Nicholas Jenkins

Someone may have already posted this, but I searched and didn't find anything. Does anyone have a crafty idea for marking different focal lengths on that weird, slanted, focus ring on the DVX? On the XL2 we used rubber bands and it worked really well, but the only flat spot on the ring of the DVX is a bit too narrow fo that. I know I can actually use the read out of focal lenths in the viewfinder, but on dolly shots that's a challenge. Any help would be appreciated. :D

I don't think "impossible" is a good word to use. Nothing is "impossible". Will it be difficult? Maybe, likely. Filmmaking is never easy. Obviously the less dialog you have the less you're going to have to worry about that on the day of shooting. But that means those "pictures" you show have to REALLY tell the story. And that doesn't mean they have to be flashy, rather they have to carry allot of meaning. But that doesn't allow you to neglect sound, the dialog you have, or performance. Unfortunately there's no easy answer to the question. An amateur filmmaker can create something mighty or something disasterous. Time, patience, and focus are the most important ingredients in my opinion. If you take the time to plan your shoot. Have the patience to get the shots and performances you need, and stay focused all the way until release, the odds are in your favor. That doesn't guarantee anything. It just gives you a leg up.

Really great looking shoot. I'm going into a music video tomorrow night (as both Director and DP) and this has me a little more jazzed about it. Of course, I have a budget of exactly $0.00, but I really liked that the camera was constantly moving (at least it felt that way). Kudos, dude. :D

I think when I was an undergrad studying photography, I really got interested in how it all worked in motion pictures. Since I loved films, I started to investigate how things were done. Now I'm DPing for other grads in my department.

Like directors, Cinematographers are hard to nail down. I like pieces by allot of cinematographers. Sometimes I really enjoy the feel or look of a film, but don't like the film. Of course sometimes I like the look of a piece and everyone thinks I'm crazy (for some reason the work Ernest Vincze and Rory Taylor do on Doctor Who incite this type of response... I love it though). Then there are many films that I love, that I don't particularly care for the look (Andrew Lesnie fits into this with LOTR. I love these movies but didn't care for the way they were overlit at times). I think overall I tend to like very formal cinematographers, though César Charlone is awesome. Bill Pope is allot of fun (Dark City is one of my favorite films). Jack Green (as stated above) always creates interesting frames as well as interesting low light solutions.

I'm in the same boat right now. EXACTLY the same boat except we don't have boards. We just have the movie in our director's head. So things go SLOW and you can easily miss things.

Hopefully frames will come soon. Keep in mind that allot of these days won't be full days, rather three hours here and there where our director can get businesses to let us in a couple of hours before they open their doors. But we're figuring that since we have a couple of weeks off before the semester begins, it's better to use as much time as possible.

Very nice. I just like how delicate it all feels. Great work!

Yep, I shouldn't complain. :D

I think there are a couple of organizational things you can do to help yourself. And these are just some things that help ME, so maybe you will appreciate them, maybe not. 1: Assistant Director - You get someone who is going to stay on top of you about time. You should be responsible for getting the good "takes" while your A.D. should be responsible for you getting a good and productive "Day". What that means is that your A.D. will be paying attention to how much you've blocked out for yourself and then reminding you that you probably don't need a 15th take of your hero opening the door. He /She should also be aware of the opposite and advise you that "we're ahead of schedule if you need a couple more takes." Your A.D. should be responsible for heading upstairs and telling the neighbors to please turn their music off for another hour. Basically you should look at you, your DP and your AD as the three horsemen of the appocalypse. The three of you always in constant communication. 2: Shot List - This has always been my biggest help. Make a list IN THE ORDER YOU NEED TO SHOOT IT and take it with you on the day. You, the DP and the AD should all have a copy. As you go through the shot list, cross the shots out. It's a very energizing feeling to watch the list getting shorter. 3: Pre-Production is Your Friend - Don't let this crucial time slip away. Plan plan plan plan plan. Plan your shots, plan your call times, plan your lunches, plan your props. Even if your plans go out the window on the day of the shoot. Plan the day. Plan every day. Take MORE time in Pre-Production than you think you'll need. I try to approach it with the idea that when you're done with Pre-Production, you've basically already made the movie on paper and production (in the best case) will be a little boring. Because as a director, it's best if all you're worrying about is performance and how the scenes are working, not "dear god we didn't get a permit to film and there's a cop sitting over there." I'm still pretty fresh in the filmmaking world, but these are things that I've picked up and have helped me greatly.

Well, the first two days of shooting are done and it's been a challenge. My first time as a DP is important to me, not because I think I'll work as a pro DP really, but rather because the more I know about this incredibly important job, the better I can make my own films. At least that's the hope. Anyways, the challenges. I had a long, narrow appartment with the windows blacked out and exactly TWO practicals at opposite sides of the room... *shiver* I did the best I could and I've watched all the dailies. It looks ok, but I think I ended up with a little too much light going on to avoid parts of the room falling into darkness. I think the biggest problem we had was the ceilings were so low, any light we put up threw a shadow. That took FOREVER to correct. We never really got it completely figured out, but we got it... better than it was. It ended up looking similar to what Khonji did in The Ninth Gate. Allot of the interiors just had way more light than the practicals dictated. And I went in with no story boards or even a shot list. No matter how much I asked for them, the director just didn't have the time apparently, and he wanted his vision so he told me I shouldn't bother making my own. So I had to work on the fly... which was tough. On the first day, he brought in a "game plan". WHEE! Been a tough two days. One 11 hour day and another 8 hour day. Still have six more days of shooting... :blink:

Are you shooting film or miniDV or what? If you're shooting miniDV it could be done in a few hours at your computer. If it's on film, I can't really comment. You'd have to get the film scanned into digital format which is expensive, though I don't know how expensive.

I agree. I started with Still photography and it was extremely helpful. And don't think you can't tell story through still image. Each image should tell a story.

Man, looks great! Which gives me hope as I'll be shooting my thesis on two DVX 100's, YAY! Very well lit and I'd echo David's sentiment that I wish you could have avoided so much white room, but none the less, it's looking good. :D

In the words of Steve O, "YA DUDE!". It all looks great. Wonderful images, would love to see the whole thing :D

Well, it depends on allot of things, one of them being what projector the festival is using, but generally I'd say that you might have quality issues. I've seen some projectors that do a fine job of interpolating and doing a decent blow up, others... not so much.

Thanks. Luckily I don't own a gun, :P We'll see I'll be applying everywhere for both RW Experience and teaching positions, so who knows what will happen. But it's one of those little goals of mine.

My last project we recorded Audio on a PD-170 because our three DAT machines are all in a state of disrepair. I had no issues with synching sound. The quality was good, but we also didn't have anyone who was experienced running sound. Basically our boom op straped the PD-170 on and monitored levels as best he could. I'd say that 75% of the stuff we got was good, the other 25% not as good as I would have liked. Nothing horrible.

Interesting stuff. I'm not a big fan of non-narrative film, but I think it was lit and shot well. Beyond that, I can't realy comment on it. It was weird, but at the same time the images all made sense to me on their own.

Good question. I don't think anyone can tell anyone what size of a film they SHOULD start with. My advice, from personal experience, is that it's good to get your equilibrium with a short film. It helps you understand IN YOUR OWN HEAD all of the bits and pieces and pitfalls that go into filmmaking. My first film was 7 minutes long. 2nd one was 4 minutes. My latest one was 18 minutes long and it was an undertaking. It was the first time I worked with a DP and just concentrated on Directing/Producing. It was still allot to handle especially with teaching load, classes, and family. After it was over, I was not satisfied with the final piece, BUT I learned SO MUCH about the pitfalls that tripped me up here and there. Now I can approach my next piece (5 page script) with all of this new information at hand and make adjustments. Thus, buy the time I get to making my Thesis, I will have been through the process several times on much smaller pieces. But that's me and just my experience with filmmaking. Hope it's helpfull.

The Shining isn't as "BOO" scary as other films (although it has its moments). I think the great thing about The Shining is, as you pointed out, it creates a sense of isolation and slowly decays the canonical to a point of fright. It's really a great "Horror" film without the tense sort of boogeyman theatrics that are quite popular in cinema today. One thing that I'd say be wary of though is that Kubrick (along with Lynch) are incredibly difficult filmmakers to be "like". I see it with my students an awful lot. They are both such creatures of their own psychology and styles that it can be misguiding to feel as though "well Kubrick did it, so I can do it." Kubrick and Lynch techniques TEND to work best in their own contained films. But, that's no reason to shy away from them or their techniques. Just something to be aware of. Man, did that make any sense at all? :huh:

Good call on that David, completely sliped my mind that he might not be in a 30i/24p country... DUH! :unsure:

AH! Ok, I see. Man, this is why I'm not into building the things. EEEK!

AHA!

Man, so this confuses me. It's true 24p, but it still does a pull down? ACK! Brain hemorage!!!