Jan 1st - The final status check thread

[galt]

Okay gang, how is everyone doing NOW that we are in the last month? Anyone who has NOT started shooting yet, and still hopes to have an entry? Anyone done with all shooting and CG ?

For me, I have lots of groundwork to do in terms on local networking before I am in position to shoot a short. I plan on being a judge this time. :) I hope there are less than 100 to watch...

[GenJerDan]

Haven't shot anything. Did some tests.

[PixelMagic]

Principle Photography next weekend (January 6th, 7th, and 8th). Been running test for using motion capture to help with animation of CGI aliens. Tests successful, and far better than I had hoped.

[spidey]

shooting is done. editing is near rough cut. Models Monday. Effects and CGI all month. Sound rest of month. That is all.

[OLBoy]

Still haven't shot anything. Wrote 3 scripts this time around just to make sure that I would have something to submit and wouldn't have to bail like I did with the zombiefest.

Scripts 1 and 2 proved to be way too complicated and difficult to schedule. I will probably present these as "Deleted Scripts" sometime after the voting ends.

Script 3 is pretty simple so I'll probably shoot Jan. 20-22. ADR on the 23. And edit the entire week, maybe throw in some simple FX (simple because I am legally retarded when it comes to photoshop)

Good luck to everyone. And Happy New Years.

[Ralph Oshiro]

Haven't shot one frame. Shot some tests. Wrote a good script, very shootable, but too ambitious to shoot in time frame. Major girlfriend issues (keep hot one, or marry other one?). Need to think of script I can shoot in one weekend. Starting to panic.

[HagerNYC]

I haven't shot principal photography yet, but I have been rendering a lot of CGI. lol I can't make anything simple, but my concept is. I hope it will be very entertaining to all. :) Green Screen work will commence once I get back from vacation. I can't wait to see what everybody will be submitting.

[Dahopafilms]

We already have our opening sequence (about 1 minute).

I finished my storyboards (Frameforge) last week and reviewed them with my DP. Sure he fainted, but after he regained consciousness and pointed out all the things we couldn't do, we agreed that we'd try it anyway. I think he not only went to the "Scotty School of Optimisim", I think he must teach there ("We canno' do it Captain. She'll rupture and break up and spread us all over the known Galaxy...").

But I digress.

We purchased the final set of props/wardrobe this afternoon. Then went directly to the final wardrobe check/fitting today (Me to gorgeous actress: "No, darling, just a little more cleavage ... Goooood" ...). It went well. Really. (Ahem)

Next week I need to finish off my Union clearances. I have all the necessary papaerwork in hand. Yippee.

VERY ambitious shooting schedule continues on the 6th (interior) and 7th (exterior) of January. Then it's off to editing (or, more likely, for pick-ups to try and fix the director's screw-ups).

And I lose my DP around the 10th, so no smarter-guy-than-me meddling with my edits this time around. That should help (Yeah. Right).

And, oh yeah - because my HVX won't be here by then, I'll be able to edit on Vegas 6.0 - so no whiny excuses from me (this time around) about trying to learn a new NLE before the contest closes (Apple? You mean the Beatles label, right?).

(And yup, I'm still being realistic, so I'm aiming for 27th place this time around - http://www.dvxuser.com/V3/showpost.php?p=353731&postcount=38)

Good luck to all.

And Happy New Year:beer:

[Barry_S]

NBC adhering to normal production schedule---check!

P.S. Dump hot one (always trouble) and marry other one.


Haven't shot one frame. Shot some tests. Wrote a good script, very shootable, but too ambitious to shoot in time frame. Major girlfriend issues (keep hot one, or marry other one?). Need to think of script I can shoot in one weekend. Starting to panic.

[Brandon Rice]

Well... today was our "final" shoot day. I have one short final scene to shoot Monday night, but it'll only take about half an hour to do.

Today was brutal. We had rain start coming down with two or three shots left. And, sporatic rain throughout.

I should have a rough cut with all scenes, save the final one by the end of tomorrow.

Will finish effects (Three greenscreen shots, and some particle effects) on Monday, and Tuesday.

Hopefully will have a finished cut by the end of the week to begin scoring and sound mixing.

[pmark23]

Like others, our first script was a bit too ambitious (although I had written it specifically to be easy and quick to shoot). I wrote another script last week which can be shot in a day (or two), and is a more interesting story.

We had already gone through most of the pre-production with the previous script, but we can use the same actors.

I've scheduled shooting for the 14th, and should be done post a week later.

[Norm Sanders]

We were going to shoot two pick ups today, but it was down pouring rain. With nothing but rain scheduled for the next 7+ days, it's cutting it too close to worry about now. We'll have our locked edit at 6 minutes to the composer (Chris Rojas w/RMI Studios) this Monday, as well as a slightly longer version (8-9 minutes ... paced out MUCH more quickly than we thought it would) with the poor footage we're going to reshoot & replace before we cut DVD's for the cast/crew & submit anywhere else.

This will give us an entire month for ADR, uprezzing, FX, sound, etc.

[krestofre]

Rough cut is finished. Half of the ADR is done. I've completely 14 FX shots and have 24 more to do. Then it's foley, sound design, and score time.

[MrBirdBoy]

Shoot the hot one & be nice to the marry one for how ever long the shooting of the hot one takes. Then check the gate and shoot again. Good nutrition or cake ? I say BOTH !!!

Cake first thou... incase you get full.

[smelni]

FInished my rough cut - working on effects - which is always a time hole - especially after I render and look and say "gee that looks really fake, lets try again".

Happy with the story and the look (shot with micro 35). Been able to edit around most issues - dont think i need any reshoots.

Tommorrow will begin some sound editing. Oh yeah and put a couple more fake effects in :) - I am really lucky that i have several practical effects cause the cgi is very difficult as I am sure everyone knows.

I also made this an opportunity to learn avid in prep for the hvx - always used premier - so the learning curve has slowed me down a bit.

[Norm Sanders]

Wow, I don't think I'd ever have the patience to learn a new NLE under a contest deadline like this ... then again, I'd probably never just take my down time to learn a new one either.

I'm not a patient person.

[Brandon Rice]

Wow... finished a really close cut of the film tonight (w/out VFX). And, it's 11 min. long! Great!!! Still have another 30 sec. scene to add. I hate this! I don't want to cut anything either. I really did not think it would run this long.

[GenJerDan]

FInished my rough cut - working on effects - which is always a time hole - especially after I render and look and say "gee that looks really fake, lets try again".

Just wait'll you get the thing done, looking great, then do a test burn to DVD for television....aaaauuuuggggghhhhhhh! All the CG looks different! The stuff you had to enhance to look nice in a WMV/MOV now looks like a kindergarten class drew it. :grin:

[ZombieSquid]

Shooting tests tonight, testing a rig, plan to shoot the bulk of it on Tuesday and Wednesday this week. Should be nice and warm down here.

[Slimothy]

Wow, I don't think I'd ever have the patience to learn a new NLE under a contest deadline like this ... then again, I'd probably never just take my down time to learn a new one either.

I'm not a patient person.
Norm...what new NLE did you learn?

[Brandon Rice]

Last scene being shot tonight. Gotta figure out what to cut out. My running time w/out credits is already twice as long as it's supposed to be...

[Ralph Oshiro]

P.S. Dump hot one (always trouble) and marry other one.Hmmmm . . . Barry's ALWAYS right about technical stuff . . . I wonder if . . .

[dougspice]

Started working on securing some locations, props, and crew. Did some lighting tests. Got some tentative financing. Haven't shot the first frame. Wrote the script, it's now in revision and getting really good. But, like all writing, it sort of took on legs of its own once I sat down to put it to paper, and now I'm not sure if it will be an entry in this contest at all. It really wants to be a feature, I think, and short of that anything less than 10-15 minutes doesn't seem to do it justice. So I may just shoot that 15 minute version, toss it to some of the other guys at the company here and see if they feel like a 5 minute version can be done.

Otherwise, the movie's more important than the contest.

[Slimothy]

Started working on securing some locations, props, and crew. Did some lighting tests. Got some tentative financing. Haven't shot the first frame. Wrote the script, it's now in revision and getting really good. But, like all writing, it sort of took on legs of its own once I sat down to put it to paper, and now I'm not sure if it will be an entry in this contest at all. It really wants to be a feature, I think, and short of that anything less than 10-15 minutes doesn't seem to do it justice. So I may just shoot that 15 minute version, toss it to some of the other guys at the company here and see if they feel like a 5 minute version can be done.

Otherwise, the movie's more important than the contest.
Either way you should cut a 5 min version just to get it in the fest!

[Brandon Rice]

Yeah. I am going to as well. Even though I think I'll be sacrificing a lot of the character development.

[arielman]

We have the first 2 min done , now the rest I hope this weekend ...always seems to be the weather that is causing problems . we are on track though. Sure wish I had Bricemans problem of too much footage .
Can't wait to see some of the CGI that's being done .
Ian

[Slimothy]

I'm dropping my main idea. Couldn't get the cities blessing soon enough. We couldn't really do the script we had w/o the citie's blessing. We might throw something together real quick just to make sure we stay busy. We are still going to do our sci-fi script, just at a later date when we have more money, etc. Hopefully we can pull something decent together real quick.

[JimtheJib]

does the arunning time restriction include the credits. or can it be 6 minutes plus x amount for credits?

[PixelMagic]

Jan 2nd - One of our actors can't make it to the shoot. This made is nessecary to re-write much of the ending of our script. Luckily, the second draft is actually much better than the first.

[Slimothy]

does the arunning time restriction include the credits. or can it be 6 minutes plus x amount for credits?
6 mins total. You can have 6 mins of credits if ya want.

[Norm Sanders]

Norm...what new NLE did you learn?

Haven't ... not sure I'll ever leave Vegas if I can help it ... I was just making a comment based on smelni's post.

[Norm Sanders]

Got some tentative financing.

How BIG of a budget are you looking at, that you have to seek financing for it?!?! Our largest cost, by far, was food which ran around $250 for all three days & a cast/crew of around 10 people. We'll be well under $400 for total out of pocket hard costs.

If we really were to pay for everything up front, then sure we'd be in the thousands for locations, talent, crew, props we weren't able to return :evil:, etc. ... but, that's where we got creative & either deferred pay (they know it's really free ... just IF we ever made any money they'd get paid first) or bartered our production services in exchange for location(s), craft services, etc.

Briceman, you mentioned sacrificing character development for a 5-6 minute version ... I think that's a given. You can tell a QUICK story, but you can't really have much time to get into the character, have an arc, etc.

[Jack Daniel Stanley]

yeah - that's why a good short is: built on a twist or a punchline -- no time for character development -- just enough time to set up an expectation and defy it. You could also fulfill it but that's when you get the "uh ... yes, and?" feeling at the end of the short. Ex: Boy meets girl, looks like they'll wind up together ... they do ... uh yes and? This is OK in the long form because after the section where it looks like they might wind up together there is a long section of the movie convicing us (though sledom effectively) that they won't, so when they do the story feels both ineveitable and unlikely (whole). In a short you don't get to turn away from one outcome only to come back to it, so you just get the one turn away which is often a punchline or twist -- i.e. the cowboy hero in the zombie movie is no hero at all but using the zombie is part of a con.

Now having said that - my short hinges on character as much as, if not more than, story and the twist ... we'll see if I can pull it off ... don't hold your breathe!

[dougspice]

Either way you should cut a 5 min version just to get it in the fest!

I'd like to, but if this thing is really going to run that much longer, it's going to need a lot more pre-production. I don't want to rush things just to get it done. We'll see how it goes.


How BIG of a budget are you looking at, that you have to seek financing for it?!?!

Not a huge amount, certainly, but maybe something on the order of $1200-1500. I can pay maybe half of that out of pocket, even in my state of relative poverty, so the rest has to come from somewhere. If it didn't, I'd find another way to do it, scale back the idea a bit, replace the one or two people who are going to want to be paid, etc. But I don't want to do that unless I have to. You know how it goes.

Regardless of whether or not I get something finished, I'm looking forward to seeing a lot of what sound like really interesting and ambitious projects!

[Brandon Rice]

Yeah. The twist is what makes it work. We finished our final shoot tonight. It went great. We shot two alternate endings. Trying to decide which to use. My VFX guy started working on some of my effects, muzzle flashes and filters right now.

Side Note: On the topic of budget. We spent a little over 100 bucks for food, props, makeup, etc. Worked perfect for us.

[Beat Takeshi]

Well since our team pulled out because of wanting to make the original short longer and is vey ambitious I started one on my own but its going to be very tiny. I am just using my daughters to get something in and have an idea but no script. I shot and edited the ending scene to see if it works before I go on to the other stuff. So far so good and I should be shooting the rest this weekend with no script except for the images in my mind.

[Jack Daniel Stanley]

[QUOTE=briceman...My VFX guy started working on some of my effects, muzzle flashes and filters right now.
[/QUOTE]
cool

here's a link with some muzzle flashes I found useful -- they are free -- from real guns -- and better than the ones I was using at least.

http://www.detonationfilms.com/

Of course your VFX guy may have ones that blow these away (pun intended), in which case ... nevermind.

[Brandon Rice]

Thanks man. I'll let my guy know, I'm not sure what he's using.

Also: Our Logo/Graphic Design Guy just finished a logo for the film. It looks gorgeous!

[manglerBMX]

what spidey said....

[Brandon Rice]

Jan. 4 -
Finished a locked picture of our long version (11 min). I am leaving for vacation to Florida tomorrow. My composer will be scoring the long version this week, and next, as I finish up some of the VFX, and edit/mix all the audio, and finalize Color Correction. Then from there, I'll work it down to my six minute sci-fest version.

[PixelMagic]

Jan 4 - Secured location for shooting. Tomorrow morning, we are going on location to figure out how to set up. Principle Photography this weekend, January 7th and 8th.

[Brandon Rice]

Off to Florida this morning (flight leaves @ 7:00 PST). Will be working on audio mixing and color correction, while here in LA, my composer will be scoring the film.

[Jack Daniel Stanley]

holy moly, its 530 AM, just finished props, organizing gear, reviewing Barry's DVD and adjusting some camera settings and I leave in an hour for an all day shoot (first day of shoot).

Ai Carumba!!!!

[Brandon Rice]

I am at the airport... Wait! This isn't "status on my trip" thread. LOL! I'm tired.

[dougspice]

Well, tonight I was frustrated with the script and full of energy, so I left the apartment at 3am for a good long run. Best idea I've ever had. I not only came up with at least half a dozen viable fixes for the script, I found at least two new places to live!

Fast forward a few hours and I've got a finished 5-page script. Can I shoot it in 2 weeks? Probably not. But it's done and I'm happy with it, and it will get made, even if it has to be in February. Oh, and it might be slightly cheaper now, depending on how nice some people are to me.

[Slimothy]

holy moly, its 530 AM, just finished props, organizing gear, reviewing Barry's DVD and adjusting some camera settings and I leave in an hour for an all day shoot (first day of shoot).

Ai Carumba!!!!
Good luck, let us know how it went.

[ZombieSquid]

I shot all of last night and the night before. I managed to get a couple of people pretty bruised up, so I'll say they were productive shoots.

[arielman]

Well it Rained and rained ..The snow was starting to disappear and I was worried ...No snow means I couldn't continue where I left off ..
Man I envy you guys down south .
The good news it has stopped and the temp has fallen , looks good for this weekend .Maybe we'll actually finish .
Ian

[Norm Sanders]

Thankfully we've got all our footage for the 6 minute edit, and the locked edit is complete with it to the composer now. But to finish the film with the additional two minutes or so we have to shoot, we have to have ZERO rain ... which we've been at like 85% humidity for the past week, raining for a week+ solid. However, at least we're not in a crunch for the fest, and will add the additional footage before we cut the DVD for cast/crew.

[greeches]

we film this sunday, entire shoot, one day. will be a greusome day!! :)

[ZombieSquid]

-
Man I envy you guys down south .
-

Yeah, it was about 60 degrees at 8PM when were out on Monday. Just rubbing it in a little:laugh:

[Ralph Oshiro]

Well, I gotta dump girlfriend and move her crap out, AND light the Golden Globe Awards--two precious January weekends totally blown away. That means, IF all goes well, I'll have only ONE weekend to shoot AND post.

[Larry Rutledge]

I have to say I love these DVXfests just for the NBCShooter drama's :grin: You really should start a blog.

[Matthew B. Moore]

Thankfully we've got all our footage for the 6 minute edit, and the locked edit is complete with it to the composer now. But to finish the film with the additional two minutes or so we have to shoot, we have to have ZERO rain ... which we've been at like 85% humidity for the past week, raining for a week+ solid. However, at least we're not in a crunch for the fest, and will add the additional footage before we cut the DVD for cast/crew.

Envision,

Don't envy that Southern weather too much. We had to shoot all of our rain stuff in below-freezing weather. Ice on the boom-pole, stands and my head. It sucked. We are still looking for the chance to shoot a film in the snow. I know it will look great...I don't care if I have to dress like a polarbear.

[Matthew B. Moore]

we film this sunday, entire shoot, one day. will be a greusome day!! :)


Dave,

We managed to get J. to come out for a small part. As expected, he kicked that ass.
He's been working out for a series and he's all buff now. He makes a good SWAT cop.

[Norm Sanders]

Snow would be technically more challenging to view in, but I always love seeing footage that takes place in the snow, specifically if it's actually snowing!

[spidey]

yeah redneck samurai vol. 3 is what we hope to show snow in... if it snows....

[Norm Sanders]

Could always just travel up high enough in the mountains & go to where the snow is. Could be some great vista shots in the BG then as well.

[GenJerDan]

Oooooooooooo. Shot two...well...not really scenes....just shots...tonight. Two of the three most difficult. The rest is cake.

Finally. I still have what? Three weeks to finish? :grin:

[TheMacB]

everything is shot and being cut as we speak. we lived in an office building for three days and it feels good to be back in a real bed! i'm beginning to get excited...

[spidey]

Yeah norm and sound wouldnt be problem as well, just the fact to get the actors and enough crew and power up there could be but who knows :-p

[Norm Sanders]

Yep, if you could manage the power angle (generators), then it sure would be FUN. Like one big happy campout.

[Nobody356]

I shot what was going to be my scifi and it turned out awfull. I probably wont end up submitting anything to the contest. The most major problem is that one of my actors showed up to the set INCREDIBLY late(with a mediocre excuse) and I somehow managed to shoot the 8 page script in an hour and a half before the other actor had ti leave. Still, it ended up pretty bad in my oppinion. The acting looks borderline horrible and its really my fault because I shouldnt have attempted the rush job. At least the lighting and camera work looks pretty good, although I made a few framing mistakes because I was rushing myself

We'll see if I can edit it down to anything usable

[Brandon Rice]

Bummer man! It stinks when people flake on you. It annoys me to no end!

In other news, I hope my composer is working on the score this weekend (I have no way of know, being 2000 miles away). He better have some progress made by the time I get back to LA!

[blckhawk542]

Well...with my situation now..I still wanna make a Sci Fi / Horror..because..isnt Sci Fi usually involve horror too?

I'm still gonna make a movie...but im not gonna have it in time when all the movies are due. There's reasons why but you wouldnt be interested..personal reasonings.

I have a script and screenplay and everything too...so its not like i was lazy all this winter. I really wanna enter this..but i can't.

[ZombieSquid]

Shot again last night, shooting again tonight (this'll be day number 4 of shooting). Sounds big, but were moving at a pace of around 20 seconds of screen time per shoot. Baby steps, Man, baby steps.

[GenJerDan]

Don't just hate that? We spent about 5 hours getting footage for two shots...of about 3 seconds each.

[Norm Sanders]

Our 1st AD was a Clock Nazi. She had us on schedule the entire time. We missed a few shots that we were wanting/hoping to get in, but we still got through nearly 5 pages a day.

Because everyone was doing this on spec (for free / deferred), we felt it was extremely important to honor our time commitments/schedule with them.

[ZombieSquid]

You've got a 1st Assistant Director? Jesus, I'm doing good to find somebody to hold a boom pole...Its so much fun though, I think its great that this contest has people on so many levels all competing together and giving one another input and such. Good times.

[Brandon Rice]

Agreed ZombieSquid! I think my "crew" consisted on three total people for the most part (that's including myself and my co-director!) I think it turned out great nonetheless!

[Norm Sanders]

Been there, trust me. For the Zombiefest and my short DEATH MARCH, I was a crew of one, except for the TWO times I was able to find two SEPERATE people to hold a boom pole on moving shots. Otherwise, I was writer, director, producer, editor, sound, etc .... and actor. The talent out numbered the crew at least 5 to 1.

Because of Craig's List, and some other creative thinking, this project actually had as much crew if not more than cast ... or at least a nice balance.

However, even now in post we're already seeing SO many things that we're learning from, and what to do differently next time, etc. I'm already excited about the next project we'll do together just so we can improve that much more.

[Brandon Rice]

I agree, there is always stuff to learn and improve on! That's the joy of filmmaking, aspiring to that goal of perfection!

[David Jimerson]

NBC adhering to normal production schedule---check!

P.S. Dump hot one (always trouble) and marry other one.

No doubt! If the only reason to stay with her is that she's hot, then dude . . . you know what you gotta do.

Then, your brain will be free for shooting.

[ZombieSquid]

I think I'm going to go the bus station and round up a bunch of random guys to hang around while I shoot, and I'll give them all titles like "Line Producer" and "Assisstant Director". That way, I'l have someone to blame when things go badly.

[GenJerDan]

Everybody's quitting? :( How embarrassing, to win by default.

:grin: (Sitting here, drinking tea, waiting for waffles, about to reshoot damn near everything from yesterday...we'll see if *I* make in time, too.)

[Slimothy]

Dan-I'm looking forward to your entry. Glad to see you're entering this one. Tim.

[GenJerDan]

You're just hoping there'll be another unclothed female in it. :)

By the way....there is.

[Jack Daniel Stanley]

it about killed me .. but one more day of principal on Tuesday then some pickups

[David Jimerson]

You're just hoping there'll be another unclothed female in it.

By the way....there is.

Which, of course, can mean anything in a sci-fi.

[GenJerDan]

:grin:

[PixelMagic]

Finished up Principle Photography 1 hour ago. It is now 4:00 a.m. I think we did about 47 set ups today. Brutal.

[arielman]

Snow would be technically more challenging to view in, but I always love seeing footage that takes place in the snow, specifically if it's actually snowing!

Well Envision you will be happy to know we have snow falling in ours ..just a little though .
On Sat night it started to snow heavy , had the cover on the camera BUT the dampness crepted in causing the camera to lock ( not record) then the dreaded X appeared ...cleaned it ..and everthing was Ok ..We did lose about 10 min of footage though ..can't figure out why it took the camera sooo long to display the X ..O well this Sat night coming up should be the end of filming .

I think I'll take the snow over the cold rain any day .
The hardest part yet is putting music to this short ...
Ian

[limehouse]

If all goes well, mine will be shot this weekend and edited/composited over the next couple of weeks. I wasn't sure I'd be able to get it done since I'm working on another project, but I found a couple of people who are willing to work on it. It's last minute, but we may have something cool...

[Brandon Rice]

Yes! Almost all VFX done! Scoring should be finished by the end of the week, now I've just got to get down to audio mixing this thing. I hate this part, it's the most tedious work known to man!!!

[janzie]

FINISHED THE SCRIPT TODAY!

i actually gave up 3 times already, but now it looks like we´re shooting this weekend and then finish the whole thing in two weeks...it has nothing to do with my original idea, but it´s better to do a small film than quitting!!

good luck to everybody

j.

[Beat Takeshi]

MsManhattan and I finished the ideas for shots(but no actual script... just a few lines) and I should be finishing up shooting by next weekend. We have a nice small story that works.

[Norm Sanders]

Great news! Glad to hear it!

[PixelMagic]

Jan 10th - Prinicple Photography finished this weekend. We just have to finish pick up shots tonight. The Visual Effects team is almost assembled. The first visual effects shot will be finalzed tonight.

[Dahopafilms]

We finished all photography on the 7th. The cast and crew braved pounding rain on Saturday during our riverbank shoot. Even though it wasn't all that cold (at least by Canadian winter standards) after a few hours getting drenched I think we were all happy to get warm and dry.

I'm now into the editing (Vegas 6), have a rough cut finished and have completed the ADR for our star. Three (likely four) more ADRs to finish in the next week or so.

Pretty much on time and on budget.

Oh yeah. Memo to self for next contest: "Always cast as many young blondes as possible - not so much for the effects on screen, but more to catch the shocked, questioning looks on the faces of the bartenders when they see a balding, paunchy, middle-aged white male arrive at their bar with cute, young blondes hanging all over him for the after-shoot party." (too bad that lasted only about three minutes ...)

I LOVE THESE CONTESTS!!!!!!

[GenJerDan]

Memo to self for next contest: "Always avoid casting young blondes - not so much for the effects on screen, but more to avoid the shocked, questioning looks on the face of the wife when she sees a balding, paunchy, middle-aged white male arrive with cute, young blondes hanging all over him for the after-shoot party."

[Dahopafilms]

Memo to self for next contest: "Always avoid casting young blondes - not so much for the effects on screen, but more to avoid the shocked, questioning looks on the face of the wife when she sees a balding, paunchy, middle-aged white male arrive with cute, young blondes hanging all over him for the after-shoot party."

Memo to self for next marriage: "Always keep wife as happy as possible. Always marry a blind woman."

Now I'm sorry I said that.

[Jarred Land]

Oh yeah. Memo to self for next contest: "Always cast as many young blondes as possible - not so much for the effects on screen, but more to catch the shocked, questioning looks on the faces of the bartenders when they see a balding, paunchy, middle-aged white male arrive at their bar with cute, young blondes hanging all over him for the after-shoot party." (too bad that lasted only about three minutes ...)

I LOVE THESE CONTESTS!!!!!!

if you where talking about females I would be jelous.. but those young blonde boys you been hanging around with is gonna get you in trouble :)

:evil:

[arielman]

Well it is pouring RAIN ...HEAVY at that ..Rain again tomorrow and Sat as well ..
We were going to try and film the 3 scenes we never did last Sat night on this Sat night . If we have GREEN grass , I'm not sure what we will do( head up north a little maybe ) . The rest of the story takes place later on so I don't care if it snows / rains or not .
All I can do is hope for snow even a little to cover the grass...
I do NOT want to bail on this , we'll give it our best to finish
Hope everyone else is having better luck .
Ian

[GenJerDan]

If we have GREEN grass , I'm not sure what we will do( head up north a little maybe ) .

Chroma-key the green grass into brownish grass. Maybe. Hmmm...

[arielman]

I'm sure there is an easy solution to this ...maybe even a rewrite of those scenes . I'm not sure if I can pull it off and have it make sense
It is at these times I wish my editing skills were much better than what they are .
On the bright side we have what 3 weeks left .
I'm sure GenJerDan we will have a solution to this .
Guess I must wait til Sat to find out ...Please let it snow ...Thought I would never say those dirty words .
Ian

[Dahopafilms]

if you where talking about females I would be jelous.. but those young blonde boys you been hanging around with is gonna get you in trouble :)

:evil:

You mean them gals were guys? Awwwww, shucks! Ya shoulda saved me, man!

(NOTICE: Not all persons depicted in the following candid shots appear on screen or are otherwise involved in DahopaFilms' forthcoming Sci-Fest entry and accordingly this posting should and ought not be viewed or construed as any type or kind of promotion of the pending entry whatsoever in contravention of the very reasonable and understandably strict rules of the said competition.)

Thank you. Really.

http://img63.imageshack.us/img63/8868/img210311yy.jpg (http://imageshack.us) http://img80.imageshack.us/img80/7208/img211818wz.jpg (http://imageshack.us) http://img57.imageshack.us/img57/9042/img211212ff.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[Barry_S]

Mmm. I can just see the words slurring and all notions of personal space evaporating in those pics. :) I have no idea of your character's motivations, but yours sir--are crystalline.

[Norm Sanders]

Um, I vote for the girl on the right, second photo down.

And just what ARE you staring at in that 3rd pic ... her empty beer glass ("Geez, she finished that ALREADY?!) or ....

Correction ... you like like you're about to pass out, not really looking at anything at all. Great wrap party!

[Dahopafilms]

Um, I vote for the girl on the right, second photo down.

Me too.

Jarred tells me her name is "Bernard". Or something like that.

[Norm Sanders]

Ouch ... but it DOES has a nice ring to it.

[ZombieSquid]

I give up, there's no way I can compete with that.

[Jack Daniel Stanley]

you mean you were hoping to be the next hot young blond in a Dahopa flick?

don't sell yourself short man :cheesy:

[ZombieSquid]

Well I've been saving up for the operation, but there's no way I'll be healed in time for the next DVXFest. Even the best doctor in Venezuala can only do so much....

[Slimothy]

Um, I vote for the girl on the right, second photo down.

And just what ARE you staring at in that 3rd pic ... her empty beer glass ("Geez, she finished that ALREADY?!) or ....

Correction ... you like like you're about to pass out, not really looking at anything at all. Great wrap party!
I totally agree. That chick in the black looks like she'd be smokin. Good job Dahopa.

[Dahopafilms]

I totally agree. That chick in the black looks like she'd be smokin. Good job Dahopa.

LOL. I deliver to you in photographs what I fear I am too unskilled to deliver to you by way of a Sci-Fest entry!

But it sure is fun making these things ...:laugh:

Again - THANKS JARRED!

[Norm Sanders]

I totally agree. That chick in the black looks like she'd be smokin.

Yep, married 13 years this May, but I can still look ... at least when my wife's not around. Made the mistake once of allowing my head to turn when I was WITH her at the store ... BIG mistake. :grin: I don't think it's happened since.

Dahopa, you can deliver ... I remember FIST FULL OF FLESH. That SO sounds like a porn title.

[Dahopafilms]

... I remember FIST FULL OF FLESH. That SO sounds like a porn title.

Thanks for the kind words - Fistful was supposed to be a gentle, amusing little piece - and we almost succeeded. But at least you got the intention of the title - thanks! (I actually recently re-edited it and it's much better now.)

And if you remember Fistful, perhaps the young lady third from the left in the top photo and in the last wrap party photo (above) looks familiar?

But I digress ...

And thanks for the interest guys - but perhaps we should now abandon my lurid wrap party photos (posted primarily to properly respond to Jarred's cracks about these fine ladies being "young blonde boys") and resume the thread topic.

And - oh yeah - ol' Jarred's been a little quiet since the pics were posted, hasn't he?:laugh:

Cheers and thanks.

(perhaps someone should start a "Warp Party Photos" thread. I've got a lot more photos from our party - which I can send to you in a plain brown wrapper for a mere $3.50 ...)

[Slimothy]

I actually would love to see a "wrap party photos" thread. I doubt it could go on w/o it getting out of hand though. I'm sure some posts would border on promotion as the more spectacular the photo, the more buzz created around the project.

I wonder what Jarred or Barry would think.

[profnoxin]

Well, we finally finished the flipping fine cut. Had to hack out about a minute to get it in under the time limit... but it's done. I'm sure others are experiencing this, but... it's funny how quickly the credits get cut down when you're working on a time constraint.

Now to finish sound...

Good luck everyone.

[GenJerDan]

Status: looking for a new hobby, 'cause this filmmaking stuff is definitely not my forté.

At least not editing. :grin:

[wcs]

Things are falling... into place.

[Norm Sanders]

Doing my own ADR right now. SO sick of hearing my own voice. Think I'll go drink a bottle of draino, followed by a Clorox coctail ... certainly can't hear the way I #$%#@ sound.

[Brandon Rice]

Don't do it Norm!!! Well... status report is good. Score should be finished this week, and effects as well. Then I will have to chop down the film (it's 11 min. right now) to meet the requirements. Things are good, just a lot of waiting for other people(music,SFX) now.

[Norm Sanders]

Nah, I'm all talk. 'Sides, once I got the bottle to my lips, the smell about choked me. Kidding, really, I don't need intervention. :)

Just had one talent come & go after taking about an hour to do 2-3 SIMPLE short lines of dialogue. It is TOUGH picking out which exact take you like best ... unless you're going to comp pieces together ... especially when they all sound so similar with the exception of one TINY bit of inflection here or there.

Other talent should be here any minute for his ADR. Then, I'm still not fully satisfied with mine, and need to do it again.

Tell you what, I'm getting nervous. Anytime I read about one of you guys saying you're pleased with your results, love what you see so far, can't believe how well it looks, etc.

[P!body]

Things are good. Waiting till the last minute of course- with the bulk of shooting left for next weekend.

It's funny you given three months to do something and I always wait till the last minute. Working under the pressure may be good.

I can't wait. Everyone is pretty excited- and there is room for a lot of improv for the actors. Should be cool.

Good luck to everyone else.

[Jack Daniel Stanley]

Doing my own ADR right now. SO sick of hearing my own voice....
...

Nah, I'm all talk.
lol:cheesy:

[Norm Sanders]

You can tell SOMEONE had experience in journalism ... got the knack there for taking quotes out of context, do ya' Jack? :beer:

Funny, though!

[arielman]

good to see everyone is coming along .
Well the rained stopped for a day then continued again this morning BUT it started to snow ..yeeehaw ...we setup tonight to finish some extra scenes and the temperature just dropped ...crap man it was COLD ..we packed it in without one frame shot ...As I'm writting this my feet are still cold ..
we are not giving in yet ..our solution is going to film the scenes separate through out this week, then hope they match later . and the deadline is getting closer.
Ian

[kimko]

dundundundun...dundudndundun...i'm a headin out to da east coast.down to da wire. jump into da fire but you never be free no no no no...woo..woo woo woo woo

[Brandon Rice]

About two weeks left. Still finishing up three VFX shots (only one is needed for the fest version though). Our composer is coming over with a finished score for us to tweak, and then hopefully lock by the end of the week. Still working on sound mix (My least favorite part).

[GenJerDan]

It is TOUGH picking out which exact take you like best ... unless you're going to comp pieces together ... especially when they all sound so similar with the exception of one TINY bit of inflection here or there.

That's why they made cut-n-paste. :)

Cut on a dental, and no one will notice.

[GenJerDan]

Uh-oh. I just realized something. Y'all are gonna want loglines, too. Right?

[xl70e3]

How lucky do you have to be to get the highest single day temperature drop registered since 1982 - 22°C (71.6°F) - on your first shooting day? It's now -22° to -25°C (-7.6° to -13°F) in the city downtown and god knows how much lower than this in the countryside where shooting (most of which is set outside, in the woods) was supposed to take place...

[lucidz]

so, life is jacked up.

It just so happens the ONE day all my talent is available to be togethor, is the exact same day I move into the new house.

HO HO HO MERRY FUXMAS!

That day happens to be on the 22nd.

What do you guys think? Filmed, cg'ed, scored in 9 days?

Awesomeness? I THINK MEBE!

[Brandon Rice]

Hey, you can do it! At least give it a shot!

[Shaw]

HO HO HO MERRY FUXMAS!

Haha! Nice!

[Beat Takeshi]

so, life is jacked up.

It just so happens the ONE day all my talent is available to be togethor, is the exact same day I move into the new house.

HO HO HO MERRY FUXMAS!

That day happens to be on the 22nd.

What do you guys think? Filmed, cg'ed, scored in 9 days?

Awesomeness? I THINK MEBE!

It can be done!!!

I have about 2/3rds to shoot, edit and score this weekend because of COURSE, I got another big Jan 29th deadline and have been working late everyday. I'm going to have to shoot friday night and sat morning, edit sat night, score sunday...
Yeah it can be done also!!!

[OLBoy]

Just finished a new script today and I don't shoot until the 28th and 29th. It's my first film so it should be fun.

Good luck to all.

[xl70e3]

-30°C outside... -37 tomorrow... wtf is going on? :huh:

[Jack Daniel Stanley]

you live in Russia, dude

...home of those big furry hats

[Shaw]

OK guys I have a dilemma...

I've shot 90% of my footage and started on the effects work but...

I was recently invited to go to Washington DC (for free!) for a month starting this weekend... Naturally this causes problems with shooting... What would you guys do, finish the short or take the trip? I'm having trouble deciding and time's running out (for both).

[Brandon Rice]

Dude, can you somehow shoot the last 10% before you leave, then edit while in DC? I did something similar. I shot everything, then edited, and everything while I was on vacation in Florida, last week.

[smelni]

Well if you go to DC then that is one less person to compete with :)

just kidding - but that is a hard decision - try to bang it out

[Jack Daniel Stanley]

I know you are asking us "what we would do" but it's such an individual thing based on
- how much you are just doing this for fun or how serious you are about filmaking
- how disapointed or not your other collaborators will be if you don't finish the film for competition / don't finish it at all
- what other resources you've invested in your short -- time, money, favors?
- what's in D.C. besides monuments etc. Are you going for a month of vacation, or to work on some career or life advancing thing?

Ideally: do both -- you said this causes problems with shooting -- does that mean problems -- or makes shooting impossible? If this is some great opportunity in DC and you can still somehow get the footage shot before you go, then tell your friends and collaborators how much it means to you and see if you can get that last 10% in a few all nighters or whatever you have to do. Tell them that while the opportunity in DC is important, so too is the film and their contributions to it and that you would like to honor that by completing it ... so would they help you out above and beyond by putting in some brutal hours the next few days - the advantage for them, other than your undying grattitude when you get your first studio picture, is that they are wrapped sooner.

[Brandon Rice]

Very well put, I couldn't have said it any better myself.

[Brandon Rice]

Update: All VFX done. Score will be finished this weekend, then on to cutting it down (11 min right now). Everything else is done!

[krestofre]

Still working on VFX. 14 shots to do. I still hate rotoscoping. :(

[Jack Daniel Stanley]

when people say "100 VFX shots" what defines "a shot"
- VFX over one camera angle regardless of cuts within that angle?
- each VFX over one camera angle i.e. the guuy's watch and eyes light up 2 VFX shots, or 1?
--- or what exactly
just want to know so I can represent
THX

[Slimothy]

OK guys I have a dilemma...

I've shot 90% of my footage and started on the effects work but...

I was recently invited to go to Washington DC (for free!) for a month starting this weekend... Naturally this causes problems with shooting... What would you guys do, finish the short or take the trip? I'm having trouble deciding and time's running out (for both).
I'd finish the film. That's just me because I'm VERY eager to learn and get alot of quality shorts under my belt. Also, really consider what jack said-How badly will the collaborators be dissappointed? Tim

[Brandon Rice]

I would say there are 6 VFX shots in our film, each one if one angle, but there are no multiple angles in any of the shots.

[Jack Daniel Stanley]

I'd finish the film. That's just me because I'm VERY eager to learn and get alot of quality shorts under my belt. Also, really consider what jack said-How badly will the collaborators be dissappointed? Tim
Yeah if you are paying people scale, or if they are your wife and kids maybe like disjecta's joints, then too bad for them, but if they are working for free then they were probably doing it partly because they believed in you and partly because they hoped to be rewarded with a finished producr to show for their work.

[krestofre]

when people say "100 VFX shots" what defines "a shot"


Good question. I may be counting incorrectly, but to me an FX Shot constitutes camera angle with cuts. So if my sequences goes A, B, A, that's three FX Shots even though angle A was used twice. I'm counting that way because of my workflow. I have to do the FX on A twice, so I'm counting it by gosh! :laugh:

[PixelMagic]

I count an FX shots each time I have to start a new composite. So far, I think we have 38 VFX shots in our film. I have about 27 left to do. I don't know if I'll get finished in time for Sci-Fest, but I sure as hell am going to try.

[Brandon Rice]

Um.... wow.... that's alot of FX.

[macgregor]

My shortfilm is now 6 minutes and 10 seconds. And i dont know how can i make it shorter. It even has the credits as a 2 frames image.
OH, wait a second.

ARggggg this was shot at 25p, so if i convert to 24p my shortfilm will be even longer!!!!!!!!!!

Too bad, the europeans have a real issue now, we are confronting with worse rules just because we need to tell the story in less time!

[PixelMagic]

Yes, that is alot. And 12 of those VFX shots require a CGI alien. This is going to be tough.

[Jack Daniel Stanley]

My shortfilm is now 6 minutes and 10 seconds. And i dont know how can i make it shorter. It even has the credits as a 2 frames image.
OH, wait a second.

ARggggg this was shot at 25p, so if i convert to 24p my shortfilm will be even longer!!!!!!!!!!

Too bad, the europeans have a real issue now, we are confronting with worse rules just because we need to tell the story in less time!
A) ask Jarred and or Barry if 10 seconds is a deal breaker, a couple of people werrer over slightly for Zombie fest, and they sort of waited to see if any of those films placed to see whether they would need to make it an official policy or not that you could run a little over - none of them did, but 10 seconds might be OK - so ask them if you truly are stuck.
B) I don't think anyone will care if your movie is 25fps for the online version, the big thing is that they are compatible for the DVD. I'm not sure how they could tell if you turned in a 25fps progressive scane for online unless they have an incridble eye ... you might double check this with them, but as long as you are ready to send in a 24fps version for the DVD, it seems like a 25fps onine version would be OK.

[Shaw]

THanks for the comments guys. I'm going to try my best to get this thing finished on time. Might have to resort to some creative editing for the inital release but I figure that's better than nothing!

[Matulis]

Well, I am now officially OUT of the race. A heaping pile of circumstances forced me to scrap my barely-enough-time-to-finish shoot I had scheduled for last weekend and then this weekend. Actresses getting paying gigs, locations under construction, lighting guy's wife not letting him come outside to play... on and on. I am definitely planning on finishing the project, but some other lucky soul will have to win my prize package in this fest. ;-) After the SciFest dust settles and I get another crack at shooting my piece, I'll post a link anyway. Who knows... maybe Jarred will make the theme of the next contest "sick & twisted" and I can still enter it! Have fun, y'all.

[Norm Sanders]

I'm not usually one to disagree with you, Jack, but I'd say the rules are pretty set. Anyone can probably still ENTER if they're outside of the rules a bit (submit 25P, over a little in length, shot on a XL2, etc.), but it'd be for exhibition only. It'd be easy to tell (at least in QT) what the frame rate is of the project, by simply clicking on the movie info.

My suggestion to anyone who wants a whack at the prizes is to make sure it fits the rules: submit 24P, shoot on DVX/HVX, 6 minutes or less, Sci-Fi genre, and total file size of 40MB or less.



A) ask Jarred and or Barry if 10 seconds is a deal breaker, a couple of people werrer over slightly for Zombie fest, and they sort of waited to see if any of those films placed to see whether they would need to make it an official policy or not that you could run a little over - none of them did, but 10 seconds might be OK - so ask them if you truly are stuck.
B) I don't think anyone will care if your movie is 25fps for the online version, the big thing is that they are compatible for the DVD. I'm not sure how they could tell if you turned in a 25fps progressive scane for online unless they have an incridble eye ... you might double check this with them, but as long as you are ready to send in a 24fps version for the DVD, it seems like a 25fps onine version would be OK.

[Norm Sanders]

I would say there are 6 VFX shots in our film, each one if one angle, but there are no multiple angles in any of the shots.

Briceman, is THAT why you were able to edit so quickly? That would explain it, if all your scenes/shots were one angle.

Ours was a two camera shoot, with at LEAST 4 angles to every scene ... we tended to stick with two master angles, but still worked in the others as well.

[Brandon Rice]

I am sorry, maybe you misunderstood. I stayed simple with the effects shots, but had a lot of coverage and angles of everything else. Had at least 4 angle of every scene as well, sometimes more actually. The first scene we shot is an 8 second scene and it took an hour and a half to shoot.

[ZombieSquid]

Some of my scenes are 3 or 4 angles but we've only got the one camera....it gets tricky!

[Ralph Oshiro]

Going through the battle of the hugely pissed-off girlfriends this weekend (note to self--hide kitchen knives). Hopefully, I'll survive intact and be able to write, shoot, and post something on the last weekend of the month. Doesn't look good.

[Ralph Oshiro]

Well, I just can't NOT enter something in SciFest! I WILL turn SOMETHING in! But, be warned--it won't make ANY sense!!!

[krestofre]

I WILL turn SOMETHING in! But, be warned--it won't make ANY sense!!!

Put some apes at the beginning and no one will question your genius. :evil:

[Ralph Oshiro]

Hmmmmmmmmm . . . GREAT IDEA, krestofre!!!

[Brandon Rice]

Man, this is tough! I am getting the finished score this weeked, and finishing up the audio mix. But cutting this film down to 6 min. is going to be hard! I know I'm going to do it so I can enter something, but still it's going to be tough!

[Jack Daniel Stanley]

I'm not usually one to disagree with you, Jack, but I'd say the rules are pretty set. Anyone can probably still ENTER if they're outside of the rules a bit (submit 25P, over a little in length, shot on a XL2, etc.), but it'd be for exhibition only. It'd be easy to tell (at least in QT) what the frame rate is of the project, by simply clicking on the movie info.

My suggestion to anyone who wants a whack at the prizes is to make sure it fits the rules: submit 24P, shoot on DVX/HVX, 6 minutes or less, Sci-Fi genre, and total file size of 40MB or less.
For the frame rate -- I meant by looking at it would be hard to tell.

But i don't think its fair for the Pal people to require 24p AND exactly 6 minutes online since length is an issue and most of us will be barely squeezing it in.

Maybe one of those smart science / math guys on here can tell us what the percentage differnce is and maybe its sooo small that it shouldn't be an issue anyway.

I'm just saying its worth asking one of the Big Kahunas about before the dude looses any more hair over it.

Also, when asked last contest Barry_S did say that they were holding off on an official policy for the 10 or 15 second over.

I competed in a 72 hour contest where the rule was originally 15 minutes and eveolved to 15 minutes and some change but your change had better be worth it.

[Brandon Rice]

I competed in a 72 hour contest where the rule was originally 15 minutes and eveolved to 15 minutes and some change but your change had better be worth it.

Yeah, it better be worth it.

[smelni]

my rough math says its about 13-15 seconds of lost time for the PAL users

[OLBoy]

I'm really waiting until the last minute with this thing.

This weekend I'll be doing some camera / greenscreen tests and doing up some storyboards, and on Wednseday I'm meeting with the 2 actors to do a quick reading and rehearsal.

[Norm Sanders]

Jack, I understand totally about some exceptions, but then for those who busted their butt and DID make it to the 6 minute or less mark, it'd be real frusterating if they lost out to someone who had an exception, was JUST outside of the rules, etc.

It may not seem like much but an extra 5-15 seconds for a particular scene could be the difference in NAILING a performance/character, an extra sweet camera movement, power score, etc.

I don't think anyone would disagree, when you've got such precious little time to tell a story with, sometimes every second counts.

[Brandon Rice]

Every second does count, I'm realizing more and more.

[Barry_Green]

Jack, I understand totally about some exceptions, but then for those who busted their butt and DID make it to the 6 minute or less mark, it'd be real frusterating if they lost out to someone who had an exception, was JUST outside of the rules, etc.
Rules are rules, and people should comply with the rules.

[Brandon Rice]

Rules are rules, and people should comply with the rules.

Amen!

[macgregor]

Ok. My shortflim is now exactly 5 minutes, 59 seconds and 24 frames long in 25p PAL. Barry what should i do?

[Jack Daniel Stanley]

Rules are rules, and people should comply with the rules.
I hear you do-eds ... just sayin English homey should ask ...

das all


:thumbup:

EDIT : I should say "Spanish" homey ... your name threw me off Macgregor ... on second thought I should leave it at PAL homey - which although it sounds somewhat redundant - is the safest bet.

[Jack Daniel Stanley]

Ok. My shortflim is now exactly 5 minutes, 59 seconds and 24 frames long in 25p PAL. Barry what should i do?
Not that you are necessarily making this mistake --
but Barry Green is the supreme overloard of all things DVX and HVX camera related.

Barry_S is the Grand Pooba of the Online festival and that's who you wanna ask.

I'm going to shuddup about this whole thing now before Envision and Barry stop inviting me to the weekly Twister and Coolaid party in Barry's basement (Barry GReen that is -- Barry_S hates twister - another important distinguishment).

[arielman]

Well we are almost done .just finished some B shots today .
Only problems so far is a LACK of snow to finish the scene sequence , a minor re-write is in order.
On Wed night we filmed next to my place which was the only area that had a bit of snow BUT the HIGH (Re- 50mph) winds came in and played havoc with the sound and everything else but we over came and finished that bit of filming.
Just 3 Minor shots left if the weather co-operates ..lol

I have NEVER seen a winter like this , snow, rain more snow and more rain .
50 degrees then freezing Temps and today was 50 again and back down to 32 degrees tonight .UUUGGGGG!!!!!!!

Glad to see some more enteries .
Ian

[JimtheJib]

:grin: i finished the shoot last weekend. yesterday i finished the rough cut. now i only need to record the voice over and work with the composer. can't wait to see everybody elses film

[GenJerDan]

Half done with the second half.

I HATE color correcting.

[Norm Sanders]

Hate CC just because it's so hard to decide the look you want or which look you like? I find I'm kind of digging it.

[Brandon Rice]

Yeah CC is tough. I usually just go with my initial CC, and tweak it slightly here and there.

[GenJerDan]

Yeah CC is tough. I usually just go with my initial CC, and tweak it slightly here and there.

Yeah, but you didn't have tungsten on this side of the room and daylight on that side of the room, did you. :grin:

But I'm getting real good at bezier masks...for those shots where this side crept into that side. Simply a matter of compositing and adjusting colors so they match.

Stupid pans. Next time, nothing but locked-down shots.

I haven't even thought about the "look", yet. So far, my goal is to make it looked finished. :engel017:

[Brandon Rice]

Sorry to hear you had issues. Best of luck to you!

[Norm Sanders]

Yeah right, briceman! "Best of luck to you!" ... *to self - but not too much luck, sucka! :evil:

Kidding. But seriously, it's a competition ... I'm sure most people are thinking, "I hope their film is good ... but not TOO good."

[Brandon Rice]

Well, I will never wish foul intent on my fellow filmmaker, but I do hope my film is better, LOL! Not in any hostile way, but purely trying to achieve the goal. So Norm, I do truly mean it when I say, Best of Luck To You! And, if I can do anything for ya, just let me know, you've been kind enough to help me out with some stuff.:thumbsup:

[macgregor]

I like to win. We all do.
But i dont have any problems admiring wonderfull films/shortfilms that are above mine, and i am glad that they are done. They inspire and encourage me to push harder my career.

[Brandon Rice]

I like to win. We all do.
But i dont have any problems admiring wonderfull films/shortfilms that are above mine, and i am glad that they are done. They inspire and encourage me to push harder my career.

AMEN!:thumbsup:

[Norm Sanders]

And, if I can do anything for ya, just let me know

Yeah, take a dive when I give the signal. :) Kidding.

[Brandon Rice]

Ah!!!! 10 days to go, and I might have a score finished this weekend! I better! I have the challenge of cutting this movie down to 6 minutes, but I need my score for the full version first!

[Brandon Rice]

Ok, I chopped it down! And.... I've got a seven and a half minute long movie! Dang it!

[wcs]

lots o' editing.... some light cg... and a little bit of music...

nine days? I guess I better hurry.

[GenJerDan]

Ok, I chopped it down! And.... I've got a seven and a half minute long movie! Dang it!

See, now. You all went about it from the wrong end. I've been sitting here trying to make it longer. Adding dialog, tossing in some transitional shots. Stuff like that. Hmmm...maybe if I slow down the credits, I'll break 5 minutes....

[Karl151k]

I personaly would prefer a shorter movie. I'd rather watch a good 3 minutes movie than a padded out 6 minute movie.

[Jack Daniel Stanley]

er...

It's genrerally a good Idea to paste GenJerDan's posts into the online Sarcasm to English translator before responding :cheesy:

not that I doubt he's going about things in exactly the manner he described

... so on second thought you might want to run them through the Grain of Salt translator :grin:

but one of the two will give you a better idea of what he's on about.

[GenJerDan]

Well, y'see...me and my friends always did things shorthand. Half the time, we'd just tell the punchline of a joke and leave all that boring buildup stuff off. Tryin' to get myself out of that habit.

On the other hand, it IS better to have the viewer say "I wish this were longer", rather than "Will this ever end?"

But the point is...was...um... Anyway, there were a few entries in previous contests that were incomplete. Longer things cut down to fit. Trailers, even, almost. Didn't thrill me. Possibly annoyed me.

If something comes up like a 6 minute film contest, it's best to think of a story that takes 5 minutes to tell (allowing a margin for this, that, and the other thing), rather than just thinking of a story - then bending, folding, spindling, and mutilating it to fit the time constraints.

I did go in and add some dialog. But then, silly me, I also went back in and cut cut cut, so the thing is actually shorter now than it was before. :grin:

Just can't win.

[Jack Daniel Stanley]

I agree -- a six minute story is a six minute story -- concieved structured and crafted to hold attention and payoff in that timeframe.
.. same for a 90 minute, same for a 3 min, 15 ... etc.

[Brandon Rice]

It's just hard to fit an 11 min. story in 6 min. LOL!

[kimko]

hey hey got back from CALLAGHAN'S we did the sci-fi shoot with one heck of a crew. i got to work off a very good actor BRETT RICE i learned a lot. we did it in 2 days now CHAD'S working on the editing.

[Jack Daniel Stanley]

Congrats on a good shoot.

My crew (self included) were the "Gang That Can't Shoot Straight"

Hey Kimko ... aren't you part asian and isn't "ko" a Japanese diminutive ... so your username Kimko would effectively mean "little Kim"?

...Well judging from the gunshow in your new avatar "little" hardley seems appropriate, LOL :cheesy:

Damn dude you ain't playin'

[kimko]

THANKS it was good Jack. Callaghan put together some fine people:thumbsup: , KO is actually chinese from the book called I CHING (pronounced yee jing) book of oracles meaning;rebellious and Kim is a common Korean last name, so they put them together and gave me my middle name;KIMKO but i always get kimiko,kimmyko, mr.ko, kim ko, kim co., kimco and finally kimchi. as for the guns just put your hands under the guns makes them look much bigger.......now if i could only find a way to.........huh well anyways just call me..... lil kim:angry:

[Jack Daniel Stanley]

Lol, Ok. I have a halfanese (her term) friend named Hana (japanese "spelling"), who looks pretty western, so to play up her ethnicity for approriate auditions she uses Hanako, which in Japanese would mean "little Hanna".

I guess in your case the "ko" could stand for "K.O." with your martial arts background. :thumbsup:

[Slimothy]

just put your hands under the guns makes them look much bigger.......now if i could only find a way to.........huh well anyways just call me..... lil kim:angry:

Lol! If you ever find a way to.....let me know. lol

[kimko]

[QUOTE=jdanstan

I guess in your case the "ko" could stand for "K.O." with your martial arts background. :thumbsup:[/QUOTE]that's funny you mention that, a friend of mine (Bill Wallace), at the time i had met him did a 3 round kickboxing stage show, he signed a picture of us and put down to KIM"KO" AND IT STAYED as my stage name for kickboxing. that's funny how i never even thought of that.

[kimko]

Lol! If you ever find a way to.....let me know. lol
that reminds me of a joke i had seen years ago in some magazine it showed a guy receiving mail and on the package was written" blank"enlarger. then he pulls out of the package a magnafine glass:grin:

[Ralph Oshiro]

Dateline--11:57AM Saturday, 28 January 2006, Los Angeles, CA.

Well, holy crap, here I go. Still no story. Going to shoot opening shot right now. Have shoot scheduled with actors tonight (first day of shooting!). Just booked actors five minutes ago. One I never met, but totally fits the part. Two are friends and are totally going to show up. I have to lug all the the gear and wardobe to the location myself. PLUS, I gotta go buy tape stock RIGHT NOW! I HAVE NO TAPE!

[Jack Daniel Stanley]

Here's a story for your sci fi ...

Problem: Man torn between beautiful young drama queen girlfriend and more mature soul mate.
Solution: He clones self and stays with both. :cheesy:

[Ralph Oshiro]

Dateline--02:26PM Saturday, 28 January 2006, Los Angeles, CA.

Oh, thank god, I found a brand new pack of five MQ tapes! Whew! No trip to the pro photo store! Just got back from shooting opening shot (B-roll shot only). Looks great--just what I needed. Free parking and no one stopped me from shooting! Girlfriend just walked in and b*tched that I emptied her suitcase. Well, it's actually MY suitcase, and I needed it to haul the wardobe and props to my freind's location. I said, "I needed the case, don't be a b*tch!" Boy, this thing with me and her is going to be over REAL soon . . .

Now, after I make something to eat (you think SHE cooks?), I'm packing all my gear (sticks, camera, lights, Steadicam Flyer, dolly, track, handheld bracket, wardrobe, props, etc.) to get ready to go to my location by about 5:00PM.

[Brandon Rice]

Good luck man!

[Slice]

And I thought I was cutting it close, good luck man.

[Ralph Oshiro]

Dateline--05:37PM Saturday, 28 January 2006, Los Angeles, CA.

Called friend with location. He was asleep at home, but is ready to open it up as soon as I'm ready. Had a fight with girlfriend in the meantime (actually it was just me screaming around the house 'cause I couldn't find my gel roll). Principal actor went home 'cause he thought I wasn't going to do it tonight (he was supposed to CALL me when he was through eating dinner). Now, he's taking a shower at home and supposedly will be on his way over to the location soon (1 hour away from him, five minutes from me).

Got the gels, but still can't find the roll. Gotta load up car now and gaffer tape the dolly track to the side of my car--it's ABS plastic pipe). Hmmm . . . 5:40PM and still no actors on location . . .

[Ralph Oshiro]

Here's a story for your sci fi ...

Problem: Man torn between beautiful young drama queen girlfriend and more mature soul mate.
Solution: He clones self and stays with both. :cheesy:Funny, jdanstan . . . since you mentioned it, just got off the phone with ex-girlfriend and chilled her out for a lttle while longer. Young girlfriend now asleep in bed. Finally got actor on the phone--has personal issues with wife, kids, and HIS other girlfriend (he has two apartments). Said he would still try to come about 8:00PM tonight. It'll be a miracle if anyone shows up. Layed in bed with young girfriend for awhile trying to think if I can cut a whole short just from B-roll. Not really. Now, it's 6:32PM and I'm already sleepy from all the drama. Oh well . . .

[Jack Daniel Stanley]

good luck -- I'm still trying to cut mine and we wrapped principle ten days ago -- spent 5 days editing / compositing one 25 second section -- whew

still have about half to go before rough cut done -- the part I started with was with most VFX etc, also tough to make it all match -- we'll see!

[Brandon Rice]

Wow, I am so relieved to be pretty well done. I have a few small audio tweaks, but the bulk of the film is done. Unfortunantly, most of the hard work we spent won't be seen, as most of our effects have been removed from our 6 min. version, due to time constraints.

[Jack Daniel Stanley]

don't get me started on audio tweaking ...

[Brandon Rice]

LOL! That bad huh? I hate audio, it is my least favorite thing to do, and it never seems to ever be perfect!