tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-68652402007-06-17T13:57:16.686-07:00Scheduling With SunfrogPerBlogger40125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6865240.post-61467988191317842932007-06-17T13:49:00.000-07:002007-06-17T13:56:47.944-07:00Summer of SunfrogSummer film shoots are heating up! Thanks to our new users from New York, NJ, Kentucky, Texas, Arizona, California, and Wauwatosa, Wisconsin.<br />Thought of the month: Why do indie filmmakers focus on features - with indie television you can advertise and potentially recoup your investment. There are a bunch of tv and advertising companies out there springing up for indie filmmakers, I'll be gathering more info on these over time..<br />Cheers - PerPertag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6865240.post-1149197104258719832006-06-01T14:23:00.000-07:002006-06-01T14:25:04.290-07:00Version 1.614 releasedVersion 1.614 of Sunfrog is out the door. This release has a couple of bug fixes:<br />- Excel export now correctly exports Page Counts and Cast ID's<br />- Fixed misc. bug in script import<br />Thanks to our users that found and reported these bugs!Pertag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6865240.post-1142318986901365382006-03-13T22:47:00.000-08:002006-03-13T22:49:46.913-08:00The Fallen by Ari TaubIf you are in NYC check out The Fallen, playing at Two Boots theatre this week. <br />The website for the film is at: <a href="http://thefallenmovie.com/">http://thefallenmovie.com/</a><br /><br />It has rave reviews by the New York Times, NY Post, and others.<br />It was directed by <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1500658/">Ari Taub</a>, who also produced <a href="http://stanleycuba.com">Stanley Cuba</a>.Pertag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6865240.post-1135289380797378962005-12-22T14:06:00.000-08:002005-12-22T14:09:40.810-08:00Happy HolidaysHappy Holidays from Sunfrog Technologies.<br />I've been in NYC for about six months now and recently wrapped production on a feature: you can see the trailer at http://stanleycuba.com. <br />Thanks to new customers: Kelley from Oakland CA, Andrew from Goldalming UK, Marcos from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and many others around the world.<br />All the best for the new year!<br />PerPertag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6865240.post-1118450046727469192005-06-10T17:27:00.000-07:002005-06-10T17:34:06.730-07:00Sunfrog moving to NYC!Sunfrog is moving to New York City! On a couple of recent visits I have been blown away by the amount of indie film activity there. Several of my customers and filmmaking friends are located in the area.Pertag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6865240.post-1110784289120414682005-03-13T23:09:00.000-08:002005-03-13T23:11:29.120-08:00Combustible Chef in ItalyGetting ready for the trip to the Milan International Film Festival. The area where "Combustible Chef" is playing has <a href="http://www.citylightsnews.com/imgfixed/mimaps/mi-tb18.gif">hardly any streets at right angles</a>. I think I like the place already.Pertag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6865240.post-1110248649821105072005-03-07T18:17:00.000-08:002005-03-07T18:24:09.823-08:00DC Independent FestivalI've been attending the DC independent festival this week. Lots of great films including this documentary about the <a href="http://www.saltonseadoc.com/">Salton Sea</a>. "<a href="http://www.combustiblechef.com">Combustible Chef</a>" will be playing there Sunday the 13th. On Tuesday the 15th Chef plays at the Milan International Film Festival. I can't wait to see Italy for the first time.Pertag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6865240.post-1106630114475125152005-01-24T01:10:00.000-08:002005-01-24T21:23:59.436-08:00Sundance Fest, 24 Jan, 1amToday "Police Beat" had its world premiere at Sundance.
<br />Police Beat's IMDB entry is here: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0383965/
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<br />It was wonderful to see the film with a festival audience in Park City. Afterwards it was time to party!
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<br />First stop was the State of Washington Film Office Party (aka "The Seattle Party"). There was a celebrity sighting of someone we knew from a TV show in the '90s but couldn't remember his name. That apparently happens quite often in Park City. I also met several filmmakers who had shorts or features in Slamdance.
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<br />Next stop was the Police Beat party. Along with celebrating with the cast and crew, it was also a good opportunity to hand out some Sunfrog CD's and speak with other filmmakers about "their current scheduling software". By the end of the night the stack of CD's were mostly gone.
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<br />Pertag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6865240.post-1106630401241813222005-01-25T00:19:00.000-08:002005-01-24T21:20:01.240-08:00Back to work.. After recuperating from the Police Beat party, I flew back to Sunfrog HQ. First item on the agenda? The Mac OS X version. I will probably write the Mac version from scratch using either Objective C or Java. The Mono framework (see an earlier post for a more in depth discussion) isn't ready for prime time in my opinion. I'd rather develop the Mac version in a stable and mature development environment. I like Mono but I'm not convinced that their Winforms support will be ready in time for my release schedule. Pertag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6865240.post-1106629255640023932005-01-22T23:00:00.000-08:002005-01-24T21:10:34.063-08:00Slamdance Fest, 22 Jan, 11pmOn Saturday I saw two excellent films at the Slamdance Fest:
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<br />"On the Outs" http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0389235/ A tough, heartbreaking, yet ultimately hopeful film about 4 young women in Jersey City.
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<br />"Farmer John" http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0439774/ The life story of an Illinois farmer whose artistic adventures lead his neighbors to think he's committing heinous crimes on his property.
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<br />Slamdance, by the way, is a excellent festival. I immediately felt more comfortable in their offices, away from the hordes of Hollywood wannabes roaming the streets outside. I was even able to have a quick chat with the festival director, Kathleen McInnis. The staff, volunteers, and filmmakers at Slamdance all radiated wonderful passion and intelligence for indie filmmaking.
<br />Pertag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6865240.post-1106421833541664882005-01-22T11:12:00.000-08:002005-01-24T20:30:48.453-08:00Sundance Fest, 22 Jan 12pmFriday seemed the best day to do a full day of snowboarding, so it was off to the hills. Sunny weather, enough powder to carve nice turns, and fresh mountain air.
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<br />My friend T's flight was diverted to Las Vegas due to Fog at Salt Lake. The airline offered hotel vouchers for Las Vegas.. not very helpful. She rented a car and drove 6 hours to Park City through fog, ice, mountains, and jet lag.
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<br />Park City is a circus as mobs of stargazers cram the streets with designer clothes and gallons of hair spray. We saw "Sensitive Johnson" last night, a fun DV comedy pic at the Park City Music Festival.
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<br />"Police Beat" screens on Sunday afternoon.. the team is currently working on booking critics into the screening.
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<br />Getting into the various movies and parties is a game of "who knows who" and how badly you really want to see Lenny Kravitz or Naomi Watts. Hmm.
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<br />Today I'm in guerilla marketing mode, blanketing the festival with CD's, postcards, flyers, and so forth. The tech booths at Sundance are filled with the likes of Sony, Adobe et al.. but instead of paying $5000+ for a booth, dropping a bunch of postcards and CD's at other venues do the trick, not to mention speaking with various filmmakers about their productions.
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<br />Pertag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6865240.post-1106250857717803792005-01-20T11:44:00.000-08:002005-01-20T11:54:17.716-08:00Sundance Fest, 20 Jan 2005 12pmStop the presses, Sunfrog has arrived in Park City for Sundance 2005. Harvey Weinstein is rumored to be "on the scene" according to Variety. My plan is to 1) Find Harvey; 2) Give him a Sunfrog CD; 3) Photograph him with the CD; and 4) Repeat for everyone else.
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<br />No celebrity sightings as of yet. Plenty of drivers holding signs for Universal and other companies at the airport baggage claim. Also, a couple of cryptic signs with code words for the famous. (Such as "The Screenwriter With 9 Toes", etc.)
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<br />I shared the plane ride with Rob West, artistic director of Theatre Schmeater in Seattle. Check out Rob's latest play if you are in Seattle.
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<br />Will soon be catching up with the rest of the Police Beat team: Rob Devor (director), Jeffrey Brown (producer) and other assorted troublemakers.
<br />Pertag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6865240.post-1101780688246391942004-11-29T18:05:00.000-08:002004-12-30T19:34:40.633-08:00Police Beat is in competition at Sundance! I'm thrilled to announce that Police Beat, directed by Rob Devor and written by Charles Mudede, was one of 16 films (out of 750+ submissions) chosen for the Dramatic Competition at Sundance 2005. Only about 2% of the submissions made the cut.
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<br />I was 1st AD on this film, so I am very stoked. If you are at Sundance this year come on over to the Police Beat house and get a CD of Sunfrog.
<br />Pertag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6865240.post-1104431923077695472004-12-30T10:35:00.000-08:002004-12-30T10:52:47.176-08:00Scheduling and BudgetingOccasionally people would ask me, "Okay, so Sunfrog is a great scheduler, but do you also have a budgeter for sale?" So I'm pleased to announce a partnership with Showbiz Budgeting. Showbiz Software has many years of experience with payroll and budgeting solutions for the film industry. Rather than reinvent the wheel, I wanted to partner with a best of breed budgeting solution.
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<br />Pertag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6865240.post-1104369127496699822004-12-29T17:05:00.000-08:002004-12-29T17:22:57.563-08:00Version 1.611Version 1.611 is out the door.
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<br />- You can now make a report for any breakdown category. For example, you can now create Vehicle reports, Costume reports, and so on. You select the category to report in the "report options" tab.
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<br />- There is similar functionality for Day Out Of Days Reports (you can make a DOOD report on any breakdown category).
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<br />- Locations are now reported in the shoot schedule.
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<br />If you have a feature that you would like implemented, please post your request in the support forum.
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<br />You may have also noticed that the version has been bumped from 0.609 to 1.611. After over 2000 downloads and feedback from many users, I felt the time was right to bump the major version to "1". Thanks again for your support in reaching this milestone!
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<br />Pertag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6865240.post-1102637471987151392004-12-09T16:04:00.000-08:002004-12-09T16:11:11.986-08:00Version 0.609 - Excel Export, Schedule Perf ImprovementsVersion 0.609 is out the door.
<br />This version includes specific features requested by users. If you have a feature that you would like to see included in Sunfrog, please write info at sunfrog-tech.com.
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<br />User requests from Montreal, Canada:
<br />Excel export from left pane
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<br />User requests from Hollywood, CA:
<br />Report Cast ID in call sheets and schedule pane
<br />Cast/Extras breakdown reports are now sorted by ID
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<br />Other improvements:
<br />Performance improvements when working with large schedules
<br />Different Schedule pane layouts (thick vs. thin strips) Pertag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6865240.post-1102121145648676402004-12-03T16:33:00.000-08:002004-12-03T16:45:45.646-08:00Day out of Days ReportsSunfrog 0.608 is out the door. This release includes new "Day Out Of Days" reports. For the uninitiated, the DOOD report is used by 1st AD's and line producers to determine the matrix of working days for cast. It calculates "hold days" (days that the cast member is not working, but still paid by the production) and "drop/pickup" (a Screen Actor's Guild arrangement to allow the production to "drop" and later "pickup" an actor to avoid "hold day" charges).
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<br />Sunfrog will automatically calculate the "best drop" for an actor (the longest number of hold days that meet the minimum, usually 10 days).
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<br />There are also a couple of new fields for an actor's rate per day/week/show. These will be useful for upcoming features to interoperate with budgeting programs.
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<br />Sunfrog supports multiple currencies for the production. It will automatically default to the currency for your region (determined by the "regional and language settings" in the Windows control panel).
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<br />Pertag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6865240.post-1100711989145354852004-11-17T09:17:00.000-08:002004-11-17T09:23:04.616-08:00Porting Sunfrog to Mac OS XSeveral users have asked about Sunfrog for Mac OS X and Linux. Actually all the requests have been for Mac OS X but I thought I'd throw Linux in there too. The short answer is YES this is something I want to do. I've seen several production companies that have standardized on OS X along with Final Cut and related tools.
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<br />For the long answer, I will delve into some geek talk which might lose the filmmakers but interest the technical types:
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<br />Sunfrog is built on the Microsoft .NET platform, which is being ported to OS X and Linux by Ximian (which is owned by Novell). The porting effort is called Mono and after several years of hard work they are approaching completion. The Sunfrog UI is built on Winforms which will be included in Mono 1.2, slated to ship at the end of this year according to their roadmap. I'm guessing that they'll slip to early spring next year, but it's coming soon in any case.
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<br />Sunfrog also includes components from Infragistics (UltraGrid) and DataDynamics (ActiveReports), which use PInvoke to call native Win32 functions. These will not port directly under mono unless the 3rd party component vendors expend the dev effort to do so. It would be great if they did - as then they could sell their components for the Mac! However, without knowing the technical details of their implementation, I'm guessing it will be somewhat of a wait.
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<br />So, to port Sunfrog to Mac/Linux I have to first remove the 3rd party dependencies. For the grid this should be somewhat workable, and I might even find a 100% .NET 3rd party grid. The reporting components will be trickier as Sunfrog is specifically designed to work with ActiveReports. However I can also make an online web service to generate reports for Mac users, or find a Mac specific reporting platform.
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<br />I'd also prefer to use a native Mac interface (Cocoa) and take advantage of its special capabilities. Something I don't like about the other film scheduling products out there is that they sacrifice too much usability to achieve a cross platform product.
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<br />Anyways, those are my thoughts.. if you are a Mono/Mac development wizard, give me a ring!
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<br />Pertag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6865240.post-1100280685954481192004-11-12T09:29:00.000-08:002004-11-12T09:31:25.953-08:00Release 0.607 is out the door - There are several ...Release 0.607 is out the door - There are several new reports for locations and contacts.
<br />It can be downloaded from here: <a href="http://sunfrog-tech.com/install/download_bfs.htm">http://sunfrog-tech.com/install/download_bfs.htm</a>
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<br />Pertag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6865240.post-1099693216700525122004-11-05T14:14:00.000-08:002004-11-05T14:47:02.636-08:00BeOut Media Brigade found a bug in my call sheet r...BeOut Media Brigade found a bug in my call sheet reports. For large schedules, sometimes the incorrect talent is listed. Ouch! I fixed it in release 0.605, available from
<br /><a href="http://sunfrog-tech.com/install/download_bfs.htm">http://sunfrog-tech.com/install/download_bfs.htm</a>
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<br />Please keep the feedback coming.
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<br />Pertag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6865240.post-1097532265050998332004-10-11T14:52:00.000-07:002004-10-11T15:04:25.050-07:00Thanks to the latest registered users hailing from...Thanks to the latest registered users hailing from the USA and Italy.
<br />In the coming weeks I'll be working with a writer who will be interviewing Sunfrog users. Free <a href="http://www.cafepress.com/sunfrogtech">gear</a> for those who participate.
<br />Sunfrog will be relocating to the east coast later this month! More news later.
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<br />Pertag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6865240.post-1095311700484736302004-09-15T22:06:00.000-07:002004-09-15T22:15:00.483-07:00Thanks to the latest registered users in Camano Is...Thanks to the latest registered users in Camano Island (Washington), Worcester (United Kingdom), and Montclair (New Jersey).
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<br />Claudia from Brazil writes that installing WinXP SP2 caused Sunfrog to slow down - actually installing WinXP SP2 will slow everything down until the hard drive gets defragmented - the update replaces a ton of files. Defragging the drive will fix it. I'm also investigating a possible issue with the latest patch release of the .NET framework.
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<br />James Tauber recently wrapped a film using Sunfrog, you can read about it on
<br /><a href="http://www.jtauber.com/blog/2004/09/">http://www.jtauber.com/blog/2004/09/</a> . Looking forward to seeing it.
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<br />I just received a 35mm print of "Combustible Chef" from the lab. The official website is here: <a href="http://www.combustiblechef.com">http://www.combustiblechef.com</a> . Look for it on the festival circuit this coming year (along with me handing out demo CD's of Sunfrog).
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<br />Rob McKaughn gave me some outstanding and thorough feedback on the program which I'll be using as I drive the product towards the 1.0 in the coming months.
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<br />Now back to coding..
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<br />Pertag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6865240.post-1093986871216308012004-08-31T14:10:00.000-07:002004-08-31T14:14:31.216-07:00First Feature to use Sunfrog has wrapped!"Hell's Beacon", the first feature to use Sunfrog Film Scheduling, has wrapped!
<br />See the article at
<br /><a href="http://www.ctnow.com/news/local/hc-osbmovie0824.artaug24,0,6582498.story">http://www.ctnow.com/news/local/hc-osbmovie0824.artaug24,0,6582498.story</a>
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<br />Pertag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6865240.post-1091167033413872922004-07-29T22:51:00.000-07:002004-07-29T22:57:13.413-07:00More mentions of Sunfrog:
http://www.thestrang...More mentions of Sunfrog:
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<br /><a href="http://www.thestranger.com/current/blowup.html">http://www.thestranger.com/current/blowup.html</a> (Andy Spletzer, Stranger Magazine)
<br />Andy produced the short I directed, "Combustible Chef".
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<br /><a href="http://artrash.netfirms.com/home.htm">http://artrash.netfirms.com/home.htm</a> (Nik Perleros)
<br />Nik worked in the production design department for "Combustible Chef".
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<br /><a href="http://jtauber.com/blog/2004/07">http://jtauber.com/blog/2004/07</a> (James Tauber)
<br />James will be making a film in Boston soon.
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<br />Latest registered Sunfrog users hail from the UK, Indonesia, and Chicago.
<br />Thanks again for your support.
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<br />Pertag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6865240.post-1090645325396994872004-07-23T21:58:00.000-07:002004-07-23T22:02:05.396-07:00Combustible Chef has wrapped! Here are the produ...Combustible Chef has wrapped! Here are the production stills:
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<br /><a href="http://sunfrog-tech.com/chef">http://sunfrog-tech.com/chef</a>
<br /><a href="http://sunfrog-tech.com/chef/default.htm"></a>
<br />The film stars Charles Leggett and was produced by Andy Spletzer. Postproduction starts on Monday.
<br />Per