Shawn Miller
1
COW Coin
Forum Replies Created
-
Ah, I see. I have a few co-workers who also live downstate for similar reasons, though they officially belong to the Chicago office.
High school home economics, I remember it well. By the time I got there in the early eighties, the emphasis was much less focused on outside of the home skills, and more on teaching us how terrible it would be to have babies in high school. Strangely, they didn’t really tie it to the economics of being a young parent (educational opportunities, cost of prenatal care, etc.) I did learn how to balance a checkbook though… so that was useful.
[Mark Suszko] “Sadly, as some recent books and documentaries have shown, it hasn’t gotten any easier since the seventies, if you can’t get out of the minimum wage pit for a paycheck. We can argue all day about what a “liveable” wage is, what’s a frill and what’s basic survival. I stand by my premise that forty a year for a kid, fresh out of school seems like a lot, but really isn’t, unless they are exceptionally disciplined, financially.”
Yes, I completely agree. I also think it’s great that the hiring company is offering benefits. I would have been thrilled for an opportunity like this 25 years ago.
Shawn
-
[Mark Suszko] “It’s a better salary if earned in my town, where 2-3 bed apartments rent for 500 bucks, utilities are low, 200 bucks feeds five for a week, and health care is very available.”
Holy crap, Mark! Where do you live? You can barely find a 600 sqft. 1 bedroom apt. for less than $1,000/mo. in my neck of the woods.
Shawn
-
[Noah Kadner] ” I haven’t heard of anyone shooting 16mm in a long time let alone Super 8.”
Well… there was Black Swan and The Hurt Locker. I think The Walking Dead is also still shooting Super 16.
Shawn
-
[tony west] “[Shawn Miller] “I think that had more to do with choreography and how Kill Bill was shot than Lucy Liu’s talent.”
I guess it’s hard to know right Shawn, because we didn’t see her talent.”
Choreography can hide a lot… even talent. Check out Jackie Chan’s fight under the train in Legend of the Drunken Master. It takes an expert to pull off choreography that refined and complex. But then check out his fight scenes in The Protector… just about anyone could have done those. If you only saw JC in The Protector, you might never know how good he really was. Same with LL, not saying that she was anywhere near JC’s level. But the basics are there, strength, focus, posture, refined movement.
[tony west] “You would think if she had some they would have used it.”
You might be surprised. A lot of the time, directors just don’t know how to get the best out of the performers they work with. Kill Bill was an interesting revenge story and a nostalgic look back at classic martial arts films… but as a martial arts movie, I don’t think it was that great. I mean, you have Gordon Liu AND Sonny Chiba in the same film… but they fight Uma Thurman and Darryl Hanna? WTF?! Further, why not throw Samo Hung in the mix and let them do what they do best?
[tony west] “That final fight scene in KB was very weak compared to Tiger”
Yup, completely agree! I think it was just weak… I thought Chloë Grace Moretz was worlds more entertaining as Hit Girl in the first Kick Ass… then again, it was choreographed, shot and edited better. 🙂
Shawn
-
[tony west] “Yeoh and Ziyi were very skilled and Lee could stay on wide shots longer to show the beauty of their talent, as opposed to Lucy Lue who was was not skilled or athletic.”
I think that had more to do with choreography and how Kill Bill was shot than Lucy Liu’s talent. Look at her work in Ecks vs. Sever (terrible movie BTW) and Shanghai Noon (still not good). I think she was every bit as skilled as Ziyi Zhang, and definitely more so than Chow Yun Fat (who I really respect as an actor). But I think that goes to your overall point. Camera work, staging and editing can make a world of difference given similar material.
Shawn
-
[Shane Ross] “[Andrew Kimery] “The message, to me, isn’t You no longer need a full time Editor. The message is, You no longer need to be a full time Editor to effectively wrap your head around an NLE.”
YOU get that message. But there are many out there that feel that the only thing the editor contributes is knowing the complex NLE. Many feel that with the NLE being easily understood, that editing itself…the storytelling aspect, must be easy too. So why hire an expensive editor when I have FCX? I can do it myself?
Until they really see how tough it is.”
I’ve found that to be very true in my work. Over the years, I’ve been involved in a number of projects where I’ve gotten a bunch of footage and a vague description of what the project owner wanted me to do with it. I would then cut it together, get some unhelpful feedback and then refine the edit. Afterwards, all praises would go to the project owner, and they would be lauded for their creativity… same thing with a number of motion graphics projects I’ve been involved in. Obviously, some producers are better than others, but there is certainly a class of people who see production and post production folks as uncreative button pushers, and not much more.
Shawn
-
[Craig Seeman] “I am so so so hoping for an “Ursa Minor.””
Yup, you and me both! 🙂
Shawn
-
[Bob Zelin] “4) blackmagic is unstoppable. I am not stupid enough to even attempt to walk into that booth on Monday. Maybe Thursday morning in the Blackmagic booth will be an ok time”
Yeah, those folks keep making their cameras better with every firmware release. Just today, we got lossless compressed raw, and more framing guides on the Pocket Cinema Camera and the Cinema Camera… for free! I can’t wait to see what they have in store for us next.
Shawn
-
Fingers crossed for a number of things. I suspect “everyone” will be rolling out their new and improved 4K cameras… but I’m hoping against hope that a number of them will be 4:2:2, 10bit or better, with Cinema DNG, Cineform or DNxHR recording options. Focus on higher DR would also be welcome. I would also love to see an updated AF-X camera from Panasonic; basically a PX270 body with a GH4 sensor and interchangeable lenses… something that shoots in AVC-Ultra for under 3k. On the post side, I would like to see Resolve support Cineform Raw. Those are my biggest wish list items, I’m curious to see what Adobe will be rolling out this year… will it be features or performance gains, same with Maxon, the Foundry and other 3D software vendors. I’m planning to refresh my computer hardware next year… will I need more CPU cores, or more GPU cores… I’m really curious to know. I also have a passing interest in LED lighting. I like the idea of smaller, brighter more flexible lighting packages, but I haven’t been impressed by the quality or color of these lights yet. Let’s see what happens. 🙂
Shawn
-
[Richard Herd] ”
Is the editor a monkey on the keyboard, a “human user interface” that the director controls instead of a keyboard?”Had to laugh at this. For some directors and producers, this is absolutely the mindset. Sadly, it’s an attitude that exists at all levels. One where, some people don’t see their fellow contributors on a project as craftspeople at all; actors are just childlike people who are good at lying, camera operators just point the camera where you tell to and press record, voice over artists are just guys with deep voices, the list goes on. To me, it’s an especially odd mindset for a filmmaker to have, since filmmaking is (or should be) such a collaborative process.
Shawn