Are we geting close to where mobile devices are serious moviemaking tools?  Not yet – but the question of how do you rethink workflows for different interfaces is exciting!  I’ve been using iMovie for iPad and iPhone to do quick edits of the family for awhile now – I’ll be interested to see what Avid brings to the table(t), and what trickles down to professional systems.

Avid Studio for iPad on the iTunes App Store.

Film Fading to Black is a really interesting look at the current state of film from the team over at Creative Cow.  What hooked me is the first paragraph (emphasis mine):

While the debate has raged over whether or not film is dead, ARRI, Panavision and Aaton have quietly ceased production of film cameras within the last year to focus exclusively on design and manufacture of digital cameras. That’s right: someone, somewhere in the world is now holding the last film camera ever to roll off the line.

And by “film,” I mean the celluloid medium (as opposed to tape or a digital storage device).  The last time Groovy Like a Movie shot on film was circa 2004 for a car commercial (when I was seriously considering purchasing an A-Minima), so while this has no real practical effect on us as a business, I think there is a mind-set that is different when shooting with film vs shooting with video – and I fear the loss of this way of thinking.

Once while shooting video, I heard a director say “just keep rolling – the tape is the cheapest thing on set.”  While this “just keep rolling” mentality may catch some happy accidents (unintentional moments that are good, but couldn’t have been planned for), I think overall it is bad for a production.  When shooting film, every movement on set is choreographed.  Everything is planned.  Everyone is careful.  There is artistry – there had to be – because making a mistake when shooting film could be costly.

Don’t get me wrong – I’m not pining away for the good-ol days of changing bags, maxing out at 8-minute takes, and not knowing for days if you actually had the shot you needed.  Digital is an improvement in almost every way over film. However – the artistry – That’s hard to achieve when everything is so easy.  People get lazy.  It’s in our nature to do the least amount of work necessary – conserve energy whereever possible!

That’s part of why I like working with our RED ONE (and soon our RED EPIC).  These cameras have all the benefits of a digital workflow, but many of the trappings of working on film.  Because they’re not simply point and shoot cameras, it brings the necessary artistry back to production.  Crews and directors take their time; We carefully choreograph moves, but we can instantly call up the shot* and make sure we have what we need.  And if we have to improvise, it can be done!

So a moment of silence for the passing of film – not tomorrow, and maybe not soon – but with no major manufacturers building new film cameras, it is now inevitable.

Film is dead – long live film-style production!

*OK – Epic playback isn’t “instant” yet – but a few minutes at a DIT station is much better than 48 hours at a film processing house!

I consider myself a lifelong learner. I love learning new things, and I do my best to keep up on technology and filmmaking techniques. Our clients rely on us to be “the experts,” and the only way to do that is to continually seek out educational opportunities.

Over the last year, I’ve been tentatively dipping my toes into 3D production. However, I’ve found the learning curve to be daunting – and I’ve found it difficult to locate a good, fundamental 3D resource. That is, until I discovered NewMediaWebinars.com. For $25, I was able to download an on-demand seminar given by James Neihouse, a cinematographer on (among many other things), the 3D Hubble IMAX film.

Think this guy knows his stuff? Um – yeah. I think he does.

The specific seminar I watched was Stereo 3D Filmmaking Bootcamp. While I found the seminar to be a little dry at times (there’s a TON of technical information that he throws at you), this was one of the best primers on stereo cinematography I’ve ever seen. At the end, I not only understood the basic techniques, but also quite a bit of the “why” of stereo cinematography. James does a fantastic job of giving you visuals that illustrate not only how the 3D works, but also why!

I have to say the seminar wasn’t perfect. I tend to struggle a bit with the powerpoint/audio nature of most online seminars and this one is no different – there’s just something more engaging about seeing a person’s face while they’re presenting that I always miss with webinars. That, combined with the dry nature of some of the technical details, meant I wasn’t able to sit through the entire 90 minutes without getting up from my computer and grabbing some caffeine.

However, at the end of the seminar, I was fired up to go out and shoot some 3D and try his techniques. I’m probably not ready to have a paying client, but I’m confident I have enough of a foundation that I can learn what I need. Now we just need to get a 3D monitor… oh, and a stereo rig (or camera)… and a script that calls for 3D…

Finally, as part of the download, I got the entire slide deck, a bonus podcast with James Neihouse, a file with reference links, and some stereo footage to play around with in FCP.

Overall? Well worth the $25 – and absolutely satisfied my lifelong learner craving.

Full disclosure – after viewing the seminar, NewMediaWebinars.com and I began a dialogue about having me teach a future class. It now looks like I’ll be talking about asset management in Final Cut Pro in March. Hopefully I can avoid some of the presentation pitfalls I identified in the Stereo 3D Filmmaking Bootcamp. If not, feel free to call me out on it!

This time of year, things slow down a little bit and it is a good time to do a little work ON your business, rather than spending all your time working IN your business. While looking for new avenues for marketing Groovy, I came across something that I found interesting – a website/mobile app that I think the production community should know about.

Doddle (I HATE the name, by the way…) makes a lot of claims about how they’re going to revolutionize the production industry. Lofty goals, and I suspect they’re going to fall a little short. However, I am convinced that if they can reach a critical mass, their website and accompanying mobile apps will be a very useful tool for the production community.

First and foremost, Doddle is an online production guide. If you’re involved as crew, talent, or supplier to the video and film production community, they allow you to place several free listings (and, of course, buy additional listings and other upsells). If that’s all Doddle was, I probably would have placed my free listings and then ignored it (much the same way I do with most other production guides).

However, Doddle has a feature in their Pro account that is pretty slick – call sheets that automatically fill in information like where the nearest hospitals are, current weather reports – all the tedious stuff that makes a production manager’s life difficult.

Of course, your crew has to be listed in order to utilize the call sheet feature, and the real power of Doddle doesn’t kick in unless you have a supported smartphone – but I like where these guys are going! I’ve signed up for a listing, and if the call-sheet feature is as robust as it appears to be, I may be requiring crews to sign up as well so that we can take advantage of that feature!

I am not an avid reader/writer of blogs. I can’t help but to feel like Doogie Howser or the Sex and the City woman when I start writing. I just don’t feel comfortable writing down my thoughts for others to read. I keep thinking—does anyone care what I think? I guess blogs are good venue to share ideas or to find out what not to do. I need to make that jump into the cyber world because I now realize that it is becoming an expectation or necessary part of society, especially in the communication/media community. I had the same trepidation/disinterest regarding cell phones a few years back but now I carry one around everywhere I go and can’t imagine my life without it. So then…this blog is about sharing what works for me when I need to come up with something creative for a short video or film project.

Inspiration from music and art:
I find I can be the most creative while exploring ideas through music. One quick thought in my head needs to be worked out; I try to explore the idea/image thorough music. The images come to mind before anything else. I then try to string them together with music. Explore the possible tones and styles though the music…what would fit with the concept or scene? It’s like meditation in a sense and I don’t know where it will take me. Usually it works out. It takes about 30 minutes for me to “get in the mood” after that the ideas come more easily. I jot them down in words or sketches and rework them later. While I rework the ideas/words/sketches it helps to reference paintings, photographs, and various other arts to try and pin point the tone and style (still listening to the music of course). I then have story boards and paintings to reference the look and music to reference the tone and feeling. I can then hopefully take that to the crew or client and put it all together to make something cool or at least something I feel proud of.

I know i’m coming to this a little late, but the iPhone is a game changer. Honestly, it’s not the best PHONE available, but that’s because it’s not really a phone. It is “something else.”

As I sit outside writing this post on my iPhone it hits me; The right tools can change the way you look at the world. It can change the way you work. It can change the way you live.

The RED ONE camera is another tool that has the potential to change our industry. It isn’t a video camera nor is it a film camera. It too, like the iPhone is “something else.” The RED ONE has been available for about a year now, and has gotten more mature with that time. The workflow, while still a little bit of a challenge, has been proven in professional environments all the way up to major Hollywood feature films.

Because of this,Groovy has made a commitment to purchase a RED ONE and integrate this tool into our corporate storytelling. There will be challenges, and no tool is valuable without re knowledge to use it, but the time has come for us to jump in and help change the game!

Over at the Shane & Peter Inc. Blog, there is a really interesting discussion about how to get clients to sign-off on projects. I think they have a compelling take on the process, and there are some tips that I will likely steal emulate in our procedure.

Here at Groovy, we work hard to be sure the client isn’t surprised by any step of the process, and our current sign-off form reflects that commitment. Not only do we ask clients to sign off at the end of the project, but we also ask them to sign off at important milestones along the way

Take a look at our project signoff form (.pdf) and let me know how you think we can improve on it!