What Do I Know?

I decided to make a short film on my iPad. Check out STALKER below:

So how did this come about?

If you have been following me on Twitter or keeping up with the Raymond Did It preproduction video blog on YouTube then you are probably aware that my fiancé, Sarah, bought me an iPad a few weeks ago. This is possibly the most useful gift I have ever been fortunate enough to receive. I have been able to make extensive use of the iPad as an organizational tool, a creative aid, and a pitch device when approaching people to help with and/or finance Raymond Did It. I took the iPad with me on my recent trip to Los Angeles and was able to utilize it as a navigational assistant (which I desperately needed) a communication device, and a mobile screenwriting tool. Thanks to the iPad, I was able to complete Scriptfrenzy this year by being able to work on my screenplay while doing other things like cooking breakfast, walking to meetings, or lying in bed trying to get to sleep. It’s an amazingly useful and convenient tool, in my opinion far more so than a laptop (ever try walking while writing on a laptop?). I applaud Apple for making it and I am incredibly grateful to Sarah for getting me such an amazing and perfect gift.

As an independent filmmaker, I am always looking for new tools to help with production. Before I got my iPad, my friends Joke and Biagio, with the aid of their assistant editor Nate Orloff, created and released a screenwriting template for use with the Pages app. This alone would have made the iPad worthwhile for me, as I have never had a means of writing electronically on the go. The first thing I did when I got my iPad was purchase Pages (for a very affordable $9.99) and immediately thereafter I hit Joke and Biagio’s blog to download their template, which happens to be free.

Once I had my hands on the screenwriting tools, I immediately went to work on my Scriptfrenzy project. The iPad had lived up to the hype and I was thrilled. As soon as the writing bug wore off, I started browsing the app store for other filmmaking resources I could download. I was thrilled to see the vast amount of apps geared toward filmmaking and media production. As I began downloading these apps, it occurred to me that someone could probably use an iPad for the entire preproduction and postproduction process on a short film. With apps for screenwriting, budgeting, maps, slates, video and music editing, it seemed that all the tools had already been made for a filmmaker to use, all I needed to do was download and combine them. Filled with excitement at the possibilities presented by these apps, I set to work.

My first step was to write a screenplay. Using Joke and Biagio’s template, I put together a five page script that seemed like it would be fun to film, and would give me a chance to play around with makeup fx a little bit.

Next on the agenda was casting. Using the iPad’s Mail app, I sent the script to Melissa Revels and Elise Schultz, asking if they would be involved. Much to my delight they both agreed, and Elise brought Jaime Flores to the party as our third performer. I enlisted Tim Stotz to provide camera work. Due to the iPad’s lack of an on board camera, we decided to shoot on Tim’s Sony Ex-1. This provided us with crisp and beautiful raw footage. I knew that the iPad would likely be incapable of processing the footage directly, so I wanted to start with the highest quality image possible in order to retain image quality when the footage was compressed to a format the iPad could use. I enlisted the aid of Jake Skiba and Eric Steiner to act as dolly and boom operators, grips, and general crew.

With all the production personnel in place, the next step was to sort out the budget. For this I used an app by Asbury Media, aptly titled “Film Budget.”

STALKER in Film Budget (from iPad screencap)

Film Budget is free to download, so the price was right. The interface is very intuitive, and I was able to get my project set up in a matter of minutes. Film Budget provides several pre-formatted cost categories in each project, such as equipment, locations, and props, which can be further customized at the item level by adding items by name with an actual cost price tag and a handy area for notes. My one complaint with this app is the lack of a “.” button in the numeric pad where you enter the costs of items.

Where's the "."?

Working on any film requires tracking pennies, especially in the realm of indie low-budget film making. This flaw in the program seems inexcusable, irritating, and easy to resolve, especially in an app that is otherwise incredibly versatile and useful. I hope Asbury Media does an update to correct it soon. Once I had Film Budget installed, I set aside $75.00 with which to make the film and I started projecting my needs. Thankfully, apps included, I was able to bring the project in a bit under budget, which is always good news for an indie filmmaker.

The shoot itself was pretty smooth, with the exception of a technical failure in the Arri light kit I had borrowed. Only the 650 watt light was functional, which made getting our shots a bit of a challenge. Thanks to Tim’s skills, and the hard work Skiba and Eric put in on set, we were able to make that one light work for us, and I’m pretty happy with the result.

For effects, I knew I would be unable to generate anything useful in the iPad, so I kept our gore entirely practical. A bottle of liquid latex and a bottle of fake blood, a bit of makeup, two condoms, and a roll of gaffer tape were all the materials we needed to achieve the special effects for the film, and all told, I think it turned out very well.

Once the film was shot, I had the issue of getting the footage onto the iPad, and editing it. For editing, I chose an app called “Reel Director” by Nexvio, which allows full video editing and the addition of an audio track.

Reel Director Home Screen

Reel Director imports video through the “share photos” function in iTunes, as long as you configure the app to allow it to access your photos and import video. This configuration can be found in the “settings” app on the iPad. The tutorial included in Reel Director explains how to import and edit footage pretty clearly, so it was not terribly difficult to get it set up.

Reel Director Settings in iPad

Once Reel Director was configured properly, the next step was to move the footage from the camera to the iPad. After removing the footage from the EX-1 via XDCAM Transfer, I placed them in the photos folder and synced up my iPad, only to discover that it could not accept the footage. To resolve this I opened each clip in the Quicktime 10 player. Using the “share” option, I was able to compress the footage to the iPhone/iPod touch preset and import it into Reel Director with no problems.

Quicktime 10 Share Option iPhone & iPod

In fact, I was rather impressed with the quality of the compression Quicktime player provided, as I expected the footage to be somewhat pixelated by the process. This was my first time using Quicktime 10’s share option, and it did not let me down in the least!

Now that the footage was in place, I could move to the actual editing. In Reel Director, I created a new project and entered the information and settings for the opening and closing credits. The app allows for customizable placement within the frame and duration of credits text. As there is no slug generated by Reel Director, I had Tim shoot 10 seconds of black, silent footage for me to integrate under the titles, and it worked out wonderfully.

When selecting video for the project, I simply clicked the “Add” button in the Reel Director timeline and was taken to my photos folder, where I could browse all of the video clips I had imported.

STALKER in the Reel Director Timeline

Once a clip is selected, the app offers the ability to do a broad trim, dropping only the selected footage into the timeline. From the timeline you may then select each clip and further trim or split the clip. When you trim, you have option of either preserving the original clip length, or making final trim. I elected to preserve the original clip with each trim, in case I needed to further adjust my cuts. When choosing the split option, Reel Director makes new, separated clips, so I recommend using a temporary trim before splitting to ensure all cuts are in the proper place.

Trim and Split in Reel Director

Using this process, I created the rough cut of the film. The greatest flaw I found while constructing the rough cut, and possibly the greatest flaw in the app, was the inability to cut in increments smaller than one second. This is extremely limiting in an edit and makes the program almost unworkable. However, with a little patience, and judicious use of clip transitions, which you can control in and out individually at the clip level, I was able to make a passable cut of the video.

I had hoped to be able to color correct on the iPad, but the capability is simply not there at this time. I downloaded an app called Hollywood FX that allows for regenerated color effects that cannot be altered or adjusted, and in general look pretty cheesy. I was thoroughly disappointed and wound up not even using the app on this film.

Once video was complete, I moved on to constructing the audio for the film. This proved to be a much greater challenge, as Reel Director only provides for a single master audio track, and the source file must be an .mp3 which is imported into Reel Director via wi-fi. Committed to the idea of using the iPad for all of post production, I turned back to the app store to find a solution.

Groovemaker by IK Multimedia

I found an app called “Groovemaker” by IK Multimedia, which allowed for the creation and editing of beats.

Mixing Beats in Groovemaker

After a bit of tinkering, I found a sound that I liked and exported it to my Mac Mini, via wi-fi. I was happy with the way the sound turned out, but I still needed Foley, and Reel Director only permits a single audio track, which cannot be clipped or edited for time. Going back to the app store, I found an excellent audio app called Monle available at www.monleapp.com for $9.99.

Monle "About" Screen

Monle allowed me to import audio files, (such as the file created in GrooveMaker) record Foley, (the majority of which consisted on me abusing a head of lettuce in my kitchen) and edit four independent tracks with a minutes:seconds timeline. This allowed me to time Foley sounds to the spots they needed to be in the video, and to better control the placement of music. Monle also includes fade in and out commands for each audio clip and non-destructive trimming of each clip, which proved invaluable while tweaking item placement.

Monle Editing Timeline

The only issue I ran into with Monle was that it only exports .wav files, while Reel Director only imports .mp3s.

A Sad Solution...

I tried and tried to find a way to reconcile that issue on the iPad. I was unable to find an app that could import and convert the file for me, so I took the .wav file I generated in Groovemaker and plugged it into Garage Band, then exported it to .mp3 for use with Reel Director. This worked just fine, but it did step outside the mission statement a bit, which I found frustrating.

Once the audio file was in place in Reel Director, I did a bit of video trimming to ensure everything matched up and exported the finished film to my Photos. Using iTunes, I imported the video onto my Mac Mini, and from there I uploaded it to YouTube. For the record, Reel Director does offer an option to upload the film to YouTube, but the file size was comparatively large, and I didn’t want to risk it timing out.

So, now the experiment is complete. I have a short film that was written, produced, and edited on the iPad. I learned quite a bit in the process, got to play with some very cool apps, and had a little bit of fun while working on this film. I still think that iPad apps have a ways to go before the iPad can be viable as a complete preproduction and postproduction tool, but I suspect that app developers will be working on this over the coming months. I would really like to see Reel Director updated to allow separation of audio from existing video, to allow multiple audio tracks which can be edited in the program, and to permit faster cutting intervals (even half a second would be a HUGE improvement). Hopefully some of the additional multitasking capabilities of iPhone OS 4 will help make some of these wishes more plausible. Thanks for taking a look at the blog and I look forward to hearing your thoughts. I hope you enjoy STALKER!

Once the iPad version of STALKER was roughly cut, I employed the services of Raymond Did It editor Robert Williams to do a version of the film, edited in Final Cut, with color correction, and all the nifty tools at his disposal. I have provided both versions so you can look at them side by side and make some comparisons yourself. How do you think the iPad edit stands up to the Final Cut version?

Finally, I would like to ask that if you enjoyed this blog, or the videos included, that you please help support our upcoming feature film Raymond Did It by making a donation at http://www.indiegogo.com/Raymond-did-it and by passing the link around. We have less than three weeks to raise just over four thousand dollars, and every dollar helps!

Thanks,

Travis Legge

I would love to be more verbose today, but i’m in a hurry. I have to be at an all hands cast meeting in about an hour!!

Check out the video! Leave comments!

We shoot in 5 weeks!

Support Raymond Did It on Indiegogo!

Plastic Age Productions is proud to announce two new additions to the Raymond Did It cast.

Patricia Raven (Blood Night) will be playing the role of Paige at age thirteen.

Photo Content © 2010 KAZPHOTO All rights Reserved

Patricia’s Bio (via IMDB) “Patricia Raven scored her first big role in 2007 as a young Mary Hatchet in the horror flick Blood Night. Born on June 8th, 1995 in Philadelphia, Raven attended the Baldwin School, a girls-only college preparatory private school for 9 years before moving to LA in 2008. While living on the East Coast, Raven made the transition from auditioning in her hometown of PA, to tackling the tough acting world of NYC. She landed various gigs, including an eight minute non-union film parodying Little Miss Sunshine, titled Little Miss Punch Line- which she landed on her first try. Raven has worked continuously ever since, landing roles in films such as Furry Hamsters from Hell, Slow Poison, Red and Coyote, as well as television shows such as Bring Your Daughter to War Day, Lobbyist and Dear Harvard, a role which earned her a Best Young Artist nomination in 2010.”

Our first day of principal photography, we will be wishing Patricia a Happy Birthday!

We are also thrilled to announce that Victoria Sullivan will be joining the cast of Raymond Did It as Tammy at age thirteen.

Photo courtesy Victoria Sullivan

Victoria hails from Minnesota and will be making her feature film debut in Raymond Did It. Victoria has extensive stage experience, having played leads in productions of Annie, The Jungle Book, and King Artie and the Knights. Plastic Age Productions is honored to be able to introduce this fine young lady to the world of film. She is an astonishing talent that you will want to keep an eye on!

Follow Victoria on Twitter

Principal photography on Raymond Did It begins on June 8th, 2010 in Rockford, Illinois.