0.0.0.0 40779 20586 Here it is. Samuel <object width="400" height="300"><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><param name="movie" value="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=5137976&amp;server=vimeo.com&amp;show_title=1&amp;show_byline=1&amp;show_portrait=0&amp;color=&amp;fullscreen=1" /><embed src="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=5137976&amp;server=vimeo.com&amp;show_title=1&amp;show_byline=1&amp;show_portrait=0&amp;color=&amp;fullscreen=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" width="400" height="300"></embed></object><p><a href="http://vimeo.com/5137976">Samuel</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/randomvisualarts">randomvisualarts</a> on <a href="http://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.</p> v 0 2009-06-13T11:49:24Z 2009-06-13T11:47:00Z 336274 samuel-the-short 2009-06-13T11:49:24Z 1 1 2009-06-13T11:50:03Z 0.0.0.0 40779 20586 We finished the short in time. I was so exhausted that I still didnt put it on Vimeo or youtube. You can watch it on my website www.randomvisualarts.com I cannot do much more because we're again like crazy preparing another short. this one is within a competition, and we have another month or so to make. shooting time will be 27-28 June, at 200 km from Geneva, in a fantastic hotel. I do not know how, but i convinced 18 people this time to come a week-end for free and make a new short. what a stressful life!! :-) Here there are some pictures taken during the shooting. <img src="../blogfiles/randomvisualarts/samuel_shooting1.jpg" id="img_0" class="imgcen"> <img src="../blogfiles/randomvisualarts/samuel_shooting2.jpg" id="img_1" class="imgcen">v. 0 2009-06-13T08:23:50Z 2009-06-13T07:35:00Z 336200 one-short-movie-finished-another-one-on-the-way- 2009-06-13T08:23:50Z 1 1 2009-06-13T08:23:50Z 0.0.0.0 40779 20586 Manana comenzamos el rodaje, a 30 kilometros de Ginebra, y ha empezado a llover. . Mucho. Tras dos cafes, se me ha ocurrido varias soluiones. 1- Buscar varios sitios web donde den el tiempo, y hacer caso solo a aquellos que den buen tiempo para manana. Yahoo es un poco mas optimista que Swiss Meteo. 2-Imaginar febrilmente un mini-guion sobre 1 hombre, dos mujeres y un nino, que se desarrolle en el interior de una casa, y con poco dialogo, y traerme manana a casa a todo el equipo. Mira Almodovar, con una actriz, una cocina, un plano sequencia, y un monton de dialogo, que parece teatro veneciano, y le sacan en la tele. 3- Imaginar palabras de consuelo y aliento, para convencer manana a todo el mundo de que no pasa nada por estar 8 horas mojandose. Todo sea por el arte! Animo!! que solo quedan 4 horas!! 4-Cojer el coche, apagar el telefono, e irme muy lejos hasta el lunes. luego pretender que me han secuestrado o abducido Como diria Fellini,... Porca miseria. 1 2009-05-15T07:46:33Z 2009-05-15T07:35:00Z 322829 2009-05-18T22:57:24Z falta-dia-el-rodaje-y-llueve- 2009-05-15T07:46:32Z 1 1 2009-05-18T22:57:24Z 0.0.0.0 40779 20586 I posted a couple a weeks ago that we decided to do a short movie in as little as 1 month. It is week 2 and this is what we have done so far. Write story, find actors, find locations, meet actors, rent equipment, write treatment, make story-board. -Find actors. Not as easy as I imagined. Everyone wants to act in a short movie, until you tell them it's this weeks end, and then they complain because there's a party, they wanted to visit a museum, or this week end it's the day they decided to go shopping. This doesn't tell much about the motivation of most of the people that look really excited when you tell them first about the movie. Find locations. We thought first at two different possibilities, but i wasn't really convinced. The day we were meeting to decide, a location i had been some weeks ago came to my mind. I got my car and run there just before the meeting. It was perfect!. so i came down to Geneva, collect the team and I brought them there. They loved it too. This location will change the way we shoot. It will change the way we feel the story and it is strongly influencing in the storyboard. The location is SO important. -Rent all the technical material. I count with a producer that is wiling to put his own money to rent lights, electricity system, sound equipment (DAT recorder and microphones). filters for the camera, steadicam, a crane!, etc etc. He's also taking care of contracts with the people (essentially asking them to give for free their image rights). He is also providing with camera operator and assistant. cool. Write story, a treatment, and a script. I came up with an old story and the team accepted. We wrote together a first treatment, that was the document that we used to send to actors and their people and get them interested in the project. It was a very literary version, and it wouldn't pass any standard test on script-writing format. BUT, it worked for our purposes. People liked the story, they could read it in 1minute and understand the main points. Then I wrote a treatment including background stories for the characters. I sent this only to the actors. Given the little time for shooting, the actors asked me for all typo of information to prepare their roles. Information that I didn't think about before they asked me!. So, i invented a life for this couple and the kid (the characters of the story). I am skipping the script because... Make a storyboard. I pass directly to the story board, that I've made in at least 5 different versions. It's not a design masterpiece. I am trying to include as much information for the technical team as possible. for each scene, I made a map with the geography of the area and show the camera positions and camera movement so that the technical team decide how to set the equipment quickly. I am also trying to think the order in which the scenes will be shot so that the equipment is used at its maximum for each location. I'm getting mad. Think at 1000 things People is calling me. Should i wear a white shirt or a colored shirt?. What color should be the tablecloth? Do we put cushions on the chairs?. Yes, things you never think about until, 2 days before shooting someone asks you. This is so exciting... 0 2009-05-14T07:51:23Z 2009-05-14T07:20:00Z 322342 shooting-the-movie-this-week- 2009-05-14T07:51:23Z 1 1 2009-05-14T07:52:04Z 0.0.0.0 40779 20586 Today we have started a new project. To star and finish a 5 minutes movie in 1 month. The idea started this Tuesday, in our camera club. There's a spacial projection session in one month, and it would be nice if we could present something new. So, we have make a new team. Daniel Lopez, and myself. Daniel has made a nice short movie (don't have yet a link). We meet today in a cafe, in a small village close to the Leman lake in Switzerland. He had a laptop and I had a proto-idea. One hour after, Catherine joined us and by mid-day we had a treatment for a short. I'm now waiting for Daniel to send us the corrected copy, and i'll start right away to transform the treatment into a preliminary technical script without dialogs. From there, we would be able to make the list of atrezzo we need. 1 month is a short time. But the idea is to shoot in a weekend in two weeks. That makes, more or less -2 weeks for preproduction -2 days for shooting 1 week for post-production (edting and soundtrack) I cannot tell the story but I can advance that there's two locations, and 4 characters. Ah, and we still have no tittle. we just forgot to think about that. 0 2009-05-02T11:42:41Z 2009-05-02T11:25:00Z 316793 new-project-1-short-movie-in-1-month 2009-05-02T11:42:41Z 1 1 2009-05-02T11:43:13Z 0.0.0.0 40779 20586 TV commercials enjoys a kind of freedom that only music videos share. This allows some director to experiment with new forms of communications, that may become streamline on the future. I just show an ad that surprised me. <object width="580" height="360"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/lQ3D4CqHbJM&hl=fr&fs=1&rel=0&border=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/lQ3D4CqHbJM&hl=fr&fs=1&rel=0&border=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="580" height="360"></embed></object> Usually, camera reinforces the scene and follows the action of the sequence. Here, camera movement IS the action. That is pure cinema. Another example of exploration, is tthis ad for the Sony Bravia TV. <object width="445" height="364"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/oP5J4W5GQ3w&hl=fr&fs=1&rel=0&border=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/oP5J4W5GQ3w&hl=fr&fs=1&rel=0&border=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="445" height="364"></embed></object> In addition to a nice song by Jose Gozalez, this ad do not show what it is suppose to be advertising, which is the Televisor. It just show how nice would be live with plenty of colors and emotion. Then they create an hyperlink in our brains between an emotion and the brand. There are other Sony commercial in the same spirit, one of them directed by Jonathan Glazer. That's also pure cinema. You shouldn't tell the audience who's the good guy or the bad guy. You create emotions in the story and then you associate those emotions with your characters. Paradoxally, the contrary is also true in tv commercial. <object width="445" height="364"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/cbEogVf9fiw&hl=fr&fs=1&rel=0&border=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/cbEogVf9fiw&hl=fr&fs=1&rel=0&border=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="445" height="364"></embed></object> Here, the director(Spike Jonze) laughs about the classical cinema codes to defend the opposite. 0 2009-04-22T18:02:32Z 2009-04-22T17:47:00Z 312291 tv-commertials-are-also-good-cinema- 2009-04-22T18:02:32Z 1 1 2009-04-22T18:10:43Z 0.0.0.0 40779 20586 I consider that music videos are a very important form of art in our days. Sure the are constraints given by time and rhythm. The lyrics of the song can suggest a draft of script, and (usually) there's no much budget allocated to them. Still, some people can make little master pieces. Good music helps, of course, but it's not the only ingredient, neither is necessary. here there are some of the music videos i like. In no particular order, and intentionally forgetting some others that I will put in the future. JUST by Radiohead, directed by JamieThraves. It's in fact a shortmovie with soundtrack by Radiohead. <object width="445" height="364"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/oIFLtNYI3Ls&hl=fr&fs=1&rel=0&border=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/oIFLtNYI3Ls&hl=fr&fs=1&rel=0&border=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="445" height="364"></embed></object> LIFE IN TECHNICOLOR, by Coldplay, directed by Dougal Wilson I like the idea of the theater, the children looking at the band. It reminds me when i was a child, and I started to listen to "real music", like Jimi hendrix, Nirvana. I was that amazed too. <object width="580" height="360"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/fXSovfzyx28&hl=fr&fs=1&rel=0&border=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/fXSovfzyx28&hl=fr&fs=1&rel=0&border=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="580" height="360"></embed></object> DECLARE INDEPENDENCE By Bjork, directed by Michel Gondry. Here, Michel Gondry creates a new universe in which the song lives. Movement codes, colors, aesthetically forms. I'm not the fan number one of Bjork, but i never get tired of watching her videos. She knows how to chose directors. Michel Gondry, Spike Jonze, Chris Cunningham,... <object width="445" height="364"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/igOWR_-BXJU&hl=fr&fs=1&rel=0&border=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/igOWR_-BXJU&hl=fr&fs=1&rel=0&border=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="445" height="364"></embed></object> Which are you favorite videos? 2 2009-04-21T18:14:02Z 2009-04-21T17:34:00Z 311794 2009-04-22T18:09:23Z 3-great-music-videos-i- 2009-04-21T18:14:02Z 1 1 2009-04-22T18:09:23Z 0.0.0.0 40779 20586 Our short movie "El inmortal" has been selected for the <a href="http://www.festivalswissmovie.ch/index2.html" title="http://www.festivalswissmovie.ch/index2.html" id="link_0">Swiss Movie Film Festival</a> It will be projected on Saturday 31 May at 11h00am. The festival is in Spiez, a small city close to Interlaken, in the Swiss Alps. "El inmortal" was the first short movie I <del>shooted</del> shot with the digital camera, and we had plenty of unexpected problems, that made the quality of the final copy much worse than the original footage. We <del>shooted</del> shot it in a weekend in Geneva, to discover that the jack adapter for the microphone was broken. We used a small microphone from my skype headphones. It was a very bad decision. If you do not have a good microphone, it's much better to use the one integrated on the camera Specially wtih digital cameras, where you do not have the problem of the noise of the tape. It was also the last short movie in which I don't use original music. <object width="445" height="364"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/gjUzmMjl9KQ&hl=fr&fs=1&rel=0&border=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/gjUzmMjl9KQ&hl=fr&fs=1&rel=0&border=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="445" height="364"></embed></object> I still wasn't still sure bout the "artistic" name of the production company. It says "Random Designs", and now it's Random Visual Arts. 0 2009-04-20T07:30:02Z 2009-04-20T07:11:00Z 310903 selected-for-swiss-movie-film-festival 2009-04-20T07:30:02Z 1 1 2009-04-20T11:54:49Z 0.0.0.0 40779 20586 Micro-story 1. <object width="580" height="360"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/799W5JyvahQ&hl=fr&fs=1&rel=0&border=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/799W5JyvahQ&hl=fr&fs=1&rel=0&border=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="580" height="360"></embed></object> The KNIFE wanted eyes to see the life. The KIWI wanted a nose to smell the orange trees. The HAT wanted a head to take care of. That purple ball was just around. 0 2009-04-19T19:28:11Z 2009-04-19T19:24:00Z 310755 micro-stories-i- 2009-04-19T19:28:11Z 1 1 2009-04-19T19:28:11Z 0.0.0.0 40779 20586 Digital revolution may be here, but as all the revolutions in history, the beginnings are as painful as exciting. I'm again fighting against the formats incompatibility. My everyday camera does not have mini-DV, but it records instead in a hard drive, using a sort of mpg2 format. I said "sort of" because the format is only recognized by the own camera and the proprietay software that, OF COURSE, does not work on Mac. Now you got it. I do have a Mac. So, what if a want to shoot with my digital camera and I edit it in Final Cut? You have to download a bunch of free software to make multiple conversions until you get something that Final cut recognizes and works fast, but with much lower quality than the original files. second option, you get something that looks pretty good (full High definition) but it takes 30 minutes to render every edited minute. I feel like i'm the collateral domage of a format war, the same that happened with VHS/Beta, bluray/HD-dvd, Pal/secam/ntsc, And i do want to shot on digital. It is far better in terms of information treatment. you have an independent file per shooting. random acces to your files. no quality loss when you transfer it to your computer, as many times as you want. Anyone there still preferring magnetic tape to hard drive? ok. that's what i mean. We can compare the situation today with the situation of computer storage in the 80's. For each different machine, there was a different storage support, not only at the level software, but at the hardware level. Amstrad, Spectrum, Commodore, etc etc. Here we are, fighting with technology again. We will win. 0 2009-04-19T08:53:46Z 2009-04-19T08:28:00Z 310481 lost-in-digital-formats- 2009-04-19T08:53:46Z 1 1 2009-04-19T08:53:46Z