Just curious...

When is DV7? How often do you do this?

Thanks,

Mike

when's the next challenge?When you least expect it....muahhhahahahahahaaa.

Ahem. I dunno. Dylan seems to be pretty busy and on the road a lot this year with various projects, so I'm guessing it'll be a while. But if he's got the time, doing another one in time for Halloween would be great, eh? I think we missed that opportunity last year.

They're usually somewhere between two and three months apart. I have to confess that I'm selfishly hoping there isn't one at Halloween. I'm going to be gone Oct. 24-29!

More information on sunday...

Awesome... I'm actually hoping for a Halloween one myself. It's my favourite time of year!

Lorinda, if it is a "Halloween Challenge" maybe you could get it done before you leave.

I think I promised to announce something around the first of Oct. It would be typical of me to do a Halloween related one, starting Oct. 31st or so.
But then by the time it wrapped up we'd be into December, and then wouldn't really be able to do the holiday charity version we did last year (which I quite enjoyed.)

That's what is going through my head, but certainly open to suggestions.

Could we do something shorter for Halloween? Like, lets all do a 30 second commercial for some type of monster be gone product, best ad wins?

Or... best scary scene... you've got 30 seconds to 1 minute to capture it.

Although the 30 second "monster be gone" ad could be funny...

well we could do a halloween thingy and donate the money for a Thanksgiving charity. Or just hold the money for later. Or just do a Holiday one. That's all my brain could come up with right now. Oh wait.... nope, just a brain fart.

If we do something Halloween-based, I think it would be cool to have us shoot in the middle of October so we could actually be watching all of the films the week of Halloween. It would be a bummer to have to watch a bunch of Halloween stuff in the middle of November. :)

Just my 2 cents,
Bill

Like Bill said. his two cents, so I'd throw in my 3 cents, first thing, the theme.

Okay, so like horror is a first choice, Halloween and all that.

But what if, what if we decided to have NO special effects.
(Some of us don't know how to use the competer that well and don't have after effects).

And what it, what if, we didn' tmake all that cinematography and THEME thing all that important. Instead, instead we give it a SOUTHERN theme, yeah, an exploration of Southern culture, and then we rate ACTING skill.
I mean, if you have really good acting, do you need a strong story?
Do you really need good lighting and audio if the actors are the BOMB.

JUst some of my current lucid thinking...

And what it, what if, we didn' tmake all that cinematography and THEME thing all that important. Instead, instead we give it a SOUTHERN theme, yeah, an exploration of Southern culture, and then we rate ACTING skill.

Hmm... Good idea, but instead let's make it a VANCOUVER theme... :)

That means we'd have to go to Vancouver...

Wrap parties at Dylan's place! Let's do it!!!

;)

ohohohohoh. We could start the end of Oct, have 4 glorious weeks of shooting. That would put the end right smack dab in the holidays. The gloriousness of 4 sweet weeks AND the holidays all in one DVC. ahhhhhhh.

Hmm... Good idea, but instead let's make it a VANCOUVER theme... :)

Yeah! I live in Vancouver..... Washington. But I can get a ride up there! That would be a blast!

But what if, what if we decided to have NO special effects.
(Some of us don't know how to use the competer that well and don't have after effects).

If we do that, then "no special effects" must not simply mean "no visual effects", it must actually, honestly, genuinely mean no special effects. Of any kind.

Effects can go one way or the other: practical or computer generated. I used CG stuff in my last movie because in the time given I could not pull off practical effects that looked any good. I would love to have built a papier-mache moon and my own little christmas-lights-poked-through-construction-paper starfield, but I'm not good with the practical stuff. Done well, I like real, physical effects best, but if it's a choice between poorly built, cheesy, low budget practical models that look laughably bad, and images of the Moon and stars manipulated via computer that actually give me something approximating the look I'm going for, well, I'd go with the CG option, as I did. My ultimate point is that if we exclude one technique on the grounds that some people aren't good at it, we should also exclude the competing technique for the same reason. All or nothing is the only fair way to handle that, as far as I'm concerned.

And I think it should be "all", frankly. If we prohibit effects, where does it stop? Do we ban lighting, as well, because some of us don't own expensive light kits? Or dolly and steadicam shots? Or even just pans and tilts, for those that don't have smooth heads on their tripods?

And as for this:
I mean, if you have really good acting, do you need a strong story?
Do you really need good lighting and audio if the actors are the BOMB.

No, you don't, if you want to write a play. Yes, you do, if you're interested in making movies. The picture and sound are the unique properties of our chosen medium. If we're not going to take advantage of them, if we're not going to base our judgment of others' work on the very criteria that define motion pictures, well, why even bother?

There's nothing wrong with short stories, novels, theater, radio plays, songs, poems, or any other form of expression known to man, but I'm here because I'm interested in cinema. A medium defined by its use of moving images and sound. It's not about telling good stories. It's about telling good stories with moving images. You care about the writing more than anything? Then stop spending all this money on equipment and just write a damned book. You care about the acting? Write a play.

It's all important, I know. We should be paying close attention to all aspects of our work, from the picture and sound to the writing and acting, but of all the different aspects of filmmaking we could eliminate to make a contest like this more interesting, it strikes me as a very bad idea to choose the ones that make it what it is.

And really, let's face it: if the contest were about acting, there wouldn't BE a winner among us.

How about a New Jersey Theme! How's this for horror: Newark Mayor uses Homeland Security grants to buy garbage trucks!

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! HALLLLLLLP!

How about a New Jersey Theme! How's this for horror: Newark Mayor uses Homeland Security grants to buy garbage trucks!

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! HALLLLLLLP!

New Jeresy has garbage? :)

New Jeresy has garbage? :)

No, that's where they store the East Coast Garbage. Haven't you seen the new License plates "New Jersey, The Garbage State".

Geez... It's a good thing we have a sense of humor here in New Jersey lest I need to make you guys an offer you can't refuse.

Ha ha! You tell 'em, Rocco! The worst trash I saw on my trip last summer was piled ten feet high on the sidewalks in both Philadelphia and NYC. Cape May, NJ, by pleasant contrast, was picture perfect...

Now, back to this idea of a New Jersey theme for Halloween....could we possibly enlist the help of some of those ghosts from (S.U.N) your movie, Hugh? ;)

I couldn't help but notice how interested people are in ghosts back east. In Gettysburg there were "haunted tours" all over the place. Halloween must be a major holiday over there. Out west it's simply a time for kids to overdose on candy and get lost in corn mazes. :)

The corn mazes in the Pa. and NJ suburbs have become increasingly sophisticated, complete with "Hollywood" style monsters and bloody make-up, weird music, live actors jumping out at you... from behind piles of garbage.

so when is the next challenge?

There's nothing wrong with short stories, novels, theater, radio plays, songs, poems, or any other form of expression known to man, but I'm here because I'm interested in cinema. A medium defined by its use of moving images and sound. It's not about telling good stories. It's about telling good stories with moving images. You care about the writing more than anything? Then stop spending all this money on equipment and just write a damned book. You care about the acting? Write a play.


I think I was joking, about eliminating the areas of my own work from judgment, that I recognise as weaknesses. This is my backhanded way of complementing the winners for doing these well.

But write a play? Now that's an idea...

I figured it was more tongue in cheek than anything, but you mentioned that your comments were some of your "current lucid thinking", which I thought indicated that you'd been seriously considering the questions you posed (in a stream-of-consciousness, existential sort of way). Having honestly pondered those very questions myself, I thought I might throw my opinion in, to offer a different point of view.

Didn't want to sound confrontational, just making conversation.

Robert,

That WAS my lucid thinking! It was almost complete sentences too!

These challenges are fun because it is a chance to see what others do, and learn from them. Here is what I have noticed in the work of others.

1) Attention to Framing and Shot selection. (Specifically closeup inserts)

2) More attention to lighting and atmosphere (e.g. DVC6 fortune teller)

3) Interesting camera angles and movement

4) Stories with strong plots

5) Visuals that create Suspense

6) Interested Special Effects

7) Good Audio

Looking at this list, I'll try to add some of these elements to my next project. The one thing I do like about my shorts, is the acting. Being an actor, I work a lot with the actors and tend to get performances pleasing to me. If I could have Bill Gardner's script skills, Lorinda's dialog, and Sean's Cinematography, I could win one of these challenges.

So... when/what is the next challenge? :)

So... when/what is the next challenge? :)

Novemberish? :)

Give the new guy some more information! ;)

Give the new guy some more information! ;)

No problem.
.
.
.
Novemberish 2006.

Dylan,

I'm out of town Nov 12-20, so if we could have the challenge outside of those dates, that would be great. If not, oh well, I guess I'll have to wait until the next one.

Thanks,

Jim

Dylan,
where's your sun video? it's winter time now and i'm needing a little sun theme.

is we decide to make it a vancouver theme

can i call shot gun on the east hastings project...

that would be a halloween short in itslef

Ok, I know what the Theme should be....

"Finding Dylan"

He's still around, just being a very busy Dylan :)

Hey everybody!

Sorry for the extended absense, I've been moving and wrapping up a somewhat major project. I'm back now, will have DVC7 news probably by the end of the week, and there are still a couple people who I owe a shirt to, who will be getting them ASAP as well as an apology card! And two people who still have a DVC certificate coming to them (you know who you are!)

Everything kind of went to heck when I had to move my office and it took an extra 3 weeks to get it set back up.

Oh yeah. Sure. Everybodies got an excuse. We all know that what happens in vegas stays in vegas...

Dylan, glad to finally get a chance to see you on these boards, I'm new at shooting video and can't wait to try filming something that isnt a TV Commercial.

I'll be eagerly waiting any talk of the next challenge.

Though I cant promise quality, I'll submit something.

-Steve

Though I cant promise quality, I'll submit something.

Have you seen Dylan's entries? :)

No, Where can I find old entries that weren't finalists?

Dylan is nice enough to call all of us who submit a movie "finalists," so they're all there. You'd find his Christmas movie under DVC4; however, the link for his just-for-fun movie for DVC2 is right here (http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=47809&highlight=confessions).

Watch yourself...they're not exactly G rated... :)

Happy Thanksgiving to one and ALL! Yes- even you Lorinda :)

Best wishes~
Bradley

Nice of you to include me, ya big ape. :) And a very Happy Thanksgiving to you, and to all the rest who celebrate today!