So you want to be a better filmmaker, right?
After all, you are here. You’re reading this site. You’re seeking out resources to help you learn.
And you’re hungry for more.
Here’s a three course meal to curb that hunger: read the articles here, ask questions on set everyday, and don’t be afraid to challenge your skills.
By the time you’ve gone through those three things, you’ll have a belly full of knowledge and leverage it to turn a passion into a profession. But for now, here’s an appetizer: some of the best comments from around the site.
This Week’s Comments
Here are this week’s comments in no particular order.
1. Phillip Jackson on The View from the Other Side of the Camera
I always feel terrible for the extras with or without lines that show up to film sets hoping to get a shot of them in the final cut. I feel even worse when it’s a scene that took a good about of time to shoot because to the cast and crew you’d think all that effort would end up in the final cut. But time and time again you see those long hours cut into 20 seconds that was originally written to be 5 minutes worth of action.
2. Keith on The View from the Other Side of the Camera
I was one of those crew members who was pulled to do some second unit insert shots on a big movie coming out next year. One day, a makeup person came up to me, grabs my hands and inspects them, then asks “Can we use you?”
Fast forward a month and I had shot about 10-15 shots of my hands and feet doing random things. I am definitely not an actor, and it was a weird experience being on the other side of the camera since you were, as you mentioned, the focus of attention. While you were used to being on the side of working with others to make the talent look good, now you were that “talent” watching everyone around you scuttle about doing their own respective jobs.
I had to go to the costume person, then to the makeup person, then to the prop person, then to set with the lights baking and the AD telling me how to do the action–which the action could be as mundane as moving an object into a certain location, yet under the pressure (especially when they’re shooting film!) it becomes incredibly hard because you don’t want to mess up.
And I did mess up several times, which only made the pressure worse.
Then you are sitting there and the prop person comes by to make sure the prop looks good, the makeup person comes by to make sure the makeup looks good, and the costume person comes by to trim something off the costume–all kind of treating you like you’re a canvas to be painted on more than a person.
Not that I’m complaining, but that’s just what it’s like in front of the camera.
3. Daniel Quesnel on Is R3D Data Manager Worth Your $80?
I believe R3D Data Manager is a must for all professional DIT’s and DMT’s working on full scale film productions shooting on RED. It helps provide piece of mind for ones self and the production. If you are doing color timing the ease of syncing the RMD (“look”) files make it worth $80.00. I use R3D Data Manager as well as do a manual checksum and visually verify all footage.
It helps me sleep at night.
4. Eric Buist on Why You Should Get Google Plus and Unlock Its Potential
Thanks for writing this. I too see potential in Google+, but I think it will be awhile until it comes into wider use.
Look at Google wave, everyone was so excited about it, yet no one knew what to do with it… now it is dead. I am hoping the same doesn’t happen with Google+.
5. John Waterman on How to Carry and Transport the Camera Properly
Sometimes I will unthread the head from the sticks and take the camera and head as one unit. This is mostly for speed when swapping standard sticks for baby legs, or going from dolly to sticks, or sticks to hi-hat, etc.
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If you like what goes on here at The Black and Blue, you should join the Facebook fan page.
Why, you ask?
Well you get to be a part of a community of passionate filmmakers and crew who care as much about the craft of film as they do the gear they use. You’ll also get to lend your voice to some interesting discussions that go on at the page.
Oh, and we’re almost at 1,100 fans so it’d be nice if you helped me break through that number!