By Greg Pak
I had to put burnt in time code on a dub of my feature “Robot Stories.” Using Final Cut Pro, I nested the sequence within another sequence, applied the Time Code filter under the Video subhead, and then rendered. Then tried playing back to tape. But the machine kept dropping frames Could not figure out why. Eventually I exported the whole movie out to a Quicktime file. Now I’m playing that file by itself — no dropped frames.
I think there must be something about the processor demands of playing rendered clips which made FCP drop frames when the entire project was made up of rendered clips.
FilmHelp
DVD projection tips
By Greg Pak
So I’ve finally learned how to make and burn DVDs on my Mac and am now screening with frequency at festivals on DVD.
A few tips for making DVD screenings run smoothly:
- Don’t put labels on the DVDs used for the actual screening. Labels can cause some machines to stutter or fail — instead, write out your label information on the DVD directly with a Sharpie.
- Send in your DVD early and exhort the festival folks to test the DVD on their machines. I haven’t had a single problem yet, but DVDs made on home computers may not be compatible with some DVD players out there. Verify!
- Specify the aspect ratio of your DVD — generally, 16×9 widescreen or normal television aspect ratio. Our “Robot Stories” DVD screeners are letterboxed, meaning you see the entire film frame with black bars at the top and bottom of each screen. If the DVD is played on a projector set to 16×9 or widescreen rather than 1:1.33 or normal television aspect ratio, the image will appear stretched horizontally, as the machine squashes it vertically, adding MORE black bars on the top and bottom. Not a pretty sight. Write the aspect ratio on the DVD itself.
- Politely request the return of your DVD after the screening. It’s generally not a good idea to let too many DVDs of your film float around in the world — no festival person would knowingly rip you off, but screeners tend to drift and you don’t want to get pirated.
Deleting preference gets Internet Connect working again in OS X
By Greg Pak
While traveling this week, my 12″ G4 PowerBook decided to stop letting me get online through dialup. My airport card was working fine, but the Internet Connect program through which I get online via dialup using Earthlink would quit during startup. I’m using OS 10.2.3 and have had precious few serious problems thus far, so I was a bit flummoxed. I restarted several times, which didn’t do the trick. I reinstalled Earthlink, which didn’t do the trick. I installed AOL (horror of horrors), which didn’t do the trick.
In the end, I stumbled across the answer — I found the preferences files for Internet Connect and deleted them. They live in the Users > Username > Library > Preferences > com.apple.internetconnect.plist
After deleting the program, I was able to start up Internet Connect properly. I had to then update Earthlink all over again, but I’m now able to get online again via dialup.
Stuff in the air
By Greg Pak
Just saw a great low-budget slasher movie called “Savage Island” at ShockerFest in Modesto — and it reminded me of one big tip for cinematographers:
Get stuff in the air.
“Savage Island” was full of smoke and wind and general turbulence. Smoke gives movement and layers to the frame — it’s inherently cinematic. The filmmakers also gave depth to their frames by very often using leaves or other natural materials in the foreground.
Good to keep in mind.
How to make a filter stay in place without a filter holder
By Greg Pak
On an incredibly low-budget shoot, you may find yourself (as I recently did) needing to use a filter but having no filter holder. A simple solution is to roll a piece of camera tape on itself sideways, sticky side out. Then attach this tube of tape around the rim of the lens and then stick the filter into place.
Hey, presto! A workable, if fragile, solution!
For those who are interested, the filter in the picture is a 55mm Tiffen 812 warming filter which actually fits a still camera lens of mine. It’s a pretty cheap filter — I think it cost about twenty bucks or so — and works nicely with the little c-mount lenses on my Eclair ACL 16mm film camera, using this jerry-rigged method.
The 812 warming filter adds a bit of warmth to the scene (surprise, surprise). We used it on my short film “Cat Fight Tonight” and again on a new short I co-directed with Susie Lee entitled “Ode to Margaret Cho.”
Library research in New York City
By Greg Pak
A few practical pointers for library research in New York City, developed after spending many hours trying to track down an obscure book I needed as background research for a screenplay I’m writing:
- To buy an obscure, out of print book, try AbeBooks.com.
- To find the book at the New York Public Library, first search the catalog online.
- If you can’t buy the book or find it at the New York Public Library, check the Online Computer Library Center to figure out if it’s in a university library near you. To get access to their search engine (which apparently can only be reached through partner websites), do a search at AbeBooks.com for something that doesn’t exist — i.e., type “give me the OCLC” in the Author field. The “Matches found: 0” search results page will include a link which reads “Find it at a local library” which will take you to the OCLC page. A search there may reveal your book’s residence at a number of local colleges.
- Read your book at a local college.
This can be tricky. I found that my book lived at Pace University, NYU, CUNY, and Columbia. When I called these various libraries, only Pace would let me, a non-student, walk in as a visitor to read the book. Alas, the Pace library only had volume 2 of the publication I needed… So I called NYU and discovered that I would need to get a “Metro Referral Card” from the New York Public Library (which would vouch that the book was not in the NYPL system) in order to gain entrance to the NYU library.
Metro Referral Cards are only given at the Midtown Branch of the NYPL. As I discovered, the Midtown Library at the southeast corner of 40th and 5th is NOT the right branch — instead, you have to go to room 315 of the big research library (the one with the lions in front of it) on the northwest corner of 40th and 5th.
When I said I needed a Metro Referral Card, the librarian nodded, asked me for the name of the author, the first word in the book’s title, and the library which had it. He filled in a yellow card, which I took down to the NYU Bobst Library, where I was given a day pass.
Triumph! With one last irony — it turns out the book I needed was in the Tamiment Library (a specialized collection of labor history) on the 10th floor of the Bobst Library at NYU — and since the Tamiment Library is open to the general public, I didn’t need the Metro Referral Card after all.
Three books on screenwriting
By Greg Pak
Three books I’ve found enormously helpful over the years:
“Four Screenplays,” by Syd Field
Field is best known for his ubiquitous book “Screenplay,” but I found “Four Screenplays” more helpful. The book provides in-depth structural analysis of the screenplays of four successful movies: “Thelma and Louise,” “Terminator 2,” “The Silence of the Lambs,” and “Dances with Wolves.” Practical and extremely helpful.
“The Art of Dramatic Writing,” by Lajos Egri
One of the classics. Egri’s writing about all dramatic writing – meaning many of his examples are drawn from theater. But it’s all applicable to screenwriting. Most helpful is his exploration of “premise.”
“Story,” by Robert McKee
McKee can come off as a bit of a blowhard in print (and apparently in person, if the depiction of him in “Adaptation” is to be trusted), but I thought just about everything in his book was right on the money.
Tip of the Day: Submit Early
By Greg Pak
Many festivals lock in their opening, closing, and spotlight films many months ahead of time — sometimes before their official call for entries has even closed. Now usually festivals directly solicit their high-profile films from the filmmakers. But even if you haven’t been solicited, if you have a feature film which you think has a real shot at a spotlight slot, submit your film as early as you can. And follow up over the next months by emailing information about any new awards or press your film has received.
Essay from a festival programmer about what he’s looking for
By Greg Pak
Dean Treadway, program director of the Dahlonega International Film Festival in Dahlonega, Georgia, has written an essay about what he looks for when programming films. It’s an idiosyncratic and informative piece which filmmakers may find interesting. Not every programmer shares the same peeves as Dean, so don’t worry if your film violates his dictum against showing people smoke, for example. But it’s fantastic to get a honest, first hand look into the mind of an actual festival programmer. A highly recommended read.
Print traffic hints
By Greg Pak
If your film is getting into multiple festivals, you’ll need to coordinate shipping from one festival to another. In order to avoid the disaster of a print not reaching its next destination on time, I recommend emailing the following information to both the print traffic coordinator for the festival which will send the print and the print traffic coordinator for the festival which will receive the print:
- An introduction
(i.e., “Jack, meet Jane; Jane, meet Jack! Jack is the print traffic coordinator for the Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Film Festival and Jane is the print traffic coordinator for the Oh My International Film Festival.”) - A request for the outgoing festival to ship the print to the incoming festival, including the following information:
- Shipping address with contact person and phone number
- Due Date
- Method of shipping (i.e., 2 Day FedEx)
- A request that the outgoing festival send tracking numbers to both you and the incoming film festival.
- A thank you.
In the immortal lines of Slim Cessna, always say please and thank you.
It’s important to include all of the above information, particularly the method of shipping and due date. Most festivals are run on a shoestring and print traffic coordinators will prefer to send prints by the cheapest method possible. But if your print needs to get to its next destination quickly, specifically requesting Fed Ex 2nd Day Delivery will nail home the idea that you don’t want the print sent via ground.