Good luck to the 48 Hour Film teams!

Jon Fairhurst · August 21st, 2009, 01:00 PM

I asked our local 48 Hour producer about HD, and he said that the theater's projector is limited to SD. I need to call the owner and talk him into a projector upgrade...

We screened last night. (Once I get our director's approval, I'll post the link.) Technically, the presentation was nearly error free.

Most of the teams used HVXs. We were the only team of the 13 in our group who used the 5D2. It looked good. :) And the HVX, when down-ressed, looked like video. Few teams applied good curves, none used 35mm adapters, I don't think any used filters, and the DOF was huge on all but macro shots. Throw away the HD resolution, and the HVX isn't left with much.

On the other hand, the 5D2 looked pretty darn good. The shallow DOF and low-contrast curve come through even in SD. Playing Mockumentary fairly straight, we were very conservative on the aperture, generally setting it around 5.6. Even with a subtle DOF look, it's quite nice, compared to what a 1/3" sensor can deliver.

Our sound levels were nearly perfect. If I were to remix, I'd boost the dialog about 2 dB. Lots of teams had dialog WAY too loud. Ouch! One team had a recording in a mini mart was simply screaming with HVAC and refrigerator noise. By using the juicedLink/MagicLantern, our noise levels were nearly silent. We used zero noise reduction.

One film was quite impressive. It was done by an opera company as a full musical. It had an upscale 1920s look. Unfortunately, it didn't have crowd appeal as the music was fairly atonal, the directing style was abstract, and the story wasn't linear. It was an impressive effort, nonetheless.

One thing that few teams seem to get is the importance of character development to a story. Only one team, aside from ours, brought the lead character from one emotional place to another.

Anyway, I hope that we can show in 720p next year. The DTV Transition was supposed to be over this past June. Of the 13 films, only one was shot on a DVX. Everybody else shot HD.

Jon Fairhurst · August 21st, 2009, 03:52 PM

I've posted our 48 Hour Film, Dream Job, in the gallery...

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/eos-serie...3pictures.html

Andy Batt · August 25th, 2009, 10:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jon Fairhurst

I asked our local 48 Hour producer about HD, and he said that the theater's projector is limited to SD. I need to call the owner and talk him into a projector upgrade...

Hi Jon - Congratulations! I saw your film got the audience award - ours tied, and they split the award - The 48 Hour Film Project: Portland, Oregon

The projector (we were in the first group) was so wacked out of true it was sad - over saturated colors, contrast jacked over the top and the blues and greens were hugely shifted. Our film still looked good, and the audience had a great reaction, but the skin tones were f**ked - I viewed a copy at home, and it looked great.

The projector itself (other than not being HD) might not be the culprit - I have no idea what setup they use to provide the 'films' but if they are using a computer the projector can be calibrated and profiled using X-Rite tools.

-andy

Jon Fairhurst · August 25th, 2009, 11:10 AM

Thanks Andy! Congrats to Cinema Syndicate as well.

Best of luck on Monday night. :)

Evan Donn · August 25th, 2009, 04:23 PM

Congratulations to both of you, we're still waiting to hear the results for San Jose.

I just posted our film:

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/eos-serie...-san-jose.html

Jon Fairhurst · August 27th, 2009, 11:27 AM

Congratulations, Andy. I see that we've both made it to the final 13 on Monday.

Six of the final films were from our group (C). I'm not surprised. The last half of the screening was quite strong. It was hard to choose the top three for my audience vote.

August 21st, 2009, 01:00 PM	#16
Jon Fairhurst Inner Circle Join Date: May 2006 Location: Camas, WA, USA Posts: 5,513	I asked our local 48 Hour producer about HD, and he said that the theater's projector is limited to SD. I need to call the owner and talk him into a projector upgrade... We screened last night. (Once I get our director's approval, I'll post the link.) Technically, the presentation was nearly error free. Most of the teams used HVXs. We were the only team of the 13 in our group who used the 5D2. It looked good. :) And the HVX, when down-ressed, looked like video. Few teams applied good curves, none used 35mm adapters, I don't think any used filters, and the DOF was huge on all but macro shots. Throw away the HD resolution, and the HVX isn't left with much. On the other hand, the 5D2 looked pretty darn good. The shallow DOF and low-contrast curve come through even in SD. Playing Mockumentary fairly straight, we were very conservative on the aperture, generally setting it around 5.6. Even with a subtle DOF look, it's quite nice, compared to what a 1/3" sensor can deliver. Our sound levels were nearly perfect. If I were to remix, I'd boost the dialog about 2 dB. Lots of teams had dialog WAY too loud. Ouch! One team had a recording in a mini mart was simply screaming with HVAC and refrigerator noise. By using the juicedLink/MagicLantern, our noise levels were nearly silent. We used zero noise reduction. One film was quite impressive. It was done by an opera company as a full musical. It had an upscale 1920s look. Unfortunately, it didn't have crowd appeal as the music was fairly atonal, the directing style was abstract, and the story wasn't linear. It was an impressive effort, nonetheless. One thing that few teams seem to get is the importance of character development to a story. Only one team, aside from ours, brought the lead character from one emotional place to another. Anyway, I hope that we can show in 720p next year. The DTV Transition was supposed to be over this past June. Of the 13 films, only one was shot on a DVX. Everybody else shot HD. __________________ Jon Fairhurst

August 21st, 2009, 03:52 PM	#17
Jon Fairhurst Inner Circle Join Date: May 2006 Location: Camas, WA, USA Posts: 5,513	I've posted our 48 Hour Film, Dream Job, in the gallery... http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/eos-serie...3pictures.html __________________ Jon Fairhurst

August 25th, 2009, 11:10 AM	#19
Jon Fairhurst Inner Circle Join Date: May 2006 Location: Camas, WA, USA Posts: 5,513	Thanks Andy! Congrats to Cinema Syndicate as well. Best of luck on Monday night. :) __________________ Jon Fairhurst

August 25th, 2009, 04:23 PM	#20
Evan Donn Major Player Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Philadelphia Posts: 795	Congratulations to both of you, we're still waiting to hear the results for San Jose. I just posted our film: http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/eos-serie...-san-jose.html __________________ My latest short documentary: "Four Pauls: Bring the Hat Back!"

August 27th, 2009, 11:27 AM	#21
Jon Fairhurst Inner Circle Join Date: May 2006 Location: Camas, WA, USA Posts: 5,513	Congratulations, Andy. I see that we've both made it to the final 13 on Monday. Six of the final films were from our group (C). I'm not surprised. The last half of the screening was quite strong. It was hard to choose the top three for my audience vote. __________________ Jon Fairhurst