Damian’s Feed

Afterward I broke everything down and cleaned up.
I took a short nap and began cutting immediately. My first natural cut of the material was 12 min. I had shot so much stuff I wanted to keep it was heartbreaking to cut and cut until the 4 min limit had been satisfied. As I introduced more cuts, the program began to stutter, which prevented me from seeing the actual splice. In the final hours I started to realize that my earlier work flow tests had been deceptive in estimating the compression time. The test was almost six min, but it had less cuts and dissolves.

motion and workflow test 7D from Damian Calvo on Vimeo.

Sadly, I realized I would have very little time to work the sound design which I personally consider to be 50% of any project. But I promised my cast and crew that we would participate—and I had to make sure I had time to upload the project.

As the compression started, I was dismayed as the estimated time kept growing. The next four hours were spent in super suspense watching a little bar move across a screen. The bar moved very slowly. It was going to be close. I had another compressed version going on a laptop when I probably should have somehow networked the render. I uploaded my first test compression to my page well before midnight but it didn’t work. After some investigation the settings had been off. The back up compression was correct but would land on or just after the deadline.

With five minutes to go, I filled out the form and began my second attempted upload. But it cut out and sent me to a page “not found”. When I returned to the contest page I was greeted with the red letters. The submission time was over. Several min later I succeeded in uploading the 3rd attempt which worked with synced sound.

Days of no sleep and feeling like I disappointed the people who worked with me weighed on me. I tried to make it back home to my bed but instead fell asleep on the F train and ended up somewhere in Brooklyn. While waiting on an empty platform for what seems like hours, I started to get some of my focus back.

Obviously, we didn’t do all this work to win a camera lens. Even on my small budget, I had already spent a sum equivalent to the cost of a lens and zeroed out my bank account. My motive was the challenge of the project and the exposure and feedback the work might get. The actors also liked the challenge, but the ultimate reward would be exposure and a body of work to add to their reels. The next morning I’d wake up as early as possible and follow up.

The next morning I hit the forums and wrote a letter. Meanwhile my cast joined vimeo and shared the video on their facebook streams. Although we did not receive the direct support of the contest we started getting views, comments, and likes. Immediately we channeled them through flickr, twitter, stumble upon, dig ect. The exposure was less than we would have gotten if I had been able to get the project into the competition, but we were able to garner sustained attention to our work through our own independent efforts. However the “Beyond the Still” forum was very supportive. Vimeo continues to be one of the best online communities. The quality of the work there can be very humbling.

On the forums other filmmakers wrote about difficulties they had encountered. Vimeo responded saying that we should follow up. And finally just before the next still was released we heard back, with some encouraging words – But no go on being able to participate in the group.

It is frustrating to work so hard and not see our work in the contest, but as of this writing, the producers, actors, and I seem to want to go for it again. The discipline imposed by the 4 minute format revealed areas that could be simplified and streamlined. We have begun building a team that works well together and that can produce quality work with limited time and money. We understand some of the limitations of High Definition—especially when it comes to further study of the process in post. I think we’ll see a lot more short projects in the near future.

The Heist from Damian Calvo on Vimeo.