Todd Terry
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COW Coin
Forum Replies Created
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AWESOME find, Joe… I can definitely see using that company in the future. They look to have great stuff.
I fight this “animal” battle here often. My business partner is not a dog person by any stretch (unlike me, who shares his home with three furry children). Yet he is always concepting these scenes that have complex animal action. He just doesn’t quite fully grasp the limitations of what animals will do… or at least do easily and repeatedly.
He tempers these concepts by his liberal use of the word ALL. As in, “All the dog has to do is jump down off the sofa, go bark twice at the front door, run out the dog door and come back with the ball in his mouth and drop it. That’s ALL he has to do.” Really? That’s all? Since he’ll already be on set, why don’t we have him assemble a jigsaw puzzle while we’re at it?
The last thing he concepted like that had to have a horse nod in agreement. That’s all. The trainer had the horse doing it in rehearsals on command, or at least so she said. Not so much on the shoot day… not once.
I avoid animal actors with a passion… even trained ones (same policy I have for child actors, even trained ones). However, the best actor I ever directed was a dachshund in the spot on this page from several years ago…
https://fantasticplastic.com/portfolio/portfolio01.html
His name was Barkley, and he was an absolute champ. Long shoot day and the little guy never flubbed a take. His only payment was Pupperoni treats.
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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Not completely sure what you are asking by “any suggestions?”…
Are you asking how to do it?
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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I own both (although both are now retired), but comparing the XL1 to the XLH1 is comparing a Chevette to a Corvette. They’re both Chevys, but in completely different leagues.
The H1 should perform just about as well as any other camera.
You are at a bit of a disadvantage though, in that you are shooting something that is being lit for a live performance, not for camera. There may indeed still be scenes where you expose for a principal performer yet the rest of the scene is dark. Not much you can do about that. Just keep everything (everything… exposure, focus, white balance, audio inputs, everything) in manual mode the way the good Lord intended.
The native H1 lens is fine. Go with it.
When using the KiPro Mini remember that the first generation H1s did not embed audio in the HD-SDI signal… if you get video via HD-SDI in those, then you must input analog audio separately (if that is a concern). I believe the later generation H1 did embed audio (mine does not).
No, you can’t use the EF SLR lens. That’s a “big chip” lens and even if it would fit on the H1 (which it won’t), the H1’s tiny 1/3″ chip would turn your lens into a massive telephoto (unless by “adapter” you were talking about using a DoF 35mm lens adapter, such as the P+S Technik Mini35, which would indeed work… but that’s an entirely different animal).
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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[Jensen Yancey] “I’d only be getting an F3 if I could get a great deal on it, $7k max”
Wow… where?? An F3 body generally goes for exactly twice that… right at $14K. That’s almost exactly the same price as the C300. That’s why I suggested it, if an F3 is in the budget, then the C300 is right at the same dollar mark. I’ve never heard of or seen an F3 for anywhere near the numbers you mentioned.
As for renting your gear out? That’s usually a nightmare (especially for cameras or any delicate things), best left to the people who specialize in just renting gear for a living (and have in-house maintenance departments and engineers that can keep things fixed and tweaked perfectly). We never ever rent out gear (even if our insurance would allow it, which it doesn’t)… if you want our gear it comes with a crew. The one and only time I ever rented out anything it was something that was fairly indestructible (a jib) and it was rented to someone I knew who I thought knew what they were doing. It definitely came back in poorer condition than it went out.
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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I’m going to jump out of your list of three a bit (although every similar to it) and suggest the Canon C300.
Since we began shooting with it a few months ago it has quickly become just about my favorite camera every.
It will have the ergonomics you like from the C100, is only a couple of bucks more (literally) than the F3, overcranks for slow-mo, shoots on inexpensive media, will take your existing EF lenses (well, the EF version will, not the PL version, obviously), has dozens of very useful features, great viewfinder with redline focusing that works like a charm… and above all that has a picture that will absolutely knock your socks off.
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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[Jake Anderson] “Does one need permission from such dealers such as honda… “
Well first a little clarification. Honda isn’t a dealer. Honda is a manufacturer. The local stores who sell them are the dealers.
We have done a lot of auto advertising in the past, and it can get a bit tricky.
Technically, no, you do not have to have the manufacturer’s permission to do a spot for the dealer. Actually, we do that all the time, as we create ads for the local Porsche dealership. Unusually enough, Porsche itself does not want their local dealers to create any advertising… they would rather the local dealers pay to run the nationally-produced Porsche spots. They like to maintain as much control over their brand as possible, and I suppose have been burned too many times by bad local spots. However, they can’t stop them, and we do Porsche spots often.
Usually, though, the manufacturers welcome the advertising. However, there is a very complicated thing called compliance. See. the vast vast majority of local automotive advertising is “co-op.” That is, the local dealer pays a portion of the cost, and the manufacturer (Honda or whomever) pays the rest. It can be as much as 50/50 all the way down to 80/20. But to get that co-op money you must comply with the advertising rules required by the manufacturer. There’s usually a fairly long list of things you can and cannot do, things you are suggested to do, things you are absolutely required to do, and things that are absolutely forbidden. Some are easy, some are complicated… and all the brands have very different rules. Almost always scripts must be submitted to the compliance department for approval prior to the production. Some brands also require verification of the production after the fact. BMW does this, for example, and we have to mail them a DVD (their requirement) after each production.
The manufacturers claim they like co-op advertising. But the actual truth is that their compliance departments seem to love to kick back spots (either scripts, or even finished productions) claiming they are non-compliant and ineligible for co-op funding. That’s why it is very important to learn and apply all of their compliance rules precisely to the letter.
The local dealer should have all of the compliance rules. I said “should” because that’s the way it ought to happen… but rarely does. Usually instead they will refer you to the manufacture’s main advertising department’s website (or sometimes an outside agency), there will be a user name and password-protected website that has all the compliance info and details. Individuals (or even agencies) usually cannot register for access to these, generally the dealer themselves will have to do the registration for you.
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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Maybe I’m not understanding exactly what you mean or what you are doing, but we always rename the C300 shots with the Canon XF Utility.
First, a disclaimer, this is not AVID… we do this on Windows machines (Matrox MX02) running CS6… but I think it would be the same…
First we backup the card, then from the backup we select clips and go EDIT >> EXPORT TO MXF.
At that point it is easy breezy to give a file a new name, or give a bunch of files the same name but with sequential numbers, etc.
You CAN do that export-to-MXF step right from the cards, instead of making a backup and doing it from the backup. BUT… we always make a backup anyway, and it is infinitely faster to export the MXF files from the backup compared to from the cards, so we do it that way.
Or… that may not be what you are asking at all.
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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Very true, Tim.
We have one client that “What do you think”s me to death, and always wants to try change after change after change. I’d rather he just say “Let’s try this” or “I want to see…” rather than asking what I think.
The funny thing is that he invariably (and I mean invariably) chooses to go back to the way I did it originally. Without fail. Ever. Not even once.
I think sometimes we’ve billed more for his “Let’s try this” than the actual total job should have cost.
Of course, we do have clients that have good ideas and make good suggestions (one art director from a particular ad agency that is a client is excellent at that and I enjoy working with her a great deal). But this particular one that I mentioned, ummm not so much.
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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I did have to smile a little bit at part of the blog article that suggests tempering a suggestion or criticism to a creative with a “What do you think?”
I get that all the time. “I’m thinking we should swap that wide shot with a closeup… what do you think?” Or “Maybe we should speed that animation up… what do you think?”
I always say “Sure, we’ll give it a try.”
But I usually think “What do I think? I think that if I had felt that was best, that’s what I would have done in the first place. But it’s your money.” Peddle that flattery somewhere else, pal! Ha… I’m so harsh.
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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I don’t believe in (or need) fawning “thank yous” to excess… but it is nice to be appreciated now and then… or at least recognized for trying to help.
True in forums here, too. I often ask for help on the COW (as well as try to give it when I can), and I try to pay particular attention to thank those who help me… or fail to help but at least try.
In fact there is one particular occasional poster here on the COW that not only never thanks anyone, he doesn’t even acknowledge the several people that invariably reply to his questions, unless he has a follow-up question (which yield answers that also don’t get acknowledged). I almost always have a potential solution for whatever this guy is asking about… but I never respond to his posts anymore (I used to always respond when I had an answer for him). Sorry, but a “thanks in advance” in your original question isn’t really an acknowledgement. I guess that’s petty of me.
I did have a bit of fun shaming someone recently. Some guy I didn’t know emailed me about a particular camera issue, he’d gotten my contact info via the COW. I took a bit of time, probably 15-20 minutes, to compose a fairly detailed and long email trying to help him as best I could. It occurred to me about three weeks later that I never heard anything back from him, not even a “That didn’t help at all, moron,” which is better than nothing. I replied to his original email again with simply “You’re welcome.” I almost instantly received an email back from him. Enjoyed that a bit.
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
