OpenCut Update for June 3rd

Tuesday, June 3, 2008

OpenCut Update for June 3rd

The good news is that Sig, Dinah, and I aren't crazy! The three of us noticed a few things about the Susannah assets that were a bit askew. We scratched our heads and ultimately just worked around the problem areas. Apparently, others were scratching their heads to, so OpenCut sent out a list of FAQs. Phew! I really thought that MacDiva & The Donnettes had hit a sour note!

From: Torrey Loomis
Sent: Tuesday, June 03, 2008 3:25 AM
To: vitamint73@yahoo.com
Subject: OpenCut Update for June 3rd

Dear OpenCutter,

Just a quick update on some questions we have received so far...

As we mentioned before, there would be an additional fee for international participants due to shipping. If you are an international registrant, PLEASE send your additional $29 for International Priority shipping to opencut@paypal.com. Some of the costs for overseas shipping have been extraordinary and we'll need to account for all Int'l fees to make sure we break even on the shipping outside the United States.

1. After accounting for duplicate entries, we have 296 editors registered for the first round of OpenCut.

2. We still have about 15 hard drives left we are working on filling and returning.

3. We've been swamped for the first round. Due to this, we'll be extending the submission period to mid-June. Some folks don't have their drive yet and its not their fault--we are almost done getting everyone's out.

4. There are over 263 people already pre-registered for OpenCut 2.0.

5. We are almost OUT of hard drives. I know the link did not work for many of you--that is because we were overrun with orders and simply ran out of drives and had to order a bunch more. If you still need a drive, please contact us directly at (916) 760-0032 as we may have 3 or 4 left.

Here are some FAQ's we are posting specifically about the footage.

#1--MOST IMPORTANT--the audio is not embedded with the video!

If you try to use the Log and Transfer function to get your footage into Final Cut, there will be no audio. We shot "Susannah" with build 13 of the RED camera firmware--which did not allow us to record the audio and video together. All audio must be manually synced.

#2--Corrupt media?

PROBLEM: Footage from cards are corrupt. They load as green footage in FCP or Quicktime.

ANSWER: Occasionally the quicktime proxy movies become corrupt. Keep in mind, the R3D file is not bad, just the proxy. I'm not exactly sure why this happens, but it does. The solution is simple. Trash the corrupt quicktime proxies (and ONLY the proxies, leave the R3D file in the directory), open the R3D file in RED Alert! and regenerate the quicktime proxies by using the file menu command "Make Quicktimes" or pressing Apple key + "M" for mac or ctrl + "M" for PC.

#3--Missing media?

PROBLEM: Card 11 is missing.

ANSWER: If card 11 is missing on your drive, be sure to check the video directory for card 8. The file for card 11 may have be inadvertently moved to that location. Create a new card 11 folder on the same level as the other card folders and place the A011_C001_071215.RDC directory there.

#4--Missing Audio?

PROBLEM: Audio files are missing

ANSWER: Audio files were not provided for those takes and may be intercut with audio from other takes.

6. Support beyond missing media (audio/video) or incomplete transfers is best found in REDUser.net and RED.com/support.

I HIGHLY suggest watching the RED workflow walkthrough here. OpenCut and Silverado cannot answer questions like "How do I setup my sequence?" or "How can I change all the media to ProRes?" or "How can I cut this on my Avid?" All of these have been answered numerous times on the forums. The information is out there--you can find it!

One thing to keep in mind--we shot "Paranoid" two days after receiving two of the first RED cameras released. It was shot in 2 days, edited in two more, and delivered on the fifth. We didn't have REDCINE, the FCP plug-in for Log and Transfer, and we had to do a TON of hand work in Apple Color. We were still able to do it given the rudimentary set of tools we had.
You now have WAY more resources--including one of the BEST programs out there: Crimson Workflow.

If you have ANY intention of round-tripping your media between REDCINE and FCP, I highly suggest you invest in Ian Bloom's amazing program. You can watch the video here. This is an essential tool for any RED editor.

7. Unless we are absolutely missing audio somewhere, we will not be posting any of the media online in Torrent mode. At 170 Gb, there is simply too much data to distribute online. After all the drives are distributed, I anticipate we'll have given out 50.0 Tb of data.

8. If there is a question you have about anything not covered here, contact our Director of Production & Post Erik Espera herea: erik@silverado.cc. He is THE man to talk to regarding the media. Again, he will not be able to address specific workflow issues for you, but will be available to consult about corrupted or missing media.

If you are still missing your drive, please contact Director of Operations Renee Day here: renee@silverado.cc. She has printed the labels for about 99% of all drives being returned.

OpenCut 2.0 is shaping up to be an absolutely amazing project. We'll be shooting a music video in a Las Vegas casino and releasing it under the OpenCut umbrella for competition. As always, your cut is available for personal use on your reel--regardless of where you place in the competition.

We started this project not knowing what would happen--and we've been very humbled at the tremendous response we have received. I appreciate you being involved in this ground breaking event. I don't think there has never been a commercial project with this level of intense professional focus on a single story.

Good luck!

Torrey

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It Donned On Me?

For the past few years Evan Donn has been teaching classes in After Effects and Final Cut Pro in the Multimedia department at College Of San Mateo. Every semester there were a couple of students who just wouldn't go home when the class was over, staying after with a seemingly endless stream of questions about every imaginable aspect of video production. Many of them returned semester after semester for whichever class Evan was teaching at the time.

In the spring of 2006 Evan taught a new class called DV Workflow which consisted almost entirely of these "irregulars". DV Workflow became essentially an 'everything but the kitchen sink' type of class covering the entire process of video production with an emphasis on producing video for the web.

As part of DV Workflow every member of the class had to produce an episodic video series for the web. This led to various members teaming up to work on each others' videos as well as providing valuable input on the finished videos during class screenings. When the class ended everyone felt that the working dynamic of the group was worth continuing.

Led by Chief Instigator Tony Nguyen they dubbed themselves 'The Evan Donn School of Film' and began holding quarterly screenings of everyone's current work. In 2006 several members of the group attended one of the 48 Hour Film screenings, and they all walked out with the same thought - we can do that.

From that point on the quarterly screenings took on a new direction as 'challenges' were thrown out with criteria similar to the 48 Hour Film Project. This helped prepare the team members for the challenge of building a short film around a character, prop and line of dialogue.

As the 2007 competition drew closer Mr. Nguyen once again took the lead and signed up the team for the San Francisco 48 Hour Film Project. Put on the spot to come up with a team name he considered and rejected many possibilities before the ideal name 'donned' on him...

Despite their history the San Francisco competition was the first time all members of the team had worked together on a single project. Everyone jumped right in and the result was our first short film - 'Urgent Care'.

Despite incredible audience reaction to the film, 'Urgent Care' failed to win either the audience or juried competition for San Francisco. However, the team was selected by competition sponsor Visa as one of ten teams from San Francisco to compete in their national "Life Takes" Invitational against teams from New York and Los Angeles.

With only one film in the can, Evan decided the team needed a little more practice before the Visa competition. Unbeknownst to the team, he signed them up for the nearby San Jose 48 Hour Film Project and announced it at the cast & crew party for 'Urgent Care'. Fortunately everyone jumped at the chance to hone their skills and prove that the success of the first film wasn't just luck. The result of that effort is 'Doggie Style', the second official film from It Donned On Me.

In September the team came together once again to complete another 48 hour film for the Visa "Life Takes" Invitational. In collaboration with members of the a capella group "Flying Without Instruments" they completed the fantasy film "EXIT".

In October, 2007 the team completed their fourth 48 hour project, the National Film Challenge, producing "Retreat", an existential tale of a horse seeking enlightenment. After this they took a break from high-speed filmmaking for the holidays in order to prepare for the 2008 season.

In March 2008 IDOM kicked off the 2008 filmmaking season with the International Documentary Challenge, producing our first non-fiction film, "Stick & Pound". Selected as a finalist in the competition, 'Stick & Pound' screened in Toronto at the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Film Festival where the team brought home Documentary Challenge awards for Best Cinematography and Best Directing!

After an amazing first year of competition IDOM came full circle, returning for the second time to the 2008 San Francisco 48 Hour Film Challenge and successfully completing our 6th film, "Tail". 'Tail' brought home the award for 'Best Sound Design' as well as being nominated for Best use of Dialoge and Best Cinematography

Just a few weeks later it was once again time for the San Jose 48 Hour Film project. Despite a rough start IDOM pulled together and created 'TwirlyBoy', possibly our strangest film so far.

With seven very different films completed in a years time some would say it's time to take a break, but not IDOM - this is just the beginning as IDOM tackles new projects and goes in new directions in the quest to become the greatest competitive filmmaking team of all time!

Stay Tuned!

Who Is Quang Khoi?

When Quang Khoi and his family immigrated to the United States from Vietnam back in the mid seventies, his mother decided to give all the kids American names. Nobody could pronounce Quang Khoi, so his mother renamed her youngest son Tony. Quang Khoi's mom is a huge movie buff, and her passion for cinema is evident in the fact that she named her children after movie stars. Though it has never been confirmed or denied, word on the street is that her all time favorite movie is Alfred Hitchcock's PSYCHO, and that she named her youngest son after that film's leading man, Anthony Perkins. "Tony" is not so bad, considering that Quang Khoi could have ended up being "Norman Bates Nguyen."

These days, Quang Khoi uses his real name when he is acting in film. When he's behind the camera, he goes by his American name, Tony. Quang Khoi/Tony Nguyen inherited his mother's passion for the movies. He enjoys every aspect of film, from playing character roles on the screen to editing time lines in Final Cut Pro behind the scenes. Mr. Nguyen is very proud to be a part of this year's 48 Hour Film Project. Working with the It Donned On Me team has been such a rewarding experience, and he hopes to continue to work this awesome group of people in future projects.

Blogged Arteries - The Unrendered Files

Tuesday, June 3, 2008