? It's so hard to stay motivated when I know I'll be stuck here for at least another month. ?

 

 

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From our family to yours, Rosie and I wish y’all a very Happy Easter from stormy Georgia! Stay healthy and happy till this pandemic ends. 
 

G

CDCF774C-30CC-4B4B-9816-3611752D202B.jpeg

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On 4/10/2020 at 2:35 PM, Tyler Purcell said:

I find myself so unmotivated these days. I figured being stuck at home would be great to catch up on stuff I've been meaning to do, but all it's done is made me more lazy! ? It's so hard to stay motivated when I know I'll be stuck here for at least another month. ?

I hear ya, 99% of Americans in this situation don't take the opportunity to ramp up that entrepreneurial scheme they've always thought of, or start writing that brilliant novel they know they can write.

They plunk themselves in front of the TV. When they go back to work, they'll bemoan, if only I had the time to pursue my other dreams. ?

R,

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22 minutes ago, Richard Boddington said:

I hear ya, 99% of Americans in this situation don't take the opportunity to ramp up that entrepreneurial scheme they've always thought of, or start writing that brilliant novel they know they can write.

They plunk themselves in front of the TV. When they go back to work, they'll bemoan, if only I had the time to pursue my other dreams. ?

R,

You're so right. I'm not saying that there's anything wrong with taking it easy and getting some rest. But I find myself looking for more and more stuff to do and the most frustrating thing is not being able to do more.

I think one of the things that's important to being able to keep motivated is not trying to do only one thing until it's done but alternating between different things. So I work one some projects that need editing or grading, then I do some writing on a couple of screenplays or plan some future shoots, make some calls and try and get some stuff going, sometimes I find something to try and shoot something, maybe take a photo of something I find interesting. Then I help my girlfriend work on her sculpting or maybe fix something (wish I could fix my car). A couple of times I've ran out of ideas on what to do so I watch a movie or do some research on something that I'm interested in but then I find my next thing and the cycle repeats. In between I squeeze a couple of salsa dance classes that I teach over video conference or do some one on one classes over a video call but all of this is not every day. I'm hoping that I'll be able to figure out a short that I could shoot at home. Just keep things interesting.

Not that my usual days was a lot different, except for a shoot here and there and salsa dance classes that I teach a couple of times a week or when my girlfriend and I go dancing. This is mostly the thing that have been affected.

I was able to shoot a couple of minutes of the moon a few days ago.
They said reach for the Moon so I did.. and I am... ?

 

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17 hours ago, Gregory Irwin said:

From our family to yours, Rosie and I wish y’all a very Happy Easter from stormy Georgia! Stay healthy and happy till this pandemic ends. 
 

G

CDCF774C-30CC-4B4B-9816-3611752D202B.jpeg

Happy Easter to you too and happy easter to everybody!!!  ? 

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19 hours ago, Richard Boddington said:

I hear ya, 99% of Americans in this situation don't take the opportunity to ramp up that entrepreneurial scheme they've always thought of, or start writing that brilliant novel they know they can write.

They plunk themselves in front of the TV. When they go back to work, they'll bemoan, if only I had the time to pursue my other dreams. ?

R,

Not me.  I'm pushing ahead full steam with a business I've been working on for a while.  Question is, whether it's really the right time to look for funding.  Congrats on the financing for your film coming through. That's awesome.    I actually have a development company I've been pitching to VC's and angels and although a few have gotten back to me for further explanations, it's been on my mind whether pitching at this time will be seen as entirely psychopathic, oblivous and indifferent to the suffering of others.

I just don't know how people are perceiving it on their ends.  Also, because the industry is on pause right now, is it moronic to actually push the idea that we'll see any kind of return to the status quo for distributors, theaters and production companies?

One entertainment attorney I recently spoke with said it's a great time to send out scripts because that's all anyone's doing is reading.  But for the financiers, with Distributors and theater chains are going bankrupt and major cities are all rolling back tax incentives does it look idiotic to pursue development financing?  That's a tough one.

 

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40 minutes ago, Michael LaVoie said:

Not me.  I'm pushing ahead full steam with a business I've been working on for a while.  Question is, whether it's really the right time to look for funding.  Congrats on the financing for your film coming through. That's awesome.    I actually have a development company I've been pitching to VC's and angels and although a few have gotten back to me for further explanations, it's been on my mind whether pitching at this time will be seen as entirely psychopathic, oblivous and indifferent to the suffering of others.

I just don't know how people are perceiving it on their ends.  Also, because the industry is on pause right now, is it moronic to actually push the idea that we'll see any kind of return to the status quo for distributors, theaters and production companies?

One entertainment attorney I recently spoke with said it's a great time to send out scripts because that's all anyone's doing is reading.  But for the financiers, with Distributors and theater chains are going bankrupt and major cities are all rolling back tax incentives does it look idiotic to pursue development financing?  That's a tough one.

 

I think the attorney is right and that it's a good time to send out material to people if nothing else because people have time and are looking for stuff to do. Maybe it's not going to lead to anything right now but if nothing else to peak interest of someone on something.

I've had multiple contacts with people who would otherwise probably not have been able to give me the time of day because of being so busy. 

I'm a 100% that some of the things that get read these days will eventually be created and I think that people who work with this stuff executives and financiers alike have an interest to get working on producing stuff as soon as possible and I'm sure that even though it might be tougher in some cases the saying goes "where there's a will there's a way".

I'm the same way I keep working and working. I actually love the fact that nobody bugs me to need to go somewhere and which most of the time is just a waist of time. The thing is I guess I'm such of a workaholic that I'd like to see even more work or find even more stuff to do. ?

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4 hours ago, Michael LaVoie said:

 Distributors 

There is going to be a huge hole in the new product delivery schedule this year, that will last for 9-12 months.  Those with 100% finished product to sell in the next 3-4 months have an opportunity.  Many producers have simply taken the insurance money and shut their movies down, with no intentions of picking them back up.  I know this from talking directly to insurance people.  This will mean a lot fewer movies available for sale.

Cable TV viewing has not gone down, neither has streaming, both are seeing viewership numbers going through the roof.  Theatres may be closed, but there are 50 other ways to see a movie now, none of which require you to leave the comfort of your easy chair.

If you're in post on anything, don't stop now!!!

R,

 

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5 hours ago, Michael LaVoie said:

Not me.  I'm pushing ahead full steam with a business I've been working on for a while.  Question is, whether it's really the right time to look for funding.  Congrats on the financing for your film coming through. That's awesome.    I actually have a development company I've been pitching to VC's and angels and although a few have gotten back to me for further explanations, it's been on my mind whether pitching at this time will be seen as entirely psychopathic, oblivous and indifferent to the suffering of others.

I just don't know how people are perceiving it on their ends.  Also, because the industry is on pause right now, is it moronic to actually push the idea that we'll see any kind of return to the status quo for distributors, theaters and production companies?

One entertainment attorney I recently spoke with said it's a great time to send out scripts because that's all anyone's doing is reading.  But for the financiers, with Distributors and theater chains are going bankrupt and major cities are all rolling back tax incentives does it look idiotic to pursue development financing?  That's a tough one.

 

Hey, nothing wrong with trying as long as you can resubmit at a later date if things don't pan out. It is like planting seeds that may take some time to sprout.

But if all you got is one shot, then maybe wait for better times. 

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