"The Signal" (Nick Hiltgen) picked up at Sundance
 

"The Signal", shot on the H1, just got picked up at Sundance by Magnolia! Congratulations guys!

Nick, congrats to you guys! 2 mill...nice sale. I hope it gets distribution with some money behind it for marketing.

Please tell David and Jacob I said congratulations. They've come a long ways since our Atlanta lunch meetings. I'm excited to see what they'll do next.

Kevin Wild
www.drawbridge.tv

So, yeah, uh wow. I can guarantee you this time last year I did not think this movie would be worth 2 million, It has been a crazy couple of days. I've seen three drafts of the movie now and I am so impressed with how it's come out.

The details are sketchy right now but from what I understand we MAY have a theatrical release, I don't know any exact terms, or even if it's true, but from the sounds of it you should be able to see the first Canon HDV feature (I have no idea if it's really the first but we finished shooting @ jan 17 2006) in a theater sometime in the future. (hopefully near future, hopefully in a theater near you)

It's been awesome though. I can't believe how all of this is working out, I suppose if you really wanted to you could read up on all of the production process throughout these boards, from getting the camera to the footage posted with the mini 35 (which by the way made it into the movie- and looks sharp) to the missing pixel, to trying to figure out how to get the footage into an editing system, to comments on color correcting with an HDV codec, to getting accepted to getting sold. I and we owe this whole community a debt of gratitude. Thanks everyone.

Nick, did you cut the film? What was your role?

I'm also curious as to how the Mini35 worked with the H1. I have an H1 and can't stand the deep depth of field. I would love to get a Min35. What was your experience with it?

Kevin

I think they list my title as camera technician, which I suppose includes choosing the camera, tuning it and what not. IN addition I did b-unit shooting some a unit shooting, 1st A.C. (only on a few shots ahem... the in focus ones...) and then sat in on color correction and three drafts of the film.

I personally love the mini 35 with the H1 but I've been told some strange effects occur in fast action. This helps out in our movie but in others it may pose an issue. I imagine that this can be bypasseed through other means of compression.

is there a site for the film? Perhaps you could compile said list of your produciton through your posts etc? Also what kind of budget did you have? From investors or what? How big was the crew etc? Congrats indeed!

"The Signal" at IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0780607/

and on Ain't It Cool: http://www.aintitcool.com/node/31337

and on RotTom: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/featur.../?mid=10007941

be sure to see also: http://www.bloody-disgusting.com/film/1507

in-depth tech at Avid: http://www.avid.com/profiles/070122_...adrenaline.asp

Official site: http://www.doyouhavethecrazy.com/ -- turn down your speakers! Eeek!

...all from just Page 1 of a Google search on "The Signal" + Sundance

Thanks chris!

I found the Avid review a little amusing, may have made it sound a little easier then it was...

And for the record, only "The Signal" was picked up at sundance, I still have yet to be...

Excerpt from Ain't It Cool (see link in my post above):

"What is most compelling about the feature (The Signal) is the production value that was gained on something that is most probably a considerably low budget. But you could not tell that by looking at the film, the film is full of wide locations that give the feeling of a full-scale production... This stuff rivals anything in the Land of the Dead or the Dawn of the Dead remake... really jaw-dropping things."

Rock on, Nick!

I would like to say that this is an amazing accomplishment and you should be proud (showoff).:) Can you give some more info on your workflow for this movie. I'll make it easy.

1. Did you shoot directly to tape (hdv codec)? If not or mixed please give some details.
2. Did you shoot with the canon lens that comes with the XL H1? If not what lense?
3. What editor did you use to edit this? What version #?
4. How did you color correct this movie? What programs or what facility.
5. What format was delievered as the master that was watched at sundance? DVD,D5,HDcam, etc.
6. Did you use any on camera filters or gels?
7. Do you have a trailer of the movie that is viewable by the general public/me?
8. What were some of the difficulties you faced on this shoot?
9. You work with f900s why didn't you shoot with those?
10. Did you edit in native hdv?
11. If you had twice the budget would you still have shoot with the XL H1?

Thanks! If anyone else knows the answers to these questions feel free to post.

Hey Nick,

Was curious what the budget for this film was. You don't have to tell us an exact number. A "range" would be great.

Also, what format did you deliver the HD master to Sundance in? HDCAM?

Nik, most of your answers can be found on the avid link above but here's the rest of the info.

1) We shot directly to tape, HDV. (there's more details on this in the avid article)

2) I would say that 95% was shot with the mini 35 adapter and the remainder (pickups/times when we needed the light) was shot with the stock lens. The beginning of the movie is a short from 4 years ago which was shot with an xl1.

3) this was cut on an Avid (see the avid article above)

4) Color correction was done at "lab 601" in atlanta on the Avid.

5) HDCAM SR was delivered to sundance for screening (also in the avid article)

6) We used just used ND and Polarizing filters.

7) I think the trailer is viewable here on Dvinfo.net it's on the myspace page which is linked on popfilms.org

8) Holy crap, uh, there was a pixel/dust issue that fortunately was fixable in post, once we had everything shot we had no way to cut the hdv. There was a little wierdness with a replacement mini 35 we had, but that was solved almost instantaneously.

9) Budget and look came into play, I discussed it with the producer and the directors, they told me the budget, and I had concerns over the amount that was going to camera (which is a concern I never have unless I'm working with friends or people I really respect, both of which were true in this case) and the cost of the 900 to post. For the record, I was originally asked to work on the movie because of my experience with the sony, but after the discussion of the film (I read the script) and the look they wanted I thought we could get a really good 16mm 1970's style look with the 35 and the canon. Then I had the big shoot out with shannon rawls (who was then a uh, vocal, member of dvinfo.net) At which time all of the panasonic fanboys and anyone who' ever had an opinion about anything jumped in and told shannon and I we were full of crap. (for the record there were many people who came to our defense, and you'll note that the people who were more level headed are the ones that still post here. I told the guys our results getting entirely too technical about the cadence and the estimated resolution, until dave (director of the first section) just asked me, "can we shoot with this camera and not have it detract from the story?" I said yes, and they were sold. The producer also loved that it would be a little cheaper and thought that would be a great way to promote the movie (the first canon hdv feature) as well.

10) The complete process of editing (cut a downconverted version because no codec and then onlined with a convergent box) is discussed in the avid article.

11) Hmm twice the budget? probably, I think the camera really worked for this piece. I think there is a right time for each different format be it dv, hdv, and film. Sometimes we make concessions due to the budget but I think this camera gave us the look we were going for. If we had a bigger budget we may have set up an uncompressed capture system which would probably have helped us out a lot in post and saved us some time, but that's more or less the only thing I would have changed with DOUBLE the budget. We may have used other cameras in addition to shoot the film, if the budget was bigger but, It's hard to speculate on that.

Robert, a range? hmm um blairwitch- to 28 days later. Though I will say we were closer to one of those movies then the other. I think when the movie is released the shooting budget will be public knowledge, but until that happens I dont' want anyone upset with me.

And that link once again... to the Avid article posted above (it answers most of Nik's questions) is located at http://www.avid.com/profiles/070122_...adrenaline.asp

For the trailer, see http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=71222

-- thanks for the in-depth reply, Nick! Much appreciated,

Yeah that link to the avid article didn't say go here to see how they did it. It needed to be seperated. Thanks Nick and great job.

Great news Nick and congrats to you and all involved.

I do have a question however. I clicked on the Imdb link, and under box office & business states a $5.2 million dollar budget. Can that be right? If so...with a 2 million dollar sale of the film, that would be a loss of 3.2 million. Would you happen to know if the budget on Imdb is correct? If not, what was the ballpark budget for "Signal"

Total guess here, but I bet there was an accidental zero thrown on there.

Let's wait until the directors want to discuss to really find out...

KW

HA! if it was 5.2 million I got screwed! I think the thing is just about anyone can get on IMDB and post information. I don't even think I'm on there yet.

No, I assure that no one involved with this movie LOST any money. Kevin is sort of on the right track. I hate not being able to post the budget but we've got to make sure that we don't upset any distributors or publicity or what have you.

Congrats on your success. I know the investors were happy to get a return. LOL
Are you working on another movie?

Currently in preproduction for a series of shorts which I'm point-producing in atlanta through the dailies project (the project that spawned the signal). In addition I will be directing one, which I think will be using more or less the same setup that we used in the signal.

But right now I'm freezing my butt off in breckenridge colorado working on a ski show. (I just got off a project working with dvinfo, member Vince Gaffney and his xl-h1 and the new 6x wide-angle) which was much more fun.

Nick: I strongly recommend writing a short book or a long magazine article on the process, with comprehensive chapters on prepping, lighting, shooting, editing and distributing (meaning, I assume, blow up to 35mm) of the film...

With this success you are the current reigning expert on using a "pro-sumer" camera to break the waves... I know much of the info is probably somewhere in this forum but it would be nice to have it all in one place...

And what a fine time we had. You missed a real hair puller today Nick. Sorry you had to leave. I'll try and get pics of the rig to post / forward. It looks pretty crazy with your liitle camera piggy back.

Vince

Congratulations, the trailer is looking sweet! Hopefully I'll be able to see it one day!

Wow, I remember seeing the trailer for this a little while back and I still laughed at the end. I'm definately going to buy it.

Has it been released? Can you say what the budget was? Thanks

Nick, did you use the factory default settings or a custom preset (custom created or maybe one from this forums)?

Hey Floris it was a custom preset. We created the look, the "custom preset database" wasn't up on these forums yet. It was a pretty basic set up though (don't completely remember) there was a lot of color correction in post to get the difference between the three stories.

I've posted a DSC 24 file and 60 file which I use for about 90% of my shooting now. (the other 10% of the time I'm trying to match to some other inferior camera like an HVX or F900 or Red, you know thooose cameras...)

Official release date (seems like the official date keeps getting changed) is only a few weeks away! february 22nd there's a list of cities up on the website I think but it is by no means comprehensive. Hopefully it's playing at a theater near you!

Just as I was reading this thread I glance up at my television to see the trailer running on HDNet. They seem to be running it quite often. The film looks fantastic and I'm really looking forward to seeing it. Congratulations.

Nick,

where did you post those two presets? Could you share them in the custom presets thread in the stickies section?

Any chance that "The Signal" will be released over here in Europe? Or will it depend from the US success?

Congratulations Nick on your film, I hope to see it someday. Maybe Canon will want to use parts of it in promoting the XLH1 ( for a good price of course ). Hopefully it will help break the ice in selling well shot HDV movies to broadcasters where the format is sneered at. Keep up the good work.

Leon Lorenz
www.wildlifevideos.ca

That's cool it's getting run on HDNET (owned by Mark Cuban, who also is partnered, or owns Magnolia- the films distributor) We haven't really seen the trailers on any sort of broad distribution yet. There should be some webisodes up soon there was talks about getting them on itunes, but I have some doubts.

Magnolia owns the rights to europe so I suppose it's up to them, which means your probably right it depends on how it does in the box office.

I'll post the 24f files and 60i files today (thought I already had!)

Leon I sure hope so, I've noticed that Discovery HD (which used to be strictly f900 footage) is now playing shows that are shot predominately with HDV cams (deadliest catch, parts of dirty jobs, parts of myth busters etc)

Darn! Got excited about the news of HDNet running "The Signal".

Went to DirectTV and did a search for it and nothing came up.

If anyone knows when HDNet will be running it, please post here so we can see Nick's work.

Thank you in advance.

John,

HDNet's show Nothing but trailers is showing it. Saw the trailer for "The Signal" last night.

Nick,
I would have never thought that the movie was shot with an HDV camera. When the trailer started it seemed as though it was a big budget 35mm film. Congratulations.
Some questions though.
Reading this forum it appears that it was shot with one camera, was it, and if so was there a thought to use more than one camera?

Thank you.
Pat

Thanks much Pat ... I was doing a search for the full film itself.

Guess I'll have to hope it comes into our area - would love to see an H1/HDV originated movie on the "Big Screen".

The more that happens with skilled results from folks such as Nick, the easier it should be for broadcasters to accept the HDV IS a viable broadcast option ... it's always the skills employed by the film maker that matter to bring a QUALITY story forth.

Congratulations to Nick !
 

Hey Nick ! I congratulate you ! Now we FINALLY have a movie shot completely on the XL H1 in HDV ! I saw the trailler and it looks great ! It seemed as though the XL H1 had developped an "unknown" reputation in the industry as an "overkill" HDV camcorder. The ignorance surrounding the viability of this camera is irritating. Perhaps now, folks in our industry will stop denegrading this camera and the XL H1 will re-emerge as "the" camera for independent film making (?). One would have thought the uncompressed HD-SDI 4:2:2 output would have been enough to explain to industry professionals this is a serious instrument for production. When I went to purchase my XL H1 several folks told me not to bother. I was told to wait for the Sony EX-1 CineAlta Series camcorder because it was "better" and the H1 is an 8 bit camera and they're no good anymore ! (Totally Infuriating !) Well, you can't put other movie lenses on that camera, but you can matte just about any lens known to man on the XL H1. I was told it wasn't FULL HD raster (1440 x 1080 in HDV). Yet, the H1 is FULL HD out of the HD-SDI anyway ! I edit a great deal of other folks HDV in post on Avid and the HDV tapes out of the H1 are FAR superior in the cleanliness of their encoding then what I'm getting out of indies from other camcorders. I think Nick has proved that the HDV format can be used as a viable format for film and TV broadcast. I salut his efforts and can't wait to see this film projected in 35 mm on a big screen !

Hey Pat we wish we had two cameras but it wasn't feasible for the budget we working with. (and it wasn't in my budget to buy a second one) I agree that it's great that we now have the tools to tell a good story without having to shoot film. (of course you have to light like film and shoot like film...) I've been told the 35 blowup looks awesome but I'm looking forward to the 21st and seeing exactly how good it looks!

Nick, good job once again, are you working on some other movie project at the moment, The Signal, I hope propelled your career!

Do you mind telling if you shot The Signal, 24f or interlaced?

Regards, Oleg Kalyan...

Hey Oleg, thanks! the signal has definitely helped things. We shot HDV 24f.

Really well done..!
 

Hi guys,

No questions - just solid admiration and hearty congratulations.

Dave

Hey Nick,

Once again, congratulations to you and the rest of the folks involved with "The Signal".

I'm really excited to see it locally. Is it possibly being released digitally anywhere? We have an excellent DLP 2K cinema in Salt Lake and I was actually hoping to see it on BOTH film and digital!

One technical question--

Did the film get put through any of the latest uprezzing/deartifacting processes in post? I wonder if these things (if applied to the film) made a big difference for the film/digital out?

Thanks,

B