Another hyper-technical FilmHelp computer post from Greg Pak
While undertaking the mind-blowingly nerdy task of updating a 1995-era PowerBook 190 from OS 7.5.2 to 7.5.3, I discovered that my Mac Pro (running OS 10.6.1) would read a Zip disk in an external USB Zip drive — but it would not write new data to that same disk.
After doing some poking around, I found this helpful post that explained that Snow Leopard has disabled the ability to write to HFS-formatted disks — which was the standard when this Powerbook was produced.
In practical terms, that means to get files from my Mac Pro onto the PowerBook 190, I had to transfer them to a G4 desktop via a USB drive. Then I transferred them from the G4 to a Zip disk. And then transfer from the Zip disk to the Powerbook 190. Whew!
Other Projects
Creating a burned in time code window in a FCP 7 sequence
Another hyper-technical FilmHelp article by Greg Pak
To deliver a rough cut of my new short film “Mister Green” to the funders at ITVS, I needed to create a file with time code burned into a window along the top or bottom of the screen. There’s a nice explanation at thefilmeditor.com about how to manage the trick by:
- Creating a nested sequence by hilighting the video clips in the sequence and hitting Sequence > Nest Item(s)
- Creating a window with time code for the sequence by hilighting the new single clip representing the nested sequence and hitting Effects > Video Filters > Video > Time Code Generator
But when I’d completed those steps, I saw that the burnt in time code was several minutes off by the end of the program. The problem was that the default setting for the Time Code Generator filter is 29.97 fps, while my footage was 24 fps.
Ordinarily, I’d just double click on the clip and change the effects settings in the source window that pops up. But clicking on a nested sequence opens up a different kind of window that shows the clips within the sequence. I could not find the effects settings that had been applied to the nested sequence that way.
I ended up going to the Effects tab in the browser window. Under Video Filters > Video I found the Timecode Generator effect. Double clicking on that brought up a window that allowed me to adjust the settings. I changed 29.97 fps to 24 fps, then dragged this effect to the nested sequence. And then the numbers synched up properly.
Finally, I exported via Quicktime Compression to m4v for delivery to ITVS. Word to the wise: It’s apparently not necessary to render the sequence ahead of time — the program renders the new file as it exports.
Snow Leopard Finder crashing bug identified — related to Fetch 4.0.2
A FilmHelp article by Greg Pak
After upgrading to Mac OS 10.6, a.k.a. Snow Leopard, the latest Apple operating system, I’ve had a series of Finder crash/reboots when opening folders of older material I’d transferred from Firewire backup drives. I eventually realized that every folder that was crashing contained files from Fetch 4.0.2 — the “Fetch Prefs,” “Fetch Cache,” and “Fetch Shortcuts” files. I suspect there’s something about the way these image files are built that causes the crash (maybe related to the problem cited in this post). I rebooted the computer in 10.5.8 (which has no trouble opening the folders) and moved the Fetch files into subfolders. Since then I’ve had no problems opening the main folders in 10.6.
Transferring a project from a G3 to a Mac Pro and from FCP 3 to FCP 7
A FilmHelp article by Greg Pak
I recently bought my first new desktop in eight years and upgraded to Final Cut Pro 7 to edit my new short film “Mister Green.” I’ll be posting much more about “Mister Green” soon. But for now, here’s a painfully detailed report on the trials and travails of transferring a much older film project to the new workstation. Here’s hoping it helps someone out there avoid my mistakes.
Transferring the Media
The older project had files scattered across multiple drives on an old blue and white G3 desktop. Unfortunately, out of the box, the G3 and my new 2.66 GHz Pro Mac don’t communicate particularly well. The new Mac only has Firewire 800 ports; the old Mac only has Firewire 400 ports. A cheap adapter would let me plug Firewire 400 devices into the new Mac. But my dream of transferring directly from the old computer to the new computer using Target Disk Mode didn’t work out — the blue and white G3s apparently don’t work as target computers. Although, strangely enough, two of the drives on the B&W did show up when I connected it via Firewire to the new computer. (Your guess is a good as mine!) But for the bulk of the media, I had to transfer the data onto Firewire drives, then transfer it again from the Firewire drives to the new Mac.
Even that relatively straightforward process became a bit complicated when I discovered that my newest Firewire drives wouldn’t open on the old Mac — they’d been formatted to be bootable with Intel Macs, which means they don’t show up on old Macs running less than OS 10.4. So I used some older Firewire drives, which were a bit touchy and crashed once or twice.
Pak Talks Comics: Reader Q&A
Welcome to Pak Talks Comics, wherein comics writer and filmmaker Greg Pak answers your questions. Click here to submit your own questions — and read on for the latest answers!
Taimur Dar: Hey Greg, as always great to see the return of this column and your continuing awesome work at Marvel. It’s been almost two years since the launch of “Incredible Herc” and the title is still as good as ever. Really hoping for a Thor/Herc reunion when Hercules comes to Asgard this summer, but any chance of another face off against Ragnarok, the newly returned clone of Thor?
Greg Pak: He’s wearing some funny togs, but that might just be the Odinson on the cover to “Incredible Hercules” #136… Add it to your pull list, amigos!
TD: Were there ever any plans of Herc meeting California’s Initiative Team The Order especially since they’re ripping off his family names?
GP: Funny you should ask! Way back when we were planning the first story for the book, my co-writer Fred Van Lente and I talked a lot about a showdown with the Order, but the timing didn’t work out and soon we had a big storyline underway that took us in another direction. And as I’ve teased above, we do have an upcoming storyline involving characters stealing other characters names — don’t ya dare miss “Incredible Hercules” #132, #134, and #136 for the “Replacement Thor” storyline.
Pak Talks Comics – Super Giant Reader Q&A!
By Greg Pak
Over the next few months, I’m reworking the format of my “Pak Talks Comics” column for BrokenFrontier.com. The new and improved column should appear towards the end of the summer. But in the meantime, I’ll continue the Reader Q&A portion of the column right here at PakBuzz.com, so keep those questions coming and read on for answers to the latest batch!
WARNING: Some spoilers ahead for a few recent issues of “Incredible Hercules,” “Skaar,” and “Magneto Testament.”
Hrungr: With the Olympians now on Earth along with the Asgardians, does anyone remember that the Celestials had ordered them to stop interfering with humanity? Or is it a case where humanity has grown to the point that the gods are simply another group of superpowered beings?
GP: Thanks for the question, Hrungr. As you’ll see, Bill has a similar question about the nature of the gods below – I’ll answer them together in a second. Also, since we’re on the subject, “Incredible Hercules” #129 hits comic book stores today — feel free to check out the preview!
Bill Frank: I just want to start out by saying that I am really enjoying your and Van Lente’s run on “Incredible Hercules.” You both seem to have caught the real feel for a mythological character that some writers miss. With that in mind, I was wondering a few things about your run that can be roughly divided into three sets of questions, if you don’t mind:
In universes like Marvel’s there are a myriad of super powerful beings with powers and abilities rivaling if not surpassing gods. Some beings like Eternals have been mistaken for gods in the past and have almost identical power-sets except they are science based instead of magic based. When writing a series like “Incredible Hercules,” what separates gods from other super powered beings? What distinguishes Hercules, an immortal super-strong man from other immortal super-strong men like Gilgamesh or Wonder Man or makes him different from being just some ancient superhero?
GP: I’m not saying this is the case, but it’s within the realm of possibility that all of the powers of Herc and his relatives could be explained via Marvel science; maybe they’re not gods, just immortal superhumans. But for millennia, Herc has been told he’s literally a god and has been worshipped as a god. So a huge part of his story is this struggle with questions of a god’s prerogatives and responsibilities. Characters like Wonder Man and the Hulk and Wolverine, who might be functionally immortal, haven’t had that millennia-long struggle with the question of godhood that Herc has, nor do they come from a family and culture of fellow gods struggling with the same issues. Those are major differences that create different animating themes for these characters.
Pak Talks Comics: Cosmic Colloquy with new Skaar artist Ron Lim!
“Skaar” writer Greg Pak interviews new “Skaar” artist Ron Lim for BrokenFrontier.com — and shows off new preview pages from “Skaar” #8, which hits comic book stores this Wednesday!
Check it out.
Pak Talks Comics: Giant new Reader Q&A!
Greg Pak’s latest “Pak Talks Comics” column is up at BrokenFrontier.com — and it’s chock full of Reader Q&A about Skaar, War Machine, and Magneto — along with a few sneak preview pages from “Incredible Hercules” #126. Here’s an excerpt:
IH: 3) When can we be expecting another Warbound story? I’m not asking anything about the specifics of what’s going on in it if you are writing it but rather when we will get to see them in action again?
GP: Soon! And yes! And thanks for asking!
…
Taimur Dar: It’s been hinted that Skaar will soon be coming to Earth and meeting his dad. Any chance of him meeting up with the Warbound? Do you still have plans for them in one of the books you write?
GP: Hey, two Warbound questions in one sitting! Yes, we will see the Warbound again. And yes, that will happen in the pages of “Skaar.†As to the rest, keep on reading!
…
BS: … are you going to explain how Magda survived the liquidation of the Gypsy families at Auschwitz? Fans have speculated that Magneto, in his position as a Sonderkommando, was somehow able to arrange for her to be smuggled into the Jewish women’s camp. But it’s just a theory, and I hope you’ll address it. Thanks for staying true to history, and at the same time writing a truly compelling story.
GP: We absolutely will address this question in the last issue of “Magneto Testament.†Things won’t play out the way you might expect, but everything that happens matches the actual history of the Gypsy Family Camp in Auschwitz.
Another excerpt from the Pak Talks Comics “War Machine” #1 director’s commentary
Greg Pak has written a column for BrokenFrontier.com about the creative decisions behind “War Machine” #1. Here he talks about the scene on page 1:
… Santo Marco is a fictional country found only in the Marvel Universe. Every atrocity in “War Machine†has real world antecedents and we’re striving for immediacy and realism in both the storylines and Leo Manco’s brilliant art — the image of anguished UN peacekeepers standing by while people are murdered because their mandate prevents them from intervention is based on horrific accounts of the genocide in Rwanda, for example.
But I always planned to use fictional countries because for better or for worse, War Machine’s actions will have a transformative, long-term impact on the nations he visits. Magneto’s history in the real world events of the Holocaust works because the history informs the character rather than the other way around. But the stories we’re telling in “War Machine†require the character to change the course of history for the nations he deals with. It just didn’t sit well with me to use real world human beings who are suffering unbelievably horrific atrocities even as we speak as characters in a story that would require outcomes that ultimately contradict real world events.
Click here to read the whole thing.
And click here to read the first six pages of “War Machine” #2, which hits comic book stores on January 21.
Pak Talks Comics: Inside the engine of “War Machine” #1
Greg Pak’s latest “Pak Talks Comics” column for Broken Frontier features an inside look at the creative decisions behind “War Machine” #1 — along with some hints of what’s coming up in “War Machine” #2 and beyond. Here’s an excerpt:
I’d had an eye on Rhodey for a while — I’d written an alternative version of him into the “1602 New World†miniseries and had tried to work him into a couple of other projects over the years. And I’d been researching the Holocaust for the “Magneto Testament†miniseries, which had led me to read about more recent genocides and atrocities. The new “War Machine†series seemed like a perfect place to tackle a character I’d always loved while exploring difficult questions of war, interventionism, and violence in the name of justice.