MARKER

This is the video Jose, Gina and I made last Saturday morning for the 24 Hour Film Race.

I didn't think to document the production as we only had 3 people and few hours to shoot. Below is a picture of my video camera and slate with a couple stills.

Here is a dolly I made from PVC pipes. The camera mount wasn't very sturdy and fell off a few times. We used it in a brief shot of Gina drawing and on a slight dolly-zoom. I'm going to redesign the mount to have wheels on the outside. To tape the tracking shot of Gina walking to the Plaza, Jose pulled me on my skateboard while I held the camera...in case you wondered.

more 24 hour film stuff

This is a still frame from "Marker" a short Gina, Jose and I made over the weekend. It will play on Thursday in Brooklyn. I hope the picture looks okay on the big screen . It's shot on a free craigslist video camcorder that didn't record sound or focus on a zoom. The image above is what came out after adjusting in post. I planned to use my G9 Cannon (which I did for a few b-roll shots), but I stuck with the Camcorder because of time. The next time I enter a film race I'd like a 48 hour or longer one.

I don't remember if I have explained the rules...the contest emails a theme, a prop and action at the beginning of the race. Then you have 24 hours to come up with an idea, write, shoot, edit and upload to their site. My theme was "identity theft." My first thought was I only have one actor. The location was set before I knew my story since I wouldn't get the email until 10pm. I chose the Plaza partly because Big Business was on my mind and its close to Gina's apartment. It just happened that the tulips were in bloom which worked out perfectly.

See, that's the thing I really like about live-action. With animation I have control over everything, well as much control as I have over my hand and the medium. With live-action you have to think on your feet in a different kind of way. Such as I had planned to shoot the fountain in the background, but(could have location scouted beforehand) we found there were 12 statues veld in front of it. It would have been very distracting, so we shot the Plaza and flowers instead. Plus, I love Gina's jacket and how it looks with the tulips. I wanted her to wear her green dress, but it was much colder than than forecast.

Something I learned while editing live-action... allow action in the shot to run longer. I was creating cuts on location when I should have let her go through more than one action at a time. That was something that looks ok in a storyboard, but editing it may not work. Actually, I may be relearning things I knew in high school...my stuff was sh*t by the way, but I enjoyed making it.

Sometimes I feel like everything I make has to be good and I need to let that go. I always joke about not caring, but deep down I do. So this movie isn't perfect but I think its kind of cute.

Thanks Mom

Mom paid the 24 hour film race entry fee as my early birthday present.

I've now been playing around with the soundless video camera...trying to mimic "film" in After Effects. I still plan to use the G9 for pixelation/stopmotion, but it couldn't hurt to use two cameras.

I'm working on getting two crew members and will probably end up using them as actors too since it's nearly impossible to animate characters in such a short amount of time, but animation will still be apart of this somehow.

Here is my bootleg-I mean DIY slate made from a white 3 ring binder:

The color chart was purchased from B&H, the rest is Sharpy. Dry erase markers can be used on the plastic covering.

24 Hour Film Race

I'm contemplating entering the 24 film race, a contest in which a movie must be written, shot, edited and uploaded in 24 hours from when the theme is given.

I don't have a crew now that Jose has work. Of course I'd like a film crew team... but I don't want to show up with my G9 (see photo) and try to get everyone excited about making a movie frame by frame. This is how I plan to transition into live-action. Frame by frame with little dialog (if any) and maybe a human character. I'm not sure. I figure if the outside stuff sucks I can fall back on animating ani-jam style. That is if my arm is doing ok.

My arm has been acting up again. I'm not sure what is exactly wrong, but I will see someone about it next week. I haven't decided on a doctor or physical therapist. Either way its about 100 dollars each.

G9 Cannon. By the way- Urban Stencil and Lighthouses was shot with this.

Plus the G9 looks more film-like than my camcorder. Oh yeah, I have a mini dv camcorder that does not record sound and a 16mm Bolex that I barely know how to use. The film processing would take too long anyway. If I prepare my computer and B reel I may enter. With the exception of a few brilliant ones, most of their films are very bad...I think I'm just talking myself into it now. Speaking of bad, I'm watching Titanic II and it has made me want to write screenplays.