Rung

Where can I see your little film?

2009-05-27T09:47:00.001-07:00

Most major festivals require a "first screening," so showings in the next year will be few, and invite only.

If your interested, and in the bay area, leave a note and we'll try and arrange a showing.

In the can?

2009-05-27T09:42:00.000-07:00

The film is finished!

In so much as it's festival ready.

I sent it to Cannes, but as you can tell it wasn't accepted (along with many new auteurs not making it to the finals.)

A copy is in Toronto for TIFF, and another in Venice for the Venice Film Festival. We'll hopefully hear back late Summer.

Most festivals appear to not accept blu-ray, so I'm still trying to compile a high-def version that will fly with the bulk of festival requirements.

Likely HD-Cam, (but surround sound becomes an issue.)

Hi-Def? That could mean a lot of things.

2009-01-15T10:08:00.000-08:00

If the film is accepted at Cannes, they'll require either a 35MM Print, or a Hi-def version. But what exactly is Hi-def?
As recently as last year, this might have included DS tape, but with the advent of Blu-ray the quality could be much higher.
Our film with uncompressed 5.1 surround stems could weigh in at nearly 70Gigs. So the research into how to best compress the "Hi-def" version of the film begins, and I welcome your thoughts and comments.

The first tests burning Blu-ray content to a standard DVD-5 yielded some nice results. Using the just released Toast 10, I managed to fit several 2 minute clips that played smoothly, albeit with odd aspect ratios. Menu authoring in Toast is pretty poor at this point, a little worse then DVD Studio Pro, and I'm not much in the mood to build the menu in Motion and then import some snazzy graphics into DVD Studio Pro.
Luckily, our 7 minute film should fit on a standard DVD-R, but I have yet to add the surround stems. I'm also not clear whether Cannes will accept a DVD-5 authored Blu-ray?

Oddly enough, video post services in the bay area don't appear to work with Blu-ray yet. I've yet to explore Los Angeles...

It's been a long time, but NEWS will surface.

2009-01-14T17:19:00.000-08:00

New Posts are coming soon...

My high school French tells me Cannes received the film.

2009-01-09T09:16:00.000-08:00

Monsieur / Madame Jesse BRODKEY

Nous avons bien reçu votre film RUNG

La conférence de presse annonçant les films sélectionnés pour le Festival de Cannes se déroule durant la seconde quinzaine d’avril.

Si votre film est sélectionné pour le Festival de Cannes, vous serez prévenu avant cette date.

Nous essayerons dans la mesure du possible de donner des réponses à tous les candidats avant la conférence de presse.

Cordialement,

Festival de Cannes

Département Films

DVD cover by Yael Braha

2009-01-04T09:58:00.000-08:00

I simply cropped a few screenshots and wrote a little synopsis, but here's what Yael tastefully threw together between meetings and deadlines for her own film "24 Hours of LeMons."

To Cannes via AirMail

2008-12-24T09:14:00.000-08:00

Actually it should read, to Cannes via FedEx.
The DVD has been sent to France. Just waiting for confirmation that the little sucker arrived...

A conservative 120+ audio tracks

2008-12-23T09:05:00.000-08:00

Steve Orlando and I finished our primary pass on the 5.1 surround mix for the film. This one will be good enough for the pre-selection DVD that I will send to the Festival de Cannes in France.
With all original recorded sound effects, we struggled to get the track count low enough that an HD2 pro tools system could handle the load. We still required an extra HD Accel card to play back the entire session - this with a hefty load of AudioSuite and RTAS plug-ins used to put a good deal of processing on the computer rather than the HD cards.
We played the compressed ac3 file on several surround systems with good results, often removing a lot of high end with a sharp dip and rolling off a marginal amount of bass. Our struggle with brightness could likely be the horns on several speakers as well as poorly tuned rooms. A little adjusting with an SPL meter smoothed out some of the troubles.
We'll do one final pass for the final HD version sometime early next year.

Who knew a 6 minute film could be well over 70Gigs?

2008-06-30T13:38:00.001-07:00

The folks at The Post Group in Los Angeles have managed to transfer our 16MM color negative to DPX 10 Bit Uncompressed 4:4:4 RGB files. I should say GIGANTIC DPX 10 Bit Uncompressed 4:4:4 RGB files that weigh in at over 190 Gigs for 15 minutes. I've hardly had a chance to view the data as few consumer computers can even open these bohemoths. From the frames I've seen though, they look truly beautiful.
Now the files are heading off to our colorist Page Frakes. Let him work his magic.

The negative came back positive.

2008-06-30T13:34:00.001-07:00

I'm both happy and relieved to announce that our 5 rolls of film, a little over 500 feet, have been successfully processed. No dirty baths, careless lab assistants, rips, tears, smudges, burning, lashing, or evil ghosts managed to corrupt our negative. FotoKem did a bang up job (with the exception of a careless prepping error.)

Now on to telecine...

Rung Sound Team introduction: Michael McCormick

2008-06-29T18:07:00.000-07:00

Michael McCormick is an Oakland based sound artist who works in both sculptural media and film. His main interest lies in exploring the physicality of sound through its referentiality to events and the following cognitive representations such as memory and emotion. Documentation of older sculptural work and sound collage exist at http://dipolesource.org, however, there is no current online representation of his film work. As a film sound artist, Mike has designed several short films, most notably Gordo, a Latino Filmmaker Showcase Finalist which premiered on Showtime.

Rung Sound Team introduction: Eric Arvai

2008-06-29T18:05:00.000-07:00

Eric Arvai, a native Chicagoan, began playing piano at age 5. He studied jazz theory and piano performance from Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA. He went on to graduate from Ohio University with a B.S. in Visual Communications in Interactive Multimedia with a specialization in Electronic Music. While providing live improvised accompaniment for modern dance classes at Ohio University School of Dance, Eric met his lifetime friend and mentor, world-class concert pianist, Andre Gribou.

He went on to work for a Santa Cruz advertising agency, Full Support Advertising & Design, where he produced many projects in the bay area; most notably scripting, engineering, scoring and mastering a radio campaign for the American Cancer Society.

Currently, Eric is the Director of the Media, Sound & Visual Department at Ex’pression College for Digital Arts. He can also be found teaching MIDI, Game Audio and Music Theory.

Eric contracts work as an Audio / Video Post-Production Engineer for Top Speed Productions, a company producing documentaries on off-road motorbike racing based in San Jose, CA. He most recently worked as an audio consultant on a documentary for NASA and scored a feature length documentary currently in international film festival rotation on American Sculptor David Hostetler entitled “Last Dance.”

He lives in Berkeley with his wife Jennifer and in his free time enjoys rock climbing, golf and his jazz trio. One day, long from now, his epitaph will read Died Tragically Rescuing His Family From The Remains Of A Destroyed Sinking Battleship.

Resume

2008-06-12T13:03:00.000-07:00

Here's a link to my current resume: Jesse Brodkey

Principal photography is COMPLETE.

2008-06-02T12:46:00.000-07:00

Chuck and I have finished the last shot for Rung.
Dare we strike the set?
Thus begins Chuck and Holly's packing frenzy as they make ready to leave in the next week for London.
And...
Thus begins my heavy work on post production. I've already assembled the sound team and we've had our first and second meetings. I'll post the team's bios later this week.
I've also found someone to do titles. I'll post her bio this week as well.

We'd like to thank everyone who worked or helped or hindered or generally had anything to do with the film this far. I'll compile a 'thank you' list shortly.

Thanks,
Jesse and Chuck

>2 shots left

2008-05-26T22:35:00.000-07:00

Chuck's 50+ frames into the 2nd to last shot. We might be able to set up the last shot tomorrow night and film it Wednesday.
Gear up for the wrap celebrations that will be taking place through the weekend...

Working faster than even we know.

2008-05-20T23:01:00.000-07:00

For the past two weeks, I've been trying to get an accurate scene and frame count. We're shooting so fast that it's nearly impossible. As Chuck finishes a shot, I'm setting up the next one.
It might be easier to have a shot countdown instead.

I believe there are only 5 shots left.
Really. Only 5 shots.

Nearly nearer and the quest for $

2008-05-13T08:10:00.000-07:00

As soon as we get an accurate scene and frame count, I'll update the statistics.

Until then, just know that Chuck and I are putting in all hours. There are about 10 scenes left which include many close-ups and cut-aways.
We're hoping to wrap principal photography before the end of the month, in order to make room for several weeks of drinking and toasting Chuck and Holly off to Jollyville.

In the meantime, I'm on the hunt for funding and acquisitions. FAF is having fiscal troubles, but there are a couple others I'll role dice for. If you have any ideas about loose pockets in these tight fitting jean times, please let us know.

Birth of a Sound Effects team.

2008-05-12T08:20:00.000-07:00

By two weeks end, I'll be able to announce the official 'Rung" sound effects team.

I've met with some real talents over the past few months (some friends and some new folks,) who all show imaginative and creative promise. With our first official meeting early next week, I'll have more detail for introductions.

Pre-Teaser

2008-04-30T19:10:00.000-07:00

Coming soon...

2008-04-26T12:32:00.001-07:00

As I wrangle up the sound team and give them shot fragments (in order that they can begin collecting Foley and SFX,) I've taken to editing completed scenes into shorter clips for reference. Some of these, I'm planning on posting over the next few weeks. So check in often, as snippets should pop up throughout the end of April and May until the completion of principal photography.

Miniature reveal.

2008-04-21T17:07:00.001-07:00

Try to ignore the monofilament. It's not visible through the Bolex lens.
And try to ignore my one non-humble moment as I pose triumphantly with the miniature's little lights on.

Catch up.

2008-04-21T16:34:00.001-07:00

Just to give everyone an idea of what's going on in the studio, I'm posting this image of Chuck (taken less than an hour ago,) as he "performs" a frame for shot number-thirty-something-or-other. Please take advantage of the large image file and expand by clicking on it, making it easier to notice the following: Chuck's raising the ladder attached to a c-stand to achieve a motion blur effect (go-motion,) while his right toe (sheathed in a stylish striped sock,) is poised above a make-shift shutter release to capture the shot. All this after setting up Mawk in a basket dangling from rope and a baby bird (not currently in frame) on monofilament.
Reminds me of a one-man-band circa 1930.

Surfacing.

2008-04-16T16:51:00.000-07:00

We've been at it.
Tearing through scenes and knocking back frames. Our May 30th deadline is a breath away, but we're ready. We are pushing ahead.

*keep an eye on the 'frames shot' and 'scenes completed' counter on the right side. I'm about to do a long awaited update and it will blow your mind.

Minature's update Part B.

2008-03-26T11:12:00.001-07:00

Minature's update Part A.

2008-03-26T11:09:00.000-07:00

Mawk with a little bit of color.