Here's a cool little article courtesy of Creative Cow: "Want to be ready for Reality? Mod your camera!" This isn't for everyone, especially those that don't own their own equipment or those that are concerned with resale value. But if you're going to use your camera until the wheels fall off, so to speak, then this article may provide some tips or, at the very least, inspiration.
Production Boards and EP Scheduling with Chris Cobb
Assistant Director Chris Cobb has two sets of tutorials up on Expert Village that are worth a look. The first is a tutorial on setting up a script production board. If you've never done a script breakdown, you'll want to check it out.
The other tutorial demonstrates how to use EP Scheduling, the industry standard software for film shoot scheduling. Granted, EP Scheduling is not cheap ($499 msrp), but film school students may have access to it or may be able to afford the academic version (around $145 online), hence the linkage.
Rest in Peace, Paul Newman
Paul Newman died today. He was 83. He leaves behind an incredible body of work, as both an actor and humanitarian. He will be missed.
That Newman was one of the greatest -- and best-loved -- actors this country has ever produced is not a subject for debate. Here is a quintessential late-career Newman moment, a nearly four-minute long take from The Verdict. Astonishing stuff.
202 DIY Filmmaking Tutorials
Filmmaker IQ has a fairly well-organized list of DIY filmaking tutorials. Some of these overlap the list I've been keeping for two years on this page, but there's some new stuff as well.
Red Centre at fxguide
For those who are trying to stay up to date on the Red One camera, let me recommend fxguide's Red Centre podcast. Each episode features Jason Wingrove and Mike Seymour discussing the latest news, accessories, and tech tips (both production and postproduction). I recently dug into these episodes and found they're a good way of staying informed about this in-constant-development camera without having to spend a lot of time on the Reduser forums.
For a list of other Red-related links, go here.
Peter Broderick's "New World"
This was originally pub'd in indieWire and is getting some linkage, but I've got to link to it too, as it's an astute piece on old and new distribution. Some of it is common knowledge by this point, but it does feel more up to date than Mark Gill's "sky is falling" speech a while back. Why?
Mark’s keynote focused on the distributors, production companies, studio specialty divisions, and foreign sales companies that dominate independent film in the Old World. Mark has many years of experience in this world. He was President of Miramax Films, then head of Warner Independent, and is now CEO of the Film Department. He sees things from the perspective of a seasoned Old World executive.
I see things from the filmmaker’s perspective. For the past 11 years, I have been helping filmmakers maximize revenues, get their films seen as widely as possible, and launch or further their careers. From 1997 until 2002, I experienced the deteriorating state of the Old World of Distribution as head of IFC’s Next Wave Films. After the company closed, I discovered the New World of Distribution in its formative stages. A few directors had already gotten impressive results by splitting up their rights and selling DVDs directly from their websites.
IFP Independent Filmmaker Conference
I'll be in New York for the IFP's Independent Filmmaker Conference this week. Among other things, I'll be moderating a panel, "The Digital Download." Stop by and say hello!
Find out how filmmakers and new media innovators are navigating digital distribution- through service deals, booking cinemas directly or distributing content online - in order to get the most out of their projects creatively and financially.
Wednesday, September 17th, 2:30-3:30 PM
Panelists Adam Browne, The Cult of Sincerity Brendan Choisnet, The Cult of Sincerity Gary Hustwit, Director, Helvetica Erick Opeka, Senior Manager, New Video
UPDATE: During my panel yesterday I mentioned Scott Kirsner's Cinematech blog and book on web video. For those who had questions, here are those links:
blog: CinemaTech book: The Future of Web Video
Louis Massiah/Scribe Video Center
Louis Massiah, acclaimed documentarian and community video pioneer, visited Virginia Tech a few days ago. What an inspiration. Among the works Massiah screened was a segment from Power!, one episode from the Eyes on the Prize II series. In the segment, we are told the story of Carl B. Stokes, the first black mayor of a major American city. To say this video -- produced in the 80s, about a man that broke ground in the 60s -- was timely would be an understatement. If you want insight into this year's presidential election, including the racial (and racist) strategies being employed by opponents of Barack Obama, it's a must-see. (Search for it in a local library here.)
Still, even more impressive, was hearing Massiah discuss and screen work produced by Scribe Video Center. Massiah founded Scribe in 1982, and occupies a central place in Philadelphia media-making. If you don't know about it and you're interested in community storytelling (and empowerment) through video, dig into their website. Scribe has been around for 26 years, which is a phenomenal achievement, particularly considering the fate of so many other media arts organizations (from the Film Arts Foundation to AIVF). More importantly, they've changed lives through storytelling. Great stuff.
UFVA 2008: Those Who Teach, Make
As you probably guessed, I've taken a little break from SRF. I wish I could say that it was a planned vacation, but a combination of travel, work on my own projects, the beginning of the school year and some crazy good life stuff meant the blogging got pushed aside. One thing I did mean to write about was my experience at the University Film and Video Association Conference in August. For those of you that don't know, UFVA is the professional association for professors of filmmaking, screenwriting, and film studies. This was my first time attending the conference, and it was a lot of fun. I had the chance to meet up with some old film school friends who, like me, are now teachers, and I met lots of new folks who encounter the same sorts of challenges to filmmaking that I do (among them, living in so-called flyover territory).
The conference features a mix of screenings and panels. Among my favorite panel presentations: Jennifer Proctor (Grand Valley State) who talked about teaching creativity; John O'Leary (Villanova), who discussed the practicalities of running a university-supported film lecture series; JJ Murphy, who discussed non-traditional screenwriting approaches (drawing on films like Ronnie Bronstein's Frownland); and Seth Mulliken, who gave an awesome talk on film sound.
Of the screenings, probably my favorite film was Irinia Patkanian's Second Egyptian, a story of two immigrants in New York that has an amazing sense of poetic realism. For my part, I screened Quick Feet, Soft Hands, which was honored with the Jury Prize in Narrative Film. Needless to say, getting this award from my peers was a great honor.
Note: The title to this blog post is cribbed from a Scribe Video Center screening. I'll discuss Scribe in a future post.
Matte Box and Filters - An Intro
It's a few days old, but B&H Photo/Video has a nice introduction to Controlling and manipulating the light (that enters the lens of your camera). The article describes the functions of a follow focus, mattebox and filters. If you're convinced you need these tools after reading the article, you might check out DV Magazine's Matte Box Roundup and Follow Focus Shootout, two fine articles by FresHDV's Kendal Miller and Matthew Jeppsen.
Making a Fullscreen Video Loop for an Installation (or Kiosk) Using Automator
UPDATE: Spring 2013. SRF reader Jessica Barr corresponded with me in 2012 about how users of more recent versions of the Mac OS (10.6 and higher) might have issues with the Automator script below because QuickTime 7 is no longer the default movie Mac OS movie player. Jessica kindly revised the automator script and offered it to me so I could share it with you. Download it here: Revised Automator QT Movie Loop script
(By the way, from my limited testing, it appears you still need QT Pro 7 -- which is still sold as of May 2013 -- to run this script. Quicktime X, or whatever it's called, can loop, but you can't save a movie as one that loops. And Automator's loop instruction in its "play movie" actions don't work reliably. )
Read on for the full instructions.....
Original Post from 2008:
Apologies for the long post title. This is to help anyone searching for such a thing on the internet.
This post will explain how to create a video that plays full-screen and loops repeatedly on a Mac. Looping full screen video is useful for, among other things, kiosks and video installations. If you want to cut to the chase and learn how to do this, skip down. Otherwise, I'll offer a few words explaining the reasoning behind what I did.
Ashley Maynor and I recently put up a small video installation near the offices of the Arts Council of the Blue Ridge. The installation was done as a gratis piece of temporary public art, so we needed to keep the budget as small as possible.
In our case, this was a three channel installation -- that is, we had three different videos playing simultaneously on three different screens. The screens were going to sit next to each other, so we wanted some uniformity in presentation. Video projection wasn't an option -- the space was too tiny for projection. (It's basically an empty downtown shopwindow.) So we needed televisions or computer screens.
We didn't have three identical televisions, but I did have three identical old semi-working iMacs sitting in a "junk" closet at Virginia Tech. So I borrowed those.
Regardless of whether you use a television with a DVD player, or a computer and its video monitor, for this sort of thing you might burn a DVD that loops. That's a perfectly fine solution, but the DVD player on one of the iMacs was broken. Also, there might be solutions out there for having a DVD player and television power up and down automatically, but I know it can be done (and know how to do it) with a computer.
So how to do it?
I decided to create a simple Automator application that could be used to automatically screen a QuickTime movie in full screen mode when the computer was booted. I also automated the startup and shutdown of the computers so that the installation runs during prime hours downtown, saving power in the wee small hours of the morning. Details on how to do this after the jump.
A note for anyone creating a kiosk: If you're creating a kiosk (i.e., something where people will be able to touch the computer), you'll either need to take the keyboard and mouse away from the computer or you'll need a kiosk application if you don't want people exiting out out of the fullscreen player. WebXkiosk is one such application, and it's free. I have never used it, and I didn't try on this occasion because our computers were going to be behind a glass case in a shop window.
1. If you haven't already made one, create a QuickTime movie of the movie(s) that needs to be screened. Do this in Final Cut Pro or whatever you want. Once you've created that, open it in QuickTime (if it's not already open).
2. In QuickTime select VIEW --> LOOP. This will play your movie on a continuous loop. If "Loop" is greyed out you probably don't have QuickTime Pro.
3. Now select FILE --> SAVE AS... to save the new "looping" movie. When saving -- this is important -- save the file in your Movies folder. If you're like me, you don't usually save movies there, but you must do it this way or it won't work. Then QUIT QuickTime.
4. Download the Automator QT Movie Loop script that I have already created. Actually, download the revised one found at the updated beginning of this post, unless you're running an old (10.5 or lower) version of Mac OS on your computer. In that case, download the link that has been struck through here.)
5. After the file downloads, double click on the script, which will open Automator. On the right, under "Get Specified Movies", click on the "+" button. A window of all the movies in your Movies folder appears. Select the looping QuickTime movie you just created. (Note: Alias files will not work. You need the actual movie flie in the Movies folder.)
6. Now, in window #2 ("Play Movies") , select, "Movie Playback Size: Fullscreen". Leave the other options the way they are, unless you want to show the movie on a different display, in which case you choose the option you want. You'll see that there's also an option for "Loop movie sequence X times." I found that this wasn't nearly as reliable as simply saving your QT movie with the Loop setting as we did in step 2. So you can leave the "Loop movie sequence" checkbox unchecked here. (This information is no longer relevant with the latest Mac OS and the updated Automator script referenced at the top of this post.)
7. Click the "Run" button in the upper right hand of the Automator window. Your movie should now open, play, and loop. If it doesn't automatically play, you may want to check your QuickTime preferences to make sure "Automatically play movies when opened" is checked. When done confirming that it works, hit the "Esc" key to exit out of fullscreen.
Assuming everything works ok, you're ready to make this an application.
8. In Automator, select FILE--"SAVE AS... When the save dialog box appears, select FILE FORMAT: APPLICATION. (The default is usually "workflow.") This saves your Automator workflow as an application that, when you double click it, executes the script. Then name the file something like "[mymoviename] Automated Loop" and save it.
9. Quit Automator, locate the "[mymoviename] Automated Loop" application you created, and double click. The QT movie should open into full screen and loop over and over.
Bonus points: Having your computer startup and play the movie immediately.
10. If you want a computer to play your movie in full screen the minute it starts up, go to your computer's System Preferences, select ACCOUNTS and then select LOGIN ITEMS. Add your new Automator application (the file you created in Step #8). If you have other applications set to launch on startup you may need to remove those. Also, make sure your computer is set to log into that user account automatically, bypassing the need for a password.
11. To be on the safe side, I disabled screensaver and sleep modes on the computer. Do this in System Preferences -> ENERGY SAVER. Drag both of the sliders to "Never."
12. Finally, if you want to schedule your computer to startup and shutdown at specific times, while in ENERGY SAVER, click on the "Schedule..." button. This will allow you to set the startup and shutdown times for the computer. If you want your computer to run non-stop, skip this step. You can also set your computer to automatically start up after a power failure in Energy Saver prefs.
That should be it. Happy looping.
DIY: MiniCrane
Here's a link I missed promoting because I was off the grid when it was posted back in May: Stu "DV Rebel" Maschwitz shares a link about a "mini-crane you already own." This isn't exactly DIY as it's normally defined (i.e., building stuff for cheaper than it can be bought). But it's still pretty darn inventive.
Festival Advice for Filmmakers
Just a link to a great article by AJ Schnack on some festival advice for filmmakers. Since I was in Europe, I missed linking this when it went up in early June. Still, it's good advice to keep in mind, particularly as some major festival deadlines are on the horizon.
The Conversation... with Scott Kirsner
Though this website is a direct result of my belief that new technologies are reshaping filmmaking, as well as the relationships that filmmakers have with their audience, I rarely write about the intersections between cinema, the web, gaming, and business. One the reason I don't is because there's already someone that does that much better than I could. His name is Scott Kirsner. A journalist by trade, Kirsner is the author of "The Future of Web Video: Opportunities for Producers, Entrepreneurs, Media Companies and Advertisers", the editor of CinemaTech (his must-read blog) and a contributor to publications as diverse as has also contributed to Variety, Wired, Salon.com, and BusinessWeek, among others.
Recently, Kirsner announced a new event to be held this fall in Berkeley, called The Conversation.
Billed as "a gathering... intended to explore the new business and creative opportunities emerging in 2008," The Conversation is "targeted to media-makers and technologists who want to understand and help shape the future of the entertainment industry."
If the list of organizers and "conversation leaders" is any indication, The Conversation will be well worth sitting in on.
In anticipation of the event, Kirsner and I exchanged a couple of Q+A emails. I thought I'd share this (lowercase "c") conversation with you:
**
Your journalism has covered motion pictures, new technologies, the internet, and the intersections of all of these overlapping worlds. But I've, at least, always thought of you as a journalist -- someone that reports, someone that analyzes. With The Conversation you're an instigator, a participant.
I'm really interested in innovation, and how new ideas get introduced to the world. It's fun to write about that, but it's also fun to bring together people whom I've met in my journalistic travels, and get them talking to each other -- in person. All kinds of cool sparks fly. That's what we aim to do with The Conversation. I'll be there to ask questions and instigate, sure, but I also expect that our participants will do a lot of that, too.
How did The Conversation got started (no pun intended)?
There were two dynamics, really, that led to its creation. One is that a lot of times at film festivals, the discussions about new technologies, new tools, and new business models wind up as a side-show to the main event, which is watching movies. We wanted to do something where mapping out the future and getting up to speed with what other creators are doing would be the central purpose. The second dynamic was that there used to be this great event that happened twice in Montreal, called Digimart. Lance Weiler, Peter Broderick, Tiffany Shlain and I all spoke at the second Digimart a few years ago. It was a great gathering... but it didn't continue after 2006, and we wanted to keep its spirit alive and take it to a new geography.
One of the things the website says is that The Conversation is "definitely not a conference." Why make the distinction?
Conferences, to me, are about listening passively. They're often sold out to sponsors, which means they don't serve the participants very well. They tend to feature the same old speakers delivering the same old PowerPoint presentations. We're trying to avoid all that, and simply host a high-energy conversation among people creating change in the entertainment industry.
If you could only ask one question to all the people that will be attending -- the presenters and the registered attendees -- what would it be?
How is your relationship with your audience changing? That's a topic I'm obsessed with right now -- I think that some of the biggest changes over the next 10 years in TV, film, video, and games are going to revolve around that relationship between creator and audience.
**
The Conversation unfolds October 17-18 in Berkeley, California. Visit the website for more information and to register.
Self-Reliant Film Survey
I'm conducting a brief reader survey for all of you that read this website. Taking the survey could take as little as 30 seconds of your time. (Most of the questions are optional; you get to choose if you want to reply in depth to anything.) The only requirement, in fact, is that you provide your city and state. This will help me decide what sorts of screenings I do and don't discuss on the site.
I appreciate your input.
cicadas on PBS in New York, OR: How to Write a Press Release
Because of this website, I receive press releases on a daily basis from a multitude of PR firms. It's clear with many of them that the sender hasn't spent more than 5 seconds thinking about the audience for this website. Some of these are pretty unintentionally funny: My favorite media alert is probably the one about a re-recording of a jingle for canned beans by a Country music recording artist. But I digress. The point is, few notices get my attention. And even fewer do I end up writing about. When I receive a notice like the one quoted verbatim below, though, I try to act on it.
Why? Four reasons:
1) The thing being promoted sounds interesting.
2) The people that read this website might be interested in it too.
3) The thing being promoted sounds as if it could use my help as far as promotion goes. I tend to favor humble affairs, not stuff with a big advertising budget. (In case you hadn't noticed by now.)
4) The release sounds like it was written by an actual human being. You'd be surprised at how rare this is. Or maybe you wouldn't.
Oh yes, I'm sure Kat Candler's email breaks all sorts of "rules" about writing press releases. But I have noticed that there seems to be a direct correlation between points #1-3 and point #4. In the end, the result is that, Candler's email not only makes me want to see this movie -- it makes me want to tell others about it.
And in my book that's a press release that works.
cicadas Screening on PBS in New York Saturday, 7/19, 11:55pm Sunday, 7/20, 4:25am WNET, Reel 13 http://www.bside.com/films/cicadas
Long ago, I made this feature film called, cicadas. We shot it over the summer of 1999 in a tiny, tiny town called Bertram (population 835). We shot the film on a Canon XL1 back when mini-DV was brand spankin' new. Over 6 weeks, Thursdays through Sundays a cast and crew trucked out to the middle of nowhere Texas to make a story loosely based on a crush I had at age 16 on a skater punk kid.
The summer of 1999 was one of the best summers of my life. We had no expectations, no grandiose ideas of making it big ... we just wanted to make a feature film just to learn how to do it. And what came out of that little film was a family of friends, a super fun summer and a little movie that could.
The film went on to win some audience awards at festivals, get picked up for distribution and then dropped by distribution. And then picked up again for distribution.
If you have friends in New York who like to stay up crazy late or can record stuff to their VHS or DVD players, pass this along. It's fun to share your heart with people. Even if it's super rough around the edges and frayed along the hem line.
One other thing to note about press releases. For me, whether or not I write about something is also a matter of timing. Some days and weeks I'm slammed. Some days, a notice will come in and, if I've got a few spare minutes, I'll throw something up on the web. People that are paid to blog full time probably work differently, but that's how I roll.
As always, thanks for reading. And if you're a filmmaker, don't be afraid to see if I can cover your film. Just don't be hurt if I don't.
iPhone WebApps for Filmmakers
iPhone 3G is being released today. If you are submitting to the mania, or already have a (non 3G) iPhone, these web apps are for you. I'll do a version of apps from the iPhone apps store at some point. Until then, enjoy these web apps on the set or off... All descriptions are pulled from Apple's iPhone web apps site.
ON THE SET
Power Load Calculator Allows you to calculate the load on a particular circuit when certain devices are plugged in. For example, you can calculate whether or not the circuit breakers in a location can handle the lights you want to use and if not, the size of the generator that needs to be hired. This sort of thing is better discovered during pre-production and not on the day of shooting, so this calculator is very useful in that regard.
Depth of Field Calculator This tool will calculate the depth of field for a given sensor or film type, aperture, focal length, and subject distance (the distance from the camera to the person or object you are focusing on). A lower number means that a large proportion of the background will remain in sharp focus and a higher number means that a smaller proportion (if any) will be in focus.
Footage Calculator Enables you to calculate the amount of disk space required for various video codecs at varying frame rates. It offers an easy-to-use interface that allows you to quickly and easily view the required information whilst on the move - perfect for those awkward on-the-spot questions from clients.
Film Rate Calculator Calculates the relationship between film reels and shooting time. Use this calculator to work out how many rolls of film are required for a certain shooting ratio, or alternatively calculate how many minutes have been shot for a certain number of rolls. This is a useful tool for any script supervisor or producer.
Red Footage Calculator For Red users. You select your resolution, frame rate, Redcode, aspect ratio, and amount of footage. The calculator tells you how much disk space is needed. Cool.
Weather Underground The Weather Underground, now on your iPhone. View current conditions, animated radar, forecasts, and severe weather alerts. [Note: Not to be confused with the radical leftist organization of the 1960s-70s or the Sam Green documentary of the same name.]
Sunrise & Sunset This applications helps to calculate the sunrise and sunset times for each location in the world on each day of the year. Enjoy planning your next holiday, trip or photo session where ever and when ever you want to go. Just click on the location, choose date and timezone and optionally add 1 hour daylight saving.
The Weather Channel The Weather Channel for iPhone delivers current conditions, hourly and 10-day forecasts, severe weather and maps in a fully interactive environment. [Note: I prefer the Weather Underground web app's interface to this one from the Weather Channel, but some will prefer this one.]
Stormchaser Cloud Reference Chart An on-the-go webguide to common cloud shapes and patterns and what they mean to the stormchaser or weather buff who wants to predict the coming weather via cloud formations.
OFF THE SET
IMDb iPhone Client Web interface with support for looking up actors, characters and movies. The client also helps you find trailers that are suitable for viewing on the iPhone and view additional information such as: Goofs, Soundtracks, Trivia, Quotes, and Crazy Credits.
Fandango Movie Showtimes and Tickets Buy movie tickets on the go with Fandango. Access showtimes, read movie details and reviews, find theater info, and get maps - all on your iPhone or iPod touch!
Moviefone for iPhone Give us your Zip Code and we'll give you the world -- of movies. Find Movies and Showtimes near you, as well as Upcoming Releases, our Top 20 Movies list, and Top iPhone Trailers.
iNetflix An iPhone Netflix client. It will let you see your queue, whats at home, recommendations and new releases.
The Cut List The Cut List displays a list of movies from the top 100 DVDs to new releases from your favorite online movie rental store.
EDIT (7/11/08 @ 12:30): iPhone App Store is open
Bruce Conner, R.I.P.
Bruce Conner -- avant-garde cinematic giant, co-founder of one of the first and most important film distribution co-operatives, and spiritual godfather to all youtube mashup artists (though most of them are clueless to the fact) -- is dead at the age of 74. GreenCine is compiling links to obituaries and remembrances. Valse Triste, a haunting film that draws on his midwestern childhood, is the film of his that most feels appropriate to watch today. You can find it on YouTube, but its quiet power is utterly diminished by the small screen.
So instead I offer this, the first film of his that I saw, which turned me onto his work: Mongoloid
©opy®ight: A Few Helpful Links
U.S. Copyright Office - Copyright is a kind of intellectual property monopoly. And if it was intellectual property Monopoly, this site would be "Go." Translation: Start here.
How to Register a Work - This site takes you to eCO, where you can file a copyright registration for your work through the Copyright Office online system.
Public Domain(?):
Stanford Copyright Renewal Database - Allows you to search for whether a work is still under copyright or not.
Copyright Term and the Public Domain in the United States - A chart to help you understand the labyrinthine laws regarding when a work will fall into the public domain. The chart is available as a PDF.
Fair Use:
Documentary Filmmakers’ Statement of Best Practices in Fair Use - If you are a documentary maker you should know this up and down.
Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Online Video - Like the Documentary Best Practices, this is something to know and learn.
Center for Media and Social Impact: Fair Use Library - A must.
Creative Commons:
Creative Commons - Where to go if you want to give it away, legally speaking.
Resource pages and other links:
Stanford University Libraries: Copyright & Fair Use: Charts and Tools - A great page of links.
Cornell University Copyright Information Center: More great links.
EDIT (7/9/08): This post was accidentally deleted. I think I've restored it pretty completely, and added some more links in the process.
EDIT (9/29/16): Fixed some broken links.
EDIT (5/21/23): Fixed some broken links.
The(ir) Sky Is Falling.
Brian Newman of the Tribeca Film Institute has the best response I've seen to Mark Gill's "The Sky is Falling" speech, the one that has the (film-centric) internets all abuzz. An excerpt from Newman's post, which summarizes much of what I was thinking when I read Gill's speech:
[N]either I nor the people making the music I like are in this game to make a lot of money....Same with most of the filmmakers I know – they are passionate about making films, want an audience and would like to just make enough to live on. The suits are in it for the major profit, and for them the sky is falling – it actually fell a long time ago, but all that dumb money kept the eyes glazed enough not to notice it. So, from the rest of us to all of you just joining us – welcome to our party, it’s not making us any money, but some of us are still finding what we want and having fun.