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Help... desperate girl in need of some cinematography instruction!


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It's not a question of hating; it's a question of integrity. And honestly, the longer you go along on this, trying to cheat, the less and less likely the working professionals on this site, now or ever, will be hiring you for a job. I hate to break it to you, but acting childish and trying to get 'round what you're supposed to do isn't going to get you very far in this business; also being dishonest is one sure-fire way to make sure your not even considered for anything on a set.

 

Also your plan won't work and if you needed to shoot film, your professor is going to know you didn't. This "smartest guy in your class," really has a lot of learning to do. As you do. I'm not going to, by critiquing it, show you how to further skirt your responsibility, sufficient to say you should go look into frame rates.

 

Well, that won't happen because I don't want to be a cinematographer. I'm going to be a director and I would be hiring you. Not the other way around.

 

Anyway, it's been a stressful day so I am going out with my girlfriends tonight and kick back for a bit.

 

But I'll check in on you boys when I get home tonight. Maybe you will have some more ideas that can help my project.

 

Aubrey

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Guest Christopher Sheneman

Aubrey. I'm only going to say this once, you need to murder this teacher and have him or her replaced with a "video-friendly" instructor. Try to make it look like an accident- like he was attacked by wild dogs or shoot a speargun bolt through his head at home. Find out if he owns a speargun, look in his garage when he's not home. Watch "Saw" movies to get ideas and report back on your plan!

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Okay. Okay. I am getting more than a bit overwhelmed. But I simply can't shoot film. It's too expensive. I don't have the money.

 

I have my digital camera in front of me right now. It is a Canon A1100IS PowerShot. This camera takes far better photos than the scratchy blurry YouTube example I want to mimic.

 

Isn't there some type of process where I can simply do to make it junky like the YouTube video.

 

Thanks guys, I hope somebody can figure this out for me.

 

Aubreyto shoot videop fpr film

 

What do you want us to say, it's OK to shoot video for film? IT"S NOT!! They are 2 different disciplines! Film is FILMMMMMM! It is NOT video. They look different and are NOT interchangeable. There are times when EACH is appropriate for the look you are trying to create, but one is NOT the other. YOU are making excuses for WHY you can't shoot film. THAT is bullsh%t. You want to be a film maker, FIND A WAY!!!! NO ONE is going to EVER give you ANYTHING!! Find a way to MAKE IT HAPPEN!!OTHERWISE get out of the business, 'cause it will eat you alive! This is a business for the 1 percent, willing to give EVERYTHING for absolutely NO guarantee of any return what so ever. The MINIMUM REQUIREMENT is you TRY! Try harder than you EVER tried in your life because EVERYONE wants to be a director.TO paraphrase "An Officer and a Gentleman" "My Grand momma want's ta fly jets!" VERY few ever succeed. This is NOT a game for losers or children. It's cut throat and tougher than you can imagine. It will take EVERYTHING you have and more so make a decision. DO IT or not, but DON'T make excuses! This is probably the BEST advice I've ever given in my life and I'm not one to give advice too freely, so take it for what it's worth. ;)

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ONE MORE THING, this world NEEDS more female directors. They bring a perspective that NEEDS to be expressed.Hell, a woman WON the Academy AWARD for BEST picture 3 years ago. But don't expect to be given any special treatment because you are a woman. ON THE CONTRARY, it's MUCH harder for a woman to succeed than a man in this industry. Don't ever forget that because LIFE will remind you is you do. B)

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Hey Aubrey,

 

the best advice I ever got and keep getting is: "get your camera and shoot!"

Only your doing so, will tell what you can and cannot achieve.

 

As you can see from this thread, filmmaking is a religion and that means very few is actually "true" in an "absolute" way.

Wich again means that "nothing's written" (thank you El Awrence) and you are writing your own bible. Go ahead and do it.

 

Not all posts rise so much dust, but I have seen that quite often and never understood why one did and others didn't. Don't take it personally, just acknowledge that most of us are getting into the business for passion and most of us are getting beat-up on the way, and all the anger that comes steaming out is the anger that we had to swallow, because we had not had the luck to be treated right AND had no way of yelling it to the face of the people that treated us so wrong.

 

One line in a comment says: You chose "deception" - that's great! Some sustain "all art IS deception".

Another line says: you want to "cheat": Well that's exactly what movie making IS. Using HMIs for sunlight, day for night, dv for film, Liz Taylor for Cleopatra, Soundstage for Paris, Foley for real audio.. OMG, we're all cheating!

 

As for your problems of budget, you need to either to walk someone's dog twice (once for the roll and once for processing) or talk to your teacher, but I guess you know that.

 

Cheers folks,

Phil

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Aubrey how long is the film supposed to be? The length of a super8 cartridge or shorter/longer? Do you own a super8 camera or do you need to rent one or does your school provide you with the required equipment? Kodak offers education/student discounts so you wouldn't have to pay the full price which isn't all that high with 17$ at B&H or even cheaper directly from Kodak.

Super8 cameras that can do single frame or very low frames rates can be found at flea markets for next to nothing.

Processing only no transfer is $15 so basically you can do your movie for under $50. Which isn't cheap but not super expensive either. I wish you good luck with your project and hope that you decide not to cheat.

 

BTW. A friendly hello to everyone from a recently registered long time lurker.

 

Cheers

 

Dominik

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Well, that won't happen because I don't want to be a cinematographer. I'm going to be a director and I would be hiring you. Not the other way around.

 

I doubt that. You can't even come up with money to shoot two rolls of Super 8. If you're lucky enough to direct, and considering your inability to appreciate the images in that Super 8 short I doubt this, you'll be hired by somebody else to do the job. In that case, I suggest you be a better judge of who is the smartest guy in the room before you "let him" buy you coffee or whatever else you're willing to do to network and build the requisite contacts to get hired as a director on somebody else's budget.

 

Personaly, I couldn't think of dumber advice on how to make your digital video look like Super 8. The first mistake you two are making is assuming the images are crap and then thinking that by making the crappiest digital video possible you can fool the professor. It's a moot point anyways. You cannot imitate Super 8 with digital. It's as pointless as trying to make a pencil sketch look like an oil painting. You cannot do it. Talk to your professor and do the assignment properly.

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I have such a hangover. Yesterday's stress was too much and drank a bit to much last night and just rooled out of bed. Whatever. Trying to get it together this morning and get to class.

 

Whatever to the haters. I think I am going to listen to that guy I let take me out for coffee yesterday. I bet his idea will work.

 

If anyone has other ideas, please let me know.

 

Will check in later taoday.

 

Thanks.

 

Aubrey

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I have such a hangover. Yesterday's stress was too much and drank a bit to much last night and just rooled out of bed. Whatever. Trying to get it together this morning and get to class.

 

Whatever to the haters. I think I am going to listen to that guy I let take me out for coffee yesterday. I bet his idea will work.

 

If anyone has other ideas, please let me know.

 

Will check in later taoday.

 

Thanks.

 

Aubrey

 

This gastropod has to be a troll. Can we get a mod on this? I'm pretty confident the name's a fake or alias.

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Aubrey out of sheer curiosity why are you so dead set against using film and lying to your prof there are cheap options that allow you to use film. Maybe your coffee guy has a film developing tank for super8 and an e6 developing kit for the price of your latte or whatever you drank he/you could have developed the film. Geoff Howell's advice is a very cheap option another option would be to buy/rent a lomography movie camera 3 - 5 fps and scan the results.

 

BTW Filmmaking is a collaborative art calling people haters because they tell you things you don't wanna hear isn't very smart in the long run. Also talk to your professor he might be able to help you or will offer a compromise.

 

Dominik

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David, i'd say it'd be far worse if she wasn't a troll.

 

No sorry. I do not live under a bridge. And I never asked for all this hate filled attention. I simply asked for help with my class project because I can not afford film. If you don't care about my project fine. But do not call me ugly and a troll.

 

In any case, you will be pleased to know I will ask my professor today if I can use my own camera and not shoot film.

 

I hope he agrees.

 

And thanks to the people who actually gave helpful suggestions.

 

Aubrey

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The title of this topic is very confusing, how desperate you are? Have you tried to get some financial support from someone else for this project? are you the only one in the course who can't afford the film stocks?

Either way you can have a try with some cheaper alternative, like the LomoKino, is fairly cheap and uses 135 35mm film, that you can still get for a good price in the market. There are limitations, but surely you can do something better with it when you have dedication to what you want to do.

 

 

http://microsites.lomography.com/lomokino/

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I thought the title gave it away already, desperate girls usually end up in front and not behind the camera.

At least she succeeded in pointing out the one infallible truth about our profession, there are not to many gifted she-cinematographers around, are there any in this forum? The art of watching or shall we say peeping through a tiny black ocular to this day remains an exclusively male domain.

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If she is a troll that makes her "smartest guy in class" suggestion pretty darn funny...

 

 

He suggested I shoot my project with my digital camera and string my stills together to make my project, then burn it to a DVD, and then play it on an old color television he has at his house.

 

And he would then film it playing on the screen with a Mini-DV camera and do it handheld so it has some jerky segments.

 

Then we could put that tape back into my computer and then burn that to a DVD and it should look soft, blurry and jerky and the professor probably won't know.

 

Does anybody think that might work?

:lol:
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Hi Guys,

 

Hey everyone, here is the issue I am having. I am a college student who is taking a film production course and we have to shoot some film and I don't have the money to do it.

 

Here is what I want to do, something like this visually.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Itfu50QPvOU

 

But I can't afford to shoot film, but I do have a digital camera.

 

Is there anyway I could use my digital camera and take single shots and string them to together and the film instructor not be the wiser?

 

I desperately need help with this, I simply don't have the money to buy film and pay to get it processed.

 

Any ideas, guys?

 

Aubrey

 

Aubrey,

 

I already (and others) have made their feelings pretty strongly known. But I think you might be missing the point to some of our discontent. It has to do with your sense of entitlement. Like you expect everybody to do it all for you, while you sit back and do nothing pro-active at all.

 

I'm paraphrasing here but phrases like "let him take me to coffee" and "if you guys don't want to be involved with helping my project be great" and the like simply are going to piss off hard working guys/girls like us who have to fight to make a living doing what we love.

 

And that is another thing, I don't sense the love for film or media that an aspiring Director should have.

 

I mean it seems you were more interested in going out drinking with your friends last night than solving this problem properly.

 

If you took the time to read the description on the "crappy film" on YouTube you want to rip off so bad you'd see a link to the guys blog:

 

http://olamfilm.blogspot.com/2010/07/humble-beginnings.html

 

Where he states it only cost him $40 to do the whole thing. All the edits where in camera edits.

 

How much did you spend on drinking last night? Or on Starbucks this morning trying to sober up? Or on your nails? Or cell phone bill? Or ____?

 

Come on, let's be honest, it's not that you can't afford to shoot film, it's that you don't want to spend the money to shoot on film.

 

Isn't that the real reason?

 

Regardless I am glad you choose the right course of action by speaking to your instructor.

 

And I hope it all works out for the best.

 

Sincerely,

Todd Fisher

1st AC and Camera Op.

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You Know Aubrey, unless you had some guy buying you drinks, You probably spent enough to have paid for your film and since S8 cameras can go for 20 bucks or less in good working condition on ebay,

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Chinon-20PXL-Cine-Camera-Direct-Sound-GC-Case-Extras-Super-8-/230774804695?pt=UK_Photography_VintageCameras_SM&hash=item35bb4010d7

http://www.ebay.com/itm/VINTAGE-VERNON-101-DUAL-8-MOVIE-EDITOR-VIEWER-FOR-8MM-SUPER-8-SINGLE-8-MOVIES-/370603572337?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item5649b1bc71

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Bentley-Super-8-Movie-Camera-/280863256959?pt=US_Vintage_Cameras&hash=item4164c1317f

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Sears-C-131-Eight-One-Super-8-Auto-Zoom-/200745322976?pt=US_Vintage_Cameras&hash=item2ebd5a89e0

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Kodak-Ektachrome-160-Movie-film-A-type-Super-8-ELA-464-50-ft-Free-S-H-/140738802178?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item20c4afb202

http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-1-SUPER-8-B-W-TRI-X-SP-464-REVERSAL-FILM-FRESH-/390408940686?pt=US_Camera_Film&hash=item5ae62fac8e

http://www.ebay.com/itm/EKC-Instamatic-M24-Super-8-Movie-Camera-/221000455224?pt=US_Vintage_Cameras&hash=item3374a75438

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Kodadk-7276-Plus-X-Reversal-film-Super-8-Cartridge-expired-film-50-PXR464-/140738250405?pt=US_Camera_Film&hash=item20c4a746a5

HERE'S one for 4 bucks + shipping:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/BELL-HOWELL-SUPER-8-MOVIE-CAMERA-/261001527688?pt=US_Vintage_Cameras&hash=item3cc4e74188

http://www.ebay.com/itm/KODAK-SUPER-8MM-PRESSTAPES-MOVIE-FILM-SPLICING-TAPE-PACKAGE-OF-20-BRAND-NEW-/200745292589?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2ebd5a132d

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Yashica-8-E-III-vintage-super-8-in-good-shape-/330715966888?pt=US_Vintage_Cameras&hash=item4d00352da8

http://www.filmshooting.com/scripts/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=20447http://www.yalefilmandvideo.com/

http://www.yalefilmandvideo.com/pdf/Yale%20Video%20Price%20List.pdf

http://www.pac-lab.com/

http://www.pro8mm.com/

http://www.ehow.com/how_6660879_8mm-film-developing-instructions.html

 

Shoot in daylight. Use a 6 buck sheet of white Styrofoam backed with tin foil you can pick up at Loews for lighting and you could shoot you movie on film for around 60 to 80 bucks.

All I can figure is you just want to do what you want to do and don't really care about learning your craft. Do what you want, that's what you're going to do anyway.

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Theres some very helpful ideas here, I especially liked the Chris Marker suggestion, but seriously, this is really obviously a wind up and a rather nasty and misogynistic one at that!

 

Don't waste yr time...

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aubrey you were given some excellent advice by industry professionals on this forum and dvxuser.

 

i am afraid with your attitude you would be better off getting a job at burger king flipping burgers

than wasting your money trying to get into filmmaking.

 

cheers

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