Tim Buttner - Multi-Media Expert


Tim is a Multi-Media Expert with skills that span various forms of media. Tim began writing screenplays before he was twelve, completing his first feature-length screenplay at sixteen. He began filming in high school and at seventeen gained experience interning at Edgewood Studios on the set of Zombie Town. Tim continued to study film at Drexel University, establishing himself in the Stereoscopic 3D revolution after attending workshops in New York City with Florian Maier on Stereoscopic Film Production. After graduating from Drexel's Film & Video Program with a Bachelor of Science, and with a Screenwriting & Playwriting Minor, Tim worked for Digital Revolution Studios under Craig Tanner and further worked in stereoscopic 3D. While at Drexel Tim co-founded a company (One Forest Films) with high school friends and for several years helped build the company as CTO, and Chief Web Designer. Tim has been a contributing writer for MarketSaw, and as well selected as a Beta Tester for Blackmagic Design on the URSA Mini 4.6K camera.


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EDITOR & VXF REEL



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sevices and rates

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Tim was also a contributing writer to MarketSaw, a 3D blog. Check it out: www.marketsaw.com




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—Favorite Quotes—

"Cinematography, a military art. Prepare a film like a battle." — Robert Bresson

"'Nobody's perfect' is the line that most sums up my work. There is no comedy, no drama about perfect people." — Billy Wilder

"Structure depends on strategy: strategy is determined according to events." — Cao Cao, from Sun Tzu's The Art of War

"I shall hang my 'lecturing' on the same peg with my other failures and follies. It must be a long peg and a strong peg to hold them all." — George Perkins Marsh

"Will the science of the human heart, around which all contemporary art is based, exhaust so completely the writer's powers of imagination that in future the only novels that are written will be chronicles of various events?" — Giovanni Verga

"Train easy, fight hard… and die.
 Train hard, fight easy… and win." — Unknown

 

—Personal Quotes—

"Movies are not watched. They are an encounter with a life's experience not your own."

"I'm well trained in the art of turning shit to gold."

"'My favorite movies are the ones inside my head."
News & Analytical Writings

Ticket Sales Within 365 Days of Release


Updated on May 1, 2018, 12:30 PM - Written by Tim Buttner

 

May 1 2018 Update


In regards to this chart, it needs to be understood that this tracks the first year of release at the domestic box office for the Top 30 Films of All Time. It measures the movie's success based on ticket sales and shows the resulting financial back-end based off the average ticket price for that year.

When I started this chart it was back in December of 2010 to commemorate the tail-end of Avatar's run at the box office. I set out to prove that its financial status as the highest grossing domestically was a sign that tickets had become so expensive that it didn't even top the last movie to make it in the top ten of this list. I updated the list in 2013 after Marvel's The Avengers did very well at the box office, and deserved inclusion as it reached high ticket sales.


The December 2015 Update was meant to add Jurassic World to the list, and to expand it to 30 from the initial 25. This is so that The Dark Knight can remain on this list because I believe the importance of including that recent popular film so that people can still gauge where their favorite recent hits fall on this list. As well, there were some additional additions and changes after recalculating a few of the numbers.


The January 2016 Update is meant to add Star Wars: The Force Awakens to the charts and move it up to its current position through the rest of 2016.


This May 1 2018 Update is meant to add Black Panther & Avengers: Infinity War to the charts. Additionally I will move both movies up to their current positions through the rest of 2018. As of writing this Avengers: Infinity War just opened to a massive $258 Million Opening Weekend, an...

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Sunset (2018) - Review


Updated on April 2, 2018, 5:05 PM - Written by Tim Buttner

 

Recently I had the pleasure to sit down and watch Sunset, the endearing second feature effort from Director Jamison M. LoCascio. This was a movie that as you'll read in the plot line down below covers a lot of well thought out scenarios. It is a valiant narrative that will resonate with audiences. The plot follows "A diverse group of people grapple with the imminent probability of a nuclear strike on the east coast."


Covering the perspective that writers Adam Ambrosio and Jamison M. LoCascio thought to cover was bold. It's not often that an elderly cast would be so predominant in a film from such a young filmmaker. The decision pays off, and is very satisfying. The writing is filled with naturalistic dialogue which lends to the great performances. The team handle the story with great care and ensure that despite the low budget of the film the main focus is on the characters and what is happening between them. It is pleasant to have a focus on the human emotion within the major theme narrative.


There are some caveats to having it be low budget that are easily ignored by the gripping human emotion. The evacuation scenes do lack the sense of a greater population due to the budget restrictions and being unable to display a mass evacuation on screen easily. However, this isn't an issue. The audience's focus and emotional connection is with the characters that were introduced in the beginning and have been the core of the film's journey. Never is the suspension of disbelief lost due to the low budget nature of the movie.


The movie is well shot and edited in a way for the audience to experience the touching and emotional performances from the wonderful ensemble cast. This results in genuine characters that you care about. The relevancy to the today's c...

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Baby Driver - Review


Updated on June 27, 2017, 9:58 PM - Written by Tim Buttner

 

Baby Driver was a movie I was highly anticipating, and with the strong word of mouth and great reviews, it was facing the challenge of too much expectation. However, the movie manages to meet those expectations. It is a fun thrill ride of a movie.


First let's talk about the simple story. It's really simple, and the bare bones of what is needed to get characters from one sequence to the next. This is completely acceptable for this movie due to the fact that it is more about the brilliant technical exercise of putting the action in sync with the music. The soundtrack and the action make this movie what it is. However, the story is still good enough and works. The audience can connect with the characters. Although the characters are not developed in a three-dimensional sense, they still serve their purpose sufficiently enough that there's never a longing for more.


Edgar Wright has done an amazing job with directing this movie, which has been a passion project of his for years. The way in which he constructs each sequence to work in unison with the songs he has hand selected to be part of the spectacular soundtrack is spellbinding. It's like watching one music video after the next. And yet, it's so much more than one music video after the next. The way in which the action matches the beats of the music is fantastic.


The performances all work, and fit into the world that Edgar Wright is building. An audience can believe these characters exist. There is great tension in various scenes, and at the same time great humor. The movie could have done with more Kevin Spacey sprinkled in since he was one of the best characters. Jamie Foxx and Jon Hamm seemed to be having a blast with the roles they were playing, and it at least works to make the audience have f...

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Wonder Woman (2017) Review


Updated on June 2, 2017, 12:20 PM - Written by Tim Buttner

 

It's been a while since I last wrote a review. To be honest I got tired of writing negative reviews. Going to so many bad movies has taken a toll on my ability to write a review a day after seeing a movie. Wonder Woman is such a fun and wonderful movie that it helps make it easy to write this review. A large amount of the credit for this belongs to Director Patty Jenkins and star Gal Gadot.


To start I have not been a fan of the recent DCEU movies. I thought Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice was awful and an absolute mess of a movie, and Suicide Squad was just as bad, if not worse. I mildly enjoyed Man of Steel, so a lot was riding on Wonder Woman. DC and Warner Bros. delivered. This movie was a breath of fresh air in a market over-inundated with super hero movies.


The movie is not without some things I wish could be improved, such as cutting out the bookends. It wasn't necessary, but I understand the purpose due to DC needing to fit this inside it's established DCEU Movie Universe. And I'll get more into the detail of the other parts that could have been improved later in this review when I go into spoiler territory.


The story was well constructed and easy to follow, and this was great because it allowed for the audience to get connected to Diana's character. The central conflict is introduced in a nice creative way where we get cool visualization with expositional dialogue. I was not bored at all throughout the film; The story moves along at a good pace. It has a good amount of humor to keep things light while still having very dark themes and subject matter. Overall, the character development and strong storytelling earned the big visual effects spectacle ending that so many of these large blockbusters don't ear...

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The Blackmagic Design Cinema Camera Journey and Troy Ramey Music Videos


Updated on May 11, 2016, 12:37 AM - Written by Tim Buttner

 



There are two simultaneous stories I want to go into over the course of this posting: 1) the story of the two Troy Ramey music videos, and 2) all about the Blackmagic Design Cinema Camera evolution. The two go well together because each was shot with a different camera in the evolution of the Blackmagic Cinema Camera Lineup. The first music video utilized the first Blackmagic Camera, which was the 2.5K Cinema Camera EF, and the second utilized the latest camera in the lineup: the URSA Mini 4.6K EF. The two music videos were shot within a two-year span of time.


Blackmagic Design Cinema Camera 2.5K EF on Set of Troy Ramey Music Video Rosary


The 4K sensor Blackmagic Design Production Camera was out during the time when Rosary was shot. It was the Spring of 2014, and the devastation left over from Hurricane Irene (2011) was available for a portion of the rest of that year. Visiting many of the locations would reveal that the land has been cleaned up. I had been using the 2.5K for months leading into Rosary, and Andrew William Ralph (Director) had spoken to me about the idea of a story about the father and son for it where we would use tha...

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Blackmagic Cinema Camera and DaVinci Resolve 11 Used on Owl City "Wolf Bite" Music Video


Updated on August 21, 2014, 1:07 AM - Written by Kerry Lamond of Blackmagic Design

 


Press release was originally published here.


Fremont, CA - August 21, 2014 - Blackmagic Design today announced that the music visualizer for Owl City's newest track, "Wolf Bite," was shot on the Blackmagic Cinema Camera (EF) and color graded on DaVinci Resolve 11. The video is one of the first projects in the world to be finished on the newest version of DaVinci Resolve.


Following hits like "Fireflies," "Vanilla Twilight," and the Carly Rae Jepsen duet, "Good Time," Owl City's latest track, "Wolf Bite," comes from the recently released Ultraviolet EP. The video for "Wolf Bite" features people dressed as wolves riding bikes and dancing throughout the streets around New York City. Shot by Director of Photography Tim Buttner and directed by Andrew William Ralph, the video contains dramatic artistic elements, harsh and low lighting and a number of visual effects.


"When I spoke with Andrew leading up to the video shoot, we talked about the look being pretty artistic and open, considering he was going to do some stylized animations over it," said Tim. "The first thing he asked was for me to shoot the moon; however, the full moon had just passed. Luckily, I had shot the full moon over the winter in RAW at 24fps on my Blackmagic Cinema Camera for my own purposes. This gave us a great shot of the moon to start with and set the frame rate for the project."


The video's nighttime bicycle shots proved to be challenging due to lighting restrictions. To get the footage, Tim sat with the camera on the back of a moving ve...

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New Homepage Design!


Updated on August 5, 2014, 12:40 AM - Written by Tim Buttner

 

It's my great pleasure to introduce the latest design change to the Tim Butt 2 Productions website: the Homepage! I throught about changing the design back to a more simple design for a while. As much as I loved that you got so much on the homepage... I felt it was too much. There's still plenty going on on the new home page. There's the new Featured News Headlines area, the Slider remains, some new Homepage Buttons have been added, and finally the HTML5 Animation.


So what's the deal with the Featured News Headlines area? This is just a place where the latest and most important news items will be featured. Not every news story will make it here, so you still have to check out the news section, however it's the place to see on first visit that news is happening. And, unlike the news section, it's not tied to a SQL Database because I'll personally update it with the news I feel should be featured.


There's no change to the Slider, which will continue to feature the latest and featured videos, but the Homepage Buttons now will function in a similar manner for Featured Photography and Artwork. This is so that visitors can get a brief glimpse at whether I've recently done any new photos or art and can quickly navigate to see it.


Finally the HTML5 Animation is going to be a place for me to channel my new craven to do web animation. I will be adding a portal in my Visual Arts Section to more HTML5 Animations as I complete them. However, on my homepage I intend to start doing special homepage animations. Maybe the seasons... maybe something else. It will be a fun surprise that I look forward to sharing with you.



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Music Video Section Gets Redesign


Updated on July 25, 2014, 1:36 PM - Written by Tim Buttner

 

I'm pleased to announce that with the release of two new music videos that I recently had the pleasure of shooting comes a redesign of my Music Video Section in my Filmography Section. Earlier in the year I had secretly released a redesign to my Filmography Section that brought a dynamic new look and functionality. I used CSS3 to create an overlay effect for when a visitor to the page hovered over the poster image of the film/video project to display the project title, year, and brief summary.


Each individual section retains the same design as the main Filmography Section. Project pages got a new design based on the type of project it is, although Short Films used a similar design to what originally on my website's first design. The Vignettes of Vermont page design is the same. The Commercials/PSA/Corporate project pages recieved a dynamic new layout that features the videos and provides information.


So now with the release of these two new music videos I wanted to approach a similar concept. I wanted to not only provide information about who was involved with the creation of the music video (plus some technical information) but also a whole profile on the musician/band complete with links to discover more about the musician/band. I decided to separate the information through contrasting colors; with the production and technical information on a white background in black text, and the musician/band profile information on a black background in white text. I feel the new design looks fantastic.


So visit the Music Video Section and check out the new design and the new videos. I'd highly suggest checking out the music video for Troy Ramey's "Rosary" as it is hauntingly beautiful.



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Dawn of the Planet of the Apes - MarketSaw Review


Updated on July 11, 2014, 3:04 PM - Written by Tim Buttner

 


Tim here, and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes is the best blockbuster movie I have seen so far this year! It currently ranks as the second best movie I've seen this year behind The Grand Budapest Hotel, which would have been fantastic in the stereoscopic 3D format. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes has such a compelling story that is very well written and directed that it manages to transcend beyond the normal sci-fi summer blockbuster into a contemporary power struggle tale between two species and the factions within each.


In regards to the story, the writing, and character development it is not without some fault. There was a moment early on in the movie where the characters made a claim about how important it is for a certain character to come along with them into the ape territory to fix the dam to restore power to the human community. However after an incident he is sidelined without further explanation of how his expertise is missed when it comes to repairing the dam. Beyond that small plot hole I couldn't find any additional faults with the story. Although some of the main human characters lacked development the main ape characters made up for that. And the truth is the movie is more about the apes than the humans. However, it would have been nice to have equal attention given to both.


Within the apes' community there are three particular apes that had great develo...

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Transformers: Age of Extinction Review - Or Reason for Theaters to Install Bars


Updated on June 27, 2014, 7:12 PM - Written by Tim Buttner

 


Transformers: Age of Extinction might be the most ridiculous movie of the franchise. To even begin reviewing the story is a difficult task because the story is god awful. It's absolutely terrible and atrocious. Pure laziness in screenwriting and direction; to the degree that one has to question the studio for wasting so much money on the budget of this movie. At the same time this movie brings me to campaign for all movie theaters to add a bar to the premises. This movie would have been so much better had I been drinking.


I went in expecting the story to take a back seat to the mindless action. However, I wasn't prepared to have no idea what the story was even about more than thirty minutes into the movie. The previous movies had Optimus Prime giving voice-over explaining things at the beginning of the movie, and as annoying as it was and useless: it's greatly missed in this installment. That's how pathetic it gets when trying to figure out what the H is going on. Even more so I don't even know why I'm supposed to care for these new human characters. There's the smallest amount of development for these characters, and even they make transitions from one state to the next without provocation. Stanley Tucci's character is a perfect example of that sin.


Speaking of sins; I'm looking more forward to watching the Cinema Sins breakdown of this movie than watching the movie. I mean throughout the movie I was literally thinking about how absurd each situation was and how impossible what I was witnessing would be even for a Transformers movie. That's right, even for a Transformers movie this thing got way too ridiculous.


I must digress because thi...

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The Amazing Spider-Man 2 Review


Updated on May 2, 2014, 2:43 PM - Written by Tim Buttner

 

Let me start by saying that this movie is an average film overall. Whether you want to look at amongst superhero movies or all of filmmaking history the movie falls into the category of average. This is why I ended up deciding to give the movie a C+ score, and after reading my thoughts you can see the movie for yourself to make up your own mind.


Flat out the story and plot are the main areas where this movie fell flat and was very "BLAAHH!" In the very beginning of the movie my suspension of disbelief is thrown because I can't understand how in the past Peter's father was supposed to have uploaded a video file over an Ethernet port from a private jet to the cloud... Did the cloud exist back then? When is back then? I'd say late 1990's or early 2000's if the movie was taking place in present day, which seems reasonable to assume. So how does he not only upload the file, but get interrupted and start from the same place each time. As some of us know if we start uploading a file to a server via FTP and it gets interrupted you have to start over again. Only sometimes if you're lucky it will continuing from where it got interrupted. That's one of the first things that was hard to swallow.


The movie continues at an uneven pace and often gets to a slow crawl despite the action sequences that pop up. At the center is a love story that is strong and is done well thanks to the great performances from Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone, but the rest of the movie fails to take off. The plot revolving around what Peter's father did never really feels like it works, nor does his father's explanation for why Peter would have gotten his abilities while anyone else w...

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The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug - Review


Updated on December 13, 2013, 1:55 PM - Written by Tim Buttner

 

Tim here, and what follows is my review for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, which is the second part in the Peter Jackson movie trilogy adapted from the book by J.R.R. Tolkien. To sum up quickly my overall thoughts: The second movie is an improvement upon the first with an exciting and thrilling adventure that ends on a stupendous cliffhanger! Next year can't come soon enough.


The story is a much faster pace, which is an improvement over the slow beginning its predecessor. It opens with a prologue in the familiar Lord of the Rings local Bree, and a carrot chomping PJ cameo! It's set before the beginning of the adventure, when Gandalf (Ian McKellan) found Thorin (Richard Armitage) and incited the quest in his mind and that they'd need a burglar for the job. Cut to immediately after the events of the last one and the company of dwarves, with wizard and Hobbit, are still being pursued by orcs. This keeps them moving as they make a quick rest at the home of Beorn (Mikael Persbrandt), who single-handedly is able to scare the orcs from attacking, before they venture into Mirkwood. Here the company breaks up as Gandalf goes to explore more in regards to the Necromancer of Dol Guldur, and the company continues on their journey through the forest to the Lonely Mount...

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Movie Review: Indigo


Updated on August 29, 2013, 8:33 PM - Written by Tim Buttner

 

Recently I had the great pleasure of being invited to the private screening of the new indie feature Indigo from writer and director John Hawthorne Smith and his production company La Mancha Films. The film stars Skyler Pinkerton, Dana Pelevine, and Nicholas Brendon. It's a refreshingly dark indie film that was magnificently well done.


The story is about Eli Casey, an up-and-coming photographer and recovering heroin addict, who implodes after his son is kidnapped. He separates from his wife. He stops working. He gives up. As a favor to his agent, Eli begrudgingly agrees to shoot a wedding. While there, he takes a picture of a suspicious couple who offer to bribe him in return for deleting certain photos. Eli refuses. The next day, Eli discovers that the flower girl at the wedding disappeared and Eli sets out to conquer his demons and save the girl.


It's a tense thriller that never has a dull moment, as each scene moves at an even pace. It's an on the edge of your seat thrill-ride from beginning to end as you watch Eli descend deeper and deeper into a dark underworld. Upon reaching the film's end you've experienced something completely uncommon in American cinema, however if you're familiar with the French New-Wave and Italian Neo-realism you'll see similarities to the films from those same masterful European filmmakers.


The cinematography by Aidan Schultz-Meyer was spectac...

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Star Trek Into Darkness Review


Updated on May 17, 2013, 10:38 PM - Written by Tim Buttner

 

First let me start with stating that spoilers will follow in this review as this movie cannot be properly analyzed without at least discussing these spoiler filled plot points. If this is an inconvenience and you wish to see the movie unspoiled then please see it first before reading this review. That being said this was a great continuation of the new Star Trek series brought to us by director J.J. Abrams.


The movie opens with Captain James T. Kirk (Chris Pine) in command of the USS Enterprise and not following the "Prime Directive" rules set by Starfleet when he chooses to save his friend and colleague Spock (Zachary Quinto) from certain death. This sets up the necessary distance that Kirk and crew need to have from Starfleet as they embark on a mission of vengeance of both a commanded and personal nature. The mission is to kill John Harrison (Benedict Cumberbatch) after he has bombed a secret Starfleet facility and assassinated much of the high ranking officers at Starfleet headquarters. More on the story will follow in a bit.


First let's talk about the writing and performances in general. Overall it was very well written and acted. Chris Pine is great in the role of Kirk, continuing to develop what he started in the first movie. As well Zachary Quinto is great as Spock, and continues to play the half-Vulcan, half-human, first officer of Enterprise with great poise and humility. However, it is Benedict Cumberbatch who steals the show as the main antagonist Khan. Did I just spoil that plot point? Yes, John Harrison is in fact real...

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The Great Gatsby (2013) Review


Updated on May 10, 2013, 5:26 PM - Written by Tim Buttner

 

The Great Gatsby was first a book by F. Scott Fitzgerald. First published in 1925, and set in 1922, it is one of the great American novels that depicts the Roaring 20's in all its glory. The book has been adapted into movies throughout the 20th Century and into the 21st. The first movie adaption was done in 1926, and is claimed to be the most faithful adaption. It is a lost film, but as the years continue to pass by it is unlikely any copies of the complete film will emerge. All that remains is the trailer, which is in the National Archives. There was one made in 1949, then the most famous screen version with Robert Redford as Jay Gatsby was done in 1979, followed by a made-for-TV version in 2000. The latest adaption hit theaters in 2013...


The Great Gatsby directed by Baz Luhrmann and starring Leonardo DiCaprio (Gatsby), Carey Mulligan (Daisy Buchanan), Tobey Maguire (Nick Carraway), and Joel Edgerton (Tom Buchanan) was released in theaters on May 10, 2013. Critics met it with mostly negative reviews, but for the most part it's not as bad as they make it out to be. In fact, it's a pretty decent adaption that captures most of the essence of the book. Naturally there are a few changes, and it seems to focus more on the relationship between Gatsby and Daisy while completely ignoring the relationship between Carraway and professional golfer Jordon Baker (Read More & View Comments

 

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