It’s a brave new world, my friends. Photo/Video technology is developing so fast that any news posted will be old news within a week. I came across a guy by the name of Vincent Laforet on the web who was given a Canon 5D Mark II pre-production model to shoot a test video. What I saw was remarkable. In fact, I was speechless. I won’t say more. Just see for yourself.

Check out his site for the short film he shot and a behind-the-scenes look at his process.

Here’s what the rumored specs are so far

* 21.1 MP 1.0x
* DIGIC IV
* ISO 100-6400 L:50 & H:12800
* 5 FPS
* 3.2″ High Resolution Screen (LCD)
* 19 point AF
* HDMI Out
* Liveview
* HD Movie Mode
* Viewfinder: 100% Coverage
* Full weather sealing
* EF Lenses only

The fact that this is a Canon makes me sad as I have a set of Zeiss ZF lenses for the Nikon. Nikon does have the D90 which shoots HD video but I wasn’t as impressed with the video quality as I was with the Canon 5D. Well, the price tag certainly is a big difference. The Nikon D90 is in the $1000 range whereas the Canon 5D will be many times that.

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Having discussed the broader issues of Building a Spectacular Spec Reel in Part 1 and Part 2, we now get down to the nitty-gritty of putting together your spec reel.

If you’ve been following this series, you now should have a grand concept and genre of commercials you want to get into. You should also have an idea who you want to be involved in this project.

Before we move on, I want to add something that I haven’t mentioned in the first two articles. Get as many people as possible to read your concepts for valuable feedback. If you’ve been living and breathing your spec reel for a while, you will have developed tunnel vision and will not be able to see the strengths and weaknesses of your ideas. Try to avoid getting feedback from family members and close friends though. Their opinions are suspect by virtue of the fact that they might not want to hurt your feelings by being honest.

Rest assured the hardest and most crucial parts are over. As I said before, the concept will make or break your spec reel. Now we just have to make sure you’re able to execute your grand concept.

What do you have to consider next?

Format Wars - I’m sure everyone can agree that film is the best option regardless of cost. But that doesn’t mean you can’t get your foot in the door with a reel full of video shoots. With the technology we have today to make gorgeous video, most people won’t even notice the difference. Refer to this article on how to make your video look like film.

Having said that, you should do whatever it takes to shoot your spec on film.

Why?

Your actors and crew will take you more seriously. They know that you’re spending big bucks on your project and that you will more than likely see the project all the way through. Many of your crew have already been burned on projects that never even get finished. With big bucks on the line, the odds of the project coming to fruition is increased. Hence, they will put in more effort.

Crew members, especially actors, also need this material for their reel. So by working on a project on film, they simultaneously enhance their reel.

I’ve done both video and film projects in the past and have noticed a marked difference in the level of professionalism on set with an imposing Arri film camera standing by.

Use Professional Audio - The surest way to tell the difference between an amateur project and a professional one is through the audio. Don’t take shortcuts here.

If you’re using a video camera, don’t record audio to the camera itself. Get some help from a professional sound recordist who can mix and clean up your audio recording.

In post production, you may need to dub some lines that didn’t come out perfectly. Do it! The actors will be more than happy to put in the extra time if it means their acting will come across stronger.

Add appropriate score and sound effects. Of course, it goes without saying that if your concept works better without a score then so be it. If you do go with a score though, you wouldn’t want tin can music to ruin your awesome visuals. If you can’t afford a professional scorer, there are plenty of great royalty-free music available online.

Bookmark this site for follow up articles in this series.

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The ones I would replace on the list are VW “Pink Moon”, Nike “The Magnet”, and BMW “Beat the Devil”. I can think of many others that can easily take their place.

Let me know what you think and if you have others you think should be on the list. I will put together my own favorites list here in a future article.

Here is the link: 15 Most Artistically Awesome Advertisements

When I was still in L.A., I was part of a screenwriting group. We met once a week and we would read portions of our script out loud to the group. We tore each other’s scripts apart. This was the fun part. Of course, it wasn’t fun when it’s your turn on the chopping block.

But I learned so much from my group and it was one of the few activities I looked forward to all week. The same concept can be applied to filmmaking. What most people haven’t thought of and would greatly benefit from is forming a Filmmaking Mastermind Group.

Mastermind groups are one of the secrets often used by successful marketing and business people. Through these groups, you gain allies and advocates. In essence, a mastermind group is like a “Book of the Month” club. Except that a mastermind group’s purpose is to advance the group members’ careers.

What does a Filmmaking Mastermind Group entail?

Meet at least once a week - Once a week meetings should be enough to keep in touch with the group and to give you enough time to prepare discussion points for the meeting.

Choose people at your level of experience - A Filmmaking Mastermind Group should be mutually beneficial. It would not be effective if the people in the group are way more advanced than you. That would be more of a mentor-protege relationship. You want people you can relate to. However, this doesn’t mean that a veteran can’t be the leader/organizer of the group.

Choose people you can work with - This is obviously a given. You have to be able to work and brainstorm with the members of your group. If not, you just end up wasting time arguing and trying to “one-up” each other.

Assign an organizer - You can either have a permanent organizer or a different one each week. The organizer’s job is to find the venue, remind everyone of the date and time of the meeting, and coordinate the flow of the session.

Change venues often - A change of scenery every week or every couple of weeks will help boost the group’s creativity and make the meetings more exciting.

Invite guest speakers - Eventually, the group members will get tired of hearing the same people talk every week. To spice it up, invite a local filmmaker to give a workshop.

Invite members of various disciplines - A roomful of directors is a bad idea. I remember when I was at UCLA taking a short film class and the instructor asked who wanted to be a director. Almost every single hand went up. How are we supposed to get anything done when everyone wanted the same job. To make your group more interesting and diversified, invite cinematographers, editors, animators, and screenwriters.

Keep the group small - Any group larger than 20 is probably pushing it. It would be a nightmare for the organizer to get everyone together. Twenty people in the group should be enough to make sure enough people are at the meeting even if some people can’t make it. A group of 15 - 20 people in a mix of 2 - 3 persons from the various disciplines would be ideal.

Give assignments - Segment your meetings into two parts. One part will be a discussion of personal work, the other will be a discussion of a movie assignment (sort of like the “Book of the Month” club example). If your group finds itself short on time, you can alternate these two segments on a weekly basis.

Present your work - Don’t be embarrassed to present your work to the group. They’re there to help you. Also, remember not to be defensive and take things personally. Play nice!

Join a group that’s not composed primarily of your friends - Of course, after a while, your group members will become your friends. But it’s best to start out with a group of strangers. This will help you open your mind to new ideas and personalities. Also, it will make it easier not to take things personally when they critique your work.

Advertise the group to invite members - Craigslist is probably the cheapest way to advertise for a new group. You can also post a classified ad in your local industry rag. Eventually, word of mouth will bring in more people.

Benefits of a Filmmaking Mastermind Group

Constructive criticism of your work - Take it with a grain of salt when your mom tells you your film/spot is great. Every mother thinks their child is good-looking. You need professionals to tell you how your work stacks up.

Networking - A major part of a successful film/TV career is who you know. A so-so director with great contacts will often find more work than a more talented one who knows no one in the industry. Who knows, one of your group members might be a babysitter for Steven Spielberg’s cousin’s neighbor’s friend.

Possible fools…I mean…crew for your next project - In all seriousness, members of a really good, tight-knit group will bend over backwards to help you along with your project. Don’t forget to return the favor.

Keeps you motivated - You’ve finished a script or a short film or a spec spot and everyone hates it. Your dog won’t even eat the pages of your script cuz it reeks. What do you do? Your group can help you stay motivated. Their advice will give you fresh ideas on how you can improve your work.

Holds you accountable for your work - When you were a child, what made you do your homework? Is it the sheer joy of doing it? No… It’s mostly because you have to turn it in to the teacher. Sometimes, as filmmakers (especially writers), we get lazy and procrastinate. Having to present to your group will get you off your ass and get your project done.

Learn from their experiences - Trust me, you don’t know everything. I’ve been directing for a few years and I have barely scratched the surface. I still make mistakes in my shot selection, presentations, and storyboards. In fact, a filmmaker never perfects the craft. That’s the beauty of it. We never stop learning.

So what are you waiting for? Go out there and start a group. It can be just 3 guys/girls who have coffee once a week to begin with. Just get moving on it.

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Last week I posted Part 1 of the Building a Spectacular Spec Reel series. If you haven’t read that article, read it first. It will be the foundation for what follows in the next few articles in the series. In that article, I discussed two crucial factors in putting together a spec reel: Concept and Genre.

Think about those two elements before you do anything else.

Okay, now that you have some inkling of your concept and the genre you want to focus on, it’s time to get down to specifics.

What company will you make a spec spot for?

Avoid High-Profile Brands

Nike, Apple, Budweiser, McDonald’s, etc. Forget about these massive companies for now. Stick to smaller brands or even regional ones.

The problem you’ll encounter doing a spec spot for a well-known brand is that advertising creatives know these brands all too well. Some of them may even have worked on these brands. They will be very familiar with the strategies and objectives of these companies. They’ll know if you’re not doing it right and it will directly affect their objectivity. They’ll be subconsciously comparing your spec spot to the multi-million dollars spots those companies are running now.

The secret is to take a small, unknown company and produce a spec spot for it with high production value and make it look like a Fortune 500 company. Of course, I’m not saying that making one for a high-profile brand will guarantee failure. It could work but why make your job tougher?

Now that you have your concept, genre, and company…

How do you get it done?

Build Your Team

Hire veterans who’ve done it before. You don’t want your shoot to be the blind leading the blind. This is one of the biggest downsides I see with traditional film schools. In film school, you produce projects with other film students serving under the various roles. Sure, you have an instructor to guide you but it’s just not ideal. This process is meant as a learning tool instead of a career-building tool.

Hiring industry veterans allows you to fast track your career and will provide you with the experience and expertise you need to get high production value. These veterans will be able to teach you and advise you on the best ways to achieve specific results.

How do you get them to help you?

Ask! It works. If you show passion in your project and you have a fresh idea, it’s amazing what people will do for the art and for free or cheap. When I directed my first short film, I had the least experience on the set; even less than the student volunteers. But I convinced real film professionals to help me out.

Here are some of my crew members on my short film.

1st AD Dennis Benatar - assisted Sergio Leone in Once Upon a Time in America
Sound Recordist Sam Kopetzky - worked with Ed Wood
Sound Editor and Designer David Weishaar - Emmy-award winning Sound Mixer on Frasier
Professional editors and actors.

Getting Dennis Benatar to work on my film is the reason I believe this works. I just found his contact info online and I e-mailed him my script. Since the script’s concept involves the hazards of domestic violence, he came on board. He even brought his 2nd and 2nd 2nd AD to help out.

It never hurts to ask. The worst they can say is “no”. If that ever happens, you move on down the list.

Some resources to get your ideas going.

SpotLab - The Grand Poobah of spec spot resources. They’ve been around for at least 5 years and have many success stories of directors breaking into advertising.

The Spec Spot - One of my favorite sites to check out the competition. Submit your spec spots here to get it rated and critiqued by your peers.

SpecBank - A source for spec scripts from advertising creatives. It costs $50 for a 6-month subscription. I can’t really vouch for their services since I’m not a subscriber. But give it a shot. $50 is not that much when you consider the potential benefits to your career.

BestAdsonTV - Catch up on trends and what brilliant creatives are coming up with in advertising. An excellent source for inspiration.

Advertising Age - The leading advertising industry rag. You could spend months surfing their site and never get bored.

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What do Cameron Crowe, Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, Baz Luhrman, Robert Zemeckis, and George Lucas have in common? Besides being accomplished directors, they all had mentors who guided them throughout their careers.

Wealthy and successful businessmen and athletes also have mentors. Tiger Woods had his first coach at a tender age of 4. Michael Dell couldn’t have built Dell Computers into the juggernaut that it is today without gray-haired suits showing him the way.

In my directing career, I’ve had many mentors from executive producers to directors to agency creatives. These people, who I now consider friends, showed me the ins and outs of the advertising business and cautioned me on things to look out for.

What do you gain from having a mentor?

Through a mentor, you can:

- Learn from his or her experience and expertise. You’ll discover what it takes to succeed in your profession or industry. You’ll attain the specific skills and knowledge required for your success.
- Have someone toot your horn for you. They can champion you when the need arises. They can vouch for you when your credibility is in question.
- Gain valuable feedback on your performance and skills. You’re forced to be accountable for your work.
- Have a sounding board to bounce ideas off of and vent your frustrations.
- Stay motivated through his encouragement and guidance.
- Learn to avoid the mistakes your mentor has already made.
- Develop a networking base. A mentor can introduce you to his peers in the industry. He can open doors for you.
- Save valuable time and money on your way to the top.

Why would someone mentor you?

Mentors do what they do because it gives them a sense of fulfillment and personal satisfaction from helping someone else. It is basic human nature to want to help another human being. At the very least, it’s an ego boost for them. We all want a newbie looking up to us.

How do you choose a mentor?

Choosing the right mentor is critical to your success. He or she has to be someone you trust and who’s work you respect and admire. Someone who’s well-connected. Someone who’s ‘been there done that’ and has been successful. And of course, someone who’s willing to work with you.

How do you get them to mentor you?

Just ask! You’d be surprised how many people are either too shy or embarrassed, or worse, too proud to ask for help. It never hurts to ask.

But make sure you’re prepared. Be professional and not flaky. Prepare a list of questions that you want answered. Be specific. Don’t use general questions like ‘how do I get rich and famous’.

Your mentor is an extremely busy person so be prepared to put in the work. If your mentor sees you slacking off, he’ll quickly lose interest in you. Mentors also like it when you take initiative. They see you as someone who has true potential when they see this.

What does mentoring entail?

The start of a mentoring program will depend on how formal and structured the agreement is. This aspect is something you’ll have to discuss with your mentor. In fact, it should be one of the items you bring up when you first approach him or her.

Mentoring sessions can be anything from phone conversations to face-to-face meetings. They can be every week or once a month. Generally, once you get to know your mentor and have developed a more personal relationship, the mentorship won’t continue to be as structured and you’ll start to consider him as a friend or father-figure.

Finally, you’re not necessarily limited to having just one mentor. You can have as many as you want. But it’s best to start out with just one in case you can’t handle the work load.

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There is absolutely nothing more important to a commercial director’s career than a demo reel. Not education. Not connections (although this is important). And not experience.

A jaw-dropping reel will facilitate a director’s entry into the advertising world and keep him there. A demo reel serves as his resume and calling card. A demo reel shows the advertising agencies and clients what he’s capable of.

Think about it. You can’t just knock on the door of an agency or client and say you want to direct their commercial and you have nothing to show. (Actually, there are instances when you can do this but it’s tougher. I’ll explain that in a future article. ) Commercials cost anywhere from tens of thousands to millions of dollars. Would you trust just anyone to direct them?

But how do you put together a demo reel when no one will give you a job to begin with?

If you went to film or advertising school, you most likely walked away with a nice, newly-minted demo reel hot off the DVD burner. But what if you didn’t go to film school?

That’s where the spec reel comes in. A spec reel is a collection of ‘fake’ (speculative) commercials produced specifically for the purpose of showing a director’s talent. From my experience and from those I’ve talked to in the business, anywhere from 2 to 4 commercials should be enough for a spec reel. Two amazing commercials on your reel will get your foot in the door.

So what do you need to build a spectacular spec reel?

Concept, Concept, Concept - This is your chance to show your stuff. Be creative. Be unconventional. Be innovative. You don’t have a client telling you they want their product front and center. You’re not forced to pepper the ad with supers and wall-to-wall copy. There will be plenty of that once you break into the industry.

From now on, don’t change the channel during commercial breaks when you watch TV. Watch the commercials. See what the trends are and what styles are in. Once you get a feel for the styles, CHANGE THEM. Don’t just copy what you see. Think of something different. The creatives you’ll be sending your reel to will have seen those commercials already (some of them probably produced those commercials) and they’ll be looking for the next big thing. The worst thing you can do is do another generic Nike commercial. Why would the agency hire you when they already have hundreds of proven directors doing the same thing.

Many directors claim that ideas come from the agency and the director’s job is to execute them. So they slack off on the concept part. That is true. But agencies want to see that you can think for yourself. They want to know that you have ideas of your own.

If you’re having a difficult time coming up with an earth-shattering idea, here’s a little secret. Befriend a creative director. It will be tough gaining their trust if you haven’t done much but remember, they’re people too. They know what it’s like to start at the bottom of the ladder. Play to their ego. Most of them would love a young person asking them for advice. Most of them love to talk about creative concepts. These guys have a drawer-full of potential award-winning material that clients have turned down. They’re just itching to get these made. A friendly creative director just might share his ideas with you. I tried this once with a friend of mine and he told me to come by his office and choose from a long list of concepts.

Find Your Inner Genre - In the advertising world, you WILL get pigeon-holed into a specific genre. This doesn’t mean you won’t be able to get jobs outside your genre but it’ll be tougher. This is not necessarily a bad thing. By being known as a specialist, you’ll be on top of the agency’s mind when they’re producing a commercial in your genre.

The same thing happens in the film industry. The Farrelly Brothers do comedy while the Wachowski Brothers do Sci-Fi Action. You can try to branch out once you’ve gained some credibility.

Having said that, you want to make sure that your reel reflects the genre you want to specialize in.

The advertising industry’s genre definitions are somewhat muddled. It gets even worse when you work in various parts of the world. But here are some general categories: Comedy, Narrative, Lifestyle, Table Top/Food, Animation, Automotive/Industrial, Sports, Beauty, Children, Animals, Underwater, etc. As you might imagine, some of these categories overlap depending on the concept. Just focus on what you enjoy the most and have the best ability in.

So these are two ideas you need to start working out. I will post follow up articles on this topic in a few days so keep your eyes peeled for them.

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Sometimes I really envy painters and sketch artists. All they need to produce their art is a sheet of paper or canvas and a couple of pens and brushes. We as filmmakers, on the other hand, need ridiculously expensive equipment that we often can’t afford to own. Our canvas (film) is expensive. Even used canvas (short-ends) is expensive. To add insult to injury, we can’t perform our art alone. We need crew and actors. We have to beg friends and family to work tediously for peanuts, literally.

Ours is the most expensive form of art in the world.

And yet we fight on. We do it for our passion. We do it for the art. We willingly take mindless, menial jobs to support our dreams. Yes, I’ve done those jobs. I worked as a valet, in a call center, as an SAT tutor, as a messenger. You name it, I’ve done it. I’ve had so many odd jobs I can’t even recall them all. LOL!!!!!!

I bet many would-be filmmakers in Los Angeles and elsewhere can relate to my experiences. Sadly, not all of us can practice our art. Many heed the call of the biological clock and family matters. Many are forced to pursue other more realistic careers.

Considering how hard we work for our hopes and dreams, I still can’t believe how much money is wasted on huge box office flops, which brings me to the main point of this article.

Imagine a hundred million dollars wasted on a big budget flop. That money could’ve been divided up amongst 100 filmmakers and you would’ve gotten some pretty amazing work. Collectively, they probably would’ve made more money and given people jobs. I dug around the web for the biggest waste of money ever in film history. Here is a list of the decidedly guilty.

*Note: The numbers shown here are estimates from various sources. But you get the idea.

The Adventures of Pluto Nash (2002, Warner Bros.)
Budget $90 - $100 Million
U.S. Box Office $4.4 Million
This movie stars Eddie Murphy somewhere near Uranus.

Cutthroat Island (1995, MGM/Carolco)
Budget $100 Million
U.S. Box Office $9.9 Million
Geena Davis and Matthew Modine as pirates??? Where do I sign up?

Town & Country (2001, New Line Cinema)
Budget $85 Million
U.S. Box Office $6.7 Million
Yawn… This is a middle-aged sex comedy. Hey, at least it’s better than geriatric sex comedy! Although that might be more entertaining.

The Postman (1997, Warner Bros.)
Budget $80 - $100 Million
U.S. Box Office $17.6 Million
Kevin Costner + Post-Apocalyptic World = Flop. See Waterworld.

Heaven’s Gate (1980, United Artists)
Budget $44 Million
U.S. Box Office $3 Million
This is what happens when a director (Cimino) grows too big for his own ego. He shot 1.5 Million feet of film and went way, way over budget. He single-handedly took down an entire studio.

Ishtar (1987, Columbia)
Budget $55 Million
U.S. Box Office $12.7 Million
The name Ishtar became synonymous with the term ‘flop’.

Inchon (1981, Unification Church)
Budget $50 Million
U.S. Box Office $1.9 Million
This film was produced by Rev. Sun Myung Moon of the Unification Church. What the heck is a reverend doing producing a movie?!? Who’s money was that? The patrons of the church? Jeez…they could’ve fed the hungry instead.

Battlefield Earth (2000, Warner Bros.)
Budget $73 Million
U.S. Box Office $21.5 Million
Another project borne out of a church. *shakes head*

Zyzzyx Road (2006, Independent)
Budget $2 Million
U.S. Box Office $30 Dollars!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Exactly 6 people paying $5 each watched this movie in 6 days!!!! Actually the official tally is $20 since one of the actors gave free tickets to the makeup artist and her friend. Couldn’t the filmmakers even get their own families to watch this film???

I could go on and on but you get the point. Who greenlights these films? Didn’t they hire people to read the scripts first to see if it’d be a good movie?

This is the sad state of the film industry, my friends. Studios are banking on bigger and bigger movies and bombarding us with marketing hoping to strike it big on the opening weekend before the terrible word-of-mouth gets out.

Whatever happened to diversifying your portfolio by investing smaller amounts of money in more projects? I thought these studios were run by ’suits’? Don’t they know better?

Anyways, enough with the ranting. You guys agree or disagree? Hit me up!

LaFontaine started doing voice over work in the 1960’s while working as a recording engineer. His strong, deep, and slightly gravelly voice brought a style of authority to thousands of movie trailers. LaFontaine’s claim to fame was for popularizing the phrase ‘In a world…’ for blockbuster event movies. Whenever his voice would come in at the start of this type of movie trailer, you just know something visually exciting is about to happen onscreen. That’s the power of his voice.

Check out a video of LaFontaine below and visit his official site.

It’s a sad time indeed for film fans all over the world. Millions have heard LaFontaine’s voice in the hush darkness of a movie theater. From now on, when the lights go down and a voice goes ‘In a world…’, it just won’t be the same.

R.I.P. Don.

I haven’t gotten the chance to download and test this yet since the site is down. The description says that the intended purpose is for photography. I wonder if it has calculations for 35mm Film Lenses. Worse case, it’ll probably work for Film Lens Adapters with still photography lenses.

How about a light meter app? Or a director’s viewfinder app?

Check out the app at Apple.

EDIT: Upon further research, it turns out that the calculator described here is a photography DoF Calculator. Here is the link for the cinematography DoF Calculator.

The following clip has been getting lots of views and rave reviews on YouTube. Check it out and tell me what you think. It’s quite funny.

If you liked this video, pass it along to your friends. Just copy and paste this link in your e-mail: http://vertigoeffect.com/2008/09/truth-in-advertising/

Don’t forget to leave a comment.

Arggghhhh! There goes the beautiful vignettes. Gone are the gorgeous colors and textures.

Dealing with increasingly low budgets on commercials and music videos, I’ve found myself forced to use video many times. Over the last few years, my cinematographer friends and I have almost perfected the art of making video look like film.

credit: kevindooley

In the land of film wannabes, DEPTH OF FIELD IS KING. Depth of field is the distance in front of and behind the subject that appears to be in focus. The shallower the depth of field, the less focused the objects around your subject will be. DoF allows you to shape the composition of your frames by selecting what areas will be in focus. This aides your storytelling and art direction. And it just looks better. There are instances though that you would want deep focus like for really wide shots.

DoF is usually the first dead giveaway that you’re shooting video. That’s video’s weakness. Everything is in focus. But how do you get shallow depth of field?

The following are techniques we’ve used and I swear by them.

Shoot Wide Open - The wider the opening of the camera aperture, the shallower the depth of field. The aperture size is specified by the f-stop. The higher the f-stop, the smaller the aperture and the larger the depth of field (Remember that inverse relationship!). Think about your eyes (which are essentially nature’s most advanced set of lenses), when you squint to look at a distant object (reduces aperture), you can see that it’s sharper. When your pupils dilate (aperture open), things get blurry.

Okay, enough of the technical talk. Just remember the inverse relationship: High F-Stop, Small Aperture, Large Depth of Field. We want the opposite: Low F-Stop, Large Aperture, Shallow Depth of Field.

Use the Long End of the Lens - Zoom in as far as you can go and move the camera back. Although you won’t quite get the same composition because you’re changing the focal length of the lens, it will be easier to defocus the background. However, using a longer lens does not necessarily mean you will get a shallower depth of field. Here is a great website that explains the theory.

24P - In this day and age, I would never shoot anything interlaced again. 24P cameras mimic the way images are captured on film. I won’t go too much more into this. This topic has been beaten to death since the Panasonic DVX100 came on the scene. JUST SHOOT 24P!

Diffusion Filter - Throw a piece of glass over the lens. No, not just any glass. More specifically a diffusion filter. You can use Promist or Black Diffusion from Tiffen. These filters soften up the image a little and saves you from the harshness of video. As a side benefit, your actors will love you.

Adjust Shutter Speed - Video is usually set at 1/60 shutter speed. Film records at 1/48. So if you want to emulate film, obviously shoot at 1/48. Doing so adds a bit of motion blur to the images, which is a good thing since video is inherently very sharp.

Gamma - A camera’s sensitivity to the bright and dark areas of a scene is called gamma. Film provides a much wider latitude between the bright and dark areas. Video doesn’t. That’s the reason video’s bright areas blow out quickly and the dark areas lose detail quickly. More advanced video cameras allow you to modify the gamma up to a certain extent. Stretch it a little bit to get closer to film.

Film Lens Adapter - As much as possible, I don’t shoot video without a film lens adapter. I just recently switched loyalties from P+S Technik over to Letus. The great thing about the Letus is that it’s not quite as light hungry as the P+S. And if you’re shooting video, you most likely don’t have the budget for too much lighting equipment. Besides, the Letus is much much cheaper than the P+S. If you can afford to rent Zeiss Ultra Primes, go right ahead. I use either Ultra Primes or the Zeiss ZF set I own. But a set of Nikon lenses should suffice.

Use Proper Composition - Learn the techniques of proper composition. Just pick up any photography book and you’ll discover how simple it is to make an image much more powerful and dramatic by just composing it slightly different. Keep the “Rule of Thirds” in mind each time you compose.

Use a Dolly, Crane, or Jib Arm - Fine, renting a crane is expensive. Well, at least use a dolly. Dollies can be rented cheaply. I’ve done the wheelchair thing but frankly it’s just not as smooth as a well-oiled dolly on tracks. A dolly move adds a bit of production value, something you won’t see in a home video. If you can get a boom, so much the better. Any type of “professional” camera moves you can add gives your work a sense that it is grander than just a guy running around with a handheld camera.

Use Proper Lighting - A popular myth in shooting video is that you don’t need as many lights as in shooting film. The cinematographers I’ve worked with have always used “film lighting” practices even when lighting video. Use the “Three Point Lighting” method. Use a fill, key, and back light. If you have more lights, go with four points by lighting the background. Video has very shallow contrast range (blows out easily). You need to light properly to balance out the contrast. Control lights with silks, gobos, cookies, flags, and bounce boards. These can all be home made with just some cardboard, aluminum foil, etc. Because of video’s crappy contrast range, avoid shooting against bright backgrounds. You will lose detail fairly quickly.

Professional Audio - People forget that images only make up half the movie. The other half is sound. Well-recorded and mixed audio makes a huge difference on how watchable your material is.

Use Magic Bullet - A few years ago, Red Giant Software came out with this remarkable software. This is almost a must have. It allows you to manipulate your images into almost any look you want. Try out their presets. These are often good enough with just a little tweaking.

Use Letterbox - This method is somewhat of a cheat. If you’re camera shoots native 16×9, then by all means use it. If it doesn’t, then frame for 16×9 in your shoot and just throw on a letterbox in post. Use masking tape on your monitor and LCD screen to give you the proper dimensions. This is crucial otherwise you might end up with some shots framed for 4×3 and some for 16×9.

Color Grade - No matter how good your cinematographer is, his work will still need to be graded. I have found that crushing the blacks gives video a more dynamic feel. The image becomes more aesthetically pleasing. Adding a bit of warmth and diffusion also helps. Don’t go overboard though as you can easily make the grading look noticeably “touched up”.

Place foreground and background images - Part of art direction is shaping what goes into the frame. Every frame is composed of 3 elements: the foreground, the midground, and the background. Many novice filmmakers focus only on the midground (where your actors are) and the background. This often results in flat images. What if you throw down a potted plant in front of the camera? What if you’re shooting through a window or steel bars? Make sure the foreground is out-of-focus enough so it doesn’t distract from the main scene (the midground). That is, of course, unless your main scene is happening in the foreground.

Blocking - Move your actors away from the background if possible. Doing so will allow you to defocus the background. If you’re doing an over the shoulder shot, you can also cheat this by moving the actors away from each other. The farther objects are from each other, the easier it will be to get a shallow depth of field.

It’s still all about content and story. If you can’t hook your audience into the story, they won’t care that you shot a beautiful piece of art. That’s why some of the best reality shows are still better than some of the best shot films.

I hope you have learned and enjoyed from these snippets of advice I have given. It took me and my staff lots of trial and error to get things right. Believe me, it totally sucks when you get back to the editing suite and you find the grid lines of the diffusion filter on the screen. As with anything, practice makes perfect.