Short After Effects project
 

I'm taking a class called Overview of New Media. Basically we do work with Photoshop, After Effects, and 3D Studio Max. I just finished up this After Effects project last night. The assignment was to take a photoshop assignment we made earlier in the course and animate text over it. Some of you might recognize the theme I went with...

Let me know what you think.

http://www.sweepinghalo.com/third_eye_animation.mov (11mb)

I liked it a lot. At certain times it felt like there was something very unnatural about the audience. Were they composited in?

I liked the flashback cuts and their visual style, but wish that there was more of it in terms of quantity, narrative, and development, as it's the most engaging part of the video.

At times it seemed like the cutting could have been faster. There was one shot of the swings that seemed to linger just a little too long.

Overall, a very good job. My favorite shot is of the drummer twirling his drumsticks- his expression is hilarious. The flower sequence was also very well done.

Benjamin,

Thanks for your comments. I agree there should have been more flashbacks. The original concepts were much more intricate but as things happen our shooting schedule got trimmed to almost nothing around the bands recording time. And then by the time I got what we had into post it had to be trimmed even more just so it didn't linger and matched the beat.

As far the the cutting faster, its hard to say. There's a fine line between fast and unrecognizable, and of course it has to match the beat too. I HATE having to cut fast just because its a music video, but if you don't then its just boring or the viewer notices that the shot hangs too long.

Anyways thanks for watching. Glad it turned out good.

it streamed well enough for me. nice job. very fine point to make---at the end, the text says "order a copy today" which is ok and we know what you mean but usually when an order is placed having to do with a magazine it is for a "subscription" and not just a copy. This is however just a silly detail. I liked it overall.

That is one sweet film.

"Dead on Time" Short
 

Hello everyone,

We have just put up our latest short film online, if you'd like to watch it, follow the link below:

http://www.bargus.org/deadontime.html

The film runs for 19 minutes and comes in two formats; Windows Media and Quicktime.

Feedback is of course much obliged!

Thanks,
Adam Bowman

I like it, Adam. It's cleanly shot and has some nice, small comic touches to leaven the tension: the friend who laconically ate from the hero's plate after the hero bolted from the cafeteria & the sweep-second-hand which paused at the last second before the hero's lunch hour.

What camera/lens did you shoot with? I noticed the wide-angle on some CUs of the hero---were those done with the cam's standard lens or did you add anything on? If the latter, what specifically, and did it give you any focus problems?

I liked your use of the dolly; generally, it was motivated and added to the dramatic impact. There was one dolly---the lateral move, in the opening?---where you faded in before the move began; I thought you might fade in with the move already in progress.

What did your lighting kit consist of? How did you light the interiors? Were the fluorescents in the hero's kitchen practicals? Did you use any reflectors for exterior MSs, etc?

Did you have any trouble getting permission to shoot on city streets or in the office or photo shop?

How many shooting days did you need? How many crew?

Hi John,
Thanks for your comments, I'm glad you liked it.

We shot with a single XL1 the wide-angle shots were done with a the standard 16x but with a surplus optic(!?) taped to the front - cost of around $10 with some cardboard and sticky tape. The distortion was incredible before post but I managed to removed the majority of that in, there is definite lack of clarity near the edges though. It got us the shots though, we'll be investing in some wide-angle equipment for the future though, that's for sure! We used a more powerful surplus optic to get the fisheye view for the SLR lens reflection in the bedroom too.

For the first dolly shot, on review I agree with you.

Our lighting kit was made up of some work lights and a large regular flourescent tube, we also made up a giant piece of white polystyrene with foil on one side (we also covered some similar boards with black fabric to make flats).

The main flourescent in the kitchen was a pratical.

As far as shooting on the streets, we didn't ask for permission we just shot, we've had dealings with councils before and they're a pain! We found it best to just shoot and ask questions later.

As far as other locations we just asked and owners we happy to let us film there.

The majority of our shots were done over weekends, about four days, in total though about seven days.

Thanks again,
Adam Bowman

So, I got it scored.

http://transcendentfilms.com/files/ufo_Scored.mov
If anyone checks it out, let me know what you think.

Thanks

Excellent stuff. Very atmospheric and nicely edited.

The only thing that "bugged" me at first, was the first closeup shot of her feet stepping down onto the carpet ---darn flared pant...I thought it was the alien!

This is a good example of what you don't see being more scary than what the film actually shows. [as the Alien only really materializes in our imaginations].

New short
 

Loud Orange Cat Productions' first short titled "Bad Cat" is now online.

Visit loudorangecat.com to view/download the file.

Just wanted to let you know that my fiance and I watch the show religiously - tonight was the Sara episode (meth addict). Pretty compelling stuff each week; really makes us count our blessings

Great job w/ the camera work!

XL-1 shoots reality show - Fine Living Network
 

I worked on this Fine Living Network show with DV Info member Gregg Therieau / DP-Camera Operator called "Your Reality Checked" as a camera operator back in 2004 but just got around to encoding it. It was shot with two of my XL-1 systems and 2 audio techs with field mixers. It was shot over a 3 day period in Atlanta. The first day used one camera and the next two days used two cameras with overlapping shifts. It seems like a train wreck when it's being shot with unexpected delays and story issues, but it always amazes me what great writers and editors can do with your footage.

"Your Reality Checked"
http://161.58.78.36/asx/dvinfo/reali...ITYCHECKED.asx


Production Stills: Shooter - Gregg Therieau

http://198.65.158.133/images/product...ked/image1.jpg

http://198.65.158.133/images/product...ked/image2.jpg

http://198.65.158.133/images/product...ked/image3.jpg

Thought I saw some DVXs.
Watched Sara's story,---the meth addict from Minnesota last night.
Thought show was shot in 24p,----looked real "filmy".
Or maybe film look was added in post.
Curious to know shooting ratio on something like that.
Also there must be some highly volitile situations.
Even danger?
Watched for professional reasons.
But also subjective matter for our family.
Nephew entered treatment for meth addiction today.

New website
 

After many aeons I have finally put a personal website up that contains some screenshots of stuff and a reel. Most of the stuff on the reel is from low budget community funded videos, but there are also more snippets from The Silencer and Soul Searcher in there too.

Let me know what you guys think. Hold on........ Okay, fire suit is on ;-)

http://www.simonwyndham.co.uk