RESHOOTS RESHOOTS RESHOOTS...

PICKUPS PICKUPS

Hitting walls, not enough coverage...

Working on solutions...

Cheers!

Learning very fast...

In the event anyone might be interested in following the production process of "Lost Horizon," you can visit the site at http://www.gooddogproductions.com/WebSB/LH_home.htm.

Actually, the idea to attempt this exercise grew out of a conversation with John Locke. I realize this is not the first site of its kind, but it will be a first for us here at Good Dog Productions.

I used Cinestream 3.1 for the live action and the vertical and horizontal movements. This was then exported into Adobe After Effects for compositing with the graphic & 3D elements.

I know what you mean about keeping your board for sentimental reasons. I have one that's almost two decades old. I still ride it! It's a board that isn't my best board, but it works in any surf conditions.

By the way, I was in Vancouver a couple of years ago to pitch a children's educational TV series at the World Education Market. You live in a paradise... if only the water weren't so cold. I've never had better seafood than in Vancouver. Everything closes a bit earlier, but I had a great time.

By the way, I was in Vancouver a couple of years ago to pitch a children's educational TV series at the World Education Market. You live in a paradise... if only the water weren't so cold. I've never had better seafood than in Vancouver. Everything closes a bit earlier, but I had a great time. -->>>



Shhh.... Keep it a secret!
The water is cold, but it might be one of the only places on earth you can go windsurfing in the morning, have an afternoon golf game, then go snowboarding in the evening. When it's not raining that is... ;)

here's a bold concept. need $$ for your project - just ask persons to send you a gift thru paypal !!!

www.loveproducer.com

this was a project i was working on till it changed directions. it started as a real Doc .. but changed to a docuDrama.

the interviews were shot on GL1 ( frame mode) .... the dramatic on betaSP ..

YES they did have legal advice on the concept of asking for $$ over the web.

Don,
Indeed, there's absolutely nothing illegal for asking people for voluntary contributions as long as you make it abundantly clear that (1) the contributor will receive absolutely nothing in return, and (2) you are not any type of a charity.

Still, you should note that compliance with these basic rules will not stop some eager beaver from potentially filing some spurious, expensive civil suit against you.

Hmmm... Don, any idea of how much money (if any) people donated?

don't know if they recieved any "gifts" ... you have to figure that friends, relatives will do it 1st THEN ???

the site just started running on sunday ( hi band is up ... low band is still coming on line ) ... last friday they fedX press kits ( print material , photos , beta Sp tape ) to all media ( cnn, cbs, nbc, fox, upn, entertainment tonight etc ) so those arrived this AM .. now it's ??? if any will do a story ... in SF bay area all newspapers, all TV stations, some radio stations all received press kits.

yep, i recall a woman here in the US. she had like $30,000+ in credit, loans, etc. she made a website asking each visitor to donate $1.00. I do believe in the end she made enough to pay off all her debt and had a nice chunk left over.

since that "Save Karyn" girl tried the stunt (successfully, as Matt noted).

Here's a Feb. 11, 2003 Chicago Tribune article on the general subject: "'Cyber-begging' sites popping up on Web" (http://www.chicagotribune.com/technology/chi-030211cyberbeg,1,7906789.story?coll=chi%2Dtechnology%2Dhed)

Dear one and all,

I just thought I'd share some stills of my new film, Last Day of Work with you. Presently, it in the rough cut stage so I'm not posting the film. It tells the story of man who is having problems dealing with the loss of his wife. It currently runs at 8mins but I'm hoping to trim it down a little bit.

http://homepage.mac.com/ilovedumplings/PhotoAlbum1.html

Production notes:

1 month of pre-production- finding actors, locations, refining script, hunting for props, begging for equipment etc.

shot in 1 day

Canon XL1S
mini35
Canon EF lenses, 17-35 f2.8L, 50 f1.4, 70-200 f2.8L

Cheers!

Adrian

Looks great. Totally has that film DOF going for it. Is it a thriller of some sort? Shot #6 scared the **** outta me. Guess I'm just afraid of basements, heh.

Looks very intriguing, Adrian! Has a very dark, sullen feeling. Within the context of the deep personal loss subject this should be good. I'm anxious to see your final cut.

I gather you had fun with the Mini 35! That stair shot was really rubbing it in. <g>

heheh... yah I guess, because I had the mini 35 for one full day only, picked it up the evening before and returned it the morning after, so I guess I went a bit crazy with the DOF thing... and shot everything wide open. But as it turned out, I didn't have enough lights, 2 cheapo 300W halogens (that started smoking after 5 mins) so I had to shoot everything wide open anyway.

Now my XL1S looks so lonely with just the stock 16X lens...

anyways.... I'll endeavour to finish the film as soon as possible and will post a link up as soon as its done!

Cheers everyone!

Adrian

looks great Adrian, I really love the tone you've got going on in this one. Can't wait to see it!

The more I see from the mini35 the more amazed I am. I'm gonna
try renting one near the summer overhere. Those are beautiful
shots, keep up the great work!

After having snooped about at the professional and near-professional work of the people in this forum, I feel a bit over my head, but what the hell.

My fellow compatriot and film geek extrodinaire, Curt, wrote a little short because he thought he could make something better than your average atomfilm... we just so happen to be putting the finishing touches on a feature length dv film, but that's for another day.

Two things, 1) nothing revolutionary here, just having fun 2) we can't afford a damn G4, so we edit on my ol' trusty PC, the file is in Windows Media format - sorry MacHeads...

www.american-ocean.com has it right there at the top, just look for Stuffing.

Shane

Nice work, Shane! It looks like you had alot of fun on this project. Give us some production and post-production notes.

Heh, I liked it!
Good script. The actors were interesting. It held my interest to the end, and that's all I ask for.

My only major complaint is that the sound level was so low I had my speakers set on max and was still straining to hear some of the dialogue.

Do you want a detailed technical review/breakdown or just general comments? There were some things I would edit differently for smoothness.

I guess it's too late to point out that you should have put something over that window/light source to bring the intensity down a bunch. :)

That sound problem has been noted by a few people... for some reason it sounds great on my machine. My sister couldn't hear it at all... Anyone have any thoughts on that?

As for the overflowing light, we tend to overlight our stuff to play with it in Premiere later... but for some reason Curt wanted to keep it like this... I didn't agree with him, but hey - far be it of me to put down someone's opinion ;)

As for production notes, Curt and I are roomates and just wanted to do something to tide us over. We shot this in about 4 hours on last Saturday. We had a bunch of outtakes and just had a great time. The last effort we went through was our feature length - 20 plus speaking roles, none of which being paid, over 6 locations not including our house... so this was a nice change of pace. Just Curt, Me and the camera... oh, and the remote ;)

This was my first time just acting, was a great change of pace... this was also Curt's first time directing and editing. I was teaching him how to use Premiere as he went along, I think it was a worthy effort for an amatuer, amatuer.

He was having fun yesterday putting together the outtakes, but that was longer than the short... so who knows what's going to happen with that... Keep the feedback coming, I keep passing it along to Curt.

OK. Well aside from Dylan's observation about the window's brightness here are my thoughts.

You shot selections were pretty good! Your technique of shooting the car trunk sequence from the dead frog's pov was excellent and really draws the viewer's imagination into the shot. I think that the stretch of voice-over blackness (from within the closed trunk) went just a bit long. I began to wonder if I'd lost video. I'd cut it in half.

I like to walk away from a "final cut" for a few weeks and then view it with new eyes. I always see something I didn't originally see when my nose was pressed against it.

Hey, you guys need to stay at it. A great way to spend a Saturday!

I've been doing travel videography as a hobby for a number of years. I've finally gotten to the point where my technique and my equipment are good enough to produce some fairly decent stuff. My videos could almost pass for the kind of travelogues I see on Globe Trekker and similar programs, except for the inclusion of some "personal" things (these are really "home movies" after all) and lack of a narration.

I've seen a number of websites that feature clips of travel videos, and they seem to be well-received. My projects range in length from 90 to 150 minutes or so, making web-based distribution impractical.

Does anyone have any ideas about what I can do with these things? My audience is currently limited to my wife, my mother, my in-laws and a few select friends. Given the amount of work that I put into these (post takes me one to two months of working nights and weekends), I'd like more people to see them.

Contact all the travel agents in your area and see if they are interested.

Does anybody know of a movie, new, old, or upcoming, that has been shot on DV? Completely? I don't mean the Blair Witch Project. I want to see something that has used DV to it's advantage, so that obviously excludes Full Frontal.

Corey

When you say "DV" what exactly do you mean? On prosumer cameras like the XL1s? On higher-resolution SD or HD digital video formats?

Although these were shot on DV (mostly prosumer camcorders), you're probably unlikely to find them showing at the BraunTex (cool old movie theater in Corey's town)....

24 Hour Party People (2002 Michael Winterbottom) (35mm & DV mixed) http://us.imdb.com/Title?0274309 see also http://www.au-cinema.com/24-Hour-Party-People.htm -- in theaters, coming to DVD

Anniversary Party (2001 Jennifer Jason Leigh) http://us.imdb.com/Title?0254099 -- on DVD at Amazon

Bamboozled (2000 Spike Lee) http://us.imdb.com/Title?0215545 -- on DVD at Amazon

Cicadas (2000 Kat Candler) http://us.imdb.com/Title?0212873 -- at Dallas Fim Festival, see Film Threat: http://www.filmthreat.com/News.asp?Id=979

Chuck & Buck (2002 Miguel Arteta) http://us.imdb.com/Title?0200530 -- on DVD at Amazon

The Cruise (1998 Bennet Miller) http://us.imdb.com/Title?0150230 -- on VHS at Amazon

Gaza Strip http://www.littleredbutton.com/gaza/ -- now in festival circuit

An Intimate Friendship (2000 Angela Evers Hughey) http://us.imdb.com/Title?0212667 -- on DVD at Amazon

Julien Donkey-Boy (1999 Harmony Korine) http://us.imdb.com/Title?0192194 -- on DVD at Amazon

Split Decision (2001 Marcy Garriott) http://us.imdb.com/Title?0254789 -- direct from http://www.frif.com/new2000/split2.html

Tadpole (2002 Gary Winick) http://us.imdb.com/Title?0271219 -- on DVD at Amazon

Tape (2001 Richard Linklater) http://us.imdb.com/Title?0275719 -- on DVD at Amazon

Timecode (2000 Mike Figgis) http://us.imdb.com/Title?0220100 -- on DVD at Amazon

Waiting (2000 Patrick Hasson) http://us.imdb.com/Title?0270059 -- on DVD at Amazon




__________________

Also adding:

ATANARJUAT: THE FAST RUNNER

and

CELEBRATION (FESTEN)

Here is a site with a long list of "films" shot with various video sources that have had theatrical release: ://www.nextwavefilms.com/ulbp/bullfront.html

They indicate what format was used for shooting the film. For example, they note correctly that "ATANARJUAT:The Fast Runner" was shot on DigiBeta, not DV. Of note, is that it was NTSC DigiBeta, rather than the highly touted PAL.

But watch out if you are looking for rentals. For instance, if you rent the VHS of "The Anniversary Party," you will be looking at the original video version before it was transfered to film. You will be very disappointed. But you were never meant to see this version, instead, rent the dvd to see what the filmmakers had in mind for release. I'm betting that other "films" suffered the same fate in the home market.

(BTW, I would have sworn "Timecode" was shot on DigiBeta. But the list indicates DV.)

Are you saying that there is no naration? If so, do you use background music? For your productions to be commercially viable you will need to write a script and have narration to go with your visuals.

get feedback from travel agents or a distributor that handles this type project ...

you might have to "commercialize " your project slightly...
as in if you traveled in ITALY. and i'm about to go there HOW will it help me if i buy your DVD ? ( oh yes did i mention make some DVD's to send/sell to persons) ... now all the music will need to be cleared ... then there are all those faces ??? or persons you talked with - do you have clearances ?? it is one thing to show it to your family as a travel vacation VS. selling it as a travel guide/holiday ..

also these

FINAL

Directed by: Campbell Scott
Produced by: Mary Frances Budig, Steve Dunn, Campbell Scott
Starring: Denis Leary, Hope Davis
Website: http://www.cowboypictures.com/final/

FINAL is the story of Bill Tyler (Denis Leary), a man who mysteriously wakes up a patient in a Connecticut state psychiatric facility. Unable to remember how he got there, Bill seems sure of only one thing: that he has been cryogenically frozen and revived 400 years in the future. Ann Johnson (Hope Davis) is the dedicated therapist assigned to help Bill piece together those events which led to his incarceration, and reestablish his link with the real world. As they work together to understand the shambles of his past, Bill and Ann find themselves inappropriately drawn toward one another, an attraction that will ultimately threaten both the therapist's work and her patient's life.

New York Times Review
Los Angeles Times Review
Back to top



CHELSEA WALLS

Directed by: Ethan Hawke
Produced by: Christine Vachon, Pam Koffler
Starring: Kevin Corrigan, Vincent D'Onofrio, Kris Kristofferson, Robert Sean Leonard, Natasha Richardson, Uma Thurman, Tuesday Weld, Frank Whaley and Steve Zahn
Website: http://www.lionsgatefilms.com/dnm/profile.html?pid=IN-S-00102

Based on the play "Chelsea Walls" by Nicole Burdette, the film follows the contemporary residents of New York's famed Chelsea Hotel, capturing a mosaic of dreamers and artists. The film was shot in three weeks on location at the famed hotel and was produced by Christine Vachon and Pam Koffler of Killer Films.

The Hollywood Reporter Review
Los Angeles Times Review
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WOMEN IN FILM

Directed by: Bruce Wagner
Produced by: Christing Vachon, Pam Koffler
Starring: Beverly D'Angelo, Portia De Rossi and Marianne Jean-Baptiste
Website: http://www.lionsgatefilms.com/dnm/profile.html?pid=IN-T-00708

WOMEN IN FILM stars Beverly D'Angelo, Portia De Rossi, and Marianne Jean-Baptiste as women of the film industry who are desperately searching for their place in Hollywood. Phyllis (D'Angelo) is an independent producer who is having difficulty getting her latest project together; Sara (Jean-Baptiste) is a casting director who is taking time out to care for her blind newborn baby; and Gina (De Rossi) is a masseuse who claims to have had every idea she's ever invented stolen by those around her. WOMEN IN FILM is both a satire of the film industry and a celebration of women, produced by Christine Vachon and Pam Koffler of Killer Films.

Back to top



TAPE

Directed by: Richard Linklater
Produced by: Anne Walker, Detour Filmproduction
Starring: Ethan Hawke, Robert Sean Leonard, Uma Thurman
Website: http://www.lionsgatefilms.com/dnm/profile.html?pid=IN-T-00693

In TAPE, Vin (Ethan Hawke), travels back home to Lansing for a film festival and meets up with an old friend Jon (Robert Sean Leonard). Vin is still bitter about Jon stealing his high school girlfriend Amy (Uma Thurman) and can't forget his greatest betrayal--Jon may have raped Amy. Jon and Vin play a tug-of-war of words all night in an old hotel room, all of which Vin captures on tape. Just as the situation reaches a frenzied pitch, Amy arrives to recount her side of the story. The film was produced by Anne Walker and Detour Film production.

New York Times Review
Los Angeles Times Review

Back to top



TADPOLE

Directed by:
Gary Winick
Produced by: Gary Winick, Alexis Alexanian, and Dolly Hall
Starring:
Sigourney Weaver, Bebe Neuwirth, John Ritter,
and introducing Aaron Stanford
Written by:
Niels Mueller and Heather McGowan
Website: http://www.miramax.com/tadpole/


Oscar Grubman (Aaron Standford) is a very precocious young man. Although he comes from a family of academics (his father is a history professor at Columbia), that doesn't really explain his passion for Voltaire. And he notices things most high school sophomores never really see, like women's hands. More than that, he can order in French and converse intelligently, certainly a rarity among teenagers. But he does share one thing with other 15-year-olds: he's in love.

For the Thanksgiving holiday, Oscar comes home from Chancy Academy with a plan--he's going to pursue the love of his life. He will follow the passionate advice of his sage Voltaire and win the heart of his beloved. Oh, there is one difference from most boys his age--his beloved is quite a bit older than he. And that's not the least of it. Also starring Signourney Weaver, John Ritter, and Bebe Neuworth.

TADPOLE was shot with three Sony PAL PD-150's. The cameras were set to 4:3 aspect ratio and kept in interlaced scan mode. The film was editted in PAL on a Macintosh G4 powered Final Cut Pro system at The Edit Center in New York.

New York Observer Review
The Hollywood Reporter Review

Back to top



PERSONAL VELOCITY

Directed by:
Rebecca Miller
Produced by: Lemore Syvan, Gary Winick, Alexis Alexanian
Starring:
Kyra Sedgwick, Parker Posey, Fairuza Balk
Written by: Rebecca Miller based on her book

Website: http://www.mgm.com/ua/personalvelocity/


Written and directed by Rebecca Miller, PERSONAL VELOCITY is based on Miller's book of short stories and tells the tales of three women's escapes from their afflicted lives. Segmented into three parts, Greta (Parker Posey), Delia (Kyra Sedgwick) and Paula (Fairuza Balk) have one thing in common, each struggle to flee from the men who confine their personal freedom. As each story begins to unfold, the film follows their tangled webs of tragic circumstance that ultimately force them into an awakening of their inner selves and an emergence on their own life's path.

New York Times Review
Variety Review
Back to top




KILL THE POOR

Directed by: Alan Taylor
Produced by: Ruth Charny, Lianne Halfon, Gary Winick, Alexis Alexanian
Co-producer: Jonathan Shoemaker
Written by:
Daniel Handler
Director of Photography:
Harlan Basmadjian
Production Designer:
Rick Butler
Costume Designer:
Marie Abma



When a marriage of convenience becomes the real thing, Joe (David Krumholtz) moves his pregnant French wife (Clara Bellar) to a tenement building on New York’s Lower East Side. The street is like a war zone with none of the nostalgic appeal that Joe remembers from tales of his immigrant grandparents arriving in the same neighborhood with a new life. This is the urban frontier filled with a wildly funny mixture of gentrifies, homeboys, dealers and local residents simply bent on staying a float.

Back to top




PIECES OF APRIL

Directed by: Peter Hedges
Produced by: John Lyns, Gary Winick, Alexis Alexanian
Written by:
Peter Hedges
Starring:
Katie Holmes, Oliver Platt and Patricia Clarkson
Website:
http://www.magiclanternpr.com/films/pieces_of_april.html

"Pieces of April" marks the directorial debut of writer Peter Hedges, novelist and screenwriter of "What's Eating Gilbert Grape."

April Burns (Katie Holmes) is a 21-year-old wild child with a very big problem. Against her better judgment, she's invited her straightlaced family for Thanksgiving dinner. Her boyfriend, Bobby, wants to help, but she banishes him from the apartment while she attempts to cook the meal. To make matters worse, she then discovers that her oven doesn't work. So, while April is forced to ask her eccentric neighbors for help in cooking her fifteen pound turkey, the Burns Family begins a reluctant journey from suburban Pennsylvania toward New York City's Lower East Side. April's Dad, Jim Burns (Oliver Platt) tries to convince the family that the day will be beautiful. Her mom, Joy (Patricia Clarkson) has her doubts and freely voices them. April's teenage sister and brother are squeezed between Grandma Dottie and a bag of snacks in the back seat as the Burns' family car hurtles toward Manhattan and what will most likely be certain disaster

You can just do a search on IMDB for films shot on DV. Be sure to exclude videos and TV programs to sift the wheat from the chaff.

Are you saying that there is no naration? If so, do you use background music? For your productions to be commercially viable you will need to write a script and have narration to go with your visuals.
Right, there's no narration. And, yes, I make extensive use of music, though it's not wall-to-wall. Judicious use of titling identifies the locations.

I never was much interested in, "This palace was built in the 15th century after the invading Mongol hordes got mortgages," kind of thing. I'm much more interested in capturing the experience of actually being there, getting a sense of the people, the environment and the culture of wherever I happen to travel.

as in if you traveled in ITALY. and i'm about to go there HOW will it help me if i buy your DVD ?
I was thinking about something like this, i.e. if you are thinking about going to Sicily, this is what it's like -- not a "video guidebook," but a sampling of the overall aesthetic of the place.

now all the music will need to be cleared
That's an issue. I had been picking up CDs of local music when I travelled and used those. For my current project (Rajasthan in India), I took a long a mini disk recorder and made live recordings of itinerant musicians -- these have worked out quite well, and tend to be of the "folk song" variety, and are probably in the public domain. At any event, absent a copyright registered in the US, I'd have only miniscule liablity exposure if I were sued.

then there are all those faces
I'm not too worried about that. I live in a state with commercial appropriation of likeness laws so I could, in theory, be held liable. However, again, the damages for something like this would be negligible, assuming I were successfully sued.

One for the Brits:

28 Days Later

// ATANARJUAT:The Fast Runner" was shot on DigiBeta, not DV

I knew that too. Just not then. My brain fart.

Recent Dogme95 films shot electronically include "Italian for Beginners" (Digibeta) and "The King Is Alive," shot with a couple of PD150's. The first time I saw "The King Is Alive" in a theater, I thought it had been shot 16mm. It's on DVD now.

A general question:

Can any of you give me concrete examples of DVCAM aquired shows (documentaries, news pieces etc) that have been broadcast nationally? (I'm talking high end DVCAM aquisition like the DSR-570, Ikegami etc.) I am trying to get a sense of how it looks when it is beamed to our homes. Beyond that, if anyone has any experiences dealing with the national cable broadcasting co's (ie. Discovery, Animal Planet) that would be interesting too!

Bushnel's Secret of the Hunt.

Comes on Saturday's in my area on TNN......

I will have to catch that!

Your actors are superb! I mean they are really on point. The script is good too. Shot selection is good too!

There is only one thing i want to point out, is the lighting in the interior. the window is on fire. Gotta put some gels over the window (maybe a ND 1/2) To stop it from burning the whole room up.

You could also use some ambient sound in the first shot of him flipping thru the book.

The exterior shots seem fine lighting wise. Kudos

which cameras and how many were used shooting this flick?? Encouraging huh??

Hi Guerrapato,

I'm not to sure what exactly you are talking about.

Perhaps you could supply us with more information.

Thanks- Nori

He's talking about the documentary movie titled:

"STARTUP.COM"

It's been playing on Showtime recently, but is available on DVD and VHS.


From what I have read on several sites it was made with a Sony PD100 and a Canon XL1.

I have heard that it was a PD150 and XL1 also.

I had the same problem with some windows in my first short. Even tho it was overcast outside, and we had lights inside, the windows were way overexposed.

What are these ND gels you put over the windows? Do they go on the outside of the house? Can you get them in big enough sheets at a reasonable price? What would I search/look for, for example, at the bhphoto.com website?

Thanks!
[bac]

Bruce,
The "ND gels" are basically neutral-density transparent gray plastic sheets. I really don't know if B&H carries such studio supplies. I generally use Studio Depot (https://www.studiodepot.com/store/index.cgi) for such stuff.

Saw it the other day on satellite. Directed by one of my favorite documentarians ever, D. A. Pennebaker, who did the Dylan doco "Don't Look Back."

Here's Pennebaker's site (http://www.pennebakerhegedusfilms.com/index.html) which, unfortunately, doesn't provide any production details.

I saw, and very much enjoyed, Startup.com.

Well...

Its almost finished! In post, working hard, and loving every second of it.

This is a pre-thanks to all that volunteered their knowledge and helped me (and others).

I hope to have a trailer reel (HAR HAR) soon for your input and shortly after that the full short. It will be exclusive to only this site because of the contracts I am honoring.

Thanks all!

Coming SOON!

Smiles for all!

Cheers!

Derrick

Thanks for the replies guys. Like I said I knew it would be blasted with light - but I thought the director wanted to put it in B&W... so much for that.

Once we move to a new domain server we'll have more room and my feature length trailers will be online, I'll be sure to post when that all goes down.