Thursday, September 23, 2010

I set up my first network yesterday!  I had been helping my parents at their place building a new deck and came across their old computer in the basement.  They said I could have it so I brought it home and did a clean install of Windows XP.  My initial plan was to use it as an effects station but the specs on it weren’t up to par with what I needed.  Instead I decided to make it into a music station.  This way we can compose while watching an edit and not have any latency issues.  So I installed Mixcraft without any problems.  Next I decided that I wanted to network my editing station with my music station.  I ordered a crossover cable on ebay for three bucks.  It arrived and I go to hook it up…

Uh oh.  There’s no network card in my parents computer.  I pull out my linux box (which actually has a better processor) and it does have the card.  So I pulled out the hard drive from my parents computer and swap it out with my linux drive.  I go to fire it up and it won’t go past the OS select screen.  I bite the bullet and do another clean install of XP.  Now it boots up.  The a 30 day trial notification pops up.  WHAT?!  I check the sticker on the back of the machine-XP Professional.  I installed Home.  I dig through my CD’s and find one for XP Pro.  Another clean install.  Now when it starts up I have no sound, 800×600 resolution and 4 bit color.  And oh by the way the network card isn’t working, nor is the keyboard for Mixcraft.  I spend the next few hours downloading drivers.

It’s 1am when I finally get the computer working the way it should.  Now I have to get the two computers talking to each other.  After a quick Google search I discover how to share files using the crossover cable and a Shared Documents Folder.  By 1:30am, the first network for STARS Digital is up and running.

After spending more than 12 hours getting things working, here’s what I get out if it.  I can play the movie on my edit station while composing to the video on my music station.  I can then render the music and send it straight to the editing station where I can then drop it in to the mix.

Phew!  Being my own IT guy is a lot of work!

Saturday, September 18, 2010

Day 18 of filming

We finally got to shoot the opening chase and fight scene!  Erin unfortunately had to work so Alex called up two of his friends who did a great job.  We started filming in Couer D’Alene where we shot the chase.  We initially tried using a hand truck as a dolly but it was too awkward so we busted out my trusted skates again.  This time I wrapped a sweatshirt around my waist and had Alex pull me.  The shots came out super smooth!  Just like when we shot the scene in February, we used just one alley and by going around different corners and such were able to make it look like a couple city blocks.  After filming the chase itself, I traded my skates for my pk shoes.  Alex parked his car so it blocked the alley, then he and I climbed a roof to shoot the shots of him watching the chase.  We also got a shot of Ben (who plays Luke) doing a diving kong over Alex’s car.

Speaking of the car, there is no way anyone will ever doubt my abilities as a stuntman again.  Inbetween shots, as a way to burn off steam, I set up the camera and had Alex drive right at me.  The plan was to do the classic run up and over the car while staying in place game, but I slipped and flew off the car head first toward the ground.  I was able to save myself and came out uninjured, minus just a tad bit of road-rash on my chin.  And speaking of spazy actions,   while skating backwards today, I actually dropped our camera.  But God was watching over us and it came out with just a minor scratch.

After the chase, we headed to SFCC (Spokane Falls Community College) where we shot the fight.  Alex had bought a real police baton, so we used that as the weapon.  We pulled out a few Sergio Leone type shots then went straight to Bourne.  I brought along some of my fake blood which we sprayed from a bad guy’s mouth during one of the hits.  I’ll need to add some more blood in post, but it didn’t look too bad.

Well, that’s today.  I’m beat so I’m going to chill out to a movie.  More filming tomorrow!

-El

Wednsday, September 1, 2010

It’s been a pretty crazy last week.  We didn’t do any filming, so I’ve started working on some more post stuff.  I had one of the composers, Mark Richardson, come over and expand a simple six note melody that I had created.  When he left, we had a final track for the film!  The really cool part was that it sounded AMAZING!  So not only will the movie look great, but sound great too!

Then I got a call from the other composer, Russ Seaton, and he was interested in seeing what we’ve done so far.  Initially I was just going to send him an offline render, but then I decided to go through the steps and render out an online for him.  Plus, I want to see what my movie looks like in HD too!  The past few nights have been a blur as I’ve started to go through the process.  I first needed to create my online clips, as I hadn’t done that yet.  Converting 14 days of footage to the Avid DNxHD codec took almost 20 hours.  Next I bumped all the scenes on the timeline against each other and saved an EDL.  Keep in mind that at this point, it was only a 40 minute timeline.  When I tried to import the timeline into AE to master, AE crashed.  I tried a few times with different settings, but nothing.  Great.  This means I’ll have to do it one scene at a time.

I’ve made it through two scenes so far.  I copy all the clips for a scene from my master Vegas timeline and paste it into another project.  Then I can save an EDL for just that scene.  That is then opened in AE and I replace all the offlines with the onlines.  I then take that scene’s comp and place it in a master comp.  Hopefully this will work.  The one thing I’m not looking forward to is having to do this all again, but double the amount when I’m ready to do the final master for the picture.

So yeah, it’s going to be a lot of work, but at least it’ll make the movie look the best it possibly can.  The other day I went ahead and shot a 30 minute video that showcases the workflow I’ve developed since I’m kind of pioneering my own thing here.  Almost no one seems to know what offline editing is anymore.  I see and hear about people all the time complaining that their computers aren’t fast enough to edit HD.  As I’ve said before, mine is seven years old, a single celeron processor, with only 2 gigs of RAM.  I do have a video card, but Vegas doesn’t use it, except to output the signal to my TV.  And I’m editing HD footage from the Rebel T2i.  Hopefully the video will be able to help someone like me who has a dated system, but wants to shoot HD without spending the farm.  The only problem with the video is that it’s 1.8 gigs and 30 minutes long.  I can’t find any hosting sites for it, so people might have to wait until it goes to DVD.

Besides trying to “preach” about offline editing and what it allows you, I’ve also been busy trying to correct common misconceptions about the limitations of DSLR cameras, namely rolling shutter.  You read on the net how you can’t do this, and you can’t do that.  Excuse me- I’m doing this.  I’m doing that.  And it looks amazing!  There are two big secrets I found that allow you to get almost any shot you want.  First, pivot the pan behind the sensor.  We’ve shot the entire movie with my steadypod and shoulderpod.  Both rigs place the sensor between 1 and 2 feet from my body, which is the pivot.  Second is to treat the camera like a motion picture camera.  Hollywood doesn’t use cameras that fit in your hand, so use rigs to make your camera bigger.  Then you’re having to move a larger camera, and that alone will eliminate 90% of rolling shutter issues.  Our movie has some pretty shakey shots, but very little jello.  Sure if you pause frame by frame you might see a tiny bit, but when you watch it as intended, you won’t see thing.

So that’s what’s been going on here at STARS Pictures.  I haven’t done too much work yet on the next script, but I hope to get started soon.