A question to the paid professional?

October 9, 2005

If you guys have read my recent you may know that I am seeking an advertising career. I currently have shot three rolls of Tri-x a couple of Super 8 equipment I got off ebay. Plain and simple I am trying to prepare for a career and not just have a hobby( no offense to anyone who just shoots for fun.) but I figured being that as design consisting of areas such as Print, radio, film/video, cinematography would and could be apart of what I could have to offer to a firm or maybe be able to start my own little company.

Since Digital video seems to be the big crave and people seeming to be turning from and downing film is this where the money's at (I still know you want to know both medium if it is)? Forget about look and what not is it truly worth to learn how to properly light, edit and put together and great product that starts on film and finishes on video.

Also is S8 the medium to really learn would sixteen be better (not for look) but for what more commercially accepted (lol I guess by look it would be?) either medium I would have to buget but I am asking before I get in to with S8.

Thanks,

Ronney Ross

Stephen Williams · October 9, 2005

Since Digital video seems to be the big crave and people seeming to be turning from and downing film is this where the money's at (I still know you want to know both medium if it is)?

Ronney,

From my point of view there is more money to be earned using film. The digital video crave is mainly from people who are looking to save money. They don't just want to save money of film and procesing, they want cheep crew too!

Stephen

Nate Downes · October 9, 2005

Let's address these points in-order:

1) Since Digital video seems to be the big crave and people seeming to be turning from and downing film is this where the money's at (I still know you want to know both medium if it is)? Forget about look and what not is it truly worth to learn how to properly light, edit and put together and great product that starts on film and finishes on video.

It's not a big crave. The big crave is to make movies, and people are trying to lowball their way in, led by dreams of 28 days later and Blair Witch Project. They fail to realize that the reason why 28 days later and Blair Witch worked was because their crews had very high production quality standards (Blair Witch was partially film too I'd note). Most DV producers do not have these standards, and their work suffers as a result. If you try and land a paying job, saying "I only know digital video" and doors will shut in your face. You walk up and say "I work with film" and you immediately say "hey, I don't like wasting my money, I won't waste yours either."

2) Also is S8 the medium to really learn would sixteen be better (not for look) but for what more commercially accepted (lol I guess by look it would be?) either medium I would have to buget but I am asking before I get in to with S8.

S8 is fine to learn with. It takes a lot of the headache of filmmaking out of the equasion, allowing you to focus on the film itself. Once you get the swing of it, then you switch to 16mm. That's what my experience has been, anyways.

Eric Steelberg ASC · October 9, 2005

If you guys have read my recent you may know that I am seeking an advertising career. I currently have shot three rolls of Tri-x a couple of Super 8 equipment I got off ebay. Plain and simple I am trying to prepare for a career and not just have a hobby( no offense to anyone who just shoots for fun.) but I figured being that as design consisting of areas such as Print, radio, film/video, cinematography would and could be apart of what I could have to offer to a firm or maybe be able to start my own little company.

Since Digital video seems to be the big crave and people seeming to be turning from and downing film is this where the money's at (I still know you want to know both medium if it is)? Forget about look and what not is it truly worth to learn how to properly light, edit and put together and great product that starts on film and finishes on video.

Also is S8 the medium to really learn would sixteen be better (not for look) but for what more commercially accepted (lol I guess by look it would be?) either medium I would have to buget but I am asking before I get in to with S8.

Thanks,

Ronney Ross

If you do want to make a career out of it, you need to be versatile and know how to make ANY format look good...whether Super8 or 35mm. Let me ask you, if someone who does now how to light and edit puts together a good looking reel of DV footage and you have a reel of DV that you have "forgotten about look" and is not "properly lit," who is getting the job?

And DV is not the crave. How many film students or other filmmakers look forward to when they can shoot DV? Never heard that one before. What IS the crave is DV that looks as close to film as technically possible. That is only acheivable with a skilled Camerman.

I shoot very big commercials for a living and I can tell you that no one is downing film. It's actually the opposite. There is a fear of shooting even HD! Advertisers, by nature, are very conservative and risk adverse. They stick to what they know works. Competition is fierce and they all want there stuff to look as good as the other guy's.

My advice to you is to learn how to light, doesn't matter which format you use. Once you have a set of lighting skills, you'll be able to adapt them to whichever format you use. If you want to get in to advertising, lighting is key. Just learn how to make everything from a bottle to an old lady look good.

David Mullen ASC · October 9, 2005

From a tchnical standpoint, learn to use both DV and Super-8 because you'll need both skills in the future (digital and film.)

From an artistic and practical standpoint, use whatever best suits your production.

Rik Andino · October 9, 2005

If you guys have read my recent you may know that I am seeking an advertising career. I currently have shot three rolls of Tri-x a couple of Super 8 equipment I got off ebay. Plain and simple I am trying to prepare for a career and not just have a hobby( no offense to anyone who just shoots for fun.) but I figured being that as design consisting of areas such as Print, radio, film/video, cinematography would and could be apart of what I could have to offer to a firm or maybe be able to start my own little company.

Thanks,

Ronney Ross

I don't compleltely understand what you're after?

You want a career in film shooting for ad companies?

Or you actually want a career in advertisting working for ad companies?

These are different things a career in advertising is not a film career.

If you want to be a cinematographer, learn all you can about most formats...16mm. Video, 35mm, etc...

But if your intent is not to become a cinematographer...

Then you'll have to take a different route.

You have to be a bit more specific about what you're seeking.

Good Luck

October 10, 2005

thanks for the advice,

and rick the thing as far as seeking an advertising career I am more of a hands type of person and becoming a dp would be awesome. I have creative ideas that need to be honed are far as coming up with concepts and scripts be I desire the production side of the business not just shooting film/or video but light adn photographing people or things to put together layout ads.

Thanks again,

Ronney Ross

Robert Hughes · October 10, 2005

Look long and hard at good advertising, try to figure out what they did. Where did they put the lights? What kind, hard or soft? What did they do to the background? How do they separate the product from the background? Ask yourself the questions and try to figure out some of the answers, then try to duplicate them yourself and shoot with any camera you've got, still or movie.

Also go to a pro photrapher's studio and look around; what are they using, how do they do it, how long does it take to set up a shot? Would you have the patience to do the same?

Lots of things to do, and they won't cost you a dime.

Dimitrios Koukas · October 10, 2005

Also is S8 the medium to really learn would sixteen be better (not for look) but for what more commercially accepted (lol I guess by look it would be?) either medium I would have to buget but I am asking before I get in to with S8.

Thanks,

Ronney Ross

Well,

It's more easier to make a 16mm look like S8, than the opposite.

Dimitrios Koukas

Matt Pacini · October 12, 2005

"... S8 is fine to learn with. It takes a lot of the headache of filmmaking out of the equasion, allowing you to focus on the film itself.

Boy, do I disagree with that statement.

It's MUCH easier to get a good image with 16mm than with Super 8.

The smaller the format, the MORE work on your filming you're going to do, unless you don't care about how it looks, and if that's the case, then shoot it on DV.

MP

Dimitrios Koukas · October 13, 2005

Boy, do I disagree with that statement.
It's MUCH easier to get a good image with 16mm than with Super 8.

The smaller the format, the MORE work on your filming you're going to do, unless you don't care about how it looks, and if that's the case, then shoot it on DV.

MP

To add something to it,

The big advertising companies, know the differences between the different media.

U can't just walk in and tell them I want to shoot this in S8! Or even DV.

Only if you have examples for a specific look that you want to achieve, but either way, I would do it 35mm and then do whatever I want in the post.With the excellent technologies that we use today, that getting better and better as the time passes, there is no need anymore to shoot something on S8 to make it look like S8!

More option when u use better formats.

What if you do something that they finally the client doesn't like it?

No way back. Can you ask to reshoot? I don't think so.

Dimitrios Koukas

Nate Downes · October 13, 2005

Boy, do I disagree with that statement.
It's MUCH easier to get a good image with 16mm than with Super 8.

The smaller the format, the MORE work on your filming you're going to do, unless you don't care about how it looks, and if that's the case, then shoot it on DV.

MP

I thought we were talking about learning here, however. I've found that once someone can master getting a good image on Super8, they do much better when they move to 16mm. Not so much the case in going from DV to 16mm, it's like there's some innate learning that they haven't gotten yet.