Jocelyn Hanc

The director of the thesis film I'm currently DPing came over and forced me to watch D.E.B.S. Saturday night, and I must say I was entertained beyond all belief. Beautiful. Shooting that must have been so much fun!

Hi. I have just been confirmed to shoot my girlfriend's senior thesis *wince.* Yes, I can imagine what a bad idea that sounds like, but really we work well together on a film production. Anyway. This isn't about that, this is about how I want to shoot a really beautiful film to add to my reel and I want to gain experience and succeed at the same time. What I'm looking for is advice. I'm not entirely doing my own lighting - I have a lighting designer who I have worked closely with before and who I have lots of faith in, so that's great. I'm looking for advice on how to prep this summer and what I should be thinking about, and ideas for preproduction and etc. for a Director of Photography. This production is being taken very seriously by all included, and it is something we are all doing for ourselves and for each other. I won't see the script for maybe a month. After that, the school year starts at the end of August and shooting is being planned starting the first weekend. I want to know as much as I can about everything before that happens. I already have the manual for the Aaton XTR Prod we're shooting on (courtesy our college. yay free equipment rental!) I am starting to think about my style of shooting, coverage, short end purchase - as you can see my method of research is somewhat scattered. Does anyone have any advice about what I should focus most intensely on as far as preproduction? Also - does anyone have XTR Prod advice? I'm not sure what the budget for this film is yet - and I have no idea if we're matching back to film or what - but I want to be prepared. I want to be able to provide the director with something she CAN match back to film (whether she wants to go 16mm or 35mm... but I doubt the funds exist for that) For the college screening, I'm going to assume we're finishing on DV. As for festivals... who knows. Should we be thinking about those all ready? Should I think about festivals before I shoot the film? (probaby, right?) Any advice on where to find information on visual narrative? So far I've shot my Cine Prod 1 shorts, which weren't really narrative, two narrative films the second semester my freshman year (which were, eh, ok - I have learned much since then), and two music videos this past year (my sophomore year). I will now be a junior, with some experience in my pocket, but I haven't shot narrative for a year. Anything would be appreciated - I am currently reading "The Camera Assistant" by Douglas C. Hart, which is providing me with a lot of excellent technical knowledge that I will pass on to my A.C. once I have chosen one (which brings me to the realization that I probably should get one - soon) and now I have just realized that I need to stop focusing on technical stuff and start really zoning in on telling this story (that I have yet to read the script) Don't get me wrong, I know the STORY. I am very connected to the issues in this story, and I know the script will be something I will want to shoot... but I need to work on ... as I said - visual narrative. Sorry for the long-winded nature of this cry for help. I am very excited for this opportunity, and I have a lot of ideas and questions and they just come pouring out. Any advice at all for D.P.ing a 16mm narrative would be great. Thanks for your time. Jocelyn

So I'm a freshman Cinema and Photography major at Ithaca College, and I am almost finished with the filming of my latest project for my Cinema Production 2 class. This is only my second production class, but since this is my life, I went all out on the project. I wrote my script - 10 pages long - got myself a wonderful producer, and bought 4 rolls of 400 ft. Kodak Ektachrome 7250 Tungsten Balanced film stock. 400T. Beautiful. Discontinued because it's not estar-based, meaning I can splice it when I have the time. Currently I need to get a digital transfer to edit within the next 3 weeks. Contrast, color saturation - these are the resons I decided to use reversal over negative. What was not fully thought through was the processing. I realize now that there are very few places left that will develop color reversal film, and the places that I can find (such as Bono Film Labs) charge much more to process reversal than negative. It makes sense, what with the VNF-1 process and all. My question is - is there anywhere that will give me an educational discount on the processing? Or somewhere that does not charge 55 cents per foot (I'm looking to process 1600 ft. - and not looking forward to paying $800 and more to have it done) Ah. The oh-so-expensive life of a film filmmaker. Thoughts? Ideas?