Various TOTEM posts 2001 - 2003

[Alex Taylor]

Good tips, Dean. As soon as I got my files back I backed up my project files and music files.

[Gary Chavez]

I am being moved to a small office, about 14' by 18'.
this is about half the size of my present office.

this present office heats up quite a bit after 6-8 hours of G-4 edit time. the facilities guys are balking at my request to add a 2nd A/C vent in the room.
every TV station I have ever worked at always kept the edit suites around 65 degrees.

do you guys know of any engineering links i can send the guys here to to bloster my claims.

I and my postion are new and a big purple elephant to these guys.

[John Locke]

Anybody out there own a Lowepro Nature Trekker AW (the new model...and not the II version)? The Lowepro site doesn't show photos of the internal compartments/organizers...only illustrations..and then only for the main compartment. Kind of surprising really. And that model isn't available over here yet.

So, before I order it from abroad, could anyone fill me in on what kind of accessory pockets/organizers it has other than the main compartment? Is there a front panel compartment with lots of mesh/zippered/slots/holders etc.? Or is it just one big empty pocket (like the Stealth...they really need to rethink that design--three lens holders and a computer sleeve).

[Rob Belics]

I'll be going to LA for a job in January and will be staying three months, maybe longer. I would like a cell phone with a local number there and no long term contract. I hear Verizon has the best coverage.

Does anyone out there know the best way to go about it? I don't want to have to buy another phone, etc.

[Matt Stahley]

Yes just got one a few months ago and love it.The front outside pocket is one compartment. inside the top flap is 2 smaller mesh pockets above one large mesh pocket
(zippered). As far as the inside its pretty huge and comes with lots of movable padded partitions. I can fit a vx2000 (with lens hood on).ME66 with lightwave furry cover. Canon WD-58,Sign XLR box) batteries,tapes.xlr cable,WD-58 lens hood,MD recorder, with some room to spare if objects placed different . Also the new version comes with a day pack that is one pretty large bag that clips on the the Trekker. Has a built in raincover and new weather tight zippers. The shoulder straps and waist belt are what you would find on an actual trekking pack as well. Very comfortable pack.

[John Locke]

Thanks for that detailed information, Matt.

[Matt Elias]

Depends where you're staying. In the Hollywood hills, Sprint is the only service that gets reception.

Other than that I'd recommend Verizon or Virgin Mobile for the prepaid options w/o a contract.

[Jeff Donald]

Talk to the various service providers. Most will switch numbers on an existing phone (Sprint has done that for me). However, they won't reserve your old number.

[John Locke]

I'm writing on behalf of a friend here in Tokyo. He has written a short film script that he'd like to offer to an independent filmmaker in the UK or Ireland in exchange for film credit. No bullets, chase scenes, or explosions...this is the story of two older men living in a small town who've been friends forever and are quietly and bravely facing up to the harsh reality of a recent tragedy. It has a bit of a twist at the ending.

He wrote it keeping in mind limited budgets, therefore only two actors and a couple of locations.

If you're interested, send me an e-mail and I'll put you in touch with him directly.

[Keith Loh]

THE FUTURE IS HIGH DEF
To add content for this forum. I saw three or four digitally shot films and one high-def film and the future is definitely high def. The high def film I already talked about (All Tomorrow's Parties). It looked beautiful blown up on screen and in fact the director bemoaned that we didn't have a digital projector. The DV films I saw, a couple shorts and one feature were definitely shot with the budget in mine. One of them 8 1 5 seemed to be included in the festival because the very young director and cast simply had the balls to make it. I walked out on it, however. It was simply too raw. Inspiring in one way because you can get your digital epic showcased in a film festival across the ocean. Bright Future, Kiyoshi Kurosawa's near future film looked to be partly shot on film and partly on digital. The decisions seemed to be entirely due to location. For wide establishing shots he used film, otherwise he seemed to think nothing of going digital for interiors, pick up shots, etc. It wasn't a jarring experience. It just fit.

THE WRAP UP *crossposted from The Emporium
Well, that's it. The film festival is over (except for a volunteer bash tonight). The count is 25 films, including some I didn't bother to review. At To Kill a King, one of the last films to be screened, the theatre manager gave prizes away to those who had seen the most films, asking people to sit down after a certain number .. forty... fifty.. sixty.. There were still people standing after seventy! The three people who were still standing after seventy five scored themselves free cappucinos.

ON WATCHING FILMS
I can tell you that after the first week (I had seen ten), I actually felt sick of films. Since volunteers get a free pass I had a novel no-risk experience. I simply woke up that day, looked at the schedule and went to line up. The second week I took a break and watched Night of the Comet, the brainless apocalyptic film, which is surely the anti-festival film. I just badly needed a break from thinking at that point. The most number of films I saw in one day was three, no more. It is possible to see six films at the festival with the right juggling of scheduling and if you don't mind sitting on the fringes when you arrive late for the next screening. I know if I saw more than four I would probably lose track of which movie was which. I only walked out of one film.

I missed a few films that others said were quite good despite my best efforts. The Korean crime thriller Memories of Murder apparently was good. Lots of people in lineup told me that Wilbur Wants to Die was hilarious. A Boy's Life, a documentary about an out of control boy who is on ridulin but becomes an excellent student when taken out of his environment was widely praised. I totally missed all of the films that had been programmed as part of a dance theme. I just wasn't interested. An Argentine film Common Ground was another one I kept on hearing about and couldn't schedule. I was upset not to catch Uniform, I didn't give it a thought until it had won the Dragons and Tigers award for best new Asian cinema. I also heard buzz about Kamchatcka before it won the Audience Favourite.

MY PICKS
My picks of the festival - from the films that I did see - were Takeshi Kitano's Zatoichi, the boarding school drama Evil, Gus Van Sant's school massacre film Elephant, and the tense documentary about the Rio bus hijacking Bus 174. The undefinable ethnological feature (doc?) The Story of the Weeping Camel also deserves to be seen. It's unlike anything I've seen.

Also worth seeing was the Korean comedy Mutt Boy, Errol Morris' interview documentary with Robert McNamara The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the life of Robert S. McNamara, the Thai romance The Last Life in the Universe, the near-future high definition film All Tomorrow's Parties, Takeshi Miike's nutty Gozu, the entertaining documentary about the corporate excess The Corporation, the Cultural Revolution doc Morning Sun and the sweet Iranian protest allegory Abjad.

[John F. Jones]

My company is looking to set up a small video studio.
This is an area that I have no experience, so I look to you that do.
Is there a company that designs video studio's?
Or if we do it ourselves what are the main things that I need to consider or insist on having for a workable video studio?

They would like to use it for mainly a news type of production, and I'm sure for many other things in the future.

Any help will be appreciated.

[Mike Rehmus]

How big is the space you have?

Many professional video supply companies can do what you want. Just be prepared to have deep pockets.

You do need to define exactly what you want to do and at least set a trial budget. You could be talking about as little as $20,000 to the sky is the limit. $20,000 won't get you much from a pro shop, you'd have to design and install it yourself.

[James Emory]

Does anyone know of a company, preferrably in the southeast (Atlanta area) that prints Blockbuster Video quality graphics on VHS or DVD paper covers? I am also looking for the face and spine labels to be printed with the same quality. The labels at Staples or Office Depot are not durable enough. Thanks.

[Mike Rehmus]

What volume are you talking about?

At 1000, there are plenty of companies that can print these for you.

At 100, you will probably have to do them yourself or suffer a very high cost per copy.

Try Neato for good labels and video slipcovers that can be bent up and glued (glue on the cardboard already) into a finished slip cover. Not bad.

[Rick Bravo]

As a fan, the first instinct is to reach out for ANY ball that may come your way. After reviewing the multitude of different angles of the play, and there were many, it is clear that he reached for a ball that was clearly outside the field of play, and that this was done of instinct just like the other folks around him reached for the same ball. He just happened to be lucky or un-lucky enough to be the one it hit.

The fact that Alou had some SuperHuman ability to reach out from under the stands and position his glove directly under the BIQ (Ball in Question) is not the fault of the fan. He never crossed that threshold that separates the stands from the field!

Unfortunealtley this individual will have to join a religious order that has absolutley nothing to do with baseball or the city of Chicago until he can single handedly rescue a bus full of burning blind children from a sinking bus in Niagara Falls!!!

As as a second option, there might be some positions available within the Federal Winess Protection Program.

What a crappy way to become famous, (infamous).


Go Fish!!!