Rodney V. Smith
DVXFest Promo Guru
This time around? He was the bad guy in my film as well!
Robbie
I dunno... he was kind of on the fence. Definitely not a "bad guy" per se. Here it's a lot more definite that he's just all bad.
KEEPER OF THE LOST - Flyin' Monkey Films & MattSpat Films
- Thread starter Rodney V. Smith
- Start date
I dunno... he was kind of on the fence. Definitely not a "bad guy" per se. Here it's a lot more definite that he's just all bad.
Rodney V. Smith
DVXFest Promo Guru
Rehearsals are scheduled for tomorrow night. I will take my camera and i will be podcasting so you guys can meet Robert Nolan and Jessica (again, but this time she's gone red).
Gotta plan all of the shots with Matt and see how we can enhance some scenes with props, additional background actors etc. Lots of places here seem pretty cool with quick location shots as long as there are no identifying marks etc and we don;t interrupt business. Since most of the shots are set out of doors, our footprint is going to be quite small, so no huge light set-ups or dolly shots.
Most of this is planned to be shot on my shoulder mount (HVX w/ Brevis Flip and Proteus Rails), so there is a bit more of a reality feel to it. I'm thinking of taking a page out of Zak's book for this shoot with the rawness and reality of the characters, how they look like real people so it should be interesting in terms of shooting style.
Looking forward to getting everything else lined up and good to go.
So far we're shooting on Yonge Street, an alley in Downtown Toronto, a great view just off Bloor where there's a great shot of the city, and then in Matt's Grandmother's garage and a few bits in North York.
Should be a good shoot. Just gotta finalize everything and try to travel as light as possible.
Oh yeah, even with a good sound guy, I'm still planning to ADR everything. So I gotta schedule that in for the day after the shoot, as well as any pickup shots. Gotta make this one clean and organized.
Gotta plan all of the shots with Matt and see how we can enhance some scenes with props, additional background actors etc. Lots of places here seem pretty cool with quick location shots as long as there are no identifying marks etc and we don;t interrupt business. Since most of the shots are set out of doors, our footprint is going to be quite small, so no huge light set-ups or dolly shots.
Most of this is planned to be shot on my shoulder mount (HVX w/ Brevis Flip and Proteus Rails), so there is a bit more of a reality feel to it. I'm thinking of taking a page out of Zak's book for this shoot with the rawness and reality of the characters, how they look like real people so it should be interesting in terms of shooting style.
Looking forward to getting everything else lined up and good to go.
So far we're shooting on Yonge Street, an alley in Downtown Toronto, a great view just off Bloor where there's a great shot of the city, and then in Matt's Grandmother's garage and a few bits in North York.
Should be a good shoot. Just gotta finalize everything and try to travel as light as possible.
Oh yeah, even with a good sound guy, I'm still planning to ADR everything. So I gotta schedule that in for the day after the shoot, as well as any pickup shots. Gotta make this one clean and organized.
Rodney V. Smith
DVXFest Promo Guru
rehearsals at 7;00pm tonight. little hiccup and we're going to end up at the Starbucks around the corner. taking the HVX along so we'll have some footy to show tonight.
Rodney V. Smith
DVXFest Promo Guru
now that's what i call a rousing success. we just had a great rehearsal and managed to flesh out the characters a hell of a lot beyond what's on the page.
we delved into the motivations of each character and the subtext of each scene and that's always valuable, because it raises questions that effects the possible blocking of the scene, as well as how it's shot. we got to the real emotional core of the scenes and what's really going on there.
great chemisty between robert and jessica and they've developed a bit of a rapport, so now we have a good comfortable working relationship that will translate onto screen quite effectively.
one of the valuable things about rehearsals is the gelling of the story and hearing that dialog said outloud, because it really makes you question your perception o the scene. i pretty much threw away the script unless i was making notes on it, or drawing a teeny tiny storyboard. that way i got to listen to the actors. really just listen.
infortunately matt is out of town so he was unable to make it. but i took the hvx and recorded most of it until the battery ran out. don;t ask. i just ran out, okay? geez.
anyway, i'll be posting the first podcast for Keeper of the Lost, later.
looking forward to next week when we do costuming, makeup and go directly into production.
we delved into the motivations of each character and the subtext of each scene and that's always valuable, because it raises questions that effects the possible blocking of the scene, as well as how it's shot. we got to the real emotional core of the scenes and what's really going on there.
great chemisty between robert and jessica and they've developed a bit of a rapport, so now we have a good comfortable working relationship that will translate onto screen quite effectively.
one of the valuable things about rehearsals is the gelling of the story and hearing that dialog said outloud, because it really makes you question your perception o the scene. i pretty much threw away the script unless i was making notes on it, or drawing a teeny tiny storyboard. that way i got to listen to the actors. really just listen.
infortunately matt is out of town so he was unable to make it. but i took the hvx and recorded most of it until the battery ran out. don;t ask. i just ran out, okay? geez.
anyway, i'll be posting the first podcast for Keeper of the Lost, later.
looking forward to next week when we do costuming, makeup and go directly into production.
Rodney V. Smith
DVXFest Promo Guru
podcast #1 for KEEPER OF THE LOST is now open for viewing on page 1.
Random fact: The first lost and found office was organized in Paris in 1805. Napoleon[1] However, it was not until 1893 that Louis Lepiné, then prefect of police, organized efforts to actively track down the owners of lost items.[1]ordered his prefect of police to establish it as a central place "to collect all objects found in the streets of Paris", according to Jean-Michel Ingrandt, who was appointed the office's director in 2001.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost_and_found
Random fact: The first lost and found office was organized in Paris in 1805. Napoleon[1] However, it was not until 1893 that Louis Lepiné, then prefect of police, organized efforts to actively track down the owners of lost items.[1]ordered his prefect of police to establish it as a central place "to collect all objects found in the streets of Paris", according to Jean-Michel Ingrandt, who was appointed the office's director in 2001.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost_and_found
Michael Anthony Horrigan
More Cowbell Pictures
Great podcast! Very polished. I'm really looking forward to this. :thumbup:
Rodney V. Smith
DVXFest Promo Guru
trying to set the mood a little with this series of podcasts. will make for some great additional material for the DVD as well (eventually). now i gotta go create the website and recruit a photographer...
going out to look at some locations tomorrow.
going out to look at some locations tomorrow.
Loki
Veteran
Why make more work for yourself.. if it isn't windy as f*ck then and your sound guy is good.. ADR is just overkill.
Rodney V. Smith
DVXFest Promo Guru
Practice. I mostly view these shorts as practice for real production. A chance to get it right and work out the bugs in my workflow. Good consistent sound is an issue with a lot of short films or even indie films, and most of them turn people off by the bad sound. I'm at least trying to combat that by making sure we have crystal clear recordings that can be mixed properly without bring up a lot of background noise or hiss.
if you take a look at most big productions with budgets, whether its television or film, most of what you hear has been layered and mixed the hell out of with foley, ADR and other methods to sweeten and enhance the sound. I want to see how much of that I can approximate with my zero budget, and truthfully, see how far I can push it. While I don't follow the studio system like at all, I still want my movie to have a lot more latitude.
besides i like being able to pull my M&E tracks. :grin:
edit: and maybe I just like to torture my actors.
Robbie Comeau
Como's back. back again
I talked with my sound guy for my upcoming loss fest shoot, and he nearly shat his pants when I asked about ADR if the weather is bad. I to, agree.
If the sound guy is good like you said, he'd have the proper equipment to eliminate the sound.
Nice podcast!
Robbie
If the sound guy is good like you said, he'd have the proper equipment to eliminate the sound.
Nice podcast!
Robbie
Rodney V. Smith
DVXFest Promo Guru
your sound guy assumed you wanted him to do the ADR for you.
I really don't get why so many people are scared of ADR. It's a process like any other in filmmaking that helps to enhance sound. If you don't want to do any ADR that's entirely up to you. However I personally refuse to remain scared of any of the processes involved and I will actively seek to learn more about every aspect that I can.
I know the level of control (complete) over sound I'm going to have in this film since sound will play such a huge part of the effect, so I'm not going to leave anything to chance... or having a good take ruined by the fact that a train passed at that point.
Rodney V. Smith
DVXFest Promo Guru
ADR walkthrough
ADR walkthrough
My workflow has actually changed with "Falling Up" and I think it's one I'm going to keep for a while, so I'll definitely share.
I'm at a bit of a disadvantage this time around since my gear is scattered throughout 3 cities, so I've had to be flexible in how I can pull off certain things. if you've seen pictures of my 'soundbooth' then you know what i'm talking about. in this case i was only trying to deaden the sound and isolate stray noises in the house. funny how much louder the refrigerator always seems to get when you're recording sound.
anyway, I recorded straight into Adobe Audition 3.0. Audition has a multi-track mode which allows you to arm one or more tracks for recording. it also allows you to import your video file so you can view the rendered movie at the same time.
I set up one track with the original sound from the movie and locked that into place, then located the dialog i needed and did a playback for the actor. you get 8 tracks upon opening, but more can be added. i think it goes up to 48 tracks or something beastly like that.
Here's where it comes down to technique and working with different actors. Some people are natural mimes and after hearing something a couple of times, they know the beat, the cadence, the rhythm of the words, and they can nail it almost instantly. Some people are not, and they work better with a visual aid. personally I've found that the actors focus on listening. I get better results that way. plus it means i don't have to set up an LCD monitor for them, cuz that can be a pain in the ass.
In anycase, just make sure your actor can hear what's going on. Normally, i can tell almost instantly if they've nailed it. The waveform for how a person says a particular word is almost identical every time, and you can see how they line up. Since you're lining up with the original audio track and you can see the movie as well, it makes it easier for you to tell that they've gotten the line.
Oh yeah: I do this one line at a time. even the long sentences. I cut those down to a mouthful.
One of the biggest issues you may find is performance. Some actors will overact a little or just end up 'reading' and you as the director, have to coax them back into character, so they retain the emotional intensity of the original scene. This is a hard one, so take your time with it.
EDIT: I forgot this bit. get them to do every sigh, stutter... anything they vocalized during the original scene. you might not keep it, but at least you have it.
Anyway, that's the hard part there. match up the audio, recording one line at a time until it's perfectly matching. You can do instant playback in Adobe Audition. so i never just leave the recording going. I stop the recording when I think I've gotten it, line it up and play it back. When there is no echo, then you know that you've gotten it absolutely perfect.
It's not really that hard, but I do advise you that after you've place it and confirmed the track, LOCK THE SOUNDBIT into place. If anything gets nudged, you have to go and realign everything and that can be a pain in the ass. so lock it down and you're good.
One thing you can really benefit for with ADR is the ability to change some lines, especially if the character speaking is not on screen or has their back turned to the camera. I've actually added in additional lines for emphasis, or to "fix" a scene, and from what I hear, that is not an uncommon practice.
After all of that, you can add effects to the vocal or compression or whatever. one of the benefits of working in a good audio program is that you can now layer the sound and mix, but you can also add the effects to the track itself without damaging your original recording. Believe me, do not do anything to your original recording. also do it to the track,but preserve those recordings. take them all and burn them onto a CD or DVD if you have to, but you'll need them for mastering, especially if you hire someone else to do the mastering and mixing for you.
Hope this helps. have fun with it. I'm still learning the process, but this is simply what I've come up with after a bit of trial and error.
A LOT of trial and error.
Hope this screenshot helps:
ADR walkthrough
My workflow has actually changed with "Falling Up" and I think it's one I'm going to keep for a while, so I'll definitely share.
I'm at a bit of a disadvantage this time around since my gear is scattered throughout 3 cities, so I've had to be flexible in how I can pull off certain things. if you've seen pictures of my 'soundbooth' then you know what i'm talking about. in this case i was only trying to deaden the sound and isolate stray noises in the house. funny how much louder the refrigerator always seems to get when you're recording sound.
anyway, I recorded straight into Adobe Audition 3.0. Audition has a multi-track mode which allows you to arm one or more tracks for recording. it also allows you to import your video file so you can view the rendered movie at the same time.
I set up one track with the original sound from the movie and locked that into place, then located the dialog i needed and did a playback for the actor. you get 8 tracks upon opening, but more can be added. i think it goes up to 48 tracks or something beastly like that.
Here's where it comes down to technique and working with different actors. Some people are natural mimes and after hearing something a couple of times, they know the beat, the cadence, the rhythm of the words, and they can nail it almost instantly. Some people are not, and they work better with a visual aid. personally I've found that the actors focus on listening. I get better results that way. plus it means i don't have to set up an LCD monitor for them, cuz that can be a pain in the ass.
In anycase, just make sure your actor can hear what's going on. Normally, i can tell almost instantly if they've nailed it. The waveform for how a person says a particular word is almost identical every time, and you can see how they line up. Since you're lining up with the original audio track and you can see the movie as well, it makes it easier for you to tell that they've gotten the line.
Oh yeah: I do this one line at a time. even the long sentences. I cut those down to a mouthful.
One of the biggest issues you may find is performance. Some actors will overact a little or just end up 'reading' and you as the director, have to coax them back into character, so they retain the emotional intensity of the original scene. This is a hard one, so take your time with it.
EDIT: I forgot this bit. get them to do every sigh, stutter... anything they vocalized during the original scene. you might not keep it, but at least you have it.
Anyway, that's the hard part there. match up the audio, recording one line at a time until it's perfectly matching. You can do instant playback in Adobe Audition. so i never just leave the recording going. I stop the recording when I think I've gotten it, line it up and play it back. When there is no echo, then you know that you've gotten it absolutely perfect.
It's not really that hard, but I do advise you that after you've place it and confirmed the track, LOCK THE SOUNDBIT into place. If anything gets nudged, you have to go and realign everything and that can be a pain in the ass. so lock it down and you're good.
One thing you can really benefit for with ADR is the ability to change some lines, especially if the character speaking is not on screen or has their back turned to the camera. I've actually added in additional lines for emphasis, or to "fix" a scene, and from what I hear, that is not an uncommon practice.
After all of that, you can add effects to the vocal or compression or whatever. one of the benefits of working in a good audio program is that you can now layer the sound and mix, but you can also add the effects to the track itself without damaging your original recording. Believe me, do not do anything to your original recording. also do it to the track,but preserve those recordings. take them all and burn them onto a CD or DVD if you have to, but you'll need them for mastering, especially if you hire someone else to do the mastering and mixing for you.
Hope this helps. have fun with it. I'm still learning the process, but this is simply what I've come up with after a bit of trial and error.
A LOT of trial and error.
Hope this screenshot helps:
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Rodney V. Smith
DVXFest Promo Guru
For the first time this winter I actually find myself wishing for snow.
We're currently going through a bit of a "warm spell" and it looks like we'll have a nice sunny day for the shoot on Saturday. The problem is that the snow is now all melting. Right NOW. For those of you who live in snow, you'll be familiar with this. But for the rest of you here's why this is a problem: under that top layer, which is replenished by some intermittent snowfall, there is a layer of dirt and crap and buildup. A few days of thaw and the prettiness all goes away.
What we're left with is a city of mud and slush.
All of those nice wide shots that I've been checking out- the ones with a nice wide expanse of snow on the hills and on the ground - those shots are now looking a little patchy and not as cool as before. And here I was ready to take a page out of Shawneous's book (Aetus) and try for some really wide shots of an epic scale. Granted, this may still be possible, but with temperatures edging up to the the 6 degree (Celsius) mark over the weekend, after a little rain and then a light snowfall... well the beautiful snow shots that I was lookign forward to are all gone.
I think I'm going to sulk for an hour or two before I get back into pre-production. Still got my shotlist to finish.
It's gonna be a busy friday night when Matt gets in.
We're currently going through a bit of a "warm spell" and it looks like we'll have a nice sunny day for the shoot on Saturday. The problem is that the snow is now all melting. Right NOW. For those of you who live in snow, you'll be familiar with this. But for the rest of you here's why this is a problem: under that top layer, which is replenished by some intermittent snowfall, there is a layer of dirt and crap and buildup. A few days of thaw and the prettiness all goes away.
What we're left with is a city of mud and slush.
All of those nice wide shots that I've been checking out- the ones with a nice wide expanse of snow on the hills and on the ground - those shots are now looking a little patchy and not as cool as before. And here I was ready to take a page out of Shawneous's book (Aetus) and try for some really wide shots of an epic scale. Granted, this may still be possible, but with temperatures edging up to the the 6 degree (Celsius) mark over the weekend, after a little rain and then a light snowfall... well the beautiful snow shots that I was lookign forward to are all gone.
I think I'm going to sulk for an hour or two before I get back into pre-production. Still got my shotlist to finish.
It's gonna be a busy friday night when Matt gets in.
Michael Anthony Horrigan
More Cowbell Pictures
I just finished pushing the slop off my driveway. Dirty bloody mess.
I feel your pain.
Best of luck!
Rodney V. Smith
DVXFest Promo Guru
And it looked so pretty before. I was actually getting excited. I know the actors are relieved. But I got my hand warmers, portable coffepot and everything. I was READY for this.
Damn weather. It's FRAKKING with me.
Dustin R. Rogan
Silent Bob's Evil Twin
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