mercer

Wow. This is absolutely hilarious. Not for the scammed, I really feel for you guys, but that this dimwit even exists in the world... Even if it is the third world. The crazy thing is... There is more to this story... More fake names... More half truths... More scams. What a dummy. Seriously... No crime was committed?! What a dope. Or maybe we're the dopes, because I partially believe that this whole fucking thing is fake and it has been from the start. There is no Ebrahim Saadawi to find because he never existed because he was made up by somebody, and not somebody in Egypt.

Yeah it is low, but it's no worse than the VL5e and I have had zero issues with it affecting focus or exposure. I really just use it as a guide for framing, especially since this camera has the best peaking and zebras I've ever used... Plus the Ikan monitors have a full set of their own exposure and focus tools that work really well... Peaking, histogram, false color... When I started looking for monitors for the BMMCC, I couldn't find one, in that price range, that has false color... But by no means am I an expert in monitor features. I wish someone would make something similar to one of those small hot shoe EVFs that Canon makes with HDMI input.

Good assessment and I do want to add one thing about the BMMCC... The buttons and menu system aren't that bad, you do get used to it fairly quickly, but since they are in the front of the camera, you fly blind but there are only 5 of them, so you do get the hang of them fairly quickly. But with that said, I am contemplating selling it, but I'm unsure. I've been using the Ikan VL5e monitor which is a 5" monitor and although fairly small, it's bigger than what I am looking for, the VL35 just came out, which is a 3.5" monitor that I had planned to get to go even smaller, but now I'm not sure if I should just sell the whole damn thing or put another $250 into and see if the smaller monitor will make all the difference. It is really frustrating to love an image so much but hate her "personality."

Yeah this is getting more and more tangled with every post. So, the logical conclusion is that the grandson did it for whatever reason, he needed some money, he got caught up with the wrong people... Whatever. And now, if the OG Ebrahim even exists, he is covering up for the kid, knowing the kid could get into BIG trouble for this since multiple international laws have been broken. Most likely OG Ebrahim has reached out to an attorney and will end up not paying because, that is some form of admission of guilt. But in reality, until OG Ebrahim confirms his identity through some form of video chat or by uploading a video of himself discussing the matter, there is no other explanation but to assume he never existed... Or has passed away since he joined this forum. Unfortunately there is probably little legally to be done, I'm sure the Egyptian authorities have more important things to do and I doubt Interpol will look into it... If they even have any authority or connections in Egypt. So unless there's a link to this kid and some bigger criminal enterprise, involving other fake forum members on this site and other sites... Doubtful anything can really be done. But this is seriously some interesting shit... If Ebrahim was here, he'd ask me to watch my language... Fuck 'em.

You know this isn't a horrible idea. Whoever is behind this scam is a lowlife piece of shit. I don't like the idea of low life pieces of shit bringing me down, so why not turn this whole thing into something positive? If not, a group project... Maybe a micro short contest? This site should have contests anyway. Of course the way this is turning out Ebrahim would probably end up winning...

Out of "Likes" for the day... So Like.

I think another thing to consider is that it doesn't begin and end with ES... Have there been other scam sales from different sellers... Or attempts?

You should have made this a video PSA... That would've been brilliant.

Yeah, I am truly sorry this happened to all parties involved and there are really only two things we, as a community, can do about it... Spend some time and try to put the pieces together and laugh at the ridiculous meta movie narrative. When one comes upon diversity you can laugh or cry... I'd rather laugh. And in some ways we are all victims here... Ebrahim was/is a valued member of this community with a lot to share. And with this news, should I still be interested in the Canon 10-20mm that he was so eager to pedal? Is the C100 In fact more filmic than the C100 ii. Are the taxes to send to Egypt really as large as he claimed... I mean 24,000 USD for 1DC... Is that true... Or has that been part of the overarching scam? I don't know. In the very beginning of this mystery, I was one of the first to state that it doesn't make sense for him to spend all this time for such little gain, but maybe this scam is a small piece of a bigger pie that targets niche forums... Maybe there are other forums involving cooking or birdwatching or any other insignificant hobby that these people target. Really... There is nothing that Ebrahim wrote that couldn't have quickly and easily been copy and pasted from dozens of other sites. And a lot of criminals spend more time and effort to break the law than they would if they just got a real job. But with all this being said, Occam's Razor is probably the most realistic possibility and the earliest theories are the closest to the truth. But theories are fun, stories with twists and turns and conspiracies are fascinating and why I enjoy movies and filmmaking so here's another... What if there WAS an original Ebrahim but since he joined, maybe sometime last year, he passed away and the grandson has assumed his identity? I think there was a break in time when Ebrahim wasn't around for a while. But to my original point... If you can't see the humor in life, in both its triumphs and tragedies... then you are a boring turd.

Yup. No truth will be good enough at this point.

The proprietary software by Pomfort works with Mac only, but any software that can extract the DNGs from the cards will work... With Windows too. Look at of pg. 38 of the manual. http://www.digitalbolex.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/d16-user-manual-1.0.pdf

That is so tasteless and I love it.

Let us know what he says.

Especially since Ebrahim looked way hotter in the pictures he sent me.

But seriously. I'm afraid at this point, for a lot of people on this forum, the truth is irrelevant. I almost believe the entire story is made up. No disrespect intended to Tim but I don't really know anybody here, and there are really only two truths we know... Tim fell for an African Western Union scam and Ebrahim, if that's his real name, used the same words (names) for both his login and password and then told everybody on the forum. And someone close to him, all fingers point to his grandson, has stolen people's clips and used them in his own reel, but was smart enough to never actually say they were his. If any of this is true I wish everyone the best because it sucks. I get why Tim would take Ebrahim's word for it considering he is a well respected member of this forum. And this is so strange that I even can believe that this is actually Ebrahim conversing on the forum now and he has zero knowledge of any of this. This whole debacle seems like a case for Peter Sellers. Also, has anyone noticed that Zach Goodwin has been eerily silent lately... Just sayin.

Haha. You can't even keep a straight face. Please do not close this thread. The truth must be told. This could be an international crime syndicate.

Has anyone remotely considered the possibility that Ebrahim and Timotheus are the same person and this is an elaborate ploy to get even more money out of people?

Ed David... Never knew a cause with half-baked facts he didn't like since 1981.

There could be hundreds of Ebrahim Saadwahis in Egypt, so the name probably has little consequence here. From our end, the only real action would be for Andrew to go back and compare ip addresses.

This ^ If you're working on controlled sets, it would be fine. Even with the annoying buttons, the Micro is pretty straightforward. But I shoot mostly exteriors and the rig is just big enough that you don't feel comfortable just tossing it in the bag and moving to the next location. So, I inevitably break it down to drive 5 or 10 minutes down the road. Also, the battery life is annoying. I swear the damn things drain just by sitting within 3-5 feet of the micro. And it continues to drain while the camera is powered off... and practically just as fast. The added monitor turns the tiny camera, that should be a small handheld beast into a near shoulder riggable camcorder. But with all that being said, the image is just gorgeous. I'm getting better imagery with old beat up c mount lenses than I was getting with my G7... Obviously with less resolution but with a ton more organic character.

... All on the next episode of Soap.

Thanks for that. I finally found the owner's manual online and I have been reading up on it. It appears with the XC10, C-Log is non customizable, which is fine by me because it looks gorgeous as is. When the XC10 came out I had a list of reservations about picking one up. With the top of the list being that video and filmmaking is really just a hobby for me... Well it's a potential outlet for my short and feature scripts to get made, but I am of no delusion that I will hit it big. All of its issues that many have noted before was also on the list. But then I picked up a Panny FZ300 and although it's not in the class as the XC10, I found it to be probably the most fun camera to shoot with... But with the worst picture quality. And then I sold it to buy the BMMCC, which is probably the least fun camera I have ever owned to shoot with... But with the best picture quality. So, with all this in mind and passing time I came upon Andrew's revisit of the XC10 and from all my research and videos watched, it seems to be Canon's version of the pocket cam with the added benefit of run and gun capabilities... Which the Micro is sorely lacking. I will probably keep the micro since the IQ is undeniable and it is great for controlled micro short films, but I can see the XC10 becoming an important part of my kit as I move forward. Thanks again for your help.

When Field cited exact page counts for the opening image and the inciting incident and plot point one and the midpoint and plot point two and the climax and the resolution, it was never meant to be rigid. It was only meant to be a guideline that showed what almost every successful and critically acclaimed film had done before. Even a strangely structured film like Memento or Pulp Fiction falls within this paradigm. Now I don't subscribe to the notion that everything Field wrote has to be strictly followed, but for a beginner, his film breakdowns did hold a truth that every writer should at least know. And without a doubt STRUCTURE is the most important part of any screenplay. It holds the story together and propels the plot forward... Regardless of the genre or the budget. Where it becomes difficult, with every single screenplay written, is exactly how the writer will structure their screenplay. There are multiple forms, but the basic principles, or basic beats are the same... And they have been the same since Aristotle wrote "Poetics." Which is why I highly recommend that beginner screenwriters read up on Jungian theories. He recognized this "collective subconscious" that was evident in every story and myth written. So, as a writer, if you believe that all humans inherently understand and feel how stories are supposed to progress and be told, to ignore that basic tool, to me, seems like an exercise in foolhardiness. And to understand his summaries of human characterization as he simplistically outlined with his archetypes is a perfect starting point to understanding character... Which is the second most important part of any screenplay. Any beginning screenwriter could easily write an inventive and original screenplay, their first time out, by following the basic structure outlined by Field and the simple character summaries outlined by Jung. Then they can read up on David Mamet's dramatic theories which are really the most pragmatic concepts of all, especially since he is considered to be such a thoughtful, artistic writer, and those theories can be implemented into the tools in every writer's arsenal. To not understand, or study, these basic principles equates to one of two things... The writer is too lazy to learn them, or they are too stubborn due to some preconception that they are creating art and they don't need rules or craft. It's like that old cliche... Success is 10% inspiration and 90% perspiration.

The last paragraph in that Facebook response is the most telling... "But you already know that you're powerless right now to do anything to regain your money from someone you know nothing about his/her name, whereabouts, age, occupation, phone number, nothing, and that's why you're freaking out" It would seem as though this person is admitting that he is not Ebrahim, I think I believe Ebrahim... What would he have to gain? Unless he came onto this board years ago with every intent of playing the long con to swindle a relatively small amount of money. Unlikely.

We have talked briefly about this stuff before and it wasn't my intention to call you out on anything. I just wanted the OP to have multiple sides to the debate. You are correct, nothing is keeping you from writing a script without following the "rules" and breaking these rules would have zero effect on the quality of the script... But like it or not, there are rules for the way a professional screenplay is formatted. There is craft and tools to help a writer tell a compelling story. And there are writers that break those rules and still manage to write a great script. For instance, Shane Black wrote Lethal Weapon and broke nearly every "rule" of how a screenplay should read. He used asides and crazy description, almost in an editorial fashion and, at the time, it was the highest selling screenplay ever. So there are always exceptions to the rules. But there is a reason why most colleges who have a film department graduate their students with a degree in communications. Stories and movies are communicative in nature and honestly I don't see the point in breaking the rules you abhor just to break the rules? Learning the craft of screenwriting and storytelling is actually about communicating your ideas to the viewer. The creativity is inside the ideas and the craft helps you explain those ideas to a viewer. Again, I am not calling you out, I just enjoy the debate. Obviously, write the script you want to write, and how you want to write it. I'll be happy to read it and interject my ideas into it... ?, but more importantly I want to see this short of yours because in the end, the script is meaningless and the finished film is all that matters... That's why screenwriters are usually banned from the set. Of course, there's an old Hollywood story where a producer tells his director that the screenplay is the most important part of a movie... "Just don't tell the screenwriter I said that."