Hello readers! This post outlines the activities of last week at New Perspective. I had a camping trip over the weekend, which is why I'm posting this now. The week mainly consisted of trying to get people scheduled for interviews. At least one of those interviews is occurring this week (my vacation week). I am still in contact with my fellow interns to stay updated on the latest tasks going on. So here is what we did last week.
7/14 - Tuesday
On Tuesday, Dan, Mike, and I were sent to the Art Institute of Pittsburgh store to get 20 black mat boards and spray glue for some designs that were going to be presented to a client. When we returned, I, being the only intern who had any experience with gluing designs to mat boards (thanks SCAD!), proceeded to do so on the building's roof. All of this (going to the store, coming back, and gluing the designs) had to be done in less than 2 hours, but we got it done, with half an hour to spare. Luckily, the boards had already been pre-cut. The staff was very happy with how they turned out.
Dan and I then researched and called local marinas so we could find a boat and a driver to rent for an upcoming NP project. One called back quickly, and a deal was made.
Some people also emailed back regarding being interviewed for our video project and we continued the scheduling process. In the mean time, we walked around to the offices, assisting anybody who needed help.
7/15 - Wednesday
Wednesday was filled with a lot of driving. Dan, Mike, and I called and scouted out hardware stores, looking for a long, thick chain for an upcoming NP project. We also picked up a special blue screen from an equipment rental place.
Afterwards, we and several other members of the NP staff participated in a fun camera test outside the front of the building, where we all walked back and forth in front of a camera while it was on a fast-motion setting. The test was for another NP project that involved people walking in fast-motion.
We then set up the blue screen in the studio and conducted a similar camera test in front of it.
7/16 - Thursday
Thursday was the opposite of Wednesday in terms of activity. We took down the blue screen we had set up the day before and discussed equipment with Mike H. We also found a place with a long thick chain. Throughout the rest of the day, we continued to schedule interviews and helped out around the offices.
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Friday, July 10, 2009
Week Six at NP
This week was pretty neutral: not too little work, not too much, and as usual, all enjoyable.
Tuesday 7/7
This day was mostly quiet. It was just Dan and I. Sarah is on vacation. I spent most of my day dividing the founder's interview transcription by which excerpts we might use and which ones we won't. I noted the timecodes for each excerpt so that we can go straight to their respective places in the video during post-production. Since it looks like we're only going to have 3 weeks of post now, we need to save as much time as possible.
In between transcribing, I answered a slew of phone calls at the front desk for New Perspective for about 2 hours.
Wednesday 7/8
The action kicked up quite a bit on Wednesday. In the morning, me, Dan, and Mike stood in for characters to act alongside actors who were auditioning for our friend Donald's film. Donald is this year's New Perspective Filmmaker In Residence student, meaning he gets to make a professional short film using NP's facilities. I had acted in minor roles before but had not stood in for an actor's audition, so it was new, enjoyable experience. The audition took place in the studio. Five actors were scheduled to come in, 3 men and 2 women. I stood in with the 3 male actors individually for the same scene. The two characters in the scene were having an argument, so there was a lot of yelling (which was quite fun, even though the emotion in the scene was pretty intense). All of the actors handled the cold reading very well, but it was clear who our preferred ones were at the end. Whenever Dan or Mike were standing in, I would operate the camera, the DVX100. We also took turns running the lights.
After lunch, Dan, Mike, and I drove over to the North Shore of The Point in downtown Pittsburgh to take location shots of Heinz Stadium for a NP project. We took turns with the camera, and matched the storyboards we had been given almost exactly. We also got a lot of exercise and sun. The whole shoot took about 2 hours.
Afterwards, we sat in a meeting for a conference call between four of the NP staff and the clients of the project for which we had just taken photos. I was slightly surprised how laid back everyone in the meeting was, including the clients.
Thursday 7/9
Today, I was the only intern in the studio. In the morning, I went to the basement and upstairs tape library to find tapes for a NP project. Afterwards, I went back to dividing the founder's interview transcription.
After lunch, Shirley, the woman at the front desk (who usually answers the phones) needed me to make copies of a Powerpoint presentation, which were needed for an important meeting in an hour. Only 6 copies were needed, but the presentation was 30 pages, and the printer could collate only 5 or 6 at a time. The printer had some issues with the last 4 pages. After we got the printer working again, Shirley and I attempted to staple them all. It worked for one copy of the presentation but not the others. So we quickly figured out a way to bind them with a special machine with 10 minutes to go. Luckily, only 4 copies really needed to be bound. I finished them just in time to give them to the meeting coordinator as he was leaving. My arms got a great workout from working the binding machine too.
I then went back to dividing the transcription, which I finished today. Another productive week!
Tuesday 7/7
This day was mostly quiet. It was just Dan and I. Sarah is on vacation. I spent most of my day dividing the founder's interview transcription by which excerpts we might use and which ones we won't. I noted the timecodes for each excerpt so that we can go straight to their respective places in the video during post-production. Since it looks like we're only going to have 3 weeks of post now, we need to save as much time as possible.
In between transcribing, I answered a slew of phone calls at the front desk for New Perspective for about 2 hours.
Wednesday 7/8
The action kicked up quite a bit on Wednesday. In the morning, me, Dan, and Mike stood in for characters to act alongside actors who were auditioning for our friend Donald's film. Donald is this year's New Perspective Filmmaker In Residence student, meaning he gets to make a professional short film using NP's facilities. I had acted in minor roles before but had not stood in for an actor's audition, so it was new, enjoyable experience. The audition took place in the studio. Five actors were scheduled to come in, 3 men and 2 women. I stood in with the 3 male actors individually for the same scene. The two characters in the scene were having an argument, so there was a lot of yelling (which was quite fun, even though the emotion in the scene was pretty intense). All of the actors handled the cold reading very well, but it was clear who our preferred ones were at the end. Whenever Dan or Mike were standing in, I would operate the camera, the DVX100. We also took turns running the lights.
After lunch, Dan, Mike, and I drove over to the North Shore of The Point in downtown Pittsburgh to take location shots of Heinz Stadium for a NP project. We took turns with the camera, and matched the storyboards we had been given almost exactly. We also got a lot of exercise and sun. The whole shoot took about 2 hours.
Thursday 7/9
Today, I was the only intern in the studio. In the morning, I went to the basement and upstairs tape library to find tapes for a NP project. Afterwards, I went back to dividing the founder's interview transcription.
After lunch, Shirley, the woman at the front desk (who usually answers the phones) needed me to make copies of a Powerpoint presentation, which were needed for an important meeting in an hour. Only 6 copies were needed, but the presentation was 30 pages, and the printer could collate only 5 or 6 at a time. The printer had some issues with the last 4 pages. After we got the printer working again, Shirley and I attempted to staple them all. It worked for one copy of the presentation but not the others. So we quickly figured out a way to bind them with a special machine with 10 minutes to go. Luckily, only 4 copies really needed to be bound. I finished them just in time to give them to the meeting coordinator as he was leaving. My arms got a great workout from working the binding machine too.
I then went back to dividing the transcription, which I finished today. Another productive week!
Monday, July 6, 2009
Week Five at NP - Thursday
Hello, this post is for last Thursday, July 2nd. I hope you all had an enjoyable Independence Day holiday weekend!
Thursday was a pretty slow day. It was just Mike and I at the studio. I finished transcribing the remaining ten minutes of the interview with the founder of the non-profit organization. We now have an entire transcript of his words, so we can look through and choose which sections we might want to use in the video. I had automatically noted the time code of any portion I thought might be useful (Sarah did as well), which will save a lot of time in post-production.
As of this writing, we haven't heard anything official from our contact person at the organization about the other people we wanted for future interviews. To save time, we might shoot some B-roll this week. I'm sure I speak for the other interns as well when I say we hope to get at least something more filmed this week so we don't get behind. We would like to have four solid weeks of post-production if we can manage it, and that is our current schedule. I start Week Six tomorrow, so we'll all talk about that then.
For the rest of the day, Mike and I discussed some post-production plans and we went around to the other offices to assist anyone who needed help. I also got to see the bishop ceremony footage Greg, Mike (equipment-Mike), and I shot the previous Saturday in Avid and on a HD television. Greg had done some edits between our 3 angles, and it looked incredible. The sound was also better than we had expected. I was really happy with all of our footage. Greg said that I would receive full-credit and come away from the internship with a solid sample of my work. He plans on posting some samples on YouTube too, so as soon as I have a link to one, I'll embed it here on the blog.
Here's to Week Six!
Thursday was a pretty slow day. It was just Mike and I at the studio. I finished transcribing the remaining ten minutes of the interview with the founder of the non-profit organization. We now have an entire transcript of his words, so we can look through and choose which sections we might want to use in the video. I had automatically noted the time code of any portion I thought might be useful (Sarah did as well), which will save a lot of time in post-production.
As of this writing, we haven't heard anything official from our contact person at the organization about the other people we wanted for future interviews. To save time, we might shoot some B-roll this week. I'm sure I speak for the other interns as well when I say we hope to get at least something more filmed this week so we don't get behind. We would like to have four solid weeks of post-production if we can manage it, and that is our current schedule. I start Week Six tomorrow, so we'll all talk about that then.
For the rest of the day, Mike and I discussed some post-production plans and we went around to the other offices to assist anyone who needed help. I also got to see the bishop ceremony footage Greg, Mike (equipment-Mike), and I shot the previous Saturday in Avid and on a HD television. Greg had done some edits between our 3 angles, and it looked incredible. The sound was also better than we had expected. I was really happy with all of our footage. Greg said that I would receive full-credit and come away from the internship with a solid sample of my work. He plans on posting some samples on YouTube too, so as soon as I have a link to one, I'll embed it here on the blog.
Here's to Week Six!
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Week Five at NP - Tuesday & Wednesday
Greetings, Areya here! Another week at New Perspective... This was our first shooting week for our intern project. On Tuesday, we interviewed the founder of the organization we are making the video for. We used the Panasonic HVX200, using High-Definition P2 cards, the same that I used during the church shoot last Saturday. The set had been set up the night before. I operated the camera for the whole interview, adjusting the frame composition in between questions, with some input from one of the other interns, Sarah. Sarah and I also made some set adjustments prior to the interview, particularly with the color gel we chose for the background light. Mike, another intern, conducted the interview, while our fourth intern, Dan, was and still is on vacation (we all have a one week vacation that doesn't overlap with the other three). The interview was an hour long, and was pretty successful. We think we have sufficient material for the video. Four more interviews to go!
Sorry, I forgot to take pictures before the shoot, but below are some pictures from the same studio, only from the day we helped on the medical video shoot last Thursday.
Sorry, I forgot to take pictures before the shoot, but below are some pictures from the same studio, only from the day we helped on the medical video shoot last Thursday.
I'll post screencaps of the video once it's finished, and then you'll be able to see how the interview was laid out.
We wrapped the interview around 11am, and then we transferred the P2 files to an external hardrive (we copied them to another one today for safety. ALWAYS do this when filming with P2, or any digital format, for that matter). For the rest of the day, we observed the editing of the medical video we helped out with last Thursday. I also dubbed 10 Betacam SP tapes in the deck control room for another NP project. Basically all of the editing stations in the editing rooms are controlled from this room. Here are some pictures of me in that very 'electric' room. Those with sensitive ears know what I mean.
We wrapped the interview around 11am, and then we transferred the P2 files to an external hardrive (we copied them to another one today for safety. ALWAYS do this when filming with P2, or any digital format, for that matter). For the rest of the day, we observed the editing of the medical video we helped out with last Thursday. I also dubbed 10 Betacam SP tapes in the deck control room for another NP project. Basically all of the editing stations in the editing rooms are controlled from this room. Here are some pictures of me in that very 'electric' room. Those with sensitive ears know what I mean.
Wednesday
Today, Sarah, Mike, and I spent most of the day transcribing/logging the interview footage of the founder from yesterday. It took longer than expected because we had some P2 format and computer speed issues. This was mostly due to the fact that all of the interview footage added up to about 65 GB (Gigabytes with a G!). That's HD for you. Also, the only way to view P2 footage (besides through a non-linear editing station) is through a program called P2 Viewer, which our 'intern' computers had, but not nearly the processing speed of an editing station. Therefore, while our sound played back at normal speed (thank goodness), the image played back in a kind of slow-motion. It was difficult to jump to Microsoft Word and P2 Viewer back and forth without some sort of delay.
The three of us also each wanted to be able to transcribe at the same time to save time. First, we had to copy the P2 files to a second hardrive (which needed to be formatted to MS-DOS first [PC basically]). I had formatted a hardrive to Mac before but never PC. It was easier than I thought, and I was able to do it with my laptop. Then, we copied the files over to that drive (which took an hour to do). I gave my fellow intern, Sarah, a crash course in Photoshop while we waited. Then, at last, we could all transcribe at the same time.
We had some playback glitches, and didn't know whether the glitch was in the playback or the P2 file itself. The latter would be very bad. Mike took one of the hardrives to an Avid suite and imported the files there to find out. They played fine, so we breathed easier.
We got most of the transcription finished today, with about 10 minutes of interview footage left. We'll finish that tomorrow. Now, the reason I just gave you a (almost) complete blow-by-blow of what we did today was to give any aspiring filmmaker (especially one planning to focus on the video format) a real-life scenario of exactly what is involved with working with P2, a format that is becoming more widely used. As with any recording format, it has its advantages and disadvantages. P2 is one of the few formats that is completely data. There are no 'movie files' once the data is imported into a computer or hardrive. The data is divided into 6 separate folders, which, when opened, have many many .omf files with alpha-numeric names which don't seem to make any sense until they are opened using P2 Viewer or an editing software program which can decipher the data.
PROS
- No tapes
- No waiting for footage to capture from a deck
- High-Definition footage
- Data footage which can be converted to practically any file format
CONS
- No tapes (I explain this below)
- Glitches can happen, in the camera, or in the cards themselves
- You have to wait for the data to transfer, which depending on how much footage you have, can be very long. Go get a sub and come back later.
- Since there are no tapes involved, and the P2 cards are usually erased soon after shooting is complete, there is nothing 'physical' actually holding your footage (like film) if something goes wrong with a hardrive or your computer crashes. The remedy for this and my personal advice? BACKUP your data in as many places as necessary (I would say 3 is safe). Don't overload your computer, don't drop your hardrives, and NEVER erase those P2 cards until you have the data safe and sound in at least 2 separate locations. I would also advise that after you have a rough cut completed, export that video to a physical tape. Do the same thing after you have a final cut. The extra steps will pay off. It's much better than losing everything, and if you have a production company, or ever work for one, this is essential. Not doing so could cost you your job.
So the moral of this story? With every new format comes new benefits, but also new cautions, rules, and guidelines. As long as you follow them, P2 should be a pretty enjoyable format with minimal headaches. Know your production budget (reliable hardrives run from $200 to about $800 each, 16 GB P2 cards run about $300 - $400 EACH, the camera much more, a P2 card reader, and a fast computer with all the appropriate software goes into the thousands if your college doesn't provide them). Do your research on every aspect of your project, and learn to anticipate the unexpected (especially the potentially unexpected to your wallet). Also, with any format, and in film production in general, it will ALMOST ALWAYS take longer to do something than you think it will! This wisdom is often-repeated, but no less true. Schedule as such!
Thanks for reading this particularly long post! I'll post tomorrow's adventures then! Take care and happy filmmaking!
Success is doing what you love and loving what you do...
Today, Sarah, Mike, and I spent most of the day transcribing/logging the interview footage of the founder from yesterday. It took longer than expected because we had some P2 format and computer speed issues. This was mostly due to the fact that all of the interview footage added up to about 65 GB (Gigabytes with a G!). That's HD for you. Also, the only way to view P2 footage (besides through a non-linear editing station) is through a program called P2 Viewer, which our 'intern' computers had, but not nearly the processing speed of an editing station. Therefore, while our sound played back at normal speed (thank goodness), the image played back in a kind of slow-motion. It was difficult to jump to Microsoft Word and P2 Viewer back and forth without some sort of delay.
The three of us also each wanted to be able to transcribe at the same time to save time. First, we had to copy the P2 files to a second hardrive (which needed to be formatted to MS-DOS first [PC basically]). I had formatted a hardrive to Mac before but never PC. It was easier than I thought, and I was able to do it with my laptop. Then, we copied the files over to that drive (which took an hour to do). I gave my fellow intern, Sarah, a crash course in Photoshop while we waited. Then, at last, we could all transcribe at the same time.
We had some playback glitches, and didn't know whether the glitch was in the playback or the P2 file itself. The latter would be very bad. Mike took one of the hardrives to an Avid suite and imported the files there to find out. They played fine, so we breathed easier.
We got most of the transcription finished today, with about 10 minutes of interview footage left. We'll finish that tomorrow. Now, the reason I just gave you a (almost) complete blow-by-blow of what we did today was to give any aspiring filmmaker (especially one planning to focus on the video format) a real-life scenario of exactly what is involved with working with P2, a format that is becoming more widely used. As with any recording format, it has its advantages and disadvantages. P2 is one of the few formats that is completely data. There are no 'movie files' once the data is imported into a computer or hardrive. The data is divided into 6 separate folders, which, when opened, have many many .omf files with alpha-numeric names which don't seem to make any sense until they are opened using P2 Viewer or an editing software program which can decipher the data.
PROS
- No tapes
- No waiting for footage to capture from a deck
- High-Definition footage
- Data footage which can be converted to practically any file format
CONS
- No tapes (I explain this below)
- Glitches can happen, in the camera, or in the cards themselves
- You have to wait for the data to transfer, which depending on how much footage you have, can be very long. Go get a sub and come back later.
- Since there are no tapes involved, and the P2 cards are usually erased soon after shooting is complete, there is nothing 'physical' actually holding your footage (like film) if something goes wrong with a hardrive or your computer crashes. The remedy for this and my personal advice? BACKUP your data in as many places as necessary (I would say 3 is safe). Don't overload your computer, don't drop your hardrives, and NEVER erase those P2 cards until you have the data safe and sound in at least 2 separate locations. I would also advise that after you have a rough cut completed, export that video to a physical tape. Do the same thing after you have a final cut. The extra steps will pay off. It's much better than losing everything, and if you have a production company, or ever work for one, this is essential. Not doing so could cost you your job.
So the moral of this story? With every new format comes new benefits, but also new cautions, rules, and guidelines. As long as you follow them, P2 should be a pretty enjoyable format with minimal headaches. Know your production budget (reliable hardrives run from $200 to about $800 each, 16 GB P2 cards run about $300 - $400 EACH, the camera much more, a P2 card reader, and a fast computer with all the appropriate software goes into the thousands if your college doesn't provide them). Do your research on every aspect of your project, and learn to anticipate the unexpected (especially the potentially unexpected to your wallet). Also, with any format, and in film production in general, it will ALMOST ALWAYS take longer to do something than you think it will! This wisdom is often-repeated, but no less true. Schedule as such!
Thanks for reading this particularly long post! I'll post tomorrow's adventures then! Take care and happy filmmaking!
Success is doing what you love and loving what you do...
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