My First Paid Film Job!

(Assuming you don’t count script-writing gigs I’ve have in the past!)

Last Saturday I had my first official paid film job, which was set up through the DFA. It wasn’t on a film set, but actually at a silent film screening downtown. The two films that were shown were the drama Battleship Potemkin and the comedy The General. I was very impressed by both, devastated and delighted, respectively:

                                                               Buster Keaton = Hilarious

                                                       Battleship Potemkin = My soul is crying

I forget who it was that said it, but in a documentary I saw, someone said if sound had come into movies just a few years later, there would have been far greater breakthroughs in cinematography. I’m inclined to agree, since relying only on image, these silent films have done amazing things.

Basically, my job consisted of shooting b-roll footage – outside the theater, people arriving, ushers taking tickets, popcorn popping, etc. – and then filming the Q&As after each film was shown. I was at the theater for about five hours but, given that I watched the movies, I really filmed for about two hours out of the five, making my three-figure salary not too shabby. I loved getting the freedom to wander around and shoot things that I found interesting, and to brainstorm what might be useful to the editors for the final promotional video.

But it wasn’t all popcorn and fun.

I couldn’t use a tripod, which meant using a shoulder mount to film. A shoulder mount is a device that balances the camera on your shoulder. There are handlebars in the front for you to keep it steady.

By the end of the day, my shoulder felt absolutely destroyed. It’s no mystery why you usually see big guys doing these kinds of jobs, instead of, well – me. Walking around with the camera and being able to shift it when I needed to wasn’t so bad – but filming the Q&As, both of which were almost 40 minutes, was excruciating. Sitting in one of the audience seats, toward the front, I had to remain perfectly still and balanced for the entire stretch of time. Additionally, things moved along quickly – Q&As would start before the lights even fully went up. There was no time to figure out a solution for balancing the camera on a chair or armrest before things were underway and the camera had to remain still for the rest of the shot.

If I were to have another job like this in the future, I’d insist on having something to balance the camera on besides myself. But, all in all, this was a great experience, and it felt good to be working and making contacts in the film world.

And, even though my camera apparently grazed right over him as I was taking shots of the crowd (he was in sunglasses and a hat, after all!), Matt Damon was there.

                                                                He was not posing like this.

Random Updates...

It’s been a few weeks, so I just wanted to catch you all up on a few random things that have been going on.

For starters, I got a new computer! Not just any computer – directly from the DFA and fully loaded with all the necessary filmmaker software. I got a good deal since it’s used, but it’s in great shape. Now I can do editing and make DVDs from home, instead of having to go back and forth from the school, which is a big time saver.

I will be at the school tomorrow, though, to pick up some film equipment – for my FIRST EVER PAID FILM JOB! Yep. New York’s QUAD Cinema is holding silent film screenings tonight and tomorrow, and I’m going to be filming the crowd and the Q&A sessions after tomorrow’s event. What with the recent success of The Artist, they felt it was time to have a film-school-esque discussion on silent films!

For more info:

http://www.tribecafilm.com/news-features/Quad_Classics_May_2012.html#.T77G8O1Qbk5

The other cameraman you’ll see there, if you go, is another member of my former DFA class. DFA truly doesn’t pull any punches when it comes to helping their students find work! This is actually the second job they’ve put me up for. The first I actually turned down since it was mostly a receptionist job, but it was with a DVD company and a legit, full-time, benefits-and-all position – not bad.

If you’re wondering how I plan to feed myself in the future (aside from obviously hoping to get more film and writing gigs) my craziest piece of news is that my mother and I pooled our funds this month and went in together to buy the pet care business (Tails Around Town) she’s been working for for the past three years. The original owner recently had twins and was looking to get out. Random though it may seem, I’m thrilled with the decision. This business basically equals a very flexible part-time job for me, which is perfect for balancing with my more creative endeavors. I’ll be doing mostly invoicing and other administrative tasks from NYC, as the business is actually run on Philadelphia’s Mainline – but I will occasionally be making the journey to do some pet visits and overnights myself.

For more info on us, you can visit the below website… we haven’t updated the owner info on there yet, but you get the idea.

http://www.mainlinedogwalking.com/

Definitely thinking of adding a pet video section to the website. :)

My final bit of random news is that last Sunday The Philadelphia Inquirer ran an article I wrote about our wedding in India in their Travel Section! I made a little bit of money off of it, and it’s another publication to add to the resume, so I'm pretty happy.

I’ll be back soon with details on how tomorrow’s filming goes!

Universal Thumbs Down: DVD Seminar Review

If you’re like me and trying to get an education on your own, you might find yourself on Netflix, searching ‘filmmaking’ to see if there are any seminars or DVD courses to help you out. The #1 choice that will come up is John Russo’s Filmmaking Seminar.

I was really excited to get this DVD, since this is one of the guys who did Night of the Living Dead and the description claimed it would teach the viewer all about independent horror filmmaking (my favorite genre). Also, it lists this DVD as being from 2008. All I can figure is that this was the year when it was transferred onto a DVD, since the actual copyright you’ll see on the video is 1993, and it really looks like it was shot in the ‘80s. (Mullets ahoy.)

My advice to you is that this particular seminar is not worth the four and a half hours you’ll need to watch it. (Granted, I still have about an hour to go, but I predict the last hour won’t be much more thrilling than the first three and a half.)

Not that it was a complete waste of time. Hearing filmmakers talk about making their first films is inspiring, and I have picked up a few tips about film law and marketing – although nothing too distant from what I knew already. Here are my main grievances with this DVD:

1. Like I said, it’s from 1993 even if they say 2008, and it mainly focuses on making movies to sell directly into rental stores, which nowadays are pretty much obsolete.

2. For a video-turned-DVD that’s all about the art of filmmaking, I have to say: it looks HORRIBLE. Aside from looking as though it was filmed in your mom’s basement, with the door to the laundry room left ajar just behind the speakers (or a room full of random debris at best), I’m about 90% sure that the speakers were filmed on one day and that all the footage of an audience watching and reacting to them was filmed separately. The shots of the audience are never positioned so that you see the speakers and audience at the same time. The audience is also sitting in a white room with film equipment and harsh overhead lighting, while the speakers are in front of a dark brown wall with soft lighting.

3. OK, camera angles: if you’re going to have your speakers sit just in front of the open door to your mom’s laundry room, just angle the camera so you can’t see the sliver of the open room on the left-hand side of your frame.

4. For all the horny guys out there, the makeup and special effects speaker brings up a fake latex torso of a naked woman and keeps it on ‘stage’ as he speaks… to his credit, it’s super life-like… against his credit, you don’t really learn how to make anything like it for your own special effects purposes, and it really annoyed me, just because I thought it was so gimmicky and unnecessary to have a pair of boobs next to him on the table.

5. Finally, the word boring is taken to new heights. I know it’s just a filmed seminar/panel, but there’s gotta be some way to jazz it up. Even a laundry room fire could only help.

Anyway, I didn’t mean to rant about this so much, but it really is a disappointment. Does anyone out there know of a quality filmmaking course available on DVD? Particularly if it’s more modern and talks about digital filmmaking?

If not, maybe the time has come to make one!