Okay, Here We Go

Now yer talkin'. Yessss, it's digital,
but it's a Super 35mm frame, with an
optical finder in the bright sunshine,
and...it's an Arri.

Oooh.
Sign me up.

What To Do Until The Money Arrives

Filmmaking - What To Do Until The
Money Arrives by Angela Taylor

The Small Ad

In answer, the Small Ad.
To which I say, big deal.

The Big Ad

Stanley Kubrick said the best filmmaking is often
beer ads. It was true then, even more so now.
Here's great staging, shooting cutting,
and...a great sense of humor.
Call the kids, wake the neighbors.
It's the Big Ad.

Film the Golden Rectangle

I'm reinventing myself as a filmmaker,
defining my boundaries, and my framelines.

Studying Fibonacci ratios and the Golden Rectangle.

Why film is art and video is surveillance.
35mm film and classical proportion.

3-perf's Ghost Frame

Ooh, kids, it's scary scary...

3-perf seems a nice format, a big 16:9 image on
less 35mm "real estate," but it is...secretly...
A monster!

In the first place, even though it looks great on the
screen, it's deformed.

3-perf has alternating long and short feet!
Its ghost perf adds up, and creates one extra frame
every third foot. What?

Sounds like the kid writing his folks from camp,
that he's grown another foot.

As it runs, 3-perf's feet go "short-short-long."
Like the Mummy chasing the girl around the tomb.
Klump...klump...scrape...

Here's a site that describes the problem.
And another where they discuss the problem.
Even a drawing of the problem.

None of which solve the problem, The undulating
number of 3-perf frames in 35mm feet.

Kodak could help, by printing the keycode on the
negative every 60 perfs instead of every 64.
Both 3- and 4-perf divide evenly into 60.
(Every 20 and 15 frames, respectively.)
That would help a lot, but Kodak's busy.

We could throw feet:frames out altogether,
and go by absolute frame count.
Yeah, that'll happen.

Sometimes, it runs twice as fast.
MaxiVision!

Return Of The Blair Witch

If you win this auction on eBay, you'll get
a 30 minute telephone call with Blair Witch
writer and director Ed Sanchez, to help out
victims of the recent hurricanes.

You can chat with Ed about making the most
profitable movie ever, having his movie on
the covers of both Time and
Newsweek, and how you, too can
Get a Camera FREE for 30 days.

Wanta Shoot IMAX?

When IMAX comes up, there are lots of questions.
I don't know why that would be, a 65mm negative
lying on its side, shooting the best 15-perf image
the world has ever seen, then printed on 70mm,
projected on a 7-story screen, has gotta be commonplace.
Questions? I don't get it. Anyway, here are all the answers.

Sergio's Third

Our top filmmakers seem to be making Sergio Leoni movies.
Quentin Tarentino, Robert Rodriguez, Clint Eastwood, and
others, too. Sergio had a festival this Summer here,
and that's good. What is it about Leoni's movies?
Here's a good review of a great one.

What Is A Producer?

Filmmaking - Five Good Producer Skills by Angela Taylor

Getting Paid

Here's two articles about getting paid in the movie biz

Movie from Scraps?

According to this film expert from the BBC,
you can make a whole movie on "scraps of film."

Hmm. I sure don't use "scraps." I use reloads and
recans and 35mm rolls that have been snip-tested.
They're cheap, but they're good.

I can make a whole feature movie that way too, because
I know where to get 35mm for nine cents a foot.
(Retail is fifty cents a foot.)

That's one of the most interesting bits of information to
be found on the "Independent Filmmaking CD Vol I" which
will set you back a buck, and you can find it here.

Optical Printers? I remember those...

So this guy asks, "How do I duplicate my Super 8mm footage?"

I think he's kidding, and I think he means to video,
but he says no, to other S8mm film strands, for an artistic
installation, and he writes and calls, and I
tell him what I'm telling you.

You read Martin Baumgartner's article,
and you build yourself an optical printer.

Hello?

The Projectionist's Song

See it before it's gone...or it all goes Digital.
What it takes to show your 35mm movie in
front of a bunch of strangers, eating Goobers.
A peek in the Projectionist's booth.

Video is easy. Film is hard.

I've read longer film vs. video articles,
but not better.

Alpha First

Thirty-five years ago, this was my lab and a
cool place to hang out if you were a Seattle
filmmaker. Laslo and Vilmos got started here,
so did other top guys all over the film biz.
Still great. Alpha Cine.

Seattle Modern Digital

Seattle. Digital Intermediate. I want
Techniscope or Super 35. They can do it.
Modern Digital tour.

DIY Video Gear

Good for film or video, here are some
great gadgets you can make cheap.

Genesis Times Eight

Seems like only yesterday Panavision
debuted its Genesis digital camera, but
now they've got eight of 'em, making the
Man of Steel fly, down in Oz. Hi to Bryan
Singer, who is Directing, and to his evil
Luthor, the astonishing Kevin Spacey.

Why Airport Security Is No Longer Necessary

As a Traveling Filmmaker, I find this
story spectacularly encouraging.
(I'll bet it was really gaffer tape.)

Where Did They Film That?

Three words - Locations,
Locations, Locations.

Discuss Panasonic HVX-200

What they are saying.

More DIY Telecine

Many emails ask where to find a commercial
8 or 16mm telecine machine. Here's a new one.
The original is still my favorite.

Budget Your Movie for Under a Buck

Need a quick budget for your movie?
Excel movie budget spreadsheet.

Aspect Ratios for 35mm/S35

Hey kids! Be the first on your block to
have the right lines on your 35mm viewfinder.
Because everybody writes me, here's an
authoritative downloadable resource.

Cool Groundglass Tool

Our Arri friends in Munich will make
us a 35mm camera groundglass to our
very specifications. Ahh.
Camera Hotrodders take note.

Aspect Ratios for 16mm/S16

Filmmakers, working in 16mm, want to have
accurate framing marks on their 16mm viewfinder.
And so, as a public service, I'm providing an
authoritative downloadable resource.