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Is there a future for me
in filmmaking?
Should I go to film school?
Where are the film schools?
How do I start after I
get out of school?
What does a Director of
Photography do?
What kind of light meter should I buy and where do I buy it?
How do I use the Zone system?
Resources
Guerrilla Video Shooting
(link - not my work)
revised:
07/08/2007
Is there a future for me
in filmmaking?: Of course. Provided you are
consumed by a dream. Talent helps a lot. Alone it does almost
nothing for you. There are so many obstacles to your ever making films
in any capacity that you must have a hide tough to rejection. Whatever
category (ies) of filmmaking draw you, you will run into endless
"No's". To get anywhere takes enormous guts and perseverance. A
hint: your cheerful willingness to do any job no matter how menial
takes you a long way. Who needs a grouch?
The state of filmmaking has changed radically for
the better in the last few years, thanks to mini-DV. For a relatively small
amount of money, you can shoot and edit compelling films. The big expense
comes when you want to up your edited mini-DV film to a 35mm print for
theatrical distribution. If your film is so good that it merits being
released in theaters, there's a good chance you can get investors or
distributors to pay the cost of that bump.
At present there is still need for
cinematographers to make strong images, because the more beautiful the image
is that you have created, the more beautifully you can maneuver it
afterwards. I would strongly recommend any aspiring DP and director to
learn as much as possible about digital manipulations. The
technologies to do so will evolve at light-speed even as you continue your
college/post-college education, but at least you will have some working
knowledge about what is out there. That knowledge, like all
other, will tell you what we now know we can do. It will never tell
you what can be done. What can be done keeps changing -- you will
change it.
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Should I go to film school? Two schools of thought:
Yes and no. Leading the no's is Roberto Rodriguez,
Director/DP/Production Designer/Editor/Musician (Sin
City is his latest) who has written a wonderfully breezy "10
Minute Film School." When you've finished Rodriguez's piece, go to a
reply by another beginning filmmaker, "The
Truth About Robert Rodriguez." Among his many good observations is that
Rodriguez had shot 200 videos, beginning from the time he was 9 years old, before he
made his "first" film, Mariachi.
He already knew a great deal about what he was doing when he "began."
Film school is almost always expensive. If you
pick carefully, you can learn a great deal. Then you can start.
For more comments, try a Google search for: is
film school right for me -- don't use quotes so you get a broader selection
of hits.
Disclaimer: I have taught part-time
graduate Lighting and graduate Cine 1 at the Academy of Art University in San
Francisco. It's my belief that my students got good experience and
information though you'd have to check with them to be sure. Sorry, that's
hard for you to do.
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Where are the film schools?: Let your web-fingers do the
walking. Try:
Film School Directory:
http://www.reelmind.com/pages/schools/default.php?ck=15909
Also try a Google search for: film school
directory -- don't use quotes to get the most hits.
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How do I start after I
get out of school?: (Or even before you get out of school:)
There seem to be two very different routes: either become an
apprentice or an "auteur". Both routes can lead to fulfillment,
both can lead to utter misery.
The apprentice: You take any job
you can get, be it floor-sweeper, janitor, production assistant, whatever.
So much depends on where in the film art/business you want to go, and maybe
right now you don't even know where that is. If your desire directs
you to cinematography (my own turf) try to find first or second assistant
camerapersons who want a smart beginner to do their grunt work. Future
producers should look for PA (production assistant) work. Offer your
services free for the first few times.
No matter what you've been taught in school, when
it comes to actually doing it on the set, you know next to nothing.
But after a while, what you learned will start to make sense. The
pieces of the puzzle will start to click in place. In time you can
start to ask for money for your services, because now you will be really
earning your way. One of the delights of our sector is we get paid to
learn.
Other routes: Apprentice to an editor. Be a
mail clerk in a large production studio. Work for a talent agency.
The auteur: Write,
write, write. Start shooting documentaries and/or films on your Hi-8 or DV
cam. Get your rich uncle or local Elks Club to finance your first
short/feature/TV film. Always surround yourself with the best talent in the
other crafts you can. No matter how brilliant you are, you are not so
brilliant that others won't make you even more so. Casting is
essential for on-camera talent, and for those behind the camera too.
You can never do it alone as well as you can do it with the help of
wonderful colleagues. Collaborate.
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What does a Director of
Photography do? The DP's job varies enormously depending
on the director she/he is working for at the moment. At heart, you
craft the moving image to tell a story. Beyond that, everything is up
for grabs. Our notions of story telling have evolved considerably
since I started, and of course continue to evolve with every year.
camera: you set (or maybe the
director sets) where the camera is for the next shot, and how it
moves, where it moves, how fast, slow etc. You frame the images,
define what is seen and what is not seen.
shadow, light, color: These are the
other main elements you will try to manipulate. Unless the budget
makes you do it all yourself, several people can help you here: the gaffer,
who sets the lights where you tell him to (or where she/he thinks the light
should go depending on how you work with him/her); the key grip who with
her/his crew sets flags and scrims and silks to modify the light(s); the set
designer and prop-person who can produce spaces and objects that photograph
well -- or not so well.
lights you decide where the
"key" (main light source) is, what you want to put in shadow, how much
"fill" light you want, what elements you want to illuminate, and how much.
Your tools are: your eye, your spot meter, and your incident meter.
When you start out, even though you are his/her "boss," it is likely your
gaffer will know much more than you do. Learn from her/him.
The more you shoot, the more your own eye will
begin to tell you what you need to know. The only ways I know to learn
are: shoot, shoot, shoot. Look at what comes out on the
screen or TV. Also, go look at paintings. Go look at other films.
Go look at photographs. Keep your eye open for the ways sunlight or
street light or interior lamps fall on faces and objects and vistas.
Look at how the light bounces off some objects and splashes on the dark
wall. At first you won't know what you are looking for or at.
Keep at it. It's all a giant puzzle, and you are to become the
puzzlemaster.
crew: The DP is titular head of the
camera, the grip and the electric crews. That means you are their
boss, and also their protector.
relations with the director: Every
director will come with a very different set of knowledge and expectations
about him/herself and about you. Some have no knowledge about image
and want you to really set the style. Some have strong ideas
about the image and also want to collaborate. Some (and these are just no
fun to work with but still you will learn from every one of them) order you
down to the last detail whether or not they know anything. Over time
you will discover your own way to deal with each of these people. It
is part of the job. One of the toughest parts for you will be to keep
your own eye active even when people and circumstances around you distract
or wear you down.
finally: Tell the people who work
for you as well as the people for whom you work how much you appreciate them
and their ideas and their hard work. One of the great joys of
our work is collaborating with colleagues. Share it.
And, oh yes, you will never stop learning.
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What
kind of light meter should I buy and where do I buy it?
I use both a Spectra incident meter (digital, model P-2000, also called
"Professional lV") and a Pentax spotmeter (digital). For a discussion
on how and why, you might read my articles,
Light Meters,
Previsualizing:
Dialogues with Light Meters/ and the Zone System . Also,
How do I use the Zone System?
To buy meters, try ebay where you can find
good bargains some of the time -- be patient. Or contact:
Quality Light Metric in Los Angeles at 323-467-2265. They have
excellent prices on new meters and sometimes sell used ones as well, again
at very reasonable prices. Quality Light Metric is also THE place to repair
light meters.
For Zone-system Zone Dials, contact
www.calumetphoto.com, and in the "keywords" enter "zone meter", then
click on either "zone dial for Pentax V Spot Meter" or "zone dial for
Pentax Digital Spot Meter" depending on which one you own. Calumet,
which seems to have bought out Zone Vl in Vermont, still sells Zone Vl
products for the same good prices, but does charge a fairly hefty amount
for "shipping and handling."
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Resources
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(Last updated:
07/08/07)
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