“It's Difficult to Hold a Conversation with a Grasshopper”

Regarding Halfland's 2023 Filming/Editing Set Up, it took me a few YEARS to commit to new gear with which to film 1/2L. Or said with a dangling participle, to film 1/2L with.

I made a big spend in 2009 for the project all of which slowly but surely grew out of date by 2020. I made the choice to stay with Adobe software which would no longer update on the 2009 maxed-out computer. I felt I needed the latest features and processing power, so when a little bit of money came to me when my mother died, I thought to use it all on getting a new setup to film and edit Halfland. There's a certain poetry to having something meaningful to me coming from her life.

It was easy to choose to get a new Mac with an M1 processor. Even if it becomes out of date in 5 minutes, it works completely silently and exponentially better than the 09 iMac did. There was a constant severe fan noise at all times with the 09 intel core processor, it was doubled up and ran too hot thus needing the constant loud fan to attempt to keep it from overheating. I Googled ways of overriding the HD programming to shut off the fan until a higher temp was reached but didn't feel confident enough in making those kinds of decisions so just suffered along for over a decade.

I begged everyone smarter than myself for advice on what computer, camera, etc. I should consider buying. I offered to pay for the consultations but the people I asked were my friends and refused that. They all made their appreciated suggestions, the consensus being to go with a Canon camera body with a manual Nikon lens to avoid flicker, get a live feed from Dragonframe, go through Lightroom with the shots batch processing, throw them into Adobe Premiere and get to work with editing and post-production.

Sven Bonnichsen got it through to me that buying an HD and separate monitor would reduce the setup costs and make it easier to replace the computer if it fails rather than bricking another iMac. That made sense at that point and then I went ham.

After pfuffing around for years on what capture software to go with, the previous setup had avoided Dragonframe altogether, opting instead for any generic screen grabber. Why? because I didn't want big buck price-tagged equipment required to make this homemade film. I wanted to build a beautiful world from recycled trash and film it with a potato. But then, I heard the supreme puppet pusher Justin Rasch tell a student in a live stream that there was no alternative to Dragonframe. And The Nick Hilligoss advised me to use Dragonframe because I'll need every advantage in shooting this life-long film.

I was all set to go with a Canon, et al, but just trod water with placing the order for ages. Something about it was bothering me. The advice was of course correct but I couldn't get creatively excited by any of it. It took the project from something I was making to something I didn't know how to make.

Eliya suggested I hire professionals to shoot the film and I kept seeking that kind of support but never found anyone. There's no fame attached to the project, so no benefit for most art interns or senior students. I was told this disheartening truth by the head of a top animation program. There are no funds for it so no substantial salary to pay, even if I wanted someone in here with me after Covid. I keep trying to give away pieces of the project to other animators to make them their own without any interest in it. Eliya had to finally agree that it would be best since I'm the one who has the vision for it (i.e; desire to see it) I need to make it alone.

“It took the project from something I was making to something I didn't know how to make.”

So I sat down to MAKE THE ORDER. But what's this? The Canon wasn't available anywhere. Not at all. I felt I needed the model that had the stop motion firmware made to work specifically with Dragonframe but Canon didn't have it and would not, B&H Photo in New York was OUT with no restock date, same everywhere I looked for it.

I remembered that I had caught a video on YouTube two years earlier that had reviewed the Lumix S5 that caught my heart. There were many high-praise reviews for it. And even though my advisory board and mind were rightly saying Canon for a sure thing, there was a creamy, cinematic quality to the S5 that got me fully excited about it for 1/2L. Full Frame, Low Light. Can shoot full-res raw in 6k that apparently rivals Red Komodo, but 1/2L needs are comparatively modest.

And then I caught a clip about the bizarre tilt lens by a new Chinese company Astrihori that made a $259 L-Mount lens that would give me the storybook dream-like Toyland effect that I'm realizing is the visual style I've been after. No edge-to-edge clean visibility, and everything distorted. When not tilted it's an excellent 50mm large-aperture prime lens, fully manual. With the tilt, I can shift the focal plane with strong blurred backgrounds. Can I do all of what I desire in post via PS 2023 new AI features? Yes. But I want to try and see if I can stumble into anything with this lens, and my giant fresnel lens, while filming.

I believe genuine analog aberration is felt in the same manner that truly built 3D puppets are. Real things hit the imagination differently than digital does.

“Real things hit the imagination
differently than digital does.”

So, here's what I finally bought and am currently using Google to try to figure out how to use it all in any way:

I converted an old wooden cabinet into an editing bay and have been sneaking up on learning
how to use the new items all while I'm thinking of something else so it's less intimidating.
I gain a wee bit of knowledge and then get lost technically and stop for a while again.
Forget the fear and then start Googling again for answers.

Scorp-C 3-axis gimbal is a whole crazed deal unto itself. The price was unbelievably low for its build quality and function. I bought it strictly for the ONE live-action sequence on the beach that starts the film off. With a secondary idea to possibly use it as a solid tripod head/camera holder on set. When I got it I had no idea it was a sophisticated motorized gimbal with some legit moco capabilities. But here we are. I was able to get it balanced for my camera and lens and to work briefly but it keeps putting itself to sleep and I have to figure out what I need to do to get it going properly. It's an ambitious undertaking.

I do not expect to become remotely competent with any of it. Sorry to say, I use a small fraction of everything's capability. I hate that waste on my part. But I need to get these scenes in the can now. I'm not technical. I'm not mathematical. I’m easily confused and lost when confronted by those specifics. But if I hammer at it with a rock, like the primitive creature I am in those ways, I'm hoping to use them to get done what I so desperately need to.

When I make a prop, set, or puppet for the film, I relish the smallest detail. It's nothing for me to add veining to a wing of a fly. But that same creative detail to someone really sharp with computers and camera operation would likely seem stupid to them. They may think making the things I do is a waste of time. But I think it takes all kinds to make the world work, the fact finders, and the imagination dwellers.

Being alone in making this project requires that I delve into the technical arena just enough to be able to use these tools creatively, the way I might approach using paint.

I've built a wonderful garden out back that teaches me a lot about Halfland and life in general. I'm learning more about Nature’s ways by observing the wisdom It deploys throughout the year. I listen with something other than my ears. Learning not to judge my process but to simply do what I do the way that makes the most sense to me.

So a big thanks to all my friends and supporters over the years. You've each helped me discover how I can grow even more into myself for the project. Even if I did so via the most infuriatingly long intricate route.