What exactly is that slate used for on movie sets?

Returning from a month in Seattle where I was on set for 'The Gamers: Hands of Fate' (there will be a good, long write-up about that experience soon), one of the first tasks after taking a breather and checking in with people is to go through the logging process. And no, this isn't the kind that involves trees, smart-ass...seriously, that wasn't even a good joke. What's wrong with you? Go sit in the corner. As I was going through logging all of the clips from the green screen portion of the shoot, it occurred to me just how useful a good slate is, particularly in the editing room. On set it is someone's job, typically the second assistant camera or a production assistant, to "slate for the camera". This involves filling in the information on the slate itself (production name, camera angle, take number, director's name, which film reel is being used¹), reading the information aloud once both the camera and audio are rolling, and then clapping the slate before getting out of frame. This is all for two purposes, one of which most people may already know about.

First of all, this marks a point both visually and audibly that can be easily recognized on both the video and sound files that can be used to sync the two together. Video and audio are recorded separately for movies, so this "clap" is there for the folk working in the editing room to use to line them both up.

Secondly, the information on the slate helps label the clip so that all of the post-production crew (which can range from one man to dozens to even hundreds on a Hollywood-scale production) can easily reference clips later.

The camera doesn't start rolling until the slate is on camera and in focus, so that the first frame of the video file has the slate's information visible and the editor doesn't have to scrub through to find it.

It varies from editor to editor (or if there's someone dedicated to the job of sorting and backing up the footage, it would be the job of the DIT, or the Digital Imaging Technician) but this clip could be labelled 'G3BD_Sc9A_Tk1.mov'. The prefix 'G3BD' is derived from the title 'Gamers 3' and the initials of the director to make it relevant only to this production. 'Sc9A' denotes the scene number from the script, and 'Tk1' indicates the take number.

It took me about 45 minutes to go through and change the name of each video file to it's proper reference within the After Effects project (see how much fun it can be?!), but now there'll be clear communication between the director, myself and others on which clip is which.

EDIT: As I've been reminded, it could also be used as an instrument of death in the right hands (say, Stephen Seagal?)

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¹ In the digital age a lot of the same film-specific terms still are applied. So a "reel" or "roll" actually refers to a memory card.

Merc joins Team Bloom for Movember

You'd think that growing facial hair being "my thing" and all that I would have participated in Movember before now. And yes, I have lazily grown various designs of face-fur during the month of November in past years, maybe in an attempt to at least belong to the group of men everywhere braving dirty 'staches to raise awareness for prostate/testicular cancer. But this year I vowed would be different. Movember 2012 has begun and I've made my decision to join fellow cinematographer Philip Bloom's "Team Bloom' as part of it. This was an easy decision (hair grows back, right?) right up until I grabbed the electric razor and did the deed. So of course I had to document it properly.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmj93FcKH5I

My beard has made the ultimate sacrifice, but something of a phoenix will rise where it once stood proudly. Mustache-growing season is on.

Please do me a huge favour and visit my Mo Space page to donate and also check out the other members of Team Bloom. The more support I get, you can bet the more I will toss updates on here. If time permits, and if I'm moved by enough donations and cries of favour, I might just create a short video to upload at the end of the month as a proper dedication to this month.

Good luck to all the guys out there, especially the ones who know damn well they don't look good with a soup-catcher hanging under their nostrils.

Iron Sky: 800+ Incredible Visual Effects, 8 Months, and 20 Artists

The morning after seeing the movie Iron Sky, a story of Nazis secretly hiding on the dark side of the moon for 70 years preparing for their imminent attack on Earth, I sit here at my laptop with my coffee, eggs and bacon (all getting cold) to bring you this message: It was worth the wait.

Since hearing of this film over a year ago and watching the trailer some months ago, the anticipation to seeing this vfx spectacle has been slowly building up. Not just for the twist of a story concept. And not even for its political humour. The visual effects of this production are as epic as the fleet of Nazi spacecraft they depict assaulting the Earth.

With a total budget of 7.5 million euros, about 16% of that was crowdfunded or invested by fans.

Energia was the company behind the visual effects for this production with CEO Samuli Torssonen as the VFX Supervisor. The task: to complete more than 800 complex visual effects shots within 8 months with a team of 20 artists. If you've seen the trailer, you know that these are no sub-par independent film effects. They produced Hollywood-caliber eye-candy with little time and less than a couple dozen workers. Achievement Unlocked: All Work and No Play.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Py_IndUbcxc

Especially considering the challenge laid before this team of intrepid artists, it was very exciting to see such the delicious fruits of their labour and feeling relieved that after a year of expectations building I had not been disappointed.

In the time of post-production the team toiled away and also kept their interested fans well updated. Of particular interest is this video update from Samuli showing a fairly lengthy behind-the-scenes look at the visual effects team at work on set and in post. You can watch it and more production diaries at this playlist.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9raYQYdh-E

Even with a cheesy concept, the story itself is not too overly campy to become completely ridiculous (not like some other films like Mega Python vs. Gatoroid). That is, if you can overlook how the Fourth Reich got set up on the moon and established a massive armada with no natural resources save for a bit of Helium-3 (which actually exists in abundance on the moon). If for nothing else, go see it for the eye-candy shots like I did.