Florence & Felix is the third and final short from our collaborative project L’Âge Idiot. The point of this vintage comedic piece was to go with a simple idea and « milk it »: push it as far as possible for 2 minutes.

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Technical Informations:

• Image: Canon 5D Mark II, Canon T3i/600, D24-105mm F/4L, 50mm F/1.8
• Accessories: Home made dolly
• Post-production: Premiere Pro CS4, Plastic Bullet Mojo

Links:

• More about « L’ÂGE IDIOT »
• Vimeo channel for « L’ÂGE IDIOT »
• Milkin’Prod on Facebook and updates on « L’ÂGE IDIOT »

The (very short) black comedy « Chasse Au Papillon » (« Butterfly Hunt ») is the second short from our collaborative quadrilogy « L’Âge Idiot ».

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Technical Info:

• Shot on Canon 5D Mark II + 24-105 F/4 L IS USM
• Edited on Adobe Premiere Pro CS4
• ADR with Apex 435 + Audacity
• CGI on Adobe After Effects CS4 & Optical Flares
• Grading on Magic Bullet Mojo
• Accessories: Home Made Dolly

Links:

• More about « L’ÂGE IDIOT »
• Vimeo channel for « L’ÂGE IDIOT »
• Milkin’Prod on Facebook and updates on « L’ÂGE IDIOT »

Un souvenir de jeunesse, un amour inavoué… De quoi parle-t-on ?
Est-ce la caméra qui fait l’histoire ?

« En Roue Libre… » est le premier de quatre courts-métrages collaboratifs co-écrits et co-réalisés par Martin Dillard, Thierry Garnier, Thomas Mansuy, Thibaut Oskian et Emile Pennes: l’Âge Idiot.

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A memory of youth, an unspoken love… What’s the movie about?
Is the story made up by the camera?

« Free Wheel… » is the first of four collaborative short movies co-written and co-directed by Martin Dillard, Thierry Garnier, Thomas Mansuy, Thibaut Oskian and Emile Pennes: l’Âge Idiot.

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Technical Informations:

• Image: Canon 5D Mark II, 24-105mm F/4L, 50mm F/1.8
• Sound: old Apex
• Accessories: Home made dolly
• Post-production: Premiere Pro CS4, Plastic Bullet Mojo

Links:

• More about « L’ÂGE IDIOT »
• Vimeo channel for « L’ÂGE IDIOT »
• Milkin’Prod on Facebook and updates on « L’ÂGE IDIOT »

“L’Âge idiot is when you’re twenty …”
“L’Âge idiot is when you’re thirty …”

It is also, perhaps, between the two.
L’Âge idiot is when five idiots — who have an idea but no script, no actors but themselves, nowhere to go but Saint-Marcel du Périgord — decide to write and direct four short films in a weekend, and want to share them.

« L’Âge idiot, c’est quand on a 20 ans… »
« L’Âge idiot, c’est quand on a 30 ans… »

L’Âge idiot c’est peut-être aussi entre les deux. C’est quand on a des envies, quand on a un appareil photo qui filme, quand on a deux jours devant nous et une voiture qui roule bien.

L’Âge idiot, c’est quand une grande maison va fermer, qu’on est sur le point de vendre les murs, le toit, l’atelier, le grand terrain, et même les arcs bricolés à la ficelle et au noisetier de quand on avait 10 ans. C’est quand on a envie d’y vivre un peu, encore une fois, le temps d’un week-end, quand on a envie d’y faire des films.

L’Âge idiot c’est quand on est cinq pour un copain, qu’on fait des trucs ensemble sans trop savoir pourquoi, mais qu’on aime bien. C’est quand on veut mettre des tripes sur la table, et s’il n’y a pas de tripes il y aura toujours des films.

Cinq idiots, donc, qui ont l’âge de l’être, un projet mais pas de scénars, avec pour seuls comédiens leurs petites gueules, pour seul décor Saint-Marcel du Périgord, et un grenier qui dégueule d’accessoires. Des idées tricotées sur la route, entre un kebab de province et une table de pique-nique assaillie par les guêpes. Des nuits blanches, des brainstorm sous les tilleuls et de l’alcool de prune… enfin peut-être de prune.

L’Âge idiot, c’est quand on a écrit et réalisé quatre court-métrages plus ou moins court en un week-end, et qu’on a envie de les montrer.

Martin Dillard, Thierry Garnier, Thomas Mansuy,
Emile Pennes, Thibaut Oskian

• EN ROUE LIBRE…
• CHASSE AU PAPILLON
• FLORENCE & FELIX

Un souvenir de jeunesse, un amour inavoué… De quoi parle-t-on ?
Est-ce la caméra qui fait l’histoire ? Plus d’info sur En Roue Libre…

A memory of youth, an unspoken love… What’s the movie about?
Is the story made up by the camera? More info about Free Wheel…

The (very short) black comedy « Chasse Au Papillon » (« Butterfly Hunt ») is the second short from our collaborative quadrilogy « L’Âge Idiot ». More info about Butterfly Hunt.

Félix was getting ready for a date when a little glitch spoils everything. A vintage comedy piece.

Links:

• Vimeo channel for « L’ÂGE IDIOT »
• Milkin’Prod on Facebook and updates on « L’ÂGE IDIOT »

Importing and editing on iPad2 1080p clips shot on our favorite DSLR without using a computer is now possible. Although some major limitations, it opens the door to thousands of possibilities for Apple’s tablet integration in the filmmaker’s workflow.

There has been much talk lately about the weaknesses of the iPad as a media consumption (as advertised by Apple) and creation (as we’re desperately trying to use it) device. The main drawback of the most famous tablet being, of course, its over-locked system, which won’t let us conveniently watch videos over 720p or use it as an external monitor, for instance (only solution so far: jailbreak).

As soon as I got an iPad 2, I tried to push the camera connection kit to its limits. If you are not familiar with the CCK: it is a USB adaptor for iPad (it also works with some iPods and iPhones) that lets you plug your camera to your iPad and import photos and videos directly on the iPad instead of transferring everything to your computer and then on your tablet. You can read a complete review of the CCK here with a nice walk-trough. The big limitation being that although I could import videos from my Canon 5D mark II into the photo library of the iPad, the native photo app cannot play the videos shot in a definition above 720p, and until recently, not a single app from the Appstore could see them (even if many apps can handle 1080p videos imported via iTunes, for instance).

I did a little workflow test the other day with clips I had shot in 640*480, and everything worked out fine:

This video was shot on 5D, imported in the photo library of my iPad2 via the CCK, edited with iMovie for iPad, graded with CameraFX for Video and uploaded with Vimeo for iPad.

So when I discovered another editing app, called « 1StVideo for iPad » (24€ on iTunes) and advertised as the only professional editing solution available on the iPad, I was quite excited: the description said it could handle 1080p videos.  The support team didn’t know about videos from the 5D, so I chose to give it a try. And guess what, the app can see 1080p videos in the photo library, import them, play them, edit them (multitrack) and export them in several definitions up to 1080p, as long as you own an iPad2 (it cannot work on the first iPad).

• STEP 1:

Plug your 5D to your iPad2 with the camera connection kit. The photo library will automatically let you select the photos and videos you want to import. The import time is a little under the total length of the rushes.

• STEP 2:

Open 1StVideo for iPad, hit the import button and chose « from libary ». Select the clips you need in your photo library. The tough part is that you cannot see thumbnails of 1080p videos: what you see is a grey square with « MOV » written on it. So you’d better know exactly what clips you imported and when, or just select all of them. The app does support batch importing. Hit « Done », and 1StVideo will let you write a title for the files before processing to the importation, which took me less than the total duration of the rushes.

• STEP 3:

You can now watch (and other basic stuffs like extract audio or rotate) any of the videos within the app. If all you need is checking your rushes while on set, you can stop there. However, you cannot edit the video now (see step 4).

• STEP 4:

To use your videos in a project, you’ll have to re-render them. That’s the most fastidious part of the workflow since you cannot batch re-render, you have you have to do it video by video. Select the clip you want and hit « re-render » (see the above picture). The re-rendering time is more or less the time of your clip.

• STEP 5:

Open a project, and you can now edit your video. What I especially like with 1StVideo for iPad, apart from the 1080p functionalities, is that it allows you to smoothly edit on two video tracks and 4 audio tracks, and it’s far more precise than any other editing video on the iPad (Slice, ReelDirector, iMovie). The bad point is it’s not very stable: during my first test, the app kept crashing every time I tried to export until I found out that I needed to remove all the titles one by one and recreate them. The cool point is you can export in various settings, including a selectable definition and framerate.

Now here are three different versions of the test I did following these steps.

1. The first one is the video exported in 1080p at the highest available bit rate. You’ll see that the compression is really visible in the burred out parts. This is NOT due to Vimeo, that’s how the source file is. I had to download the video on my computer (the app has a cool wireless way of doing it as long as your iPad and your computer are on the same network)
2. The second one was exported in 720p in order to be watchable within the camera roll. I imported it with the Vimeo app directly from my iPad.
3. The third one was exported in 720p and then graded with MovieLooks (the Red Giant app) in order to go as far as possible with the iPad and to get a DSLR video edited but also graded and uploaded without using any computer. The compression is quite bad here, since the 720p source file was already over compressed (see video 2) and MovieLooks is not quite as good as CinemaFX (iTunes link) when it come to compression. But I like their looks.

As you can see, we still have some serious limitations (numerous successive importations and re-rendering before being able to use the file, output file…) and each of us has to see for himself if the iPad is usable in his workflow in the current state. As for myself, I will definitely use it a lot:

1. On light sets such as second unit work and the like, when no monitor and no computer is available, to double-check my shots (and the focus!)
2. On set to make a point or test a transition
3. Just after the shooting, while in the subway or while the lunch pause to quickly see what you can do with the coverage you have
4. For structures or idea while in the subway or anywhere
5. During castings: I have two casting sessions this week, I’ll will probably unload the most interesting candidates on my iPad to see them full screen as soon as possible and carry with me my collection of « best candidates » to be able to show them to the other persons involved in the project anytime.
6. For improvised little movies or news work, closer to iPhone photography and mobile journalism than regular filmmaking: you see something worth shooting, you shoot it with you DSLR, edit it and upload it in a few minutes while still on location.

« 22 Cards, 22 Rapaces, 22 Major Arcanas »

RAPACES is an esoteric western webseries we created with Thomas Mansuy. You can watch HANGMAN, its first episode, NOW:

HANGMAN | Ep.1 of « RAPACES – The Western Web Series » from Toskian on Vimeo.

You will find much more production insights on the official website, production stills and additional videos right there:

Screenshots:

Pictures from the premiere:

Additional videos:

Introduction of episode 1 (HANGMAN) by Thierry Garnier:

Teaser of episode 1 (HANGMAN):

Ending credits of episode 1 (HANGMAN):

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With Dan Bronchinson, Laura Mélinand, Hervé Berty, Mathilde Lebas, Elliot Harant.
Script by Thomas Mansuy
Special Effects by Hugo Oskian
Stunt coordinator Manu Cartigny
A film by Thibaut Oskian

Shot on two Canon 5D Mark II with Canon lenses: 24-105 L 4 IS // 70-200 L 2.8 IS // 100 macro L 2.8 IS
Edited on Premiere Pro
Graded with Magic Bullet Mojo

These are all photos I took during a weekend with my grand father in october 2010 in Saint Marcel du Périgord, where I spent most of my holydays when I was a kid. Always loved this place, so filled up with memories of happy days.

The Duke

This is the country house of my grand parents. My grand mother died less than a year before I took these pics, and my grand father is now aging pretty fast (in this album, he’s 88). Their grand children are a bit too old now to spend their vacation time in the countryside (bullshit if you ask me). So this house, called « Le Bourg Ouest », isn’t the place where we would all meet up, build tree huts and play in the woods it used to be.
I went there for a weekend to help my grand father to close the house for the winter and drive him back to Versailles. It was a great and sad weekend, my grand father isn’t even sure he’ll see the house ever again. Since he’s very slow, I got a lot of free time while I was there, and I took pictures of the house, the garden, the village to try to express what they mean to me.

Notre candidature pour le Nikon Film Festival est maintenant disponible (en HD) sur Vimeo:

Je suis… A Hero Who Kills from Toskian on Vimeo.

Sinon, on peut toujours les voir en basse qualité chez Nikon: Je suis… A Hero Who Kills

Pour la petite histoire, Thomas Mansuy avait écrit le texte de la voix off comme un poème pour son blog. Ce n’est qu’en apprenant le thème du concours Nikon (« Je suis un héros ») que nous avons décidé d’en faire un court métrage. Dès que le comédien Alfred Dumont a rejoint le projet, le film a été réalisé très rapidement: une heure d’enregistrement de voix off, 2h30 de tournage et une nuit de montage.

Photo prise et retraitée sur iPhone pendant le tournage:

Selection de photos prises et retouchées uniquement sur iPhone.

Les applications les plus utilisées:

• Photoshop Express
• Plastic Bullet
• Mill Colour
• TiltShiftGen
• PhotoForge
• CinemaFX

Court métrage co-réalisé juin 2010 avec Emile Pennes. Sortie prévue: février 2011.
Teaser:

J’Irai Chanter Au Madison Square Garden – Teaser from Toskian on Vimeo.

Vidéo tournée en février 2009 à New York sur Sony HDR-HC7.

The Apple That Was NOT Bigger Than Texas (Part I) from Toskian on Vimeo.

Musique: Summertime, Gershwin

Court métrage western de 10 minutes, tourné sur Sony HDR HC7 en une journée en juillet 2009 pour 150€. Il est aujourd’hui utilisé comme pilote de notre websérie western « RAPACES ».

RAPACES // Birds Of Prey (Western short movie) from Toskian on Vimeo.

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/CREDITS/

Starring LILLY EIDO, ALFRED DUMONT, THIERRY GARNIER and NICOLAS DeGONNEVILLE

Music by DAVY and YOANN BERNAGOULT

Story by THOMAS MANSUY

Visual Effects by HUGO OSKIAN

Directed and edited by THIBAUT OSKIAN
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/LINKS/

OFFICIAL FACEBOOK PAGE:
facebook.com/​pages/​Rapaces/​182030574315?ref=nf

OFFICIAL VIMEO CHANNEL:
vimeo.com/​channels/​rapaces