Canon Film making News and Notes

 


Recently I was told about a feature that was shot using a Canon T2i. I tried to contact the film maker to talk about the project, but he lives on the other side of the globe and so far I have not received a response so I am going to go ahead and tell you about the film and what I like about the project.

The title of the film is Good Hands. It was shot using a Canon T2i and was edited to give it the look of a 16mm film. I would think that this was done to give it the grindhouse look of a film like Hobo with A Shotgun. It is funny to think that we spend so much time looking for the next best Dslr camera to capture a crisper image when using these cameras to give out films a more classic look has largely been overlooked.
Indie film making is about taking chances and if you cannot take a few chances with a digital feature film that is budgets for less than ten thousand dollars when are you ever going to take a risk or two? Remember that line from the film Moneyball “If we think like the Yankees in here then we are going to lose to them out there.” If we think that we are going to make films identical to Hollywood blockbusters then we are doomed to fail. Worst yet, why would you want to? Their product is glossy crap. Overblown over hyped garbage that is hard to watch at two in the morning on HBO yet alone after spending twelve to fifteen dollars to do it in a theater.

Do not get me wrong, indie film makers are as guilty of falling into safe patterns as Hollywood has. Insane rules about what is a quality indie movie and what is not. What is worthy of notice and what is just not our sort of film. I call that the Sundance trap. The film makers who want to be in Sundance or at Cannes looks down on those of us who love genre films, from comedy, to horror, to faith based to scifi. I believe that anything goes. That any subject material is worthy as long as the story is well told.

Okay here is the Trailer for Good Hands.



Next up I would like to revisit the movie Screen, made by David Baker. Looks like he has decided to release it on Vimeo. It is for sale and/or rent there. Please check it out. We are talking about a feature that was shot for about four thousand dollars. I believe he used the Canon 5d.
I understand that he was basically a one man film crew. To do that takes both skill and guts.
To write it, direct it, light it, cast it, produce it, edit it and twenty other on set jobs. That is the definition of just going out and doing it. Any one of us could go out there and burn money and time with a crew of dozens. It takes a full-grown film maker to do it solo, because at the end of the day you get all of the blame when it goes wrong and in this case all of the credit when things work out.

Here is the trailer for Screen along with a link to where you can see the film.


Find it at this link. http://vimeo.com/ondemand/screenmovie

Okay that will be it for this post. I will be getting back to my series on scifi films with the next post. Take a moment to stumble this page and to share a post on facebook. Thank you for visiting and if you know of a film or film maker who should be featured in a future post contact me via google+ or by leaving a comment. And for those of you who use Pinterest would you mind pinning the cover of my new Film making interview ebook. That site actually does help with book sales. You can find an image along the right side of this page.


   

Digital Filmmaking, The Encounter Interview

  Digital Filmmaking, The Encounter Interview


 When I decided to do a series of post on low budget scifi I had no idea that there was so much of it out there and that it would come in some many forms. Today the interview that I have for you will be with Chad Farmer, Director of the short film Encounter. This is a found footage film (stop that, put the bottle of pills down. This is a good one.) that fits with the theme of the last few post. I also have to say that it a very invented micro budget film. Shot using a Gopro, an iPhone and a Webcam, this is a case of using what the scene calls. So many times we get married to one piece of equipment and will use it whether or not it fits. I have seen too many low budget found footage films where the film maker loved the look that was provided by a Dslr camera that they overlooked the fact that a camcorder or a iPhone would have made more sense within the plot and would have made the actual filming process a lot easier.

Okay lets get to the interview. You can check out Chad’s other work on Youtube if you like this film.

Q) The first question has to be what is Encounter about?

A) Encounter is about a husband documenting his wife's sleepwalking which leads them to the unexpected. It's also about them repairing their relationship after losing their unborn son.



Q). I have always been a fan of using the best tool to get the job done. You used a webcam, a go pro and a iphone to shoot this film. Was this well plan as you were writing the script?


A) Yea, the gopro and iphone were always in the plan and the webcam came later in the writing process as it was just another variety and look to add to the story. and the webcam was kind of their place to talk to each other together and not so separated and they rediscover and repair their relationship on their journey.



Q) How did combining the different methods of shooting work out in editing?

A) It was a beast. I learned the hard way. Editing software likes everything to be the same size, framerate and codec and of course my three cameras were all different. haha. There are ways around everything which takes more time and work which is ok in this case because of the complete free way of working. I wanted the camera choices to serve the story and not the editing driving the camera choices.
So I edited in adobe premiere in a 1280x720 sequence which is what the webcam footage was and that was the most footage i would be cutting so i went with that size and format to edit in. gopro footage was shot at 1080 and scaled down to 720. The iphone footage was the real problem. I used a 4s but the problem with iphone footage straight out of the camera is that not every clip had the same framerate. some were 30fps, some were 24fps, some were less, etc.....Also, premiere did not like format. It was hard to scrub, playback, or do anything with the clips without freezing, chugging, etc. So I had to transcode all iphone clips in mpeg streamclip to make it easier to work with. If I used iphone to shoot anything again I would use an app like FilmicPro to lock in framerate, etc....




Q) I am from the less is more school of FX. The practical FX worked very well in this film. Was there any thoughts of using any CGI?

A) I'm totally with you. I actually had more vfx in there but in the end i decided to cut them and keep it simple and keep it about the characters. This was going to be a feature but it seemed like it was trying to hit a certain time and was more of a distraction from the characters.



Q) While some have attempted to shoot entire films and I am talking feature length using the iphone, I have looked at it as solid tool to be used under certain circumstances or when it is the best option available. Do you plan on using it on future projects? Also did the quality of footage it provided surprise you?

A) The quality was good but it served my story and would use it again if a story calls for it. Also, if it's all you got, use it.


Q) I am in the middle of writing an ebook on making found footage films. From the film makers I have interview about the subject no two of them approach it the same way. Some script it as if they are shooting a standard film right down to every word of dialogue. Others only provide their actors with the camera to be used and a basic sketch of what they are suppose to say and do.
How did you approach the scripting your film?

A) This was a narrative experiment. I wanted to do something different. So the script for this one was a list of about 35 scenes. For each scene I wrote a small description of a sentence or two of what needed to happen and any bullet points of what needed to be said or discussed in the scene.


Q) How much direction is involved in shooting a film of this type?

A) The most direction came from the editing process. Since a lot of it was a single shot on the webcam I could jumpcut through the scene to create certain moods or feelings. Dig through the mud to find the best stuff.
There was not a lot of camera direction while shooting since I wanted it to feel like real people were using and operator their own cameras just like in real life. We would talk a few minutes before shooting a scene to get the right mood and emotions and then the actors would shoot it. Most scenes were done in 1 take to capture that spontaneous energy. All scenes were done in 3 or less takes. Most in 1 take.


Q) When working with the actors how time did you have before shooting to rehearse them and get them use to improvising with each other?

A) I didn't want to rehearse at all. I wanted it to feel like normal people were filming stuff at home.
I did an audition process to find the best pairing of actors. I would have different actors do improv exercises with each other and then mix and match them to see what the best fits were. I got to meet a lot of new and great actors that I hope I can work with someday. I was so lucky to have 2 great actors. They did such a great job. It was really up to them to drive this project or it would not have worked.


Q) A few general film making questions. What film maker do you look to for inspiration?

A) I grew up on Spielberg so he will always be up there. but there are so many like Hitchcock, Tarantino, Alfonso Cuaron, Peter Jackson, Fincher, Kubrick, Scorsese, Mallick, Aronofsky, Derek Cianfrance.....I could go on forever....


Q) Is there a feature film in your near future?

A) Yes. I was just going through some ideas today.

Q) What is the advice that you wish someone had given you about film making when you first started out?

A) Just shoot. I love the latest and greatest cameras and all the coolest tech and we all get caught up in waiting for the best cameras and stuff but just shoot with what you have or can get.

***

That will be it for today. A topic that I want to touch upon in the near future is the Hollywood studio idea of replacing the Franchise model with what is called a Shared Universe. A universe of characters that exist in the same place and time while only coming together ever three or four years for a mega project. The Avengers is the best example of this. Where each Hero has a stand alone film and are brought together for a combined project to max out their box office potential.

Could this be done by a group of film makers on a micro budget level? I think that it could, but they call us indie film makers for a reason. That indie streak is hard to overcome even if there could be massive financial rewards waiting at the end of the rainbow. Not to mention the chance to do some grand arc story telling. Stories where villains and their origins can be explored as fully as those of the heroes. Where characters can be developed and transformed by multiple film makers that would lead toward something greater than a reason to level New York city again.

Something to think about. Please leave comments on the subject.

Sci-Fi Trailers and End of The Year Notes

 I am going to be closing out the year with this post. I have a trailer that I really like and I would love to do an interview with the film maker, but there is a language barrier. The trailer and the behind the scenes footage are also foreign language, but I had no problem enjoying it so I am posting it. This film reminded me of Goonies. It is low budget and I hope that this film gets completed. Working with kids can be tricky, but these kids seem like a group of little superstars.

This film falls into my series of post on sci-fi film making. So here is the trailer for “La Esfera" The Sphere, plus a few extras. On the youtube videos you can hit the subtitle button and then change captions to English.

   
LA ESFERA (The Sphere, 2014) - Official Teaser Trailer from La Esfera on Vimeo.





    

 If you liked the trailer then please take a moment to share it. Not this entire post, but share the trailer. The trailer has been out a month. It only has a hundred or so views and a movie does not get seen if no one knows about it. Now to two films that do not need any help with social media, but I am going to go big budget anyway. I love Godzilla movies. If I ever become a big time film maker I will beg to do a Japanese monster movie because I know that they can be done much better. The first trailer is a second bite of the apple for the studios at this subject. The first big budget Godzilla film was terrible in every way imaginable. This one looks pretty good.

Last up for today is the return to film making of the guys behind the Matrix trilogy. Did I say guys? Lana and Andy Wachowski have made a big budget sci-fi film titled Jupiter Ascending.

   

 That will be it for today and probably the year 2013. Thank you for visiting my site and remember to share The Sphere Trailer. Pin it and share it on Twitter and your Facebook. Good luck with your digital films. Film Making is not easy, but it is fun.

Sci-fi Film Making, The Arrowhead Interview

This post will continue my series on sci-fi and low budget film making. The more I learn about how so many film makers are shoot more and more films in this genre the more I believe that someone is going to break out of the pact and we are going to see a low budget blockbuster in the same way that we witness the Blair Witch project catch fire almost fifteen years ago. Think about it this way. Producing a film that can have within it CGI that could rival that of the major studios can be done right now on a micro budget. We are at a point where the only things that are holding the low budget world back is ambition and execution.

Right now I would like to share my interview with the producer of what will be the feature length version of Arrowhead.  I would like to thank Eric for taking the time to do this interview with in the middle of a Kickstarter campaign.  The short film version of what is to come cost less than seven hundred dollars to produce.  Most Hollywood productions spend more on coffee in a day.

Arrowhead: Signal - Behind the Scenes from Arrowhead: The Movie on Vimeo.

This is my full interview with the executive producer of the film Eric Machiela.    

You can find their crowdfunding page at this link.       

Q)  There is a growing trend in the low to micro budget film world toward shooting sci-fi features. How long have you been planning to make to shoot this film?

A) There was a time when sci-fi movies were either backyard VHS fan films or multimillion dollar blockbusters. Today the technology is so much more affordable that everyone’s able to create at a much more professional level. It makes sense that the kind of film geeks interested and crazy enough to push and play with this new technology would want to create in the same genre they loved growing up. For me the Arrowhead journey started around four years ago, but it’s really an accumulation of all the sci-fi movies and comic books I consumed as a kid. Now it’s more about making good sci-fi than it ever has been, because there’s so much competition.

Q) I forgot to ask the most obvious question. What is the film about?

A) The short answer is that it tells the story of a mercenary stranded on a desert planet, battling a mysterious creature with only a computer to keep him company. But on another level it’s about imprisonment, isolation, and what it means to be a ‘good’ person. Those are some heavy themes so we’re hoping that wrapping it all up in a colourful and exciting package will soften but at the same time reinforce them.

Q)  Back in the late seventies / early eighties Australia started a revolution in post- apocalyptic road movies. You are the second film maker from your part of the globe that is attempting a sci-fi film on a low budget. Is it hard mounting a sci-fi film there through whatever studio system exist there?

A) There is a ‘studio’ system in Australia, although it’s a government funded film commission that we’re essentially bypassing because we’re involved with a subscription television channel. So I suppose the experience of pitching to a channel, being funded by them and then having to deliver a product for them to distribute is similar to the American studio process, but it’s all gone so smoothly that I can’t really say I’ve really experienced what it’s like to navigate through any system. We’re very lucky in that regard. If I had gone with the government model, based on history I think I would have had a hard time getting a science fiction project off the ground, certainly this project because of its scope. What we’re doing is a big risk on paper, as I imagine a lot of other less fortunate projects are, so it’s no wonder a lot of people attempt getting their movies off the ground using less traditional methods. And if Arrowhead’s journey in any way resembles part of another new wave like the one Australia had in the 70s and 80s, then I’ll feel like we’ve achieved something really special.

Q) The one question that every beginning film maker seems to ask no matter the size and or scope of the production is. What camera or cameras are you planning on shooting the film with? If you had an unlimited budget would your choices be different?

A) We’re shooting Arrowhead on the RED Epic, which is what they used to shoot The Hobbit, Thor: The Dark World, Pacific Rim, and countless other amazing looking productions. If I had an unlimited budget, I’d like to say I’d use 35mm film simply because of my love of classic films shot on celluloid, and to keep that tradition alive. But in the digital realm RED is the gold standard, and the end product is arguably no different. The movie’s going to look stunning thanks to these amazing cameras.

Q) When most hear sci-fi film they think special effect. I on the other hand think sound. From Forbidden Planet to Star Wars, to Alien, to Pitch Black I remember the smooth sound of those films. How important is recording quality audio going to be?

A) Sound is just as important as image, which is easy to forget because you can’t see it. You can’t put good sound on a poster. So our sound designers, location recordist and composer are all going to be working very closely together in the same way I’ll be working closely with the production designer, cinematographer and effects artists. We’re creating a desert world that has to sound unique but also has to generate a certain aural tone. The fact that our main character is alone most of the time means that filling that silence is even more important.

Q) What do you think of the state of sci-fi films and television these day?

A) In a lot of ways there’s never been a better time for sci-fi. We’re able to go and see several mega-budgeted sci-fi films on the big screen every year, so we’re very lucky. For every E.T. there was always a Mac and Me, so even though I believe the best stuff came from that 70s/80s period, it’s not like everything back then was great. These days I think the highs aren’t as good as they used to be, but the overall quality is more consistent. I’m a little put off by all the CGI saturation in everything, and the idea that sequels have to be bigger and more explodey is starting to get on my nerves. I’m a little tired of cities being destroyed in every summer blockbuster’s third act, so I’m hoping the trend will start to shift back again. Whether now is a good time to enter the game is another question, but there’s certainly enough inspiration to draw from.

Q)  I guess that I should ask a few FX questions. Will this film feature a great deal of CGI or are you going to do a lot of practical FX?

A) We’re trying to base a lot of what happens in the movie on what skills we already have. That’s why you saw a lot of digital matte paintings (alien horizons, planets in the sky) in the short film. That’s within our skill set, so we’re embracing that again. There won’t be a lot of heavy CGI, partly because of budgetary reasons but honestly mostly because we embrace practical over digital with a strong passion. Anything that we can do in camera will be done - digital extensions will only happen if they’re completely necessary. When Kye encounters the creature, for example, it’ll be a real creation that will exist on set and that can be lit and interacted with for real. There’s not enough of this happening anymore.

Q) Are you doing the effects work yourself or are you going to outsource this work?

A) If we’re talking digital effects, we’re anticipating 80% of the work will be done within our existing team (myself, our editor and VFX artists), and 20% will be outsourced. We’re completely outsourcing our effects makeup and creature creation, because it’s something we haven’t personally done. The challenge as a director is making sure all of these diverse methods and elements come together to form a consistent whole.

Q) Part of the fun of being an indie film maker is inventing new ways to get things done. To get the most production value out of the least amount of money possible. Watching the short film version of Arrowhead Signal it is amazing to think that you managed to do that for about six hundred dollars. Were there moments of doubt that it would get done?

A) The biggest moment of doubt was the second day of our desert shoot, when one of our crew cars had an accident. Nobody was seriously hurt but for the next few days it was looking pretty scary, and we lost a lot of our props. So at that point I was worried we wouldn’t have a complete story, because that was our last chance to be in the desert. In the end though, it worked out better because we lost a lot of planned scenes that weren’t needed. The climax of the short film, where Kye and Reef stand together on the mountain, was shot months later at a much less spectacular location than we had planned. But aside from this we were spared a whole lizard hunting sequence that in retrospect would have involved some terrible CGI and slowed the pace down greatly. Aside from those exterior forces that we couldn’t control, there was never any doubt we could get that short film made, and it’s that same stubborn refusal to admit the crazy ambition of it all that is keeping us going with the feature.

Arrowhead: Signal (with Director's Commentary) from Arrowhead: The Movie on Vimeo.

Q)  How will this all translate into a feature length film? How much will the cast grow?

A)The cast is still very small, and it’s still the story of one man’s struggle to survive. Cast Away had several characters but it’s only Tom Hanks, Helen Hunt and Wilson that you remember. So the cast will be similar to that. We’re hoping for audiences to be able to look back at the short film after having seen the feature and say ‘I recognize those elements. I remember that scene.’ But the feature is very different - its roots are in the short but it’s greatly expanded. I think fans of the short will be surprised but still feel at home.

 Q) You are doing a crowd funding campaign for this film. How can those who are reading this interview help you to reach your goal?

A) We’ve been funded by the SF channel in Australia and our film is getting made - the current crowdfunding campaign is aimed to help our friends at Gorilla Pictures be involved. We’re in Australia but they’re friends of ours from a film school I attended in Michigan. As Executive Producers they’ve pledged a percentage of the film’s budget, as well as an overwhelmingly generous amount of equipment, resources and crew that will help us make the film bigger and better. They’re committed to helping us but if they can raise some capital to get themselves over here, it means they’ll be able to dedicate all of these assets and for a longer amount of time. If a few hundred people donated $50 then they’ll be able to help us out and offer supporters some pretty cool rewards.

Q) Does the campaign have a Facebook page?  Does the film have a website yet?

A) The movie has a website (www.arrowheadmovie.com) where you can view our short film and behind the scenes materials, and you can also follow us on Twitter and Instagram (@arrowheadmovie). But our most active community is at Facebook.com/ArrowheadMovie.

Q) Will this film get made no matter what?

A) Not only will this film get made, but it is being made as we speak. Preproduction is in full swing - we’re building our sets and costumes, we’re close to finishing the casting process, and we start shooting in ten weeks! The only question at the moment is where we’ll be distributed, but we deliver to the network in late 2014 and the movie will be seen.

 Q) Some final words with the film maker. Is this going to be your genre? Are you going to specialize or are you going to shoot whatever type of film makes the most sense to you at the time. Sort of like Ridley Scott or Spielberg?

A) I’d love to make all kinds of movies, in fact after this one I probably won’t want to look at a spaceship or space suit for a long, long time. All kinds of movies interest me, but my favourites are the ones that build worlds and mythologies and create places you want to go and visit. A lot of these are science fiction, but not all of them - I love genre movies but if I’m lucky enough to make lots of movies, I’m hoping each one will challenge me in a new and exciting way.

Thanks again Eric, looking forward to seeing the finished film.  For those of you who wish to get involved you can do it by contributing to the Kickstarter campaign or by sharing the campaign page or this interview with others.  This is I believe is my eighth interview with someone involved in a crowdfunding campaign and I have monitored all of the campaigns through to the end and the ones that hit their goals all had one thing in common. Social media got them over the top. Twitter, Facebook and word of mouth got them over the top. If you cannot donate money then take the time to share.

Okay that is it for today. I have something on Found footage coming soon, but this will not stop me from finishing the series of sci-fi post. My steampunk post is not going to come until January. I am having fun with the whole steampunk universe so I am taking my time to get it right.

Good luck guys and try to enjoy the film making process.

Tell the World about Your Company with eReleases! Get $25 Off on Any Service from eReleases.com by using Coupon Code: STAR-25L.

Digital Film Updates and my Ebook

Digital Film Updates and my Ebook

This will be a quick post to update you guys on a few campaigns , upcoming topics and my newly released ebook.

First we are going to take a quick look at a new crowd funding campaign for the sequel to The Joker Rising. The film maker sent me the trailer a few days ago and I am sorry it took a while to get it up online.
For those of you who have not seen it, The Joker Rising is not only one of the best fan films ever made, it is one of the best micro budget films ever made. I am going to include the finished film at the end of this post. Check it out and see what you can produce with hard work and less than five thousand dollars.




This is short film that caught my attention and I hope to get and interview with the film maker for a future post.


Arrowhead: Signal from Arrowhead: The Movie on Vimeo.




It is a shameless plug time. I have published a new ebook. It is a collection of interviews about and basic lesson on digital film making. It is a great little book and would make a nice xmas present for the aspiring film maker. The title is On Low Budget Filmmaking, Digital Film Making Interviews. You can find the ebook version at Amazon and B&N right now. The paperback will be available on Amazon in December. You can buy it at amazon by clicking here.  Or clicking here.

One more bit of business if you are a sci fi fan you are aware of the fact that this week will concluded with the 50th anniversary of the series Doctor Who. I a a huge fan of the original version of the series. I have seen every episode of the first seven doctors. Doctor # 3's episode Inferno may be the best pure sci fi episode of any tv series ever done. Okay I would like to post this doctor who short done by the producer of the series, his way of prepping every fan for what is coming Saturday. Its a really good little film, if he had gotten rid of the sonic screwdriver it could have been perfect.



Okay that will be it for today. I have posted the complete version of The Joker Rising below. If any of you have a topic you would like me to cover please contact me by leaving a comment of joining me on google plus. I received the request for a steam punk post to be included in the upcoming sci fi series of post and I am working on it.

Clandestine, And Sci-fi Film Making

 
After seeing the fantastic short sci-fi film Clandestine and seeing the great behind the scene video that film maker Aron J. Anderson shot I wanted to interview him. This interview begins what will be a series of post on the subject of sci-fi film making.

So many film makers have been told that sci-fi is out of reach because you need millions of dollars to make an impressive film. Those who say it and those who believe it do not truly understand what great sci-fi involves. If you believe that the remake of Total Recall or the over blown retooling of the Star Trek Franchise is great science fiction then you need to go back to the starting point and read some of the early masters of the genre. Science fiction is about speculation about technology and how it affects our existence. If you want to see great sci-fi I would suggest a film like Forbidden Planet which has state of art effect for its day, but is about humanity and what took much tech too quickly developed can do to a race like the human race.


Okay that is my rant on science fiction. Time to get to my interview with Aron J Anderson.

Thanks to today’s technology we are seeing a revolution taking place at the low to micro budget film level. What I have notice during the last year is that film makers have begun to move away from shooting quickly comedies and found footage horror and have turned their sights on sci-fi.


Clandestine from Aron J Anderson on Vimeo.


Q)The first question I hear from indie film makers is usually what camera did you shoot it with so I have to ask about the Panasonic Gh3. It is relatively new and I have to ask how well did it perform and would you use it on future projects?

A)I have had many cameras in the last 5 years, Panasonic AG-DVX100B, Canon T2i,Canon 60d, Sony 5n, Sony VG 20, I used the Canon 5d MarkII, and Canon 7d, Panasonic GH2 (hacked), and the Gh3 is by far the quickest and most enjoyable camera I have ever used. It also has the best detail in the image then all but the Panasonic GH2 hacked (Very close). I would defiantly use the GH3 camera on my next projects.

Q)It looks like this camera handled natural light very well. I see from the behind the scenes footage that you used work lights for a few shots. Many low budget film makers consider work lights as a last resort because of of the harsh light that they produce. Did you have any problems with them?

A)The GH3 has pretty good dynamic range for a DSLR. The only time I use work lights is if the location we are filming in is large or there is a lot of bright back lit scenes. In the case of Clandestine we were going to use the work lights to light the actors during the fight scene because you can see that the sun was very bright outside behind the actors and I did not want to have the background blow all the way out. But our generator died and we ended up not using the work lights. So I had to use a still image of the back ground and tracked and composited it back in the scene so it wouldn't be all blown out in the back ground. So I just exposed for the actors and let the background blow out and composited it in post.


Q)Dslr cameras and sound recording are like oil and water. What did you use to record sound?

A)This was the biggest problem for me. We only had 3 months to finish this film for a contest and I couldn't find a dedicated sound guy so I had to just record audio in the GH3 and had a friend hold the boom. So I was teaching my small crew as we went. The sound recording of the GH3 is pretty good but the location we filmed in were noise and I had to use post to really clean the audio up and that is what made the audio disappointing to me. I used the Rode video mic pro on a boom.

Q)There are a lot of special FX in this short film. Who did the visual effects work and what type of software was involved?

A)I did all the FX in the film actually I did everything in the film except the music score, I did however mix the score with all the other audio FX. For 3d I used Blender, 3D studio Max to make the 3D models or manipulate ones already made by other artist. I also heavily used After Effects with Element 3d. For Making all the audio Effects I used the Zoom H1 to capture audio then I used Audacity to creat the audio FX I needed.

Q)Watching the making of video I noticed you checking story boards. When planning a film that requires a great deal of CGI how important are the story boards?

A)Story boarding is so important. I know lots of people who film with out them and they say they don't need them, but if you want to make really good films you need to storyboards specially if you do CG or other complex camera moves.

Q)From the behind the scenes footage it looks as if you work with a very small crew. Are you comfortable wearing many hats on the set? Are you most comfortable with the camera in your hands?

A)The crew That helped me were great however they were friends of mine and they don't have much experience in making films. So I had to wear all the hats. I had to learn all aspects of filmmaking because when I started out I wanted to do so much in a film, but knew no one who knew how to do it, so I had to learn it for my self. I am defiantly most comfortable with the camera in my hands because I am DP first, then everything after that.

Q)Film makers who develop a strong following tend to specialize in one particular genre. Is sci-fi your genre?

A)I think so just because I love all the gadgets and stuff. But defiantly will film other genre.

Q)The first teacher that every film maker has is the film maker that inspired him or her to pick up a camera for the first time. Who was that film maker?

A)That's a tough one for me because when I was 16 I wanted to take pictures of beautiful California while I went mountain biking. So I was self motivated to by a Minolta SLR stills camera and learn photography. It wasn't till years later when the Pastor of my church need someone to buy and work a camera to film the Sunday service. So while I was searching the internet about video cameras I came across Phillip Bloom using lens adapter to fit on camcorders to get shallow death of field. So I guess I would have to say Phillip Bloom.

Q)After watching Clandestine one gets the feeling that it is part of a larger story. Are there other short films in the future based upon these characters and situations or perhaps a feature planned?

A)Yes it is a big story and I planed on making a part two, but then I decided just to re due Clandestine the way it should be, but I need a bigger budget. So I'm going to see if I can get funded for a feature film, if not then I will just make a part two in the same low budget way I did the first one.

Clandestine Behind The Scenes from Aron J Anderson on Vimeo.

Q)Every film maker who spends any time looking at what is happening at the low budget level usually comes away with a wish or two. As in Tarantino wishes that film makers would do melodrama like they did in the 1950’s. I have a boat load of wishes. I wish that we could bring the Western back. What do you believe is missing from the film making landscape?

A)What we don't need is more alien movies. I would love to see more historical drama action movies like Last of The Samurai.

Q)What is your next project?

A)I do lots of filming for other companies for documentary and corporate work and I'm always filming personal videos of nature and the world around me but as far as short film I have Clandestine 2 and two more movies that I'm writing now neither are sci fi.

If you would like to follow Aron’s work you can visit his website by clicking here.

On Facebook by clicking here. and on twitter by clicking here..


Again I would like to thank Aron for doing this interview and you can find more examples of his work and some great DIY tutorials by him at Vimeo.

Please take a moment to share this post and to stumble us on stumbleupon.

Digital Filmmaking, A Few Notes

Digital Filmmaking, A Few Notes

I thought that I would do a quick post on a few subject that I have been meaning to touch upon.

I am working on a pair of interviews concerning sci-fi on a micro budget. So many of us have thought that sci-fi on a feature length scale has been beyond us so that we instead do horror films. I am learning that the same technology that gives us the ability to shoot digital films on a low budget that visually can stand side by side with the studio productions also offers the opportunity to produce sci-fi. I do not believe that it is yet possible to produce a Star Wars or Alien on a micro budget because unless you are going to green screen everything down to the sets themselves you are going to spend some money. Also being a fan of practical effects when possible would inflate a budget. That said, how many of us have watched a recent big budget sci-fi film and thought that we could shoot the exact same film on 1/100 of the budget.

So I will be looking for sci-fi film makers to talk to during the coming months. Okay I have a crowdfunding campaign that I was asked to post. The filmmaker is shooting this film using a Canon T3i. I hope to get an interview with them when their campaign is over.

   

 I would like to also remind you guys that Angel Dust is still in the middle of a campaign and if you cannot donate money you can share the project with a friend. Embed it on your facebook page or use your twitter to share it. The Angel Dust post has been extremely popular, but so far it has not translated into support.   

  Next bit of business, the official international trailer for the now finished Canon hv20 shot feature film Throwback is ready and it looks great. When watching this trailer keep in mind that the movie was shot with a camera that can be purchased for about two hundred dollars.

   

     

 I suppose that will be it for today. I am right now in the middle of editing a an ebook featuring some of the interviews that have been published here with a lot of great new content mixed in. I hope to have it published before the end of this year. Thank you for visiting. Please take a moment to share this post and good luck with your projects.