http://pawprintproductions.com/blog http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss kevin@railsback.net Sat, 10 Dec 2005 21:37:04 -0600 Sat, 10 Dec 2005 21:37:04 -0600 iBlog 1.4.6 Kevin J Railsback Pawprint Productions The weblog of Pawprint Productions a Cedar Rapids, Iowa based indie film production company. Kevin J Railsback kevin@railsback.net Pawprint Productions http://pawprintproductions.com/blog/C1320236167/E20051210213651/index.html Want to see what's happening in Cedar Rapids at any given time?
Here's an image of downtown updated about every 20 seconds
]]> Sat, 10 Dec 2005 21:36:51 -0600 http://pawprintproductions.com/blog/C1320236167/E20051210213651/index.html http://pawprintproductions.com/blog/C1320236167/E20051029121900/index.html Sat, 29 Oct 2005 12:19:00 -0500 http://pawprintproductions.com/blog/C1320236167/E20051029121900/index.html http://pawprintproductions.com/blog/C1320236167/E20050929204326/index.html Fri, 26 Aug 2005 20:43:26 -0500 http://pawprintproductions.com/blog/C1320236167/E20050929204326/index.html http://pawprintproductions.com/blog/C1320236167/E1217170258/index.html Sat, 21 May 2005 16:48:51 -0500 http://pawprintproductions.com/blog/C1320236167/E1217170258/index.html http://pawprintproductions.com/blog/C1320236167/E1823175822/index.html Sun, 03 Apr 2005 21:01:34 -0500 http://pawprintproductions.com/blog/C1320236167/E1823175822/index.html http://pawprintproductions.com/blog/C1320236167/E1553447428/index.html Thu, 24 Mar 2005 18:36:17 -0600 http://pawprintproductions.com/blog/C1320236167/E1553447428/index.html http://pawprintproductions.com/blog/C1320236167/E1826153971/index.html Santa was good to me this year. I had enough Best Buy gift cards to do some serious damage to a Nikon D70 camera kit.

Now I can take some top notch stills for movie posters or for use in my films.

Haven't had a chance to really shoot it a lot in blue sky weather yet but did come across these deer on the way to a geocache today.
Also took some images of different animals tracks in the snow to use in GAtC. ]]> Mon, 27 Dec 2004 21:45:18 -0600 http://pawprintproductions.com/blog/C1320236167/E1826153971/index.html http://pawprintproductions.com/blog/C942960687/E856252632/index.html Well, we finally started principal photography on GAtC Monday, December 20th. Ron Andrews a DNR biologist traveled three hours to Cedar RApids to be interviewed on mountain lions and the growing hysteria surrounding mountain lions in Iowa.
Ron and I had an opportunity to talk for about an hour before we left for the interview. He was able to give me a lot of insight on what's going on with mountain lions in Iowa.
I picked a spot that would make good cougar habitat if one was in the area to conduct the interview. Although it was only about 17 degrees Ron was a trooper and answered all my questions and refrained from shivering. :-)
After a great interview I thanked him and he was going to head off to the Indian creek Nature Center to visit director Rich Paterson.

I headed back home to upload the footage and to see what I had. Normally I review the footage at the scene but since it was so cold I decided to wait until I was home and could upload it at the same time.

Imagine my horror when after about 2 seconds into the interview the tape went black. While making an adjustment I must have hit the record button and stopped recording. My interview was out there blowing around the cold Iowa winds and not going into my computer like I had planned.

Ron had given me his card with his cell phone number on it after the interview. Luckily he was still at the Nature Center and I drove down there and re-conducted the interview. Fortunately, it had warmed up some and it was a little better this time around.



On the way back from the second interview I spotted a deer herd feeding on the hillside. Deer are cougars preferred prey. Luckily I was able to get the camera out and record some footage before they ran off.


I decided to get some background footage over where I had conducted the first interview. As I walked through the woods filming I heard something walking over a nearby ridge. Could a cougar actually be in this area? Luckily it was only a flock of wild turkeys. I only had a few seconds to film them but I still had some useable footage.

]]> Tue, 21 Dec 2004 13:44:08 -0600 http://pawprintproductions.com/blog/C942960687/E856252632/index.html http://pawprintproductions.com/blog/C1320236167/E1204248833/index.html Well, I did something I've never done before, braved the crowds to go shopping the day after Thanksgiving. Angi and I were up and out the door by 5AM.
We headed over to Best Buy to try and snag a 120 gig hard drive that they had for next to nothing. The doors opened at 6AM and by 6:05 there were no hard drives left. By 6:15 when we arrived you could barely get into the store. I checked the shelves and people just laughed that I thought there would still be any drives left. They said people had started lining up at midnight to get in. That's just crazy.

So, Angi dropped me off at Office Max which didn't open until 7 and she headed down to Kohls to find some more Christmas gifts. Office Max had a 200 gig hard drive for $49

There were maybe 75 people already in line ahead of me and a lot were talking about the drive or I saw that they had it circled on their flyer.

I figured there'd be no way I'd get one here either and resigned myself to the fact that it wasn't meant to be.

At 7AM the doors opened and people were knocking each other down trying to rush in. Line crashers were busting in from all sides. It wasn't a pretty sight. I watched as people flew towards the computer media aisle. Seemed like everyone was headed over that way. Finally I was able to get in and hustled over to the hard drive aisle.

Oh, they had all kinds of hard drives all right but no 200 gig ones for $49. I saw people running all over the place with them so I must have been to late again.

Suddenly a girl runs by me shrieking to someone that all the ad specials were only in the last aisle. I looked over that way and it was a sea of people, pushing shoving, grabbing. It was insane. It was something out of a movie. All civility was thrown out the window.

I tried to get in the line but wasn't making much progress. People shoving, pushing, cutting in line. It was like prehistoric times. Everyone had reverted to homo sapiens base nature.

Since I didn't want to contribute to the mayhem I had to be a little more clever. I walked around to the other aisle of the aisle where people were exiting. pressed up against the wall, I scooted slowly behind the savage group of frenzied shoppers. Although there was a limit of one item per person people were grabbing as many as they could. I found out later that these were the runners. Other people waited in the wings to be handed an item by the runners so they could bypass the system and get more than one item. Fathers and mothers waiting by the sideline while their sons or daughters grab items then they'd head off to the checkout with their items. They may have been savages but there was a method to their madness. They had it all figured out. How could I outsmart these people?

Finally I was in the middle of the aisle but behind the frenzied crowd, I searched all over for the hard drives. I didn't see any. Suddenly though an opportunity presented itself.

Office Max had a deal for 100 CD-r's for free after rebates. Even though you could only buy 1, the runners were scooping them up by the armful. One woman in front of me put her 200 gig hard drive up on the shelf so she could squeeze a few more of the CD-R's in her arms. She already had three of them but was trying to get a few more.

Like a cobra I shot my arm forward past the crowd latched onto the hard drive and pulled my arm back with no one noticeing what had just happened. The woman so was busy scooping up more CD-R's she never noticed that the hard drive she had set down was now gone.

Swiftly I made my way to the checkout, paid and left.

Do I feel bad for what i did? Not in any way. It clearly stated 1 item per person. Her greed in trying to get 700 CD-R's for free cost her the hard drive. I never would have taken it out of her hand but when she put it back on the shelf it became fair game.

Would I brave the crowds again? Most likely not. I'd rather pay the extra money and not have to be sleep deprived and face the lowest form of human nature.

Now that I have over half a terrabyte of hard drive space. I hope to put it to good use learning to edit better and hopefully becomming Apple Final Cut Pro level 1 and 2 certified. ]]> Sun, 28 Nov 2004 14:41:34 -0600 http://pawprintproductions.com/blog/C1320236167/E1204248833/index.html http://pawprintproductions.com/blog/C1320236167/E14484074/index.html Last night was the second night of this weekend's exterior shooting for Prescribed Film's latest feature film, "Through the NIght"

Although the rain stayed away tonight and the wind finally died down, it was the cold that tested the dedication of both actor and crew.

As the sun set the temperatures quickly dropped. Finally settling down to 46 degrees. For crew members this wasn't that big of a deal. We all wore warm clothing but even then most of us were chilled by the end of the nights shooting.

It was the cast members that had it bad. Since the move takes place in warmer Autumn times, their costumes did little to keep them warm during shooting. Thick blankets and coats were quickly put on after each take. It was apparent that the cold was really taking a toll on them. As one setup was finished there was a chorus of " How many more shots do you need us in?" I think Insane Mike and J-sun would have liked to have had more coverage but their concern for the cast had them call it a wrap around 3 AM. After a mad dash for coats and hats, the Eastern Iowa countryside grew quiet. Exterior shooting for Through the Night was finished.

Lisa tries to stay warm in front of the lights


]]> Sun, 24 Oct 2004 17:11:29 -0500 http://pawprintproductions.com/blog/C1320236167/E14484074/index.html http://pawprintproductions.com/blog/C1320236167/E1742817603/index.html I spend another long night with the crew from Prescribed Films working on their latest feature Through the Night.
Tonight was not what you call your typical night of indie filmmaking.

It had rained all day with a good hail storm thrown in to make things a little more interesting. Hopefully, it would stop by the time shooting started.

Not only did it start raining harder but the wind picked up even more than it had been the rest of the day. Even though everyone was cold and damp, spirits were high and everyone moved forward to get ready to film.

With camera, extension cords wrapped in plastic, we hope the rain wouldn't blow the lights for the exterior shots. I had brought down my Sennheiser mic and zeppelin but even that wasn't enough to quiet the gale force winds that we were encountering.

Shooting at night always takes longer to shoot than a daylight scene. Trying to get the lights right can take a lot of time. With wind blowing over light stands and bulbs bursting it makes it all the tougher. Luckily everyone was really motivated to get these shots done and no one really complained.

If it wasn't for the fact that some actors availability was limited it may have been wiser to shoot another day. However with indie filmmaking you have to adjust your shooting schedule to work with your actors.

The hours past and before you knew it we had reached the 4 AM mark when a wrap was finally called.

Traveling back to Cedar Rapids, it was almost 5AM before my weary head hit the pillow.

Hopefully tonight's shoot won't last as long. :-)

Here I am trying to hold the boom mic and not get blown away in the gale force winds.
]]> Sat, 23 Oct 2004 14:43:21 -0500 http://pawprintproductions.com/blog/C1320236167/E1742817603/index.html http://pawprintproductions.com/blog/C1320236167/E379027697/index.html Well, my knee finally healed up enough that I can finally get outside once again.
Prescribed Films was starting production on their new feature length film "Through the Night."
Since the filming was taking place in Iowa City I thought 'd go down and pay them a visit.

As always it's a lot of fun being on a PF set. Although everyone works hard to get the shots, they like to have fun while their shooting. Isn't that what filmmaking is all about? If you can't have fun, why do it?
They've assembled a great cast for this film and I predict this could be one of the best PF films to date.

I was able to help out with a couple dolly shots and held the boom for a few of the scenes. Didn't want to tax my knee since I still may not be out of the woods.

Here's a group photo from that first night of filming. ]]> Mon, 18 Oct 2004 12:22:59 -0500 http://pawprintproductions.com/blog/C1320236167/E379027697/index.html http://pawprintproductions.com/blog/C1320236167/E1595946024/index.html What's a filmmaker supposed to do when they're laid up with a bad knee? Well, make a stupid little short I guess.

I had been working on some stuff in After Effects and noticed I had a plugin that simulated a night vision scope. I wanted to try the plugin out and see how it worked. Since I couldn't walk filming something just for this was out of the questions. So, I just grabbed some footage I was currently working on and tried that.
Stupid film? Absolutely.
Maybe in the future I'll make some commando or spy movie and use it there.
Here's a still image with the night vision plugin. I don't think it looks that bad. :-)
]]> Sun, 17 Oct 2004 12:13:43 -0500 http://pawprintproductions.com/blog/C1320236167/E1595946024/index.html http://pawprintproductions.com/blog/C363836522/E1777435064/index.html Hello everyone,
Sorry it's been such a long time since I updates this blog, but I'll try to keep you posted on Pawprint Production activities more often than in the past.
Been fiddling with the edit of The Delta Man. Just wasn't happy with the way it was looking. The scenes were looking ok but it just didn't have that something.

For some odd reason I decided to change the aspect ratio to 2.35:1. Wow, did I think that made a difference. It cut out all the unnecessary information and concentrated you on what was important to the scene. Not sure how the whole movie will turn out since I didn't plan on using this aspect ratio but so far it's looking good.
What does 2.35:1 ratio look like? Here's a couple of stills take from The Delta Man edit to show you:



I'll be outputting the QuickTime version without the black letterbox bars you see on these stills. Not only will this increase the viewing experience but it makes for a smaller file size too. :-) ]]> Sun, 12 Sep 2004 21:52:05 -0500 http://pawprintproductions.com/blog/C363836522/E1777435064/index.html http://pawprintproductions.com/blog/C1320236167/E1185298206/index.html Hello everyone,
Sorry it's been such a long time since I updates this blog, but I'll try to keep you posted on Pawprint Production activities more often than in the past.
Been fiddling with the edit of The Delta Man. Just wasn't happy with the way it was looking. The scenes were looking ok but it just didn't have that something.

For some odd reason I decided to change the aspect ratio to 2.35:1. Wow, did I think that made a difference. It cut out all the unnecessary information and concentrated you on what was important to the scene. Not sure how the whole movie will turn out since I didn't plan on using this aspect ratio but so far it's looking good.
What does 2.35:1 ratio look like? Here's a couple of stills take from The Delta Man edit to show you:




When the final edit is done I'll be outputting it to QuickTime so there won't be any of the black letterbox bars you see in the stills right now. Not only does this increase the viewing experience but it also makes for a smaller file size. :-) ]]> Sun, 12 Sep 2004 21:49:59 -0500 http://pawprintproductions.com/blog/C1320236167/E1185298206/index.html