Cynematik • Cyndi Greening

Well, we headed off to Mexico today — to film in Colonia Dublan and Colonia Juarez — in Chihuahua, Mexico. We hadn’t even left the Phoenix metro area and we had to turn around and go back … the over-heating light on my car kept coming on, so we just didn’t feel safe taking it on the eight-hour trip. We had to turn around and get a different vehicle. That delay put us two hours behind and had us crossing the border at dusk. Then, a delay at the border had us crossing the winding road over the mountains between Sonora and Chihuahua in the dark. We ended up arriving after midnight. It was, to be certain, an inauspicious beginning for the trip. The Mexican countryside was beautiful … and remote.

While we were driving I was thinking about how long it had taken the colonists to make the journey from Snowflake, Arizona, to La Ascension. Our twelve hours were nothing compared to the month it took them in their horse-drawn wagons. Some of the journal entries we read were about losing a family member along the journey and having to bury them in these vast, vacant prairies. What an unbearable horror that would have been.

DUBLAN FIELDS, MEXICO ©2008, Jared Moschcau.
All rights reserved. High-dynamic range photograph.

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When I was younger, I read an article about Human Success Dysfunction (that’s my term for it). It was during one of those phases when I was doing a lot of self-help reading. This particular syndrome, HSD, talked about how children will sometimes self-sabotage their ability to succeed to avoid out-doing their parents and making them “feel bad” because their is child getting “more” than they may have been able to get. There was also a section on the HSD parents, some of whom undermine their children to ensure they are not successful so the parents can remain in power, continue to have the wisdom and be in charge. All very unpleasant. The healthy alternative was that people do what they’re best at and not worry about that competitive thing within the family but simply celebrate each other’s gifts and successes.

So, much to my delight, I get to announce that Alec (my smart, talented, handsome boy) and his friend, Pacino, have started a production company in New York. The company, Universal Remote Productions specializes in digital media production and post-production. They edit, do 3D design and production, motion graphics and flash for web. They have a lot of contemporary music connections (because Pacino used to be in a successful touring band) and a lot independent film connections. One of the projects they worked on was Three Thug Mice. Now, they’re on to their own thing. It’s exciting for me to be able to write about what the guys are working on. Pamela Jo and I have been helping with paperwork and web spaces and all of that mundane business stuff that no one likes to do (not even us) but we want to be supportive. I wish them the best of luck and all the success in the world! I’m only a little envious.

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It has finally happened. I finally have the desire and the justification to purchase a high-end, high-quality digital camera. I have several traditional 35mm SLR cameras with a boatload of lenses — both fixed and zoom — but, heck, who can afford that hobby anymore? The film, the processing. Unless one is a total Luddite, digital is where photography it has come to be. Add the sophistication and ease of the digital darkroom available in Photoshop and it is no wonder the world has gone digital.

As a filmmaker, I have always loved, loved, loved film more than digital but, if film is cost-prohibitive in rolls of 36 images, then burning through 24 of those frames per second is the equivalent of stepping into financial quicksand. So, it was to be avoided … even though we all knew our images were falling into a compressed tonal range with serious compromises in the toe and shoulder of our contrast curve.

Now, thanks to an inquisitive phone call from Alec in New York, I find myself getting very excited about HDR (high dynamic range digital photography) and wanting to try it out. According to all of the sites I’m reading, expanding the dynamic range is a matter of taking multiple exposures with f-stops set to capture detail in highlight, midtone and shadow areas … and then compositing them together (using Photoshop CS3’s Merge to HDR automate command) to assemble the images into a 32-bit file that captures the detail in all of the areas.

If you want to give it a shot …
1. Set your tripod up on a scene that won’t change for about two (2) minutes.
2. Take an initial shot in the darkest area.
3. Open the f-stop to make the shot three (3) times brighter.
4. Open the f-stop to make the shot five (5) times brighter.
5. Open Photoshop.
6. File Menu —> Automate —> Merge to HDR.
7. Browse to your images.
8. Follow the dialog boxes.
9. Admire the detail in the highlights, midtones and shadows of your digital HDR image.

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EARLY SUBMISSION DEADLINE:
U.S. & INTERNATIONAL SHORT FILMS
Monday, August 18th, 2008 - $35 ENTRY FEE
U.S. & INTERNATIONAL FEATURE FILMS & DOCUMENTARIES
Monday, August 18th, 2008 - $45 ENTRY FEE

OFFICIAL SUBMISSION DEADLINE:
U.S. & INTERNATIONAL SHORT FILMS
Friday, September 5th, 2008 - $50 ENTRY FEE
U.S. & INTERNATIONAL FEATURE FILMS & DOCUMENTARIES
Monday, September 8th, 2008 - $75 ENTRY FEE

LATE SUBMISSION DEADLINE:
U.S. & INTERNATIONAL SHORT FILMS
Friday, September 19th, 2008 - $75 ENTRY FEE
U.S. & INTERNATIONAL FEATURE FILMS & DOCUMENTARIES
Monday, September 22nd, 2008 - $100 ENTRY FEE

Please note that the above dates are NOT postmark deadlines — they are the dates by which your film MUST be received in the Los Angelse office! If your film does not arrive by the deadline for which you have registered, you will be prompted to make an additional payment in order to bring your account up to date.

The only way to submit your film is to fill out the online application. For more information, read the 2009 Submissions FAQ document. Time to get your submission in order!

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I love driving. I find it relaxing and pleasant. Normally, a trip from Phoenix to Prescott is quite enjoyable, barely two hours. The hardest part of the trip is the six-mile stretch through the canyon from Bumble Bee to Crown King. It’s the stretch where signs warn drivers to turn OFF their air-conditioning to avoid over-heating. And, truly you must or your car will surely dog and die. I was going to make a quick run to Prescott on Friday afternoon. We got into the car at 3pm and started north. It was slow going. Traffic was heavy. We saw two rollover accidents before we even left town. But the true challenge was faced on the Bumble Bee stretch. We are told that a 190,000 gallon fuel tanker ended up blocking the interstate (for the second night in a row). It took us four and one-half hours to travel the six miles through the canyon. The guy in the car ahead of us took his golf clubs out of the trunk and spent time practice his driving. Some other folks came around selling cold sodas (guess they’d had them in their car). American entrepreneurs at their finest. When it was all said and done, the two-hour trip took over SEVEN HOURS. I went to Disneyland last weekend in less time than it took to get to Prescott. Just plain wacky!

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On our Dizzyland Adventure, I learned that it is possible to get married at Disneyland and, if you do, you can get this crazy Cinderella Coach (complete with Footman and Driver). The wedding party floated around the perimeter as the Happy Couple prepared for the post-ceremony journey in their Magical Carriage. It was exquisitely beautiful down to the most minute detail but it was also completely surreal. I found myself wondering if it made for a charmed relationship to have the “storybook” beginning or if it was just another level of fantasy that gets in the way of an authentic relationship. Guess it depends on the couple.

Speaking of couples, we were on a quest to find Disney antenna balls. There were the usual Mickey and Sorcerer’s Apprentice antenna toppers. I opted for the Rainbow Mickey Mouse for me and a Jack Skellington (NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS) antenna ball for Alec. An impending wedding had Joyce looking for the Disney Bride ‘n Groom antenna topper. When we were checking out, the clerk congratulated us on getting married. Guess that Rainbow Mickey was a tad confusing for him.

I found myself wondering if any couple can book the Cinderella Coach. A little internet research revealed that, YES, the Fairytale Wedding Package at Disneyland became available to same-sex couples on April 7, 2007. Cynics might say that American consumerism and desire for profitability would be ruling the day on that decision. Who cares?!? I could ride in that Coach! Of course, I’d want to keep it out after midnight to see if it turned back into a pumpkin and a couple of mice.

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The reason I’m in Disneyland is to celebrate Joyce’s 50th birthday with her. I’ve been encouraging her to do exactly what she wants to do and got swept up in the excitement of the moment. It is a milestone birthday, they say. Why are the “0″ birthdays so significant? That passage of another decade, I guess. My friend, would say it’s all a result of marketing and advertising, the desire of card and gift companies to make money because we dutiful consumers buy more “special” stuff for those monumental birthdays. So, what could be more appropriate than going to Disneyland for the Big-Five-Oh? Parades, rides, souvenirs, consumerism in the most attractive of packages. Hi-ho, hi-ho.

After an evening of fireworks, the original plan had been to get up early and go to “Early Morning Madness.” Or Magic Morning or some such clever marketing phrase. But, indulgence ruled the day. We slept in at the Disneyland Hotel and finally ambled out to face the world around 10am. Just in time for a leisurely breakfast. A couple of hours later we entered the park and pursued “short-line” rides. We got Fast Passes for SPACE MOUNTAIN and INDIANA JONES and made plans to return later.

There was no line on the COLUMBIA, so we got on that lovely, “nautical vessel” and went for a “sail” around Tom Sawyer Island. It was the first time I’d ever done that and it may have been my favorite part of the whole day. There was a light breeze and we ended up sitting on the very back of the ship … which was quite high so we could see everything from an unobstructed viewpoint. Reminded me of Irvine Park in Chippewa Falls. Not the sailing ship but the woods and water, Native American theme and all of the faux Native American attractions. Not to mention the “natural” forts and such on the island.

A “last-second” dinner at the tail of an evening ended with another fireworks show and, since the park was open until 1am, we were able to stroll around a nearly abandoned Disneyland … the waterway around New Orleans Square and the back alleys of Critter Country were particularly enjoyable. Main Street was virtually deserted. Since Joyce goes to Disneyland with some regularity, she said she loved the late night perambulations best because it was almost like a completely different, and more pleasant, place. At the end of the day, it seemed that she had a good birthday. I hope so. I know I had fun.

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So, I was in Disneyland for Independence Day. It was soooooo crowded. Apparently, a whole ton of folks decided that a good way to celebrate our freedom was to willingly be imprisoned in horrific lines for hours and hours. And hours and hours. To be honest, I’m not big for standing in lines. My theory for a pleasant time in Disneyland is to only enter ride lines with VERY SHORT wait times.

So, we drove from Phoenix and went to the Magic Kingdom. We started on Pirates of the Caribbean (wait time only twenty minutes). It was a great start to the long weekend … it seemed our rides were going to be charmed. I read online today that the Pirates of the Caribbean ride debuted in 1967. That makes the ride about 41 years old. The “Pirates” films keep the interest high and, we noticed, there were several new scenes with Captain Jack Sparrow. They were quite amusing, tongue-in-cheek … just what you’d expect … Jack hiding in barrels, behind treasure chests, beside pretty girls. A clever fellow after my own heart.

Since it was July 4th, that evening we went to the fireworks display in the park. There were so many people, we actually got stopped in the middle of Main Street, unable to move in either direction. Disney “cast members” were jostling everyone about and shrieking for us to keep moving and keep the streets clear but there were just too many people. After being wedged between a baby carriage and a large, bald man for about twenty minutes, Joyce said, “If there is an emergency, we will be trampled to death.” Undoubtedly, I thought. The fireworks were fun and awesome … for a while. But, then, the fireworks were stopped mid-show. The announcement said the winds were too high to continue. A couple of days later, we heard they were stopped because the crowds were too dense and fire code violations too glaring. We walked back to the Disneyland Hotel shortly before closing time. Joyce danced around in the shadow of the Sorcerer’s hat. A ferocious cold was taking hold of me so I was much more sedate.

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I love LOST. Love it. Some of my fellow LOST aficionados would rave about the series HEROES. I never caught it when it aired. I almost always taught on Monday evenings so the series never hit my radar. So, a couple of months ago, after the season of LOST ended, I started watching episodes of HEROES. Sometimes, the writing was clunky — the dialog was stilted, exposition so thick it was painful, and, in some cases, acting that was so bad, calling it “acting” was actually a compliment. And, yet, I got hooked on the story, started to like the characters. I wanted them to SAVE THE CHEERLEADER and SAVE THE WORLD.

Season One proved to be very satisfying. There was this underlying motivator that so many of the characters were driven by — the feeling that they were meant to be “something special.” Even the extremely bad guy, Sylar, was miserable and decapitating everyone because he, too, wanted to be special … and wasn’t. No Godsend power for him … only the powers he could steal from others.

Season Two was cut short by the Writer’s Strike. Only 11 of the 24 episodes were produced and aired. I’ve only seen five episodes of Season Two thus far. It’s moving a bit slowly and the Feudal Japan stuff is pretty tedious. We’ll see if it picks up. I was excited to read this evening that Season Three will air on September 22 and the theme is VILLIANS … inside every hero, there’s also a bit of a villain. I do love complex, conflicted characters. They’re so much more like us “real” humans.

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I’m still trying to understand this plural marriage as a divine principle idea. The arguments include (1) there just are not enough “just” men so the good ones must marry more women, (2) there were so many more widows and women who than men, (3) Joseph Smith had a personal revelation from Jesus Christ that revealed plural marriage as a divine principle (in direct contradiction to Bible). I’m not a Mormon so it’s just hard for me to understand how anyone makes sense of this.

Further research into the wives of Joseph Smith revealed that NINE of the first thirteen plural marriages were with women who were married to OTHER men. It just about destroys all of the arguments for plural marriage and divine principles. Puzzling. So, puzzling.

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I’ve always loved doing color correction in Photoshop. Last week, we had a “Maximize Your Mac” class and I got to teach color correction and repair of old photos. People just love those tricks. It amazes me how easy it is to correct an image. There are people who swear they cannot “see” color but I think it is simply an undistinguished skill. Remove a few color casts, balance a few flesh tones, improve the contrast on some black-and-whites and people start “seeing” the light.

I’ve used many of the techniques I mastered in Photoshop in the video environment. The biggest difference is that I get to obsess about one photo at a time but, in the video world, they’re going by at 30 images per SECOND. So, one cannot obsess in the same way. There’s a different kind of obsession with video. Instead of concentrating on the single image, the relationship of all images to one another, of one scene to another, becomes the driving concern. Recently, I found a wonderful video correction training DVD for Final Cut Pro. I’ve been excited about the new COLOR program that comes bundled in the FCP Studio. Understanding how to use the scopes, how to balance the fleshtones and match color is really satisfying. So, I’m having fun being a “colorist.”

I was telling Alec about the training DVD. He said that skilled colorists in NYC make about $500 per hour and the really gifted ones get $1700 per hour. Per hour. I’ve got to tell you that I can’t even imagine making that kind of money … unless they maybe only work an hour or two each month. I mean, seriously, how much work like that can there be? Given that I love color work, it has been an amusing thought. Tonight, I got to thinking about training four or five other folks who love color and creating a small company, a highly skilled and trained cadre of folks to provide that sort of work. What a colorful imagination I can have sometimes.

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