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.
Installing FCP 3.0 upgrade from FCP 1.0 on a new G4 PowerBook
By Greg Pak
I recently discovered that I couldn’t install Final Cut Pro 1.0 on my brand new 12 inch G4 PowerBook — the machine won’t start up in OS 9, which apparently makes it impossible to install and use FCP 1.0. The problem is that unless I’d installed and registered FCP 1.0, I would be unable to install and register my FCP 3.0 upgrade. So what to do?
I called Apple and learned that I could use the FCP 1.0 on my old computer to authorize the FCP 3.0 upgrade on my new computer. The process should work as long as your old computer has a built-in FireWire port and is capable of FireWire Target Disk Mode. Here’s how it’s done:
- Shut down the old computer.
- Connect the old computer to the new computer via FireWire.
- Start up the old computer while holding down the “t” key. A yellow FireWire symbol on a blue background will blink on the old computer’s screen. And the harddrives of the old computer will appear as FireWire drive icons on the new computer’s screen. This is what’s referred to as FireWire target disk mode, whereby you can access the hard drives of one FireWire computer on the desktop of another.
- Go to the Apple icon on the upper left hand of the screen and open “System Preferences on the new computer. At the bottom of the screen, under “System,” open “Classic.” You’ll be given the option to select a system folder for Classic. Select the hard drive of the old computer onto which you installed FCP 1.0.
- Restart Classic using the button on the bottom of the screen.
- Insert your FCP 3.0 upgrade CD and upgrade away.
- Drag the icons for the old computer’s drive into the trash to eject them. Shut down your old computer by pressing the power key. Disconnect the FireWire cable.
- Go back to your System Preferences and change your Classic folder back to its previous designation.
- Revel in the ability to use FCP 3.0 on your new computer.
Tip of the Day: Bring a VHS backup
By Greg Pak
When invited to show clips or films in non-theatrical settings — like conferences or classrooms — bring a VHS backup of whatever you’re planning to show. Even if you’ve confirmed that the venue can screen your preferred format (DVD or MiniDV or BetaSP, for example), a VHS backup may save your life when the venue’s MiniDV deck goes AWOL.
Tip of the Day: Firewire problems with FCP
By Greg Pak
For some time, I’ve been plagued with audio glitches and gray squares of digital breakup during playback on the video monitor attached to one of my Final Cut Pro editing systems. I wasn’t getting the same problems when using the same video files on a different system. So I tried a number of things, including adding RAM, reinstalling software, and attempting to exactly match the software setup of the machine which was working to the machine which wasn’t.
Through a long process of elimination, it occurred to me that the problem might be the Firewire jack on the computer. After all, I wasn’t seeing glitches on my computer screen — only on the monitor which was connected to a deck which was connected to the Firewire jack.
So I installed a Firewire PCI card. And hooked up my deck and Firewire drives to the new Firewire jacks on the PCI card.
And now everything works brilliantly.
What makes me very happy is that I’d been fretting that the problem was that the computer (a G3 B&W upgraded to a 450MHz G4) just wasn’t fast enough to handle OS 10.2.3 and FCP 3.0.4. But now all is well and I don’t have to contemplate scrounging up a couple of grand for a new computer.
Tip of the Day: Pass out the pads
By Greg Pak
After hitting seven festivals in three weeks, I’ve finally found a good method of building an email list of interested audience members. I used to mention at screenings of my film “Robot Stories” that I send out a newsletter about the film and would be happy to take people’s email addresses. Then, after the screening, I’d try to pass around a pad and pen to folks milling around. This was semi-successful — we built a pretty formidable list of names this way. But not everyone who’s interested in getting on a mailing list is willing to fight their way to the front of the theater after a screening to sign up.
So finally, at the Wisconsin Film Festival last weekend, I tried out a new method. During the Q&A, I didn’t just mention we have a newsletter — I physically passed a couple of small pads with pens down the aisles. About a quarter of the audience signed up, which is a pretty great ratio. My conclusion: Folks sitting in their chairs are more likely to sign up for a newsletter than folks on their way out the door, heading to the bathroom or dinner or bed.
Tip of the Day: How ’bout patches?
By Greg Pak
We’re taking my first feature film, “Robot Stories,” to the Slamdance Film Festival this week in Park City, Utah. And we wanted to come up with a cheap promotional device which would work in a snowy town which has municipal ordinances limiting postering and handing out flyers.
Our big brainstorm: Patches which we could sew onto knit caps and scarves.
We ordered a hundred patches from Moritz Embroidery, which did a fine job and delivered in about a week.
Tip of the Day: Solving printing problems with Mac OS X and Safari
By Greg Pak
Like an overeager puppy, I downloaded the new Apple internet browser Safari within minutes of Steve Jobs’ announcement of it at last week’s MacWorld Expo. But after installing it in my Beige G3, I was no longer able to print. Turns out it’s a bug — click here for the AppleCare document explaining how to solve the problem.
Actor’s Release Form
By Greg Pak
Here’s an actors/extras release form I’ve used in the past. It’s a bit more comprehensive than some others I’ve seen. Please note that FilmHelp.com presents these forms for reference only and takes no responsibility for their use. As always, consult a lawyer before using if you have doubts.
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AUTHORIZATION TO REPRODUCE PHYSICAL LIKENESS AND/OR VOICE
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I hereby irrevocably grant to __________________ (herein “Producer”) and any parent, subsidiary and affiliated corporations and their respective successors, assigns, licensees, employees and agents, the right in perpetuity thoughout the universe, and in all now known and hereafter existing media, and in any language, to use my name (including any fictitious names heretofore or hereafter used by me), physical likeness and/or voice in and in connection with the production, exhibition, exploitation, merchandising, advertising and promotion of the motion picture tentatively entitled ___________ (the “Picture”).
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I agree that the foregoing grant includes the right to use my physical likeness in any form, including, without limitation, a photograph, picture, artistic rendering, silhouette or other reproduction by photograph, film, tape, or otherwise.
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I represent to the best of my knowledge that the consent of no other persons, firm corporation or labor organization is required to enable Producer to use my name, likeness and/or voice as described herein and that such use will not violate the rights of any third parties.
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I acknowledge that nothing herein requires Producer to use my likeness and/or voice as described herein or in connection with the Picture.
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The rights granted herein include the right to use the Picture or excerpts or stills form the Picture (include excerpts or stills containing my likeness and/or voice) in any other motion picture, publication, recording, or other medium and includes the right to edit, delete, and/or juxtapose (with any other part of the Picture), any part of the Picture in which I appear, and/or change the sequence of events in the Picture.
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All rights, title and interest in and to the results and proceeds of the services and performances rendered by me in connection with the production of the Picture or any portion therefor shall, from its inception, be the sole property of Producer, free from any claim whatsoever by me or any other person.
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This agreement contains the full and complete understanding between the parties and supersedes all prior agreements and understandings pertaining hereto and cannot be modified except by writing signed by each party.
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I hereby certify and represent that I am of legal age and have every right to contract in my own name in connection with this Release, and that I have read the foregoing and fully understand the meaning and effect thereof, and intending to be legally bound I have signed this Authorization this ________ day of ____________________, 2002.
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__________________
Print Name
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__________________
Signature
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__________________
Address
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__________________
Date
OS X Upgrade (1.1.5)
By Greg Pak
Several months ago I bought the Final Cut Pro 3.0 upgrade and tried to use it on my G3 and G4 desktop Macintoshes, running OS 9.2.2. Much to my distress, the program worked horribly, dropping frames and refusing to digitize materials properly. I talked with a number of editors who loved FCP 3.0 and had none of my problems — but they were all running OS X instead of OS 9.2.2. So I finally bit the bullet and bought OS X to see if I could get things working properly. Here are my trials and tribulations.
Don’t buy OS X until August
My first mistake was buying OS X when I did — July 11, 2002. Within ten days, Apple announced it would ship a major upgrade to the program on August 24 — and it will charge the full price of $129 for OS X.2. This means that in order to benefit from the upgrade, I’ll have to spend $129 AGAIN. Ridiculous and deeply offensive. The company should give half price discounts on the software to anyone who unwittingly bought the now old OS X software off the shelves in the last three months.
Nonethless, here I am and here we go…
Following instructions
Doing the basic upgrade was pretty simple for anyone who’s installed software before — for the most part, I just followed directions. But I was sideswiped by a few surprises.
- On my G3 B&W, I have an old PCI card — the Turbomax ATA 33 — which I use to run two internal drives. When I started the computer up in OS X, those drives weren’t recognized. After mulling over the possible source of the problem, I called Turbomax. The salesman confirmed that the ATA 33 isn’t compatible with OS X and sold me the Turbomax 133 at a 33 percent discount. I’ve installed it and it seems to be working fine.
- On one of my beige G3s, I have a no-name Firewire card I bought from a vendor on eBay. The card works fine with OS 9; it doesn’t work at all with OS X. I ended up buying a new Firewire/USB combo card.
- USB printer sharing doesn’t work in OS X.1.3 and X.1.5. This is deeply annoying — in OS 9.2, I could hook up a USB printer to one computer and print to it from other printers on the network. Can’t do that now, which has disrupted my office considerably. This is a feature which will be replaced in OS X.2 — which, as I’ve noted above, I’m going to have to pay another $129 to get my hands on. Ugh.
- Most of my current programs, including FCP, Pagespinner, Final Draft, and Fetch, have updates which run natively in OS X. They seem to be good, clean, fast, and efficient. On the other hand, Outlook Express, my preferred email program, doesn’t run natively in OS X. This means that when I start it up for the first time, the computer first starts up an OS 9 emulator program which allows Outlook Express to work. It’s a bit clunky, but so far it’s working acceptably well.
- My Toast Titanium 5.0 wouldn’t work with OS X — I went to the Roxio.com website and downloaded an upgrade to 5.1.4, and now it works fine.
Software hints
I’m liking OS X — after installing it, I almost felt as if I had a new computer, full of new capabilities. But there are also new quirks — here are just a few I’ve figured out:
- When you install AOL for OS X, the program puts your filing cabinet in the Users > Shared > America Online folder. It used to go into the System Folder > Preferences > America Online > Data folder.
- When you’re saving a file from another file (or trying to navigate through your computer to pick a place to save files from within a program), it may appear that the computer will only let you save into your Users folder. But if you slide the bar at the bottom of the dialogue box to the left, you’ll see icons representing your hard drives — you can still save to anywhere in the computer.