If you're in New York this week, this is a rare and comprehensive presentation of works by and about the legendary artist Jack Smith (www.warholstars.org/warhol/warhol1/warhol1b/jacksmith.html).

Three rooms of works by Jack Smith presented by filmmaker Mary Jordan and Tongue Press (www.tonguepress.com)/Lobster Penguin Films March 12–14, 2005.

NEW YORK, NY – March 12, 2005 - Mythical Jack Smith returns to New York through several evenings of performance, film and photography projections. This exhibition was conceived and organized by Mary Jordan, director of the soon to be completed documentary film JACK SMITH & THE DESTRUCTION OF ATLANTIS (www.tonguepress.com/fp.htm). Using custom programmed interactive controls, source elements from Jordan's upcoming film will be presented in several unique display environments.

This broad presentation of Smith's repertoire will be the most comprehensive since the 1997 PS.1 retrospective that occurred eight years after his death. On display will be rare films, photographs and audio recordings by and of Smith. Also included are original interview commentaries from Smith’s friends and collaborators that cinematographer Jon Fordham (www.imdb.com/name/nm1389377) and Jordan shot in 25P with 2 PAL DVX100's for her documentary.

Open to Public:
Saturday and Sunday, March 12 - 13, 2:00 – 9:00 PM
Monday, March 14, 12:00 – 5:00 PM

The Old Chelsea Y.M.C.A.
213 West 23rd. Street (between 7th & 8th Avenues)
4th Floor, New York, NY 10011

Hey Spencer, wondering if you ever received emails I sent you and Devin last year regarding Instant Films...?

Congratulations on the Cadillac spot!

Hey Charles,
It's been a while but yes, I do believe I received your email regarding the Instant Films competition. I apologize for the lack of response, we've been entirely swamped as of late. For a long time I thought going to California for a 48-hour competition was merely a pipe dream, but suprisingly enough, as it turns out, around June 17th-ish I will be out in LA for my MTV Films internship (which I received from the MTVu Best Film on Campus award.)

Hopefully at that time Devin, our resident DP, and our Producer, John Swartz, will also be out in LA (hopefully living with me...so we can actually afford to live out there) for their own internships. (any tips/info would be greatly appreciated on apartments/cars!) If we are all out there at the time of your next Instant Films competition I know we'd love to be a part of it. Let's keep in touch, these next few weeks will be very integral in our planning of next summer's "vacation."

-Spencer / All of Par-T-Com

Hello everyone! We just uploaded our most recent short film, called Bad Connection. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.


Here is the link:

http://mjdoubled.com/bad_c/index.html

Also feel free to browse our website, located at www.mjdoubled.com

I see the webpage but I can't see any quicktime/mpg link anywhere.

Just finished another project.

My friends and I are huge fans of the Banana Phone flash video, so we decided to re-create it with a few adjustments.

Week of pre-production, 2 hrs production time, day to edit.

Adobe Premiere, PV-DV953, DVfilm

Windows Media (17MB)
http://www.rch-e.com/rche/films/BananaPhone.wmv

Quicktime (20MB)
http://www.rch-e.com/rche/films/BananaPhone.mov

Lemme know what you think. Thanks!

I'm not familiar with the BanPhone you mention and have no idea what to think about this; strangely, it was entertaining. Maybe because I am at work and am counting the last hour down till I bail? Maybe, it was just twisted enough for me to appreciate it.

Your talent is surprisingly pretty good; I usually rate actors in the 'Either You Can' or 'You Can't' category and rarely do I say they are somewhere in the middle. These guys were somewhere in the middle; rough around the edges maybe? Or maybe they just believed in what they were saying.

I can't say too much about the camerawork and lighting as it was just average and nothing leapt out at me that screamed 'Cinema!'. Maybe you should work on that area?

The editing could be tihgtend up a bit but works for the most part. Anyway; thanks for sharing! Not bad.

Pretty good take off on the original.

I find myself playing that song at least a couple times a week just for good measure.

The main annoyance of your video was the super echo-ey talking. Maybe you could redub the audio with a better setup - I really think it would add alot to it.

Otherwise pretty good work.

So there's some guys around here making a movie, pretty bitchin trailer they've put together. The premise a production company is making a film they don't have the money to finish. So, they decide to rob a casino to secure the rest of the finances they need. Anyways check out the trailer its awesome.

http://thewillingsuspensionofdisbelief.com/media/large.html

Hello people!

Here is a movie about snowboard camp that took place in Ukrainian mountains in 2004. Take a look!

http://www.simpleidentity.com/dragobrat2004.htm
Approx. 24 mb, *.mov file..

The URL for my latest commercial spot is:
SPOT 1: South Metro Automotive
http://nextlevelmediaproductions.com/images/southmetro.wmv

About this spot:
It was shot on DVCPro. The first 15 seconds were done handheld, the latter 15 sec. were done on a track dolly I built myself (plug, plug), and the entire piece was color graded using AVX plugins for Avid.


Here's a spot that I did a while back as part of a larger campaign.
SPOT 2: Hausfeld's Salon & Spa
URL: http://nextlevelmediaproductions.com/images/hausfelds.wmv

About this spot:
This is a 15 sec. promotion for a DVD giveaway. It was constructed entirely in After Effects.

NOTE: Whereas I do own the same equipment used for creating these spots as part of my freelance business. These two pieces were created while on the clock at my day job for a television station.

Nice little spots Rick.

Have a lot of family in Dayton, OH. So Im around the Centerville area quite often when I visit. I will have to look for South Metro Automotive the next time I visit. haha

Nice work.

yeah...so ...my server is about to get smoked from other forums watching this, is there anyone here that could temporarily mirror one of the formats? i took them offline temporarily but could put them up for you to get them, any help is apprieciated, thanks

These commercials looked really professional.

I really found the South Metro Auto one to be funny- however its voiceover was pretty cheap sounding.

Overall top-notch work.

Would you mind saying how much spots like this go for up in your area?

That was some incredible cinematography. The teaser was excellent and I look forward to catching the full length movie.

The only thing I would have done without were the cheesy vertical lines. I think the overall coloration provided the old film effect enough on its own.

I watched the first one, and I thought it was well done. Professional, except, as stated above, I thought the voice over was a little "cheap". I'm not sure if its the mixing or the actual voice talent. I liked the humor, I just wonder if the "average" person will remember what a flux capacitor is and get it ;)

Looks good. I love these movies on extreme sports.

What was it shot with?

I agree with Brandon, they look good.
Well, to be honest I only saw the first one...but it looked good.

I'm also curious, how much do spots like this go for in your market?

I've been shooting quite a few freelance spots here, and I'm curious on the difference from market to market.

I liked the shadow mismatch with the gunman at the very end. Serious post work there. The audio sounded like it was so hot it was clipping.

The movie was shot with Canon XM2.

daylight footage - movie mode,
at night - frame mode, and shutter speed - 1/25..

There was not enough light, so the video have some noise..
What i'm trying to do, is to make this movie like an old movie, to hide the noise behind the old film effect.

Film effects was recorded from a real 8mm film (no computer old movie effect), and then added to the movie.

Oh ok.

Cool idea. I wasn't really able to to tell the old movie effects from the lower quality quicktime file, but overall the movie did look good.

Would have been twice as good at half as long.

According to our station's ratecard the going price of that commercial should have been $1025.00, but clients often recieve "give me's" and discounts when buying on-air packages.

This commercial was one of those instances.

The time table for production on this spot was:

2.5 hours field production
2 hours editing

I'm curious as to what your markets would price a spot that took the above mentioned time to create. I look forward to hearing.

I was more curious on the cost of the South Metro Automotive spot you posted.

I've been doing a lot of work for clients who are looking for a low cost alternative to the TV stations here. The stations will generally shoot the spots for free, but then getting dubs from them to run on other stations becomes a hassle. Also, the production value is generally low, and all the spots look the same.

Most of the spots I have been doing are for car dealerships (lately). So I rarely go out and shoot 1 spot. Usually (like tomorrow) I'll go out, and we'll shoot 3 or 4 at once. I take about an hour or two shooting the talent, and then another hour or two shooting B-roll of the dealership, service dept, etc.

I generally take 1-2 days of editing and deliver the master to the agency when it's done.

The cost usually winds up being around 750 - 1000 per spot, depending on how many we shoot.
(about 4K for the whole job)

Keep in mind this is a basic head shot, cut to Broll, head shot, cut to dealership, end with title graphics - type of spot.

I go out and shoot alone, maybe have someone there for broll footage, and I do all the post myself. So I have virtually zero overhead. Oh yeah, and I'm working out of the house.

The price I stated was the price for the South Metro Automotive spot. It alone theoretically cost $1025, had the client actually been billed. With the on-air package they purchased they got the spot for free.

Had I billed for the same spot as a freelancer my price would have been $1015.


Luis, when you started out freelancing, how did you get the attention and business of your local agencies? Right now I'm doing mainly business that comes straight from a client or a referral, but I want to get some agency work as well.

I have changed the video so it has better quicktime quality.

The video is shorter in time, but a bit bigger..

300x240, 33mb...

I saw the site. nice layout. Just one thing you might wantto change with that trailer. You might want to select music that is not off a royalty freesite. I can't even count how many times ive heard and used myself that music which i believe is off freeplay or from apple. I can't recall. A doc with the subject matter you are covering deserves better than that.

i agree :) actually that trailer is only a demo reel that was made some time ago...we just havent had time to cut the real trailer which I hope to swap out in the next month. Thanks for mentioning i though...i will get on that right away.

We are actually using a variety of music compositions made here in Korea.

Bests

Im gald to hear that. I hope i didn't offend you though. I know sometimes i can come off that way. It's just that it looks like you put alot of money and effert into this project to leave it like that. Please let us know when the whole thing is done. I'd like to see the results.

The Game Genie 2

Ever so often, videogame companies set out to make a
videogame system that will rule the world.

This time they got their wish...

An Evil Corporation plans a beta testing contest in which
the 2 winners will get to test their new console,
The XcubeStation.

Overjoyed and unaware of The XcubeStation’s power, the
first beta tester (Tim-E Wiley) and his friend (Kevin Raines)
turn on the system. With the XcubeStation powered on two
Evil Co. employee’s, Adam (Adam Funk) and Alex
(Alex Diffenderfer) are on the boys every move to make
sure that everything is
excuted as they had planned.

Now, caught between the real world and the videogame
world Tim-E and Kevin set out to find the second beta
tester (Travis Maynard) to put an end to Evil Co....

Once and for all....

Let the games begin.

First full length movie I directed and edited.

Nothing spectacular. No fancy camera, or camera work.

Just for entertainment.

I thought I would share.

http://www.fscwv.edu/users/traines1/TheGameGenie2FULLAVICompressed.rar

I'm new at video. I'm using a one chip Sony DV camera and do my editing on Imovie. I do plan to upgrade my equip soon but thought I would share some of my entry level work. Opinions are welcome.

Here are a few short Quicktime movies...

Cliff Hangers
http://homepage.mac.com/richsheikh/iMovieTheater30.html

Wedding Day
http://homepage.mac.com/richsheikh/iMovieTheater14.html

Water Games
http://homepage.mac.com/richsheikh/iMovieTheater23.html

Feats of Clay
http://homepage.mac.com/richsheikh/iMovieTheater19.html

Latin Girls
http://homepage.mac.com/richsheikh/iMovieTheater44.html

That file is 450 MB large. Most people are not going to download
something that huge. How long is the runningtime?

It is a full movie.

It's a hour long. I compressed it as much as I could.

Sorry for the filesize.

You could cut it into chapters. Make it more palatable for those who might take a look at it.

ian

If anyone cares. This is some random footage my friend Cassidy and I shot.

http://brighterpeople.com/cass/why_nona.mov

Don't dig too deep into the meaning.

Yeah, It's a good idea.

It's my buddies webspace though, and cutting it up and getting it to him to upload on his webspace would be a long process. I will try to fiddle with the filesize a bit more. It's a 720x480 resolution, so I may just take that down a bit and that could help.

The purpose was to keep it a DVD-rip download quality.

We lost some quality though, and still had a large file.

The movie is an hour long though, so Im not sure how much smaller I could get it.

I'll do what I can!

You left it at full resolution? Most people who put up movies on
the web do it at 50% resolution (which would be 320 x 240 at
1.0 pixel aspect ratio, yours is still in NTSC PA, which you don't
want) and sometimes even change the 30 fps to 15 fps. This will
drop your filesize with the same compression by 75%!

Hello Mike. I have no idea how far I got into the movie (since there
was no length indicator etc.), but I could not finish it. For my liking
it moved far too slow, or at least not enough was happening.

I would get rid of the intro, it looks cheesy. You shouldn't need to
tell the audience to get "ready" for something. I would also ditch
the line that went like "from the twisted mind of". That looks un-
professional in my opinion.

One final bit. Do I see the LucasFilm logo in the lower left? If so,
I assume you do not have any association with them. Remove it
immediately. You are not allowed to use another companies logo
without their consent!

Hello Rich,

Is there one movie you are most proud of? That you really want
people to see? Usually if you post links to a bunch of movies they
will not be watched (a lot).

Like myself, I have very little time. I'd like to see movies other
people make, but if you start posting 5 at the same time it takes
a lot of time.

I'll see if I can watch some later.

I was missing some close ups as well, but other than that it looked
nice, good work!

Hi David,

Thanks for sharing your work with the community. Since it is really a short film showcasing your work -- more so than about the camera itself -- I moved your post over to the DV For The Masses board...more folks will find it here than in the XL2 board.

Cheers,

While I didn't understand a thing about the little short...It was very...entertaining.

I really cannot gather the words to explain it. The acting and the mystery with the music just worked well.

As far as I could tell there was no meaning(?) but it was done well.

Im at a loss of words to explain it but I enjoyed it!

By the way, what was the music you used for it?

Rob,

Thanks for the reply. This is our first attempt at a real production, produced, directed, filmed and edited by only two people.

As far as Lucas Films is concerned, no, that is not their logo, the one you are referencing says Luke S. Films. As far as I know, that name is not taken.

Thanks,
Mike

"Luis, when you started out freelancing, how did you get the attention and business of your local agencies? Right now I'm doing mainly business that comes straight from a client or a referral, but I want to get some agency work as well."

Sorry I took so long to get back to you, I was actually out shooting all weekend.
:)

I started out in radio, though I had been working with video/film long before that, I took the radio job because it was produciton oriented.

So, much like you're working through the TV station, i started freelancing through the radio station. Most of my contacts began through there, until I had enough freelance business to be able to sustain myself.

I got lucky in that a few of the key contact I had were local agencies. When I first started, these angencies only had 1 or 2 clients each. Over the past 4 years, they've grown quite a bit.

I continue to court the local agencies with demos, setting up pitch meetings at the beginning of each year in an effort to get their business. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

You're best bet it to try to find the smaller agencies in your market. I don't mean the smallest, not the bottom of the barrel guys who are looking for free production, but the smaller agencies who are still looking for something slightly better than they can get from free from the TV station (no offense by the way, I thought your work was really good, in fact I'm suprised your station would give that for free. The free spots where I am are generally a 1 or 2 shot deal, handheld wiht a graphic at the end).

The small agencies of today will be the medium sized agencies of next year... So, Ive tried to concentrate not on getting one big job from these people, but creating a relationship. Thanks to that, I've gotten continuous work from one agency in particular.... they've told me repeatedly that they won't use anyone else for the TV production.

I was always upfront with the agencies I met with in the begining. Part of the advantage of meeting with small agencies who may not have a lot of resources or clients is that they may tend to be more willing to go with someone who is in the same situation. I approached many agencies when I started and told them flat out that I had only been in business a short time, and was hoping that we could find some way to help both of our businesses by working together. Some people are receptive to that, some are just looking for a quick spot and will always go with the lowest bidder.

Like I said, it took a while.... and it's really only starting to pay off this year. But I'm glad I never let any of those early relationships wiht agencies die out. Even when they hadn't given me work in a while, I would call them just to see how business was going, and to remind them that if they needed anything I was there.

My advice would be to start out by talking to the sales people there at the TV station. The sales people at the radio station were invaluable in getting me contact information for the agencies I talked to. Your sales staff should know who your best bet is... and who to talk to. They should also already have relationships with local agencies, and could help put a good word in for you.

I hope this rambling post helped in some way.
I'm exhausted from shooting, and haven't slept much....

I thought this music video was extremely well done.

Well choreographed and I enjoyed the story as well.

What did you shoot it with?

How did you get Rob Corddry to be in the video?

That was sweet.

Did you shoot with the XL2 for this as well?

David

Hello Mike,

I watched it through to the end. I like the idea of the story. There was a cute twist at the end.

I agree with Rob, though, it went on a bit too long and could have been shortened a bit.

The music was good but could have been a bit more intense. I have to say I loved the initial ring of the phone on the dashboard. It really made me jump, but then you reduced the volume and the effect dulled out. I would have kept the same high volume until he picked it up.

All in all though I think it was an excellent first film.

Best Regards,

Geoff

I tried watching this and just couldnt due to losing interest. I had no option for pause as well; might want to fix that. The AUDIO is the highlight of this piece but the story and camera were below average; nothing screamed for my attention anyway. The compression is pretty bad as well so who knows if I am getting the best view of this. I just got "Dude standing around on phone walking back and forth while guy on other end keeps calling him and using foul langauge"...Sccaaarrryyyyyy. It lost me; sorry.

Also, 'LukeSfilms' might be free but the LUCASFILMS Likeness is not; I'd seriously considering 86'ing that; sides, you're more original than that aren't you?

This is a promo I made for a youth center. It marks the first freelance project under my belt.

www.finaldesignstudios.com/jppromo.wmv

Take a look and see what you think. Save it to your hard drive please as bandwidth isn't free. :)

Hey Tyler,

My 2 cents is that you were highly effective in delivering your message -- definitely a success. Without doing any analysis, just watching/listening through the piece, the sound seemed pretty well done -- not an easy thing, as I'm finding out in my amateurish projects. One thing that did catch my eye, though, was inconsistent lighting between the various interviewees:

- first interviewee (female) seemed to have different color cast at different cuts in the interview
- the young fella with the pencil thin moustache and later the young woman in front of the pea-green background both seemed under-lit compared to their backgrounds
- guy with the black muscle shirt and necklace had a distracting "hot spot" to his right in the background
- the dad (?) with glasses had a wicked "hot spot" on his left temple.

But again, on balance, effective and nicely done. As long as it is run through a "broadcast colors" filter, or something similar, to mitigate the hot spots on the interviews, I'm sure it would do well on TV.

Cheers,