DIY Filmmaking Sucks

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

Lenses for indie filmmaking

Choosing a lens (or multiple lenses) to use on your independent film or video project is essential to nailing the "look" of your project.

I'm not a professional DP (Director of Photography) and I don't come out of the camera department, so I'm fairly ignorant (and in awe) of lens technical specs. But as a director, I'm drawn to the narrow focus and zoomability of a long lens (turns out, size does matter -- with a lens). The long ones just look so much more cinematic than a stout wide lens to me.

But really, I don't know what the hell I'm talking about when it comes to lenses. All I know is that it's "all about the glass" -- lenses make a huge difference in the visual look of the film.

In fact, lenses are far more important than the camera itself. All things being equal, most HD cameras perform well enough for the most likely viewing experiences for our projects: Internet video and DVD, plus any 1080 or 720 HD exhibition. On the other hand, the lens will make a huge difference; it's the difference between looking cinematic and like community TV.

So when I came across a basic primer on lenses by Matthew Galvin of Active Matrix Networks on the SF Indieclub Yahoo group, I learned some basics and wanted to share it.

Read on to learn the fundamentals of lenses for filmmaking.