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Hey dude, why does DIY filmmaking suck?

  • Yes Beavis, DIY filmmaking literally does suck.

    Let me tell you about my experience producing Quality of Life.

    Each day, I worked a full-time day job and then put in 4 - 8 hours more on the film at night. I still declared personal bankruptcy during pre-production.

    Then I was fired from my job for focusing on the film too much instead of my work.

    My girlfriend nearly left me since she never saw me.

    My friends stopped returning my calls for fear I'd ask for favors for the film.

    And in the end, the entire "indiewood" film industry basically ignored us. Sundance, the speciality distributors, the major indie film press outlets and of course just about anyone with money couldn't be bothered.

    And that was all before we decided to self-distribute the movie and things really got rough.

    So listen up: DIY filmmaking is not for the faint of heart. It sucks.

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April 25, 2011

Strangely clear, super cheesy video on your HDTV? Finally a solution.

Have you ever been in the TV section of a big superstore and noticed a flat screen TV (or 20) showing a Blu-Ray DVD that made the film look like it was filmed at a local TV station? Everything looks really video-like and not at all filmic. As you're watching, you notice that the special effects don't match the rest of the picture while everyone seems lit for the local weather report.

Perhaps you've even seen this happen on your TV at home and noticed it when watching films or shows on your HD cable or DVD. Yikes. Is this what HD's gonna give us: crappy home-video quality blockbusters?!?

The first time I saw this, I literally stopped in my tracks, horrified. I was at Sears walking by a huge HD flat screen TV. A VERY expensive model. They were playing the first Spiderman movie. Instead of a multi-million dollar film, it looked like a student video project. Or a behind-the-scenes video. I prayed this wasn't the HD future we've been promised.

Well, it's not. Basically, it's all about the settings on the TV itself. So if you have a TV that's ruining your movies this way, you should definitely read this and change your settings immediately:

http://prolost.com/blog/2011/3/28/your-new-tv-ruins-movies.html

Posted at 07:11 AM in Gear, Tips |

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Comments

Jason @ FilmmakingStuff

Thanks for explaining the bit about the TV. My mom and dad have this problem. Hopefully I'll be able to resolve it for them.

By the way, DIY doesn't suck!

Jason Brubaker
http://www.FilmmakingStuff.com

Posted by: Jason @ FilmmakingStuff | June 18, 2011 at 04:11 PM

Heather

Thank you for posting this. I began to panic after a couple of weeks of watching movies and shows on our new tv and I could not figure out what the problem was! It was hard for me to explain what the problem was to my husband who does not get into movies like I do, but you describe it perfectly above. It definitely looked like a student video project!! I followed the link you included and adjusted our settings and it has made a huge difference. I really am surprised how those few settings could change the entire feel/experience of a film or show. Thank you so much.

Posted by: Heather | November 08, 2012 at 09:13 AM

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