Archive for category filmmaking

3D camcorder

Posted by andrew in film business, filmmaking on August 16th, 2010

What! A 3d camcorder! When will the insanity end?

I can’t say that any of the 3D movies I have seen have blown me away. Avatar was ok but I just kept thinking about how much I hate smurfs and that was distracting. Actually the story was poor and that was more distracting. Or rather it was obvious and undemanding and it pissed me off. Apart from Terminator, Aliens and some parts of the Abyss, Cameron has done a good job of convincing a lot of people that he’s really good.

Anyway,  “Up” is the winner for me in the 3D stakes. But this general insistence on tacking 3D onto every big blockbuster movie is taking the biscuit. Clash of the Titans is a case in hand. It was put through that 3D process and released and poor innocents got their asses scammed but again that was mainly because it was badly written. If a film is written well and it is justified to have in 3D then maybe it will be wortht it but such a film hasn’t been written yet.

Thank f**k Inception wasn’t like that. Isn’t Lucas releasing Star Wars in the new format? Maybe that will be worth it, but I’ve seen that movie, damnit.

We’re having 3D televisions pushed down our throats. The marketing gods have decided that our lives are worthless without such gadgets. Oh, ok then. I mean, I dont want to be left behind do i?

Ok, I’m ranting. Back to this camcorder. It is 3D because it has a converter lens on the front which allows the recording of low res images (960×540, or 960x1080i) in 3D. You can take the lens off and shoot hi-def 1080 p in 2D too.

It retails about $2000 so you can shoot all your home movies and low budget films in the format. It might be a noveltycool for family stuff but you will need one of those TV’s to watch it on.

At the end of the day, if you come with a great story you can shoot in most formats and engage the viewer. People get engaged by great stories which begs the question, why shoot in 3D anyway?

I’ll wait for the holodeck.

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Make films until your eyes bleed.

Posted by andrew in filmmaking on June 2nd, 2010

Have you heard the phrase about guitarists learning to play their instruments? They play until their fingers bleed.

I love this saying and it is now used across the board when it comes to illustrating how much passion is needed to master a craft. I was listening to “Slash” – the Guns and Roses guitarist –  the other day on the radio and someone rang in and said something along the lines of:

- “How long did it take before you mastered the guitar?”

Now you know this guy has been asked this more times than he’s had bottles of vodka – and he’s had a lot of booze (by his own admission). His answer was simple, he said he hasn’t mastered the guitar..yet . Slash knows that he still has stuff to learn and that’s a great attitude. Sure he has spent a lot of time butt naked, face down in his own vomit which he could have used for practice but he’s pretty good despite that.

This applies to learning and making films – you have to be consumed with the desire to know everything about the subject – that’s real passion. You have to be out there making films even if they are only one or two minutes long and you have to want to be out there doing that when you can’t.  When you feel like this you build up a momentum that is unstoppable as well as learning your craft.

Back in the old, early, wild days of Hollywood when the little independent studios were starting up there were hundreds of movies made every month and a lot of famous directors such as John Ford, learnt their skills here by churning out B-movie after B-movie.

Modern technology has provided us with similar opportunities today. There is cheap equipment and a place to show the finished product – the Internet.  How passionate are you to succeed as a film maker?

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