The Trailer - Redux

If you haven't seen it yet, here is the "official" version of the trailer which differs from the previous version only in that it looks WAY better (and it has a new shot in it). Hope you enjoy it!

The Mountain, The River and The Road - Trailer


And if you haven't already, why not take a moment to be MySpace friends with The Mountain, The River and The Road.

Or if Facebook is more your thing, you can add our nifty little movie page.

The Latest "Final Cut"

Boy does time fly, I watched the latest cut all the way through for the first time just a couple days ago. I've shaved 14 min off the total running time from the "First Final Cut" and I think the movie greatly benefits from it.

Today I sent off the screener to SXSW. Cross those fingers! I'm sending it in early-early because I'm flying back down to Louisiana tomorrow. I'm meeting up with Kirsten, who is there right now on business, then we're going to go see my family in Texas and finally I'm going back to Lafayette to help Deep and Tabby with their first feature.

November will be an exciting month. I'm really looking forward to being on a set where I'm not directing. If I get a chance maybe I'll make a few posts about the shoot!

Post Production Workflow

Taking a break from another minor edit of the film (I've trimmed 13 min from the First Final Cut) I thought I'd share a little about our post production workflow.

Ryan Adams at Alpha Cine is the mastermind of our workflow. I made it difficult on him by not nailing everything down before hand. But then again, I didn't even meet Ryan until after the shoot, so I guess you can cut us a little slack.

Based on the workflow he used on Calvin Reeder's brilliant Little Farm and The Rambler (which Ryan shot - did I mention that he's also an amazing DP?), Ryan is an expert at upresing Digibeta to HD-CAM. I had to see it to believe it, but when I did I was completely impressed with the sample results he showed me, so was Ryan McMackin, the DP. If you're shooting film and don't want to spend $35,000 on an HD workflow it's worth looking into. This is how it breaks down:

1) Shoot on film - aprox. 13hrs of footage.
2) Telecine onto Digibeta (Alpha Cine)
3) Transfer to Hard Drives (Alpha Cine)-The project lives on three external hard drives, a total of 2.5 terabites.
4) Edit with Final Cut Pro 5.1.4 on a G5.
5) Output Uncompressed to Hard Drive.
6) Color Timing with Ryan.
7) Upres to HD-CAM.

We're still on step 4 so I'm a little vague on the final steps but that's it to the best of my knowledge.

I've left out a few of my missteps and one step not listed that you may want to take between #s 3 and 4 is to de-interlace the footage. Ryan thought it might look even better. I know for certain that it'll look better when you export video for the web, but other than that I really don't know.

If you have the money you'll probably just do an HD-CAM or D5 workflow. My buddy Deep is currently trying to figure out the post for his first feature and was tipped off by Chance Shirley to a company called Cinelicious which offers a workflow that isn't quite HD-CAM quality, but so close that you shouldn't be able to tell. They're a new company and the quote he got was really good (tho not quite as amazing as we first thought). It would still have been beyond the MRR budget, but it sounds like a great option if your funds put you in the middle of the two workflows.

If you have questions or think I left something out, let me know. If you decide to pursue this workflow yourself, I highly recommend you seek out Ryan at Alpha Cine. Through trial and error on his own films, he's picked up little tricks to the process that can get you a better result than if you go to with a company that just dumps your DigiBeta onto HD-CAM.

Finally, it probably goes without saying, but figure this out before shooting if at all possible. Unless you don't want to see any footage before the end of your shoot.

Local Sightings Panel at the NWFF.

So I'm trying to find the best settings to export the new color timed version of the trailer (Will we even be able to tell the difference after it's gone through the YouTube grinder?) and thought that it would be a good time to post about the great time I had talking about MRR at the Film Forum.

Before I forget, the panel was called "Works In Progress," part of the In Conversation series of panels at the Local Sightings Festival that the Northwest Film Forum puts on every year. I have to admit, I was really nervous going into it. I tried not to think about it too much except to take comfort in the fact that alcohol would available. Before things got underway Adam Sekuler, Programing Director for the Film Forum and moderator of the panel, introduced himself and greatly put me at ease, giving me a chance to ease into the Q and A exchange. Once we were in the lounge where the panel was to take place everything came together.

The footage, which consisted of a truncated version of one of the film's central scenes and the freshly color timed trailer (by extraordinary filmmaker Ryan Adams, our Post Production Supervisor, Color Timer and Guardian Angel) looked fantastic on the big screen even though it was just projected off of a DVD. People seemed genuine interested in the project and had a lot of good questions. There wasn't the awkward silence I had feared.

Of course, it also helped that my outstanding panel mates, Lynn Shelton and Jason Ryan were sharing footage from their films. Jason showed a clip from Ugly (Is a Movie), which he is currently seeking finishing funds for. Lynn showed a clip from her latest, the eagerly anticipated Hump Day which looks like it will be just as much fun as her previous films. All three of us had different approaches and stories and on my end it was fascinating to just to listen to Lynn and Jason talk about their adventures. In short, it was a blast, I had an amazing time and the exhilaration of the whole thing left me high for days afterwards propelling me head first and newly energized into the last round of edits to the film.

As far as first introductions go, introducing The Mountain, The River and The Road to the public for the first time, it was a great experience.

Finally, I want to thank Dave Hanagan for thinking of me and this film while assembling this panel, it was an honor to be a part of it and I had a blast! Also, a big thanks to Lynn Shelton and Jason Ryan for being delightful panel-mates. Last but not least, thanks to everyone who came out in support of local filmmakers - especially those who helped out on MRR! ; )

OT: My New Favorite Thing.

So I still owe you that post production workflow, and also a run down of the amazing time I had on the Local Sightings Works in Progress Panel at the Northwest Film Forum. But right now I just had to share this. Courtesy of aintitcool, I may be a late comer but even if you've already seen these they're worth watching again.

The New Beverly is always a reoccurring temptation to return to LA.

CARS



CARS II: "ALL OUT CARS"



CARS III TRAILER



Luckily, Cars III should be also be hitting Seattle and Portland. Guess I can stay in the Northwest after all!

Local Sightings: Works in Progress Panel

If you haven't heard already, I'll be attending the In Conversation: Works In Progress panel at the Northwest Film Forum this Sunday, October 5th at 7pm. It's part of this year's Local Sightings festival which you can read more about HERE.

Make sure to get your tickets NOW (pssst, they're FREE)!

Also involved in the panel is our very own Jason Ryan with his film Ugly (Is a Movie) and Seattle's very own resident film genius (even before she got the award) Lynn Shelton, who will be there with her latest film Hump Day! We'll be answering questions and showing clips from our films. See an exclusive clip of The Mountain, The River and The Road!

Opening Night Party for Local Sightings is this Friday, October 3rd at 9pm at the Film Forum. C'mon, all the cool kids will be there!