super 8 to HD24p

[Basstruc]

knew it, mate

[MovieStuff]

i suggest you start to shop a script around rather than a finished film. that's more likely to be successful

You really think so? When I went out to L.A. to install the Academy's Sniper-Pro units, everybody and their brother had a script they were shopping. It was unbelievable. Like being in Hawaii where even the cab driver has a real estate license. The guy serving you a burger at McDonalds, the clerk behind the hotel desk, the shoe-shine man in the hotel lobby, the busboy - everyone - all trying to get a script deal. It seems unlikely to me that shopping around a script would increase the odds of success over shopping a completed film of the same calibre. The competition is mind-numbing, just to get someone of any importance to read your script.

Roger

[mattias]

You really think so? When I went out to L.A. to install the Academy's Sniper-Pro units, everybody and their brother had a script they were shopping.

i know what you're saying, but if you've already made an independent feature or a couple of shorts that have gotten some attention it's *much* easier. and i'm not necessarily talking about hollywood either. there are plenty of independent producers around the world and the u.s. who are interested in a good screenplay.

/matt

[Actor]

...there are plenty of independent producers around the world and the u.s. who are interested in a good screenplay.

/matt

The operative word here is "good" and most screenplays being shopped around Hollywood or anywhere else on the planet are junk. Producers have devised the following tests to weed out the junk.

• Is it based on a proven product like a best selling novel (Harry Potter), popular play (Chicago) or comic book (Spider Man)? About half of all movies got their green light based on this test.
• Was it written by a proven screenwriter with a track record? Most of the other half pass this test.

A novice screenwriter/filmmaker with an original script passes neither of the above tests so if he even gets a chance to pitch his script he has to pass the sell-it-to-me-in-one-sentence test which IMHO has nothing to do with the quality of the script. Could you, or anybody, sell Lawrence of Arabia in one sentence? (During WW1 a latent homosexual British Officer leads Arab tribes in a revolt against the turks.)

The thing is that pitching a script requires an entirely different set of skills than filmmaking. A used car salesman is more likely to successfully pitch a script than a filmmaker, unless said filmmaker has a background in sales. I don't delude myself that I could ever do it.

I would rather buy a script than sell one. However, for me, they are prohibitively expensive. The WGA minimim is $30,000 even for unpublished, unproduced writers and most writers think their script is worth that. Even writers who are not WGA members hold this as non-negotiable.

[mattias]

The operative word here is "good" and most screenplays being shopped around Hollywood or anywhere else on the planet are junk.

word. but a good screenplay and a track record then, even though a limited one? ;-) if you're not a natural born pitcher you can always try and find an agent or indie producer first.

i know a few people who've "made it" in the u.s. and many who have in scandinavia. maybe i just have lucky friends or my working in the industry has brought me to the "right" people, but it never struck me as impossible. i don't know anyone who's sold their film to a major studio though. :-)

/matt

[MovieStuff]

if you've already made an independent feature or a couple of shorts that have gotten some attention it's *much* easier.

But you pretty much just said that producing an independent feature was a bad idea. I'm not following......

Roger

[mattias]

what? i said producing an indie feature was a great idea. i even tried to stress it so that people wouldn't misunderstand. i obviously knew that some people would consider me a naysayer just because i don't believe in the prospect of selling unfinished products. when you're done with your feature you start shopping your next script and voila, you've followed the best, easiest, and most common path to success.

/matt

[mattias]

i see. i guess you skipped page 2. if you only read my first comment and what i've said on this page i totally see how you were thinking.

/matt

[MovieStuff]

i see. i guess you skipped page 2. if you only read my first comment and what i've said on this page i totally see how you were thinking.

Yes. My mistake. Too distracted by my 6 year old daughter wading in the river when I told here not to. Stinker..... :lol:

Roger

[ccortez]

what? i said producing an indie feature was a great idea. i even tried to stress it so that people wouldn't misunderstand. i obviously knew that some people would consider me a naysayer just because i don't believe in the prospect of selling unfinished products. when you're done with your feature you start shopping your next script and voila, you've followed the best, easiest, and most common path to success.

/matt

this is all i meant with my comment. i think making an independent feature film is a fantastic idea (and challenge). i think the doing so b/c of the expectation that somebody will want to buy it and distribute it is a motivation/purpose leads nowhere usually.

my friends are doing what they're doing b/c he's had some high-profile success with a few shorts and feels that to "take it to the next level" he has to make a feature. he's really trying to sell himself, not really the movie. one of the things he's trying to sell about himself is that he can make saleable products. so IMHO the movie he's making is more formulaic than necessary and doesn't take many chances that are expressions of the rather strange guy i know.

anyway, i'm nobody to talk about it. i don't care much for 90% of the commercial/hollywood movies i see, and i don't ever think of doing that for money or any other reason. i like old, arty junk that all my friends hate. ;)

[Basstruc]

i know a few people who've "made it" in the u.s. and many who have in scandinavia.

I'm actually preparing a (personnal) still photography documentary on Islandic indie rock scene (heard about Kimono or Botneldja?) and something that seams relevant is that allmost all bands are working on an international career because Islandic potential audience is too small. Even if rock music is best selling there, it's such a small country.
And it seams that there's far more islandic bands touring in US than french band (name one?) because we find our audience here.
What about scandiavia ? What about sweden ? I know your capital count 5x the whole islandic population but still...
Matt

[Scotness]

i know a few people who've "made it" in the u.s. and many who have in scandinavia.

I'm actually preparing a (personnal) still photography documentary on Islandic indie rock scene (heard about Kimono or Botneldja?) and something that seams relevant is that allmost all bands are working on an international career because Islandic potential audience is too small. Even if rock music is best selling there, it's such a small country.
And it seams that there's far more islandic bands touring in US than french band (name one?) because we find our audience here.
What about scandiavia ? What about sweden ? I know your capital count 5x the whole islandic population but still...
Matt

Pretty much the situation here with bands too - the indie market in America is bigger than the mainstream market in Australia - so if you only "make it " a little bit there you can be better off than if you have mainstream sucess here. But then you get people who think "sucess" over there is sucess itself!

Getting back to film though - here's another angle on what to do with your film - my short Hold Me Tight is about half way through filming - and there's a strong prospect a high school history teacher is going to devise an education kit around it to teach about Australian convict and aboriginal history. Apparently teachers love audio/visual aids (and the kids do too) and if this all goes ahead and sells well then the film has the potential to not just cover it's cost but turn a profit as well. I didn't write the film for this - it's just a happy coincidence.

As much as I'd love too I'd nver go as far as to strike a release print of afeature myself - the only case where I would was in an example I read about in a film making book - somewhere in America a guy made a film about black issues which were quite cloesly tied into the general area where he lived - he made the film, the print and hired halls to show it and the film paid for itelf - but it was one of those rare occasions where you'd have a product that you knew would definitely tie in with a market.

Scot

[Basstruc]

Getting back to film though

my question was based on a music though but was pretty general (music, film, litterature and so on).
Do you make your movie thinking of a local audience or international audience and why ?

[The Light of Eons]

Hey there. Speaking of super-8 to HD24p! I did that very thing with my short, "The Light of Eons." I was very lucky to get a telecine on a Spirit from S8 (which I shot at 24fps) to HD24p at Technicolor in NYC. It looks great, if I may say so!

The interesting thing is that the grain looks great on the HD monitor, but downconverted to NTSC the grain causes video noise that kind of creates a second grain effect. Most people don't really notice it or think anything of it, but it's not actually the true grain that shows on HD.

All the festivals I've played in so far have screened in NTSC video. The unexpected benifit of shooting super 8 Tri-x black and white, though, is that it fares very well in video projection! While other color films had trouble with their color saturation and clarity, my black and white super-8 looked great!

The thing is, where will you really screen or show HD? Even with my previous short that I shot on 16mm, 95 percent of the time I was handing people VHS's of it anyway. I think in the end a transfer from S8 to Digibeta will get you similar, if not the same, results on a practical basis (that was my original plan for "Eons" until the HD opportunity came up).

You can see a bit of my footage in my trailer on the website:

http://www.thelightofeons.com

Also, if I may say, "Eons" won the Gold Special Jury award for Science Fiction Short at Worldfest Houston this weekend!

Dave

[Actor]

For the price of 12 or 24 rolls of S8 to HD, I'd purchase a workprinter from Roger and hookup a borrowed Sony Cinealta HD camcorder...

Gianni

Are you aware of the Cinealta prices?
And what about the cost of an HD capture card?
If you have made a work so good that it needs HD, better give the job to transfer professionals...

If you have made a work so good that it needs HD, better give the job to transfer professionals...

Absolutely. While I appreciate Gianni's enthusiasm, I always encourage film makers to use the best transfer they can afford. If it is important, send it to a Rank house or whatever premium transfer service suits your project. The WorkPrinter is a terrific way to do quality transfer if you are on a budget or just enjoy the process. Some really nice results are possible but, like Marc said, if you have film so good that it needs HD, better give the job to a top transfer house.

Roger
http://www.moviestuff.tv

HD is destined to become a consumer format. The last time I was window shopping at Best Buy it seemed as if all the TVs were HDTV. Some HD camcorders have just broken $6,000 and I'll bet that within 5 years comsumer HD camcorders, VCRs and DVD player/recorders will drop below $1,000. Everyone who has a WorkPrinter will be using one.

Of course "professionals" will pooh-pooh these comsumer camcorders as being not up to their standards. Never mind that the resolution, dynamic range, plug-in-your-favorite-quality-benchmark-here is one or two orders of magnitude better than the equipment they themselves were using 20 years before.

That's just the nature of the beast. If Kodak were to introduce a new emulsion, ASA 1600, that would make super8 look better than today's 70mm film the pros would not start using super8. Instead they'd demand, and get, the new emulsion in 35mm.