Apr 27 09

Showcase: Signs

Today’s showcase item is something I found through Videomaker Magazine’s newsletter last week. It’s a pretty cool little short that shows pretty successfully the effectiveness of editing, a simple concept, and a good, short, human story. The coolest part I thought at first was identifying with the main (male) character of the story, and then being able to watch his life go on an upward curve from there. I suppose that’s what we most often find intriguing and lovable in the first place, when we find bits of ourselves in the characters whose lives end up being what we wish ours were. Or maybe it just gives hope. Anyway, on the low-budget side of things…

Gimme the goodies…

Apr 23 09

Link Dump: Tutorial Edition

As promised, here’s a pretty mondo list of tutorial and resource sites for your educational pleasure. I’ve organized the list, just like last week’s, into what made the most sense at the time. If you’ve got additions, suggestions, objections, or anything else, definitely feel free to comment on the post and let me know about more knowledge available for free on the ‘net. Yess…knowledge….

Gimme the goodies…

Apr 16 09

Link Dump: Free Stuff Edition

First off, welcome to the new blog! Yes, I know it’s awesome. I’m proud to say it’s my whole site collection hosted on one domain, inter-linked, organized and consolidated. Awesome. So now…on to the link dump.

I’ve got a massve…and I mean massive collection of links ready for ya. So massive, in fact, that I’m breaking it up into a multi-part series, because frankly, opening tons of links at once won’t be fun for you, and copying and pasting and reviewing what all of them are won’t be so fun for me. Not all at once, anyway. So next week, Link Dump: Tutorial Edition. But let’s get started with part 1.

Gimme the goodies…

Sep 11 08

Link Dump: Storyboarding

Well this one’s going to be very quick, as it’s been the most busy and hectic and honestly frustrating week so far at school and I am exhausted to the point of brain-no-function. So here it goes… Gimme the goodies…

Jul 21 08

New Resources!

Alright, it’s been a while and the site’s design is still in the works, but I’ve got some good news to share.

Firstly, in recent events, today I went to a screening of Apocalypto followed by a discussion and Q&A session with Dean Semler, the DP on Apocalypto and many other great films (Road Warrior, Beyond Thunderdome, Waterworld, Dances With Wolves to name a few). It was interesting to hear stories from the set and listen to someone talk about their business from a still-active, first-person point of view.

On to things I can share with you… Andrew Kramer’s done it again with TWO great new tutorials from Video Copilot, the 3D Offset possibly now my favorite of all his installments. So definitely check those out, even if you’re not an avid or current After Effects user. A basic interest will surely be inspired by this guy and his knowledge. Among other online tutorials, I checked out CreativeCow.net today and found this one by Grant Swanson, which is absolutely brimming with tips and tricks and knowledge surrounding the main theme of the tutorial: making DV footage look more cinematic. It’s basic, quick, and works beautifully. Best of all, most of it could even be done in other programs like Premiere or Final Cut, if After Effects isn’t available where you are.

I’ve got a few more resources lined up to check out, but not having done so yet, I’ll hold off on posting about them until I’ve reviewed their quality. However, one’s a video on DVD vs. Digital distribution, a hot topic these days, and the other’s a video of John Knoll, VFX Supervisor on Pirates of the Caribbean talking about the role of VFX Supervisors in modern cinema. IndyMogul‘s posted some good stuff in the last few weeks and are always worth checking out, and though I haven’t read it yet, this article on Color Correcting might be good for anyone interested in the idea. I’ll be sure to post at some point about other findings I come across as I come across them, but for now, enjoy the wealth of stuff I’ve posted this time and best of luck in your films. Happy filmmaking!

Feb 01 08

LATENT(CY) Reviewed!

My good friend Jeremy over at Microfilmmaker Magazine, an e-zine for – you guessed it
- low-budget filmmaking, recieved a copy of LATENT(CY) a while back and has reviewed it for the new issue of the zine.  It was great to hear that this project hasn’t lost steam (something I’ve warned against in my report on DIY distribution that has yet to be online).  The review was more than kind, and though the score wasn’t high, it was a justified and even helpful review.  Go ahead and read it over here and feel free to download or watch it from the links over on the Films page.  Thank, Jeremy, and the rest of the Microfilmmaker Magazine crew for watching, critiquing and showing my film’s review to the internet community.

One little tip for all you self-distributors out there: keep the submission fees for your films in the same package as the film when you send them to festivals, it makes it harder for the money to be lost.  And you’d probably rather not learn that the hard way like I did just recently.  Also, checks are much better for paying through the mail, since if they don’t make it to the right person, they usually can’t be signed and cashed or deposited, since the account and “Pay to…” names won’t match, and you probably won’t be cheated out of your money… whereas if you send cash… that’s a whole different story.  Best of luck, and I’ll put an announcement up once I get the e-book version of my report on self-distribution and -promotion online.  Happy filmmaking!

Dec 29 07

The Waiting Room…in the can!

The Waiting Room is finally completely shot and locked! I’m super excited to finally have this done. We fiddled with lighting more than usual on this shoot, and I liked it quite a lot. Direct light from my work light was too harsh, so we simply bounced it off a tinfoil-covered piece of cardboard sitting on the desk on the opposite wall, which gave a perfect soft back light from behind me. Next, we taped a piece of tin foil on the window in front of me, pointing the two track lights on the ceiling toward it, bouncing that light off the tin foil and onto my face, giving a nice soft glow that looked almost like it was coming from the paper I was writing on. It was a very nice effect, and perfect for the scene. Michelle really helped out on this shoot, being the cameraperson, the lighting technician and whatnot. It was fun to play with the lighting and get the shots I wanted to get in a relaxed, small-scale environment. Unfortunately, I only had the chance to take four pictures while shooting this stuff, but at least it demonstrates the lighting configurations I had set up. Take a peek at all of them here.

I think an awesome thing about low- and no-budget filmmaking is the ability to just improvise with what’s there at the time, with what you’ve got and what you know. I knew I had two little tin foil reflector type pieces (actually I just knew metal is reflective and I had some at the time), and I could use those to light up the scene in the way I needed and wanted. I’m excited now to relax tonight, and I have all day tomorrow to cut the thing together, start figuring out music, and finish up my school violence piece I’ve been not-so-diligently working on since last Spring.

Dec 18 07

New Films Page!

The Big Announcement
Well, here it is, finally a ‘films’ page to showcase the work of myself and others involved with AnimiVirtus Productions.  I know I haven’t posted in quite some time, and that this is the only thing that’s happened on this blog since that post, but I’ve been working on my personal blog to establish an effective, efficient, productive workflow solution that is entirely digital and helps me keep track of all the things I have to do, including how close to being completed they are and other information about each project.  Completely unrelated to this blog at the momentum, I’m hoping that once that’s figured out I can schedule times during each week to post a new resource website, showcase item, and other things on this blog while maintaining my personal blog and personal life as well.  I’ve also been working, am finishing up school, and getting ready for the holidays and my move out to Vancouver.  I haven’t been incredibly active in these areas, but they are still pressing areas that need tending to.

OK… now the Big Announcement
The films page is on the right hand menu, has a listing of films made by AnimiVirtus Productions, along with descriptions of the films, places to buy copies, watch the films online, and other links for each of them.  At the moment there is only the one feature LATENT(CY) on the page, but more will come as they are made (duh!).  So for now, enjoy the new page, the layout, the screenshots (oh yea, did I mention there’s screenshots?) and the links for the film.  More will come as it is edited, and hopefully I’ll be able to finish shooting The Waiting Room soon and be able to post some photos and stuff for that, as well as get it finally completed before I move.  Yea, that would be nice.  Enjoy the new page!