Great post with 202 Do It Yourself Filmmaking Links
July 24, 2008
There’s an amazing collection of do it yourself links over at Filmmaker IQ.com. A few samples:
For these and a whole lot more, head here:
http://filmmakeriq.com/general/featured/202-diy-filmmaking-tutorials.html
How to label a DVD for your projects
July 16, 2008
This question comes up in the forums often- how does one label a DVD-R? I’m not big on using a print-on inkjet disc. They can smear with just a droplet of moisture nor stick on labels because they peel and jam. Instead- I’d go for one of three technologies- depending on budget and how professional the labels need to look:
1. Sharpie. This is cheap as dirt and works like a charm for sending to replication houses and for internal backups. But not so much given to clients- looks decidely ghetto for that…
2. LightScribe- this is a type of DVD burner than works with special media and lets you burn a monochrome image directly onto the disc surface. Looks a lot more pro than Sharpie for clients and has no issues with peeling off.
3. Rimage Everest Thermal transfer printers. This is a great printer- quite expensive but worth every penny. You can easily create a full color DVD with a printed surface that exceeds the image quality of most replicated discs but with zero risk of peeling, fading or smearing. This is the way to go if you want to do one-off discs that look as pro as can be.
Now of course if you don’t want to spend the dough on a Rimage and you still want that quality, you’re in luck. I use a company called CDPrintexpress that prints my short run DVDs and duplicates them to. They use a Rimage Everest and it looks awesome- like better than most Hollywood DVDs. Check them out:
http://www.cdprintexpress.com/Cddvdservices.aspx
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indie filmmaking, new techology, production, dvd, printers
Which Camera Should I Get To Shoot My Indie Feature?
July 9, 2008
Here’s a question I get asked just about every day: “which camera should I get to shoot my indie feature?” Well of course with anything in life it depends. These days the choices are wider than ever. You can shoot on anything from a Sony Handycam DV camera that costs $500 to a RED One that costs $30K+ with lenses to a Panavision Genesis that you can’t even buy- rental only.
I’m going to assume for the purposes of this article that most of our readers are somewhere in the mid-range. You have more than a few bucks to spend on the camera but you’re not rolling in the dough. You want something that looks good enough to project in a movie theater but it doesn’t have to be an IMAX camera.
So with that in mind I want to break it down to two cameras I think you should look at, the Panasonic HVX200 and the Sony EX1.
Both cameras are capable of shooting high definition at several different resolutions, the most common being 720p/24p and 1080/24p. The 720 and 1080 refer to the vertical resolution of the image in pixels and the 24p means it shoots 24 frames per second progressive, just like a film camera. You can learn more about what all that means here. The short of it is that both cameras shoot a picture you can project onto a movie screen that will look good(assuming it’s lit and composed well.)
Why not one camera over the other? Well, personally I think that both of these cameras are quite evenly matched, which is kind of a rarity in the digital camera world. The HVX200 has been around longer and so the workflow in post is a bit more standardized, it also shoots DVCPROHD as its compression format. That’s a better quality of compression than the EX1’s XDCAM EX. But it’s also a less efficient codec, meaning it takes up more space on the memory cards that both cameras use. There are a lot of other minor differences in terms of workflow and ergonomics that brings it down to personal choice.
That’s right, both the EX1 and the HVX200 shoot their footage to memory cards, much like the SD or CF card you probably have in your digital still camera already. The HVX200 uses P2, while the EX1 shoots to SxS. The upside is that without an HD tape deck involved, these cameras can be a lot cheaper, durable and lightweight. The downside is you have to be really careful when you’re shooting that you don’t accidentally erase footage before you’ve had a chance to transfer it to a hard drive, but you can figure that out pretty quick.
The HVX200 and EX1 are also variable frame rate cameras. This means you can shoot cool slow motion and funny high speed motion just like some film cameras do. The creative possibilities are endless- but don’t overdo it. A little slow-mo can be cool, a lot can be pretentious and boring. So pick your battles.
Both cameras work with Final Cut Pro, which I highly recommend as your editing platform of choice. Final Cut Pro is very powerful and reasonably easy to learn. It’s also priced relatively cheaply at around $1,200- you can even get it for less if you’re in school or a teacher. Most importantly, FCP is in use on many films, TV shows music videos, etc. So on those days when you’re not working on your own movie, you can potentially use your FCP skills to edit for a living.
Finally for a little bit of shameless self-promotion, I do think it’s critical you learn to use these cameras properly. They are not exactly point and shoot and with both having solid-state memory cards to record to rather than tape, the workflow may be completely new to you. So with that in mind, I humbly offer my own training DVDs. I have one for the HVX200 and one for the EX1.
Anyways, hope that’s given you a bit of food for thought. I highly recommend renting or at least demoing both cameras at your local camera shop, which if you’re in L.A. or NYC I’d suggest Abel Cine Tech. Determine which one you like better in terms of look and workflow. Then get out there and shoot your movie!
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24p, apple, digital cameras, festivals, final cut pro, high-definition, indie filmmaking, new techology, p2, panasonic, production, RED, slow motion, sony, television, video
Tips for shooting digital photos on your movie set
July 1, 2008
Here’s a little tip for you would-be indie filmmakers out there. I cannot emphasize this enough, get photos of your movie as you’re making it. Now there are two basic types of photos you need and both are important: behind the scenes and production stills.
Behind the scenes photography are the photos where you can see the movie crew and the gear being used to make the movie. Now of course you’ll be tempted to photograph your cool crane that you managed to borrow or steal for a day or the Steadicam operator running after your actress. Or maybe you have a car mount or maybe a really nice Panavision or RED camera. These are all great to have but not the most important.
The most important behind the scenes photo, as least as far as the success of your movie is concerned is a shot of you, standing with one of your actors or near a movie camera pointing. Now this is silly, but read just about any movie magazine like Entertainment Weekly, US, Maxim, Moviemaker, etc and you’ll see oddles of the directors, “directing.” Now of course some of us might actually direct like this but probably not. Anyways it’s a must.
That being said, production stills are actually more important than behind the scenes shots. These are the sort of stills that look exactly like frames from your movie. These will be useful for advertising and all sorts of articles about your movie. Ideally you want some of these for every scene in your movie if not at least the most pivotal scenes. Using the frames from your actual taking camera isn’t good enough, just not enough resolution for print, especially if you’re shooting HD.
Now what sort of camera should you use? Well ideally you can afford to hire someone with a really high end digital SLR camera to do your photography. Someone who has let’s say a nice Nikon D300 or a Canon 40D. Something fairly pro and digital. Then they can give you just oddles of great photos you’ll have for every occasion.
In my case when I did Formosa I couldn’t afford to hire someone to shoot stills specifically. So I did it myself. This was a lot of fun and as the director I was in the perfect position to shoot great production and behind the scenes stills. And in a couple of occasions my photos were used either for continuity checks or even to create props. So fire away.
This was 2004, many generations ago in terms of digital cameras. So I used a 2-megapixel Minolta Dimage X. This camera didn’t take the sharpest photos but they were more than usable for print and the tiny pocket size meant I could always have it on me. These days I recommend the Canon Digital Elph cameras. They’re under $500, take absolutely great photos and are easy to use.
And don’t use flash. Most flash photos you’ll get with these little cameras look very amateur because the flash is too close to the lens. Get an ELPH with the IS(image stabilization) feature. Shoot with a high ISO and hold the camera steady. With luck you’ll be able to shoot in just about any reasonably well-lit scenario without flash and get great photos. Bottom line, if it’s well-lit enough for your movie camera it should be more than good enough for your still cam.
Hope you’ve enjoyed that little bit of extra info about still photography. It might seem a little counterintuitive to be so focused on still photos while you’re supposed to be making a “motion” picture but believe me it will come in handy constantly for the rest of the life of your movie. Check out www.dpreview.com for the latest and greatest in cameras.
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festivals, indie filmmaking, new techology, recording, television, video, photography, digital cameras
