Filmmaking and Film Editing

Every filmmaker wants to come up with an excellent movie that will surely entice his or her viewers. In fact, in this day and age, more and more films are made by the use of breakthrough technology, state-of-the-art equipment and of course a brilliant film editing software. However, if you are new to the film-making world do not hesitate because you can make a movie by just having a creative mind and a digital video camera.

Long ago, people who have the capital and investment for movie equipment are the ones who dominate the field. But now you do not even need to hire an expensive professional to take videos of your business projects. If you have a digital video camera you can already make a documentary all by yourself. Isn’t it amazing? Well, with the help of the Internet, you can now learn or train yourself through online education. By doing researches on how to make films, edit them and even sell them, are just some of the few topics you can search for. This e-learning process can encourage you more to engage in filmmaking. Whether you are a newbie or a professional already, it does not matter.

Your main concern is on how to choose the best digital video camera, as well as the brilliant film editing software available. There are thousands of cameras you can choose from but it is better if you pick the one that best suits your needs. Make sure it has good voice clarity and superb video resolution. Pick the one which has settings for indoor and outdoor use. The life of the battery must be also assessed. Does it have special effects or is it user-friendly? There are cameras which are hard to use so try to know first how they are being operated. In terms of transferring video data, you can simply connect it to the cable to your computer and that’s it. Film editing software comes into play.

There are many web sites on the Internet which contain sufficient information on the various programs available on the current market. Having the appropriate software is very crucial since this will affect the overall outcome of your film. You should be able to enhance the pictures once you have transferred them into your computer for editing. Adobe is one of the most popular film editing software over the years. Unfortunately, it is quite expensive but you can use it to your own advantage. Other programs, such as the Final Cut Pro and DV Express, are very useful especially if you are a computer with high specifications. Nowadays, Hollywood uses this software in editing movies. However, they are quite expensive. But there are other programs which are inexpensive so you need not worry.

Cameras – There are many camera options available.

Film stock cameras of 35 and 16 Millimeter are still preferred over digital by many film makers. Remember though that this is visual art so getting the emotions of your actors can be done with any camera so keep honing your skills at getting good performances from your actors.

Lighting is always important for the best quality footage from all cameras. Instead of buying an expensive camera for a production, you may consider renting one. There are many companies that also offer crew with their equipment of course at an additional cost.

In my opinion, if there is debate over whether to use Film stock or digital for your project and you want to push this as a major motion film, unless you are using a Red, a Viper or a Sony F23, go with 35mm Film stock and use a good quality lens.

The main reason for this is that unless you are a director already established and with a reputation, using digital video may be considered “Not as Professional”. This is a stigma that video unfortunately still has, especially with people trying to break into the industry and who tend to only use video.

You’ve worked hard and done your best to make a film. If the 35MM project costs more to shoot then sell it for more when it’s finished. There are deals to get 35 film stock if you are a student. Get a student ID by enrolling in a community college.

Shoot in 35mm but do the cutting/editing in digital. You can get the 35 mm transferred to digital via a process called Telecine. If you still want to use digital video go with a good(The best you can afford) high definition camera. Right now my preference under 10,000 would be the Panasonic HVX 200A.

The Sony PMW EX1 is also getting very good reviews although the HVX200A is a bit more popular.

For you who are adamant about using digital video I will mention a couple of things about some high end digital video cameras. The camera that George Lucus used on Star Wars was a Sony HDW 900 modified by Panavision with a new lens and control. Sony came out later with the HDC 950 which was an improvement to the 900.

Currently, Sonys highest standard for shooting feature films with digital is the F23. Another two exciting digital cameras are the Red and the Viper. The Red is advertised to be the cheapest of the three and boasts to have the highest quality.

For the pro line of lower end camcorders you may consider a 35mm lens to give you a good depth of field. Because cameras go out of date so quickly, do to ever evolving technology, you may consider renting for a project.

From entry level up to high end cameras keep in mind that due to many people having access to large screens, high Definition (HD) is becoming the norm. Standard Definition can appear a bit grainy on these larger screens.

When a musical group heads into the studio to record a CD, they don’t just play their instruments, lay down their tracks, and then mix the final cut and call it a day. There’s a great deal that goes into getting all those recorded tracks ready for the final mix, such as adding effects, tweaking the frequencies, and making every single track sound polished before they are put together in the final mix.

Recording a television show or other film project is similar in many ways to recording an album, except you are using video instead of audio (okay, you are using both) and before you put the whole package together, before you sit down to mix everything and make it shine, you want to polish your video shots, your scenes, the best they can possibly be. That’s where the top 5 television graphic programs come into play.

Graphics can add luster and dimension to your scenes

We live in a three-dimensional world. While the latest technological craze is 3D movies and even television sets, most films are going to continue to be filmed in two dimensions. Any opportunity that you have to add spice to your visual entrée should be taken. That isn’t to say that you should coat every single frame of every single scene with graphic tones, which would dilute the effect it might have and cause your film to feel ingenuous in the end.

You should use these programs when you want to enhance shots, create the illusion of three dimensions, or to add text, splice in extra cartoon characters or scenes, or more. The top 5 television graphic programs are: Maxon Cinema 4D, Adobe Fireworks, CorelDraw X4, Abode Illustrator CS4, and Adobe Photoshop. For the sake of argument, let’s add Lightwave and Maya to the mix. So you have seven in all.

As you can see from this list, Adobe has three of the top four programs on the market for creating and enhancing video shots. While there is no need to have all three of these Adobe products, as each has some cross-over features, when used in conjunction with each other, you can create some incredible scenes for your video shots.

Maxon Cinema 4D, however, is one of the best graphic programs that you will find on the market for all of your film editing and enhancing needs. You can create absolutely stunning 3D scenes, create enhanced shots, and incorporate green screen images with fluid ease by using this program.

Lightwave allows you to seamlessly add effects to film while maintaining the continuity that you desire. How do you know that you have done a great job with your film editing and adding effects? When no one notices that you have actually added anything to the final product, that’s how. Lightwave by NewTek is one of those products that creates seamless visual images.

Maya by Autodesk will give you great 3D visual effects at the tip of your fingers, and the price is right for the average budget. Of course, whatever program you choose to use for your graphics editing, it will be up to you, the filmmaker, to decide what and how much effect to use for each scene. With today’s technology, there are abundant choices available for any filmmaker and almost any budget. While these programs all have great options and tangible results, if you overdo them, your film is going to suffer as a result.

Unlike written texts, movies generally employ three common types of artistic devices. These devices, although quite obvious once described, may not be immediately apparent to a young viewer. Educators can assist students in identifying these devices, defining their characteristics and understanding how they relate to the movie or film at hand. Repetition of this exercise will allow the young viewer to become proficient in quickly making the connection between the artistic devices used by the filmmakers and the movie’s underlying meaning.

The ELA curriculum of today has its roots in 17th, 18th and 19th century literature. The stories that interested the people of those times and were expressed via the written word. However, today’s youth will experience the vast majority of storytelling through screens (television, feature films, video games or the web). Thus, to stay relevant, modern educators must address stories told on screens as well as those in traditional written formats.

The three levels of artistic devices are:

1) Traditional Elements and Devices of Fiction in Novels and Short Stories
Many hours of current ELA instruction are spent on the elements and devices of fiction. They include: plot, character development, protagonist, antagonist, prologue, expository phase, crisis, rising action, falling action, denouement, epilogue voice, symbol, foreshadowing, flashback, imagery, irony, foil, archetype, motif, etc. These are also found in screenplays and the analysis of these elements and devices in the medium of film can assist students in understanding their use in written texts.

2) Traditional Devices of the Stage
These include: sets, simple lighting, costumes, props, sound effects, acting choice, choreography of movement, music and dance. The response to music and dance is something many young viewers are accustomed to already, as they are a crucial component of many popular movie and film productions.

3) Cinematic Methods
This layer of artistic expression includes shot angle, camera movement within the shot, music/sound effects, editing, colors/visuals and lighting levels.

In conclusion, no single method of adapting ELA curriculum to the current digital environment has been agreed upon. Many discussions and varying methods exist. However, regardless of the method, students will ultimately benefit from having the tools to make sense of what they see on the screen. The important aspect to take away from this writing is that every ELA course (from 6th to 12th grade) should devote a substantial portion of their lessons to analyzing stories through movies and documentary film.

James Frieden, Esq. is a Co-Founder of TeachWithMovies.com, Inc. the premiere site on the Internet showing teachers how to create lesson plans using movies and film. Thousands of Teachers and Parents use movies in their classes and home schooling programs to teach Social Studies, English, Science, Health, & the Arts.

Michigan may be best known for its auto industry, its college football teams, and its contributions to the art of office-furniture manufacture. The fact is, though, that this mitten-shaped Upper Midwestern state has made great contributions to American arts and culture-and all sorts of positive signs, from the growth of downtown Grand Rapids to the sudden explosion in Detroit-based visual arts, suggest that Michigan plans to remain one of the cultural capitals of the United States.

And that place is well-earned. After all, this is the state where Motown Records was founded, where punk rock pioneer Iggy Pop, filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola, and author Nelson Algren hail from, where the classic Anatomy of a Murder was filmed, and where Ernest Hemingway set his first published story. Diana Ross, Stevie Wonder, Smokey Robinson, Gilda Radner, and Lily Tomlin were all born here, Elmore Leonard calls the state home, and Sufjan Stevens made his name as the leader of West Michigan-based band Marzuki.

Michigan has an important place in film history, too. It provides backdrop for such films as The Evil Dead, Four Brothers, Grosse Pointe Blank, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, RoboCop, and 8 Mile. A recent bill enacted by the Michigan legislature ensures that the Wolverine State will continue attracting quality film productions, luring famous and unknown film artists alike with a forty-percent across-the-board refundable tax credit, a loan program, and other goodies. (A complete list and application are available from the Michigan Film Office.) This incentives package, coupled with the state’s unique geographic diversity that allows it to “stand in” for many kinds of locations (urban, mountainous, forested, coastal), makes Michigan one of the most attractive possible shooting locations in the United States. But filmmakers should also note the state’s lively film-festival calendar-a mere sampling of which is provided below.

In the Detroit area alone, we have a plethora. Royal Oak offers the results of the innovative 48 Hour Film Project every July, after teams of Detroit-area filmmakers spend a forty-eight hour period writing, shooting, editing and scoring an entire film, using just a prop, line of dialogue, character, and genre which must be included in the film. Similar projects are done in fifty-four other cities from around the world, and Detroit’s version features robust participation from area filmmakers.

And in December there’s Dearborn’s Annual Arab Film Festival, hosted by the Arab American National Museum. Given the impact that filmmakers from Arab cultures have had on the art form in recent years-Iranian director Abbas Kiarostami is regularly acclaimed as one of the great artists of world cinema, and films from the region are often cited as influences by such directors as Werner Herzog and Michael Haneke-this is one festival not to miss, since today’s Arab film festival entry may be tomorrow’s influential new classic.

Other possibilities for the discerning Michigan cineaste include the long-running Ann Arbor Film Festival. The lower-Michigan city of Ann Arbor is something of a regional cultural capital-it supports one of the world’s best research universities in the University of Michigan, and it has all the bookstores and museums you’d expect of such a place-so it’s no surprise that it’s also the home of one of the oldest, best-established, and most vital film festivals in the country, which continues to attract artistic experimenters from all over the world. Early work by Lawrence Kasdan, George Lucas, Andy Warhol, and Gus Van Sant, among others, has appeared at this festival (one of Variety’s top ten “Festivals We Love”); it’s the place to catch works by tomorrow’s trendsetting young film directors-today.

For filmmakers and their personnel visiting any of the above festivals (and many more every year in places such as Traverse City, Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo, and Mt. Pleasant), the state offers an excellent transit infrastructure experienced in handling film and television productions. For example, Checker Sedan-the company that most recently handled transportation for SuperBowl XL, and the official transportation provider for the Detroit Metro Airport-has years of experience in dropping off dailies, picking up stars, and every other kind of work associated with film and television production.