Kicking the Tires!

You know how we can get so caught up in technology, and want to figure out the best way to do things, and then we just get lost in it? Well that happens to me. When I started my film "Deadly Obsessions" digital video wasn't around. Non-linear editing was only seen on higher level productions because they were expensive. I remember seeing my first Avid, and even editing on a machine called the "Cube". I knew that the only way I was going to make a film was the old fashioned way, and that was edit on film. I even found a 6-plate editor, and bought it off a fellow filmmaker. Transporting that puppy was hell. I had to have my uncle come over to get it into the apartment that we lived at the time, but it worked and served me well. I should have gotten my work print edged numbered after I synced up the dialogue to the picture, but a well skilled mixer saved me. His name was Tom Agnello, and he is one of the greatest film technicians this side of the Mississippi. given more time, and money "Deadly Obsessions" would be a bit different no doubt.

Okay so I was talking about technology. Now it's all about DV, or better yet HD. I know for a fact that if anything a producer needs to shoot in HD, or make room in the budget to up-convert to HD later in post for the DVD. Companies look at that now and see that as a plus. Soon most homes will be equipped with HD sets, and for a producer to ignore this he or she would have to be a total moron.

I'm aching to do something. I work with DV all day at my job. I'm fortunate that way, but I don't really like the medium. It's compression sucks, and the 4:1:1 rate seems inferior to anything else I've ever shot which is mostly film. So it brings me back to the debate of film or DV, and what to do. I've seen some really nice films shot in DV that look stunning. Of course there was a lot of post work involved, and that's something I hate. A film professor always told me that if you have to fix it in post you did something wrong in production. He is right. Fix it in post is a phrase I've heard a lot in my career. Sometimes you have no choice. Once you have momentum on a production you try not to stop for ANYTHING. You stop, and you do so at you're own peril.

I like DV and HD a lot. You can make some beautiful shots with it, but that's not the point is it. Filmmaking is about telling the story. Not beautiful shots. I would beg to differ on that opinion since I'm a lover of cinematography, but sometimes you work with what you have and shoot the story to enhance the feel and look of the story.

I've been getting lost in the tech stuff, and forgot about the story. I've embarked on a series of experiments and want to see how it all pans out. Testing the waters you might say. I've been way too silent, and way too apathetic about filmmaking. I need to flex that muscle, and I need to get the old imagination in gear. Which brings me back to the tech stuff.

I've got some film stock, so why not use it. I'll edit on my PC, but why not use what I have. I'd really like to try the HD, but there are so many variables, and the cameras are a bit pricey. I refuse to buy a camera, and then in a few years have it become obsolete, or for that matter incompatible with my editing software. I'll also be mixing up formats, and seeing how that plays and looks. Believe it or not I have some Super-8 cameras I like to try out. Yes that's right Super-8. Check out Pro8mm web site. Their a good resource for that, and they have you shooting negative film on Super-8. What I'll be shooting I really don't know, but I'll figure it out. It's time to play, and see what I can do. That's why the title of this piece is "kicking the tires". It's what you do when you're going for that new ride, and seeing if the vehicle is sound enough for the journey. So as Antonio Banderas said in "Desperado" "let's play!"