The DIY Thing

Been listening to a discussion about DIY filmmaking, and I think it's all very inspiring. Check out The Workbook Project. Lance Weiler interviews Paul Harrill of Self Reliant web site, and Mark Stolaroff of No Budget Film School. They have some interesting things to say. Also if you get a chance take a look at crewless.com. Their a bunch of filmmakers in Alabama who made the film Hide and Creep. It was shown on the sci-fi channel, so they had some pretty good success. The film Hide and Creep was shot on Super 16, and the filmmaker really loves film, and he makes a really good argument for using it.

I've always thought the DV thing sucks. The compression you get and the tapes themselves are the worst, and I work with them day in and day out. But I'll probably do my next film on DV. Why?

Because it's cheap, it's accessible, and I can get fast turnaround. But I'm also doing some stuff with my Eclair NPR, and seeing what I can do. Having NFL films nearby is helpful. Though I do like ColorLab down in Virginia, and they do great work. Only thing is when I do those little experiments they cost a bit. Developing and transfer, but the results are pretty interesting. I may just use some 16mm on the next project too. We'll have to see how it all shakes out.

Comments

Neil Sarver said…
I'm also often torn on the film vs. DV issue. I shot my short film, Lakeside, on DV, and I'm glad I did. It gave me a lot of latitude as a beginner to play around. There is a feature screenplay, "The Hunt", that expands the story and I intend to attempt to use the short to raise money for. There's no way I'd ever shoot that feature on DV. It's already hard enough to look at the visuals for the short and imagine how much better, richer, they'd look on film.

But then... in the interim, I'm possibly developing a smaller, less visual, comedy movie. In pondering exactly how I'll go about it, DV has become a definite possibility...

We'll see. There are a couple of important steps, including assessing my fundraising possibilities, before I make that decision.

It's an interesting, and frustrating, issue for independent filmmakers.
2/02/2007 2:05 AM
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