[Bob Cole]

Very cool movie. I’ve been sitting here trying to duplicate your it — unsuccessfully.

As with a lot of BCC, I feel as if I can’t do more than scratch the surface. The relationship of Perturbation and Noise Seed eludes me; why does increasing Perturbation erase the impact of changing Noise Seed? Changing the paint color, for example, doesn’t seem to matter.

Would you mind sharing your .aep, or recommending a tutorial source, so I can see where I’m going wrong?

— BC

[Bob Cole]

[jean hauptman] “Boris has a good noise filter for animating the effect.”

I looked at BCC’s noise filter and would appreciate a word or two from you about how you’d use it to animate the effect. The atomizer tip is good.

[Bob Cole]

[butch] “Must have a lot of time on their hands.”

And they have a lot of TALENT on their hands. Wow. Very nice. Thanks for the link.

— bc

[Bob Cole]

For sheer brilliance in editing: Sliding Doors, a movie with Gwyneth Paltrow about two different futures, based on whether her character makes or just misses the subway (she finds her no-good boyfriend in bed with another woman in one version, and just misses that discovery in the other). The two stories are intercut and interwoven brilliantly. Critics weren’t wild about it but they aren’t always right.

Speaking of “crossing the line:” My favorite moment, direction- and editing-wise, was that when Paltrow breaks up with her boyfriend in a very violent way, the viewpoint abruptly cuts across the 180 plane. It gives the viewer a physical jolt not unlike the shock that the betrayed character is feeling.

[Bob Cole]

Perhaps you might start by researching some feature films which have great scenes in basements or prison cells. (Psycho, Rue 13 Madeleine are the only ones that come to mind immediately, both black and white.) Rent them. Study the lighting. Try to reproduce what you like.

Typical basement lighting is kind of schizophrenic, which could help tell your story. Either totally hard, bare tungsten light bulbs, or totally soft overhead fluorescent “shop lights.” Either way, a Chimera or Rifa aimed from the side wouldn’t work.

— BC

[Bob Cole]

Now I’m really confused, Michael. You said the lights weren’t affiliated with PrompterPeople, then you said that the link was in Rob Katz’s post, which is PrompterPeople.

Is there a link at this point?

Can the lamps be switched out for Kino’s?

With interest in cheaper lighting,

— BC

[Bob Cole]

[john sharaf] “they want wider estabishing shots and the ability to have the participants walk in and sit into the setup. This requires putting the lights further back and so large soft sources are not as practical.”

So the “look” is not harder for harder’s sake, but a matter of widening the area available for shooting?

I thought I saw it on some scenes that weren’t walk-ins, but maybe the walk-in simply wasn’t used in the final cut.

Thanks John as always for an informative answer. Appreciate that.

— BC

[Bob Cole]

Thanks Dave, Noah, David…

DVD Decrypter works when you follow Dave’s advice. Then, on my PC, I opened my Roxio RecordNow Deluxe, selected Data Disc, and dragged in the Video_TS folder I’d created with my first pass on DVD Decrypter. I have yet to try the other ideas.

Like Dave, I prefer the image file route now. One file is nice.

Thanks for adding to my education on this topic.

— BC

[Bob Cole]

Thanks Steve. I take it that the standard and most useful generally is 4×4. Is that grossly too big for HDV cameras? (I don’t have an HD/HDV camera, and am waiting for the sweet spot to develop, probably DVCProHD.)

— BC

[Bob Cole]

Your camera is good enough for local broadcast or cablecast. I’d invest in lighting and audio before a new camera; cameras become obsolete a lot faster than lights and mic’s. But you may want to verify that you can make a living with cable tv spots.

The sample reel idea is terrific in any case. Even if you don’t want to leave your present job, you should buy a case of your own tape stock and regularly put your best stuff on your own reel, and take it home with you. In today’s business climate, you never know when your dreams of working for yourself will come true just a little earlier than you’d planned.

— BC