Lisa Hannigan

Beautiful, talented artist! Glad I was able to shoot it. Thanks to Lisa and the Gang, for allowing us to invade their little show. Thanks to Neil Larsen for putting it all together.

Reinventing Cinema (or “ReCinema”)

Well, its about time I mention this, because some random person that finds my blog might find it relevant (I say ‘random person’ because I don’t have any regular readers).

One of my recent time-sucks has been an endeavour with Clayton Farr in developing a business model for motion picture production that aims to develop the process for creating the best films possible. “Sure” you say. Well, it is actually a little more holistic than just that, but that fits in a single sentence.

The idea stems from a comment made by Pixar executive, Ed Catmull, in which he asks the question “Which is more important to the success of a film, people, or story?” In his opinion, story ideas are a cheap commodity. On the other hand, quality people that have the skills and talent to shape those ideas into a great story, and ultimately into the best film possible, are precious stones that need to be discovered, cut, and polished. In further study, Catmull goes on to explain the collaborative process that goes behind a Pixar film, and why he believes that that process is responsible for the success of Pixar’s films.

ReCinema is a grand experiment aimed at condensing a variety (what we believe to be the best) of business and production models, with the goal of producing “Awesomeness”. Though not entirely limited to Pixar’s model, theirs probably serves as the best, most cohesive, and real-world case study available to date. ReCinema goes beyond just production though, as we hope to use it as study of new distribution and audience development techniques as well.

Most notable, and as the first step, ReCinema intends to redefine the traditional story development and preproduction processes, ultimately blurring the lines between all aspects of production together into a single collaborative process. Its a bit hard to explain outside of a lengthy dissertation and/or white paper, but at its core, it involves having all of the creative entities who might be involved in the creation of a film, from director to lead talent, to editor and composer involved at the very beginning of the development, rather than at the various stages throughout (sometimes, often times at the very end).

For example, rather than giving a mass of footage to an editor and asking him to cut it, we would involve the editor in the development process to get an idea of what footage the editor wants to see in order to do the assembly, thus taking his creative force and input early on to help direct the story, as well as for more mundane needs such creating a shot list. Often times the story in a film is “told” in the cutting room. Rather than “telling” the story so late in the game, let the editor cut animatics and storyboards, complete with scratch tracks and voice overs early in development and preproduction to get a better idea of how the film might ultimate be cut. Actors recording VO tracks for the storyboards have an early chance to see how lines will be delivered and for the writer, director, and actors together to address concerns about dialog, delivery, and emotion tone. The same thing might apply to sound design or the musical score. Rather than giving a locked cut to the composer and having him score to the cut, we introduce the composer early on, allowing him to provide input in the script development, so he is given an early lead on where to build up music. This also allows the composer more time to refine his contribution to the film to make it better fit in with the directors vision.

Ed Catmull’s talks and interviews (such as this one from Harvard Business Review) have been instrumental in directing us, and helping us see a bigger picture. Each time we really think we’ve got something nailed down, and we’re ready to move on, we find a little gem somewhere in one of his interviews or something that makes us realize we’ve only touched the surface. What we are attempting to do is huge, and many think it’s not possible… But we’re determined to figure out how to make it work, or die trying.

Monday, Ed comes into Salt Lake (he’s a graduate of the UofU) to keynote the Governors 3rd Annual Utah Economic Summit, I’ll be attending in hopes of gaining a little more insight. I don’t know the entire nature of his talk, but the governor is very pro-film, so it wouldn’t surprise me if there is some cross-over.

Otherwise related to the process, I’m building a team for this years 48-hour Film competition. I’ve decided to use this as a preliminary platform to test some of the concepts that we’ve explored so far. I’ll be writing about our successes and discoveries along the way. My hope it to have the entire 48-hour film process, and even some of our team-building events documented (ala, documentary/BTS) for posterity.

Stay tuned.

‘Post’ Production – 3for5.org

I’m not doing post for the shoot… Not yet. I expect that I might end up working on it in some capacity, but, no, this is just my “after production” follow-up.

The shoot started off a bit slow, and the young director really struggled with the scale of his production, and probably the fact that he wasn’t behind (and operating) his own camera. So instead, he put himself behind the monitor, far from the talent, and barked out commands and lines over a big camera setup, and an even larger Matthews Jib. It was obvious that the talent was struggling to understand and connect with him. He also struggled to communicate direction to the crew for the first few hours. No “Action” and no “Cut” commands left everyone confused about when to start, and when to end a shot/scene. And camera setups were dismal. “I want a Jib shot…”, okay, where do you want the camera, and where do you want it to move to? “Yeah, great! Let’s do a Jib shot!” What??

After a few hours of semi-controlled chaos, the more experienced crew made a few recommendations, and the kid (the director) proved to be sharp enough to recognise some of his own problems. By lunch time, we were moving along like a well-oiled machine. What originally started at probably 45 minutes for a single actor (25 waiting in the queue) recital of a 1-page script over 2-3 camera angles, was ultimately cut to 5-7 minutes per actor. After canceling one or two of the last scheduled actors, we wrapped by 6:30pm. A few hours earlier than originally projected by the director and his AD. I was hoping to be out by 6pm. Not bad.

The talent was great, and I think we got some good stuff.

My biggest problem at this point, was the Nikon 28-70mm lens that I got for the shoot. Not expecting the best from SLR glass, I was a bit disappointed to see that the focal plane was off in the lens (or possibly the sensor in the camera, but not likely). Looking in the shots below, particularly in the wide shot of all the talent, the right side of the frame is notably softer than the center and left edge. Different shots show it to different degrees, but this group shot is probably the most notable.

Shooting 3for5.org

So, I’ve offered to donate my camera and a days worth of time (which has already turned into 2 days) to shoot a promo piece for a new, local non-profit org, called 3for5.org. A fund-raising organisation that hopes you and three of your friends will each donate 5 dollars to build clean-water wells in impoverished countries. The trick, you’re 3 friends have to get three of their friends, and so on. You get the idea.

The director is wanting to model the shoot after the ‘5-friends’ viral videos that were created by numerous hollywood celebs to encourage people to vote in the last election. White, high-key background, and a lot of different people saying roughly the same thing, and then intercut between them.

It’s a relatively easy shoot. I say this now. The problem is, that the production has been frought with disaster, and it we haven’t shot a single frame yet. Tomorrow (Tues, Feb 24th), marks Principal Photography. The organisation has been eager to ask for a lot of donations from people to help fund the video, both in equipment, time and other resources. I’m taking a day off the regular paying day job. In the end, however, we lost of a major equipment provided because the organisation wasn’t willing (or able) to secure the necessary insurance to cover the costs of equipment in case someone dropped a $200,000 zoom lens, or an articulated dolly fell off the back of a truck, while unloading. Seems reasonable that a organisation that is asking people to donate thousands (neigh, tens of thousands) of dollars in time and equipment, could at least come up with a grand or two for some general liability and production equipment insurance for a day shoot.

As the DP, I’ve seen a few pages of the script here and there, and seen a few hand sketches of story boards, but have yet to actually meet the director or producers. Tomorrow is the big day. Either sink or swim.

I’m not too worried actually, I know there are some competent guys on grip and electrical, and we still have a good collection of equipment from other, smaller vendors. However, we’ll be shooting on a Nikon 25-70mm F2.8 zoom. I’ve shot a few things on Nikon glass before, but nothing “professional”, usually tests of my kids, or stuff in the back yard, or a few friends on a city street. I’m a little worried about how well the lens will hold up under focus. All it takes is a tiny bump on those SLR lenses to knock the focus off my more than a foot. What I would give to have the Birger and the mappable Impero on this one… or the Optimo 18-80mm that I was hoping to get from the major equipment co. Cei la vie.

My biggest concern is actually what to expect from the producers and director. While there has been quantity in communication, quality has been lacking. The producer who I communicated with was relatively clueless about the process. He knows what he wants, but not sure what he needs to get it done. As the DP, I was asked to coordinate with the equipment company on the lenses and support gear. Trying to explain back to these guys the specifics of the insurance requirements was tedious, and often numbing.

I was told today that 320 minutes of RAW storage, to shoot 25 actors, each reciting a 1.5 page script wasn’t going to be enough… 25 takes, 2 minutes each. 50 minutes. How many takes are they planning to shoot of each actor? And how are they planning to shoot this all in one day?? If they can actually burn more then 300 minutes, I’ll be speechless, and probably unconscious.

I was also asked to help with audio. Apparently, their sound guy had a scheduling conflict. It sounds like the Key Grip will be taking on some of this for me. They want to record to a laptop, and record reference audio on the camera. I’m just trying to figure out how much gear to take with me… I guess I’ll pack whatever I can tonight, and hope its enough.

Wish me luck. I’ll post some frames sometime later…

Colour, RED, & Piranha

With my recent development on the REDCODE plugin for Piranha, I’ve started playing with Colour in Piranha, and grading some of my footage. In the past, grading has always been one of those things I did as a one-light to fix white balance, or exposure. With MiniDV and HDV footage, there isn’t much you can do before the image starts to break down, unless you are a real pro like Stu Maschwitz. But, with 12 bits of color, and some proper tools, I’ve found a new appreciation for the art form. As I’ve dabbled, I’m finding the possibilities of color correction, and the value it lends to creating a films look. I should clarify, I’ve always understood the value color grading lends to a film, but I don’t think I’ve fully appreciated it.

Here are a couple of single frames from R3D files that I’ve colored using Pirahna’s Colour suite. These usually include messing with the image curves, gamma, saturation, color correcting the various low, high, and mid-tones, and selective roto-scoping, with multiple passes on each. I might have added some film grain to one or two of these. The rest had the natural “grain” from the raw footage.

A month later… and I’m sick.

Well, I guess its actually a little longer than a month. Almost a month and a 1/2. So what. Of particular insignificance, I got sick with some Influenza Type-A, or some shit, that is apparently immune to the flu shots (not that I got one, but it explains why everyone in the house was sick too, and they did get shots).

Piranha R3D progress has been slow the last 2 weeks… really its been slow since I left for the inauguration.

I started on another project built around embedded linux. It’s cool and should be a fun challenge. Hopefully I can stick with it long enough to get it out the door. My greatest plague.

Nothing new much on the Film front. The MPAU’s Senate Bill 14, Amendments to the Motion Picture Incentive Fund, is up on the hill, progressing as best it can in an economy where the state is slashing every budget possible. SB-14 is relatively unique in that, despite its fiscal note, actually makes the state money. Without it, the state’s economy loses more money than the money spent for the incentive. Getting our legislature to understand that (and the general public) under such fiscal scrutiny is another matter though. So, we hold our breath.

I’m really hoping it something good though, because the RED has sat doing nothing for the last 3 months. I had a little slush fund in the bank for making payments, but its about ran dry. Economy sucks, and winter in Utah makes for a slow filming season. Hopefully the incentive will go through, and the next 6 months will be busy.

Piranha and RED

Well, its been about a week since I officially received the REDCODE/R3D SDK from RED.  I was pretty quick to jump on it, and have a basic, functional workflow for Piranha.  It is still very much in its infancy, but its starting to take shape.  I’ve got a lot of support from IFX to get this done, so we are working together adding features in both the plugin, and in Piranha to support the workflow.

Simple screen-cap, showing native loading/display of R3D media.

As of today, the plugin is functional for video only (no audio), does not support timecode or metadata, but does support dynamic proxies in Piranha on a project level.

I have a good start made on audio support, but the SDK is proving to be not quite as straight-forward as the documentation suggests.  I’m sure I’m just doing something wrong.

We have some ideas for how to handle the RED metadata that will be really cool, including interfaces into Piranha to extract lens, timecode, and other metadata.  Our plans for handling the RAW metadata, such as exposure, gain, curves, ISO, etc. will allow for key-framing of this data, which will be a really nice feature for coloring.

OpenJPEG Bounty

I’m sponsoring a code bounty for performance improvements to OpenJPEG, through opensourcexperts.com.  If you are interested, you can find the bounty/grant details here.  If you might be a benefactor of such a bounty, I’d encourage you to pledge a contribution of your own.  If you have questions about the bounty, feel free to leave me a comment.

“I’m Everything” Music Video and SPFX for Piranha

So, one of the guys I work with at iTransact (“one of the guys”… he’s he VP), is Spaff Sumsion (www.spaff.com), who writes lyrics for spoofs of pop songs. Yes, just like “Weird Al”. Local radio personality and music guru, Robert Lund, performs them. Anyway, we were talking one day, and Spaff said, “You do movies?  Have you ever done a music video?”  Not yet.. but there is a first time for everything. So, we rallied up some friends and shot my first music video. The song is called “I’m Everything” and is a spoof of Michael Bubles “Everything”.  We decided the best compliment we could give to the original was not only to spoof the original song, but the original video as well.

So, with about a half dozen friends, we covered everything from the warehouse/studio, costumes, props, and equipment, to the hands doing hair/makeup, wardrobe, camera, grip, b camera, etc.  For being a last minute, no-budget deal, we had every major aspect covered. Setting aside a Sunday last week, we put the entire shoot in the can in just under 8 hours.

So, off I am to editing. Its been about a week now, off-and-on (about 10 hours total spent in editing), and its shaping up rather nicely.  It doesn’t have the “belly laugh” moments that you imagine going into it… In fact, I’d dare say it’s more “cutsie funny” way, than “riotous”.  But that’s fine.  Regardless, its turning out great, and I’m having fun doing it.  I’m looking forward to the finishing touches and putting it up on YouTube early next month.  Keep an eye out.

Behind the Scenes of

In the mean time, I’ve been working on some Effects for Piranha to help me finish up the video.  I need some blooming/glow effects.  This could probably be done in Piranha as is, by stacking a variety of existing plugins, etc.  But I’m lazy, I just want a dirt simple plugin, set a few parameters, and move on.

Here is the break-down of what I need done:   First, take the current frame, and build a basic luminance map from it.  This is simple enough, convert RGB to HSV, and then take V.  Apply a nice curve to V to crush the blacks and give a nice ramp that really pops out the highlights, but leaves everything else crushed to black.

Original Frame

After that is done, we end up with a gray-scale image that looks something like this:

Luminance Map

Next, we take the luminance map, and perform a basic blur, and a few more tweaks to the luminance curve and you get something that looks like this:

Blurring the Map

We are almost done.  For the sake of giving us some option, and astetic, we apply some color to the gray-scale luminance map, giving it a nice golden tint.

Pretty Golden Tint

Our final step is to composite this image over our original frame as an “Add” operation.  This results in keeping the original image, including in shadow detail, but adding the value of any highlights, and giving a nice roll into clipped highlights.  By adding the composite, we retain the golden color of our map.  And we get this nice, pretty scene.

Final Composite

At 2k there is A LOT of processing that goes on here.  At 4k, its insane.  Of all the steps, the blur is by far the most intensive.  So, while we can brute force this on the CPU, it will take a lot of time to generate the finished frame.  My rough guess, on a Dual Core, 3Ghz, it will probably take 1-2 seconds/frame at 4k.  Unacceptable for a real-time system like Piranha.  So, its time to offload the heavy work (blurring) to the GPU.  Since the other stuff is trivial for the GPU, might as well put it all there.

Piranha supports SPFX.  SPFX is basically a specialized interface into NVidia’s Cg shader language, which also convienently provides a integrated, runtime compiler.  SPFX defines how Piranha talks to Cg, but in fact, Cg is what does all the real work.  This is nice, because Cg is well documented by NVidia, and it a relatively well known language (for Shader programmers– of which I am not).

I spent the last weekend getting familiar with Cg, and writing a few silly plugins, but now its time to get serious.  And I need to finish up this music video soon, so time is important.  Over the next few days, I’ll post my code as I progress through writing this plugin.  While SPFX is specific to Piranha, the bulk of the code (in Cg) is not, and is perfectly portable to any application, game, etc. that supports Gc.

Republicans on Tax Cuts – Part II

McCain wants to cut taxes! YEAH for America! More Republicans get more of their money to spend the way they want to! Capitalists Unite! Seriously. I’m not being facetious. Read his summarized tax plan. Now read it again. And let’s walk through it together.  I’ll hold your hand.

Keep Tax Rates Low: Entrepreneurs are at the heart of American innovation, growth and prosperity. Entrepreneurs create the ultimate job security – a new, better opportunity if your current job goes away. Entrepreneurs should not be taxed into submission. John McCain will keep the top tax rate at 35 percent, maintain the 15 percent rates on dividends and capital gains, and phase-out the Alternative Minimum Tax. Small businesses are the heart of job growth; raising taxes on them hurts every worker.

I agree. Entrepreneurs are at the heart of American innovation. I’m an entrepreneur. I’ve been scheming up small business plans since I was a junior in high school. As an entrepreneur however, I can tell you that the second sentence is entirely wrong, and down right frightening… Entrepreneurs are high risk takers, and they have the least amount of job security. And anyone employed by a small business, is equally at risk of losing their job. “- a new, better opportunity if your current job goes away.” Does he know something I don’t? Maybe he’s going to send your job overseas. He’s done it before. “John McCain will keep the top tax rate at 35 percent, maintain the 15 percent rates on dividends and capital gains”– So, no tax cut for the top tax rate, and no tax cut of the 15 percent rates on dividends. So, where is he cutting taxes again?

Cut The Corporate Tax Rate From 35 To 25 Percent: A lower corporate tax rate is essential to keeping good jobs in the United States. America was once a low-tax business environment, but as our trade partners lowered their rates, America failed to keep pace. We now have the second highest corporate tax rate in the world, making America a less attractive place for companies to do business. American workers deserve the chance to make fine products here and sell them around the globe.

Yeah, a Tax Cut! Hey, I’m an entrepreneur! Double Sweet! I get a tax cut from 35 to 25 percent. Actually, I don’t, because I’m not a Corporation. Well, who does it help then? In helps McCain, and his rich buddies. How can I say that? “A lower corporate tax rate is essential to keeping good jobs in the United States.” Well, that may in part be true, but its a stretch. Corporate taxes are taxes on profit. More profit, means more employees, right? Yes. More profit means more United States jobs, right? Not even close. More profits for corporations means more money for investors and shareholder. Moving jobs overseas to lower-wage countries also helps profits, and with fewer taxes on those corporations, means bigger profits for the people who have invested more into those companies. That’s great for wealthy pastors, overpaid company execs, and rich politicians, but it means very little for you and me. Okay, what’s next.

Establish Permanent Tax Credit Equal To 10 Percent Of Wages Spent On R&D: This reform will simplify the tax code, reward activity in the United States, and make us more competitive with other countries. A permanent credit will provide an incentive to innovate and remove uncertainty. At a time when our companies need to be more competitive, we need to provide a permanent incentive to innovate, and remove the uncertainty now hanging over businesses as they make R&D investment decisions.

Hey, this sounds awesome! Do you know what it means? Well, it means, once again, that McCain is doing great things, that will benefit you and me, right? Nope. While I don’t have a problem with this plan, once again, it really only impacts businesses, and certainly has no value for the working individual. We’re still not taking about a reduction in your taxes. In fact, this is money that will be lost tax revenue. Money that has to be made somewhere else… I wonder where the money to compensate for the tax credit will come from? Most likely, you and me.

Ban Internet Taxes: John McCain believes we must make a farsighted, robust, and fervent commitment to innovation and new technologies to sustain our global competitiveness, meet our national security challenges, achieve less costly and more effective health care, reduce dangerous dependence on foreign sources of oil, and raise the quality of education in the United States. John McCain has been a leader in keeping the Internet free of taxes. As President, he will seek a permanent ban on taxes that threaten this engine of economic growth and prosperity.

This is one of my favorites! Ban Internet Taxes. Man, I hate Internet taxes. I’m all for banning them. I’ll do all my shopping online, and never pay sales tax again! But let’s keep reading… “Innovation and new technologies”- what does that have to do with Internet taxes? “meet our national security challenges”- WTF? “Achieve less costly and more effective health care”- Since when does health care costs have anything to do with the Internet? Again, companies (especially big companies) care about one thing. Profit. McCain’s no idiot. He’s not going to do anything to reduce health care expenses.. why? Because, true to the Republican creed, and Capitalist philosophy, if you want quality health care, you’ll find your own way to pay for it. And maybe those tax cuts will help.. Oh, I almost forgot, there aren’t any tax cuts! Besides, those companies don’t want McCain cutting into their profits (because somewhere, either him or one of his buddies will lose out on some money to be paid from those profits), they want him to increase their corporate profits, which means more money taken from you. Sorry, middle class that can’t afford quality health care! Sorry. Anyway, I digress. Where were we… Oh, right, “reduce dangerous dependence on foreign sources of oil”- Holy shit! Seriously? I’d like to see him explain how that will work… Hopefully you’re seeing the ludicrously of this entire paragraph (titled, remembered, “Ban Internet Taxes”), and finally, “raise the quality of education in the United States”. Wow. I’m almost speechless… Almost. But not quite. One more to go.

Ban New Cell Phone Taxes: John McCain understands that the same people that would tax e-mail will tax every text message – and even 911 calls. John McCain will prohibit new cellular telephone taxes.

If I’ve learned one thing from cell phone companies, Republicans, and… hey, wait a minute… Something fishy is going on here.. Oh! I almost misread that.  No New Cell Phone Taxes.  Well… I can agree with that.  Maybe this McCain guy ain’t so bad.  Maybe I’ve been too harsh.  Let me think about this for a minute and what it means….  Uhm, nope.  Still can’t get past the rest of his tax plan.  Sorry reps.

I’m almost done. If you take a look at McCains voting history is it related to Tax Reform, a nice pretty picture is painted. And I like what he did, then. In fact, back in 2000-2002, I liked McCain in general. I thought he’d make a great president. He really was a Maverick. But over the last 4-6 years, McCain has changed. His attitude, policies, and tactics have all changed, significantly, and I feel like he’s turning into as much of a tool for major corporations and special interest parties as Bush is. Reading over his recent record, it sounds pretty on the surface, but digging in, between the lines, I think there are some serious concerns to be had.