"The Signal" (Nick Hiltgen) picked up at Sundance

Nick Hiltgen · January 30th, 2008, 09:51 AM

That's cool it's getting run on HDNET (owned by Mark Cuban, who also is partnered, or owns Magnolia- the films distributor) We haven't really seen the trailers on any sort of broad distribution yet. There should be some webisodes up soon there was talks about getting them on itunes, but I have some doubts.

Magnolia owns the rights to europe so I suppose it's up to them, which means your probably right it depends on how it does in the box office.

I'll post the 24f files and 60i files today (thought I already had!)

Leon I sure hope so, I've noticed that Discovery HD (which used to be strictly f900 footage) is now playing shows that are shot predominately with HDV cams (deadliest catch, parts of dirty jobs, parts of myth busters etc)

John Richard · January 31st, 2008, 10:01 AM

Darn! Got excited about the news of HDNet running "The Signal".

Went to DirectTV and did a search for it and nothing came up.

If anyone knows when HDNet will be running it, please post here so we can see Nick's work.

Thank you in advance.

Pat Norris · February 1st, 2008, 10:42 AM

John,

HDNet's show Nothing but trailers is showing it. Saw the trailer for "The Signal" last night.

Nick,
I would have never thought that the movie was shot with an HDV camera. When the trailer started it seemed as though it was a big budget 35mm film. Congratulations.
Some questions though.
Reading this forum it appears that it was shot with one camera, was it, and if so was there a thought to use more than one camera?

Thank you.
Pat

John Richard · February 1st, 2008, 08:14 PM

Thanks much Pat ... I was doing a search for the full film itself.

Guess I'll have to hope it comes into our area - would love to see an H1/HDV originated movie on the "Big Screen".

The more that happens with skilled results from folks such as Nick, the easier it should be for broadcasters to accept the HDV IS a viable broadcast option ... it's always the skills employed by the film maker that matter to bring a QUALITY story forth.

Mark Job · February 2nd, 2008, 02:22 PM

Hey Nick ! I congratulate you ! Now we FINALLY have a movie shot completely on the XL H1 in HDV ! I saw the trailler and it looks great ! It seemed as though the XL H1 had developped an "unknown" reputation in the industry as an "overkill" HDV camcorder. The ignorance surrounding the viability of this camera is irritating. Perhaps now, folks in our industry will stop denegrading this camera and the XL H1 will re-emerge as "the" camera for independent film making (?). One would have thought the uncompressed HD-SDI 4:2:2 output would have been enough to explain to industry professionals this is a serious instrument for production. When I went to purchase my XL H1 several folks told me not to bother. I was told to wait for the Sony EX-1 CineAlta Series camcorder because it was "better" and the H1 is an 8 bit camera and they're no good anymore ! (Totally Infuriating !) Well, you can't put other movie lenses on that camera, but you can matte just about any lens known to man on the XL H1. I was told it wasn't FULL HD raster (1440 x 1080 in HDV). Yet, the H1 is FULL HD out of the HD-SDI anyway ! I edit a great deal of other folks HDV in post on Avid and the HDV tapes out of the H1 are FAR superior in the cleanliness of their encoding then what I'm getting out of indies from other camcorders. I think Nick has proved that the HDV format can be used as a viable format for film and TV broadcast. I salut his efforts and can't wait to see this film projected in 35 mm on a big screen !

Nick Hiltgen · February 3rd, 2008, 03:28 PM

Hey Pat we wish we had two cameras but it wasn't feasible for the budget we working with. (and it wasn't in my budget to buy a second one) I agree that it's great that we now have the tools to tell a good story without having to shoot film. (of course you have to light like film and shoot like film...) I've been told the 35 blowup looks awesome but I'm looking forward to the 21st and seeing exactly how good it looks!

Oleg Kalyan · February 3rd, 2008, 05:36 PM

Nick, good job once again, are you working on some other movie project at the moment, The Signal, I hope propelled your career!

Do you mind telling if you shot The Signal, 24f or interlaced?

Regards, Oleg Kalyan...

Nick Hiltgen · February 4th, 2008, 01:16 AM

Hey Oleg, thanks! the signal has definitely helped things. We shot HDV 24f.

Dave Gosley · February 5th, 2008, 03:19 AM

Hi guys,

No questions - just solid admiration and hearty congratulations.

Dave

Barlow Elton · February 13th, 2008, 11:33 AM

Hey Nick,

Once again, congratulations to you and the rest of the folks involved with "The Signal".

I'm really excited to see it locally. Is it possibly being released digitally anywhere? We have an excellent DLP 2K cinema in Salt Lake and I was actually hoping to see it on BOTH film and digital!

One technical question--

Did the film get put through any of the latest uprezzing/deartifacting processes in post? I wonder if these things (if applied to the film) made a big difference for the film/digital out?

Thanks,

B

Nick Hiltgen · February 21st, 2008, 10:04 AM

Hey Barlow,

For the Digital out I know that there was no uprezzing or anything along those lines, I'm sure something was done for the film out I'll talk to the guys tonight (it's premier night!) and find out for sure. I'm also looking forward to finally seeing it blown up to 35mm and if it lives up to the hype that the directors have been telling me (about picture quality) I'll know tonight and if anyone's interested and lives in the U.S. you'll know tomorrow!

Here's a link with the scheduled theaters it'll be playing at (so far)

http://magpictures.com/dates.aspx?id...9-10839bf88ccd

As far as I'm concerned you don't have to stay and watch the whole movie (though you should at least until the moment that the candlestick is slid across the table and the knives are put in the original clip was up on this site for a while you can get a solid before and after) but please buy a ticket then if you want to go sneak into vantage point or be kind rewind instead we just want to have a solid opening weekend!

Dmitry Yun · February 22nd, 2008, 09:45 PM

What can I say, a standing ovation. I was lucky enough for a theater in Gaithersburg was playing the film and I went over to see it with great anticipation. After the film was over I smiled, sighed with envy, got up and clapped. Wonderful work which left me in awe and got me on my feet and writting the next big project, you guys are an inspiration and deserve every praise out there. A huge congratulations!!!

Eugenia Loli-Queru · March 6th, 2008, 05:47 PM

Hey Nick, two questions about the (hopefully upcoming) DVD release.

1. Is the DVD version scanned back from film, or it was re-exported from the Avid HDV sources?
2. Will there be a Blu-Ray version?

Thanks!

Oleg Kalyan · March 7th, 2008, 01:55 AM

What happened with the film, why such a poor opening?

Sorry to ask, but we did not get it in Russia, also could I ask how was the look
of the film in theaters, blown up to 35mm.

Dmitry Yun · March 25th, 2008, 04:05 PM

The blow up was very well handled and I loved the way it looked in the theater. Bet people couldn't even tell it wasn't film.

January 30th, 2008, 09:51 AM	#31
Nick Hiltgen Trustee Join Date: May 2003 Location: Atlanta GA Posts: 1,427	That's cool it's getting run on HDNET (owned by Mark Cuban, who also is partnered, or owns Magnolia- the films distributor) We haven't really seen the trailers on any sort of broad distribution yet. There should be some webisodes up soon there was talks about getting them on itunes, but I have some doubts. Magnolia owns the rights to europe so I suppose it's up to them, which means your probably right it depends on how it does in the box office. I'll post the 24f files and 60i files today (thought I already had!) Leon I sure hope so, I've noticed that Discovery HD (which used to be strictly f900 footage) is now playing shows that are shot predominately with HDV cams (deadliest catch, parts of dirty jobs, parts of myth busters etc) __________________ I have a dream that one day canon will release a 35mm ef to xl adapter and I'll have iris control and a 35mm dof of all my ef lenses, and it will be awesome...

February 2nd, 2008, 02:22 PM	#35
Mark Job Trustee Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Montreal, Quebec, Canada Posts: 1,138	Congratulations to Nick ! Hey Nick ! I congratulate you ! Now we FINALLY have a movie shot completely on the XL H1 in HDV ! I saw the trailler and it looks great ! It seemed as though the XL H1 had developped an "unknown" reputation in the industry as an "overkill" HDV camcorder. The ignorance surrounding the viability of this camera is irritating. Perhaps now, folks in our industry will stop denegrading this camera and the XL H1 will re-emerge as "the" camera for independent film making (?). One would have thought the uncompressed HD-SDI 4:2:2 output would have been enough to explain to industry professionals this is a serious instrument for production. When I went to purchase my XL H1 several folks told me not to bother. I was told to wait for the Sony EX-1 CineAlta Series camcorder because it was "better" and the H1 is an 8 bit camera and they're no good anymore ! (Totally Infuriating !) Well, you can't put other movie lenses on that camera, but you can matte just about any lens known to man on the XL H1. I was told it wasn't FULL HD raster (1440 x 1080 in HDV). Yet, the H1 is FULL HD out of the HD-SDI anyway ! I edit a great deal of other folks HDV in post on Avid and the HDV tapes out of the H1 are FAR superior in the cleanliness of their encoding then what I'm getting out of indies from other camcorders. I think Nick has proved that the HDV format can be used as a viable format for film and TV broadcast. I salut his efforts and can't wait to see this film projected in 35 mm on a big screen !

February 3rd, 2008, 03:28 PM	#36
Nick Hiltgen Trustee Join Date: May 2003 Location: Atlanta GA Posts: 1,427	Hey Pat we wish we had two cameras but it wasn't feasible for the budget we working with. (and it wasn't in my budget to buy a second one) I agree that it's great that we now have the tools to tell a good story without having to shoot film. (of course you have to light like film and shoot like film...) I've been told the 35 blowup looks awesome but I'm looking forward to the 21st and seeing exactly how good it looks! __________________ I have a dream that one day canon will release a 35mm ef to xl adapter and I'll have iris control and a 35mm dof of all my ef lenses, and it will be awesome...

February 4th, 2008, 01:16 AM	#38
Nick Hiltgen Trustee Join Date: May 2003 Location: Atlanta GA Posts: 1,427	Hey Oleg, thanks! the signal has definitely helped things. We shot HDV 24f. __________________ I have a dream that one day canon will release a 35mm ef to xl adapter and I'll have iris control and a 35mm dof of all my ef lenses, and it will be awesome...

February 5th, 2008, 03:19 AM	#39
Dave Gosley Major Player Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Hampshire Posts: 226	Really well done..! Hi guys, No questions - just solid admiration and hearty congratulations. Dave __________________ http://www.videoproductionshampshire.co.uk

January 31st, 2008, 10:01 AM	#32
John Richard Major Player Join Date: May 2006 Location: Incline Village, Nevada Posts: 604	Darn! Got excited about the news of HDNet running "The Signal". Went to DirectTV and did a search for it and nothing came up. If anyone knows when HDNet will be running it, please post here so we can see Nick's work. Thank you in advance.

February 1st, 2008, 10:42 AM	#33
Pat Norris New Boot Join Date: May 2004 Location: austin texas Posts: 10	John, HDNet's show Nothing but trailers is showing it. Saw the trailer for "The Signal" last night. Nick, I would have never thought that the movie was shot with an HDV camera. When the trailer started it seemed as though it was a big budget 35mm film. Congratulations. Some questions though. Reading this forum it appears that it was shot with one camera, was it, and if so was there a thought to use more than one camera? Thank you. Pat

February 1st, 2008, 08:14 PM	#34
John Richard Major Player Join Date: May 2006 Location: Incline Village, Nevada Posts: 604	Thanks much Pat ... I was doing a search for the full film itself. Guess I'll have to hope it comes into our area - would love to see an H1/HDV originated movie on the "Big Screen". The more that happens with skilled results from folks such as Nick, the easier it should be for broadcasters to accept the HDV IS a viable broadcast option ... it's always the skills employed by the film maker that matter to bring a QUALITY story forth.

February 3rd, 2008, 05:36 PM	#37
Oleg Kalyan Major Player Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: MOSCOW Posts: 860	Nick, good job once again, are you working on some other movie project at the moment, The Signal, I hope propelled your career! Do you mind telling if you shot The Signal, 24f or interlaced? Regards, Oleg Kalyan...

February 13th, 2008, 11:33 AM	#40
Barlow Elton Major Player Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: UT Posts: 945	Hey Nick, Once again, congratulations to you and the rest of the folks involved with "The Signal". I'm really excited to see it locally. Is it possibly being released digitally anywhere? We have an excellent DLP 2K cinema in Salt Lake and I was actually hoping to see it on BOTH film and digital! One technical question-- Did the film get put through any of the latest uprezzing/deartifacting processes in post? I wonder if these things (if applied to the film) made a big difference for the film/digital out? Thanks, B

February 21st, 2008, 10:04 AM	#41
Nick Hiltgen Trustee Join Date: May 2003 Location: Atlanta GA Posts: 1,427	Hey Barlow, For the Digital out I know that there was no uprezzing or anything along those lines, I'm sure something was done for the film out I'll talk to the guys tonight (it's premier night!) and find out for sure. I'm also looking forward to finally seeing it blown up to 35mm and if it lives up to the hype that the directors have been telling me (about picture quality) I'll know tonight and if anyone's interested and lives in the U.S. you'll know tomorrow! Here's a link with the scheduled theaters it'll be playing at (so far) http://magpictures.com/dates.aspx?id...9-10839bf88ccd As far as I'm concerned you don't have to stay and watch the whole movie (though you should at least until the moment that the candlestick is slid across the table and the knives are put in the original clip was up on this site for a while you can get a solid before and after) but please buy a ticket then if you want to go sneak into vantage point or be kind rewind instead we just want to have a solid opening weekend! __________________ I have a dream that one day canon will release a 35mm ef to xl adapter and I'll have iris control and a 35mm dof of all my ef lenses, and it will be awesome...

February 22nd, 2008, 09:45 PM	#42
Dmitry Yun Regular Crew Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Washington, DC Posts: 170	I stood up and clapped What can I say, a standing ovation. I was lucky enough for a theater in Gaithersburg was playing the film and I went over to see it with great anticipation. After the film was over I smiled, sighed with envy, got up and clapped. Wonderful work which left me in awe and got me on my feet and writting the next big project, you guys are an inspiration and deserve every praise out there. A huge congratulations!!!

March 6th, 2008, 05:47 PM	#43
Eugenia Loli-Queru Major Player Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Bay Area, CA, USA Posts: 348	Hey Nick, two questions about the (hopefully upcoming) DVD release. 1. Is the DVD version scanned back from film, or it was re-exported from the Avid HDV sources? 2. Will there be a Blu-Ray version? Thanks!

March 7th, 2008, 01:55 AM	#44
Oleg Kalyan Major Player Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: MOSCOW Posts: 860	What happened with the film, why such a poor opening? Sorry to ask, but we did not get it in Russia, also could I ask how was the look of the film in theaters, blown up to 35mm.

March 25th, 2008, 04:05 PM	#45
Dmitry Yun Regular Crew Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Washington, DC Posts: 170	Privet Oleg, film otlichnyj. The blow up was very well handled and I loved the way it looked in the theater. Bet people couldn't even tell it wasn't film.