-
OT, but maybe not: Luis speaks the truth to young & old! :)
Luis: I hope it’s OK with you and the COW management if I reproduce your recent post from DVInfo.net here. (A link to the thread would bring up a lot of other stuff that’s nowhere near as relavant.) However, if this is forum no-no, please delete this, and my sincere apologies.)
In these last few days before NAB, when some of our wallets are burning a hole in our back pockets, Luis’ following words are soooooooo dead-on-target. Thanks, Luis!
– Peter
====================================================
Luis Caffesse:“Things I wished someone had told me at 18:
If you want to make movies, forget about the cameras and spend your time writing. Learn how to tell a story. Image quality is second to story quality.
Take the time you spend worrying about the image quality now, and worry about performances. If your actors aren’t believable, a great looking image isn’t going to help you.
No one has ever walked out of a movie and thought, “that would have been great if only they had a few more lines of resolution.” Instead people say things like “that was boring” and “what was the point?”
As many people here have already said, at 18 you are blessed enough to have gear equal to what some here use to make a living. You have MORE than what you need to get your story on screen. Festivals don’t care nearly as much about resolution as they do about engaging content.
A friend of mine recently shot a feature on the DVX100 for virtually no money. He didn’t use an anamorphic adapter.
He played Sundance, Berlin, SXSW, and a few others.
He’s picked up a few awards along the way too.
He now has an agent from william morris representing him, and is talking to a few studios about his next project.No one cared that his movie was on DV.
What they cared about was that they saw he had talent.
He delivered a movie that people cared about, with honest performances, and a solid structured script.Don’t think of your feature as the end product. People who see it in festivals aren’t always looking at the movies to buy them, they are looking at the movies to see what you can do. They are interested in what you will make NEXT, not only what you made.
SD is more than good enough, and will be for a while.
The differences between a DVX and an XL2 are not nearly as big as the differences between a good movie and a bad movie.One last thing, which somone already mentioned but I feel is important enough to repeat.
GET A GOOD SOUND PERSON.
When we see a movie, we can get used to just about any level of image quality, but sound always has to be clear and audible.As a friend of mine always reminds me:
“The eyes adjust, but the ears don’t”
Find a good story, get honest performances, get clean audio…and no one will really care what you shot it on”
Damn I wish I could send this thread back in time to myself!!
🙂
Oh yeah, one last thing…in terms of image quality….
Someone said a really smart thing the other day –“If you know how to light, it doesn’t matter what format you shoot on.
And if you don’t know how to light, it doesn’t matter what format you shoot on”__________________
Luis Caffesse
Austin, TexasStudio 3 Productions, Inc.”
==================================================== -
5 Replies
-
I’m glad you found my ramblings to be helpful Peter.
Now if only I could practice what I preach.
🙂Of course, 4 days before NAB, it’s hard for even the most focused of us not to get distracted by all the shiny new toys.
Luis Caffesse
Studio 3 Productions, Inc.
Austin, Texas -
Wow Luis, spot on. Spot on.
Jason Rodriguez
Virginia Beach, VA -
Well said Luis!
I don’t work in features. I produce, direct, and shoot national and international television programs. Many of the same principles you noted are accurate for the TV industry.
Achieving excellence in the industry is dependent on: 1) talent 2) experience 3) tenacity 4) technology. Being able to use a credit card and buy a 3-chip camera and an affordable editing platform will only give you enough rope to hang yourself unless you have items 1-3 above to add to the mix.
Everyone is born with certain talents. In this industry there are people who have massive talent, but only use a small portion of it – and people who have little talent, but use every bit of it. There is no shortcut to experience. You serve your time to get it, plain and simple. Tenacity is both in-born and developed. If you can’t stand rejection, you won’t last long in the media production business. The dynamic nature of technology requires media professionals to read daily to assess the new possibilities for their particular niche of the media industry.
Am I intimidated by each new affordable and capable technology? Am I worried that 18 year olds with their parents
-
[Steve Gibby] “Because you hand someone a paintbrush, do they automatically become a Picasso?”
But there is a difference if paintbrush costs $200k or $5k.
Another clumsy allegory might be how building ice halls around Finland has had an effect of Finnish pro hockey players in NHL. Now how an earth buildings can increase talent?
(I’m just watching national finals on tv 🙂There is a quite a big revolution going on in content making.
Dv technology has made possible to make tv programs without huge capital.
Internet has made possible to distribute programs without enormous capital in tv stations and networks.
Now HD is making same to cinema.So talent is getting more important than ever!
(And there is also new talent needed in making programs; you need a computer wizard in every step…) -
Thanks for your comments Toke. I agree with what you’ve said, although I would rather view a painting by a master artist using a $5,000 paintbrush, than a painting of a mediocre artist who somehow got to use a $200,000 paint brush. Anybody can rent technology – but they better have excellent talent and experience in order to maximize the potential of the technology.
My television production niche has always been mobile, ENG-style, where budgets are small, but the TV networks expected great looking shows. I’ve done about 100 hardlined TV shows using a truck, but over 600 shows ENG-style, with small, mobile crews. I’m one of those guys who was on the leading edge of adopting 3-chip DV for use in network TV shows in the mid-1990’s. When all my competition was hung up on everything needing to be Beta SP,I started using a Sony VX1000 and intercutting the footage seamlessly with Beta SP. When almost everyone had linear edit bays, I transitioned over to non-linear editing. With the media convergence of the mid-1990’s, I learned internet, DVD, and CD-Rom technology and offered that to clients.
The new affordable hi-def camcorders, and support from editing platforms/software will explode in use in the motion media industry in a way that will even dwarf the emergence of 3-chip DV and desktop NLE’s. I’m perfectly comfortable with using an entry-level high-def camera one day, and then using an F950 the next. I’ve got a wall full of Emmy Awards and other awards, and not one of the awards was achieved on a big budget project. On the contrary, they were all produced with very limited budgets. It’s all about what makes sense for each individual project, and the project’s budget. I check my ego at the door and simply use ALL available technology to its maximum potential.
Steve Gibby
http://www.cut4.tv
Reply to this Discussion! Login or Sign Up