Went down to Optex International today (The UKs distributors of Tiffen lenses and filters). I tried out test footage of every filter they had that helps video look like film (Test shots to appear here shortly). I also bought a wide angle adaptor for my camera so I can go ahead and shoot the film in a more cinematic style. For more info on Opex, see this link.

Brad Osbourne (see 05-Apr-02 Diary) kindly agreed to do a special interview on the subject of getting video to look like film. I am going to spend some time thinking hard about the best questions we can ask him, so it will be a while before the interview is posted.

I also managed to get the lighting set up for my short film. It looked really good, and quite like film. This was without any filters or post-production software. Clever lighting seemed to make all the difference. I used layered lighting with heavy contrasting depths of color (My brightest lit point was way different to my darkest lit point). The image below is a grab from my original footage, but with the brightness turned down by 25% to give a moody, almost evil feel. The lighting is supposed to emulate a scene that happens at night, so I thought it found the balance between realism and actually letting the viewer see what the hell was going on:

The storyboard for the short film (working title: Leaving) was finished today and distributed to the actress, Jeni Boyns. she looked over it and gave very positive feedback. I also dared to show it to a work colleague who also was impressed.

Adobe Premiere has been giving me some grief from the moment I installed it. I used Videowave to create some .avi files, and then imported them into Premiere. It played them okay as clips, but rendered only the first frame in the finished timeline. With Windows ME I was unable to even establish a connection to my MV30 Cam from my computer, but luckily Windows 2000 did the job.

The problem with Adobe Premiere and importing .avi files was resolved by actually capturing with Premiere itself. It still has an unusual bug where sometimes it plays 1 frame a second, other times the full 25, but that is just pot-luck on the time you run it. It also crashes when I try and resize a clip by dragging the video in and video out markers. I tried FilmFX again, and was able to render it to a full movie, but it looked awful on motion, so this is something I must chase up with the authors.

The high-street retailer, Jessops, sold me a wonderful tripod today. It does smooth pans and extends to around 6ft tall. The guy gave us a demo in the Stevenage branch and we all (two work coleagues) agreed that it was great value for money (just over forty quid). Just the lighting left to sort out now!

I also saw one of the best films of my life today. Mulholland Drive. The film is part reality, part dream. There is an in-depth explanation on Salon.Con. Make sure you watch the film first, however, as working the film out for yourself can be immensely rewarding.

Today I ran some tests with Premiere and FilmFX. The bloody things wouldn't work on ME, but luckily I had Win2K which ran them all fine. FilmFX is $400, so I am using the trial version. I haven't seen its affect on proper footage yet - only on single frames (I need to read my Adobe Premiere book really). To see the test results, click here.

Today I came across a brilliant interview with a DV filmmaker called Brad Osbourne, founder of Innuendo Films. He was talking about how he managed to get the footage from a Sony Digital8 camera to approach the look of 16mm film in his movie Hall Of Mirrors:

A lot of people initially balked at my attempting a "noir" style thriller on digital. The crisp, fluid look of video just isn't conducive to the genre. That's why I spent a lot of time experimenting with techniques to take away the "video feel" without spending a fortune on FilmLook or the like. I found my solution by using a combination of elements, including an in-camera function on the Sony Digital 8 called "Flash," which is essentially a single-frame mode that on it's lowest setting simulates the 24 frames-per-second aesthetic of film. With the aid of Bobb Truax, our DP on the project, we also used hard, contrasting lighting with lots of shadow whenever possible, and added a diffusion filter on the lens to soften images. The result is something that looks akin to 16mm film!

Read the entire interview here. Brad also details how he got his film look in this extensive article here.

The complications normally associated with lighting for a film aren't as abundant to the digital filmmaker. Who cares what F-Stops are and what degrees Kelvin something is - you have a viewfinder - use it and you'll see if something will be under or over exposed!

The lighting in the short film will be aided by some light filters. Today I received an awesome little sample pack from Lee Filters (they appear on this list). This is such a handly little utility, and I can see myself definitely ordering from them - the prices are very reasonable too.

On the evening of the 27th, I went out for a beer with my good friend, Jeff Day, to discuss ideas about the first short film I will direct (scheduled around May). I had already arranged for a talented young actress to play the lead (An award winner too!), but I had no part - there was no script. I told her I'd write the script around her acting strengths, as it would be a shame to pass up her talent.

Jeff and I sat 'brainstorming' in Weatherspoons in Letchworth, and then finally we struck upon a killer of an idea; a variation of an unfinished plot I'd had the day before. I will story board the short over the Easter break, which gives us 2 whole months to finalise it, shoot it and then edit it.

I've been searching around for a while now, to find some half-decent video clips that show a 'before' and 'after' of any good 'filmlook' software. The only two in a normal person's pricerange are Cinelook and FilmFX. FilmFX is supposedly the better of the two, but the video clips I have found at www.digitalproducer.com/pages/cinelook.htm demonstrate the capabilities of the former.

I also managed to get my demo version of Premiere and FilmFX installed today. To compliment this, I ordered an Adobe Premiere book off Amazon.co.uk.

Pro8mm is a new type of film stock based on super8mm film. I have been intrigued by this for a while now, as every young filmmaker wants to shoot on film, but doesn't have the cash. I got Giles (The contact for pro8mm UK) to send me a demo tape so I could check out the quality. it's not bad, but it seems that the lowest quality film a person can use in this day and age to shoot a feature on simply has to be 16mm.

Pro8mm film is suitable for films where someone is either imagining something that happened in the past, or watching old family footage. The good news, however, is that Super 8 Sound, the company who make pro8mm, sell a number of 16mm packages. This is what Giles had to say on the subject:

This is my inexperienced view, but ... if you are careful, 2 hours of 16mm film (£2672.68) will be enough to shoot a feature on lasting about 90 minutes. I am a strong believer that people are always able to work well within their means, and if you only have 2 hours of footage, you'll damn well make sure you get a feature out of it. If, on the other hand, you're very rich and can throw away money, you'll probably get people to retake things a million times because you have the luxury of being able to perfect the film. Anyone therefore wishing to make a feature who can afford to buy/rent a 16mm Camera, editing system, and pay for the actors and can stretch their budget an extra £2,700 should seriously consider using Super 8 Sound's 16mm film. See their web site for more details.

The following text is an exerpt from the RaindDance newsletter that I received today. If you wish to subscribe, click here.

So you have finished your first modest short. You want an award? Course you do. After all, a short isn't a short until it's "an award-winning short". A filmmaker is not a filmmaker until he/she is "an award-winning filmmaker". The lower down you are on the ladder, the more important and useful awards are. That little over-used prefix makes people take notice. The truth is that there are loads of festivals out there with loads of awards to give away. So some of them might as well go to you.

The trick is to find your level and approach the festivals where you stand a chance. The bigger festivals attract thousands of submissions but the smaller ones get much fewer. If you're after that prefix, don't be too proud about where your award comes from. It may not be an Oscar [though one of mine looks remarkably like an Oscar] and who cares where it came from? An award is an award. A list of awards is even better. The only people who've really heard of all these festivals are people like me who've applied to them all. The press or future cast or crew who you're trying to impress generally can't tell one from the other.

A big mistake is to send your film out to a couple of the big festivals and then give up when they reject you. I got my hands on the British Council Directory of International Film & Video Festivals (The British Council Film & TV Department, 11 Portland Place, London W1N 4EJ 020 7389 3065) and sent off for loads of application forms. It helps to have a fax machine for receiving entry forms though many can now be downloaded from the web. Make sure to read the entrance requirements carefully to make sure you comply. Some won't take video but others will. We won Best Comedy in The Producers Guild of America Student Film Competition at a festival in L.A. and it was screened on the crappiest quality 4th generation NTSC VHS transfer. They show features and shorts but no gratuitous sex or violence [so not the best home for the 'put twelve people in a room and chop them up' style film]. Write to Patte Dee, Festival Director, Santa Clarita International Film Festival, P.O. Box 801507, Santa Clarita, CA 91380, USA or e-mail: PatteMitch@aol.com

A big advantage of winning this one was that TV companies got in touch with me asking for broadcast rights. I've sold US cable, satellite & internet rights to Short TV/Fortress Films and another company is interested in taking other rights including Europe and in-flight. You can submit NTSC VHS tapes for consideration to Short TV, 580 Broadway, 11th Floor, New York, NY 10012. Phone or fax them first Tel: 001 212 226 6258 Fax: 001 212 925 5802

My favourite festival was in Malta. We won Best Film at this one and I went (cont'd) out to Malta to collect it. That was fun. VIP lounge on arrival in the airport, Oscar-style statue from the president of Malta, big reception, TV interview lined up (but my driver got me to the station just as the programme was ending). Malta is looking to increase submissions in its student and semi-pro categories so now is a great time to apply. The festival is in October/November with a deadline of the beginning of September. Check the guidelines to see if you qualify for student, semi-pro or amateur status. Write to The Secretary (Philip Herrera), Golden Knight International Film & Video Festival, P.O. Box 450, Valletta, CMR 01, Malta Tel: 00356 222345 Fax: 225047 email: macc@global.net.mt

It's great to win festivals abroad but there are prizes to be had in the UK, too. It's not hard to win local film festivals. Qualifying for amateur status opens up even more opportunities. I've seen 'amateur' films shot on Super 16 with huge crews and great kit. Of course I must mention Raindance who had the foresight to be the first festival to screen our film. My short film, 'Perfect', was as basic as you can get - shot on S-VHS in one weekend for [literally] the price of the videotape. It was edited on the most antiquated one-shot-at-a-time linear tape-based editor with only one track of sound [never again!]. It's far from perfect, and I'm all-too-painfully aware of its faults and limitations, but it works as a story and with an audience, it has a great central performance and has a simple point to make.

It's worth bearing in mind the way shorts are viewed. Pause, and spare a thought for the audience. Festivals often show them in two-hour blocks so you need to make yours stand out. How do you do that? Lots of quirky camerawork that draws attention to itself? Hardly. That's what most of the others do and it becomes very tiresome to watch after the first half an hour. Commercials do it so much better anyway. The way to stand out is to tell a story and engage the audience emotionally. You've no idea what a relief that is for a weary audience half way through a marathon two-hour session of showreels that leave them cold and checking their watches. Something funny or moving - both if you can manage it.

At the end of most short films that I see, I find myself asking, "What's the point?". All that attention, energy, commitment, disappointments, problems overcome... anyone who's made any kind of film knows this... all for what? I think the material needs to justify that expenditure of energy on the part of the cast & crew and also the audience who give ten minutes of their life to watch it. It may be unfashionable but I like films with a point. I couldn't commit to write or direct something I didn't care about. I've only taken my first small step - many Reelscene readers will be much further up the ladder than I - but this is what I've learned so far:

The most important ingredients in making a short film work are (in my prejudiced opinion):

1. The script
2. Casting. Get professionals if you can. You haven't got time to teach amateurs how to act. If your script is good enough, you WILL be able to get good actors. I went through Spotlight (the actors' directory) looking for character actresses for my lead. I had nothing to offer but the script - no money, not even travel expenses. I had five actresses wanting to play the part. The one I chose even came through her agent. There is a tremendous amount of talent out there, actors who survive on walk-on parts and little bits of nothing, who are crying out for the chance to play a good part.
3. A producer who can get things done.
4. A crew with commitment and compatible personalities - preferably including an A/D who can keep things under control.
5. Equipment that works (especially sound - but that's another story)

Somewhere way down the list comes directing. You can learn how to do this. It's not such a big deal, vastly overrated in my opinion. The director gets too much credit (and this is 'an award-winning director' speaking!). The best tip I had on directing was to get your shot list worked out for each scene and shoot it in the order of priority - maybe do a close-up of the emotional turning point at the end of the scene first. There's never enough time in a location and if you always go for coverage first, you may never get to that most important close-up. Those wide shots of the whole scene take a disproportionate amount of time to light and you may never use them apart from an establishing shot at the beginning of the scene. You certainly can't cut back to them at the most intense moment without ruining the emotional build-up.

Treat your cast & crew with respect. If you can't afford to pay them, tell them up front. The least you can do is give everyone a VHS of the film and keep them posted on awards and TV screenings so they can update their CV's. I'm amazed at stories of directors who fail to deliver on the promised VHS.

I know Elliot goes on about this but it's true that you should never let the 'N' word bother you. I went to a seminar recently with Tim Bevan of Working Title. He said that the word he most often hears is STILL 'No'! I found that immensely encouraging. He also said the the people who end up financing his films have usually turned him down for the same project earlier in its development. If your film is not accepted by a festival, so what? The next one you send it to may give you the top prize. It's only down to somebody's opinion. The more people you send it to, the greater chance you have of bagging a prefix.

I've given you some useful contacts but the most satisfying discoveries will be the ones you find for yourself. Your best asset is persistence.

By Christophr Mander

I do take all my readers' (all 2 of you!) jibes at Vanilla Sky with good fun, as most feedback I get is from other aspiring filmmakers. If asked to put my neck on the line and explain why I like Vanilla Sky so much I guess I'd have to say because of:

• Fantastic plot - shot almost scene-for-scene against Open Your Eyes
• Depth of theme exploration (and it works)
• Intelligent Soundtrack
• Imagination through the roof - the cryogenics was awesome - staying true to the original.
• Similarities to Jacob's Ladder and its exploration of how a person's mind tries to come to some conclusion about its existence before it dies. The search for meaning. David Aimes, however, retreats into an artificial dreamscape as a means of escaping the pains of his failed life; but therein his demons come back to haunt him. Ultimately he awakens inside his dream, which is almost a perfect symbolism for the film's underlying theme. To realise the worth of ones own existence - to wake up from the sleep and open your eyes. To see that your life's implications do not just begin and end with birth and death, and that your actions can have effects that reach out over those boundaries that you have built around you as a means to define your own existence. As the avatar says: Consequences, David. Consequences. Sure the film would have been better if it all ended in a "is he mad or it a cryo-sleep?" ending, but it was necessary for the symbolism to envelop itself in such a manner and then finally unravel at the end - well, necessary for over-analytical people like me anyway.

In more relevant news, I spoke to the winner of last year's BAFTA for best Short Film, Brian Percival. I've arranged to get hold of his critically acclaimed short film sometime in the next month on VHS. Hopefully some kind of fruitful discussion will follow which will ultimately end in some good tips and advice.

I remembered an old web site today from my days of Music Making on an old ATARI. The site Time Space has now updated and contains sounds and loops appropriate for film. Most CDs have either a streaming sample or an mp3 download.