I'm Finally Making My Own Movie - "PAPER PLATES"

HMSwolfe said:
What camera are you shooting on?
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My two cameras are used Sony a7s2 DSLRs (and an old Canon should I really need). Mostly due to budgetary reasons, but the main location is small so my camera set-ups need to have the smallest profiles as possible. Sony cams are great in low-light (even older makes) and I have a number of night shots to do. Most importantly, I want to prove that a good film doesn't rely on gear (Tangerines was shot on iPhones). You can achieve that "thumbprint" that films used to have using digital and I don't mean the use of filters in post. I'm very interested in trying to make that point visually.
 
PoopaPapaPalps said:
My two cameras are used Sony a7s2 DSLRs (and an old Canon should I really need). Mostly due to budgetary reasons, but the main location is small so my camera set-ups need to have the smallest profiles as possible. Sony cams are great in low-light (even older makes) and I have a number of night shots to do. Most importantly, I want to prove that a good film doesn't rely on gear (Tangerines was shot on iPhones). You can achieve that "thumbprint" that films used to have using digital and I don't mean the use of filters in post. I'm very interested in trying to make that point visually.
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Very nice! I have an a7iii, so I know you can get some really nice looking stuff with Sony cams.
 
Thats really awesome you are getting to do something loke this.
I tried to get into the film industry, but it just wasn't meant to be.
My first job at a movie theater hoping to be a projectionist, never happened.
In 2002, worked on a Star Wars short with a budget of maybe $500.

Long story, but basically, too many wanted to be involved but were inexperienced (we all were really) which more or less messed things up.
Its on youtube now with a whopping 25 views....lol.

2009, worked with someone talking to people over in Hollywood.
Made a ton of demo videos. Spent a lot of time doing it all, and for free.
But in the end, something got messed up, and it didn't happen. Thats another weird and long story.

So I mostly have just made random little videos over the years for fun.
I now have a ton of equipment, just don't get to use it much. My best camera I got December 2001, a Sony TRV-900 mini DV camera.
Still works, but the heads are pretty worn out. Sent it for repair 3 years ago, they didn't fix anything.

So when it comes to No-budget, or low budget filmmaking and mostly doing EVERYTHING yourself. I know all about that. Its a LOT of draining work.

Wish you the best, and that you get through it. Don't be like George Lucas and stress yourself out so bad, you end up in the hospital.
I've nearly been there as well.
And if you need sound effects, I have thousands and thousands on my computer.
I find post production much less stressful.
 
HMSwolfe said:
Very nice! I have an a7iii, so I know you can get some really nice looking stuff with Sony cams.
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I wanted to grab a7iii body but the price they still go for alone just wasnt worth it. Even used. A model step down and it's only a third of the cost. At the end of the day, I just need something that can take a good photo.
 
PoopaPapaPalps said:
I wanted to grab a7iii body but the price they still go for alone just wasnt worth it. Even used. A model step down and it's only a third of the cost. At the end of the day, I just need something that can take a good photo.
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The a7sii is still super good camera. I shot a lot on it at my last job. So much will really come down to your lens choice, which, clearly, you’re working on jerry-rigging something sweet up with a used lens! I hope it works out. Are you planning on shooting in the Cine color profile or S-LOG?
 
HMSwolfe said:
The a7sii is still super good camera. I shot a lot on it at my last job. So much will really come down to your lens choice, which, clearly, you’re working on jerry-rigging something sweet up with a used lens! I hope it works out. Are you planning on shooting in the Cine color profile or S-LOG?
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If this lens thing doesn't work, I have a small selection of wide, prime, and telephoto lenses to use that I've collected over the years. The setups will just take longer but the job will still be done regardless. S-Log is going to be my way to go, I don't plan on using much color grading (modern movies have made me hate it now), I want to capture what I see in mind the day of and in camera as much as possible, and S-Log will let me keep that in post more readily than Cine color will.
 
I would just like to say that your "willingness" to do this is inspiring on so many levels...not just to film makers. Whether it's story telling, a business or another creative endeavor, "willingness" and "availability" will more often than not, be more impactful than ones' "ability". Don't sell yourself short and guarantee ruin or measure this with a false balance. This may just be the fire that ignites many people to action in whatever it is that's currently holding them back from pursuits. It is wise to count the costs, yes...but most will not try in order to not fail yet be perfectly fine with living with a regret of never making an attempt. I personally don't like living with regrets of "if only I" or "what if?". When it boils down to passion and love if it were a person you were in love with you most likely would risk the crash and burn because you wouldn't want to live the rest of your life thinking, why didn't i even make an attempt? The answer? You simply didn't love her enough to take that risk. In this case, it seems pretty clear your motivation. Long and short of it? You're already impacting people in a positive way by your "willingness". It's already successful and you're just getting started. Finish what you start and don't give up. You may fall throughout..persevere...keep going...finish the race. People who never run, never get experience or endurance and therefore never finish. Place value and success in the right light. Certainly those who never try to run get anything. At the very least you are motivating people to get into the race.
 
CopperRevan said:
I would just like to say that your "willingness" to do this is inspiring on so many levels...not just to film makers. Whether it's story telling, a business or another creative endeavor, "willingness" and "availability" will more often than not, be more impactful than ones' "ability". Don't sell yourself short and guarantee ruin or measure this with a false balance. This may just be the fire that ignites many people to action in whatever it is that's currently holding them back from pursuits. It is wise to count the costs, yes...but most will not try in order to not fail yet be perfectly fine with living with a regret of never making an attempt. I personally don't like living with regrets of "if only I" or "what if?". When it boils down to passion and love if it were a person you were in love with you most likely would risk the crash and burn because you wouldn't want to live the rest of your life thinking, why didn't i even make an attempt? The answer? You simply didn't love her enough to take that risk. In this case, it seems pretty clear your motivation. Long and short of it? You're already impacting people in a positive way by your "willingness". It's already successful and you're just getting started. Finish what you start and don't give up. You may fall throughout..persevere...keep going...finish the race. People who never run, never get experience or endurance and therefore never finish. Place value and success in the right light. Certainly those who never try to run get anything. At the very least you are motivating people to get into the race.
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I wholeheartedly agree with that! Ultimately finishing what you start is more important than anything else. Knowing you gave it your all regardless of the outcome? Seeing it through to the end is your success.
 
I've already sunk too much into this that I can't stop now! It's too late! :lol:

Finishing what I start has never been an issue for me, and I'm glad if others are deriving some kind of lesson in motivation and discipline from this. However, there is a real measure of success for me, it isn't a metaphorical "journey, not the destination" kind of thing. I will know when my endeavor was a success and it's when I can sit and watch my own movie and enjoy it. I want others to see it with me and I want to share in that enjoyment.

Will it live up to my expectations? It damn well better. I have to make sure of it. I don't want my name on anything I'm not proud of, and I don't want anyone involved that can't see how much I care. I've always been that way. The real trick is in the time I have; can I and what I will do to make sure each sequence, each scene, each shot, each frame, is constructed as effectively from what I've transcribed onto paper from my mind. I'm not interested in making "art," I'm interested in making something good.

While I ruminate on such things, and hum-and-haw over my lens rehousing, I thought it'd be a good do a rough build of my my shooting rig. It's super basic, run-and-gun; something I can easily set-up on a tripod, take off, and string up on a stabilizer harness without doing much of anything beyond changing a lens.

The picture to the right of the camera rig is a few other mods I'm toying with. I think I'm gonna scrap trying to turn the 4x4 filter frame into a 4x5.6, and just get another frame instead.

20230521_194251.jpg
20230521_194356.jpg


The matte box with filter frames is meant to clamp to the lense, but the opening is 95mm and I have no lenses that size beyond my jerry-rigged anamorphic, but the idea of stacking glass on the front end, all the pressure is on the rear mount in the camera; I don't like. I'm taking an adjustable lens support mount I had on an older, unused FilmCity rig I've just kept around and combining the two so that the thing supports itself on rails rather than on the lens itself. I'll sew up an adjustable black-out bag to fit between the matte box and the lenses to cover the gap.

Below is the photo of the FilmCity rig I bought yonks ago and kept for, I guess, this project. I initially planned to get just the other rig and use the two but while trying to assemble this and the camera and the attachments I bought to it, well, it just didn't work. The FilmCity rig is kind of unusable in that it's not as modular as the other rig and hot-swapping parts isn't really an option. It doesn't tighten as securely and, despite my affinity for its matte box set up, it too is also kind of worthless. The filters frames are 4x4 and can only fit two in the rear. It also shakes and rattles like Hell, even at full tension. I think I'm gonna scrap it and get another rig similar to the one I bought already. Maybe just keep it for whatever parts I can scavenge.

20230521_194308.jpg
 
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PoopaPapaPalps said:
I've already sunk too much into this that I can't stop now! It's too late! :lol:

Finishing what I start has never been an issue for me, and I'm glad if others are deriving some kind of lesson in motivation and discipline from this. However, there is a real measure of success for me, it isn't a metaphorical "journey, not the destination" kind of thing. I will know when my endeavor was a success and it's when I can sit and watch my own movie and enjoy it. I want others to see it with me and I want to share in that enjoyment.

Will it live up to my expectations? It damn well better. I have to make sure of it. I don't want my name on anything I'm not proud of, and I don't want anyone involved that can't see how much I care. I've always been that way. The real trick is in the time I have; can I and what I will do to make sure each sequence, each scene, each shot, each frame, is constructed as effectively from what I've transcribed onto paper from my mind. I'm not interested in making "art," I'm interested in making something good.

While I ruminate on such things, and hum-and-haw over my lens rehousing, I thought it'd be a good do a rough build of my my shooting rig. It's super basic, run-and-gun; something I can easily set-up on a tripod, take off, and string up on a stabilizer harness without doing much of anything beyond changing a lens.

The picture to the right of the camera rig is a few other mods I'm toying with. I think I'm gonna scrap trying to turn the 4x4 filter fram into a 4x5.6, and just get another frame instead.

View attachment 1703337 View attachment 1703339

The matte box with filter frames is meant to clamp to the lense, but the opening is 95mm and I have no lenses that size beyond my jerry-rigged anamorphic, but the idea of stacking glass on the front end, all the pressure is on the rear mount in the camera; I don't like. I'm taking an adjustable lens support mount I had on an older, unused FimCity rig I've just kept around and combining the two so that the thing supports itself on rails rather than on the lens itself. I'll sew up an adjustable black-out bag to fit between the matte box and the lenses to cover the gap.

Below is the photo of the FilmCity rig I bought yonks ago and kept for, I guess, this project. I initially planned to get just the other rig and use the two but while trying to assemble this and the camera and the attachments I bought to it, well, it just didn't work. The FilmCity rig is kind of unusable in that it's not as modular as the other rig and hot-swapping parts isn't really an option. It doesn't tighten as securely and, despite my affinity for its matte box set up, it too is also kind of worthless. The filters frames are 4x4 and can only fit two in the rear. It also shakes and rattles like Hell, even at full tension. I think I'm gonna scrap it and get another rig similar to the one I bought already. Maybe just keep it for whatever parts I can scavenge.

View attachment 1703338
Click to expand...
Post some footage when you get some. I'm always interested in seeing small film rigs like that one (I myself have a Canon EOS M in addition to having a Canon T2i
 
CB2001 said:
Post some footage when you get some. I'm always interested in seeing small film rigs like that one (I myself have a Canon EOS M in addition to having a Canon T2i
Click to expand...

Will do! I'll share what I can, when I can.

The T2i is the Canon camera I mentioned earlier as a back-up. It's a bit dated now but it still takes surprisingly good photos in daylight. I had to move to Sony though when it came to actually wanting to record video. Sony's low-light is some of the best, quite frighteningly so, especially for the consumer market.
 
PoopaPapaPalps said:
Will do! I'll share what I can, when I can.

The T2i is the Canon camera I mentioned earlier as a back-up. It's a bit dated now but it still takes surprisingly good photos in daylight. I had to move to Sony though when it came to actually wanting to record video. Sony's low-light is some of the best, quite frighteningly so, especially for the consumer market.
Click to expand...
If you decide to you need to use your T2i (should either of your Sony go out for any reason), check out Magic Lantern. Basically it opens a lot more of usefulness for filmmaking: Magic Lantern | Home
 
I heard some guy named CopperRevan, an unknown actor, would be available in the New York area depending on casting needs. Credentials? He once played an Electrical company inspector for 8 straight hours, interviewing lineman and on site critique and compliance monitoring alongside a foreman without a single person realizing he actually wasn't an Inspector at all. How many people can pull that off? lol
 
Congrats and good luck! and enjoy. Only other thing I can think to add is make sure your legal stuff is in order, Bruce Campbell always advises new film makers to cover their butts on that.
 
CB2001 said:
If you decide to you need to use your T2i (should either of your Sony go out for any reason), check out Magic Lantern. Basically it opens a lot more of usefulness for filmmaking: Magic Lantern | Home
Click to expand...

Already had it done, gosh, near 6 years ago now, I think. I think I'm due for a software update. :lol:

CopperRevan said:
I heard some guy named CopperRevan, an unknown actor, would be available in the New York area depending on casting needs. Credentials? He once played an Electrical company inspector for 8 straight hours, interviewing lineman and on site critique and compliance monitoring alongside a foreman without a single person realizing he actually wasn't an Inspector at all. How many people can pull that off? lol
Click to expand...

If CopperRevan is free mid-August to first week of September, and can fly himself to Iowa, and then travel into western Illinois on his own dime, and then would be willing to work like a dog for free, then I'd be glad to bring him on!

CessnaDriver said:
Congrats and good luck! and enjoy. Only other thing I can think to add is make sure your legal stuff is in order, Bruce Campbell always advises new film makers to cover their butts on that.
Click to expand...

I'm gonna register a production company through the bank and state pretty soon, I think, just to make that happen. Seed it with the production budget money and go from there. Don't know all the legalese that will entail but I gotta be safe somehow. I'd love to pick Sam Raimi's brain more but who better to take heed from than Ash Williams?
 
Another thing I remember was from James Rolfe when he made his Angry Video Game Nerd movie that he learned was importance of fees/permits. Of course a big part of that was he was shooting a LOT in LA area, but after the experience he joked if you wanted to film a tree you needed a permit from the effin’ squirrel. LOL
 
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