My lense will not focus for an extreme close up shot,

If I want to shoot a person or object extremely close the lens cannot focus that close. I have a 50mm. I have tried different aperture settings from f4 to f22 and it still will not focus close up. By close up I mean as close up as 8 seconds into this video example:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_kD54-q1uFM

Any thought on this how to get a lens to focus that close? Thanks.
 
Alright I will try again to recruit actors and crew. I tried that site Mandy.com that was recommended to me on here before, but their were only a few actors in my area, who had joined that site and not enough. I've been looking for more sites with more people on and will keep looking... I was thinking of even hiring a producer to take care of where to find people who has the connections, but I haven't been able to find a producer who is interested either.
 
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Alright I will try again to recruit actors and crew. I tried that site Mandy.com that was recommended to me on here before, but their were only a few actors in my area, who had joined that site and not enough. I've been looking for more sites with more people on and will keep looking... I was thinking of even hiring a producer to take care of where to find people who has the connections, but I haven't been able to find a producer who is interested either.

IIRC you have mentioned that you are in a fairly remote area. Would it be worth trying to coordinate with people in larger towns/cities - casting a wider net as it were? Or would getting to these places be too logisitically difficult? (Saskatoon and Regina are probably the biggest ones in your Province, right?)

Anyway, Chimp is right. Find people who are passionate about the craft. That will mean reaching outside your circle of friends and possibly outside your immediate area. Save your friendships - no point in souring those by constantly pulling them into stuff they are doing only out of obligation to your friendship.
 
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I drive 2 hours whenever I shoot (most of the time). Where I live is a great place, but many of my contacts are in the MPLS, St. Paul area. Part of the gig... filmmakers are a bit walkabout when it comes to their craft... you go where the opportunities are. Or you pull up your manties and create a scene by just aggressively doing in your own area. Prove that you're ready to direct (none of us where on our first handful of projects). Dig in, make it happen. Only listen to the folks that will make you a better filmmaker. Fear should be a motivator, not a barrier!
 
H44 now wants to open up a lens? dear god... next week he will want to dissect eagles eyes and replace them with Lenses so that he can get a birds eye view.

:lol:

Reading your stream of questions H44 I would say that you are still trying to figure out how to use the camera nevermind choreographying a fightscene on a crossroads and building a crew or whatever it is that's blocking your progress.

Why don't you just forgot (for the time being) about crew and casting and just go make a short little film about where you live... no actors, no scripts...just you and a tripod...and some nice composition, nice camera moves, nice lighting, nice grading...some indoors... some outdoors... maybe even record some foley sounds and overlay...make it, export it and bang it up Film #1 DONE!!!

Guarantee you'll learn more doing that (and increase your confidence in what you are doing) more than posting on here!!
 
I drive 2 hours whenever I shoot (most of the time). Where I live is a great place, but many of my contacts are in the MPLS, St. Paul area. Part of the gig... filmmakers are a bit walkabout when it comes to their craft... you go where the opportunities are. Or you pull up your manties and create a scene by just aggressively doing in your own area. Prove that you're ready to direct (none of us where on our first handful of projects). Dig in, make it happen. Only listen to the folks that will make you a better filmmaker. Fear should be a motivator, not a barrier!

This.

FWIW: My bread and butter gig for the last 18 months is - on average - 2-3 hours of commuting a day.

Also x2 on Shocking's suggestion.
 
You go where the gig is. Travelling is part of the package. I've had call times on the other side of town (2 hours drive) at 6am. I don't all the time - but I generally have to travel anywhere from 30 minutes to 2+ hours to get to/from set (not including any location moves).

I recently AC'd on a film on a mountain-top. Production put us up for the night, but it was still a 4-hour drive there, a 2-hour drive to the second locatoin the next morning, and then a 4-hour drive home..

I'm also constantly comparing the amount of work available here versus other areas, to see if it would be worth a move.

You can't be tied to your one home location if you're in the film industry, especially if it's a small town with nothing happening film-wise there. What happens when all the work dries up? You go to the work, not hope in vain that the work or the people will come to you.
 
For sure, I don't mind traveling a few hours. It's just 18 every weekend back and forth is a lot. I will only have a few hours to shoot and not whole day, so if any type of setback occurs, the shoot is ruined for the weekend. So I hope everything goes right and all. I will do whatever it takes to remain awake and energetic after such a drive.

It's not that I am limiting myself to my friends as actors, it's just not near enough actors are responding to the casting calls where I live. That's why I thought of Vancouver before since I have two actors who are interested there, and they would be good to work with.
 
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