As filmmakers we need to seek out and experience these short films and learn from them.  It’s easier than ever to find and experience these films with websites like Vimeo and Short of The Week curating them on our behalf, and Smart TV’s and web streaming devices bringing these films into our living rooms for a proper viewing experience.  As we experience these films, we then need to experiment with our own narratives, as well as get creative about how we deploy these films to our audience.  It’s time we create our own paradigm, because we can be nimble. Hollywood is too big a machine to make quick course adjustments.  They’ll be looking to us to lead the way for the next generation.

Just look at what Louis CK did with his new concert film: Live at the Beacon Theater.  He self financed and self distributed his film.  By by-passing all the “normal” channels he was able to sell it for only $5 a download and has made over $1M.  Sure he’s Louis CK and has a built-in audience, but you can too. Use sites like Poptent.net to challenge your creativity and create branded films with the chance of monetary reward.  Build a fan-base by sharing your work and experiences with your peers via social networking.  Make your films and the experience more interactive.  That’s what I’ve been experimenting with while making The Specimen.

As filmmakers so many of us make our New years resolution to write or make more content.  But for 2012, make your resolution to not only make more content, but seek it out.  Participate in it.  Experiment with audience building.  Find news ways to make your films stand out in the crowd.   In doing so, one of us may just create the next great distribution and monetization scheme.

It won’t be easy.  I’m as guilty as anybody. Life finds a way to pull you many different directions, some of which are unexpected and wonderful, others difficult but necessary. Through it all it’s up to us to persevere, to create, to inspire, and be inspired.  Let’s make 2012 the year we took back film.

It’s been quite a while since I’ve written about what I’ve been calling the “Film Revolution;” the advent of cheap digital film-making tools that are democratizing the art by allowing stunning film work at an affordable price point.

I’ve talked about the RED, SI-2K, and others, but have never written about what have become the true revolutionary cameras to hit the market. Video enabled Digital SLR’s. In the last year Canon, Nikon, and Panasonic have all released new Digital SLR hybrid still cameras capable of shooting varying flavors of High Definition video giving no budget filmmakers that sexy 35mm depth of field (most at the heralded 24 frames per second) without the need for cumbersome, light-eating, depth of field adapters, or tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars. For the first time ever, full-frame 35mm digital hi-def imaging was delivered to the masses and for a price point under $3,000. Truly revolutionary.

In the capable hands of cinematographers who know how to push these small devices to their limits, some stunning short films, documentaries, commercials, and what I like to call, visual poems have been created.  See an example below.

Sea from Philip Bloom on Vimeo.

That said these cameras are far from perfect. Putting video capabilities into what is primarily a still camera has its inevitable shortcomings including form factor, audio capabilities, aliasing, and rolling shutter artifacts. Pixel peepers and technicians will tell you that while these cameras produce so-called “Full HD” files their actual resolving power is more like SD video. If that sort of stuff interests you, you can read all about it here, and probably at lot of other blogs, forums, and websites. But that’s not that important to me, or most filmmakers. Stu Maschwitz summed it up so perfectly in his blog post when the 5D MkII came out, that I’m just going quote him directly:

Let’s get something straight. The video from the Nikon D90 and the Canon 5D MkII is not of good quality. It’s over compressed, over-processed, over-sharpened, and lacks professional control. It skews and shears and shuts off in the middle of a take. It sucks.
So why are we so excited by it?
Because the video from these DSLRs stimulates us emotionally. It’s contrasty, with sexy depth of field. It looks like cinema, if you don’t look to close. Guess who doesn’t look too close. Everyone.

- Stu Maschwitz – ProLost.com

That’s the appeal of these affordable digital cinema devices and the reason you need to get off your ass and go shoot something. That’s right; I’m finally getting around to the title of this post. Don’t Wait!

These cameras prove that technology is changing at a rapid pace, and has enabled filmmakers a freedom never offered before.  Has this given rise to the film revolution I’ve been prognosticating? Yes and no. While some filmmakers have embraced these tools and made wonderful films big and small, this ever changing technology has also given filmmakers excuses to procrastinate. I’ve been guilty of it myself.

I meet and discuss projects with lots of up and coming filmmakers who say things like, “I’d like to shoot my epic, but I only have a standard def camera and can’t afford to HD. I’ll wait until they’re more affordable.” Or worse, the snob effect,” I have to shoot it on film.” Or “I like those HDSLR’s but I’m waiting for that firmware upgrade that enables (fill in the blank here).” Or a myriad of other excuses for not going out and making your film. I don’t care if you shoot your film on an iPhone. If your script is ready, go shoot it. Shoot it now with whatever camera you have available. You’ve got a Canon 7D? Great! My old standby Canon XL2? Perfect. An old Sony VX100? Fine, just go shoot it.

Ayz Waraich has proven that you can make a beautiful, emotional film with a ton of heart on a cheap HD consumer camera with hardly any manual controls. Don’t believe me? Watch “White Red Panic” embedded below and prepare to be blown away.

If that’s not proof enough, I submit that if well told, your film may not even need to look that good. Take a look at the Award Winning film “Once.” It’s a great film but the cinematography is mediocre at best, mostly shot with flat available light on prosumer video cameras. Sure it’s a bit shocking at first, but then you get sucked in by the story and characters. Years before that Edward Burns won the Sundance Grand Jury prize with “The Brothers McMullen“.  Another poorly shot film that transcends its imagery, with heart, character, and emotion.

So with the end of the year upon us, I’d like to ask all aspiring filmmakers to make a New Years resolution to stop worrying about the technology, and for God’s sake don’t wait.  By the time that feature or camera you’ve been waiting for comes around, you’ll likely be waiting for the next breakthrough. In the meantime you’ve got nothing to show for it. So shoot now with what you’ve got. It’ll force you to use your creativity to deliver a film that goes beyond the technology and touches your audience; which is what it’s all about.

End of Rant.

Ever increasingly as the tools of our trade become more and more accessible, writers and directors (or writer-directors, or Preditors, or what have you) find themselves picking up the camera and shooting, or buying some inexpensive editing software and cutting their story themselves.  They might dabble in creating their own special effects.  They might do their own color-correction.  Then there are the up and comers who have never even conceived of what Hollywood might consider “film crew” and are comprised only of these jack of all trades people who just get it done.  So what do we call these people who can do it all?  I call them story-tellers.

As I said before, film-making is about collaboration with other story-tellers. Whether you wear one hat or many. Whether you tell your story through words, images, wardrobe, or special effects, we’re all there for a common goal: to make a film.  So don’t get bogged down by titles.  Let your writer try his hand at editing.  The edited film is the final re-write after all, and they could bring something new to the table you might not have guessed.  Listen to the ideas from your special effects technician.  Talk over character with your wardrobe person.  Try your own hand at an aspect of film-making you’ve never considered.  Let everyone cross pollinate their thoughts with the common goal of telling your story, and watch as it blossoms.

I am a story-teller. What do you do?

Keeping going with my collaboration theme today, I’d be remiss if I didn’t spend a little time to talk about the Loach. Co-writer and director of GLAZED, producer of INHERITANCE, and co-founder of NOT AFRAID!
Jeff Loach and I were writing and producing partners since 1998 when we formed Not Afraid! As true collaborators we practiced the art of “ego-less arguing.” (I think we borrowed that term from another pair of writers, Ted Elliot and Terry Rossio and their excellent website wordplayer.com but I digress…) Each of us would constantly shoot holes in each others ideas and nary an ego was bruised, because we both understood it was never personal. It was about the idea. The best ideas can stand up to that scrutiny and all others should go by the wayside. That was how to make it great. That’s what makes collaboration work.

Alas, Jeff as great a collaborator as he is, felt another calling. His true calling was not to entertain, but to serve, to put his own life at risk for others. He was to be a firefighter. At an age where most people would say it’s too late, Jeff persevered. He followed that dream with a fervor and tenacity of film-maker searching for funding, and he has made that dream come true.Later this week, Jeff will begin his life as a professional fire-fighter in Fairfax County Virginia, and I couldn’t be more proud. Though I miss his energy in our writing room, even with him 3,000 miles away I can hear him arguing his point, and I smile.

Be safe, Mr. Loach.

Paul