Anthony's Film Book Shelf 1

Anthony's Film Book Shelf 1, originally uploaded by downanddirtydv.

You can't learn this game without putting your head in some film books. What's on my film bookshelf? CLICK ON this interactive Flickr photo to find out my recommendations for gaining guerrilla knowledge.

DIY Ring Lights

Add a little sparkle to your subject's eyes with a homemade ring light. What's a ring light you ask? Well it's a circular shapped ring of lights that mounts around your lens to give a nice even glow to your subject. More notably, the reflection of the ring-shaped lights, literally adds a brilliant sparkle to your subject's eyes.

I believe they are commonly used for macro still photography, but they are also used in video for commercials, glamour shots, and music videos. Professional units run in the hundreds, but if you're on a Down and Dirty budget, you can build your own for less than $50.

Peep out this DIY tutorial from fellow blogger, Joseph Holst, who is a still photographer out of St. Louis. It's a work in progress, but I think the pix and descriptions are more than enough to pull it off. If you're not afraid of electricity and powertools, give it a go or see if you can talk one of your more "D.I.Y." friends into helping you. It's a cool thing to have in the arsenal to add some production value to your more flashy shoots. Click the link below for the tutorial. Peace.

Joseph Holst's Ring Light Tutorial

(Photo: Ring light effect as seen on Joseph Holst. Source: Jyoseph.com)

The Power of Podcasting

These Kids Are Very Visible... ...thanks to podcasting. A few weeks ago I came across a podcast called "Invisible Children" that was set up by 3 high-school students (or possibly recent H.S. grads) that did a documentary of the same name.

The documentary is about children who are forced to fight in the war in Uganda. Like many other issues in Africa, the problem has largely been ignored in the U.S. until this incredibly driven group of young people decided that they would try to stop the war. How can 3 high school students stop a war in Africa you might ask? Simple... they started by harnessing the incredible power of podcasting to drive a national campaign to raise awareness of the issue an raise money.

Their efforts are chronicled in regular video podcasts which feature scenes from the doc which is still being cut and behind-the-scenes footage of their hustle to make it all happen. (You can also subscribe to the podcast by searching iTunes podcast directory.) Apart from the power of podcasting, "Invisible Children" also represents a great case-study in guerrilla video activism. These young filmmakers who want to make a difference started with a little doc and expanded their efforts into podcasting, house parties, town-by-town public screenings, merchandising, a national tour... even a video musical to raise awareness of their issue.

Follow their case-study and make a donation at the site. It's worthy cause and just may rekindle that idealistic young filmmaker that still lives somewhere deep in your soul.

-Ant.

Down and Dirty DV Raincover

Down and Dirty DV is all about teaching you to make the most of whatever you've got to work
with and finding 

low-cost effective solutions to everyday filmmaking problems.

Video cameras and water don't mix.  However, sooner or later, we all have to deal with
shooting in the rain or not getting our shot.   Rain covers are often a pricey and
low-priority accessory for guerrilas.  Here's a very simple alternative to keep your
camera dry when it drizzles.  It's virtually cost-free and will take you less than the
time to read this article to actually do.

Guerrilla Recipe - 30 Second Down and Dirty DV Raincover














Ingredients:
1. Clear Plastic Bag
2. Rubberbands

Utensils:
1. Razorblade or scissors to slice bag

Instructions:














1. Get a clear plastic trash liner. Those plastic bags from the vegetable section
of the grocery store might work as well if they're big enough. Cut about a 4" slit
in the side of the bag (just big enough for your hand to fit through).















2.Place the camera inside so that the lens is facing out the opening of
the bag and the slit you cut is at the bottom of the camera.















3.Secure the bag around the lens hood/shade with a rubberband so that only
the lens glass is left exposed.   Smooth out the plastic over the lcd flipout
screen and secure with a seperate rubberband.

4.Slip your hand in the bottom and shoot like normal.

Additional Tips for Shooting in Wet Weather:

-It's always best to still have an assistant with an umbrella for heavy rain.
-Use 2 bags for extra protection.
-Dry off any exposed parts of the camera that get wet ASAP after shooting.

Total cost of professional raincover = $85.00
Total cost of the down and dirty raincover = $.33

If you find this type of info helpful, holla back at a brotha and let 'em know with
the handy "comments" buttons below any of the blog posts.  Happy guerrilla filmmaking,
y'all.  

Peace, Love and Video,
-Ant.

Check Out the New Student Filmmaker Mag

Down and Dirty DV Hits the Print Pages

I forgot to tell you, I've got an article in this month's premier edition of Student Filmmaker Magazine. It's about guerrillla tactics for Feeding Your Crew. I don't think it's available online yet, but if you are a qualified student or aspiring filmmaker, you can get a free subscription by clicking here.

A More Flexible Dolly Solution

This Dolly and Track are HOT!!!

Last year at NAB I had a chance to play with this dolly and track and I was thoroughly impressed, so I thought I'd give it a belated shout out. What's so special about it you ask? Two things:

#1 Flex Track ($400.00 / 40' section)
Instead of normal metal dolly track or PVC piping, this dolly uses what's called "flex track" which is essentially a 40' piece of solid rubber tubing that you can double over to make a 20' run or get another piece to make a 40' dolly run. ($400 ea.)

#2 Losmandy Spider Dolly ($1000-$3500)
This dolly goes together like an erector set with several different configurations and has special arms for the 2 sets of wheels that swing in or out by several inches to smoothly adjust to various track widths. (*$3500 as pictured here)

So What?
Flex Track? Swinging wheel? So what you say? So What?! So What?! I'll tell you so what...This thing is revolutionary, especially for us urban guerrillas. Few things add more production value or eat up more time on set than prepping and executing dolly shots. The standard method/equipment requires infinite fussing with tracks and bumps and substantial storage/transportation space. That's the old school dollies. This dolly/track system does away with some of the most prohibitive dolly shot hassles. Let me break it down:

#1 Both dolly and track are highly portable.
The surprisingly sturdy dolly is modular and breaks down into a small suitcase. The track rolls into a neat (if heavy) coil. This means you can fit it into an ordinary car or even the subway rather than the back of a van or truck.

#2 The track can be laid and ready to go in minutes.
The special swinging arms on the dolly wheels allow you a wide margin of error (up to several inches apart) when laying the track, you can literally throw track down and eyeball whether it's evenly spaced and the dolly will still roll smoothly. Plus, no seams means no bumps.

#3 You can pull off a variety of curves, circles, or straight moves all with the same track.
Traditionally, you'd need to rent curved track as well as straight track to do this and even then, the curved metal track still wouldn't allow you as many creative configurations as the flex track.

#4 The dolly can easily be configured into a walk-along, sit-down, or jib set-up.
You can start with a basic set-up and add on as you go, depending on your needs and budget. I think this makes it ideal and flexible for budget-conscious student programs or bigger-budget professionals.

For more info peep out the Losmandy Flex Trak and Spider Dolly pages.

I'm out 'til next time.

-Ant.

Will This Camera Change the Filmmaking Forever?

Arguably the hottest product at NAB this year was the Red Camera designed by Jim Jannard, founder of the Oakley glasses company. Although, they were only showing a non-working prototype, the mere concept of Jannard's camera is revolutionary.

Format Type(s)	HD+
Resolution(s)	4k. 2k. 1080, 720, 480
Frame Rates	Variable: 1-60fps (2540p, 4k, 2k, 1080p, 720p) 1-120fls (2k, 720p)
Medium	FireWire 800/400, USB-2 and eSATA interfaces
Lens Mount	Interchangeable
Image Sensor	12 Mpxl CMOS
Audio Inputs	4 channel uncompressed, 16 / 24 bit, 48KHz
Dimensions	Unknown
MSRP	$17,500
Street Price	Unknown

I'm a big proponent of technology, because it's the driving force that's made filmmaking more democratic. However, I'm not much of a techno-geek, so I'll try to explain why this camera is so hot in the crudest of layman's terms.

In short, if this camera delivers on it's specs, it will essentially shoot images that are 4 times the quality of the current crop of $3000-$10,000 Mini-DV cameras and twice the quality of the higher-end pro cameras that are currently in it's price range (approx. $20K-$30K w/ lens) such as Sony's XDCam and Panasonic's F900 series. Now dropping $20K-$30K may seem like a lot of dough... okay it is a lot of dough, but it's an incredible value for what this camera is promising to deliver.

Think of it as if someone told you could buy or rent a Ferrari for the price of a Jetta. Yeah, it's kinda like that.

The image sensors on this camera are larger than anything out there. It can be used with 35mm and other professional film lenses. (Which means incredible depth of field.) This camera is capable of shooting in what I believe is being dubbed as "Super HD". What does that actually mean? It means it records a picture that's twice as good as the best HD TV out there. The picture is so good that we don't even have the technology to see how good it is yet! That's a helluva camera. Check out these links below for more precise and geeky explainations:

• RED whitepage
• RED's Official Website
• DVinfo's forum on the Red Camera
• DV.com Article with Red's Main Creator/Investor (DV.com Registration required to view)
• First Look at Red (studiodaily.com)
• Wikipedia article

What's Up With the Book?

I just wanted to give everyone a quick update on the debut "Down and Dirty DV: Vol. 1 - Documentaries" book. The project has really taken off and expanded from my original concept. At the time of this writing my page count is 245 with somewhere in the neighborhood of 100 photo illustrations, line-drawings, and diagrams.

As you probably already know, I am self-publishing this book in true guerilla fashion. My release date was supposed to be this month, but I've decided to hold off until school is back in in September.

There are a couple of reasons for this. #1, I'm just burnt out after a year and half of writing, shooting video and setting up all the business ends of the Down and Dirty DV Project and I want to take the summer to slow down a little, let my editor, Darren, finish working his magic on the book and put together a full marketing and launch plan and arrange for some focus groups to help me tweak the contents to the specific needs of today's digital guerrillas.

The other big reason is that a major company has recently expressed some interest in distributing the book on a much wider scale than I'd ever be able to accomplish on my own. So I'm talking to them to see if we can work out the deal numbers to form a win-win situation (see last post). The whole thing will involve lawyers and consultants and lots of fun hours combing through contracts, so I need the extra time to explore wider distribution options.

When I worked on the movie "Paper Chasers", Flavor Flav gave us some great financial advice... He said,


"Try to find people that want to make money WITH you and not people that want to make money OFF of you."


In short- look for the win-win. That's a simple criteria I apply to every potential business deal. (Yes, I realize the irony of quoting Flavor Flav on financial advice, but good advice is good advice regardless of the size of the clock around the person's neck who's giving the advice.)

So this summer will be dedicated to getting the book business and marketing plan fully in place, completing the Down and Dirty Documentary-Making DVD, and pumping out some video podcasts, and revamping and expanding the website. Everything is taking a little longer than anticipated because the project keeps evolving and I'm only one man doing this part-time outside of my day gig and family duties but I've got a great team of advisors and allies and fellow guerrillas who are all helping me to make this a truly revolutionary project. I really want to shake some things up in film instruction, but I gotta do it right. Same as with a film. All will be revealed soon enough then you'll understand why it took so long.

Peace.
-Ant.

The Secret to Guerrilla (Or Any Other Kind of) Success

This is one of those "duhhh" bits of advice, but it nevertheless seems to elude many indie filmmakers on a regular basis. What I am about to tell you is life advice that you will find helpful in getting any number of things or outcomes that you desire. It has served me well since Junior High School and I've never regreted applying it to any given situation. Are you ready for this bombshell? Here goes:

Whenever seeking the help of another person or organization you should always try to create a win-win situation that will benefit both you and them.

That's it. That's my mind-blowing filmmaking revelation. Let me elaborate. (I promise, I'm keeping this post short.) Too often I am consulted by young filmmakers who plan or are in the process of approaching some organization or person to get some thing for free. It might be an equipment donation, a free location, a sponsorship, an introduction, etc.

(PHOTO: One of my guerrilla allies, Director/Producer Pete Chatmon, of the upcoming film "Premium". I help Pete's company Double 7 Films with some of their video and production needs and he helps me with business consultations and introductions for the Down and Dirty DV Project. That's Win-Win, Baby!)








A classic amateur guerrilla mistake is to assume that somehow these people will, out of the sheer generosity in their heart, want to help YOU with YOUR project. The reality is that people want to help themselves much more than they want to help someone else. That's just human nature. Always has been.

How often do you go around looking for ways to help other people that doesn't benefit you? (FYI- Doing it just to feel good about it counts as a benefit.) We'd all like to help other people more and in more ways, but we are so pre-occupied with our own needs and problems that we have little extra energy to devote to efforts that solely benefit other people. The most stable and productive partnerships are all win-win. Win-win situations are how you form allies in filmmaking and life. And you need allies for both.

Assess your skills and resources, then assess the people who are in a position to help you further your project and figure out what you may be able to offer that they might need. All you have to do is put yourself in their shoes and pretend you are them listening to your pitch from their perspective then ask, "How will this benefit me?" (not you-me, but you-them).

If you train yourself to look at any given situation from the other person's perspective, you will almost instantly know when you are wasting your (and their) time and you will be able to anticipate where you will get resistance to your requests and how to best overcome it before a single conversation has even taken place.

Approach by focusing on mutual needs. Never pitch something as a favor.

Unless someone owes you a favor, this is a turnoff. By the same token, don't contact someone out of the blue with your idea for how you can do them an unsolicited favor, because they will likely be suspicious and question your motivations. They know you want something in the end and they will just tune out your pitch until they know what it's going to cost them. It's like when a cheery telemarketer calls to tell you that you've just won a "free" trip to a resort and starts telling you about the lovely amenities before telling you the real catch.

Instead, just be honest and approach with a realistic and thought out plan for how you can both help each other. Explain what you need from them and explain how it will benefit them. People respect this kind of honesty and it will take down some of their defenses since they already know what you want and they see that you've taken their situation into consideration as well.

There will be cases where you seemingly have nothing to offer someone, because they have considerably more resources than you already. You should certainly still ask, but don't waste a lot of time begging for things or pleading to convince someone of how great your project will be. Instead look for more suitable people to trade favors with.

(My long time allies, Rebekah and Christie, who run Filmtrix.org gave me an interview for the Down and Dirty DV Podcast (coming soon) and I'm giving them some additional promotion. That's Win-Win, Again!)

Some typical trade offs in guerrilla filmmaking are:

Locations - Exposure
Crew - Experience
Talent - Demo Reel
Equipment - Credit or Experience
Crew (your film) - Crew (their film)
Products - Product Placement
Food - Credit or Exposure
Professional Services - Points on Film
Post Production Services - Points on Film

And the list goes on and on.


Don't look for handouts. Look for allies.

You may be able to scrouge up one or two handouts here and there, but an ally is a powerful long-term resource that will serve your objectives long into the future as you serve theirs. You absolutely can't make a film without them.

And that's all I have to say about that.

-Ant.

Long Time, No Posts

So it's obviously been waaay too long since my last entry. As I pointed out before, I've got all theses balls in the air and I'm trying not to drop any, but alas, I let the blog hit the floor for a month to focus on finishing the book and lining up things to complete the video podcast and the guerrilla DVD. I also dipped down to the Miami Film Festival for my man, Pete Chatmon's film, "Premium". (I'll be writing more about that project in the near future.)

So the new release date for "Down and Dirty DV - Vol. 1: Documentaries" is April 28th. I was really busting ass to get it out by April 15th, but I ultimately realized that I would've compromised some of the content. I've seen some self-publishing efforts that I thought were a little shabby and half-assed and I definitely don't want anyone to put my book in that category., so I've spent most of the last month just really focusing on quality control: new graphic illustrations, better photo illustrations, fact-checking, a chart of the latest cameras, tweaking the cover, etc. After a very difficult time finding someone that could work with my tight guerilla timeline I just secured a book editor, Darren Hackett.

Darren is one of my best friends going all the way back to 2nd grade. No joke. He's a talented screenwriter and has been copy writing for a long time now. Part of my end game to this whole Down and Dirty DV effort is to produce his screenplay, "Growing Up Thirteen", which is a drama loosely based on our crew back in the day at Woodlawn Highschool in Baltimore, MD.

Darren is actually the whole reason I got into filmmaking. Growing up the idea that I even could make film and television completely eluded me. It just seemed like some magical inaccessible process, until the Darren came back home from Boston University and showed me his first film. Then it clicked instantly.

I immediately signed up for my first film class at U.M.B.C. (Univ. Maryland Baltimor County) which is an excellent affordable little school in the U.M. system. After I took my first film class and spent a semester in a work fellowship/filmmaking seminar at Disney World I was completely hooked and transfered to NYU's film program and never looked back and the rest is Down and Dirty history. So thanks, D-Money, for putting a brotha down!

The idea that guys like us could actually make films simply blew my mind. It was just never presented to me at Career Day or anywhere else. Once it became my passsion, I had the revelation that kids, especially kids of color, simply weren't being educated about opportunities in this field, let alone encouraged. So while I was still in college, I began speaking at school career days and organizing little workshops for kids. I've always been interested in teaching, but knew I couldn't deal with teacher's pay and lack of growth opportunity, so teaching video was a perfect melding of passions which all lead to Down and Dirty DV.

I can't wait to get the whole thing out to the public. I truly think that this project will democratize filmmaking even further. So many people in this business are about putting up barriers and coveting in formation and guarding their "secrets". I think that's just some insecure bullshit by insecure people in an industry that is run on fear.

I'm all about sharing information and opening doors and I've never regreted it and made a lot of allies in the process. I'm not afraid that I will help people become "more successful" than me. I hope I will. It's all blessings to me. I don't know everything about digital filmmaking (not even close), but everything I do know I'm gonna share through the Down and Dirty DV project, so that others can avoid the same mistakes that I've made in the past, many of which were expensive and painful.

The whole Hollywood system is based on "paying dues" which I do believe in, but there's a fine line between making sure people have paid their dues and making things unnecessarily difficult just because you had a tough time finding your way or nobody helped you. Shit! I'm still having a tough time, but somebody has to break this cycle of self-defeating idiocy. I'm about doing all I can to make it easier for those after me.

If you get to the top before me I think that's great. Then, I've got another friend that can give me a hand. And if somebody doesn't reach back, that's cool too, because it's all about karma, Baby. Everything I've ever done in life, good or bad, has come back to me whether from the original source or not. We all have ambitions and this is a crazy competitive business, but we've gotta be in this together. So don't be stingy with knowledge. Don't covet helpful information. Tell everybody how you pulled off that cool shot. Point out when you see another filmmaker making a fatal mistake. Volunteer some time for the next generation of filmmakers... it always comes back in ways you never imagined. And that's my soapbox rant for today,kids.

'Til next time, peace, love and video y'all.

-Ant.