Category Archives: Geek Speak

DIY Follow Focus Solutions

Posted on October 27, 2010 by Mitch Leave a comment

Image via Wikipedia theBlackandBlue Web site posted an article, with a lot of photos, about building your own follow focus for your DSLR camera. Some of them look really nice. Check it out here. dslr, filmmaking, cinematography, diy Related articles … Continue reading →

Cinematography, Filmmaking, Geek Speak

Socialite, a WordPress/Facebook connection plugin

Posted on January 4, 2010 by Mitch Leave a comment

I want to start posting more this year, and I thought a “write once, post everywhere” approach might help. This plugin will supposedly post to the FaceBook news feed whenever I add a post to this blog. I’m starting with … Continue reading →

Blogging, Facebook, Geek Speak

Import Blender Fluid Simulation into Lightwave

Posted on November 9, 2008 by Mitch Leave a comment

The latest Lightwave newsletter mentions a plugin that allows the import of Blender fluids. Blender’s simulator is very cool, and Blender is completely free, of course. Once in Lightwave, you can texture using Lightwave’s awesome surfacing system and render engine. … Continue reading →

Blender 3D, Computer Generated Imagery (CGI), Geek Speak Blender, CGI, Fluid Simulation, Lightwave

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of Sealed Fates’s Cinematography

Posted on September 6, 2008 by Mitch 2 Comments

Since today’s shoot was canceled due to hurricane Hanna sweeping through our area, it’s a good time to post a bit about how we’re shooting our latest feature. There were several choices to make before the cameras rolled on the … Continue reading →

Cinematography, Filmmaking, Geek Speak, Sealed Fates, Timewarp Films Cinematography, DV, Filmmaking, HD, OnLocation

If Adobe Products Have a Twitchy Interface, Remove Intellipoint 6

Posted on June 28, 2008 by Mitch Leave a comment

For months I’ve been trying to figure out why all of my state-of-the-art Adobe products — Premiere, After Effects, Encore, and Photoshop — have been, for lack of a better term, twitching. The screen would shake and redraw, menus would … Continue reading →

Geek Speak

Tales from the Cellar gets its own domain

Posted on April 17, 2008 by Mitch 2 Comments

Welcome to talesfromthecellar.com. The old domain will remain active for a while, and will resolve to the new one. So it will mostly be invisible. But it’s a lot easier to say, “go to talesfromthecellar.com.” Don’t cha think?

Blogging, Geek Speak

Storyboards for the computer literate but artistically challenged

Posted on October 25, 2007 by Mitch 1 Comment

Stu Maschwitz, author of DV Rebel’s Guide, turned me on to a free tool for creating storyboards, without sketching your brains out. It’s called Sketchup, an architectural tool offered by Google. There is a pro version that has a lot … Continue reading →

Digital Video, Filmmaking, Geek Speak

Can Blender 3D Compete with the Big Boys?

Posted on October 1, 2007 by Mitch Leave a comment

Blender, the open-source 3D application, has come a long way. According to a 2007 comparison of 3D applications published on the TDT 3D (The Dream Team) Web site, Blender performed well against Maya, Softimage XSI, Cinema 4d, and Lightwave. And … Continue reading →

Blender 3D, Computer Generated Imagery (CGI), Filmmaking, Geek Speak

The How-To for YouTube

Posted on April 7, 2007 by Mitch Leave a comment

A couple months ago, I started uploading videos to YouTube (you can find my videos here); basically, some of my old shorts and a couple of Timewarp’s trailers. The first thing I noticed was that the format in which a … Continue reading →

Digital Video, Geek Speak, YouTube