Pushing the Limits of Film

When you think of filmmakers pushing the boundaries of film making the first thing that pops into your head is Hollywood. Big budgets big stages doing big things. Yet, how come every story seems to be something we've seen before with a touch better cgi. Shot on a new expensive camera and in front of a green screen.
In my opinion film making is pushed to its absolute limits in backcountry adventure filmmaking. In recent years the advances in camera technologies have allowed filmmakers to do more than they ever could before. One of the best films of the year Meru, which won best documentary at sundance, is one such film. While the cameras were nothing incredible, a 5d mkii and a point and shoot hd panasonic the journey they were able to capture was something completely different. Pushing themselves to the limit as well as their gear is what adventure filmmaking is all about.
This is where true filmmaking really comes into play. You can bring your fancy slider up the mountain with you but you may have to sacrifice bringing food. To survive and to succeed you need to be very particular with what you want to do. Life and death can be a matter weight when on a mountain. Also having the pure ability to film incredible footage while also climbing is a task for true adventurers. Losing focus for a second can be deadly. It is an intricate balance.
So is filmmaking progressing in Hollywood? Yes it is, but it is a completely different game from people literally risking their lives for their films. That is where the true essence of filmmaking lies. In the lines between life, death, nature, and art. Here is a film that documents the tricky balance between packing gear and supplies all while telling an incredible story.

Drones, Regulations, & The Holiday Season

In the recent years drones have been skyrocketing (ha) in popularity. With the holiday season approaching experts are estimating that over a million drones (WOW) will be given as gifts.

This rise in popularity has been a cause for concern among the FAA (Federal Aviation Association), as drones are still mostly unregulated. Drone companies such as DJI, 3DR, Parrot, etc. have been ramping up production in hopes of a successful holiday season. They have been making deals with distributors such as Costco, Sam's Club, Walmart, Amazon etc. to make the purchase of drones more available.

With the recent rise in drone popularity many people and organizations are calling for regulations to be placed on drone use. Drones have already been in the news with cases such as one landing on the white house lawn and another almost colliding with a commercial aircraft. 

Currently there are very little regulations placed on drones and their operators, with very little room for punishment for misuse. There are no licensing or registration standards, with the only current laws being that they must not fly above people and must stay in the pilots line of sight. I fully expect more strict laws to be created soon. 

Do What You Have To

We've all been there, you're standing on set with a DSLR, flimsy tripod, half a roll of gaff tape, two thirds of a c stand wishing you had a technocrane and a hundredth of the budget of any given Spielberg film. The shot you want is a jib up from their feet to their head as you swing around the scene. Well why can't you? Film is all about doing what you have to, to get the shot. If it takes the rest of that roll of gaff tape and unscrewing one of those tripod legs to use the C-stand as a makeshift jib then why haven't you already figured out a way to do it. The film industry waits for nobody and even on the largest of productions grips have to make incredible things happen with some not so incredible situations. You can make it on any given film set if you can quickly and safely rig something. Be a problem solver and don't wait for a solution to come to you. Sometimes the most amazing cinema can come from the most unheard of solutions.

I've done some pretty... how do I put this, not so great riggings in my life and i'd prefer not to go into too much detail for fear of having my rental card being snapped in two and burned. I've hung a camera from a tree with a rope as a makeshift jib, used skateboards, cars, and cardboard as dollies, and even propped my camera up on my wallet to get the right angle. To be completely honest not all of these shots were perfect but I made do with what I had to make it work. That's part of learning and growing as a filmmaker. Remember if you don't have the money there is always a DIY option of putting it together.

I've written about them many times before but look towards shitty rigs for inspiration. It is a collection of the most nonsensical film riggings you will have ever seen. I promise.

So remember
-Don't wish for more
-Do It Yourself
-Try not to break the equipment

Also don't tell any rental houses I told you to do this
Love,
Anonymous

Without further ado here are the videos that inspired this post.



And the final product.

Doc Work

During Monday’s lighting workshop with Chris Scarafile, he said something toward the end that really stuck with me.  When someone asked him whether he enjoyed his fiction work or his documentary work better, he answered that without, documentary was where he his heart was. It’s the part of media creation where he can really make a difference, to tell real stories about people and places we otherwise would never be aware of. As he talked about the photos he had, the certainty in his voice made that very clear.

While I had never been much into documentary work myself, a few years ago I came across a small production company called Gnarly Bay. It’s a small group of five young filmmakers who aim to inspire people and tell stories that are worth giving people pause and spread positivity. I didn’t realize it in the moment but the short videos and films I had been watching on their website were documentaries or sorts. The sorts that I began to get really into.

This past Summer, I spent a lot of my free time walking the nature trails in Ithaca and listening to podcasts, two in particular: Radio Lab and Invisibilia. Both of these podcasts tell extremely fascinating stories in a way that is both entertaining and inspirational. It was through these podcasts that I began having the realization that there are so many amazing, heart-wretching, inspirational, shocking, and otherwise fascinating stories out there happening everyday, and if told right, can empower people to change the way they think and to take action. All of these stories floated around my head and I continued to find myself surprised and inspired. It wasn’t until our road trip to Virginia a few weeks ago that I realized my own new passion.

As we drove and talked about the film that were driving to shoot for, Shai said something to me that put to words what I had been feeling. “I want to use media to make people care about people.” That’s it. That’s what all of these videos, these podcasts, these documentaries were doing. They were making people see each other differently. When Chris Scarafile told our class that his heart lay in documentary work because of the real impact it had on other people, I didn’t need the pictures or his voice to convince me that he was telling the truth; I was feeling the same thing and just didn’t know how to express it. This semester, Shai and I are working on a short documentary that’s sole intention is to remind people to reach out and help each other every day in whatever capacity they can, to remind people that others are doing good things despite the terrible news stories and the tragedies that fill our newsfeeds. Shai, Chris, and the guys from Gnarly Bay are right; there are a lot of stories out there that need to be told and documentaries are a great way to do it. As we continue to work on this project, I am realizing more and more that while I had never been much into documentaries before, I’s never too late to realize another passion. I’m glad I still have this opportunity to get my feet wet in this field of work before I graduate because at this rate, I may end do much more documentary work after school than I ever would have thought a few years ago.

The DJI OSMO

Needless to say one of the most up and coming camera companies is DJI. With their state of the art drones, portable 3-axis gimbals, and the new line of cameras they are releasing, they are changing the world of cinema as we know it. These kind of technologies create a more immersive experience and allow filmmakers to create new and unique shots. The newest item to their arsenal is the DJI OSMO, take a look at the video below to experience the magic.

As you can see it is quite the gadget. I see large resemblances of GoPro type features, including stills, variable frame rates, high resolution of 4k, and they even added a panorama feature which will be interesting to see results of. However, it doesn't seem that the OSMO is waterproof, this is the edge that GoPro still has going for them.

The gimbal is truly amazing as well. DJI is very good at combing all of their products together, and the OSMO is a fine example of this. Taking the gimbal features that were originally used with their drones and Ronin, and adding a true handheld design is amazing. The shots of the boxer in the video above took camera moves to a whole new level. The new Zenmuse cameras for DJI's drone series can also be interchanged on to the pistol grip OSMO to have the ability to change lenses and take advantage of the micro 4/3rds sensor. The additional viewfinder via iPhone is also genius. With cameras like the GoPro, the bluetooth signal to your phone is never strong enough and the LCD viewfinder is just too small. You can also change settings of the camera like shutter speed and ISO through the app on your phone.

This new device packs a powerful punch and I am interested in seeing how it is put to use within the next few weeks. The film industry is in a constant stage of progression and this is a clear example of what we are capable of and what is in the near future. Storytelling has never had so many resources available, now just to get out there and capture the moment.

On Wrapping Principle Photography

I'm still honestly in shock that we've managed to pull this off. Shooting 4 weeks after school started was quite the challenge, but everyone really stepped up and made this film awesome. We've wrapped (pretty much) on principle photography and have even managed to get our first trailer out. The amount of feedback that we've already received is incredible.

I don't think I can even comprehend that number of people. Unfortunately our view count isn't as high as I'd like to be, but thats probably due to privacy settings at the current moment. I've had at least 10 people come up to me today alone and tell me how absolutely stoked they are to see the film, and I have to be honest I'm right there with them.

Unfortunately, I don't think things are going to go as well with the final edit. While I'm sure it'll look great (go DP and G&E) the sound we got on set was god awful and I never quite got the performance out of the child actor that I wanted. We'll see how those two play out, and I'm more excited than everyone else to see the film in its final stages. Only Editing, Scoring, Coloring, and Sound mixing left - lets get to it!

American Horror Story: Terrifying, Intriguing and Insanely Well Thought Out

American Horror Story entered its fifth season last night, premiering with the help of Lady Gaga and Matt Bomer. Now if you are a squeamish person, the opening episode of the season may have made it hard to fall asleep afterwards. The premiere of Hotel did not disappoint when it came to bloodshed, nudity, and overall blood-pumping-edge-of-your-seat moments. But not only did this brilliantly executed season opener satisfy the viewers, it also coincides with the theory behind the show as a whole. Last year, during the Freak Show season, the creator of AHS, Ryan Murphy, admitted that all seasons are connected. Because each season takes place in a different decade, viewers have now been trying to connect the dots in order to uncover the overlapping characters. This requires a lot of thinking ahead on the part of the writers. These eery overlaps do not happen by coincidence, and it is not an accident that some of the same names and places have popped up.

 


The beauty of this show is that if you miss a season, you can pick up watching the next one without missing major plot points. Each season can stand on its own if you choose to watch off and on. But the better part of AHS is all the easter eggs the writers use to tie all the seasons together. Only true fans would be able to pick out the ways all the seasons connect. In case you haven't figured them out, here's a few to note:
1. Dr. Charles Montgomery from season 1 moves to LA with his wife at the end of "Murder House". We meet Madison Montgomery in 2013 during "Coven" who came from LA. Relatives?
2. In season 4, "Freak Show" we learn Pepper's backstory who we originally met in season 2 "Asylum". "Freak Show" took place in the 1950's, where Pepper was set up for the murder of a baby and is put away for it. In 1962, we see Pepper at Briarcliff, the asylum from season 2.
3. Hans Gruper was the sadistic German doctor from "Asylum" who would do experiments on his patients in the 1960's. During "Freak Show", we discover he is the same German doctor who cut off Elsa's legs in 1932.

These three are a bit more obvious, but many other theories have risen from Murphy's admission. If you're interested about the other possible connections, click here to read more.

Skateboarding "Thesis" Update

I've begun the slow process of production for my (no longer) thesis, and we've hit many road bumps along the way. 

1. This will not be my thesis anymore. 

              Arturo was informed by the high ups in Park, and then informed me, that this project needs to stop production and will not count for any class credit. Recently among many colleges there has been an increase in insurance and liabilities because of some tragedies that happened among other schools. (http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2011/04/18/emerson_student_dies_in_fall_from_building/) Because it will no longer count for class credit that's created some more road bumps along the way. I've been able to put less time and effort into the project because school work needs to take priority. I've also had a few crew members express less of an interest in working on this project now that it is no longer for a thesis credit. And finally I was receiving a bit of financial help on the project from my family and they are less keen on giving me money to make a skate film of my friend as opposed to something for thesis credit. 

2. The talent's busy schedule.

          Ed Kiefer, an internationally ranked downhill skateboarder, is really just a shit-head highschooler with a decently busy schedule. Ed will be away this weekend and next at races, and the weekend after that I will be fully committed to Porn so I can get credit for thesis. The previous weekend we could have shot on Sunday, but he was inside with 8 hours of homework to make up from missing school for races. So that rules weekends out. Then every day during the week he has school until 3, and stays after making up work until 3:30-4. He can never get a ride anywhere so by the time I pick him up from school, go home to get his skateboard, and get to the hill its at least 4:30. That leaves us maybe 2 hours of shooting before we lose light, AND those two hours are during rush hour, the worst time to shoot. 

3. The weather is only getting worse. 

       I was planning on gathering a lot of footage last week and last weekend, however, it was raining the entire time. For fairly obvious reasons we cannot shoot in the rain. This week so far has been overcast and dreary. While it is possible to shoot in these conditions, the shots will not turn out well. However, I'm being forced to shoot in these conditions because of the weather and time constraints. Conditions like this force us to get follow car shots which are much less creative, but shots from a tripod would not look good at all because of the weather. Also we are losing daylight quickly and with Ed's time constraints with school there is getting less and less time to shoot everyday. 

Overall, this project isn't going as planned for multiple reasons out of my control, however, because it is no longer counting as my thesis credit I am feeling less pressure. I still want this to turn out the best it can be, and I think it will. 

GoPro's Virtual Reality Rig and Google Jump

GoPro just announced the release of Odyssey, which will work seamlessly with Google Jump.

....what?

So Google Jump is a hub for creating, sharing, and playing virtual reality videos. Google Jump will compose of three divisions, the camera and the rig, the software that patches the footage together, and the player to view all of the footage. The goal is to increase the use of virtual reality, especially through filmmaking. In theory, Jump will be able to be used with any off the shelf camera compiled into a 16 camera rig. 

When Google announced Jump, they also announced the first production rig for sale that would work with Jump, Go Pro's Odyssey. Odyssey will retail at $15,000 and an application must be submitted and approved before purchase. The Odyssey is a 3-D printed housing for 16 Go-Pro's that is pre configured to shoot video content to be worked through Jump. Google states that Odyssey will be the best tool for a filmmaker who is attempting to enter the virtual reality field but wants to avoid the DIY route. 

Below is a video that explains it in more detail:

Our Anaconda Don't Want None Unless You Got a Series Commitment Hun

This week it was announced that Nikki Minaj would produce and appear in an autobiographical sitcom about her life growing up in Queens in the 90s. The show will run on ABC Family and might single handedly save television. This show has everything millennials want in a TV show: Nikki Minaj, the 90s and their parents disapproval of the content.

It is also being written by a woman, Kate Angelo (The Bernie Mac Show, Will & Grace, Sex Tape) which at least female identifying millennials will approve of. And god knows broadcast television needs it, millennials are watching television less and less and the content being put out there is not doing much to stop the trend. If traditional linear television hopes to survive they absolutely need to start tapping into a different formula. Gone are the days where 6 white twenty somethings trying to make it in New York (actually a 3 camera set in Burbank) with their antics haunted by a creepy laugh track is gonna bring in this generation of twenty somethings. Those carefree "shows about nothing" left with the 90s along with the affordability the Manhattan apartments they were supposed to take place in. Our generation now wants an accurate and diverse perspective on the world, and Nikki Minaj might be the one to give it to us.

It is my guess that many 20 somethings will tune into this show and will continue to be loyal to its brand, if the writing and casting come together as promised. Other networks should take note and should begin looking outside their scope of hot white 20 year olds and towards a demographic of people they are now so desperate to appeal to. 

Cinematography according to Roger Deakins

If you are familiar with the art of cinematography then a name you have surely come across is Roger Deakins. Even if you haven't heard of him you've certainly heard the name at nearly every Oscars for the last decade or more. He has been nominated more than a dozen times for best cinematography. Some of his most recognized films are Shawshank Redemption, No Country for Old Men, Fargo, and Skyfall. His latest film is Sicario.
In a recent interview he gives one of the best quotes in cinematography I think I've heard. "The thing about cinematography is you're not there to shoot amazing images. I don't want anybody to look an image and go oh that is a good image, because then i'm removing them from the story." Everybody these days is looking for that amazing image. Cameras are getting better, timelapses and drones are becoming more popular everyday. All these things create amazing footage but how does this tell a story? I have seen dozens of videos of timelapse and drone footage. While its beautiful it doesn't push the narrative.
Breaking Bad is a great example of a good use of timelapses. In some of their episodes they use time lapse as a way to go from one episode to another. Going day to night or even changing months. Just because they aren't often done for storytelling reasons doesn't mean you can't push them to help your narrative. Jake Boritt Films is a company I worked for two summers ago and their most recent film was called The Gettysburg Story. It retold the 150 year old story of the battle of Gettysburg through time lapse and drone cinematography. It worked incredibly. While the footage was incredible it also told a cohesive story that was at times even enhanced because of the way it was shot.
Roger Deakins is so popular because he will always do what the story NEEDS to be told. Thats why he has shot so many films and won so many awards. He doesn't bother himself with the small things. He doesn't view himself as anything special he just does his job, incredibly might I add. He even has been in trouble for not glamorizing famous actresses. He views them as characters. So here's a reel of some of Roger's most amazing work. Still amazing images.

 

4k, What's that all about?

In this digital environment that we live in technology of all sorts is constantly improving and at alarming rates. When we apply this to the world of cinema cameras, it feels like that already accelerating rate doubles. Companies are releasing new cameras every 12-18 months and it is very hard to keep up with especially when the main feature being improved upon with relates to resolution. 4k seems to be the new standard in the professional world. The DJI Inspire drone can shoot in 4k at 30fps, Blackmagic has multiple cameras that shoot 4.6k, Red and ARRI are the leaders of high resolution, even GoPros can shoot 4k. But what are the real benefits? With the Iphone 6s just having been released videos are popping up left and right of it's 4k ability, below is video that speaks to these features.

The filmmaker featured makes some very valid points about how companies need to keep up with the trends and how 4k is the new standard. While in the professional world this is true, it is not the same for students. It seems ridiculous that a phone can shoot this high of quality, and the results are quite amazing, but does this mean that every student should be using their new phone for their thesis film? Well, it would be a neat aesthetic, and for certain situations it may be handy, but 4k seems to be excessive to be carrying around in your pocket. Plus file space will be eaten up especially if you opt for the 32gb option. I know the Red can fill up a 128GB card shooting 4k in about 20 minutes of shooting, so how will the iPhone deal with this.

Now, one main benefit of shooting 4k is the fact that you can crop in. The video above shows that the cropped in Iphone footage really does maintain a lot of detail. This can be very useful if there is too much head room, you want a close up instead of a mid, essentially you have two shots in one. But this is also allowing filmmakers to get lazy and not really think about their shots. However, what other benefits are you getting?

The detail of 4k resolution is what really draws in filmmakers. Even on tours of the Park School I have had parents ask if we had 4k cameras and this is how I responded.

Firstly, the digital age has already made students shoot to their hearts desire, and this results in endless media to sort through. We are no longer in the age of film where the amount you shot literally was equivalent to money being spent. So why throw even more resolution and media at students in the first place, they should be focusing on the story they are trying to tell, not the resolution of their first student film.

Secondly, most DSLRs, and other cameras for that matter, that students use typically have a maximum resolution of 1080p, which was for a long time a very desirable resolution. However, when students want to use variable frame rates, the resolution starts to drop to 720p. These two resolutions while they seem out of date with everyone all hot and heavy about 4k, are in fact still very much useable. You can still crop in with 1080p, use 720p for slow mo close ups, and still maintain detail.
Most consumer level televisions can't even display proper 4k images without being excessively large. A quick google search showed the first monitor to be 98" and 30k. I don't know about you but I don't have the money or the space for that sort of monstrosity. While there are other smaller options for 4k monitors, students aren't going to have the ability to really to purchase all these new toys left and right.

While 4k is up and coming, and more and more cameras are getting it, I think for now focus on the story, because at the end of the day, crop in or crop out, iPhone or Red, film is about story and the best way to portray that is not through resolution. So shoot with whatever you want, just focus on making meaningful content, because at the end of the day, the client or director want people to remember the message of their story not the camera it was shot with.

Set Safety (Or Lack Therof)

This semester marks my first semester at Ithaca College as a TA. One of the courses I'm a TA for is Fiction Field 1, which is the second production course that many students take. On average, most students in this course have taken Intro Field, some studio courses, and have been on a fair amount of sets already. Some are even seniors, which is why the next story really bothers me.

We were doing a lighting lab in class (note: this is after the lighting demo we did, in which we described how to set up and dismantle each fixture) and students were incorrectly setting up fixtures left and right. We had a 1K that needed to be set up in the hallway, and I entrusted two of the students (one a senior and one I've been on set with before) to set it up. Not only did they set it up upside down but it was two inches away from the fire detector. Thats right, the heat sensitive fire detector that if triggered would douse the entire school in multiple feet of water. Luckily Phil Wacker stopped them before any of that happened.

But this speaks to a broader concern on safety, one that I think Ithaca College is attempting to address. There are seniors and even graduates who wouldn't know an unsafe set from a safe one. This is unacceptable, and so is IC's response to it. Their half credit "safety course" that Steve Gordon is teaching this semester is barely comprehensive, not to mention it uses solely third party material. On set safety is an essential concept that few people at this school grasp, and its amazing that there haven't been more injuries. In my opinion On Set Safety should be a half semester course, in person, that is required of everyone in TVR and Cinema. We shouldn't rely on professors of other courses to cover this topic in passing, or not at all.

As a bonus for reading my rant, here is a picture of a set up done recently by seniors from the park school. It was left like this for the duration of the set up too. Wires thrown everywhere, XLRs over AC current, unsandbagged lights, etc.

Cross Platform Entertainment

NBC is taking a step out of the norm to bring us a new type of game show that will involve viewers right at home. You've probably heard of the widely popular trivia app, QuizUp, but now you can get addicted to it in an entirely new way (as if we needed another activity to suck up all our time). Just yesterday, NBC announced an interactive game show competition that will allow contestants to compete with people at home in real time. The series will be called QuizUp and contestants will get the opportunity to win cash prizes up to one million dollars. The in-studio contestant must win eight trivia battles against eight different players at home. If the at-home player wins a round, they will receive a monetary prize of the equivalent of what that round is worth. Potential contestants must qualify ahead of time, but even those who aren't part of the show can still play along at home.

NBC is trying out this new game show format after having success with other alternative competition shows like The Voice, America's Got Talent and America Ninja Warrior. These shows give viewers at home the opportunity to vote for their favorites and feel a sense of participation. QuizUp will give the audience an even more interactive way of participating. With less and less people watching live television, trying to get people in front of a TV at the same time every week is getting harder and harder. QuizUp will most likely not be the type of show that you will find online the following day to stay caught up on. Instead, it will push for people to sit in front of a real cable television and play in real time. Even Jeopardy or Wheel of Fortune doesn't have that kind of audience involvement. This creative new trivia game hopes to bring a new, engaging type of challenge to American television.

Magic Lantern

So I've had my T4i for about four years now. In that time, its gotten a lot to a little bit of use. Well, I'm coming out of my funk of not using the camera after this hiatus. Over the years since I've had the DSLR I've always heard about Magic Lantern and the wonderful tools it gives you. Hesitant might not be the word to accurately describe why I never took the plunge. I'd seen a lot of articles and posts about how buggy the firmware was and that it messed up someone's camera. That was always offputting to me. Well, tonight I decided to install the firmware on my camera. I'm going to be the DP for my Doc Workshop project and the added features will be beneficial for shooting. Having more manual control over what I'm filming will allow me to tailor my image a lot easier and more in depth.

One aspect of the program I'm most excited about is the intervalometer. Ever since I went to High Cascade Snowboard Camp and was shown by Brad Kremer the workflow and how to shoot a proper timelapse I've always been intrigued about, but never was able to, shooting a proper timelapse. I hope to not only utilize this for passion projects but also with my documentary.

I can't wait to start using all of the other features as well!

In Love Or Fear

This past weekend was the first production day for the documentary that Shai and I are working on, and I am already starting to see how documentary filmmaking is different than fiction. In the past, I have only worked on scripted videos, translating stories on the screen that have been thoroughly planned out on the page. With this project, I’m learning how documentary stories can evolve to make themselves become more clear throughout the process. What began as a short documentary about a person doing good became a call to action for a movement of doing good, and this weekend, I could start to see the direction by which we are going to tell the story.

Friday afternoon, Shai and I hit the road to Virginia to shoot our main interview with James Orrigo, the founder of Lad In A Battle and the subject of our film. Just before we left, he called us about another person we could interview for the film, his college guidance counselor, Christine, who had seen him and his movement grow.  She was only an hour’s drive from his home in Virgina, and had a house on Lake Anna, a potentially great interview location. Yet as much as Shai and I were tantalized by the idea of the waterfront backdrop, we knew that it wouldn’t serve our story enough to justify the sound problems it came with.

During her interview, Christine talked about the problem of living one’s life in fear. Fear for the future, for grades, for school, for money. The problem with fear is that it prevents us being happy and from fully embracing the world with love. As I listened through my headphones, watched the microphones levels, and thought about her words, I started to realize how this video was going to take shape. James made a choice back when he got a concussion in high school from lacrosse that nearly killed him; he could either live the rest of his life in fear of the world, or embrace it with love. Immediately after the interview, Christine invited us all out on her boat in Lake Anna, and we Shai and i made the conscious choice to live by the new words of our film. In fact, this could be the angle by which we tackle the rest of the film.

What does it mean to embrace the world with love? It means reaching out to people, it means doing what makes you happy, doing what makes others happy, and finding a way to balance those out everyday. What James does with music for children and the music he played for his mother during her cancer, is his way of bridging what makes those around him happy and what makes him happy. What became even more clear during James’ interview is that something about him and the Lad In A Battle movement is infectious. Early on when he just started Lad In A Battle, he had an idea to get from VA to ME without a car by relying on people along the coast who liked his message and sell t-shirts along the way. James had a choice: to live his life in fear, or in love. The success of this trip and the effects it had on propelling his movement demonstrated the power of this idea that Christine had talked about. Especially at a time when our lives are moving so fast. There is so much pressure for the future, to get good grades to go to a good school to get a good job to have money. Yet James choice to follow his heart and live his life in love for others and now he and his wife are gearing up to build a tiny house on the back of trailer to tour hospitals across the country, all in hopes to kick start his Out Of The Music Box program for children with cancer.  Despite the battles underneath, he’s living his life in love, not in fear, and this is something that we can all do. This is not the way I had thought to tell his story, but now I am realizing that with documentary’s, they like to tell their own stories and we have to guide them.

On the Way to School

On the way to school is a feature length documentary that chronicles the journey to school for children from four very different countries. I decided to watch this film as a suggestion from a friend who knew I was interested in documentaries. Before I knew it I found myself completely absorbed into the story of these various children. The film was shot and edited in the style of cinema verite, where the camera floats around as if it wasn't even there.
In my opinion this is the truest form of documentary filmmaking. Interviews make people conscious of the fact that they are being filmed and in many cases takes away from the "reality" of the situation. Cinema verite truly captures life at its essence, with no planned lines or designed lighting. Everything happens as is and it is up to the filmmaker to operate on his own two feet to decide what to do. Editing becomes the driving force in telling the story. On the way to school weaves the narratives between the children together and although they are thousands of miles apart, it seems as though they are traveling as one collective.
This is one of the most important films I believe I have watched in a long time. Education is something that many of us in the United States and other first world countries take for granted. The idea of even struggling to get to school is rarely a thought in any of our minds. We grew up with the big yellow school bus picking us up on street corners or some, even more privileged, were taken right from their own driveways. To see the literal struggle that many go through everyday, just to get an education is inspiring and humbling.
This is what I hope to one day do with film. As we wrapped our first weekend of shooting down in Virginia my partner Eric and I are more driven more than ever to help others with film. I don't know where life will take me but all I can hope to do is inspire and hopefully improve the lives of others with film. On the Way to School is currently streaming on Netflix I encourage everyone to watch and try and put themselves in the shoes of these children, if only for the hour the film runs.

19 Profits and Counting

TLC announced today that they would be producing and airing a two new programs featuring 19 Kids and Counting stars, Jill and Jessa Duggar. For those with no background on the show or its subject, 19 Kids and Counting was a reality program that aired on TLC chronicling the day to day lives of supersized family (due to religious beliefs against contraception) the Duggars from Tonitown, Arkansas. The show was a huge hit for TLC, with people tuning in to watch the spectacle that was basically watching these christian human rabbits reproducing at record rates with none of the fun parts. The show was cancelled when it was revealed that oldest Duggar son, Josh Duggar, had molested his two oldest sisters (Jessa and Jill) along with other victims. A situation that would have been traumatic and scandalous for any family but that was now highlighted by the family's christian values that prohibited even hugging before marriage.

However now that the show aka money maker is off the air, TLC has started looking for new ways to exploit the victims of Josh's molestation for their own benefit. First the network will air a documentary called "Breaking the Silence" about the victims involved in child abuse, including interviews from Jill and Jess. The network will then start production on a new show just following the lives of Jill and Jess sans their parents and 17 other siblings. This kind of exploitation is not new for a network for TLC but will be an interesting test for the nielsen homes of America. Will the profiting off the victims of molestation be too much for America to handle or will they welcome it into their homes, like another member of the family?

Jimmy Fallon's Guide To Trend

Since taking over Late Night and later the Tonight Show, Jimmy Fallon has pretty much created the manual for how TV personalities should utilize social media. In today's world, it had become much more rare for viewers to sit down and watch television live. With Netflix, Hulu, Amazon and other subscription based streaming services, the appeal of live TV just isn't what it used to be. So for shows to get into public view, they need to take advantage of all the mediums now available. While all programs should utilize Youtube, Facebook and Twitter, I would argue that it is most valuable for talk show and late night programs. These type of programs often play more like variety shows then one long piece, making them perfect for Internet. With so many different blocks/segments on late night TV, internet videos services are the perfect way to share chunks of the show without having to push the entire hour of content.

Over the last few years, no late night personality has done this better then Jimmy Fallon. A staple of Fallon's Tonight Show has been his many different comedy bits. Fallon consistently rolls off hugely popular segments, with great celebrity cameos and his popular band The Roots. He does everything from funny games, to musical numbers, to surprise reunions. Each of these 2-10 minute segments, instantly goes on to Youtube, where they are viewed, and shared and a rapid rate. These blocks are perfect for Youtube and almost always build enough buzz to start trending on social media. The great thing about sharing these individual segments is that they show the greatest part of Fallon's show while allowing viewers to skip the rest of his program. On a show like the Tonight show that airs five times a week, not every bit hits, but with Youtube, Fallon fans can skip the mediocre parts, pretty much getting a best of highlight reel instead.

Last night, Fallon continued his streak of popular segments, when he reunited Kenan and Kel, popular Nickelodeon stars from the 90's for a "Good Burger" sketch. A big chunk of the Tonight Show's audience has been college students, a group the Fallon usually plays to in his segments. During his run he has staged a series of 90 reunions from "Full House", to "Save By The Bell." These videos have millions of views on Youtube and I'm sure his latest bit will reach high numbers. The "Good Burger" sketch is just the latest example of how Fallon uses perfectly utilizes YouTube, something I'm sure we'll see more of during his reign.

Location is a Character

This may well come off as one of my more obvious blog posts, but I think it's something that's really important for everyone to remember as we all start gearing up to make our films; location should always act as a character. A silent, unflinching, omnipresent character, but a character nonetheless.

Surprisingly enough - as I'm just now finding out - you don't get a whole lot of interesting results when you Google "film locations as characters." But pick any great movie or cinematic TV show and boom: there it is. Let's take, for instance, Mad Max Fury Road. The barren, deserted landscape practically breathes. It not only presents itself as an obstacle to the characters, it comes to life. The movie was filmed in Namibia (unlike the first three which were shot in Australia) and the desert sands and dunes are literally blown out of proportion in order to bring the movie to life. It gives the movie a distinct tone more so than any other element of the film; while the (sparse) dialogue and set design are unique, it would be nothing without the location itself.

Let's take another example: True Detective. The only thing that the first and second season even remotely have in common is how they treat their locations. In the first season, director Cary Fukunaga both played with expectations and met them in his use of the creepy bayous and run-down areas of Louisiana (fun side note, here's a link to a tour you can take that has 13 locations from the show). It also had this boat that looks like it's floating on land, but that's more of a cool shot than anything else. They used the locations to really bump up the level of creepiness that oozes throughout the season, and at a certain point, you start to feel like it's its own entity.

Same goes for season 2. No matter what your opinion of it may be (it sucked) they still use location as a major indicator of what's happening and what matters. I'm pretty sure that the aerial shots of freeways and various roads take up more screentime than Rachel McAdam's character. It, too, sets the tone: instead of the slow burn, Southern feel of season one, we now know that we're in a world where everything is constantly moving forward, with little hope of ever coming to a halt. It's a bit more inconsistent than the previous season, but the point still comes across.

No Country for Old Men, Lost in Translation, Cool Hand Luke, Drive, any movie that prominently features the city of New York: all of these treat their locations as a character (to see where I got all of those ideas from, here's a list on letterboxd I found that more or less sums up what I've been talking about). Locations can add tone, texture, and feeling to a film, and if you use them right, you'll be that much better for having done it.