Holodad

Rick McCallum of Lucasfilm shows some 7D love

2010-04-14T12:57:00.000-07:00

Rick McCallum, Star Wars producer, says some amazing things about the Canon DSLR's. Rather than quote him, I'll just let you watch the video. Note that the Sony F35, which Rick mentions, costs several hundred thousand dollars last time I checked.

Its Official- We are shooting Holodad on a Canon T2I

2010-04-13T12:14:00.000-07:00

I have decided to not wait for the release of the Scarlet, but to film this summer with my DP's (the talented Ray Thomas) 7D, T2I, and possibly a Panasonic AG-HMC150. Why the switch? Rather than rewrite a long explanation, I will simply repost what I posted on ScarletUser.com

"Part of me cannot believe I am writing this, but here it is: I have decided to shoot HoloDad on a Canon 7D and a Canon T2I. Reason? Cost and Availability.

My DP already has the cameras, I just need to pick up some primes. Overall, its going to save the production over $4000. For a micro-budget feature of this scope, that's just too much money to ignore.

Last I heard, Scarlet is due out in summer, and we are shooting in July. That is just cutting it too close. This way, we can test, test, test to our hearts content and not have to reschedule the shoot or do some last minute nail biting when they finally start shipping.

I still plan on buying a Scarlet, just not for this movie. I plan on updating the blog more often, and I'll continue to post here about the movie's progress.

Funny thing is, the anticipation of Scarlet had a huge influence on me getting my butt in gear and writing the screenplay, and tackling the hundreds of other little details that come with making a feature, so I still feel more at home here than any of the other filmmaking forums.

Wish me luck!

Luke"

So there it is. EDIT> Thanks to Jason for posting his own T2I Movie that starts filming before ours. See below. And let me take this opportunity to claim that HOLODAD will be the 1st Feature Length Movie shot on the Canon T2I. I looked around the forums and couldn't find anyone who is doing a feature with the camera. If we are not the first, please let me know.

Choices, choices, choices

2009-10-20T21:20:00.000-07:00

Red One, Canon 5D Mk II, and Panasonic Lumix GH1 Footage Comparison from Birns and Sawyer on Vimeo.

Ok, this video received quite a bit of buzz a few weeks back. Which seems to be ancient history at the speed that information is passed around via forums these days. But posting right away just isn't my style. I need time to absorb. To process. To analyze and compare. And frankly, to read other people's opinions who have a lot more knowledge than I do in this particular area.

But I digress. This video, the one with the former buzz, shows in no uncertain terms that great results can be achieved with both with a high-end camera like the RED One, costing tens of thousands of dollars, and with lesser quality cameras like the Canon 5D MkII and Panasonic GH-1. This video makes people think- Hey! I don't need a Red camera, let me just grab one of these DSLRs and I am in business. Well, yes and no.

Notice that they are not using the kit lens that ships with either the 5D MkII or the GH-1. Glass matters. A lot. And shooting footage in light this low would have been disasterous with the standard lens that shipped with either of these lesser cameras.

Another major factor to consider is audio input. No XLR inputs on either camera, just mini jack. With GH-1 giving "mud" on fast pans, and irritating moire patterns in Canon's offerings, whats a production hungry director to do? Its tough waiting, but Scarlet, I am waiting for you alone.

(Other potential usful cameras for the low to no budget indie filmmaker are; the Canon 7D, and the newly announced 1D Mk IV.)

The cost of education

2009-04-13T22:41:00.000-07:00

fxphd.com October09 Term Overview from fxphd.com on Vimeo.

Someone once put on a bumper sticker- "If you think education is expensive, try ignorance." Ah, wit and wisdom, what a combination. In Dec of 2000, after several tries at college, at a few different institutions of higher learning, I finally finished my degree and graduated with a B.A. in Computer Animation. At the time, the total cost of my degree was a little less than $35,000. That same degree today costs in excess of $71,000 and next year will be over $75,000. Crazy huh? Who can afford this?

Although I am glad I received a formal degree, the options today for an education in animation for video games or TV/Movies are huge. FX Phd is the best in my opinion. Totally online, learn at your own pace, post questions in the forums, its great. All this for only $330 for a 10 week term.

The only downside is that you don't earn any college credits, but who cares? People in the industry don't, they care about your demo reel, and will hire you or pass almost exclusively on it's strength or weakness alone.

Save the Screenwriter!

2009-03-29T21:27:00.000-07:00

So...here's the deal on screenwriting. Its hard. No, its really, really freakin' hard. Hard to do it well anyway. Holodad is the first screenplay I have "finished". I put the word "finished" in quotes because a screenplay isn't finished until the movie is shot. Directors commonly make last minute changes to dialogue, based on a glimmer of insight into that character's inner workings as the movie progresses, and I expect I will end up doing the same.

But "finished" in the sense that I have written 90 pages, 3 acts, I know my genre, I know my theme, my character arcs...finished. And I couldn't have done it without Save the Cat! Like many aspiring screenwriters, I bought books on how to write screenplays. And some of the authors are quite good- Syd Field, Robert McKee, Viki King, Christopher Vogler, and many, many more, as well as the obligatory "Adventures in the Screen Trade" and other books that are not so much about how to write a screenplay, but more about the business of writing screenplays.

As helpful and/or entertaining as these books are, none of them, and I mean none of them hold a candle to Save the Cat! It's that good. Why? One word. Structure. Huh? Structure. Structure is what makes a movie a movie, and not a novel. Currently, I am slogging through the bestselling book "Battlefield Earth". Not a book based on the horrible box office failure Battlefield Earth starring John Travolta, but the original bestselling (thanks to the church of scientology buying the book to boost sales figures) book.

Novels can meander here and there, letting the author take his or her sweet time to develop the plot and the characters, and you know what? We like it. It's great. A good book is a pleasure to read, and we don't want it to end in 90 minutes. We want it to last for days. Movies don't have that luxury. 2 hours tops. More important than length though, is the emotional roller coaster ride that we all hope to go on when we go see a movie. Emotional involvement is key, and Save the Cat's author Blake Snyder shows what works. I can't recommend it highly enough. Go buy a copy already!

A brief history of RED and me

2009-03-22T09:53:00.000-07:00

At some point in 2006 or 2007, a co-worker (lets just call him Bobby Francis) alighted me of a company that was producing a 4K digital movie camera for a fraction of the cost of what a comparable digital cinema camera would run.

At this point, Lucas had already shot Episodes I and II digitally, as had Robert Rodriguez on Spy Kids 2 and 3, and other "films" had been shot digitally, but all of those movies were shot on cameras costing hundreds of thousands of dollars. RED was something new- 4K for the masses. There were naysayers, people called it a scam (RED was accepting deposits for the unproven camera). But RED delivered. Big time. The RED One was born, and changed the industry and continues to change the industry.

As affordable as the RED One was ($17,500 without lenses or accessories), it was still way out of my league. So RED fell of my personal tech radar. Then sometime in 2008, another co-worker (lets call him Troy Wuelfing), told me about Scarlet. 3K for $3K was the tagline, and I was hooked.

I had already been in pre-production on Holodad at this point, mainly deep in the trenches of writing the screenplay, and had been pondering what camera to use. I knew I wanted full progressive scanned HD, not interlaced footage, and not 720P, but full 1920x1080P. And I had a very limited budget to spend on a camera. I was leaning toward an HVX-200. It was popular with the indie film crowd, and I did want as much manual control as possible. But it was a tad expensive for me, so I looked at other alternatives- HV-20, JVC Everio, ugh.

Enter Scarlet. A 3K, 2/3" sensor (the same size sensor, by the way, that the above mentioned films were shot on), with higher dynamic range than the RED One. Amazing! After debayering (a process of downrezzing the footage to remove aliasing) you still get larger than 2K resolution, which is what the majority of theatrical films are projected at. That means options in Post! Camera Shake, Reframing, Zooming, even a little pan and scan if you are so inclined. Not to mention the RAW format it shoots in. Want to change your white balance AFTER you shoot? No problem. Want to change your exposure AFTER you shoot? No problem.

Scarlet is slated to ship late this year, and I eagerly await it's release. Don't let it fall off your radar. :)

www.red.com

Oh, almost forgot- 2/3" sensor footage, shot on a 100mm RED Pro Prime lens at T5.6 It's a must-see!
http://redgrabs.com/izzy/

Costume Design

2009-03-20T20:20:00.000-07:00

So, part of the challenge of putting a science fiction movie together on a micro budget is having stuff not look crappy, and doing it cheaply. Audiences today have high standards when it comes to FX, both practical and CG. Props and costumes are no less important, and I knew that if I was going to pull this thing off I needed some believable space suits.

The helmets were a problem in particular. Costume shops I found online had some really fake looking stuff, and I didn't/don't have enough to pay someone to custom fabricate them, so I had resigned myself to buying motorcycle helmets and using those...Until I found this little gem, and the kid is pretty cute too!

What humble beginnings...

2009-03-19T23:54:00.000-07:00

On Nov 20, 2007 I wrote my first (and only I think) treatment for Holodad, my first feature length movie. Since then I have written many drafts of the screenplay (currently at 94 pages), painted my garage a fetching chroma key green, collaborated with an incredible concept artist (Clint Felker) hired a costume designer (Liz Weibler), done some location scouting, and dozens of other minutia that go along with making a movie. Principal photography is slated to begin late this year, as long as the RED Scarlet ships on time (which it very well may not).

The current logline (many thanks to the guys and gals at the Save The Cat forum) is: When their transport crashes on a lifeless planet, a detached teenage girl must protect her siblings from a holographic father with deranged paternal ambitions.

In the spirit of new beginnings, creativity, and being transparent, I decided to paste my original treatment without going back and doctoring it up. Its pretty rough- there are no character names attached to the dialogue and the story has changed considerably.

Holodad

Luke Stewart

11/20/2007

A family aboard a space ship crash lands on an uncharted planet, the parents die in the crash, and the kids are raised by a holographic program of their parents.

I'm terrible at meeting new friends Dad, I hate it.

Yeah, me too.

Why can't we just stay here.

You know why. My job. Its a promotion.

The movers will be here in the morning, put anything you don't want them to box up into your backpack.

Ok.

Goodnight. Kisses forehead.

Night Dad. I love you.

Love you too.

A private shuttle. Oh, its beautiful honey. Mmmm, you sure know how to treat a gal.

Smiling. I still can't believe he splurged for this. He must really be hurting for people.

For you, he's hurting for you. So glad we have our own cabin, away from the kids.