The new episode hit the stores yesterday, and I am anxious to hear the reaction to it. So if any of you out there have had a chance to watch "Agent Emes and the Happy Chanukah", here's your chance to let me know.
For those of you who placed orders on our website, and are anxious to see the episode for yourselves, I will be getting my shipment tomorrow and begin shipping immediately.
Just hang in there a few more days.
Over and Out.
Tuesday, November 07, 2006
Friday, October 27, 2006
Now taking orders!!!
Hi folks. Long time.
I was REEEEL busy finishing up
"Agent Emes and the Happy Chanukah". Doing sound and special effects takes a LOT of time. But still, I think we are more or less on the schedule I set for this episode oh so many months ago, give or take a few weeks.
The master copy is at the duplicating center as I write this, and they are giving me a completion date of November 3. That means this latest and greatest Agent Emes episode (and I do mean greatest) should begin appearing in NY-area stores by Sunday, Nov 5.
I will be able to begin shipping, G-d willing, on Nov. 8.
In short, WE HAVE STARTED TO TAKE ADVANCE ORDERS.
Visit our home page and see for yourself.
Friday, September 01, 2006
Episode Five Teaser - See it now!
Hi Folks
The moment many of you have been waiting for has arrived, I suppose.
The first fruits of my latest labor: The official "Agent Emes and the Happy Chanukah" teaser. It's about 3 minutes, 50 seconds long and features temporary music composed in Apple's "Soundtrack" application.
I think it works, but would love to hear feedback from you viewers out there. So please, comment away.
Still lots to do in order to get this out on time, so gotta run.
you can check out the Agent Emes 5 teaser in ipod format here:
http://agent-emes.com/FIles/teaser for ipod.m4v
And don't worry, you don't need a video ipod to view it, but you DO need Apple's "itunes" app, available in Windows or Mac format
And here it is in mpeg 4. Not as clear, but some of you may prefer it
Enjoy!
Monday, August 07, 2006
on the set
Here are a couple of nice pics from the set. We shot this scene when Reuven Russell, (our Betzalel) came to town this past spring.
Here he is clowning with Sholom Ber
The other pic is of Reuven again, and Adam Marze and Doug Stanzcak, both of whom have made extensive contributions to Agent Emes over the years.
visiting day
one of the challenges of getting Agent Emes made is the very LIMITED time the kids have for filming. For instance, when they are in school, it is for most of the day. When the school year is finished, they have a week break, and then it is off to camp.
Speaking of camp, we just came back from visiting Sholom Ber in Morristown. Here is a pic of him, his cousin Levi, his little sisters Elisheva (the baby) and Sara, and brother Mendy. Enjoy
making progress
Hi all. Long time. So much for a “daily” blog. How about a semi-annual one?
I tend to be overly ambitious, and sometimes have trouble living up to my self-imposed own expectations.
We are a little more than half way through the summer, and things are coming along with Agent E 5. I have a rough cut done – at least with the material that is already filmed (“in the can”, as the saying goes).
There still remains a very big scene to do – which even has a date attached to it: Tuesday, August 22. Modi will be returning to Pittsburgh the day before, and we will go into the recording studio to record the music we will be lip synching to the following day.
You see, this new Agent Emes ends with a big concert scene where we will hear Agent Emes (and others) sing. The working title (and probably the final one as well) is “Agent Emes and the Happy Chanukah” It looks as though it will have a running time of over 50 minutes, making it the longest episode to date.
Here’s how the editing process works:
After filming our scenes, we are left with miniDV tapes containing the “raw footage” of all the takes for all the scenes. As mentioned in a previous blog, the editor (myself in this case) must separate and import (“log the footage”) into the computer. I use the Macintosh system and the incredible editing software called Final Cut Pro.
Once all the footage is in the computer, separated into individual takes, I then begin the process of selecting the best ones and pasting them all together into a comprehensible narrative. Since I wrote the script and am intimately familiar with the story, I don’t have to rely on notes as much as an editor who did not write and direct would. I basically know how the shots should go together to tell the story.
However there are always complications to deal with. As I say, the best performances must be chosen. But these takes must flow together from long shot to medium shot to close up as smoothly as possible. Sometimes the best performances don’t cut together so well. Or sometimes the first half of a take might be great, and the second half will have a major breakdown. So the editor must find a way to put two or more versions together to make one good one. There is quite a bit of slight of hand involved in editing.
At this juncture, I have cut together the entire episode (minus the material that has not yet been filmed), and I am pleased with the way it is turning out. It so happens that this episode is the most special effects intensive to date, so I have taken on an assistant to help create the lightsaber effects we need for two big fight scenes between Dr. Lo-Tov and Agent Emes. My assistant is a fifteen year-old boy who is very quick to pick up the techniques necessary to pull of the effects. I would mention his name, but since I don’t have his permission, I won’t. Those of you who have seen previous episodes would recognize him as the boy who played the part of “Yoni”. He is really doing a great job, but there is a LOT more to do, school starts up again in three weeks, and he is on vacation this week in Alaska.
The rest of the effects will done either by myself, or the same person who did effects on previous episodes.
Once I am happy with the flow of the edited film, the next step is to make corrections on the picture. This process is called “Color Correction.” Without boring you with details, this involves lightening, darkening, and changing the color balance of individual shots so that they match within a scene, and do not create distracting discrepancies. In other words, if one shot is tinted green, and the next one is reddish, the viewer sees this (maybe only subconsciously), thus creating an imposition to the viewing process. It takes the viewer “out” of the story, so to speak.
Next comes the music and sound editing.
I am beginning to bore myself. Suffice to say that this all takes a lot of time. And since we are not a mult-million dollar production, I have to do most of it myself.
We are still looking at a target release date for mid-October 2006, but I don’t want to make any promises.
More to follow.
I tend to be overly ambitious, and sometimes have trouble living up to my self-imposed own expectations.
We are a little more than half way through the summer, and things are coming along with Agent E 5. I have a rough cut done – at least with the material that is already filmed (“in the can”, as the saying goes).
There still remains a very big scene to do – which even has a date attached to it: Tuesday, August 22. Modi will be returning to Pittsburgh the day before, and we will go into the recording studio to record the music we will be lip synching to the following day.
You see, this new Agent Emes ends with a big concert scene where we will hear Agent Emes (and others) sing. The working title (and probably the final one as well) is “Agent Emes and the Happy Chanukah” It looks as though it will have a running time of over 50 minutes, making it the longest episode to date.
Here’s how the editing process works:
After filming our scenes, we are left with miniDV tapes containing the “raw footage” of all the takes for all the scenes. As mentioned in a previous blog, the editor (myself in this case) must separate and import (“log the footage”) into the computer. I use the Macintosh system and the incredible editing software called Final Cut Pro.
Once all the footage is in the computer, separated into individual takes, I then begin the process of selecting the best ones and pasting them all together into a comprehensible narrative. Since I wrote the script and am intimately familiar with the story, I don’t have to rely on notes as much as an editor who did not write and direct would. I basically know how the shots should go together to tell the story.
However there are always complications to deal with. As I say, the best performances must be chosen. But these takes must flow together from long shot to medium shot to close up as smoothly as possible. Sometimes the best performances don’t cut together so well. Or sometimes the first half of a take might be great, and the second half will have a major breakdown. So the editor must find a way to put two or more versions together to make one good one. There is quite a bit of slight of hand involved in editing.
At this juncture, I have cut together the entire episode (minus the material that has not yet been filmed), and I am pleased with the way it is turning out. It so happens that this episode is the most special effects intensive to date, so I have taken on an assistant to help create the lightsaber effects we need for two big fight scenes between Dr. Lo-Tov and Agent Emes. My assistant is a fifteen year-old boy who is very quick to pick up the techniques necessary to pull of the effects. I would mention his name, but since I don’t have his permission, I won’t. Those of you who have seen previous episodes would recognize him as the boy who played the part of “Yoni”. He is really doing a great job, but there is a LOT more to do, school starts up again in three weeks, and he is on vacation this week in Alaska.
The rest of the effects will done either by myself, or the same person who did effects on previous episodes.
Once I am happy with the flow of the edited film, the next step is to make corrections on the picture. This process is called “Color Correction.” Without boring you with details, this involves lightening, darkening, and changing the color balance of individual shots so that they match within a scene, and do not create distracting discrepancies. In other words, if one shot is tinted green, and the next one is reddish, the viewer sees this (maybe only subconsciously), thus creating an imposition to the viewing process. It takes the viewer “out” of the story, so to speak.
Next comes the music and sound editing.
I am beginning to bore myself. Suffice to say that this all takes a lot of time. And since we are not a mult-million dollar production, I have to do most of it myself.
We are still looking at a target release date for mid-October 2006, but I don’t want to make any promises.
More to follow.
Thursday, June 08, 2006
On scheduling
Today is June 8, 2006.
We have a wedding in NYC on Sun, June 25, and after that, Sholom Ber goes straight to camp.
That gives me 13 shooting days to finish everything involving Agent Emes/Shimmy himself, so I can edit the episode over the summer. This is harder to arrange than you might think.
First, there is school. I can't very well take the poor kid out of yeshiva to act, especially with finals coming up, etc. It sends the wrong message to him and his friends. Yeshiva is the most important thing.
Then there is pony league baseball. Although Ber's team is quickly compiling the worst record in Pittsburgh pony league history, he still loves to take part in the games, and since this is the last year he will realistically be able to participate, I don't want to take away any game nights from him.
And that's only Sholom Ber's commitments.
In a "real budget" film production, the participants are professionals who make themselves available when needed, because they are being paid. On Agent Emes, almost no one gets paid. Their time is all voluntary. So the windows of scheduling opportunities become much tighter.
The other thing is that on a real, funded production, an individual called a "line producer" is hired to break down the schedule and make sure everyone is available when needed, so that the director (in this case myself) would be able to concentrate on the task of directing the film. It so happens, however, that I have to do just about everything here. So yesterday, for example, I spent about four hours pouring over all the different dates, sets, and people and juggled and re-juggled all the elements until I arrived at a schedule that MIGHT work, provided that the weather cooperates, and that the crew is also available.
I have been trying to arrange these last weeks of filming, one of which involves an actor flying in from NY for four days. His name is Modi. He is an excellent stand-up comic and burgeoning actor who I know from years ago when I lived in Boston and he was a BU student who used to come to our local Chabad House. I booked Modi to fly to Shpittsburgh for four days and do ALL his scenes in one week.
One of the scenes we need to shoot, the climactic concert scene of the episode, involves a large cast of extras, and multiple camera. This means I need multiple crew members, cameramen, etc. Well two days ago I found out that the Shpittsburgh Steelers are filming some kind of TV commercial, and since jobs like that don't find their way to the city any more, all of my potential crew will be occupied with that.
I can't very well shoot the concert scene with no crew then. So I am forced to postpone it until after the summer, and before school starts (sometime the last week of August). But what if Modi cannot or will not fly back here that week. Then what?" I'll be stuck without a climax scene.
Gam Zu LaTova (this too is for the best). I couldn't book any of the local theatres as locations for the scene but MIGHT be able to for end of August. If I can pull it off this way, then I will also have more time to prepare the musical performances for the scene. I plan on recording the music before the filming, so the actors can just lip synch to the music and concentrate on the acting. In sum, postponing the date of the big scene might be better for all.
The other reason I feel comfortable doing this is that the scene does not involve any special effect composites. Those will take the most time this summer. If I can get the entire episode edited during the summer, then I can just film this last scene and still have the DVD out for early fall.
I hope this post was of interest to someone out there. I will soon send out an announcement to our email list telling people about this blog.
Hope this post was of interest to someone out there.
let me know
We have a wedding in NYC on Sun, June 25, and after that, Sholom Ber goes straight to camp.
That gives me 13 shooting days to finish everything involving Agent Emes/Shimmy himself, so I can edit the episode over the summer. This is harder to arrange than you might think.
First, there is school. I can't very well take the poor kid out of yeshiva to act, especially with finals coming up, etc. It sends the wrong message to him and his friends. Yeshiva is the most important thing.
Then there is pony league baseball. Although Ber's team is quickly compiling the worst record in Pittsburgh pony league history, he still loves to take part in the games, and since this is the last year he will realistically be able to participate, I don't want to take away any game nights from him.
And that's only Sholom Ber's commitments.
In a "real budget" film production, the participants are professionals who make themselves available when needed, because they are being paid. On Agent Emes, almost no one gets paid. Their time is all voluntary. So the windows of scheduling opportunities become much tighter.
The other thing is that on a real, funded production, an individual called a "line producer" is hired to break down the schedule and make sure everyone is available when needed, so that the director (in this case myself) would be able to concentrate on the task of directing the film. It so happens, however, that I have to do just about everything here. So yesterday, for example, I spent about four hours pouring over all the different dates, sets, and people and juggled and re-juggled all the elements until I arrived at a schedule that MIGHT work, provided that the weather cooperates, and that the crew is also available.
I have been trying to arrange these last weeks of filming, one of which involves an actor flying in from NY for four days. His name is Modi. He is an excellent stand-up comic and burgeoning actor who I know from years ago when I lived in Boston and he was a BU student who used to come to our local Chabad House. I booked Modi to fly to Shpittsburgh for four days and do ALL his scenes in one week.
One of the scenes we need to shoot, the climactic concert scene of the episode, involves a large cast of extras, and multiple camera. This means I need multiple crew members, cameramen, etc. Well two days ago I found out that the Shpittsburgh Steelers are filming some kind of TV commercial, and since jobs like that don't find their way to the city any more, all of my potential crew will be occupied with that.
I can't very well shoot the concert scene with no crew then. So I am forced to postpone it until after the summer, and before school starts (sometime the last week of August). But what if Modi cannot or will not fly back here that week. Then what?" I'll be stuck without a climax scene.
Gam Zu LaTova (this too is for the best). I couldn't book any of the local theatres as locations for the scene but MIGHT be able to for end of August. If I can pull it off this way, then I will also have more time to prepare the musical performances for the scene. I plan on recording the music before the filming, so the actors can just lip synch to the music and concentrate on the acting. In sum, postponing the date of the big scene might be better for all.
The other reason I feel comfortable doing this is that the scene does not involve any special effect composites. Those will take the most time this summer. If I can get the entire episode edited during the summer, then I can just film this last scene and still have the DVD out for early fall.
I hope this post was of interest to someone out there. I will soon send out an announcement to our email list telling people about this blog.
Hope this post was of interest to someone out there.
let me know
Tuesday, May 30, 2006
Does anyone read these?
As I am new to this blogging thing, I thought I'd throw out a question:
How do you know if anyone is reading your blog?
I'd hate to think I am wasting my time here, but as there are thusfar no comments, I have to assume that no one even knows I am here.
How do you know if anyone is reading your blog?
I'd hate to think I am wasting my time here, but as there are thusfar no comments, I have to assume that no one even knows I am here.
Friday, May 26, 2006
Editing Agent Emes
editing here refers to film editing, and not the censorship I sometimes have to engage in to keep our many observant Jewish fans happy. But that is a discussion for another time.
There is something very empowering in this day and age, when it is possible to edit an entire movie in the comfort of your own home, sitting at your own computer. It is an enjoyable challenge to put the footage together like a jigsaw puzzle, then trim the pieces to create the tightest, most effective cut possible.
What many don't realize, however, is that before we get to the edit, we have to feed all the footage into the computer in a process called "capturing". I capture just about every take - except for the obviously bad ones - so I have as much as possible to choose from in editing. This process is tedious and time-consuming and very UNglamorous. On production that actually have a budget to work with (unlike ours), there are usually one or more assistant editors who take care of this part of the process. Not so on Agent Emes, where we keep all expenses to a bare minimum.
There is a very cool recent technological development whereby it is now possible to shoot all the video footage not on tape, but straight to a hard drive. The advantage is so obvious, that I believe soon almost everyone will be doing it. The takes are all there ready to be transfered to your computer and worked on immediately.
If and when (G-d willing) I have a chance to upgrade my camera package (which is really pathetic at this point) I will try to procure a system that includes hard drive capture capabilities.
I must be boring the reader, because I know I am boring myself.
In short - today I edited... sort of. What I really did was capture.
There is something very empowering in this day and age, when it is possible to edit an entire movie in the comfort of your own home, sitting at your own computer. It is an enjoyable challenge to put the footage together like a jigsaw puzzle, then trim the pieces to create the tightest, most effective cut possible.
What many don't realize, however, is that before we get to the edit, we have to feed all the footage into the computer in a process called "capturing". I capture just about every take - except for the obviously bad ones - so I have as much as possible to choose from in editing. This process is tedious and time-consuming and very UNglamorous. On production that actually have a budget to work with (unlike ours), there are usually one or more assistant editors who take care of this part of the process. Not so on Agent Emes, where we keep all expenses to a bare minimum.
There is a very cool recent technological development whereby it is now possible to shoot all the video footage not on tape, but straight to a hard drive. The advantage is so obvious, that I believe soon almost everyone will be doing it. The takes are all there ready to be transfered to your computer and worked on immediately.
If and when (G-d willing) I have a chance to upgrade my camera package (which is really pathetic at this point) I will try to procure a system that includes hard drive capture capabilities.
I must be boring the reader, because I know I am boring myself.
In short - today I edited... sort of. What I really did was capture.
Wednesday, May 24, 2006
The last 3 days
We just did 3 straight days of intensive shooting.
On Sunday, May 21, a group of Sholom Ber's classmates met us behind a local school and we filmed a fun basketball scene. The weather in Shpittsburgh was quite rainy last week (although the past 2 days have been beautiful) and Sunday morning was cloudy and drizzy too. Just when we were about to call of the filming, the sun came out, so we ended up with a great afternoon for filming.
In truth, it was almost too sunny. If the sun is out and shining brightly, it casts very hard shadows and it is difficult to get a good video picture. You are almost better off with an overcast day - which usually results in a better overall picture. There are ways to cut down the effects of the sun, but a very small crew (just me and another guy named Adam), and a very low budget (we couldn't afford to rent the huge silk diffussion we would need to cut the sunlight) we just did the best we could.
At any rate, the kids gave us three hours of their time after school, and were patient throughout, although we did have to coral them occasionally when they got out of hand. Compared to what it was like to film with mostly the same kids for the first Agent Emes (3 summers ago!!!) I'd say it was a vast improvement.
The whole day took about four hours. We still have to go back with Sholom Ber to pick up some shots we didn't have a chance to get. He was really funny in the basketball scenes.
The next morning, Reuven Russell, the very talented actor/performer/chassid who plays "Betzalel", the leader of "Tov Me'od" Headquarters, flew in from New York. We spent the past two days filming seven pages of the script that involved him. The first day we shot in front of a green screen. This is a device that allows you to extract the performers (or whatever your subject is) and plant them in front of a different background of your choosing. Lighting the green screen, an actual 12 foot high and wide piece of green cloth, takes experience, so I brought in Doug S. a guy who has worked on previous AE episodes. He is very knowledgeable, and we got some good stuff. This scene will also be very funny.
The shoot was in the broadcast studio at Chatham College, which is housed in one of famed industrialist Andrew Mellon's former homes. It is a huge building, and they built this studio where Mellon used to have his own personal bowling alley.
Yesterday we moved upstairs to a fancy oak wood room in the Mellon home, and used it for a couple of sets in Tov Me'od. We tried to re-capture the lighting effect we have seen previously in the AE/Betzalel exchanges. One of hte scenes we did happens to have been the conclusion of the upcoming epsiode. There will be BIG SURPRISES in this scene, but I'm not telling what they are.
We finished up last night at around 12 AM, after which I drove Betzalel to a hotel near the airport where he had a very early plane back to NY this morning.
Now I have to go home and see my wife and kids. Ta ta for now. We want Moshiach now!
On Sunday, May 21, a group of Sholom Ber's classmates met us behind a local school and we filmed a fun basketball scene. The weather in Shpittsburgh was quite rainy last week (although the past 2 days have been beautiful) and Sunday morning was cloudy and drizzy too. Just when we were about to call of the filming, the sun came out, so we ended up with a great afternoon for filming.
In truth, it was almost too sunny. If the sun is out and shining brightly, it casts very hard shadows and it is difficult to get a good video picture. You are almost better off with an overcast day - which usually results in a better overall picture. There are ways to cut down the effects of the sun, but a very small crew (just me and another guy named Adam), and a very low budget (we couldn't afford to rent the huge silk diffussion we would need to cut the sunlight) we just did the best we could.
At any rate, the kids gave us three hours of their time after school, and were patient throughout, although we did have to coral them occasionally when they got out of hand. Compared to what it was like to film with mostly the same kids for the first Agent Emes (3 summers ago!!!) I'd say it was a vast improvement.
The whole day took about four hours. We still have to go back with Sholom Ber to pick up some shots we didn't have a chance to get. He was really funny in the basketball scenes.
The next morning, Reuven Russell, the very talented actor/performer/chassid who plays "Betzalel", the leader of "Tov Me'od" Headquarters, flew in from New York. We spent the past two days filming seven pages of the script that involved him. The first day we shot in front of a green screen. This is a device that allows you to extract the performers (or whatever your subject is) and plant them in front of a different background of your choosing. Lighting the green screen, an actual 12 foot high and wide piece of green cloth, takes experience, so I brought in Doug S. a guy who has worked on previous AE episodes. He is very knowledgeable, and we got some good stuff. This scene will also be very funny.
The shoot was in the broadcast studio at Chatham College, which is housed in one of famed industrialist Andrew Mellon's former homes. It is a huge building, and they built this studio where Mellon used to have his own personal bowling alley.
Yesterday we moved upstairs to a fancy oak wood room in the Mellon home, and used it for a couple of sets in Tov Me'od. We tried to re-capture the lighting effect we have seen previously in the AE/Betzalel exchanges. One of hte scenes we did happens to have been the conclusion of the upcoming epsiode. There will be BIG SURPRISES in this scene, but I'm not telling what they are.
We finished up last night at around 12 AM, after which I drove Betzalel to a hotel near the airport where he had a very early plane back to NY this morning.
Now I have to go home and see my wife and kids. Ta ta for now. We want Moshiach now!
A director's diary
A lot of rumors are flying around about the current status of Agent Emes - so I thought it best to put the main one to rest: There WILL be an Agent Emes #5 (G-d willing). The series is not over.
We have already filmed roughly half of the 50 page script, and expect that most of the principal photography will be completed by the end of June. It has to be, because Sholom Ber (the kid who plays Agent E) is going to camp on the 27th.
Another thing I can tell everyone is that as the series creator, number five will be, by far, the best episode we have done yet. There will be a ton of action and comedy, and almost every scene holds a different surprise designed to delight the kids and amuse the adults.
Episode number five will also have lots of MUSIC. Some of you may have seen the video we posted after Sholom Ber's bar mitzvah this past January, when he sang a couple of songs. Well we plan to feature him even more in the upcoming episode.
We have already filmed roughly half of the 50 page script, and expect that most of the principal photography will be completed by the end of June. It has to be, because Sholom Ber (the kid who plays Agent E) is going to camp on the 27th.
Another thing I can tell everyone is that as the series creator, number five will be, by far, the best episode we have done yet. There will be a ton of action and comedy, and almost every scene holds a different surprise designed to delight the kids and amuse the adults.
Episode number five will also have lots of MUSIC. Some of you may have seen the video we posted after Sholom Ber's bar mitzvah this past January, when he sang a couple of songs. Well we plan to feature him even more in the upcoming episode.
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