Documentary -- and tribute to Disjecta at DVinfo.net

Jeff Nelson · April 16th, 2007, 03:54 PM

I got my A-1 at the end of January and decided to use it for a documentary project. The documentary was screened this past Saturday night at the Reagan Library before around 800 people, it was projected on 2 large screens as well as several big plasma screens -- and it looked like a million bucks! I simply played the full HDV out of my computer as a quicktime file, it was down scanned to 1024 x 576 (resolution of the projectors), and I swear it looked like a feature film.

I've put a smallish copy of it online in case anyone wants to see that yes, you can put out a product people will pay for using this camera. (It's 35 minutes long...which may be a lot longer than most here are interested in viewing...)

For those of you who, like me, are big fans of Disjecta (Steven Dempsey), you'll recognize the opening music piece and style, inspired by Steven's "Snow" film. (Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery!) My thanks to Steven for turning me on to his music source, and for posting his beautiful work, which continues to inspire me and many others.

Also thanks to Barlow Elton for some valuable advice and tech help at a few nervous moments.

These discussion boards are a life saver!

http://www.mostlymagic.tv/demo/dreamers.htm

(Note: This should play as a progressive download -- it's 324 megs -- but let me know if it doesn't for anyone.)

Oleg Kalyan · April 16th, 2007, 08:48 PM

Congratulations, it look really nice! Great lighting in interviews.
One question, have you used same preset for the beginning (color) and the interviews?

Doug Davis · April 16th, 2007, 09:49 PM

That looks great, what did you edit it with?

Jeff Nelson · April 16th, 2007, 10:10 PM

Thanks. I used different presets. For the interviews, I used preset #6. For the exterior stuff, I mostly used Presets 17 and 18.

I edited with Final Cut Pro.

Steven Dempsey · April 16th, 2007, 10:46 PM

Very nice Jeff. I'm very flattered by your mention. Inspiring others is a great reward.

Rick Ramirez · April 16th, 2007, 10:50 PM

Did you shoot in 24 F or 30F?

Jeff Nelson · April 16th, 2007, 10:54 PM

Steven -- you're da man.

Rick, I shot 24f.

Trish Kerr · April 17th, 2007, 07:11 AM

Watched the whole thing last night - it was an inspiring story and well told. And you did a great job of captured the bond between the two men. It's tough to incorporate all the interview shots and still keep it dynamic but you made it work.

The lighting did seem different on the other people compared to Mick and Howard, but that may have been due to the different background treatment. Not sure.

For the music did you have to purchase rights on some of it or was it royalty free, or not an issue for the piece?

Great stuff
trish

Jeff Nelson · April 17th, 2007, 07:44 AM

Thanks for the kind words, Trish.

You're right, the lighting was different on the Mick/Howard/Ellen segments, because I shot them first and had just gotten the camera, and didn't really know what I was doing. I learned on that first shoot and did better on the rest.

Re: the music, I licensed it, cost about $1,200 for a blanket license to meet the purpose/distribution of the piece. I interviewed over 40 people (not my idea, they gave me a very big list), I shot some 17 hours of interviews, had it transcribed (over 800 pages -- used a company in India which saved a lot of $), organized and edited on paper before I started cutting. Have another 15 minutes of interesting/humorous stories I assembled but didn't include in the film (they're "bonus scenes" on the DVD that's going out). My kids go to this school and we've known Mick and Howard for 10 years, they are really wonderful people, which made the project rewarding to do on another level. It was great to have a lot of articulate, warm, intelligent people to interview, who were good subjects to work with.

Carl Dieker · April 17th, 2007, 10:47 AM

I am downloading your piece now. You wrote:

”I shot some 17 hours of interviews, had it transcribed (over 800 pages -- used a company in India which saved a lot of $)”

Could you please tell me which Indian company you used for transcribing your interviews? Email or/and website.

Thanks,

Calle

Jeff Nelson · April 17th, 2007, 11:54 AM

For transcription, I used: http://www.transcriptionstar.com/Home.html The transcribers are in India, very nice folks. I uploaded small Quicktime 7 files with visible timecode, they downloaded and did a turnaround very fast, just a few days for several hours, with the timecode put into the transcript every 30 seconds, making it very easy to find shots when cutting. The guys who run it live here in S. California, and have a big company in India which does outbound and inbound telemarketing, transcription, etc. Very nice people to deal with. Some colloquial things the transcriber didn't get right, some typos here and there, but on the whole it was great, very useful, will definitely use them again.

Tom Moffatt · April 28th, 2007, 03:52 PM

I planned to watch a few seconds of the film - and irresistably watched the entire thing. Loved the editing - and loved the audio...
Was the audio recorded into the camera? What microphone did you use for the interviews? - and was there any problem getting the high quality?

Jeff Nelson · April 28th, 2007, 03:57 PM

Thanks, Tom. Audio was recorded right into the camera for the most part using a Sennheiser ME66 shotgun mic. Nothing special really. Did have some sound issues, having to ride sound when folks got animated and topped out, and some ambient noise/hiss/buzz that I worked to fix in Soundtrack Pro.

Jim Miller · April 30th, 2007, 11:15 AM

What a great story!. I though, ok, I'll watch to see the camera work and editing, besides, my A1 is arriving today via UPS, and I'm just waiting. But, I was captivated by your story telling. There is a nice informality about it much like the characters. I have to admit I soon forgot about all the technical stuff and became invloved with what was going on.

Great editing, pacing, etc. Loved it.

Paul Lashmana · April 30th, 2007, 05:51 PM

Loooved it. Very touching, without being sappy. It made my eyes, well not teary, but moist because it was both funny and warm.

But I think the ending credits, and paricularly the last photo in color is selling the doc a bit short. Can you ease out the last zoom motion of that colorphoto, for example?

But what I'm saying. That's just nitpicking. Loved it. And I take my hat off!

April 16th, 2007, 03:54 PM	#1
Jeff Nelson Regular Crew Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Los Angeles, CA Posts: 194	Documentary -- and tribute to Disjecta I got my A-1 at the end of January and decided to use it for a documentary project. The documentary was screened this past Saturday night at the Reagan Library before around 800 people, it was projected on 2 large screens as well as several big plasma screens -- and it looked like a million bucks! I simply played the full HDV out of my computer as a quicktime file, it was down scanned to 1024 x 576 (resolution of the projectors), and I swear it looked like a feature film. I've put a smallish copy of it online in case anyone wants to see that yes, you can put out a product people will pay for using this camera. (It's 35 minutes long...which may be a lot longer than most here are interested in viewing...) For those of you who, like me, are big fans of Disjecta (Steven Dempsey), you'll recognize the opening music piece and style, inspired by Steven's "Snow" film. (Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery!) My thanks to Steven for turning me on to his music source, and for posting his beautiful work, which continues to inspire me and many others. Also thanks to Barlow Elton for some valuable advice and tech help at a few nervous moments. These discussion boards are a life saver! http://www.mostlymagic.tv/demo/dreamers.htm (Note: This should play as a progressive download -- it's 324 megs -- but let me know if it doesn't for anyone.)

April 16th, 2007, 10:46 PM	#5
Steven Dempsey Disjecta Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: Seattle, Washington Posts: 937	Very nice Jeff. I'm very flattered by your mention. Inspiring others is a great reward. __________________ Try my Digital Therapy: http://www.pinelakefilms.com/digital_therapy.html Films on ExposureRoom: http://exposureroom.com/members/disjecta.aspx/videos/

April 17th, 2007, 10:47 AM	#10
Carl Dieker New Boot Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Stockholm, Sweden Posts: 13	transcribing in India I am downloading your piece now. You wrote: ”I shot some 17 hours of interviews, had it transcribed (over 800 pages -- used a company in India which saved a lot of $)” Could you please tell me which Indian company you used for transcribing your interviews? Email or/and website. Thanks, Calle

April 28th, 2007, 03:52 PM	#12
Tom Moffatt Tourist Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: St. Stephen, NB, Canada Posts: 3	About the great audio... I planned to watch a few seconds of the film - and irresistably watched the entire thing. Loved the editing - and loved the audio... Was the audio recorded into the camera? What microphone did you use for the interviews? - and was there any problem getting the high quality?

April 16th, 2007, 08:48 PM	#2
Oleg Kalyan Major Player Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: MOSCOW Posts: 860	Congratulations, it look really nice! Great lighting in interviews. One question, have you used same preset for the beginning (color) and the interviews?

April 16th, 2007, 09:49 PM	#3
Doug Davis Major Player Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Birmingham Alabama Posts: 259	That looks great, what did you edit it with?

April 16th, 2007, 10:10 PM	#4
Jeff Nelson Regular Crew Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Los Angeles, CA Posts: 194	Thanks. I used different presets. For the interviews, I used preset #6. For the exterior stuff, I mostly used Presets 17 and 18. I edited with Final Cut Pro.

April 16th, 2007, 10:50 PM	#6
Rick Ramirez Tourist Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Phoenix, AZ United States Posts: 2	Did you shoot in 24 F or 30F?

April 16th, 2007, 10:54 PM	#7
Jeff Nelson Regular Crew Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Los Angeles, CA Posts: 194	Steven -- you're da man. Rick, I shot 24f.

April 17th, 2007, 07:11 AM	#8
Trish Kerr Major Player Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Canada Posts: 294	Watched the whole thing last night - it was an inspiring story and well told. And you did a great job of captured the bond between the two men. It's tough to incorporate all the interview shots and still keep it dynamic but you made it work. The lighting did seem different on the other people compared to Mick and Howard, but that may have been due to the different background treatment. Not sure. For the music did you have to purchase rights on some of it or was it royalty free, or not an issue for the piece? Great stuff trish

April 17th, 2007, 07:44 AM	#9
Jeff Nelson Regular Crew Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Los Angeles, CA Posts: 194	Thanks for the kind words, Trish. You're right, the lighting was different on the Mick/Howard/Ellen segments, because I shot them first and had just gotten the camera, and didn't really know what I was doing. I learned on that first shoot and did better on the rest. Re: the music, I licensed it, cost about $1,200 for a blanket license to meet the purpose/distribution of the piece. I interviewed over 40 people (not my idea, they gave me a very big list), I shot some 17 hours of interviews, had it transcribed (over 800 pages -- used a company in India which saved a lot of $), organized and edited on paper before I started cutting. Have another 15 minutes of interesting/humorous stories I assembled but didn't include in the film (they're "bonus scenes" on the DVD that's going out). My kids go to this school and we've known Mick and Howard for 10 years, they are really wonderful people, which made the project rewarding to do on another level. It was great to have a lot of articulate, warm, intelligent people to interview, who were good subjects to work with.

April 17th, 2007, 11:54 AM	#11
Jeff Nelson Regular Crew Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Los Angeles, CA Posts: 194	For transcription, I used: http://www.transcriptionstar.com/Home.html The transcribers are in India, very nice folks. I uploaded small Quicktime 7 files with visible timecode, they downloaded and did a turnaround very fast, just a few days for several hours, with the timecode put into the transcript every 30 seconds, making it very easy to find shots when cutting. The guys who run it live here in S. California, and have a big company in India which does outbound and inbound telemarketing, transcription, etc. Very nice people to deal with. Some colloquial things the transcriber didn't get right, some typos here and there, but on the whole it was great, very useful, will definitely use them again.

April 28th, 2007, 03:57 PM	#13
Jeff Nelson Regular Crew Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Los Angeles, CA Posts: 194	Thanks, Tom. Audio was recorded right into the camera for the most part using a Sennheiser ME66 shotgun mic. Nothing special really. Did have some sound issues, having to ride sound when folks got animated and topped out, and some ambient noise/hiss/buzz that I worked to fix in Soundtrack Pro.

April 30th, 2007, 11:15 AM	#14
Jim Miller Major Player Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Tampa,Florida Posts: 236	What a great story!. I though, ok, I'll watch to see the camera work and editing, besides, my A1 is arriving today via UPS, and I'm just waiting. But, I was captivated by your story telling. There is a nice informality about it much like the characters. I have to admit I soon forgot about all the technical stuff and became invloved with what was going on. Great editing, pacing, etc. Loved it.

April 30th, 2007, 05:51 PM	#15
Paul Lashmana Regular Crew Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Brakel, Belgium Posts: 64	Loooved it. Very touching, without being sappy. It made my eyes, well not teary, but moist because it was both funny and warm. But I think the ending credits, and paricularly the last photo in color is selling the doc a bit short. Can you ease out the last zoom motion of that colorphoto, for example? But what I'm saying. That's just nitpicking. Loved it. And I take my hat off!