[Mark Suszko]

I would fix this in the script first, if I had the chance. Tell the story in reverse order, with the horrible thing/consequence (whatever that is) happening first, and someone, the protagonist or someone else, saying “how could this have happened?”. Then you cut to the obvious earlier scene. Subtle hints in the setup can be based on the clothing worn and it’s condition (Beginning of the day everybody is dressed nice and unwrinkled, end of day jackets and ties are gone, sleeves rolled back, wrinkles, sweatstains, etc.) and the condition and lighting of the set, plus sound effects that hint at the time frame.

Assuming you already have finished footage and no way to go back, clock wipes, a hyper-speed reverse time-lapse exterior of the sun going by, a hand with remote popping in to the lower third and manually rewinding the day like it’s a tape on shuttle, are common techniques. Heck, there’s a new theatrical movie about to release with THAT premise. You can do the “Groundhog day” shot of the closeup of the morning alarm clock as well.

[Mark Suszko]

You would want to do Livetype, I should think. Comes with an FCP buncle, but I think Apple sells it separately too. Slower than Inscriber, but gorgeous output.

BTW, if you want to do low budget switched video with fx and cg titling, you might want to look at the free trial version of Channel Storm’s LiveChannel. Google it.

[Mark Suszko]

Telestream makes systems for this, clipmail and flipfactory. Google them.

[Mark Suszko]

Sounds like they lost their motivation. This could be due to *many* different causes, some interpersonal, some not. It’s a hard thing to get good, consistent, dedicated work out of people who are basically volunteers or very low on the wage scale, unless you can invest in them the feeling they have a personal stake in the success or failure of the project.

Assistant jobs like this were always touted as the first step in an ever-upgrading path of post jobs. So my question, if I put myself in the assistant’s place for a minute, would be: “when was the last time I got to do more than file tapes on shelves? When was the last time the editor took some time to teach me something, or even have me cut part of a sequence (under his supervision) for the experience? WHEN DO I GET A TURN TO PLAY?”

I am NOT suggesting you are running a sweatshop, by any means, but it’s good to occasionally put yourself in the perspective of the other person to see if this arangement is still mutually benficial. The barriers to entry are so much lower now, you can’t always expect the same kind of dedicated low-level peon type to stay as patient as they used to… they can just go out and buy their own system and practice at home without you… and undercut your rates!
You gotta let the waterboy practice throwing passes every once in a while, or they end up spitting in your Gatorade when you’re not looking.:-)

[Mark Suszko]

You may have a contaminated roller or other part of the tape path: clean the entire tape path, or the crud just gets re-deposited onthe heads and you get another clog. If you havea wet-type cleaning casette. by all measn use that several times in play mode. playing this. That’s a long shot.

I feel the DVCPro decks are the best oens to try and play back DV tapes with problematic tracking: they have slightly larger and wider heads than the Sony’s and have a better chance of picking up every possible bit of signal off the tape. or so I have been led to believe over the years.

[Mark Suszko]

Th number one 80’s effect would have to be sparkly persistent motion trails and slow-shutter effects, for examples see ANY ZZ Topp music video. The most complicated one that was popular was the multi-image rotating cube. Back In The Day, this was the proof you were a kung-fu master of the ADO.

[Mark Suszko]

My experience has been, if you can afford just one light, to shoot mostly interviews, and you’er low on experience, a Lowel Rifa is a very good choice. Totally idiot-proof. It is a big softlight that folds up like an umbrella, it’s faster and cheaper than a Chimera and speed ring. It gives a great, wrap-around light if you put it about 45 degrees of to the favored side of the face, and all but the smalest versions will have enough power to override the effects of other color back or background lights. If you bring a sheet of white foam core or cardboard covered in foil, on it’s own stand, you can use that on the other side for a bounce fill effect that’s just the right amount. You’ll geta vermeer-like light quality with this setup. If you don;t buy the eggcrate front for it, you should be able to buy 2 of the small version or 1 of the intermediate size Rifas.

If you had less money, I would say rent a real 3 or 4-light kit. Lowel is my favorite. I would rent and eventually buy a 4-light kit comprising 2 Lowel Omni’s, 1 Lowel Tota, 1 Prolight or mini-pro, extra stands, a totabrella and 4 tota-gel frames, a roll of black cinefoil, sheets of toughspun or tough frost, sheets of foamcore, gaffer tape, wooden clothespins.

I have had good luck making softboxes to put in front of ordinary open-faced 1K halogen video lights, out of foam core, gaffer tape and tough spun. if you build these right, they don’t even get warm, and cost twenty bucks or less. Not very portable or sturdy, though, more for permanent studio use.

[Mark Suszko]

That S-V light kit is likely not going to cut it alone for greenscreen work of anything larger than a hand puppet.

Outdoors, the first choice would be reflectors, since the sun is free, and reflectors can be done VERY cheap.

Generators can sure be a problem for noise, unless you can put them far away, around a corner, and then you lose so much with the long cable runs, it’s hardly worth it. purpose-built gennies for film production do the job, but cost money.

If this is quick and dirty, you might consider putting 12-volt bulbs in the S-V’s and powering them off a truck or deep-cycle marine battery, even off a sturdy inverter running off a well-muffled automobile. Bring jumper cables in case you still run the car battery down too far for a re-start.

[Mark Suszko]

Wow, Mike, that was very inspirational, I applaud you, and wish I could be a part of something like that. (Well, be part of it and still make a living) Sounds like you tuend the station into the video equivalent of a vibrant local weekly arts and issues paper. Kudos, you are following the path Murrow would have wanted.

[Mark Suszko]

Specifically:
https://www.dennymfg.com/cgi-bin/Shopper.exe?preadd=action&key=113000600&reference=/cgi-bin/Shopper.exe%3Fsearch%3Daction%26keywords%3DPhoto_Murals%26searchstart%3D0%26template%3DTemplates\SearchResult.html

Put this up as your backdrop, and you can almost hear the actor saying:

“….If YOU’VE been in an accident…..”

🙂