Softball Game Test

Tomorrow I am shooting highlights for the USD softball game. I'll be testing out my new zoom H4n with recording straight into my canon 70D as a B-camera. I'll be posting the resulting footage and everything on YouTube on my channel. Be ready for Magnet Films on YouTube it will be up and running next week.

I'll be posting again for the official release of this epic Magnet Films YouTube channel. So keep an eye out.

September Update

Hey Indie Filmmakers. Its been a while since I've posted anything and that's because I've been hard at work driving back to college and then settling into classes and such.

Besides the boringness of college life, NOT REALLY, I've been working hard with my advanced field production class and have also been writing the screenplay for my film I'm working on. It's a B-movie called Attack of the Mutant VermCats.

Now, what is a VermCat? Well the city my college is in is Vermillion and there are a lot of stray cats that roam around. Everyone on campus calls them VermCats.

For this film I'm shooting for a Shaun of the Dead feel and I am looking to shoot next month.

In other news I just ordered two new pieces of equipment that should arrive Wednesday. I am very excited for these things and will be making video reviews for at least one of them and the other I'll have to have a good opportunity for.

Speaking of video. I am going to start producing this blogs content as a YouTube channel for Magnet Films. This way you can all join me as I look to make my first no budget feature film. I'll be doing product reviews, movie reviews, maybe scene breakdowns every now and then, and general updates as I work to be an independent filmmaker. Who knows?? Hopefully I can move back in with my parents in California after college and work in Hollywood.

Director or Bust!!

Cheaper lens solution

A while ago I posted about the gear that I have right now. In that post I talked about the Canon AE-1 that I picked up at an estate sale this summer. Well I got a couple FD lenses for a very low price. 

This is a great find for a starting dslr filmmaker since you can get decent glass with easy manual capabilities. The main lens that I use is the 24-55 mm zoom lens. 

The construction of this lens is really solid since it was made back when stuff had to last. The focus ring is very smooth and quiet. The zoom is slightly sticky and wouldn't make me want to do a zoom while filming. The clarity of the lens is alright. It has a very shallow depth of field when wide open on the appetuer so focus adjustment and little movement when shooting this wide is key. Although if you want movement you can just close down the iris more. Overall I think that the canon FD lens is a great lens for the price. If I section out what everything I bought as a bundle cost me it was about $20 for the lens. 

The only thing is that you will have to buy an adapter to use this lens with your camera. I shoot with the canon 70D and bought the Fotodiox FD-EF adapter ring. This was $36 on amazon. There are other options out there but after watching a guy's review on YouTube about this particular one, I decided to go with it. 

This adapter has glass in the middle of it which allows for the lens to stay within the same focal length. Since when you add the ring onto the lens you cause the distance to change from sensor to the lens this is a good thing to have. I have a Minolta lens that I bought an adapter ring for without the lens and it cause the lens to act like a macro. It can no longer focus on anything more than about a meter away from it. 

Also this lens allows you to change the appetuer of the lens through the adapter ring. 

Recent Filming

A film-rific Monday to all of you. I can't believe that my summer is quickly coming to an end before I have to go back to school. Not to worry. I will still be posting weekly updates, reviews and film tips and tricks.

This last week I worked on my entry for the Basic Filmmaker Konova Contest. I made a muppet style talent for this 30 second comedy sketch of the show, which, can be found here: Konova contest entry

If you are interested in how I made my muppet, I followed the instructions in this video here: Muppet Head Tutorial. The body I had to pretty much improvise with and old shirt and some more of the green foam.

Also, an update on the NASA School project. I found that I definitely bit off more than i could chew with the time that I had and so it won't be finished by the time I leave for school. It's not because I couldn't have some type of short film done, it's that I want this to be at a quality where I could enter it into some film festivals and have a nice finished product.

So that is what's going on this last week. Click the button to follow my blog and comment if you'd like. This Wednesday I'll be talking about more glass for filmmaking; specifically cheap glass that I got at an estate sale and used on my latest project.

LUCY and Guardians of the Galaxy Film Review

So last week I said that I was going to go see Dawn of the Planet of the Apes and then see Lucy. Unfortunately I didn't get to see Planet of the Apes since my friend had to study for a summer class that he is taking so we just went to Lucy.

I will say that it was well worth it. I thought that it was an entertaining and fun movie although there were points in the movie where you questioned why Scarlet Johansen's character didn't kill the bad guys with the power she had. But overall it's a worth while film and I would recommend it to anyone.

Next, Yesterday I went and saw the much anticipated Guardians of the Galaxy. By much anticipated I mean I've never read the comics and had no idea that this comic existed until I saw the trailer for the movie. Which after watching I would totally start reading the comic.

Anyways I loved this movie. It was definitely better than Lucy and it also had tons of comedy that kept me laughing throughout the whole thing and made my sister geek out about it for the next two hours when we got home. And, this movie was packed with action and great actors; like: Cruella Deville from the live action 101 Dalmatians, Amy Pond from doctor who (trust me its her), and Uhura from the new Star Treks.

POTENTIAL SPOILER ALERT:
I didn't know this but guardians of the galaxy is in the same universe as all the avengers. Which became evident when you find out that the real evil villain behind it all is Thanos.

So if you are looking to go see a movie check one of these two out. I know that you won't be disappointed with these blockbusters.

Monday Film Stuff — Planet of the Apes and gear

Happy monday! Today again I am working on my puppets and set for the NASA School project, which, when finished I can shoot the rest of the shots I need pretty quickly. Later today I am going to see both Lucy and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes with my friend since he works at the theater and has free passes whenever he wants. Super sweet.

Anyways, getting to some gear talk. Currently I have a Canon 70D with two 50mm lenses and a 75-200 kit lens. Also with my recent purchase of the Canon AE-1 classical goodie, I have a 28-55mm FD lens that I still need an adaptor ring to convert it to EF mount. So I have a fairly decent range for focal lengths but need something better.

I am already formulating a plan for a movie project in the fall when I'm back at school which will be like many of the classic horror films. I mean the ones that couldn't scare you if they tried. Those awesome and funny B-rate movies.

For this project I will be buy my first serious lens and that is the Canon 24-105 f4 L lens. There are many places that sell this lens for $1,100 and there are also some that sell it for half that. So I will of course be going with the cheaper price and this lens will be my go to for all my video and photography needs.

Now with the Canon 70D's crop factor of 1.6 this lens won't go completely out to 24mm but it gets relatively close. If calculated out it becomes a 38mm lens.

Also for recording Audio I am going to go with the Rode NTG2 microphone. After hearing some examples of comparisons between this mic and a couple other Rode mics, I loved the clearness and quality audio of this mic. This I will be using into the Zoom H4n.

This is a pretty solid setup for shooting this kind of film and should be a fun experience. I've already told some of my friends the concept and they really like the idea.

I will be posting more about this project and other gear information every Monday. Support me and follow my blog.

Making a Stop Motion Puppet Pt 1

What you'll need

Wire:

I use 18mm aluminum wire that my dad was able to find at work since it wouldn't cost me anything.  You can find the industry standard and recommended armature wire online. Or if you don't want to wait for the wire to ship, you can try and find wire at the hardware store. 

(I wasn't able to find wire at Lowes and I'm not sure if Ace Hardware, HomeDepot or Harbor Freight carries it but it could be worth a look)

I wouldn't use steel wire. I made my first wire armature with steel wire but it was not as easy to move as aluminum wire making it a bit tough to animate. 

Epoxy Putty:

This will hold together your armature. It's not as cheap as I was hoping but for $7 you can get the cheapest one and that should work. I used this:

I don't know if you have to worry about different putties acting differently or not since really we just want it to get hard. So you should have to worry about wether it says metal weld or plastic weld. I say cheapest is best. 

Step 1 planning: 

I is best to draw out a plan for your characters body so you can make sure that everything will work in the end. Also this will allow you to play with the scale of your character before spending the time to make the armature. 

For my second character I didn't have to make a plan when I redid the body because I went off of the space suite size that I had made so the armature fit properly. 

Step 2 Shaping:

This step is relatively easy. When you have your plan take the wire and start with one foot and then shape the hips and then going into the spine and neck then down for the other side. In the end you will have something like what is pictured above. 

For this armature I repeated this two times giving me three main Body wires. This will help the armature hold itself up when you have it tied down on the stage. 

Next:

We have to renforce the legs by adding additional wire. I make essentially an upside down U shape with a couple more pieces and then wrap that with the legs. 

In this armature I used two extra pieces with the legs making a total of five wires for the legs. 

I do nearly the same thing for the arms. With a drawn plan you can cut a couple of wires to the desired length. When you go to attach them you will want to have them bent where the shoulder width will be for your puppet. 

Attach the arms by twisting the spine wires together and putting the arms at the desired height in the twist. 

Step 3 Epoxy:

With the epoxy putty it is good to mix sections of the putty at a time so that you can spend time to shape what you need to. If it looks like this picture, keep mixing it!!

To start mix a portion of the epoxy until the marbling is gone. Then shape the hips and then the chest. It is a little easier if you do the chest second because the arms like to move around if you do it first and then the hips second. 

Next, take pieces of putty and make the bones on the arms and legs. Make sure to leave a gap for the shoulder, elbow, hip, knee, hands and feet. I leave about 1/4 inch of space for these spots. Although you can really just eyeball a fair distance.

The epoxy that I used sets in 25 minutes and fully cures in three hours.

Follow my blog! Part two to be posted soon. 

Stop Motion Character building

I hope that everyone is having a good Saturday. Today I am rebuilding one puppet and making my last puppet for the NASA short film. I will document the build of my final puppet a little more so I can post a nice how to on what I'm doing for my puppets.

So today I'm designing Dr. Which I'm not exactly sure how I want him to look. The idea is that he is supposed to be kind of a smart idiot. Also I've envisioned him in a Tim Burton kind of way but that doesn't work with my other characters. In the end I think that even if I draw a couple of super rough character sketches I will most likely free hand it anyways.

I'll be posting again. Subscribe to my blog and keep up with what's happening here at Magnet Films. You won't want to miss NASA School when it's finished.

Here is my movie suggestion for the week. Since I've been working on stop motion animation I decided to give you a good story and here are two titles that I think are great.

NASA School Update

Well today is another day of set building as I am finishing all the centrifuge shots with Rookie. So I am working on the control room where Dr. will be for the film. This set will be interesting in its design since I have a small area to work with so I have a really drastic forced perspective.

My main focus is on the control desk which will be essentially the main set piece for Dr.'s scenes. I made it out of the two halves of a shoe box, some hot glue and some silver and brown paint.

NASA School Stop Motion Short Film

I have started an ambitious project for this summer. In three weeks I am trying to have a completed short film called NASA School, a stop motion film about two not so astronauts and a scientist that I wouldn't trust with a bunsen burner.

It is week two and I have a lot of cool stuff that I have been working on:

This was the what I started with. The character's name is Rookie and I think he really is just an extension of myself in clay because we really look a lot alike.

I started with making the wire armature and then sculpted the head.

Then I made the eyes out of white clay and poked a whole in them. I put the eyes in the toaster oven for 15 minutes to harden so then I can paint it.

With a piece of wire I was able get a nice pupil by putting a bunch of black paint on the end of the wire and then putting the wire in the whole. Since the whole is just big enough for the wire, the paint comes off in a fairly even circular way.

Early concept art for Rookie. The end product changed in the end. I am by no means a good drawer.

If only I had the film for this camera... Its my new love.

 Adding some meat on the bones....

 Finished padding added to the skeleton so that his clothes fit well.
















On to the costume...

Glued on pockets. It was interesting to look at flight suites of astronauts and look at where the pockets are. Which the are on the front of the pants rather than the side of them like we are use to when we wear jeans.

Every astronaut has to have his patches....

...And a helmet.

 Character 2: Rocket

This is when I put the Tee Nuts in his feet so that he can connect to the floor.

Making the Rocket's patches. Not shown but I have to redo his name patch because I forgot the "C" in Rocket when I wrote it the first time.

 Creating the set for the scenes with Rookie. Mostly just cardboard and hot glue.

The Centrifuge cockpit set