How's the progress?

[Tyler Baptist]

So I completley did a 180 a changed my entire original idea. I scrapped it. It just wasn't going anywhere, and I was thinking and thinking of a way to work it out and then BAM!, it hit me. This new idea that I got all worked out perfectly, just a matter of writing it all out now.

[Bradley L Marlow]

Hey Tyler- good for you! Don't you just love those BAM! ideas?

I have scrapped mine several times now...lol. No BAM! Was going to shoot the best of the lot today and tomorrow, but now it is snowing. Look to snow the rest of the week! Arrrrrrggh!

[Robert Martens]

Can you believe this? It's all coming together! I came up with an idea toward the end of the first day of the contest; I've never had an idea that fast before, and I'm very proud of this one. I just hope it's not too depressing or uncomfortable for everyone (it's fairly personal), and that I don't look on camera too much like the giant oaf I actually am.

The script's up to six pages right now, but the way the dialogue plays out in my head has this thing coming in at two or three minutes,assuming my timing is accurate. I've got a select few locations picked out, I've spent all day so far helping clean the house--I used as many places in my town as possible, but some of this story takes place in my home--and plans are in place to shoot a little scene tonight, after dark. I have the participation of my parents (both of whom you'll get to see) and a friend of my father's, as well, to do a little voiceover. The guy's got a very unique sound, I think you'll like it.

Hate counting my chickens before they hatch, but this is shaping up far, far better than anything I've attempted to date, and I'm extremely optimistic for a change. Wish me luck, and brace yourselves, 'cause even if the acting ends up being cheesy and I hate the way the end product looks, I'm entering the damned thing, and you'll have to watch it whether you like it or not!

[Lorinda Norton]

Originally Posted by Bradley L Marlow

Was going to shoot the best of the lot today and tomorrow, but now it is snowing. Look to snow the rest of the week! Arrrrrrggh!

Hey Brad,

Come to Idaho and shoot! It looks a lot like Wyoming, the sun is shining, and if you don’t mind 30 mph arctic winds it’ll be great! Dylan will never know it’s not your backyard… :)

We shot in that wind yesterday. It was brutal, so we did “one takes” on several scenes. Turns out that wasn’t such a good idea. The wind kept blowing dirt on my lens so I was forever brushing it off. In doing that I put a big ol’ line on my lens and didn’t see it for several shots. By the time I discovered it, my mind was blown because it looked like a huge scratch on my baby (14x manual, unprotected), and my cleaning kit was at the other location. Just one of the joys of DVC!

@Robert: Enjoyed your humorous post! Yours and several others here have provided all kinds of good entertainment--much of the reason I love these challenges so much. Can’t wait to see the movies!!!

Edit: I learned my lesson, btw. 14x is clean and sporting a UV filter. Not taking chances anymore...

[Rob Lohman]

Robert: sounds like your set to go, good luck!

Lorinda: sorry to hear that, good to know it's "fixed" though, phew

[Aaron Koolen]

I've given up...At least I get to see my name on the wall of shame! ;)

[Robert Martens]

What an interesting four hours it's been! I'm running up and down the stairs from my bedroom to the living room after forgetting so many things, I'm back and I'm forth, my dad's doing everything in his power to help me, and the scene eventually gets shot.

I was almost ready to quit again shortly after posting my last message. Upon setting up all my equipment (I have a lot more crap than I realized, and practically everything needs a damn battery), I wasn't getting the results I'd wanted. Using my dad as a lighting stand-in, I hated the way the image looked. Yeah, I know, "LCD viewfinders" and all, but even considering that, it wasn't pleasing. Then it was suggested--I'll let you guess by whom--that I simply bounce the light I wasn't happy with off of the wall behind it to get rid of the ugly shadows I was seeing. So simple, yet so effective, and with a white piece of cardstock clamped onto a spare tripod, the setup was truly complete.

Shot some different angles, did at least three takes of everything, got to the last shot of my mental list, and realized I'd forgotten to check the focus. Shutter speed? Check. Iris? Check. White balance? Check. Focus? More like "doofus". I didn't notice anything particularly offensive on the LCD panel, and though it isn't a guarantee, I've found that what looks good to my eye on it ends up looking just fine in the end. But maybe I'm just delusional, and I'll have to shoot all this again tomorrow. Meh, no big deal, it was pretty fun! I'm still waiting 'til morning to check out my footage, though, there's something about a good night's sleep that gives me a less self-deprecating attitude when it comes to my own work.

I also got my first production still, which was exciting. Got my bad side (indistinguishable from the rest of my sides, as it turns out), but I can handle that. I went setting up the camera and had you-know-who take a picture. He may be my only crew member, but damned if he doesn't go the extra nine miles to help me.

I sincerely hope the rest of you are experiencing something like this, and wish you all the luck in the world on your respective projects. Keep on keepin' on!

[Steve Shilson]

Well, I shot the whole thing yesterday!(Saturday) and things couldn't have gone better. Seriously, I've never had shooting go more smoothly. Weather was great, no problems by anyone or anything! I still need to record the V/O narration but other than that, production is over! I'm about to start capturing the footage onto the computer. Glad to see most of you are coming along well! Happy filming :)

[Scott Cozad]

OK, this is completely cliche, but I swear this is how it happened. I went a week with nothing, and I mean nothing. I had so much of nothing that I was beginning to wonder if I would ever get anything. Then one day after work I took a nap, and there is was in a dream.

I know what you're all saying, "Sure, it came to you in a dream." But it did. I swear it did.

Actually, it wasn't a complete idea, but it was enough to build upon and mold into something that will be really challenging for me. I don't know if it will be good enough to win, but it is going to be so challenging for me to put this thing together that I know I am going to learn from it.

I want to thank Dylan and everyone else involved with this challenge. This is exactly what I needed to move me to the next level.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

[Rob Lohman]

Glad to hear everyone's having a blast!

Aaron: what happened? Sorry to hear you are not going to make it.

Robert: do you have footage of the old & new results of the lighting setup? If you do it may be cool to extract some frames and put it up somewhere for comparison. Lighting is something I still need to learn a lot about.

[Brendan Marnell]

Edited with PremierePro 1.5, exported to Adobe Media Encoder [... so missed out File > Render As = step 1. on DV Challenge Web Video Tips by Rob?] Is that why I can't get the final Save to accept {"error compiling movie; Error Unknown"}
even though I've adjusted all the settings "available" under General, Video & Audio tabs as listed on "Tips". Or how can I establish which version of Quick Time Player I downloaded last month ... I swear it doesn't say under QT Properties; but it's suspect in that it does not list any system later than Windows 2000. Should I simply buy QT 7 and get on with it? Or follow Pete Bauer's line for PPro users. Sort of time when I wonder what the hell does the word "render" mean, precisely. But that can wait a month ... as long as I can get this clip somewhere/anywhere via satellite/garbage disposal and disappear shortly to the wild ... or

to quote Sean McHenry from another thread ... is this the way to go >>>

On the issue of what media type to post. We have been round this bend before but, here's my opinion on it. Some of us who use our PCs to edit cannot use the latest QT Codecs, like h.264. Try to use something simple and generic, like the older formats of windows media or older QT formats. Yes, they are bigger and slower but, if we all can see the videos, we'll all be voting on level playing grounds.

As for why we can't all use the latest codecs, you'll want to re-read some of the threads on that but my Avid squalks - LOUDLY - then dies if I add QT codecs it can't handle, such as in the latest QT versions. Other have some of these codec issues too.

Another hint might be, if you can upload to either lulu.tv or video.download.com, it is converted at their end to a standard wmv or qt streaming format. Download.com takes a week or more to get the uploaded files converted and listed >>>

[Mike Teutsch]

Originally Posted by Aaron Koolen

I've given up...At least I get to see my name on the wall of shame! ;)

Hey Aaron,

Don't give up yet man, we still have about two weeks! I don't have anything either, but I'm still thinking day and night. I guess the later is called a nightmare!

Mike, President-Procrastinators Club of America

[Hugh DiMauro]

So what we were delayed because a "citizen" called the cops on us, reporting that "...two men are roughing up a guy with his hands tied behind his back."

Yeah, so what we were delayed when the actual owners of the boarded up building at where we shot showed up to ask us what we were doing.

Yeah, so what that we shot in an area that even the rats are afraid to visit and yet, as soon as we show up with a camera, it turns into a three ring circus with everybody one notch under God walking by asking what's going on!

At least a concerned citizen didn't rat me out to the to our Homeland Security cell phone hotline while I stood roadside on the Atlantic City Expressway carrying a dangerous looking object (video camera) in my hand. I was more worried about getting clocked by a casino bus! And that ocean wind! My audio is lousy. Also, I need a bunch of innoculations to prevent whatever I might have contracted in the back seat of Charlie Weber's unmarked car.

Other than that, we had a blast shooting our segment of the challenge. The rest is up to my partner in crime. Thanks to Barry Green for assisting with some user settings since I have not received my DVX Book.

[Edward Slonaker]

Originally Posted by Hugh DiMauro

So what we were delayed because a "citizen" called the cops on us, reporting that "...two men are roughing up a guy with his hands tied behind his back."

Yeah, so what we were delayed when the actual owners of the boarded up building at where we shot showed up to ask us what we were doing.

Yeah, so what that we shot in an area that even the rats are afraid to visit and yet, as soon as we show up with a camera, it turns into a three ring circus with everybody one notch under God walking by asking what's going on!

At least a concerned citizen didn't rat me out to the to our Homeland Security cell phone hotline while I stood roadside on the Atlantic City Expressway carrying a dangerous looking object (video camera) in my hand. I was more worried about getting clocked by a casino bus! And that ocean wind! My audio is lousy. Also, I need a bunch of innoculations to prevent whatever I might have contracted in the back seat of Charlie Weber's unmarked car.

Other than that, we had a blast shooting our segment of the challenge. The rest is up to my partner in crime. Thanks to Barry Green for assisting with some user settings since I have not received my DVX Book.

Dang, Hugh, I'll bet money your short video's going to be better than last night's episode of the "Sopranos" (don't get me started)!

Looking forward to seeing it, knowing all the 'fun' you had shooting it.

[Robert Martens]

Originally Posted by Rob Lohman

Robert: do you have footage of the old & new results of the lighting setup? If you do it may be cool to extract some frames and put it up somewhere for comparison. Lighting is something I still need to learn a lot about.

You and me both, buddy! But I may be able to come up with something later today. I have yet to capture my footage, and even once I do, I didn't actually record anything last night with the less-than-satisfactory lighting, so I have no example to give. All of my equipment is still set up and ready to go, however, and most of it is still in place (just in case, as I mentioned, the focus was screwy and I have to do it all over) so I can just recreate the scene again tonight, no problem.

I'll do it as soon as I can, and show everyone what little I know about this stuff.

Originally Posted by Scott Cozad

I know what you're all saying, "Sure, it came to you in a dream." But it did. I swear it did.

Hey, man, I believe you. Once you start having Lucid Dreams on a regular basis, you can pretty much believe anything's possible when it comes to the subconscious. Some might say the most direct route to what you really, truly feel is through dreams (if you ever become conscious during one, try asking out loud to speak with your subconscious, see what happens, it's a trip), so I say take this as a blessing and run with it. Glad to hear you're moving along!