I’ve been working on a programming book I call LuaCow. It’s aimed for anyone who is entirely new to programming and wants a start. Each chapter has code examples and, thanks to my host nearlyfreespeech, you can enter and run Lua code from the web page! Really cool.
Check it out http://locofilm.co.uk/LuaCow
Getting tired of turning up on set without any kit I’ve decided to start, I don’t have enough money right now to get all the assistant camera essentials but I had to start somewhere. Everything was bought at B&Q and Staples or found lying about the flat.
This post here is very helpful http://www.theblackandblue.com/2011/12/15/camera-assistant-toolkit/
Other things you don’t see in the pictures includes allen/hex keys, tape measure, hammer, g-clamps, stanley knife and hammer.
Looking a the Contour ShuttlePro I was wondering if it would make any impact to my editing workflow. However being the cheapskate that I am I decided to hack my own version with an Xbox 360 controller, not even an official one, a cheap one I bought at Argos.
My current layout for final cut pro 7.
The jogging and the scrolling works well, the further you push the joystick the faster it jogs, you can have the controller next to the keyboard, have your middle finger on the left joystick and thumb on the right.
Before you can set this up you need to download the drivers for OS X here: http://tattiebogle.net/index.php/ProjectRoot/Xbox360Controller/OsxDriver
Then you need a program that can convert buttons on the controller into keystrokes. ControllerMate is some excellent software that allows you to “customize the behavior of your HID devices — keyboards, keypads, mice, trackballs, joysticks, gamepads, throttles, among others”. There’s a slight learning curve but I have created a preset for you to download.
The past few weeks i’ve been doing more cinematography. Naturally this involves cameras. During the course i’ve used and seen many different cameras; JVC, Sony EX3, Arri film (16 and 35mm), Arri Alexa, Sony F3, Canon (5d, 7d, 55od) and the panasonic gh2.
That’s a lot of letters and numbers and it can all get confusing fast. The camera was the invention that sparked filmmaking, but at the end of the day, if it works you can film a good story.
We’ve also been learning a lot about lighting, the other week we we’re recreating paintings from the national gallery using an assortment of lights. It’s a great exercise to make you think very carefully about what the light in the scene is, and like a painter you can cheat and bend the rules of where the light is coming from.
Last week was a week of short films. We had four hours each to shoot a film. Unlike our directing exercises in which we had an hour to shoot, this was about lighting and creating a location, the luxury extra three hours gave us time to really think about the process.
In my last post I talked about an iPhone game i’ve been developing. While that’s in a decent state it’s on hold because i’ve been developing a utility application for filmmakers called Shot Lists.
Shots Lists helps you organise your shots and media project by being readily available and editable on your phone.
Keep track and time each slate so you get a quick idea of how fast the shoot is going, add crew and cast to your project and use the iPhone’s location services to easily add locations or find them.
Here’s a quick preview (this video is a week old and quite a bit has been added already!):