News update from the rather exciting Biracy Project

Biracy: Update on The Biracy Project and the SoKap Platform

Hello Everyone,

It may appear to some of you that we have dropped off the face of the earth with The Biracy Project but we're here to say that this is not the case. In fact we're busy with a number of items that I will outline here.

For Creative People Wanting To Use The System
We have had over 100 requests by producers to use the system for their own projects. Our overall goal is to provide a platform that multiple producers could use and manage with ease, without complex backend programming and content management. The Biracy Project was and still is just the prototype, and will continue to be so as we focus on building SoKap - the platform.

We ask that you be patient with us and allow us to continue our development work on the platform. We have an expected launch date for SoKap around the end of July. At that time we are going to be taking submissions to use the platform and we will be looking for creative projects that are varied in their genres, mediums and budget sizes.

You Can Now Join For FREE!
Another request that we heard was that people wanted access to the site so that they could check it out for free first. We heard you and made this possible. You still need to ask for a code as this is part of how our little experiment works. If you need a code go to twitter and ask for "an invite code for @biracy". Someone will respond to you shortly. When you get to the site simply select the "VOYEUR" membership from the membership selection.

Screenplay Contest Winner
We are about to announce the winner of the screenplay contest but there seems to be a bit of a debate going on as to what finalist should be chosen. If your a member you will be notified of an up coming vote to assist us in selecting the winner. You will add to your ownership totals for contributing to this vote.

Once the winner is chosen...the filmmaking process will begin and updates on the site will become more regular than of late. We appreciate your patience for allowing us to take the time to find the right story and build the right platform.

Tell Some People
As we are about to announce the winner and begin making the film we are going to need the financial assistance from the members to make this a reality. Please join this project and begin making referrals to your friends and family. Let's prove that this system can work for films, music and other media related projects that live in the online space.

Thanks to all the members who joined early and have given us the necessary feedback to make this engine work.

Regards
David Geertz
Founder
The Biracy Project


Source Facebook


For those of you who want to try it out for FREE, leave a comment me or tweet me @rshorts and I'll be happy to provide a reference

Till The Night Closes In... - Teaser Poster

The teaser poster for the feature film project I have in development. Its not great & its temporary. About a half hours work in Photoshop where I completely & blatantly ripped off the poster design from the remake of The Last House on the Left.

Ah, it'll do for now.

The feature film is based on the short film I made last year - Shut The Fuck Up Which has earned itself an IMDb rating of 8.2/10 which is pretty amazing - considering the finished film is nowhere to be seen online. Its just had a handful of obscure screening internationally. So it must be based on the performance of the trailer. Also it seems my demographic is primarily males aged between 30-44.
Tell you what guys, if you liked the short, your gonna love the feature!

Watch this space for more info as news of the feature film develops.

Thats a wrap on Remedy

So thats my first project shot on HDDSLR in the bag and I must say the whole workflow was pretty seamless. Still, it was for a music video so no great demands on sound sync or anything like that.

I'm looking forward to getting my hands on a 7D, a 5D mkII or a Rebel t2i (550D) and really getting stuck in. The limitations of the Rebel t1i (500D)are far too great to do a project any larger than the one I just produced. Having no control over anything was my biggest frustration working with this camera. Sure it produces a very very nice image but certain things like the inability to chance the shutter speed to compensate for the wattage frequency of the lighting thus eliminating the shimmer on the image render the t1i unusable for much more. (Again NO disrespect at all to the generosity of the owner of the camera who graciously lent it to me so I could experiment.)


I will say this about HDDSLR though, everything they say about the low light capabilities are all true and outstandingly so. I shot the entire video with available light.
The below shot was lit by a bicycle light shone on the performers face from off screen. Can you believe that? At night, with no lights, no generators & no crew the performer was lit by a fucking bicycle light!


EDIT: I hasten to add that the addition of a Nikon to EOS adapter allowing me to use really fat Nikkor glass was instrumental to achieving this also.


In fact, this particular shot ended up in the finished video untouched, straight out of the camera, no grading or effects of any kind. Its incredible what you can do with todays technology & the possibilities are mind blowing. 

I also want to big up Apple for inventing Pro Res 422. It was my first time using that codec for this project and it is as smooth a workflow as I have ever used. Big up also goes to Squared 5 for putting out their FREE application MPEG Streamclip that seamlessly converts the cameras unusable H.264 into something editable.

A good start into the world of HDDSLR for me.

The video will be uploaded to the record labels site for promotional purposes, I will put up a link when I have one. Meanwhile, if there is anyone who would like it for geek reasons drop me a line & I'll hook you up with a password to view it on my Vimeo page (see sidebar).

24 starring Danny Lacey

Staying up for 24 hours straight is unfortunately something we are regrettably want to do in the film industry. Oftentimes tight deadlines dictate a busy sleepless night.

No one would want to do this voluntarily right?

WRONG!

Enter Danny Lacey, an independent filmmaker from Leeds, England, and also a man on a mission. And that mission is your money! He needs it to make his short film Love Like Hers for ten grand. No, he's not looking for ten grand from you, he's looking for ten grand from all of us at 20 quid apiece. 

So whats all this got to do with staying up for 24 hours straight?

Well, remember that guy Danny Lacey from Leeds I was just talking about? Yeah him, tomorrow night he's staying up for 24 hours straight hosting a live internet broadcast fundraising for his film! This guy has got big ambition and my hat is off to his determination.

I'm sponsoring and hour of his 24 hour show (10pm to 11pm I believe), tune in live and watch me become a Film Buddy live on air!

A film buddy is what Danny calls people who donate to his project, I'll show you how easy it is to become a quasi film producer!

I've embedded the livestream below, but I suggest you watch it on his stream, that way you can get involved & interact and keep the poor dude awake! There is talk of a live music performance from the Isle of Man & a hook up with Vegas baby among I'm sure many other things.

I'm off now to figure out a way to email coffee!

Read Dannys Blog, to give you the full lowdown. HERE

Watch live streaming video from dannylaceyfilm at livestream.com

Having a Blast

We all know that file management, particularly when it comes to post-production is essential to a seamless workflow. Like me your probably dealing with multiple files in multiple folders while importing files from key drives, emails, remote servers & dropbox's - you can oftentimes loose track of certain files. Sure spotlight can help out and lead you directly to the file, but only if you know the name of the file, so you can start typing and hope for the best.

Wouldn't it be wonderful if you could click just one simple little unobtrusive icon in the menubar and see the last file you imported or were working on just sitting there nicely waiting for you? Well with Blast by Apparent Software you can.

It does exactly that. Every file that you have just worked on, imported, moved or manipulated in any way is sitting there in a nice tidy dropdown menu.

I've been using Fresh by Ironic Software from some time now & every time I hit the shortcut I almost feel like ducking as the two giant green bars fill the screen with the last files worked on appear MASSIVE across the screen. It also is very resource heavy being a constantly open app in the dock just sitting there purring away.

Blast on the other hand, sits neatly in the menubar. I'm a big fan of neat little menubar apps. When working on a large application such as Final Cut Pro, thats pretty much all you want open. Thats how I like to work anyway.

Fresh for some reason fails to identify certain files too I've noticed which can be rather frustrating. Anyone working in video will know that files are massive and sometimes its necessary to split files into separate RAR files in order for them to be safely uploaded & downloaded over a network or the internet. Fresh fails to recognize recently "unrared" files, which is my biggest problem with Fresh, Blast on the other hand passes with flying colours which makes it a winner for me.

The only gripe I have with Blast is that the only option with files is to "Open in Finder" whereas Fresh offers "Open in Finder" "Open with…" "Rename" "Move to Trash" among others, offering the user a lot more options than Blast.

But, having said that, its the unobtrusiveness that wins out with Blast & considering its currently a very young v1.3 one can hope that more options will be offered in future updates.

Both Fresh & Blast are under $10. with Blast being a mere 95c more expensive but well worth the extra few pennies.

Now where did I put that text file so I can post it on my blog, oh wait a second there it is!

Buy Blast HERE or download the trial HERE

Interesting & exciting news

A couple of hours ago (before I started drinking) I partook in a conference call over Skype with two excellent gentlemen from the other side of the world inviting me to take part in something quite revolutionary.
I had assumed incorrectly that I would have to sell myself to these guys in order to be a part of what they were proposing, but thankfully due to whatever reason I was already chosen from my application alone!

I am privileged to be part of 25 people worldwide and the only person in Ireland to be involved in this project!
I am completely honored & overwhelmed by its prospect and potential.

I am awaiting an email to confirm details but until then I can say nothing other than its filmmaking related & I am rather excited.

Watch Mr Bojagi online

Irish director Marco van Belle launches his short film Mr Bojagi starring Brian Blessed online for a limited two week showing.

Tune into Dailymotion for this exclusive screening. It launches next friday 14 May.
Be sure to tweet about it on Twitter, "like" it on facebook & share this film while you can.

Here's the trailer:




Looks pretty good. Nice looking sets and costumes, looking forward to seeing it fully - nice feel of Terry Gilliamness about it.
Word from Marco is a feature length version is in the works which is a fantastic achievement.


Be sure to spread the word!

New Video Shoot Imminent

Ok so, I'm jumping on the bandwagon and shooting my next project on a HDSLR. I've managed to get my hands on a Canon 500D aka Rebel T1i. This is NOT the new fancy shmancy 7D in a plastic body aka Rebel T2i aka 550D, this is its 30fps 720p little sister. (No disrespect to Wil for lending it to me) but on closer examination, I'm learning the hard way of all the limitations this camera has in terms of video use or what canon like to call-Movie Mode. I'm shooting for a music video with a web release only so 30fps will be fine in this instance & I really want to try out a HDSLR on the field before I take the plunge myself. At this stage I'm tempted to go for the 7D as the build quality of the T1i is more plasticy than I expected. My cheap as chips Nikon D50 is more sturdy than this fella.

Anyway, I'm beginning to realize why the T1i 500D did not make the impact it could have when first released. I can't seem to find a way to manually control ANYTHING with this camera. The flicker from a tungsten source is maddening as you can't do anything to compensate it, but hay, its for a music video, so I'll live with it for now. No control over ISO and its a night shoot, I'll just have to push the exposure compensation up 2 stops and cross my fingers. The only saving grace is that I'll have total control over aperture. I have ordered a EOS to Nikkor lens adapter off Ebay allowing me to use my Nikon glass with this camera and thus giving me aperture control. (you can set the aperture with the stock lens, by setting the camera to aperture priority mode, choosing the aperture and the unlocking the barrel and twisting the lens slightly till you get an error reading, then flicking back to movie mode, essentially disconnecting the lens from the camera).

So until that part arrives from the UK (hurry up! it was ordered on saturday! It's only ash!) I've been experimenting with the camera and popped it on my Fig Rig. With the strap round my neck pulled taught, I can get surprisingly very smooth movements & its much lighter that having the HV30/Letus35 rig attached. Only problem is focus, but again its a music video, so I'm allowing for these inadequacies now and calling it "style" later on. I'm not prepared to fork out for a remote control follow focus just yet.

Funny thing is, I was contacted by a record label in London to make this video and it turns out to be for me old mucker Corrugated Tunnel! (see below).

I'll be posting more progress as this experiment continues.

New Video Online

First attempt using my HV30/Letus35 rig and failing miserably.

This shoot was the maiden voyage of that rig and boy did I find out about its limitations the hard way.

The single (Holiday Blues) that this was shot for was never released and the footage has resided on my hard drive for a little over a year now.

I hate leaving things unfinished & dusted this project off and finshed it.

I decided to ignore the mistakes apparent in the footage and make it work to my advantage instead.

The end result is... not... too... bad...

Thank goodness for post processing software, its not what I set out to make, but it is what it is now. I kinda like it if I don't remind myself of what I intended to make...

This was shot in Bray, Co Wicklow & th Dublin seafront in december 2008 mere days before my son was born (another contributing factor to the delay in completing this project).

Music is by Corrugated Tunnel from the album I Am Corrugated. corrugatedtunnel.com