Lost Children - Mark Harris

Geoff_R said:
I actually haven't tried this route yet... I guess you could literally take the proxies straight in there and do your magic. The one aspect I dislike about the proxies is that you are technically sacrificing some image quality... but this ties straight into the old debate of codecs and datarate; where often we assume more is always better. Now this may be technically accurate but is it even visible to the eye? REDCODE is marvelous itself and it's nearly impossible for even the best to decipher between Redcode and Raw which are very different datarate wise.

So although you're technically sacrificing some bits to work with the proxies. Is it that big of a deal? I think that's completely up to your taste based on the final results you're seeing. I'd take some proxies into color, play around and render out to your deliverable format. I'd also take that same shot, do a quick one-light in Redcine or RedAlert and do the same work in color. See if it's worth it.
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We just had this conversation last night at the diner. I was saying we should see a side by side because of the "technical" quality loss. There's gotta somebody who's already done this test on reduser though, right? I mean there's people on both sides of the fence who say it is and isn't noticeable.

But, if Mark's computer runs fine on the redQT rewraps then this isnt really an issue for him.

On a side note, Mark is a badmuthashutyomouth! Great working with.
 
Okay, seems like I will be okay with what I want to do.

Was reading this thread at reduser:

http://reduser.net/forum/showthread.php?t=25762

jimhare said:
Yes! If you edited proxies, all you have to do is SEND TO COLOR and it will pick up the original R3Ds. It's fantastic and works great. You will need to change the project size in Color, as it will use the proxie size, but insert 2k R3Ds.
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So it seems that I can use the proxies, edit in 2k, send to color when I need to, and then, if I want afterward, use monkey or crimson to re-link the whole thing with the EDL.

But I should be able to do all my crazy color stuff and it will be done on the RD3s.

Hmmm, clearly this is not the same on effects in te timeline....but for those, I will prob export the RD3 to uncompressed QT, or whatever, work in AE, etc, and then use those in the timeline.

Okay, will test today, but I might have a workflow theory to work from now...anyone have more thoughts?

Wow, I never thought I would long for the days of P2...:)
 
Arrik said:
We just had this conversation last night at the diner. I was saying we should see a side by side because of the "technical" quality loss. There's gotta somebody who's already done this test on reduser though, right? I mean there's people on both sides of the fence who say it is and isn't noticeable.
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So far, I am pretty blown away by the 2K proxies. But then again, I am used to looking at HD. I am going to start blogging about the workflow I figure out this week.

On a side note, Mark is a badmuthashutyomouth! Great working with.
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Speak for yourself, sucka. You rock it hard.
 
thanks for posting those BTS pics! Looking at a car crammed with gear reminds me of why I love being an independent filmmaker! Cheers Mark!
 
Last night, my GF and I cooked together, then settled in to watch Almodovar's "All About My Mother." And I thought: "Oh yeah, this is why I want to make movies..."
 
The "Look" of a Film

The "Look" of a Film

leah_cc_test-300x168.jpg


When it comes to color correction, It seems that a lot of filmmakers work out a "look" they like and CC the footage to that, without much regard for what that look actually means to the film. Actually, this seems to be the case in a lot of Cinematography as well. People like cool shots, or cool lighting, but very often don't think beyond that to what the shots and lighting mean to the content.

I am working really hard this time around one this aspect in my own film. I've done this to varying degrees in the past. In R.P.D.M., obviously I tried to represent the effects of the drug in a visual way, by slowing the footage down. In my film, BLOODY MARY, I developed a distinct look for the "Nightmare" sections, and a look for the "present." Beyond those "looks," the viewer was not given any real indication of which was which. Perhaps a little too obscure, but the point is, I was working on using the look of the film to communicate content. When the color was "X," it was a nightmare, a vision brought on by the ghost. When the color was "Y," it was the "present."

Well in this one, I am going to be doing the same, but taking it further. The visuals will be important to understanding the story in this one, as I am going to be trying to represent a character's various emotional states visually. In addition, representing transitions between a character's emotional states visually. So what I am working on now, is how visual transitions work between emotional states. I do not want them to look digital, or like an effect, but more like a photographic, in camera effect.

I"m very drawn towards this kind of thing. To some degree it is very basic filmmaking; using the visual to communicate content. For instance, in 12 Angry Men, as the movie went on, the camera got lower and lower, so that the ceiling started to show in shots. This was to help emphasize visually the feeling of being trapped.

That's the kind of thing I want to keep working on in my films.

Anyway, just some ramblings as I was working on this tonight. I will blog more about this as we go...

Here is a test: CC TEST

Thoughts on all of this?

Dev Blog
 
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I think with what she does in the shot its going to really accent what you are going for. I'm wondering if something like messing with ramping noise would take it even further.
 
Beat Takeshi said:
I think with what she does in the shot its going to really accent what you are going for. I'm wondering if something like messing with ramping noise would take it even further.
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Yeah, interesting about ramp noise. I am actually going to try to meet with Gigi, the VFX person and see if she has any ideas as well. One thing I had in mind was for the faded part to sort of burn away, like say a film burning from behind to reveal the colored part. But not sure if it will be too gimmicky and Special Effects-y.

Also, today got one more scene shot!!!! WooHoo!

M
 
Hey Aram, would you give some RED details for how we're shooting? Would like to add them to the first post and the blog. ISO, settings? Anything relevant and interesting?
 
Hmmm. Let's see. We were keeping all the candle lit scenes extra orange through white balance keeping the blue channel down to minimize noise. I think we shot it daylight balanced with Tungsten lights at 100 iso. The bedroom was shot daylight balanced with daylight balanced lights at 320 iso to keep the image as clean as possible since the RED sensor is a daylight balanced one and anytime you can keep it fed with blue do so. We shot on build 16 with 3 8 gig cards without a hitch. I think we hit the end of the card twice during a take but only because we had other shots on the same card.
We used Zeiss primes and 95% was shot on the 50mm and 95% was shot hand held. Mike busted his ass with that camera on his back but since time was short it wasn't worth it to switch camera ops after he got the flow of the scene down so Mike had to take it for the team and did it well. We usually switch up between us and also use Omar since he towers over the both of us and can get taller actors better. The one thing that was a pain was that we sent our EVF back to RED for a fixing and that made the hand held work much much harder since we had to use the LCD. Mike had to bend his neck back all the time to be able to see the monitor. With the EVF you can adjust it in any direction because it sits on your eye so the eyeball focus distance isn't a problem. I could never hand hold with the LCD since I can't see that well close up and wouldnt be able to keep things in focus, at least not with the RED arm's short distance.
We borrowed Kwans top mount and were able to mount the battery on the top of the camera giving it a shorter length for the tight spots so the batts didn't hit any walls or furniture. Another thing was we didn't put the follow focus on to save weight on the cam since we had to have the wireless units on there. We took the mattboxx off also in the tight areas to save weight and to keep it from bumping into things. The jump from 4K to 2K for the slo-mo was a little bit of a pain but lucky the slo-mos didn't require wider angles since the sensor gets cropped a ton. We had just enough room to get the shots at 2K.
 
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Tonight, head over to Aram's to test out the indie-slider, hoping it will give us a lot of our dolly shots on Friday.

Then have to get my jib and finish up a few props.

Been talking to the costumer about what all we need for Friday and she is on the case with that stuff.

Otherwise, a small shoot tomorrow night and then the last BIG shoot date friday.

Then my plan is to work all weekend to lock the cut for Herman by monday. It will not have the EFX in there yet, but it will be time locked so he can start his magic.
 
Matty_g said:
How many shoot days do you have Mark!?
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3 main ones, the last of which is Friday. Then I've had two smaller ones, like an hour or so, and then one half day next week, of all exteriors.

Why don't you be a pal and PM me something about the super secret project you're going to win with?
 
Mark Harris said:
No, I really know how to pick DPs who know how to light my films :) I give the look I am going for, but it's all the DP doing it.
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I need to find me a good DP when I'm ready. I live in MD and there are some good people within driving distance. I Lived in BK for years and I'm only about 2 hours away.
 
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Mark Harris said:
No, I really know how to pick DPs who know how to light my films :) I give the look I am going for, but it's all the DP doing it.
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I am good at picking DPs myself, except there was an occasion when I ended up with someone who had the right attitude during pre-production and then, out of the blue, became Mr. Hyde during the actual shoot.

I was tempted to take over, but then, I feared my hostility would spread through the rest of the crew and cast. It would create a very uncomfortable atmosphere. Instead, I rode it out and never worked with that person again.

Just something to think about before picking a DP.
 
I had that EXACT same experience with a DP! Weird...maybe it is some kind of "DP disease". Super cool during pre-pro and then went insane the day of the actual shoot. Weird.

Makes you appreciate a good DP! I think Mark has a good one in Aram and I would pick my DP, Eric Meisner any day. A very, very important role regarding the end quality of the film!

Three cheers for good DP's! :beer:
 
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