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Archive for January, 2011

TxDOT Commercial Production

January 17th, 2011

by Carlos in Video

Setting up the Production Design

I was recently hired by Think Street Inc. & Rip Tear Shred, an ad agency and production company in Austin, TX to come direct their Spanish speaking commercials for the TxDOT Drinking & Driving campaign. It was nice to go back to Austin and do production work there. I had worked in Austin a few years back before returning home to West Texas.

Listing to the Location Audio

I had the chance to work with Kim Whatley, Randy House, and Enea Abbud of Think Street Inc. & also worked with Cathy Beaudoin and John Brown of Rip Tear Shred, as well as several other talented actors from San Antonio, Houston, and Austin. Production lasted for 2 days and in that time we filmed 3 commercial spots at a Hospital, Kitchen, and BBQ party. Check out the little behind the scenes video I got while on set.

I was brought in during the audition process in order to help the agency and production company choose the actors and actresses who would best fit into the roles in the TxDOT commercials. We were more than happy with all of our choices. I even had the chance to work with Vic Trevino. Who is Vic Trevino? He was recently cast as Danny Trejo’s Mexican Federale partner in MACHETE. Spoiler Alert! he dies in the first 5 minutes of the film. Still he was a great guy to work with as were all the other actors and crew on this project.

Working with Victor & Jorge

Our talented Actresses & Crew Memebers

Check out the TxDOT 30 second & 2 minute TV Spots below:

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Casting Call: Domestic Abuse Short Film Series

January 11th, 2011

by Carlos in Film, Video

Poster for Auditions regarding Domestic Abuse Short Films

Auditions Poster

Title: Domestic Violence Short Films
Company: El Paso County and MindWarp Entertainment
Project: Short Films
Genre: Drama
Roles: Paid
Production Start Date: TBD
Production End Date: TBD

Date & Location:
January 15, 2011
MindWarp Entertainment Office

10am – 12:30pm & 2pm – 6pm

AUDITIONS:
Please call MindWarp Entertainment at to set up an audition time.
Please bring (3) copies of your headshot and resumes on the day of the audition.

There are 3 narrative short films.

1st Story Synopsis:

Katie and Ben have been married for two years. They seem to be the perfect happy couple. The reality of their household, however, is very different when no one is watching.
BEN (Male, Age 25 -30)
KATIE (Female, Age 25-30)
WAITRESS/JESS (Female, Age 18-25)
HOSTESS (Female, Age 18-25)
BUDDY (Ages 25-30)

Please download your audition scripts from the link below:
https://mindwarpentertainment.com/auditions/

2nd Story Synopsis:

Maria decides to leave her abusive husband for good, but before she can execute her plan, her son gets into trouble at school and delays their plan of escape.

JORGE (BILINGUAL Male, Age 30-40)
MARIA (BILINGUAL Female, Age 25-40)
ROBBY (BILINGUAL Male Child, Age 10-12)
MRS. GARCIA (BILINGUAL Female, Age 30-40) Robby’s schoolteacher.
MIKE (Male, Age 30-35)

Please download your audition scripts from the link below:
https://mindwarpentertainment.com/auditions/

3rd Story Synopsis:

Tired of being abused, Josefina is determined to escape from husband, but taking her daughter with her presents a larger problem. Since she entered the country illegally, she is afraid to go to the police and instead turns to a friend at a battered women’s shelter for help.

OSCAR/HUSBAND (FLUENT IN SPANISH Male, Age 35-45)
JOSEFINA (FLUENT IN SPANISH Female, Age 30-35)
ESPERANZA (FLUENT IN SPANISH Female, Age 30-35)
ANGELICA (FLUENT IN SPANISH Female, Age 8-10)

Please download your audition scripts from the link below:
https://mindwarpentertainment.com/auditions/

Email or Call us if you have any questions regarding these roles. See you all at the auditions!

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Red Sands: Behind the Scenes

January 10th, 2011

by Carlos in Film

Pulling focus for Jaime Mora

Last Summer, MindWarp was hired to produce a short film for My Key Films. Mikey Reyes, owner of My Key Films, recently finished his Master’s Degree at NYU this past December. Before his graduation, he was required to turn in a thesis film in order to complete his course work at NYU. Being from El Paso TX, Mikey Reyes at first thought he would need to bring cast, crew, and equipment down from New York in order to complete his film.

Our Gaffer Ryan Martinez

Little did he realize that there was a booming film community right here in West Texas. Mikey Reyes was not only able to find a great cast and crew here in El Paso, but was also able to find a majority of the resources he needed for the project thanks to several local El Pasoans. So what was Mikey Reyes’ film about?

While crossing the Arizona desert, two illegal immigrants witness  an ATV accident involving a young man. The immigrants decide to help the young man only to realize that the accident has attracted both the attention of a border patrol agent and racist minuteman.

Just from the description of the film, this project was not going to be easy. We went into production in June of 2006 and we ended up dealing with record temperatures while out in the desert. There was one day the temperature got as high as 106. Since we were shooting this project on the RED Camera, working in high heat was not the best condition to use this camera. We had camera shutdowns everyday. The ice packs we would put on the camera wouldn’t last long, so we were constantly rotating them.

Camera Team: Marco & Mouse

Luckily, we had lots of ice that would last us for the day, but we would also be getting new ice bags daily due to the nature of the shoot. There was one day where our regular ice packs had no effect on the camera, so we ended up having to use dry ice in order to prevent the camera shutdowns. Despite these few setbacks, we were still able to get everything done. It helps to have a cast and crew that is familiar with the weather conditions of West Texas.

Setting up the RED

Jaime Mora pulls out his gun

Jaime Mora, Jose Luis Butto, Gabriel Rivera, and Sam Elliot

Since then, Red Sands has been completed and sent off to Film Festivals across the nation. Mikey Reyes and I were also awarded a grant from the Texas Filmmakers Production Fund, which is sponsored by the Austin Film Society. As it turns out, the two us are undergraduates of the University of Texas at Austin’s film program and we found it very easy to work with another since we mostly had the same educational background. Always great to know that Texas has several grant resources for its local filmmakers.

Check out the behind the scenes video of Red Sands below:

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Canon 7D: The RED HOT Pixels

January 4th, 2011

by Carlos in Film, Video

If you’ve been using your Canon 7D/5DMkII on production shoots for over a year since you purchased it, chances are high that you have run into this problem. The Red Hot Pixels! Yes, there is no escaping them. THEY WILL APPEAR on your camera sooner or later. Why? Because DSLR’s are still in their infant stages when it comes to recording video. While the correction software hides these Red Hot Pixels when you take a photo, Canon forgot to include this software in the 7D’s video mode. But then again, that’s one of the major differences between an $1800 and a $5000 production camera.

Now, some of you may say, I don’t see this Red Hot Pixel in my camera. As some cameras have shown, it all depends what ISO & Shutter Speed you are using. For one of our latest productions, our Canon 7D began to show its Red Hot Pixel at an ISO of 640, Shutter 1/50, and Iris of 4.5. We didn’t notice this problem until we downloaded the footage at the end of the production day. By then, it was too late.

Check out the photos below which highlight the pixel. Sure they may look small now, but when you blow this up on an HDTV, its quite noticeable.

PHOTOS:

Sample Photo 01 (2 megs)
Sample Photo 02 (1 meg)
Sample Photo 03 (2 megs)
Sample Photo 04 (1 meg)

Clip 01 : Raw Video footage at 1080p

Clip 02 : Raw Video footage at 1080p

Rather than shoot the rest of the production with a Red Hot Pixel, we ended up switching over to the Panasonic HPX500 in order to maintain the same Depth of Field look because of its 2/3 CCD Sensor.

If you have run into this Red Hot Pixel problem and need to recover your footage, then follow the SHAKE guide below. I used this exact process when I came across this problem with the JVC100U model and was able to recover the footage with minimal blur.

Do not fear! There is hope. If you purchased your Canon 7D/5DMkII in the past year, Canon will take the time to look at your camera and analyze the problem. The more information you provide (like what I showed you above), the more likely they can pin point and fix the problem. Canon USA was able to replace my entire 7D sensor, so its running like new again. If you would like to enquire about a repair on your Canon 7D/5DMkII, then follow the instructions below:

CANON FACTORY SERVICE CENTER
15955 ALTON PARKWAY
Irvine, CA 92618

If you would like to set up your repair online, please use this link:
http://usa.canon.com/cusa/online_repair_tracking/consumer/

Important! Canon cannot be held responsible for equipment that is damaged or lost in shipping. Therefore, we strongly advise the following:

secure your product carefully in a box with suitable packing material to ensure proper protection during shipping
select a carrier that provides tracking information for the package
insure your package for the value of the product

Please provide the following items when presenting your product for repair:

any sample photos or print outs from your product (if the issue is related to image quality)
a completed copy of the form found at:
http://consumer.usa.canon.com/app/pdf/dealer/FSC.pdf
for warranty repair, the original dated proof-of-purchase (photocopies are accepted for mail-in repair

Good Luck!

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