Chris Durham

What is it you want to do specifically? 1) If you want to produce, don't spend a dime on gear. Use your money to option/fund a great script, not a good one. Spend about $100 on amazon and figure out where to go from there. 2) If you want to direct, spend some money on acting classes. Spend some money on amazon and figure out where to go from there. 3) If you want to be a cinematographer, you'll need some gear, but don't go crazy. Get what you need to learn the ropes and then look for amateur or first-time projects. A good still camera (digital SLR) will teach you the photographic basics you'll need (lenses, composition, lighting). 4) If you want to edit get a cheap camera to get footage and a good computer to edit it. Once you've figured it all out, look for a first-time director with a short that needs editing. 5) If you want to do all of the above, then it's a confusing and arduous path. Read a lot and talk to people before you spend a dime on gear; but remember this rule: Don't spend any money unless you've got a project at hand to spend it on. Having gear will not help you - using it will. (Renting > Buying) unless ($Renting => $Buying)

I think everybody's right about keeping your car. But if you've got alternatives to owning your own car (a partner with one, etc.) and are hell-bent on selling it, there are a couple things to consider. 1) Good Lighting and Good Sound will do a lot for you. A better camera gives you more options and features, but essentially captures the same image. 2) Your PC sounds just fine. Struggling with "technical difficulties" is part of this gig and if it just takes you a little more time to do the same thing you can do on a better device, don't spend money you don't have. 3) Save money on software - use open source "free" software - Linux and Cinelerra can save you a couple grand and if you have a little tech savvy you can get a lot more bang for your buck (I'm building a rockin' NLE box right now for about $1250). 4) If it takes you a little longer to get the camera you want rather than the one you can afford immediately, wait and save (unless it's just way out of range). Write, storyboard, get on other crews, borrow/rent cameras, etc. Equipment, when you can afford it, isn't something you should settle for. Figure out what strata of camera you can afford to aim for (Consumer, prosumer, prosumer hd, pro, etc.) and research in that range. When you figure it out, save for that. 5) Think about what it is you want to do. Rental can be a lot cheaper than purchase. I just made a large purchase, but I'm going to be working on a documentary with at least 30 days of shooting over the next year, and possibly more. It's about break-even with the rental price; plus I'll get to use it on my narrative projects as well. But that's a lot of shooting. Your average feature film will run 3 weeks; so if you shoot 2 of those in video you can justify the investment I just made (about $8500 for camera, lights, sound, and all the fixin's), otherwise rent. Another way to look at it is this. You're shooting Music Videos. Assume $200 per day rental for your camera and it takes 7-8 days of shooting to match the expense of your $1500 camera. That's four or five videos at least, which is quite a bit. Now that $200 per day is for an XL2 or DVX100 which are $3500 cameras and you have the versatility of choosing per shoot. See I spent the money because the consistency matters in a 30-day + shoot. You'll be doing 2 day shoots; and stand a chance to make some money at it along the way. Your advantage over someone like me, too, is that I can't recoup any of my expenses for about 20 months. You should be able to recoup your rental fees at the least - or pass them on to the bands you're shooting. It's hard for creative people sometimes; but especially as independents, we have to think like businessmen and be very very careful about how we part with our money. Of course, sometimes you have to take a risk - but be smart. Knowing which risks to take can often be what separates the wheat from the chaff in this business. Your question right now is whether the car is the right risk. I think you answered that yourself in the original query.

What are everyone's thoughts on the Illusionist? I saw it last night and thought it was an amazing looking film. I really enjoyed the lighting. If there were any comments I had it was a few focus/depth of field things I saw, but they were few and far between. Of course I'm pretty new to this, so I could be trying too hard to look with a critical eye when I really don't know what the hell I'm talking about.

I'm about to purchase an XL2 myself, all the research I've done points to the XL2 being a fine choice, if not superior. The DVX is reputedly great, owing to its many professional features; but the features didn't make it stand out so much to me against the Canon. Detachable lenses = professional; particularly if you are interested in cinematography. Canon's implementation of 16:9 is impressive as well. As far as dramatic stuff being shot on it - "28 Days Later" used the XL1S if that means anything, and that was well done.

Forgive me because I'm new to this; but I've noticed a pretty big variance on tape prices and I was wondering whether there is a substantial difference in the quality. Is it an archival thing? Is it marketing? If there is a true quality difference, which product do you recommend? Thanks.

Can someone help me figure out what batteries to buy? Specifically I'm looking at batteries for the XL2 and I'm not exactly certain how long I can expect the various batteries to last. I want to be able to shoot for an extended period of time without access to AC, perhaps 4-6 hours of shooting. Thanks

Everybody, Thanks for the advice and wishes of luck. In all, I think I'm on the right path. You know, I've got a lot of great people in my life that are confident in me and support what I'm trying to do; but someties all that feels like when I was in grade school and having my parents say "you can do anything you set your mind to." It's really good to be bolstered by other folks on the same path - almost as good as it is to know that I'm not out of my mind for dreaming (as long as I'm also doing, that is). Thanks everybody.

I've entertained the notion of a career in filmmaking for a long time (I switched majors in college to Radio/TV/Film [which was the best they had] in college 10 years ago, before I dropped out and didn't continue); but never really had the wherewithal to actually pursue it. There are a variety of reasons for not doing so, but I guess it's best to say I never truly started figuring myself out until I was around 30. I'm 32 now and have decided on making the switch from corporate IT to film, and doing the kinds of things I've always dreamt of. Specifically I want to write and direct. I'm a competent writer, with some short fiction published. Yes, I know - everybody wants to direct. I don't really want to think about the odds of success or how daunting a task it is to master this craft. I figure the best thing to do is have faith in myself over the pursuit of a dream and know that failure isn't half as frightening not doing a thing. So here I am at age 32. I'm actively writing and just finished shooting my first video short - now in editing. It's as big a pile of crap as anyone's first fim will be; but I'm learning a lot from it. I'm also reading voraciously (I scored a mobile and lucrative IT career a decade ago by reading a few books and BSing the rest - Fake it till you make it is part of my MO) and networking. This is quite simply something I'm going to do. My question is: What is the best way for me to proceed from here? I figure there are three main courses of action. 1.) Film School. I'm a bit leary of this one. It seems like a dubious proposition and I occasionally observe other filmmakers joking about the value of film school. At best, its virtue seems relative to the student; and institutionalized learning has never quite been my favorite. It is, however, possible that the compressed and formalized environment could be beneficial to learning a lot in a relatively short period of time. The thought of shelling out a load of money on something of questionable value is a little scary though. I'm curious to get the professional take on this. 2.) OJT. Another possibility is to find work in the industry and work my way up the ladder. It stands to reason that if I fancy myself as being the "cream" I'll inevitably rise (damn that's an awkward analogy in this context). The downside of this is that it takes time. Now, please don't think that I'm devaluing time here. I understand that all good things take time and effort. I'm a hard worker and willing to put in all the time I need to. What I don't want to end up doing is putting in more time than necessary; ending up stuck at a certain level or in a certain position because I don't have the education or experiental insight to recognize it - especially starting out a little older than I'd like to have. If anybody has any thoughts on this path, especially anecdotal info, I'd appreciate it. 3.)Take the reigns myself. This is the path I lean towards, though it's probably the most dangerous. There are several filmmakers who have made a flick and exploded onto the scene. Well, I don't know about exploding, but I hope that I can at least make a picture that might land me a modest career. This is a high-risk deal, I know. But if I believe (And I know many people believe this of themselves) I've got a story worth telling, and think I can tell it well, Is that the path to take. Of course there are a lot of other factors. I'm not kidding myself - it's scary as hell, especially the finances. But can this be seen as an honest path to a career, or are the Linklaters, Smiths, Rodriguezes and Tarantinos of this world just one-in-a-million longshots who (though competent in their craft) just got lucky? Is investment directly into myself (and I do have a bit of money to put into an (incredibly) modest project) better than spending that money on a film education or for funding the transition into a new career (what with all the change of pay scale and all)? I guess that's it. I know which way I'm leaning, but I'd really like to temper my wishful thinking with a little bit of experience and reality. I'm really new to this and my imagination of how things work in the industry can't but be skewed. Thanks.

Well I'm a newby too, but I decided to jump right in. I bought a book on screenwriting and got a $300 Canon ZR600 to play with. I did some exercizes out of the book. The last one was to write a 10 page short and film it. Even with a cheap $300 consumer camera. The thing is that it doesn't matter at all what you're shooting on because you need to learn how to tell a story first. Note that I don't mean just how to write, but how to tell the story using a visual media. It doesn't matter if it looks like crap - you'll have a learning experience. When you watch it back you'll see where you could light something better, or where another angle might have been better. It doesn't matter if you have a $10 budget or a $10M budget if you can't tell a story. This means different things for different people. If you want to be a screenwriter, write story after story until you're good. If you want to direct, find a writer or just make stuff up and worry about composition and execution - making the thing believable. If you want to produce, round people up and organize a shoot. If you want to do multiple things, you'll need some time management skills. Me, I want to write, direct, and produce; and hell, some day I'd like to act too. Producing my own thing is important because it allows a bit of independance. And Brian's right about actually having a project to get people motivated. I was all ready to shoot my 10-page comedy with my ZR600 and move on. But then my boss offered to do the camera work on his BetaCam that he had for doing car club videos. "Cool," I thought, "I won't have the widescreen view I was so happy to get in this camcorder, but I'll have a fairly high quality picture." And then I thought, "This is my first picture, and it's going to be crap, but should that keep me from learning everything I can about making a movie?" No way. So I bought more books. The Film Maker's Handbook" chief among them. I read everything I could on the internet. I went and legally registered the name of my production company, which cost $14 in Texas. Now all the money I spend is tax deductable. I ordered some photofloods for lighting, which after shipping cost me about $25. I started going to bars and looking for a place to shoot my bar scene. When I decided on a place, I talked to the owner, told him what I wanted to do and when - none of this nebulous "I've got a project." I put together some friends to act, and as they're not actors I've been rehearsing them like crazy. They love it because I've got something concrete that I'm doing and I know what I want. Sitting around and doing "something" can be fun, but having a sense of direction lets you have fun and a sense of accomplishment. One of my actors is so jazzed he offered to do all the administrative and organizational stuff on this and future projects. Score a PM. Your own motivation will motivate others. The point is to figure out what you want to do and just do it. Use whatever resources you have to your best advantage. I'd love to be shooting with a DVX100, but I don't have it. What I do have I intend to squeeze every last ounce out of in terms of educating myself. That's what's really important in learning this, I think. Who am I to be giving advice though? I haven't even started shooting yet. But I do Saturday at noon. And I've sent everybody a shooting schedule, and I've got my story board. and I'm working up a shot list. I guess the thing is to just make do with what you can and do everything you can with it. Robert Rodriguez is a great example of this. Rebel Without a Crew is just an example of how smart decisions can do amazing things for you.

As a newby I'm really interested in Super 16 because when I finally get round to making a feature, it will allow me to largely fund myself and retain some independence. (I may have to worry about blow up afterwards, but 16 to video shouldn't be cost prohibitive for festivals). And it seems to be perfectly suitable if you're not shooting something epic or with a lot of effects - The grain of 16mm might clash with the resolution of digital effects for instance, and the aspect ratio, if not the grain, will keep you from making, say, the Deer Hunter on 16 (And I haven't seen anything about anyone ever using anamorphics with Super 16). Good examples of Super16 are the Devil's Rejects and Hustle and Flow - both have pretty different looks, but demonstrate what the format looks like. "Scrubs" is another example of a TV show that uses it. I might actually make a short in standard 16 first, since I'll be able to record sound onto the film, which will free me up more to learning about the camera and the format, and not have to worry so much about the hassles of shooting MOS. Super 8 seems like something good to learn on too. I wonder if I shouldn't consider getting a camera and playing around. Any one got an idea how much I might pick a camera up for? (I haven't seen much in the way of super 8 rentals)

The Inwood Theatre in Dallas has a midnight showing of older films every Friday and Saturday. Saw Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas a couple weeks ago. I've also seen the Big Lebowski, Dazed and Confused, and other flicks there. Last week they did Plan 9 From Outer Space, and pretty soon they're doing Dr. Strangelove. I know they did Raiders a while back too. It really is a cool thing.

I'm in pre-production now of my first short. Script writing and rewrites are done, I'm in the middle of storyboarding, I've got 3 of 4 characters cast. I've still got to do some hunting for locations, but I've got most in mind. I plan for production the first weekend in September, after rehearsals and whatnot. I actually turned up a friend who will act as camera op and has a low-end pro betacam (Okay, pro a few years back, but still). I'm going to shoot on that and on my own MiniDV camcorder 1) so I'll get some camera time and learning, 2) to increase my coverage, and 3) just in case the MiniDV looks better. Things are coming together on my first project and I'm really excited about it. I know as a fledgling filmmaker this will probably be a throw away, but I'm doing every thing I can to be as professional and do everything as right as I can. So my questions. What can I do in the way of lighting on the cheap? There are 6 locations/conditions that I'll need to light: Apartment Exterior - Day Apartment Interior - Day Apartment Interior - Night Bar Interior - Night City Street Exterior - Night Apartment Exterior - Night Also, as regards sound, I'd like a better way of recording than using the mics on the cameras. I've got access to Shure sm57 condenser mics, and I was thinking about using my buddy's Mac Powerbook to record from one of those into Logic. Unfortunately the only Editing software I'll have available will be iMovie and I don't know how it will be synching it up. I also don't know if a vocal mic on a boom will work, or if you need something better (the mic being a bit far away from their mouths, particularly during the bar scene. I appreciate any advice anybody can give, or even resources like books I can get for this. Thanks in advance guys.

Well, there's Firefly/Serenity; though I think they're too close together to really compare to Police Squad/Naked Gun (though both apparently failed due to piss-poor network decisions and not on their own [lack of] merit).

Saw MV over the weekend and rather liked the flick. My usual diatribe about Hollywood having run out of ideas is somewhat deflated by Michael Mann's involvement; but who really knows what the motivation for making it was? Visually, I thought there were scenes that looked great and scenes that looked horrific. I will say that I did find the variation of noise levels in the video distracting - at least within a scene. I don't object to any of the looks presented in and of themselves (artifacts notwithstanding), but I thought the intra-scene variations were bothersome. As far as the story, you couldn't really expect much more than what you got; except that Jamie Fox was really under-utilized. Please don't give them ideas. I've got one TV show that's sacred enough I fear to mention or joke about it being made into a movie even around friends, just not to jinx it. I pitty the fool who tries to make that one ;)

Guys this is great stuff. I'm a fledgling filmmaker myself just working through some screenwriting ideas, just purchased a dv camera, reading a lot of stuff, watching as many movies as I can with an eye towards cinematography, and preparing to work on my first short directly. Advice like this is great because it's motivated me to "just do it" and I'm really excited. Thanks.