The Last Straw...

All right. I can't STAND it any more. Cracker Funk's thread is just WAY TOO MUCH fun.

The Funkmeister's gallant and heroic effort kicks ass and has me biting my nails and cheering him on.

I never thought I could actually MAKE movies. I'm a writer by inclination...

SO...

I'm headed out to Best Buy. They've got a deal on the T2i. And great financing: 36 months at no interest. That includes any extra lenses. What should I get besides the standard lens it comes with? They've got a cool 55-250mm f/4-5.6 Telephoto Zoom Lens for $300. Should I have them throw that in? Would I use it much? What other accessories should I pick up?

-Charles



I"m skeered. Am I doing the right thing? :D
 
Looks good.

Carbon fiber with 3-way fluid head. That style leg latch and actual foot pads. I like it.


Oh yeah, um, ALL the pizza places are down there. I even know an escape stairwell for the subway and how to unlock it with a steel street sweeper bristle, they have pizza down there too, magic pizza. :)

-Thanks-
 
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Got it!

Suweeeeeet!


Plugged the battery and memory card in and snapped a couple pics. Meh. For some reason I got flowers on the brain.

Anyways, I'm planning on going out this weekend and shooting some test video. I'll post it up then.

Back to memorizing the manual...

woohoo!


-Charles


canon001.JPG





canon002.JPG
 
Knightly, a T2i.


So, I shot some shit on Sunday, and just now slapped it together and popped it up on YouTube. (watching it in the 1080 HD is SO cool)

Nothing to get excited about. Just a "home movie" kinda boring thing. I'm gonna take it down in a couple days.

But I DO LOVE this camera.

Thanks to everyone for your help (especially the Funkmeister)!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jbyo7rJMMWU
 
Knightly, a T2i.


So, I shot some shit on Sunday, and just now slapped it together and popped it up on YouTube. (watching it in the 1080 HD is SO cool)

Nothing to get excited about. Just a "home movie" kinda boring thing. I'm gonna take it down in a couple days.

But I DO LOVE this camera.

Thanks to everyone for your help (especially the Funkmeister)!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jbyo7rJMMWU

Awesome.

I'd love to see you do some tests with lighting design including interiors. Maybe some colored gels. There is so much natural lighting samples out there...where these cameras really shine are when you actual have lighting design and composition. I know you said it's just a quick test, and that's great. Can you show us a few cool interiors with a few lighting setups?
 
Awesome.

I'd love to see you do some tests with lighting design including interiors. Maybe some colored gels. There is so much natural lighting samples out there...where these cameras really shine are when you actual have lighting design and composition. I know you said it's just a quick test, and that's great. Can you show us a few cool interiors with a few lighting setups?

Uh-oh! It's controversy time!

Sorry, M1chae1, I'm going to respectfully disagree with your advice. Unless, that is, Charles wants to be a DP. Look, Charles, you've got a lot of learning ahead of you. It's not that this craft is so super difficult -- it's just that there are a million little things (each one of which is easy to learn), and I think it's important to decide in what order you practice which skills.

I've publicly mentioned how I don't think it's necessary to attend film school, but I do think that the general lessons taught in film school are worth following. Lighting isn't taught until your junior or senior year, and it's something you specialize in. In the beginning, I think you should just work on the basic storytelling techniques, and when I say basic, I mean basic (which I'm actually gonna type a little "blog" about, today).

When a film-school student is making their first film, they typically aren't even given a microphone, just a camcorder, much less lights.

Nice montage! The shot of you laying in the grass, with the beer on your head is hilarious.
 
I see nothing wrong with picking up (or borrowing) a few work lights or whatever you can get your hands on and doing a few simple lighting setups.

I don't think individuals learning on their own need to follow a set routine to learn filmmaking. I think they need to understand what the entire process entails, and this can be done by picking up a few books, watching some tutorials online, and working on other sets.

I forget what Adeimantus is focused on...but I don't think you need to sit down and figure out how to tell a good story and write a good screenplay before you start shooting experimental shorts. If you waited till you understood good writing, you might not shoot anything for years. :)

Maybe you could find some people that have other equipment and skill-sets and are willing to collaborate on projects with you.

You're going to need lighting and sound at some point soon...especially sound. Why not do some research on how to make that happen now, while you learn the basics, and how to use your camera?

I personally think far too many DSLR users ignore lighting because their camera can shoot in low light, so they figure they don't need to do any lighting design. This is a huge mistake. It's boring and lazy. :)

Hey Adeimantus, what do you plan on doing in the film realm? Do you plan on wearing many hats? Or sticking with one main role?
 
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I see nothing wrong with picking up (or borrowing) a few work lights or whatever you can get your hands on and doing a few simple lighting setups.

I don't think individuals learning on their own need to follow a set routine to learn filmmaking. I think they need to understand what the entire process entails, and this can be done by picking up a few books, watching some tutorials online, and working on other sets.

I forget what Adeimantus is focused on...but I don't think you need to sit down and figure out how to tell a good story and write a good screenplay before you start shooting experimental shorts. If you waited till you understood good writing, you might not shoot anything for years. :)

Maybe you could find some people that have other equipment and skill-sets and are willing to collaborate on projects with you.

You're going to need lighting and sound at some point soon...especially sound. Why not do some research on how to make that happen now, while you learn the basics, and how to use your camera?

I personally think far too many DSLR users ignore lighting because their camera can shoot in low light, so they figure they don't need to do any lighting design. This is a huge mistake. It's boring and lazy. :)

Hey Adeimantus, what do you plan on doing in the film realm? Do you plan on wearing many hats? Or sticking with one main role?

If you want to be a basketball player, you don't start by learning Phil Jackson's triangle offense. You start by learning how to pass the ball. If you want to learn to be a football player, you don't start by learning zone-blitz packages. You start by learning how to tackle. If you want to be a musician, you don't start by learning point-counterpoint writing techniques. You start by learning how to play a major scale on a piano.

Why should filmmaking be any different? I believe strongly in following the KISS method -- Keep It Simple, Stupid.

First thing a filmmaker needs to learn is the Rule of 3rds.

Oh, and Charles has the writing part down. He's been hanging out on Indietalk's screenwriting forums for a while, and is a recent convert to stepping behind the camera.
 
I thought he was a writer...then why would you suggest he hold off on getting a few lights and learn to tell a story? Doesn't he already know how to implement that step?

The first thing a filmmaker needs to learn is the 'rule of 3rds'? Really? What about how to use his camera first, and how to work iris, iso, focus, etc? I'd say that comes before composition.

Heck, why not just get some books on filmmaking, and take the camera out and utilize what he's learning. You can learn several things at once--ie: how to use the camera hardware and settings, as well as composition and basic lighting.

I mean I'm all about KISS...but it's not that hard to set up a basic scene in a room, compose a shot, utilize a basic lighting setup, and see how that looks when you shoot it. Learning '3rds' is nice...and should be in the filmmaking books I mentioned. But you don't need to master the 3rd rule before you shoot...and you don't even need to follow that rule to be a filmamaker anyway. Balance can sometimes be done by instinct.

I don't know...I feel like my advice sucks lately. I'll shut up.
 
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