BackPack Film School™ an open forum for low-budget and no-budget digital filmmakers

The “Digital Filmmaker” series has a new entry . . . my book!

Check it out in its Kindle Edition for now.  The hard copy is on its way.

Here is the book description:

Designed for the novice or for a course in film editing, the book is the perfect introductory text. In this book, you will read about the history of film editing, and how it developed from the single-shot movies of the 1890s to the crazy split-second montages of today. You will be exposed to different editing aesthetics – the when, how and why of cutting, as well as the proper terms for different shots – so that you can think about the development of your own style. You will read some in-depth shot-by-shot breakdowns of various film scenes, as illustrations of these different aesthetics. You will explore the different editing concerns of narrative (fiction) films vs. documentaries, and full-length features vs. shorts. You will read about the invention of non-linear editing systems, such as the AVID and Final Cut Pro, and how they have affected the film industry and editing styles. You will learn the basic interface of Apple’s less-expensive non-linear editing system – Final Cut Express – as well as LiveType, the innovative text and titles generator that Apple bundles with it. You will also read about the all-important issue of understanding formats and compression. Finally, you will work with the accompanying video footage, included on the companion DVD, in a variety of different ways to put theory into practice and drive home the lessons of the book. For projects, it covers the latest version of Final Cut Express, contains structured exercises, and uses video clips on the companion DVD, to allow the reader to apply the lessons of the book in clear and entertaining ways.

And while it’s true that Apple released Final Cut Pro X in June, 2011, it’s also true that many people don’t like it and are sticking to the legacy software apps for now, while they figure out what the future holds.  So – at least for a few years – you can count on the info in here being relevant and applicable to both Final Cut Express and Final Cut Pro 7.  So read on, MacEditor!

One final note – somehow, in the revision process, the acknowledgements that I had written for the intro were taken out, and I never noticed.  Here they are now:

Acknowledgements

As with most books, this one could not have been written without the contributions of people other than the author.  First and foremost, I wish to thank Gerald Jones, who approached me with the idea of this filmmaking series and asked me to write the editing book.  I also wish to thank his frequent collaborator Pete Shaner, the technical editor of this series, for spending many hours reading and vetting the technical information presented here.  Any mistakes that remain are mine and mine alone.

Next, I must acknowledge David Pallai, the text editor, and his terrific team at Mercury, for poring over the chapters herein for grammatical and formatting errors.  Their services were invaluable.  The result of their labors is the smooth flow of the pages ahead.

I also wish to thank Sarah Jones and Sam Peterson.  A number of years ago, they acted in the short film, Nail Polish, which provides the raw materials for the editing practice exercises in later chapters.  Their work was quite amazing, and you are lucky to be able to cut and recut their performances in a variety of ways.

Finally, I must thank Jennifer McLeran, whose unflagging patience and love throughout this writing process has been truly inspiring and comforting.  Without her, I could not have completed the work.  Plus, my dog, Lizzy (whom you will meet in Chapter 12), would have had a terrible time of it, as well.  Woof.

Enjoy!

I have to remind myself too often to think visually, get that talky side of my brain to shut up and just let me see the story.

This film-school text is aimed at student and indie directors and their visual arts team, including art directors and cinematographers.

But I also recommend it particularly for screenwriters, even for novelists. Failure to conceptualize and tell a story with visual imagery is a big and common mistake. I’m not so impractical as to say that talking heads are never the right choice, especially if there’s strong emotion going on and if it has little or nothing to do with the minimalist dialogue.

So “visualize and grow rich (creatively)” would be the message I take from this fine and helpful book. [cross-posted on goodreads.com]

Digital Filmmaking: An Introduction is undoubtedly the best 101 textbook covering all the basics of making DV and HD movies. I confess to being prejudiced. I coauthored some other books on the subject with Pete Shaner. He wrote this one on his own, taking everything we did to the next level, and although I commented on the manuscript in draft, this one is entirely his show. The book is full of rules to live by, which, taken together, I call Shaner Doctrine. The paramount rule is to have a reason for everything you do. Since the director’s job is primarily to be a decision maker, you’ll go a long way if you learn to challenge your reasons. If you don’t have a plan, if you don’t have a rationale or a theme or a skill set or a clue – it will show up in one way or another on the screen or in the track.

There’s a companion DVD with the book. It’s better than any number of lectures and only slightly less useful than a hands-on tutorial with Shaner himself. Also, the example movies and lesson clips reinforce the book’s chapters and teaching points. Particularly noteworthy as instruction – for lighting design, see “Hollywood Lighting Exposed,” for cinematography “Alan Smithee’s Hollywood Tips,” and for sound design and production, “Microphone Demo.”

Mercury plans to release other books in this instructional digital filmmaking series. Shaner is the series editor, as well, so watch for those and expect miracles on the screen!

[Cross-posted on Goodreads.com]

In the jargon of Hollywood, a “backdoor pilot” is an indie short that gets picked up as the concept for a TV series. These days, any YouTube entertainment submission with enough clicks will draw attention. But although access to digital distribution is easier and cheaper than ever, so is competition in the marketplace of ideas that much greater. Indie filmmakers who have made the effort now know what thousands upon thousands of garage bands have known for years – you either hype yourself or you die of obscurity.

Short Film Distribution by Backpack blog contributor Jason Moore is a just-released guidebook for what to do after you get your genius idea in the can. It comes with a DVD that’s worth the price of admission.

When a colleague said you can change focus after the shot, I assumed this technique was like HDR on my iPhone 4, consolidating multiple conventional exposures. But the Lytro technology appears to be a whole lot more, a potentially disruptive development.

Someone on the Independent Writers of Southern California (IWOSC) Yahoo Group asked today about how to handle cover art for ebooks. Here is my (cross-posted) reply:

For Amazon as well as for Bowker ISBN listings, you must upload RGB color Web-resolution cover art that will be shown on catalog pages. (Remember you should have a different ISBN for the ebook version.) It is also permissible, but not mandatory, to embed the bitmap of the cover in the HTML text. For Kindle, the cover is displayed on the device as monochrome, but you need not convert it, since some of the Mobi devices can display color. On most of the Kindle titles I’ve seen, the cover art and front matter (if included at all) are actually at the tail end of the file.

When you publish a PDF ebook through Lightning Source, you can embed the full-color cover in the PDF file. You want to do that, and make it the first page, because that’s what Adobe Digital Editions displays as the thumbnail in its library.

Ebooks published through Smashwords.com do not have art inside the text file, as of now. They can publish in a variety of formats, including Sony Reader, EPUB (Nook and iPad), and Kindle. As with Amazon, you upload the cover art separately, which is then displayed on the catalog page. Smashwords pushes books out to Apple, B&N, and other online distributors. The Apple specs are more stringent than the others, so do read the online help at Smashwords.

Regard all of this information as wet clay. There aren’t any rules that apply equally to all formats — yet. The self-pub sites, such as Lightning Source, Kindle Direct, and Smashwords all have how-to guides online, and you should always consult those for the latest specs before uploading anything.

The Abobe Portable Document Format (PDF) has been around for quite a few years. Unlike most of the other file formats for ebooks, PDF always preserves the appearance of the original printed page – just the way the book designer intended. Formats such as Kindle and EPUB, however, are “reflowable.” That is, just like Web pages, the layout of those e-pages adjusts automatically to the display characteristics of a particular device. That’s how it’s possible to fit a scrollable page neatly on an iPhone, for example.

[For more information on the Adobe PDF ebook release of How to Lie with Charts, click here: 'How to Lie with Charts' Now Available As an eBook]

For plain-text books, including most narrative fiction, reflowable text is a good, one-file-fits-all solution. But it’s a different story when you try to cram an illustrated textbook onto just any mobile device using reflowable pages. Even in the simplest books, it is very common for the picture to appear on one page, the caption on the next. And the more complex the illustrations, the messier the situation becomes.

Old-fashioned as it might seem, PDF is now a ready solution for nearly all e-readers but the smaller-screen phones. That’s because recent availability of third-party apps has made it possible to view a PDF on just about every e-reader made, as well as on general-purpose computers, laptops, notebooks, and tablets.

PDF page from 'How to Lie with Charts' displayed in Adobe Digital Editions

For more information on the Adobe PDF ebook release of How to Lie with Charts, click here: ‘How to Lie with Charts’ Now Available As an eBook

The Los Angeles media scene is abuzz with the news that public television station KCET will divorce from the PBS network, effective this coming January:

LA Times commentary on KCET’s separation from PBS

I’m thinking that here’s an opportunity for the Democratization of Video to take a leap forward. Although emerging filmmakers now have unprecedented access to the tools of production, the result has been a glut of product. Ideally, an arts organization like Film Independent could forge a relationship with the station and become a conduit for movies and series.

For this concept to succeed, it can’t just be another Sundance channel, on the festival model.

No, much of the programming will have to be family-oriented and in some sense educational.

If the programming truly serves the community of viewers, the community of artists could benefit.

Times are tough.  Many people are out of work.  As owner of a post facility in Los Angeles I have the occasion to read many resumes.  These typically arrive cold and are from every strata of audio experience.  I am also the proud owner of my own resume, and proud owner of my own feelings related to sending that resume out in hopes of gainful employment.  This post is meant as practical insights “from the other side of the desk” and is not meant as a knock to anyone desperately seeking a job.  I qualify this because I know how hard it can be to get a foot in the door, but some of these submissions do make me scratch my head.

This post is for those who are out there looking for work and are not having any luck.  It’s simply my point of view so take from it what you will.  A lot of this advice is, what I consider to be, simple, common sense.  However, seeing the same things over and over again maybe it’s not as common as I may think.  Here’s a rundown of a few things that consistently come up.  You can make your own determination about them to see how you might react if you were at the other side of the desk.

The Approach:

There is a reason that in high school writing classes we are taught to correspond formally.  Typically a letter will have the recipients name and address, a date, the senders name and address and a salutation such as Dear X,  -

Email and texting has completely changed the way many people communicate with one another.  Nothing wrong in and of itself of course, but it has carried over into the workplace. Causal notes or emails will not get much traction.  Here is an example -

“hey – cool studio. looking for some work.  I do it all. resume attached.  later”

Or:

“Qualified engineer.  Loads of experience.  The real deal.  Call today.”

Or:

“Just graduated with a degree in sound.  Foley, ADR, sound design specialist.  Give me a shout.”

Or:

“See attached resume.”

Something that any potential employee must understand is that every communication from phone calls to query letters to resumes must inspire confidence that you are going to be a great asset to the team.  What a potential employer sees in your dealings with them is what they will project as to your dealings with their clients.

The Interview:

Read the rest @ Woody’s SOUND ADVICE

Watchful readers of this blog will know that I described some of the challenges in mastering separate DVD and VOD versions of my seminar for distribution through Amazon CreateSpace. Here’s what it looks like at the end of the tunnel.

News Release

(Santa Monica, CA – July 26, 2010) LaPuerta Books and Media today launched a new series of DVD training videos aimed at business students and professionals. The first title is How to Lie with Charts, a live interactive seminar based on the popular book by Gerald Everett Jones. According to LaPuerta marketing director David Drum, “Gerald’s been doing seminars for corporate clients based on this book, which over the years has become a kind of chartmaking bible for b-school students…(read the full release)

View the DVD Product Page