Feature Film VFX with AE

Not sure if it's OK to share recent work in these forums but figured what the heck.
A few friends and I just completed a feature film that was four years in the making. Shot on a Canon 5D, edited in Final Cut Pro and then Premiere Pro. VFX in After Effects and Cinema 4D, Grading in Speedgrade. You can watch the trailer at any of these sites:
www.voyagetoeden.com
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Voyage-to-Eden/1401389080120126
http://vimeo.com/user12650193/review/86569658/98e9a9db2d
Feedback welcome.
- Cuong LeNguyen

Duplicate of message http://forums.adobe.com/thread/1405970

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Feature Film Graded with SpeedGrade

Not sure if it's OK to share recent work in these forums but figured what the heck.
A few friends and I just completed a feature film that was four years in the making. Shot on a Canon 5D, edited in Final Cut Pro and then Premiere Pro. VFX in After Effects and Cinema 4D, Grading in SpeedGrade. You can watch the trailer at any of these sites:
www.voyagetoeden.com
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Voyage-to-Eden/1401389080120126
http://vimeo.com/user12650193/review/86569658/98e9a9db2d
Feedback welcome.
- Cuong LeNguyen

We definitely took a lot of notes - the most important one being to just SURVIVE! Pretty rough weather at times, yet the water was as still as a mirror other times.
We put self-imposed limitations on ourselves to maintain a consistent visual language and to help in post production:
- lock down cameras at all times (except for the handheld intro and underwater footage)
- absolutely no camera movement including zooming or panning.
- only use 3 lenses (a Canon 16-35, Zeiss 50, Canon 70)
- only use 2 filter stages max (usually an ND and a polarizer)
- use only available light and practicals unless absolutely necessary
Since the ocean is constantly changing, it's nearly impossible to track for match-moving, so it was important we locked down the shots for any VFX work.
You can take a look at some productions stills on our Facebook page and get a sense of the challenges we had to overcome as well as a look at the equipment we used - lots of grip equipment:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Voyage-to-Eden/1401389080120126
Cuong

Workflow suitable for Feature Film edit?

Hi.
I work for a company that specialises in hiring large Avid systems to feature film projects.
In that environment, we have a number of editors and assistants each with their own machine hooked up to a central lanshare or unity. They can all open the same (main) project at the same time and all digitise / capture at the same time or while others are busy cutting - as soon as someone closes a bin, its updated contents are available to the rest of the team.
I know that multiple FCP machines cannot use the SAME project file at the same time. And I know that FCServer must have project files checked in / out. I also know that media captured is associated to the project that it was captured to.
So how to people use FCP for this type of team effort. On a movie, there are usually five or so people working on the same project and they all need to be able to capture if they need to (and have that media accessible to all asap), and be able to look at (or work on) each others' sequences at the drop of a hat.
With Avid this is all very mature and there are systems in place for this kind of collaborative workflow. Hows it work with FCS? How do you guys manage a single project that is being worked on by five different guys?
Any help is very welcome!

@Studio X:
I have not walked into anybody's office and asked for free advice, I have gone to a place that is specifically allocated as a place to share ideas and knowledge.
Secondly this is not a contractor speaking to an architect, as you put it; a better analogue is an architect asking another architect for advice.
Now I admit you are right, some architects would not give advice to 'the competition' as they might see this as undermining their business. I, however, am of the opinion that the sharing of knowledge creates valuable alliances, and for me this is a given when the two parties are not competing for the same client. In any event, this approach has not hurt our business (quite the contrary).
Anyway. Its simply two different points of view.
I am surprised though that you find my outlook curious! In what way?
@Shawn:
Thanks for the links. I appreciate the effort.
@RedTruck:
Thanks mate, but the features we are involved in don't work like that. In terms of the post team, they have a very well rehearsed working relationship. We are not hired to tell them how to do their job; they tell US how they want to work and we design the systems to do it. In this instance they have asked for the system to run FCP which is very unusual, its usually Avid. But they have Oscars and I don't, and its their money, so I'm not going to argue!
I do think though that we will just do what we always do; and that is purchase the kit, get it in the workshop and figure it out for ourselves. With a whole bagful of testing!
Thanks everyone for your input.
Dom.

Copying a DVD (feature film) to iPod . . ILLEGAL?

I'm pretty sure that copying a feature film dvd (Austin Powers, etc.) to my ipod is illegal. Is it? I can understand why it would, but then again, if we're not sharing the dvd with anyone, only our ipods, is it still illegal? I have a hillarious Best of Jimmy Fallon SNL dvd and would love to put a few skits on my ipod. I'm really worried though because it says in the beginning of the disc there's no illegal copying.
hope you can give me some info.

To clarify what Ian has said, let's more precisely examine the written decision in the DMCA vs. Studios 321 case:
"Section 1201 divides technological measures into two categories: measures that prevent unauthorized access to a copyrighted work and measures that prevent unauthorized copying of a copyrighted work. Making or selling devices or services that are used to circumvent either category of technological measure is prohibited in certain circumstances, described below. As to the act of circumvention in itself, the provision prohibits circumventing the first category of technological measures, but not the second."
"This distinction was employed to assure that the public will have the continued ability to make fair use of copyrighted works. Since copying of a work may be a fair use under appropriate circumstances, section 1201 does not prohibit the act of circumventing a technological measure that prevents copying. By contrast, since the fair use doctrine is not a defense to the act of gaining unauthorized access to a work, the act of circumventing a technological measure in order to gain access is prohibited. Section 1201 proscribes devices or services that fall within any one of the following three categories:"
"1) they are primarily designed or produced to circumvent;"
 "2) they have only limited commercially significant purpose or use other than to circumvent: or"
 "3) they are marketed for use in circumventing."
2.0GHZ G5/533MHz G4 DeskTop/400MHz G4 PB Mac OS X (10.4.3)

Color grading workflow for full featured film ...

dear friends ...
i'm about to edit a full feature film on premiere CS5 ... will color grade with colorista 2 and other tools (maybe AE) ... and the final movie will go to lab to print the film on 35mm film stock ... when i talked with the lab they told me to take care of the LUT ... i do not know how work with the same LUT in premiere CS5 and i do not know how i can be sure that the film will look the same from premiere CS5 to the film stock ... any ideas how i can achieve this?
The main problem with this and every other electronic color corrector is that while making a nice image on the electronic screen it is not what you will see on the film screen. The problem is there is no consideration for the density v. exposure, nonlinear response of the display device, and most important no simulation of the undesired dye cross coupling in the positive print film.
thanks for co-operation.

Well something I would advise is tests...lots of tests.
I would suggest that you will want to export from AEFX for the files going to the LAB.
Have the lab advised you of the file specs and type they require. eg seq tiif / tga....
I dont have an answer for you about managing the LUT but....
I did tests and used the "eyeometer" method. eg. I projected the tests up at the lab. The projector and screen were calibrated to a Kodak cinema spec
Actually I found color was not the issue of any significance.
I did find the gammas were a slight issue (easily dealt with)
Shadow detail requires concentrating on ( otherwise noise)
Highlights needed to be controlled to avoid blowing them out and away.

Can iMac handle producing 75 minute feature film

hi,
I currently have a mac mini and I'm attempting to animate a 75 minute film by myself, but the little mac mini is groggy with too much at once.
Question, looking at mac pro, i know it would do the trick. But cheaper obviously is the imac. Anyone know if any of the current iMac models could handle production of feature film, 75 minutes?
So, is the iMac strong enough ya think??? thanks

Hello,
Post here: Getting started with video production on a Mac
Check out iMovie 09 here: http://www.apple.com/ilife/imovie/
If you go with an iMac, if it were me, I would definitely upgrade the RAM.
Carolyn

Deliver Us From Evil feature film F55 LUT

All,
Courtesy of Sony Pictures Colorworks team we are making available the F55 LUT used on Deliver us from Evil feature film.
It is a combination of a bleach bypass look with the ACES RRT v0.1.1.
Input: SLog2-SGamut
This could be:
- camera SDI tap with NO scaling applied to the full-range signal
- RAW processed to S-Log2-SGamut
Output: Rec709 / BT.1886 signal
- Calibrate display for 100 nits, gamma 2.4, dim surround
- Outputs full / extended range, 0-1023
This is designed specifically for this setup using S-Log2-SGamut. The camera did not support SLog3 at the time so if used with the new SLog3 with newer SGamut could yield undesirable results.
Regards
Peter

Just for fun had a play with rebaking this LUT after an S-Log3 to S-Log2 1D LUT (treating S-Gamut3 as S-Gamut for the LUT) and also after a 65x65x65 S-Log3/S-Gamut3.cine to S-Log2/S-Gamut 3D LUT (using a basic matrix). That gave a pair of LUTs scaled the same way as the one just uploaded by PeterC is described, ie Extended / Full range in Extended / Full Range out. I then did some simple scaling to shift the output to legal(ish) range, ie 0-1.0 is legal but including values below 0 and between 1.0 and 1.09. This should then work as an MLUT, so I loaded it in the camera (I usually clip negative numbers to 0, but the camera doesn't seem concerned) and seem to be getting something like the extremely crunchy, blueish look expected. As the MLUT's not clipped you can load that in Resolve and go data range in to legal range out and pull the areas beyond back into range. If used as a baked-in MLUT anything below 0% IRE won't show up on the waveform and will be clipped in the recording. As I say, just for fun and knocked up in a hurry whilst bored after a quick job so caveat emptor if it bares no resemblence :-) :
Dropbox Link:S-Log3/S-Gamut3 and S-Log3/S-Gamut3.cine rebakes and MLUTs

Feature Film Feel

Hi,
I have a Sony TRV-950 camera; it takes fine footage, very clear.
Are there any settings or filters I can use in FCP, however, to give my end product the feel of a "motion picture"? It looks a lot like television when it is done.
I remember reading or hearing about the difference in frame rates or something. But is there an easy way to add a filter or something that will give it more of a "hollywood feature feel"?
Thanks,
Damon

I disagree. There are ways to get DV to look like 16mm on a TV to the layman. Of course not exactlly, but you can get "film-esque" Heres what I do:
1. Shoot Progressive first of all, and then 24fps.
Find a DVX, or a guy with one. Not a hard feat, its pretty much a staple of the low-budget community.
2. Use good lighting.
Even if you know nothing about lights or own a kit. Look at you LCD screen and play around with, lamps, flashlights, or bare lightbulbs plugged into the wall (my fav) untill you get a good, cinematic, look.
3. Make it Black and White.
People tout about the saturation and chroma differences in video and film, so get rid of the color! Now you just have the luma values to worry about!
4. Add contrast.
I would go for a slighty greater than natural contrast. Try using the "levels" filter wit you're video desatutated as apposed to the brightness/contrast filter.
5. Add a widescreen matte.
The letterbox adds another illusion to the screen and gives more of a Feature Film look.
6. Only showcase on SD TV sets or low resolution web vids.

Feature film examples?

I have just completed cutting a 2-hour feature, which, if you have never done this, is MUCH more challenging than I first imagined when I took the job. Now that I am done, my curiosity and desire to learn more about the process is supercharged, and I watch every movie now with a new appreciation for what the editor accomplished.
Here is my question: does anyone know of a resource where I can see, first-hand, an actual timeline from a feature film? FCP, Avid, Premier, the software doesn't matter, although I am a FCP devotee, and would prefer to see something in our format and interface.
I am sure that my own first effort at this yielded a messy, unorganized timeline that a seasoned editor would laugh at. I would like to get better, and thought I would check here to see if there is a website or publication out there like this. My first Google effort didn't turn up much.
Thanks, as always, for the help!
-van

Hey Van,
Well, here's a link to a FCP feature that I'm doing a 'film doctor' job on. I didn't set up the original project, but it's actually fairly close to the way I would organize a project in Avid, if I were to do it myself. Obviously you won't have the media, but you're welcome to take a look at it.
http://shashanakaplan.com/Cyrus%20Conlee.fcp.zip
(my girlfriend's website, btw, in case you're wondering what the weird URL is...)
As was mentioned here, I use tracks 1-4 for dialog, tracks 5-8 for SFX, and tracks 9-12 for stereo music. It's important that you keep these things square, because later on down the road it's common that you'll need to provide outputs for various vendors with certain elements either turned off or routed to the left or right channel. (ie: the composer might want all the temporary music only on the right channel, so he/she can turn it off while watching the movie and scoring it, etc.)
This was a P2 production, shot in 1080p, 23.976. The sound was recorded on a disk recorder and delivered to the cutting room on DVDs. In the project there is an Audio folder with all the original production audio, and there is a Scene folder with all the original production footage. There is also a separate bin for all the synced dailies.
In the Sequences folder you can see the original sequence 'Cyrus' that came to me, and you can see the cleaned up and polished version 'Cyrus_EC1' that I'm working on. (EC1 is my naming convention for Editor's Cut 1. As I progress, I'll go to DC1 for Director's cut, and PC1 for Producers' cut, then finally SC1 for Studio Cut, etc.)
Hope it's useful and/or interesting. And congratulations, BTW, on your first feature. May many more come your way.
Chris Conlee

Trouble exporting feature film as Multitrack

Hello!
Currently, we have a feature film being mixed in Adobe Audition CC. The film was cut in Final Cut Pro 7 and was exported from FCP7 as an OMF file into Adobe Audtion. During the mix we did your typical editing, we added sound effects, music, foley, ADR etc.Each different is being sent to a bus.
We are trying to export the final mix into the 4 different buses (Dialog, Foley, Sound Effects, Music). However, during this export, it appears Audition is taking 63 hours to fully export this project. After 4 hours, its only at 3 percent.
I'm hoping someone can clear this up for us and help us figure out why this export is taking so long. Does anyone have any ideas or troubleshooting thoughts?
Thanks again for your support!

A few responses, hopefully they are illuminating and possibly also helpful
"Best Quality" has a subjective aspect to it. If you mean, "as close to my original footage as possible", then export to QuickTime Movie, not QuickTime Conversion. And if you are sending the video to iDVD, export to QuickTime Movie only.
If you are using Final Cut Express, your HDV material has already been transcoded to QuickTime/Apple Intermediate Codec. That's how FCE works with HDV video. If you simply export your sequence to QuickTime Movie, you will get a file that is QuickTime/Apple Intermediate Codec.
You cannot export from FCE to ProRes. FCE does not support ProRes.
If your video is HDV it should already be 16:9; there is nothing further you need to do to ensure it is 16:9.
The lines on your TV screen could happen from many causes. It's not necessarily your video, although if the lines are fairly consistent throughout the entire video, it could be from the interlaced nature of the video, a bad export or a bad encode & burn. Try the following as a test:
In FCE, do Sequence > Render All > Both, followed by Sequence > Render Only > Mixdown.
Then save your project.
Then export to QuickTime Movie (self-contained or not, it doesn't matter for this test).
Then import the video into iDVD.
In iDVD make sure your Encoding preference is set to Professional Quality.
Then complete & burn your DVD. See if that makes a difference.

Best file format for archiving high def feature film clips?

Hey, all. This is a second question.
I got a part time job at a university assembling a database of feature film clips that have to do with wearable technology in popular culture. Basically my job is to go through feature film clips and assemble a database of clips like Iron Man testing his gear, Batman using his sonar in the Dark Knight, that sort of thing.
I'm not sure what the best file format to export my clips would be. They should be downloadable (and not huge) but still high definition. I tried making a clip where Iron Man tries flying for the first time, but the entire movie I downloaded was around 700 megs, and my two minute extracted clip was 150 megs, so I'm not doing something right.
Can anyone suggest a file format? It needs to be lossless (I think I'm using that term correctly) so that if students want to reference the clip they can pull high definition screenshots and whatnot from it.
Cheers,
DT

You might want to export twice, or maybe even three times for each clip. Once for the HD clip that is as high quality and visually perfect as possible, another for the compressed and relatively easily downloadable clip, and a third for the live thumbnail.
One example of how this is done can be found at one of my favorite sites, http://www.videoblocks.com - no advertising intended. I am sure almost everyone here gets plenty of ads for the site already. I just happened to suscribe when it was cheap.
In any case, you hover your mouse over a clip and it plays back in a small version. Then you have a choice of downloading the MP4 version designed to watch, or the MOV designed forediting.
That solves the problem for the students if the University has the storage space for multiple copies.
If you haven't seen VideoBlocks yet, sign up for the free 7 day trial and download so music, or AE templates, or something else you can use like transitions or lower thirds, or whatever. Then you can see how it works and why I think it might solve your particular problem. If you have a problem with signing up, let me know and I will record a screen capture for you.

I recently bought a new macbook pro and set it up using the migration assistant and my mac mini. I can't get the text message forwarding feature to work with both computers.

I recently bought a new macbook pro and set it up using the migration assistant from my mac mini. I can't get the text message forwarding feature to work with both computers. It keeps saying that I only have 2 devices setup, my iPad and my macbook pro. When I mess with the setting on my mac mini, it goes from saying that that is one of the devices to my macbook pro being the 2nd device. I think that something happened as a result of my using the migration assistant and now it thinks that my macbook pro and my mac mini are one and the same computer. Any ideas?

Thanks, Sig.
The old computer is a 2.6 Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo
The new one is a 2.3 GHz intel core i7
In going over this, thanks to "tallking it out" with you, I did discover the Text Edit problem. Because I've still been unable to get the new computer text size (fonts or whatever) to match the old computer, I did not notice that the curser is now different--the line midway down the curser has to be placed on the line I am working upon, otherwise the edits go elsewhere on the page. Now, with a bit of difficulty, I am able to get Text Edit to work correctly.
If you have any ideas as to why my menu bar and Text Edit type are still so slow, I'd love to have them.
(I went through the process you suggested earlier, re my Trackpad preferences, and found no improvement.)

Are there any amazing features for people with disabilities not available in Windows?

I do volunteer work at a group in Tokyo which provides English conversation and light computer lessons for people with various kinds of disabilities on Sundays at a community center.
They want me to come in on Sundays for a few months and teach people - such as their other teachers - how to use Apple computers. And they bought all the teachers, including me, new MacBook Airs or MacBook Pros.
The thing is, these people are basically all Windows users, and they seem, somehow, to use their Windows machines just fine with varying disabilities. In particular, some portion of the group are blind. There is a Mac enthusiast who has gotten it into his mind that he wants more of his fellow members using Macs, rather than Windows, so he is behind this new project.
I know there are "accessibility features" for the Mac, though I've not really made use of them myself except for some light testing so far to see that they work.
My question is "why Mac?" I am a Mac user myself, and I enjoy using a Mac. But I think it is probably a matter of what you are used to. If these people are happy using their Windows machines I don't know of anything I can say to make them want to switch. So I'm not sure how practical or productive the entire plan is, though I'm happy to try to help out, and I enjoy working with the group.
I can certainly teach these people, who are not familiar with Macs, how to use them. I've been using Macs for years and years.
But is there anything I can say about why Mac features for people with disabilities are better than Windows features? Any examples anybody can point me to?
Like I said, I'm happy to go over there on Sundays and help out and bring my new MacBook Pro over and hook it up to the projector and point out interesting things you can do on the Mac and answer questions.
But the big question that I can't answer is, "Are there benefits to using a Mac over Windows for people with disabilities?" If anybody knows of any, please let me know! I don't want the person promoting this project to feel it was a waste at all. I think basically he feels left out being basically the only Mac user there and wants to generate more of a circle of supportive people around him who are Mac users since he himself is losing his sight. So if there are factual, practical reasons for "Why Mac for people with disabilities" I would like to explain them.
Thanks,
Doug

Hi Doug
It sounds like you are doing a good job with your technology students. I've been an Apple Mac user for well over 30 years and occasionally had to use Windows when using MS Access. To my mind, the Mac is much easier to use from the "Starting Grid" than Windows. And having worked in a University with both platforms, the cult is fairly evenly balanced. However, the current generations of Apple Tablets are infinately easier to understand than OSX or Win7/8. I think there is an old saying here which has many merits "If it ain't broke" don't try and fix it". If your students are learning to understand Windows and are coping with it, the confusion of teaching them Mac, might actually give yourself a potential nightmare scenario. Certainly Microsoft with Windows 8, is trying to bring the latest operating system into the 21st Century, and whilst it wouldn't suit me, why create a dilemma for yourself when they seem to be happy with what they've got.
In terms of your final paragraph, and reaching for the proverbial glass ball, I can see a future of tablets gaining even more popularity, and with the likes of Siri, which is in part available now on the iPhone. Surely this is the path of the future where one can talk to the device and gain an immediate response. Even Steve Wozniak hinted at this in a television interview on BBC's Click television programme. I'm sorry there's no definitive answer to your question, but hats off to Gene Roddenberry whose imagination has given inspiration to the makers of our devices that has created a communications world and is infinately getting closer to the audience you are trying to reach out to.

I am unable to access rotten tomato film clips with safari

I am unable to access rotten tomato film clips with Mac 10.6.8 with Safari server 5.1.10 Only a black screen shows. I have latest version of Adobe flash installed. I have allowed in my Safari preferences to allow Java and all other plug ins.

Safari 5.1.10 is not being updated and doesn't meet all current web requirements. Try another browser as a test.
Firefox

Is "Photoshop CC Features" extension compatible with PS CC 2014 ???

Is "Photoshop CC Features" extension compatible with PS CC 2014 ???

Try http://helpx.adobe.com/x-productkb/global/mac-os-mavericks-compatability.html
Allan

Feature Film VFX with AE

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