Seeing colors
I just spent 2.5 hours color balancing 6.25 minutes of my movie. At this rate, I only have 27 more hours to go - and then I get to do the audio. Wheee! Looks a whole lot better, though.
August 22, 2008
August 19, 2008
RAAM: Locked and Loaded!!!
I hereby declare picture for my first documentary film, LOCKED! Sure, it took 2 years, 1 month, and 28 days to complete the story edit, but hey, who’s counting, right? It got done and that’s all that matters. Now on to the technical dotting of the i’s and crossing the t’s: mastering the audio tracks, completing the titles and bottom-thirds ("bottom thirds" are the text & graphics that pop up at the bottom of your screen, used ridiculously often in news programs), color balancing and visual polish, and music.
For the end credits, I’m planning on using some music written by my friend John Pilafidis, to which this film and the race in the film, are dedicated. The song’s intro is a little long, but I’ve got John’s master files. Always wanted to learn how to edit music…
I want to thank all of my friends who gave me feedback through the editing process. Your feedback made this a much, much better film. Thanks Amanda, Karen, Becky, Linda, Mike, Will, Susan, Helen, Bernie, Laurie, Tom, Marisa, Mark, and Harvey.
August 17, 2008
RAAM movie: the final sprint
I’m bouncing off the walls with excitement! I’ve just showed my last cut of the RAAM movie to 5 people and they all loved it. Those who’d seen it before thought it was surprisingly better than previous cuts. (One said, "this is a completely different movie") I’ve just a few minor tweaks based on feedback, and I’ll be set for Picture Lock by the end of the day tomorrow. That puts me solidly on a path to FINISHING THIS MOVIE by the end of the month. I’m very proud of how it’s turning out. It’s much better than I expected.
August 12, 2008
RAAM documentary nearly finished
After working on this project for over two years, it’s time to call this thing done. At the end of this month, I will declare this movie - in whatever state it’s in - done. That means I’m shooting for picture lock this Sunday. (Picture lock is when I’ve stopped editing the sequence of edits, and moved on to things like sound mastering, titles, and color balance). I’ve made some major edits based on test screenings and watching the raw footage over again (incredibly valuable). Benjamin Zander’s description of musical phrasing, and the structure of Samuel Barber’s Adaggio for Strings have also provided great inspiration. Look for more news in the next few weeks.
Meanwhile, try what I did this weekend: unplug the internet. I think I gained at least 3 hours per day doing that. Hmmm… Probably need to do it right now…
April 27, 2008
Stanley Cuba on Amazon
The last movie I shot stills for, Stanley Cuba, is now available for pre-orders on amazon!
Now that I think of it, another movie I worked on is also on amazon: Police Beat (in which I worked under the glorious title 2nd 2nd Assistant Director - yes, that’s two 2nds).
Ahh, it’s nice to see projects come to completion.
February 07, 2008
RAAM: movie editing continues
I made some good progress this week on my Race Across America documentary. It’s really coming together, and know what? It’s not half bad!
November 19, 2007
RAAM: Rough cut complete
I just finished the first complete assembly of my RAAM documentary. Heck, I’ll even call it the official 1st rough cut. It only took me a year and a half, but hey, I made it this far, and that’s farther than I would’ve guessed a while back. In a few days, I’ll watch it from start to finish for the first time to see if it makes any sense. After a few tweaks, I’ll unleash it on my unsuspecting friends. Bwahh, ha hah!!
June 20, 2007
RAAM: time to slice & dice
Phew… Just finished reviewing all the footage. This project proves that you should never loose faith in a project, no matter how discouraged you may feel. There’s a lot more good stuff here than I had thought when I filmed it. I think the distance that the span of a year gave helped a lot, as did my new logging method (taking much more detailed notes, real-time).
I still don’t have a concrete outline of the story, but I do have a nebulous idea knocking around my head. I can see several of the key scenes, how to assemble each scene, and how several relate to each other. I’m a stickler for structure, though, so I still feel the need to have a single thesis to hang it all off of.
In the meantime, enjoy this little clip. While reviewing the footage, I took a few still frames from each segment as a form of visual note taking. On a lark, I chained all 341 of them together at 1 second a piece. Just sit back and let it wash over you. Leave a comment with your impression - I’m entirely curious about how those impressions correlate with mine.
June 15, 2007
RAAM: a little distance is good
When I finished filming RAAM, I thought it was a dismal failure. On top of being sick, I had allowed myself to be made crew chief of the rider’s team part way through the race, knowing that I’d have to give up shooting. The first two thirds of my footage are only from the first third of the race. I thought I had missed all kinds of story elements - especially the competition with the Brazilian team which egged our team on through so much of the race. I have to admit that this cynicism is a big reason why I procrastinated on editing it.
Now that I’m re-reviewing it all one year later, I see that there’s plenty of stuff here - including bits about the Brazilians. It’s mostly people talking about it instead of showing it, but it’s there. It’s amazing what a little space in time and in emotion. (And, thanks to friend and documentary photographer Amanda Koster for giving me the appropriate kick in the butt about keeping an optimistic attitude)
June 14, 2007
RAAM: asleep at the wheel
Just another tidbit to share from today’s work. This guy obviously knew I was recording him so he was hamming it up quite a bit. The story he tells, though is true - I heard it from his co-pilot first. For reference: this is the fourth day of the race, and most people have been averaging 4-5 hours of sleep a night, but only about 2-3 at any given time. Nearly all of that is in a moving vehicle…
June 13, 2007
RAAM: editing the hardest race in the world
Editing this thing really shows me how important it is to think of the edit while shooting a film. Take this little clip for example. One of the riders in the race had just crashed. Nearly all of the aftermath takes place in the back room of the motor home as the racers try to figure out what’s going to happen. There are some lovely little moments, but they’re surrounded by long stretches of absolutely nothing interesting. To keep the film moving, I need to cut away to other people or locations. Had I thought about this more while shooting, I’d have gone to the other rooms of the RV to get more coverage.
Of course, this also shows how tough it can be as a one-man film crew. Had I gone to the front of the motor home to film, I probably would’ve missed some of these little interesting bits. But maybe there was also some interesting bits in the front of the van. Who knows? You can’t let yourself get caught up in that mind game. It’s like still photographers grieving over the shot that got away while changing lenses.
February 08, 2007
The internet revolution
This video (via The Long Tail) summarizes a lot of things I’ve been thinking about lately. It’s also a very cool piece of visual communication. I love how they edit text - it’s this manipulation that communicates more clearly their message than the text itself does. I like the graffiti feel of writing in every little text box they can find - again visually showing their message that the web is a participatory medium.
December 04, 2006
Reading your mind with film
A well edited film works by anticipating your curiosity. Just when you start to wonder, “What happened with Han Solo?” the film cuts from Degobah to the Millennium Falcon. The same mechanism works even within a scene. One character starts to say something shocking. Just as you wonder how the other character takes it, they cut to a close up of that character’s face. It is almost as if the film is wired to the movement of your eyes - flicking between characters as your eyes move around.
November 19, 2006
RAAM: over the first hill
Just finished watching the last frames of footage I shot for RAAM! This puts me over the first hill in editing. Happily, I had a lot more content than I thought I had. It’s still very sparse, though, so my Rocky Mountain pull will be digging out coherent, complimentary story lines for the piece. Out of a total of 18.5 hours of footage, I culled out 10.45 hours of usable footage, and 5.5 hours of very interesting footage. Rocky Mountains, indeed. (shown here, the race finish in Atlantic City after 3,042.8 miles)
November 18, 2006
RAAM: still cranking
I’m still cranking through the footage I shot of RAAM, reviewing and categorizing it. It’s much more intense work than it sounds as I’m watching and listening very closely while making notes, tagging footage, thinking of all the possible story lines and where each clip fits, all while trying to tune in to the subtext of the scene - what behaviors are they demonstrating, what’s going unsaid, how do they feel, etc. And there’s no fast forwarding. I have to watch all 20 minutes of a biker’s butt riding ahead of us because something might be said or someone might do something interesting. Even the boring bits demand my full attention - even more because they’re dull. I’ve been averaging about 1-1.5 hours a session before my brain turns to jello, and only about 3 of these per day. It’s easily one of the most focused things I’ve done in a while.
The interesting thing is that as we’re nearing the end of the race, and as the racers are realizing they’re closer to the end than the beginning, I too am getting psyched. I find myself pushing to do just one more tape because it gets me that much closer to the finish line. I’m more focused, able to push each session towards 2 hours or more. Today, I realized that I’m going to finish this stage of editing this weekend - just as I watched the racers get ready for their last 24 hours of the race. Synchronicity or unconscious design?
October 30, 2006
When in doubt, shoot B-roll
Before shooting RAAM, a seasoned documentarian told me, “shoot plenty of B-roll”. Man, they weren’t kidding. While editing RAAM, I’m finding that I need way more establishing shots & B-roll. Establishing shots are wide shots that show you where you are: main street in a tiny desert town, etc. It’s a type shot called “B-roll”. B-roll shots also include other little details that are handy in visually describing the setting or event: a sign showing the city’s name; close up of hands working on a bike; etc.
I have some B-roll, but not nearly enough. As a result, it’s hard for the viewer to figure out where we are and just how desolate some of these places are. It also gives me fewer editing. B-roll is an excellent way to hide other mistakes: if there’s some camera mixup while someone’s being interesting, you just cut to the B-roll for that section while leaving the audio on for the original shot, then back to the original when the camera is good again. The audience things you were showing some interesting detail of the conversation when you were really covering your butt. Less B-roll means less to cover your butt, and that just ain’t pretty.
October 18, 2006
Camerawork and editing RAAM
I’ve finally gotten back into editing the RAAM video in earnest. While doing so, I came across some clips that illustrate some of the points from my series on video vs stills.
September 14, 2006
Video vs still photography, pt 4
Let’s take a look at the ways that the temporal nature of film changed the ways I work.
September 13, 2006
Video vs still photography, pt 3
Enough with the technical, on to aesthetics!
Artists compose images using the elements of light, color, geometry, perspective, depth of field, and frame placement. This is true of all visual arts including still photography and video / film. Video and film have one additional, unique element: time. It seems obvious: movies, move; pictures don’t, however, I’m finding it’s really much more subtle than that.
August 23, 2006
Video vs still photography, pt 2
Last time, I described a few technical differences that make video more difficult than stills. Video has a curious advantage over still photography, though: Because there’s less you can control in video and because the medium is inherently lower quality, videographers tend to be less technically fanatical than still photographers. Videographers understand “close enough”, thus freeing their mind for more creative things.
August 22, 2006
Video vs still photography, pt 1
When I first started doing video, I thought it would be an easy transition from still photography. They both capture light through a lens, iris, and shutter. One moves; the other doesn’t. That’s no big difference, right? Wrong. I’ve been surprised by how very different these two media are. I’ll be detailing these differences in a series of upcoming posts. For now, let’s start with some technical differences.
May 07, 2006
Day 2 of shooting
Pretty full day of shooting today. Out the door at 8:15, I taped some of the guys getting together for a ride, then followed their ride from the back of the Ford. Shot some establishing coverage in the early afternoon. Finished off the shoot catching the rest of Team OC Quattro hanging out at a “sag station” at the end of a race. I’m starting to get used to the setup.
Now, I’m spent. I’m going to have to figure out some way of training up for this race like the riders do - Maybe endurance interviewing…
May 06, 2006
First day of shooting!
Today was my first day shooting my documentary. There’s no better way to appreciate the mastery of veteran filmmakers than to try to make a film yourself. Those really cool shots filmed from a vehicle driving along side a bicyclist - looks easy, right? Hard. Especially when your vehicle is not a motorcycle like ESPN uses, but is a Ford Explorer driving through tiny suburban streets.
April 11, 2006
My first documentary
This June, I’ll be shooting my first documentary, recording the journey of a friend and three of his buddies riding their bikes from sea to shining sea for charity. Riding in relay 24/7, Team OC Quattro (as they call themselves) will start in Oceanside, CA on June 8 and will roll in to Atlantic City, NJ around eight days later. It’s going to be a great adventure for all of us and a huge learning experience for me.
March 02, 2006
Take the director out of the director's cut
It used to be that when you bought a copy of a movie you loved, you got exactly what you saw in the theaters. Occasionally, directors would bring out “director’s cuts” of their movies - new edits that present the movie the way the director had originally intended the movie to be. That’s great when the theatrical release was butchered by studio politics.
Lucas took it a step further by updating a much loved film, Star Wars, each time it was issued in a new medium. Spielberg followed suit with a remixed version of ET, with a new computer-generated alien. Peter Jackson built his remix into the filmmaking process, creating a monster 12+ hour version of the Lord of the Rings trilogy in addition to the theatrical version. These remixes and director’s cuts are interesting curiosities, but are they really worthwhile?
Continue reading "Take the director out of the director’s cut"
February 22, 2006
Motion capture: Acting with balls
My buddy Dave pointed me to The Virtual Director web site in response to my post on digital technologies in art making. The folks behind TVD are working on making motion capture technologies affordable and simple to use on low budget movies. I think this is great work and will make for some interesting new movies, however I do not believe it’s the end-all, be-all that mocap enthusiasts think it will be.
January 05, 2006
CoolArt: Jeff Bridges: Pictures
I’m a Jeff Bridges fan. That boy can act. His performances, especially in The Big Lebowski, Tucker, and Fearless, are consistently pitch perfect. Pouring through the bonus tracks of his DVDs, I discovered that he not only acts, but dabbles in photography. Yesterday, I picked up a copy of his book, Pictures. He more than dabbles: that boy can shoot.
April 06, 2005
Of Ewoks and Emperors
As a exercise, I’ve been rewriting Return of the Jedi. The characterizations in this movie needs some work - Han Solo was a wimp and Darth Vader was practically friendly. My hope is to return these characters to their Empire Strikes Back glory. As I began disassembling the structure of the script, determining the causes for each event, the motivations of the characters, etc, a certain curiosity began to knock about my mind: Can I get rid of these overly cute Ewoks? Now, that’s something worth doing! To my surprise, the task is harder than it seems.
About me
is a storyteller, freelance writer, and occasional filmmaker living in Seattle.
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