The Legend of Seven Toe Maggie: 2nd feature film!

[Dr. Benway]

told her to send them a resume/headshots

Some tips - seriously. This is probably after the fact, but Peter's work gets results, and is worth taking note of.

http://peterhurley.com/dvd/

http://peterhurley.com/photography/a...eading-ladies/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIMCFVlbEz8

[Almohada]

Should mail them a DVD hard copy so it's in their office.

[mark84j]

Also, I got word that my lead Mandi... who waits tables as a side job was working last night and was waiting on these nice ladies. She had them for 4 hrs. She said they were super nice, and complimented her makeup and then asked if she was an actress. She said she normally doesn't tell people at her work she is.. but she decided to take a chance. Anyway, they asked her some questions and made conversation as the night went on. They made no reference to the fact they were anybody special. Mandi was nice and courteous. When they were getting ready to leave, they asked another waitress to speak with Mandi. She thought she had screwed up their ticket. She came back over, and they handed her their cards and told her to send them a resume/headshots and some video clips of things she'd been working on. They said she had "it" and wanted to help her.

She looked down at the card and it read "VP of 20th Century FOX"

She called me ecstatic, and I stayed up til 3 am working on a clip for her to send them. She wants them to see 7TM.
Cross your fingers!

Holy cow, that's how it starts! That awesome to hear, az.

Would it hurt to put it on a PRIVATE Youtube or Vimeo link? Would be a lot quicker for them to find it, yeah?

[mark84j]

PS.

I've been incessanty scanning and looking over more GH2 footage, and I've actually started re-watching more Canon 7D footage. While I gotta say the test footage from earlier blew my mind, my opinion on DSLR footage is the same. While I think it looks beautiful (and I'm talking about the old lenses, beach, and Musgo), it's not what I think a movie looks like. To me when you get the very best out of something like a 7D (and in this case the GH2 as well), what you get is something that looks like a nicely shot TV commercial or a well-lit Scifi channel show. Not feature length film.

If I was shooting a promo vid or advertisement, I'd definitely use the GH2 if I had it. But for a short film or feature length, still going with the XHA1 or HV40.

But seriously, in this day and age when nobody changes their mind about anything, I questioned myself after seeing that GH2 test vid. It looked so good, I almost considered selling my HV40 again so I could invest in one. But like I said, it's just not the style or look I'm looking for.

EDIT.

See! This is how screwed up I am! Even after all that I've said just said ^ I'm still considering buying a GH2 hahaha. I guess it goes back to the old "Hey, you can be a fan of Avengers and Dark Knight too, ya know." Maybe 3 cameras wouldn't be the worst thing in the world? XH-A1, HV40, and GH2... could be ok.

[MrMicah]

Cross your fingers!

Fingers crossed. Fantastic news for her and for you.

[Almohada]

PS.

I've been incessanty scanning and looking over more GH2 footage, and I've actually started re-watching more Canon 7D footage. While I gotta say the test footage from earlier blew my mind, my opinion on DSLR footage is the same. While I think it looks beautiful (and I'm talking about the old lenses, beach, and Musgo), it's not what I think a movie looks like. To me when you get the very best out of something like a 7D (and in this case the GH2 as well), what you get is something that looks like a nicely shot TV commercial or a well-lit Scifi channel show. Not feature length film.

If I was shooting a promo vid or advertisement, I'd definitely use the GH2 if I had it. But for a short film or feature length, still going with the XHA1 or HV40.

But seriously, in this day and age when nobody changes their mind about anything, I questioned myself after seeing that GH2 test vid. It looked so good, I almost considered selling my HV40 again so I could invest in one. But like I said, it's just not the style or look I'm looking for.

EDIT.

See! This is how screwed up I am! Even after all that I've said just said ^ I'm still considering buying a GH2 hahaha. I guess it goes back to the old "Hey, you can be a fan of Avengers and Dark Knight too, ya know." Maybe 3 cameras wouldn't be the worst thing in the world? XH-A1, HV40, and GH2... could be ok.

Yeah dude... I don't know... I can't even afford half of a GH2 right now but from what I've seen it's the best DSLR out there. Even skin tones actually look fuckking real!!!! Compared to the other dslr cams it really blew my mind as well. My HV20 is a bit outdated now even though it's still a monster but I really would only need it for the huge feature that's slated. We'll see what happens. I hear there is a GH3 coming out so either we'd have to go for that or get the GH2 as the price jumps DOWN!

[Bif]

While I think it looks beautiful (and I'm talking about the old lenses, beach, and Musgo), it's not what I think a movie looks like.

A movie is what it is...

Different technology applied to moviemaking results in different "looks" as the technology evolves. B&W older films had an "orthochromatic" look to them, the film was not very red sensitive (hence the use of a red safelight in darkroom handling) and it had a very different "movie" look from B&W when panchromatic film stock came along. The first color films had a look all their own and the grain structure changed as film stocks improved.

The "movie look" is about to undergo another change, frame rate. With digital motion picture the mechanical constraints of a film transport mechanism just went out the window along with 24fps. "The Hobbit" is being shot at 48fps and some producers are already looking at working in 60p. The goal all along has been better IQ and smooth motion without any "flicker".

Fortunately story content is still king, and as long as we can be swept up in the story most of us won't care "what it was shot with". But the "movie look" is changing and will continue to change, part of that is what you're seeing with the cameras you mentioned.

To me when you get the very best out of something like a 7D (and in this case the GH2 as well), what you get is something that looks like a nicely shot TV commercial or a well-lit Scifi channel show. Not feature length film.

Some of that may very well be the constraints of time. TV commercials are usually produced on a tight short fuse deadline basis. The pace of a TV show series of any kind is punishing and gruelling, many episodes will tend to have a similar look to the way they are lit.

A full length feature can have a bit more leeway, lighting can be more carefully set up and post production time allows for more refinement in that phase of it. One of the "Highlander" films had an alternate cut that had not been as well "massaged" in post, you saw a lot of scenes as shot that had a dramatically different look than the release version.

If I was shooting a promo vid or advertisement, I'd definitely use the GH2 if I had it. But for a short film or feature length, still going with the XHA1 or HV40.

Your choice, and I'm NOT being critical of that in any way, if you get it interesting viewers are not going to care what you used to get the result.

My choice may be determined as much by lens flexibility as much as anything else, plus I get to "pack" quite a bit less "kit" to lug around with the GH2.

But seriously, in this day and age when nobody changes their mind about anything, I questioned myself after seeing that GH2 test vid. It looked so good, I almost considered selling my HV40 again so I could invest in one. But like I said, it's just not the style or look I'm looking for.

You're simply being open minded, which is never a bad thing. You'll still apply YOUR choices.

EDIT.

See! This is how screwed up I am! Even after all that I've said just said ^ I'm still considering buying a GH2 hahaha. I guess it goes back to the old "Hey, you can be a fan of Avengers and Dark Knight too, ya know." Maybe 3 cameras wouldn't be the worst thing in the world? XH-A1, HV40, and GH2... could be ok.

Options...That's why I still have a couple of HF100's.

Bruce Foreman

[MalfunctioningHuman]

What I think sets the GH2 apart (leaving aside the sharpness) is that you can adapt pretty much any lens in existence to it. And, the camera responds according to the lens. You can change the character of the camera immediately by changing the lens. This is not true of the Canons which have too much softness built into the camera itself.

Also, the Canon's have sensors that are too large in my opinion. I like the micro 4/3 much better. Very close to Academy.

Look at these examples (and this is just the GH1):

Lomo anamorphic:


Canon FD:


Nikon 35mm Prime:


Helios (Russian lens) and Sankor 16C anamorphic:


But this thread is getting too much OT.

To Azmyth: WTF! Dude! Awesome stuff!

If you can't tell, I'm really impressed with TLOSTM.

[Bif]

What I think sets the GH2 apart...(See the rest of this post in "DSLR And Still Cameras")

But this thread is getting too much OT.

Yes it is. I'm going to open it up in "DSLR And Still Cameras" with your post. This is getting pretty interesting and the viewpoints of ALL who discuss may help others.

So...Back to Azmyth's thread (and I've learned much from watching his progress here).

To Azmyth: WTF! Dude! Awesome stuff!

If you can't tell, I'm really impressed with TLOSTM.

I think just about all of us are. Sitting on pins 'n needles until I get a copy.

Bruce Foreman

[MalfunctioningHuman]

Yes it is. I'm going to open it up in "DSLR And Still Cameras" with your post. This is getting pretty interesting and the viewpoints of ALL who discuss may help others.

So...Back to Azmyth's thread (and I've learned much from watching his progress here).



I think just about all of us are. Sitting on pins 'n needles until I get a copy.

Bruce Foreman

Thank you very much, Bruce. I would edit my post to remove the footage from this thread, but I can't (a moderator, perhaps?)

Doing what Azmyth is doing requires so much out of anybody (not just talent, but a massive amount of effort, coordination, etc) that it makes it tough for anybody to do well. Judging by the footage he hasn't just done well. He's hitting this one out of the park!

The cinematography is gorgeous. That keeps coming back to mind as one of the main parts.

[JFP]

PS.

I've been incessanty scanning and looking over more GH2 footage, and I've actually started re-watching more Canon 7D footage. While I gotta say the test footage from earlier blew my mind, my opinion on DSLR footage is the same. While I think it looks beautiful (and I'm talking about the old lenses, beach, and Musgo), it's not what I think a movie looks like. To me when you get the very best out of something like a 7D (and in this case the GH2 as well), what you get is something that looks like a nicely shot TV commercial or a well-lit Scifi channel show. Not feature length film.

If I was shooting a promo vid or advertisement, I'd definitely use the GH2 if I had it. But for a short film or feature length, still going with the XHA1 or HV40.

But seriously, in this day and age when nobody changes their mind about anything, I questioned myself after seeing that GH2 test vid. It looked so good, I almost considered selling my HV40 again so I could invest in one. But like I said, it's just not the style or look I'm looking for.

EDIT.

See! This is how screwed up I am! Even after all that I've said just said ^ I'm still considering buying a GH2 hahaha. I guess it goes back to the old "Hey, you can be a fan of Avengers and Dark Knight too, ya know." Maybe 3 cameras wouldn't be the worst thing in the world? XH-A1, HV40, and GH2... could be ok.

Mark, after just over 3 years with the HV30 I just made the switch to the GH2, hacked it with LPowell's Flowmotion V2.2 before shooting a second of footage, and I honestly couldn't be happier. There are some workarounds to deal with to get the best out of the camera but I still find it more user friendly for video than any of the Canon DSLR's I've used on commercial jobs. The lack of resolution always stood out to me and the GH2 excels in that regard. I also like the flexibility of using pretty much any lens. I put together a set of FDs for a few hundred dollars and they give the GH2 a nice organic look.

The reason why so much DSLR footage looks the same is when somebody gets a large sensor camera for the first time they go overboard with their ability to select focus. That and the lack of lighting. Having the ability to shoot in low light at high ISO's doesn't mean you should. I tend to stop down to about f/4 for most situations.

I've only had the camera for a week so I should have some footage up here soon. But here is another example of the GH2 in a feature narrative format. Footage is right out of the camera I believe.

[Almohada]

Unbelievable. Out of the camera yes, but they definitely had a grip truck and tons of lighting gear.

[JFP]

Actually according to the DP on the thread on DVXUSER.

"Here's the first teaser for a feature I'm just wrapping up DPing on the hacked GH2 (with the Quantum V100 patch). Shot with a bare bones crew, sometimes down to just actors, a sound mixer, and myself. Lighting is primarily practicals and LED panels, and 99% of the film is shot on the Tokina 11-16, Voightlander 25, rokinon 35, and Sigma 50.

Most of the teaser is ungraded or just passed over quickly, and sound is still all over the place. We just wanted to put something together to raise some more funds for post and to get more of a birds eye view of how everything is shaping up."

I hope this isn't against forum rules, but here is the link to the original thread: http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread...cked-GH2/page2

[azmyth]

WoW, I need to check this thread more often.. but I am currently in post.. trying to edit this beast.. a little over halfway done.

I've seen than teaser before, and to me it looks very cinematic.

I'm planning to upgrade to the Black Magic Cinema Camera after 7TM, but if my budget for that falls through I'd use my GH2 again in a heart beat.

[MrMicah]

You do realise you have a quiet cheer squad here, willing you to success.

[Almohada]

I am currently in post.. trying to edit this beast.. a little over halfway done.

Did you ever get my message? Not sure what to do next... still waiting on your thoughts.

[azmyth]

yeah, i'm stupid busy right now. I'll get back with ya.

[azmyth]

So I just finished the rough cut of 7TM this weekend.. Right now it comes in a 1 hr 50 minutes.. which I think can be trimmed down some.
My issue right now is, that some spots are hard to determine if cuts or edits need to be made due to the lack of score. I just can't seem to "visualize" the feel of the scene without it.
I've obviously already been down this road, but it doesn't get any easier it seems.

[Almohada]

So I just finished the rough cut of 7TM this weekend.. Right now it comes in a 1 hr 50 minutes.. which I think can be trimmed down some.

Do you have it on dropbox? I'd like to check it out. Not sure if you used my feedback on it or not from that one PM months ago

[mark84j]

So I just finished the rough cut of 7TM this weekend.. Right now it comes in a 1 hr 50 minutes.. which I think can be trimmed down some.
My issue right now is, that some spots are hard to determine if cuts or edits need to be made due to the lack of score. I just can't seem to "visualize" the feel of the scene without it.
I've obviously already been down this road, but it doesn't get any easier it seems.

Congrats and good luck, az.

[Bif]

My issue right now is, that some spots are hard to determine if cuts or edits need to be made due to the lack of score. I just can't seem to "visualize" the feel of the scene without it.
I've obviously already been down this road, but it doesn't get any easier it seems.

Do you have someone composing/writing original music to score 7TM?

If not, you might check out www.smartsound.com and listen to some of the individual track samples to see if you can find something that fits. When listening, remember that the character of the music can change with the timed length of the track. Also when purchasing a track (prices seem reasonable) you get usually 3 to 6 "variations" of it. You also get a free copy of SonicFire Pro Express Edition.

This allows you to enter a timed length (you should be able to read this off the timeline), bring in the music track (select the variation), and SFP actually "composes" the music to fit that time, usually with a decent beginning followed by the middle passage(s) and usually a good ending.

If the track you purchased is from their "multilayer" series you can alter the instrument "mix" some.

The music sounds "real" and sometimes "rich".

I've been buying "albums" from them through the years and already have a good selection on hand, yet I still shop individual tracks from albums I don't have. I have the Sonic Fire Pro "Scoring Edition" which allows me to import a video segment so I can work the score on a timeline, as you "stretch" or "shrink" the music track it "re-composes" to fit. This edition is not free but sometimes very useful. I also use the Express Edition for it's simplicity (once you get the "hang" of it).

Just "playing" with a tentative score helps me visually while editing.

Good luck to you, I'm anxious to see this one.

Bruce Foreman

[azmyth]

Yeah I have a composer scoring the whole thing. He's realllllly good.

The film is currently 1hr and 50 minutes long.. which seems a little lengthy to me.

[Bif]

You can generally "tighten" it up some by trimming "out points" on scenes where the camera might be "lingering" on something longer than necessary. You can "tighten" the edit in many places to "pick up" the pace. This can make it more "dynamic", most of this done in small increments can help a lot.

It may not take much to get it down to about an hour and 35 minutes or so.

Good luck

Bruce Foreman

[Scott Hamilton]

Slightly off topic, but I was watching the first Friday The 13th on tv the other day and noticed they held shots at the end of scenes for SO long. A car would drive down the road and after the camera stopped panning it would just watch the car for 5-7 extra seconds. Don't know if it was more the style back then or if they were just trying to fill up space, haha.

Back on point though, that's definitely something worth looking at. Also, and this is an obvious point, if there's any scene that's not absolutely critical to the story, let it go. If it's a big scare or a funny joke you want to keep it, then that's different, but if it's just dialogue or additional information that may not be necessary, then it can go. They say find the most lean and efficient way to get your point across. Audiences will thank you for it. I have a short that I trimmed from 22 minutes to 19 doing this. Doesn't seem like much but it greatly improved the pace, and people that had seen the original version barely even noticed anything was missing.

Spread out over the length of a feature I'm sure you could find 20 minutes that could go.

Scott

[azmyth]

I think what I would like to do, to anyone who is interested (Only 3-4 people or so.) Is upload the roughcut somewhere where it can be passworded, and allow those individuals the chance to see the film in this form, and make their own notes based on what they see. I'll even let them read the script beforehand so they have an idea for what the story should be instead of diving in blind.
If your interested in seeing the finished product this might be something you wouldn't want to do though.

I'm making my own notes right now, but sometimes I feel like having fresh eyes look at it can help.

thoughts?