What do you mean you can't tell on a 6th inch quicktime widescreen? I could tell it was DV as soon as I saw it.

How the Sith Stole Christmas
 

Came across this today, it's another animated Star Wars parody but with the Grinch twist. I found it fun to watch and can't wait for the next 2 chapters.

I would like assistance however, the music used in the Episode 2 and 3 Trailer - where is that from?

http://www.theforce.net/theater/shor...le/index.shtml

Realistic Internet Simulator
 

How many pop-ups can you kill?

http://www2.b3ta.com/realistic-internet-simulator/

"This is Not a Love Song" - UK feature released on the Internet
 

The Guardian reports that the maker of the Full Monty is releasing his next feature (filmed on DV over 'a fortnight') on the Internet.

British film premieres online
http://www.guardian.co.uk/online/new...036266,00.html

"Filmmakers will take note. One of the major downfalls of the UK film industry is the difficulty of getting distribution for the movies that are produced. It means often their only outlet is to go straight to video.

But now British movie bosses are keen to see how much interest there is in watching movies on the internet as it could become a way of making them more widely screened. "

http://www.thisisnotalovesong.com/

The film premieres today but unfortunately is open only to UK visitors. However, there is a trailer which has some interesting shots.

The film is about two loners who go for a lark in the English countryside where they become involved in a murder and an ensuing chase into the barrens.

"Full Monty" producer scores Internet first
More in Reuters >>

A PD150 shoot
 

From the website:

What digital camera was the film shot on?
The film was made using the Sony PD150, a small handheld camera, shooting on DV tape (although the PD150 can also be used iwth mini-DV tape).

Vancouver International Film Festival 2003 Schedule
 

The schedule is now online for you folks who like watching films at a festival. Two weeks of watching bliss coming right up.

http://www.viff.org/viff03/filmguide/bytitle.php

The "F" word
 

I'm shooting my fathers 50th HS reunion and I have decided to include some standard 8mm film shots. Now that I have spent $100 on fifty year old stuff that I could have bought at a garage sale for $5 in 1980, now I have to line up film and developing.

Any thoughts? I need what they used to call double 8mm, NOT Super8. The film I need is the kind that you would run through the camera, flip the roll and shoot it again. (In reality, it was 16mm that you shoot one half at a time. After processing, it was slit down the middle and made into one long spool.)

You younger people who think of VHS as an old fashioned format, will never know the "joys" of this nonsense. Just take pity on me.

Thank goodness I'm only using a small amount of this stuff.

http://www.8mmfilmstock.com/color8mmfilm.html

I still search eBay for super8/16mm cameras, despite all the money I've already spent on DV equipment. I really want to shoot on you-know-what some day, should be fun!

bouncing bear
 

http://www.komotv.com/qt/bouncing_bear.mpg

you try this!

Auch... that gotta hurt

Heading to Miami
 

I am considering moving to Miami. There is a college there (Miami-Dade college)that has a film/video school. Does anyone know anything about this school?

Also, what is the independant movie scene in Miami.

I currently live in North of Tampa, but Tampa is just a "bar town". I need a change of scene.

Maybe you might enjoy Orlando more. Full Sail is there, and if you can afford it, it is a very good program. It has been many years since I've been in that region, but I seem to remember alot of indie work going on there. Someone else might say otherwise though.

Article in Inc. Magazine about Sundance
 

Creativity Regained

From the article:

"Robert Redford happens to be a movie star, but he's the star who founded an enterprise that changed an industry. Along the way, this very successful entrepreneur developed theories of innovation and creativity that will inspire you and improve your business, too."

An interesting read into the mind that created the Sundance Film Festival - why he created it, how it all got started, and how he keeps the creativity up by reinventing himself.

Thought you might like it...

Nice article, Mark. Thanks for bringing it to our attention.

CGI Hell!!
 

Anyone familar with FormMail from Matt's Script Archive? I'm trying to get it working for a site I'm building but I keep getting "No/Bad Recipient" errors. I've tried everything I can think of but can't get it to work. No other error and had it working once but with no 'sendmail path'.

Probably you left out a hidden field in the HTML form. Matt's were some of the first scripts I ever played around with on the net, now I write all my own in PHP because it's easier than Perl. :)

Thanks Andres I'll check it out.

Microsoft, AMD and Intel
 

AMD has made quite a stride back into the limelight. While Intel's top chips have been dominating for several months now, this is significant news suggesting the long-expected turnaround.

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.j...toryID=3495415

I have been reviewing the films I've seen so far at the VIFF on my website. So far I've seen "815", "Goodbye Dragon Inn", "Bus 174", "Evil", "A Tale of Two Sisters", "Plan Colombia: Cashing in on the Drug War Failure", "Mutt Boy" and "The Last Life in the Universe"

http://www.keithloh.com/main.html

A Reasonable OS Comparison
 

I will preface this link posting with a very important statement...

The purpose of providing this link to the 'OS Shootout' is NOT to cause arguments, irritation, or flame warfare. The purpose is simply to see an educational and somewhat clinical survey of what different OSes bring to the table, good or bad. This article is for those of you who really would like to see a reasonable comparison between Mac OSX, Windows XP and a strain of Linux, providing specific information and fair and reasonable comparisons that attempt to compare apples to apples (no pun intended).

If you find yourself getting worked up, please take a deep breath and return to the site at a later time. There are much more important things in life to get angry about. :)

To quote a line in this article, "As always, the best platform is the one that most effectively meets your needs."

Please enjoy responsibly.

http://thetechnozone.com/smartbuyers...otout-2003.htm

Anyone know a good Aussie online dealer?
 

Hi guys. I'm after some specific gear and can't find any dealers locally and the site sponsors don't stock it so my next closest choice would be Australia. Can any of the Aussies here chip in with a reputable dealer I can order online from?

Cheers
Aaron

Why backups are important
 

I thought I'd share my experiences over the last few days to serve as a lesson in properly backing up your footage/tapes and remembering where they are.


It all started at the end of August when I moved out of my parents' house and into a townhouse in Vancouver for my first year of University. I packed all my DV tapes in a shoebox and taped it shut. I didn't think to check that I had every tape, because I keep them all in once place generally. Anyway, I unpacked said tapes at my townhouse and they were sitting on my shelf.

Last week I got an e-mail from a film festival in Montreal saying my film was accepted and could I please send a projection copy on DVD by the end of next week. No problem, I thought - I don't have a DVD burner but my friend does. I'll mosey on over there with my DV tape and my camera, burn a DVD and rush it to Montreal.

First problem: my camera was sent in for repair in August and my parents picked it up in Victoria, then sent it to me here. Problem is, they didn't send any batteries! I had to send the camera completely 'naked' of course so all my gear was in a separate bag in my room. No problem, I thought, I'll find another camera and use that.

Well, I found another camera. Problem is, I can't find my master tape!! I tore apart my room looking for this tiny miniDV tape that had the master copy of No Solicitors on it. My parents searched my old room and the rest of the house. No dice. At this point, my only copies of the film were on my website and on a preview-quality VHS tape. Wonderful!

I had deleted the source files from my harddrive to make room for another project several months ago. But I thought I'd try some file recovery software and see if I can get the files back and just make another master tape from my hard drive. Well, luckily, all the source files were recoverable.

Unfortunately, my Premiere timeline was corrupted, and my audio files (including the music which I had purchased from a royalty-free place) was corrupted beyond belief. I sent an e-mail off to the place I had bought the music from, asking if I could get another copy of it.

Right now I had two options: digitze the VHS tape, put it on the DVD and accept that it won't look great. Or, re-edit the film and export another master copy of it. I decided to go with the latter.

I grabbed the Quicktime off my website and put it in the timeline. What comes next will remind you of a negative cutter; I went through, shot by shot, and matched up the original footage with the web copy. How tedious!

Once I had my roughcut I had to go through again and add back the foley plus the music.. but I managed to completely rebuild it, frame for frame. I can't believe how lucky I was to be able to recover those files. I'm about to go and make another master tape, and glue it to my forehead so I never lose it again!

So, let this be a lesson! You can NEVER have too many backups ;)

Good luck on the festival and glad you were able to recover from the near-catastrophe.

Here's other helpful suggestions:

Make more than one master, and store them in seperate locations just in case something bad happens to the place where they're stored.

Tape is cheap, compared to time. And digital video doesn't suffer from generational loss the way analog video used to.

Besides making two masters, I always save the program's timeline which can be re-digitized. And I'll make a copy of other associated files that go with that particular program (After effects rendered files, post-production audio files, etc). All this gets saved to DVD's as computer files. I used to put 'em on CD-R's until I got a DVD burner.

Dean Sensui
Base Two Productions

Good tips, Dean. As soon as I got my files back I backed up my project files and music files.

edit suite temps
 

I am being moved to a small office, about 14' by 18'.
this is about half the size of my present office.

this present office heats up quite a bit after 6-8 hours of G-4 edit time. the facilities guys are balking at my request to add a 2nd A/C vent in the room.
every TV station I have ever worked at always kept the edit suites around 65 degrees.

do you guys know of any engineering links i can send the guys here to to bloster my claims.

I and my postion are new and a big purple elephant to these guys.

Lowepro Nature Trekker AW
 

Anybody out there own a Lowepro Nature Trekker AW (the new model...and not the II version)? The Lowepro site doesn't show photos of the internal compartments/organizers...only illustrations..and then only for the main compartment. Kind of surprising really. And that model isn't available over here yet.

So, before I order it from abroad, could anyone fill me in on what kind of accessory pockets/organizers it has other than the main compartment? Is there a front panel compartment with lots of mesh/zippered/slots/holders etc.? Or is it just one big empty pocket (like the Stealth...they really need to rethink that design--three lens holders and a computer sleeve).

Need cell phone in LA
 

I'll be going to LA for a job in January and will be staying three months, maybe longer. I would like a cell phone with a local number there and no long term contract. I hear Verizon has the best coverage.

Does anyone out there know the best way to go about it? I don't want to have to buy another phone, etc.

Yes just got one a few months ago and love it.The front outside pocket is one compartment. inside the top flap is 2 smaller mesh pockets above one large mesh pocket
(zippered). As far as the inside its pretty huge and comes with lots of movable padded partitions. I can fit a vx2000 (with lens hood on).ME66 with lightwave furry cover. Canon WD-58,Sign XLR box) batteries,tapes.xlr cable,WD-58 lens hood,MD recorder, with some room to spare if objects placed different . Also the new version comes with a day pack that is one pretty large bag that clips on the the Trekker. Has a built in raincover and new weather tight zippers. The shoulder straps and waist belt are what you would find on an actual trekking pack as well. Very comfortable pack.

Thanks for that detailed information, Matt.

Depends where you're staying. In the Hollywood hills, Sprint is the only service that gets reception.

Other than that I'd recommend Verizon or Virgin Mobile for the prepaid options w/o a contract.

Talk to the various service providers. Most will switch numbers on an existing phone (Sprint has done that for me). However, they won't reserve your old number.

UK/Ireland filmmakers: Interested in a short film script?
 

I'm writing on behalf of a friend here in Tokyo. He has written a short film script that he'd like to offer to an independent filmmaker in the UK or Ireland in exchange for film credit. No bullets, chase scenes, or explosions...this is the story of two older men living in a small town who've been friends forever and are quietly and bravely facing up to the harsh reality of a recent tragedy. It has a bit of a twist at the ending.

He wrote it keeping in mind limited budgets, therefore only two actors and a couple of locations.

If you're interested, send me an e-mail and I'll put you in touch with him directly.

Film festival finished
 

THE FUTURE IS HIGH DEF
To add content for this forum. I saw three or four digitally shot films and one high-def film and the future is definitely high def. The high def film I already talked about (All Tomorrow's Parties). It looked beautiful blown up on screen and in fact the director bemoaned that we didn't have a digital projector. The DV films I saw, a couple shorts and one feature were definitely shot with the budget in mine. One of them 8 1 5 seemed to be included in the festival because the very young director and cast simply had the balls to make it. I walked out on it, however. It was simply too raw. Inspiring in one way because you can get your digital epic showcased in a film festival across the ocean. Bright Future, Kiyoshi Kurosawa's near future film looked to be partly shot on film and partly on digital. The decisions seemed to be entirely due to location. For wide establishing shots he used film, otherwise he seemed to think nothing of going digital for interiors, pick up shots, etc. It wasn't a jarring experience. It just fit.

THE WRAP UP *crossposted from The Emporium
Well, that's it. The film festival is over (except for a volunteer bash tonight). The count is 25 films, including some I didn't bother to review. At To Kill a King, one of the last films to be screened, the theatre manager gave prizes away to those who had seen the most films, asking people to sit down after a certain number .. forty... fifty.. sixty.. There were still people standing after seventy! The three people who were still standing after seventy five scored themselves free cappucinos.

ON WATCHING FILMS
I can tell you that after the first week (I had seen ten), I actually felt sick of films. Since volunteers get a free pass I had a novel no-risk experience. I simply woke up that day, looked at the schedule and went to line up. The second week I took a break and watched Night of the Comet, the brainless apocalyptic film, which is surely the anti-festival film. I just badly needed a break from thinking at that point. The most number of films I saw in one day was three, no more. It is possible to see six films at the festival with the right juggling of scheduling and if you don't mind sitting on the fringes when you arrive late for the next screening. I know if I saw more than four I would probably lose track of which movie was which. I only walked out of one film.

I missed a few films that others said were quite good despite my best efforts. The Korean crime thriller Memories of Murder apparently was good. Lots of people in lineup told me that Wilbur Wants to Die was hilarious. A Boy's Life, a documentary about an out of control boy who is on ridulin but becomes an excellent student when taken out of his environment was widely praised. I totally missed all of the films that had been programmed as part of a dance theme. I just wasn't interested. An Argentine film Common Ground was another one I kept on hearing about and couldn't schedule. I was upset not to catch Uniform, I didn't give it a thought until it had won the Dragons and Tigers award for best new Asian cinema. I also heard buzz about Kamchatcka before it won the Audience Favourite.

MY PICKS
My picks of the festival - from the films that I did see - were Takeshi Kitano's Zatoichi, the boarding school drama Evil, Gus Van Sant's school massacre film Elephant, and the tense documentary about the Rio bus hijacking Bus 174. The undefinable ethnological feature (doc?) The Story of the Weeping Camel also deserves to be seen. It's unlike anything I've seen.

Also worth seeing was the Korean comedy Mutt Boy, Errol Morris' interview documentary with Robert McNamara The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the life of Robert S. McNamara, the Thai romance The Last Life in the Universe, the near-future high definition film All Tomorrow's Parties, Takeshi Miike's nutty Gozu, the entertaining documentary about the corporate excess The Corporation, the Cultural Revolution doc Morning Sun and the sweet Iranian protest allegory Abjad.

Advice on Studio setup
 

My company is looking to set up a small video studio.
This is an area that I have no experience, so I look to you that do.
Is there a company that designs video studio's?
Or if we do it ourselves what are the main things that I need to consider or insist on having for a workable video studio?

They would like to use it for mainly a news type of production, and I'm sure for many other things in the future.

Any help will be appreciated.

How big is the space you have?

Many professional video supply companies can do what you want. Just be prepared to have deep pockets.

You do need to define exactly what you want to do and at least set a trial budget. You could be talking about as little as $20,000 to the sky is the limit. $20,000 won't get you much from a pro shop, you'd have to design and install it yourself.

Professional paper covers for VHS & DVD?
 

Does anyone know of a company, preferrably in the southeast (Atlanta area) that prints Blockbuster Video quality graphics on VHS or DVD paper covers? I am also looking for the face and spine labels to be printed with the same quality. The labels at Staples or Office Depot are not durable enough. Thanks.

What volume are you talking about?

At 1000, there are plenty of companies that can print these for you.

At 100, you will probably have to do them yourself or suffer a very high cost per copy.

Try Neato for good labels and video slipcovers that can be bent up and glued (glue on the cardboard already) into a finished slip cover. Not bad.

Not his fault Chicago Lost.
 

As a fan, the first instinct is to reach out for ANY ball that may come your way. After reviewing the multitude of different angles of the play, and there were many, it is clear that he reached for a ball that was clearly outside the field of play, and that this was done of instinct just like the other folks around him reached for the same ball. He just happened to be lucky or un-lucky enough to be the one it hit.

The fact that Alou had some SuperHuman ability to reach out from under the stands and position his glove directly under the BIQ (Ball in Question) is not the fault of the fan. He never crossed that threshold that separates the stands from the field!

Unfortunealtley this individual will have to join a religious order that has absolutley nothing to do with baseball or the city of Chicago until he can single handedly rescue a bus full of burning blind children from a sinking bus in Niagara Falls!!!

As as a second option, there might be some positions available within the Federal Winess Protection Program.

What a crappy way to become famous, (infamous).


Go Fish!!!