My new cosplay documentary being shot on film

[Dan Hasson]

33 minutes ago, Tyler Purcell said:

Thanks! Yea this shoot was tricky, but I think some of it came out decent. I should have wondered around more with my hand held rig and zoom lens, some of that stuff came out way better than the steadicam. 

So here is the problem... I'm by myself, I'm organizing stuff as I'm shooting and honestly, I forget to check my focus more often than not. Then you add that I'm running all the way open (T1.3) on all the interior shots,  you start to realize it's a recipe for soft focus. Sadly I don't have control over what I shoot and a lot of people get too close to the camera, then I start to back off and they keep their closeness. Having a wireless follow focus would help and I've contemplated buying one + cinetape of some kind. I was going to update the camera to an HD video tap, but you can't use focus peaking on film cameras due to the ground glass, so that wouldn't help either. 

So yes, as you said, I'm focusing off the barrel before I run the camera, on a guess that my action will stay within a certain distance from the lens. 60% of the time, my focus is good enough, but getting that last 40% has been illusive. What I do is look through the viewfinder, kinda get focus as best I can and then shoot. Sadly tho, I always seem to under estimate how close things are to the camera. Even with the 9.5mm lens (which you guessed correctly) I struggle quite a bit because it's just hard to tell anyway . With my 35mm package, it's actually easier to gauge/judge focus because it's clearly out or in. So even in very dark situations, I've been able to nail the focus 80% or more of the time. So quite a bit of my B-Roll for the doc will be 35mm for that reason alone. I'm just getting way better results. 

Thanks for the detailed response to your shoot! Well the footage you've posted looks great and sharp! Even the bits that go soft, like how you describe people moving closer to you as you move further, are acceptably in focus! Looking forward to seeing the final film!

[Tyler Purcell]

8 hours ago, Dan Hasson said:

Thanks for the detailed response to your shoot! Well the footage you've posted looks great and sharp! Even the bits that go soft, like how you describe people moving closer to you as you move further, are acceptably in focus! Looking forward to seeing the final film!

Thanks! 

[Stephen Perera]

I have really enjoyed this documentary...everything I have seen...didn't even know this 'world' existed.....didnt know the mindset of the people under the masks.....I am very much into social issues etc as can be seen from the stuff Im putting out there on my Vimeo

[Tyler Purcell]

18 hours ago, Stephen Perera said:

I have really enjoyed this documentary...everything I have seen...didn't even know this 'world' existed.....didnt know the mindset of the people under the masks.....I am very much into social issues etc as can be seen from the stuff Im putting out there on my Vimeo

Bro, tell me about it. Really that story is what attracted me to the fandom at all. Now that I'm up to my head in this stuff, it's one incredible story, far more interesting than anything I've captured yet. I can't wait to raise the money and put it on film. 

[Shawn Sagady]

Hey Tyler this is great and I’m super fascinated to see someone digging into the furry scene as it is often I think misunderstood and even maliciously mischaracterized. 

I am curious though way back when you started this thread you called it a cosplay documentary, which struck me as odd.  While the very broad definition of cosplay “Costume Play” would seemingly include furry culture, the common pop culture that identifies as cosplay is often quite at odds with it, being more about dressing as pop culture characters from film, anime, comics etc.  

so I’m curious if you explore the difference in culture and origin or if you have received any backlash because of it? 

 

 

 

 

[Tyler Purcell]

On 3/14/2020 at 10:21 AM, Shawn Sagady said:

Hey Tyler this is great and I’m super fascinated to see someone digging into the furry scene as it is often I think misunderstood and even maliciously mischaracterized. 

It is and so far all of the documentaries about the fandom have not focused on the true origins; artists. 
 

On 3/14/2020 at 10:21 AM, Shawn Sagady said:

I am curious though way back when you started this thread you called it a cosplay documentary, which struck me as odd.  While the very broad definition of cosplay “Costume Play” would seemingly include furry culture, the common pop culture that identifies as cosplay is often quite at odds with it, being more about dressing as pop culture characters from film, anime, comics etc.  

We're not going to be using the word "Furry" anywhere in the marketing or in the documentary either. We want to focus on the aspects of cosplay, which is a broader range than the more specific Furry world. We will include the anime, comic and pop culture character references as well, that's actually how the documentary will start, as that's where the furry fandom came from as well. It started with comic books, which turned into animation and characters that come from animation. Television was the distributor and it programmed everyone into liking what they saw. We're going to be shooting a section on this aspect, using some really cool computer animation to show how the whole thing started. 

On 3/14/2020 at 10:21 AM, Shawn Sagady said:

so I’m curious if you explore the difference in culture and origin or if you have received any backlash because of it? 

I won't know about any backlash until we're finished... I'm in the community pretty heavily, so backlash is not something I've felt thus far. 

[Shawn Sagady]

30 minutes ago, Tyler Purcell said:

It is and so far all of the documentaries about the fandom have not focused on the true origins; artists. 
 

We're not going to be using the word "Furry" anywhere in the marketing or in the documentary either. We want to focus on the aspects of cosplay, which is a broader range than the more specific Furry world. We will include the anime, comic and pop culture character references as well, that's actually how the documentary will start, as that's where the furry fandom came from as well. It started with comic books, which turned into animation and characters that come from animation. Television was the distributor and it programmed everyone into liking what they saw. We're going to be shooting a section on this aspect, using some really cool computer animation to show how the whole thing started. 

I won't know about any backlash until we're finished... I'm in the community pretty heavily, so backlash is not something I've felt thus far. 

That’s all great. Sounds really awesome especially driving into the origins and divergence of communities etc.  best of luck!  

[Stephen Perera]

so where can we view the final full edit.....the whole piece......

BTW y'all dig my 'Film loader' title on my profile hahaha....could not find appropriate description for myself...cos Im not a cinematographer, DP or anything on the list...as I load film...film loader hahah

Edited March 16, 2020 by Stephen Perera

[Tyler Purcell]

Hey guys, just an update for everyone. 

Covid really hampered our year. Most of our critical cast, did not want us traveling to their homes during covid. That mixed with nearly all of my freelance work (where I make money to pay for these projects) being dried up, really halted production dead in it's tracks. We're hoping that next summer we can finally make the trek to Portland and shoot two of our critical cast members out. It will be a huge shoot with a lot of rental equipment, so the cost will be more than any of the other shoots we've done so far. But I believe if we can do that one location, we can crack the nut on this project and push to get the fundraising we need to finish it. We only have 6 cast members and 4 of them are west coast, so it's not a lot of traveling in the long run. 

Few months ago, we decided to blow most of the money we had saved for this project on a short film. I've been pretty desperate to start shooting narratives and we did one called "End of Life" in November. I'm very excited about the project because it's looking pretty good and it's opening doors to make more films like it. I have another similar project that I'm hoping to fundraise sometime soon, for a summer 2021 shoot in Texas, that should help launch my narrative career off the ground. I also have another documentary which I'm going to try and fundraise in 2021 as well, for a 2022 production. 

So things have been busy, just not anywhere near where they need to be. We will try to shoot more in 2021, but its looking like our film will be pushed to late 2022 finishing if everything goes well. 

I hope everyone else is doing well and I look forward to more updates as they come. 

[Stephen Perera]

good luck Tyler....keep at it