Somethings missing...

[Phillip Jackson]

Hey,
Wheres the helicopter shot with all the extras or something thats supposed to be in the one where you interview the guys from The Unit? or is that in part 2?

And maybe i heard wrong but there was supposed to be a Steadicam demostration in the episode at Birns & Sawyer

as well as things from the earlier episodes as well...

[Jonathan Ames]

Well, the first answer is that we have to run according to the schedules of the shows we shoot and "The Unit" has been ramped up ever since we shot that evening interview. Thus we haven't been able to coordinate our available time with that of "The Unit" to get the helo opening shots we wanted in. Just as we shoot in television and features, actually everything other than live television, in non-linear fashion, we don't shoot 2nd Unit that way either. We shoot out of order when sets and actors are available or when it make fiscal sense; thus the shooting schedule that mnakes absolutely no sense to anyone other than bean-counters and someone who's been operational on production work. Thus, although the helicopter scene would appear after editing to preceed the entry and interview, it's not shot that way. When we couldn't put the times together, I asked Paolo just to run the episode as-is so we stayed relatively on schedule with the weekly releases. And that leads me to the second answer.

The Steadicam demonstration at Birns and Sawyer followed "The Unit" by 2 episodes. Paolo just finished cutting the Steadicam episode at Birns and Sawyer and it should be running, I believe, next week if it's not running this week. I really don't know. I have a feature we're gearing up for and trying to stay on schedule typically doesn't get any of us to bed until 1 or 2am and then we're usaually back at it at 6am the next day. But that's onlyb 6 days a week. The seventh we don't usually start until 8...sometimes even 9am. Casting finishes up this Saturday with the scrit in for re-writes, set construction on-going, equipment acquisition proceeding and about 1000 other things that are operational in the final weeks of pre-production. So, I hope that answers your questions. We'll certainly try to keep all 47 balls in the air at once.

[Paolo Ciccone]

Originally Posted by Phillip Jackson

Hey,
Wheres the helicopter shot with all the extras or something thats supposed to be in the one where you interview the guys from The Unit? or is that in part 2?

And maybe i heard wrong but there was supposed to be a Steadicam demostration in the episode at Birns & Sawyer

Sometimes the best plans need to changed. The Birns&Sawyer Steadicam demo was just not working in the overall scheme of the video. It was interesting and Peter did a perfect demo but it just didn't work well from the camera point of view. We have another Steadicam episode planned ahead where we hope to show an operator at work on a set and then look at the resulting footage. From planning , execution to final result.

The helo shot was very ambitious and we had to cancel it because of the timing. We promised the episodes within a given timeframe and we could not deliver them if we had to wait for the cameras' gyros. At the end the content is what matters and we had to take a painful decision to remove the "artistic" part from it :)

Thanks for watching!

[Phillip Jackson]

Ahh ok, so eventually we will see all the bits mentioned at a later date when the episodes are re-edited? or not at all?

perhaps you could edit out the parts when we are told something is about to happen, to avoid dissapointment when we don't get to see it.

otherwise great work and i hope the episodes keep coming :)

if you need another editor to take some of the workload, i'd be happy to help out.

[Paolo Ciccone]

Originally Posted by Phillip Jackson

Ahh ok, so eventually we will see all the bits mentioned at a later date when the episodes are re-edited? or not at all?

We will see a Steadicam demo, actually more then one. We are preparing something as we speak. I don't want to mention details exactly to avoid disappointement later but we have some really interesting possibilities. Once thing I can mention. We are going to use the Steadicam extensively for the upcoming Docudrama "El Papel". If everything goes well we will have a behind the scene special where we will show the use o the Steadicam on the set of the movie.

perhaps you could edit out the parts when we are told something is about to happen, to avoid dissapointment when we don't get to see it.

Of course that was considered but sometimes it's not possible without leaving a big weird gap in the footage :)

[Joe Bowey]

Hey guys, I use Vegas 4 and if you can send some standard clips (my system is not up to HD yet) maybe I can throw something together. You can copy them to a standard mini dv tape and I can capture them and work some magic. I can fedx dvds for you input and make any adjustments needed. I am just another resource at your service.
Anyways keep up the good work.

[Paolo Ciccone]

Hi Joe.

Thank you for the offer but we shoot everything in HD and edit it in HD. As it turns out right now the workflow is pretty solidly established in FCP + AfterEffect/PhotoShop/Illustrator etc. The material is all shot in 720 24fps (fo Season 2) and all in progressive scan so it would mean to sacrifice color and precision to DV format.
But we will keep you in mind if we need to offload somethin gin the future. Let us know if you move to HD. Do you have any experience with compositing/titling?

Thanks again.

[Joe Bowey]

I plan on updating to Vegas 7 for HD editing. Just got back from a short shoot short as in something in my camera bag accidently turned on my camera and emptied my battery. Won't pack too much stuff in bag from know on. I hope that didn't ruin the camera? Charging batteries now.
Boy, compositing is an art in itself. I have been doing a little and also been playing with animation but not doing well YET.
Anything you had in mind for titling?

[Paolo Ciccone]

Originally Posted by Joe Bowey

Anything you had in mind for titling?

Nothing specific, as you said, it's an art in itself. We will need some art work and compositing for "El Papel", it's still undecided what and who's gonna take care of it.