DMA Notes 9 July 2004
ideas on lots of sample films
DMA Digital
Storytelling
9 July 2004
There are now thousands of film festivals
- the impression that most will give you is that everyone submits their films and they make up their program based on the film they get
- most film festivals have already curated 50-70% of their program by the time they send out their request for applications
- San Francisco Int'l Film Festival is open/public about this
Dean's movie "Fine Dining"
- did win best short film at the Moondance
- shot entirely with handcranked 1920s camera, the battery in the light meter was the only electricity used in shooting
- telecitied it into betacam and edited in Final Cut Pro
- Dean wrote the music and performed it himself on his piano
- shot on reversal film (similar to 64 speed slide film, only it is in video)
- a lot less room for error, because there is not a negative that is made into a print version
sweetening is a term often applied to audio
Dean's Reel: everyone who works in film or video producation has their reel
- usually 5 to 10 min (5 is better)
- purpose is to show people what you do
- when you apply for a job, people ask you to send your reel
- it is excerpts from things you consider your best work
- can tailor make a reel based on the job you are applying for
If you tell people you have a 5 min reel, people are more likely to watch it than if it is 7 or 10
- people today don't seem to have
Working process for fine dining
- has a special mount to take Nikon camera lens
- had to measure everything to focus it
- camera just held 100' of film at a time, which was about a minute of film
- had to use a special tripod
- 25 people in the crew (almost all clowns), 25 in the crew
- spent about 10K making the film, with no one taking any money (feeding was quite expensive)
- about 4 days of principal photographing
- cranked at 16 fps (2 cranks per second)
- there is no way we could have gotten that type of motion and look with video (maybe possible to do the motion, but not the color-- there is just something about shooting on film that looks better)
- would rather work with low end film that has been transferred to
Rudra movie on burning man is an hour and a half long, it is a feature
- has shown on public television several time
is currently working on a feature length silent film
Generally you can use previous things you have worked on for promotional purposes
- by attaching a disclaimer on the front you should protect yourself
Because editing is all about making changes, when billing there are different approaches
- people bid and contract jobs differently
- make a rough estimate with understanding that this is rough, do not know what you want to change
- can ask for a portion of the work up front
- could ask for another quarter, our could work in thirds
- can charge by the hour
- have differently hourly rates, depending on if it is a commercial house, someone with funds, a starving aspiring artist, etc. (sometimes discount standard rates)
-- don't work for free anymore even for friends
- minimum to work for: $30 an hour, go up to $100 an hour
a lot of people have final cut pro, but should not call themselves editors
- like picking up a pen and declaring yourself a writier
no one has ever asked me my background, if I have a degree, have gone to film school, etc
- really just learned all this stuff on my own
- people who hire you just care about if you can do it
- I worked for nothing for a long time, basic European apprentice style
- being totally freelance is a very scary way to live
Did all lighting for fine dining with reflectors
- reflectors were covered with different leafed colors
Making a music video is very similar is very similar to making a silent film
- usually when you see a music video you don't see them singing all the time, because it is very difficult to get them to be in perfect sync the entire thing
His band: "Tom Jonesing" (performance he did at Bimbo's in SF last year)
- directed this (couldn't shoot it b/c he is in the band)
- 2 Sony PD-150s
- all the closeups shot during the rehearsal, the camera people were actually on the stage (no audience)
This is the same way I would recommend you shoot events like this
- so this is like having 4 cameras: 2 before performance and 2 during
- sound comes right out of the mixing board into the XLR input of the camera (otherwise they would have had to go into studio and record tracks to sync back to the performance)
Whenever you are called upon to shoot a school play, a musical performance, etc
- either do it as a camera in the crowd that will look like a home movie
- or do a special performance that will count as a dress rehearsal, and do it specifically for the camera
-- then you can tape all that in close up, and this provides you with great content to cut to
-- really push for doing this: shooting the dress rehearsal
- they have to pay for this though! It is twice as much work! If you just shoot the performance, then there is really nothing to edit
Almost nobody knows that is how this gets done
- unless you see the camera people on the stage and they are doing live switching, people usually
- a company is now installing digital projection in many theaters around the country (may now be over 1000 nationwide)
-- they receive stuff by satellite and project it life
-- can do high def, are doing this now of Prince shows (5.1 sound, 7 cameras, supposed to be amazing)
Dean's band:
http://www.tomjonesing.com/
Better than shooting a rehearsal: stage the production for the camera exactly like it will be performed
- video is more powerful as a close-up medium
- has a lot to do with the lens
- edited video of Tomejonesing band is about 50% cut ins from pre-performance
- TRY TO GET UP CLOSE TO THINGS! It tends to look a lot better
-- also makes you feel like you are there
-- same shot zoomed in from far away compared to close up shot: there is a big difference
Piet Mondrian was a painter who only used primary colors and squares
- inspired
Evan and Jaron
Now DVD of film "Words" by Gregg Brown
- words lead to ideas lead to experiences lead to ideas
http://www.wordsthemovie.com/
there are lots of people out there like this, who have a story to tell and don't let anything get in the way
Next film, great use of motion graphics as well as a documentary format
- "A Great Day in Harlem"
Ken Burns' stuff is super but it is a little formulatic
it is so recent now that everyone has accessiblity to editing
- the availability of all these programs has really democritized this
DAT = digital audio tape
- size is similar to mini DV
- very high quality, can write timecode to it but it is different timecode than DV
- can log and capture and make selects
- to get it into the computer: DAT tapes have digital optical as well as analog audio ports
- new G5 has optical in ports
Dean likes to start from audio: know what the audio assets are, if they are the final audio assets, if you are going to process it in someway
- most editors he knows do do
- whether it is a narrative with dialog, documentary, music video, or whatever
- the quality and content of your audio often dictate how you proceed with editing
for a documentary, the audio is often what gets built first
- a lot of interview and voiceover is based on the words that you have
- you build the images on top of that
once you write a script, it becomes an audio thing, and you get that into your computer system
in the movie "Fine Dining" virtually all the actors are either clowns or strippers
Modern life is one of iFilm's collections (on DVD)
http://www.ifilm.com/
- they have many movies that you can stream for free
Check out Res magazine (quarterly)
- highlights digital filmmakers, is pretty cutting edge as far as digital storytelling goes
http://www.res.com/
These days there are so many short film festivals
- many film festivals that have been around for a long time have short venues
Dean doesn't sign exclusives (you never know what that person is going to do)
FW Murnau's film "Sunrise" (did Nos Viramtu)
- same as German film "Metropolis"
- in many critics' top 10 of best movies ever made
- it is a 1.5 hour feature
- hard to believe they made this in 1927
- Dean had to order 5 other DVD films and then got the copy free
every shot in the film is just amazing, put together so well
9 July 2004
There are now thousands of film festivals
- the impression that most will give you is that everyone submits their films and they make up their program based on the film they get
- most film festivals have already curated 50-70% of their program by the time they send out their request for applications
- San Francisco Int'l Film Festival is open/public about this
Dean's movie "Fine Dining"
- did win best short film at the Moondance
- shot entirely with handcranked 1920s camera, the battery in the light meter was the only electricity used in shooting
- telecitied it into betacam and edited in Final Cut Pro
- Dean wrote the music and performed it himself on his piano
- shot on reversal film (similar to 64 speed slide film, only it is in video)
- a lot less room for error, because there is not a negative that is made into a print version
sweetening is a term often applied to audio
Dean's Reel: everyone who works in film or video producation has their reel
- usually 5 to 10 min (5 is better)
- purpose is to show people what you do
- when you apply for a job, people ask you to send your reel
- it is excerpts from things you consider your best work
- can tailor make a reel based on the job you are applying for
If you tell people you have a 5 min reel, people are more likely to watch it than if it is 7 or 10
- people today don't seem to have
Working process for fine dining
- has a special mount to take Nikon camera lens
- had to measure everything to focus it
- camera just held 100' of film at a time, which was about a minute of film
- had to use a special tripod
- 25 people in the crew (almost all clowns), 25 in the crew
- spent about 10K making the film, with no one taking any money (feeding was quite expensive)
- about 4 days of principal photographing
- cranked at 16 fps (2 cranks per second)
- there is no way we could have gotten that type of motion and look with video (maybe possible to do the motion, but not the color-- there is just something about shooting on film that looks better)
- would rather work with low end film that has been transferred to
Rudra movie on burning man is an hour and a half long, it is a feature
- has shown on public television several time
is currently working on a feature length silent film
Generally you can use previous things you have worked on for promotional purposes
- by attaching a disclaimer on the front you should protect yourself
Because editing is all about making changes, when billing there are different approaches
- people bid and contract jobs differently
- make a rough estimate with understanding that this is rough, do not know what you want to change
- can ask for a portion of the work up front
- could ask for another quarter, our could work in thirds
- can charge by the hour
- have differently hourly rates, depending on if it is a commercial house, someone with funds, a starving aspiring artist, etc. (sometimes discount standard rates)
-- don't work for free anymore even for friends
- minimum to work for: $30 an hour, go up to $100 an hour
a lot of people have final cut pro, but should not call themselves editors
- like picking up a pen and declaring yourself a writier
no one has ever asked me my background, if I have a degree, have gone to film school, etc
- really just learned all this stuff on my own
- people who hire you just care about if you can do it
- I worked for nothing for a long time, basic European apprentice style
- being totally freelance is a very scary way to live
Did all lighting for fine dining with reflectors
- reflectors were covered with different leafed colors
Making a music video is very similar is very similar to making a silent film
- usually when you see a music video you don't see them singing all the time, because it is very difficult to get them to be in perfect sync the entire thing
His band: "Tom Jonesing" (performance he did at Bimbo's in SF last year)
- directed this (couldn't shoot it b/c he is in the band)
- 2 Sony PD-150s
- all the closeups shot during the rehearsal, the camera people were actually on the stage (no audience)
This is the same way I would recommend you shoot events like this
- so this is like having 4 cameras: 2 before performance and 2 during
- sound comes right out of the mixing board into the XLR input of the camera (otherwise they would have had to go into studio and record tracks to sync back to the performance)
Whenever you are called upon to shoot a school play, a musical performance, etc
- either do it as a camera in the crowd that will look like a home movie
- or do a special performance that will count as a dress rehearsal, and do it specifically for the camera
-- then you can tape all that in close up, and this provides you with great content to cut to
-- really push for doing this: shooting the dress rehearsal
- they have to pay for this though! It is twice as much work! If you just shoot the performance, then there is really nothing to edit
Almost nobody knows that is how this gets done
- unless you see the camera people on the stage and they are doing live switching, people usually
- a company is now installing digital projection in many theaters around the country (may now be over 1000 nationwide)
-- they receive stuff by satellite and project it life
-- can do high def, are doing this now of Prince shows (5.1 sound, 7 cameras, supposed to be amazing)
Dean's band:
http://www.tomjonesing.com/
Better than shooting a rehearsal: stage the production for the camera exactly like it will be performed
- video is more powerful as a close-up medium
- has a lot to do with the lens
- edited video of Tomejonesing band is about 50% cut ins from pre-performance
- TRY TO GET UP CLOSE TO THINGS! It tends to look a lot better
-- also makes you feel like you are there
-- same shot zoomed in from far away compared to close up shot: there is a big difference
Piet Mondrian was a painter who only used primary colors and squares
- inspired
Evan and Jaron
Now DVD of film "Words" by Gregg Brown
- words lead to ideas lead to experiences lead to ideas
http://www.wordsthemovie.com/
there are lots of people out there like this, who have a story to tell and don't let anything get in the way
Next film, great use of motion graphics as well as a documentary format
- "A Great Day in Harlem"
Ken Burns' stuff is super but it is a little formulatic
it is so recent now that everyone has accessiblity to editing
- the availability of all these programs has really democritized this
DAT = digital audio tape
- size is similar to mini DV
- very high quality, can write timecode to it but it is different timecode than DV
- can log and capture and make selects
- to get it into the computer: DAT tapes have digital optical as well as analog audio ports
- new G5 has optical in ports
Dean likes to start from audio: know what the audio assets are, if they are the final audio assets, if you are going to process it in someway
- most editors he knows do do
- whether it is a narrative with dialog, documentary, music video, or whatever
- the quality and content of your audio often dictate how you proceed with editing
for a documentary, the audio is often what gets built first
- a lot of interview and voiceover is based on the words that you have
- you build the images on top of that
once you write a script, it becomes an audio thing, and you get that into your computer system
in the movie "Fine Dining" virtually all the actors are either clowns or strippers
Modern life is one of iFilm's collections (on DVD)
http://www.ifilm.com/
- they have many movies that you can stream for free
Check out Res magazine (quarterly)
- highlights digital filmmakers, is pretty cutting edge as far as digital storytelling goes
http://www.res.com/
These days there are so many short film festivals
- many film festivals that have been around for a long time have short venues
Dean doesn't sign exclusives (you never know what that person is going to do)
FW Murnau's film "Sunrise" (did Nos Viramtu)
- same as German film "Metropolis"
- in many critics' top 10 of best movies ever made
- it is a 1.5 hour feature
- hard to believe they made this in 1927
- Dean had to order 5 other DVD films and then got the copy free
every shot in the film is just amazing, put together so well
Posted: Fri - July 9, 2004 at 06:14 PM
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Total entries in this category: 10
Published On: Jul 11, 2004 11:20 PM
Total entries in this category: 10
Published On: Jul 11, 2004 11:20 PM
