Break a Leg

Hey Break a Leggers.
I'm saving up to get filmmaking equipment, and the stuff you use seems to have really good results...
So if you don't mind....
What type of camera, editing software, microphones, lights, and other equipment that is important but I'm forgetting do you use?
I don't have anything at the moment, but I'm hoping in a few years after working a few jobs at once, lots of manual labor, marrying someone rich, and selling a few organs I'll be able to afford everything.

[Any advice would be amazing, too.]

Hey, Hannah.

That's a great question. So much so that I changed the title of your post so that other people can put in their questions about the actual process of filmmaking.

Let me start off with what I personally know about the equipment we use.

We shoot on an HVX200 -- an amazing camera made by Panasonic (sponsor us, Panasonic!) that shoots both in 24 frames per second and in HD. If you're not aware, most films are shot in 24 fps (unless they're trying to be artsy) so if you're looking to buy a camera to give you a more "pro" look -- look for one that can shoot in 24 frames, otherwise you get a very digital look. We shoot in 720p -- which is not the highest HD setting, but good enough for what we're doing and still really, really high quality (if only you could see this in full-screen, high-quality HD...)

The slightly irritating thing with shooting in HD is that in order to do that, you need to purchase P2 cards, which are obscenely expensive, or a Firestore drive. If you have more questions about that, ask, and Justin or Dashiell will answer (they're the tech guys, not so much me.)

We edit on Final Cut, I think the second to last version?

As far as lighting, we are lucky to be able to borrow an ARRI light kit that has 1, 1,000 watt light, 2 650 watt lights and 1 350 watt. They're big, spotlight things that you may sometimes see in the shot as part of the fake "set." However, there are cheaper tricks to lighting. We often us a china ball (those round, chinese lamps) -- which creates a really nice, soft, even glow that doesn't create too many shadows. We also have a few clamp lamps which work great in tight places.

When we light, especially outside and at night, we like to do a combination of orange and blue -- blue for the moon, orange for streetlights. It always looks gorgeous.

Microphone, boom pole, sound program, etc. -- Dustin, Dashiell, Justin? One of you want to answer that? And cover and/or correct anything I missed?

As for the rest of you -- please feel free to ask more questions! We've gone through a lot and definitely have SOME sort of wisdom to impart.

Thanks, guys.
-Yuri

Yep, Yuri pretty much Covered it. We also use Shake for VFX, the Humphrey video footage at the end of episode 2 and color correcting the "blood" thrown on Chase as a couple of examples.

And of course Photoshop for all of our graphics mixed in with FCP.

But as far as equipment goes, you definitely are going to have to sell a few organs to afford it all, unless the whole marrying someone rich thing works out, or you rob a bank... I've been thinking about doing the latter, how hard could it be?

You'd be best off trying to borrow or rent equipment, if you can, the best thing to do is try and find a job that actually houses all the equipment, some sort of tech related position, then see if you can fanagle (I'm not actually sure if this is a word but it sounds neat) your way into taking all of it when they're not looking and run to Mexico.

Anyone else with any questions I'll be happy to answer them.

It's finagle.

Just wondering, how do you create the totally awesome opening credits? Is that Final Cut as well or an animation program?

Yo Toby,

The intro is made using a mix of Final Cut Pro and Photoshop, basically I scrub through the episode and select the best clips for each character, then on the end frame I create a still image, go in in Photoshop and make that image into two parts, by cutting out the character from the background. Then it's just a matter of animating those parts in FCP along with the Red and White background and adding in the actor names. There may be more sophisticated animation programs that could handle it better or add cooler effects, but I've found FCP to work just fine.

It's not amazingly complicated, It's mostly just in the look and the timing, which can involve a good amount of tedious labor, but that's how it's done.

Thanks for the kind words btw, Glad you like it.

Some more random advice:

-Avoid white walls -- they look bad on video.
-Don't disregard lighting -- its one big thing that separates the pros and the amateurs (unfortunately, unlike the pros, none of us can afford millions of dollars worth of lighting -- still, a little bit goes a long way.)
-I'll talk more about this in Ep. 2, Part 3 commentary, but -- a great way to light outside is stealing power from Christmas lights.
-Make sure everyone treats the project as their baby. As soon as someone says, "your show" or "your film" -- you know there's going to be problems. It's "ours" or nothing.
-Get actual actors or people who are good enough to look like actual actors. Writing is important but the actors make it come to life.
-Be ready to sacrifice most of your social life for a big project.
-Things will always get bad. Always, always, always. The solutions to the worst of problems though, usually end up being better than the original.
-Always have someone named Mint in a show.
-Feed your actors. Always. Even bad food. Just feed them.
-Plan out every shoot beforehand.

...and that's all I can think of for now.

Ooh!
Thanks for the advice.
I'm sure the lighting stuff will help.
Is there an equivalent to the HVX200 that isn't HD, so I don't have to buy any of those ridiculously expensive cards?

Hey Hannah, that would be the Panasonic DVX100b. Or DVX100a if you want to spend a little less. You could probably find one on craigslist.com for about $2,500. They are almost identical to the HVX200, only they shoot in standard definition and not HD. I shot a whole movie with it once and it looks amazing. In fact a feature film was shot on it a few years back called "November" starring Courtney Cox. It has the whole 24fps mode which gives that really nice film look to the footage as well as XLR inputs which let you directly connect your mic to the cam.

Go here: http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?t=27514 for a really good article on the DVX100a compared to other cameras like it. The site that it's on is where I go for most of my digital camera and editing questions.

Good luck!

I've also found that the camera you use does not matter (as long as it's 3CCDs), it's the lighting that really makes an image look pretty.

Out of curiosity, what do you use for your sound?

Nick, I just read your question and will get back to you later tonight as I am off to work right now, check back later!

Hey Nick, for sound editing and mixing I mainly use Pro Tools and the Mbox 2, pretty basic stuff; I sometimes also use Nuendo for sound mixing.

I have a couple of really great microphones that I love; an Audix SCX 1-c which I use for foley work and sound effects and an Audix CX 112 which I use for ADR; it picks up speech clean and gives the voice a very detailed and warm sound (AUDIX PLEASE SPONSOR US).

When I need to go out in the field and get sound effects I carry around my Fostex FR-2 LE, it doesn't have four channels like its bigger brother but has 2 instead and was half the price.

To record live sound we usually record straight into the camera (a Sound Devices portable 2 or 4 channel field mixer is the next necessary investment), and to do that we use a Audio Technica 897 Shotgun microphone and a K Tek boom pole with internal xlr cable, which is all good.

Of course I have a wish list for audio equipment that's about a mile long but the stuff that we use works great and suits the needs of lesser quality on-line video content as well as high definition pro audio. Check out B&H Photo Video, they're based out of New York but you can order stuff from them on-line and they have really good prices. The Audix microphones are fantastic quality for the price; look them up on eBay. Let me know if there are any other audio related questions!

Thanks a lot for your comprehensive answer, Mint, I appreciate it!

Yuri and gang,
I am very impressed with the good writing and acting of the show. The editing is right on and visual/audio gags are very well executed.

I am also glad to see how generous you guys are with giving out info on the production. That gives a lot of confidence to folks who want to do their own indie production.

I would like your advice about dealing with potential actors for an independent production like yours. Is it your experience that they will do it for free because of the exposure they may have, or is this something only beginners/inexperienced actors would do? Would that type of agreement fly with actors having the level of experience as those in your show?

Thanks!

As one of the actors in this show, I can say that there are several factors involved here. Exposure and potential fame are big parts of the reason for wanting to get involved in something like this. As of yet, I have not managed to make a living off of being an actor, so, yeah, I'll pretty much doing anything that comes my way. Also, working on a project like this is a great learning experience for everybody involved. Not just about acting or character work, but about being part of a team, and about how things in the film and tv industry work. Actors have to learn how to wait. There's a lot that goes on before they can get their 30 little seconds. Bring a book and a snack, and you'll never go wrong. Also, the group comradery on this show is really good. If you don't have a group of people that you really enjoy working with, then no matter how good the writing or the cinematography or the editing, it's not going to be as good as it could be. If I weren't friends with all these guys I don't know how involved I'd want to be in something like this. It's a lot of hard work. It's kinda like one of those reality shows where an odd group of people are thrust together into an odd situation and made to function as a whole. And after just two years of working with this group I'd say we've definitely learned how to work together...better... I'd like to think that even if I made a good living at being an actor, I'd still want to be involved in a show like this, because after all the long nights and hard work and petty squabbles and whatever else, it really is a lot of fun, and the pay off is totally worth it. I'd also like to think what we're doing is pretty original, and if we're not breaking new ground, then we're definitely giving the ground a purple nerple.

Thanks Jennifer! It's great to hear your insight on this matter.

I'm just wondering what sort of compression you guys use before uploading to blip.tv and iTunes?

The editors should respond to you tommorrow, Taylor.

Oh should we Yuri??? Should we really?
Well you know what? I will answer the question! But not because you said to but because it's 2:15am, I can't sleep and I'm fricken bored.
That said:
We export out of FCP to Quicktime. We usually use the highest quality preset being "LAN/Intranet" We then go into the options and set it to a custom size of 640 by 360. The compression that Quicktime uses when making the video is H.264 with a bit rate of 1372 kbits per second. Woooh computers are fun!

I got a Panasonic PV-GS35 until I can afford something better.
I'm not really sure what you guts mean by "china ball."
Is it like one of these?

I'm sure I got the linking code wrong.
There really should be an edit comment button.

I didn't get it wrong!
There really should be an edit comment button.

GUYS!
Not GUTS.
There really should be an edit comment button.

Hannah, should there really be an edit comment button??

Yep, that's exactly what we mean by a China ball, there are also probably China Boxes, and possibly even China Pyramids, although I'm not sure it'd provide that much of a difference in lighting.

Now maybe if we had a China ball poked full of holes and a room full of smoke that might be interesting.

Hey guys!
I was just wondering how exactly do you make a podcast? I know it's a very general question, so let me change it. How did you uploadt the video to your site, and then add it to iTunes? I'm sorry, I'm just a 16 guy who's trying to make an indie show for fun.

Hey, Christian.

Well, as far as production goes -- you have a good idea, you get a dedicated crew together, a script, actors, and you start shooting.

As far as hosting, etc. Basically, you can choose a host or use a variety of services. You can upload your podcast to Blip.tv, Metacafe, YouTube -- there's a million sites out there.

When you're starting out, the best thing to do is gain exposure, so getting featured (email the sites, email other sites to feature the video, etc) is an important part.

You do want to pick a main host, though. For example, we use Blip.TV for what we put on our site. Blip lets you upload huge files and lets people watch our show in pretty high-quality (much better than any of the other sites.) Blip.TV is also known for really helping out podcasts and talking to users directly. All in all, they're just amazingly awesome. They also automatically put your show ON iTunes -- so, that takes care of that.

YouTube is a good place to put your stuff too, just because everyone knows about it and it's a fairly popular hub. It really depends what vein of show you're putting together. An episodic show like ours really flourishes on Blip because they really support that. Something more sketch comedy-ish is a good fit for YouTube (though, that's changing too, as they've been supporting us a lot lately as well.)

Anyway, I hope that answers your question. Let me know if you have any more.

-Yuri

Hey guys,

I'm curious about location. I'm a journalism student up in Canada (who occasionally helps our brothers in blood--the radio and television arts program). I was wondering how you guys go about scouting locations and the permissions needed.

I called a film company near me asking about internship possibilities, and they're totally cool about it- but I need a resume and a few paragraphs about why I'm interested in filmmaking.
I've done a lot of theater, but barely any film related things. [I've only extra'd in a movie, done school video projects, and directed a few small film things with my friends.]
Any tips on sounding more impressive?

I think at this level, Hannah, the key is not so much to impress them with your experience -- they realize you're not going to have bucketloads of it just yet. The key is to sounding extremely eager to work hard, improve and learn. They need to see how committed you are to film and that you've sat through a fair share of 10 hour shoots -- show them you're more dedicated than anyone else they can find, and you're in. In my opinion, anyway.

ANd, of course, break a leg! (Hay-ooh!)

Haha. Thanks.
I'll impress them somehow.
I'm DEDICATED!
=]

And "Anand"-
I'm pretty sure this internship is going to be mostly scouting; so if I make it, I'll tell you what I learn.

I really hope it has a bunch of shoots and stuff, too, though.
I seriously love movie shoots.
They're my favorite things in the whole world.

Other than Break a Leg, of course.

being in virginia, it's impossible to be exposed to such incredible things as "shoots." i mean, our cities are really violent, but they usually don't film anything.

Hey Anand,
As far as scouting goes. That usually consists of myself, Dashiell and Yuri usually driving around the city for a couple hours in my car. When we find something that looks promising we take a picture of the location and note what time it was. Sometimes it's impossible to get the shot we want when the placement of the sun is making shadows of the boom and camera guy on the wall - so making sure u shoot around the same time of day that you found your great spot is a huge importance.
Another technique (one I don't hugely recommend but is great when you have no time) is using Google's Street View mode in their maps. We used this for the scene of me getting doused in blood in the alley. We had the to shoot that scene one day and we still had no location. And Dashiell and I were both at work till the shoot. So we went on line and looked for an alley in San Francisco.
As for getting permission. Thats something that we do when it is absolutely necessary to get a location. Otherwise it's just shoot and RUN!

Anand --

Yeah, what Chase said. Specific locations, like the Bar in Act IV or Chase's house in Episode 3, we obviously got permission. The house belongs to the mom of one of our actors, the bar we asked and they let us use it. Honestly, the biggest thing is just to ask people -- you may get a few no's but it's surprisingly easy to get a yes, too.

But for locations we absolutely need and absolutely have no permission for -- it's shoot and get the hell out of there as fast as we can.

It's fun!

Except when you arrive 4 hours before you can actually shoot and have to stand around on a crowded street in Chinatown with people looking at you funny because you're wearing a top hat, pinstripe vent and combat boots, standing next to a guy in a pointy straw hat with an umbrella while other people try to rig a crossbow without shooting each other, and all of us standing around eating Pringles and Oreos.

Pinstriped vents are awful to wear. I'm not even sure why anyone would wear a vent!

See what they put us through? VENTS!

To be fair, you did look dashing in that top hat.

Thanks for advice, Yuri!

I have another question. A Break a Leg act has a pretty amazing quality, and I'm sure it has a pretty big file size (at least more than 1000mb). How the heck to you still make it look good, and yet get it to be smaller than 1000mb?

-Christian

ok, here's a question: what is the font that you use for the title sequence? ("Break a Leg" and then the name of the episode) is it some fancy pants movie-makin' font, or is it something that i might have?

It would appear to be Courier New, but it's all nice and scratched up. But then again, this is my guess.

That would be the beautiful font known as "Trixie". Not to be confused with its - just as pretty but has a horrible taste in movies - sister font, Nancy

thanks for the answer, but apparently it's $42 for the font. so...i'll think of something else to use.

I have a few questions for you guys:
- How come you have such good actors in your cast? What did you offer them? How did you convince them?
- Does Blip.TV make you guys any money to support your show? If not, how are you able to keep this up?

i predict the answers to seun's questions will be

- sexual favors as payment

- sexual favors as payment

am i right?

I have the authority as a Saint to say yes, you are indeed right.

Also, I love Final Cut.
If a seventeen year old girl can at least be relatively proficient at it, anyone can.

Seun:

1. The actors all originally auditioned for a full length film we were doing (which is still in post and kind of sitting there because of Break a Leg). They're all local actors and have had various success in the field. As far as what we offer them -- the usual price for independent projects is "credit, meal and copy" -- meaning, they get a copy of the DVD, they get their name in the credits and they get fed at shoots, all of which we do. The other reason? They like us. They like the scripts and it helps their career being in a show that's getting good press. But mostly? I think it's because they like us. But who knows?

Jennifer? Skip? Alexis? Any other actors around, willing to tell Seun why you put up with us?

2. Blip makes us very little money, as far as ads. But they're working with For Your Imagination in trying to get us sponsors and advertisers. In general, the show isn't monetized quite yet, the money we are making is a very, very small amount completely unable to support the show.

How are we keeping it up? I'm not sure. Lots of coffee and energy drinks? We all have full-time jobs (well, sort of all of us), we all pay out of pocket and most importantly, we ask, beg and plead whenever we need a prop, set, or whatever to try and get it for free. That, surprisingly, is what helps us along. The overall price for the show is probably around 400 dollars an episode, give or take, depending on the episode.

But mostly, it's a lot of coffee and energy drinks.

Hope that helps.

anna: trust me when i say it is impossible to be proficient in "windows movie maker." ugh...i'm going to have to try to find some open source program for video editing...

Kevin -- ha, that's what I have too. Justin and Dashiell are the editors and I tried to play with editing a webcam video once, of David talking to the world, and I just failed miserably. It's an awful, awful program.