Perspective filmmaking and camera language

I was never a huge fan of black and white movies and I am not ashamed to admit it.  I hate to say it, but I never watched many of the popular B&W movies such as citizen kane, Casablanca and so on.  Studding film, I was forced to analise and understand many of the techniques and history behind these old B&W films.  I am not saying that these films are distasteful I just hate watching movies in B&W.

With this said, I have come to appreciate the era of the silver screen and learned a thing or two about them during my years at college.  Alfred Hitchcock and the three stooges are the only movies I will watch in B&W.  I think I watch Alfred Hitchcock because of the way he makes his movies.  He has a particular style that I love and I am usually inspired to implement some of that in my filmmaking.

How to assess and produce the corporate client's visual needs

Communicating to clients in the art world is so important.  Trying to get understanding on there vision or idea and projecting it back to them from a profesional and technical stand point is more important then our own creative freedom.  Clients who come to you expressing a need already have the companies vision and direction in mind.

As professionals in the motion picture creative art world our job is to translate the clients vision so that they can connect to there audience in the way they see fit.

The pandora's box in Scriptwriting

I discovered the pandora's box effect in story telling while in college when analyzing the movie "Serenity (2005)" for a paper I did.  This theory also clicked for me after watching "Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life (2003)."


Pandora's box is an artifact in Greek mythology. The "box" was actually a large jar (πιθος pithos) given to Pandora (Πανδώρα) ("all-gifted"), which contained all the evils of the world. When Pandora opened the jar, the entire contents of the jar were released, but for one – hope.[1] Today, opening Pandora's box means to create evil that cannot be undone.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pandora's_box

The concept is simple all good scriptwriting and storytelling has a pandora's box.  pandora's box itself is not a dramatic entity.  The box dose not itself does not create conflict, It simply is.  It is a constant.  You can call it what ever you want, devine providence, fate, destiny, etc...  pandora's box can take many forums in story telling.  It can be a person place or thing.  Where the drama comes in is when you have two elements that have free will and conflicting intrest or beliefs.   Regardless, pandora's box, in the end, will ether be opened or stay close.  That is up to the story teller or script writer.  

Tips for creating a shoestring filmmaking budget

If there is any thing I have learned about movie making is how to keep a movie under budget.  Even when shooting a short I never went past $600.  Now keep in mind some times throwing more money at a production can make it look better, but from experience I have seen people spend money on unnecessary expenses that can drain a production budget quickly.

Free and cheap resources for filmmakers

There is a ton of resources for filmmakers to learn from and there is a ton of things we can get that are free and very cheap.  I am going to Share with you some of the free stuff I acquired over the years and It was all useful to me as an aspiring filmmaker.

Uncovering the myth on Directing

Directing is an art in it self.  Often times people who start out wanting to be a director often have the want or need to controle, or take king ship over the set artistically with a Napoleon complex.  I have been studying directing for a while and have directed a few short films and have come to the conclusion that the individual person who is welling to direct must be willing to take on the movie as a whole.  Especially in guerrilla filmmaking.  Humans inherently want to be god and directing is a way to get that feeling.  But all to often there are a lot of wanna bee directors out there or rock star directors who decide to pick up the camera, wave the arme, and clame them self fame with a few cut frames of footage.  I am sure there are allot of writers who want to be directors but the truth is every one and there mother wants to direct.   The competition is just too high.

Eye see TV

Probably the most frustrating technologies to come out today is the new flat screen tvs with the super high refresh rate.  At least to me anyways.  The new refresh rate makes all them fancy movies look like fancy hand held handy cam productions.  The reason why I am so frustrated with it is its messing with the intended look and feel filmmaker wanted there audience to see.

Stop that

I had an argument one day with a fellow class mate in collage.  I still remember the argument to this day because I believe he made a moronic statement by clamming having a light meter on set of a digital  production was not necessary and that one can see there results in camera.

I think I speak for most "profesional cinematographers" that the light meter is the most essential tool for lighting.  I have to admit it is possible to light without a light meter, but when lighting without a meter you are blind from ever knowing the balance of lights.  I believe that it is essential to light in stops especially in digital.

The Actor look

When casting for a movie, the look of the part can be equally if not more important then the acting itself.  People often judge on appearances.  It takes an average person 6-11 seconds to look, analyze and come to a consensus about a person, place, or thing and 6 months to a year to change or challenge that opinion.  This human ability to judge based off of appearances is all part of natural selection.  Humans are constantly looking for genetic and physical compatibility.

Acting techniques and the Cinema

As a filmmaker I often come across a lot of different actors with different disciplines. I am sure there is allot of opinions out there on what is the best discipline, but I have to make my own opinion on the subject because as a person who makes films I often see lacking in performance on camera and in the edit room.

Cinematography: Lighting as focus

A lot can be said about the art of lighting but some times the simplest lighting can often make the best lighting. A wise cinematographer once said "good lighting is the lights you don't turn on." I paraphrased that from a cinematography documentary. The quote is almost like saying "keep it simple stupid." I'd have to say my best lighting is when I used a lamp in the house and 2 hooligan lights I found out side.

The motion picture and the physiological connection

What are movies? Movies are a collection of images that that are presented in a linear fashion to invoke a cognitive connection. Watching movies has been said to be an escape from the real world . An experience that invoked or helps invokes certain feelings. From childhood to adults our minds learn and adapt in a autonomic fashion.

HD Cinematography

One of the biggest problems I see in the new age of movie making is how to treat the red headed High def step child of our motion picture world. The biggest mistake any movie maker can do is try to achieve the so called Film look. There is no digital or anlog medium that can compare to the organic nature or true motion picture film. I am not making any arguments here or trying to step on any ones toes about this whole issue, but I thought I should write about how to care for the HD image during shooting.

Motion Photography

I did Photography for the longest time and I loved it; however, at a point I wanted more. I remember vividly one day I went down to the Carlsbad Camera store, which is no longer there, and I would pick the shop owners brain about photography and motion picture film. I forgot how I came to the question, but I think it had something to do with the new gossen luna pro light meter I bought from him. I did not know allot about frame rates in motion picture, and I asked him about the 24 fps setting on the meter and noticed that the 60 th shutter speed was just above the 24 fps. so I asked him was there any correlation between photography and the motion picture. he said "yes."

New Hollywood

There is a new wave hitting our famous movie streets. If anything, we have gone in to a backwards age of making movies. Is it independent or mainstream hollywood? The reality is I don't think its ether in fact I think hollywood is a hybrid modal now a day.  All the studios are now used as nothing more then a facade. Its mostly a wizard of oz illusion in the game of who makes a movie and who does not.