Cinematography Class with Erik Curtis

Our wonderfully talented friend, DP Erik Curtis, who was extremely busy during this last movie he was shooting (known as The Chaos Experiment with Val Kilmer) finally arrived back in Tampa for the much anticipated Cinematography class for the Tampa Weekend Film School. The event was sponsered by Kodak & we were going to be 'having school' in ValComm/Chameleon Filmworks Studios in Clearwater and we were going to be using Panavision with (of course) Kodak high grade film. There were about 20-30 students and about 15 crew including Erik Curtis & Pete Guzzo (acting as Director) & while we were training loading film, dolly gripping & using the camera we were going to be shooting a PSA for a benefit to raise money by bicycling for a cause. There was another Director working with us as well (who I really liked) but I didn't really get his name. We shot HD alongside and got to compare between the two on the $30k monitors. Of course, the processing of the film will have to take place in the next week or two & Erik has informed us that we will be going on a trip to the Lab... Continental Labs in Orlando! It should be very informational & a lot of fun! I will learn a great deal I'm sure! I think that as film goes out of style... it will become cheaper, but also the skill set will be harder to come by... this experience will become a valuable one!

I have to say, that Erik was one of the nicest, coolest & most accessible DP's I've met & I was VERY honored to work with him, even a little bit. I LOVED pulling focus for the last second of film in the camera! Go out with a bang, baby!! This has been the favorite of my film school experiences so far!

Dinner with Joe Davison

In anticipation of Director of Photography Erik Curtis (who had just finished production in Michigan on The Chaos Experiment with Val Kilmer), we had planned a dinner to talk about our upcoming Tampa Weekend Film School Cinematography class! What ended up happening instead was an unexpected rare treat!

Instead of Erik Curtis, we got to eat dinner with horror movie writer/actor/producer/director Joe Davison from the movie 100 Tears. Joe turns out to be an awesome guy who schooled us on a lot of misconceptions in the film industry & his experiences. We really had a great time & I think we have formed a long-time bond with Joe... so much so that near the end of our dinner, we brain stormed about some story ideas that we would like to do before Halloween & now we have planned a shoot date & set locations & everything for a three part YouTube video release starring Joe! Sounds like indy heaven! We did miss Erik but we know that he was very busy... After a tough shoot its good to take a break from all the stress & I do hope Erik got to do that!

The State of the Film & Entertainment Industry Summit

On October 9th, the "State of the Film & Entertainment Industry Summit" took place in St. Petersburg, FL. to address the sad situation of the film & entertainment industries in Florida. Most states in our country have gone to some lengths to engage in a healthy competition to court the film industry to continue shooting & doing projects in their states (of course except for a few, one, namely being Florida). The lame incentives Florida offers are kind of like an insult to the industry almost to the point that they are 'asking' productions to leave the state. I really don't understand the logic in it whatsoever but the politicians that headed the 'summit' (as they called it) didn't really offer any solutions except to help them do their jobs & to keep doing more work for them.

I have to say, if I am going to have to do something & if what I do is successful, why do I need these people to speak for us filmmakers in Florida? They are proving to us all that they are not doing their jobs by putting on the farcical show they staged. It ended up being a forum for us to all complain about the fact that the capitol in Tallahassee is doing 'nothing' to help us poor, innocent filmmakers & videographers... blah, blah. Once again a waste of our efforts on politicians to save us.

I don't care for their efforts & I don't expect anyone to do anything to help me, I simply don't want anyone to get in my way to create as an artist. If at least, the state & local governments were offering a policy to help with permits, security & insurance it would make creating easier. I'm not asking for money for myself, I'm asking for these bureaucracies to fast-track some of the processes we have to wade through because we are doing things up-front & in cooperation with these governments. Plus I think it contributes to our tradition in Florida to have smaller government. Taxes could be waived as well possibly... who knows? There are actually so many ways that the state could help (without having to put up any funds whatsoever) that it is almost shocking to see so little action on their part. Which, again, makes it look like they are actually asking for production companies to leave Florida!

Once again, government saves mankind! Well... with some reservations. So, the plan is for us to go to Tally & once again, not be heard. :-\

Our Non-Profit P.S.A.'s

Training at the Tampa Weekend Film School (in Association with the Weekend Film Crew created by Daniel Brienza) has been steadily increasing with our 'Non-Profit PSA Project' we have embarked upon. The project entails finding organizations that might be able to use the help that a Public Service Announcement might give them, in order for our group to practice making small projects (like commercials) and then to continue on to making shorts or films as time goes on & we gather more knowledge & experience.

The first we did about three months ago was for a non-profit organization called "Connected by 25" which helps foster kids who graduate out of the foster care system. Many times, these young adults find themselves cut off from any meaningful help or any support system they may be used to having when they leave their foster home. This organization seeks to help re-establish the support system these kids need so desperately. Dan Brienza Directed, DP'ed & is editing it currently. I Produced. Chris Gayle AD'ed, Cheryl Williams was the Casting Director & we had a few really great actors!

The second one we have been working on is going to be completely created with V.O.'s, Final Cut & After Effects, etc. and the third we are going to be doing is still yet to be determined. So far it has been successful & a lot of fun... we just have to do the editing... :)

Editing Class with Rebecca Croft

About two months ago (I neglected to post it then), we at the Tampa Weekend Film School had a great time putting on the last editing workshop with Rebecca Croft on Final Cut Pro. Rebecca has been editing in Final Cut for the last 8 years but before this event, she had never trained anyone to edit (except for me) and she found it difficult to imagine teaching others at first. But, she did an awesome job and everyone seemed pleased with all the very detailed bits of knowledge she imparted to the 10-12 or so students that attended.

I really hope we continue to do events like this in the future. It was very practical & informative for everyone involved! Thank you Rebecca! :)

The 48hr Film Project

I have to say- I had a great time working on this years 48 hr Film Project. Rebecca was the Editor & I ended up helping as an Assistant Editor & Music Supervisor since we came on board late in the project. When the movie we made (that Bobby Marinelli Directed & Matt Wightman DP'ed) called "The Champ" gets posted on YouTube I will update this post & let you all know...

OK HERE IT IS--




Heres a link to YouTube just in case the embed doesn't work.

Everyone did a great job & I was proud to work with our team members even though I never knew most of them before this. I think more than half were from HSN though.

My take on the films? Ours was pretty good besides a few last minute editing mistakes. When you're given minutes to do everything that you would normally have weeks or months to do... things are going to happen- some things slip by. They were fixed for uploading to YouTube so you wont see those mistakes here. Well, you might see some mistakes. I'm not sure.

As for the other films, I really loved the film "A Minute Too Late" it was like watching a currently produced police/crime network tv show and the winning movie "Crime's a Cookin'" was a really good b&w silent film. It was very funny! I wonder how these guys did all that while being allotted the same amount of time we had!

We have been working with a few of our team members since then & also have noticed... we NEED to update our editing suite badly! A lot of the new cameras (it appears) can't be edited by our older FCP 5 system. We need the Studio 2 to be able to make our workflow more seamless.


If you are interested in learning more about the 48 hr Film Project heres some links.

48hr Film Project
48hr TV

We were participants in the 2008 Tampa/St. Petersburg competition. Our genre was Sports Movie, the character was a food connoisseur named "Bob Percival", the line was "How could you do this to me?", and the prop was a hair dryer.


My hope is that more opportunities open up for us because of this involvement as I'm sure they will.

:)

The new "RED" camera gets shown off at the Pinellas Filmmakers Society!!

First of all, I have to say I am so grateful to Curtis Graham and the other gentleman (a local Digital Imaging Technologist) who brought their cameras to display to the Society! Let me explain...

If you shoot in HD you know the resolution... Well, the RED camera is so much more of a revolution in filmmaking than I could hardly imagine! Curtis Graham (a local commercial & feature filmmaker) brought his entire RED rig to explain it's features for all in the audience to see. He used the in-house projectionist as a subject to get some recording done at a resolution of 4096x2304 as opposed to the normally used 1080 in the industry now!! By the way, the projectionist should consider acting-- he has a great face for film! So, he then transferred his RAGE 320G hard drive from his camera to a Mac G5 with a wide-screen monitor which was wheeled up into the front area. He showed us in post the amazing things you could do right away with your footage (with the free red editing software and with Final Cut) that couldnt be done if you were using film or most digital rigs! I was blown away at the picture quality, size, and incredible features that the red camera offered at a staggering $17,500! I am focusing now, on trying to get this technology into the next major project I want to do in this area.


I couldn't hope to explain all of its revolutionary features to you here! It is the best film rig combined with the very best digital rig imaginable!

As Wikipedia says "According to Red's official website, director Steven Soderbergh is shooting the first of his two upcoming features Guerrilla and The Argentine" using the RED. Also, "Soderbergh is very enthusiastic about the camera, saying that 'This is the camera I've been waiting for my whole career...'!"

Please... if you wanna know what I'm talking about go to their page and these other web pages.
www.red.com | Home Site
RedUser.net | Red Camera Forums
RedRelay | 4k Gallery Host Site
Wiki Red Camera Company
WonderHowTo on the RED camera

If this wasn't enough... as you may be able to notice... next year the Red company is planning on a new handheld 3k camera called "Scarlett"! It is also better than HD!! And in the palm of your hand! So you can understand my gratefulness towards the PFS! They have my full attention with this new technology!

....


Some essential news about the group. The Pinellas Filmmakers Society is run by Pete Bradshaw & Curtis Graham. There is no dues or other fees & the meeting is open to the public. Meetings take place on the 4th Friday of every month (it used to be the 3rd) from 7pm to 9pm (come an hour early for networking & rubbing elbows with local filmmakers). If you want to get involved in the local filmmaking scene, this is the best way to get moving! So, bring a stack of business cards & get over there next month!!

Image on upper right from red.com.

Antisocial Butterfly Update

My wife (Rebecca) & I have been sporadically putting together her short mini-DV film "Antisocial Butterfly" now for the past 6 months or so. Every so often we'll have time on the weekends to do a half day of shooting for certain scenes & she'll need to get a new haircut & keep her "continuity" up for the look of the film. We have been doing only the scenes where she is alone so far until we can organize for more complex scenes. So we still have a long way to go as it comes to the entire film being ready for the final edit.

...Although... As you can see we had just enough footage to make a small teaser!!

Enjoy!



(If the embedded video doesnt work heres the link)


...Whaddya think?


Make sure to tell Rebecca how awesome she is... It always helps when people encourage!!
You can talk to her via her YouTube page.
http://www.youtube.com/user/ladyrebeccacroft

"Tampa Weekend Film School" Update

Daniel Brienza really is awesome. This is because, I really like the new business model they are pursuing for the Weekend Film School. To elaborate, I guess its not so much a business model as a strategy to make this network learning experience most effective to Tampa Bay filmmakers.

First of all, their mission is for the group to start making films together. Second, the way they want to do this is to break the entire network up into four more manageable teams (based on the basic teams in the filmmaking process).

The teams are as follows:
1. Scriptwriting
2. Acting
3. Pre-Production/Production
4. Post-Production

Then, after these phases of training within each team is done, the filming process might start taking place & hopefully, good films will ensue from this process. Sounds good to me!

At the last Tampa Bay Industry & Actors Network we signed up for our team so, hopefully there will be some emails going out soon to keep us up to date on upcoming team meetings.

(I hope it wont get in the way of "Electric Picasso")
:O

"Electric Picasso" Update

Hello folks!

I am & have been an Assistant Producer for "The Electric Picasso" production by CandiMark Productions now, for the past month and a half or so. We are going to be mentored during production by four professionals from the Pinellas Filmmakers Society meeting in St. Petersburg. They will, also, be generously donating use of much of the equipment (especially for production phase). As this will make our movie of much higher quality I am so very grateful for this gift by the PFS.

This has been a really exciting project! I am loving everyone on the team & we are really forming a great production team in my view (which can do other projects in the future). I have been helping the Producers a lot, hopefully, and now we are into the location scouting and filling all crew positions phase.

I can't really talk about the story "The Electric Picasso" simply because I am not very good at the "pitch" just yet, but I can say some technical details. This is probably going to be a 12-15 min. comedy movie on color Panasonic DVC Pro. We have most of our primary crew positions filled. We, of course, still need to do the ultra-important casting for most of the parts.

Our Producer, Mark Keim, is so awesome. Our Director, Lisa Inserra, is also so awesome it makes you want to scream. The DP, Connie Pearson, I am really taking a liking to and for this reason I have personal hopes to work with her in the future. There are also others I wont mention just yet, but let me tell you... so far we are a great team.

We have these positions open still: 1st AD, 2nd AD, possibly a PM, PC, PA's, Gaffer, Key Grip, Best Boy- Electric, possibly a Location Manager, and a Marketing/Ad Guru or Publicist (depending).

So, for now I am really psyched! I have been generating some reports & having meetings (which I love), and I have really been learning a lot.

If you have any questions... please ask!