Welcome to 2013 everyone!!! A new video for you to enjoy; Sunset to Moonrise 2012, a relaxed journey.      
   It's a small sample of the many sunset photo's I took from 2012 followed by photo's,a time lapse, and some video of the moon moving across the sky. Check out the link for the video and look for a new one with some of the birds I captured with the camera in 2012 coming soon.

Sunset to Moonrise 2012, a relaxed journey.

 

   I went to a jam session recently and filmed the guys doing their practice runs on some new songs, and some they already know. I used it to practice where and how to set up cameras, audio recording equipment, and shot placement. I used 2 cameras, a Canon T4i and a Canon sx50hs, both great cameras worth considering for anyone interested in photography or videography. The footage was stored in my laptop and I got a chance to only edit one song so far, about 6-7 hours of work as I had to teach myself how to operate, sync, and align with the editing software and then file transfers, etc. I also learned alot about where to put the cameras and audio equipment next time. Also good to note that recording live action is way different than scripted acting. Saying "cut" and "take 2" would have been great for me to get better, more in depth, camera angles and lighting. The  video I ended up with was a result of working out the best I could get with the decisions I made that night. Here's the link, but it is unlisted on Youtube for the sake of the bands pride, so I'm not sharing their practice session since they were starting off cold on several of the songs. But I am very thankful for them letting me record the whole night...
Stone Free cover by Train Wreck

   More songs are waiting for me to edit, and boy is it alot of work. It is great training to learn the Lightworks NLE (non-linear editing) software though. I'm hoping to do a couple real music videos with the band at a future date to feature their talents, something as a token of appreciation, a momento for them to have to display the bands accomplishments.
   So long 'till next week, and stay tuned. Working on more fun projects to share with y'all.

   Just a quick note as I've been busy lately with some side projects (and life in general). I have a new time lapse and am working on some music videos. here's the recent timelapse and a link to some of my photo's as well.

Youtube video here

flickr photo's here
and here's one too

ENJOY!

   Here's a link to a nice little time lapse video set to some music by Kevin MacLeod that I threw together last night. It was so cold that the camera and tripod were covered in frost after I brought them in. I started around 7 and stopped around 9:30 getting about 1000 images to put together in this short video.I can't wait to do more video's like this, it's great fun. I have plans to do a "Day in the life of." video which will include images from an entire day put together into a fast forward look at what goes on in my world some days.
   The links to my YouTube channel and my Facebook page are as follows:
ICBA Pictures on Facebook
ICBA Pictures Youtube channel
   As soon as I get some shows finished for the other channel I'll be sure to post a link here on my blog.

Hope you enjoy the newest video here...
Star 12 12 12 timelapse

   Just a brief announcement to let people out there know about a new Facebook page: Icba Pictures.
Also look for a new YouTube channel: FilmTimeYell , which will have some short comedy skits, and other content designed to entertain the masses. This Youtube channel will be a way to learn editing, lighting, sound, and camera work, all while providing something fun or funny to watch to its subscribers. Hopefully content will be added on a 3-4 week basis, then every 2 weeks, and finally on a weekly basis. There is a Youtube channel for ICBA Pictures but is generally going to contain content related to the film project as well as documentary or artistic videos.
   I hope everyone enjoys the ride, it will be a lot of work but also, hopefully a lot of fun too.

   The motorized glide track is assembled for testing. Unfortunately the drive belt is not up to standards yet but I managed to put together a demonstration of it's uses. The quality is very low, I am still learning how to export video to the correct codex, sorry. It is quite boring, the lighting is poorly done, and the edit was made in haste, but a display of the use nonetheless...
Enjoy!!!

I'm still here. Kicking and fighting to make things happen. I plan on putting something interesting together for the month of December. My plan is to focus on producing a 5 minute video to best of my ability. Hopefully it's something everyone can enjoy.
   Thanks to Black Friday and the internet, my DSLR is on the way... All my audio gear is set up, my grip gear is ready, my batteries are charged, and I'm ready to make the magic happen, lol.
   I've been looking into ways to fund my projects and am looking to get a Youtube channel up and running as well as a Facebook page. Hoping to make a few short series shows, comedy, drama, how-to maybe. Any idea's? Feel free to post them in the comments section. They will have ad's on the pages, although annoying, this pays the bills in the entertainment industry and is a necessary evil. I'm hoping to partner with advertisers that offer quality products and services so that if you do use them it will be a win/win process.

A little video I put together for practice on filming and editing. Am still learning to color correct and definitely not the best secondary camera work, it was an after thought. I'm happy with the DR-40 recorder, sound is great from it. This video used the internal mic.s only, next time I will use a shotgun mic or an omni-directional to get rid of the background noise. Post a comment if you liked it, or if you have any thoughts about it. Thanks.

I found my NLE software!!!! Finally picked some editing software I think will do the trick for the long haul. Lightworks. It's been used by the pro's for plenty of box office hits. I ran a steadycam test before and finally got to put a side by side video together. On the left is no steadycam unit, just handheld. And on the right, a DIY steadycam with about 5lb.s under a Nikon S6100 camera. Enjoy.

      No steady cam.........................................................................................................With steady cam.

More good news... The audio equipment is on its way. Microphones, digital recorder, a boom, and cables, etc. Should make for nice sounds to go with nice pictures I hope. It's lower end stuff, the recorder is a Tascam DR-40 which has 4 tracks to record to, making it possible to capture dialog as well as ambient noise as well. Microphones are by Audio Technica, and should provide a fairly clear audio recording of voices and sounds for the movie. Doing foley work should be fun, door sounds, foot steps, clanking back packs, crackling fires, etc. I will be recording some music next week hopefully, I'll try to capture it with video, edit it, and post it up here and on my Youtube channel.

I'm still working on the editing software and maybe a Mini Mac computer found on Craigslist. It will become a dedicated editing machine for music and video. Hoping to get some things recorded so I can start practicing. I have a lot to learn and am excited to get under way with the process.

 I got a shipment of equipment today. Fluid head tripod, camera rig with follow focus, matte box, and quick mounts. Also got some high speed SD cards and some extra batteries. Now to get started practicing...

I've been doing more research on computers and editing software. I've decided to just start with what I have and progress from there. I will be sampling all the major players though. I'll also upgrade the memory and ability of the computers i have so I can get started. Anyone care to donate a high powered Mac??? LOL!

 

   Well, I've been working away at learning all sorts of different aspects of film making, and... It stinks! Well the part about learning all the different parts and not having the budget to pass it off to someone more competent at the individual skill. Lately I've been searching editing software as the newest Windows MovieMaker (Live) is unable to do split screen rendering. Why is this a big deal? Because in order for me to edit a 45 second clip of how the steadycam works, in split screen for comparison, I need software that will be able to do this. And... Windows MovieMaker Live can't! Older versions, no problemo'... So since I know editing my much larger project is in the future, I figured I would start looking for some quality editing software now. What a mind bender. PC or Mac? Laptop or desktop? Adobe, Sony, Avid, or Final Cut? And then will my cheap laptop be able to handle whatever I decide to use? Probably not... Editing takes lots and lots of memory, like 16 to 24 GB of RAM, and sometimes more than 1T of storage. I may not need that extreme number, but I'd like to be prepared for any modest computing needs when the time comes.
   The short and quick answer is, of course, you need more money. Time is money and I don't have a lot of time available. So... sell more stuff! Haha, it seems some garage sales, eBay, Craigslist, and maybe a "fundraiser" of sorts will be my ticket to saving time for more important things, like telling my dad's story to people through this movie. I'll keep looking for a way to split screen edit a clip of the steadycam, as it really did do a good job of making the video footage less bouncy. I am thinking Adobe Premiere, but maybe an older version. Or maybe Final Cut Pro and get myself a Mac Mini... Aaaaaarrrgh!!!

   Finished working on the steady-cam rig on Friday and ran some test footage to try it out. As soon as I can edit it into a split screen video, I'll post it here. It went well and proved to work great. I've sold off enough to start getting equipment so decided to go ahead and order some sound gear as well as camera shoulder rig and a fluid head tripod. I'll be making some short films to get some practice and will post them here also so everyone can see the progress.  I went out tonight at sunset and took some great pictures, here's an uncut video of the landscape...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nt4GJyQyess&feature=youtu.be

Progress.......... I have been working on a glide track and a steady cam unit, and run a test on the glide track.    

Well, back to the drawing board for a glide track, but no big deal. The unit ended up not being smooth enough to keep vibration out of the video, even at slowest speed.

Here's the test video:

   I will be using a different design next time, something with four wheels and two tracks instead.

   On a positive note however, I am getting closer to my budget goal. Sold a go-kart frame and one of my rifles, selling an old dirt-bike on Friday so should be almost there, if not past my goal!!! I'll need it it seems since my research has opened up a lot of new information on what tools I need to make a movie. Sound is in need of more budget money it turns out, and I will need to make sure I get it taken care of. Sound is the other half of the show, the part where no one says good job, but if it's not done right makes the movie awful.
   So now to decide how to spend the budget, on what items first. It will most likely be hardware for now, and maybe some sound equipment to get practice with before I need to make it count. This movie business is hard work, all the prep work is kind of annoying, haha. I'd rather just go out and eat the soup at a restaurant rather than collect the ingredients, cut them up, and cook them..... Nawwww, just kidding, this part is half the fun.

   So today I came up with another $100 bucks by selling some car parts I had laying around. Soon I'll have the funds for a shoulder camera rig, a Tascam 4-track recorder, and an Audio Technica shotgun microphone. Possibly enough for a T4i or whatever the best used DSLR I can find on Craigslist. I've been showing items all week so maybe something else will sell too.
   I spent some time talking with another friend who offered his support. More of an organizational, research, detail guy, he had lots of input and may even try transferring the written story into a script for the project. Another friend was sent the story and asked if he'd like to try acting the part of one of the main characters. I'm hoping for some serious effort put into the parts as I want the story to be told in an entertaining but factual way.
   I got the "hotshoe mount" I ordered in the mail today, which will form the attachment of the 4-track recorder to the camera. It's only a $7 part but made me excited to start filming.

   Today I built a glide track with the help of my friend, Greg. It was made from 2 drawer slides mounted on a piece of cabinet grade plywood. With a little more work it will be motorized with threaded rod to operate it back and forth. This will give some of the opening shots I'm looking for and some of the scenes later on will use it also. I've been researching camera techniques and equipment every day, really looking forward to doing some test shots soon.

   So, things are moving forward... Baby steps, do everything with baby steps, so you don't burn out. I sold some stuff today and got the funds for one of the preliminary camera's. as a bonus it turns out the new model of the camera I had planned on getting was recently released, and the money I got from the equipment I sold was enough to cover the cost of the newer model. Sweet!
   I finally have a Canon DSLR type camera to start things off, shoots in RAW, has full manual controls, does 24p 1080HD, also shoots 240 frames per second for slo-mo's, and has a 50x zoom.... and 24mm wide angle... It will be a great way to test angles, framing, lighting, and general scene layouts. It's not the main camera but will get things started. I will be trying to shoot everything with Technicolor's CineStyle mode if I can get it for all the cameras so everything can be color corrected in post production.

   My parents came over for dinner tonight, they showed there support with a great little gag gift.. Every penny they own... and a movie schedule book. Literally every penny they owned. And the wrappers so I could turn them in at the bank. I'll take every penny I can get to fund this project. The girl at the deli I frequent suggested having a fund raiser, and since I know plenty of musicians, maybe a "Garage Band" show is in order. We'll see what happens.
   I wasn't able to get an interview recorded with my dad tonight, but I did clarify some details. I also found out there is even more to the story than I thought. If funding ever permits, I'll add that part too. Hopefully I can get the story, from his mouth, recorded before he leaves New York on the 12th for Missouri, if not then it will happen when they return in late spring of 2013.

 

    "Wow, this might actually happen" I told myself today. I mentioned the project to a few more people and got a positive response. Had a "count me and my boys in" and a couple more offers of help. Set builders, an excellent idea for location, and overall interest from everyone who here's about it. Can't wait to get the ball rolling. Hoping to do an interview with my dad this weekend to get the story from the source recorded. I might actually be looking forward to winter for the first time in my life.

   Making a story come to life is one way to share the joy of having heard it yourself. A story you heard over and over again as a child often holds a special place in your heart especially if it was true, and it happened to a close family member. Join me on my journey as I make a true story about my father and his wilderness adventures come to life on the big screen. It may be a long trip but I hope it's worth it, both for me and for you. 

   I will be financing and filming this short movie by myself and with the help of friends and family. As I proceed i will use this blog to update all that are interested in the progress, good or bad, of the project. Any one who wants to offer help, donations, or encouragement is welcome to do so. Any help is appreciated but not expected. My aim is to make an interesting, unique, and enjoyable film for all to enjoy. Just as I have enjoyed the story my father has told me time and time again.