Archive for: June, 2008

I stumbled across a persons website last night and thought this was to good to pass up.http://www.alife4sale.com/index.htm
The guy actually sold his entire life in an internet auction on ebay. The guy actually used to have a really interesting life! He lived in Australia, sky dived, had a great house..Unfortunately, he short sold himself 400,000 dollars instead of the 2.2 million he thought because of a glitch in the system at ebay. Still this got me to wonder about all the things people are willing to buy off of internet auctions such as ebay or even craigslist.

I worked in the news for about 6 years and we had done stories on the potato chip that resembled Jesus, or the person who tried to sell his sole (only to be kicked off by ebay because they determined only tangible things could be sold). The list continues into a womans toenails, a man tried to sell his wife for sexual favors (ebay closed this one down), a ghost in a jar, a million pound wall (http://www.daniweb.com/blogs/entry1935.html)..Apperently a civil war fort (ebay item number 4461014825 )

Ok that one might be cool. Especially for a game of capture the flag or a paint ball fight. .. or if some rouge country ever tries to take over New York..

There was the cinnamon bun that could be Mother Teresa’s reflection.

How in the world do you find these crazy things? The trick comes within the “everything else” section. You can really sell just about everything else, including yourself!

Need an empty bag of Cheese Doritos? Check out item number 300237450038. A flag shaped french fry? Item number 140245140424. You can even get a pile of dirt *item number 260255427017*

Makes me wonder how much I could get for all of my stuff. …

By Greg A. Smith
Ever wonder how CD’s are made? I haven’t really, but ran across this little ditty of information. I never knew you needed a special knife to make a disc, amazing.

This sight was responsible for enlightening my technology senses.

http://www.milkandcookies.com/

http://www.milkandcookies.com/link/113292/detail/

via motionographer

If anyone recalls, the completely CGI animated “Polar Express” was REAMED by critics for the lifelessness of its characters. I remember seeing the trailer, with it’s Tom Hank-esque conductor leaning over and lecturing one of the kids—it was actually one of the scarier performances I’d scene in a trailer in awhile.

This would be the OPPOSITE of that.

I remember seeing this guy and his story on t.v. a year or two ago.
Hell of a way to reemerge.
By the way, this is completely worth watching start to finish—there are a couple of nice twists/scenes.

Where the Hell is Matt? (2008) from Matthew Harding on Vimeo.

In case you haven’t seen them, Groovy has some incredible business cards. We have a general card for the business and then each employee has their own card with a quote of their choosing on the back. You might be thinking “That sounds unique and creative.” But it doesn’t end there. You see our business cards are made out of metal. That’s right, no paper for us, these truly make a statement. Since they are metal they have our information basically etched in to the card, along with really cool cut outs that spell the name of the company. These are definitely not your standard business cards. These cards make quite a statement and leave a lasting impression. They also result in major business card envy. Every time I give my card to someone a discussion is launched about them. People love them and want them for their own. They rave about them and then look at their own business cards with a look of sadness and disappointment that didn’t exist until I gave them my card. This fairly regular occurrence made me think of a movie. There’s a movie called American Psycho and in that movie there’s this infamous scene that is about business cards. The movie is very dark and out there…so the scene’s magic might be lost on some. But I felt compelled to put this up in my blog so everyone can have a look. This movie and this scene are one of my all time favorites. Hope you enjoy it too!

So one may think that the on-line networking site Facebook is just for fun, but don’t be fooled! It actually has a usefulness beyond connecting with high school classmates from yesteryear. Simply use the “Groups” tab under the main Facebook column on the left. It is here that you can search a plethora of potentially engaging/helpful/and downright needed associations. For example, I am the staff senior editor, and I occasionally need to troubleshoot issues that invariably come up. I use a variety of sources for inspiration and help, but I wouldn’t necessarily have thought of Facebook as one. But it dawned on me that maybe there are other editors who use Facebook who might be able to help me with what I was trying to figure out. Low and behold, there was!! Long story short, I joined 3 Final Cut Pro user groups, ranging from one that offers posts and tutorials to one that is a space for editors to chat. So maybe if there’s a program or technique that you utilize for your job, see if there’s a Facebook Group that supports it. Join it and see what you can learn!

Alright, we all know that films are acknowledged for their cinematography, the quality of the video, HD or SD, special effects and whatnot. But, what about the sound? The sound of a film completely affects the mood and the environment created. It is my opinion that the greater public overlooks the sound of a film.

Sound has become an art form in itself. Of course, there is music, which has been around forever.. but since the development of Musique Concrete, we have Sound Art, Soundscapes, Sonic Narratives, and more! There is also “Sound Montage” which was initially used by Walter Murch.

Here is an excerpt of an interview with Walter Murch on sound from Vincent LoBrutto’s book Sound-On-Film:

You often use the film credit “sound montage.” Is this because you use sounds in combination in the same way a picture montage is created?

Yes, it is. In my teenage years, I was very influenced by some records I heard from the Musique Concrete school in Paris. So when I began to think about sound and film, one of the main influences on me was the desire to somehow bring together film and Musique Concrete.—the fun of assembling all these real sounds in an unusual context and yet having a visual reason for doing so. Also, at the start of my career I was working nonunion, and the title “Sound Montage” appeared vague enough not to set off any alarms…

Did being attracted to sound at that point lead you to filmmaking?

Indirectly. I had gotten very deeply into sound in my early teens. At sixteen I wound up thinking I was going to be an oceanographer or an architect. Instead, I wound up going to USC Film School as a graduate student. The first month and a half they had us shooting stills and learning about camera. Then we did something that needed sound, and that’s when those two rivers of my life came together in a rush. Very few people at film school wanted to get into sound because it was just sound—they didn’t think of it as an essential part of movies…**

** Lo Brutto, Vincent (1994). Sound-On-Film: Interviews with Creators of Film-Sound. Praeger Publishers, Walter Murch. (pg. 84-85). Westport, Connecticut and London.

Check out these websites for more on sound as art:

Website of experimental sound compositions and artists:
http://www.phonography.org/phonographers.htm

Sound Culture:
http://www.soundculture.org/

Two trailers from the same filmmaker, Ayz Waraich.
I’m not plugging him or his films, i don’t even know what they’re about, but what I think we should see here are two great examples of hooking people into a story. What may be more impressive than any of this is that Ayz uses a pretty basic, consumer-grade, auto-exposure camera (Canon HV20), but balances that out by employing cinematic conventions–dolly moves, tracking shots, crane/jib shots, a bit of overexposure, well-planned lens flares, and most importantly, GREAT lighting schemes (i really dig those flares from the flourescent overheads in the White Red Panic* teaser).

So remember, it’s not always what you’re telling your story with, but what story you’re telling.

White Red Panic – TEASER HD from Ayz Waraich on Vimeo.

*The White Red Panic trailer found courtesy of Stu Maschwitz’s awesome blog, ProLost

In the Groovy studio we have been making some subtle changes to the cool toys we play with at work on a daily basis. One such change has been the Groovy Sprinter Van (aka grip truck). Having freelanced with the crews for two years before becoming the Stage Manager here, my vision was to create an easier work environment for our crews. No offense..but the old van was a mess and it kind of made me mad having to go back and forth to get things. We needed to create a well organized system our growing crews could easily use, travel to set with, and not have to over run themselves by making trip after trip back to the van to get something they A: forgot and B: cant find.

That meant, with Brent’s approval, our new van needed some additions!

Figuring its really hard to roll things in and out of the van without a ramp of sorts, we started by installing a “Handiramp” in the back. Yes, Brent let me drill holes in the van. (Actually he drilled the first hole..you know… just in case)

After we installed the ramp, well we had to roll something up on it didn’t we. Why not.. our Matthews Doorway Dolly! Who said it wasn’t manly to play with your dolly? Besides, the boss can play with his dolly whenever he wants. ..I have many more bad jokes where that came from.

The ramp is actually a pretty cool feature. You can fold it out with one person and it holds up about 2000 lbs!!

Ok so now we have a ramp, and it works well. Now we had to fill the van with something that would hold all of our equipment, be versatile and get the gear as close to set as possible, and not alter the interior of the van to badly. It was at this point we started talking about how large grip trucks actually do it and what professional freelance crews would expect to find if they came to work for us.

One shining example of what a group of angry grips can accomplish when having to carry lots of stuff all over the place is this: The Easy Loader

This wonderful piece of ingenuity can carry 3 milk crates, 8 C stands, 6 pedestal stands, a full flag set, sand bags, and it even has room on the top tray for something else (an HMI ballast in this case)!! Amazingly well crafted and easy to use.
We also got two other carts which have yet to be photographed; A Speed Rail Cart (http://www.filmtools.com/speedrailcart.html), which holds all of our expendables, tools and other accessories you might need on a film set but are not immediately needed such as furny pads or gels. We also got a C-stand/High roller cart (http://www.filmtools.com/cutcag.html) which houses two milk crates, 16 c stands, two high rollers AND sand bags.

HOLY CRAP.. that gets us the mobility and organization our crews need to come to set efficiently and ready to rock!

The only draw back is they are heavy. so we had to install tie down points in the van.

This way we can ratchet down the carts from the floor and the wall so they don’t move all over in transport.

Thats about it for the changes so far. I am excited to be able to get these things to the crews because it is going to bring a quality of life that will reach past the image on the screen for them. The freelance gang works hard to crank out good productions and every little bit helps on a set!

Next we plan on building in a 4′x4′ box to house our larger flags, floppies and bounce boards.

And if anyone knows how we can store 10 foot sections of dolly track on the walls safely and securely please let me know!

Recently I had a client come to me requesting to do a series of PSA’s spots relating to child safety in and around the water. We put our creative minds together and came up with three scenarios that people take for granted, children in kiddy pools, bathtubs, and buckets. I wanted to create suspense by showing a child reaching into a bucket for an object. I wanted to use the bottom of the bucket perspective for the spot. The problem was how would we see her reach into the bucket from this unique perspective?

The first idea was to cut a bucket in half and shoot thorough glass fitted around the base. However that could pose a problem with water leakage no matter how much we may prepare. And the last thing we would want is water damaging a 50 thousand dollar HD Zoom Lens rental! After bringing up the notion of water distortion on objects in fish tanks to my D.P. Dave Stewart he hit on the idea of shooting though a fish tank. Brilliant! The crazy idea worked out great and the shot was outstanding. Hope you like it.