I finished a Quantum Immortality teaser trailer, we have finished filming and are now in post production. Here it is:
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Monday, September 28, 2009
Wedding Bliss(ters)
All-in-all I am very satisfied with my Vixia HG21. I was worried that I would miss a lot of shots during the reception as the sun went down and lights dimmed on the dance floor, but I was able to capture everything without having to use the very bright (and battery sucking) light attachment.
I shot a little over 5 hours of video, and recorded over 4 hours of external audio only running on my laptop battery. I was very impressed that the battery of my new Dell Latitude E6400 lasted as long as it did recording audio from my M-Audio Fast Track, it was fantastic.
Being the on the production side of a wedding for the first time was interesting. I got to know the DJ, Photographer, the Priest, and the Maitre d' and we all worked very closely together to make sure we were all able to do our job well.
But besides the photographer being a jerk even though it looked like he was a good photographer, the only hiccup I had was the entrance of the bride and father of the bride walking down the aisle. I was pretty confident that my camera was up high enough, but the instant that they came down the aisle the attendees all stood up and, of course, the tallest biggest person in the church was in front of my main camera. Quite near panicking, I repositioned the main camera to point up front to where they were going to approach and I grabbed the secondary camera and moved up to the front of the altar to capture them half way down the aisle. After they got close I moved out of the way and the main camera picked them up from there. That was too close and I should of spent more time positioning the main camera correctly. But everything else including the reception went very smoothly, including using the tripod and the weight as a steady cam, that worked beautifully in getting a lot of dramatic shots without a lot of camera shaking.
Add some more battery juggling, blisters and sore feet, and 5 bags of equipment to move around at a time, it was tiring and somewhat hectic at times, but it was an enjoyable experience that I hope to do again and maybe this time on the +net income side.
I still have a lot to do to prepare their video(s), but I'm going to make the best of the footage I got and do a multitiered production with a combination of different kinds of videos, highlights, and raw footage to help them celebrate the memory of their wonderful day.
I shot a little over 5 hours of video, and recorded over 4 hours of external audio only running on my laptop battery. I was very impressed that the battery of my new Dell Latitude E6400 lasted as long as it did recording audio from my M-Audio Fast Track, it was fantastic.
Being the on the production side of a wedding for the first time was interesting. I got to know the DJ, Photographer, the Priest, and the Maitre d' and we all worked very closely together to make sure we were all able to do our job well.
But besides the photographer being a jerk even though it looked like he was a good photographer, the only hiccup I had was the entrance of the bride and father of the bride walking down the aisle. I was pretty confident that my camera was up high enough, but the instant that they came down the aisle the attendees all stood up and, of course, the tallest biggest person in the church was in front of my main camera. Quite near panicking, I repositioned the main camera to point up front to where they were going to approach and I grabbed the secondary camera and moved up to the front of the altar to capture them half way down the aisle. After they got close I moved out of the way and the main camera picked them up from there. That was too close and I should of spent more time positioning the main camera correctly. But everything else including the reception went very smoothly, including using the tripod and the weight as a steady cam, that worked beautifully in getting a lot of dramatic shots without a lot of camera shaking.
Add some more battery juggling, blisters and sore feet, and 5 bags of equipment to move around at a time, it was tiring and somewhat hectic at times, but it was an enjoyable experience that I hope to do again and maybe this time on the +net income side.
I still have a lot to do to prepare their video(s), but I'm going to make the best of the footage I got and do a multitiered production with a combination of different kinds of videos, highlights, and raw footage to help them celebrate the memory of their wonderful day.
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Home Run Inn Video Contest
I finally finished the Home Run Inn video I was working on, I added another scene of us chowing down on the pizza after it had attacked us in the car, I think it turned out much better than before. After he saw the draft of the video, Paul suggested that there wasn't a conclusion which led to the extra scene of us eating the pizza.
Considering it was directed, filmed, acted, edited and finalized by me (with the help of my wife's acting) I am very satisfied with it. We used a lot of green screen over the windows of the car and I learned something about using green screen; When using green screen up close, it is best to not have a lot of light due to the fact that the green material will wash out the scene with green which will look weird when it's keyed out. The scenes from the side of the car had the right side windows blotted with green screen but that side was in the shade which gave me a dark, unlit green screen, but it was enough green to be keyed out easily and didn't affect the rest of the scene.
So, when using shooting on a green screen, don't always assume that you need a lot of light in order to key out the green screen. Depending on the distances of the object from the green screen and the scene in general, sometimes no external luminance is needed at all. In a scene in which you must use a light where no natural light is available, try indirect luminance by illuminating away at the rest of the room to produce reflective lighting.
Considering it was directed, filmed, acted, edited and finalized by me (with the help of my wife's acting) I am very satisfied with it. We used a lot of green screen over the windows of the car and I learned something about using green screen; When using green screen up close, it is best to not have a lot of light due to the fact that the green material will wash out the scene with green which will look weird when it's keyed out. The scenes from the side of the car had the right side windows blotted with green screen but that side was in the shade which gave me a dark, unlit green screen, but it was enough green to be keyed out easily and didn't affect the rest of the scene.
So, when using shooting on a green screen, don't always assume that you need a lot of light in order to key out the green screen. Depending on the distances of the object from the green screen and the scene in general, sometimes no external luminance is needed at all. In a scene in which you must use a light where no natural light is available, try indirect luminance by illuminating away at the rest of the room to produce reflective lighting.
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Recognition
By the end of October, if everything goes well, I will have 5 projects finished in 3 months. All of a sudden I find myself with almost too much work, whereas 6 months ago I was bored out of my mind.
Here is the current list:
The Missing Bank Card 2: Done
Igor's Lament (Butterfinger Commercial): Done
They Hunger (Home Run Inn Commercial): 90%
Wedding Videographer: 0%
Quantum Immortality: 5%
Quantum Immortality is the most interesting one, not because of the concept but because of the way I've ended up playing a major role in it's production. Let's just say it REALLY pays to have a place online to show videos and my portfolio.
In the beginning of the semester, my Science Fiction class briefly thought it was a good idea to make a Sci-fi movie. I thought it would be cool too, but I was heavily skeptical about everyone's motivation to just START it.
But I was surprised to walk into class Tuesday morning, they were dividing up the work for the film and sketching ideas and plot elements. All of a sudden I was in the middle of a huge (30 people) production with a 10-20 minute Sci-fi film, and I didn't have a job... yet...
I played it coy, and casually asked the Director (student led) who was doing the special effects? He said that they were lucky to have two students from Game Design in here who could pull off all the effects. The two other students were talking with the set designer and script writer, I pulled up a chair to listen in, and waited for the right spot to jump in.
It was pretty quick. People started asking lots of "can we do this/that?", and trying to film alien words in our back yard, and about lasers/explosions/sparks/blood/smoke, even lightsabers. They started to get a little uneasy about the things that were being requested, so I stepped in and said "yes".
They all looked at me, not expecting someone to say yes. They asked if I had film experience and I said yes. They were still looking somewhat skeptical at me, so I opened up my YouTube site and showed them what I can do.
And that's when the door opened.
A few minutes later and the set designers, costume designers, script writers, and the director were asking me what was possible and what was not. They viewed my videos and started to get really excited about the possibilities.
All of a sudden, our cheesy student film was turning into a Sci-fi Epic. The last semester also did a sci-fi film... And while that was funny, I know we can do 100x better.
Here is the current list:
The Missing Bank Card 2: Done
Igor's Lament (Butterfinger Commercial): Done
They Hunger (Home Run Inn Commercial): 90%
Wedding Videographer: 0%
Quantum Immortality: 5%
Quantum Immortality is the most interesting one, not because of the concept but because of the way I've ended up playing a major role in it's production. Let's just say it REALLY pays to have a place online to show videos and my portfolio.
In the beginning of the semester, my Science Fiction class briefly thought it was a good idea to make a Sci-fi movie. I thought it would be cool too, but I was heavily skeptical about everyone's motivation to just START it.
But I was surprised to walk into class Tuesday morning, they were dividing up the work for the film and sketching ideas and plot elements. All of a sudden I was in the middle of a huge (30 people) production with a 10-20 minute Sci-fi film, and I didn't have a job... yet...
I played it coy, and casually asked the Director (student led) who was doing the special effects? He said that they were lucky to have two students from Game Design in here who could pull off all the effects. The two other students were talking with the set designer and script writer, I pulled up a chair to listen in, and waited for the right spot to jump in.
It was pretty quick. People started asking lots of "can we do this/that?", and trying to film alien words in our back yard, and about lasers/explosions/sparks/blood/smoke, even lightsabers. They started to get a little uneasy about the things that were being requested, so I stepped in and said "yes".
They all looked at me, not expecting someone to say yes. They asked if I had film experience and I said yes. They were still looking somewhat skeptical at me, so I opened up my YouTube site and showed them what I can do.
And that's when the door opened.
A few minutes later and the set designers, costume designers, script writers, and the director were asking me what was possible and what was not. They viewed my videos and started to get really excited about the possibilities.
All of a sudden, our cheesy student film was turning into a Sci-fi Epic. The last semester also did a sci-fi film... And while that was funny, I know we can do 100x better.
Monday, September 14, 2009
They Hunger - Draft
Sunday I filmed and finished a draft of my Home Run Inn Pizza halloween video. I liked how it turned out and it has produced several laughs from the few people I have shown it to.
I want to submit it by next Sunday night before the voting starts, but I'm a little wary of this contest. First off, there is only one entry so far on the site and it's a promotional video, obviously disqualified because of the length. But other than that video there are ZERO valid entries so far on the site.
Now, it could just be that it's too early, the contest started on August 31st and runs through October 18th.
Or it could be that there are no entries because of the huge fiasco that occurred at last year's contest. There were 5 finalists, but then a mysterious 6th finalist showed up and won the contest near the end. The 6th finalist was a crappy video made by people related to the Home Run Inn company and it had copyrighted music, should of been double-disqualified according to the contest rules.
But that didn't happen, the 6th video won and there was a massive uproar about it for a while. I guess any publicity is good publicity, and it might be their plan again this year.
I'm going to sit on it for at least a week before I decide.
I want to submit it by next Sunday night before the voting starts, but I'm a little wary of this contest. First off, there is only one entry so far on the site and it's a promotional video, obviously disqualified because of the length. But other than that video there are ZERO valid entries so far on the site.
Now, it could just be that it's too early, the contest started on August 31st and runs through October 18th.
Or it could be that there are no entries because of the huge fiasco that occurred at last year's contest. There were 5 finalists, but then a mysterious 6th finalist showed up and won the contest near the end. The 6th finalist was a crappy video made by people related to the Home Run Inn company and it had copyrighted music, should of been double-disqualified according to the contest rules.
But that didn't happen, the 6th video won and there was a massive uproar about it for a while. I guess any publicity is good publicity, and it might be their plan again this year.
I'm going to sit on it for at least a week before I decide.
Friday, September 11, 2009
They Hunger
There's an online video contest for Home Run Inn Pizza, they are looking for Halloween themed short films (commercials) under 2 minutes. I've had an idea for a script, but we've been unable to commit to it (or any other script), personal life keeps getting in the way!! It really would be my dream to do film and special effects all day, every day, but now I have to settle for hobby in addition to work, school, wife, and all other issues that seem to crop up almost monthly.
Anyways, the script stars a couple in a car driving down a dark moonlit road with the forest on each side. Without going into details, basically they are stalked by a killer Home Run Inn Pizza box with murderous intent.
The couple, is going to have to be me and my wife. So how do we film this? It's going to be tricky but I have some ideas. We are going to use green screen and separately shot footage to composite onto the windows to give the effect of the car being driven. I will use previously shot footage of a random car (needs to be somewhat similar to mine, but doesn't need to be me). Since we won't be driving, I will be able to tripod the camera outside the car to film us acting. And then composite separate keyed footage of a Homerun Inn Pizza box in various places, like slamming up against the window in pure psycho killer fasion.
I've got a script and a shot list, all I need now is the time to film it all, probably try to do it this Sunday. This will be my first lone-production, but I don't really enjoy being on this end of pre-production, I just like being in post and helping out during production. But $2,500 grand prize is just too tempting to pass up, and it will be a great test of all this new camera equipment.
Anyways, the script stars a couple in a car driving down a dark moonlit road with the forest on each side. Without going into details, basically they are stalked by a killer Home Run Inn Pizza box with murderous intent.
The couple, is going to have to be me and my wife. So how do we film this? It's going to be tricky but I have some ideas. We are going to use green screen and separately shot footage to composite onto the windows to give the effect of the car being driven. I will use previously shot footage of a random car (needs to be somewhat similar to mine, but doesn't need to be me). Since we won't be driving, I will be able to tripod the camera outside the car to film us acting. And then composite separate keyed footage of a Homerun Inn Pizza box in various places, like slamming up against the window in pure psycho killer fasion.
I've got a script and a shot list, all I need now is the time to film it all, probably try to do it this Sunday. This will be my first lone-production, but I don't really enjoy being on this end of pre-production, I just like being in post and helping out during production. But $2,500 grand prize is just too tempting to pass up, and it will be a great test of all this new camera equipment.
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
AVCHD or HDV?
I've been asked to film a wedding for my Wife's best friend, and lacking the hardware I only asked for enough money in order to get the equipment necessary to get her the best possible quality. In my research the past 2 weeks I've come across a very difficult decision; do I stick with the tried and true HDV tape format? Or do I go with a newer, slightly more compressed non-tape method?
Let's round out the pros and cons (for me) of each:
HDV - Pros:
-Established
-Confident to use
-Better quality
-Can use Firewire to record/evaluate video in Adobe OnLocation in pre-production.
-Permanent backup method, store the tapes.
-Mpeg2 codec captures at 25mbps
HDV - Cons
-Tape method
-Max 63 minutes per tape
-Singular massive files per tape
-Transferring video takes as long as the video was shot
-Tape mechanisms *can* be clumsy
-Changing tapes could mean losing shots
-Deleting video means shooting over scenes
-Max resolution is 1440x1080
-Slow turnaround of shots
AVCHD - Pros:
-Flash or Hard Drive method
-Drag and drop files from camera to computer.
-Deleting videos simple as deleting a file.
-Files are by session not by tape
-AVCHD codec now captures at 25mbps
-Quick turnaround for testing shots
-Records at 1920x1080 60i and beyond
AVCHD - Cons:
-Normally no firewire port, can't use with Adobe OnLocation
-Lossy format, some artifacts
-Generally slightly lower quality than HDV
-Needs hard drive space to store (not really a con for me as I have almost 2 terabytes of space)
For the wedding I'm going to shoot, I would not like to be limited by batteries AND tapes. For practice, I've tested the time to replace batteries and continue filming to about 10 seconds, when it also takes about 30 seconds to replace a tape.
I first bought an AVCHD camera, the Canon VIXIA HG21. I was originally planning on going with the HV40 HDV camera but I decided to try this one because it had a 120gb hard drive, which means 11 hours of continuous shooting at the highest bitrate. That takes a load off my shoulders not having to deal with tapes. Even though I am confident filming this wedding, the less things I have getting in the way the better since I will be using two cameras by myself with the help of my wife.
After this wedding, I am hoping (now that we will have a 2nd unit) that we can work at more local weddings and provide two camera guys for a decent price to couples needing the best quality for their budget.
While Paul would rather not do weddings, we both agree that it would be a great 2nd income to help fund the studio. Paul would much rather be telling stories and creating film magic, I have found a nice niche doing highlight videos and creating stories out of capture moments that I feel I can apply to building some memorable wedding videos.
There's still 2 1/2 weeks until the wedding, so I can always try out the HV40. Although I'm going to try my best to make the HG21 work for me, I just don't want to deal with tapes.
Let's round out the pros and cons (for me) of each:
HDV - Pros:
-Established
-Confident to use
-Better quality
-Can use Firewire to record/evaluate video in Adobe OnLocation in pre-production.
-Permanent backup method, store the tapes.
-Mpeg2 codec captures at 25mbps
HDV - Cons
-Tape method
-Max 63 minutes per tape
-Singular massive files per tape
-Transferring video takes as long as the video was shot
-Tape mechanisms *can* be clumsy
-Changing tapes could mean losing shots
-Deleting video means shooting over scenes
-Max resolution is 1440x1080
-Slow turnaround of shots
AVCHD - Pros:
-Flash or Hard Drive method
-Drag and drop files from camera to computer.
-Deleting videos simple as deleting a file.
-Files are by session not by tape
-AVCHD codec now captures at 25mbps
-Quick turnaround for testing shots
-Records at 1920x1080 60i and beyond
AVCHD - Cons:
-Normally no firewire port, can't use with Adobe OnLocation
-Lossy format, some artifacts
-Generally slightly lower quality than HDV
-Needs hard drive space to store (not really a con for me as I have almost 2 terabytes of space)
For the wedding I'm going to shoot, I would not like to be limited by batteries AND tapes. For practice, I've tested the time to replace batteries and continue filming to about 10 seconds, when it also takes about 30 seconds to replace a tape.
I first bought an AVCHD camera, the Canon VIXIA HG21. I was originally planning on going with the HV40 HDV camera but I decided to try this one because it had a 120gb hard drive, which means 11 hours of continuous shooting at the highest bitrate. That takes a load off my shoulders not having to deal with tapes. Even though I am confident filming this wedding, the less things I have getting in the way the better since I will be using two cameras by myself with the help of my wife.
After this wedding, I am hoping (now that we will have a 2nd unit) that we can work at more local weddings and provide two camera guys for a decent price to couples needing the best quality for their budget.
While Paul would rather not do weddings, we both agree that it would be a great 2nd income to help fund the studio. Paul would much rather be telling stories and creating film magic, I have found a nice niche doing highlight videos and creating stories out of capture moments that I feel I can apply to building some memorable wedding videos.
There's still 2 1/2 weeks until the wedding, so I can always try out the HV40. Although I'm going to try my best to make the HG21 work for me, I just don't want to deal with tapes.
In the newspaper...
Here is Igor's Lament, our video submission for the Butterfinger video contest!
Also, my first day with the DuPageFilm group also happened to be the day the Wheaton Sun newpaper sent a photographer to document the group. I'm there, although you can only see the back of my head.
Getting in on the act:
Igor's Lament from Dave Spooner on Vimeo.
Also, my first day with the DuPageFilm group also happened to be the day the Wheaton Sun newpaper sent a photographer to document the group. I'm there, although you can only see the back of my head.
Getting in on the act:
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Knowing - Plane Crash
When I first saw the previews for "Knowing", I was thinking "Jeez, not another Nicholas Cage nice guy hero movie!". I wasn't even planning on seeing it, but the wife brought it home and we wanted to watch a movie and there was nothing else to watch so we popped it in.
Little was I prepared for a very surprising movie, and the Jet Plane crash was an amazing effects sequence. It takes a lot for me to be "wowed" by special effects, but I literally said "holy $h1t!" a couple times as it was happening. I mean, it's not the effects that are really incredible, it's the realism and the fact that it was ONE CUT for the whole crash sequence!
One thing I have discovered while learning motion graphics and special effects the past few years, is that there is a huge difference in difficulty between a 1 second effect and a 10 second effect. It works just like the Richter scale. Most of the big special effects (explosions, fire, heavy action) that you see in the movies is heavily cut into easily manageable 1-2 second scenes. But when you have an entire scene full of explosions, people on fire, an entire CG plane ripping across the landscape and interacting with it, and it's 2 MINUTES LONG... that's a LOT of work!
This scene could of easily have been several 5-10 second cuts fit together, but it wouldn't have been 1/10th as impressive is it is. Kudos to the team that was able to put this together, enjoy:
Little was I prepared for a very surprising movie, and the Jet Plane crash was an amazing effects sequence. It takes a lot for me to be "wowed" by special effects, but I literally said "holy $h1t!" a couple times as it was happening. I mean, it's not the effects that are really incredible, it's the realism and the fact that it was ONE CUT for the whole crash sequence!
One thing I have discovered while learning motion graphics and special effects the past few years, is that there is a huge difference in difficulty between a 1 second effect and a 10 second effect. It works just like the Richter scale. Most of the big special effects (explosions, fire, heavy action) that you see in the movies is heavily cut into easily manageable 1-2 second scenes. But when you have an entire scene full of explosions, people on fire, an entire CG plane ripping across the landscape and interacting with it, and it's 2 MINUTES LONG... that's a LOT of work!
This scene could of easily have been several 5-10 second cuts fit together, but it wouldn't have been 1/10th as impressive is it is. Kudos to the team that was able to put this together, enjoy:
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Afterburn Results
This has to be the best results I have ever gotten with Afterburn. I took a year old project because it had a great particle animation, and then updated the atmospherics, models, and afterburn shading. IMO impressive results, at 1280x720 it's about 5 minutes per frame which is acceptable.Sometimes when I get good results in a picture, the animation is really off and doesn't look right, but this animated quite nicely, I just need to change the times of the initial plume and then I'll be ready to do a full render test.
Rendering inefficiency or awesomeness?
Over the past 2 years I've been caught in the delusional thinking that must choose between FumeFX and Afterburn for explosions and fire effects, but I've come to the realization that each program has it's specific uses and purpose. FumeFX is best for close shots of fire, and for simulating the liquid properties of fire. Afterburn is best for big, detailed, distance shots of explosions and rely on particles rather than a simulation.
The problem with Afterburn, is when I finally get good looking (and animating) results, my render-times skyrocket. The problem with FumeFX is that it likes to think it's running out of memory and crash, and good looking simulations take up many gigs of space. Plus with FumeFX, the physical space for your simulations are restricted to a pre-made box (and bigger means more processing), while Afterburn is limited to whatever you can do in PFlow, which is a lot.
I am currently rendering a test animation of some Afterburn explosions, and my render times are upwards of 3-4 minutes per frame. And at 400 frames, it's gonna take a while. I don't like waiting to see that I screwed up something and I'm going to have to render again. But I guess that's the biz.
The problem with Afterburn, is when I finally get good looking (and animating) results, my render-times skyrocket. The problem with FumeFX is that it likes to think it's running out of memory and crash, and good looking simulations take up many gigs of space. Plus with FumeFX, the physical space for your simulations are restricted to a pre-made box (and bigger means more processing), while Afterburn is limited to whatever you can do in PFlow, which is a lot.
I am currently rendering a test animation of some Afterburn explosions, and my render times are upwards of 3-4 minutes per frame. And at 400 frames, it's gonna take a while. I don't like waiting to see that I screwed up something and I'm going to have to render again. But I guess that's the biz.
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