I Want To Make Movies - Now What? PT. 3

So my personal love in the film making world is the art of cinematography and camera operation. I love composition and the tech behind digital cinematography. One thing that originally drove me was the technological aspects of digital cinema. So when I started making movies it was obviously long before the advent of digital cinema, but my serious mature venture into digital cinema came when I realized that with a camcorder I could film, edit and distribute my film all with a camcorder, a mic, some lights and an Apple Computer. Now I know that you can edit on a Windows machine, but it didn't appeal to me quite like having a iMac DV with a Firewire port and iMovie.

I'd played with Premier on Windows prior to that point, but the Mac just seemed easier to get the footage into the computer, edited and outputted.

So where am I now with film making, cinematography and equipment? Well there are a number of things that can assist a new film maker in being able to achieve the most film like look from their low budget gear, but one thing is for sure, in order to get started it takes money.

So what would I suggest for the starting filmmaker? Here's a run down of gear and a price estimate as of the date of this post:

Ultra low budget:
Camera - Canon HV30 ($900)
Lights - Garage Can Sockets with daylight balanced 100W Halogen bulbs. ($50)

Moderate Low Budget:

Camera - Canon HV30 ($900)
Lights - Lowe Pro DV Kits ($600 - $1300)
Sound - Beachtek Adapter with a Azden Shotgun Mic ($200)
Support - Bogen / Manfrotto 501 Head and Legs ($500)

High Low Budget:

Camera - Canon HV30 ($900)
Lights - Lowe Pro DV Kits ($600 - $1300)
Sound - Beachtek Adapter with a Azden Shotgun Mic ($200)
35MM Adapter - Red Rock Micro M2 Adapter ($1745)
35MM Lenses - Nikon Set of 28mm, 50mm and 85mm ($1300)
Support - Bogen / Manfrotto 519 Head and Legs ($1300)

Of course as you get more and more sophisticated you spend more money. The current kings of indie cinema camcorders are the Panasonic HVX 200A and the Sony PWD-EX1, which both run for about $6000 and produce amazing images. The again there is a light on the horizon from Red Digital Cinema with their eagerly anticipated camera Scarlet which has 3K resolution (more twice the resolution as 1080P), 2/3" sensor which provides Depth of Field characteristics close to 16mm film, and tapeless RAW workflow which is leagues better than HDV and IMHO DVCPro due to the level of control it gives a person. All of this and more for HALF the price ($3000) of the current kings the HVX and the EX1.

In the next few blogs I'll try and explain the difference between DV, HDV, DVCPro, and RedCode RAW. When buying a camera its important to know the strengths and weaknesses of its native codec and what the codec buys or costs a filmmaker in post.

Fotodiox Nikon to EOS adapter

So I'm a professional photographer that has a good amount invested in Canon EOS lenses and cameras. For my digital cinema equipment I use Nikon lenses, mostly due to the manual aperture control, on my Red Rock Micro M2 rig, and in the future my Red One. When I purchased the Red Rock Micro M2, I purchased it with the EOS adapter AND the Nikon adapter, but since they have different flange focal lengths and different optics, you need to change out the mounts and the flange. So with all the work with that I changed my mount to a Nikon and haven't used the EOS mount since.

Now I want to use both my EOS Canon L lenses with my Nikon primes, so I went and purchased the Fotodiox Nikon to EOS adapter from Adorama. So now I'm able to add this adapter to my Nikon lenses and then attach the Nikon lens to a Canon EOS mount (like my 5D). The adapter is a small piece of metal that has a very small amount of metal to adjust the flange focus for a Nikon lens to a Canon flange distance.

My initial excitement about the ability to use my Nikon lenses on my Canon cameras and my Red Rock Micro M2 was quickly dashed after 2 minutes of attempting to work with the adapter. Now I already knew that with the adapter there would be NO AUTOMATIC CONTROL, but in a cinema environment, thats not really needed since manual is preferred. The issue with this adapter is attaching it to the Nikon lens is a pain! Its difficult to figure out where the alignment is going to go since the marker for matching up the mount to the adapter is hard to see. Once thats been found the attachment is so tight that its easy to move the aperture control without being aware of it. Also once the adapter is on the lens, changing the aperture is impossible with how it presses onto the lens.

With the adapter being so tight, I was almost scared when I thought about it getting permanently lodged onto the lens. Good thing is, once its on, it attaches to the EOS mount easily.

Now taking it off is another story. Just one suggestion, with the Fotodiox adapter, wear gloves when putting on the adapter and taking it off. The metal edges on the adapter are SHARP and make cuts in you fingers. Now I don't know if I got a bum adapter, but after attempting to get the adapter off of the lens I had numerous cuts in my thumb and forefinger. Also, in order to free the lens from the adapter you have to pull up on a tiny metal tab and twist the adapter free from the lens. Not an easy task and you risk putting your grubby fingers on the rear element of the lens.

Good thing about this adapter it its cheap. There are $255 adapters for sale (Novoflex) that might have a better build quality and easier usage, but this one is $50. In the end they work the same, but the cut fingers and frustration are difficult to justify.

Pros: Ability to attach Nikon F Mount lenses to an Canon EOS camera or mount. Price at almost a third the cost of the other adapters.

Cons: Hard to mount to lens. Difficult to remove from lens. Sharp metal pieces cut fingers. Taking adapter on and off lenses not good for the life of the lens.

Suggested: No. I don't know about the Novoflex adapter, but I'm sure its another case of you get what you pay for.

Busy weekend

This weekend was a busy one, not leaving much time for blogging. Tonight I should have a blog up with a review of a Nikon to Canon mount adapter I purchased for attaching Nikon lenses to my Red Rock Micro Canon EOS mount so I have a wider array of lenses to choose from without changing the flange focus of the M2 adapter. Plus I should be a week or so away from receiving my Red Rock Micro Mattebox which I'm planning on doing a full video unboxing of and posting here! Should be good!

Look for that review tonight and hopefully another segment of "I want to make movies, now what?"

I Want To Make Movies - Now What? PT. 2

So in my last blog I talked a little bit about myself and how I got started in film making. I discussed my opinion on where a new film maker should be putting his or her energies and how motivation isn't always the key to success.

Film makers come in many different verities and styles, starting with your self taught film maker, which is the school which I come from. When one doesn't have the time, money or ability to attend a formal film program at an university or specialty school, one has to get the tools and information that makes them useful on set. I personally went to a four year college, but it was to study Computer Science and not film making and cinematography. When I first started making films, I did so by learning through books, DVDs, the web and experimentation. Here are some useful links to sites and books that I found useful:

Informative Sites:

Prolost - http://prolost.blogspot.com - ProLost is the blog of Stu Maschwitz, director, author of The DV Rebel's Guide, and founder of The Orphanage in San Francisco.

HD For Indies - http://www.hdforindies.com/ - A How To Guide for Digital Filmmakers

Pro Video Coalition - http://provideocoalition.com - Has a great number of informative blogs on film making, production, cameras and post production.

DVX User - http://www.dvxuser.com - Home to the original forum for information exchange for the Panasonic DVX/HVX and other indie film cameras and topics.

Red User - http://www.reduser.net - The ultimate forum for getting information on digital cinema and the technology to deliver it.

Red Rock Micro Forum - http://www.redrockmicro.com/forum - General discussion on Red Rock Micro products, production techniques for indies and networking.

Fresh DV - http://www.freshdv.com/ - Great source for digital video news and great podcasts/video.

FX Guide - http://fxguide.com/ - News, podcasts and discussion of todays production and post production workflows for digital cinema.

Studio Daily - http://www.studiodaily.com - The Resource for Film, HD, digital production and post news, tools, tutorials, reviews and case studies.

Digital Video Information Network - http://dvinfo.net/conf/ - Forum for discussing everything digital video.

Equipment Sites:

Red - http://www.red.com - Makers of the Red One 4K Digital Cinema camera and Scarlet the 3K camera for $3K.

Canon - http://usa.canon.com - Home of the HV20/HV30 cameras.

Red Rock Micro - http://www.redrockmicro.com - Makers of the M2 35mm adapter, Mirco mattebox and other great priced cinema gear.

Element Technica - http://www.elementtechnica.com - Support, mounting and production equipment for Red One.

B&H Photo Video - http://www.bhphotovideo.com - The best priced equipment on the internet with some of the best customer service and selection. If someone has it cheaper, its a scam.

Apple - http://www.apple.com - The only computer for me. Also the makers of Final Cut Pro, Shake, Color, and many other useful applications for the indie film maker.

Adobe - http://www.adobe.com - Software make for creative people. Photoshop, After Effects and the whole Creative Suite.


Hope that some of these links will help you learn a bit more about digital cinema. This list is by no means a complete list. If you have more useful links, add them in the comments. These are just the sites that I visit on a daily basis.

I Want To Make Movies - Now What? PT. 1

With the ever increasing ability both through financial means and technological means for people these days to create their own movies, big or small. Many people who are passionate about this are left saying, "where do I start?" This blog is my attempt as an independent filmmaker to explore and consolidate information that might be useful to the new filmmaker.

First let me explain a little bit about myself. I am a self proclaimed hobby filmmaker, with a passion for photography and cinematography. My first production was done with a couple Sony Handycams with absolutely no idea what I was doing. I had a partner in my film making ventures at the time who shared in the same level or lack of film making knowledge as I had. We managed to write a script, cast the movie, gather some production crew, and carried some of the project into editorial. The problem was, we were trying to make a feature length film with absolutely no idea what we were doing. What we learned was, a good camera makes a world of difference, and we learned about the cinema frame rate of 24 frames per second. Luckily at this time, Panasonic released its revolutionary AG-DVX100, which I purchased.

After showing our rough edits and title sequences to friends, we managed to gather some interest in our production outfit. Our ability to sell ourselves was responsible for %90 of the attention we got. Another indie filmmaker, after reviewing some of our footage was so taken with what we'd done, he actually "hired" us to be the production crew for his next feature. We still didn't know much, but we had a nice camera and an approach that was unique. After battling with bad acting, long hours and compensating for our lack of proper film making knowledge, my partner and I realized that we needed to take a step back from feature film making and get into short films.

This was the birth of Bitterman Productions and our short film Liquid Country, which was a easy 13 minute film that was shown at the New York Independent International Film Festival in Los Angeles. Nothing is more exciting than being able to show your work to an audience in a theater. Prior to this film and during, I soon realized that I had little to no interest in directing, but I was in love with the photographic aspects of movie making. I loved my DVX and I loved editing in Final Cut Pro, but my problem was I was focused on too many things and not getting accomplished at just one. So I was the jack of all trades, master of none and I looked up to Robert Rodreguez and his rebel attitude towards film making. Of course I now see that focusing on one area is better than chasing all areas. I also learned that to make a good movie one needs a lot of skilled people around to help out.

So I burned out on film making with all the work and stress of attempting to produce, co-direct, DP, edit and market a film and a "production company". So from the motivation of being a feature film maker with a Sony Handycam, I went to being a burnt out short film maker with a DVX and a toy chest of indie movie making equipment.

So I took yet another step back and focused on cinematography and still photography, which is where I am now. I've worked on other shorts as a camera man, I've helped run audio for productions, and I've been an Assistant Cameraman on projects all in an effort to learn more about what it takes to be on set and be useful. I also a student of film making and cinema technology, trying to learn as much as possible through reading, discussion and experimentation.

So from my own experience, working on films is a huge thing that isn't as simple as pointing a camera and someone and calling it a movie. Here are a few things to remember for the beginner filmmaker:
1. Your passion will make you succeed!
2. Don't try and do it all, focus on one thing you love doing and surround yourself with people who are good at doing all those other things.
3. Your film won't look like a movie without some of the right equipment.
4. Your equipment won't make your director, writer or actors any better, so before you shoot, analyze your production cause its only as strong as your weakest link (and hopefully that will be you).
5. Start small and learn big. Take an opportunity to start with a short film and learn how to produce it with the same production value as a large budget feature film (of course doing so with little or no budget).