Show Your Work 2003

Matt Brouwer · September 21st, 2003, 03:44 AM

Anybody know of a good place to rent a video projector in the bay area? I'd also like to know about how much to expect to pay when renting one. I'm a little tight on money since I am still just a high school student. My final question is, is there a certain type of projector which is best for projecting video (DLP?) and how many Lumens should it be (crowd of 100- 150 people)? Thanks in advance!

Mike Meyerson · September 21st, 2003, 07:35 PM

Thanks for checkin it out...

We shot on BetaSP (because my XL-1 was having issues with the mixer we had) yes I know, it's not digital, but we really intended on using the XL-1. For audio we used a couple of Azden wireless lav's (they are great). The BetaSP camera we had actually crapped-out on us after 13 hours of shooting. We had to shoot some of the cut-a-ways at a different location after we got the camera fixed.

For lights we had a couple of arri kits...nothing too crazy. Some snoots and gels. We had a talented DP. (not me, I produced and edited)

I edited with Avid XDV and gave it a film look with Digi-FX cine-look...took alot of tweaking, & cranked up the black levels until we were happy with the look.

Thanks again...pass around the link, we are currently #3 on IFILMS daily top 20...hope to get to #1.

Also check out the music video I recently produced / edited
http://www.ifilm.com/filmdetail?ifilmid=2474316

Benjamin Taft · September 22nd, 2003, 07:20 AM

I just downloaded the remastering.mov file. I get some kind of corruption at around 12:23, perhaps something happened during the download but maybe you should check at your end just in case.

From what I saw though it looked pretty good, I especially liked the lighting in some of the b/w footage. The interview setting was a bit dull visually and the first interviewee was a bit too pretentious ;).

Dany Nativel · September 22nd, 2003, 07:54 AM

Thank you for your feedback.

One of my favorite shot is a B&W closeup of the hand playing piano.

I've color corrected both interviews and live with MB.

For the color one it's Warm and Fuzzy and for the live stuff B&W crunch.
You can see how the original footage looked like on the bonus footage gallery.mov. I promise I'll make sure they don't wear any RED shirt anymore ... that's just too bad for the picture.

The regular B&W was giving a too video look so I've took this "crunch" one which gives less details.

For the interview, I've used the auto focus mode and that was a mistake as my subject was not centered. On some shots the talking head is blurry with perfect focus on the guitars in the back !

Thanks again.
Dany

Matt Brouwer · September 22nd, 2003, 01:44 PM

Don't reply all at once now...

Rob Wilson · September 22nd, 2003, 01:58 PM

Matt,

Lumens question is tough without knowing the room environment you'll have. If you can get it completely dark, AND you're not projecting on a HUGE screen, 800 would probably be fine. If on the other hand, ambient light will be a problem, you'll need to go quite a bit higher to acheive good results. I use a 800 lumen DLP projector but only for computer driven Power Point type stuff in rooms with a fair amount of light, works ok, but I can ensure that I have very high contrast between background and text, not an option in video.

DLP projectors would probably be better at video, but will add cost. I would use the local yellow pages, find a local rental source, then test a couple of their projectors using what ever device you'll be playing from. Most don't have a problem with that and can provide some additional details while you're there.

Dean Sensui · September 22nd, 2003, 02:37 PM

I've used a Canon projector that had an output of about 1500 lumens. Worked very well, even in rooms that couldn't be completely darkened. The screens were generally about 10 feet wide.

Don't know exactly which model it was, but it was a fairly compact LCD video projector about the size of a phone book. Probably similar to the LV-7350 Bright as heck, too!

Sharp also markets similar projectors. In fact, the onscreen menus between the Canon and Sharp were very similar, which leads me to believe that the core of the projectors come from the same manufacturer.

Dean Sensui
Base Two Productions

Yang Wen · September 23rd, 2003, 08:24 AM

Hi, I'm interested in your takes on the JTL everlight kit. hows that working out for ya??

Boyd Ostroff · September 23rd, 2003, 10:12 PM

We're working with some gear that will probably be beyond your budget, but this may be of general interest anyway. We just bought two NEC LCDGT1150 projectors which are rated at 3000 ANSI Lumens. We're using these to project english translations ("supertitles") on a screen above the stage during our operas. I am really impressed with the brightness and contrast on these units. A key factor for us was the noise level since they are mounted in the auditorium right about the audience in the balcony. With the lens these babies set us back nearly $10,000 each!

But the "big guns" just arrived at the theatre today, two Barco SLM R-10 Executive DLP projectors. Today was a panic getting everything hooked up, with my laptop (that was driving the projectors via firewire) dying just before we were supposed to give a demo. However by the end of the day we had everything setup and the quality of the image completely blew me away. We are projecting DV in 16:9 on a screen about 42' wide by 24' high. I think it held up amazingly well at this size with the Barco's. The footage is a combination of 3d computer animation and live footage shot in 16:9 with a PDX-10.

The R-10's are rated at 10,000 lumens with a 1600:1 contrast ratio and resolution of 1280x1024. We need two of them so we have a backup, and were considering running both together for a brighter image. However the image from one projector is really more than bright enough for our needs (to overcome stage lighting in the foreground). For today's test we fed D25 video over firewire directly from the timeline in Final Cut Pro, running on a Powerbook G4, to a Promax converter box. The box converted D25 to component video which fed the projectors. For the show we will record all the individual cues to a pair of Doremi VC1 hard disk recorders.

So this is some high end equipment which is probably beyond the means of many people, but it certainly gives a glimpse of what to expect in the near future. And I was reassured to finally see the video I've been working on for many months on the big screen. In spite of its limitations, DV is going to work just fine for this project. But I would love to see HD projected with this setup sometime also!

Gints Klimanis · September 23rd, 2003, 11:00 PM

Try VMI. I can't find it for you in the on-line pages, but I've been there. It's on the bay side off 101 just before Mathilda Avenue.
You can see it as you drive 101 North from Great America toward
Mathilda. There is a little road that snakes runs parallel to 101.
I know my company rents a lot of video stuff from them for corporate presentations. I'm pretty sure we rent the projector as well.

Ken Tanaka · September 23rd, 2003, 11:53 PM

I think that this is the company to which Gints referred.

Matt Brouwer · September 24th, 2003, 01:48 AM

<<<-- Originally posted by Gints Klimanis : Try VMI. I can't find it for you in the on-line pages, but I've been there. It's on the bay side off 101 just before Mathilda Avenue.
You can see it as you drive 101 North from Great America toward
Mathilda. There is a little road that snakes runs parallel to 101.
I know my company rents a lot of video stuff from them for corporate presentations. I'm pretty sure we rent the projector as well. -->>>
Thanks... I'm around that area all the time so I'll be sure to check it out.

Alex Taylor · September 25th, 2003, 12:50 PM

My short film, No Solicitors, has been accepted at Montreal's "Film Festival With a Twist." Seriously the best e-mail I've gotten in a long time :D

Anyways, I specified that the projection medium be DVD, as that would be the easiest to make. I've never actually authored a DVD before but I think I can figure it out.. what I want to know is, are there any certain things to follow when submitting a screening copy for festivals? I'm assuming the only menus should just be the title.. or should it start playing automatically? Any tips you guys could give me would be great.

I'm going to hunt around in the forums for DVD authoring tips as well..

Steven-Marc Couchouron · September 25th, 2003, 01:28 PM

Yes, a simple menu with just a "play movie" option is probably your best bet.

The thing to look after is that your DVD is as compatible as possible. Use a software that complies very strictly to the DVD specifications. Use brand name blanks (I've had good luck with Verbatim DVD-R) and test your DVD in a few players. One way to do this is to go to a hifi/electronics store and ask the clerk if you can try your DVD-R in different players...

Congrats on your selection ! :-)

Gints Klimanis · September 25th, 2003, 01:37 PM

Some of the DVD compatilibity issues are also with the audio.
Use stereo PCM (compressed) or AC3. Many DVD authoring
package offer MPEG1 Layer II audio compression, which is
unofficially supported by most DVD players. DVD-R
compatibility is less of an issue these days, but I am totally
shocked by the DVD response times for new models. Some
models on display in July 2003 (my last trip) at Circuit City and
Good Guys take 30 seconds to spin up and recognize a DVD-R.
You can check for DVD player compatibility in user-submitted polls
at http://www.dvdrhelp.com/ .

September 21st, 2003, 03:44 AM	#481
Matt Brouwer New Boot Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Los Gatos, CA Posts: 11	Projectors... Anybody know of a good place to rent a video projector in the bay area? I'd also like to know about how much to expect to pay when renting one. I'm a little tight on money since I am still just a high school student. My final question is, is there a certain type of projector which is best for projecting video (DLP?) and how many Lumens should it be (crowd of 100- 150 people)? Thanks in advance!

September 21st, 2003, 07:35 PM	#482
Mike Meyerson Major Player Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: mahopac, NY Posts: 293	THANKS! Thanks for checkin it out... We shot on BetaSP (because my XL-1 was having issues with the mixer we had) yes I know, it's not digital, but we really intended on using the XL-1. For audio we used a couple of Azden wireless lav's (they are great). The BetaSP camera we had actually crapped-out on us after 13 hours of shooting. We had to shoot some of the cut-a-ways at a different location after we got the camera fixed. For lights we had a couple of arri kits...nothing too crazy. Some snoots and gels. We had a talented DP. (not me, I produced and edited) I edited with Avid XDV and gave it a film look with Digi-FX cine-look...took alot of tweaking, & cranked up the black levels until we were happy with the look. Thanks again...pass around the link, we are currently #3 on IFILMS daily top 20...hope to get to #1. Also check out the music video I recently produced / edited http://www.ifilm.com/filmdetail?ifilmid=2474316

September 23rd, 2003, 11:53 PM	#491
Ken Tanaka Retired DV Info Net Almunus Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Chicago, IL Posts: 6,943	I think that this is the company to which Gints referred. __________________ Lady X Films: A lady with a boring wardrobe...and a global mission. Hey, you don't have enough stuff! Buy with confidence from our sponsors. Hand-picked as the best in the business...Really! See some of my work one frame at a time: www.KenTanaka.com

September 25th, 2003, 12:50 PM	#493
Alex Taylor Major Player Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Vancouver, BC Posts: 390	DVD for Film Festivals My short film, No Solicitors, has been accepted at Montreal's "Film Festival With a Twist." Seriously the best e-mail I've gotten in a long time :D Anyways, I specified that the projection medium be DVD, as that would be the easiest to make. I've never actually authored a DVD before but I think I can figure it out.. what I want to know is, are there any certain things to follow when submitting a screening copy for festivals? I'm assuming the only menus should just be the title.. or should it start playing automatically? Any tips you guys could give me would be great. I'm going to hunt around in the forums for DVD authoring tips as well.. __________________ alextaylor.org

September 25th, 2003, 01:28 PM	#494
Steven-Marc Couchouron Regular Crew Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Paris, France Posts: 110 Images: 5	Yes, a simple menu with just a "play movie" option is probably your best bet. The thing to look after is that your DVD is as compatible as possible. Use a software that complies very strictly to the DVD specifications. Use brand name blanks (I've had good luck with Verbatim DVD-R) and test your DVD in a few players. One way to do this is to go to a hifi/electronics store and ask the clerk if you can try your DVD-R in different players... Congrats on your selection ! :-) __________________ SMCproductions.com

September 22nd, 2003, 07:20 AM	#483
Benjamin Taft Regular Crew Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: Gothenburg, Sweden Posts: 52	I just downloaded the remastering.mov file. I get some kind of corruption at around 12:23, perhaps something happened during the download but maybe you should check at your end just in case. From what I saw though it looked pretty good, I especially liked the lighting in some of the b/w footage. The interview setting was a bit dull visually and the first interviewee was a bit too pretentious ;).

September 22nd, 2003, 07:54 AM	#484
Dany Nativel Regular Crew Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Odenton, MD Posts: 106	Thank you for your feedback. One of my favorite shot is a B&W closeup of the hand playing piano. I've color corrected both interviews and live with MB. For the color one it's Warm and Fuzzy and for the live stuff B&W crunch. You can see how the original footage looked like on the bonus footage gallery.mov. I promise I'll make sure they don't wear any RED shirt anymore ... that's just too bad for the picture. The regular B&W was giving a too video look so I've took this "crunch" one which gives less details. For the interview, I've used the auto focus mode and that was a mistake as my subject was not centered. On some shots the talking head is blurry with perfect focus on the guitars in the back ! Thanks again. Dany

September 22nd, 2003, 01:44 PM	#485
Matt Brouwer New Boot Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Los Gatos, CA Posts: 11	Don't reply all at once now...

September 22nd, 2003, 01:58 PM	#486
Rob Wilson Major Player Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Flagstaff, AZ Posts: 473	Matt, Lumens question is tough without knowing the room environment you'll have. If you can get it completely dark, AND you're not projecting on a HUGE screen, 800 would probably be fine. If on the other hand, ambient light will be a problem, you'll need to go quite a bit higher to acheive good results. I use a 800 lumen DLP projector but only for computer driven Power Point type stuff in rooms with a fair amount of light, works ok, but I can ensure that I have very high contrast between background and text, not an option in video. DLP projectors would probably be better at video, but will add cost. I would use the local yellow pages, find a local rental source, then test a couple of their projectors using what ever device you'll be playing from. Most don't have a problem with that and can provide some additional details while you're there.

September 22nd, 2003, 02:37 PM	#487
Dean Sensui Inner Circle Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: Honolulu, HI Posts: 2,054	I've used a Canon projector that had an output of about 1500 lumens. Worked very well, even in rooms that couldn't be completely darkened. The screens were generally about 10 feet wide. Don't know exactly which model it was, but it was a fairly compact LCD video projector about the size of a phone book. Probably similar to the LV-7350 Bright as heck, too! Sharp also markets similar projectors. In fact, the onscreen menus between the Canon and Sharp were very similar, which leads me to believe that the core of the projectors come from the same manufacturer. Dean Sensui Base Two Productions

September 23rd, 2003, 08:24 AM	#488
Yang Wen Major Player Join Date: May 2003 Location: Chicago, IL Posts: 991	Hi, I'm interested in your takes on the JTL everlight kit. hows that working out for ya??

September 23rd, 2003, 10:12 PM	#489
Boyd Ostroff Wrangler Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Mays Landing, NJ Posts: 11,787	We're working with some gear that will probably be beyond your budget, but this may be of general interest anyway. We just bought two NEC LCDGT1150 projectors which are rated at 3000 ANSI Lumens. We're using these to project english translations ("supertitles") on a screen above the stage during our operas. I am really impressed with the brightness and contrast on these units. A key factor for us was the noise level since they are mounted in the auditorium right about the audience in the balcony. With the lens these babies set us back nearly $10,000 each! But the "big guns" just arrived at the theatre today, two Barco SLM R-10 Executive DLP projectors. Today was a panic getting everything hooked up, with my laptop (that was driving the projectors via firewire) dying just before we were supposed to give a demo. However by the end of the day we had everything setup and the quality of the image completely blew me away. We are projecting DV in 16:9 on a screen about 42' wide by 24' high. I think it held up amazingly well at this size with the Barco's. The footage is a combination of 3d computer animation and live footage shot in 16:9 with a PDX-10. The R-10's are rated at 10,000 lumens with a 1600:1 contrast ratio and resolution of 1280x1024. We need two of them so we have a backup, and were considering running both together for a brighter image. However the image from one projector is really more than bright enough for our needs (to overcome stage lighting in the foreground). For today's test we fed D25 video over firewire directly from the timeline in Final Cut Pro, running on a Powerbook G4, to a Promax converter box. The box converted D25 to component video which fed the projectors. For the show we will record all the individual cues to a pair of Doremi VC1 hard disk recorders. So this is some high end equipment which is probably beyond the means of many people, but it certainly gives a glimpse of what to expect in the near future. And I was reassured to finally see the video I've been working on for many months on the big screen. In spite of its limitations, DV is going to work just fine for this project. But I would love to see HD projected with this setup sometime also!

September 23rd, 2003, 11:00 PM	#490
Gints Klimanis Inner Circle Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: San Jose, CA Posts: 2,222	Try VMI. I can't find it for you in the on-line pages, but I've been there. It's on the bay side off 101 just before Mathilda Avenue. You can see it as you drive 101 North from Great America toward Mathilda. There is a little road that snakes runs parallel to 101. I know my company rents a lot of video stuff from them for corporate presentations. I'm pretty sure we rent the projector as well.

September 24th, 2003, 01:48 AM	#492
Matt Brouwer New Boot Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Los Gatos, CA Posts: 11	<<<-- Originally posted by Gints Klimanis : Try VMI. I can't find it for you in the on-line pages, but I've been there. It's on the bay side off 101 just before Mathilda Avenue. You can see it as you drive 101 North from Great America toward Mathilda. There is a little road that snakes runs parallel to 101. I know my company rents a lot of video stuff from them for corporate presentations. I'm pretty sure we rent the projector as well. -->>> Thanks... I'm around that area all the time so I'll be sure to check it out.

September 25th, 2003, 01:37 PM	#495
Gints Klimanis Inner Circle Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: San Jose, CA Posts: 2,222	Some of the DVD compatilibity issues are also with the audio. Use stereo PCM (compressed) or AC3. Many DVD authoring package offer MPEG1 Layer II audio compression, which is unofficially supported by most DVD players. DVD-R compatibility is less of an issue these days, but I am totally shocked by the DVD response times for new models. Some models on display in July 2003 (my last trip) at Circuit City and Good Guys take 30 seconds to spin up and recognize a DVD-R. You can check for DVD player compatibility in user-submitted polls at http://www.dvdrhelp.com/ .