Have a rough cut done and recorded most of my voices over the weekend. Unfortunately work is using up my laptop so I don't expect much progress on this until it's weekend again. Sigh.

Chris, been there. Read my threads on the Christmas challenge. Had shoulder surgery so I had to finish mine early on that one to fit in the recovery time.

Still working on recovery. Shoulder stuff takes a while. Not too painful, just limited on range of motion still.

On topic - I haven't shot a frame yet. I am still working on the story line. I have a good "gag" for how to shoot it, I just need the reason to shoot it this way and a real story behind it. This is what happens when I am given too long to think about it. Plus I am working like a fiend on a semi-professional music video project of my own. You can read about it on the web site...

Good luck everyone. 1 week plus is it? I'll have something to show. I just hope the inspiration hits me like a thunderbolt - SOON!

Sean

I've got an idea -- an idea I actually like -- but I can't find a good heart anywhere. I've checked the meat markets for something that could look like a human heart, like a pig's heart, but they're telling me that certain things aren't allowed to be sold by the FDA.

Oh, and I have yet to find a little girl to play the lead. This is gonna be close to the wire, if it happens.

Usually I am the darker one around here but with you looking for a heart and a little girl, I'm getting morbidly curious.

I always remember what W. C. Fields used to say - never work with small children or dogs.

Try asking around the vets or a vet school. I wonder if they have anything on Ebay?

Sean McHenry

Finished shooting? Not!
 

Well, I finished shooting on Sunday and then started looking at what I had. Some of it is not good. This project is really stretching me, and I am really struggling with the lighting. Specifically, I am having a hard time keeping the lighting consitent from scene to scene. I will need to reshoot some of it this coming weekend.

I start shooting this weekend. I'm hoping to get it all shot on Saturday and Sunday, then have next week to edit.

Ditto.

Sean

Did the deadline get moved back? The threads I saw say the films are due midnight April 2nd, which according to my calendar is this coming Sunday.

In the DVC5 announcement thread, he said the deadline is April 8.

Well, imagine that. Could've sworn it was the second. Odd.

Thanks for the good news, Mark, looks like I've got even more time to nitpick my editing.

In Dylans first post announcing that we were going to start DV#5 soon, he did say the second.

Then after the changes and trip announcement the date was changed to the eighth. Had me confused too.

Mik\e

That's what caught me last week. I thought it was over this weekend also. Thank goodness it's not. I have been so busy organizing my other shoot and location hunting (begging and pleading for a church to let me shoot a vampire story in their building), and finishing my studio space at night... I'm tired.

I suddenly remembered Lilly's song in Blazing Saddles...she's tired.

Sean

My partner is an experimental choreographer, and currently in the MFA program @ University California Riverside... who is basically constructing a series of gestures based on "reflections" and whatever props I give her for this entry.

This is really going to be something curious here for sure.

Being that identity construction (with cultural and feminist undertones) is her thing... combined with my exagerrated aesthetic.



I'm warning you now something very experimental is going to come out of this. She's already suggested basing the entire piece around a toilet and carrying a TV down my neighborhood (something about developing photographs in a toilet too).

Progress report: Nothing shot yet. I have my location rented out for tomorrow and Saturday, and have actors coming and most of the props lined up. I'm kinda nervous but with a lot of work and planning tonight I think I'm in good shape. Hope the weather holds.

Well......my curiosity is aroused.....and I feel genuinely creepy using that term in this case.

-Jon

i'm trying to avoid any houses of mirrors and trying to get started. it's hard to shoot good video when you're a night owl.

I built some adapters for mounting gear that will make shooting easier. This weekend is going to be nonstop shooting / birthday partying (Saturday's my 19th birthday - the legal drinking age here...). I basically need to have everything shot by Monday night or I'm screwed.

question for the veterans, in one of my scenes, I have the news playing in the background, audio only for about 10 secs. Am I screwed or is this considered fair use?

Is the dialogue all that understandable or more like background noise?

We had this discussion about a year ago. Basically, if the you use something that enhances your video and it's copyrighted material (which includes the news), you should get permission. Given that, if you're concerned about it, maybe call the local station, tell them what you're doing, and get someone's okay.

In one of my little movies I didn't notice until it was too late that one of the actors was wearing a T-shirt that said "American Eagle" plain as day. I sent an email to the company--never heard back, of course--then submitted the movie anyway.

It's very audible. Whether or not it enhances it, is up for debate. It really could be anything that he's watching, he is apathetically watching tv. What the audio is, is not important to the scene. it's just the weather.

Problem is, I don't even remember which channel it was. hahaha. ehhh...

I guess i have to watch all the 10 oclock news and see if I can recognize the voice.

Normally I wouldn't care, but I just got done reading this comic about copywrite law

http://www.law.duke.edu/cspd/comics/

now it has me looking at everything in my scenes.

I guess in the worst case, they could make me pull it. But in the comic they site a couple of instances in which filmakers used news scenes that were important to the movie and didn't clear it and didn't get in trouble. hmmmm.....

And the laws seem to very lienent on use for educational purposes, which i'm guessing the challenge qualifies for.

Lol, Michael. What an angle! I never thought of it like that.

Because some argue that there is no gray area in this issue, if I were in your place I suppose I'd try my best to cover the bases by singling out the station (NYC--could be lots, huh?), and give them a call. Or you can take your chances. :)

Why not just record a friend reading the weather and use your own audio?

On the subject of copyright issues, does anyone know if lyrics are okay to be sang without playing the song? I might have a shot of a character singing along to a song with headphones on.

Might do that. I emailed all of the news stations about clearing the audio, since it was quicker than finding the one I have. who ever responds with a positive gets used.

You are in the same boat i'm in. Lyrics in a song are copyrighted. Actually mine is kind of incidental which I can almost get away with. Yours on the other hand would not be incidental. I'd make up some lyrics and a melody. unless we take the educational defense.

my footage is shot

the movement is flawless.

does it resonate reflections?


it DOES have a mirror in it.

What is a reflection anyways.

Mereym- I have schlepped around
 

Am pleased to announce that on Monday, I schlepped for 12 hours. Secretly hoping that I would be able to conclude all of these wild activities in one day...alas, I was unable to do so as the wind picked up and was beat to a pulp.

Weather was bad again Tuesday-Thursday, so did what editing I could.

Today was the last window on the weather so, another 6 hours of shooting. Am ready to edit this madness together. Hopefully it will work out.

On another note: I'm really excited to see everyone's work! Watching your short films is more fun for me than wasting away on the couch veiwing boring TV.

Best wishes everyone~
Bradley

I got 3 scenes left to shoot that we'll probably knock out tonight. Spent the morning finishing up all the exterior shots. VERY windy but still workable. Hopefully get this wrapped up tomorrow and online shortly thereafter. Woohoo!

Now, it's time for a wine break.....

I had wind issues too
 

I wouldn't have minded much except that it made all the water in the reflecting pools choppy and not so reflective. I was also using this as an excuse to practice with the Steadicam Merlin that work bought. I'm bad enough at it to begin with, wind made it really hard. No time to reshoot though because I've been putting in 60 hour weeks on a documentary for work. So it is what it is. It's not going to turn out as good as I wanted when I started, but it will be finished one way or another. Darn it.

Jump up and spit, i'm finished. I sat in this uncomfortable chair all day today and now i'm done.

Finished shooting a few hours ago. Major marathon, I'm beat. Still need to cut and record music/foley.

Well, I am *D O N E ! Think I'll take the rest of the night off. Gonna lose an hour's sleep (don't forget folks). I'll make space on the server tomorrow to upload. What a day.....

Yesterday's shooting was very limited because it rained all afternoon but today's a beautiful day so hopefully I get it all done.

So everything's been shot, captured, and reviewed, now I'm assembling a rough cut, and it's much more pleasing than I ever imagined it could be; may need to do some ADR (cringe), or better yet just reshoot one particular scene--unless I can get rid of this small bit of annoying reverb--but otherwise things are looking up!

Never knew editing would be as bad as my favorite videogames in terms of "time travel" factor; hours disappear in the blink of an eye, and yet somehow, I can't wait to get up tomorrow and get back to work.

Hope all's well with everyone else!

yeah, all my stuff is shot and all but the last scene captured and there's already a rough cut in place. All I need to do is add the voiceovers which have also been recorded and the last scene I shot. I also need to add audio and it shall be complete.

I'm with you folks...been editing until the 'ol eyeballs fall out. However, like Robert, am ready to get up early and keep at it.

Chopping up 4.5 hours of tape into 5 minutes or less always seems to take some time and it doesn't help matters that I just can't seem to stop tweeking the edits!

If you have CSPAN, it's all paid for by public money as far as I know which makes it all availabe for use wherever. Your tax dollars pay for it so you own a percentage. That's my story and I'm sticking to it - until the feds show up at the door then it's everyone for themselves...

I would think that would be safe to use. It would be especially good if you want to show a scene with a certain "boredom" factor.

Sean

Whoa!....has my coffee not kicked in, yet?? I've read this 4 times along with preceeding comments and still can't make a connection...

Too many windows open, Sean? LOL!

I'm done with the main shoot. Shot everything in one long day, and I'm still exhausted. I'm just gonna babble a bit about where I am.

THE FOREST SCENES
The outdoor scenes were murder. Lots of ticks and poison ivy (yeah, Arkansas). The day started off as overcast, and then suddenly, out of nowhere, the sun appeared. So basically, the first scenes are darker than the later scenes -- and I had to constantly fight overexposure on the actor's white dress. And because of the weather forecast, I stupidly left my reflector at home and now there are some awkward shadows on the actor's face.

THE INDOOR SCENES
This was my second time using the FX1, but the first time I used it heavily. I think I underexposed a few of the indoor scenes -- but I'll just have to live wit h it for now. I didn't want to jack up the gain too much, because I'm not a big fan of grain. I wish I had an external monitor. However, my little girl actor was amazing. Absolutely stunning performance.

THE GREEN SCREENS
I always have this tendency of being more ambitious than I should be. This is my first time doing some green screens, and perhaps I should've done some tests beforehand. :) I'm using Vegas Video to chroma key and I set up a ghetto green screen. One of the keys worked out beautifully. But the others have been disappointing. Lots of fringes -- but I'm still playing with the mask.

RESHOOTS AND EDITS
I wasn't able to get a fake human heart and lungs -- and I no longer have time to shoot it. But I may have to reshoot the little girl's scream and the morphing effect. I started editing and doing some color correction yesterday, and so far, it's looking pretty nice. Despite my indoor scenes, the FX1 is a truly amazing camera. And I'm suprisingly able to do some really nice demonic eyes for the evil queen, just using the media generator in Vegas.

Now I've just got to hussle with the editing and oh, yeah, compose the music. Why do I never keep things simple? Hopefully, I'll be able to get it done in time. If not, I'll still post it when I'm finished.

Wow! I think my production (which is finished and posted) will be a little pale in comparison to yours. Forests, green screens, evil queen? sounds like it was fun.

Yeah, I love the FX1. I used it quite a bit on this project. REALLY got familiar with some of the settings. One (of many) thing I'm thankful for this DVC.

Looking forward to seeing your movie.

I was going to use the DV500 to shoot, but it choked on a tape and requires surgery. That'll be a trip to Melbourne no doubt.

Back to PD150 (only). Finally did most of the shooting over the weekend. Took me too long to make a script and get it edited by other folk. But I should have an entry this time. But we still have another scene to shoot, and with wintery weather on the way. They're talking about snow and I need Sunny weather for 1hr when the 'talent' is present. And it needs to be dry, or it just won't make sense in the script. But at this point I'll take it, even if it's not what it should be.

Just using and family and friends for actors. More organisation needed next time, and hopefully will have networked with some theatre people by then. Seriously need to delegate parts of pre-production too. But learning lots - especially about how little goes to plan, and you forget to do too many things when you're doing it. And a garden cart does not a dolly make - need more weight, especially coupled with the camera. Canned those shots when I played them back.
I also had the Sun going in and out - overcast helped even the light out though, but you really had to watch the exposures (Zebra is your friend).

Still have loads of sound tweaking to do (and offscreen voices to rerecord - I had to delegate boom operations), but the basic edit is in place. Need to try different music to it also - though it's limited to the royalty free library. Some carefully placed sound effects would help too.

So far I have about 40 mins on tape, making about 2.5 mins of current edit, with the one portion still remaining. But I think that will show for itself in the end. Too often there's no real choice as to which take to use - it's the one that sucks least.

Keeping things simple is probably a good idea Robert- but one that always seems to escape me as well. Now, the fact you have come so far with such a monumental effort, I sincerely hope you DO finish on time! Go for it!