Winners have been chosen !

rava

The 2015 Media Scholars have been chosen!

 

The panel of judges for the 2015 RAVA Scholar Awards:

Nora Brown, Executive Director, Rochester/Fingerlakes Film & Video Office
Don Casper, EPIC 10 Films
Tom Cummings, Cummings Creative, Inc.
Nancy Gertner, Nancy Gertner Productions
Matt White, 4th Coast Productions

 

39th Annual RAVA Scholarship Awards Ceremony
(Guests welcome!)
 
Tuesday, April 14, 2015
High Tech Rochester (Media Room)
150 Lucius Gordon Way, West Henrietta, NY 14586
Light food and refreshments sponsored by World Leaders Sales will be served.
 
Program
5:30 Networking
6:15 Opening Remarks
6:30 Awards and film screenings
7:00 Closing
7:30 Meet for drinks
Lovin’ Cup, 300 Park Point Drive Suite #101, Rochester, New York
 
 (RSVP as soon as possible to: rsvp@myrava.com)
 
Thank you to our sponsors!
 
 
Please donate to the scholarship fund by visiting http://myrava.com/scholarships
Remember to renew your membership at http://myrava.com/membership
 

RMM General Meeting Minutes – December 4, 2014

rmm

RMM General Meeting Minutes – December 4, 2014 (November 2014 Meeting)
Start Time: 6:38pm
Total in Attendance: 15
Location: RCTV
Agenda:
Introductions

  • Made individually around the room

New Business:

  • Membership of RMM/RCTV combo is available for $65/year or $25/yr for RMM.
  • RCTV has 3 new classes beginning in January:
  • Basics of Videography
  • Digital Editing
  • TV Studio Production

Completion of classes allows individual use of studio and equipment.
M2M 2015

  • Dates are January 22-25th
  • This year we care partnering with Fast Forward Film Festival (FFFF) to incorporate an Environmental element into the competition. Teams have their choice to spin and gets props, character, situation or can use “The Environment” for a character.
  • If teams choose this option, they will be entered into the FFFF with an additional chance to win up to $3000 in prize money.

Writers Group

  • Meets every other Weds. from 6:00pm to 8:00pm.
  • Next meeting will be 12/17/14 at Crossroad’s Café (behind Cinema Theater).
  • Currently working on logline exercises and a new assignment of 10 first ten pages in preparation for March’s “Scriptapolooza.”
  • All skill levels welcome.
  • Sign up to receive updates on RMM Writers Group’s Facebook page.

Our next general meeting will be the Holiday/White Elephant Party on Jan 8, 2015.

  • There will be free food and drinks.
  • Come with your best “worst” present to participate in the White Elephant.
  • Our next Executive Board meeting will be held on Thursday, 12/11/14 at the Little Theater Cafe at 6pm.

Projects:
Justin Curtis has a 30 page dark comedy project that he is directing. He is looking to shoot beginning in January – mostly on Weekends.
He is seeking:

  • 1 Cinematographer (Canon 60D camera provided)
  • 1 Gaffer
  • 1 AD
  • 1 Sound person
  • Actors — 1 female, 20-25
  • 1 female, 40
  • 1 male, 15-20
  • 1 male, 20 – main character
  • 2 -3 extras
  • For further info Contact Justin at: majorelvisfan424 AT gmail DOT com or 585-953-3728

Curt Markham’s “Silverspear”

  • Curt is looking for Female VO talent for his animated film. Contact: silverspearfilm AT gmail DOT com

Pacho Lane – is in post on “Columbia One,” a documentary about the first Peace Corp group in 1961. It Involves the history, training footage, and follow up fifty years later, ending with reunion party in 2011.

  • He needs Assistant Editor.
  • Wants to have it done by the end of the year.
  • E-mail Pancho at ethnoscope AT yahoo DOT com for more information or visit his website
  • www.docfilm.com

Speaker: Mike Boas – Intro to Celtx.

  • Mike showed the features and uses of Celtx including: post-it notes/location database/scratch
  • pad/project library notes.
  • Also demonstrated the ease of use in beginning to type a script and the auto format that the
  • program allows.
  • In the end, Mike showed how to save in proper format and how to convert to PDF.

ADDITIONAL INFO:
All of us at Empire Film want to wish you a happy new year and good tidings during the holiday season. If your looking for things to do we will be hosting a screening of Once in a Good Many Million Times in Rochester, NY on January 2 and 3. It will take place at the Swiftwater Brewing Company located at 378 Mt. Hope Ave. The taps open at 4pm and the film will play at 8pm.
Admission is free but, there will be a suggested donation and Limited Edition DVD Pre-sales. So come on out to Rochester and enjoy good friends, good beer, and a great film with us. You will be able to stay updated by joining the event on Facebook at one of the following links.
January 2: https://www.facebook.com/events/556775837791056/
January 3: https://www.facebook.com/events/836233469767347/
We look forward to seeing you!
rmm-general-meeting-mins-12_14

NOISE = UNWANTED SOUND! Want to “DE-WANT” that sound?

rava

Audio engineers have been creatively trying to remove noises from music and dialogue tracks with various tools such as equalization, noise reduction, and creative techniques for phase cancelling. Recently, I purchased iZotope RX 4 Advanced software, after I’d seen the power and possibilities. Its ability to remove noise, such as hums and buzzes, take out reverb from poorly recorded tracks or from tracks recorded in bad environments, and to literally PhotoShop out sounds from a visual audio spectrum, is absolutely amazing! I was able to experiment on several different types of audio clips, such as a badly recorded guitar in a live session, dialogue from a documentary with multiple air conditioners in the room, and even an interview in a reverberant space. It was almost a miracle!

Nothing is for free, and there are always artifacts to deal with, but the tools available in the software don’t even come close to the old days of tweaking equalizers and playing with notch filters. It was well worth the price to purchase this, and what I can offer my clients with speed and sonic clarity will make my post-production craftsmanship even better.

I’m not selling this program and I have a lot to learn, but so far, I like it! You can check it out on your own; go to this link: https://www.izotope.com.

 

 

Dave Sluberski

West Rush Productions

President, Rochester AudioVisual Assn.

www.davesluberski.com

RMM General Meeting Minutes – October 2014

rmm

October 30, 2014
Start Time: 6:30PM
Total in Attendance: 25
Location: RCTV
Agenda:
 
Introductions:

  • Made individually around the room
  • Announced resignation of Treasurer and Secretary Chris Hazenbush

Upcoming Events:
RMM Executive Board Meeting

  • Second Thursday of each month
  • Next meeting is Thursday, November 13, 2014
    • Put out call for new Secretary and Treasurer
    • Any interested parties should come to the board meeting for more information

RMM Writers Group

  • Next meeting is Wednesday, November 12, 2014 at Animatus Studios
    • 6:00pm to 8:00pm
    • Currently working on logline challenges
    • Looking to switch back to Crossroads Café soon

RMM Mind2Movie 2015

  • Thursday, January 22, 2015 – Sunday, January 25, 2015
  • Mentioned that this year, you can opt to have the environment as the character so the film can also be entered into Fast Forward Film Festival
  • Secured Scott Fitzgerald, Karl Goldsmith from the Rochester Finger Lakers Video Office, Michael Gamilla from Image Out Film Festival, and Rebecca Delaney from Fast Forward Film Festival as judges
  • Tentative showing date at Cinema Theater is February 9, 2015

General Meeting Date Changes

  • November meeting is now on Thursday, December 4, 2014
  • December meeting (White Elephant Party) is on Thursday, January 8, 2015

Upcoming Projects:
Pancho Lane – Columbia One (documentary film)

  • Documentary about the first Peace Corp group in 1961
    • Involves the history, training footage, and follow up fifty years later
    • Ends with reunion party in 2011
  • Needs assistant editor
    • Wants to have it done by the end of the year
  • E-mail Pancho at ethnoscope AT yahoo DOT com for more information or visit his website www.docfilm.com

Liz Lehmann – Sharknado Spoof

  • Needs sound person for filming on November 1, 2014
    • 9:30am to 12:00pm
    • 1 actor, 1 scene, 2 shots
  • Has equipment, but needs a sound monitor

Chuck – Skin Deep (short film)

  • Short film with heavy visual and make-up effects
  • E-mail zeroonefilms AT rochester.rr DOT com for more information

Jake Baird – Fast Awake (short film)

  • 30-page script
  • Needs all cast and crew, except for music composer
  • E-mail jakemppbaird AT gmail DOT com for more information

 
Speaker:
Peter Kiwitt – “The Dangers of Reasonable Compromise”

  • Background
    • Teacher at RIT (directing)
    • Worked in the film industry in LA for 20 years
    • Recently finished shooting Purple Heart and will be shooting another film soon
  • Top lessons learned from shooting Purple Heart
    • Don’t underestimate how hard it is to make a film
    • Don’t underestimate how hard it is to get an “ok film” to a “good film” or a “great film”
      • It’s very difficult to get it from 80% there to 100% there
    • Study what you shot to learn and make your next shots better
  • The Dangers of Reasonable Compromise
    • Everyone has to compromise, but it’s dangerous
    • Simple compromises early on can become bigger issues later
    • Example: had to compromise on a glass breaking scene, but it changed the emotional impact of it
    • Example: had to make a fight scene less intense, but it changed the emotional buildup of the character
      • Result: had to rearrange the scenes in post for it to make sense
    • Always “listen to the tickle” in the back of your head
      • Even if you don’t understand why
      • What will hurt you later on is what you don’t consciously recognize while your filming
      • Little decisions can sometimes make a big difference
  • Additional filmmaking tips
    • The first cut should be the movie you wrote, then start cutting the movie you shot
    • Get multiple takes, look for the best moments in everything, and cut to get as many of those good moments as possible
    • Keep writing the script until you get it perfect, then shoot
      • Should take up to at least 7 drafts
    • Always cut the best movie you shot
      • Should take at least 7 cuts
    • The Director should cut with the editor for the last cut
      • Cutting requires a sense of rhythm and flow
      • Need to feel it
    • You can always make something work in editing
    • Story still matters
      • So many filmmakers/content out there, but how much of it is really great?
      • Very hard to make something truly great

 
Screening:

  • Chris Hazenbush – Can’t Weight
    • Screened his short film

 
Networking:
 
End of Meeting: 8:30PM
 
RMM General Meeting Minutes – October 2014 (Word Doc)

RMM General Meeting Minutes – September 2014

rmm

September 25, 2014
Start Time: 6:35PM
Total in Attendance: 23
Location: RCTV
Agenda:
 
Introductions:

Upcoming Events:
RMM Executive Board Meeting

  • Second Thursday of each month
  • Next meeting is Thursday, October 9, 2014
    • Put out call for new Secretary
    • Any interested parties should come to the board meeting for more information

RMM Writers Group

  • Next meeting is Wednesday, October 1, 2014 at Animatus Studio
  • 6:00pm to 8:00pm

RMM Mind2Movie 2015

  • May change start date to Friday, instead of Thursday
  • Secured Karl Goldsmith from the Rochester Finger Lakers Video Office and Michael Gamilla from Image Out Film Festival as judges

RCTV Classes this Fall

  • Basics of Videography classes – Saturdays 1:00pm to 3:00pm
    • Can take on a rolling basis
  • How to Shoot a Talk-Show Format Show – started Tuesday, September 23, 2014, but can still join class
    • Will have this class again in February 2015

Johannes Bockwoldt classes at Writers & Books

RMM “372-Hour Film Competition”

  • New film competition for next summer
  • Teams have two weeks and three weekends to make an entire short film, five to ten minutes in length
  • A prop, situation, and character will be the same for all teams
  • Tentative Dates are July 18, 2015 – August 4, 2015

Fast Forward Film Festival Call for Entries

  • Submission window – October 8, 2014 (8:00am) through February 27, 2015 (11:59pm)

Upcoming Projects:
Dan Bauman – “Limitations”

  • Experimental nature video
  • Shooting in the Fall, needs an editor
  • Contact danbauman@netzero.com for more information

 
Speaker:
Neeti Fidurko – “How NOT To Make An Indie Film”
o   Teacher at RIT, musician, and promo/music video producer
o   Recently filmed “Who Would Jesus Date?”, which explores the question, “what if Jesus dated?”

  • Filming wrapped in July, currently in post
  • About 15 minutes long
  • Ten tips on how NOT to make an independent film

o   Be an auteur

  • The filmmaker as sole artistic vision
  • Instead, get people to help you and share the workload

o   Continue to work with people who miss deadlines

  • Especially on a low budget
  • Instead, get people that are prompt and responsible

o   Be a democrat

  • Instead, be a decisive director on set (even if you’re mean)

o   Change locations the night before the shoot

  • Especially for a special effects shot
  • Instead, stick to the shooting plan

o   Don’t check the monitor

  • Instead, always check it, especially if the camera operator is not experienced
  • It will allow you to catch focus/smudge/framing issues

o   Cast your friends

  • You can cast your friends, but AUDITION first

o   Shoot everything in three consecutive, 12-hour days

  • Too stressful
  • Instead, be more realistic with time and spread out if you can

o   Don’t have a production photographer

  • Instead, always get promo shots in addition to production/on set shots

o   Consider it work

  • Instead, have fun and don’t stress out on set

o   Save the worst for last

  • Instead, do the toughest shots first because you’re most fresh and awake

 
Networking:
 
End of Meeting: 8:30PM
 
Download the word doc: RMM General Meeting Minutes – September 2014

RMM General Meeting Minutes – August 2014

rmm

August 28, 2014
Start Time: 6:34PM
Total in Attendance: 30
Location: RCTV
Agenda:
 
Introductions:

  • Made individually around the room

 
Upcoming Events:
RMM Executive Board Meeting

  • Second Thursday of each month
  • Next meeting is Thursday, September 11, 2014
    • Put out call for new Secretary
    • Any interested parties should come to the board meeting for more information

RMM Writers Group

  • Looking for a location to hold meetings on Tuesdays or Wednesdays
    • Perhaps a library
    • Will keep everyone posted through e-mail and Facebook

RMM Mind2Movie 2015

  • Announced dates set for event
    • January 22, 2015 through January 26, 2015

RCTV Classes this Fall

  • Starting tonight, class on how to film an entertainment variety show (Phythodd Remix)
  • Videography class – Saturdays in September
  • How to Shoot a Talk-Show Format Show – will also be happening this fall
  • Also, mentioned the Roc Co-Op for shooting TV shows
    • Join a group to help create a weekly TV show
  • For more information, go to www.rctv15.org

RMM “372-Hour Film Competition”

  • New film competition for next summer
  • Teams have two weeks and three weekends to make an entire short film, five to ten minutes in length
  • A prop, situation, and character will be the same for all teams
  • Looking for help on planning
  • Looking for feedback/ideas for improvements

Buffalo Film Expo

 
Upcoming Projects:
Adrian Esposito – Disability Hollywood

  • Documentary about disabilities in Hollywood, and a history of people with disabilities in Hollywood
  • May need cameraman to shoot an Advocacy Group Meeting at Arc of Monroe County (http://www.arcmonroe.org/)
    • Will be screening Freaks and wants to get participants’ reactions on film
  • Doesn’t know date nor time yet, but wants to shoot sometime in September
  • Has camera to use
  • Contact adrianesposito AT rochester.rr DOT com for more information

Randy Huckabone – Eyes of Wild

  • Trailer for film was screened and cast/crew answered questions
  • One-take feature film completed on August 18, 2014
  • The film is about a creature that comes to a secluded campsite
    • Camera is the perspective of the monster
  • Rehearsed all day and shot the last take at night
    • Had to shoot a second time (on a second date) because GoPro cameras had too wide an angle when they shot the first time, and the footage came out too dark
    • Switched to Canon XE10 cameras for second, successful shoot
  • Film had successful Kickstarter campaign
  • Still need to do all ADR for sound
  • Plans on taking it to festivals and will preview it at Rochester Comic-Con on September 21, 2014

 
Speaker:
Derrick Petrush – “Improving Your Digital Filmmaking”
Five tips

  • Always shoot progressive scan
  • Shoot 24-frame
  • Always edit natively
  • Shoot the highest resolution you have available
  • Make a Master File

Always Shoot Progressive Scan

  • Get clean, full images every time
  • Easier tfilter and rescale later
  • Cleaner compression due ta less complex frame
  • The worse alternative is shooting interlaced
    • Conceived in the 1920s as a clever hack tincrease rate of images without increasing bandwidth needed for transmission
    • Image is split inttwfields of alternate lines that are drawn one after another
    • Suitable for broadcast and physical videdelivery media that displayed on CRTs
    • Interlace “combing” is inconvenient and unattractive on every other platform
      • Too jagged-looking
      • But broadcast TV is still working with 30i
  • How tuse progressive scan
    • Progressive Scan cameras will prominently announce this feature
    • “video” cameras are not necessarily progressive, and often are not
    • All “cinema” cameras are progressive scan, and will rarely offer interlace as an option for compatibility
    • Progressive scan modes will always be denoted with a “p” after their resolution indicator (e.g. 720p, 1080p)
  • Sometimes Progressive is isn’t full Progressive
    • Progressive imagery can be “stored” in an interlaced frame
    • Progressive scanning videcameras that must maintain compatibility with traditional videsystems may convert the image tInterlaced prior trecording (e.g. mini-DV, HDV, DVCPRO)
    • Progressive scan display modes are not supported in “video” display and transport, except for 720p, only in North America (for now)
    • Twork and edit in Progressive these conversions must be un-done beforehand

Shoot 24-frame

  • Standard Cinema frame rate
  • Directly compatible tCinema projection, Internet and Streaming, On-Demand services, Blu-ray, and DVD
  • Easily convertible for North American broadcast by Telecine process
    • So, you can shoot in 24p, but then teleconvert t30fps
    • Both technical and artistic reasons tdit this way (as opposed tshooting directly in 30fps)
  • Easily convertible for European broadcast by speeding up 4%
  • Shooting in 24-frame
    • The frame-rate is actually 24.00fps or 23.976fps, depending on platform
      • They are compatible, but not interchangeable
    • 24.00fps is standard for Cinema
      • Film and projection run at this speed
      • Very few videcameras shoot at this frame rate, but all true “Digital Cinema” cameras support it
    • 23.976fps is for NTSC broadcast compatibility, as it can easily fit int29.97fps via the Telecine process
    • The dropped frame came from the 1950s, when a one frame out of 1000 was dropped tmake room for color broadcast signal
      • This “drop frame” followed through intDigital VideBroadcast and transports for compatibility

Shoot the Highest Resolution You Have Available (within reason)

  • There are a number of different resolutions available
    • 480 (NTSC), 576 (PAL), 720p, 1080, 2K, 2.7K (Arri Alexa), 4K (RED One), 5K (RED Epic), 6K (RED Dragon)
  • Shooting at higher resolutions than your finish resolution allows for:
    • Increased image quality and decreased noise (supersampling)
    • Flexibility in reframing
    • Ability tremaster ta higher resolution in the future
  • However,
    • Big frame rates take up big data, and require fast computers and a lot of processing power
    • Shooting 5K for something that will only ever be seen on SDTV is unnecessary
    • Shooting 5K and assuming you will have finished 1080 prints twork with by the end of the day is very difficult tdwithout money
  • That being said, shooting 4K for 2K or 1080 broadcast mastering is fantastic
    • Don’t feel bad about shooting in 2K
  • Use your best judgment, and balance time, quality, and money

Always Edit Natively (or in a Production-friendly codec)

  • Edit in a workspace native tyour camera (e.g. DVCPRO-HD)
  • Use an intermediate/working codec like Apple ProRes or Avid DNxHD
  • Some codecs cannot be worked in natively, such as most variants of MPEG
    • For example, H.264 is very tough on your computer just tplay the footage
  • Processor time can be spent on effects and faster response time
  • If you shoot in a non-edit-ready format, you must transcode prior tediting
    • “Pre-flighting”

Make a Master File

  • Your final, fully-rendered, finished movie in a single file
  • Should be created in your working codec for minimal processing and faithful reproduction
  • Easily and efficiently able tbe converted for finishing and distribution
  • You can then make different versions in an encoder from the master file much more easily
    • The movie is already rendered and all processor time can be devoted to conversion

Also, don’t forget sound
 
Networking:
 
End of Meeting: 8:30PM
 
RMM General Meeting Minutes – August 2014 WORD DOC