<<<-- Originally posted by Dmitri Henry : A better comment would be to convert the film into wmv, mpeg, avi, divx, mov or something that is standard. -->>>

The file is encoded to divx, it is only packed to a rar file to include a txt file of the subtitles and make the size smaller. To unpack the files you can use winzip or winrar.

Pasi: to the best of my knowledge Winzip DOES NOT support RAR
compression. A lot of people do not have RAR, so you are seriously
keeping a lot of people out of this.

Why not add the english subtitles to the movie? It is very
difficult to watch in it's current state. Then just put the AVI up.

I'm sorry but I didn't follow the story at all. There seems to be
no motivation for why the delivery guy wants him gone. The
guy who gets the job isn't believable in his actions and I'm
completely lost at the end.... What happened?

Discovery Health program alert
 

There is a Discovery Health Channel program called Plastic Surgery Before & After airing through the month of May. This episode was shot in Atlanta back in December 2003. The shooter was Gregg Therieau, the person that brought you Gladiator School, and I was the p.a./relief shooter when that big ass camera got tiring is surgery. Just that lens alone was enough to wear you out. Gregg shot for hours and I only shot for 15 minutes or so and it made my elbow sore. I don't know how he did it. A PD-150 was supposed to be used but the rental house was out of stock so they gave us the Sony DSR-570 with an HD wide lens for the same rate! What a deal even though we weren't paying. A couple of months later, the follow up was shot with the PD-170. I couldn't tell that much difference in picture quality other than a $27,000 price difference in cameras/lenses. Anyway, the link to the schedule is below in case you miss one you can see it again. The episode name is Body Cuts.

Air Date Schedule
http://www.health.discovery.com/sche...=0&channel=DHC

Behind the Scenes: Resize images for higher resolution

Me, relief shooting
http://198.65.158.133//images/produc...y/surgery4.jpg

http://198.65.158.133/images/product...y/surgery6.jpg

Review a 2 minute clip
 

Well, 2:19 to be exact.

All of my work goes through Dante’s levels of hell in terms of the people and committees that need to see and sign off before it goes live. And I suspect all of them would say "I watch TV, I know what good video looks like." But that’s not the same as getting reviewed by people who actually know what good video takes to make. Feedback from peers would be nice.

This one is on it’s last level of review this week. I shot the interview and did the editing, but the dance footage and photos were provided from various sources.

DTH - Mitchell on the effect and artist can have

You need Real Player to see it.
Thanks tons for looking.
Smile,
Kris

Here are my thoughts, for whatever it's worth:

1. Overall nice piece. Great speaking voice. That guy is a dream interview as far as audio is concerned.

2. I thought the music came on in an odd place. My personal feeling would be to either limit it to only the dancing footage, or let it run through the entire thing.

3. I'm not a fan at all of transitioning from a shot to the same shot, like in an interview. You've got one part where right after we come back to the guy you do a blur or motion transition to get to another part of the interview. I personally much prefer to cover these up with B-roll. That's more of a personal thing, I know it's a style to edit interviews with those kinds of transitions.

Those two things are pretty minor, I did like it and I listened to everything he said.

Can you post it in a format other than Real Player. I absolutely hate RP and refuse to put it on my machine. It just never seems to work. Personal opinion though.

Very good indeed. Wonderful message.

One thing I thought of is that if he had any picts from Russia they'd be nice to see. I thought the picture panning go just a little too long toward the end.

But overall, very nice.

Can I ask how this is going to be used?

Thanks for your thoughts. This one is done unless my last reviewer hates it for some reason. But it's good to know what people like and what people react to for all the things I'm still in the middle of.

Peter: it will be on the page that promotes the upcoming Dance Theater of Harlem event, plus the About the Company and About the Artist pages for DTH and Mr. Mitchell.

Jonathan: sorry, one of the things I inherited with this job was an agreement with Real Networks. They host all our stuff mostly because we don't have the bandwidth to deal with the thousands of hours of Millennium Stage performance archives. We are looking into doing some of these feature clips in Flash, but our Flash guy recently quit and hasn't been replaced yet so that's all on hold.

Bryan: He was a dream interview. He looks good, he sounds good, he has a message he wants to get out. The biggest challenge was taking the hour and 15 minutes that he talked to us and sifting it down to 2 web length clips. If I had more and better b-roll I could have made 10 of these.

Please review my ACS "Trivia" spot.
 

I finished this spot for the American Cancer Society and would like to hear criticism (positive, negative, or both). It's a quick download, even for those of you on dialup - just 2.8mb. It's the 2nd spot, the one to the right.

http://www.dreambigproductions.com/v...n/whatdone.htm

INTERNET VIDEO MAGAZINE's TOP 10 COOLEST SITES
 

Special thanks to INTERNET VIDEO MAGAZINE's TOP TEN COOLEST SITES of 2004. Not only was Sonnyboo.com in the top ten, but Sonnyboo shorts have appeared on 8 of the top ten sites. SEE STORY HERE
http://www.internetvideomagazine.com...04WebSites.htm

Congrats to all the filmmakers & short film sites that made this year's Top Ten!

www.BROWNFISH.com
www.TRIGGERSTEET.com
www.FILMWATCHER.com
www.3Btv.com
www.bushin30seconds.com
www.REELMIND.com
www.sixtysecondfilms.com
and more!

Thanks to getting Sonnyboo.com listed as one of the Top Ten Coolest Sites of 2004 to see videos online, now my ONLINE MOVIES PAGE has been tweaked. CLICK HERE www.sonnyboo.com/othershort.htm

the rest of WwW.sOnNybOo.CoM gets a bit of the Nip/Tuck too. I've added several more ROYALTY FREE SONGS FOR DOWNLOAD, plus several filmmaking articles, plus tons of free SCREENWRITING Templates, STORYBOARD sheets, plus every form of paperwork needed for a production ranging from DV shorts to full SAG/DGA feature films. CLICK HEre : www.sonnyboo.com/music/music.htm

http://www.sonnyboo.com/images/boocan.gif
DRINK IT UP!
www.Sonnyboo.com

I liked it, it had the uplifting feeling that you get from watching this type of commercial. May I ask what program you used for the animation and compositing?

I liked it too. I didn't like your site though.. It looks too much like a pop-up for my taste. ( I almost closed it down thinking it was one!) I'm sure you can do better. ;-)

:Alain:

Glad it came across as uplifting. That was the idea. For the animation and compositing I just used Photoshop and Final Cut Pro.



:Alfred:

Thanks for the input. I never expected to get a review on my website, especially not a bad one, but that's cool. I appreciate the honesty. I won't be changing it anytime soon as it has already taken a year to get it to this point. But again, thanks for the input. That's pretty funny that you thought it was a pop-up (oh no!!!). d:-)

first home video - suggestions appreciated
 

I am strictly an amature. Just followed my kids around one saturday with my new pdx10. I'm sure it is boring since they are not your kids but the target audience is the relatives.

Any suggestions on how to improve are much appreciated. Even though I am just making home videos, I would like to make them to the best of my ability.

long version (14 min)
http://www.vanemery.com/~sroff/2004/satweb.wmv

1 min version
http://www.vanemery.com/~sroff/2004/sat1min.wmv

Honestly, as far as family home videos go, that was really good in my opinion. I actually watched 10 minutes. Considering that I don't know your family and didn't understand half of what they said, holding my attention for 10 minutes is certainly an accomplishment.

The most common killer of amature video is shakey and poorly framed shots. You kept the camera steady and everything was framed well, so good job there.

I like the way you edited the video into little scenes with cuts between close-ups and wideshots. Cuts make the video much more watch-able by keeping the pace up.

Next you might want to impliment more matched action. That is timing the cuts so that it looks like motion never stopped. For example, with a wideshot on the boy as he is reaching for the butterfly, right before he grabs it, cut to a close up of the butterfly as the he is grabbing it. Then back to a wideshot after he's picked it up. This is one of many standard "rules" to making professional looking videos, and can definately be implimented into your home movies.

Also, I recommend going through the tutorials on InternetCampus.com. This website is a very helpful learning tool for those starting out in video production.

Overall, I think you should be very pleased with the production as I'm sure your family will love it.

Nicholi - thanks for your suggestions, I really appreciate the feedback.

I think I understand what you mean by matched action but it doesn't seem trivial to implement. Have to capture the right kind of video in the first place but being aware of what to tape is probably half the battle.

By the way-the little boy is a little girl- she just has a short haircut :)


Thanks again for the help.

Oh man, I'm sorry. I'm pretty good at putting my foot in my mouth. This time I just put my keyboard there too ;).

You're absolutely right about having to plan out the edits before shooting, and its not at all trivial with this video. I just figured it might be something to try out next time. Either way, good job.

Short film complete and online
 

Hey Everyone,

My name is Anthony Faust and I am a film producer in the Washington D.C area. I put up my film, Hunter's Quandary, on my site. It's about a disgruntled college student, 24 hours away from his college graduation, who goes on a life-altering deer hunt. It was shot on DV, and is 11 minutes long. Check it out here.

http://www.anthonyfaust.com/hq/view_film.html

Look forward to getting any feedback.

Cheers,

Anthony

I liked the "ending" of the film and the story it had to tell. But
I thought it took too long to get there. The editing might have
been a bit faster and more active (in general, certain scenes
were well edited!). The conversation parts where the most
difficult I think editing and pace wise.

Well done Anthony! It's looks good. I can agree with Rob that it is a bit slow at times but it didn't really bother me..
What shook me a bit though was the scenes with the animals. Why would he shoot at the horns? That the camera didn't go down more felt like a give away that there was no animal.. only horns.. (I understand your problem here and I'm not sure how to make it better.. just telling you how I felt like =)

Other than that it seems very solid! (I haven't seen the ending yet.. it won't load for some reason.)

Excellent premise. I like the mood you set.

You take too long to get to the "inciting incident", as McKee would say, but you should spend more time on the choices your protagonist has to make afterwards.

The conclusion was a let down. His choice wasn't bad but it came off as weak or lame. But that can be fixed if you work on it.

Anthony, good work. As for whether or not the film is slow at times, "you have to be patient."

Keep it up.

Nice job.
I also thought the editing could have sped up the movie. There were lots of lingering shots that could have been cut by 1-2 seconds and helped.
But overall I enjoyed it.

New Reality Show -- Colonial House
 

In case anyone is interested, the creme de la creme of reality programming, PBS' "_____ House" series is back with "Colonial House." Third in the series, Colonial House has 17 volunteers living for 4 months as colonists in 17th century America. It's an extremely accurate historical recreation of the circumstances of life in early colonial America, cast as an experiment to see how 21st century people cope with the primitive conditions. Previous seasons were "1900 House" -- life in turn-of-the-century London -- and "Manor House" (my personal favorite), a real life Upstairs/Downstairs set in early 20th century England. At least here in San Francisco, 1900 House is being re-run after the Colonial House episodes air.

The show is shot, as most reality shows, with multiple video cameras and features some rather extraordinary camera work, sound production, direction and editing -- the elements of production are never seen and never intrude, despite capturing intimate details from multiple angles in incredibly cramped conditions.

This is a high-class production in every sense of the word, and my wife and I find it riveting. It's well-worth watching, for both the technical production and the content.

It's also being shown in HD on the local wetahd channel in the dc metro area. Very impressive.

Hey, I like the scenery, where'd ya shoot it, geographically? was it near D.C.??

Music Video/Documentary
 

I'm working on a documentary of sorts for a band in Virginia. My latest clip from their last show can be seen at:
http://www.indecisionthemovie.com/me..._check_2.shtml

This is part one, the pre-show activities, of that show. I have part two, the live stuff, I'll be posting soon but am waiting for the audio for it.

Others can be seen at the site as well, including an attempt at a "trailer". Please help this newbie out by giving some constructive criticism. This is my first attemp at a "movie". They eventually want me to author a 90 min DVD to be sold along with their CDs.

TIA, Dave

Hey, I was watching that show this weekend. It trully is a very interesting and well done production.

The various "House" shows... Colonial, Frontier, Victorian, Blitz... are easily the most "realistic" of all the so called reality programming. These people commit to spending five months in the settings, and there's no "payoff" to speak of. No million dollar prize, no big commercial deal.

I want to volunteer for the "Medieval" house if they do one.

So I made a zombie movie
 

Hey, everyone. I just heard about this forum and it looks great; it's nice to be joining you.

By way of introduction, I'd like to know what you think of this little zombie flick I whipped up using a Canon GL1, FCP4, and a lot of fake blood:

http://stout.hampshire.edu/~pmc02/thestory.zip

It's a zipped .MP4 file which (once unzipped) QuickTime should play like a charm, as should VLC. Windows Media Player will need the free 3ivX codec, available at www.3ivx.com.

Zombie movie, eh? I like zombie movies, especially the kind were they eat brains. :-))

I saw it earlier today. I love every bit that has a zombie in it. The earlier parts are a bit low budget. As in the acting isn't the greatest. But when the zombies show up, it made me grin. There is some editing that doesn't quite make sense. Like at one point there is like one body, and then zombies pop up from nowhere. Then later on, all of the zombies are gone except for that guy's friend.

I like the bullet effects.

NextFest 2004
 

Heres a short montage of clips I shot at NextFest 2004. Check it out, for a higher quality version email me...

homepage.mac.com/umml/nextfest

Ryan

P.S. Just a quick edit to music, nothing groundbreaking.

It shows you guys had a good time making this movie, the people who played the zombies did a good job. No fast running zombies a la 28 Days Later or the Dawn of the Dead remake, but 'old school' slowely paced creeps. I would have liked to see a bit more story or some twist in the current one, it's a bit straightforward. Nice camerawork and audio effects.

I've moved your post to a better forum suited for displaying your
work.

not bad at all pretty sweet stuff. Your gunshots were awesome and an A++ on the zombie makeup (bringing the old school dawn of the dead back right on) I liked it a lot.

AH, sorry I missed your original post Dave. Sometimes it happens. Going to bump it ot the top for you and watch your video after dinner.

My Documentary using chroma key virtual sets - How we made a movie
 

I recently finished a 13 minute documentary where I used virtual sets and chroma key effects with the software Ultra by Serious Magic. I then used Vegas to tie it all together. It drags a little at the beginning but it was a great learning experience. The documentary is how the Tampa Bay chapter of the Florida Motion Picture and Television association made a short movie in two days. Pretty much a learning project for the members.

We actually flipped a car in the movie which was pretty cool and I show that in the documentary. My favorite shot was after the credits roll at the end.

I used my Panasonic DVX100 to create the documentary and it was done in my living room. Let me know what you think.

http://www.magoomedia.com/fmpta.htm

I think you did a killer job on it, and would love to see the movie. Please accept my praise, and don't take my nit picking to heart.

Aside from a minor pet peave (Chris' hands never stopped moving! But he had a very professional air about him), was the always changing sets. It looks like you went wild with the new stuff, huh? Almost like throwing every transition into an edit.

Keep it up guys... I look forward to seeing more from you.

Hi Keith,

Yeah, I heard from a few people that the hand motion of Chris was a little overdid. My wife even mentioned it. It was amazing to me how he just got up and was able to talk about any aspect of the movie with very little rehearsal.

I actually only used several virtual sets but used different angles and subsets of each transitioning from the beginning set (Game Show) to the Sci Fi sets and then back. Of course I had to use the computer set for post editing part : ) There's different tracks and angles in each set which keeps it interesting. Staying in the same set too long (in my opinion) would make for a boring presentation but then again, that's just my slant and I'm still pretty new at all this.

I appreciate your comments !