my early work (mid 1980's)

[Jason Maeda]

"(you know how the Japanese are when it comes to saving face and keeping up appearances.)"

 

ha ha! thank god, too. without that social shame thing we wouldn't have half of the great japanese films!

 

jk :ph34r:

[Daniel Smith]

Anyone consider how annoying it is having a mother that "doesn't" want you to move out?

 

I know it's nice not having to pay a full mortgage, get food every day and have your clothes washed, but I'm personally considering joining the Royal Marines. But out of emotional stress from my mum I can't.

 

I know that doesn't sound like much of a disappointment to some of you people around here but when you've wanted to join the armed forces for as long as I have, you would know.

Edited April 5, 2007 by Daniel Ashley-Smith

[James Steven Beverly]

Anyone consider how annoying it is having a mother that "doesn't" want you to move out?

 

I know it's nice not having to pay a full mortgage, get food every day and have your clothes washed, but I'm personally considering joining the Royal Marines. But out of emotional stress from my mum I can't.

 

I know that doesn't sound like much of a disappointment to some of you people around here but when you've wanted to join the armed forces for as long as I have, you would know.

 

You guys are getting ready to bomb the poop out of Iran....If I were you, I'd listen to my mommie unless you feel like getting your ass shot off for Chevron.

 

From Love and Death (1975, edited of course):

 

Mikhail: Our brother has a yellow streak down his back.

 

Boris: No, it's not down, it runs across.

 

Sonja: What are you suggesting, passive resistance?

 

Boris: No, I'm suggesting active fleeing. We have to take our possessions and flee. I'm very good at that. I was the men's freestyle fleeing champion two years in a row.

 

Sonja: Boris, you can't be serious, you're talking about Mother Russia.

 

Boris: She's not my mother. My mother's standing right here, and she's not gonna let her youngest baby get shrapnel in his gums.

 

Mother: He'll go and he'll fight, and I hope they will put him in the front lines.

 

Boris: Thanks a lot, Mom. My mother, folks.

 

Sonja: Boris, you're a coward!

 

Boris: Yes, but I'm a militant coward.

 

Drill Sergeant: From now on you'll clean the mess hall and the latrine!

 

Boris: Yes, sir! How will I tell the difference?

 

 

As for living with your mother, I don't know about the British chicks but American girls REALLY get turned on when they find out you still live with your mother, so even if you do, if you actually want to get layed sometime this century, I wouldn't let her find out you still live with your mom.

[Daniel Smith]

You guys are getting ready to bomb the poop out of Iran....If I were you, I'd listen to my mommie unless you feel like getting your ass shot off for Chevron.

 

From Love and Death (1975, edited of course):

 

Mikhail: Our brother has a yellow streak down his back.

 

Boris: No, it's not down, it runs across.

 

Sonja: What are you suggesting, passive resistance?

 

Boris: No, I'm suggesting active fleeing. We have to take our possessions and flee. I'm very good at that. I was the men's freestyle fleeing champion two years in a row.

 

Sonja: Boris, you can't be serious, you're talking about Mother Russia.

 

Boris: She's not my mother. My mother's standing right here, and she's not gonna let her youngest baby get shrapnel in his gums.

 

Mother: He'll go and he'll fight, and I hope they will put him in the front lines.

 

Boris: Thanks a lot, Mom. My mother, folks.

 

Sonja: Boris, you're a coward!

 

Boris: Yes, but I'm a militant coward.

 

Drill Sergeant: From now on you'll clean the mess hall and the latrine!

 

Boris: Yes, sir! How will I tell the difference?

As for living with your mother, I don't know about the British chicks but American girls REALLY get turned on when they find out you still live with your mother, so even if you do, if you actually want to get layed sometime this century, I wouldn't let her find out you still live with your mom.

Well... it's something that's hard to understand for some people.

 

To people here it sounds like how you describe it, going into a war and dying for Chevron. To anybody interested in joining the military it's totally different.

 

Anway, that's for another time.

 

 

Interesting work David.

Edited April 5, 2007 by Daniel Ashley-Smith

[Ratheesh Ravindran]

Someone once asked about seeing my early stuff.

 

I just figured out how to get some frames off of an old VHS tape I have from the 1980's (I'm amazed that it is playable...) The picture quality is very low, tape-spliced Super-8 transferred on a film chain at Yale Labs to a VHS tape master, which I had to dub to DVCAM in order to import it into imovie on my Mac, then grab frames from. I shrunk the frames down just to give you a flavor of a series of images on one forum page.

 

Mostly Plus-X b&w reversal shot on a Sankyo 60XL, sometimes with a wide-angle adaptor.

 

Some shots are time-lapse, like the wrist watch in the f.g. of the freeway. You see the dial of the watch spinning as the cars zip by. And the silhoutte of the stop sign had time lapse clouds parting to reveal the sun.

 

This is the sort of stuff I was shooting around the time I graduated from UCLA before I went to film school three years later, experimental films shot on the weekends with my friends. In this case, the male lead later became a producer and screenwriter on Star Trek, and the female lead is my sister. What I can't really show here is that most of my shots had a lot of camera movement (hence the wide-angle adaptor) on a homemade dolly, so I picked the few static shots to grab.

 

I was obviously going through my David Lynch meets Orson Welles phase back then (audio was mostly industrial sounds lifted from Eraserhead, plus Bernard Herrmann music). But this short film landed me a job shooting Super-8 for a karaoke music video, my first paid shooting job, and was also part of my portfolio to get into CalArts.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Super-8 was really my film school...

 

This was back when I wanted to be a director. Students at CalArts saw this stuff and started saying "you should be a cinematographer... and shoot my film!" Which is how I started shooting for other people.

 

awesome david...these images really looks sexy...!

[James Steven Beverly]

Well... it's something that's hard to understand for some people.

 

To people here it sounds like how you describe it, going into a war and dying for Chevron. To anybody interested in joining the military it's totally different.

 

Anway, that's for another time.

Interesting work David.

 

Trust me Danny, I DO understand, the minute some joker decides it's time to destroy western civilization by dropping a nuke on Florida, I"ll be the first guy getting my head sheared and accessorising with grenades and a bayonet, but right now we're in a bullsh*t situation, both of our nations got conned into by a make-believe cowboy with a archangel complex, a below average IQ and controlled by a group of soulless puppeteers. Unfortuately teenaged marines are the first grunts these bastards decide to send in when the poop starts to get hot, so all I'm offerin' is a little piece of advice refined through my many years of paddying upstream along Sh*tcreek, think long and hard about what's worth dyin' for and what's a lot of political garbage wraped in a flag and meant to camoflage the fact that this war is being fought to keep some extremely rich people in yachts and private islands by allowing them to make billions selling a product that's slowly poisoning the air we breath, so they don't have to spend thier polo pony money on developing few freakin' alternative energy sources that may allow the Earth to still have the ability to support life in 60 years or so, that's all. Don't believe the the lies, kid, sometimes the most patriotic thing you can do is fight the people in government who are sh*tting on everything that government is suppose to stand for.

 

Anyway as you say, a discussion for another time. B)

Edited April 6, 2007 by James Steven Beverly

[David Sweetman]

awesome, I especially like the silhouette at the beach; taking that exposure would scare the crap out of me, I'd have no idea where to put it.

[Daniel Smith]

Trust me Danny, I DO understand, the minute some joker decides it's time to destroy western civilization by dropping a nuke on Florida, I"ll be the first guy getting my head sheared and accessorising with grenades and a bayonet, but right now we're in a bullsh*t situation, both of our nations got conned into by a make-believe cowboy with a archangel complex, a below average IQ and controlled by a group of soulless puppeteers. Unfortuately teenaged marines are the first grunts these bastards decide to send in when the poop starts to get hot, so all I'm offerin' is a little piece of advice refined through my many years of paddying upstream along Sh*tcreek, think long and hard about what's worth dyin' for and what's a lot of political garbage wraped in a flag and meant to camoflage the fact that this war is being fought to keep some extremely rich people in yachts and private islands by allowing them to make billions selling a product that's slowly poisoning the air we breath, so they don't have to spend thier polo pony money on developing few freakin' alternative energy sources that may allow the Earth to still have the ability to support life in 60 years or so, that's all. Don't believe the the lies, kid, sometimes the most patriotic thing you can do is fight the people in government who are sh*tting on everything that government is suppose to stand for.

 

Anyway as you say, a discussion for another time. B)

It's a slightly different reason I'm interested... (and no it's not to get laid... I can think of much easier ways...)

[Andy_Alderslade]

It's a slightly different reason I'm interested... (and no it's not to get laid... I can think of much easier ways...)

 

Have you considered the Fire Service? I don't know why you're interested in the Marines, you seem to be very cryptic about that, but it will offer you many things you think the army will provide you, but in a less dubious form.

 

Not that I'm saying the british armed forces is dubious, but soldiers today are being sent into some unusual situations today, and its questionable whether the goverment is investing properly in the army (safety equipment, pay etc)

 

The Fire Service will challenge you, make you fit, and make you feel like genuinly have something to contribute to society.

 

What a strange thing to discuss on a cinematography forum...

[Matthew Buick]

They're certainly not my style. But nontheless I love them. :)

[Daniel Smith]

Have you considered the Fire Service? I don't know why you're interested in the Marines, you seem to be very cryptic about that, but it will offer you many things you think the army will provide you, but in a less dubious form.

 

Not that I'm saying the british armed forces is dubious, but soldiers today are being sent into some unusual situations today, and its questionable whether the goverment is investing properly in the army (safety equipment, pay etc)

 

The Fire Service will challenge you, make you fit, and make you feel like genuinly have something to contribute to society.

 

What a strange thing to discuss on a cinematography forum...

The fire brigade would be a fantastic job, low hours, high pay, good benefits e.t.c. It would fit in 'perfectly' with a job in filming. But unfortunatelly my vision is not very good. I'm not even sure the marines would accept me, without any form of laser treatment.

 

But the fire brigade make you fit... not one of the most elite non-special forces soldiers in the world. There's no para's after you've completed their training. It's either the SAS or the SBS. (I'm not saying I'd make either of them, but the royal marines are closer than anything.)

 

But anyway, I really don't want to derail this topic any more than I have already.

Edited April 7, 2007 by Daniel Ashley-Smith

[Andy_Alderslade]

It would fit in 'perfectly' with a job in filming.

 

If you want a job in filming, you should do a job in filming - there's no way you could possibly have another job while working (paid) in the film or televsion industry. Film is a demanding wife and mistress.

 

However the vast majority of people in junior possitions in the UK film and TV industry are in their late 20s or early 30s - (ha thats probably why i'm currently out of work). So there is no rush, if you wanted to do something else first, then I guess you could, including the marines.

 

I guess you could build up a showreel of work camera/directing/writing or whatever your into, while working for the firebrigade - but you won't be able to have a paid film job, well unless you become a screenwriter.

 

I only suggested the Firebrigade because like the Army its an honerable, proud and physically demanding but its without some of the moral complications of the military.

[James Steven Beverly]

The fire brigade would be a fantastic job, low hours, high pay, good benefits e.t.c. It would fit in 'perfectly' with a job in filming. But unfortunatelly my vision is not very good. I'm not even sure the marines would accept me, without any form of laser treatment.

 

But the fire brigade make you fit... not one of the most elite non-special forces soldiers in the world. There's no para's after you've completed their training. It's either the SAS or the SBS. (I'm not saying I'd make either of them, but the royal marines are closer than anything.)

 

But anyway, I really don't want to derail this topic any more than I have already.

 

You know, I always thought if I was ever to join the service, that's what I'd want to do, be in Recon, Delta Force a Seal maybe. I mean if you're gonna be a killer, why not be the best there is, right? But then living next to one of the biggest Army bases in the US, FT. Bliss, where they train most of the guys going to Iraq, I met a lot of retired special forces and special ops guys. I met some that had be wounded, one guy who had survived 2 tours in Vietnam and retired but had a critical MOS and got called back in. His Humvee got blown apart by an IED and he can hardly leave his house now. The man was freakin' 56 years old, had done his job under fire and should have never had to go into a combat zone again, Now look at him, it was then I realized, nothing is as romantic as it seems. If you have concidered all this an still feel this is something you have to do, then you should join and they'll be lucky to have someone with your commitment, if not, really consider it. War is not romantic. When Sherman said "War is Hell" , he wasn't being mediphoric, it's litterally the closest thing to a vision of Hell there is on Earth. If you ever get the chance, watch the Doc. The Typewriter, the Rifle & the Movie Camera. It's about director Samuel Fuller, who was a with the Big Red One, the US Army's First Infantry Division who took on some of the heaviest fighting of the war including the taking of Omaha Beach. Listen to what he has to say about war. You're a movie guy so let's go there. Platoon, Oliver Stone was a grunt in Nam as you know and this is his expirence of combat. The opening 20 minutes of Saving Private Ryan, said by many D-Day vets to be the most accurate portrayal of combat ever put on film. This is the reality of war. A bomb or bullet is pretty indescriminate as to who it kills, and it doesn't matter how good your training is if you're unlucky that day. If you have something to prove to yourself, a war is not the place to do it, you're just going to end up getting your self or someone else killled. If however, you have have already concidered this and there are other reasons, that only a stint in the millitary will fulfill, then you should go. I understand your mother's concerns, but ultimately it's your life and you've got to live it. Just don't expect the Marines to fix any problems you have now, only you can do that.

[Daniel Smith]

If you want a job in filming, you should do a job in filming - there's no way you could possibly have another job while working (paid) in the film or televsion industry. Film is a demanding wife and mistress.

 

However the vast majority of people in junior possitions in the UK film and TV industry are in their late 20s or early 30s - (ha thats probably why i'm currently out of work). So there is no rush, if you wanted to do something else first, then I guess you could, including the marines.

 

I guess you could build up a showreel of work camera/directing/writing or whatever your into, while working for the firebrigade - but you won't be able to have a paid film job, well unless you become a screenwriter.

 

I only suggested the Firebrigade because like the Army its an honerable, proud and physically demanding but its without some of the moral complications of the military.

Well it's nice to have something that pays a good wage and gives a lot of time off to do the things you really love. I know it wouldn't be enough time to work in film or TV professionally but it would be a great start.

 

 

You know, I always thought if I was ever to join the service, that's what I'd want to do, be in Recon, Delta Force a Seal maybe. I mean if you're gonna be a killer, why not be the best there is, right? But then living next to one of the biggest Army bases in the US, FT. Bliss, where they train most of the guys going to Iraq, I met a lot of retired special forces and special ops guys. I met some that had be wounded, one guy who had survived 2 tours in Vietnam and retired but had a critical MOS and got called back in. His Humvee got blown apart by an IED and he can hardly leave his house now. The man was freakin' 56 years old, had done his job under fire and should have never had to go into a combat zone again, Now look at him, it was then I realized, nothing is as romantic as it seems. If you have concidered all this an still feel this is something you have to do, then you should join and they'll be lucky to have someone with your commitment, if not, really consider it. War is not romantic. When Sherman said "War is Hell" , he wasn't being mediphoric, it's litterally the closest thing to a vision of Hell there is on Earth. If you ever get the chance, watch the Doc. The Typewriter, the Rifle & the Movie Camera. It's about director Samuel Fuller, who was a with the Big Red One, the US Army's First Infantry Division who took on some of the heaviest fighting of the war including the taking of Omaha Beach. Listen to what he has to say about war. You're a movie guy so let's go there. Platoon, Oliver Stone was a grunt in Nam as you know and this is his expirence of combat. The opening 20 minutes of Saving Private Ryan, said by many D-Day vets to be the most accurate portrayal of combat ever put on film. This is the reality of war. A bomb or bullet is pretty indescriminate as to who it kills, and it doesn't matter how good your training is if you're unlucky that day. If you have something to prove to yourself, a war is not the place to do it, you're just going to end up getting your self or someone else killled. If however, you have have already concidered this and there are other reasons, that only a stint in the millitary will fulfill, then you should go. I understand your mother's concerns, but ultimately it's your life and you've got to live it. Just don't expect the Marines to fix any problems you have now, only you can do that.

Well it would be unfortunate if I did get shot, blown up or whatever, but it's the risk any soldier takes.

 

It's also unfortunate that the soldier you spoke about can barely leave his house anymore, however it's a rare case. I know a 50 year old ex-royal marine who younger 20/30 year olds wouldn't dare mess with.

 

I'm interested in the royal marines because of the life, and the way it sets you straight. Spend a few years in the Army/Navy/RAF and it will do you the world of good and will help set you straight for life. It gives you confidence, self respect, physical well being, and a good working ethics.

 

That and practically most of my family serve the U.K. in some way or another. Uncle worked for MI6, uncle was in the royal marines, grandparents fought and survived WW1 and 2 (and earned several medals for bravery), dad works for Her Majesty's Prison Service and my uncle works for the Fire Brigade. But that's only a tiny percentage of why I'm interested.

 

But more than anything it's the rush I get out of the military in action. No I'm not saying I like seeing people get shot or blown up e.t.c. It's the same rush you get when you hear and feel a Harrier scream past you, or when you see a few challenger 2 tanks roll past. The power and professionalism of it. It's just overwhelming and to be a part of it would just give me at least the ultimate pride.

Edited April 8, 2007 by Daniel Ashley-Smith

[David Mullen ASC]

Speaking as someone who grew up in a military family and lived on military bases, and was born on one (my grandfather served in WW2 as a naval captain and my father was in the U.S. Navy as a pilot)...

 

But this conversation reminds me of Tom Lehrer's song during the Vietnam War, "Send in the Marines":

 

When someone makes a move

Of which we don't approve,

Who is it that always intervenes?

U.N. and O.A.S.,

They have their place, I guess,

But first...

Send the Marines!

 

We'll send them all we've got,

John Wayne and Randolph Scott!

Remember those exciting fighting scenes?

To the shores of Tripoli

(But not to Mississippoli)

What do we do?

We send the Marines!

 

For might makes right,

And till they've seen the light,

They've got to be protected,

All their rights respected...

'till somebody we like can be elected!

 

Members of the Corps

All hate the thought of war --

"We'd rather kill them off by peaceful means!"

"Stop calling it aggression,

Oh we hate that expression.

We only want the world to know

That we support the status quo.

They love us everywhere we go!

So when in doubt...

Send the Marines!"

[James Steven Beverly]

Well it's nice to have something that pays a good wage and gives a lot of time off to do the things you really love. I know it wouldn't be enough time to work in film or TV professionally but it would be a great start.

Well it would be unfortunate if I did get shot, blown up or whatever, but it's the risk any soldier takes.

 

It's also unfortunate that the soldier you spoke about can barely leave his house anymore, however it's a rare case. I know a 50 year old ex-royal marine who younger 20/30 year olds wouldn't dare mess with.

 

I'm interested in the royal marines because of the life, and the way it sets you straight. Spend a few years in the Army/Navy/RAF and it will do you the world of good and will help set you straight for life. It gives you confidence, self respect, physical well being, and a good working ethics.

 

That and practically most of my family serve the U.K. in some way or another. Uncle worked for MI6, uncle was in the royal marines, grandparents fought and survived WW1 and 2 (and earned several medals for bravery), dad works for Her Majesty's Prison Service and my uncle works for the Fire Brigade. But that's only a tiny percentage of why I'm interested.

 

But more than anything it's the rush I get out of the military in action. No I'm not saying I like seeing people get shot or blown up e.t.c. It's the same rush you get when you hear and feel a Harrier scream past you, or when you see a few challenger 2 tanks roll past. The power and professionalism of it. It's just overwhelming and to be a part of it would just give me at least the ultimate pride.

 

No talkin ya out of it, huh? Well all I can say then is good luck Marine, give 'em Hell. B)

[Jason Maeda]

Let's not get caught up in a political conversation. I've never heard an interesting argument from anyone on this site regarding US foreign policy, and even if someone is hiding in here with a brilliantly laid out analysis of the dozens of conplex factors at work there, this still wouldn't be the place for it.

 

And I certainly don't use this site as a platform for criticizing anyone else's cultures or national beliefs.

 

This site is best when treated like we treat strangers to the dinner table: no politics and no religion! I mean, if I can't use this cinematography forum to point to the fact that Mathew Barney sucks in almost every way without nearly getting death threats than I certainly don't want to hear some Cal Arts student tell me my president is an a**ho** and my nation's foreign agenda is evil.

 

jk :ph34r:

[Michael Nash]

Please folks, let's leave the political discussions out of this thread. You can pick up that conversation in the "Off Topic" category if you like.

 

My choices for this thread are to move it, close it, or delete it. I don't want to do any of those. Let's leave it open so we can continue the discussion about David's early super 8 work.

 

Thanks.

[James Steven Beverly]

Let's not get caught up in a political conversation. I've never heard an interesting argument from anyone on this site regarding US foreign policy, and even if someone is hiding in here with a brilliantly laid out analysis of the dozens of conplex factors at work there, this still wouldn't be the place for it.

 

And I certainly don't use this site as a platform for criticizing anyone else's cultures or national beliefs.

 

This site is best when treated like we treat strangers to the dinner table: no politics and no religion! I mean, if I can't use this cinematography forum to point to the fact that Mathew Barney sucks in almost every way without nearly getting death threats than I certainly don't want to hear some Cal Arts student tell me my president is an a**ho** and my nation's foreign agenda is evil.

 

jk :ph34r:

 

I was born in 1957 so I'm not exactly a Cal Arts student, in fact I live in Texas, went through the Vietnam and Reganomics so yes, you president is an a**ho** and the people around him are evil. He's the worst and most corrupt president sence Richard Nixon, completely without a soul or even the pretence of having the moral values that he seems to spout at every politically oportune occation. I say you president because I don't consider him my president. I will not recognize the authority of a criminal simply because he now occupies the White House. Thank God the Bush II national nightmare will be over in less than 2 years. As for political disscussions on a forum about filmmaking, what exactly is the point of being an artist if is is not to express a strong point of view. Art is MADE of such stuff. Syrriana, Good Night and Good Luck, Bable, the Canidate, All the King's Men and on and on, or would you prefer art in a totalitarian society such as Milos Forman described in his filmmaking expirences in Czechoslovakia? If these discussions inspire a single interesting script, any inconvience on your part is a sacrifice worth the expenditure. It is not the provodence of art to be polite, it is the provodence of art to be bold, innovative, to provoke, to stir up, to decent, to inspire, to shock, to amaze, to overwhelm, to stun, to excite, to thrill, to move men to action, but never to be boring and to NEVER worry if someone may be offended, because when art starts to self censor, it begins to loss it's impact and then we really have something to lose. B)

Edited April 10, 2007 by James Steven Beverly

[Michael Nash]

James, I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt that in your zeal to respond you overlooked my last post.

 

There will be no more political discussion in this thread. Period. Move it to "off topic" or send messages to each other.

[James Steven Beverly]

James, I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt that in your zeal to respond you overlooked my last post.

 

There will be no more political discussion in this thread. Period. Move it to "off topic" or send messages to each other.

 

I will comply.

[Kenny N Suleimanagich]

Amazing stuff David, I have a hint at how you could probably transfer the cassette tape, I could even help you do this cause I did something similar for a friend.

 

Tape deck with AUX out, RCA aux to 1/8" pin jack. Plug it into the microphone port of your computer. Use a program like Garage Band to record the audio. Thats how I transfered my dads vinyls.

[Daniel Madsen]

David, I really like the still of the watch/traffic- very powerful. After seeing it I have a strong urge to see how both the traffic and watch are related. It would be nice to see it in motion. As far as political speak , I encourage it. We cannot afford for a second to forget what is happening to the world.

[William A Chapman Jr]

My audio was on a cassette tape that I ran in semi-sync with the Super-8 projector just by hitting play at the correct moment. It probably was on the VHS tape too but I only dubbed over the image since all I wanted was to grab the stills. I really should redo the audio anyway to be in better sync.

 

Anyone know how to transfer sound from a cassette tape into a laptop?

 

Trouble with doing my own shorts again, besides the costs (film is an expensive hobby, anyone notice that?) is that I haven't been in the mode of thinking up ideas for stories in a long time.

 

Actually i have 2 units that do just that, a pioneer ct-655a and a older technics m218, If you want you can send me a copy of the tape and I will put it on to a cd for you in what ever format you want .

Edited June 5, 2007 by William A Chapman Jr

[Nick LoCicero]

It's really nice to see this. It's inspiring to know you were once at my level. Thank you. I feel encouraged! : )