REBEL hPDA

I would encourage readers of The Guide to make themselves such reminder pages, and I may make something similar as a reference for myself, but you can bet that I will not be copying any of Stu's great writing and making it available in any reprinted form. I even make my own friends buy their own copy as opposed to lending the book out. Poor Stu works at an orphanage. I think he might need the extra money.

That's exactly what I ment to say Gage. Just make it for yourself.
I blame poor Stu, selling books from door to door for living Smile

BTW page 25 camera settings is very good!

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-Pierre

BTW, just curious... did you read the intro and the pages explaining all of the sheets? I know it's long and that people will skip over that stuff. Just curious if people are taking the time to read it. (I know I can be... WORDY. Rolling Eyes

)

Yep, read all the words... and as I said: it's a good companion for a well planned project.
It just asks for some extra work with little effort Smile

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-Pierre

Hi Gage,

I like your idea… As you yourself have mentioned, it’s unlikely to fully replace one’s main pre-pro/production-notebook, but its compact size potentially makes it an extremely handy supplement…

A few notes and suggestions:

1/ I like the idea of the make-up templates, but would suggest keeping the models bald, so that the same pages might be used for communicating ideas about hair…

2/ Why not also consider similar templates for communicating costume ideas? Faintly-drawn figures of both genders in a Vitruvian pose might be a useful start for filmmakers with limited drawing skills…

3/ Separate sheets for reporting first impressions (along with any continuity notes), both during shooting, and again upon viewing dailies… (This, of all my suggestions, I would consider the most valuable addition)

4/ A report/notepage for the sound-recordist…

That’s about all I’ve got for now – hope it helps...

Thanks for sharing this!

DP

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"If we can't be free, at least we can be cheap" - Frank Zappa

Great notes, Danny, thanks.

1) I might add a Hair card, and may do away with the makeup card (but keep the SMUFX card.) Makeup illustration sheets are made using the actual product for coloring, and that card is way too small for that, but the SMUFX card can easily be used to diagram cuts, wounds, bruises, etc. A separate hair card might be good though.

2) A wardrobe card is a good idea... I thought about it and didnt do it since most wardrobe we use for Rebel stuff would be owned/thrift shop/store bought as opposed to designed and constructed, (I think. The greatest line item on my last feature was wardrobe and custom costume work - $4k, but I dont think that's typical for Rebel work.) BUT, I like the idea. I still need to do the full body illustration for SMUFX, so I can construct the costume card from that.

3) Interesting. If you dont mind PMing me with what you would want on it.

4) Sound Log is in the works.

Thanks so much for taking the time to give the feedback. I REALLY appreciate it.

Hi Gage,

Glad you found the notes useful…

I would say that regardless of the thrift-store wardrobe-budgets most of us are limited to, the costume-cards would still be worthwhile. I personally like to make sketches of characters, and to think about overall colour-schemes throughout the writing process, and often earlier. I think that the sooner you know what you’re looking out for, the more likely your chances are of finding everything in time. Having certain key-accessories available during rehearsals (hats, eyewear, or deliberately ill-fitting items) can also really benefit most performers, I’ve found.

In terms of my third suggestion – the sheets for recording overall impressions of takes – I’m not really sure if I would necessarily want to break it down into categories… I think just leaving an open space for any/all thoughts on a given take, headed by the necessary info (scene, take, set-up, timecode, etc.) would be the best thing. I imagine that the optimum number of such boxes to fit on each card would probably be three.

Oh – and I have one other idea I forgot to mention the first time around, which may sound goofy to some, but which I personally swear by… The cardboard director’s viewfinder! It’s something that I thought I’d made up myself, but then was somewhat proud and relieved to discover, some time ago, that it’s a practice recommended by Ron Dexter ASC, as part of his ‘No Camera-Camera Course’… Perhaps the Rebel hPDA could provide templates in different PARs for users to cut out the windows for themselves. Better yet (this one only just occurred to me), you could combine this practice with Walter Murch’s quirky habit of placing little cutouts of ‘audience members’ in front of his workstation when editing. So the ‘Rebel Viewfinder’ could be a card featuring an illustration of a darkened theatre, with either a 16:9 or ‘scope window in place of the screen.

Let me know what you think…

DP

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"If we can't be free, at least we can be cheap" - Frank Zappa

Looks awesome, Gage! Thanks!

(and yes, I only skimmed it.... Cool

)

- Jonas

Wow Gage, this is invaluable. Thanks for letting us Beta test it!

A few thoughts:

Some budgeting tools would be helpful. Maybe just a sheet that has categories such as "Craft", "Camera", "Crew", etc. and you can fill in how much you're spending in each area, compare it to your total budget, and adjust (using that magical bit of rubber known as an 'eraser').

I think the intro bit is too long - I skimmed bits of it and then skipped right over the rest. There's probably some fat that could be trimmed there.

Is the 'expendables' sheet supposed to be for props? Or things more along the lines of tapes? A props sheet would be useful.

Maybe a lighting diagram page for locations you'll be using multiple days but will have to tear down every day?

Again, this is awesome. Thanks.

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blog | celluloidhope.com e-mail | david@celluloidhope.com demo | davidcondolora.com

Hehheh. Oh.... I ABSOLUTELY agree the intro is WAY too long. The opening "letter", however, needs to spell out my intentions, and I do that, even if it is in my long winded form. Rolling Eyes

As for the card breakdowns... Oh MAN it's long, and I assure you it was longer to WRITE than it is to read, but my brain is just a tad wacky and before I got feedback, I just wanted you guys to know what I was thinking when I made the cards. I didnt want to get feedback about things only to explain that I tried to do exactly what you were saying. While I may talk a whole hell of a lot, I prefer to only do that talking ONCE, hence the blathering on in the intro.

If you do go through the whole thing, you'll notice that the end isnt quite as detailed as the beginning. I bored the hell out of myself just writing it.

Great suggestions, Danny, and will do. This is part of what I was looking for here. Your great costume ideas gives me a new way of looking at things, and that's exactly what I was hoping for. Thanks.

Budget Pages... will do. BTW, these cards are just the appetizer. I'm about a week from putting my full size notebook together, which means I'll need full sheet forms, so I might as well "publish" those too. While I am pretty busy, when I'm juiced about something I can get pretty focused... so either I will be too busy to get them out soon, OR I wont sleep for 4 nights and have them in a few days. We'll see.

Props sheet is in the works. It will be similar to the wardrobe breakdowns. Expendables are tape and cinefoil and pens and stuff like that. Stuff that you need to shoot with, but that gets used up as the shoot goes on.

Lighting diagram is ABSOLUTELY coming. Still trying to figure it out exactly.

(Sorry for jumping around here.... this is my brain at work....)

I'll get on the "No camera - camera". Sounds easy and useful.

Regarding the "overall impressions" notes: I guess what my brain is having trouble with is that it isnt something I would use. At least not during shooting. "Hey guys.... give me a minute while I write down my overall impressions on this little card. We'll get to take two in a minute." That's how I'm picturing that right now. (No disrespect intended, just telling you my thought process.) SO.... while I can picture the CARD, I cant even imagine USING it. BUT... it's easy enough. So I'll get on it.

Beta v .2 by Friday.

Thanks guys. Anymore ideas, now's the time. Very Happy

Wow great freaking work Gage! I'm sure this will come in handy!

thanks

Josh

Slick man! I just discovered this but I'm at work, I'll definitely check it out when I get home. As for remembering locations, I almost always carry a tiny camera and take pictures of places I dig, hehe.

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Will act for food! | http://kreenpananas.blogspot.com | http://tasialabastro.nowcasting.com

I dont think I'm going to be able to include a digital camera with every download of this, but I'll see what I can do. Wink

Hey Gage --

Thank you for all this diligent work. You've definitely removed all the fat and left a total protein system.

I must say that I'm totally flabbergasted by the whole "3x5 cards and binder clip" idea. If you believe the whole WIRED magazine hype, everyone under 25 years old is dazzled by high tech, running around with an iPod screwed into their head, dripping with Blackberries and iPhones and PDAs and all sorts of other electronic dingleberries, and can't wait to accumulate more, newer, higher tech ...

All this non-electronic concept is intriguing, but the time I'm actually living the pre-production life, I'm carting around 2 notebooks ( 8 1/2 x 11 ). One is the Director notebook, for everything to do with the art of it, and the Pre-Production notebook, for everything to do with logistics. Since I actually found a phone that's (a) really thin and (b) has a QWERTY keyboard, I would put in all the phone numbers.

The thing is, I hate duplicating work. There's enough of it already. I can't see getting an actor's measurements for costumery on a 3x5 card and later transferring all of that to a full-size sheet of paper.

For auditions, I would seriously consider having a scanner right there to put headshots into Gorilla's electronic organizer. But I'm not interested in carting around a laptop all the time, so that might be a later luxury. Even something for a volunteer assistant! Yeah, right.

Of course, the best thing about the hPDA is to label it "hipster." If it were an nPDA ("nerd"), it probably wouldn't have gotten so popular.

-- Paul

The first thing to go, if I had my way, would be the "hipster". Nothing makes me want to be less a part of something than the word "hipster". I think I even just threw up a little in my mouth. However, for me to name it anything else would be denying it's origins, and then I come off as some douche stealing another idea and trying to make it my own.

You bring up good points, and I would never dispense with my full production notebook, however that sucker can be a frickin' BEAR to carry around. Also, the first thing I started with with the REBEL hPDA was the pocket RELEASE cards. It is very typical for a photographer to carry pocket releases in his camera bag for the instances he might need them, but not have full releases on him. And I have to say that I am horrible with paperwork. In my 10 years of fashion photography, I cant even tell you how many times I have failed to get a release signed, even when I'm shooting in my own studio with my office and file cabinet and forms 50 feet away. My brain just doesnt work in terms of PAPERWORK and ORGANIZATION. I'm kinda in a never ending quest for a system that will work for me. This is the next step. Yes, I am "focused" enough when shooting that I will not walk over 5 feet to my production notebook and write something down. Maybe if I have the REBEL hPDA in my back pocket, I will pull it out and write something down.

Or maybe not.

But I'm trying.

BTW, I set out to program a full Pocket PC app for fashion photographers a few years ago, but didn't have time to complete it. I was learning the coding as I went along. Honestly, my first instinct is to do the same with this filmmaking stuff, but in the end decided to make it accessible to everyone, most particularly following the REBEL doctrine.

As for the phone with the phone numbers, I cant even tell you how many times I wish I had hard copies of that stuff. I've lost so many numbers to phone upgrades that I cant contact people to get their reel footage to them. Not good. Now if only I had a 3x5 card with that information on it. Wink