Todd Terry
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COW Coin
Forum Replies Created
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This might be only a “half” solution…
Markertek seems to have SOME available… at least the website has the Female to BNC in stock… although the Male to BNC is out of stock right now…
https://www.markertek.com/SearchProduct.asp?item=TRX2BNCF&off=10&sort=prod
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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Ryan you just need a connector/adapter (four bucks and a trip to Radio Shack… or order from Markertek, etc), and you can use your 1/8″ mini plug in the back of your XL1 like the good Lord intended. I wouldn’t try to use it via the on-handle mounted mic input (by the way if you want decent sound, unless you are going run-and-gun news-typle footage, actually attaching a mic TO the camera is almost never the best place for it).
You need a female 1/8″ mono mini-plug to male RCA adapter.
In other words, you need this:
https://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2103708&cp
Hope this helps,
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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Hi Ryan…
The original mic on the XL1 is directional. It’s not an extremely narrow shotgun, but it’s pretty decent. I have to say it is probably a better mic for on-camera use than the Azden, which is pretty low-end mic.
Yes, the on-camera mic plugs in via a kinda funky two-prog plug. You must remember that the stock on-camera mic is a STEREO mic. I’m not sure if you are really even supposed to try to use a different mic via those inputs (although it probably can be done). For any other mic the real recommendation is to use the rear audio inputs… eiher the RCA connectors on the back of the camera body… or use the MA-100 or MA-200 adapter if you are attaching mics that have XLR connectors.
From a couple of your recent posts, I’m suspecting you bought a used XL1, and do not have a manual for it. Is that a good guess? If so, you might like to know that you can download an XL1 manual from the Canon archives.
Go to:
https://www.usa.canon.com/consumer/controller?act=DownloadIndexAct
…and in the drop-down boxes select 1) camcorders 2) MiniDV camcorders 3) XL1… then click “GO.” That will take you to the XL1 page where you can click the red link that says “Product / Software Manuals” (it pops up in a new window, so turn off any blocker.) On the pop-up page there are instructions to download a PDF of the manual.
Sorry for the long instructions, but I can’t give you a direct link right to the page, for some reason it doesn’t work.
I give you that link not to say, “Hey go look it up yourself”… everyone here is always glad to help. Just thought it might be something you need.
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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I’d try the little Canon HV20. Full HDV (and 24fps), only about the size of your fist, and unbelivably they are dirt cheap. I’m not sure about running (although you couple probably come up with something), but would be easy to attach to a bike, and for swimming you could use one of those quite-inexpensive ziplock-bag-type underwater housings.
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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I haven’t tried one as I normally don’t use the zoom lens with our XLH1, but I would imagine one of the LANC controllers from Varizoom would work well. They make decent products that are quite affordable.
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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Again, not really legal advice…
But I think your thinking is about right on track. Unless it was a project shot entirely on stage under very controlled condtions, there would be no almost no way to eliminate brands.
You see it in movies all the time… every time a car drives by, a character walks down a city street, or goes to the store, there are countless brands visible. You just know there would be no way those would all have been cleared.
I would say this would be a decent rule of thumb: If a brand appears and it is purely INCIDENTAL (a character walks down a street and there is a Coca-Cola machine on the sidewalk, drives a Mercedez and you can see the grille emblem, a woman carries a Louis Vuitton purse), then I wouldn’t sweat it a bit, no doubt you are totally in the clear.
BUT… if a product or brand is shown in a DEROGATORY light (a guy downs half a bottle of Jack Daniels then kills someone in a drunk driving incident, or a character chainsmokes Malboros through a movie only to be diagnosed with lung cancer in the end), then I would be VERY careful. Those could be actionable.
OR… if a brand isn’t necessarily presented in a bad light but is VERY prominent and germane to the story (say a guy loves Heinz ketchup so much that he paints his house red and names his dog Heinzie), well… hmmm, I’d say that’s a gray area. I’d consult an entertainment attory.
If a brand is featured prominently AND shown in a GOOD light, well hey, you might be able to get some product placement dollars 🙂
It’s wise to err on the side of caution when possible I think…. take a look at this commercial spot we did for a bottled water company which is sort of a “Corona” commercial parody…
https://fantasticplastic.com/media/beach.mpg
In that case we decided to play it safe since we were basically saying “choose our product” rather than one of the other brands… so all the products are actually fake props created by our art director… (the beer is actually “Cordoba,” the soda that looks a bit like Dr Pepper is actually “Mr Poppin,” the Gatoade lookalike is actually “Crockassist,” etc.)
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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[walter biscardi] “That’s such a key… try to find the best people.”
Yep… and treat them very well,and if there is any way possible for God’s sake pay ’em what they are worth… and enough to keep them (if they turn out to be worth keeping).
The same editor I was talking about, I probably pay him $10K (maybe even $15K) more more than I absolutely have to. But he is very happy getting paid very well and doing interesting work… he considers himself truly a part of the team,and as far as I know in three years he has never even thought about looking for another job. Our business is so transient, that’s a very rare thing. Worth every penny.
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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Hi Jason…
You seem like you are off to a good start.
YES, you need some way of diffusing light. And YES you can put a softbox on those instruments. Chimeras are more or less the “industry standard,” but since you are pinching pennies check out the boxes made by Photoflex. Some people think they are not quite as well made as Chimeras (although I think they are in the same neighborhood), but they are MUCH more affordable.
Also, white umbrellas are a super cheap and fast way to diffuse light (although not quite as controllable as a box). Lots of instrments have a holder for an umbrella built right in… and if not, there are little connectors that go between the instrument head and the stand that can hold an umbrella.
[jmill0823] “…back lighting?”
YES…please do not neglect back lighting, it can be one of the most important instruments in a lighting setup (especially for interviews, etc.), it’s the best way to “cut” a subject out of a background and give a frame some depth. For a single subject we usually use one single fresnel somewhere in the 300-650w range, with barndoors, on a C-stad with a grip arm. For little fresnels we are fond of LTM Pepper instruments. They are similar to Arri fresnels except they are 1) built like a tank and 2) a lot more affordable.
As far as accessories go, your list is good… don’t forget to add things like grip clamps, leather gloves, sandbags, power adapters, some white and black foamcore or showcard, power strips and/or multiplugs, and EXTENSION CORDS like crazy. And don’t buy the cheapest ones you can find.
Yes, cases can be a huge expense, but a good case is worth the money. Often times you can buy a whole instrument kit that comes with a good case (the ones that come with LTM Pepper kits are great). If not, I’d suggest start saving your nickles for the RIGHT cases, but in the meantime you might temporarily use other-purpose cases, like those big PVC footlockers you can get at Target or Wal-Mart. Sometimes cases for other things work well at a fraction of the price (since filmmaking tools carry a price premium)… for example one of our tripod cases decided to come apart on us on an airline flight once. Finally it occurred to me “Hmmm, that’s about the same size and shape as a golf club case.” For the same money we were able to buy golf club cases that were much better built than “real” tripod cases in the same price range. Also, we used to buy the “real” C-stand cases… until someone here was smart enough to realized they are more or less exactly the same cases you can buy for a rifle or shotgun at about a fifth the price from a big sporting goods store.
Happy lighting!
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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[walter biscardi] “Sometimes it ain’t fun being the boss”
Sometimes?
Man, I hate being the boss.
Like a lot of folks here, I started as a one-man-band company. A couple of years later when we got big enough to start needing full-time employees, one of the first positions I hired was that of “General Manager”… I found the very best and smartest guy I could find and hired him to “be the boss.” I kept the title of Creative Director and make all the creative decisions, but he handles all the quoting, billing, client wrangling, paper pushing, hiring and firing, and all the stuff that made “being the boss” unpleasant for me.
Of course, as president of the corporation and majority owner i’m still the real real boss, but it sure is great to have someone you can rely on to take care of a lot of the burden.
I’m a control freak, so it’s very hard to give up any power. For example, we mostly do broadcast commercials and in addition to shooting I used to edit everything myself. When that got to be too much for us, we went out and hired the very best editor we could get our hands on… and now he edits the majority of stuff we do. It was very very hard to let someone else cut my projects at first… but when I finally realized that my editor shared my same vision (and actually is a much better cutter than me) it became easier to let it go. It was the same with the business side of things… once I finally let some of it go, I found I was much happier… and could just concentrate on directing my little thirty-second movies.
Of course, I joke that Phil our GM has been embezzling from me for years. Not true, of course… he is the most painfully honest guy I know, and I do keep tabs on him and everyone that works for us. Ya gotta.
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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No, I’ve never heard of a productions company getting any kind of residuals.
We do a lot of local commercial stuff, as well and regional and national stuff… so there is a very wide range of budgetary concerns there. However, going through their productions line-item-by-line-item we charge the biggest clients exactly the same as we charge the mom-and-pop clients (that is, the hourly rate for editing is the same, the shoot rates are the same, etc.)…
BUT…
With a big national client you often have the luxury of much bigger bugets than with a small one. You can hire better talent. You can use a bigger/better crew. You can book a longer edit and do it the way you’d like rather than rushing a job where a client is pinching pennies. If you normally do more than one job yourself (for example, I am usually both director and DP), you can hire one of them out (I will hire the best DP that I can find on a big project where my hands and brain are full with other things). You can simply spend a lot more.
Now, I’m not saying that throwing money at a production makes it good or better (one of our favorite productions to this day is a PSA we did a long time ago, for free, and we spent NO money on it), but it can make life a lot easier. And of course, since one would assume you have a profit margin on each of the things that you charge for, the more the total production costs then the more profit you make. Well, in a perfect world it does.
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com