Re: Tales of Wonder and Woe - DVC 22
 

Well I'm getting there. Because of the nature of the project I might have to use a little archive footage but it's hard to explain without giving the game away. Lorinda, can I PM you to check what I'm doing is ok? What address should I use?

Henry

Re: Tales of Wonder and Woe - DVC 22
 

Shoot me the details through the DVi address you'll find in my profile, Henry. I'll be glad to have a look! Better yet, send to thedvchallenge@gmail.com, then if we need to ask head guy Dylan it'll be right there. :)

Simon, submissions can be on YouTube or Vimeo.

Re: Tales of Wonder and Woe - DVC 22
 

Just wondering if this is a HD only contest or can we up-load SD. Would SD be frowned up-on. I will be uploading via a mobile phone - trying to keep the numbers low.

Re: Tales of Wonder and Woe - DVC 22
 

Format doesn't matter, Mark; upload any way you want!

Re: Tales of Wonder and Woe - DVC 22
 

So the day before yesterday I needed to shoot some scenes for my dvc entry, which I'm doing all solo with no actors.
.
I had planned to shoot at: a tiny forest river, an industrial sand canyon, a forest lake and an abandoned soviet weather monitoring station in the woods.

So after I came home after work, I took my trusty MTB, camera and tripod and headed out into the woods. The terrain is a mix of comfy dirt roads, steep and sometimes muddy pine forest trails, some lakes, sand dunes and small hills, and abandoned soviet structures and a motobike training ring.

The river part was easy (at least getting down to it). I battled with my tripod sinking in the dunes for a while, but finally I took the shot. I had planned to take a little sun too, but unfortunately it had hid behind the trees at that time, and I didn't have the time to wait for it to get in the right spot, because it was already evening and the sun was setting quick.

So I hurried to the next location (fell down the bike once, because my feet were slippery with river mud), but then had to return back to the river, because I had left in the river the one essential prop my entry needs.
Almost fell again, because the coast is very steep and slippery with mud.

Filmed all in the sand canyon, and headed towards the lake. The sun was really low now and I saw just one place where it still was shining on, unfortunately it was a good 16 meters (~52ft) drop. But then luckily I saw a tiny patch of the last sunlight with just a ~2 meter jump. Had to overexpose the shot though, because it was already getting dark despite the last rays. When I had to get back, I remembered that a 2 meter drop is a lot easier to jump from than to scale with all the gear. :)

Then I headed into the woods to find the abandoned soviet weather station (I needed to shoot its barbed wire fence), but I took the wrong trail and had to get off-road into the woods. Luckily I heard a train in the distance and new the direction to take.

When at last I found the location, I saw that damned thieves had stolen all barbed wire... So from then it was a long ride home. At the end of the day I had had a really good workout and 3/4 of my day's planned shoots taken, which is not bad.

So now I'm looking for another barbed wire fence. I'll check out some industrial sites today.


p.s. Attached a pic which I took on my crappy camera phone soon after finishing filming at the lake.

Re: Tales of Wonder and Woe - DVC 22
 

From my calculations by reading the forum I see that about 12 of us are working on films right now. Am getting so excited!

Andris, man, you had crazy adventures!! I love Latvia! Was there is 2009 and really enjoyed the people of your country!

Tomorrow night is the wrap party and I still have to finish color-correcting and get the final edits from my composer. It really is cutting it close.

Really looking forward to all the entries!

T

Re: Tales of Wonder and Woe - DVC 22
 

I'd like to watch a movie about you making a movie!

Gorgeous!

I learn all my big words on DVInfo.net!

Re: Tales of Wonder and Woe - DVC 22
 

Andrew and Toni, thanks for the comments! :)

Today I shot in 8 more locations, and again forgot my essential prop in two of them. Had to bike all the way back from the next location. Now the first thing I always do is to collect the props, because I won't forget the gear.

This was also a good opportunity to improve on my tripod skills, but a bit too much of assembly and disassembly to my taste. T'was like in the army - get the gear, shoot, roll everything up and bike to the next.

So I've got 15 scenes and various sounds shot, now on to editing.

Re: Tales of Wonder and Woe - DVC 22
 

Okay, so I'm beginning the editing right about now. No choice, but to finish until the deadline.
I have to attend a conference on Tuesday, so I'll probably do most of it there between the presentations.

Re: Tales of Wonder and Woe - DVC 22
 

Oooh my goodness! I am so close to getting on the Wall of Shame here! The timing has just been madness! With school getting back into session, I've been traveling and performing at colleges & universities across the country since the start of this DVC! The response has been tremendous - as Dick Mays can attest to on Facebook - but the tour's already been extended, and I barely got home last night.

I'm shooting a few test scenes this morning and hoping my idea will fly; but then I have to go shoot a wedding later today. Hopefully I'll be able to corral some actors and crew by today - then we'll get together tomorrow and try to shoot something, and have it in the editing room by tomorrow evening.

Whew! Am refusing to get on the WoS without a fight here. Going down to the wire! What time is it due again? It's due on the 4th at 11:59pm, right? Not on the 4th at 12:00am?? That makes a pretty big difference ;)

Re: Tales of Wonder and Woe - DVC 22
 

Yup. It is 11:59 p.m. PDT on Sept. 4, Joseph. Good luck!

Andris, your trials remind me a little too much of me...but I am waaaay older than you are! LOL

Good luck to all of you! Two days left!! :D

Re: Tales of Wonder and Woe - DVC 22
 

Joseph, you can do it! The participation and the thrill is worth it, and I'd really like to see your entry. :)
This time I'm doing it all solo with no actors at all, but I hope that the result will be good enough.

I've got a really close call this time too, because I'm overloaded at my day job, lots of serious stuff to do. I'm determined to manage and finish the entry though. I've loaded the material on my laptop and will do some editing on the commute.

Lorinda, my guilty pleasure is that I enjoy it, haha! I hope to see an entry from you too. I've always enjoyed your very-human pieces.

Re: Tales of Wonder and Woe - DVC 22
 

I'm done - stick a fork in me.

Andris & Joseph you can do it. Looking forward to seeing everyone's film. Best fun I've had in a long time, stressful too. Can't say it was easy, so many tech issues.

Re: Tales of Wonder and Woe - DVC 22
 

Overall, this has been one of the best artistic experiences of my life. We shot on location and had only minor technical issues. I think the biggest thing that I have learned is that although you may be able to do everything yourself, sometimes it's best to delegate! Moving forward, when I do another short film, I will definitely get a bigger team to assist with the operation. We shot with one camera, two lav mics, and one light (for one scene). Finishing up the editing and making sure that everything is in tip-top shape before submitting. For those that have entered before, do you do a plot summary with the submission? Any type of formal write up about the film and the vision?

Re: Tales of Wonder and Woe - DVC 22
 

Toni,

Traditionally, we create a thread in the feedback group on the day your film screens. This is where you get to tell a bit about the experience, challenges, and explain anything you think might not come across in your film. I use the occasion to promulgate various lies and defend myself in advance from any criticism that I might be a my misogynist. You can probably get away with just being truthful.

Re: Tales of Wonder and Woe - DVC 22
 

Hey guys...well I've just a final grade pass and the film is ready for upload. It was a fun process and increased my urge to shoot more fictional shorts. Looking for other avenues already :)

Looking forward to everyone's films.

M

Re: Tales of Wonder and Woe - DVC 22
 

Well no getting off the wall of shame for me. Had a script crew actors and locations before I got a last minute call to go work on "revolution" 300 miles away so I had to abandon the short to find a new place to live temporarily and then work 75 hours in the past week. I'm stoked about the job just wish I could have waited a week to start it!

At some point I'm going to upload all of my unfinished projects.

Re: Tales of Wonder and Woe - DVC 22
 

Sorry to hear, Nick.
I myself am having trouble to find the time to edit everything together, feeling uneasy, but... there is hope and will. I'll probably just skip some talk at tomorrow's conference I have to attend.

Re: Tales of Wonder and Woe - DVC 22
 

Really sorry guys. I'm on the wall here for the first time in 2 years of doing these comps. A feature script I optioned off a while ago has suddenly gained some traction and I've had to spend the time I was going to shoot my doc in doing the inevitable re-writes. Will make sure to get myself off the wall at the first available opportunity, and really look forward to seeing peoples films.

Henry

Re: Tales of Wonder and Woe - DVC 22
 

Finished and uploaded last night. For me this was a work of "love" with my college freshman granddaughter and other grand kids. My granddaughter wrote the script, played one of the characters, narrated, and wrote a song and sang it for the film. It was a lot of fun putting it all together to make her vision of the story try to work, though, as with all of these shorts, we had to chop and cut to make it all fit. With a film this short, character development is just very difficult, and suffers on the editing side.......

Re: Tales of Wonder and Woe - DVC 22
 

Finished and submitted our film, as of 4am this morning! We were a bit strapped for time, so my wife and I shot it on Saturday and edited it on Sunday. It doesn't work 100% as we hoped, unfortunately, but the Challenge was a great opportunity to push ourselves to make something, and I'm really proud of what we managed. I think the look of the film is a big step up from anything we've done before, so I'm happy about that. And since we're at an early stage in our filmmaking, we learn a lot every time we make something, which is why we have to keep pushing ourselves to do so, and why competitions like the DV Challenge are great as a means of motivation.

No great shooting stories or tribulations to relate otherwise. Except perhaps, as Toni said, next time I'd very much like a few more hands, since the last three films we shot have just had my wife and me for crew. I'm also, of course, worried about how the film will be received, but I guess we'll find out soon enough! Looking forward to sharing it with you all and seeing what everyone else came up with.

By the way, has anyone received a confirmation when they e-mailed their submission info? I'm a little paranoid about submitting, and I worry about my e-mail getting lost in a spam folder, the film somehow not fitting the criteria, or otherwise missing out in some way.

Re: Tales of Wonder and Woe - DVC 22
 

Funny you would ask, Michael, just as I came here to cheer about already receiving six submissions--a full day before the due date!! This is getting very exciting and I hope to see at least that many more tomorrow.

To answer your question, your email has not come through. Try resending all the info and make sure it's going to thedvchallenge@gmail.com. Let me know when you have sent again; we'll go to plan B if necessary.

Re: Tales of Wonder and Woe - DVC 22
 

Thanks for letting me know, Lorinda; I'm glad I was paranoid! I've resent the e-mail and verified it's going to the right address. If you still haven't got it, would you check your spam folder? I also sent the info via private message here, as a backup. Hopefully something gets through!

Re: Tales of Wonder and Woe - DVC 22
 

That was plan B. :) Second try to the gmail address worked!

Re: Tales of Wonder and Woe - DVC 22
 

Just finished mine and left it uploading overnight (the internet is really slow at the moment).

Re: Tales of Wonder and Woe - DVC 22
 

Almost done editing the video, half way through the audio part. Still have to record a few sound-fx and soundscapes. It'll be a close call.
Luckily for me I've just had fiber-optics installed, so the internet speed is not an issue any more.

Re: Tales of Wonder and Woe - DVC 22
 

Wish I had fiber-optic. Took me the whole of the weekend to upload two versions, using my mobile phone, then I had to do it again as I found out I made a miss-take. where I live broadband on a landline is slower than my mobile. so, for me a 300mb file takes about 6-7 hours and 500mb takes around 12-14 hours to upload.

Out of curiosity I would be interested to know what speeds and upload times people have around the world for this comp.

Re: Tales of Wonder and Woe - DVC 22
 

Mine was 213mb and took about 8 hours overnight.

Re: Tales of Wonder and Woe - DVC 22
 

I have fiber optic connection. Uploaded 335 mgb to Youtube in about 5 minutes. Vimeo server was sloeer at about 15 to 20

Re: Tales of Wonder and Woe - DVC 22
 

Man, fiber sounds amazing. Maybe one day we can all enjoy it. I think mine was about 200 MB and took around 2 hours.

Re: Tales of Wonder and Woe - DVC 22
 

Just wanted to say thanks, Andris, Mark, and everyone else for the support. I'm shooting my final scenes this morning and getting ready for a full day in post. Not going down without a fight!

* swings wildly *

Re: Tales of Wonder and Woe - DVC 22
 

After a long weekend of post-production and figuring out a workflow for the new CS6 (Adobe Speedgrade is awesome!), we're finally finished. I sent an email to where you said, Lorinda, but like Michael, I'm paranoid about everything working out. If you get a chance, could you let me know it went through?

Re: Tales of Wonder and Woe - DVC 22
 

Counting yours, John, we have received 12 entries so far!! Love it--keep 'em coming, folks and, Joseph--go, go, GO!!! :)

Re: Tales of Wonder and Woe - DVC 22
 

I'm rendering the first (beta) version now. Thank God for the US time difference in favour of my location. :)

Re: Tales of Wonder and Woe - DVC 22
 

Uploaded and sent.
Took about 3 minutes to upload 134mb video to youtube.

Re: Tales of Wonder and Woe - DVC 22
 

Interesting to see the different broadband speeds people have - for me it adds a different dimension to the challenge and to take into account. Really looking forward to see how many different interpretation of the theme were made.

Re: Tales of Wonder and Woe - DVC 22
 

So how long do you think it would take for my 14.4 baud modem to push my video to youtube?

Re: Tales of Wonder and Woe - DVC 22
 

I sent in everything and am awaiting Lorinda's confirmation. She had given us until 11:59 Pacific time ! Thank you, Lorinda!

This past month has been one of major challenges and excitement. I hope you enjoy my short film as much as I have enjoyed making it. I tried to really push myself creatively with use of the theme, coming up with a cool story, as well as pushing myself technically with directing and editing. There were many times I thought, "how do real movies get made so quickly?" There are SO many moving elements and when you combine one camera, a foreign country, international actors, lav mic sound (1st and 2nd choice are always booms, but alas, I do not own that yet), and minimal lighting, you never know what is going to come out on the other side! What a fun ride this has been!

I can't wait to see everyone's films!

Toni

Re: Tales of Wonder and Woe - DVC 22
 

Are you on about a dial-up modem? I Google stuff and found this site that should be able to give a guide to how long it will take.

Bandwidth conversion calculator | web.forret.com

Re: Tales of Wonder and Woe - DVC 22
 

I've read in a book about directing theater plays that it is a great success if the end result is at least 60% of what the director had imagined in his or her head. This, I think so, applies equally to film-making.

Unfortunately I feel that I haven't achieved those 60% I wished for. I didn't have a crew or actors, everything was rushed, because of other responsibilities, and I edited in distracting environments. All of which is small potatoes if compared to my negligible skills, hah!

Any way, what I have, until now, really gotten out of this challenge is the experience in building more complex soundscapes. I've come to love and appreciate the complex sound environments that can be created by recording, obtaining and mixing different sound fx and music, and I will never look to future productions as I've had before, with regards to this aspect.

Really looking forward to seeing all of your films!