So I was shooting down in Miami for a YouTuber that does MMA training and self defense videos when I got a call to replace the DP for a web series expected to air on webseriestv.com called Zombie Apocalypse. If I was going to do both of these shoots in one day then I was not going to have time to run home to get the rest of my equipment. I told the Director what I had with me and he said that was fine. So I got some really good shots with only some of my equipment. I knew with zombies involved I would at least get some cool shots for my demo reel and I have learned a lot about night shooting but never really had a chance to do some night shooting. So all in all I was excited about the opportunity and there's going to be some really cool animation added to shots so I will certainly want the final product for my demo reel as well. I decided to make a little blog video or vlog about this experience and share some of the video clips as well. So here's the that video.
Monday, August 12, 2013
What a DP day!!!
So I was a Director of Photography (DP) for 15.5 hours yesterday and it was probably my most interesting freelance videographer day since I moved to South Florida. I got home at about 1:30am and had an interview with a film company this morning that went well.
So I was shooting down in Miami for a YouTuber that does MMA training and self defense videos when I got a call to replace the DP for a web series expected to air on webseriestv.com called Zombie Apocalypse. If I was going to do both of these shoots in one day then I was not going to have time to run home to get the rest of my equipment. I told the Director what I had with me and he said that was fine. So I got some really good shots with only some of my equipment. I knew with zombies involved I would at least get some cool shots for my demo reel and I have learned a lot about night shooting but never really had a chance to do some night shooting. So all in all I was excited about the opportunity and there's going to be some really cool animation added to shots so I will certainly want the final product for my demo reel as well. I decided to make a little blog video or vlog about this experience and share some of the video clips as well. So here's the that video.
Enjoy.
So I was shooting down in Miami for a YouTuber that does MMA training and self defense videos when I got a call to replace the DP for a web series expected to air on webseriestv.com called Zombie Apocalypse. If I was going to do both of these shoots in one day then I was not going to have time to run home to get the rest of my equipment. I told the Director what I had with me and he said that was fine. So I got some really good shots with only some of my equipment. I knew with zombies involved I would at least get some cool shots for my demo reel and I have learned a lot about night shooting but never really had a chance to do some night shooting. So all in all I was excited about the opportunity and there's going to be some really cool animation added to shots so I will certainly want the final product for my demo reel as well. I decided to make a little blog video or vlog about this experience and share some of the video clips as well. So here's the that video.
Monday, July 8, 2013
Getting Paid To Make Short Films!?
Lets get paid to make short films! Ah what a refreshing thing to hear. Well before I continue, let me just say, that almost nobody makes money from short films. That's right, I just got your hopes up to crush them. But with that said, there is still some hope and I'm going to tell you where that glimmer of hope resides.
For starters I'm not talking about Pixar animated cartoons that get nominated for Oscars. Animated short films have a huge potential for profit when they are done by a huge company, with some of the most talented people in the business, and connections galore. And those short films are awesome! So they deserve everything they get and more.
But I'm here to talk about short films that most of us make and can put into film festivals if we decide to. Typically these short films are 3-5 minutes or 8-10 minutes in length. For the record, 30 minute short films don't usually make it into film festivals. If I was going to make a 30 minute short I would turn it into a TV show pilot instead and make it like 24-26 minutes in length to leave room for commercials. But that's just me. The other option is lengthen it to feature length but you better have the budget for that. But we're here to talk about shorts. You can win big at TropFest and other film festivals that have cash prizes but in all likely hood you wont win, especially if you knew how many short films don't even make it into these film festivals. But if you do win in a film festival that has a cash prize, then you will have a potential calling card to work on bigger productions like a feature not to mention your short film could move on to a bigger film festival and win more cash. Most of us are not going to win one of the biggest cash prize film festivals that are entered by tons of professional production companies that are taking it very seriously.
So what's your best bet? Well at the moment the best bet for your short film to make money is YouTube. YouTube has Google AdSense that pays you based on the number of views you have and whether or not people click on the ads they play before your video. You pretty much have to go viral to make money and potentially any profit from this. But if you continue to make shorts and build an audience on your YouTube Channel then in time all your videos could go viral. Then your talking money. There's YouTubers now that make a living from just making YouTube videos every week. FreddieW is one that I have been following for a long time and I have heard that him and his partner Brandon make gobs of money. If you have seen the videos that they crank out, then you would know they have earned every penny.
So those are the main glimmers of hope for our short film babies. You could also get creative and find companies or products that are interested in paying you to involve them and or their product in your short film for a price but I have never done that. Some examples would be you show a restaurant's sign and then a scene takes place in that restaurant and they pay you for the exposure. A fancy car place pays you or just allows you to showcase one of their cars in your video as long as you show the decal that promotes them. A product pays you to make a short film about the product and if you are creative enough then you wont make a commercial. These are a few ways to make money with short films or at least help funding.
What I am doing now is raising funds for my upcoming short film here http://igg.me/at/steven-dct/x/3755616. If I'm lucky enough to raise the funds needed, then I will likely still spend more than my budget and not make money when its all said and done. But I will lose less with the crowd funding website. If I don't raise the funds needed then instead of hiring a bunch of professionals I will likely go ahead and make the short film myself with the best people I can find that will work for free and the short film will likely suffer some. Oh, and cost me more money to make as well. So these crowd funding campaign websites are great and maybe you will have better luck raising funds then I am having so far.
The last glimmer that I am aware of is a site that has not started yet but its called http://www.project-lightbox.com/ and apparently it will be a place like YouTube specifically for filmmakers. Will see how this pans out and I'm sure there's sites like this one that I'm not aware of but I think YouTube with its larger amount of viewers is a safer bet still.
So please if you have any comments or glimmers of hope you would like to add to this then don't be shy. Hope this helps and lets keep making short films and finding ways to make money from them or at least lose less.
For starters I'm not talking about Pixar animated cartoons that get nominated for Oscars. Animated short films have a huge potential for profit when they are done by a huge company, with some of the most talented people in the business, and connections galore. And those short films are awesome! So they deserve everything they get and more.
But I'm here to talk about short films that most of us make and can put into film festivals if we decide to. Typically these short films are 3-5 minutes or 8-10 minutes in length. For the record, 30 minute short films don't usually make it into film festivals. If I was going to make a 30 minute short I would turn it into a TV show pilot instead and make it like 24-26 minutes in length to leave room for commercials. But that's just me. The other option is lengthen it to feature length but you better have the budget for that. But we're here to talk about shorts. You can win big at TropFest and other film festivals that have cash prizes but in all likely hood you wont win, especially if you knew how many short films don't even make it into these film festivals. But if you do win in a film festival that has a cash prize, then you will have a potential calling card to work on bigger productions like a feature not to mention your short film could move on to a bigger film festival and win more cash. Most of us are not going to win one of the biggest cash prize film festivals that are entered by tons of professional production companies that are taking it very seriously.
So what's your best bet? Well at the moment the best bet for your short film to make money is YouTube. YouTube has Google AdSense that pays you based on the number of views you have and whether or not people click on the ads they play before your video. You pretty much have to go viral to make money and potentially any profit from this. But if you continue to make shorts and build an audience on your YouTube Channel then in time all your videos could go viral. Then your talking money. There's YouTubers now that make a living from just making YouTube videos every week. FreddieW is one that I have been following for a long time and I have heard that him and his partner Brandon make gobs of money. If you have seen the videos that they crank out, then you would know they have earned every penny.
So those are the main glimmers of hope for our short film babies. You could also get creative and find companies or products that are interested in paying you to involve them and or their product in your short film for a price but I have never done that. Some examples would be you show a restaurant's sign and then a scene takes place in that restaurant and they pay you for the exposure. A fancy car place pays you or just allows you to showcase one of their cars in your video as long as you show the decal that promotes them. A product pays you to make a short film about the product and if you are creative enough then you wont make a commercial. These are a few ways to make money with short films or at least help funding.
What I am doing now is raising funds for my upcoming short film here http://igg.me/at/steven-dct/x/3755616. If I'm lucky enough to raise the funds needed, then I will likely still spend more than my budget and not make money when its all said and done. But I will lose less with the crowd funding website. If I don't raise the funds needed then instead of hiring a bunch of professionals I will likely go ahead and make the short film myself with the best people I can find that will work for free and the short film will likely suffer some. Oh, and cost me more money to make as well. So these crowd funding campaign websites are great and maybe you will have better luck raising funds then I am having so far.
The last glimmer that I am aware of is a site that has not started yet but its called http://www.project-lightbox.com/ and apparently it will be a place like YouTube specifically for filmmakers. Will see how this pans out and I'm sure there's sites like this one that I'm not aware of but I think YouTube with its larger amount of viewers is a safer bet still.
So please if you have any comments or glimmers of hope you would like to add to this then don't be shy. Hope this helps and lets keep making short films and finding ways to make money from them or at least lose less.
Thursday, June 27, 2013
Crowd Funding Is Awesome for Filmmakers!!!
Crowd funding is awesome for creative professionals that need help being funded for their projects. It's a revolutionary idea that has exploded among creative circles. Some crowd funding websites are Indiegogo.com, kickstarter.com, seedandspark.com, and even more are beginning to pop up.
Let me explain a little about what these websites do. They allow creative professionals like myself to start a funding campaign to raise funds for a project we want to start. Since I'm a film professional and making a movie is ridiculously expensive to achieve, websites like these are like music to my ears. Beautiful beautiful music that I want to sing from the mountain tops. Too bad I can't sing... I guess that's why I'm writing about it.
I just finished production on a short film where I did practically everything myself, didn't pay actors, didn't have to pay for crew members, and didn't need to rent any equipment since I have a lot of my own equipment. I didn't keep track of all of the little expenses that added up but after it was all said and done I probably spent anywhere between $1000-$1600 total. The short film is around 10 minutes long, so its not going to make any money for me other than show my skills and get me hired to be a Director of Photography, Gaffer, and or Editor for other projects. Before that short film my last short film I made was a little over a year ago and that one was for school with the help of my fellow classmates. Before I make my first feature film I need to hone my skills and work on a few more short films back to back. That's why I just started a crowd funding campaign with Indiegogo.com to fund my next short film. If enough people tell people about this project and people help fund, then I can make this short film happen right after I finished my last short film. No longer waiting a year to make progress in my career. Gotta love that!
Now why would people fund someone's project? Well for lots of reasons. You want to see the movie made, you want to help support the artist, and you want the perks of helping funding. With Indiegogo you define your perks based on the contribution made. With my movie you can give $5, $10, $25, $50, $100, and $200 donations with different perks assigned to those amounts. I just checked my campaign to know my amounts and THANK YOU whoever the $10 donation is from.
Click Here to See My Crowd Funding Campaign For My Short Film
This new internet phenomenon isn't just for individuals like myself that are trying to make a name for themselves. This is also the future of a lot of big shots in film and television. There's only so many big Hollywood production companies and they're only willing to spend so much money and make so many films a year. With Netflix and Amazon Video you don't need to make a good movie that has to go in theatre to make money anymore. You don't even need a Hollywood production company to have the quality of equipment to make a good movie anymore. The game is changing and crowd funding sites are paving the way for the filmmakers of tomorrow like myself.
Thanks for reading and be sure to checkout my campaign and tell others about it. Thanks so much.
Let me explain a little about what these websites do. They allow creative professionals like myself to start a funding campaign to raise funds for a project we want to start. Since I'm a film professional and making a movie is ridiculously expensive to achieve, websites like these are like music to my ears. Beautiful beautiful music that I want to sing from the mountain tops. Too bad I can't sing... I guess that's why I'm writing about it.
I just finished production on a short film where I did practically everything myself, didn't pay actors, didn't have to pay for crew members, and didn't need to rent any equipment since I have a lot of my own equipment. I didn't keep track of all of the little expenses that added up but after it was all said and done I probably spent anywhere between $1000-$1600 total. The short film is around 10 minutes long, so its not going to make any money for me other than show my skills and get me hired to be a Director of Photography, Gaffer, and or Editor for other projects. Before that short film my last short film I made was a little over a year ago and that one was for school with the help of my fellow classmates. Before I make my first feature film I need to hone my skills and work on a few more short films back to back. That's why I just started a crowd funding campaign with Indiegogo.com to fund my next short film. If enough people tell people about this project and people help fund, then I can make this short film happen right after I finished my last short film. No longer waiting a year to make progress in my career. Gotta love that!
Now why would people fund someone's project? Well for lots of reasons. You want to see the movie made, you want to help support the artist, and you want the perks of helping funding. With Indiegogo you define your perks based on the contribution made. With my movie you can give $5, $10, $25, $50, $100, and $200 donations with different perks assigned to those amounts. I just checked my campaign to know my amounts and THANK YOU whoever the $10 donation is from.
Click Here to See My Crowd Funding Campaign For My Short Film
This new internet phenomenon isn't just for individuals like myself that are trying to make a name for themselves. This is also the future of a lot of big shots in film and television. There's only so many big Hollywood production companies and they're only willing to spend so much money and make so many films a year. With Netflix and Amazon Video you don't need to make a good movie that has to go in theatre to make money anymore. You don't even need a Hollywood production company to have the quality of equipment to make a good movie anymore. The game is changing and crowd funding sites are paving the way for the filmmakers of tomorrow like myself.
Thanks for reading and be sure to checkout my campaign and tell others about it. Thanks so much.
Friday, June 21, 2013
Future of Editing is Almost Here!!!
The Future of Editing is Almost Here!!!
Let me explain. I edit short films, features, commercials, etc. and I have an old Mac from 2008 with a firewire400 port, external HDs, not a lot of memory, etc. This is not an ideal editing system. The speed from your external HD to your Mac should be 7200rpm aka firewire800 minimum for example.
But I make it work the best I can by doing work arounds. For instance if I'm editing a feature film on FCP 7 I would have to edit 8 minute increments and then put all the videos together in a new file to be on the safe side and make sure my computer can handle everything. While I would be editing I would have a cooling fan system directed at my computer and frozen peas, berries, etc. in the freezer on standby to put on my computer if it started to overheat. My computer crashed once from being overworked on a short film I made in college, so I have learned the value of a fan cooling system and frozen foods on standby, first hand.
It's 2013 now and I realize my computer with its hard drive cleared of any files that will slow it down and its memory maxed its still slow and I'm going to need to replace it soon. Not what I want to hear knowing I can't afford the latest and greatest in computer technology. I spend a lot of money on production equipment as it is but I went to apple.com to checkout the Macs (I use Macs because I use FCP that works with Macs).
Technology has advanced a lot since 2008. USB 3.0 is ten times faster than 2.0 and Thunderbolt is suppose to be twice as fast as USB 3.0. Well, I don't even have the drives capable to run the speeds of this new technology. So clearly I need an upgrade and I searched iMacs and added upgrades and added a 4TB Thunderbolt External Storage and the total came to $3000. $4000 if I would get a laptop instead of desktop.
This is more than what I want to spend but even still I have to say with the capabilities of the additions I added to these systems I can't complain.
BUT THEN SOMETHING AMAZING HAPPENED!!!
I noticed a strange image titled MAC PRO. I clicked on it only to discover the future of editing is almost here.
This MAC PRO more than doubles the system I added to my cart in EVERY WAY. Thunderbolt 2.0 doubles the new standard of current transfer ability. The doubling capacity doesn't even include its revolutionary design that will keep your system more cool to operate at its maximum ability for long periods of time. And lets not even get started on how much better the MAC PRO is compared to my current Mac. Plus I think I damaged my keyboard from drooling on it as I scrolled down with my keypad through each of the MAC PRO's descriptions. It was like seeing the future and being glad you will be apart of it.
Clearly every RED 4K resolution editing suite is going to have one of these bad boys when it comes out later this year and Mac has to know that. Technically it's a high end Prosumer Mac bridging the gap to high end professional editing computers without spending $20,000. So I'm certainly worried about the price but at the same time I'm certainly not going to be purchasing any other Mac until I know what the price is on this MAC PRO coming out later this year. It could very well be around $4,000 with so many savvy computer people these days capable of building their own systems, Apple could keep the price competitive. I have seen people say, "they will only purchase this for $3,500" in forums because they feel they can build their own systems in this price range. Whatever the case may be in regards to price, I'm sure I'm going to have to start saving now if I want to be apart of the future.
Come on $3,500 daddy needs a new editing suite!
Let me explain. I edit short films, features, commercials, etc. and I have an old Mac from 2008 with a firewire400 port, external HDs, not a lot of memory, etc. This is not an ideal editing system. The speed from your external HD to your Mac should be 7200rpm aka firewire800 minimum for example.
But I make it work the best I can by doing work arounds. For instance if I'm editing a feature film on FCP 7 I would have to edit 8 minute increments and then put all the videos together in a new file to be on the safe side and make sure my computer can handle everything. While I would be editing I would have a cooling fan system directed at my computer and frozen peas, berries, etc. in the freezer on standby to put on my computer if it started to overheat. My computer crashed once from being overworked on a short film I made in college, so I have learned the value of a fan cooling system and frozen foods on standby, first hand.
It's 2013 now and I realize my computer with its hard drive cleared of any files that will slow it down and its memory maxed its still slow and I'm going to need to replace it soon. Not what I want to hear knowing I can't afford the latest and greatest in computer technology. I spend a lot of money on production equipment as it is but I went to apple.com to checkout the Macs (I use Macs because I use FCP that works with Macs).
Technology has advanced a lot since 2008. USB 3.0 is ten times faster than 2.0 and Thunderbolt is suppose to be twice as fast as USB 3.0. Well, I don't even have the drives capable to run the speeds of this new technology. So clearly I need an upgrade and I searched iMacs and added upgrades and added a 4TB Thunderbolt External Storage and the total came to $3000. $4000 if I would get a laptop instead of desktop.
This is more than what I want to spend but even still I have to say with the capabilities of the additions I added to these systems I can't complain.
BUT THEN SOMETHING AMAZING HAPPENED!!!
I noticed a strange image titled MAC PRO. I clicked on it only to discover the future of editing is almost here.
This MAC PRO more than doubles the system I added to my cart in EVERY WAY. Thunderbolt 2.0 doubles the new standard of current transfer ability. The doubling capacity doesn't even include its revolutionary design that will keep your system more cool to operate at its maximum ability for long periods of time. And lets not even get started on how much better the MAC PRO is compared to my current Mac. Plus I think I damaged my keyboard from drooling on it as I scrolled down with my keypad through each of the MAC PRO's descriptions. It was like seeing the future and being glad you will be apart of it.
Clearly every RED 4K resolution editing suite is going to have one of these bad boys when it comes out later this year and Mac has to know that. Technically it's a high end Prosumer Mac bridging the gap to high end professional editing computers without spending $20,000. So I'm certainly worried about the price but at the same time I'm certainly not going to be purchasing any other Mac until I know what the price is on this MAC PRO coming out later this year. It could very well be around $4,000 with so many savvy computer people these days capable of building their own systems, Apple could keep the price competitive. I have seen people say, "they will only purchase this for $3,500" in forums because they feel they can build their own systems in this price range. Whatever the case may be in regards to price, I'm sure I'm going to have to start saving now if I want to be apart of the future.
Come on $3,500 daddy needs a new editing suite!
Tuesday, June 18, 2013
DSLR Filmmaking is Underrated
Now a days everyone wants to know if you have a RED camera. Really!? You want to know if I have a 20k camera for your 20 second web video? Oh and that 20k camera doesn't include lenses and accessories to shoot properly with the RED camera.
As a professional I hear this question so often and it is truly frustrating. A RED camera doesn't guarantee the quality of ones work either. Can RED cameras produce stellar images? Yes! And no. I have seen shots from a RED camera that have made me question the lenses being used, lighting, and other decisions made by the Director of Photography because the shots looked less than acceptable.
On the other hand I have seen some stellar shots from DSLRs. I have a DSLR and when I tell some potential customers I'm a DSLR filmmaker they are no longer interested. As if DSLRs are not professional. Where has this thought process come from? I believe people are seriously misinformed about DSLR filmmaking. Just like with the RED camera if your shooter knows what he or she is doing the quality of your work will show.
For example here is one of the very first DSLR short films made.
http://vimeo.com/7151244
Now tell me was the quality less than RED?
Exactly, the hands and eye behind the camera makes the shot.
Now you might know some technical terms and be thinking that RED cameras shoot in 4k and full frame DSLR sensors shoot in 2k and crop sensor DSLR are slightly less and blah, blah, blah.
I'm hear to tell you it doesn't matter. That's right. Deal with it.
1080p quality found on cropped sensor DSLRs is enough.
Don't believe me? Are you thinking well, What if you used a full frame DSLR or God forbid a cropped sensor DSLR for an independent film? Well then it would have to go straight to DVD because it couldn't possibly be shown on the big screen, right? Wrong! Oh still don't believe me. Let me name some movies that have been shown on the big screen and used DSLRs and some are a little bigger budget than independent films too.
Here's the list.
Captain of America
Iron Man 2
Avengers
Black Swan
Like Crazy
Red Tails
Red State
Secretariat
127 Hours
Act of Valor
The Pirates! Band of Misfits
and the list keeps on growing. Oh and did I mention that most of these even used a cropped sensor DSLR for some shots as well. I received this list from here.
Now past this along. I need people to stop asking me if I have a RED camera and start hiring me to use the same quality camera used in the movies listed above. That's right I'm a DSLR filmmaker and I'm damn proud of the shots I can produce for a fraction of the cost of a RED shooter.
As a professional I hear this question so often and it is truly frustrating. A RED camera doesn't guarantee the quality of ones work either. Can RED cameras produce stellar images? Yes! And no. I have seen shots from a RED camera that have made me question the lenses being used, lighting, and other decisions made by the Director of Photography because the shots looked less than acceptable.
On the other hand I have seen some stellar shots from DSLRs. I have a DSLR and when I tell some potential customers I'm a DSLR filmmaker they are no longer interested. As if DSLRs are not professional. Where has this thought process come from? I believe people are seriously misinformed about DSLR filmmaking. Just like with the RED camera if your shooter knows what he or she is doing the quality of your work will show.
For example here is one of the very first DSLR short films made.
http://vimeo.com/7151244
Now tell me was the quality less than RED?
Exactly, the hands and eye behind the camera makes the shot.
Now you might know some technical terms and be thinking that RED cameras shoot in 4k and full frame DSLR sensors shoot in 2k and crop sensor DSLR are slightly less and blah, blah, blah.
I'm hear to tell you it doesn't matter. That's right. Deal with it.
1080p quality found on cropped sensor DSLRs is enough.
Don't believe me? Are you thinking well, What if you used a full frame DSLR or God forbid a cropped sensor DSLR for an independent film? Well then it would have to go straight to DVD because it couldn't possibly be shown on the big screen, right? Wrong! Oh still don't believe me. Let me name some movies that have been shown on the big screen and used DSLRs and some are a little bigger budget than independent films too.
Here's the list.
Captain of America
Iron Man 2
Avengers
Black Swan
Like Crazy
Red Tails
Red State
Secretariat
127 Hours
Act of Valor
The Pirates! Band of Misfits
and the list keeps on growing. Oh and did I mention that most of these even used a cropped sensor DSLR for some shots as well. I received this list from here.
Now past this along. I need people to stop asking me if I have a RED camera and start hiring me to use the same quality camera used in the movies listed above. That's right I'm a DSLR filmmaker and I'm damn proud of the shots I can produce for a fraction of the cost of a RED shooter.
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