Anyone Here Make Films?

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Cool. Is there something specific you were trying to convey with...

WARNING: "Sangre Dulce" spoilers below
...the gun? Or was it just that it would be surprising/subvert expectations?
Yup!

WARNING: spoilers below
While subverting expectations was certainly a factor, it was another element of "protection" failing the girl. Essentially, the vampire is able to circumvent every form of safety that's offered: prayer, fire, cross and weapons. They all fail her and in the original ending, it would show that had she even killed him, there were countless others to take his place.

I just wanted to see how palpable of a feeling of helplessness I could create while playing with the vampire formula.


And Corax, I appreciate it! It's like Yoda said though, I know enough to know how little I know. For instance, I only recently learned how to properly apply a noise gate to my audio, which is audio engineering 101 and now I weep for all the subpar audio I spent hours upon hours trying to denoise.



And Corax, I appreciate it! It's like Yoda said though, I know enough to know how little I know.
Right, but unlike you, I actually do think I know everything about movies, which is how I know you're the actual expert.



Right, but unlike you, I actually do think I know everything about movies, which is how I know you're the actual expert.


I don't think my gif worked so pretend I posted Wee Bey from the Wire looking mind blown and it was very funny.



Thanks! That short was shot with a Canon 70D and a Sigma ART 18mm-35mm lens.

In my experience, the camera is important but less important than the lens and the lighting. A mediocre camera with a great lens and low f-stop and quality lighting will produce a fantastic image (if you know how to use them). I've had a lot of success and been impressed with the relatively lower cost Sigma ART lenses and Rokinon prime cine lenses.

For a camera body, I've preferred working with Canon over Nikon or Sony. I've also had much more experience with them. The 70D has a fantastic autofocus feature and many professional indies were shot with the 5D. However, these DSLRs are quickly fading due to the rise of ever cheaper cinema cameras. Doing the local TV work, I've gotten to use several different Black Magic Cameras and they've reached a point of professional features that they are within a negligible margin to RED, at a fraction of a cost.

I was so impressed with Black Magic that I had to purchase the BMPCC 6K and it is such a collosal step up from my old Canon that it has given me whiplash. Currently in pre-production on the first short I plan to make using it.

However, I had to get a real job before I was able to afford any of this so if you're super low budget, there's never been a better time to be a filmmaker.

After looking up everything that Soderbergh did for Unsane and more impressively, High Flying Bird, I acquired the FilmicPro app for a whopping $13 and made this short film using my iPhone 8:



It was for the Roger Corman short festival where it had to be 2 mins, shot on a phone, etc. I also borrowed a Zhiyun Crane for some smoother camera work but that can be faked to a degree with practice and post production warp effects.

So my basic advice: Get a solidly rated DSLR or BMCC if you have the budget. Get a Zoom to record audio but don't worry about getting it on the day. Plan to ADR the audio later for greater control with a limited (non-existent crew). And write your shorts in a free program (I prefer Writer Duet).

Black Magic also offers a free version of DaVinci if you don't have access to Premier or Final Cut.

And the main thing, just make stuff. Find out who WANTS to be involved and build shorts around that. You'll learn so much by making that no tutorial or class can truly teach you.

Good luck and you know where to find me if you got any more questions!
Thanks for the widely encompassing info! It's gone a long way towards reinforcing my ideas of how I want to start out. Nice to see I was on the right track looking at DSLRs. A low end cinema camera would likely be just too much of a stretch initially, and like you say investments in good lenses and attention to lighting can make a good difference. Lots of good stuff to think about now, appreciated! And good luck with the new project.



Thanks for the widely encompassing info! It's gone a long way towards reinforcing my ideas of how I want to start out. Nice to see I was on the right track looking at DSLRs. A low end cinema camera would likely be just too much of a stretch initially, and like you say investments in good lenses and attention to lighting can make a good difference. Lots of good stuff to think about now, appreciated! And good luck with the new project.
Welcome! And if you are looking at DSLRs, I would HIGHLY recommend looking at the Black Magic Cinema Pocket Cameras. The 6K has caused the various 4K ones to drop in price and they're not THAT much more (if at all) than the more popular DSLRs for video work.

On the plus side though, the newer Black Magic cameras are coming with built in Canon EF mounts so my lens collection from my 70D carry over (older BM models often required you to buy something called a "metal bones speedbooster," which wasn't cheap).

But just look at the specs of the DSLRs in your price range. Usually if you can match a camera that has a high ISO with a prime lens with a low F/stop, you'll be set for horror given the amount of darkness involved.

Thanks! The new short will be a Tati-esque romantic comedy, so a far cry from my usually first of violence. I'm proud of the script, so we're all just prepping to do it properly for a hopeful festival run (unless I hate it) then release it on Vimeo.



I’ve toyed with this idea for awhile, but because I was so sick I was bedridden for several years—I couldn’t do much about it. My personal thoughts about the process, (and I think the draw for most), is the fame/fortune & glory aspect of it which truly never appealed to me. I want to make films for me, or films I’d like to see. Low budget, heavy on the art, maybe some cosmic/spiritualism narratives or something else I’m neglecting to mention. Bingo-bango, upload them to the net. If people like them, great, but what’s more I’d hope to be satisfied with them. That’s all that matters really.

Anyway, I’ll be studying the 000’s Dewey System in the month of December, main objective: Learn Photoshop. I’ve had this idea to make a heavily montaged film using Photoshop, Film, and Animation… we’ll see where it goes… but this is just a “thought baby” right now…

Anyway, anyone make some projects or ever wanted to?
Also, have you seen this yet?:






I once did a thing where I recorded a song (generous description, literally just noise) and cut a video for it every day for a month lol. Editing software is fun to play around with but I have zero drive so I don't make stuff very often and when I do its extremely low effort.