Tag: filmmaking

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Filmmaking

The Definitive Word About Formal Film Training (according to me)

There’s a huge debate among filmmakers as to whether film school is necessary for this instantly available information age. If I have a question about how to key a green screen or animate a 3D bird into a scene the answer is available with a couple of clicks. Besides that, even formal filmmaking courses are now publicly available for free. (Such as this free film school from MIT).

The argument goes that since equipment and software are so accessible and information is free, this renders film school unnecessary and expensive.

As a young man just turned on to film, I was passionate about the art and craft of film and almost immediately began to work in a professional studio as a cameraman and editor.

While I didn’t attend a formal film school, my hunger for more led me to attend every film/ graphic design/ multimedia class offered by my local community college.

Here are my personal observations:

 1.  Is Film Training Necessary? – Are you disciplined?

If you are a highly motivated, disciplined type A driver personality that networks well and gets stuff done then skip film school, buy a camera, watch tutorials, network some friends and go make your film.

There are many famous examples of people who did just that:  Cristopher Nolan, Steven Spielberg, Kevin Smith, Quentin Tarantino, Robert Rodriguez, James Cameron, Akira Kurosawa are only a few of the myriad of amazing/ successful directors that never graced the film school hallways.

This was not me.  I was extremely passionate, but I was undisciplined.

Film classes forced me to read books, study, attend lectures, watch and analyze films.  They gave me filming assignments that I had to complete which were critiqued by friends who were talented and passionate about filming.  It allowed me to attend labs where film professionals (professors and staff) were there to answer my questions and advise me on my work.

Would I have spent that many hours in front of YouTube videos/ Linda/ ripple training/…  Would I have logged into the MIT film school and worked my way through it’s teaching. Probably not. My studies would have been sporadic if I did it at all. I most likely would have woken up later, played more video games, skateboarded and wasted much of my free time away.

I needed the pressure of having an assignment due or a test coming to study as intensely as I did.

2. Is film Training Necessary? – Are you good at networking?

As a young man, I was so horrible at networking that I once produced an entire monthly TV show all by myself (I filmed it, often acted in it, edited it, did sound, and color corrected)… I simply didn’t know how to meet other filmmakers and didn’t have the confidence or strength of vision to ask them to join in my cause.  Sure I learned a lot, but…

Attending film classes put me smack dab in the center of a creative community of passionate filmmakers who spent all their spare time making films. We made films for school and for fun, showed each other what we learned and shared tips and techniques. We spent hours together in labs, on set, and hanging outside of class.

Without film classes, I wouldn’t have made those connections and would have spent my days filming butterflies on flowers or birds in the park (anything that I could do alone without involving others).

3.  Still the best training- Do it

All that being said, I can honestly say that no film classes prepared me to run my own video production company.  Being in business has forced me to be disciplined and to network well.  (OK. at least a little better).

The best training has been making films day and night- having real clients. Working with those clients to meet marketing/ sales/ informational goals and tell good stories about their business or brand. We’ve learned from our mistakes and our successes: practiced on our off time and are now very motivated to learn from every and all available sources.

Would I have gotten to the same point without film classes? Probably. I just think that for me it would have taken a whole lot longer.

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Filmmaking Uncategorized

Paper (Pixels) are the Cheapest Thing You Have

When most people think about video production, they think about the big sets, the sense of community, the creative energy, and the excitement. While these things are certainly awesome, we have found that this is not where the production succeeds or fails. There is something more, something a little less glamorous that really determines the final quality- and it happens long before you pick up a camera.

What I’m talking about (of course) is paper.  In the craft of filmmaking, we have found that paper (or pixels) is the cheapest thing you have. “Fix it in Post” may be a clever phrase, but it’s a horrible strategy and can turn into a real nightmare. Paper on the other hand, when used correctly, can save you days of time and help you create infinitely better final results. So how do we use paper correctly? Here’s the WK guide.

1.  Script:  Write with intelligence.

Everyone knows you need an interesting concept and solid story, but most beginners write far above their budget and skill level.  As you write think about the following:

Locations.
A.  How many locations?  company moves take time and money.  If you have 40 locations are you really ever going to get your film finished.
B.  Are these real locations you can practically get to?  If you live in a small OK farm-town should your script really include a NY city street?  Can you realistically fake it and make it look good?

Props.
A.  As you write your epic scene about the aliens coming out of the white house covered in green ooze think to yourself, “What building do I know of that could pass for the White House?  Who do I know that could make realistic alien costumes?  Can I make green ooze and how much do those ingredients cost?  Can I afford it?
B.   Think about what you have and write based on that.  Unless your buddy is a 3D animating master, you might want to leave the 1940s world war two tank out of your script.

Skill level.
A.  Yours:  Be realistic about what you can and can’t do.  If you can’t do a rack focus dolly jib up then don’t write it into your script.
B.  Your Actors:  Can your actor pull off the emotion it takes to attend the funeral of his father and make it look good?  If not, then maybe write something different.

2. Shot list:  Don’t pick up a camera until you have one.

Not every shoot requires a storyboard but even the simplest shoots can benefit from a shot list. This can be simple or complex. The idea of the shotlist is to put every single shot on paper in order of location, not the order of the script.  Make sure to mention the location, the actors needed, any special props/ animals/ etc, what type of shot (ie handheld, over the shoulder, high angle, establishing) and then check them off the list as you go.  If you’ve thought through your shot list well enough you should have no need for pick-ups later.

Of course, there is more you can do with paper such as storyboards, script breakdowns, call sheets, lighting diagrams, script supervisor notes, budgets, and more… but these are, in my opinion, the basics and absolutely necessary to keep the production from spinning out of control.

We would love to hear from you?  Please leave a comment below or look us up on Facebook to join the conversation.

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Filmmaking Uncategorized

Is RAW video for you (…or me for that matter)?

Greetings all! Duane Shrode here – WK contributor, with what I hope to be a pretty interesting post. There has been a lot of buzz lately surrounding Magic Lantern‘s work, specifically as it relates to RAW video in Canon DSLR’s. If you’re not familiar with Magic Lantern, it’s an independent group that has been able to hack into Canon DSLRs and unlock amazing features found only in higher-end cameras. Features such as peaking, zebras, audio levels and AGC disable, a built-in intervalometer and HDR bracketing, and a myriad of others. But what I really want to talk about is their latest offering – RAW video.

The long-short of it is: After installing the Magic Lantern firmware (hack) into your Canon DSLR, you are able to record RAW image sequences. These sequences are then broken up into DNG files via another program downloaded from Magic Lantern – raw2dng.exe. Then these DNG files are brought into Photoshop, batch color-corrected/graded, and then saved as tiffs. The final step is to image-sequence import the tiffs into Premiere and cut, film dissolve, and ripple edit to your heart’s content.

A couple of questions that have been posed:

Q: What kind of resolution are we talking?

A: The settings on the latest hack let you ratchet all the way up to 3584 or 3.5k… unfortunately – my fastest card is unable to ingest this much information and I have not heard of anyone having success passed 1920. The 5DMKII and 60D are the only cameras I have experienced RAW with, and they max out at just under 200 frames with 60/mb CF and 95/mb SD cards… but that’s only at 1880. I have heard of people using anamorphic lenses to squeeze those last 40 pixels out with a horizontal crop, but I have yet to try anamorphic lenses on my 5DMKII (plus I don’t want to mod my body in order to receive them).

Q: So what’re the “nuts and bolts” advantages?

A: Since the video sequences, in essence, are built from raw (stills) frames, all of that detail and information is maintained through the ingestion process. This pays dividends in both initial fine detail and latitude to push, pull, and tweak in post. In laymen’s terms, where a video file might fall apart – say after trying to spot expose a dark point or push some contrast back into a cloudy sky… the RAW files are able to stretch much further. This allows for more vivid colors, sharper fine detail, and better image crops.

Sound like a lot of work? It’s not… it actually promotes a little more composition discipline. You don’t want to record clips you know you aren’t going to use – not only is the post process a little more “involved,” but the clips take up quite a bit of space on ye ole’ memory card. Why? Because all that information streaming onto your sensor isn’t being  stifled by compression (especially nice for keying):

At any rate, there’s plenty of tutorials on Magic Lantern, setting up your camera to record RAW, and dealing with the files in post. I just wanted to relay my findings and experiences… and offer my support as someone who has first-hand experience with the new function – and would recommend it to others looking to take advantage of all that RAW video has to offer. Questions/comments/concerns welcomed!

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Filmmaking Local Business Volunteer

Guatemala Habitat for Humanity and Family Access Network

This is one of the most epic projects we have ever had the privilege of working on: The ten days in Guatemala were made more awesome by the incredible Habitat staff, the first-class team from First Presbyterian Church in Bend, OR and of course, the amazing fun film crew that came with us.  Special thanks to so many people, but especially Jenny Warner, Anne Marie Daggett, Judy and David Osgood, Benjamin Mincho Swenson and Melissa Hassler.

Another great organization we recently made a video for is Family Access Network. They have an incredible mission of helping youth and families living in poverty with youth in local schools to have basic necessities.  Did I mention that we love our jobs?

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Filmmaking Uncategorized

The Rule (Principle) of Three

Oh sure, everyone knows the “Rule of Thirds”.

 

Everyone knows that you divide your frame into thirds and make sure that important elements in your frame happen on those lines. It often makes for a more interesting image than one that just lies in the center in your frame. Even consumer cameras often have overlays available for their view-screens dividing the image into “thirds”.

This post is not about the “Rule of Thirds”;  It’s about the “Principle of Three”.

The “principle of three” is something I carry in my mind every time I step out the door with my camera.  It’s an instruction I give to my DP every time I’m a director on set.

It comes in two parts:

In Filming:  Wide/ Medium/ Close Up

This is actually as old as classic Hollywood. When you’re filming, make sure you go for the wide medium and close up (throw in some cutaways and you’ve really got something you can work with). That’s pretty straight forward, but it’s easy to forget when you are on set and the pressures and demands of direction come upon you.

In Editing: A series of three cutaways is (generally) better than two.

When I sit down for the edit, I find that a series of three quick b-roll clips can really tell the story more quickly and more interestingly than just one or two.  This is not always the case, but when we start out with it as a principle, I think it helps.

 

Note how the three clips together give you a more complete and interesting sequence than just a shot of the van going by.  Give it a try and let me know what you think.

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Filmmaking Local Business Uncategorized

Ideas are the new Currency

As creative professionals, we’re constantly trying to figure out what the market is doing? What kind of creative work is reaching people?

Sure there’s the obvious stuff like “that’s a cool camera angle”, or “that’s a great use of that effect”,  but what really catches our eye, (and I believe the eyes of clients and viewers) is a well communicated, original idea… in classical terms:  a good concept.

The de-facto video is: A. Show up. B. Get an interview with one or two people C. Get some really pretty B-roll. D. Edit it to music.

It’s easy, it’s quick, and it doesn’t require a script, a storyboard, a shot list… you get the idea. No concept. And let’s face it, there are a ton of people out there who can capture good interviews and b-roll. Some are worse than us, others are better.

So what can set your work apart from the competition? Yes, you could capture prettier b-roll than they do (sometimes)…. or you could consistently come up with original ways to “Show and not tell”.

I’m convinced that there is a sea of amazing videographers and editors out there, but in this new digital landscape, “Ideas are the new currency.”

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