RIP John Hughes, 1950-2009

Writer and Director John Hughes passed away yesterday at the age of 59. Hughes was best known for what The New York Times rightly terms "a slew of films in the 1980s that defined what it meant to be an American teenager, from the music to the fashion to the social faux pas." Hughes both wrote and directed such hits as Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Weird Science, The Breakfast Club, and Sixteen Candles.

As Entertainment Weekly notes, Hughes' films presented adolescents who weren't "merely mindless horn dogs peeking through peep holes into the girl’s locker-room shower; they were funny, smart, and troubled — fully formed characters in a genre that usually presented teens as little more than bundles of hormones." He wrote about the life of the American teenager with a kind humor but a respectful seriousness--an understanding that at 16, every decision is a matter of life and death.

For more on John Hughes, check out this touching post from a blogger who became his unlikely pen pal after writing a piece of fan mail. Below are clips from some of his best known (and best loved) works.

Ferris Bueller gives a lesson on "Faking Out Parents" in Ferris Bueller's Day Off:



The trailer for Weird Science:

And lastly, the lunch sequence from The Breakfast Club, the film that taught us all that "If you mess with the bull, you get the horns:"

Final Cut Pro 7

Apple recently released Final Cut Pro 7, and it's got some nifty new features geared towards saving editors time. Most impressive is Final Cut Pro 7's support of iChat Theater. If you're working on a collaboration and you want your co-workers' thoughts on a clip, you can set up an iChat and view the clip in real time while simultaneously discussing it. You can even switch between clips and sequences as you chat. This could be really helpful for cross-country collaborators.

Another new feature is automatic transfer, which allows users to "transfer clips from a wide range of file-based cameras including Panasonic P2 and Sony XDCAM. The files are automatically copied to your media storage volumes the moment your media is mounted." There's also a Log and Transfer setting that lets you " set up custom metadata and add it to all your assets in a single step." This option means you'll spent less time organizing your clips after they're imported.

A few smaller features are also included in the update, among them a larger, movable timecode window, and multi-touch gesture support, which allows the user to utilize the MacBook Pro Multi-Touch trackpad in the editing process. Users can "inch to zoom horizontally within the Timeline; rotate to scrub the Timeline, Viewer, or Canvas; and use a three-finger swipe to advance the playhead across edit points."

Also new and notable is the "Voice Level Match" feature of Soundtrack Pro 3 which will help smooth out the common problem of clips not matching. Soundtrack Pro instantly identifies and analyzes vocal content in both clips, then adjusts the level of the stamped clip to make the dialogue levels match.

Apple's color-correcting software suite, Color, is sporting some useful new features such as 4K support for Red camera footage, 20 new film looks, and a few more improvements.

If you're interested in upgrading to Final Cut Pro 7, check out these independent reviews from PC World and Macworld.

In Praise of the Mino Flip Cam

A few months back, I purchased a Mino HD Flip Cam. If you aren't familiar with this cool little product, it's a no-frills super-user-friendly video camera that shoots direct to an internal flash-based memory. (Which means there are no moving parts and that's always a good thing when it comes to durability...more on that in a second.)

The main reason I got the Flip Cam, is because even though we already have a great little Sony mini-DV camera, I still hated to have the thing around my neck for events such as a day at the amusement park, a family outing, birthday parties, etc... Even at one pound, it's more bulk than I wanted to schlepp for a day of fun and freedom. So the reality was that I rarely shot home movies and missed capturing some good memories.

...Introduce the Mino HD Flip Cam. This thing is smaller and lighter (only 3.3oz.) than my little pocket-sized digital still camera, shoots 1280 x 720 HD video, can upload directly to YouTube, personalize the exterior design and best of all - it only cost $230.00. So it solved all of my problems. To be clear, this is NOT a camera I would use for filmmaking, except possibly for some action or hidden cam shots that would benefit from it's tiny size, but for personal use and web posts, it's great.

I have one major complaint with this product and that is that some of the motion in HD looks a little "stroby" to me, this is most noticeable in pans and walking shots. I've only looked at footage on my computer and LCD tv screen, so there could be some display issues going on too, but I think it's just the cam. Nevertheless, I've totally forgiven the camera for that flaw, because I recently was blown away by it's durability.

Get this...after a camping trip I accidentally put it in the washing machine...for the full cycle...lose, not even in a pocket. Of course, it didn't function after that. However, after 3-4 days of drying out, it still works perfectly- video, audio and stored video files.

I was sure that my flip cam and stored memories were lost forever and that I was out $230.00, but the flip cam came thru like a champ.

That is just crazy to me! What kind of camera can survive a f-ing washing machine! I'll tell you what kind- A Mino Flip Cam! Kudos to the people at FlipVideo for making a tough, practical inexpensive little camera.

Producers In All Shapes and Sizes

The title "producer" can mean many things on a production. There are multiple different kinds of producers whose duties can intertwine and overlap. If you don't know which type of producer(s) you need to pull off your vision or even which producer does what, peep out this great article from my long-time friend and Down and Dirty DV collaborator, Maxie Collier, at his website, UrbanArtsClub.com ...

A Potpourri of Producers

Beyond the fickle world of Hollywood vanity credits, lies a real art form and the true meaning of the title producer:

1. a person who produces.

2. Economics. a person who creates economic value, or produces goods and services.

3. a person responsible for the financial and administrative aspects of a stage, film, television, or radio production; the person who exercises general supervision of a production and is responsible chiefly for raising money, hiring technicians and artists, etc., required to stage a play, make a motion picture, or the like...

(read more)

"Do the Right Thing" - 20 Years Later

Just about every filmmaker has a particular film that became the catalyst for them wanting to become a filmmaker. For me that film was Do The Right Thing which dropped at the end of my freshman year of college in 1989. (Yes, I'm Old School, y'all.) A few months later, I changed my major to Film and never looked back. Actually, that's not accurate. I've looked back plenty over the years, but I never turned back.

1989 was the year that I decided to stop being an aimless knucklehead in college and really try my hand at something I felt passionately about. It was also the year that I lost a lot of respect for the Academy Awards.

When Do the Right Thing - this seminal movie that managed to tackle the "third-rail" film subject of race-relations in a way that was totally thought-provoking, compelling and humorous lost the "Best Picture" Oscar to MF-ing Driving Miss Daisy - a forgettable film about the relationship between a cranky rich lady and her subservient Black chauffeur, I realized that the Academy Awards were clearly not based solely on merit, craftsmanship, originality or cultural importance. (And I'm really cleaning up the way I feel about it for my younger readers...but I was pissed off and disheartened to say the least. )

No doubt there are thousands of other young people like me who were inspired by Spike's work to create the images and ideas that help shape our world and define our culture. So on this 20th Anniversary of the movie that started it all for so many of us, I thought a few words from Spike himself about the film would be appropriate.

Which leads me to another thought - I wonder why there are no thoughtful 20-year retrospectives on the cultural importance and impact of Driving Miss Daisy? Hmm...

Spike Lee In His Own Words on CNN



Read the full CNN.com Article.

Mass Animation

Last Wednesday's New York Times featured an interesting article on a company called Mass Animation; the company recently released a short film created by Facebook users. Mass Animation set out to create a 5 minute short through "crowdsourcing," allowing friends of their Facebook page to submit scenes for possible inclusion in the film.

The company provided users with a free software download and story paramaters, including the soundtrack and the films' first scene. Users voted on submissions, and Mass Animation worked with the winners to create the final piece. Fifty-one people across the globe contributed a scene to the short, and each received $500 per scene. The short film, entitled "Live Music," concerns a love affair between a violin and guitar. It has received such good press that Sony Pictures Entertainment will air the short before screenings of the theatrical release "Planet 51."

Mass Animation founder Yair Landau says he sees "Live Music" "as a step in the democratization of creative storytelling in Hollywood." Whether "crowdsurfing" has an effect on the industry remains to be seen, but its cool to see a company trying something new, and showing the international and interactive possibilities of the digital age.

Wounded Marine Careers Foundation

IMPORTANT UPDATE 8/3/09:

Since we first posted this story a few weeks ago, thanx to a vigilant blog reader, I've learned that there are some serious questions swirling around this program and the cost of tuition being billed to the office of Veteran's Affairs.

I'm generally one to reserve judgment until all the facts are clear, but the bottom line that is evident to me at the moment is that this program was billing the military approx. $88,000 per serviceman for many soldiers that completed this 10-week training program.

There are more details of course, but that figure alone is an indication to me of something seriously wrong with this program, as $88,000 well exceeds the cost of a full-year at a top-notch film school like NYU, USC or any other prestigious film program I can think of. It also appears that the honorable people who participated in and taught this program were unaware of the costs being billed to the military.

I whole-heartedly support our young men and women in the military and think there is a need for programs like this to open up opportunities for wounded servicemen, but I'm no longer convinced that this is a worthwhile program. I hope that this is all some bizarre accounting mistake or misunderstanding, but it smells fishy to me.

Here are some links to stories that elaborate further on the contraversy. You can judge for yourself:


http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/2009/mar/10/bn10school-sued-by-troops/

http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/2009/03/marine_schoolsuit_030609w/

http://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2009/mar/18/under-radar-3/

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=259x25373



THE ORIGINAL BLOG POST:

Awhile back a colleague, first turned us on to this great cause that he was volunteering for and we figured why let him have all the fun. If anyone else out there wants to do something meaningful to help Iraq War Vets read on...

In 2006 documentary filmmaker Kevin Lombard, and his wife, Judith Paixao, founded the Center for Careers in Media, a program geared at helping disabled veterans learn technical film production skills and find job placements in the civilian workforce. Part of the Wounded Marine Careers Foundation, the non-profits' goals are two-fold: to provide vets with viable work skills and an "occupational and therapeutic healing tool."

Training is intensive, running six days a week on the San Diego, California campus. Students have access to six sound stages, as well as "complete production support services," from wardrobe and props. Courses are geared toward the production of short news clips for popular media outlets, and include Digital Cinematography and Scriptwriting/Story Development.

Graduates of the program receive professional certification from companies like Apple and Adobe, and will also be accepted into The International Alliance of Theatre Stage Employees. Graduates are also assisted in job placement upon the completion of the program.

If you're interested in providing a tax-free donation or sponsoring a student, click here for donation information. If you're a vet interested in the program, the next session starts September 8, and applications are available by contacting Judith Paixao at judith@woundedmarinecareers.org.

Vets who have served from 9/11 on are eligible to enroll in the program, which teaches the vets production through a mixture of "classroom and field instruction, as well as personal mentorship."

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

New Excerpts from Ant's Guerrilla Filmmaking Crash Course

I have a confession to make...I am a dedicated film and video maker and have been for more than a decade now, but my current reality is that I have actually come to enjoy teaching others what I've learned through the years more than actually doing it.

Don't get me wrong, I still stay on my video and filmmaking grind and I still like it, but teaching it, inspiring others and making light bulbs go off in new filmmaker's heads really gets me fired up and I love doing it. I could (and have) done it for 8 hours straight many times. Hence this entire Down and Dirty DV project that's developed over the last few years.

So to that end, here's a few quick tidbits of FREE and valuable (words rarely seen together) guerrilla filmmaking advice that I offered in my last Guerrilla Filmmaking Seminar at the B&H Event Space.

There's only so much time on the radio show and blog to get into specifics, but in the seminars and products I can break things down in more detail. If you like what you see and want to get he whole presentation including all the illustrations, slides and inappropriate humor, this entire seminar is available on DVD HERE.

Also, it's still in the discussion stages, but I think I'll be teaming up with the good people at B&H again in the very near future to offer an unprecedented educational opportunity for knowledge hungry guerrillas. So stay tuned for an official announcement in the coming weeks.

For now enjoy this newly released video clip...

Celtx Pre-Production Software

Every so often Anthony reads about some new software for Down & Dirty filmmakers, and he asks me to check it out. Recently he found Celtx, and I gotta say--this software is pretty damn cool. It's a veritable Pre-Production playground, and what's more, it's free. No, really! Back in March Anastasia posted a round-up of production software that Christina DeHaven recommended, and the programs are great, but they're pricey, too. So along comes Celtx, with no cost unless I wanna buy some webspace for my projects ($5 a month to share access to your projects with up to 5 people) and I'm swooning.

I watched some of the online "feature tours" to learn about the program, and then downloaded Celtx onto my MacBook. The download came with some sample project files, among them a sample screenplay and stageplay. You can fiddle with the sample projects, which helped me learn how to maneuver and best utilize the program. There's also a helpful tutorial for screenplay writers here, and I've posted it as a separate blog post below this one.

Celtx is super user-friendly. All pre-production files get saved in one project file, and they're easily excessible in a pull-down menu. Screenplays, storyboards, research files, and even website bookmarks are accessible in this pull-down menu. It's all right there. The storyboard format helps you organize yours shots (under each image you can label the shot size, and provide a detailed description of the action. To analyze your sequencing, you can play a slideshow of your storyboard.

Celtx helps you organize as you go; as you add information to your screenplay you assign it a label like "location," "character," "prop," and all the information gets stored in easily accessible lists and stays "intelligently tied to your script". So if I have a character called Tim, and I wanna know more about him, I click on his name in the "Master Catalog," and suddenly I can see his character description, including a detailed list of the scenes he's in.

You can even add notes and media files to your screenplay. The "Reports" section is probably the most helpful function for those trying to organize a large film shoot with multiple sets and characters. When you add your filming dates and locations onto your calendar, the program populates a weekly, one line, and shooting schedule. It also creates call sheets and scene summaries. This is some seriously helpful stuff!

The support for this program is pretty impressive, as well. If you have questions or concerns about the program, you can access the Wiki and Community Forum. Some of the add-ons are free, and some cost $, but the program itself is free. And that's just frickin' awesome.

For another

How To Use CELTX 1.0 To Write Your Next Famous Screenplay - Pixel Heads Network

How To Use CELTX 1.0 To Write Your Next Famous Screenplay - Pixel Heads Network

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