My first Toastmasters on TV Episode

Ugh… finally.

I’ve been a “producer” at the cable access station for a YEAR, and just NOW finished editing one episode:

I’ve actually tape three episodes, but the footage on two of them got corrupted.. and I’m pretty sure I can’t retrieve it.    So this is it.

Why did it take me so long to publish this?  …mainly laziness.  My heart is not into this TV show, per se, but I’m really excited to be a producer at the station because I get to check out their equipment for free.  After months of procrastinating (I taped this in May), I finally faced the fact that I am NEVER going to get around to editing this.  So I posted an ad on Craigslist for anyone who would be willing to do it for free.  And believe it or not, I got a lot of responses!  The first guy I hired to edit sounded good, but after three months of nothing, I realized he was probably never going to get around to doing it, so I contacted the next guy on the list.  ..and he was full of AWESOME.  He whipped this out really quickly, and it wasn’t as easy as you might think, because….

Because I did something dumb when I taped this.  Typically, when you film a show in the studio they have there, you get to use the control room, and all the sound and video gets piped in to one source, and you switch between cameras on the fly and whatnot, and you get one finished tape and editing is easy.   You just take out the mistakes and you’re done!  But at the time of filming, I was not yet certified to use the control room, so I checked out a camera, two wireless mics, and whipped out my cheapo personal camcorder, and set up one camera (the good one) for closeup shots and the crappy camera (mine) for wide shots.   The mics were hooked up to the good camera, and I just needed to sync the sound to the other camera later.  Easy, right?  Well… normally, yes.  But I was dumb, and in order to save tape (which is cheap) and batteries (which can be recharged), I kept turning both cameras off when they were not being used.  Which meant that every time I turned it back on, the sound would need to be resynced in editing.  This was a very long, torturous task for our editor.  It took hours and hours for him to sync the sound.  What I realized I SHOULD have done was to turn both cameras on, stand in front of them with a clapperboard (or other noisemaking device) in order to help sync the sound later, and left the cameras on.  Then I could have just synced the sound to the wide shot footage ONCE, and I would have been done.   *sigh*

So I’m pretty happy with how it turned out, considering the circumstances.  Marlo–who is not only the host, but the leader of the Toastmasters club that she has been trying to launch around this TV show–may be leaving for a new job, though.  So I’m not sure if we’ll continue with the show..  But it’s been a great learning experience.  If we don’t do this show, I have another possible project in the works, with the organizer of the film group I joined.  We’ll see what happens!

Update: What I’ve been working on.

• I have been very lazy when it comes to my Toastmasters show.  I have been a producer for one year, have taped three shows, lost the footage for two of those shows due to technical problems, and aired NOTHING.  After accepting the fact that I am never going to get around editing the footage I do have, I sought out an editor on Craigslist.  A lot of people responded, actually.  Some with a good deal of experience–and all apparently willing to work for free, in order to either gain experience or add work to their resume.  Anyway, I’m working with one of them now, and I’m wondering why I hadn’t done this sooner.  Hopefully I’ll have something to show for it soon.
• I would like to produce a Star Trek fan film.  I did some research into the legality of this, and discovered that Paramount pretty much looks the other way when it comes to fan films, as long as no one makes money off them.  This makes sense, as it is for the fans and only strengthens the fan base.  I found a fan fiction on line that I really liked, and I’m in the process of converting it to a screenplay.  Right now, it’s way too long, though.  If I can’t shorten it enough, I might make it into a miniseries… maybe release it in 10-minute chunks.  There is a lot of work ahead for me if I end up doing this, but I’m very motivated.
• Finally… I actually completed something!  Without the benefit of a contest or anything like that!  I found out about a small film group that just got started in my area, and when I showed up for the first meeting, they were already ready to put together the cast and crew for their first film.  It was great, because we were all relatively inexperienced people, but we had such varying talents that we walked out of there with a script, a crew, and all of our actors.   And since I was the only one with directing experience, they made me the director!  It was such a great experience, and a fun project to be a part of.  I’ll get more into it when the footage is posted (it’s being worked over by our sound and fx guy at the moment, but story editing–by yours truly–is finished).  I’m very proud of it, and I can’t wait until it’s ready to be seen.  You can really tell the difference in quality from what I’ve done before, as this was a team effort by a number of talented people, and not just a one-person show put together by only me.

Location Scouting

So I finally got around to visiting the aforementioned park that I have permission to film in.  I took some video for inspiration.  It’s beautiful!

So, I can see that I should not have filmed so much while walking, because it’s way too shaky to look at.  I should have walked to the interesting spots, stood in one place, and panned around myself to take in the scenery.  Oh, well.  It’s just for reference anyway.  I’ll keep looking for other locations as well.  Wanna be prepared.

“New” Ike footage

Finally got my post-Ike video together.  This one is a little more interesting than the others, IMO.

Location Releases.

Arrrrrghhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Perhaps anyone who has tried to secure a location release for a film will appreciate how I’m feeling right now.  When I was scouting possible locations for the 24-hour film contest, I needed to not only come up with a variety of possible locales, but I needed to get permission to film in those places in writing.  I found out that people will often allow you to film, but they won’t sign anything.

I called a local park and got verbal permission to film there, and the lady who answered the phone agreed to pass on the location release to her boss.  After a couple of days of waiting and wondering, I contacted her and she told me that he wouldn’t sign it, although I was free to film at the park.   (Luckily for me, I discovered that this contest didn’t require releases for external locations, as long as I had the proper permits).

The other place I found was this awesome apartment clubhouse that could be made to look like a number of different sets–a house, apartment, hotel, lobby, etc..  It had free wifi and a kitchen.  It was perfect.  When I called to ask permission to film there, they were really great about it, and the lady said she would be able to sign a release for me.  I tried to get someone to pick up the release before we filmed, but due to a miscommunication that didn’t happen.  So I went the day after filming to pick it up myself, and the lady (I assume a different one that  spoke with earlier) said that they DO. NOT. SIGN. ANYTHING.  (although I was free to film if I wished).

I tried to explain my situation, that the only thing the document said was that the apartment complex would not sue the company sponsoring the contest if I broke anything (although they’d be free to sue me), and that it didn’t matter anyway because the filming was done.  But she said no, while not disguising the expression on her face that told me there was no reason in the world why she would give a crap about any of this, but she’d forward the request on to their management.  I called later to see what they said, and the answer was the same.

Uggghhh….

This actually happened to me once before, on my first film.  But the ending was much happier.  I called the library, and they were very nice about letting me film before they opened.  When I asked the lady to sign the release form, she said she didn’t have the authority to do so.  She said she’d ask the main office, but I never heard back, and I’d missed the contest deadline anyway, so I didn’t really pursue it.  But when the contest came around again the following year, I called the main office myself, and they were really nice about signing it.

I can see now how lucky I was.

What’s the lesson here, kids?  Get your location releases early, and get them in writing.

Here it is.

So yeah. Here it is. Lots of technical issues but… also a lot of heart. hehe.

Here are my comments on this video (please keep in mind we did the whole thing in 24 hours, which was VERY challenging)

• picture:  Aside from the aforementioned jitter/blurriness issues, I actually had a cinematographer help me with this, but he quit about halfway through due to the problems we were having with the camera.  No hard feelings, though, but his heart just wasn’t in it.  Later, I discovered the whole thing had been shot in 16:9 aspect ratio, when the contest required a 4:3 aspect ratio.  When I converted it, the picture got cropped and I lost some of the picture around the edges.  …so when you see some of the actors cut off a little, that’s why.
• sound:  I rented a boom mike for $50 for the day, and I like the sound a lot more than any of my other videos, but I could still hear noise in the background.  The air conditioning kept turning on and off, and since it wasn’t my place, I had no control over that.  Also, I didn’t have time to try and remove the noise digitally.  But.. I don’t think it’s too distracting.
• lighting:  I had a light kit with me, but we didn’t end up using it.  The apartment clubhouse we used was pretty well-lit.  I’m sure I could have improved on it, but with the time constraints we had, I think it was an okay compromise.
• acting:  yes, the actors are amateurs, but I LOVED them.  They were fun to work with, and such good sports.  Especially Akil, who is the one who got the face sandwich.  Poor guy.  He didn’t even want to act.  He was there to be on the crew.
• editing:  I had some transitions at certain points between scenes, but somehow they got obliterated when I converted the aspect ratio.  So the film is a bit more rushed than it was when I edited it.  I could have fixed it, but I ran out of time.  Just barely made it in time to turn the thing in.

I’m sure there are more things to comment on, but those are the main points.  Now, as for the whole 24-filmmaking experience:

• When we first got together as a team, there were more than 10 of us.  And in retrospect, there were way too many cooks in the kitchen.  The brainstorming session was fun, but there were just so many ideas and opinions that it was hard to move forward.  And once we did have an idea, I ended up spending a lot of energy dealing with the miriad of opinions that people had regarding the smaller details.  Looking back, I can see how some of the things I wanted to do got lost because I was trying so hard to move the thing forward.  With so little time, it became very important that we not spend hours arguing over tiny details.  For my next project, I will definitely limit the number of people involved in creating the “vision” and then hire people for crew and acting only.
• Location releases:  I had, and am still having, trouble with location releases.  My biggest mistake was not scouting for locations earlier on in the process.  I have found a number of places that allow people to film, but won’t sign a location release without lawyers looking at it first.  Even though, all it says is… “You agree not to sue filmracing.com if the filmmaker destroys your property–you sue the filmmaker instead!”  When I called the apartment complex, the person I spoke with agreed to sign the release, but I didn’t get it from her before shooting.  When I came to collect it after shooting, a different person was there and said they would not sign it.  They passed it to their higher-up, but I doubt they will sign it either.  At this point I’m not sure if my film will be screened, but the organizers are aware of my problem, and I’m still working on getting it.
• Equipment:  I should have tested the camera when I checked it out from the cable access channel.  If I had, they would have given me a different camera, and it wouldn’t be blurry.  That is all.
• Actors:  I loved my actors, but I recognize that trained actors tend to be very polished.  Once I have a script put together and I’m ready to go, I will try to find real actors who are willing to work for free, or for little pay.  There are lots of resources that one can use to announce auditions, and I believe that will be the best way to find the appropriate actors for the parts in future films.
• Production assistant:  I should’ve gotten me one of those.  Someone involved early on who could share the legwork with me.  Someone who could go get coffee for the crew, make phone calls, help find locations.

Another thing that occurs to me is that when you are managing a team of people on a film, you need to be assertive.  Because everyone seems to want to do it their way, but if it’s my project, I need to decide when the discussion is over and it’s time to move on, and communicate that well.  I think that assembling a team more carefully, and assigning very well-defined roles would be helpful in this regard.

Overall, I’ve learned so much from this experience.  I obviously would not ideally want to put these kinds of restrictions on myself, but in doing so I can see what I need to do better should I have more time to complete my project.

Adventures in 24-hour filmmaking.

Oh, my lord.

I am currently sitting at home, waiting for the footage from my Film Racing entry to upload onto the computer so I can edit it. It is extremely jittery. It turns out that the camera I got from the cable access channel has something wrong with it. I hoped that it was just showing up that way on the LCD screen of the camcorder, but no… it really looks like this, and there was nothing I could do about it. And when you have 24 hours to shoot your film, you are stuck with what you have. ..damn!

Besides that, though, this was an amazing experience. I was so stressed out in the days beforehand, trying to recruit people, locations and equipment. I managed to get permission to use someone’s apartment complex clubhouse, and also the use of a public park. I got a camera, tripod, and light kit from the cable access channel, and I rented a boom pole from a film equipment rental place. I wrangled about 15 or so people into promising to participate, knowing at least 1/3 would drop out before the day, and that at least another 1/3 would not stay for the whole thing (I was right).

When we finally got together at the meeting place, there was an immediate positive energy. We spent two hours brainstorming and about another hour writing, and it was awesome. I had no professional actors, but the actors I did have were great.

But about halfway through the shoot… it became clear that the footage was going to be bad, and that there was nothing that could be done about it.

So. I’ll see what I can do with it, and submit it anyway. And that’s alright. You can’t win ‘em all.

Film Racing 24 Hour Film Contest.

Check it out–I missed the 48 hour film project because of a previous commitment, but then I found out about another one that is happening next month–Film Racing. It’s the same idea, but you only get 24 hours to produce a film. I’ve already started putting together a team, and I’m very excited!

The only problem is that it takes place on the FIRST DAY OF RAMADAN (I’m Muslim). Which means that I will be fasting–no food or drink from dawn to sunset–for a good portion of the time. And the first day is always the hardest. That’s okay. Maybe I’ll get some extra blessings, lol. That’s why I named my team “Team Baraka.”

Cable Access Show Clip

I’m producing a Toastmasters show on the local cable access program.  I’m putting together a PSA of sorts to talk about what our show is going to be about once it airs.  I wanted to post a clip of some footage I took of our host Marlo.  I’m getting better at the technical details…  As I mentioned in my previous post, my boom mic died, so I ended up getting another cheap microphone at radio shack at the last minute.  It wasn’t great (hear the buzzing in the background?  Gotta see if I can subtract that noise out with audacity), but it was much better than the mic on the camera, which picks up all the ambient sound in the room.  Here is a clip of Marlo’s segment:

 

I wanted to shoot her with some natural light, but we didn’t get started until after dark.  So I lit one side of her face with the ceiling fan light, and for the other side of her face, I shined my work light on the window to her left and bounced that light onto her face–direct light would have been too harsh.  I like the effect, but the picture is still kind of grainy.  I’m sure it has at least in part to do with my cheap camera, but I noticed that when I shoot outside in natural light, the picture looks much better.  So I need to improve my lighting technique, for sure

No mic.

My microphone stopped working.  Piece of crap.