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A creative mind is a low budget filmmaker’s most valuable tool. It all starts with an original thought; from there it is all about nurturing that thought until it grows to be a brilliant idea. After that it is a matter of getting that idea made into a movie using every ounce of energy and resources you can possibly muster up.

Most of the successful films that are showing at film festivals these days are movies that were made at a fraction of the cost that it takes to make a major Hollywood studio film. Advances in technology have made it so that just about anyone can make a movie. Film cameras, video cameras, sound recording equipment, and just about any other kind of equipment that one needs to make a movie can be purchased at very affordable prices these days. The equipment that is available these days can provide a very low budget movie with a production value that looks like James Cameron had something to do with the project. This professional look coupled with a unique story can help any film’s chances at being accepted into film festivals like Houston Worldfest, Cannes, Toronto Film Festival, Sundance Film Festival, etc… More »

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March 11th, 2010 | Tags: film festival, film production, filmmaker | Category: Lounge, Video Production | Leave a comment

COORDINATING AND REPORTING

The script supervisor works closely with the director and editor, and plays a key role in guarding against omissions or mismatches in the production. Continuity work begins as soon as a finished script exists, but comes into its own during shooting. The script supervisor monitors the continuity of costumes, properties, and characters’ words and behavior—something that otherwise falls haphazardly to director, actors, and crew. The professional continuity supervisor’s note taking culminates in one or more sheets per camera setup. These records provide guidance during the shoot and are used intensively by the editor.

SCRIPT BREAKDOWN

A close reading of the script yields a list of locations and of people in the first breakdown. Very important are their names, characteristics, physical attributes, overt action (as opposed to action offscreen or implied in the past), and their entries and exits. More »

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February 17th, 2010 | Tags: continuity, production, script | Category: Video Production | Comments (1)

Between 1941 and 1967, three major video standards were set. The U.S. NTSC standard was accepted by much of South and Central America and also Asian countries aligned politically with the United States. Germany initially developed the PAL system, but it is used throughout the world in English-speaking countries and those countries aligned politically with the United Kingdom and their former colonies. France followed with Sequential Color with Memory (SECAM), which was adopted by former French colonies and some Eastern bloc countries. The major problem with these three systems is not their difference in quality but that they are incompatible; a program originating in an NTSC camera or recorded on an NTSC recorder cannot be viewed on either a PAL or SECAM receiver or played back on either a PAL or SECAM recorder. NTSC varies from PAL and SECAM in line and frame rates. More »

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February 6th, 2010 | Tags: digital, signal, standard, system, television, video | Category: Encyclopedia | Comments (1)

The 1950s has justifiably been called The Golden Age of Television. With the end of World War II, the economy had recovered and stabilized, and television had become so popular that magazines regularly featured articles on home decorating with the TV set as the centerpiece. The dining room table had been replaced by frozen dinners on a TV tray, and TV Guide, launched in 1953, was on the coffee table. TV producers and writers freely took their programming ideas from radio and traditional theater. TV news, for example, consisted of the anchor simply reading the newspaper and wire reports into camera, with none of the visuals we expect in today’s news broadcasts. CBS and NBC created legendary television with innovative anthology programming.

As programming boundaries expanded, television shows and the creative minds behind them grew bolder. Brilliant young comedic minds like Ernie Kovacs and Sid Caesar wrote witty and irreverent material, and used TV’s technology to produce special effects that played with the material at hand. Television was moving away from simply adapting traditional radio formats to new and innovative programming concepts. More »

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February 1st, 2010 | Tags: 1950, age, golden, programming, sitcom, television | Category: Lounge | Comments (4)

It is an adaptable form of nonfiction programming that has served various functions throughout the medium’s history: as a symbol of prestige for advertisers and networks, a focal point for national attention on complex issues, a record of the human experience and the natural world, and an instrument of artistic and social expression. Unlike other programming, documentaries have typically been sustained for reasons other than high ratings and ad sales. Consequently, the health of the documentary form serves as an indicator of a network’s commitment to news and as a barometer of social, political, and economic dynamics.

A documentary is defined as a nonfiction report that devotes its full time slot to one thesis or subject, usually under the guidance of a single producer. Part of the fascination with documentaries lies in their unique blend of writing, visual images, sound tracks, and the individual styles of their producers. In addition to their particular contribution to the television medium, however, documentaries are notable because they have intertwined with wrenching moments in history. These characteristics have inspired some to describe documentaries as among the finest moments on television and as a voice of reason, while others have criticized them as inflammatory.

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January 14th, 2010 | Tags: broadcast, documentary, nonfiction, production, television | Category: Video Production | Comments (2)

Born in Helensburgh, Dumbartonshire, U.K., 13 August 1888. Attended Royal Technical College, Glasgow, and Glasgow University. Served as superintendent, Clyde Valley Electric Power Company; helped pioneer television transmission, successfully transmitting image of a Maltese cross several feet, 1924; gave scientists a demonstration of “Noctovision,” a form of infra-red television imaging, 26 January 1926; succeeded with world’s first transatlantic television transmission from London to New York, and produced first television images in natural color, 1928; experimented with stereoscopic television; the BBC adopted his 30-line, mechanically-scanned system, 1929, used for the first televising of the Derby from Epsom, 1931. Recipient: first gold medal of the International Faculty of Science given to an Englishman, 1937; Gold Medal of the International Faculty of Science, 1937. Died in Bexhill, Sussex, U.K., 14 June 1946.

John Logie Baird pioneered early television with the mechanical scanning system he developed from 1923 to the late 1930s. He is remembered today as an inventor (178 patents) with considerable insight, who was in many ways ahead of his time. Among his pioneering ideas were early versions of color television, the video disc, large screen television, stereo television, televised sports, and pay television by closed circuit. But he is also a tragic figure who often worked alone for lack of financial backing and lived to see his technical ideas superseded. He was forgotten by the time he died at the age of 58.

Baird did not select television as a field of endeavor so much as he backed into it. As a teen, he had toyed with the notion of pictures by wireless, as had others fascinated with the new technology. Later, having unsuccessfully tried innovation in several more mundane fields (socks, jams, glass razors, shoe soles), Baird traveled to Hastings (on England’s south coast) in 1923 to see if the sea air would aid his always marginal health. During a series of long walks there, his mind returned to his earlier notions of how to send wireless images. But he was not well trained in electronics, and this lack of basic knowledge often limited his thinking and experiments. More »

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January 12th, 2010 | Tags: baird, John, Logie, Pioneer, television | Category: Encyclopedia | Comments (1)

Choosing a camera is an important pre-production decision. If you choose something cheap you have more money to spread arround, but the image quality suffers and you have fewer option in the post. If you choose an expensive package you get a stellar image and more option in post, but you have little money for everything else. In picking the camera, you weight the target distribution method, storytelling needs, and budget. For instance, shooting a documentary that will make the festival circuit and public television is fine with a 24p DV camera. If you are planning to do a film out, then choosing a better camera package.

The best way to determine which camera to use if you don’t own one is to rent or borrow one and do tests. Shoot in situations you are likely to encouter, capture  it, and view the result. If you plan to shoot with additional accessories such as an anamorphic adapter, a dolly, jib arm, follow focus gear, or any equipment you have never used before, rent it too and do a small test. Ask yourself how the camera is to use. Is it easy to adjust and comfortable to hold? Does it deliver sufficient image quality? You want to know everything you can about the camera you’re going to use because you don’t want to waste time on the set when it could be spent for another take or setup. You also don’t want a surprise if gear doesn’t work as intended. It is better to find out before production begins.

Shooting tests are not only about using the gear but also about the image quality. Capture the material you shot and look at it in your NLE or compositing application. Color-correct it and experiment with effects. If you’re happy with the results, you know picked a good camera. Use this time to learn the camera’s control.

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October 15th, 2009 | Tags: camera, pre-production, shoot | Category: Lounge | Comments (2)

Interviews constitute the bulk of shots in a documentary. Cinema verite, archival footage, panning stills, or more creative montage make up the rest. Interviews fall into two general categories: the informal stand-up interview and the more formal sit-down interview. A hybrid of the two is the tour, where you follow the subject around a location. Lectures are not considered interviews, but  included a few pointers on shooting those.

Stand-Up Interviews and Sit-Down Interviews

Stand-Up Interviews

Stand-up interviews are the on-the-spot kind one sees in front of the courthouse. They are cheap in the sense that questions are thrown out, and they are unscripted and unplanned. These interviews are good for a quick opinion or sound bite, but you cannot get the depth in these that you would get from a sit-down interview.

A stand-up interview can be anywhere, but is probably best and more meaningful if it is shot in a location that plays a part in a film, like a controversial location or a place the subject has a historical connection to. More »

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October 14th, 2009 | Tags: documentary, interview, style | Category: Video Production | Comments (1)

Betacam SX format released by Sony Corporation in 1996. It’s a component digital format that has a sampling ratio of 4:2:2 and a 10 :1 MPEG 2 compression ratio. The recording is done on a 1/2-inch metal-particle videotape enclosed within a cassette. The format supports up to four digital audio tracks plus a time code. The maximum recording time for Betacam SX is 184 minutes, and the tape moves through the transport at a play speed of 59.6 millimeters/sec, or 2.3 inches/sec.

D-1 {4:2:2} component digital format was introduced in 1986 and has since become the industry standard for uncompressed digital video recording. The recording is made on a 3/4-inch-wide videotape enclosed within a cassette. The maximum recording time for the format is 90 minutes. The format supports up to four digital audio channels plus a cue track. For color correction of standard definition material, the D-1 format is by far the best format to use because it represents the highest quality available and has no video compression.

D-2 format is a composite digital format that records information onto a 3/4-inch-wide videotape enclosed within a cassette and runs at a speed of 5.185 inches/sec, or 131.7 millimeters/sec. The D-2 format has four digital audio channels and supports a maximum recording time of 126 minutes.

D-3 format is a composite digital format developed by the NHK in 1991. It records the information onto a 1/2-inch-wide videotape enclosed within a cassette at a speed of 3.28 inches/sec, or 83.88 millimeters/sec. It has a maximum recording time of 246 minutes. It supports up to four channels of digital audio and has one channel allocated for the time code. It’s a format that is widely used throughout the broadcast industry.

D-5 (4:2:2) component digital format was released in 1994 by the Panasonic corporation. The format uses the same type of cassette as the D-3 format, which uses a 1/2-inch-wide videotape enclosed within a cassette. The format also has four digital audio channels and a dedicated time-code channel. The maximum playing time for D-5 is 124 minutes. There is a high-definition television (HDTV) adapter, which can be added in order to permit HDTV recordings with a four-to-one compression ratio.

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September 20th, 2009 | Tags: digital, format, recording | Category: Video Production | Comments (5)