The Vietnamese Horse Goes Home...

I am bummed to say that "Retreat" did not advance to the finals of The National Film Challenge...



Hello NFC Teams:

The moment you have all been waiting for: Our first round judges have completed their voting which determined the 16 finalists for the 2007 National Film Challenge. (Due to a tie there are 16 finalists instead of 15.) There were many, many great films this year. Many more than just 16: in total, 159 films were finished by the deadline and eligible for awards. But, alas, decisions have to be made. Keep in mind that judging, no matter how fair, is always subjective. How often do you and your friends agree on the best films of the year? That said, here are the finalists (in alphabetical order):

"Brown Gold" by Yutka Productions
"Cheeks" by Persistent Cough Productions
"The Date" by The Focus Group
"Heroic Love" by the Smith Brothers
"The Interview" by Year of the Rooster
"Kirsten's Treasure Map" by Hippopotami
"Love Always" by Conspiracy
"Machiste Nouveau" by Rational Spirit
"Man vs Machine" by Mike Productions
"Open House" by Pixotic
"Salvage" by The Hi-Def Chefs
"Sent" by Somatic Cinema
"She's With Me" by Instant Noodles Film
"Spy Team" by The Convection Ovens
"Time Cougars" by rattlesnake wash productions
"Traffic Jam" by La Toalla Productions

(If you are not on this list, keep reading, as there is information about how you are still eligible for some awards.)

The next step is for our Round 2 Judges (listed below) to determine the Grand Prize Winner. The Grand Prize Winner will screen at the Cinequest Film Festival in San Jose, CA in March 2008 and will receive $1,000 (hopefully to use for travel expenses to the festival!)

By mid-December we will have the films on the NFC website for audience voting. The film that receives the highest rating will be declared the Audience Award Winner and will screen at Cinequest and receive $500. I’ll be sure to let you know as soon as they are ready for viewing and voting.

FYI: The 16 Finalists are the films being considered for BEST FILM and the AUDIENCE AWARD.

All of the films are still eligible for the other awards such as Best Cinematography, Best Screenplay, Best Use of Genre, etc. Since the 16 Finalists were the highest rated films overall, it is likely that many of them will win awards. But it is not a guarantee. So if you are not a Finalist, you still may win an award. And if you are a Finalist, it doesn't guarantee you an award.

Congratulations to all of the finalists. And to all of the other filmmakers who finished their films by the deadline - a heroic feat in and of itself.

Best,

Doug Whyte
NFC Producer

The Round 2 Judges are:

Liz Langston
Founder and Producer of the 48 Hour Film Project
Washington, DC
http://www.48hourfilm.com/

Richard Beer
Artistic Director, Film Action Oregon and The Hollywood Theatre
Portland, OR
http://www.filmactionoregon.org/

Adam Sekuler
Program Director, Northwest Film Forum
Seattle, WA
http://www.nwfilmforum.org/

Holiday Theme Film

End of year is always busy for me. Between work, family, school, and the holidays, my schedule books up fast. I'm struggling to come up with ideas for my road film, so imagine how I felt when Evan announced that we would have a screening at our IDOM holiday party. When will I have the time to create a holiday film?? Boy oh boy. Here are the requirements:

One simple requirement - holiday-themed. Preferably winter-ish holidays, but if you feel the urge to make a St. Paddy's Day film for some reason that'll be acceptable too. No need to make anything elaborate - even a simple little video christmas card will do.

What to do, what to do...

Vivaldi

I have Vivaldi stuck in my head. The piercing strings of the violins really gets my creative juices going. Is there a way I can incorporate this piece into my final project? Stay tuned...

Project #5. Required Elements.

I'm am going to have to pull out all the stops for this final project. We have one extra week to deliver, so I'm going to do what it takes to blow this one out the water! The required elements for Project #5:

Character:
Dr. Michael or Marian Bailey, M.D.

Prop:
Bar of soap.

Line of Dialogue:
"Who's your daddy?"

Film Genre:
Road Movie.

Never Before Seen Mutter Butter Pics!

Doggie Style

It just donned on me that I never posted Doggie Style, IDOM's second film. Unfortunately, I was unable to participate in this San Jose 48 Hour Film Project because I had made a prior commitment to go camping with family. I can't seem to find this video on YouTube, so here is the link to the Doggie Style website. For those who have your minds in the gutter, "Doggie Style" is probably not what you are thinking, so check it out!

Avalon Micro Film Festival

Professor Donn has updated the It Donned On Me Site! Here's the latest:

I know we haven't had an update in over a month, but it's not because we haven't been busy - quite the opposite, in fact. IDOM members recently competed in the National Film Challenge and produced two different films - we'll have an update with links to the films soon.

In the meantime, two of IDOM's films will be screening as part of the Avalon Micro Film Festival in East Hampton, New York tomorrow night (December 1st) at the Guild Hall. Produced by "Doggie Style" star Jeff Crispi, the festival will highlight a wide variety of short independent films including several 48 Hour Film Projects. More information on the festival is available at Avalon Studios and there is a short write-up in the East Hampton Star.

I don't think that I have ever posted IDOM's first film, "Urgent Care," on Blogged Arteries: The Unrendered Files. This 48 Hour Film project started it all for us, and is pretty much the reason for the start of this blog. Without further adieu, here is the film that has made 2007 such a memorable year for me. You can view the high-res version (iPhone compatible!) and behind the scenes at http://www.urgentcare-48hourfilm.com.

Black Friday

Black Friday:
The day after Thanksgiving in the United States, where it is the beginning of the traditional Christmas shopping season. Since Thanksgiving falls on the fourth Thursday in November in the United States, Black Friday may be as early as the 23rd and as late as the 29th of November. Black Friday is not an official holiday, but many employers give the day off, increasing the number of potential shoppers. Retailers often decorate for the Christmas season weeks beforehand. Many retailers open very early (typically 5 am or even earlier) and offer doorbuster deals and loss leaders to draw people to their stores. Although Black Friday, as the first shopping day after Thanksgiving, has served as the unofficial beginning of the Christmas season at least since the start of the modern Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in 1924, the term "Black Friday" has been traced back only to the 1970s. - Wikipedia.

In previous years, I would wake up at the crack of dawn (that's the crack of dawn, not the Crack of Donn) to hit all the sales out there. I remember struggling to get up at 4am and waiting in the Best Buy line so that I can get a free pack of CD-R's with the purchase of another. I put myself through this torture for five years, but this year I decided that sleep was more important. So, for the first time in five years, I slept in the day after Thanksgiving!

I woke up at about noon, had lunch, and I took my niece to see Bee Movie. I highly recommend this flick, and that's not because of my obsession with bees. Heck, I drive a bright yellow Mini Cooper with the license place POLLIN8, and I have been known to don a bee suit. If IDOM ever decides to use a bee in our next 48 Hour Film project, I am so there. Imagine us pulling superhero film as our next genre. Picture the killer bee as the villain terrorizing shoppers on black Friday, and it's up to Donn Man to save the world! I may be on to something here...

Happy Thanksgiving!

I think I OD'ed on turkey again. I do this every year. It's Thanksgiving everyone, gobble gobble! This is a good time for me to express what I am thankful for, which I will do in bullet point format:

• I am thankful for having all ten digits on my hand. Missing one or two would make typing quite difficult.
• I am thankful that I have a job that brings in a steady pay check and a solid 401k.
  
• I am thankful that my family members aren't freaks. Well, most of them aren't, that is.
• I am thankful that my two beloved cats, Poppy and George Russell Sunshine Crack Whore, are healthy.
• I am thankful for the National Football League. Without it, Sundays would be so boring.
  
• I am thankful that it donned on me. You know what "it" is.
• I am thankful that my mom and I finally connected on a creative level...

Yup, you read that last bullet point correctly. It may come as a surprise to some of you that I inserted the word "finally" into that last bullet point. The truth of the matter is that, though I inherited my mother's right brain, the two of us never really exchanged notes. I believe my mom tried her best to suppress my creativity. It was important to her that I achieved the "American Dream" of becoming a doctor or lawyer, and that any right brain activity was nothing more than a distraction. It must have been frustrating for her to dissuade me from exploring art, music, and drama, knowing that I am the carbon copy of her. Growing up, I resented my mother for this, and it wasn't until recently that I understood why she did what she did. It took many years for me to come to this realization, but my mother just wanted the best for me. There definitely was a disconnect between us.

Last night, I showed my mom my latest project. She sat there completely stoic. I wasn't sure what ran through her head. Did I upset her? Did I offend her? Her blank expression worried me. When the film ended, she looked me straight in the eye and said, "Wow." I still didn't quite exactly know what she meant by this, so I continued to wait for a follow up. My mom took a deep breath and replied, "Wow. I am very impressed. Can you please start it from the beginning so I can watch it again." I let out a sigh of relief and played it again. This is what I meant by me being thankful that my mom and I finally connected on a creative level. I do believe that this is a first.

Happy Thanksgiving.


By the way, I am also thankful that my Colts beat the Kansas City Chiefs 31-13. You like how my mom is wearing the Peyton Manning jersey while he's going in for a touchdown pass behind her?

"Which?" Does Not Make The Top 25

Click below to enlarge the image:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Apple Insomnia Film Festival [mailto:insomniafilm@apple.com]
Sent: Tuesday, November 20, 2007 5:36 PM
To: undisclosed-recipients
Subject: Public rating winner announced (and top 25 finalists)

Greetings Insomniacs!

We have just completed the verification of the 25 finalist teams and the grand prize winner for the public rating period. We have already announced the delay of the Celebrity Judge and Slingjam Creative Award winners, but didn't want to wait to share with you the results of the public ratings.

Without further ado, congratulations to the public rated grand prize winner of the 2007 Insomnia Film Festival:

Hobopus by Vassar Filmmakers

View their film and see the rest of the 25 finalists at: http://edcommunity.apple.com/insomnia_fall07/collection.php?collectionID=5

- Insomnia Team

My Mother's Song

At about 4am this morning, I sat in front of my MacBook Pro watching my war movie slowly render. The render really only took about 30 seconds, but it felt like an hour. My brain was deceived by fatigue! I was tempted to take another day off, but I knew that this would not be a possibility, being that this was a short week and all. When my render completed, I felt relieved that the rough cut was complete. ROUGH CUT. It was 4am in the morning and I only had a rough cut. I really wanted to finish this project. Professor Donn always says that this class is all about workflow and that he would prefer that we submit an unfinished project rather than not turning in anything at all. However, I had reached the point of no return, and the last thing I wanted was to submit an underendered file. So I stayed up for the next hour to tweak my project. By 5:30am, my eyes shut down and I passed out on my bed with my glasses on. I woke up three hours later to complete the project. I finished by 10am and headed into work.


I'll be honest and say that I wasn't completely wowed by this final product. It was definitely 99% there, but there was something about it that really bothered me. I couldn't put my finger on it in the morning, but when I screened it in class later, it hit me: the required elements were thrown in just to fulfill the assignment. Professor Donn shared the same sentiment. I explained that I really did throw it in just to have it. He told me to remove them. This was such a relief because I really wanted play by the rules, but I was really on to something with this piece. Now that I got the official ok to get rid of the bowl of strawberries, the turn table DJ, and that stupid line of dialogue "I feel lucky because I'm a punk!," I can focus on the making this film about my mother more fluid.

I had reservations about showing it because I wasn't psychologically prepared to release it. In the back of my head, I kept thinking about my mom and how she would react to it. This era was tough for her, and I really didn't wanted to have her relive any of the heart ache of that time. I guess this was lingering in my head the whole time the film played, so I was very relieved that this film was well received. I feel better about showing this film now, but not until I do some tweaking. Once that is done, I will post it online.

Work In Progress

I took the day off to work on this War film. My vision is pretty clear in my head, but putting it on the time line is a whole different story. This is what I have so far...

The Vietnam War

I have decided to drop my DJ War idea. I pretty much made up my mind to drop this concept a week ago, but I just couldn't face that fact. I have a new vision now and between now and Tuesday night I have to bring that vision to fruition. I have decided to make a film about my mother's experience during the Vietnam war. I will used the war only as a back drop. The story I would like to tell is that of her singing career. I'll just have to find a way to squeeze in a turn table DJ, a bowl of strawberries, and the most challenging of the required elements, the quote "I feel lucky because I'm a punk." The next two days are goin to be rough, but at least I now have a vision!

No Vision.

I was supposed to work on my war movie today, but I got side tracked. I ended up cleaning up my room. I found the ski cap that I had wanted Mike to wear for the filming of "Which" underneath my desk. Since he played a bum in that film, I really wanted him to wear that cap. I frantically searched for it, but had no luck. Well, I found it. Sig and I had talked about reshooting this film, so if we were to move forward with it, I will definitely make Mike wear it, now that I've found it! In any case, after I cleaned up my room, I took Astro Black for a walk. I came back and cleaned some more. Then I watched Project Runway. I'm clearly putting project #4 on hold right now because I do not have a vision. I hope that vision comes soon because I'm running out of time!

The Mot Java Cafe

I spent a good chunk of this afternoon at the MotoJava Cafe. This is the only dog friendly cafe I know of in San Francisco. The owners are dog peeps and they allow doggie customers to come in for some canine caffeine, which in this case is doggie treats. Since I had custody of Astro Black this weekend, I figured I take her along for the ride.

I was working on project #4 when Professor Donn walked in! I guess this came as no surprise, being that he is a regular at this establishment. Remember back in your junior high school days when you would bump into your teacher at the mall and it was always an awkward moment? I remember I was at the Mervyn's with my mom one time and Mrs. Behm, my 8th grade Language Arts teacher, walked by. I completely froze up. Do I say hello? Do I run away? I wasn't particularly a fan of the cousin of the Tales From The Crypt Language Arts instructor, so I naturally freaked out. Mrs. Behm ended up saying hello and the three of us briefly engaged in annoying small talk.

Luckily for me, Professor Donn is not Mrs. Behm. I've seen him outside of class a few times before, so I don't feel the need to run away. Professor Donn entered the cafe and asked what was up. My response: "Just doing a little homework for this little class I'm taking on Tuesdays. Gotta make a war film." It was odd, because shortly after I said that, everyone in the Moto Java Cafe broke out into a rubber band fight. It was like a war! Too bad I didn't have my camera with me because that could have been my war flick! Unfortunately for me, I got caught in the cross fire. Out of the blue, I got pegged in the back, so I retaliated by shooting off the rubber band that hit me. BAM! It hit Professor Donn on the shoulder. Great! I just shot my teacher! Not a good idea, since this guy controls my destiny with his grade book! Oh well, I'll just have to deal with the consequences later. At least Astro Black made it out of this war unscathed!

Never Before Seen Pictures Of Retreat!

NFC Judging Update

The waiting game is always tough. IDOM has to wait another 2 weeks before we find out if "Retreat" makes the top 15. I sure hope we do. I am very proud of this little fantasy about a little horse and a Yogi that we created. If you haven't seen "Retreat" yet, here it is:

-----Original Message-----
From: info@filmchallenge.com [mailto:info@filmchallenge.com]
Sent: Wednesday, November 14, 2007 9:52 AM
To: Nguyen, Tony
Subject: NFC Judging Update

Hello NFC Filmmakers,

This is a reminder about the judging process for the NFC films:

Over the past few weeks we have been receiving all of the films, checking paperwork and digitizing and converting all of the films for our on-line screening room. This step is done and our Phase 1 Judges (30 Film & Video Professionals from across the world) are currently watching and rating all of the films. Each film will be seen and rated by 3 different judges. Then the top 15 films from that phase will be given to our Phase 2 Judges. In addition, the top 15 films will be available for viewing and voting in our on-line screening room.

The Phase 2 Judges will determine the Grand Prize Winner and the on-line voting will determine the Audience Award Winner. Both winning films will screen with the 48 Hour Film Project City Winners at the Cinequest Film Festival in March. The Grand Prize Winner will receive $1,000 and the Audience Award Winner will receive $500. (Hopefully to be used for travel to the screening to accept their award!)

We hope to have the top 15 films up on the website for voting by the first week in December. The judging process is the most difficult and labor intensive part of this competition, but we'll do our best to get the films on the site as soon as we can. The big winners will be announced by the 1st of the year.

Thanks for your patience and good luck with the judging!

Doug Whyte
NFC Producer

Converting A YouTube Movie Into A Quicktime File

We covered video compression in class tonight. Professor Donn's lecture on streaming vs. progressive download, file size, and data rate made me realize something very important: I've been doing things wrong! Well, what I was doing wasn't so much "wrong" but just not the most right. Does that make any sense? The other thing I learned is how to convert a YouTube movie into a Quicktime file. If anyone every wondered how to do this, check out the following print screens.

Download MPEG Streamclip here. This is a powerful video converter, player, editor for Mac and Windows. It can play many movie files, not only MPEGs; it can convert MPEG files between muxed/demuxed formats for authoring; it can encode movies to many formats, including iPod; it can cut, trim and join movies.


Open MPEG Streamclip:


Go to File > Open URL:


Type in URL of the YouTube clip that you would like converted:


Click the "Download" radio button on the left and the "Progressive download" button on the right, the click "Download":



Save the file onto your desktop:


The file will be saved as an .flv file. You may have to download Perian at www.perian.org in order to open this Flash file in Quicktime. Perian is a free, open source, QuickTime component that supports many popular media types, including AVI, DivX, and XviD.


Once you've open that .flv file in Quicktime, save the file as an .mov.


Voila! There you have it: a YouTube movie saved as a Quicktime movie. The next time you have to take a transatlantic flight and will not have internet access, convert all your favorite YouTube movies into Quicktime files and enjoy them on the plane!

88

I told Sig that she's my wide receiver, and that she is #88 to me. She had no idea what the heck I was talking about. Film making is a lot like the NFL: it's all about team work. Peyton Manning has his right hand man, Marvin Harrison, Mr. 88. I have Sig, and I can always count on her, just like Marv will always have #18's back. Sig scores every time as my Director of Photography and I am lucky to have her on my team.

Public Rating Is Now Closed

There are 1900 entries competing in the Apple Insomnia Festival. I did my very best in getting the word out there. It's now a matter of how many votes we can muster up. Unfortunately, I have this sinking feeling that many of these entrants will have their whole school backing them, so it is highly probable that their tally will be exponentially higher than ours. But then again, Tom, Sig, Lynn Ruth, Denny, Mike, and I have a lot of friends, so maybe that will be enough to get us into the top 15! We'll see...


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Apple Insomnia Film Festival [mailto:insomniafilm@apple.com]
Sent: Saturday, November 10, 2007 5:03 PM
To: undisclosed-recipients
Subject: Public Rating Is Now Closed

Greetings Insomniacs,

The public rating period is closed as of 12:00am Saturday. We're now busy tallying the final results of the public ratings and will be sending the top 25 films to our celebrity judges for viewing. We will announce the public rating winner, the judge's favorite and the Slingjam Creative Award winner on November 20th, at 6pm Eastern time.

Answers to some frequently asked questions:

When will you announce the 25 finalists from the public rating period?
Thanks to all of your hard work promoting your films we have a very large number of ratings that were collected during the public rating period. We will be using the next several days to ensure that our rating tallies are accurate and confirming the eligibility of the top 25 teams. We will announce the top 25 films at the same time as the grand prize winners, on November 20th, at 6pm Eastern time.

What does this mean for the top 4 films in the Facebook Student Gallery application?
Due to the reasons above, it's possible that adjustments may need to be made to the ranking of the 4 films in the Facebook application. The final ranking of these 4 films will also be announced on November 20th at 6pm Eastern time.

Where will we find the winners and a list of the 25 finalists?
Check the Insomnia Gallery on November 20th at 6pm to see the final standings.
http://edcommunity.apple.com/insomnia_fall07/contest.php

-Insomnia Team

The Reshoot.

I'm serious about this Dam Short Film Festival! So serious that I asked my Director of Photography and Jeremy, aka "Carlos Gutierrez" back for a second round of filming, taking into account the feedback that Professor Donn and my classmates provided. I definitely agree that the middle part of this musical about a featherweight class boxer dragged a bit, and so I wanted to reshoot some additional scenes. This time around, I had Jeremy running up and down Potrero Avenue and doing various floor exercises on a dirty old mat in the Dolby "garage." Every so often, Sig would catch me and Jeremy horsing around, as is evident in the following screen captures:




That exercise in kung fu fighting not only left me breathing pretty hard, but it also made my pants slip off my waist. Sig managed to catch that on tape as well, but as a courtesy to my readers, I will not post that pic!

The three of us had fun. I'm not sure who had the tougher workout though. While Jeremy had to run around all over the place, Sig did have deal with bumps in the concrete, causing her head to bob up and down during the shoot from my car. The boot of the Pollinator was wide open, and I feared that my Director of Photography was going to fly out! Good thing she didn't. In any case, the filming went very smoothly, and we finished up by 1:30pm. I am confident to say that I have all the materials I need to make "Featherweight Blues" Dam worthy!

Frozen Peas: The Single

Today, I had lunch with Felicia, Dolby's very charismatic receptionist and a huge fan of "Featherweight Blues." She digs this musical so much that every time Carlos Gutierrez or I walk by the front desk, Felicia would break into her Frozen Peas song and dance. I'm thinking about recording a remix of "Put A Bag Of Frozen Peas On My Sore Bruise," featuring Felicia on back up vocals. This girl has the moves and the groove, and she can carry a tune too. If the remix flies, then we'll patent the Frozen Peas dance. This could become the next Macarena! Once we win our Grammy, we'll expand and do a hip hop remix, a hard rock version, an operatic rendition, and gospel! "Put A Bag Of Frozen Peas On My Sore Bruise" will take the world by storm!

Dam Short Film Festival

I am going to submit "Featherweight Blues" into the 2008 Dam Short Film Festival. Why not? I talked to my Director of Photography today and we decided to shoot some additional scenes of Carlos Gutierrez working out and training for the big fight. The second verse of this musical does drag a bit, so I'm going to switch out some of the repeated scenes with new footage. If the Dam Short Film Festival folks decide to show "Featherweight Blues," then I'll fly out to Las Vegas that weekend and drive on over to Boulder City. Who knows, this musical about a featherweight boxer and his bag of frozen peas may take the top prize!

DJ War Flick?

So I'm thinking about making a movie about a DJ war, since my character has to be a turntable DJ. I know NOTHING about the DJ world. However, Alex from our class, has already shown three documentaries that he made about DJ's in the bay area, so I'm thinking about approaching him for consultation. I asked him last week if he wanted to star in my film and he gave me an emphatic no, but he did offer some video clips of him scratching if I needed it. I may just take him up on it. I'm in the very early planning stages of project #4, so I'm not exactly sure which path I'm going to take. I do know that "Carlos Gutierrez" has some DJ friends who may be interesting in starring in this flick. I need to come up with something ASAP.

Project #4. Required Elements.

Professor Donn is on a business trip, so class is cancelled tonight. I guess this would be a good time to start brainstorming ideas for project #4. I thought I had it rough with pulling the musical genre last time, but this time around I am totally screwed. WAR FILM. That's the genre that I pulled. WAR FILM. To make it even more challenging, I have to incorporate a turn table DJ, a bowl of strawberries, and the line of dialogue "I feel lucky because I'm a punk." Boy oh boy...

Character:
Tony or Tonya, Turn Table DJ.

Prop:
A bowl of strawberries.

Line of Dialogue:
"I feel lucky because I'm a punk."

Film Genre:
War Movie.

My First AE Project.

I believe it was in the fall of 2003 that I took my first Evan Donn class. I've taken so many classes at The College of San Mateo since 1990 that I don't know when I took what any more. Most of those have been in the Multimedia department. I've taken so many classes that the department of records and admissions will not allow me to take any more! It's a wonder that I was able to sign up for this Digital Workflow course this fall. In any case, I found another old project in my quest to clean out my hard drive.



I remember the night I showed this clip. It seemed like every student that semester was taking the course for corporate reasons and that all their projects were very PowerPoint-esque. After I showed my project, everyone politely clapped, but I could tell that nobody really got it. I felt like the one guest who showed up to the Black & White ball in a bee suit because he thought it was a costume party. I'm just glad that every class I took after that AE course had cool people who got my work in it. Or maybe those peeps were just being polite...

Migraine

I spent the whole day sprawled on the guacamole green Ikea couch watching football. Sundays are my lazy days, and if you were to make a surprise visit to my house, you will witness the boxer clad sloth in it's natural habitat. It's not very pretty. Sundays are good for two things: relaxing and getting caught up with projects and blogs. I did exactly those two things.

I managed to do some Macbook Pro house cleaning during half time. I came across a bunch of old projects that I hadn't seen in ages. I figure, since Blogged Arteries - The Unrendered Files is a blog devoted to my passion for video editing, I am going to post these projects for the world to see. Old projects are always fun to look at. You really get to see how much you've progressed. My very first piece was edited in Adobe Premiere way back in 1998. I was unemployed at the time and decided to take a film editing course at Foothill College to kill time. It was not an easy quarter, but I learned a great deal about digital editing. More importantly, that class sparked my creativity, and 10 years later, that spark still sets off every fire alarm I am near.

Below is the project that started it all. This piece is called "Migraine" and it's about, well, you can probably figure it out from the title. Let's just say that I experienced one or two migraines that quarter, but I'm so glad that I didn't quit. Can you imagine if I had dropped that class and never touched another unrendered file ever again?



By the way, my Colts lost 24-20 to The New England Patriots. I'm feeling a migraine...

Error Code - 1309

Check out that perplexed look on Dr. Kemp's face. I think that's the exact same look he had when his iron zapped his G5 during the editing of "Retreat." I could be wrong, as the room was pitch black and I didn't get a chance to really check out his expression. But I would imagine that this would be the same look. Earlier today, I had this same expression on my face.

Rick and I arranged to meet at his editing studio this afternoon so that I could copy all of IDOM's files onto my new 750 gig Seagate external hard drive that I bought at CostCo. It only cost me $199! Hard drives are getting cheaper and cheaper these days, which is a good thing. When I dragged the Urgent Care, Doggie Style, Exit, and Retreat folders from Rick's hard drive over to mine, everything seemed to transfer ok. Unfortunately, about 20 minutes into it, I received the following error message:


I've seen this annoying message on a few other occasions, but this time I wanted to find out what the heck this meant. I jumped online and typed in "Error code - 1309", and every message board I see on the topic seems to yield the same results:

If you are copying files from your OS X partition to external drive or a Boot Camp partition and receive Finder Error Code -1309, it most likely means you are copying a file greater than 4 GB in size, which is the maximum a FAT32 formated drive can support. That's because the 32 in FAT32 means it uses a 32-bit unsigned integer for the number of bytes in a file, so 2^32-1 is 4 GB.

FAT32? 32-bit unsigned integer? JARGON! JARGON! JARGON! I spent the next couple of hours trying to decipher all this, but had no luck. If anyone knows how I can remedy this problem, please advise. ARGH!!

Featherweight Blues: The Making Of

Those who know me well know that I am big on behind the scenes footage and "extras." I don't know what it is, but I like to document every second of the film making process. "Urgent Care" was only eight minutes long, but the making of DVD was a full hour. I didn't have a whole lot of extra footage of Featherweight Blues, but I did have enough to make a three minute documentary. Check it out: