Eric_Polselli
Member
I’m not sure this is the best place for this post, but as it doesn’t fit in any of the other forums, and cinematography is a main area of concern of mine in this post, I guess I’ll just go for it.
Here’s the deal. I’m a 21-year-old filmmaker who hasn’t made a film yet. I have several projects in development however, meaning screenplays that I’ve written of various lengths. I’ve written one screenplay for a full length feature that is at a place I’m comfortable calling “complete” which I hope to shoot sometime in the next few years, but I’ve also written some smaller/shorter projects that I hope to cut my teeth on. I promise they’re fully realized projects I’m passionate about.
I’ve been planning on buying a DVX for a long time now, because the advice I keep getting from anyone and everyone I talk to is “just get yourself a camera and shoot, shoot, shoot!” – the idea being to start putting some stuff together so I can develop a style of my own. The problem I keep bumping into is that I don’t work like that. Whenever I pick up a video camera and start shooting all I end up with is utter crap.
The way I do work is that I’ll think of an idea, type it out in brief in MS Word on my computer so I don’t forget it, and then think about it for a while (days/weeks/months) adding a little bit here and there. Eventually it’ll really get rolling and I’ll start churning out a legitimate script on Final Draft - along with (admittedly very poor) storyboards of the specific shots and scenes I have in my head while I’m writing so I don’t forget them and so I don’t clutter up my script with camera directions and stuff. Along the way I end up with tons and tons of loose papers with various idea about the project, outlines, drawings etc., etc.
I’ve come to the conclusion that I’m just not a DP, no matter how hard I try. A couple months back I did extensive research into cinematography, all the way from the basics right up into some of the more advanced stuff. I honestly did way more research and learning about it and put more effort into it than I ever did for anything all throughout school. My thinking was that since I will obviously not have very much money to work with on my movies, it would be beneficial for me to be like a Robert Rodriguez jack-of-all-trades literally shooting my own movies. Ridiculous amounts of time later I now have some pretty extensive knowledge of and a good grasp of the ideas of cinematography that I have absolutely no way of ever utilizing myself. I just can’t force it. As a DP, I suck. So much of filmmaking is technical, and I’m not technically inclined, and so many different aspects of filmmaking are art forms - be it cinematography, acting, sound, music - and I’m just not an artist.
My question to everyone here is this: I come here each and every day to check out the work people show here and I constantly find myself blown away first by the creativity and talent on display, but also by what can be achieved nowadays with a camera that doesn’t cost very much more than the consumer ones you can go grab at Best Buy. The idea I have been thinking about for how I want to produce my movies is to gather together a relatively small crew (but a sufficient one with smart, talented people making their art without me sticking my hands in and turning everything to utter poop) and cast, pay them as reasonably well as I can, with the goal being that everyone involved is there because they want to be, they want to make a great movie, and not for the money. And everyone will be in on the back end just in case anything ever becomes of a project too. I would rent the equipment as opposed to buying, thus getting not only the DVX100A’s I’d need but also all of the grip and lighting equipment and everything else needed to make a quality product. (Ignoring for a moment the fact that this is INSANELY naïve and touchy-feely) would any of you here be interested in getting involved in a project like this? Do you think this a horrible idea I should not even bother trying? Should I just cut my losses now, stop, drop & roll, and run away faster than the guys in Monty Python run from a flying cow?
I just don’t see why the “Hollywood system” of production can’t be *heavily* modified and used on a much, much smaller scale… Thoughts anyone?
- Eric
Here’s the deal. I’m a 21-year-old filmmaker who hasn’t made a film yet. I have several projects in development however, meaning screenplays that I’ve written of various lengths. I’ve written one screenplay for a full length feature that is at a place I’m comfortable calling “complete” which I hope to shoot sometime in the next few years, but I’ve also written some smaller/shorter projects that I hope to cut my teeth on. I promise they’re fully realized projects I’m passionate about.
I’ve been planning on buying a DVX for a long time now, because the advice I keep getting from anyone and everyone I talk to is “just get yourself a camera and shoot, shoot, shoot!” – the idea being to start putting some stuff together so I can develop a style of my own. The problem I keep bumping into is that I don’t work like that. Whenever I pick up a video camera and start shooting all I end up with is utter crap.
The way I do work is that I’ll think of an idea, type it out in brief in MS Word on my computer so I don’t forget it, and then think about it for a while (days/weeks/months) adding a little bit here and there. Eventually it’ll really get rolling and I’ll start churning out a legitimate script on Final Draft - along with (admittedly very poor) storyboards of the specific shots and scenes I have in my head while I’m writing so I don’t forget them and so I don’t clutter up my script with camera directions and stuff. Along the way I end up with tons and tons of loose papers with various idea about the project, outlines, drawings etc., etc.
I’ve come to the conclusion that I’m just not a DP, no matter how hard I try. A couple months back I did extensive research into cinematography, all the way from the basics right up into some of the more advanced stuff. I honestly did way more research and learning about it and put more effort into it than I ever did for anything all throughout school. My thinking was that since I will obviously not have very much money to work with on my movies, it would be beneficial for me to be like a Robert Rodriguez jack-of-all-trades literally shooting my own movies. Ridiculous amounts of time later I now have some pretty extensive knowledge of and a good grasp of the ideas of cinematography that I have absolutely no way of ever utilizing myself. I just can’t force it. As a DP, I suck. So much of filmmaking is technical, and I’m not technically inclined, and so many different aspects of filmmaking are art forms - be it cinematography, acting, sound, music - and I’m just not an artist.
My question to everyone here is this: I come here each and every day to check out the work people show here and I constantly find myself blown away first by the creativity and talent on display, but also by what can be achieved nowadays with a camera that doesn’t cost very much more than the consumer ones you can go grab at Best Buy. The idea I have been thinking about for how I want to produce my movies is to gather together a relatively small crew (but a sufficient one with smart, talented people making their art without me sticking my hands in and turning everything to utter poop) and cast, pay them as reasonably well as I can, with the goal being that everyone involved is there because they want to be, they want to make a great movie, and not for the money. And everyone will be in on the back end just in case anything ever becomes of a project too. I would rent the equipment as opposed to buying, thus getting not only the DVX100A’s I’d need but also all of the grip and lighting equipment and everything else needed to make a quality product. (Ignoring for a moment the fact that this is INSANELY naïve and touchy-feely) would any of you here be interested in getting involved in a project like this? Do you think this a horrible idea I should not even bother trying? Should I just cut my losses now, stop, drop & roll, and run away faster than the guys in Monty Python run from a flying cow?
I just don’t see why the “Hollywood system” of production can’t be *heavily* modified and used on a much, much smaller scale… Thoughts anyone?
- Eric
. I always say, that once you know the rules of DP'ing, it is then that you can break them, manipulate them and use them in your own way.
.
