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Is this shot out of focus?

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Okay thanks. It feels weird and unoriginal copying poems from known poets. I just feel like I am copying another work. But I can do it, as long as it can still make a good impression. One that caught my eye, but I a might have to change some of it around, to accompany modern settings where I live.

I am going to see if I can find a DP or someone good with lighting and shoot it.
 
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harmonica44 said:
It feels weird and unoriginal copying poems from known poets. I just feel like I am copying another work.
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But you'll use someone else's screenplay? What's the damn difference?! Treat the poem like a script: an internal monologue.

And you aren't "copying known poets." Geez, dude. It's the same as adapting a book or short story to a screenplay. Public domain just means you don't have to worry about licensing or copyrights.

harmonica44 said:
But I can do it, as long as it can still make a good impression. One that caught my eye, but I a might have to change some of it around, to accompany modern settings where I live.
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Half the challenge here is to make a visual representation of the poem. Older words with modern images can make a striking contrast... and go very well together.

harmonica44 said:
I am going to see if I can find a DP or someone good with lighting and shoot it.
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Sigh...
 
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Some of the poets on that site or known, so I thought the others were maybe as well. I guess I had personal permission to use the script and it was given to me, so I feel more comfortable with that. But I'll choose a poem and do it, it's no problem.
 
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harmonica44 said:
Some of the poets on that site or known, so I thought the others were maybe as well. I guess I had personal permission to use the script and it was given to me, so I feel more comfortable with that. But I'll choose a poem and do it, it's no problem.
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What part of "public domain" do you not get? That means the copyright has expired and they are FREE to use. Shakespeare, Longfellow, Yeats, Frost, Wilde... these folks have been dead for a long time and their works are now free of copyright.

You can try and write them for express permission, but I doubt you'll get a response.
 
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Yeah I know it's free, I just wanted to do something more original. But whatever, I'll do it. As for today, I will go out and shoot something. I can practice some camera pans and post them on here, or something.
 
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harmonica44 said:
Yeah I know it's free, I just wanted to do something more original.
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Ryan, you make it original by providing a visual interpretation. This is about practicing the art of visual storytelling. And it's about an easy project that gets you shooting and editing in a way that doesn't require budget, expansive casting calls, or crew ads. I suggested this is a way to eliminate all the other roadblocks you constantly find, or put in your own way, that prevent you from doing anything other than giving us a constant runaround on the forums.

You can crank these things out quickly, and use them as learning experiences for storyboarding and execution.

harmonica44 said:
But whatever, I'll do it.
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And there's the other big problem. At what point are you going to make your own decision about something? Half the reason you stay locked in can't-do-shitville is that you seek so much advice that you get contradicting ideas and just resign yourself to letting them cancel each other out. Then, you're back to square one, and we go back around again.

Make a decision. On your own. And do something about it.

harmonica44 said:
As for today, I will go out and shoot something. I can practice some camera pans and post them on here, or something.
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So, you're back to "test" videos, are you?

"Is this a good pan?"

Who the hell knows? It has no context.
 
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harmonica44 said:
Well I figure I might as well work on that.
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Ryan, this is my last piece of advice to you until you come back with something to show us that isn't a test video:

You aren't going to get any decent practice with camera work until you are willing to shoot something complete. In other words, you learn how to do this not by shooting a pan shot and posting it for feedback, but by shooting short films and getting critique on them (including camera work). Post a completed work, and we'll go from there.

Your first efforts might suck. In fact, they probably will. And that's okay. I think your bigger problem is that you are afraid of messing it up... but what better way to learn? Make something terrible. Or, maybe it won't be completely terrible but will be a bit rough. Either way, that's the only productive way for you to get useful advice, and to better your skills. And then you bring back another. And another. And another.

I look back at the first stuff I shot on my own and realize how unrefined I was when I started out some 20+ years ago. Hell, I look at stuff I shot last year and see stuff I can't believe I missed.

And stop spending all your time asking as many people as you can for advice. Screenplays, story ideas, producers lying about budgets, whatever. Just, stop. You have a short script in hand (and you need to go over it in detail with the writer to make sure you understand it all). You have a resource for public domain material that you can use to practice shooting what really amounts to a visual essay.

Don't be afraid to bring back something that's imperfect. It's the only way we're going to break the cycle here.

That's it. That all I have. And if you keep posting about your scripts or your reasons why you cannot shoot this or finish that, all you're going to hear from me (if anything) is to stop what you're doing and go make something. Seriously... the next thing you post here should be a finished short film.

TL;DR: Stop posting, and don't start again until you have a competed short film or visual poem.
 
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AcousticAl said:
I look back at the first stuff I shot on my own and realize how unrefined I was when I started out some 20+ years ago. Hell, I look at stuff I shot last year and see stuff I can't believe I missed.
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:D Yeah - a few years ago I shot a film and when looking through the rushes, realised there was one shot where there's a big fat roll of camera tape from one of my crew smack bang in the frame.

Hey - they used the shot (they liked the performance on the take), and used a number of techniques to dull down the 'tape' area...

You can hardly notice it unless you're really looking for it. But I know its there. And I haven't had an accidental roll of camera tape in my frames since. We're constantly learning, and constantly bettering ourselves.

Critiquing yourself pushes you to be better.

But without context, a single shot or a single scene mean nothing. Without something tangible any advice you receive is purely hypothetical and can get overwhelmingly confusing.

Out of context, a shot with a roll of camera tape in it is unusable. But whenever people watch the film, I have to physically find the spot and point it out for them to notice it. In context, it's not such a big deal (though as I said, I'll never do it again ;) ).

So yeah - come back with something complete :) And then we can help you.
 
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Okay then. A lot of times I post casting calls, and can get actors but no crew applies, so I never want to make the movie, cause I am afraid it will suck, and thereby drive more actors away. Plus if I shoot it, that means all the actors will have to do ADR, which I am guessing they will not want to do.

So I am self conscious of that and do not want to make the same mistake twice. I can, I am just afraid it will bring down my reputation in the filmmaking community here, even further.
 
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harmonica44 said:
cause I am afraid it will suck, and thereby drive more actors away.
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These circular discussions are ridiculous. Now you are back to: afraid it will suck. And here's where a bunch of people tell you, you can't be afraid to fail, and you waste more valuable time from these filmmakers.

We're back to the beginning folks!
 
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jax_rox said:
You can hardly notice it unless you're really looking for it. But I know its there. And I haven't had an accidental roll of camera tape in my frames since. We're constantly learning, and constantly bettering ourselves.
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That reminds me of a time where shot with two cameras. In one of the shots, as we're panning up, the camera and my head gets into frame. We didn't notice it until well after we uploaded haha.

It's at 14:21 if you're curious hah.
https://youtu.be/y8iK1YaBHDw?t=14m21s

harmonica44 said:
So I am self conscious of that and do not want to make the same mistake twice. I can, I am just afraid it will bring down my reputation in the filmmaking community here, even further.
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Do you want to know how most of us started out filming? By putting a camera on a tripod and doing just that. No special equipment, just the camera and its on camera mic, and the environment.
 
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Al is right. Make something that is complete. Even if it s#$ks, you will learn from it.
Remember all the times when you asked a question and someone told you 'It depends'?
That is because everyting depends on context. And context only really exists when it is a finished video.

I never make 'testvideos'. I do projects to try things.

Stop obsessing about the right acronyms.
I started with a webcam shooting black and white 14fps at a resolution of 200X150.
The first short with actors: audio was recorded on a mini-Disc player, it was a simple omnidirectional mic tape to a stick and covered with a piece of cloth people usually use the wash themselves.

Go make that poetry thing: no need for any audio-acronyms (I never work with PSM whatever. Usually we have a boom op. That's it.). Only you and a camera.
No more excuses.
Imagine what you could have done by know if you were not so afraid to do things AND not so stubborn to start with a big short?
You would have made many things and would have become better and better.

We'll give your feedback when you finished it.
 
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Wow. Quite entertaining. I actually learned quite a bit from those attempting to help this guy. It's funny how someone can get so much attention, so much free and good advice and just openly disregard it in his quest for the answer he wants while ignoring the answers he needs.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
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