James Steven Beverly

"Best camera for a documentary?" Well, they just shot "Samsara" on a Fricke 65 Time-Lapse, Panavision System 65 and a Panavision 65 HR. I'd give one of those a shot. :rolleyes:

Actually, if you put your film up on Youtube and it gets enough hits, you do get paid by youtube. A lot of people make a living doing it, so if you have a unique idea, a TINY little movie that might appeal to a lot of people or a select group of people, but can't get any traction through regular distribution avenues, Youtube might be a viable option to get your name out there and make a profit on your work. I've watched a few "Straight to Youtube" features and a few weren't half bad. 'Course, it's all spec and there are no guarantees you'll make a dime but if you're doing it for the art value or fun of it, why not give it a shot?

Apparently you've actually WATCHED a lot of these no-budget, D5, or is it Black Magic now, "film maker's" opuses. Ah, what the Hell, it's hard enough to make any movie well so why am I raggin' . I will say the "Democratization" of the film industry hasn't lived up to the hype.

The way I look at it, if you own a business (and a production company is a business), people are gonna steal from you. It's human nature and in our collective history, part of survival. The best you can do is try to limit the amount of theft you incur so why is everyone debating this like it's something new. Same old dog, different fleas. I've seen films on Youtube that are new releases out up in the free section. They are on there for a few days then are removed and I can't help but wonder if the studio isn't allowing this to help create buzz. A few 100K see the pic, tell their friends and wham, sales shoot up. it's all a game or haven't you been paying attention to corporate America lately?

You do realize that virtually every major studio already does that. It's called the micro-budget division and generally speaking, the budget for the division is under 75 mil. the individual films are under 1.5 mil. some WAY under! The Weinsteins started the trend with "Project Greenllight" (although for some reason, I want to say Spielberg and Lucas were involved) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Greenlight http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=8&cad=rja&ved=0CFwQFjAH&url=http%3A%2F%2Fscreenrant.com%2Fparamount-introducing-micro-budget-branch-insurge-pictures-mikee-48355%2F&ei=fHEOU_eBIsL4yQGoh4DQCw&usg=AFQjCNEo3fksT704BN8V8FT2TK90dH5KvA http://entertainment.time.com/2013/07/31/rise-of-the-zombeavers-hollywood-sinks-its-teeth-into-the-micro-budget-movie/ But even way before that they were called B Movies.

Well, here's the thing, I have seen some AMAZING things done with commercials with regards to music. The one that jumps, nay LEAPS GLORIOUSLY to mind, is a little regional California bank commercial.BTW, it may sound familiar: It's only stifling if you let it stifle you.

GREAT!! Thanks guys. That was bugging me and I'm sure the folks at Konvas.org will really appreciate the info!-Steve

The musical score for a film augments and can even highly modify the emotional quality of the scene in question. A great example of this was shown in a doc on Carpenter's "Halloween" where a scene in which Laurie Stoude is sitting in class at her high school and looks out the window casually only to see a car with the Smith's Grove Mental Hospital emblem on it's door. After she look away then looks back it is gone. The scene was done without Carpenter's iconic theme music first and the scene laid flat with little more than a minimal bit of curiosity then it was played again WITH the unsettling 5-4 rhythm piece that we have come to know and love. The impact is astounding. The music when included completely alters the perception of the scene giving it not only a eerie darkness but a weight subtly letting the audience know this moment is important. The theme from Jaws, equity iconic and unsettling, is used magnificently as a foreshadowing element that builds in emotional power with each gristly attack to the point that the mere sound as it plays sets an audience on edge as they scream out when something does happen much the same way The Exorcist uses the increasing distance from Regan's bedroom door to create a dread of what's behind it when it's opened. The theme from The Magnificent Seven washing the audience into the old west and the code of the hard, honorable men that held principal above wealth in the story. You can feel the horse beneath you as you watch the screen. Most films have multiple themes, Star Wars is a good example (I know I keep going back to Williams, but he is probably the greatest film composer of all time so why not look at the best) The diverse but symbiotic musical themes of each major character make statements about the individuals they are. Darth Vader quasi-miltaristic march theme trumpets Vader's dark power, Leia's theme is romantic, warm and nurturing the ideal of a strong woman, Luke's musical theme is adventurous and heroic with elements of longing at times, Han's music is epic, sweeping the high energy of a rakish rouge one step ahead of disaster, Yoda's is the calm in the eye of the storm. the Jawa theme is light, upbeat with a feel of innocence. These are the things I look for in a score, musical statements symbiotic with the visual, plot and character elements within the individual sequences and overall emotional quality of the film. I look for music that tells the story the way I see it and adds up to far more than the simple mating of music to image. I know that a bit vague but it comes down to writing music that best builds emotion in the scene for the audience.

One of the answers I got elsewhere on Konvas.org is that it was used for lining up A-B rolls for VFX work but there is no definitive proof that's what is was at this point nor any confirmation of that being the function from someone in the know.

Anybody know what the Hell this thing is? http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/141194692196?ru=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fsch%2Fi.html%3F_sacat%3D0%26_from%3DR40%26_nkw%3D141194692196%26_rdc%3D1 At first I thought it was a cue punch for projection but I'm not sure.

http://goodinaroom.com/blog/top-screenwriting-bloggers/?inf_contact_key=4b8d85999760d88cdb770ba8d9d4ca6ac3df0a5dbcec107fa80acf15dd859154 NOTHING quite so satisfying as cutting through an OCEAN of bull5hit and getting to people who know what the Hell they're talking about!!

VERY cool stuff, thanks for that!

That's cool. congratulations, Richie, it's gotta be great to see a film you've done get out to an audience and know you brought someone a little entertainment that with any luck brings them a little joy in their lives. The real reason why we make movies, indeed.

I liked the pond in moonlight thing, it reminded of of that silent film. I also liked the woman laying on the floor in 50s teenager clothing but but several hundred thousand to almost five million bucks??!! And in that vein, shouldn't the first print struck from the answer print of Lawrence of Arabia, 2001 or Casablanca be worth as much or more? It should be a LOT more, there are a WHOLE LOT of individual stills in a reel of movie film, some with the most iconic images ever made in ANY media!!

http://www.photographytalk.com/photography-articles/3004-the-19-most-expensive-photographs-ever-sold

Thanks, David. Cool stuff.

I saw this on the Konvas forum and thought it was interesting. Anyone know anything about this system ans why it was never pursued as a mainstream cinema format and also are there any other similar stories for large scale failed cinema formats? Stumbled across this film. Ordered the blu-ray. Apparently the only film shot with the "Cinemiracle" three camera system. The whole thing fascinates me. Was wondering if anyone in the group could elaborate on the process. I read that Jack Warner wanted to use this for other productions, but they fell through. Was also curious about something with this process. The wikipedia page says: The three Eastman Kodak 27 millimeter lenses were electronically controlled-and shifted their optical centers depending on the focus. Seems like a very good start for a superior 3D capture and projection.

The bottom line is people get hurt on film sets. Most union shoots and indies take safety seriously but It happens. Vic Morrow and 2 kids get cut in half by a helicopter blade, Ann Margret gets her hand sliced to the bone on a piece of shattered mirror while she's flailing her arm in a lake of beans, Stunt woman Heidi von Beltz gets into a car as a passenger during a race sequence, they crash and she's paralyzed for life, Jon Hexum puts a gun loaded with blanks to his head and pulls the trigger as a joke, blowing his brains out from the concussion, Liam Hemsworth twists the crap out of his knee on the set of Catching Fire. Big budget, small budget, NO budget, eventually someone is gonna get hurt but NO ONE wants to be the guy who gets someone killed and NO movie is worth dying for. When I was working as a grip, I had the idea of "safety first" DRILLED into me, but even with all that, people, EXPERIENCED people, got hurt through unforeseen, unnoticed, unaware circumstances so it's gonna happen, just look at the outtakes at the end of every Jackie Chan movie during the credits. The best advice i can give is practice situational awareness, watch out for yourself and for your colleges while on set. Movie making is a serious business and one must respect the tools you're given to work with otherwise those tools may turn around and bite you in the ass when you're not looking.

Well it's the most magical time of the year when champagne, chocolate bunnies and red roses fill the air with a sexually charged energy that threatens to go nuclear! One might contemplate from whence this odd celebration of fertility and rebirth came. I, myself foolishly believed that it was a made up holiday imposed on us by the greed of the merchant class to bolster the waning holiday season with one more influx of ill gotten cash but nay, good people, I was wrong. The roots of the most red of holidays has roots far deeper into the distant past than one might perceive. An unusual woman I met at AFM this last year sent me an email Valentine along with a description of the origin of this cellophane encased, rose embossed, heart shaped candy box invested ode to Spring: Many believe the origin of Valentine's Day to be "Lupercalia", the fertility festival dedicated to Faunus, Roman god of agriculture, and Roman founders Romulus and Remus. For the festival, Luperci, an order of Roman priests, would gather at the sacred cave where the infants Romulus and Remus, were believed to have been cared for by a she-wolf or lupa. The priests would sacrifice a goat, for fertility, and a dog, for purification, then dip the goat's hide into the sacrificial blood and take to the streets, gently slapping women and crop fields with the hide because it was believed to make them more fertile in the coming year. Later in the day, according to legend, the young women of the city would place their names in a big urn from which the city’s bachelors would choose a name to pair with. These matches often ended in marriage. St. Valentine's Day began as a liturgical celebration of one or more early Christian saints named Valentinus. Several martyrdom stories were invented for the various Valentines that belonged to February 14, and added to later martyrologies.A popular hagiographical account of Saint Valentine of Rome states that he was imprisoned for performing weddings for soldiers who were forbidden to marry and for ministering to Christians, who were persecuted under the Roman Empire. According to legend, during his imprisonment, he healed the daughter of his jailer, Asterius. An embellishment to this story states that before his execution he wrote her a letter signed "Your Valentine" as a farewell. Today, Saint Valentine's Day is an official feast day in the Anglican Communion as well as in the Lutheran Church.The Eastern Orthodox Church also celebrates Saint Valentine's Day, albeit on July 6th and July 30th, the former date in honor of the Roman prebyter Saint Valentine, and the latter date in honor of Hieromartyr Valentine, the Bishop of Interamna (modern Temi). In Brazil, the Dia de Sao Valentim is recognized on June 12. The day was first associated with romantic love in the circle of Geoffrey Chaucer in the High Middle Ages, when the tradition of courtly love flourished. In 18th-century England, it evolved into an occasion in which lovers expressed their love for each other by presenting flowers, offering confectionery, and sending greeting cards (known as "valentines"). Valentine's Day symbols that are used today include the heart-shaped outline, doves, and the figure of the winged Cupid. Since the 19th century, handwritten valentines have given way to mass-produced greeting cards. So now that you know the long history of this don't be as cynical as I was before being schooled in the history of this festival of amore' and go eat a milk chocolate bunny with someone you love!

Yeah, I'll take that. :D

http://www.ulive.com/video/babysitter-dressing-inappropriately-heres-what-to-do?affiliate=blocker&omnisource=SEM&c1=Video&c2=Adblade

http://library.creativecow.net/kaufman_debra/The-Last-Film-Lab/1 As a stanch proponent of film, it kills me to have read this but realities of the industry seem to be written on the wall. Never the less, I will continue to support film whenever possible and I hope others do as well.

http://filmmakermagazine.com/72600-13-ways-to-cast-a-list-actors-in-microbudget-films/#.UtcrdSyA2M9 If THIS guy did it, why can't you? Give it a shot, what do you got to loose?

As you all know I am a Kubrick disciple and HUGE fan. Seeing as how he did very few interviews, it was a pleasure to run across this one. Check it out.

You wanna talk about talent? THIS is talent!: