I’ve had some recents setbacks, and some advances in my struggle for ‘D’.

First,

cat 'profile=gdc-posix-tango' > /usr/etc/rebuild/default

Next make the following symlinks:

ln -s /usr/etc/dsss /etc/dsss
ln -s /usr/etc/rebuild /etc/rebuild

Finally, rebuild tango via dsss:

sudo dsss net install tango

This should update tango to 0.99.8. For fun, from here, you should install derelict as well:

sudo dsss net install derelict

Enjoy

After months of dicking around with D, on various platforms, I finally got this working as easily as possible.

1) Install gdc-4.2 and libphobos-4.2 from the Ubuntu Repos.

sudo apt-get install gdc-4.2 libphobos-4.2

Download DSSS .deb and install:

http://download.palos.ro/Debian%20D%20Packages/dsss_0.78-1_amd64.deb

2) Write your D program:

import tango.io.Console;
void main() {
	Cout("Hello World!");
}

3) Compile your program:

gdc -fversion=Posix HelloWorld.d -lgtango -o HelloWorld

Hope it works as easily for you, as it did for me. You’re mileage may vary.

Did a little USB hacking a few weeks ago, and decided to put it to good use. With a little help from Tom at IFX, I’ve got a working plugin to enable support for the ShuttlePro. If you’re a Piranha user and are interested, feel free to contact me.

Of particular importance however, is this little tidbit which is necessary for Piranha to access the ShuttlePro in Ubuntu. First, create a file using this command:

sudo gedit /etc/udev/rules.d/51-shuttlepro.rules

Then paste this into the newly created file, and save:

SYSFS{idVendor}=="0b33", SYSFS{idProduct}=="0030", MODE="666"

Finally, you have to reload the rules. Unplug your ShuttlePro, run the following command, and then reconnect:

sudo udevadm control --reload-rules

Alternatively, you can reboot. Enjoy.

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.

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.

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.

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…

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.

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.

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.