The Digital Revolution Is Well Underway

[mullaney]

Time to get your butt on the front lines

If you are an improviser and hope someday to work as an actor, writer or director in the film industry and you aren't working on digital video projects, you should be. There is a revolution going on, and I believe that the improv community, particularly those of us doing long-form, have a unique contribution to make to this revolution.

In the last few years, the conventional way of making movings using photographic film has been under assault on two fronts. The large media outlets often stress the big money assaults from the likes of George Lucas, who is shooting Episode II of Star Wars entirely in a digital format. They talk about how theaters will eventually be switching their projection systems to digital over the next few years. This "big money" part of the equation doesn't seem that interesting to me. It seems to be driven mainly by cost. Film processing and distribution is expensive and digital will reduce or eliminate most of the associated costs. So completely digital movies will be the norm in 5 to 10 years, depending on how quickly cinemas can afford to upgrade.

The other front of this revolution is much more interesting to me. These new digital formats promise a lot to the beginning and/or independent filmmaker. It dramatically cuts both the cost and time of making independent shorts and features for a host of reasons. First, once you get past the initial costs of the camera, lights and editing equipment, shooting digital video projects is extremely cheap. Processing all the film you use for even short projects can cost thousands of dollars. With digital, that cost is virtually eliminated. Also, to get good results using conventional film, you need lights...good lights, very bright lights. With digital video, you still need lights, but you can use fewer lights and lights which are much less expensive. Basically, with a crew of 2 or 3 people and some dedicated actors you could shoot an entire feature for virtually no money at all beyond the initial equipment costs.

It should be obvious that this will dramatically increase the number and scope of projects that beginning film makers can afford to tackle. One would hope that within a few years we should be reaping the benefit of a whole crop of new filmmakers who have been nurtured by the low cost and relative high quality of digital video production.

This may all be interesting, but what does it have to with improv? Well, in the past, if a filmmaker wanted to experiment with improvised scenework, they had two choices: Shoot in video formats which would look pretty crappy or shoot it on 16mm and waste a ton of footage on scenes that don't work out. Neither option ever seemed very appealing to me. But now with digital video it's quite easy to get a couple of improvisers, grab your equipment, set up at a location and improvise a bunch of scenes for relatively little money. Sure, many of those scenes will likely not work, but as long as you and your actors have the time, you can shoot all day for a cost of a couple of tapes.

I believe that this puts us in a unique position to take advantage of the media, that with some energy and dedication that members of the improv communities in Chicago and New York (and LA?) could soon find themselves on the leading edge of young indie DV filmmakers.

In my experience, most student and indie filmmakers are lacking in their ability to write, in terms of stories, scene ideas and dialogue. Furthermore many I've dealt with personally lack a sense of humor about their work which adversely affects both comedic and dramatic projects they attempt. Improvisors can trump other young filmmakers on both of these fronts. Our ability to generate scenes quickly that can often combine interesting ideas with good dialogue and truly funny moments. And our knowledge of the game of the scene gives us a common framework to explore characters and situations in an interesting and frutiful way.

I'm not suggesting that we can all pick up cameras and start creating masterpieces right away. I will tell you that the pieces at the last "Leche Magica" (an exhibition of a number of shorts created by UCB Theater people) was far better on average than most student films I've been forced to watch over the years. None were perfect (although several were very good), but they showed how pleasureable short films can be created by actors and directors who share the common language of improvisation. And if their work is this good now, imagine how good it can get if they were shooting and editing a new short every few weeks.

So get out there everyone and start working on new video projects. If you don't have and can't afford to get equipment yourself, make friends with someone who does. In a few years, our community may spawn a whole crop of new directors and actors working in the film industry. In fact it's already happening. It's just a question of whether you are going to be a part of it or not.

[youngcat]

I think this is a great idea for a forum, Kevin! All it takes is one good idea, a group of talented people willing to make it happen, and a few connections here and there.

[Julie]

For those interested in seeing what the aforementioned Leche Magica is up to, check out their next screening - a collection of shorts inspired by the word "watermelon":

Monday, March 26th at 9PM
No Idea Bar 30 E 20th St (btw. Broadway & Park Ave.)

-Julie

[PJacobi]

Hmm.. well yes a rather good forum. And now:

About a year ago (just over) I played a role in w ell written dv project with a friend of mine from school. I'm all for the revolution but let me tell you two things that need to be addressed in terms of dv.

1) While Mullaney is right, dv requires less lighting, it still does require a fair amount because a high quality dv camera will eat a lot of light.

2) If you think that you will shoot a dv without extra sound equipment, you are sorely mistaken. It is essential to have mic's outside of the camera mic's. Especially if you are shooting outside in any capacity.

Overall, I think the dv revolution is a ways off, but the cheaper means will allow for more high quality indie work to occur.

P

[goldfish boy]

Hey, I'm glad this forum is here. I'm looking to get involved in DV, and will probably ask many stupid questions and plead for much advice. I'm looking to start out on the editing side before I start thinking about shooting my own projects. I'd welcome any advice about good editing software (for Windows) that falls somewhere in between the professional stuff that I'm just not ready for, and the "home movie family fun" stuff that presumably wouldn't let me do very much. I'd also like to know where I might get my (e-)hands on some raw footage on which to learn/practice.

I have an 850 MHz P3 with 128 mb memory and 20 gb hard drive. Aside from adding a CD-R drive to save my work, am I going to have to upgrade? Not asking for optimal situation, but minimally tolerable.

[Shaun]

You will probably have to Upgrade to a larger HD. Someone with more techie knowledge than me should be specific, But I do know that a 40 GB hard drive barely holds an hour of good video. Once you're done editing a video you basically need to drop it back down to a tape, and if you need to do something else, drop it back to the computer later.

Video EATS a TON of space.

Shaun

[Curjay]

Just wanted to compare with you guys and see what everyone prefers. because of the prohibitive cost of most DV software, I opted to aquire premiere 6.0 from the ever-usefull Hotline. It's okay, but you can't load a lot of video in at once, and forget about uncompressed. I'm running a p3 600mhz with 256mb of ram and a 45 gig 7200 rpm fire-wire hard drive. I think my system is the bare minimum you should use when undertaking semi-pro projects, but I could be wrong.

I'd be curious to see what everyone else is using as well. I agree with Pjacobi, lighting and free mics are absolutely nec. if you want a project that doesn't look like some jack-assed late night MNN show.

I'm using a Cannon GL-1 to film. it's not the top of the line, but it's pretty damned good.

-Curtis

[daberman]

First, I would like to take my hat off to Mullaney. I was kind of hoping the mystery forum would be related to the new release of dungeons and dragons 3rd edition, but digital video is cool too. Seriously though, this is such an important topic Mullaney, thanks for giving us a venue to discuss it.

I feel this is long in coming to our community. We should be pioneering this stuff. I really dont understand why we dont have DV recordings of everything (I know we do some things, props to SPIRO!) at the theatre (UCB Theatre that is, but why not all theatres...) The possibilites created by doing so are obvious and huge. Webcasts from the website, year end montage movies, blooper reals, whatever...

Secondly, one aspect I think Kevin was eluding too which needs to be discussed in detail is of course distribution. I'm sure 90% of the community here knows this, but for those who might not know, there is a very large and growing community creating these types of films already, and some of them have budgets. They are showing their products on the likes of www.atomfilms.com, www.cinemanow.com, www.ifilm.com, or any of the other burgeoning sites trying to be the new MGM, Paramount or whatever will be the next generation of content filters. I can not disagree with you more PJacobi- the revolution has already started. And unfortunately history will probably mark the blair witch as the beginning of this new system of creating movies.

As an aside: I found this site, www.cyberfilmschool.com, which I went through, and give it my highest recommendation for the curious or uninitiated. It's a basic movie making 101 guide geared towards indie film maing, and esp. DV indie film making.

David

[Nick Mougis]

I'm a television and video production major at Hofstra University (on long island, NY). Maybe because I'm still a student, I'm kind of still eating at the kiddie table here, but I figured I'd sound off on how film and tv students seem to feel about DV here, and what it's being used for.



1. Mullaney, I think you're absolutely correct in hoping that young filmmakers will begin to use DV to get projects produced that would be too expensive to make in a film format. However, in my experience as a current video and television production student, most people at Hofstra aren't using DV in this way. Most DV work is done for news reporting here. Most film students I know don't want to touch DV with a ten-foot pole.

The main reason is that they are snobs. I've listened to, and participated in, countless film vs. DV debates. Everyone agrees that DV is cheaper, and that the quality of DV is very good. However, I know of only one student who is shooting his student "film" on DV, and if he could afford shooting on film, he probably would. It almost seems that most students in my communications department see the outrageous expense of film as a rite of passage. They feel that they aren't learning the business if they don't max out their credit cards, beg, or steal to make their student film. Students are romanticizing the cost of their film projects, because it gives them a slight idea of what it feels like to work in this field professionally. Therefore, DV is getting shunned by the very people who should be embracing it: broke-ass film students.


2. "In my experience, most student and indie filmmakers are lacking in their ability to write, in terms of stories, scene ideas and dialogue."

This is because of how they are taught. Most film and tv students here at Hofstra are missing the point, which is that the quality of the projects you're making means NOTHING if you don't have a good storyline. I've seen students turn in projects that are as close to technically perfect as possible, but have nothing in the way of plot or substance to back it up. Most of these projects get good grades on technical proficiency alone. Even worse, many teachers seem to hold a technically great project with a weak storyline in higher regard than a project with a stronger storyline that shows weaker technical skill. The students that ARE using DV and Avid technology seem to be doing so in an attempt to hide the fact that they have no story to tell in their work, and teachers over here are backing them up. This will eventually lead to a group of graduating students who are brilliant editors, but shitty filmmakers.

As Mullaney has already stated, experienced improvisers have the storytelling part of the equation locked down. Hopefully, by making projects on DV, the improv community will be able to contribute their knowledge of plot and storyline to graduating film and tv students. Cause we definitely aren't learning it in school.


This was very long, and I apologize.

Nick.

[youngcat]

1) Long posts are good.

2) Your comments echo my opinions (don't get me started) on why there are so many competent film editors and video houses out there.

Scorsese, Kubrick, Spielberg, Lucas, Soderberg...They were all maverics who took the cutting edge technology that was out there and combined it with good stories and riveting plots. The two are forever intertwined. People don't go to the movies to see a great crane shot, and incredible stop action sequences. They go to be entertained.

Film students go to movies to see the stop action and crane shots. Kind of like going to Harold night as a student. Sometimes you get lost in the beauty of the form, and how well it flows, versus how much it makes you laugh. The general audience wouldn't know the difference between an organic opening versus a free association. All they know is whether or not the crazy fuckers on the stage made them laugh or not.

Enough. I can feel the ramble boiling up in my chest and slowly seeping it's way to my fingertips. I could go on forever about this.

[mullaney]

Wow, Nick. Your post makes me sad.

I thought that by now students would be saying "Fuck this" when it comes to 16mm. "I'd rather spend my money buying a camera, editing system, shotgun mic and lights and be able to make dozens of short film projects, than blow all my cash on one 16mm project which has an almost 95% chance of being unwatchable by anyone except other film students."

Tell these idiots to get their head out of their ass cause in 10 years (maybe 5) NO ONE will be using film except for people who want a specific retro look for their film. The cost difference is so huge that it won't be justifiable to do anything but digital, especially since the quality of the cameras keep inching up. Man if I only had access to this kind of equipment when I was taking film classes.... *sigh*

[Nick Mougis]

Don't get me wrong, having DV at my school is nice. The thing is, the use of the equipment is amazingly restricted... to the point of my wondering why they even bought any of it at all.

The DV cameras we have (3 Panasonic DVC-Pros, one Supercam) are very, very good ENG cameras. They are great for shooting interviews and b-roll... but their tremendous size makes getting creative shots impossible. Furthermore, the bastards at hofstra won't let you take the DV cams off campus... which is probably why I've seen 100 news packages about hofstra's "intolerable parking situation." I'm trying to do a news-magazine style package on the UCBT, but I can't seem to convince the people in charge to let me take a DVC-Pro off campus. Do they think that the camera will automatically break as soon as I take it off Long Island?

And as far as access to AVID editing goes... we have 4 stations for the entire video department. Hard drive space is at a premium, which means that we have to submit a very close paper cut of every project we are making before we even get a chance to digitize. And good luck doing a project outside of class. I'd rather have 10 digital-8 handhelds that we can take anywhere and a bunch of mac's running IMovie than have all this great equipment that we can't use. But now I'm just bitching.

Nick.

[TerryJ]

I noticed that a few folks who posted are using PC/Windows based systems. A few of us (especially the Leche Magica folks) are using Mac G4-based systems using Final Cut Pro. It's incredibly easy to setup and use, plus Final Cut Pro is very powerful stuff. (Macs have Firewire built in...adding HDs are a snap, too.) If you're primarily a PC user, and you were thinking about a P3/P4 with Premiere 6...you should also try to check out Final Cut Pro/Mac G4s. (That is...if you can handle being on a Mac.)

Unlike earlier analog video capturing systems (Avid Media Composer, etc.)...the DV format is a compressed format, and so you can buy big ATA/UDMA hard drives real cheap (instead of expensive SCSI RAID hard drives and the like.) 60 gigs for $250 or so (I like the Maxtor DiamondMax series.) That buys you a heck of a lot of DV storage (even at full resolution.)

One retail website that specializes in DV/Video/Audio/Computer stuff is http://www.promax.com/
Not the cheapest place, but a good site to see what's available.

Camera wise, I used to use a Sony TRV-900. Not a bad little camera...and the small size was nice. Recently switched to the Sony VX-2000. Noticeably better picture quality...some cool features (like a zoom ring!)

Still need a light kit and mic/boom, though. In film school I needed actors, but I had equipment. Now, I have plenty of great actors, but I need equipment. Calgon, take me away!

-Terry

[Spiro]

terry,

consider the
audio technica 835b
or
sennheiser mke300
for reasonably priced booms. the 835b has xlr out so you'll need a beachtek or similar phantom power adapter. apparently the 835b sounds best when using phantom, rather than AA power. also because it uses the hotshoe it picks up some camera motor hum which is not so noticable outdoors but in quiet situations is not great (maybe this can be solved with the use of a camera mounted shock mount).

i also believe in the need for lavellier mics. if your sound set up gets more complicated than two sound sources, e.g. two lavs (wireless or corded), and a boom, you'll need a mixer. the best mixer for the price is the Mackie 1202-VLZ. it's cheap, compact and it sounds great. also it has phantom power!

as far as light kits go, a few hundred watts, a battery pack, light stands for the light and a coupla reflectors. plus the white balance, grey scale and color cards for the absurdly serious...

[Floy]

This past saturday, I went to the Slamdance fest at BAM. A close friend's childhood friend was the grand jury prize winner! It was really exciting to see it on a big screen with an enthusiatic audience as I'd been hearing about it for a couple of years. It was the director's thesis project for New School, all shot on DV. It took her a year to shoot. Narrative, fiction but without a script. She cast the lead actress after having seen her in an off-off show and then mostly cast friends and family.

During the Q & A, she pointed out that although she cast a seasoned actress, without DV, without letting the camera roll for hours while the actors and non actors improvised, she NEVER would have gotten the performances that we saw and the story never would have developed. She's a former actress and put to practice the kind of direction she only dreamed of having in the past. And she's worked with Mamet!

I should also point out that this 79 minute piece set her back 20 grand.

It was truly engaging and inspiring work. I've been looking to finance this documentary for over a year now; it was put on the side burner after an unfortunate insident with a foundation...but I'm on this track, having acted in a low project viewed by many on IFILM.com and more imortantly looking to create.

Also, a doc on UCB is a terrific idea. I started classes in January before ever having seen a show there. I just thought I was getting too thoughtful in my acting and needed imrov as part of the 'actor's journey.' Well, I'm now in LOVE with the place. Never missing Harold Night or Feature Feature or ASSSSCAT. This place is inspiring. A true theater company. And the work the disciples of the UCB are doing (a few teams teeth are proficiently cut) is just filling my heart, for crying out loud.

[meaculpa]

It's good to know there are so many out there working with DV. Would it be beneficial to start a thread/site that serves as a "classifieds" for UCBers (or others)? A place where people with stories or projects could enlist the help of writers/directors/camera operators and vice versa. Or a place where people who are short a shotgun mike could rent/barter it from someone who has a light kit.

Perhaps it could be a site with profiles listing abilities and equipment.

Perhaps down the road the site could host full length video and Mullaney could foot the bill for this site also!
The possibilities are endless.

This is slightly off-topic but a new great way to tell stories is through these software programs like Shockwave and Dreamweaver. They could be an affordable way for a would be writer/director to get some practice. I am not an expert on them but if someone has feedback I would like to hear about it.

BTW I have a JVC GR-DVM1D (no firewire) camcorder.

Also to GoldfishBoy, if you are only interested in practicing with your editing software, you don't need a huge amount of space. You can always work with smaller or more compressed video. For semi-pro and up, captured video can get pretty cumbersome, but if you just want to upload something to a website perhaps then you should be OK with what you have. If you don't have a board to digitize video, then you will be begging, borrowing, or stealing. I would suggest the following:

1 Buy a cheap board under $100 and capture your own video (I'm sure somebody can make a good recomendation).
2. Find some one with a video capture board and a similar High-capacity storage device, (Zip, JAZ) and give them a disk.
3. Or find someone with a video capture boeard and have them e-mail you the files (of course that is if your box is big enough to hold the files, and they're willing to tie up there connection.)

[TerryJ]

What a lot of people don't realize is that "DV" is actually a format...a specific compressed format of digital video. "DV" isn't an acronym for generic 'digital video', per se.

Technically, "DV" is a format that encompasses "MiniDV", "DVCAM", "DVCPRO". (It is not DigitalBETACAM or D-1, which are also technically 'digital video', but are not "DV".) It's 5:1 compressed, and runs at 3.6 MBps.

[FYI: "Firewire" is the interface spec that allows you to hook up a "DV" camera for downloading footage into the computer.]

For a better explanation, check out:
http://www.dnai.com/~zane/dv/dv.html#tech

Digitizing analog video into a computer has been around for a while, but it's expensive in many ways (the hardware to capture, the fast SCSI harddrives to store, etc.), somewhat difficult to setup and the act of digitizing/copying introduces generation loss.

Anyway...my point is...the reason "DV" has taken off...is that it is engineered to reduce cost while keeping quality high. "DV" video is digitized in the source camera and is put to tape as digital data. I noticed some people talking about non-firewire camcorders and video capture boards. If you're thinking about putting together a new camera package and editing system with maximum value, that 'old' stuff (non-DV, non-Firewire camcorders, analog video capture cards) will most likely get you in 'trouble'. By 'trouble', I mean, they will end up costing you more money (analog to digital capture requires specific boards and fast harddrives), time, stress (getting all your hardware to work together), and the fact that you probably will have a lower quality picture, to boot.

Sticking with MiniDV (or Digital8, which also uses the "DV" scheme) camcorders and using Firewire (not a video capture card) as your linking interface will avoid all that 'trouble.'

-Terry