My Feature Film Will Be Shot With 7D...

Polanski

Polanski

Well-known member
Hi guys,
It's been some days that I haven't been around. I've been busy in the preproduction of my feature film "The Lurk". (Almost no budget film).
To be shot with 7D.
I'm not the DP. It's a friend from Seattle: Joseph Jang.
I'm the director/writer/producer, and this has been a real experience for me even though I worked for a TV show for more than 6 years.
This forum has been a big inspiration for me to take this adventure.
To know about this project, please visit:

www.farmofdreams.net

or http://www.farmofdreams.net/thelurk/thelurk.html

Shooting starts next week, and as soon as I have some footage I'll post some still frames.

Hope you'll give me your invaluable input as always.

Thanks
 
A piece of advice in advance which I wish someone would of told me on my first feature: Coverage! It's all about coverage!

Kill it!
 
Congratulations and good luck. I gotta second the advice from HDKilledFilm, after editing a couple of low budget features, coverage is good.... very good.
 
HDkilledFILM. said:
yeah, unless you have a camera problem which you don't know about until post then one take=reshoots lol.
Click to expand...

Well, coverage for safety is an issue, but like Kholi says, checking your footage for basic quality assurance/usability has to be part of the production work flow. However, I do not buy the idea that, "Vision> coverage". Now, just IMHO, I believe that the production process is your only opportunity to gather together all the creative elements possible to take into editing, where, again, IMHO, a filmic story is really made. Now on a low budget film, doing take after take, just to try things out, is not possible. However, everyday, and or almost every scene there are going to be the questions about, "Should I do "X" this way or that way". Now a director has to be able to make these decisions, but those decisions made on the floor, without creative variations, are all you are going to have when you get in the editing suite, where you will be making the final decisions. I think that it is not a sign of indecision from a director, but a sign of their understanding of the art of filmmaking, for them to shot variations of scenes, for creative effect. Shooting the same performances, with the same screen action, at the same speed, from many different angles, is not my idea of coverage. Of course, getting the reaction shots and inserts are important, but for my money, once you have the angles that will cover the scene that you are shooting in the way that want, giving the actors a little bit of freedom to vary their performance, to get comfortable, and "In the moment" in the scene, is coverage. Shooting a dolly shot, or other camera move, at different speeds (faster then it looks on set is usually the one) is coverage. Sometimes, great variations in performance, such as, "Should she slap him or walk away defiantly?", for example, will come up. Shooting it both ways is coverage, and smart filmmaking. Getting coverage also means getting adequate room tone audio recordings from every camera set up, and taking the time to get wild tracks of dialogue when possible (getting audio from on set rehearsals is a good idea) as is getting wild tracks of unique on set audio effects or foley.

"Coverage" is understanding that "Another take", or even "Another angle" is always cheaper, and faster, than a "Re-shoot".
 
I agree with both David and Kholi ( a DIT is a must at this point IMHO), for me coverage is both a way to assure myself future flexability in post (because I like to shape the story in editing and see if I can change things for the better or because I see something from an actor that I didn't notice on the set) and because as David pointed out (and has been proven by film makers like Kubrick) many actors need several takes to get to a point where they give their best performance and making slight tweeks to their performance as a director is essential to making the project the best it can be. Getting enough coverage is a lession I have learned the hard way, I am just trying to give some helpfull advice sorry if I offended anyone.-Adam
 
HDkilledFILM. said:
I agree with both David and Kholi ( a DIT is a must at this point IMHO), for me coverage is both a way to assure myself future flexability in post (because I like to shape the story in editing and see if I can change things for the better or because I see something from an actor that I didn't notice on the set) and because as David pointed out (and has been proven by film makers like Kubrick) many actors need several takes to get to a point where they give their best performance and making slight tweeks to their performance as a director is essential to making the project the best it can be. Getting enough coverage is a lession I have learned the hard way, I am just trying to give some helpfull advice sorry if I offended anyone.-Adam
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Adam, it is all good. I apologize if my post sounded like I was disparaging you advice. I absolutely did not intend that. As a guerilla guy from way back, I have more that a few shots ruined by boom mics and light stand legs in the shot, or grip and or PA reflections in the back ground. One of the things I love about file based HD systems is the ability to throw the footage on a laptop and check it for flaws right away. Anybody shooting on a file based HD system should make that part of their production work flow.
 
No guys, I'm sorry, I read over some of my posts and I sound like a bit of an ass. Not intended, we're all here to help each other out and I am in no way trying to put anyone down or belittle anybody. So please if I've offended anybody, just chalk it up to me being a guy who gets hit in the face alot (It's the truth lol).:laugh:
 
Thanks, guys. I really appreciate your comments and advise. I'll have that in mind. Check and recheck every piece of footage at end of each day.
We'll have two cameras. You know, 7D tends to get hot.
I'm really excited, and I hope everything works out as it should.

Thanks again.
 
Polanski said:
Thanks, guys. I really appreciate your comments and advise. I'll have that in mind. Check and recheck every piece of footage at end of each day.
We'll have two cameras. You know, 7D tends to get hot.
I'm really excited, and I hope everything works out as it should.

Thanks again.
Click to expand...

Good luck. Keep up posted.
 
Polanski said:
Thanks, guys. I really appreciate your comments and advise. I'll have that in mind. Check and recheck every piece of footage at end of each day.
We'll have two cameras. You know, 7D tends to get hot.
I'm really excited, and I hope everything works out as it should.

Thanks again.
Click to expand...
We're using two 7Ds, but never had any overheating issues. what it IS good for though is coverage. Some scenes, you'll want to use two cameras at the same time. You get a lot of good reaction shots in dialogue scenes that way.

And if you're doing that, what you also really want is two boom operators. That's a big mistake I made, only having one.
 
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