Wonderful example at DVinfo.net

Jay Gladwell · December 5th, 2002, 11:56 AM

Go to:

http://www.starwaypictures.com/expired/thefilm.html

and watch "Expired." It's a beautiful little film shot on miniDV that is unbelievable. It shows what the medium is truly capable of.

Dylan Couper · December 5th, 2002, 12:26 PM

I almost don't believe that's video.
This is an exceptionaly well done piece. I wish they gave a little more info as to how they achieved the look and what camera they used.

Jay Gladwell · December 5th, 2002, 12:38 PM

I'm waiting now to hear back from the director for the particulars.

Rick Spilman · December 5th, 2002, 02:17 PM

I agree. The only thing that I would have liked is more info on the production. Very nicely done.

Marius Svendsen · December 5th, 2002, 04:16 PM

That was truly amazing work in my eyes, I got a nice feel, the film was great composed. And that it was shot with miniDV, unbelivable...just think about the posibilities.

Jay: Please let me in on the particulars.

Robert Knecht Schmidt · December 5th, 2002, 04:53 PM

To my eye, look like just a bit of color correction and some compositing. The footage still exhibits all the contrast flatness of DV.

Jay Gladwell · December 5th, 2002, 04:57 PM

Fine, Robert. Can you make a film like that?

Jeff Donald · December 5th, 2002, 05:01 PM

In the credits, Final Cut Pro is listed. My best guess is it's Magic Bullet http://www.theorphanage.com/ It may have been done with another AE plugin, but it looks like MB to me.

Jeff

Rick Spilman · December 5th, 2002, 05:05 PM

The point to me has less to do with 4:1:1 color space and all that but with the staging, compostion, lighting and so forth. I was fully engaged by the clip even if the story idea is hardly original. Good story telling.

Robert Knecht Schmidt · December 5th, 2002, 05:07 PM

Jay, perhaps what you're really asking is whether I can reproduce the film look. Who would want to make a movie without a story? ;-)

Jay Gladwell · December 5th, 2002, 05:13 PM

No, Robert, I meant what I said. I was taking ALL the elements into consideration.

Jay Gladwell · December 5th, 2002, 05:47 PM

Below is what the director, Robert Sanders, had to say about production of his film "Expired." (minus some personal banter)

- - - - - - -

"As far as production particulars, this film really was a low-budget friends and family effort. We shot the film using a Sony PD-150. I think the reason the picture quality turned out so well was due to my lighting designer who worked with me very hard to get it right. I was fortunate enough to get Jim Teiper to come out with his 5-ton grip truck and help us on this show. But, the crew was basically my friends and family (albeit friends and family I always use on my productions...which is great because they're FREE!).

"The production design was another thing that I think helps the look of the film. We were able to use a large vacant room in an office building to build our apartment in. They let us paint the walls and plug up other windows with plywood because we didn't want them showing. We pretty much brought all the furniture from my apartment and my neighbor's apartment to the set. You'll probably be surprised to know that the paintings on the wall were simply ink-jet printouts tiled together on foam-core.

"We didn't use any greenscreen or bluescreen behind the window because I needed the background as reference for the matte paintings. So, that meant we had to "rotoscope" all shots with the window. I used Commotion Pro to do that. Man, that was a lot of freakin' work! The background mattes were created from still photographs I took of a building in downtown LA. The "flying cars" were simple 2D layers animated with a lot of motion blur so you can't see detail or the lack of perspective shift.

"That's pretty much it."

Scott Burbank · December 6th, 2002, 12:40 AM

Wow! That's great work.

Chris Hurd · December 6th, 2002, 09:15 AM

I just watched the short version and thought it looked super. Nice work. Thanks for the link.

Mark Austin · December 6th, 2002, 10:23 AM

I just watched the clip and was glad to see that these people didn't stifle thier creative ablilty based on common misconceptions of equipment and it's limitations. The clip reminded me of somthing an old crusty recording engineer said to me at an auction in Nashville: I'd gone to look for a new mixing console and was scouring the auction floor when this old guy came over and said "It really doesn't matter what equipment you use, a hit song is a hit song". His point was that a dog on the best equipment is still a dog, and everyone from Johnny Cash to Elvis & the Beatles were recorded on (by todays standards) equipment that was pretty limted, and yet sold millions of records in spite of the equipment and it's shortcomings. I guess my thoughts are that if you have the talent to act, light, direct and edit etc. you can surely overcome some pretty high hurdles. This clip shows what you can do if you "think outside the box" and replace limitations with hard work and talent. It's not film but it's so well done you forget about the meduim and connect to the content. my 2 cents
Mark

December 5th, 2002, 11:56 AM	#1
Jay Gladwell Join Date: Jul 2002 Posts: 1,244	Wonderful example Go to: http://www.starwaypictures.com/expired/thefilm.html and watch "Expired." It's a beautiful little film shot on miniDV that is unbelievable. It shows what the medium is truly capable of.

December 5th, 2002, 04:16 PM	#5
Marius Svendsen Regular Crew Join Date: May 2002 Location: Oslo, Norway Posts: 79	That was truly amazing work in my eyes, I got a nice feel, the film was great composed. And that it was shot with miniDV, unbelivable...just think about the posibilities. Jay: Please let me in on the particulars. __________________ Marius Svendsen Interlaced Media svendsen_ms@hotmail.com

December 5th, 2002, 04:53 PM	#6
Robert Knecht Schmidt Wrangler Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: Cleveland, Ohio Posts: 1,933	To my eye, look like just a bit of color correction and some compositing. The footage still exhibits all the contrast flatness of DV. __________________ All the best, Robert K S Search DVinfo.net for quick answers \| The best in the business: DVinfo.net sponsors

December 5th, 2002, 05:07 PM	#10
Robert Knecht Schmidt Wrangler Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: Cleveland, Ohio Posts: 1,933	Jay, perhaps what you're really asking is whether I can reproduce the film look. Who would want to make a movie without a story? ;-) __________________ All the best, Robert K S Search DVinfo.net for quick answers \| The best in the business: DVinfo.net sponsors

December 5th, 2002, 05:47 PM	#12
Jay Gladwell Join Date: Jul 2002 Posts: 1,244	Director's Explanation Below is what the director, Robert Sanders, had to say about production of his film "Expired." (minus some personal banter) - - - - - - - "As far as production particulars, this film really was a low-budget friends and family effort. We shot the film using a Sony PD-150. I think the reason the picture quality turned out so well was due to my lighting designer who worked with me very hard to get it right. I was fortunate enough to get Jim Teiper to come out with his 5-ton grip truck and help us on this show. But, the crew was basically my friends and family (albeit friends and family I always use on my productions...which is great because they're FREE!). "The production design was another thing that I think helps the look of the film. We were able to use a large vacant room in an office building to build our apartment in. They let us paint the walls and plug up other windows with plywood because we didn't want them showing. We pretty much brought all the furniture from my apartment and my neighbor's apartment to the set. You'll probably be surprised to know that the paintings on the wall were simply ink-jet printouts tiled together on foam-core. "We didn't use any greenscreen or bluescreen behind the window because I needed the background as reference for the matte paintings. So, that meant we had to "rotoscope" all shots with the window. I used Commotion Pro to do that. Man, that was a lot of freakin' work! The background mattes were created from still photographs I took of a building in downtown LA. The "flying cars" were simple 2D layers animated with a lot of motion blur so you can't see detail or the lack of perspective shift. "That's pretty much it."

December 5th, 2002, 12:26 PM	#2
Dylan Couper Wrangler Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Vancouver, British Columbia Posts: 8,314	I almost don't believe that's video. This is an exceptionaly well done piece. I wish they gave a little more info as to how they achieved the look and what camera they used.

December 5th, 2002, 12:38 PM	#3
Jay Gladwell Join Date: Jul 2002 Posts: 1,244	I'm waiting now to hear back from the director for the particulars.

December 5th, 2002, 02:17 PM	#4
Rick Spilman Major Player Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Jersey City, NJ Posts: 366	I agree. The only thing that I would have liked is more info on the production. Very nicely done.

December 5th, 2002, 04:57 PM	#7
Jay Gladwell Join Date: Jul 2002 Posts: 1,244	Fine, Robert. Can you make a film like that?

December 5th, 2002, 05:01 PM	#8
Jeff Donald Warden Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Clearwater, FL Posts: 8,287	In the credits, Final Cut Pro is listed. My best guess is it's Magic Bullet http://www.theorphanage.com/ It may have been done with another AE plugin, but it looks like MB to me. Jeff

December 5th, 2002, 05:05 PM	#9
Rick Spilman Major Player Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Jersey City, NJ Posts: 366	The point to me has less to do with 4:1:1 color space and all that but with the staging, compostion, lighting and so forth. I was fully engaged by the clip even if the story idea is hardly original. Good story telling.

December 5th, 2002, 05:13 PM	#11
Jay Gladwell Join Date: Jul 2002 Posts: 1,244	No, Robert, I meant what I said. I was taking ALL the elements into consideration.

December 6th, 2002, 12:40 AM	#13
Scott Burbank Regular Crew Join Date: May 2002 Location: Burnaby, B.C. Canada Posts: 50	Wow! That's great work.

December 6th, 2002, 09:15 AM	#14
Chris Hurd Obstreperous Rex Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: San Marcos, TX Posts: 27,368 Images: 513	I just watched the short version and thought it looked super. Nice work. Thanks for the link. __________________ CH Search DV Info Net \| 20 years of DVi \| ...Tuesday is Soylent Green Day!

December 6th, 2002, 10:23 AM	#15
Mark Austin Regular Crew Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: Houston, Texas Posts: 188	Tools & Talent... I just watched the clip and was glad to see that these people didn't stifle thier creative ablilty based on common misconceptions of equipment and it's limitations. The clip reminded me of somthing an old crusty recording engineer said to me at an auction in Nashville: I'd gone to look for a new mixing console and was scouring the auction floor when this old guy came over and said "It really doesn't matter what equipment you use, a hit song is a hit song". His point was that a dog on the best equipment is still a dog, and everyone from Johnny Cash to Elvis & the Beatles were recorded on (by todays standards) equipment that was pretty limted, and yet sold millions of records in spite of the equipment and it's shortcomings. I guess my thoughts are that if you have the talent to act, light, direct and edit etc. you can surely overcome some pretty high hurdles. This clip shows what you can do if you "think outside the box" and replace limitations with hard work and talent. It's not film but it's so well done you forget about the meduim and connect to the content. my 2 cents Mark __________________ I'm humbled by the greatness that surrounds me.