sketch comedy 5, Guess "Quien" is Coming to Dinner

H

homer

Well-known member
Here is our latest. I uprezzed it with instant HD and worked on color correcting. I had one work light so it was tough and I know the scenes with the girl close up look too blue tinted and out of place. I had a myriad of problems on this one, my assistant didn't show up so I had to boom, check continuity, frame the shot , and follow along. On top of that one of my actors was sick and I had to dope him up on beer and vick's to keep him going. well he did that himself, I just turned a blind eye.

Editing this was brutal. Overall it still came out pretty good I think for the disaster day of shooting. I'm more concerned about the writing and flow though. Check it out and let me know if you think it's funny

CV2 I took your advice with the slugs, thanks.

Scenes of a Party

Also quick question to anyone. I swear I recorded an opening scene where the guy comes into the apartment and the other guy goes into the other room. When I was uploading the raw footage using a sony handycam as my deck. I noticed it wasn't there. Almost like I never recorded it. On top of that, lately when I first begin recording on a tape (maybe just this one) I notice there is no audio for a good 5 seconds and there are bars across the screen intertwining the new and old footage. WHAT IS GOING ON!? AM I SCREWED WITH MY CAMERA? I'VE SHOT LESS THAN 15 HRS. Why would it be doing this?
 
Honestly, not one of your stronger scripts. It dragged on longer than the story could sustain it.

The technical stuff:

Having only one light in the opening shots just created a nasty blowout above the door frame. A couple sheets of white foam core make good bounces to even things out. What happened to the other lights?

When George turns around for Zed's entrance, there's some schmutz on the lens.

Once the girl arrived, the audio started to get drastically inconsistent.

When they move into the kitchen/dining area, the audio gets worse. Too much headroom in the framing leads to an ineffective mic position, and even when it was okay, it was focused on Zed and rarely made it to the girl.

The mic kept dropping into the frame. And in the kitchen, the shots were off-balance. I don't know if that was a conscious decision or not, but it really just looked like the tripod wasn't leveled.

Seems that every time you post, you have a story about how everything went wrong, and the stories are often the same. It doesn't take long to form a habit, good or bad, but it can take a long time to break one. Pre-production is huge. People keep not showing up for you. I'd find new people.

It did pace better at the end by adding some padding... though I'd go to a couple seconds of black, rather than back to your title card.

And your actors are improving their style and rapport with each skit.

With the missing footage... is there a chance that you played the first footage back and forgot to re-cue the tape, thus recording over said footage?

As for the capture problem... if you play it back four or five times and the exact same flaws appear in exactly the same place, the footage is damaged either because of a weak spot in the tape stock or something that went wrong during recording. If it's always in a different spot, I'd check the capture cam. At 15 hours, I doubt your heads are damaged... but if you are working in a dirty environment, they may be contaminated.
 
yea you're right. There were a million things going on during shoot. The sick actor kept babbling and I had to make sure he was comfortable. I only brought one tape and the actors didn't have their lines down tight so we luckily finished with 5 minutes to spare on tape. I'm definitely trying to break this, a lot of it falls on me for lack of preparation. I actually had 2 work lights that day that I bought that morning. Unfortunately the one I was going to use as my fill light need assembly and we didn't have a screw driver. I'm 2 weeks from being done with school so these skits are going to get a lot more attention. Right I'm juggling work, school, this, and finding a job out in LA. (I'm looking for admin work since that's what my degree is), and trying to get an agent that can get me to pitch this as a show. So yea, I'm glad you notice a lot of it ends up half ass, I'm getting too many compliments when I need criticism.

It's weird though, although I agree this isn't the strongest sketch, some people have said its the best so far. So I'm not sure if it's the phenomenon of it just being the newest sketch or if it's just peoples' taste.

The tape thing, no I definitely didn't rewind and shoot over it. The footage that intertwines with the new footage is from another sketch. It's always happening in the same area, so I know it was at the recording stage. I don;t think it's the heads because why would it only do it when I first start the tape. So I'll try another tape and see what happens and what not. Honestly that day was so rushed and hectic I could've just forgot to press record, but I doubt it.
 
homer said:
The tape thing, no I definitely didn't rewind and shoot over it. The footage that intertwines with the new footage is from another sketch. It's always happening in the same area, so I know it was at the recording stage. I don;t think it's the heads because why would it only do it when I first start the tape. So I'll try another tape and see what happens and what not.
Click to expand...

How many times have you used that tape? And why are you recording over old footage? That probably explains why the tape got messed up.

I never reuse tape. Honestly, miniDV stock is $2.50 a tape if you buy in larger quantities online. And never have just one tape. I'd go ahead and buy two extras and keep them in your camera case. Don't use them unless you find yourself in a pinch. As soon as you burn them, replace them.

homer said:
Honestly that day was so rushed and hectic I could've just forgot to press record, but I doubt it.
Click to expand...

I have done that before. In fact, it wasn't that I forgot to press "record," but rather that I double-clutched (which started, then stopped recording). And once you've gotten one punch off-cycle, if you are in a hurried situation, you're starting when you thin you're stopping and stopping when you think you're starting. The habit I had to form was taking a deep breath when I hit the red button, and reading every bit of info in the viewfinder to make sure that the numbers were rolling (TC) and I did see "REC" as well.
 
Ah yea, I have 4 tapes. use them a lot. I'll get more. and yea the double clutch thing happens to me from time to time, could've happened there. thanks again.
 
homer said:
Ah yea, I have 4 tapes. use them a lot. I'll get more. and yea the double clutch thing happens to me from time to time, could've happened there. thanks again.
Click to expand...

The more you use a tape, the more likely you are to encounter problems. Keep a single-pass habit and you'll avoid these issues.

And since you keep reusing your four tapes... what happens when you want to go back to an old project, pull in some older footage, reedit, etc.?
 
all the raw footage is on my pc. I figure I could just go reuse the digital raw footage. I want to always keep moving foward, the purpose of these projects have always been for a pitch for a show. Be it on tv, interweb, or live.

I definitely contemplated saving the footage per tape, but at the time I thought the only thing I was losing was money by buying more tape. But since now I know I'm losing potential footage, then I'm definitely buying more tape.

My big concern now is getting an agent (I'm assuming a writer or talent agent) so that they can get me in to pitch the idea to a network. I'm pretty clueless on the subject. Living in the midwest makes it that much harder. Chicago tries to front it self as a big city with opportunity, but there really isn't any. Finding an agent for this field is hard, I'm thinking of just contacting the ones in LA.
 
homer said:
all the raw footage is on my pc. I figure I could just go reuse the digital raw footage. I want to always keep moving foward, the purpose of these projects have always been for a pitch for a show. Be it on tv, interweb, or live.

I definitely contemplated saving the footage per tape, but at the time I thought the only thing I was losing was money by buying more tape. But since now I know I'm losing potential footage, then I'm definitely buying more tape.
Click to expand...

Tapes don't crash. Hard drives do, eventually. So when that happens, the footage is gone forever.

Back to the failed light assembly...

Lots of folks are so concerned with all the big add-ons that compliment the camera - audio kit, lighting, camera support - that the little things, which can be most important, are often forgotten or overlooked. Here is the list of my camera kit, and these things are always with me:

- Roscolux gel swatchbook... available cheap and/or free, very handy for creative white balancing. The swatches are just big enough that you can white balance through them, and I keep the CTO and CTB flagged for cool and warm balancing.
- A white card. T-shirts and copy paper just won't cut it for a really good white balance.
- Lens cleaner and a lens cloth. It seems like a no-brainer, but then again...
And I wouldn't get the booklet of paper lens cloths. Get the lens chamois that is washable/reusable.
- PortaBrace Side Kit that contains Leatherman, two jeweler's-size screwdrivers, scissors, needle-nose pliers, mini-Maglite, Sharpies, and a craft knife. Always be prepared to need to cut tape or rope, or to assemble something, or to label something.
- Small, collapsible reflector (silver/white).
- Camera rain cover (came packaged with the camera case).
- Steno pad and pens... never know when you'll need to shot-log in the field, or make any other production notes, or jot down an idea.
- Cleaning cassette. I rarely, if ever, use this. But it's there as a last resort.
- Velcro ties, help keep cables organized. Always tie cables to the camera handle as tension releif when you connect an audio snake, mic cables, video cables, FireWire cables, etc.
- Batteries, charger, and camera adapter for power supply.
- Short XLR cables.
- Shotgun mic, and shoe-mounted shock system.
- Two wireless systems (Senn. G2).
- 1/8">XLR cables for wireless.
- Shoemount adapter plate for one wireless receiver.
- Small (pocket) tackle box to organize lav mics and their accessories, contains four lavs: two Countryman B6, and the two stocks that came with the Sennheiser systems.
- Headphones. I have my Sony MDR-7506, but I even keep a cheap pair of wrap-arounds just in case.
- Blank tape stock, in case of emergency (at least 2 hours).
- Camera manual.
- Production folder, to organize film permits, location sheets, etc.
- Small tripod for travel/carry-on
- Macbook.
- Laptop power supply.
- FW drive and cables.

Also with me, but won't fit into the case:
- Gaffer's caddy loop for tape rolls, stocked with gaffer's tape, spike tape (black and white), write-on/console tape, bright green "Caution Cable" gaffer's tape, and an assortment of those A-shaped spring clamps with the orange rubber sleeves on them (available at Home Depot).
- Big tripod, in its own case.
- Mattebox, rails, and filters. (The filters can fit in the back pack that I use, but not the rails and matte box.)

I have a larger PB case for my camera, but the list above stays packed into a PortaBrace BK-N1. Aside from the mics, pay attendtion to the little things... things that can be picked up cheap, free, or without special order. These are the little things that can be life-savers on location, especially for a one-man band or a two-man crew.
 
I desaturated the colors.

C2V, I have noticed since I started I'm lugging around a lot more. I have a lot of what you're carrying the lens cloth and such. I think I will organize my stuff into a binder. Right now I'm filming at one of the actor's apartment so I want to stay somewhat light so I'm in and out quickly, but yes I'm devising reflectors out of aluminum sheets to diffuse the lights.
 
homer said:
I desaturated the colors.

C2V, I have noticed since I started I'm lugging around a lot more. I have a lot of what you're carrying the lens cloth and such. I think I will organize my stuff into a binder. Right now I'm filming at one of the actor's apartment so I want to stay somewhat light so I'm in and out quickly, but yes I'm devising reflectors out of aluminum sheets to diffuse the lights.
Click to expand...

The longer list up there fits in one of these:
http://www.portabrace.com/productA-BK-1NR

I can take (almost) everything I need to shoot and edit in that one back pack. Carries on a plane, packs in the trunk. I hiked all over DC for three days with that pack. Quick to pack, quick to unpack.
 
right now it takes me 2 trips to the car to get all my gear. I really like how the tripod is on the side. I'm going to modify my bag to do this, thanks for the idea.
 
Don't get me wrong... I can certainly travel with more. Add a full sound kit, lighting kit, Glidecam and vest, and my Pelican 1650 with extra cables, and my van gets packed.

But, I can pack a pretty good kit in that one back pack, and it's really nice that it carries my laptop. Now, it doesn't hold the most impressive tripod, but I bought a small one for travel with the back pack. The big one goes out on local shoots and larger travel shoots where I just cannot compromise on support.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top