We're planning to put episodes 4 and 5 together on DVD, including footage we couldn't fit into the timeframe of the online version. I also plan to re-edit several scenes, and we will re-do the soundtrack as well, including original opening and closing music. With the DVD we can have subtitle selections (for both English-speaking and Chinese-speaking audiences) , goofs, bio's, production notes, and perhaps even other shorts...who knows? That is the next stage of our project, anyway.

Lin tao-ming,

I would speak to john, and see if you can release it on the dvd with all the rest of them. That would be very cool, i would def by one to support the cause.

Zac

Well, I would certainly like to be part of a general Lady X DVD project, if there is one. I guess it depends on how the rest of it goes. I for one am optimistic that we're going to see even more amazing stuff before it's over.

Just noticed none of us have responded to this...sorry about that.

Rest assured, all the EPs will be looking at whatever ways to enhance this project...including your suggestions. So keep 'em coming.

As for this one suggestion, there is a problem if you're talking about making it generally available to the public in the fact that it'll involve commerce, which means we'll either have to set up a business side, complete with contracts, attorneys, etc. Bottom line is...someone has to pay the taxes...do the accounting...do the reporting, etc. And unless we're looking at making a good amount of money...it really isn't worth it. At least not this time around.

If you're talking about making a DVD just for the participants...that's possible, I guess, as long as we don't include the opening theme, and as long as all music rights and releases for each production will allow that. That's no small task though. Keep in mind that we'd never get 27 episodes on one DVD.

That's not to say we shouldn't consider it... we just need to consider all angles.

John,

We could start a massive bootleg scheme, selling ladyx dvd's with a gram of cocaine in each.

This works because if they find the cocaine they won't even recall the illegally sold DVD.

heh

Zac

I guess you're referring to the recent finding about German currency? Pretty amazing, eh?

But you've definitely come up with a new angle...bootleg your own productions, then no taxes, no responsibility. I'd never even thought of that. I wonder if that really happens? Either way...great idea for a movie.

If so, you are welcome to join FILM CLUB (named as such to be a tongue-in-cheek reference to Fight Club), a group for Brisbane & Gold Coast filmmakers to network and work on projects together.

The forum is at http://film-club.cjb.net and we will soon have a website to showcase the work of our members.

When joining, please post a message introducing yourself. Thank you.

You forgot the first and second rules of Film Club.

"DON'T TALK ABOUT FILM CLUB" :)

I am going to be out shooting all the flooding in my area, it gets really bad here. I expect we may have water in the house AGAIN!

The footage will be appearing as links to the media files on my weather page..
http://www.realnola.com/radar.html
Check the bottom links..

Hey, I'm the "Tyler Durden" so I can do it. ;)

Be careful man. Bill isn't going to be a Camille or Betsy (hold on you may get shoot one of those this year!) but there is still plenty of risk out there.

Watch out for blown sewer caps; if you step into one of those the last thing you'll be trying to do is keep your camera dry! Power lines may be hanging, don't hang with them. Wear waders; there are lots of diseases floating in the water (be up on your shots too). Take a shower after with lots of soap and water.

I can also tell you that during Camille several photographers at one of TV stations went out on shoots. One rode a motorcycle down one of the highways to get a story. He said he would not do that again. Another nearly got washed out of building but got some great shots of the water chasing him upstairs (one step at a time).

Later,

Are you kidding lo.. I have launched my BOAT from my BACK YARD several times lol.. I have some great pictures of me in a canoe in my front yard with 3 foot of water:)

I know what you are saying though. Stay tuned, it will get interesting I think.. this is a really tiny storm, just a lot of rain - enough to flood us out..


PS: I am doing a production about motorcycle stunting right now, see this site..
www.onarollproductions.com

you might find it interesting.

(Edited for my BAD TYPOS lol)

I put up a little clip to give you some idea of what this is like.. IMO it's another day of heavy rain and thunderstorms packing medium winds..Imagine what a real big storm is going to be like after looking at this. (left click on link then click save target as.).
http://www.realnola.com/radar.html
or directly (might not work this way with some browsers)
http://www.realnola.com/tsbill1.wmv

Interesting little TS.. I hope we don't get a big one this year but if we do I am going to be extensively covering it. The last BIG storm that directly hit New Orleans was when I was a baby. We are long overdue for the "fishbowl" effect.

Once at this site, click on TLC in the left hand tool bar and the picture should appear with the girl shooting with the GL-?

www.discovery.com

Hi folks,
I am currently a Dv wannabe- I've been waiting until next years tax refund to buy a GL2 (because my wife told me to wait, I do what my boss tells me). I've been enjoying some short films on triggerstreet.com and it got the best of me, I just had to send something in, so I grabbed my sony hi-8 and my two children and made something to send in. actually, most of it was made last year for my own entertainment, but I filmed the first few seconds of this video last week. (if you watch the video, the part after it says "one year later" was actually filmed one year earlier)
Anyway, it's not the best quality- the sound isn't so hot-it's kind of a rush job, but I encourage everyone to check it out.

It's called "Young love" and is in the comedy/romance sections.
feel free to post your opinions.

Thanks,
Adam

Yeah it's a GL-1 with a wide angle adapter. The regular show "Trading Spaces" (not the family edition) has host Paige Davis using a GL-1 as well. It's pretty corny though because when they show footage she shot they do an overlay that says "Paige Cam" and add the cheesy graphics to make it look like a home video camera...even including the "record" message and flashing red dot at the bottom of the screen.

*WHY do I know this, you may ask.....my gf forces me to watch the stupid show!*

See previous discussions of this topic at:

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1896

and

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?s=&threadid=6471

and

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?s=&threadid=6026

Hope this helps,

Hi,
I was wondering if anyone on here has any experience in trying to get a documentary on the tv?
Who and how would you approach companies for finance?
It seems like you have to get the broadcasters interested first but how do you go about it?
Send a treatment? A full script? With a docu' this is a little tricky.
I'd love to just film on dv, edit it together and then see what the boadcasters think - except that a big part of it has to be filmed in LA - im in Cambridge.
It wouldnt need many people to get involved and the filming in LA would take just a week.
Production companies have said theyd be interested in filming it - but ofcourse they would, i would too! but they're interested once they're paid...

How does sponsership of a show work? For instance, the docu is about Soul music. KFC have started a new ad campaign with 'Soul Food' a big part of the new sell. Anyone know how I could approach the likes of KFC to fund it, making it beneficial to them?

Having retrieved the mini disc from Fagan in Taipei, Lady X bolts straight for the Bosphorous Strait to find out whether all that glitters is gold.

Go to http://www.ladyxfilms.com and click the "Current Episode" link.

The Lady X Crew

================
Episode 06 Details:

Directed by: Emin Firat Övür
Produced by: Mahmut Övür
Written by: E. Firat Övür,The Kirayoglu Bros.
Production Assistant: Julide Övür
Edited by: Ozgur Keskin, Savas Dogan

Cast: Zulal Neyzi (Lady X); Alpkan Kirayoglu (Agent 1); Emir Ahmet Agsu (Agent 2); Alphan Kirayoglu (The Antiquary)

Crew: E. Firat Övür (everything)

Music: Composed and performed by E. Firat Övür-Ceyhun Nursen, Firat Polat

27 episodes is aroun 3.15 hours which at full resolution will indeed
not fit on one DVD. We'd need at least two for that. And then
there is the matter of NTSC & PAL episodes... ehehehe. Getting
all the episodes in full resolution QuickTime on a DVD might be
possible (technically) though.

"What the Hell!"

I love that line.

Well, if you like, but don't hold me to it... well you can... but yeah

I could wip up a simple flash type interface on an interactive cd-rom and inbed the movies into it. Then put bio's and so on.

I could burn it with a toast iso, so it will autorun on a mac or pc.

We can see, sure would be cheaper, can just put little plastic slips and ship out like that...

Zac

Hi everyone,
I'm posting a small (real small) short that we're submitting to a festival and wouldn't mind getting some feedback on it. The file is an MP4, and is nearly 25 megs long. Love to hear what people think. The password is "smokers."

https://www1.ibackup.com/L/QMDL?U=marcoleavitt&C=BDSYXWSL3373718

Interesting, but I'm not sure I get it. It was shot well, and the audio came out nice though.

Hmmm. The scene is actually an excerpt from a feature-length film called "Smokers" that we are still editing. We were planning to test the waters with a short, feeling that this scene was well enough self contained to stand alone. But if it feels incomplete or confusing, maybe this isn't such a good strategy. That was one of the reasons I wanted to get a reaction from people on these boards before sending the thing out to festivals -- to find out if this excerpt is able to stand alone.
Thanks.

These are just some picky things I picked out that you can remember for in future projects you do, i'm just trying to criticise it as much as I can, so that you can make your stuff better, so don't take it the wrong way:

Let me start out by saying it looked very good, and the audio was good also.

Anyway:

1. Continuity, when the girl in the pink was coming out of the stall, and going to the sinks, that cut stuck out like a sore thumb.

2. This is perhaps too picky, but from what I know, the colors of clothing they had on weren't good choices, white isn't good for dark skin tones, and pink/red is just bad for DV, period...

3. When you edit, instead of cutting back and forth between them on every line they say, try overlapping the audio with a shot of the other person, you'll notice this used in most cuts in movies and TV.

4. IMO, I don't think it was self contained enough to stand alone, it does feel incomplete and confusing.

I'd be interesting in seeing the final movie though, also, i'd consider re-editing that to make it have better pacing (shorter) for the feature length.


Good work.

I'm at work right now so I can't view it till later- what's the plot?

The clip is basically a dialog between two women in adjoining bathroom stalls, with one teasing the other about her experimentation with lesbianism during college. To me, the narrative has an arc, with a definitive conclusion, and that was why I had hoped it would stand alone. Still, as a writer, I’ve learned to neither take criticisms too personally, or disregard someone’s comments even when I don’t agree. There’s a reason people have the reaction that they do. The comment about the cut when Robin (the girl in pink) stands up and walks to the sink is interesting. This cut was the biggest point of contention during editing, with the director wanting to cut away sooner. Maybe she was right after all, and I was trying too hard to keep the titillation factor (the actress’ dress rides way up on her thighs when she stands up). You can also see that she still has the tampon in her hand, which is a continuity problem.

I'm surprised I"m admitting I watched this show on Comedy Central but if nothing else I got to see that they shot it on XL1's.

You can see some of the secondary camera men from the shot being shown racing around with XL1s.


Uh... other then that I really don't know what I can say about the show...

Gary Busey. Some kid host of the show. They do stuff and it's shown on television.


I'm just jealous I didn't think of it first.

"Get insane actor. have him torture some kid on camera... shoot it... put it on TV."

I watched through it briefly on my computer monitor but one thing that did strike me was that it's really bright in that bathroom, especially in the stalls.

I liked that when they came out even though the tiles were shiny you couldn't see the reflections of the set lights... but still it was very bright.

Is this the final? Are you going to do anything to it in Post?

If so, you could probably kick up the contrast a little bit and take care of it... then again, it's my first impression and sometimes filmmakers obsess about the strangest things.

;)

I haven't done any color correcting yet, mainly because I don't have a TV that I trust, and I figure that I'm as liable to make it worse as fix it. Odd that you found the in-the-stall shots too bright. They seem way to dark to me. I do plan to color correct the footage before releasing an official version.

Having carried out her mission in Istanbul, the paper trail leads Lady X back to North America to carry out her next assignment in Orlando, Florida, USA. Opposition crops up in the most unexpected of places leaving us to wonder...who can be trusted?

To find out for yourself, go to http://www.ladyxfilms.com and click the "Current Episode" link.

The Lady X Crew

================
Episode 07 Details:

Directed and Produced by: Ali Imran Zaidi
Written by: Ali Imran Zaidi
Radio Address Written by: Gary Loftis

Cast: Robb Bennett (Agent); Beth Masi (Lady X); Fred Zara (The Mark); Jamey Lewis (Jim), Gabriela Aparicio (Receiving Agent); Gary Loftis (The President)

Principal Crew: Michael Satornino, Fred Zara

Music: "Under," "Crossing," and "While the Nation Mourns" courtesy FreeplayMusic.com

Special thanks to: Mike Hinn for use of the Lexus bat-mobile, Robb 'Lo-Rez' Bennett for his Flash skills, Michael & Cinthia Satornino and Fred Zara for their support.

Very well done! I think this was probably the best story, although it really makes you wonder what side Lady X is on. Shot well, and even acted nicely, the only flaw was some out of synch dialogue. That may have been due to compression and playback. Good job!

I've watched the show. Not sure why Busey is doing it,,,must need some easy cash.

Hey, thanks!

I had some issues with audio, so the synching may have been my fault, or maybe the compression may have made it a tad worse.

I'm glad it made you question who's good/who's bad. I really was hoping people would do that... much like current politics and the situation in the nation today. Being the first US LadyX, I wanted to get across the feelings of polarization spreading in our country today, with everyone questioning everyone else's intentions.

Thanks again!

Nice work!

Just saw the movie. It has an interesting idea, but it just ain't
my kind of movie. So therefor it was a bit hard to watch. Didn't
like the lighting...

I was going to watch your short until I saw it was in Real format.
As a lot of people the Real software is going nowhere near my
system. This together with the fact that you have to be a
triggerstreet member is probably hindering people to see it.

Is it possible to host it somewhere in another format like QuickTime?

I think there are a couple of people here that had their documentaries
bought so to speak. Did you try the search here?

Thanks for taking the time to watch it. What was it about the lighting that bothered you? What are your kind of movies?

Well, the lightning looked like no lighting was used at all. Some
scenes washed out with too low contrast (not that much difference
between the highlights and the darker areas).

I never understood or enjoyed action figures so that easily gets
into the way of watching such a short (no offense to you!).
Personally I'm quite fond of thriller kind of work I think [or just
plain dumb action <g>]

Does this answer your questions?

I love the cell phone salesman, the scenes in the car are great! A bit overexposed though. Also I think you could shorten the bit where the rich aristocrat's wife is talking about the action figure, it went on far too long IMO.

Hey,
I've been having trouble with this video on triggerstreet. I sent in a hi and lo bandwith version. both realplayer rendered with Vegas. The low I did with the 56k selection and the hi with 512k. I could watch the lo, but the quality was pretty bad. I couldn't watch the 512k version with my dial-up connection. I went to my parents house and watched the hi on their computer with cable and it worked fine. Recently, I got DSL. When I tried to watch the 512k video, it wouldn't work, it was just still images with audio. According to some of the reviews, other people had the same problem. I guess my dsl isn't quite fast enough.

Anyway, on to my new problem. I made a quicktime version for you and put it on my geocities website. Then I got a message saying my data transfer limit was exceeded or something. Oh well, here is the link, if the page comes back up maybe you'll be able to view it.

http://www.geocities.com/freakyfamily/shorts/shorts.html

By the way, triggerstreet wants videos rendered at 15fps. The only choice I see for the higher quality versions in Vegas is 30fps. Is there anyway to get it to 15?

Thanks

Direct download link: http://us.share.geocities.com/freakyfamily/shorts/younglove5.mov

Thanks for putting it up. I thought the concept was nice, but the
execution was not very professional looking. Can you tell us a
bit more about the story and shooting etc.?

In Vegas you can set the framerate for a real movie in the following way:

File -> Render As -> select RealMedia -> Custom -> Audiences -> Edit

In this screen you can fill in your framerate amongst other things.
Might be wise to base it on one of the presets you want to use.

Alex, thanks for taking the time to watch CELL PHONES & ACTION FIGURES and for the great feedback.

Hey guys, I've never shot a commercial before and I'm needing to know how long (exactly) is a 30 second commercial. Also, if I'm wanting to give this to a local TV station, what format do commercials have to be in? Doesn't there have to be a count down on this thing? Thanks,
Josh

When I was shooting and cutting local spots about 13 years ago, I used the guideline of 29:25 for run time, which gives just a breath of black before the next spot starts.

At the head of the tape, lay down 30 seconds of bars and tone, then an ID slate followed by or incorporating an accurate countdown with a 2-pop.

<<<-- Originally posted by Charles Papert :s.

At the head of the tape, lay down 30 seconds of bars and tone, then an ID slate followed by or incorporating an accurate countdown with a 2-pop. -->>>

Excuse my ignorance- what is a 2-pop?

I just finished shooting my first commercial a few weeks ago. My only background in video for profit has been wedding videography. The format my local cable company uses is Beta-cam and my client already has someone in the wing to do the conversion.

So I'm assuming you add the color bars to allow the cable company (or whoever is going to be broadcasting) to have a standard by which to adjust the colors of the peice?

hi, i've been lurking here for several months now and thought i'd show you guys my sketch comedy show, The 15 Minute Show. you can visit the website here: http://15.bloop.org

the video section has the first two episodes and a 5 minute short we made in a 24 hour video contest. everything is shot on my gl2 and edited in vegas video. we definitely aren't doing anything too sophisticated on the technical side, we're really focusing on writing i guess.

anyway if you like mr. show or kids in the hall this is sort of in the same vein. let me know what you guys think.

The bars are a reference for the station's engineers to calibrate the output of the deck through a time-base corrector to make sure that the spot will represent as intended.

This brings up another point, that one must pay close attention to the video levels when submitting for broadcast. DV cameras deliver a lower black level (0 vs 7.5 IRE) which has been discussed in various threads here before, which is not broadcast standard. Likewise, beware of over-saturated colors and highlights above 100 IRE. If your editing software has a mode that checks for all of the above, run your piece through that first to check your levels before delivery.

The 2-pop refers to the last number on the countdown which will have an audible "beep". It is another venerable standard for both film and video production that allows for correct synchronization of picture and sound.

If you are able to generate timecode upon output to tape, it is also a good idea for the spot to start at a round number such as 1:00:00:00. Again, this helps the broadcaster dub the spot into their system.