A topic on documentary filmmaking

I was originally going to write about 3D integration, but I decided to right about documentary filmmaking.  The thing about documentary filmmaking of any kind is that its all about the inquisitive.  Its often a miss conception that documentary filmmaking is all about following the journey, but it is really about the curiosity following the journey.  I think all great documentaries have this.  News is simular, but news is a systematic investigation using experts and visual references.  The person creating the news piece can be inquisitive about the subject mater, but the end product is all about informing the public about a curent event they should be aware about.  Both documentaries and news can take on an unbiassed approach or a propaganda approach, but the the soul propose of news is to generate a balanced story as documentaries are to involve the viewer in a factual journey of a sort.  In documentary filmmaking, you as the filmmaker must allow the subject mater to guide the story.  Your job is not to investigate, but rather document the experience surrounding people and places.  Remember let your subject do the talking and make opinions later.  Finding many opinions will help expose trends.  So in essence news goes to the source of information where as documentary filmmaking leads the viewer to the source of information.  Thats the journey.

Myths and problems concerning HD DSLRs

In this new age of filmmaking every thing is going digital one way or another.  The so called film school has become nothing more then a bunch of students running around town shooting there friends on an HDV camera they think will make them big some day.

There is nothing wrong with dreaming the dream, but we have come to an age of digital snobbery.  Many students who graduate film school never even touch a film camera let alone learn about film technique and theory behind cinematography.  I have even been shocked by my own school because they bought consumer grade cameras that cost around $200-$1000 and I have seen them buy those flip HD cameras for news broadcasting.  Keep in mind this was a university.  I was fortunate that my department had 16mm film cameras and wonderful cinema teachers who work hard to keep film alive and well, but university politics may cause those cameras to become extinct.

A depth of focus look at HD DSLR video and the image size

I feel a little confident to post this blog.  I am a filmmaker who loves the science behind filmmaking and I wanted to get to the bottom of the DSLR revolution in translation to video and film with regards to image resolution, size, depth of field and normal lens focal length.  For instance it is common knowledge that a 35 mm film requires a 50 mm lens to be considered normal focal length and for you film buffs a 16 mm film requires a 25 mm lens to be considered a normal focal length lens.  A normal lens on a 70 mm film requiers an 80 mm lens.  Don't ask me what the conversion factor is but the fact is the larger the image size the longer the focal length of the lens has to be to be considered normal.  Generally the larger the image size a stronger depth of field is present on the image.  It is widely agreed that film and digital are different animals and rightly so.  However, the basic physics of image size and and normal focal length of a lens can not be ignored.

Technical tips for Producing high end Indi film for theatrical distribution

With all the talk about movie distribution and hd vs film, I thought I should clear up some myths and uncover the truth behind the branded stigma indi films get when shooting on an alternative medium with a low budget.

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.

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.

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.

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."