John August

Follow Up

Trailer competition, teaser

Follow Up, Geek Alert, Projects, The Nines, Video

geek factorTomorrow, full details of the [long-gestating](http://johnaugust.com/archives/2007/hive-mind-trailer) [trailer](http://johnaugust.com/archives/2007/trailer-competition-update) [competition](http://johnaugust.com/archives/2007/trailer-competition-second-update) will be announced here (and at the [lookforthenines](http://lookforthenines.com) site). You’ll have two versions of footage to choose from: DV and MPEG-4. The DV is big and beautiful. The MPEG-4 is small and nimble — and not as bad as you’d think.

To get ready, Erik Beeson has helped seed two torrents of goodness, which you can start downloading **right now.**

[The DV footage – 1.76GB](http://yoursharade.com/thenines/thenines-dv.torrent)

[The MPEG-4 footage – 525MB](http://yoursharade.com/thenines/thenines-mpeg4.torrent)

Here’s the deal: If you’re using the torrents, help us seed. That means **keeping your client open after you finish downloading,** so others can share.

If all this talk of torrents and seeds makes you curl into a fetal ball, fear not: there will be a directly-downloadable version of the MPEG-4 footage tomorrow. (We’ll need mirrors, so if you have some bandwidth to spare, leave a comment to volunteer.)

Also tomorrow, you’ll get the quote-unquote rules, including the deadline (it’s one week) and details about how to post your work, promote it and rig things in your favor.

Google-Mapped, part two

Follow Up, Los Angeles

Matt sent me an LA Times article this morning which confirms that Google has been busy adding [Street View to Los Angeles](http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=paramount+pictures+los+Angeles&ie=UTF8&ll=34.083534,-118.319846&spn=0.009419,0.012242&z=17&om=1&layer=c&cbll=34.08351,-118.319514&cbp=1,351.28000000000003,0.5,0).

My [earlier suspicion that I’d been van-captured](http://johnaugust.com/archives/2007/google-mapped) has proven true. So far, my mug doesn’t show up in any of the shots, but that’s likely because they seem to have only commercial streets included in the database. Kinda hoping that continues.

One thing I’ve noticed so far: at least along my stretch of Wilshire, the images are a block-and-half off. [Here’s our old editorial office](http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&layer=c&ie=UTF8&om=1&cbll=34.061751,-118.321069&ll=34.061779,-118.3224&spn=0.009421,0.012242&z=17&cbp=1,178.19999999999982,0.5,0). In the image, you can see the intersection is Plymouth, but the map shows it between Windsor and Lorraine.

Filmmaking, permitted

Film Industry, Follow Up, Resources

News from New York City: the Mayor’s office has declined to enact the proposed [filming restrictions](http://johnaugust.com/archives/2007/permitted-filmmaking), and is going back to the drawing board. That’s very good news. You can read more about the decision, and the road ahead, at [Picture New York](http://www.pictureny.org/archives/67).

Location scouting vs. reality

Follow Up, Projects, The Nines, Video

Looking through my [YouTube account](http://www.youtube.com/user/johnaugust), I realized that I’d actually posted (and [blogged about](http://johnaugust.com/archives/2006/location-scouting)) our location scouting footage more than a year ago, shortly after we’d wrapped shooting.

I thought I’d go back and grab screencaps from the movie to show you what some of these places looked like as shot. (The following are in the order of the clip, not the order in which they play in the movie.)

forest

No, it’s not a plate shot. The trees really are that Burton-esque.

park

Half an hour outside of Los Angeles. If those mountains look familiar, that’s because they were featured every week on M.A.S.H. Yup, it’s “Korea.”

malibu

Securing a “forest road” was surprisingly difficult. Bonus note for the DVD: Everything green on the ground was poison oak. We had to destroy some padded blankets afterwards, because it was impossible to get the itch out of them.

tapia

Probably our single most difficult location. A blind curve, and a 360-degree shot, on a hot day without shade.

Yards away from the previous location was this great trail. The biggest challenge was keeping the wireless mikes in range during a two-minute walk-and-talk.

The Hearst Building downtown stood in for several places. A sheriff’s department booking area…

police

…an adjoining hallway…

hallway

..and a very seedy Hollywood motel room.

I scouted New York locations while meeting up with Hope Davis to pre-record a song she sings in the film. That’s when we picked the Millennium Broadway Hotel as our base:

new york

Keep in mind, the location scouting clip only includes the places we ended up shooting. It took us weeks to find (and secure) the places we wanted to film. This was my first time scouting with a videocamera, but I can’t imagine doing it without one. Photos alone don’t give you a sense of what the lens will see, particularly when it’s in motion.

It’s also worth noting what a huge difference proper cinematography (and color timing) makes. Some of these locations look vastly different based on how they were shot, and how they were timed in post. I never signed off on a location unless my d.p. had seen it and approved it. She was the only one who could really anticipate how it would look when shot.