Archive for the 'Review' Category
Posted by Mat on 5th, 2009
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The number one problem for every indie or guerilla filmmaker out there is: “Where the heck do I find a distributor for my low budget film so people can see it?” In other words, “will I make enough money to pay off all those damn credit cards I ran up to make my film?” Yup, the age old question of what to do with that film after you’ve finished shooting and editing it.
And you thought making a film was the hard part?
Well, like a lot of you, I’ve asked myself those same questions a number of times and have even taken the dreaded path of self distribution. Over the course of following that path, I ran into a very cool little website, Caachi.com, that offers an interesting take on digital or online film distribution. You may be surprised by what I discovered.
Full Story →
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Posted by Mat on 4th, 2009
Welcome to the DOJO!
Is any one else as tired as I am from the holidays? Sheesh, I think I get more worn out from the end of the year holiday “vacation” than from any amount of work. Something about large numbers of relatives and in-laws decending upon my home just plain sucks the energy out of me. I’m ready to get back to work and get some rest!
One of the upsides of this particular holiday season is that I always wind up getting some pretty cool gadgets I might not have otherwise purchased for myself. My beloved wife seems to pay extra attention to all the gear I talk about in the final months of the year, makes a list and then goes out and picks the stuff up. I’m pretty sure I’ve got the best wife in the entire universe!
For this particular Christmas, I found a handy little item waiting for me Christmas morning, the Sony DVP-FX820 Portable DVD Player
…and more than that, I found the answer to my long standing prayers for an affordable solution to the problem of trying to focus a high definition image on my tiny Canon HV20 LCD screen (and the near impossible task of doing so with a 35mm lens adapter strapped to the front of my camera).
As any indie or guerilla filmmaker out there knows, HD (high definition for the neophytes out there) monitors are expensive as heck, which puts them out of reach for most low budget filmmakers. Unfortunately, with more and more of the industry turning to HD for production, it’s quickly becoming a requirement to have one. This is even moreso the case for those of us who have 35mm adapters, such as the Letus, Brevis, JAG35 or TwoNeil adapters, in our toolkits. The LCDs on even the larger cameras can be a pain to focus with and the tiny little LCD on the Canon HV20/HV30 is just plain brutal.
So what are guerilla and indie filmmakers to do? Well, the answer comes in the form of the Sony DVP-FX820 Portable DVD Player. Full Story →
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Posted by Mat on 29th, 2008
Welcome to the DOJO!
Woooo! It’s time again for a new bit of wisdom from the Film Sensei. Now that the holidays are over and the in-laws have all gone home and left the DOJO quiet and peaceful once more I can get back to the important things in life…enlightening to unlightened.
While I do make fun of my wife’s family from time to time, one of the benefits of the holidays is a chance to hang out with her cousin, Cousin Frank. You see, Cousin Frank is a wannabe indie filmmaker — and I use “wannabe” in the best possible way. He loves film and is incredibly interested in the entire filmmaking process — from low budget, indie or guerilla filmmaking all the way up to the $100 million Hollywood films. He buys DVDs just for their behind-the-scenes featurettes and is the only person I know to have scoured the internet for copies of every season of Project: Greenlight — heck, he’s probably reading this post right now!
Cousin Frank’s problem (aside from a receeding hairline he hides by shaving his head) is that he wants to take his passion to the next step but doesn’t know where to start. He works fulltime and doesn’t really have the money for film school…even if he did, he’s read far too many articles online telling him that film school is a complete waste for most people. Well, when I met with Cousin Frank at my wife’s Aunt Mary’s house on Christmas Eve he announced he was ready to make the leap and wanted to know what the best way to learn filmmaking — was it online? DVDs? Books? Workshops? All he knew was he didn’t want to waste the time or money going to film school.
What I told Cousin Frank was: there is no universal way for someone to learn filmmaking. For some people books work, while for others book-learning doesn’t. Same for DVDs or online courses. But, I did agree that film school really wasn’t the best place to learn — the best place is to get out and work on some sets and then to put together your own indie or guerilla films. However, if he wanted to learn the how tos of filmmaking, then one of the absolute best courses I’ve had the pleasure to come across is the Digital Cinema Filmmaking DVD course by Rush Hamden (also called the Digital Filmmaker’s Training Course DVDs). Full Story →
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Posted by Mat on 26th, 2008
Welcome to the Dojo!
It was another fantastic holiday season here at the Sensei household, filled with fun,with friends and with family. It was also filled, surprisingly enough, with some indie / guerilla filmmaking questions from a most unexpected of places: my in-laws!
Now, it’s not surprising to have various members of my wife’s family want to talk to me about making movies or ideas for films (heck, her father gives me hour long movie pitches at every dinner we go to with them!). The unusual part was to have one of her relatives come up to me while attending the yearly Christmas party at Aunt Mary’s house and start to fire off some very specific questions on indie filmmaking equipment in general and guerilla lighting equipment in specifc. Cousin Frank, you see, was very interested in what it takes for someone with limited funds to put together a low budget lighting kit — one that won’t break after a couple of uses and will still hold up to the rigors of independent filmmaking!
As somone whose career has spanned ultra high budget films all the way down to $5000 features shot over a week, I not only understand the necessity of a good lighting kits but also the need of an indie or guerilla filmmaker to put something reliable together on a low cost. While the big boys have fantastic equipment from Arri, Mole, Lowell and Kinoflow, that same equipment is oft-times way out of budget range for a low budget filmmaker. Cousin Frank wanted to know if there were any alternatives out there for him outside of working with Home Depot work lights. Was there a way for him to get some “real lights” (his words) for under $1000, for under $500 or for less?
The answer I gave Cousin Frank was a resounding “Yes.” Full Story →
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Posted by Mat on 16th, 2008
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As an indie filmmaker I am a firm believer in the power of digital cinema and filmmaking. I’ve owned and been using various forms of DV cameras since I shot “Bite Me, Fanboy” back in 2001. However, like almost every indie or guerilla filmmaker on the planet, I still love the look of a project shot on film. There is just something ingrained into my being that will also respond to the look of a 35mm or, as a fan of 1970s exploitation films, 16mm film. To me, video almost never looks quite right.
The rise of digital cameras with the ability to shoot at 24p (24 progressive frames per second) has helped the look of digital video, but there was still something missing. Truthfully, the main thing missing from most DV (or HD or HDV or whatever your preferred digital filmmaking format is) is creative color correction and post processing, but that’s not what I’m going to talk about today. What is missing on consumer and “prosumer” digital camcorders is the power of a great lens. Sure, a lot of the higher end digital video cameras have some very good lenses on them these days. However, they still don’t quite hold a candle to a professional 35mm camera lens.
In specific, what most dv cameras lack is the ability to change your focal length and the ability to get a great shallow depth of field. For those of you out there who aren’t sure of what the term “depth of field” means or why you’d want a shallow one, I’ll explain…for those of you who already know, I give you permission to go ahead and skip past the rest of this paragraph. Your “depth of field” is basically referring to what is in focus on screen (or in your camera). A deep depth of field means more is in focus (or everything in some cases) and a shallow depth of field means a small portion is in focus with everything else blurred out to varying degrees. You’ll notice in most films (but not all), when a character is in close-up, the background is blurred out. That statement over simplifies things, but this post is a product review and not a treatise on DOF (depth of field). All you need to know is film lenses allow you to obtain a very shallow DOF, which allows you as the director to control what your viewers see on screen and is an important part of film storytelling. If you want to know more, Google the damn phrase and leave me alone. 
Full Story →
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Posted by Mat on 27th, 2008
Welcome to the DOJO!
Anyone who is a regular visitor to us here at the DOJO knows that I absolutely love buying new toys and gadgets for my indie filmmaking toolkit. And I really enjoy getting to try out the gear I know other guerilla filmmakers are dying to find out about without having to risk their own money buying it. That’s right, I spend my money so you don’t have to!
One item in particular that I have been eyeballing for years now (ever since we shot “Bite Me, Fanboy” back in 2001) is a motorized pan and tilt head. The Bescor MP-101 motorized pan & tilt head to be precise. I’ve seen this thing pop up in ads everywhere — from DV Magazine to Indie Slate to ads online. The bummer for me was that I never really had a reason to go out and buy one because I didn’t have my own boom/jib set up. And, in spite of what my wife says, I don’t normally go out and spend $120 for no reason! Full Story →
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Posted by Mat on 20th, 2008
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I spend a lot of time at my local Barnes & Noble. Way too much time and, if my credit card statements are any indication, way, way too much money. I wish there were a “frequent flyer” equivilent at B&N because, if there were, I’d have racked up 10,000 miles this year alone!
One section of the bookstore I frequent with an almost religious regularity is the Film/TV/Media section. At my B&N it is located right behind the Science Fiction and Graphic Novel Section, which makes it very convenient for this comic book-television-film nerd. An entire section of a store dedicated to not getting laid? I’m there!
As am indie filmmaker who has been around for a while now, one of the books that has kept popping up on my radar was “From Reel to Deal: Everything You Need to Create a Successful Independent Film” by Dov S-S Simens. If you’ve been online and seen ads or the websites for the “Web Film School” or “2-Day Film School” then you are probably already familiar with Simens. He’s the “Billy Mays” of the film instruction scene — very used-car salesman, fast talking and lots of repetition.
The back cover of From Reel to Deal
begins the infomercial sales pitch for the book (and is a nice lead in for Simens’ film school and DVDs as well) and proclaims to the world that the author is a reknowned film producer (of the “independent classics” “Flex” and “Final Hour,” both of which “actually made money”) and has launched the careers of industry pros like “Quentin Tarantino, Guy Ritchie, Chris Nolan and Baz Luhrmann.”
Wow, with a build up like that, I figured the insides of the 422-page book must be an incredible fount of knowledge and information. I was excited to get started and placed “From Reel to Deal” at the top of my “bathroom read” pile. Truth-be-told, I spend even more time in my bathroom than I do at Barnes & Noble. Well, a week and twelve bathroom reading sessions later, I’ve read Dov S-S Simens’ “From Reel to Deal” and wanted to talk about in here at the FilmSensei.com. Full Story →
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Posted by Mat on 15th, 2008
Welcome to the DOJO!
First off, I’ve been a bit lax in my posting this week due to a rather intense bout of food poisoning. We were at my wife’s favorite sushi place (Kabuki’s in Pasadena) and I must have been hit with some bad Tonkatsu because we both ate the same sushi and she didn’t end up sick. Food poisoning, if you’ve ever had it, only lasts about 24 hours, but those 24 hours are some of the worst in your life.
Of course, the wife didn’t completely miss out on the pain of my illness: during one of my hyper-vomit sessions I missed the toilet and sprayed some rather colorful stuff on the wall. Note to self: avocado rolls look particularly disgusting when half-digested and smeared on bathroom tile. Running through my head during the entire sessions was “Gee, I wish I could be filming this.”
If I was a wittier or more clever writer, I’d be able to seque vomiting in to talking about my current Canon HV20 camera rig, but I’m not. You, faithful students of the DOJO, will have to put up with one of my usual heavy-handed transitions.
Now that I’ve mentioned it a few times in passing, a few readers have written in and asked about the set up I’m using right now for my Canon HV20 HDV Camera and if it would work for a Canon HV30. The answer to the second question is “Yes.” Physically the Canon HV20 and HV30 cameras are pretty close to identical, with only a couple of interior changes — the main one being the HV30’s ability to shoot 30p footage — so any accessories or add-ons for the HV20 can be used on the HV30 and vice versa.
In regards to the first question I want to say upfront that my HV20 rig isn’t quite complete yet. I’m still waiting for the most important add-on, a 35mm adapter, which is on back order and won’t be to me for another month or so. I’ll be tossing a matte box with rod support on the front of that and then attaching a Xenarc 7″ monitor to my rails (once I figure out how to do it). No, it’s not an HD monitor. I’m still looking around for the best option for an HD monitor to go with the Canon HV20…I’ve been considering trying the DIY Samsung monitor route, but I’m not sure how a 10″ monitor will work on a small camera like the HV20.
On to the rig itself. Obviously, the base of the unit is the Canon HV20 HDV video camera. Right now both the HV20 and its successor, the Canon HV30, can be found for under $800 and, in some places under $700. I’d be a tough choice of which camera to pick if I were buying one today with the HV20’s price being $100 or more lower versus the HV30’s ability to shoot 30p footage in addition to the standard 24p or 60i. The HV30 also looks really cool in black and, as Wesley Snipes said, “Always bet on black.” Full Story →
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Posted by Mat on 9th, 2008
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As a low budget or guerilla filmmaker, one of the things I’ve learned over the past 10 years or so is the thing which separates a good indie film from bad porn is sound quality. If you’ve ever watched a video on Youtube (or used the Internet for its true purpose and downloaded some whacked-out German poopy porn), then you know exactly what I mean. Tinny sounding voice, strange echoing sounds or even voices which are too quiet to hear properly or fade in and out.
While a lot can be done to fix a video’s sound in post, most of the time problems can be fixed upfront with a solid, pro-quality microphone instead of your camcorder’s crappy onboard mic. One of the absolute best choices out on the market for a reasonably priced pro-quality shotgun mic is the Azden SGM-1x shotgun microphone. Full Story →
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Posted by Mat on 6th, 2008
Welcome to the DOJO!
Indie and Guerilla filmmakers can get away with quite a bit on their low budget features - bad acting, bad scripts, even bad shots — but the one thing you absolutely cannot get away with is bad sound. That’s right, the only thing that keeps your masterpiece of a micro budget feature film from feeling like a bad porno is high quality sound recording. Unfortunately, it is nearly impossible to get decent sound from a low-cost consumer microphone with a 3.5mm mini jack. You can try it, but, much like me squeezing into a Medium-sized T-shirt, the end results are never pretty.
I can hear your cries now, “But, Mat, my consumer/prosumer camera doesn’t have XLR inputs…what can I do?” Full Story →
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