colour correction mastery

AFTER i handed the newlyweds the 'rough cut' of the 1 hour 'highlights' video last night, do i figure out the perfect colour filter combination to eliminate all the blue in the original video. after.

plus, because i was scrambling yesterday, i also managed to totally screw up the sound on the video by including sound that was supposed to be muted but because i was copying from one place to another, i didn't realize i was also copying the muted stuff.

but it's ALL GOOD because:
a) i'm very excited to have discovered the magical combination to eliminate the blue
b) even though it's a rough cut, it's still a milestone.
c) my editing skills are fast like cheetah
d) i've realized a better workflow for these things that will lessen inefficiencies.

well, back to it.

cool screenwriting app

i was trolling through productivity blogs and came across a writing app that is PERFECT for screenwriting.

first you type out the outline (i.e. scenes) and with a click that outline view becomes index cards on a corkboard view. you can add lots of text under a scene and you can move the cards around on the virtual corkboard. rad.

oh and this app only works on macs.

http://www.43folders.com/2007/01/21/scrivener-review/#more-895

3XC @ the sylvia

the meeting room at the Sylvia was packed - standing room only. free popcorn was handed out and the room was getting pretty warm with all the potlights.

three humble and good looking filmmakers showed their work and the 30+ people warmly clapped their appreciation.

i worked the sound system (aka big volume knob on the receiver) and slipped in dvd after dvd.

it was sweet.

pillow talk

the alarm's gone off and you decide to sleep 5 more minutes which always ends up being 30 more minutes. and it's that moment right after you make the decision when you put your head back on the pillow; doesn't the pillow feel extra soft and comfortable? like a reward you deserve?

i'm thinking of that moment right now. with a lot of fondness.
i heart my pillow.

;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
also, oscar nominations, people. this is my query: why is 'children of men' not in the best picture category? or anything else besides 'best editing'? WTF!

colour correction purgatory

rob and i have no formal training in colour correction. but god are we learning fast. the wedding video is a demanding project and i'm gonna win, dammit!

rob found some filters that he thought would work perfect. it was fine for some shots but something funky was happening to the image when i would use 2 layers. i gave up and cracked open the final cut book to figure out how to do it 'old school.'

i still think i'm in major trouble because i set up the sessions in non-anamorphic and now i'm not sure i can simply just change it. fuck. i need to take a course on this shit.

jesus, terry

hello all you people visiting my blog because terry (friend, dear friend) had it on his second Yumi podcast.

yes, greetings and salutations. hope it was everything you thought it would be. and more.

.........
in other news, 3 MORE DAYS until 3xC at the Sylvia Hotel on january 25th (thurs). rob is rather worried that the room will overflow with people so he's not actually inviting anyone. he shouldn't worry as i'm offering to hangout with the overflow in the lounge and be hospitable by drinking heavily.

children of men

rob and i saw 'children of men' yesterday.
two words: holy fuck

amazing cinematography: used a documentary, hand-held style. loved the blue/green colour palette.
scary realism: the stunt coordinator deserves an award for all the stunts. it looked so real i had to use substantive effort to hold back my emotional response in a few scenes.
spare-enough dialogue: there were only 2 instances where i thought there was too much exposition. but, really, it was needed exposition. otherwise, excellent use of acting to convey information where most directors would dialogue the shit out of it.

okay and now i'll wade into the whole debate about the long takes; like, what the fuck is all the fuss about? i didn't even notice the long takes. i say: get over it movie critics and write about the freaking awesome writing, directing, cinematography, or even the political message instead.

and finally, i can't belive this movie was directed by the same guy who did a Harry Potter movie and Great Expectations (the one with Gwyneth Paltrow). yes, yes, he also did Y Tu Mama Tabien but Great Expectations was horrible.

the director, Alfonso Cuarón, also co-wrote this film. i am in total awe. i will never be able to achieve this level of creativity but i'll try.

spew-age

holy shit. leickner finally posted something on his blog. all that nagging finally paid off.

http://fibrosis.blogspot.com/

stamina

friday .
8:30am - 5:30pm: work
5:30pm - do not go home. go directly to bcit to help ken with his shoot as audio chick
1:30am - get home

yes. i can still do this. this crazy amount of uptime.

but then again, i think, many parents probably have this schedule. i say, good for them and good for me.

it's all about what's important in your life. filmmaking is "it" for me.

well. that and rob.

when the levees broke

rob spent the better part of this weekend watching spike lee's 5 hour documentary on the devastation of hurricane katrina on new orleans. it's a moving documentary. it makes you angry, depressed, confused, and admiring of those who hold onto their integrity in such horrible circumstances.

pretty compelling stuff.

here's an interview with spike lee on the doc:
http://www.hbo.com/docs/programs/whentheleveesbroke/interview.html

i didn't actually sit and watch the whole thing as rob and i were taking turns on the computer (with the wedding video editing) but i did hear a lot of it thru the door and i would take occasional eye breaks and watch some of it. i hope rob blogs about the doc.

editing fool

rob works nights on sundays and mondays. it's my alone time to do as i please. for the last 2 months, i've been sharing my alone time with many other people. these people happen to be asian and two of them happen to be getting married.

yes, the wedding video editing marathon continues. rob did a very good first pass but now he must go back and do some detail work. also, he's asked me to do all the colour timing stuff (aka make the colours look normal). i've been editing since 6:30pm.

shhhh, don't tell rob but tonight i've been eating his precious sausage liver on crackers.

i heart free hugs

after dropping rob off at the hotel yesterday (around 2:30pm), i passed 3 women standing infront of the starbucks at denman and davie. the women were holding up handmade signs that said "free hugs."

i saw 3 people, complete strangers, almost run towards the free huggers. giver and receiver had the most amazing smiles on their face as they hugged.

as i watched this, my heart suddenly felt warm and fuzzy like i'd just downed a b52 shooter.

check out the online place where these free huggers live:
http://tribes.tribe.net/freehugsvancouver

chocolate russian

that's what i'm calling my new invention which is the perfect combination of chocolate soy milk and vodka. hmmm, it tastes so very good.

i feel i need this delicious drink to assist me as i start to make dinner which will be chicken pot pie.

.........
in other news, i've been going to the gym at work 2 times a week for the past 2 weeks.

also, this just came to mind: how do i prevent this nasty vertical wrinkles from developing above my lips? i have an irrational fear of developing this specific wrinkle. i'm not afraid of varicose veins or crows feet yet i'm strangly concerned with (what i consider) smokers' wrinkles. i believe this concern is the result of waaaay too much 'entertainment tonight' viewing in my late twenties and early thirties.

.........
and finally, i've decided just this very second to start a bit of a countdown to a life changing event for me: the turning of the big four oh in may. let me go count the days....................ok, it's taking too long for me to count the days. i'll ballpark it, then. 4 months to go!!!! please plan accordingly.

weddings on film

okay, wof is actually the name of a high end wedding videography production company based in san francisco but i couldn't resist using this for the title. the reason is that rob says he's gonna finish r+c's wedding highlight (approx. 40-60 mins) by tomorrow.

he's been showing me what he's been doing and i'm blown away. it's pretty awesome looking footage with just the perfect music to compliment the emotional notes of the day.

if you come to the mona + rob 2nd annual lunar new year open house on feb 17 (sat), you'll have a chance to take a look, be impressed and convince your friends to pay us large sums of currency to film their weddings. you are all invited.

btw, i had a yummy hot chocolate with frangelico when i got home. very nice. so very nice.

long day at work

today is the first day of a new era at work: we have begun a concept equivalent to Earned Day Off. at first i was going to Opt Out because i couldn't bear the thought of being at work for 9 whole hours. i rather liked the flexibility of not taking my lunch and leaving after a quick 8 hours.

but my boss convinced me to Opt In by reminding me that i could potentially take off 14 additional days per year in addition to the 15 days of vacation i have.

so, today it begins.

but i had lunch with some of the IT guys at Toyotomi on Hastings. the lunch ends up being 1.5 hours. oh shit! my 9 hours only takes into account a 30 minute lunch. now i gotta work an extra hour to make up the time.... 10 hours!!!! what the hell. i will definitely need an alcoholic beverage when i reach home.

yumi podcasts

terry just posted his first official podcast on the making of 'yumi in love' at
http://www.yumimovie.blogspot.com/

rob and i spent only a day each (on separate days) being production assistants for yumi. we took stills and behind the scenes video of the shoot. it was lots of fun being on an actual feature film shoot. i watched carefully for the workflow and roles and responsibilities.

we'll both being going over to terry's this thursday to help him with another podcast. should be a good time. we're bringing a bottle of red wine to help make it so.

: . . . . . . . . . .
in other news, wind warning this afternoon with more snow tonight and tomorrow. hello global warming.

: . . . :
rob and i are trying to come up with a name for the wedding video arm of our production company. here are some that won't be considered:
. precious moments video (already taken)
. forever memories (already taken)
. always and forever video (already taken)

we really like but won't be using: ball and chain

the whole exercise of coming up with a name was kinda fun at first but all we came up with were total cheeseball names that we couldn't live with. also, we're limited by the fact that we only want to appeal to the high end market. so here are some partial words/phrases we're contemplating:
. look of love weddings
. velvet memories
. opulent
. ebullent
. moving images
. eternal images
. composed moments
. love sweet love
. at this moment

but it's still pretty corny stuff. anybody got ideas?

joe swanberg : new breed of indie filmmaker

this weekend, rob rented joe swanberg's first feature entitled "kissing on the mouth." swanberg is the guy making soft porn episodics for www.nerve.com. rob loves this guy.

rob watches the movie first. he tells me that swanberg is f'ing amazing and that he's told his filmmaker buddies that they/we should all be making movies like swanberg.

so, i start watching it and there's only 4 characters in the movie: 2 males and 2 females. joe is one of the males. and.... hmmm... i think swanberg has set the bar quite high for other indie directors.

so this is what i ask rob after watching the whole thing:
"rob, does this mean that you don't consider yourself a true indie director unless you masturbate in a shower scene in your own film?"

to be fair, i think swanberg is forging a new type of film style that is honest without being gratiutous. it wasn't porn but it was real. real as in naked. a lot. but it was pretty neat to see this new style being played out without any apologies. i think that's cool.

getting to know you

i feel that i know much too much about the wedding industry now. today i was doing some intelligence gathering on other wedding video companies: how much they charge, what's included in their packages, if they have blogs, how crappy their websites look.

you know when you meet someone new and them seem really exciting and you can't wait to find out more about them? so you spend lots of time with them and then during one long stretch of time together maybe they let a racial or homophobic slur slip out. and you think: shit, i really wanted to like this person.

yah, that's kinda how i feel right now.

also, i have a hate on for my bubble jet printer. it won't work and isn't accepting this cartridge i bought off ebay. grrrrr.

ps - thanks for commenting, ken. you are officially my new favourite friend.

misc

ok.
you don't ALL suck.

:: :: ::
in other news, i'm super excited about all the wedding video editing i've been doing. i find the mundane tasks of logging footage and doing preliminary editing pretty fun. plus my editing skills are improving. but i'm still in awe with what rob can do when he does the final editing and adds music. good music.

although i feel kinda guilty that i like this end of the editing business, i'm okay with it.

:: :: :: ::
also, i've received all 3 cameras that i got off ebay. today i received the holga camera. i can't wait to see what it does. i'll post some pictures after i:
a) buy some film
b) take pictures
c) develop film

this all takes patience and faith. i'm rather glad for it.

been good so far

i have not spent beyond my budget so far this year. let's see if i can make it to the weekend.

also, you all suck for not leaving me comments.