In My Image feedback

Post by **mattias** » Sun Apr 11, 2004 1:15 pm

Actor wrote: The frame rate for NTSC is 29.97. Am I missing something here?

you are actually. :-) dvd's can be encoded at 23.976 fps too. the pulldown is added on the fly when you play it back on a tv.

/matt

Post by **christoph** » Sun Apr 11, 2004 7:20 pm

Scotness wrote:I tried last night to encode an ntsc version using ulead moviemaker - so it's all pretty well automated - using 4000kbs cbr it came to 5.1g asfter 10 hours and it's only a 1 and a half hour movie ! I'll try again tonight at 3000

you really should use VBR (or better 2-pass VBR) at bitrates this low (yeah i know it takes ages - i need a new computer as well ;).. also, it really pays to encode the audio soundtrack as AAC instead of uncompressed... you can get nearly one GB extra on long movies for picture quality without noticable losses in sound.
i usually use A.pack for the encoding... if you dont have any AAC encoding software and you have a fast upload line you could send me the uncompressed aif (or wav) file and i would send you back the AAC.

++ christoph ++

Post by **Scotness** » Tue Apr 13, 2004 2:04 pm

Okay everyone here's the good and bad news on the NTSC discs:

I did manage to burn one NTSC disc (re-encoding it at a lower rate) anyway it played alright except for the colour reproduction - it was right off in blues and greens - I put a broadcast safe filter on it - but it still looked like crap.

I don't want to release the disc like this (even with a disclaimer on it) because impressions count and it looked too bad. My TV and DVD player can play NTSC as well as PAL so it wasn't the gear - I think the problems just in converting PAL to NTSC and trying to play it on TV's.

When I played it on my computer the colours were fine - so why not sell the NTSC discs then? - well if you can play the NTSC discs on a computer then you can play the PAL ones as well - so I might as well just stick with them - and they're higher quality anyway.

So sorry guys - I guess this is the end of the line - if you're desperately keen to see it in NTSC land I'm sure with a bit of effort you can find someone with a computer or dual system tv/dvd -- and I have been selling them into the US so someones doing it!

Sorry guys but I tried

Scot

Post by **downix** » Tue Apr 13, 2004 5:46 pm

Scotness wrote:Okay everyone here's the good and bad news on the NTSC discs:

I did manage to burn one NTSC disc (re-encoding it at a lower rate) anyway it played alright except for the colour reproduction - it was right off in blues and greens - I put a broadcast safe filter on it - but it still looked like crap.

I don't want to release the disc like this (even with a disclaimer on it) because impressions count and it looked too bad. My TV and DVD player can play NTSC as well as PAL so it wasn't the gear - I think the problems just in converting PAL to NTSC and trying to play it on TV's.

When I played it on my computer the colours were fine - so why not sell the NTSC discs then? - well if you can play the NTSC discs on a computer then you can play the PAL ones as well - so I might as well just stick with them - and they're higher quality anyway.

So sorry guys - I guess this is the end of the line - if you're desperately keen to see it in NTSC land I'm sure with a bit of effort you can find someone with a computer or dual system tv/dvd -- and I have been selling them into the US so someones doing it!

Sorry guys but I tried

Scot

I'd be fine with a PAL disc, as i have TV's that support both. But I can't find any url that has any disks for sale.

Post by **Scotness** » Tue Apr 13, 2004 11:34 pm

http://www.mango-a-gogo.com/inmyimage/imsales.htm

I used to have my main url http://www.mango-a-gogo.com as my signature - I better check into that! -- but anyway all the info is there

Scot

Post by **Plastik** » Wed Apr 14, 2004 6:12 am

I watched the film and thought it was quite good. At first I was watching from a technical perspective but did find myself involved more and more with the strory as it progressed.

Having said that, the jitter did interrupt my attention.

Well done though Scott. You went out and shot a film (on super 8 might I add). It must have been an incredible learning curve for you.

All the best with future projects.

Post by **Scotness** » Wed Apr 14, 2004 12:50 pm

Thanks Ertugrul - yes the jitter is annoying but what could you do - fortunately there's not very much of it -- and yes a huge learning curve - the next one will be alot easier!

Scot

Post by **Roy Brown** » Sat Apr 24, 2004 7:46 pm

Hi Scott

Very nice job and congrats on completing your film. It played great on my computer.

Post by **MovieStuff** » Sat Apr 24, 2004 9:08 pm

Haven't seen it yet (hint, hint, Scott) but I understand the airplane shots are outstanding. ;)

Roger

Post by **Angus** » Sat Apr 24, 2004 9:30 pm

I looked out specially for the shots of the plane, very well done Roger.

I too started watching with a technical eye and ended up very interested in the story - which is a testiment to how strong the idea is.

Bottom line...i watched half as a reviewer and half from a technical POV...but I would watch the film again for pleasure.

Post by **Roy Brown** » Sat Apr 24, 2004 10:40 pm

Yea the airplane shots were really cool, especially the last shot were the people were walking. I kept waiting for Roger and his Daughter to peek up from the platform

Post by **Scotness** » Sat Apr 24, 2004 11:37 pm

Thanks guys - yes sorry Roger - but I have a whole lot of DVD's I've just burnt including one for you on my desk right now - it's the ANZAC day long weekend this weekend so I'll send it to you on Tuesday - probably get there the following week -- but then I've heard reports of things taking an awfully long time to get there because of the added security preocedures for the post now in the states - but anyway I'll send it on Tue - sorry it's taken so long :oops:

Scot

Post by **mattias** » Tue May 11, 2004 1:04 pm

ok, i finally saw it from beginning to end. like many others i fast forwarded it a couple of times to check the technical quality, but when i finally saw it the way you should (?) i was caught. a great and important story very well told, and very thought provoking, i still can't stop thinking about it. i also think it looked great, especially the editing which is a lot better than most no budget features i've seen (el mariachi excluded though). i didn't really mind the jitter, and the so called underexposed shots were the most beautiful in the film in my opinion.

what did bother me a little were the thin vertical lines in most of the scenes. did you find the source of them? they maks the dvd authoring look unprofessional (well, i guess it is, so no big harm done) and it hurts the story too since it sort of kills the organic look and depth of the otherwise beautiful wilderness scenes.

and now to some quite hard critisism that i wouldn't feel like an honest man if i didn't tell you: the sound mix is *awful*. a dialog based film where you can't hear the dialog? while it sounds ok at best in my computer speakers it's a complete mess on my 5.1 system. you should hire somebody to clean it up for you, or at least get a couple of reference speakers and listen for yourself. you can't really release a film without performing some very basic mixing tasks, like normalizing dialogue and cutting out excessive bass (sometimes when people talk you can only hear their chest resonance and breathing into the mic). i know you had several audio problems, but i think you've got more than good enough audio to get a *much* better mix than this. if you're looking to get tv and festival screenings you really have to fix it. the sound quality is one of the first things these people check.

so, overall you should consider this a very positive review, and the audio problems can still be fixed i think. congratulations!

/matt

Post by **Angus** » Tue May 11, 2004 2:58 pm

I realise I didn't listen through either headphones or my 5.1 system so I cannot comment on that...but going from the TV speakers I'd agree that at some points the dialogue is hard to hear. Another positive aspect of the film was that it is dialogue based, something most TV and film makers are moving away from these days.

As for the technical qualities, all I can do is say again that I showed selected scenes to some friends who thought they were watching parts of a professional TV movie. When It od them the actual circumstances they didn't believe me till I showed them this forum.

Post by **jean** » Tue May 11, 2004 3:56 pm

Angus wrote:As for the technical qualities, all I can do is say again that I showed selected scenes to some friends who thought they were watching parts of a professional TV movie. When It od them the actual circumstances they didn't believe me till I showed them this forum.

Hey, I consider the actual circumstances better as any TV movie! In the end, somebody with talent and dedication can make a great movie, and compensate for all the pro's ressources he has not. It's not the professional's toys and gadgets that make a good movie, but the images and the story. Nobody is going to ask whether it was a crane or someone climbed a tree, holding a s8 cam - as long as the result works. Cranes, dollies, folks that pull cables and set lights are of course very convenient, but many times it has been proven that you can do a movie without all this. I'm looking forward to actually seeing the movie!

Yes, I'll be curious too about the technical aspects, as with all s8 features that have come out recently. Of course I want to know how far the 8mm does bring you, and what the true potential is.