Showing posts with label 1201. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 1201. Show all posts
Friday, August 10, 2018
The Shell World War III
Here's a Japanese review of Carbon Copy. In Japanese it's called something like "The Shell The Shell 3rd World War." Which might be a fairly accurate title, I don't know. I don't know how or if Japanese language handles definite articles.
Monday, July 25, 2016
These shots.
- Running into position
- Shooting at oncoming
- Approaching Wall
- Side View
- Chaos
- The Wide Shot of Stuff Exploding
Tuesday, July 14, 2015
Special pickup day
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| Backlight is the key to all things. |
Kate Britton is amazing. I wish they'd had apple dumplings at the diner.
Saturday, September 14, 2013
Prometheus Trap US
It looks like Prometheus Trap is coming out in the US! Hooray! November 1st release date!
I don't know those actors and the ship sure looks different. Other than that it looks about right.
Amazon Review
Today's favorite review is this review of Prometheus Trap by "Midge".
Other than that Midge complains about the sound quality of the dialog and the framing being too close. To which I say "oof".
Now as far as I know she saw the UK version of the movie. I haven't seen the UK version. I hope and pray that it's in 16:9 letterbox and not blown up (pan&scan) and that the mix on that DVD came from the 5.1 English masters and not from a mix of the English and the M&E masters (which would bring the effective dialog level down another 6dB and that her review is just scurrilous.
The reason is that I feel like we go to some amount of trouble to get the dialog loud and to get the camera interesting and although this is but one reviewer who might have been cranky that day the reviewer might be right and I can only guess at what things may have happened after the masters left us or I actually screwed the masters up. It's hard to tell.
"This director & camera crew clearly did not understand the impact of bright lights targeted at the cameras & how it affects the lighting levels & quality of the imagery."I cannot tell you how funny that quote is to me. Or how many times the name "J.J.Abrams" was spoken on set.
Other than that Midge complains about the sound quality of the dialog and the framing being too close. To which I say "oof".
Now as far as I know she saw the UK version of the movie. I haven't seen the UK version. I hope and pray that it's in 16:9 letterbox and not blown up (pan&scan) and that the mix on that DVD came from the 5.1 English masters and not from a mix of the English and the M&E masters (which would bring the effective dialog level down another 6dB and that her review is just scurrilous.
The reason is that I feel like we go to some amount of trouble to get the dialog loud and to get the camera interesting and although this is but one reviewer who might have been cranky that day the reviewer might be right and I can only guess at what things may have happened after the masters left us or I actually screwed the masters up. It's hard to tell.
Tuesday, December 04, 2012
Wait, what?
Brian Schiavo found this thing on the Internet. Honestly I don't quite understand what the product is. But they're using a still from our Prometheus Trap. And ain't nobody asked me about it.
+++++
The Hulk eviscerates the myth of the 3-act structure. We typically think in terms of a 4-act ourselves. If we had a little more money we'd do 5.
+++++
This Times article on movie subsidies actually makes no sense at all. I can't even remotely figure out what happened.
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| Rebecca Kush from Prometheus Trap advertises... something. |
The Hulk eviscerates the myth of the 3-act structure. We typically think in terms of a 4-act ourselves. If we had a little more money we'd do 5.
+++++
This Times article on movie subsidies actually makes no sense at all. I can't even remotely figure out what happened.
Tuesday, October 16, 2012
Lights before camera
I still don't know what this movie is going to look like. I'm thinking we may go back to the Panasonic stock lens for exteriors, shooting a sort of "normal" wide (like the equivalent of a 35 or maybe a 28).
For at least three of the seven days of shooting we will be outside. This means that I will have the best gaffer in the world. The problem with this gaffer is that although He is very punctual (the lights come on when He says they will) He is also without compunction to do anything in particular in order to make the movie better.
He will throw massive diffusion over the one light he carries. He will decide that the one light will bear down without any softening at all. The light will move throughout the day, diffusion coming on and off at any time. We can't talk to His union rep or get together with Him beforehand and discuss the look we're trying to achieve. He's going to give us whatever it is that He feels at the time. And we're gonna like it.
Oh, and there's no overtime. When it's time for the light to go out, it's going out.
For the interior days I'll have the second best gaffer in the world, the Queen of Mars.
What's inspiring me of late is to make the movie look like the interiors of the TV show Copper. One problem is that we simply do not have the budgets to make all the walls wooden and beautiful. So our tendency is to make up for the lack of Art by going heavy on Cinematography. That typically means "put some lights in the shot".
So right now we're looking at some electric tea lights. Because we don't want to start any major fires. You'll probably see how that goes in about a month.
For at least three of the seven days of shooting we will be outside. This means that I will have the best gaffer in the world. The problem with this gaffer is that although He is very punctual (the lights come on when He says they will) He is also without compunction to do anything in particular in order to make the movie better.
He will throw massive diffusion over the one light he carries. He will decide that the one light will bear down without any softening at all. The light will move throughout the day, diffusion coming on and off at any time. We can't talk to His union rep or get together with Him beforehand and discuss the look we're trying to achieve. He's going to give us whatever it is that He feels at the time. And we're gonna like it.
Oh, and there's no overtime. When it's time for the light to go out, it's going out.
For the interior days I'll have the second best gaffer in the world, the Queen of Mars.
What's inspiring me of late is to make the movie look like the interiors of the TV show Copper. One problem is that we simply do not have the budgets to make all the walls wooden and beautiful. So our tendency is to make up for the lack of Art by going heavy on Cinematography. That typically means "put some lights in the shot".
So right now we're looking at some electric tea lights. Because we don't want to start any major fires. You'll probably see how that goes in about a month.
Sunday, October 07, 2012
VOD Truth and Lies
Our movie Prometheus Trap is available on VOD now. It took me 4 minutes to scroll on my parent's cable system to the "P" section in order to buy it (it's not in the shorter "new movies" menu, you have to go to "all movies"). Looking at a Time Warner cable box it took me a good 10 minutes to find that Prometheus Trap wasn't available but a movie called "Earth Killer" is.
Sheesh. And people wonder why there's no money in cable VOD.
The fake but accurate trailer for Prometheus. To anyone who ever says to me "Hey Drew, do you think you could make a better movie than Ridley Scott?" I can truthfully answer "I did once."
Sheesh. And people wonder why there's no money in cable VOD.
Monday, September 24, 2012
IMDB
If I'm reading this correctly then IMDB is backed up about 32 days for the creation of new titles. I went and submitted Prometheus Trap using this British link. I'm a tad confused -- is that a import into the UK? I don't know. Anyway, look again next month and see if the movie is listed. If your name isn't on it and you worked on the picture -- list yourself by "updating".
Yes, this is the official blog of Pandora Machine and there's a baby elephant on it.
Saturday, September 08, 2012
Monday, September 03, 2012
QC the QC
Today's excitement is making the "C" version of Prometheus Trap. That is, making all the QC changes that the distributor wants.
The distributor hated the original version of this shot because I'd boosted the exposure four stops (in the live-action part of the shot on the bottom left.)
So instead I replaced the back wall altogether and let the live action part of the shot go into the inky blacks. You'll still see some movement there in the lower left (and we go immediately into a closeup). But the video noise from bringing up the exposure so much won't be there. Making the shot look better.
I really thought I couldn't do this with the shot. But the composite actually sits pretty well. I did a poopity job with the exposure when we shot this wide but I did a decent job with the composition.
It's funny -- we never get "you have to change the ending, you can't have everybody die." Indeed, we have almost complete creative license to do whatever we want. We do get hit onthe fact that our movies only cost a couple million dollars and not several million dollars quality control issues in picture and sound.
.png) |
| Again, this still is just a bit dark because of the gamma difference between your monitor and video. |
So instead I replaced the back wall altogether and let the live action part of the shot go into the inky blacks. You'll still see some movement there in the lower left (and we go immediately into a closeup). But the video noise from bringing up the exposure so much won't be there. Making the shot look better.
I really thought I couldn't do this with the shot. But the composite actually sits pretty well. I did a poopity job with the exposure when we shot this wide but I did a decent job with the composition.
It's funny -- we never get "you have to change the ending, you can't have everybody die." Indeed, we have almost complete creative license to do whatever we want. We do get hit on
Friday, August 31, 2012
Copter Cam
So I'm in the middle of mixing Prometheus Trap. Well, I say "middle" when really I'm just finishing up mixing it. Anyway.
Our next picture is this Dragon Girl movie.
My dad, out of the blue, sent me an article on flying robots. He said "Are you interested in flying robots?" I answered "Yes! Flying robots keep following me everywhere!" He did not respond.
In the article there was this sweet flying robot, the Parrot AR.
We could have dragon's eye view with the HD camera in the robot copter!
To be sure, the camera suffers from the shearing of rolling shutter artifacts. Which, you know, sucks if you're going to try to put a composite in it. On the other hand, if it's the dragon's view, you're not as likely to have to composite anything in the picture.
My older brother bought everyone (well, all the men) little RC helicopters for Christmas a few years ago. They're pretty cool. And these new copters are not nearly as crashy as they used to be in the olden days.
I do wish the lens on this weren't quite so wide. And I hear tell that it could be faced downward a bit rather than pointing straight ahead.
I'll ask my brother if he's played with one. The irony is I'll end up borrowing my dad's iPad to operate it.
Our next picture is this Dragon Girl movie.
My dad, out of the blue, sent me an article on flying robots. He said "Are you interested in flying robots?" I answered "Yes! Flying robots keep following me everywhere!" He did not respond.
In the article there was this sweet flying robot, the Parrot AR.
We could have dragon's eye view with the HD camera in the robot copter!
To be sure, the camera suffers from the shearing of rolling shutter artifacts. Which, you know, sucks if you're going to try to put a composite in it. On the other hand, if it's the dragon's view, you're not as likely to have to composite anything in the picture.
My older brother bought everyone (well, all the men) little RC helicopters for Christmas a few years ago. They're pretty cool. And these new copters are not nearly as crashy as they used to be in the olden days.
I do wish the lens on this weren't quite so wide. And I hear tell that it could be faced downward a bit rather than pointing straight ahead.
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| The Prometheus with the Venom. Yeah, it's dark because of the gamma difference and blah blah blah. |
Monday, August 27, 2012
Mixing away
We have lock on the picture of Prometheus Trap. We have been going so fast that nobody has actually watched the entire movie in one pass from beginning to end.
But the big issue we're having is that Final Cut Pro renders... arbitrarily. Sometimes sections of the movie are just rendered with the highlights down about a stop or so. I suspect it's the way the broadcast limiter plugin works (or doesn't work). If we re-render the problem goes away.
This is pretty obnoxious. And it means we're making pre-renders with color-correction and broadcast limiting so that we can feel reasonably confident that when we render the pre-renders the movie will actually look right.
Turns out that putting the Proc Amp on the nested acts might help. We'll know better late tonight if that's actually true.
New thing we're starting to do: delivering in 24-bit. The digital audio is 24-bit 48kHz all the way from production sound through OMF through mixing to deliverables. Does it make any different to the quality of the whole movie? Not that anyone can hear I'm sure. After all, we're smashing the dialog into all kinds of limiters (after noise reduction). But it feels better to be doing 24-bit rather than 16-bit.
AfterEffects Easter eggs.
This movie goes in FedEx for Saturday delivery. Oof!
But the big issue we're having is that Final Cut Pro renders... arbitrarily. Sometimes sections of the movie are just rendered with the highlights down about a stop or so. I suspect it's the way the broadcast limiter plugin works (or doesn't work). If we re-render the problem goes away.
This is pretty obnoxious. And it means we're making pre-renders with color-correction and broadcast limiting so that we can feel reasonably confident that when we render the pre-renders the movie will actually look right.
Turns out that putting the Proc Amp on the nested acts might help. We'll know better late tonight if that's actually true.
New thing we're starting to do: delivering in 24-bit. The digital audio is 24-bit 48kHz all the way from production sound through OMF through mixing to deliverables. Does it make any different to the quality of the whole movie? Not that anyone can hear I'm sure. After all, we're smashing the dialog into all kinds of limiters (after noise reduction). But it feels better to be doing 24-bit rather than 16-bit.
AfterEffects Easter eggs.
This movie goes in FedEx for Saturday delivery. Oof!
Thursday, August 23, 2012
My Office Environment
... is probably different from yours.
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| Drew Bellware, Tom Rowen, Rebecca Kush. |
We still need to mix acts 1, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11. That's one act per day, right? It's all good. Right?
It's time to make some more renders. This grape vodka Rebecca brought in is very nice.
I wish I didn't look quite so deranged in this picture. Because I was trying to be all happily smiling. Ahem...
Monday, August 20, 2012
To Do Today
Fix up act 1 from the notes we have.
Clean up the dialog thatTom Rowen someone who shall remain nameless messed up by putting camera sound over an entire scene rather than the actual sound from the second system recorder.
Make the end title credits.
Try to figure out what our running time is. Right now we're at 76 minutes but we're missing some scenes and the end-title credits aren't built yet.
Clean up the dialog that
Make the end title credits.
Try to figure out what our running time is. Right now we're at 76 minutes but we're missing some scenes and the end-title credits aren't built yet.
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| James Edward Becton looking a little bit like an elf, with Rebecca Kush in the foreground. |
Sunday, July 08, 2012
Prometheus Trap Trailer
Here's the teaser trailer for The Prometheus Trap created by our distributor, Halcyon International Pictures.
Sunday, June 24, 2012
Screening
Today was our screening of Android Insurrection.
That might seem odd because the movie has already been released in some territories (although not North America yet). But today was the first day we could actually hold the screening for cast and crew and family.
We had it at the Gibson, in Williamsburg. It's always interesting to watch a screening. Usually at a screening I've had a few drinks — but I also have the wherewithal to watch the movie with a more disinterested eye than all the times I've watched the movie before. I have no idea why that is.
Although the screening is a bit washed-out at the Gibson, because we can't exactly blackout the whole room, it seemed fairly clear to me that this was the best movie we've made so far. This makes me happy to think. I mean I'm glad our movies are getting better and that, it seems, they are.
Plus it amuses me how high the headcount is at the end of our pictures. If it's not 100% then we're doing something wrong! ;-)
That might seem odd because the movie has already been released in some territories (although not North America yet). But today was the first day we could actually hold the screening for cast and crew and family.
We had it at the Gibson, in Williamsburg. It's always interesting to watch a screening. Usually at a screening I've had a few drinks — but I also have the wherewithal to watch the movie with a more disinterested eye than all the times I've watched the movie before. I have no idea why that is.
Plus it amuses me how high the headcount is at the end of our pictures. If it's not 100% then we're doing something wrong! ;-)
Monday, June 18, 2012
Bigger but gamma
My dad wanted a bigger and clearer picture of the Venom approaching the Prometheus. One thing about these kinds of pictures on computers is that the gamma is a bit sunk so they come out a bit on the dark side. But this is basically the look.
Thursday, June 14, 2012
Docking
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| The Venom docks with the Prometheus. I don't know if there's too much glare in this or not. We'll probably just track a lens flare on top and party with it. |
I think we're going to want a POV of the Venom's airlock looking at the Prometheus airlock. I might animate some lights or something on the Prometheus to flicker as the Venom gets closer.
My critical distance is completely gone. I can't tell what's photoreal and what isn't. I have no idea what I'm seeing. One thing that seems to be true though is that the outside of the ship(s) look like the inside.
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