1) What sparked your decision to use the Technik PL Adapter in your film?

We were first made aware of the P&S Technik PL Adapter by Damian Acevedo,our

Director of Photography.  Every truly independent filmmaker, aside from

Quentin Tarentino, has one major concern when making a film: the budget.

The goal is to achieve the best possible look  for the film using what

limited financial resources you have.  After Damian showed us how the

Adapter makes digital video look like film, it was a no-brainer.  We wanted

the best looking digital film we could get.  So we got the Adapter.

2) Where is the Adapter available for rent and what kind of price is it renting for?

The Adapter is relatively brand new and only available for rent at two

rental houses in Los Angeles.  It runs at $200 a day, and is subject to

availability, as there is a waiting list to rent them.  But compare that to

the cost of film, film equipment and processing, and it totally maximizes

your time and money.

3)  I saw your test footage and was very impressed with the film look that was

achieved.  The depth of field and angle of view are incredible.  What lense

or lenses did you use with the Adapter and how was the experience?

Question Answered by Director of Photography Damian Acevedo:

Thank you.  We used Zeiss and Cooke lenses.  The experience was terrific. I

especially enjoyed the fact that I knew what each lens would look like and

cover before setting up the camera.  Coming from a film background, one of

my worst peeves with DV is that the lens focal lengths mean little to me.

I have to do conversions to figure out what the lens will cover in relation

to 35mm film lenses.   When using the adapter, that is no longer an issue.

4)  Do you have any tips for other filmmakers looking to use the PL Adapter?

Familiarize yourself with the advantages provided by the Adapter before

you get on set. Many of the previous limitations with digital video have now

been eliminated.   In the past, digital filmmakers have had to shy away from

using long distances, zooms, depth of field, exuberant colors....USE THEM

ALL with the Adapter.   The resulting picture will no longer look flat and

dull.  The Adapter gives you the opportunity to really showcase your

ability.

5)  I read somewhere that there was an issue the the iris of some lenses not

being able to restrict the light enough and forcing the use of a ND filter.

Did you experience this?

Question Answered by Director of Photography Damian Acevedo:

That is not an issue particular to the mini35 system.  In general, lenses

perform their best when set around T4.  In extremely bright scenes the use

of neutral density filters is common and encouraged when shooting any format

(Film or Video).  However, the exposure control is not done in the

traditional fashion when using the mini35 system.   For the most part, the

exposure is controlled by a second iris on the mini 35 adapter.  If the

second iris is not enough, the use of neutral density filters is necessary.

6) In what ways did the use of the PL Adapter change the logistics of your

shoot?

We took advantage of the increased depth of field by placing thematic

objects in the foreground and background.  We could also manipulate the

blocking of our actors, and adjust the focus to provide additional emphasis

where necessary.  In addition, we knew we could keep the camera rolling

because we were on digital.  We had no problem covering all angles and POVs.

The Adapter saved us time and money, and gave us an incredible looking

image.

7) Did you use any filters or post processed effects on the footage that I

viewed?

Question Answered by Director of Photography Damian Acevedo:

No, the footage you viewed was not altered with any effects, with the

exception of the three shots that were sped up.  I want to point out that

the film look that is achieved is not automatic.  The depth of field and

grain of the adapter are constants that don't take any skills to achieve,

but the lighting is crucial in the process of creating the film look.  It is

critical that your D.P. is skilled in that craft.

8) Who wrote the screenplay?  How long did it take?  How many drafts did

he/she

go through?

We wrote the screenplay over the course of a year, based on an idea we

had been developing for the last three years.  It was, like the Adapter, a

truly novel idea in that it had never really been explored before.  We

probably had 10 drafts, and the final draft wasn't printed until 2 nights

before lensing.

9) Was the screenplay strictly followed in the filming?

We adhered to the script very strictly because each plot point depended

on the next, and each dialogue was essential to the flow of the story.  We

want the finished film to be no longer than 15 minutes, so there wasn't much

room for improvisation of dialogue, only action and movements.  Our talent

had the freedom to experiment with their character's actions and physical

personalities, and they did a great job of bringing their characters to

life.

10)  How did you finance the project?

We financed the project on our own, and aside from unexpected insurance

charges, we were able to keep the usual production costs to a minimum

because we weren't using film.  We secured reduced rates from rental houses

and equipment owners, and our food was sponsored through generous donations

from Kentucky Fried Chicken...and of course a few hearty meals donated from

the parents back at the Virginia homefront.

11) Did you story board your scenes?  And if so, did you use a program or an

artist or?

Although we designed the set and blocked all our scenes a few days prior

to shooting, we opted not to storyboard because we were unsure what to

expect when using the Adapter in terms of depth of field, focus and overall

image quality.  Aside from a German tv commercial, no one had used the

Adapter in the US so there was no one to consult.

12) How did you find your actors?  What kind of pay if any did you offer

your

actors and crew?

We found our actors through our relationships from working in the

entertainment industry for the past three years.  Trieu Tran (Quincy) is an

amazing theatre/film actor who recently starred in Universal's "How High."

Getting Trieu to work on this film both as friend of ours and as a

professional actor was our first major accomplishment.  We then called

Debbie Entin, a beautiful actress/model who was a Temptress on "Temptation

Island 2".  She was a friend of a friend who liked the script and was

excited to work on the project.  Ben Rishworth was an unsigned theatre actor

out of New York who flew to LA for three weeks to work on this project.

Watching the three of them work together was truly magical.  We couldn't

afford to pay them, however we offered them the ability to play roles that

weren't their typical type-cast roles.  We gave them the chance to be

themselves and truly create characters.  We hope they took something from

this opportunity.

We were amazed by the passion and dedication displayed by our crew.  We had

people coming to our house at 5 in the morning ready to put in a full day of

work.  No one got paid, yet no one complained.  It was inspiring to witness,

and when we got sick of the fried chicken, we fed off each other's energy.

13) Did you create a budget and did you stay on target throughout the

process?

What was your budget?

Our line producer Randall Bobbitt created an itemized budget listing

everything from $500 for our SAG actor's workers compensation to $5 for

rolls of gaffer's tape.  Our budget for preproduction and production was

approximately $2500, and we managed to stay on target.  Post production is

still to be determined.

14) Did you shoot with DV, 16mm, 35mm, other?

We shot on digital video.  Neither of us had produced anything of this

magnitude on DV before.   Damian really knew his stuff and made it look

beautiful.

15) What type of film stock did you use? Why?

We asked around town and Sony Mini-DV tapes were the most recommended

brand.  So we went with them.  We ended up using 6 tapes, totaling $50.  Not

bad at all.

17) Did you rent, buy or borrow?  Was it a one camera shoot?

Our Canon XL-1 was supplied by Randall Bobbitt, our line producer, who

doubles as a digital filmmaker.  We also used two smaller DV cameras, one

for "surveillance"-style shooting in black and white, and the other for a

rigged steadicam shot.

18) However many cameras you used, how did you handle setups and coverage

for

the shots?  Any advice or warnings you can give?

Since we shot on DV, we could take our time to be sure every scene was

covered from several principle setups.  Once we had the basics covered, we

could get creative with various styles of filming and angles.  We had

intense preproduction meetings where we meticulously planned the most

efficient order of setups.  Time seems to have a way of speeding up onset,

and the preproduction process allowed us to maximize our shooting schedule.

19) What was your approximate shooting ratio?

Question Answered by our Director of Photography Damian Acevedo:

Our approximate shooting ratio was 4:1.  On more complicated setups we went

over that a bit, but that was the average.

20) How did you handle sound on the shoot?

Sound was handled by Michael Frohberg, a sound recorder from the company

Loud and Clear.  Michael used a DAT recorder and a boom mic/pole, while also

 plugging his XLR cables into the camera for backup.  We recorded on DAT

and into the camera for precautionary purposes.

21) What kind of lighting did you use and how much of the indoor and outdoor

scenes were lighted?

Question Answered by Director of Photography Damian Acevedo:

Jared and Brad explained in pre-production that they wanted the interior of

the Phreakers' apartment to be soft in order to evoke a sense of safety and

comfort that would contrast with the exterior shots.  To attain the soft

look on the actors, I used tungsten-balanced lights with a variety of

diffusion grades.   For the exteriors, I used reflectors and negative fill.

All of the scenes had lighting enhancements.

 22)            What type of obstacle did you encounter when shooting outdoor?

As far as the Adapter is concerned, we found that the bright

sunlight with the right filters gave us a beautiful golden look, while

overcast skies with the right reflectors gave us plenty of light and

control.  The only obstacles were controlling the sounds of on-coming cars,

planes and curious onlookers.

We filmed one sequence in a park in Westwood.  We had scoped it out and knew

it got crowded in the morning, so we got started before sunrise.  Two of our

actors had tight schedules that day, so we wanted to be shooting right when

the sun came up and not waste any time.  So we spent a couple hours blocking

out the scene in a large grassy area, and just as we were about to start

shooting, a park worker started putting down the sidelines for what turned

out to be a soccer field.  Within an hour a full game was in progress,

coaches yelling, soccer moms cheering, so we had to shift everything and

come up with new blocking.

23) What were the obstacles you encountered while shooting? Any Advice?

While some of our locations were secured via legal contracts, others

were verbal, which led to some problems.  We were kicked out of one of our

locations and forced to alter the shooting schedule.  In the end, it all

worked out for the better.  Filming permits in parks and recreational

centers can cost upwards of $500 so we made sure to film right at the crack

of dawn, before any police, park security, or dogwalkers could inquire about

our intentions.

In terms of advice, we now know to make sure to get written permission from

all necessary landlords and tenants, and also to explain exactly what they

should expect so they won't be upset or feel taken advantage of when a 30

person crew invades the premises.  If the landlord seems wary at all, choose

another place to shoot.  Or at least guarantee that no cigarette butts will

be left behind.

24) What kind of shots, dolly shots, crane shots, steadicam or other types

did

you use and what resources did you use to accomplish these?

The Adapter gave us the flexibility to use any lens within our package.

We used a dolly on three separate occasions, and rigged our own version of a

steadi-cam used while one of our leads was running.  In terms of special

shots, with the Adapter we were also able to use a fish-eye lens to give the

appearance of a peep-hole in a door, as well as use some really wide angle

shots and long distance shots using various Cooke lenses.

25)       What other equipment did you find useful on your shoot?  Is there

anything

you wish you would of had and didn't?

Question Answered by Director of Photography Damian Acevedo:

In addition to a Zeiss lens package, we also used the Cooke 25-250 zoom

lens.  This is a very large lens and outweighed that entire mini35 system,

so camera assistants Mike Flores and Matt Michaels constructed an ingenious

support system that made it possible.   We used the zoom lens to get the

compressed images you see in the park scene.   I can't think of anything I

wish we would have had.

26) How did you edit the film?  Did you transfer to tape and edit via

computer?

We are editing the film on a Mac G-4 with Final Cut Pro.  We uploaded

the digital footage from our camera to our editor's computer via firewire.

We played with the idea of transferring to Beta and using an Avid, but there

no point in suffering the resulting image degradation.  The Avid is a great

system, but at this point it does not champion the digital filmmaking

community like it could, and that seems to be the general consensus.

27) What kind of editing system are you using?  IBM, MAC, Capture card?

Editing, sound and other software?

We are using a Mac G-4 with Final Cut Pro.  For our sound, we are using

the DAT's as our masters.  We took the DATs and transferred all of the sound

to CD, then uploaded the CD's into the Mac hardrive.

28) What were the obstacles you encountered while editing? Any Advice?

One obstacle we are having is that our digital tapes have no visible

time code for us to try and synch up the sound with.  So everything has to

be synched together manually.

29) Where did you get the music for the film?

We got our music from a variety of different sources.  Since our film

has a modern, technological theme to it, we wanted musicians with techno and

mixing ability.  We were put in touch with a DJ from Washington DC who had

the right sound we were going for.  He is working with us to design a title

track with a distinct hook that will play during certain key moments in the

film.  We then contacted a local guitarist who is rated as one of the top

unsigned acts in America, and he will be providing great tunes throughout.

We also put out an advertisement soliciting bands willing to license songs

to us.  We got countless submissions, and it was great sitting back with the

headphones on using our imagination to combine the sounds we heard with

scenes from the film.  We chose three  bands this way, and we will cut and

loop their songs where appplicable.  All but one of the bands are from the

LA music scene, something we were very intent on keeping true to.

30)  How much Foley will you end up incorporating in the editing process?

Foley will play a large part in our film, as there are somewhere

between 30-40 sounds we needed to create that couldn't be done on set.  Most

of these sounds (sirens, footsteps, buzzers, feedback, knocking, tires

screeching) can be easily found on the web.

31) Did you have any trouble with sound in the post production?

We have about 60 seconds of footage that sounds overmodulated, where our

talent has to scream while inside a car.  We will have to re-record that

dialogue in the editing suite.

32)  What are the main suggestions you would give other filmmakers, based on

your experiences on this film?  In planning, in post production, in scoring, in editing, in pre production, etc.?

The biggest suggestion we have for people is to be aggressive.  Ideas

and accomplishments build off of each other.  Once we put together our core

crew, other talented people hopped on board.  Everyone in this town wants to

make

movies...so did we.  All we did was provide the script and the production

entities - everyone else from our DP to our wardrobe department (students

from FIDM) brought their critical expertise to the set and we just put it

all together.  You have to assemble a knowledgeable team and surround

yourself with the right people to work with.  Everyone has a little

something different to offer your project.

33) What were the obstacles you encountered while marketing it? Any Advice?

When marketing this film, we will showcase both the concept and theme of

the movie, along with the promise and potential of the Adapter.  We feel

that we're on the cutting edge of independent and digital filmmaking, and we

want to show it.  We also want to showcase the beautiful faces and

remarkable talent of our actors and actresses.  We feel we had a real boost

in the production value of our film with our actors' performances and

overall professionalism.

34) Have you been approached by distributors and if so, what are the results

so far?

We are in talks with producers to try and set the film up as a tv-series or

feature film...The film, however, is not completed, so we will stress, we

are only

in "talks."

35) Have you struck a deal with any distributors?

Not yet, but we hope our finished product will speak highly of our

assembled team, and lead to financing for a feature film that will once

again incorporate the Adapter.

36) Have you returned any profits from the movie as of yet?

No profits.

37) Have you tried the film festival route and if so, how is it going?

We are going to try the film festival route first, and focus on the ones

that boast the largest attendance.  The Los Angeles Film Festival is the

first biggie, and we're trying to meet the deadline.  We will wait and see

what the initial response is to the film, and play the rest by ear.

38) What are your future plans for the film?

We want to enter the festivals and then shop it around town as an idea

for a series or feature.

38A) How would you rate the overall production

experience?

Thanks to the Adapter and the team we assembled, it was the greatest

creative experience of our careers.  We were depressed at the thought of

turning this great script into another flat digital production.  We feared

it was destined for broadband and the internet, to be viewed in a little 3x3

inch box...until we got our hands on the P&S Technik Mini-35 PL Adapter.

Then we knew we had something special.  We now had the medium to give this

project credibility and create a unique look that incorporated the newest

digital filmmaking technology in the world.  We can't say enough about the

Adapter.  We feel our images are better-looking than most tv shows, and even

some films simply because of our choice in both equipment and DP selection.

It made our job a whole lot easier when it came time to scream ACTION!  It

justified everything we worked for over the last year.

39) What do you have in the works after this film?

Early retirement and lots of therapy.