Final Presentation

Today the class gave the final presentation to Bill Christensen.



We broke down the story we had developed, the casting we had for the project, had a live read through of the working script, looked at the budget the class put together and even the marketing plan.

After our presentation, Bill stuck around to ask more question and things sounded very positive that we would be able to get the $30,000.00 we are asking for to get the project off the ground. Here is hoping that we get to work on it over the summer and get paid.

Final Budget

Last week we got our final budget put together in class and I was able to use an excel spread sheet that did the math on the fly. So as we went over the final revision in class, I was able to add those changes into the sheet on my computer in class.

The final numbers came out below the number we were expecting, which is great. The spread sheet even breaks it all down into departments so we can see how each department would use what cut of the budget and for what. Everything appears to be coming together.

A Visit from Doug Wellman

I wasn't in class the day we had a visit from Doug Wellman. He was from USC and was there to talk about the film industry

Two days at NAB 2014

Tuesday: The first day I rode to the NAB with Patrick Peteete and Dustin Merrill. It was nice to go with a small group, because it was easier to stay together. Even though we separated for a while.

We checked out Canon, ARRI, GoPro, SONY, Black Magic, RED, nVidia, AJA, Fijinon, Libec, and many others.

I was impressed with the Black Magic 4K URSA camera, but it was very large to carry around. It had a great interface with a touch screen on the side as well as a huge flip out screen for viewing what was being filmed. I liked the peaking, but with it being green, I imagine it would get lost in a scene with lots of vegetation. Dustin pointed out that the color temperature settings only worked in steps (i.e. 3200, 3600, 4000) and had nothing in between. I don't understand why that have it set up that way and I didn't get the chance to ask.

We also spent some time at the RED booth, where they had several RED's set up with a runway show going on. They would film the runway show, take the SSHD from the camera to a computer at the back of the booth and download the footage. Then, use video footage to capture stills of the 4K video to print out full size prints from a color printer using 24x36 rolls of paper. That was pretty impressive since it was from video.

The SONY booth had some cameras set up as usual and we got to play around with the F55 while we were there. The F55 seemed to be in every booth in the entire convention center. So I got to get a pretty good look at what the camera had to offer.

Wednesday: The second day I rode the bus with the majority of the group. Patrick came again and I had scheduled a private demo of some modeling, special FX, and animation software that I was impressed with on Tuesday.

We spent some time checking out the AMD booth and a few other places that we missed the first day. We spoke to AMP Music about their service that is similar to what we get from Warner/Chapel. But AMP said that we would have access to the entire library. I wonder if that is the case with W/C.

My private demo was cool and I got to play around with the software. I want to see how easy it was to just jump into and use, which was about what I expected. There was a slight learning curve, but it was something anyone could get the hang of if they just took the time to learn it.

Wrap-up: Overall, it was great to go to NAB again this year. I love checking out the gadgets and trying to win stuff. Some of the GoPro giveaways are the best around. Maybe this year I will win something from one of the booths that I got scanned at since I wasn't so lucky at the GoPro booth where they give away a GoPro package every day with tons of goodies to one lucky person. Oh, and there were models at the  RED booth.

A Visit from Marshal Moore

On Wednesday we had a special guest come into class from the Utah Film Commission,



the Director of the U.F.C., Marshal Moore.

He shared some of his own early experiences in the film industry and incite into the Utah Film Commission. Marshal also shared how the U.F.C. is a resource for matching up crew members with production projects in the state and how we as students could sign up for membership.

Later that evening, he gave a presentation for us that showcased Utah as the go to location for shooting anything and everything. It was amazing to see how many bug budget pictures are shot in Utah and got me excited about working in the industry.

A Visit from Britt Poulton

On Monday we had a special guest in class. Britt Poulton stopped by to talk about her local production of "The Lizard King".

She also talked about her path and how she got from where she started in her career.


from Britt's Facebook

Her advice ranged from writing and casting to what what you should do with your material to keep is safe from bigger producers.

She also shared some fun stories about working in Hollywood and how surreal it was at times.

Britt was an amazing person to meet and fun to hear speak about her experiences. I hope to stay in touch with her and possibly work with her on a project in the future.

Production Budgeting

This past week we put together a budget for the Libby and Art project. We got handouts that listed all of the above the line expenses, like the cast, director, producer, etc; and then we worked on the below the line stuff as well, which was made up of most of the grips, make-up, etc.

I decided to look into budgeting spreadsheets online and found this:
http://uscreen.co.uk/uploads/how-to/Film_Budget.pdf

It's the same one we used in class. It would be nice to have an XLS file of this kind given out in class for us to use on our capstones. I found this one that is close online.
http://mfc.com.mt/filebank/imagebank/pdf/Annex2-ExampleofProductionBudget..xls

I also looked up what certain people did on a set, to help assign the amounts to the different roles, and I was able to find this great resource online.
http://www.film.vic.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0010/4897/Crew-Roles-and-Departments-Guide.pdf