Xl1 also on howard Stern Show on E!
 

If you watch Howard Stern on the E! channel you can see sometimes on thje hallway interviews they use the XL1 and the pd-150.

i don't think you will have much better picture using pal
on other side you will have huge problem if you want to convert your pal originated material to ntsc because they have different compression shemes. DV ntsc uses 4:1:1 compression scheme, DV pal uses 4:2:0
i'm pal user , but i just live in a pal area

thanks a lot, sorry that I needed so much time to answer.

yep .. well the task was to do no dialogue and a 5min shortfilm - was for my application for filmschool, but they didnt like it or didnt like other taks I had to do -.- that is why it is very good to hear that other people like it :)

ok take care and happy filming everyone
Ulrik

Always seems strange that a film school require you to make something to get in and not let you in if they don't think it's good enough. Isn't that what you're going there to learn ;)

The fact you did it shows you're keen. Anyway, well done and best of luck man.

Cheers
Aaron

Thanks!
 

Excellent responses!

Thanks so much for the feedback! I'm especially happy to see that you guys consider the story to be the foundation of everything. It seems every dolt with a camera forgets that these days.

Thanks for the input!

I totally agree with you here Aaron. The filmschool here in Holland
is exactly the same. You need to make something and they must
like it before you even have a chance of attending their school.
Weird. Especially since the "like" part is very personal. How do
you measure if something is "good"? By what standards?

I went to a couple of their days where you can look around and
ask questions and stuff. I very soon got the feeling that they
more or less try to fit anyone in the same pattern, and I'll bet
they will also look for people attending for this pattern. This
persons movie should probably be "mainstream" instead of
something else if you want to join.

Oh well, I'm probably learning more on this board anyways.

Hey:

Learning on this board is probably cheaper than filmschool too!

This may sound cynical, but from the sounds of it from that school in Holland, people would learn more by making their own movies outside the school than attending and learning how to make movies the school pattern-way. In other words, I think that making movies outside the standard, filmschool way may help you be more creative because you have the freedom to learn from your own mistakes and styles, and you're forced to figure out things for yourself - or from help on message boards like this. But still, its not the pattern that the school might try to fit you in.

Some may argue that the film school teaches the methods and styles that work or don't; school teaches you how not to waste your time and to follow a pattern that works. But it may be better for yourself to experiment with styles and find alternative styles that work. A new style might be better. That's what makes your stories unique, doing things on your own. There may be more freedom to experiment outside school - if you can afford to!

Anyways, Ulrick, good luck dude. I thought the movie was cool!!

Regards,

Kyle "Doc" Mitchell

It seems film school is getting a bad rap...I don't want to say that film school is the be all and end all of filmmaking but it is not as bad as people make it out to be...I go to Concordia University (Montreal Film School) and the last thing they want to do is tell students how to make films...for example, in year one, they baseically give you an old Bolex 16mm film camera and tell you to go out and make a movie...about anything you want...

Speaking of Film School...does anyone out there know anything about the L.A. Film School (1 year program) or the New York Film Academy (1 Year)?

Thanks, Dave

Dave:

You're right dude! I didn't mean to send a negative hit about filmschool. I mean, how can I judge? I dont go to filmschool. I was just referring to what I've heard/read and to what the Holland school situation looked like - or to schools that look like they'll try to set they won't really help students creatively. Those schools don't look too cool, and those were just my feelings. Still, You're totally right man! Film schools can help!

Regards,

Kyle "Doc" Mitchell

Mini DV on the air
 

A few months back I mentioned in one of these forums a documantary a friend of mine was putting together for the Travel Channel and described it as the best looking DV I've seen shot with a prosumer camera.

Well the documentaries will air tomorrow night - June 4 on the Travel Channel at 8 and 9PM EDT/PDT and repeated at 11 and 12 - check your local cable listings. The two docs are titled "Vegas Around the World" and "Vegas Exposed". Both were shot almost single-handedly by Fred Barney Taylor. He used his only camera - a SONY PD150 for all the shooting. He off-lined all the DVCAM material on his Mac using Final Cut Pro. The material was on-lined and color corrected on a conventional linear system and mastered on DigiBeta for broadcast release. Just about all the material was shot at -5db. I saw the material when he was editing and it looked great.

I haven't seen the finished docs but, knowing Fred's past work, it is worth taking a look.

Thanks very much for the heads-up, Ozzie. I remember your remarks about this fellow's work several months ago. I'm anxious to see the results!

p.s. I moved your announcement here to ... err...the Announcements forum.

The trailer for Full Frontal is now finally availbale from Yahoo movies.

But don't get excited. The current trailer is all titles and voices -- no live action at all.

Naw. I watched most of both of those shows. If your friend really shot them with a PD150 I'm in awe. Just the steadiness of many of the (probably) hand-held shots suggest a full-size ENG camera, certainly not a jiggly 4 lb prosumer camera. Color and sharpness also suggested a much more expensive rig.

It just stands as testament to the contribution that skill makes, as compared to gear, to the final product. I taped one of the shows and have to look at them again.

Thanks again for the notice.

It's 100% PD150. I'll get Fred to contribute a few thoughts on his approach. But Fred is not one to hang around web sites.

I'm watching "Vegas Exposed" right this minute and all I can say is WOW. Looks great! Thanks for the heads-up about this, Ozzie.

I watched it twice, a very well done piece. It's a good example of the quality that can be achieved with modestly priced equipment. The post work was very well done with one exception. The CG seemed fuzzy. The video was sharp, good contrast and overall very little noise. But the GC and lower 1/3s all seemed to lack sharpness. Anyone else?

Jeff

I moved this to the "DV for the Masses" forum because it's a bit more appropriate here...

Yes, I just have to chime in here that this so-called "trailer" is very, very poor in my opinion. I think it's safe to say that this film has certainly generated buzz within the film/video industry for being shot on the XL-1S; to release a trailer that doesn't even have ANY footage at all is pretty weak, even if they're trying to create even more curiosity about what the footage looks like. I mean, the dialog in the trailer is nothing special either... the typography is decidedly third-rate... heck, why is that thing even on Apple's site? Why did they bother *encoding* that in Quicktime? Flash would have made more sense for just audio and b/w text.

Of course that's just my opinion. I could be wrong.

NY Film Academy versus NYU workshop
 

Dave,

back when I was comparing such programs (abt. 3 years ago, before I ended up getting a DV camera and deciding to go my own route), I looked into both the NY Film Academy's thing (a one-month intensive I believe -- never heard of a one-year program), versus New York University's summer intensive beginning filmmaking workshop (generally 6-week program I thinnk). I ended up concluding the NYU one looked probably better.

That's about all I can say. It was mainly an impression formed from looking at their literature, and asking around a bit. I heard some good feedback from folks who'd done NYU, and some mixed feedback abt. the other. I never visited either. Depending on the luck of the draw (since you work in little groups to create short projects, in both systems), either might potentially work good. I think in the NYU version, you first do classroom stuff for a couple weeks, then go & create shorts, if I recall aright.

I think NYU also has a DV version (which is what I'd do if I were doing it these days....)

d.i.

I've heard that FF has been heavily processed and color-shifted in post; my guess is that you won't be able to tell it's XL1S video at all. It'll probably look like an analog 8mm handycam or something. Go figure. We'll find out in August anyway.

Has anyone sat through the Criterion "Traffic" extras? On the second disc there is an extended demonstration of how much film processing and colour timing they had to do to get the Mexican scenes looking so washed out and high contrast at the same time.

I almost died. How could anyone be so anal?

You can bet Soderbergh will do a lot more to his XL1s output.

Nocturne...a micro indie
 

Hello all! I've been working on my dv feature for a year now (it's official) and wanted to extend some thanks. My working knowledge of filmmaking would be woefully inadequate were it not for the posts and comments. My film's got plenty of bugs, certainly, but it could be much, much worse. Oh yes. But for an entry level guerilla filmmaker, I think I'm doing alright. Thanks again.

Marty Higareda
www.caryatidfilms.com

'Way to go Marty' :)
Jim

Well, the big question is ofcourse: where can we see it? I hope
you answer with something that begins with http://

Great you finished your project!

Thanks for the support. If you haven't already you can check out the trailer on the caryatid page. I'm turning the footage black and white, and if anyone has any experience or advice with color correction, I'd be grateful.

Back to the machine,

M

Hi Orca8888,
I live in New York City . I was like you tired of just standing by waiting for things to happen so I took things in my own hand and recently bought a XL1S PAL. I chose PAL because of two things: I come from Europe where they are using PAL and since I might go back some day. My ambitions are to blow my DV films up to 35mm.
You have already read answers and other threads about the extra work to show the footage here in the US when your have shot in PAL. I am not really so sure that is such a huge problem. I have spent the last month experimenting with my camera and just used the viewfinder to check the results. I am going to get a professionel monitor (PAL/NTSC) and an OneWorld VCR from B&H photo which enables you to record PAL footage to a NTSC VHS.
But most of the work will be done on a NLE workstation and using the monitor.
By the way I am producing my first DV short film in September. Everything is possible!!
Tom

Hi byroniceye,
I just saw your trailer. Visually it looked great, and the sound was also great. Unfortunately I didn't really get the story and what it is about which could be a catch. Though I got teased and would really like to see more. Keep up the good work!!
Tom

For me , shooting news is telling a story, the one thing I try to remember is that I am selling the footage to a very short list of customers. I expect myself to shoot a visual shot telling who what when where and why. But most of all, without fail, I must tell the truth, I tell the truth when a major network wants my video, and I tell the truth when I call an assignment editor and explain what I have just shot. The news is suppose to be the truth and by not shooting something that is of great importance, I would not be telling the whole story. I have an entire list of shots that I will not shoot or will edit out before dubbing to the studio, they include legal and yes some ethical shots such as faces of death, nudity, and others. The news has a place, It can be a tool to get people out of harms way, hurricanes, product recall, dangerous people, etc. News can also have the effect of showing when a particular event is re-occurring and deserves more attention, such as tires blowing out. It is natural to feel for people when an accident occurrs, but it may also be the truth about what happened. I shoot what I see and not what I think.

"Backstage" (2000) XL1
 

A behind the scenes look at a hiphop tour. Some done with an xl1, not sure what else.

Perhaps a "stupid" questions, but where?

comedy central
 

i dont know if any of you watch these shows but if you are up late on sun night you should check out "insomniac w/ dave attell" which im almost positive is shot with the XL1 (ive seen several on the show before so this leads me to believe ) and a very excellent show "travel sick" which is definitly shot with PD150's ive seen both camera men in some shots so this is a definite and the show has a great look to it i dont know if they get this look in post or what anyone have any ideas????

Returning from server crash... we're back.
 

Okay, after being down for close to 24 hours, we're now back online with a few bumps and bruises. You may have noticed that we've lost about a week's worth of posts... I believe approximately 600 or so. The current count is 14,750 which is down from I think about 15,350. It really hurts but I'm grateful that it wasn't any worse than this. We've also lost track of about 40-something new members; if you're one of these folks, unfortunately you'll have to re-register.

This sort of thing is never predictable and always happens at the wrong time, but I'm working at this moment on finding a more reliable hosting solution with a back-up of the message board database every 24 hours. I've got to leave for MacWorld on Monday and will definitely find a new home for us before then.

In the meantime please accept my sincere apologies for this 40mph crash into a brick wall; the airbags have deployed and we've got a few seatbelt cuts and a broken tooth or two but we'll survive.

If you posted something last week, it's gone forever so if you can remember what we were talking about in this particular forum then by all means say it again!

Still shaking,

So, back to what I was saying before ... :-)

shooting in Japan
 

I'll be shooting in Japan next year for part of a documentary. We'll be there less than a week. We're taking our equipment with us.

Anyone have any tips or warnings about problems we may run into? (I've already started looking into voltage converters)

Thanks in advance.

We've got quite a few members here who are currently working in Japan... you should get plenty of responses...

What kind of doc are you guys making? Where will you be shooting at? The voltage shouldn't be a problem, what equipment will you use? How many people will be in your crew? There shouldn't be a problem if it's a small crew, 3-4 people, in any case, have business cards and some press type passes, with any official looking passes, people, especially police will let you go about with no hassles.

I was working on a doc on the world cup and I made myself a pass, mainly to identify myself, and in all situations, the police never bothered me, in fact they would always let me pass through the police lines to film stuff.

Definetely have someone who can speak japanese, you will run into situations where it will help a lot, but once you tell people you are making a doc from another country, people will go out of their way to help you, let us know more about your production, we can give you more specific advise when we know what kind of stuff you'll be filming.

It's a documentary on a local jazz musician who's playing a series of concerts in Japan. So we'll be following him around town between concerts and some concert/crowd coverage. We won't have extensive coverage of the actual concerts.

Thanks for the tip on "offical looking press passes". That's a great idea! :)

Sounds cool, is he playing at the Blue Note club? What camera are you using? If you guys ride the Shinkansen (bullet) train with him, I'm pretty sure the seats can be turned around so that they face each other, his seats and the ones in front, then you can get a lot of footage of him on train such as interviews,

Interviews in japanese restaurants would be okay with the owners, just ask them before hand and they will be happy to have you film in there.

The good thing about here is with a small crew, you won't have be hassled by the police for filming permits. Not too long ago the city of Osaka was pushing film makers to make more films featuring Osaka, you should try writing to them and see how they can help you. I heard they gave some guy from the states a $200,000 budget to make a series of shorts promoting Osaka as a film makers city, or something like that.

What cities will you guys be filming at? Let us know, I'm down here in Osaka, John Locke and Adrian Douglas are up in Tokyo, between all of us we might know some people where you will be at, always helps to know people where you are going, at the very least, you can find out where the good restaurants are.

I'll look for some info on the Osaka Film Committee, or whatever their name is, but you should check the other cities and see if there is something on them.

Just found the link for the Osaka Film Council, have a look, seems pretty official though, if they can't help much or seem too rigid, then I suggest film it guerilla style. That's one thing I forgot to tell you, if it's not easy to do something, then usually there will be lots of red tape and excuses why you can't do something, just ignore it and film as you like, it's worked for me.

http://www.osaka-fc.jp/index-e.html

Rik has covered it all pretty well. Most of the Japanese are facinated when foreigners take an interest in Japan and will do what ever they can to help.

Having someone who speaks Japanese and is familar with the "Japanese way" is a definate if you want thing to go as smoothly as possible.

If you need any help pre-planning, let either Rik, John Locke or myself know and we'd all be glad to help where we can.