Sam Javor

I do industrials and event projects but pretty much all of my work is due to being noticed at local fests and screenings. Getting an Honorable Mention Best Director at my local 48HFP got me some work at a local production company. Doing a 48 on 35mm film and developing it in buckets got me the reputation of being the local mad scientist. Being a finalist for a fellowship from my local arts council in got me to the point that I can pretty much count myself included in local screenings as long as I know the programmer. Which has led to the odd situation of people I don't really know and have never worked with referring me to other production companies who need to fill a slot last minute... which usually leads to regular work. I have placed in some international competitions... like Lomo's "My Analog Life" which got me about $1K in 35mm still film. But really, local people only care about local screenings. Now... keep in mind I'm still poor... I'm self employed and have my share of clients going out of business and defaults. But to echo above... almost all shorts I've worked on in the past couple years have been practice pieces... if you learn a new technique then on set in a location you have for 2 hours in front of a client is not some place you want to 'hone your craft'. :)

well basically to needed a lot more software packages to make it work... and the end user isn't necessarily going to have access to the required software particularly while all the early codecs used by internet media were still patented. It's a lot easier to say that play back requires a 'modern browser' (ie if you can view youtube you can view this video) versus quicktime version whatever. Everyone had multiple media players installed for this reason... quicktime player, real player, winamp, VLC, Mplayer - and shockwave flash viewer for the real jerks :) - You probably shouldn't have quicktime and flash installed anymore because of security threats... Real Player I think became associated with malware... VLC and MPlayer are still going strong though...

Am I the only one that uses a bellows? :/

In my market, I would just be honest and open. Let them know you'd love to do the job but haven't done it before and want to make sure that that would be ok. I just had a last minute multicam theatrical project where we had a hell of a time just getting a warm body for a wide camera... we ended up getting a still photographer to run it. Yeah, jobs probably should be left to people with experience, mindset, and practiced hands... but they probably already called those people and they weren't available... :)

I should also mention, battery wise, you can get an adapter cables for Anton Bauer batteries and probably the other systems. The stock 20minute battery is kinda silly but stock batteries are always terrible. A Hytron 140 will power a BMPCC for a very long time.

If it's an inexperienced cast and crew I honestly don't feel bad about not paying them... because a lot of them would rather do a movie than another community theatre project. In Columbus, a properly budgeted "real indie film" (ie local talent and crew) seems to cost about $150K-$300K ... a more weekend warrior/ passion film of the same quality level (and often the same people) will take about a year (of shooting) on open days but cost about $5K to $15K... with most of the expense going to food. (older Columbus based projects for example) I think the "Aiden 5" webseries was done for about $15K for the season "Horrors of War" was done for under $300K Neither really made money... but "Aiden 5" was nominated for / won a lot of awards. But the real answer is get the script, and do a breakdown and _know_ what it's going to cost. It's always sad to see people raise money and have it still not be enough, and then rush though the project anyway while cutting corners.

JVC HD110 with firestore for long events. I can leave in unmanned in the back of a theatre/lecture as a wide all day while I run around up front with something else. Black Magic Pocket which I use for very short events and my personal projects. I have lens adapters for C, Arri, K, and RMS lenses.... I'm mostly using K mounts. I got it new for $500 and it's been worth the money. It crashes occasionally and has a hot pixel and there's no Linux support for upgrading the firmware. Arri 16S ... flea market find for $75 ,,, used to be the camera used by International Harvester so the case was covered with IH logos. I think the vendor bought it thinking it was IH parts and was like "damn, its some old camera, nobody buys old cameras"... because well.. it was labeled on the price tag as "old camera" Keystone A7 was actually my go-to 16mm because it's so easy to use and portable. Arri 2B which I bought from someone on this forum. It's an old NASA camera. I hammered a plastic gear onto the frame advance knob to hand crank it.... works well. I think I might try to find an AJA Scion on the used market this year...

Watch the behind the scenes and commentary of films. I've kinda noticed that from a practical side of things I've found foreign films more open about how they really did something... atleast in my very low budget level way of doing things. I learned about the magical powers of Topstick tape from Micmacs (2009) Also, find a peer group for screening. Here in Columbus we have the Columbus Moving Image Art Review (CMIAR) hosted by the film studies coordinator at Ohio State and is a way to see abstract/arthouse stuff on a big screen and I think some local highschoolers have screened. Also we have a Video Critique Group where you can show practically anything for feedback including works in progress. As far as finding these things it will depend on local culture/politics. You're citys (if they have one) film commission may be able to point you to one though sometimes they're not interesting in developing local talent but in getting outside projects to come in and book hotels :) Local college programs may know of groups as well.

(I'm approaching this more from a small project producer director side of things) My 'office' is basically the "Get Things Done" program. I also use Kanban and keep a 'film workflow' journal which is basically a manual for all the odd jobs I struggle to remember how to do, like the command for MD5sum generation and checking for the archive, etc. The goal is to have the manual have a 'chapter' for each step in the kanban. Definitely a work in progress. So so when I have an idea for a project that I am not immediately working on I write it down and date it and put it in my Inbox. Next morning I sort the inbox and put the note in the project file folder. When I next work on the project I reconcile the notes with the project plan... if it doesn't work with that project then I can create a new project that uses the idea in the note or I put it in a Journal which is kinda like a diary but something you'd encourage other people to read... so it's a mashup of notes (with dates of when the idea was created) that I can browse through at a later time... Because of my use of Kanban my production process is fairly formalized. I _will_ have a spec script before a rough draft which will be reviewed until it passes up to being a shooting script. At each stage I print it out and make notes in red pen... I bought a continuous ink system for my ink-jet printer so I can buy bulk ink. Because I use a 'shooting script' camera directions are built in, and notes in that are for the edit due to shoot day changes.

I've been doing audio on indie shoots in central Ohio for a few years now and I've only had a problem with a Red once that was bad enough to complain about. Basically, just like computers, cooling fans wear out and need to be replaced.

It's really tempting to blindly post suggestions but I'd have to hear your current capabilities with your setup in order to offer the best bang-for-buck. But if you are still _taping_ things to poles then you need a pole. Then spend money on learning audio recording. You can get away with a lot with modern low budget equipment and free software if you work within it's tolerances. Knowing what those tolerances that you are willing to accept are... and how to achieve those requires an education.

I built a homebrew scanning system for 35mm out of a Dukane 500 filmstrip projector. I had to saw the tube for the lens mount off if it so I could then get my DSLR close enough to take macro photos of each frame. The Dukane 500 has a single frame advance controller and I got a cheap shutter release for my DSLR. Any projector with a single frame advance should work. I do recall on the Dukane the film is held flat with glass plates that were very low quality so I did remove those... I think with a hammer and punch...but I dont remember... pictures: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=461579232151&l=6600933cf5 and https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=461579237151&l=95f8456524 Here is the 48 hour film project I did using this system and developing (the very expired film) in caffenol. I actually modified my Arri2B to be hand cranked which was also fairly easy with a modifed film rewind crank and some plastic gears....

I've been shorted $1 before as well. There's a couple reasons why it might have happened: 1. It could be an honest mistakes of typing something like 599 instead of 600 where both hands are one character to the left. 2. They're trying to avoid some sort of financial reporting requirement that has a cutoff. 3. They running a fraud where they pocket the $1 because they know nobody reads financial line items and they have your invoice to match the actual withdrawl. I rate my clients - A = clients I would like to clone, do word of mouth, growing revenue stream B = Normal good clients, pay on time but don't really grow me. C = Ask for discounts, not fun, slow payers D = "Drop", Bad clients, request inferior work, unethical requests. So because shorting $1 off the invoice is taking a discount, this client would automatically be a C client, unless they start requesting more work. My C clients have a higher advance requirement... so if it was work thet didn't require an advance then maybe 50%... if it involved travel then maybe 100%, etc. If I start getting additional good work from them even with a $1 off each invoice Then they probably are running a fraud and I'd have to decide if I treat them as an A client for the growth or D client for the fraud. :) In my case they were avoiding reporting requirements (they were a nonprof) ... and within a year they had lost all their funding.

My thought would be that the purpose of taking classes is not to do things how you would do it, but to learn the teachers method. Then after the class you can decide if the method is useful to you. As far as dealing with DP's calling shots you have to develop the habit of being able to defend your art. You need to be able to articulate why you want something a certain way and that you have consitered the opposing viewpoints and can articulate why you think they are inferior. Sometimes their ideas are better, but sometimes you're trying to do something radically different and it scares them because they don't understand what you're trying to accomplish.

It depends on the specific process. Google 'cross processing' between the films proper process and whatever process you have. Generally motion picture films need to be pre washed to dissolve a carbon backing which I usually just use a warm rinse maybe with some dish soap and rinse until the water is fairly clear. The remander of the backing can be squeegeed off with your fingers afterwards before the film dries. which I usually do by hanging between the tracks of my garage door. I've never done super8 though. Run some very short tests just so you get a handle on what 'actually' happens.

I dont want to dig it out of the closet but if I recall mine didn't even cover 16mm all the way.

My understanding is that the proper cross process is C22... E4 is apparently way to toxic for home processing. There are online reports of success with cold or room temperature C41 (E4 will apparently melt above 85F) not much color that way though. ... and apparently it has to be scanned. For all older processing that isn't home processed I would look at Rocky Mountain Film Lab or Film Rescue.

Dont be afraid to use iMovie or Windows Movie Maker. If it can assemble the clips and render out an uploadable movie then it's good enough. If you dont like the titles that come with the software... then make them in a paint program or physically make them and photograph them. Keep your thoughts on having Lighting, Camera, and Audio. Your cell phone has Camera and Audio so then you just need lighting... then just read tutorials (and instruction manuals) and slowly improve. Learn to realize when what you are doing can be better... and what you _really_ need to make it better. Dont buy things unless you know what problem the equipment is going to solve and how it will do so.

I think something to keep in mind is that 'Full Frame' refers to still photography where the 35mm film runs horizontally 8 sprocket holes 'wide' which is basically VistaVision in the motion side of things. Traditional movie cameras run the film vertically 4 sprocket holes 'tall.' It's important to know that in film this made a huge difference in resolution because you used almost twice as many film grains to capture the image. Digitally however you are captureing the same amount of pixels... APS-C and Full Frame are both going to be 1080p or 4K or whatever. But because of the physical size difference in the sensor the field of view will be different... a 50mm on a Full Frame 1080p camera will be 'wider' that the same lens on a APS-C 1080p camera. There are some other differences , particularly in how the cameras sample the 'extra pixels' to create whats basically a 2 megapixel image. So to summerize, I would say yes there is a significant difference. But it's a difference that doesn't really matter as long as you are aware of how it affects the image. example... I just finished shooting a very low budget webseries on a blackmagic pocket. I used my pentax K mount lenses and the widest one I had was a 30mm... which is a 'normal' on something like the BMPCC... so I got a thing called a focal length reducer which is an adapter that allowed that lens to function as a 'wide' on the black magic pocket. I now had lenses that covered wide, normal, and long... so problem solved a far as I was concerned.

I would search for festival winners. just google '[festival name here] award winning short films'

I just wanted to add a couple things as a very low budget experimental filmmaker myself. Cameras can be found in functional condition at extemly low prices in local auctions or estate sales, My Arri 16S kit was $75 at a flea market... which means that seller paid even less at an estate auction. If you really struggle to find a lab that works within your budget then I would suggest learning to develop film yourself. It's actually very easy, and if you can cook food you can develop film. I bought a Morse G3 rewind tank after I ignorantly bought a bunch of expired short ends and the labs didn't really want to cross process it. I started developing motion picture film in caffenol which is instant coffee and sodium carbonate based laundry detergent. I reciently started using tetenol for my still photography and hope to do a motion project with it fairly soon. The main difference between motion film (ECN2) and still film (C41) is that ECN2 has a carbon backing which needs to be washed off. I just uses a warm soapy water agitation and lots of rinsing before I start processing and then make sure it's off in a final rinse... it comes off fairly easy with just a little rubbing. Of course you have to dispose of chemicals afterwards. scanning can be a single frame advance projector and then taking a digital picture of it. For 35mm I use a Dukane 500 filmstrip projector, find a 16mm projector that can do single frame advance ... pay attention to the temperature in the gate... may be a good idea to change the bulb to LED or flourescent. Sound sync... actually can be off by about 11ms before normal people notice something is wrong... thats about 1/4th of a frame. I would try slating at the begining and end of the take then align the first slate then time stretch (without pitch shift) the audio to match the end slate. If the sync is really far off this might not work well.

I believe that a couple of low budget indie projects have used spray foam to make caves.... lots of spray foam.... here's one example

Oh... and probably shold talk about actually directing actors... 5. During auditions I favor actors who include the environment or props (use a paper plate as a steering wheel, etc.) 6. Generally I try to give directions based on something I think they can relate to. no " faster more energy" ...more "it's like you came home from a long day at work to find that there's smoke coming out of the kitchen." etc. 7. when dealing with dark emotional scenes (especially with new actors) I talk with them about not so much in 'getting to the unhappy place" but on getting out of it. Generally phrased along the lines of "I worked with this one actress who, in order to cry would imagine her kid being tortured... after the take she would imagine the crew as super heros beating up the torturer and rescuing the kid. " Just to point out that going from something serious to something silly is an option. I find that actors are able to emotionally go a bit further when they are confident that they can make it back in time for lunch. :)

I'm approaching the end of photography of my first large no budget project that I'm directing (and practically everything else) in a while (12 ep webseries (99 pages)) ... 1. Make a shooting script then make storyboards then make a recording of a read through... then put the storyboards and the recording together to make an animatic. Know (or atleast have a very good understanding) what the movie is going to look like bfore you start shooting. 2. Backup everything and store the backup in a different location. I had a friend who had to run back into his burning house to get the hard drives of a large project he was almost done editing. 3. If you have a friend who is unreliable, prone to breaking things, doesnt get along with others, requires supervision ... then dont ask them to help... and if they ask to help out say that you're fine even if you need help. In economic terms... some people can provide negative production value. 4. Make sure the mic is positioned properly... general rule is have the boom op put it in frame and wait for the DP to tell him it's out of frame... a bit of colored marking tape on the end helps... When I boom I like to put two or more mics on the boom as well... one for each person so there's less handeling noise and I dont miss someone talking.

I am not aware of reliability problems, though a local data recovery lab has told me that spinning disks can suffer reliability problems reading and writing large files associated with video. because the head is intended to switch from read to write... if it maintains eaither state it can suffer crosstalk on written blocks and also demag the head.... or simply over heat the arm motor (like how clipping a speaker wears it out) Also spinning disks are like records... they start on the outside edge... so full disks will have the arm close to the spindle... but the disk motor will have to work harder to maintain performance... that motor could fail... the spinof the disk is critical to keeping the head off the platter so of the motor fails it could allow the head to bounce along the platter smashing your bits to bits... creating dust which will cascade the problem. Solid state disks take a reliability hit with lots of wrting... because SSDs have a limited number of 'writes' to each block... so they should be more reliable with read heavy applications. but generally... hard drives fail... thats what they do in the long run. To quote a friend "If you're data isn't backed up twice, you dont have it."