Hi gang. I occasionally have a quick scan of Indietalk, but haven't really read or posted in the past couple of years, since I've not really been working in or around film (nor doing it as a hobby). I occasionally see updates from some of the old-timers on Facebook, but really have lost track of all the projects I spent years following. So I thought I'd check in on faces, new and old, and ask what people are working on in 2023? Any exciting updates?
producing What's everyone up to in 2023?
- Thread starter NickClapper
- Start date
I've got updates. I took a break for a few months around Christmas time, but a lot has been accomplished since you were around.
And there are literally 90 other videos that have been made in the last year, probably more.
And there are literally 90 other videos that have been made in the last year, probably more.
Last edited:
Right now I'm sharpening my CGI skills for a feature production that will officially launch this summer. CGI characters set against live action backgrounds. The characters will be animated using motion capture. I will be using some of the stunning desert scenery found in Utah. The production will essentially be a one man army, me being the army, but I will enlist voice talent for the characters. My son plus a musician friend of mine will help with the score, and my wife is willing to put up with me using our house as the production facility. I'll be building some quarter scale sets in the garage. I need to buy a motion capture solution, plus build a couple more computers to make this thing work. I'm not really happy with the camera I have to work with since it only captures 8 bit 4:2:0 images, which could be problematic in post when it comes to color correction. I don't know, I might want to invest in a new camera.
One of the other things I'm doing now is building a steadycam. It's essentially the same as the expensive commercially available thing but mine is made from pvc tubing and common hardware found at HomeDepot. I made one of these things years ago and it did work! This new model is an upgrade and will be less fragile, plus it has a small monitor attached, which the original did not have..
One of the other things I'm doing now is building a steadycam. It's essentially the same as the expensive commercially available thing but mine is made from pvc tubing and common hardware found at HomeDepot. I made one of these things years ago and it did work! This new model is an upgrade and will be less fragile, plus it has a small monitor attached, which the original did not have..
Last edited:
Nate, It blows my mind how you can obtain, and manage all the assets you have in those shots. You're right when you say that most people have no idea how much work goes in to making CGI work.
Earlier this year, when I was building and organizing the music libraries for the second time, I was just processing about 50 tracks a day, every day. That kind of thing really adds up after a few months. It's quite powerful if you just make a habit and stick to it. Like, I'm going to go find 25 free models on the internet every day at 6am. that's 750 new models a month. Then you buy a pack on sale here and there, Canyon Construction Kit for half price with 250 models included, etc. Those videos do represent around a year of full time work though, and even with organized filing, there's a lot of memorization. I've really screwed up taking a vacation, because I came back and before I had the locations of 4000 items or so memorized, and when I came back to it I realized that I had forgotten where 3000 of them were.
Also I should give a shout out to Megascans, a company that Epic bought which provides literally thousands of photorealistic assets and kits free of charge. In example, the original front door scene was made entirely from Megascans assets and the cat model. Then I made the sky a greenscreen and dubbed in that solar system and crashing space station. So since I'm hybriding greenscreen into renders like that, some of the models that you see are actually just images composited into the background.
Also I should give a shout out to Megascans, a company that Epic bought which provides literally thousands of photorealistic assets and kits free of charge. In example, the original front door scene was made entirely from Megascans assets and the cat model. Then I made the sky a greenscreen and dubbed in that solar system and crashing space station. So since I'm hybriding greenscreen into renders like that, some of the models that you see are actually just images composited into the background.
Super cool seeing what you guys are up to! I'm working on a feature that I'll be shooting in June out here in Montana where I live. There's a production diary here on the forum where I post any meaningful updates.
2022 was a banner year for me.
Then the largest studio in town closed and 6 months of studio work evaporated as a result, so we’ll see what happens for 2023. I worked 4 days last week, and that was my first job for the year.
But I’ve had plenty of time to deal with a tree that fell on our property, cut back some overgrowth around the driveway, and clean and organize some gear…
Then the largest studio in town closed and 6 months of studio work evaporated as a result, so we’ll see what happens for 2023. I worked 4 days last week, and that was my first job for the year.
But I’ve had plenty of time to deal with a tree that fell on our property, cut back some overgrowth around the driveway, and clean and organize some gear…
Last edited:
And what about you Nick? Still in the running to become the new podcast king of the UK?
Damn, people have been keeping busy. And Nate, if only I had half your productivity...
I get the sense that people on here are making fewer ambitious narrative shorts these days? It could be that they are, but those conversations have just migrated over to Facebook or wherever. But ten years ago, on Indietalk, there would always be a dozen or so projects that regular users were posting about and which we followed from start to finish. Feels like maybe we've moved towards more discussions of craft and technical elements, and maybe less actually DIY filmmaking..?
I get the sense that people on here are making fewer ambitious narrative shorts these days? It could be that they are, but those conversations have just migrated over to Facebook or wherever. But ten years ago, on Indietalk, there would always be a dozen or so projects that regular users were posting about and which we followed from start to finish. Feels like maybe we've moved towards more discussions of craft and technical elements, and maybe less actually DIY filmmaking..?
Indietalk isn’t the only forum seeing that. I think what has happened is that the massive shift toward affordable technology has changed the landscape, and not all for the better. Some may say that this has led to the democratization of filmmaking, and perhaps it has, but the flip-side of that coin is that it has created a generation of armchair experts who spend a lot of time talking and little (if any) time actually doing. Pixel-peeping has drowned out discussion of craft.
I’ve seen too many people who buy a BMPCC and suddenly call themselves a DP without ever really earning that title. They have the camera, and it does half the work for them, right? It’s resulted in a fundamental lack of understanding of lensing, framing, lighting ratios… the things that actual DPs know through training and experience. There are a few of those here in my town, and trying to talk about the craft with them is wasted effort as they generally don’t have it in them, but they’ll talk gear all day long. I’ve worked with a couple of them who swear that shooting in BRAW means they can make all their decisions in post, so they don’t need to worry about exposure or any of that stuff. And LUTs fix everything in post anyway. The end-product really shows their lack of practical skills.
For the record, I’m not anti-BMPCC; in skilled hands, it’s just a useful a tool as any camera.
I see it in the sound community as well, with new “mixers” who come out with their little Zoom and Tascam recorders, a cheap boom kit, and some cheap wireless, and do a terrible job with sound. One of those goons actually undercut me on a feature film a couple years ago, by hundreds of dollars/day, then had the balls to text me in the middle of the production for advice on getting his wireless to work because he was experiencing all sorts of RF hits and didn’t know how to avoid them.
There are still short films being made, and even some decent ones, but I think the people who are doing are tired of trying to talk among or over the people who aren’t.
</soapbox>
Last edited:
I made a pretty ambitious short, due to budget constraints i had to do everything, even buy a sewing machine and learn to sew the costume.
I had no crew at all, I was the camera and the sound, etc
Did the best job I could do, took over a year in total, months on months of editing, and its currently sitting at 136 views lol
After a decade my youtube channel has 55 subscribers.
It's just not very rewarding to make shorts, i don't feel like making another one
you could make a tiktok farting in a bathtub and get more than 136 views.
As for the OP - What am I up to in 2023?
I'm attempting to write my first feature length story and release it as a novel, but damn is it a struggle.
Last edited:
I think that's a fair summary of what's going on. It's somewhat understandable, if annoying. It's a complex skill, and you really need to spend money and time to get experience. With more people having less money trying to climb a ladder that doesn't even exist, it's natural to see an unprecedented abundance of "Fake it till you make it" Strategists. Early on I really struggled with figuring out what an indie filmmaker was even supposed to be doing. The real thing, real experience, cost a lot of money, but you couldn't get paid until you demonstrated the experience that you weren't allowed to get. I knew even way back then that "fake it till you make it" was kind of stupid plan, like relentlessly flying paper airplanes until the air force tried to recruit you to become a jet pilot. For many though, it's literally the only option available, and so people overstate credentials from day one, hoping to pick up enough screen credits and paychecks to make the lie a reality. It's possible, and people have pulled it off many times, but it does cause a lot of problems for people that were more serious about investment and training in film, since to the layman, the fake credentials and the real credentials are indifferentiable. I've had similar experiences to the one you relayed, where someone just wrote director/cinematographer/colorist/DP on their facebook page, and the retired dentist or whoever is running the entire production would not know the difference between a guy with a Red and a gimbal on a crane, and just a Dunning/Krueger person with a cannon 5d. Also an issue is that once you know what you're doing, you ask a lot of questions. What is the scope of your project? How are you distributing your budget? Is this a union operation? Can you give me a frame of reference for the lighting style you are trying to achieve? And of course whoever is hiring has no clue what any of that means, and they tend to get more and more annoyed the more aspects you try to nail down before giving them a quote. So in many instances, there is someone who comes along and just says "I'll do it, I'm great" and the guy doing the hiring just says "I like your positive attitude, you're not like that hack Nate that thinks we need all these details nailed down just to get something simple like a feature film right" "Just Point and shoot right?" The local filmmaker says. "Finally, somebody who gets my nuanced understanding of filmmaking" says the hiring manager. Another component that adds to the chaos is the people that bankroll indie films. Indie film doesn't generate real profits very often, at least not below the 10 million budget mark. So your main boss with the killswitch is always from another profession, and woefully underequipped to make judgement calls about such a sophisticated orchestration. Add to that that since indie film is a terrible, high risk, low reward investment, that you're getting basically a filtered subset of investors, who aren't actually good at their own jobs. I mean it's pretty obvious that you could never equal Silver ingot ROI with even the most diverse portfolio of IF artists. It's more of a lottery thing for investors, and good investors don't ever play lottery numbers, so essentially, you are left exclusively with investors who are bad at their job, overseeing a complex job they have no experience in, and honestly, not knowing which people to hire is just the beginning of their problems in a situation like that. Rant over, lol.
i wouldn't necessarily call this exciting but here is a link to my new short in progress.