Personal Film-Making

Hey

So todays post is going to be a slight change of tone. Usually I try to post content relevant to film-making in some form, usually involving some technical aspect of film-making, but today I'm going to talk about the personal aspects of making films.

For a long time in my early attempts at becoming an Indie film-maker I found myself making more excuses for not making films than actually making films, and I find that it's a common issue with film-makers I know and socialise with, I'd always have an excuse not to do something, not having a good enough camera, or not having a mic port on the camera I did have.

All of these excuses were just that - excuses. As of late I've been out filming a lot more, and recently I've really been thriving as a film-maker and becoming much more of a professional with my filmic vision becoming clearer with every project, and it's mostly due to the realisation that even if I'm making films with basic equipment, I'm still making films, and that technological limitations aren't something to lament over and use as an excuse to give up before you start, but something to embrace enthusiastically as a challenge as a film-maker.  There really is nothing more satisfying than overcoming a challenge and getting lovely shots which people assume you had better equipment for.

Another benefit of just making film regardless of what gear you have is that you dramatically improve technically as a film-maker - You get to understand what the settings on your kit do and you learn to manipulate them to get the right set up for the shoot conditions, and you get a better eye for what to do, you learn what shots work well, and what looks horrible, and you get the opportunity to develop your style as a film-maker, some of your first films will be awful, yet as a film-maker they're some of the films you'll love the most, and the films that you will learn the most from.

Pick ideas you're interested in - If you love Film Noir but you think your lack of resources only allows you to make a low value chick flick, don't make the chick flick! Make projects you're interested in, even with a lack of resources doing a project you have enthusiasm has more of a chance of actually being made. There's plenty of ways of making almost anything on little/no budget, just look in  second hand shops, or even fancy dress stores for basic fake blood etc.

Collaboration is key! If you need help with a production, from editors to actors you can usually find someone online who will be willing to help, and with everything in Indie Film, if you don't ask, you don't get. There's plenty of places you can look for help online, such as film forums (See my personal favourite IndieTalk)

Once you've made your film, get someone to critique it! The best way to develop as a film-maker is through criticism, get someone who knows what they're talking about (Even if it's a lecturer if you're doing a film/media course in school/college) and ask them to pick out the issues, then once they have go back and re-edit with their suggestions, see what works and what doesn't, you may get some criticism that sounds good, but when applied it doesn't actually fit into your creative vision, this usually means that it's not right for your project, and the likelihood is that the flaw is just a film technique you need to practice more, and the more you do it, the better it will look!

Keep On Filming!

-Geraint

Camera Operation & Fitness

Hello again!

So as the title of this article suggests today I'm going to be talking of camera operation, but more specifically I'm going to talk about how it fits together with fitness.

Few people enjoy fitness, many despise it, personally I like the idea of it, but actually doing it is a lot of effort, recently however I've began to do more exercise in my free time, this is due to a rather recent bout of battling with a recurring knee issue I have, and the only way I've ever found to get rid of it is to exercise it, it also coincides with a philosophy I've held for a few months without acting upon.

My argument is that the fitter a camera operator is the better they will become, if you have an amazing operator technically, but his body simply can't keep up on the day of a shoot, then he'll be restricted by the limits of his physicality, if you have the same camera operator who's at a good fitness level then his body will be able to keep up, and he'll be able to do his best work all day.

Having worked on a couple of Indie film sets and spontaneous film shoots I can say it's no surprise that it's a lot of running around, and as a camera operator you find yourself having to run in front of someone, backwards, with steps or other objects behind you which you have to doge, whilst concentrating on the camera, making sure the framing is perfect and everything is in focus. If you didn't quite get my point it's that it takes a lot of effort working on a camera, and on an Indie Film set you'll often find directors and DoP's taking the role of camera operator as we have a lack of funds, and it's also something we enjoy doing!

If you can remove the physical strain of being active all day you primarily make shoots a lot easier for yourself as a film-maker due to the removal/mitigation of the physical strain, and it can also help you creatively, especially if you're running on a treadmill or even going outside to run, it's a menial task, so put on some music and you may find that the time with yourself will enhance your creativity, even if it is as a means to mentally procrastinate from the running!

I'm sure some of you will disagree with me, so feel free to comment with your take on what I've discussed today!


Keep on filming!

-Geraint

Editing - 50% Fun, 100% Enjoyable

Hey!

So lately with various jobs/coursework assignments I've been doing a lot of editing, now don't get me wrong, it's not that I dislike editing, in fact I love editing; it's one of my strongest talents as a film maker, and one of the few that I'd say I'm most competent and confident in, but editing can be tedious, I'll explain...

Most people think of editing as adding in CGI monsters, and making epic montages. Yes these things have a home in editing, but what I've found is that editing is 50% preparation 50% actually doing work, yes you can get a bunch of random/off the cuff shots and edit them together to make a good sequence, but I'm confident in saying that nobody has ever edited together a good sequence just by pressing random buttons, it's the Infinite Monkey Theorem, yes it's possible in theory, but in practice it simply won't happen, editing takes time, and editors have the hardest job in the film-making process, as they're there to eliminate the flaws that have gone on during the production, and effectively have to make up for the mistakes of others, and if they fail, that then becomes their responsibility and their failure.

The editing process almost always begins with reviewing the footage, you can check what's good and what's bad, and what I tend to do if working on a scripted piece is separate the files into good takes and bad takes, I keep all the good takes I can use in one folder, and all the unusable takes in another folder, these aren't deleted as sometimes there are elements from them which can be used later if needed. Now I'm not saying you need to utilise the folder method, I personally find it a much more hassle free system for editing, as there's less clutter when you get to your composition, I know editors that don't adopt the filing method, and their work is just as good, so find what suits you best! But always make sure you review your footage so you know what you're working with!

After the organisation and/or review it's time to go into your composition!

For composing films/videos it's helpful to have good editing


I'm going to quickly list my experience of how editing works for a pre-planned production:

• Watch over all the footage
• Separate it into two folders, good takes & bad takes.
• Sit through hours of meticulously cutting everything into the right order and length on the timeline. And transitions, lots of transitions.
• Colour correction, so much colour correction.
• The added extras - Tracking objects, overlays, etc. 

Obviously this isn't to be followed to the letter, but generally this is what I find to be the case, especially when putting together shorts, and especially Indie-Film which tends to be less CGI heavy, so the editing process is more about the cuts and colour.

Now, how do you become a good editor?

It's a question I've been asked a few times, and even though I struggled to answer it the first time, I think I have the answer now. A good editor is a person who can make themselves a hybrid between a film maker and the audience. Let me explain, if you look at the film Skyline it's a good film if you just look at the technical aspects of it, the CGI, cinematography, and editing are very good and there's no arguing against that.  But as a viewer it's very tedious to watch (As seen in the reviews) mainly due to the pacing etc, but I feel that the film could have been cut in a more interesting manner, it would have helped make up for the god awful story, and dry acting, editing would not have completely saved this film.

The best way for an individual to get into the hybrid mindset is to watch a lot of films, and get involved in a lot of productions, by watching films you will pick up on good editing, and another good method is to watch parts of films with no sound, that way you're completely immersed in the visuals and it's easier to watch how a film is cut (This also works to analyse cinematography). 

The other part is to get involved in productions, the more you understand how films are made, the more you can talk with the director and achieve your goals as film-makers, and make something that is visually fantastic! And you just have to make lots of film, the more you edit the better you'll be at it!

Thanks for reading!

-Geraint