Deltree is Hiring.
Deltree is hiring. Be a part of a film revolution. Make your own dent in the universe. Check out our internship program. We are looking to fill post, production, and marketing positions.
Check out http://thedeltree.org/internship for details.
2009, Bring It On.
The past year has been a significant time for myself, and our start-up creative studio, Deltree. In the past six months, more doors have been opened and networks developed, then any period of my life that I can remember.
While we have some really huge news and developments coming down the pipe, there are few news items I can release immediately, to kick the new year off:
- New Office- We have leased a new workspace at 757 St. Charles St, Suite 301. The space is incredible, the location is mind blowing (2 blocks from lee circle, on parade route), and most importantly, the whole floor is jammed packed with creative minds and organizations. We are now office mates to Voodoo Ventures, Zydego, Blutique, and Zehno Cross Communications. This was a unique and exciting opportunity made possible by Chris Schultz/Voodoo Ventures, and his new venture, Launch Pad. Click on the building picture below, for more pics of the space:
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- Team Members and Partners- During the past few months we have been stretched, pressed to our limits. It feels sometimes we are more warrior than entrepreneur. For the 504ward promo video, we didn’t sleep for 48 hours and pulled from networks all the way from NY (props to Nathan Heliene for the killer script) to pull the project off. Instead of faltering under the pressure, we delivered and became stronger. Due to increasing amount of work, we have decided to expand our team and partnerships to exponentially increase the diversity and quality of our work. I am pleased to introduce: Mike Baldwin, Lead Editor-Mike is an individual who posses a unique marriage of technical knowledge and creative ability. He is partnering with us to provide dedicated editing and post production services. Chaz Knapp, Composer/Sound Designer- Based in LA, Chaz brings expertise and background in scoring, composition and sound design. His latest work will be featured in our upcoming Fifty People, One Question: London release. Reid Stone, Creative Strategist - Reid presence brings years of marketing and advertising experience to Deltree. He will be responsible for overall strategy services, goal setting, problem solving, and additional marketing outreach, brand management, etc.
- FiftyPeopleOneQuestion.com- Back in November of 09′, Nathan Heleine and his studio out of NYC, Crush & Lovely, partnered with us to expand the original New Orleans video. Really, I have to give credit to Nathan for having the vision and resources to expand the project, without him, Kenneth Chu (editor/director) and folks at C&L, this project would not be where it is at today. The project has received over 3,000 blog posts around the world. As a partial result of the project, I will be speaking on a panel in April at the International Journalism Festival in Perugia, Italy. While we are there we will also be filming another round of 50P1Q. Check out the Brooklyn video if you have not had a chance yet. We look forward to shooting more locations across the planet in 2009! So go ahead….ask yourself.
In reflection of the past year, I would like to acknowledge Chris Schultz and Tung Bach Ly, both of whom have provided us with invaluable support and resources. We would also like to thank other partners whom have invested and believe in a common vision of a stronger New Orleans. Nathan Heliene @ Crush & Lovely Robbie Vintrano @ Trumpet, Blake Haney @ Canary Collective, Jason Weinheimer @ Lucky Dog Audio, and Lauren Baum, Tim Williamson @ Ideavillage & 504ward.
When there is much momentum, we cannot easily stop ,
-Benjamin Reece
Howdy!
First off my name is Mike Baldwin and I’m excited to be the newest member of the Deltree team. I come from a background of Video Editing and IT. I’m currently pursuing an Associates degree in field of Network Administration
I began my journeys of video production in 2002, shooting on a Panasonic DVC10 and editing on the Casablanca Avio. Looking back, the Avio was primitive in nature but taught me a lot in the fundamentals of nonlinear editing. I later moved to Pinnacle Studio, which was a little bit better but still had its limitations. Currently I edit in Final Cut Pro, which I find it to be the easiest and most powerful NLE I’ve used thus-far.
Most of my blog posts will cover editing topics such as workflow/asset management, and delivery formats. I will also be answering questions, so feel free to leave them in the comments section or e-mail me: mike(at)thedeltree(dot)org
Cheers,
Mike Baldwin
The Indie Filmmaker Process - How Deltree Rolls
People have been asking about our rig, settings, and overall setup and workflow. In the spirit of openness, we would love to share with everyone if they are interested, and as we have time. Almost everything we have learned regarding my current setup has been found at the HV20.com forums and the cinevate.com forums. For an indie filmmaker, there are three key stages to producing a final video. There stages can vary in complexity and the roles that are needed to fufill them. Let’s ignore traditional film school “rules”, if anyone would like to add to it, please feel free in the comments.
Disclaimer:
Can anyone follow this process and become an “indie filmmaker”? Yes. Will everyone do it? No. Knowing the equipment, workflow, and process is one thing, the years of experience and research put into visual design, photography, and music production all helped me understand these concepts. All the way from choosing a lens to what exporting preset for Vimeo HD. This blog post is not meant for the beginner, this is meant for someone who is familiar with the basic concepts of photography and videography. Finally, we are still learning, so nothing is set in stone, or gospel. We did not go to film school for this.
Concept/Vision
This will be covered later on. But basiclly, think about the overall vision. What is the concept for your video? You don’t always need a script, or a shot/location list. Sometimes you can just go shoot and pull a concept out of a hat in the editing room. But, it definitely helps to think through a concept/vision. But, don’t get caught up in this! Just do something! If you have to get caught up, get caught up in the post. Hey, its what George Lucas does. Haha.
The Shoot
In our opinion, you can get “film” quality shooting with digital, with either a Red One, EX3, and a variety of cameras most of us can never bootstrap. For people who are financing films on a small budget, HV20 combined a 35mm adapter can create stunning results. For shooting, our first camera rig which consisted of just these simple components:
- Canon HV20 - This is a HD consumer camcorder, there are problems using this unit, namely lack of manual control, and having to remove pulldown fields. However, the image quality is great for under 700 bucks. The camera I want to buy next is either the Red Scarlet, or Sony EX1. While the HV20 is a consumer level camera, on a totally different playing field, we would like to make a brief comparison. Briefly speaking, prosumer or professional level cameras (like the Red One), the resolution is limited, and there is no RAW output.
- Cinevate Brevis 35mm Adapter - This is the heart of the unit. This allows us to connect 35mm photography lenses to my HV20. This allows manual aperture and focus control , and the shallow DOF that many find desirable for some types of shoots. Originally, we had purchased a DIY one made by a user on the HV20 forums called “Worley” (around $400 USD). This was a great adapter, and the original Fifty People, One Question video was shot on it. Now, we use a Cinevate Brevis adapter. The Brevis allows for better image quality because of multiple things. It has a larger and better quality achromat (glass), it has a vibrating focus screen, the imaging element is higher quality/sharper, and the whole unit is made to a higher quality. More info on 35mm adapters. For more information on the Brevis, read here: cinevate.com
- IndiFocus Upside Down Rig - This holds the whole rig together. It also flips the Canon HV20 upside down. We have ours outfitted with short rails and a top handle. You can buy these at http://www.indifocus.com. Try talking to Jim for any questions, this guy is an amazing source of knowledge.
- Nikon Lenses - We have a MANUAL FOCUS AI/AIS 28mm 2.0, 50mm 1.8, and 1.4 and 85-200mm 3.5 lenses. We primarily use the 50mm and the 28mm. When we are going handheld, we try to use the 28mm as shorter focal lengths usually produce less shaking. Also, we try to buy lenses with large apertures, as they allow for maximum flexibility and quality (the glass is bigger/sharper). Our next lens purchase will most likely be a 85mm 1.4. Everything about lenses, we learned from researching photography, and the other videos on Vimeo with the same setup.
- Matthews M25 Tripod- We don’t have any rails, dollies, cranes, or anything special. All our movement at the moment is done by hand, or by panning/tilting on the Tripod. This is a great tripod, with a fluid head, and decent sticks. Again, we found this by researching on HV20.com
- Settings: Shoot in HDV, 24fps, usually using shutter priority mode. we lock the exposure when we have time to setup the shoot. Sometimes, we like the camera handle the exposure if we are in a setting with enough light
Post Production
Shooting can be the easy part. Editing takes time, patience, revisions, feedback, and a meticulous eye. Editing a piece usually takes me from 8 hours, on something like “Meet the Painter” and 80 hours on “Fifty People One Question”. Our background and years of experience producing and editing music allows us a keen sense for editing video. Our primary editing setup consists of:
- Pentium 4 2GB ram, Windows XP, 2.8 overclocked to 3.0 GHz, custom built.
- A 20″ Apple Cinema Display, 22″ Dell
- Premiere Pro CS3 - Again, I know its not FCP
- Cineform - I use Cineform to remove the pulldown that the HV20 inserts on capture. It works magic. It also encodes it in a format that edits/plays back and applies color grading in real time.
- Capturing the footage
- Organizing footage to meet the concept
- Finding the good cuts
- Placing the cuts in the right order
- Finding the right music (if needed)- this is VERY important to me
- Refining cuts to music
- Getting feedback, refining
- Apply color grading, and various refinements - For color grading, as a starting point we usually desaturate a bit, crush the blacks, adjust brightness/contrast if needed, adjust the reds, and apply a sharpening mask.
The Deltree is Exploding!
I wish to apologize to my small (but hopefully dedicated audience). There are a number of things I have been up to that have been demanding my attention. Besides finishing up on a nice music video piece right now, I have been directing a bunch of different projects since I last posted.
The piece that is primarily in the spotlight right now, is “Fifty People, One Question”. Thousands of blogs, websites , and forums (an interesting one) , have written about it, and continue to re-post it. The audience seems to be primarily the creative community (as most bloggers are). Interestingly enough, a couple of directors /dps blogged it:
Processing a Visualization Language
While searching for vector generators and other “sci-fi/80s” graphic inspiration, I stumbled upon the open source animation, interactive, and design programming language, Processing.org:
While I personally do not have the programming skill to develop a visualization, I am intensely interested in integrating this type of program into footage processing, to where it could potentially interact with live action footage. While, I am not interested in visualization representing “data”- data in the form of sound waves, and axis points in motion, seem quite compelling. Any programmers up for a collaboration? We could collaborate on song selection, I could shoot the footage, and do the editing. 
Check out this music video done with Processing:
Solar, with lyrics. from flight404 on Vimeo.
iPhone 2.0 Apps for Filmmakers
Since I have received my iPhone, I have been researching every app under the sun, particularly those suited to my needs as a designer and indie filmmaker. I wanted to share this modified list of iPhone 2.0 apps suited for video production (originally located on a list serve):
LlamaSlate (made for video productions)
Does digital slates for video! A digital slate can cost $400 and up easily. The one down side is the audio sync is kind of quiet. However, I plan to put my boom right next to it, hit the take, and then go. Promised great upgrade on the way. Good way to mark multicam shoots, also. Very simple, but more text and such promised in a new update.
Update: I emailed Scott, the developer of LlamaSlate, and he emailed me back saying, “The next version (should be out soon) will make it a lot more useful. I’m working on it right now.”
Update #2- Scott emailed me screen caps of the new version!
Update #3- the new version will be submitted to apple next week.
iSee4k(made for video productions)
DoF, angle, lenses 2 lens, and 16mm, 35mm, and RED calculators.
Gel Swatch Library(made for video lighting)
A library of standard gel colors, complimentary colors, lighting graphs, etc. A must have for anyone who does creative lighting!
Daylight Clock
Shows sunrise and sunset times for your current location. I have (and I hope others will) put in a request to the makers of this handy little app that for us photographers and videographers, we’d like to see future dates, as well.
TalkingPics
Stores text, audio recording, and photos in one single note, and notes can be organized into projects. Thus, a Project can be a storyboard, and you could go to your locations, take photos with your iPhone of your intended shots, type in data, voice record your thoughts, presto, STORYBOARD DATABASE! Here’s a real life example; I’m putting together a TV shot in August, very important client. I went to the restaurant and took photos of the shots, labeled them with text, recorded voice thoughts about lighting and movement. Later I’ll go back and finish, then run it by the client before we start shooting. I have (and I hope others will) put in a request to the makers of this handy little app that they tweak it, or a version of it, specifically for film/video storyboard use, that could be exported in tact to your Mac/PC in some manner, rather than a web site the way it’s set up now.
TapeMeasure
Just that, a fancy tape measure that uses the GPS function of the 3G iPhone (or locater model used in the regular iPhone) to measure distance (can be miles), hight info, direction, etc.
Additionally, here is a list of iPhone web apps for filmmakers. It seems there is a market out there for creative professionals that are iPhone users…..
I am the One.
I am the One that burns like a light in the sky.
But I am the One, I am the One.
We both know that I am the One.
Anatomy of a Design Process
While doing research on process for web and social media development, I came across this quote by Saul Bass (who is among many things, the creator of the AT&T logo and frequent collaborator with Alfred Hitchcock). When asked asked about his design process:
“The process of defining what it is that you wish to communicate inevitably defines the objectives of the design process. Then, the search is for imagery or form that will adequately- and, one hopes, interestingly- express this. Where one goes from this starting point can be unexpected and may not follow a totally rational methodology, but it is helpful to frame the problem in rational terms as a beginning point.”
The main point I took away was this: The objectives are your foundation. What do you want to accomplish? The process will change, and is inconsequential. In fact, attempting to apply a formal approach may even be harmful. Just like the creative nature of graphic design, the dynamic nature of web technologies may not allow for methodological or “tested” approaches to project management and implementation of web products.
Three Amazing Design Portfolios
Alberto Seveso
This portfolio has a unique style of his own. I have been following this port for years. Check out the music, and photos for bonus ear and eye candy.
Logan
I just discovered this portfolio, trying to figure out who had a hand in the design and animation on the new apple ads. Amazing motion portfolio.
Coldplay - Viva La Vida from swindlr on Vimeo.
SignalNoise
No, not the oh so serious blog of 37signals- the amazing portfolio of James White. I really dig the old 80s analog style graphics. Its definitely inspired me with my branding process for my upcoming “studio”.
