Hey, all. Just a short post for tonight. Here is a quick video I put together from footage I shot for the Hunting Sensei website (http://www.HuntingSensei.com). It was shot with a little Canon ZR960
Check it out!
-Mat Nastos, The Film Sensei
http://www.FilmSensei.com
After I posted a couple of articles talking about my cool little Canon HV20 camera (now the Canon HV40
All of the filmmakers emailing me had seen the numerous music videos, shorts and test videos shot with the HV20/HV30/HV40 since the cameras debuted a few years back…and there are a lot of amazing examples of just how awesome the little cameras can perform even right out of the box.What was lacking, however, were very many examples of low budget features being shot with the cameras. I have to say that I had a heck of a time finding any decent examples of the Canon HV40
That all changed in May of 2009 during a trip out to Dallas for the Texas Frightmare Weekend. While browsing the dealer room looking for cool indie horror films to add to my already ginormous collection, I ran into a an incredibly nice guy by the name of Abel Berry. Abel is an indie/guerrilla filmmaker from the Dallas area and he was at the show pimping his new horror flick, “Spoils.” Spoils is a revenge flick where a guy comes back from the dead as a particularly creepy killer clown, Spoils the clown to be exact, to enact his revenge on those who wronged him (and killed his hottie of a wife). Full Story →
Like this post? Buy me a beer to keep the site going!So, you’ve got your cool brand new HD camera and you’re ready to shoot your first film. This is where a lot of new filmmakers start to run in to trouble — they thought saving up for their first camera was the hard part, but now the real work (and the real trouble) starts.
Since I’ve gone through exactly what each and every one of you is going through right now back when I shot my first microbudget feature (“Bite Me, Fanboy” back in 2001), I decided to put together a quick list of six important things to remember when you’re getting started as an indie or guerrilla filmmaker. These are what I like to call…(drum roll, please)…
And here, my loyal students, are those tips to help you avoid some of the pitfalls I encountered as a beginning low budget filmmaker. Full Story →
Like this post? Buy me a beer to keep the site going!I am a very bad man. I can’t believe it has been almost a year since I posted part one in this series of articles for indie and guerrilla filmmakers! Sheesh.
Before I get on to part two, I want to say a couple of things about this essential filmmaking equipment list (c’mon, you’ve waited 10 months, waiting a couple of more paragraphs isn’t going to kill you). This list is really for those of you who are just getting started or who are on a budget and looking for some advice on how to get the best quality for the best price. For those of you who have been doing this for years and years or who have a bigger budget, then stick to the reviews I post…this stuff might be a bit basic for you. These are the absolute essential pieces to get started with — well, at least from my experience and perspective.
In part one of my “Top 10 Essential Equipment for Indie Filmmakers” I talked about cool cameras to pick up at various budget levels. Even after a year those choices haven’t really changed. My high end pick for best camera is still the Canon XHA1. The camera gives an indie filmmaker everything he could possibly want in camera and spits out some amazing footage. The XHA1 is also the camera a majority of the big-budget action-thriller, Crank 2, was shot with. If it’s good enough for a multi-million dollar blockbuster, then you can bet it’s good enough for an indie!
My mid-range choice, the Canon HV20 has been replaced by the HV40. If you’re looking to go for this camera and want to save a little cash, there are a lot of great deals going on for the previous generation HV20 and HV30. The HV40 itself is a fantastic camera and well worth looking in to.
For the low end, really, whatever you can get your hands on that has a mic input is going to be fine. Try to avoid cameras with no mic input because that will limit you to whatever crappy built-in mic the camera has, which is never a good idea. Adding on a mic, even one with a 3.5mm mini jack plug, is going to increase the quality of your sound and give you a much more watchable film when you’re done.
Since we’re talking about sound and microphones already, that gives me a good transition to talk about what mics and sound equipment are essential for an indie or guerrilla filmmaker. Now, before anyone goes off on me, with sound equipment, the more money you have to spend, the better your equipment will be. If you can afford just under $600, then the Audio-Technica AT4073 kit should be one of your first considerations; if you’ve got over $1000 your choices open up considerably and you’ve got options like the Sennheiser MKH-416 or the Sennheiser ME67/K6 Deluxe Microphone kit. Also, at under $500, the Sennheiser ME66/K6 combo or any of the related kits is a fantastic choice. In other words, more money equals higher quality of sound. And remember as a rule, the longer the shotgun mic, the better. Full Story →
Like this post? Buy me a beer to keep the site going!It has been far too long since I’ve posted a good product review and today I’m going to fix that with a doozy. Like every other low budget, indie or guerrilla filmmaker out there, one of the things I wish for every day of my life is a good, low budget option to a steadicam. Lacking that, I’m always looking for a way to make my handheld shots smoother and more manageable.
Unfortunately, up until now there really hasn’t been much out on the market. Options are either crappy hand made, no-gimbal “Poor man’s steadicam” units, horribly made knock-offs from India or paying an obscene amount of money for a true steadicam set-up. For me, none of those options were really options at all. Because of that, it always seemed like an affordable camera stabilizer was always going to be out of my reach as a low budget, guerrilla filmmaker.
Luckily, I’ve got some of the best readers on the Internet and I had my eyes opened to one of the most fantastic pieces of indie filmmaking equipment out there. The unit I’m talking about is a little thing called the Atlas Camera Support System (also known as the Atlas Camera Stabilizer and formerly the Indie Steadicam). Created by Michael Knowles (no relation to Harry), an indie filmmaker in his own right, the Atlas Camera Support is billed an affordable camera stabilizer that gives you the ability to shoot hand held for longer periods of time and get smoother shots. Full Story →
Like this post? Buy me a beer to keep the site going!It is days like today that remind me just how darn lucky I am to make a living doing what I love. You see, today a very good friend of mine name Alex Waxman brought over what has to be one of the coolest toys ever made with an indie or guerilla filmmaker in mind. What he brought over was so cool, in fact, that for a split second I considered hitting him over the head and running away with it for myself. Luckily for him, Alex is a very big guy with a very hard head, so I was too scared to try it.
I’m not going to tell you what that toy was yet. No, I’m going to be a tease and tell you why you, my fellow low budget filmmaker, will absolutely want to have one for your next shoot. Why, if you were in my place today, you too would have contemplated braining one of your best friends in the world in order to make off with his new toy.
What is it that ever low budget, indie or guerilla filmmaker wishes he had more of in his films? The one thing that could make the difference between a sellable film and something that sits on his shelf at home and rots? Nooooo…I’m not talking about more boobies. What I’m talking about is that mythical and ever elusive “production value.” In films, production value comes in many forms: it can be a giant submarine set, or explosives, or a car chase through downtown Chicago. Or, it can come in the form of aerial footage. And that, my friends, is where Alex’s new toy comes in.
If you’ve ever dreamed of getting some low budget aerial footage of a scene, of a car chase, of a neighborhood or of anything else, then the Draganflyer Stabilized Aerial Video System (SAVS) is the answer to your prayers.
Like this post? Buy me a beer to keep the site going!Welcome to the DOJO!
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.
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
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
I wanted to follow-up my earlier post on DVD courses for learning filmmaking with something a little different. About a year ago I was working on a low budget indie action film of my own — I’d worked on tons of them in the past as a storyboard artist and have put together an insane number of action sequences as a comic book artist, but this was the first time I was going to be directing an action flick of my own. Since I was on an incredibly low budget (anemic budget would be more accurate), I knew we weren’t going to have a big stunt team or have weeks of training for our actors. To try and avoid the crappy looking action bits that plague low budget indie and guerilla films, I wanted to do as much pre-work as I could for the fight sequences we’d be filming.
Sure, I am a rabid fan of martial arts and action movies and have hundreds (if not more) in my collection. And, sure, I’d storyboarded 30 or more action flicks over the course of my career. But, the truth is, I had no practical knowledge on putting together a fight scene on set. What was worse was, I had absolutely no idea where to start.
Luckily for me a quick Google search resulted in one of the best low buget indie filmmaking finds I’ve ever had the pleasure to discover. What I’m talking about is a down-and-dirty instructional DVD called “Fightscenes for Motion Pictures” by the Kerby Brothers (www.kbproducts.com). I’ve stolen some of the images from their website — here’s hoping they don’t get upset and come to kick my ass! Full Story →
Like this post? Buy me a beer to keep the site going!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 →
Like this post? Buy me a beer to keep the site going!
On Facebook
On Twitter
On Google+
On YouTube
On Linked In
On IMDB
On Amazon
On SmashWords
RSS Feed