There are those in Hollywood (the Industry) who believe that they have figured out the concept of micro budget filmmaking. There are those who went to film schools and worked on big budget films who believe that they can drop down and play in this digital filmmakers world. A few filmmakers have mentioned to me that they are worried about an invasion from the big boys as if the Avengers are going to show up armed with Dslr cameras and Zoom recorders. I wish that they would. They would not last long out here on the frontier. You know, down here in the fields where we fight for our meals. Before I continue I want you to take a look at a fantastic video that was posted on what a 200 million dollar budget looks likes.
Can you imagine those pay checks? I am a screen writer and I do not think that the writer is worth that much money up front, especially if you wrote any of the last mega budget super hero films. I could produce and distribute five feature films with name actors for what the script supervisor gets paid. Then again all of us would love to hit it big with a micro budget film so that Hollywood would come knocking and throw a few million at us. Look at it this way, the industry list micro budget as 250,000 dollars. That is their floor. Now let’s look at what is meant by low budget film making and then micro budget. I would like you to picture it this way. If a film shoot was a date, low budget is burgers at Five Guys, without the bacon or cheese and micro budget is grilled cheese sandwiches at your place, the bread is the dollar loaf for the dollar store and the cheese is that orange stuff that is 99 cents a pack in the supermarket. You know the cheese they do not even have to keep in the refrigerators. All real micro budget film makers know where to find this bread and cheese because we feed it to our cast and crew.
Bonus footage:::: Here is sort of a Ted talk for the producers out there. I love this advice and let us all remember that producers are people too and they are the ones with all the grey hairs.
Thank you for visiting my site and please take a few moments or better yet a few hours to share this post online. You can post it on facebook, you can add it to your Google plus you and even go twitter or pick up the phone, call someone and say hey I just read a great blog post. The guy who runs that blog is amazing and we should buy all of his ebooks on film making and if we can’t afford it let’s leave 5 star reviews on B&N and Amazon to convince others to buy them.
Some times we forget that the camera is more than just a tool that we use as film makers. The camera can under certain circumstance become an actor in the scene. Through carefully planned out movements the camera can tell a story all its own. By simply angling the camera above or below the actor on screen we can tell the audience how to fell about the actor on screen.
From below the actor looms over the view. Making the actor seem more powerful and or important. From above we can make the actor look smaller or weaker as compared to others in the same scene. Consider this as you watch films particularly those made by the masters of cinema.
From the guys at video maker let’s look at camera movements from some great films.
Here is scene from one of my favorite thrillers. Study the camera movements and how they help to build suspense. Never has the steadicam been used better and this was before the arrival of the dslr.
Thank you for hanging in with my blog while I was away. Long story short is that I had a house fire and after a few months I am almost back to normal. Just lost a lot of equipment, files and time, but these things happen. I hope to touch on trends in the indie film world while I was away. The rise of a few filmmakers who are not celebrated because of the genre of their films rather than the quality. When a film maker starts at the bottom and over a few years builds an audience to the point where their forth theatrical release holds number one at the box office for two weeks and there are not a chorus of film makers cheering it makes me wonder if some of us are to into being like cooler kids in high school. I understand why Hollywood hates War Room, but why do other indie film makers. I always thought that the goal of becoming an indie film maker was to make movies my way. Movies that I wanted to see and were not being make. To make movies for an audience that wanted the same thing.
You know I think that it is time to do a post on Audience.
Whether your audience goes to church or to sundance or to mma matches or to the opera or to soup kitchens or anywhere else on earth the only thing that matters is film maker and his or her audience. Finding the audience is hard. Getting them to notice you is harder and getting them to follow you is hardest of all. If one out of every hundred micro budget film makers manage to do this then it can be considered a minor miracle. Hollywood has the entire world of film goers to connect with while we have to go out and find our audience and grow them day by day.
Thank you for visiting my blog and remember to add me to your google plus.
Of all the interviews about micro budget digital film making that I had done the one that
is closest to my heart is the one I did with Travis Bain about his film Throwback that was shoot
entirely using a Canon HV 20. The HV series of cameras were and probably still are my favorite
camcorders and to shoot and release an entire creature feature using one of them is an amazing
achievement. I still hope to do something similar with my HV 20 someday. I know that we now live in a Dslr world, but those camcorders do offer advantages for digital film makers on a budget. Some of
which are the their ability to record sound, their battery life and storage ability. Most camcorders can give you at least one hour of recording to tape right out of the box. If you would like to read my complete interview about the making of Throwback you can find it by clicking here or you can read it in my book on digital feature film making. Here is the final trailer for ThrowBack.
Now I would like to highlight their campaign for their next film. It is low budget sci-fi.
The title is Starspawn and you can still get involved by donating or by spreading the word.
I would now like to highlight a crowdfunding campaign for a film that I am looking forward to seeing. Many micro budget film makers imagine that if they had been born in a different era that they would have worked in the grindhouse genre. Masters of the Grind looks like to be one of the film making documentary that we will be watching and talking about for many years to come.
The last project that I want to look at is a horror film being filmed in Nebraska. The movie is titled Endor and you still have time to donate.
Thank you for visiting my site. Good luck with your projects and please take a moment to share this post on Google Plus.
This post will be a break from my series on Found Footage. I have been waiting to do an interview with Geir M.V. Andersen about his film Good Hands. The interview below will be part one of a two part interview on the making of Good Hands. I have been searching a long time for someone who has shoot a feature using the t2i and the second part of this interview will, I hope, focus more on the pros and cons of using that digital camera to get the job done on a feature.
Q) I interview film makers for my blog because I wish to learn something new with each interview. While most indie film makers are going for an ultra crisp and digital look to their films, your film has more of a grindhouse look. Visually it looks a great deal like one of my favorite films of the last few years, Hobo With A Shotgun. The first question is what inspired the look of the film?
A) I grew up watching a lot of action and martial arts movies from the late 80s / early 90s, and most of them where B - movies.
This was in the VHS days so these films where usually a 3rd generation copy of a copy before it ended up in my hands.
I remember watching them in poor quality, but it did not matter, i still got blown away by these films.
Films like No Retreat no Surrender, The Perfect Weapon, Bloodsport and The Terminator inspired me to make this movie.
I still love watching these films, the use of lighting, bright colors, cheesy heroes and the over the top use of synth music and baby oil makes my day.
My movie is both a tribute and a parody of those movies from that era. And that called for the same tricks with lighting and cinematography as well as the use of synth music.
I wanted the style of my movie to look more like a 80s film with a slightly more subtle look rather than going the full distance with the grindhouse look.
So i did lots of trial and error prior to shooting before i had determined the right look.
Q) What did you use to shoot the film on and if you had a larger budget would you have made a different choice in cameras?
A) I used a Canon 550D (or Rebel T2i in the US).
I enjoy using DSLR`s they are reliable, light, easy to use and has a nice shallow depth of field.
But the H264 compression and limited dynamic range (even with the Cinestyle preset) of the 550D can be challenging, especially if you`re going for the film-look.
But since my film was supposed to look like a worn B-movie from the late 80s this camera turned out great.
However if i had a big budget i would have shot it with Red Epic with 4K resolution.
A more future proof choice because of its greater dynamic range and better resolution.
Q) What is the film about?
A) The film is about a young easygoing man called Angus, with a gifted set of hands with a great future and a seemingly loving girlfriend. His dream to become a professional guitarplayer is really close, suddenly he gets a call from his older brother who got himself tangled in with the wrong people.
He meets up with him in the shady parts of town to help him, but they end up trapped by the sadistic gang his brother owes big money.
His brother gets killed and Angus barely survives seriously injured with his beloved hands destroyed, he falls into a coma and wakes up months later discovering his brother is dead, his girlfriend took off with someone else and his hands are destroyed.
Angus swears revenge for his brothers death. With the help of his strange friend Naley, a thrill seeking local security guard who've seen way too many action films.
They embark on a life changing and dangerous journey with explotions, training montages, fist fights and lots of comic reliefs.
Q) I notice some CGI effects in your trailer for the film. Are you pleased with using CGI for your effects or given a larger budget would you have used more practical effect?
A) I have always been a practial effects kind of guy, I've done work as a propmaker in the industry, i build miniature sets to be used as set extensions instead of resorting to CGI and i generally think practical effects always looks better especially on a tight budget. So if i where given the choice and funds I would definitely go for practical effects.
Q) Good Hands looks like a very violent film. Did your actors do many of their own stunts? If they did do their own stunts how did you balance the risk vs. the reward? If a lead actor gets injured then the film can shut down for weeks.
A) The total budget of the film was 12 000 NOK, thats approx 1500 dollars. These modest funds where to cover lighting equipment, audio equipment, costumes, props, smoke machine and much more. That meant we had to do all our own stunts.
I played the lead role myself and luckily I got a martial arts background as well as some experience in fight choreography and stunts.
Safety first has always been my motto. We would rig the stunts then carefully practice them in a safe way until everybody felt confident about doing them.
So the balance between risk and reward where always accounted for... At least most of the time.
Q) On your Youtube channel you highlight many of the tracks from the soundtrack of Good Hands. Most low budget digital films have to use some free music or find a composer who is willing to work for the film credit. Who did your cool soundtrack?
A) I knew exactly the kind of music i was looking for, it had to be a kind of dark and suspenceful synth score. I've always been a DIY kind of guy, I made all the props in the movie so i decided to make the soundtrack myself as well.
So I started experimenting with a lot of different sounds, in the begining it was mostly guitar tracks. But then i discovered "Garage Band" for ipad, and i was immediately hooked. You could even play individual notes on the touch-keyboard, this was perfect for me.
So I recorded the synth tracks in Garage Band, then I mixed the tracks in Sony Vegas and added some real guitar tracks as well as some custom drums from a programme called "Beatcraft". I got very pleased with the results and i own the rights to the music myself. Also it was free as well as tailormade for the movie.
Q) One of the things that has always surprised me from one low budget film to the next is the amount of time it took to shoot the film. I have interviewed film makers who have shot a feature length film in less than a week and I have interviewed one film maker who took more than two years to finish his film. How long did it take to shoot your film and looking back at the process knowing what you know now was your time well spent?
A) We set out to make this film as a weekend project since everyone involved had to work at their daytime jobs during the weekdays. And i knew from the start that this would be a project spanning over years rather than weeks or months. To be honest the film is not yet completed, we still need to shoot the opening as well a very complicated action scene early in the movie.
Its a long road no doubt, but its been an incredibly fun and educational process that I'm glad to say is not over yet.
Q) Every film maker has the that one film maker or film that inspired them to get started. Who was that film maker or what was that film?
A) The film that has inspired me the most was a film i first saw when I was 10 years old, a film i watch at least once a year every year. The cinematography was incredible to me, the special effects blew me away, and the plot had me on edge of the seat all the way. Later i learned this was also a low budget film, which made it even more awesome. This film inspired me to pursue my dreams of becoming a filmmaker (still a work in progress but I'll get there). "The Terminator" 1984 by James Cameron
This concludes part one of the Good Hands interview. If you would not take the time to share this interview on Twitter or posting it on your facebook page that would be great. This site grows through sharing. I get my encouragement from the number of views each day and the questions and comments that come in. The next post will be about film trailers that I have seen recently and answering a few questions that have come in. Then I hope to have the second half of this interview as the following post before we get back to the found footage topic. Good luck with your projects and did I mention that my first book On Low Budget Filmmaking is now available at Createspace(Amazon) . To those of you who teach film classes this little book would make for a great basic teaching tool. Also for those who know a beginning film maker this would be a great starters guide. Hey we all have our own favorite film making book. For me it was John Russo's Making Movies, The Inside Guide to Independent Movie Production.
Canon hv40 Feature, Mk Outlier- The Interview Part 1
I would like to introduce you to Chris Jacobs the film maker behind the Canon hv 40 sci-fi film
MK Outlier. He has produced a feature length sci-fi film on a micro budget. Many film makers, even those in the digital film making world, believe that this cannot be done. That it requires millions of dollars to even attempt one. Guys it does not. All that it does require is time and effort and the willingness to do most of it yourself.
The film that you are planning to produce is your dream. It will always be more important to you that to anyone else. You can see the finish product everyday in your imagination. You know how it will turn out in the end, but those around you only hear about what you want to do or are planning to do. You can show them a script and story boards and a budget and the equipment that you will use to make the film, but until they see the film in some form then you are the only champion that your film will have.
Okay let’s get to the interview. It will be divided into two parts. All answers are provided by the film maker of MK Outlier, Chris Jacobs.
I understand that you used the Canon HV40. I am a big fan of the Hv series of cameras. They were on their way to become a standard in micro budget film making world until the Dslr revolution hit. Did you use the bare camcorder or did you add lenses or a depth of field adapter?
-A: We started making MK OUTLIER right as DSLRs were becoming big in late 2009, however we were making a hand held action movie and the rolling shutter issues meant a DSLR was not an option. Also I just didn't love the sharpness of the DSLR footage, which at the time was quite harsh and 'video like' in a bad way to my eyes.
I looked at a lot of test footage from a lot of camera set ups and settled on an HV40 with lens adapter.
We used a basic Jag35 lens adapter (Vibrating Ground Glass) and Canon FD Lenses. Most of the film was shot on a 50mm lens, which was the fastest lens we had (the slower ones vignetted horribly). The other main lenses used are a 24mm and a 110mm. The 50mm was great for a wide variety of hand held work, and kept the frame on the action, rather than our lack of 'production values'.
We also used a large on camera LCD, which really was too heavy, and was exhausting when shooting long days. We found out too late that this monitor didn't show the full frame being recorded so often we would have bad vignetting or shadow from the lens adapter motor that would end up in frame. For the most part it's easily fixed in post with a little digital push in, but of course at the cost of precious resolution. Eventually I got better at checking for this, and adjusting accordingly.
I made a hand held rig out of bits and pieces from the hardware, and the camera was mounted upside down on an Indie Rails Pro, to counter the lens adapter flipping the image.-
After your experience with the camera would you shoot with it again?
-A: I would not do anything the same way again haha! With enough light the HV40 and adapter gets amazing footage that to my eye (and many others comments) looks far closer to 16mm film than any DSLR I've seen. I couldn't be happier with the look of the film. There are only a few scenes where a different camera would have been advantageous, and that was really just due to low light.
The only other niggle is that it's incredibly easy to bump the zoom rocker and throw out focus in the lens adapter, which is already hard to find on an LCD in the sun, so if I was to shoot anything serious on one again I'd look at locking the zoom somehow. I did upgrade to a smaller sharper LCD which really helped with this, but it's still an issue.
I'd also use an external recorder like the one from Blackmagic Design, rather than tapes. Tapes are just awful, and there is slightly more colour info when you record from the HDMI out, apparently.
Recently I showed the MK OUTLIER trailer to a very critical friend of mine who didn't yet know much about how I'd made the film, who turned to me half way through and said "You obviously had a professional DOP" I was extremely proud of my work and my little HV set up at that point.
If I could get Canon EF glass to work with my HV40 I would seriously look at it as an option, but it also really depends on the distribution format. -
The most over looked part of film making is quality sound. The look of a film can be corrected in post, but bad audio is a nightmare to deal with. The audience will forgive low light and scenes that are hard to see, but millions of Batman fans went nuts because they had a problem understanding what the villain was saying. What did you use to record sound?
-Can you hear me weeping? haha.
We made MK OUTLIER 'guerrilla' style, running around grabbing shots here there and everywhere. I think our record was 67 'set ups' in a day. By set up I mean shots that involved moving the camera from one place to another. All our sound was recorded using either the on camera mic, or later an external mic bolted to the camera news style.
Knowing how the movie would be shot, we decided early on to ADR all the dialogue, and just suck it up. We didn't have time to wait until the planes had gone past, and many locations had so much background noise that wouldn't suit the movie, that we knew we'd probably have to ADR much of it anyway. I had a lot of ideas for sound early on in production, as the world of MK OUTLIER doesn't sound like the world we're used to, so it made sense at the time.
Having said that, doing ADR for an entire movie is a LOT of work, and it's depressing because it feels like covering the same ground you've already gone over. However on a low budget movie it's also an amazing opportunity to fix bad on-set sound, tweak performance, and add/remove lines as needed.
In future I'd just grab a few takes of 'dry' sound, without the camera running, and I'd just hire a sound guy. The external mic produces pretty good results though.
We are about to do ADR, so we'll see how that goes! I'm excited.-
What is MK Outlier? What is the premise of the film?
-A: MK OUTLIER is a (fictional) secret CIA program set up to predict statistical outliers before they happen. Statistical Outliers like stock exchanges crashes, rises of religions and ideas, and terrorist attacks.
Private James Conroy, a soldier with some personal issues, finds himself fighting to survive after a mysterious apocalypse wipes away civilisation. On the brink of madness, he finally gets in touch with Gary Freeman, a forgotten astronaut orbiting the earth in an old space station. They have to work together to reach others and try to work out what caused the apocalypse, and maybe even save the world. -
From what I have read I understand that you built your space station set?
That you built it in the garage? How long did it take to construct it?
-Yes, I built a Space Station set in the back shed of the house I'm renting. It took a few weeks to do the initial framing, that I had help with from a builder I know, then several months of weekends fitting out the interior. The set was the single most expensive thing we did for the movie, and I spent many a day cursing it, but it looks amazing on screen. I knew that the movie would be dead in the water if the audience didn't buy the Space Station Set, so I went all out. Given that we are renting the house, it was a big risk, but every low budget movie is all risk, so whatever. The set has got us a lot of press, so looking back it was a great decision haha! I'm sure we would not have got the mainstream press interest we've had without it.
The lesson here is to look at your script and ask yourself if there is a hook. I never did this at the time, but I'd seriously consider it in future. Sadly, marketing is a big part of the 'craft' but it too can be fun and creative.-
How many hats did you wear on this project and did it ever become overwhelming?
A: I wore ALL the hats. Seriously, what was I thinking hahaha? I think I'd read Rebel Without a Crew too many times and decided I was invincible. Oh well. I had plenty of help, but I was the only person who was ever responsible for any of it. There was no one to turn to and ask where something was. I only forgot important stuff twice, and it wasn't the end of the world, but I recommend at least having one other person who really wants the movie made as much as you do, or at least has something invested in it. Having said that, now that we're into Post Production I've been able to get more people involved, and I have a lot more confidence in what we're making. With some of the money raised through Indiegogo I've been able to farm out various Post areas, and we now lots of work going on without me being present, which is a massive relief.
I do have an amazingly supportive group of close friends, mentors etc. to turn to when it gets tough, and I could not have done any of this without them. This is vital, lifesaving. Don't go to war without your friends!
So yeah I wrote the script, cast the actors, made the props, made the sets, production managed, operated the camera, did most of the lighting, directed the actors, drove the production vehicle, digitized the footage, edited the footage, designed the webpage, did the special effects, the list goes on.. haha..
It has always been overwhelming. It continues to be. A huge amount of bad/negative feelings arise whenever I work on the film, and self-doubt is my evil nemesis. There have been many nights where I've been unable to sleep, lying awake wondering how I'd ever finish this unwieldy beast of a movie. (why o why did I choose Sci-Fi Action?) However the fight against these feelings and the triumph of ploughing on the face of them has had an amazing transformative effect on my life. You have to learn to be very kind to yourself. You have to forgive yourself, give yourself permission to burn everything, and just forget it. Then get back on the horse and keep going.-
This concludes the first half of the interview with Chris Jacobs.
If you would like to pre-order
a copy of the finished film you can by visiting; http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/mk-outlier-the-end
You can visit the the MK Outlier Website at: www.mkoutlier.com
I would like to thank Chris for doing this interview.
I would suggest that you guys share this post with a friend via Twitter or Stumbleupon.
Think about so many of the movies that you have seen during your lifetime. The ones that surprised you and or impressed you most were seen because a friend told your about it. That is how people will learn about your film. You are not going to have fifty million dollars to advertise your project. It will be done through word of mouth.
Thank you for visiting.
This continues the interview I started a few weeks ago. The director has been very busy. Right now his crowd funding campaign has about seven days left. Check it out and maybe get involved. You can get involved by just telling others about it through your social media. Share the campaign and you never know what can happen.
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1586906037/revenge-of-the-devil-bat
I would like to again thank Ted Moehring for taking the time to do this interview.
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During the last year I have interviewed a lot of film makers and they all seem to have a different approach to film making.
First question that most film makers that are just starting out want to ask is what kind of camera did you pick for your shoot and why? I do not think the camera is nearly as important as how to
frame a shot and how to light it, but it is usually the single most expensive piece of equipment on the set.
-I'm usinga Canon hdslr for "Revenge of the Devil Bat", but for my movies, "Bloodbath in the House of Knives" and "Invasion of the Reptoids", I used a Canon HV30. I definitly like the hdslr alot more, i've learned alot more about exposure using it then the hv30 and it's more like shooting actual film. My very first movie, "Night Hag", I started shooting on super 8 and regular 8mm film, but it just cost to much and I had to finish it on digital. I definitly agree that the camera is not as important as proper composition and lighting. Which I admittedly have alot to learn about. My photography is mostly inspired by people like Jess Franco, Jean Rollin and Orson Welles. Shooting and framing a shot is probablly what I enjoy most about making movies. Also while the camera isn't as important as the technique, with how cheap cameras are now, there is no reason not to shoot 24p and HD, unless you are going for a video look.-
My first love is writing. I understand that you write your own films. Do you start with a story or outline or do you just start with a blank screen and write until you hit fade to black?
-With writing, I usually think of an idea, then start to visualize it. With Bloodbath in the House of Knives, the first thing that popped in my head was the opening shot of darkness, then a door slowly opens with blue light shining through it and a hand slowly opens the door. I tend to think about the movie for a long time, seeing it in my head, all the shots everything. During this time I take lots of notes and do outlines of where I want the story to go. When I go to write the actual script I do it a little bit differently. From the rough draft I have every single shot in the movie numbered and I know exactly how the movie will be edited. So normally I would only shoot exactly what I needed. This drove the actual actors crazy because I would break up conversations, etc. With Devil Bat I'm trying to run through whole scenes with the actors and I'm trying to get actual coverage from other angles which was nonexistint in my other movies. I think I'm getting better performances from the actors this way. Though everything in my movies is meticuously planned out, I'm also always open to those "happy accidents" that sometimes happen on set, you definitely have to be open to change and able to adapt quickly with anything that may happen when making movies. If you are to rigid you will never finish anything, and the bottom line for me is just getting the actual movie finished, which when you are doing a feature is really like running a marathon.-
You decided on a sequel to a public domain film. Is it more fun or scary to take on something that has had a seventy year life of its own?
-I think it's fun to take on something already established like Devil Bat, because, well I love the original Devil Bat and 1940s poverty row horror movies. Plus Bela Lugosi is my absolute, all time, favorite actor! As with my other movies some people will like it and other people will hate it, for me all I can do is make the best movie I can make, and as long as I am happy with it then I don't care what other people will think.-
We all have out favorite film makers. For me, all time, you know it is Hitchcock. I admire the
work of Takashi Miike. He does horror, comedy, drama, action as well as anyone on earth and he has even done musicals. The guy did claymation in middle of a film. When the budget would not allow for the stunts he just turned everyone into claymation characters, did the action scene and then turned them back into real people. I like film makers who break the rules. But then again
I end up talk for hours about guys like Don Siegel and Terence Fisher who were just get the job done technique film makers. Who are your favorite film makers?
-My absolute favorite directors are, Jess Franco, Orson Welles, and Ray Dennis Steckler. What makes these three directors my favorite, isn't just their films, but their unbridled, sheer love for cinema and the act of filmmaking. They all lived and breathed to make movies and they all died while working on new projects. I love that story about how on "It's All True", the movie that ruined Welle's career, even after the studio backing him backed out and everyone left Brazil, Welles still remained, even shooting the movie himself! In the 1980s Welles was trying to shoot gothic movies in his own living room with Gary Graver. I find these three filmmakers to be incredibly inspiring and I had the pleasure to be able to communicate with two of them. I am deeply saddened by the loss of Jess Franco, my dream was to go to Malaga and make a movie there and I talked to him about it. But now I guess it will never happen. I love Franco's hermetic, self referential film world that he created. Not all of his movies might be good, some are boderline un-watchable, but he has made some that are very, very good. I also identify with him a lot because before I made movies I mostly made music for about 15 years. Nothing special, I just played in punk and hardcore bands, which is totally different then the jazz that he played, but the diy attitude definitely influenced how I make my movies, just like Franco's jazz playing influenced his movies. Now I like alot of other filmmakers also, Jose Mojica Marins, Al Adamson, Nobuo Nakagawa, Fassbinder, John Cassavetes, Jodorowsky, Jerry Warren, Yilmaz Atadeniz, Jean Rollin, etc. I could go on and on. But there is something about those three filmmakers, Jess Franco, Orson Welles and Ray Dennis Steckler that is special to me. Plus meeting Ray Dennis Steckler, and his attitude of working with what you have and not waiting for everything to be "perfect", to make your movie, because that "perfect moment" will never happen, is probablly what gave me the final push to go ahead and try to make my first movie.-
You have made horror films. Film makers get typecasted the same way that actors do. Do you consider yourself a horror film maker?
-I love horror and don't mind if people consider me a horror filmmaker, I would just be happy to be considered any type of filmmaker. I think what I personally love about horror though veers more to the side of that old term, "Fantastique". I like anything strange and unusal, I like the atmosphere, the surreal quality, the oddness. I don't really like torture, serial killers, that kind of crap. I like the aesthetic quality of older horror movies. Especially German Expressionism. While I do have other types of movies that I would like to make at some point, even serious dramas, I love horror movies so I guess I would consider myself a horror filmmaker, but that term has so many connotations, thats why I prefer, "fantastique". I know that sounds all pretentious and crap. Ha ha!-
I need to ask about the cast? You got a lot of well known actors to work on your project. Most micro budget film makers are stuck using their cousin Doug and someone who played the second lamp post in a high school production of a Streetcar Named Desire. How do you go about getting name actors who can actually act?
-I started off just using my friends, but I've been really lucky to be able to get the chance to work with some of my idols and people I loved watching growing up. I still can't believe Gary Kent is going to be in Devil Bat. He was a excellent actor that should have broken out of independent movies into the mainstream. I am so thankful for people like George Stover and Dick Dyszel helping out. And it's always fun to work with Conrad Brooks and Lloyd Kaufman. I don't really have a secret to getting these people or anything, I think anyone could, just have a good concept, a readable script and don't be afraid to ask! I have found that I have alot more trouble with actors who "think" they are big then actually established actors that have done alot of work.-
One more casting question. Many directors have a go to actor or idea lead for their films. Directors are often remembered most for their teamwork with certain performers. Living or dead or in their prime who would you have wanted to work with?
-Without a doubt the actors that I would have loved to work with, more then anyone else, are Bela Lugosi and Orson Welles!
I understand that you edit your own work. Are you self taught and what do you edit on?
-With editing I am self taught and it shows alot. I think each movie does get better and tighter, when I watch Bloodbath now I see so much that could be cut tighter. Ideally if I could afford it I would do a rough cut myself and then have someone else tighten it. I actually hate editing because it is so time consuming but a lot of that is probably because I don't know shortcuts and the proper way to do things.-
I have to ask about the movie Revenge of the Devil Bat and its crowdfunding campaign.
Is this your first time at raising funds this way? With about two weeks to go what are you hoping for?
-Devil Bat is my first attempt at crowdfunding. Before I would just sell as many of my possessions as I could part with and eat alot of mac and cheese. I tried indiegogo first and that was beyond disappointing, I wasn't going to try kickstarter but some friends talked me into it. And I'm glad they did. We still need to raise about double what we have so far and we have only one week left, but regardless I've been pleasantly surprised that we have raised this much so far and I consider it a success even if we don't reach what I really need. Also all credit for the great documentary on the kickstarter page goes to Leslie Morris. And thanks alot to Cedric Crouch for actually setting up the page, I was pretty despondent and negative and I know I wouldn't have done it without them both pushing for it.-
Again I would like to thank Ted for his time and to remind you that there are only a few days left in his crowdfunding campaign. You know that ever dollar counts when making a micro budget film.
We are going to check back on this campaign before it is over.
Okay that is it for today. Take a moment to add us to your google plus and to share this post.
The third part of my interview with Travis Bain is ready. I would
like to first than him again for the time that he has given me and
the information that he has shared. Digital filmmaking is a process.
No one is born a filmmaker. There are born painters and singers, but
film making is a learned skilled. Sure there are those with more
talent for the game than others, but I believe that hard work and the
willingness to keep trying again and again is what will get most of
us from the planning, to the page, to the set, to the screen.
The lesson that you need to take from the making of Throwback and
other filmmakers that we will be introduced to over the next year or
so is that you do not need a boat load of money to be a film maker.
You can make a micro budget film with a few thousand dollars. I have
been told that features have been made for less than a thousand
dollars. It is mostly a matter of deciding to do it and not giving up
until the film is finished. Do not let any excuse stop you. It is
okay to slow down and make sure that you are not going too fast or
making mistakes along the way, but do not stop until your digital
feature film is done.
Okay The third and final art of the Canon Hv 20 interview.
First I forgot to ask about sound last time. What did you use to
record sound. Did you go with an add-on mic or did you record
external sound and sync later?
For most of the movie, I just recorded audio straight into my
Canon HV20 with a Rode Video Mic mounted on the camera. Rode is an
Australian company and they make excellent microphones at reasonable
prices. I’d highly recommend their products to any indie filmmaker,
especially those on a tight budget. Their Video Mic is a very
directional, compact shotgun mic which has provided me with very
clear location audio. In a handful of situations, though, we found
ourselves filming in noisy locations due to gushing river water, so
on those occasions we recorded backup audio into a second Canon
camera (an XHA1) using wireless lavalier microphones. I'm hoping to
use wireless lavs all the way through my next feature, in conjunction
with the Rode Video Mic. That way, I can either just use the best
audio source in post or blend the two together. We didn't use a boom
swinger on “Throwback” because we couldn't afford one, so it just
seemed quicker and easier to just stick the mic on the camera and
operate it myself. There'll be a little bit of wind noise to remove
in post, but not a whole lot because we used a furry "dead cat"
windsock on the mic throughout the shoot, which attenuated most of
the location wind. I think we've done pretty well considering that
the entire movie, except for one scene, was shot outdoors. The audio
is remarkably clean, although I do want to use wireless lavs more on
my next feature, and maybe a digital field recorder as well. There
are some cool ones out now which record a safety track that's about
20db lower than your main track, so if there's a sudden audio spike
like an actor suddenly yelling out a line at the top of their lungs,
you can use the safety track rather than your clipped main track.
Luckily we didn't have too many cases of that on this film. Whenever
I knew an actor was about to shout, I'd simply lower the recording
levels so they wouldn't clip. That's one of the reasons I shot the
movie on the Canon HV20 and not a DSLR - you have full manual control
over your audio levels. We'll probably only have to re-record a small
handful of lines to replace ones tainted by background noise.
Otherwise, about 95% of the dialogue you'll hear in the movie is the
original dialogue. I always prefer to use the original dialogue if
possible, because you can never truly replicate the actor's
performance later on. When they're on location and in the moment,
that's when you usually get the best material. I never used
headphones to monitor sound on location, I just watched the audio
levels on the LCD screen and made sure nothing clipped. I’m using
some good-quality Sennheiser monitoring headphones in post, although
lately I’ve mainly been using them to rock out to Led Zeppelin
while I cut action scenes. “Achilles’ Last Stand” is great for
keeping you awake and motivated at 2am. I’ll do the sound mix later
when the picture edit’s locked off. It’s important to use proper
monitoring headphones for your sound mix because consumer headphones
that are made for iPods and so forth usually boost the bass and do
other funky things to your audio, so they don’t give you an
accurate reproduction of your soundtrack.
The subject of post production is overlooked by many first time
film makers thinking that they will cross that bridge when they come
to it. Did you have post in mind before you started filming?
Absolutely. You have to have a post-production plan in place
before you even shoot a frame of footage. You have to set up your
workflow in advance and practice good media management otherwise post
is going to be a haphazard mess. In a way, a movie isn’t made
during production, it’s made in post, so it’s crucial to start
planning your post strategy even at the script stage. For example,
knowing that we were going to film “Throwback” almost entirely
outdoors, I deliberately wrote the script to have as little dialogue
as possible. From the outset, I wanted to tell the story visually
rather than through endless chitchat. They are called motion
pictures, after all. My opinion is that if you want to watch actors
talk for two hours, go to a play or a Tarantino film. Otherwise, I’m
in the Hitchcock camp: I believe in telling the story visually, with
camera angles, action and montage, and defining your characters by
their behaviours rather than boring exposition. There have been a
number of recent Bigfoot movies where the characters blather on about
their relationships and their emotional issues. Nothing sucks the
life out of a horror movie faster. I went in the opposite direction—I
wrote “Throwback” to be a lean, economical, fast-paced suspense
thriller with an action beat every five to ten minutes. With minimal
dialogue, your sound mix is easier because you can build your
soundtrack from the ground up with a mixture of canned and foley
effects. There is character development in “Throwback”, don’t
get me wrong, but like “Raiders of the Lost Ark”, we get to know
the characters along the way, as we get swept along by the action.
Having minimal dialogue also helps your movie’s chances in
non-English speaking countries.
Do you get others
involved in producing the final product? Do you outsource sound work
or the soundtrack?
On this film and my
last, “Scratched”, I’ve followed the early-Robert Rodriguez
model of pretty much doing everything myself. When you’re on a
tight budget, the best person to do post-production on your film is
yourself. You are your own best possible employee. You know that
you’re always going to turn up, never slack off or call in sick.
You’ll work for free, and work tirelessly because you feel
passionate about the project. Plus you know the material intimately,
so you never have to say “I want it done this way.” On my future
films, as the budgets increase, I would love to delegate more tasks
to people who know more about these things than I do, but right now,
I’m dong all the post on “Throwback” single-handedly. I haven’t
outsourced anything as yet, apart from my animated production company
logo and a couple of CG smoke shots. As Rodriguez has always said,
it’s great if you can be both creative and technical at the same
time, because it’s really empowering. Best case scenario is that we
get picked up by a distributor and some money becomes available for a
professional sound mix in a proper facility. But until that happens,
I’m just trying to do the best job I can on my home system.
What about audio
effects?
The vast majority of
the sound effects in “Throwback” are coming from Sound Dogs, a
great US company you can buy sound effects from one by one, which to
me makes more sense than spending thousands of dollars on a huge
sound effects library you might only ever use a fraction of. So I’m
mostly using Sound Dogs, but if I need a basic sound effect like a
simple splash of water or something, I’ll just foley it myself and
save money.
When making a horror movie there are a lot of little things that
have to be done in post. Did you plan on that ahead of time?
Yes. There were a few
shots where we knew there'd have to be a digital effect added later,
so we'd film it in such a way that when the effect is added, it’ll
blend perfectly with the background plate. You’ve got to plan ahead
with your audio, too, by recording ambient sound you can use later to
fill in any gaps in the soundtrack.
Do you plan on test screening the rough cut before doing your
final cut or will it be straight to final cut?
I generally try to
avoid showing people rough cuts unless they’re within my “inner
circle.” When I screen my work, I prefer it to be as complete as it
can possibly be so it's as close to my vision as possible. I don't
want people to see a half-baked version of my film and judge it based
on that. When people start seeing the movie at preview screenings in
a few months’ time, they’ll be seeing something extremely close
to my final cut.
I do not know what distribution is like in your country, but
the options have grown here in North America. For a micro budget film
many of us look to Video of Demand (VOD) and itunes rather than
considering theatrical release. Did you have distribution in mind
before you started production?
Definitely. The whole
reason for making a genre film in the first pace, apart from the fact
that I love them and they’re fun, is because they’re the easiest
types of films to find distribution. Horror movies sell well, and
they probably always will, because there’s a huge market for them,
so it was kind of no-brainer to make one as my second feature. I
found out the hard way, from making my first feature “Scratched”,
that modest little comedy-dramas shot on Mini DV with unknown actors
have basically zero chance of finding a distributor.
What are the distribution plans?
The first phase of
our strategy is to hit the film festivals. We want “Throwback” to
tour the film festival circuit and be seen by audiences and generate
buzz. Film festivals offer great exposure, so that’s our first port
of call. We’ve already had interest from two of the world’s
biggest ones, which is really cool. After a few festival screenings,
if the movie is received well, we hope to be in a position to sign
with a sales agent, who can then pick up “Throwback” and run with
it, and hopefully help us sell it to some distributors around the
world. I’d love to be able to sell the film to every major
territory around the world. It’s a very Australian film but its
also got universal appeal as an action/adventure story, and because
it doesn’t have too much dialogue, it would be quite
straightforward to subtitle or dub for foreign territories. A
theatrical release would be a dream come true but we’re realistic
about our chances. It’s very expensive to release films
theatrically. Sometimes even movies with well-known stars go straight
to video, or if they do go to cinemas, they only make a few thousand
bucks. To be honest, I’d be more than happy just to see “Throwback”
released on DVD and Blu-ray. A multi-platform release would be ideal.
VOD is an interesting new market, but I don’t want to limit the
film’s chances to just that market. I think the vast majority of
people still prefer to watch movies at home on DVD o Blu-ray, so in
that regard, I would love to see “Throwback” end up on shelves in
places like Blockbuster and Target. Our 1080p imagery is going to
look beautiful on the average HDTV. With the success of Fincher’s
Netflix series “House of Cards”, I think VOD is a promising new
outlet for long-form TV series, and I myself am very interested in
getting into mini-series down the track, but for feature films, I
don’t think cinemas or optical discs are going anywhere just yet.
People love to watch big movies on big screens, plus going to the
cinema is a fun social experience. As long as morons with mobile
phones don’t spoil it.
What is next?
I’m developing a
slate of projects for different budget levels. So if “Throwback”
is a success and someone offers me a million dollars to make a movie,
I have a script we can do for a million, or if they offer me five
million, I have one we can do for five million. It’s a bit of a
mixed bag. One is kind of action/horror inspired by Lovecraft,
another is action/sci–fi and another one is a remake of a classic
adventure story. By the same token, if someone offers me some other
project to do, I’d definitely consider it. There are also novels
I’d love to adapt, like Richard Preston’s “The Cobra Event.”
I’d love to remake John Boorman’s film “Hell in the Pacific.”
Even a big-screen version of an ’80s TV show, like “Battlestar
Galactica” or “Knight Rider” would be great fun. What film I
make next will depend entirely on how much money’s available and
who’s willing to back me. But I’ll be aiming for the stars, so
even if I fall short, I might still hit the moon.
Do you plan on specializing in one genre?
No, I want to mix
things up like Kubrick or Fincher or Danny Boyle. I'd love to bounce
around different genres. I'm very keen to do action, sci-fi, fantasy,
crime, horror and blends of those genres like action-comedy and that
sort of thing. I want to take my films to conventions like Comic Con
and mingle with my fellow geeks!
You know once you do a horror film or sci-fi it is hard not to be
classified as a horror film maker. Ridley Scott has done almost every
type of film, but people hear his name and think Alien or Blade
Runner first. The only film maker that I am aware of who ever managed
not to be classified as a type was the great Robert Wise. He did
everything from The Day the Earth Stood Still, Run Silent Run Deep,
West Side Story, The Haunting to Star Trek. Is it possible to do any
type of film you wish? Or do you look forward to being the master of
a genre?
I think if you get enough clout you can do any movie you want, but
even then it’s not always guaranteed. Apparently Michael Bay, one
of the world’s most successful filmmakers, had to make the third
Transformers movie so he could do his own personal project, “Pain &
Gain.” You’d think a guy like that would be able to just pick any
project he wanted, but I guess not. Even in Hollywood, money’s
tight these days. Mind you, though, I don’t have any deep desire to
do un-commercial, experimental films anyway. At this point I just
want to make a variety of genre films right now, whether it be
horror, sci-fi, action, fantasy or some sort of hybrid. That’s what
I love about John Carpenter’s career—he’s never gone and made a
boring Thomas Hardy adaptation or whatever, he’s jumped around
between horror, sci-fi and kept it fresh. I remember seeing “Big
Trouble in Little China in 1986” and thinking, “Wow, what is
this?” And I’m sure people felt the same way when they first saw
“Halloween” in 1978. As for “The Thing”, well, people just
didn’t know what the hell to make of that back in 1982. It was
ahead of its time. So yeah, if I can make another genre film after
“Throwback”, I’ll be extremely happy. There are lots of new HD
cameras out that I want to test. I don’t even care if I can’t
afford an Alexa or a RED, I’d be happy to shoot my next movie on a
Panasonic GH3 or the new Blackmagic Design 4K camera. If I can shoot
cool shit and get paid for it, that’s all that matters to me.
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I hope that this will end up being a three part series on a feature film shot with the Canon HV20. If you are a regular reader of this blog they you know that I have my favorites and of all the consumer camcorders ever made my favorite is the HV20. This camcorder along with its big brothers the Canon HV30 and HV40 were well on their way to becoming a staple of micro budget film making and then the Dslr revolution hit. People quickly jumped ship and this camera sort of got lost in the shuffle.
I am here to remind the film maker that is just starting out that there are advantages to using a camcorder to shoot your first digital feature film.
The first and most important advantage is that it is designed to shoot video.
The Dslr cameras even with their hacks are at heart stills cameras. That is what they were designed to do. They do a great job at it and can shoot awesome video, but you have to work hard to do this.
Second there is the price. Camcorders like the HV series cost less. And can recorder for a much longer time. You can have your camera and be ready to shoot for less than three hundred dollars. And I am including extra batteries and dv tapes in that three hundred dollars.
Three and this is an important third, they are better at recording in camera sound. You can add a good mic and a sound mixer and get great sound that you will not have to sync later.
Let’s look at the production of a HV feature that was shot in Australia. This is the first part of an interview that I am conducting with the film maker.
Here is a look at the trailer for the Canon HV20 digital feature ThrowBack.
Here is the beginning of what I hope to be a three part interview with the talented film maker.
How did you pull it off and were you ever tempted to go with the crowd running head long of the Dslr cliff?
Using the HV20 for Throwback was mainly a question of economics. I had an extremely limited budget and it just made more sense to shoot with a camera and accessories that I already owned than spend thousands of dollars on a new camera, new lenses and all the add-on bits and pieces that I would've had to buy to go the DSLR route. I didn't want to hire a DSLR to shoot my film on because I believe an indie filmmaker should own their own gear. If you accidentally destroy or damage it, you only have yourself to answer to, but even beyond that, it's so incredibly helpful to have a camera with you 24 hours a day and know that if you need to go out and do reshoots or whatever, the camera's there, not rented out to someone else and unavailable. And I didn't know anyone in Cairns to borrow a DSLR from, because I was only fairly new in town, so it just made sense to shoot the movie on the camera that I'd already owned since 2007. I knew the HV20 was capable of stellar results so I wanted to push it to its absolute limits and get some amazing shots out of it, and I think we've achieved that. There are shots in the movie that aren't in the trailers which are just going to blow people away.
I kept an eye on the DSLR revolution and followed its progress, and it all looked very interesting to me, but there were other factors, besides the cost, that kind of put me off shooting on a DSLR initially. Throwback started production back in 2010, and back then, DSLRs were still plagued with problems like moire, line-skipping, poor dynamic range and rolling shutter artifacts like wobble and skew, which I hate. The HV20, on the other hand, wasn't a still camera that was being used to shoot video, it was a VIDEO camera that was designed for videographers, so it had a lot of features that you couldn't get (and still can't) on DSLRs, like zebras, a low-contrast cine mode, 3.5mm headphone and mic jacks, continuous autofocus (which I didn't use often but it was very handy for moving subjects as it's very hard to pull focus on an HV20), manual audio level controls and many others. Plus, in 2010, I kept reading horror stories about how DSLRs would overheat and break down, and because we were going to be filming in hot jungles, I knew I couldn't work with a camera like that because it would be too unreliable. And in fact, we actually shot a couple of night-time scenes on a Canon 5D MkII by firelight, because we needed the larger sensor, and all those horror stories came true because the camera kept overheating and shutting down all the time. But when I used the HV20, however, it very rarely gave me any hassles. It just made sense to use a camera that I'd already invested money in, in terms of not only the camera itself but also filters, lenses, accessories like a Hoodman LCD and so on.
Now, of course, the GH3 is here, which is probably the first stills camera designed specifically for videography, instead of a stills camera where video is an afterthought. It would've been cool to shoot on a hacked GH2, but as I mentioned, money was a big factor, and I decided that rather than spend more cash on camera gear, I should save that money and put it into something else instead, like props, costumes, road trips to cool locations and things like that. And I'm glad I did.
People look down on the HV20 now that the 7D and GH3 and so on are all dominating the indie filmmaking market, but they forget that the HV20 is still a great HD camera with excellent manual controls and, if you use a quality mic, great audio. It's basically just a cut-down XHA1, which was a great camera from Canon towards the end of the last decade. Obviously you can't achieve the same ultra-shallow depth of field on the HV20 that you can with a DSLR, but you can come close to it. On Throwback, I used numerous tricks to get my DOF as shallow as possible, including shooting wide open with a neutral density filter in daylight, and quite often zooming in slightly. As a result, you'll see shots in the movie which you would swear were shot with a DSLR, but no, they were done on the HV20 shooting a max aperture with an ND filter and a slight zoom factor. Exposure-wise, it was just a matter of letting the camera set the exposure and then dialling down the gain until I saw a pleasing image on the LCD screen. I just exposed everything by eye, and of course the zebras came in mighty handy too. I just tried not to let the highlights blow out and everything was hunky-dory. Prosumer cameras are always factory set to overexpose everything so you have to compensate for that in each shot, which is why the trailers for Throwback look like an actual movie and not home video. We also tried to avoid shooting in high-contrast situations wherever possible. Most of our filming days started at about 6am when the sun was still low in the sky and the light was soft. Magic hour. It works for Terrence Malick and it sure worked for us, too.
That is it for part one of this question and answer. Just remember we are talking about being digital feature film makers. The word digital being important. You do not need an expensive camera to shoot your micro budget film. You can do it with video camera and the price point for many of them are becoming more and more appealing. If you want to become a digital film maker go out and start shooting footage. Get use to using what ever camera you select and keep shooting. It is better to have a two hundred dollar camera or camcorder that you are familiar with rather than a two thousand dollar camera that you are afraid to touch. Digital Film making is about having fun, if you are not enjoying yourself then you are doing something wrong. You can do it with an iphone, a Sanyo, a 8mm camera, a Vixia Camcorder, a Dslr or a Red one.
Good luck guys. Please take a moment to share this post with a friend.
The thing that we do not do enough of is to just pay it forward. We make our films and are so self absorbed by the process that we do not think about those who will follow us. This is truly a shame since many of us did not attend film school, but learned how to do this from books, articles and online tutorials.
If there is some behind the scenes footage included on a dvd it is usually silly out takes and the occasional interview with a cast member. Even voiceovers done by directors are largely wasted on everything, but the technical aspects of shooting the movie. I have learned more about shooting a movie from listening to directors like William Friedkin than I have from all the film making books that I have read.
Today I would like to introduce you to a behind the scenes look at making of a very promising micro budget film. The basic background of this movie is that it was shot using a camera that has been brushed aside too quickly in everyone’s rush to embrace the Dslr revolution. Yes I know that you can make a kick ass movie shooting with a Canon 7d or my favorite a hacked panasonic Gh1, but you can also do some great work with the Canon HV series of cameras. Not only with the addition of a depth of field adapter, but with the bare camera.
Below is the trailer for, plus behind the scenes footage, a great looking Canon HV 20 film. I did not think that you could get footage this good looking from just the naked HV 20. I hope in future to interview the film maker and find out what went into the production of the film Throwback.
Okay that is about it for today. Please guys take a moment to check out their channel on youtube and remember that any advice that we can give about lighting or editing or working with a crew may help someone who is just starting out.
Last thing for today, I would like to add a coming attractions page, but to do this I could use some coming attractions or new releases to promote. I will put up a clip along with a link to your website or page.
Just something to think about guys.
And the winner is?
There is no winner. Sounds like I am being a coward?
Fine.
What I am saying is that the winner depends upon the person and his or her needs. Some of you will love Dslr cameras and some of you will love to make your low budget film on a camcorder. I am going to show you both sides of the argument and perhaps you will say screw that and decide to go old school and get a film camera. To each his own.
The great thing about being a digital feature film maker is that you are going to be doing things your way. That this movie is your child and you can bring that child into the world any way that you wish.
What about you? What team do you play for?
Really? I have to answer this? Okay I will commit to not commit. If I am shooting something that has to be visually stunning and I have time to invest in every shot then I would go Dslr. If it is going to go theatrical at some point I would lean Dslr.
If my feature film is going to be online or on demand I would go camcorder. If I only have a limited number of days to shoot and I have to do a ton of set ups quickly then I am going to go camcorder.
If the budget is razor tight. Meaning I have only 500 dollars and I have to cover my camera and my sound for this price then it is going to be a camcorder. Meaning a Canon hv 20 or 30 and a mic that tops out in the fifty dollar range.
If I have a grand to spend then it is going to be the Canon t2i or t3i with a Zoom audio recorder.
Twelve hundred to two thousand dollars and the same Zoom recorder with a the Canon d7. And if you are going to drop 2500 or more on equipment then it is the Canon 5 markII. Your sound could be the Zoom recorders or you could go for it and use a juicelink audio mixer and a mid range microphone. I know that I did not
mention camcorders the higher price ranges. I am going to leave you with a video about one such camera and we are going to have to do an entire post on those camcorders.
Okay the winner of the Dslr vs. Camcorder is to be determined by you guys. Hey post a comment if you have an opinion. If you have a really long opinion drop me an email and I will invite you to offer a guest post.
That is it for now. Please take a moment to drop by my Trailer park, I added a new trailer that looks interesting and if any of you have trailers let me know. I am about to add a subscribers trailer park. Also I will be adding a willing to work for food page where any of you can offer your services to other film makers for food and credit and or what ever deals you can work out.
Quality sound on a low budget film is the thing that is most overlooked and it is the thing that is most likely to indicate to the viewer where you are an amateur or a professional filmmaker.
It is a interesting thing to believe that your audience will forgive bad lighting much sooner than they will ever forgive poor sound quality. You are a pro now and you are going to have to learn about sound as you have about lighting. Depending upon your shoot it will not be that difficult. Let’s look at the basics.
Both camcorders and DSLR have built in microphones. What I strongly suggest is that you forget about them. The camcorder mics are barely usable and the DSLR microphones are junk.
You are going to be buying audio equipment. Here are the two basic microphones you will be looking at. The Audio-Technica ATR-6550 Video Camera Condenser Shotgun Microphone. A nice little microphone that can be plugged directly into most pro-sumer quality camcorders. It retails online in the fifty dollar range. You can then attach it with a mount to the top of the camcorder or fit it to a boom pole.
If you are using a DSLR then I would suggest a Rode microphone. There are a number to choose between and I suggest you do your research before selecting the best one for your needs. This microphone will mount nicely on a DSLR as well as use with a boom pole. The problem here is that you will still be recording sound in camera. I could live with this as far as the camcorders go, but not in the DSLR cameras. You will be needing a separate recording device.
As far as the separate recording devices go I have two basic options for you to look at as a low budget film maker. Both of the microphones that we have talked about can be connected into a Zoom H1 audio recorder. This is a nice little piece of equipment which retails for around one hundred dollars. It will give you a good quality sound recording on a low budget. If you have more money upgrade to the Zoom H4.
To step up in price and quality I would personally suggest spending the two to four hundred dollars that it will cost to get a JuicedLink DT454 DSLR Audio Solution. The term audio solution is perfect for this piece of equipment. Combine this with your DSLR and a quality microphone and your audio problems will be a thing of the past.
This post has been just the beginning of our talk about audio. We will be re-visiting this subject soon. There are many more devices to use with both the DSLR cameras and the camcorders, but I thought that I would give you a quick start here.
Now I will include videos on the subject to show rather than tell.
Ed Burns did the morning talk show circuit today and managed to do a pretty good job of promoting micro budget filmmaking. Ed Burns talked about how his very first movie cost twenty five thousand to make and it looked like a student film and now thanks to digital technology he was able to shoot his latest movie for 9,000 dollars. That’s right, nine grand and his movie is in theaters and on demand. He said that he could go to a camera store and spend three thousand and be ready to shoot a professional quality film.
Questions anyone?
What kind of camera was he talking about?
I can not prove it, but after hearing the price and seeing a clip of the movie I am pretty sure that he is referring to a Canon D5 mark II. A great camera for every level of movie making. If you can afford it then by all means go for it. This camera is the gold standard of DSLRs and it will be that for years to come.
Questions?
Hey, I am not Ed Burns or even Ken Burns, I can not afford to spend that much for a camera. That is the budget that I had in mind for my whole movie.
Like on Jeopardy, could you make that in the form of a question?
Is there a less expensive camera available?
Yes there are many and I will list them all while keeping in mind that you are trying to make a professional quality movie.
We have talked about the Mark II so we will let that go and move on to the Canon d7. You can get this great DSLR for about 1,200 dollars and under most conditions shoots as well as the Mark II. Next is the Canon T2I and T3I, they are almost the same camera and under controlled conditions they can match up with their big brothers Mark and D7. They retail for around seven hundred dollars. Next are the pro-sumer camcorders. The Canon HV series. With the addition of a quality depth of field adapter these cameras can play along side the DSLRs. Footage shoot with a Canon HV 40 that has the dof adapter attached is close to identical of that shot with the T2I. The price range on these cameras are from 699 dollars new down to 250 used. In the end go with the camera that your budget will allow. Ed Burns has his budget and you have yours.
