I've read a lot of talk about how film is too costly for youtube videos. On one level, I agree, but as a purist, I won't use anything else. I have no money, and not even a working super 8 camera at the moment, let alone the budget to allow for processing/scanning of motion picture film; what I do have is 35mm still cameras (a lot of them). So, I let the format set the tone and workflow for how to make the video. It's been done before - two examples I can think of are Chris Marker's La Jetee, and the music video for Peter Gabriel's "Sledgehammer" (well, that one is actually stop-motion I guess).
Now, being a composer and not a director or cinematographer, it's not anything brilliant at all, I'm sure you people could make something infinitely better - my actors were just co-workers whom I cajoled into dressing up and posing for me, and time got the better of me in the editing and scoring; I planned from the beginning to play it up for laughs, so I hope I succeeded in my goals. My point though, is that I think for the online video short, I think the 35mm still format works very well...I'm even thinking about making a webseries this way.
Anyway, here it is, if you guys are interested:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WshGt0wfkOY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WshGt0wfkOY
I used 3 rolls of film: 1 Kodak Gold 200, 1 Kodak Max 400, and 1 Kodak Portra 800. I used two cameras: a Minolta X-700 and a Pentax A-3000. The entire cost of the project was $25.00, for processing/scanning of 3 rolls of film (and I suppose the cameras...one was given to me and one I bought at Goodwill 3 years ago for $15.00). Actually, I'm not quite happy with the quality of the scans but that place offered the highest-resolution scans and it's all I have until I get my own film scanner up and running. I edited the thing in a 2007 version of iMovie on my church's computer (damn thing wouldn't output in HD, and I couldn't import into iDVD either for some reason...blah). *edit* OK I guess I should add the cost of the film...one roll was expired and was given to me, one I bought at the store in a 3-pack for $9.00, and one at a camera store for $15.00 last year that I just wanted to use up. I could have easily just bought a 4-pack of Fuji at Wal-Mart for $7.00 if I had wanted to use new film and keep my costs low.
Now, if I had known exactly what I was going to shoot, I probably could have shot this thing on only 1 roll...there are I think 35 different images in the entire video. It would be an interesting challenge, having to make a 2min Youtube short with a single roll of 35mm film...might make a cool idea for a festival too, though I'm not sure I could sit through a lot of that... So anyone else ever do this? Or is anyone else interested in trying this? I'd be interested to see what real filmmakers can come up with!
PS: I record on tape.
Now, being a composer and not a director or cinematographer, it's not anything brilliant at all, I'm sure you people could make something infinitely better - my actors were just co-workers whom I cajoled into dressing up and posing for me, and time got the better of me in the editing and scoring; I planned from the beginning to play it up for laughs, so I hope I succeeded in my goals. My point though, is that I think for the online video short, I think the 35mm still format works very well...I'm even thinking about making a webseries this way.
Anyway, here it is, if you guys are interested:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WshGt0wfkOY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WshGt0wfkOY
I used 3 rolls of film: 1 Kodak Gold 200, 1 Kodak Max 400, and 1 Kodak Portra 800. I used two cameras: a Minolta X-700 and a Pentax A-3000. The entire cost of the project was $25.00, for processing/scanning of 3 rolls of film (and I suppose the cameras...one was given to me and one I bought at Goodwill 3 years ago for $15.00). Actually, I'm not quite happy with the quality of the scans but that place offered the highest-resolution scans and it's all I have until I get my own film scanner up and running. I edited the thing in a 2007 version of iMovie on my church's computer (damn thing wouldn't output in HD, and I couldn't import into iDVD either for some reason...blah). *edit* OK I guess I should add the cost of the film...one roll was expired and was given to me, one I bought at the store in a 3-pack for $9.00, and one at a camera store for $15.00 last year that I just wanted to use up. I could have easily just bought a 4-pack of Fuji at Wal-Mart for $7.00 if I had wanted to use new film and keep my costs low.
Now, if I had known exactly what I was going to shoot, I probably could have shot this thing on only 1 roll...there are I think 35 different images in the entire video. It would be an interesting challenge, having to make a 2min Youtube short with a single roll of 35mm film...might make a cool idea for a festival too, though I'm not sure I could sit through a lot of that... So anyone else ever do this? Or is anyone else interested in trying this? I'd be interested to see what real filmmakers can come up with!
PS: I record on tape.
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