Show Your Work 2002

[Todd Dilley]

I really like your site . I downloaded the "trailer" for the Anti- Horror. It looks very interesting. I like the song alot! Prepare yourself for...yourself... very interesting.

My question for you is that based on the advice you received from these boards, what would you say is the best thing you did in order to achieve the film look with the Canon XL? I am highly interested in your answer because your movie looks very crisp.
The picture quality is great.

Thanks Tom,
However, I must tell you that the stream on my page was shot a long time ago, some of the first stuff I have shot with the xl1 (2nd tape as a matter of fact).
It is almost impossible to tell the true quality an xl1s can achieve by viewing its product as a stream.
I must say it is very strange that all the mainstream dv movies I have seen look like crap. It must have something to do with the blowup to film, but most all of the stuff I have seen was on cable or video. I do not understand the grain, bad lighting, and crackhead colors some of these dv dp's are putting out. Call me paranoid...but sometimes I feel the dv revolution is under attack by the empire.
As for how I achieved the film look on Anti, I used everything I learned from dv community at different times. I used many techniques for many different situations. I hate to sound so vague but that is the truth. I am busy with editing right now and have not the time to break it all down......but trust me ...it has all been said and said again here in these pages....there are some cutting edge folks creeping around here.
Don

[Wayde Gardner]

As we're moving into actually planning a timeline for shooting Tin can Shinny, I'd like to find a template or listing (production schedule) of all the components, seen and not seen, that go into planning, shooting and finishing a film.

Other than the very obvious of legal, script, shhoting script, storyboards, equipment, location planning, etc., can anyone direct me to a "master list" of the non-production related concerns?

I kind of equate this to building a house starting with buying a lot, finalizing a floorplan, aquiring building permits, garbage services, temporary power, etc. all the "non-bricks and mortar" expenses and jobs that add to the expense.

Thanks for any help.

Wayde Gardner
Right Field Films

www.rightfieldfilms.com

[Christian Calson]

hi Don-

I tried to watch your streaming video/trailer but it was turning into an experiment in frustration. I'll try back later. I might have hit when you guys were most busy. I wanted to write a quick on note on a few things that you and others may or may not know about. What you call STV...

I refer to features that are released for direct to video distribution as video premieres, as per the main publication covering this 2 billion dollar industry. I work for this publication. It's called, ironically enough, Video Premieres. It's an initiative of the leading (20+ year old) publication called Video Business. Video Premieres was created to raise the bar for this type of product. Almost all major studios release regular Video Premiere titles and DVD extras fall into this description as well, for Video Premieres. There's even an award show that goes on that recognizes the best of the best. Check out the website and then I would strongly recommend getting a subscription. You can find it online at http://www.videopremiereawards.com.

I'm producing a couple shorts and then a feature, called Shiner (www.take-a-hit.com) and these are all slated for this market. Since I produce pretty risky content (our website is www.nebunule.com) the home video market is a viable and democratic venue to get your stuff out. For those out there who don't know where to start, I would recommend starting with the highly popular Independents issue of our sister publication, Variety (www.variety.com), and start doing your homework of who is out there and what they are interested in. Some studios are not intersted in digital video fare, others are very agressivly picking up urban fare and others gay & lesbian fare. I encourage filmmakers to reach out through these venues and work smart.

Also, one more note, if you haven't become a member of IFP (in your local chapters) then you are making movies the hard way. You can find out more on this amazing and worthwhile organization at http://www.ifp.org.

Good luck to everyone best wishes to Chris, for making this available to us. Take care everyone and good night.

Christian Calson
Nebunule Films

[Christian Calson]

If you love the movie or are interested in the brains and brawn behind it, then you might want to get a copy of 'shooting to kill' by the producers of the film (christine). you can check out Killer Films at www.killerfilms.com. Her list of films is amazing. If you have ever said, 'they don't produce good independent films in the us...', then you have not see a killer film producing in a while. She's been around a while and has a lot of information that is more than useful to the novice and professional, through her book. good luck and take care.

christian calson
nebunule films
nebunule.com

[Todd Dilley]

I just wanted to let everyone know, that last night on the Howard Stern show, two men were having a golf challenge.
One of the men(Stuttering John) hit his golf ball directly into one of the cameras. Stuttering John was mad and said, "I had a great shot but my stupid ball hit the E! camera." They then showed the camera that was hit with the golf ball up close and it was a Canon XLS! So it appears that the Canon XLS is used by the E! network crew to atleast film some of the Howard Stern show. I thought I'd pass it along because that's really cool to know that this camera is being used with prominent TV shows.

[Dylan Couper]

I've been noticing them on other TV shows as well.
Just recently on TNN's Oblivious for one. A few XL1's on a documentary about BASE juming.

[Christian Calson]

master list? It sounds like you are unsure if you're covering all your bases in pre-production, right? I went to your site and saw you guys have a producer, so I would leave managing that stuff to him. There are a ton of books on dv production. A lot of them come with software and some with access to websites that have really good templates and articles. If you're not members of IFP then you'll wish you were in a year or so. Also, I would start reading the trades if you intend to sell or talk to people who would buy your film if you're making it to sell. If you want software Movie Magic makes the most popular budgeting and scheduling software. There are some ez budget templates circulating out there, if god forbid you haven't done a budget yet. I'd start with a script or thorough outline first, then a budget, then clean the budget, then reclean th budget, then move forward with casting and shooting. Otherwise you might end up watching an unfinished very expensive movie. I don't think I've answered your question, but let me know.

christian calson
nebunule films

[Wayde Gardner]

We do have quite a bit covered and our Producer John Darrouzet is an organizing machine. As the Writer/Director and organizer of this crew, I want to make sure we've got all our bases covered. I think I owe it to a number of people who are investing a lot of thier own time and resources.

Budget! We don' need no stinking budget!

...and as our DP (Brad Herbert) is fond of saying, "We have an infinite budget of zero."

We are, however, keeping track of our time and daily expenses for our own purpose.

It appears we'll be using the Movie Magic SW to organize and execute the various stages of the shoot. I'm trying to head off any surprises as we have so many facets to the film. (large cast including kids, multiple locations, period piece, etc.)

**"Also, I would start reading the trades if you intend to sell or talk to people who would buy your film if you're making it to sell."**

You mean people would actually PAY me to do this?! :)

[Hixsters]

Read the reviews on the Full Frontal movie. True, the Xl-1 will not match the quality of film, but high def will. I was at a film fetival and the owner of Du Art in New York, a transfer house, said he couldn't tell the difference between high def and film. He showed us 2 clips and I couldn't tell the difference either. The fact of the matter what ever you use, just do what you can afford, people care about the story first. Hollwood doesn't like digital because no longer are they the king and queen. By the way the owner of Du-Art in New York worked with CBS back in the fifties when they were still using film for the evening news. How's that for doing things the hard way, DIGITAL WILL RULE!!!!!!!!

[Christian Calson]

you have a very nice sense of humor and attitude, this will last you through the bad times well, it seems. the trades are really useful, if for nothing else than you can keep a conversation with an acquisitions person or if/when you think about getting a sales agent. it's possible your work could secure local or foreign tv sales, video, or cable... it's possible. take care and good luck.

christian calson
nebunule films

[Jay Gladwell]

I found this interesting declaration online at www.neocinema.com. It's a new spin on the Dogme 95 manifesto's "Vow of Chastity." However, this applies to movies for the web. Rather than commenting, I'll let it speak for itself.

Dogma 2001: The New Rules for Internet Cinema

Putting a film designed for festivals on the Internet is no more Internet cinema than putting housework on a stage makes it theater. This is a different venue, with different requirements: The Internet has severe bandwidth limitations, there's a lot fighting for the viewer's attention, and there is a significant community aspect unique to the medium which should be taken into account.

This is not a theater.
Here, the viewer is in control.

Accordingly, true Internet cinema follows these ten rules:



1. Total running time should not exceed five minutes.
This is the Internet, not television. This is usually a desk, not the living room. Time and attention are compromised in this venue. Know it, live it.


2. Something interesting must occur within ten seconds.
In a theater, the environment forces the viewer to focus their attention on the screen, allowing the movie to take its time establishing itself. On the Internet, viewers are often at their desk with a cat on their lap or the phone ringing or kids needing attention or cooking something or whatever. And even just inside the computer there are many distractions: incoming email, IMs, other interesting apps to play with. To compete successfully for the viewer's attention in this environment you gotta act quickly and decisevely. That "something interesting" need not include an explosion (someone please call Hollywood and let them know), but it must capture the user's attention. Research indicates that computer users will click away if they don't get some useful activity within ten seconds.


3. It can only require the four most common plug-ins.
That means Flash, Real Player, Windows Media Player, or QuickTime. Anything else has a market penetration too small to be worthwhile for the general public. Requiring people to download one more plug-in is so very rude and only hurts yourself: a more polite world is only a click away. And of course we're talking about one version behind whatever the current one is; requiring folks to get a more recent version of a plug-in than what they're likely to have is just as rude. It takes about 18 months for a new version of a plug-in to become dominant.


4. It must be sized between 320x240 and 640x480.
Anything smaller than 320x240 is too small to be interesting. Anything larger than 640x480 is too large to be downloaded by most people.


5. Compose for your delivery size.
This is a small screen, so don't compose long shots in which essential detail may be lost.


6. Movies should be downloadable.
If you think streaming is somehow more secure you're kidding yourself. The image quality of streaming media is far, far behind downloadable movies. Don't make people suffer pixelated images and out-of-synch sound. Understand that any electronic media can be shared, then get comfortable with that. Put a copyright notice on it and let it go.


7. It should be double-sized.
Setting the movie to double-size gives twice as much viewing area without increasing file size/download time. If you use good compressors like Sorensen in a downloadable movie, even at double-size the quality will still be much better than streaming.


8. There must be a URL which can direct others directly to the movie page.
The Internet is about sharing. If you take the time to make media available, take just a little more time to think through how easily folks can access it. Frames do not normally allow direct URLs to go to a specific page. Frames are allowable only if they point to a frame set or a CGI or some other means lets folks paste a URL into their browser to get to your flick.


9. Credits must be a single frame at the end of the movie.
See #1. Folks care much more about who contributed what to a movie after they've seen it. Let Hollywood do what it feels it needs to do to satisfy those egos; here it's about the viewer, and the viewer's time is the most precious commodity. Don't waste it. A single frame at the movie will last exactly as long as the viewer wants.


10. Provide an email address in the credits.
An interesting movie will warrant inquiry. It's only natural that someone viewing a movie on a computer will want to contact the author via email. Leaving out your email address only makes the earnest fan jump through hoops with WHOIS to find you. Extra bonus points if you make the email address clickable (e.g., <mailto:info@neocinema.com>).

[Don Donatello]

"Hollwood doesn't like digital because no longer are they the king and queen"

Hollywood ( the business) doesn't care FILM/DIGITAL - hollywood bottm line is $$$$ .. they prefer the less expense of digital, they prefer digital effects -they'll gladly pay for 100,000 digital extra's vs real extra's ... as soon as digital projection is cost effective you'll see them in theaters ( doesn't matter if film projection is better) ... IMO hollywood ( business exec's ) would be shooting ALL digital ( based on cost ) but it is the filmmakers that are not choosing digital.

actually Hollywood loves all the little mini dv filmmakers. they have a option to look at many story's /idea's and if they think they can make $$ off your project they can buy it for CHEAP from you or just take your idea and come up with their own MOVIE. hollywood controls DISTRIBUTION and if YOU want to make $$ then you have to go to hollywood. TRUE you can put your project on the web, make DVD copies but are you making $$$ ..hollywood doesn't care if you make a movie and sell copies yourself because they know you can only make small change. the BIG $$ is thru their distribution.

. also looking at all these DV projects they can see TALENT -future filmmakers they want to work with ...

just because dv allows anybody to make a movie doesn't make anybody a filmmaker ... the BOTTOM line to any movie/project is STORY !!! now the CHEAPEST of all dv/film/tv material is pen and paper but that doesn't make us all writers/scriptwriters !!

[Nori Wentworth]

Here is a link to a musician/actor's website.

http://www.tranceblackman.com

If you check out the movie link you can see some of my DP and camera work. All shot with my XL1.

Chow fur Now- Nori

I'm hoping someone can point me in the right direction. I am a total newbie to video production. I'm using a Sony Digital 8 camera - but here's my thing.
The church I attend does a weekly 1/2 hour broadcast. Currently an outside company does the broadcast, but what would I need to get to do it? I've searched all over the internet for super-newbie tutorials but everything starts a little over my head. I know we need to get a good camera. I have the computer & software needed. I need to know what do I need to do to get it ready to send to the station. What format do I put it in (beta tape, etc.). How do I do it off my computer - firewire??

Any help or links to good tutorials would be GREAT!

Thanks