Student Film Screening

On Wednesday, Flashpoint Academy & Flashpoint Film Society hosted the 1st Official Student Film Screening. We organized the event over the last few weeks, in hopes of getting a pretty big crowd.

After all the planning, stress, and running around, it was an amazing success.

Along with the extraordinary turnout, we had some fantastic short films by several students, who were very excited to see their finished products on the big screen. I talked to a few new students after the screening who were inspired by the films. We even had a visit from Howard Tullman, the President of Flashpoint, who gave congratulatory remarks for all the students efforts.

Here's some pics from the event. Thanks to Howard Tullman for the pics...

A great success, indeed.

DM

Red

The top dog, the head hancho, the Camera of Cameras. The Red.

I'm not super saavy on the technical aspects of the camera, but I can tell you how it worked on the set of "The Intruder." For starters, it has the ability to shoot at 4K, which is unbelievable considering that HD is just over 1K (1080). The picture is simply amazing.

Before the shoot, the production team decided to use 8 gigabyte cards instead of a 350 gigabyte hard drive. Seems like an odd choice, but they have their reasons. First of all, if by some chance the hard drive becomes corrupted, the entire days footage is lost. Is it likely? No, but nonetheless I can understand the argument.

The other reason is because of downloading time. It takes forever to download a gigantic hard drive at the end of the day, while doing smaller cards is done throughout the day at a much quicker pace.

These are just a couple of the features I got to witness while on the set of the film. The Red Camera is said to retail at about $18,000, but I have seen prices from everywhere from $15,000 to $60,000

There was one delay. Apparently there is a setting on the camera that shows more than is actually seen in the viewfinder. This almost plagued the shoot because of lights and equipment being seen in several shots. With the 4K recording ability, however, the editor was able to simply crop the image and knock the resolution down to 2k. Basically, no one would know the difference. The picture is that good.

Maybe someday I will work with one...

DM

Key to Success

Today, several students along with myself began shooting a documentary on the short film "The Intruder." We had the opportunity to interview the 1st and 2nd assistant directors, as well as the director of photography and the 1st assistant camera. (You can see below the DP and his 1st assistant working on a crane shot.)

All four of these jobs require great discipline and an extraordinary knowledge of the subject matter, but none of these people could do their jobs effectively without someone to help them along.

"Anticipation is the key to a professional" said the 2nd assistant director during our interview. Knowing your superiors next move is essential to becoming a better employee. If you can make their job easier, than you have become much more important in the grand scheme. This can be true of all professions, not just filmmaking. And yes, the name of the game is collaboration. If you can't work with each other, then you can't do it at all. The assistant director has to bark at a lot of people to keep them moving, but it's not because he's a jerk and it's not because he doesn't like you. It is because he has a schedule to keep, and a budget to watch. People have to work together to get things done, and that's what measures how successful a production is.

The documentary shooting went rather well, and we will actually begin the editing process very soon. Once complete, it will be posted here along with other projects I have been working on over the last couple months.

An unrelated side note: It is Super Tuesday. If you have not already done so, please vote.

DM

It's Flickr Time

With my resolution to carry my camera around with me more often, I have decided that it's time for a flickr website. People can now take a good long look at my photos, rather than having them disappear from my blogger as I continue to update.

I will update the flickr website regularly, with all new photos as I get them uploaded onto my prehistoric computer.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/22723302@N07/

The reason flickr is so fantastic is the same reason webcasting and filming and blogging are all fantastic. Everyone can do it. People are smarter, savier, and more influenced by this media world than they have ever been, so why not get your own site with your own photos!

Short post today, but I gotta get some rest. I shall also add flickr to the links section below, so keep an eye out for that.

DM