Theatrical Firearms

The book I read to research this post was The Theatrical Firearms Handbook by Kevin Inouye which is an excellent book that I read at http://safaribooksonline.com. This website is a subscription devoted to business and computing books you read online so I was pleasantly surprised they had this book. This book tells you about the history of firearms where most developments have been in the last 200 years despite them having muskets since the 17th century. Any kind of battle in a play or film has to be carefully choreographed almost as if it was a dance. You have major options which are either a replica firearm or the real thing that will fire blanks. A lot of these weapons will fire a projectile albet at low velocity but you have to be careful about where this going to go. Normally a firearms expert has to be present as well as adequate insurance. Sometimes a low velocity projectile is used which will knock the actor over for realism and also often blood packs are used which use a tiny explosive and feign bleeding. Another issue is sound whether a weapon will be fired on stage and if you fire it at the back of the theatre it won’t seem real and will be distracting to the audience. In film making they will often create the sound with in the film editing software although they will probably have to record it and then add it to the soundtrack. You will also have to take into account the type of weapon used especially in film making and theatrical injuries created. A shotgun in particular creates a lot of damage often a wound which appears to be turned inside out. I am really glad I read this book which is very enjoyable to read and a very interesting subject. I would wholeheartedly recommend this book.

Digital SLR Video And Film Making

The book I read to research this post was Digital SLR Video And Film Making For Dummies by John Carucci which is a very good book which I bought from kindle. SLR cameras have been around since the 40’s when they revolutionized photography. Digital SLR’s follow the same principles although they store photos digitally often on a media card which is printed out on a computer and printer. You can buy a digital SLR camera for a few hundred dollars and buying it with several lenses works out cheaply compared to the equivalent prosumer video camera. It doesn’t cost the camera company much to add this capability to the camera and the results are so good even tv programmes like House are sometimes shot on a digital SLR. Most of these cameras shoot footage in full HD resolution although one drawback is the controls aren’t very intuitive if you are a videographer. You also need a tripod & of course a program like Adobe Premiere Elements to do your video editing. Many people shoot video and put it on websites like vimeo & youtube. You can get free screenwriting software that includes templates at http://finaldraft.com & http://screenplay.com. I think this book is an enjoyable read & there is tutorials on Premiere Elements which is quite a capable program for most film makers. It’s quite a long book and advises that you learn as much as possible about lighting and cinematography to become a really great film maker. Most tv programs like soap operas are often very similar shot and the great film makers knew how to use light to great effect which when you see their films they are very impressive. You should also watch the great movies and read books on the great movie makers to get ideas for your films.

 

 

Digital Video Accessories

The book I read to research this post was Digital Video Handbook by Tom Ang which is an excellent book and which I got from the library but bear in mind this book is 5 years old although I am sure there is an updated version but some technologies like category 10 SD cards aren’t mentioned.

Obviously the first digital item you need is a DV camcorder. If you are serious about film making you need a prosumer model. Prosumer stands for professional consumer and while these camcorders have many of the features of broadcast standard cameras they can be obtained for a fraction of the cost.

Then you need a camera bag or preferably a hard case obviously to protect your camcorder another similiar item is a waterproof housing which protects it from the rain. A battery charger and a spare battery are a must. A lens hood protects the lens from bumps and a matte box shields your lens from the sun.  A tripod keeps your camera steady while shooting. A microphone is a must & if it’s windy a windsock will protect it from the wind. If you need to record actors dialogue a boom is needed to position the microphone.

You obviously need a computer with decent graphics card, sound card & monitor also you may need calibration software for the monitor. You may need an external hard drive and external blu ray writer. Finally a useful item is a DAT recorder which records uncompressed sound but the tapes are expensive.

 

Film Making

The book I read to research this blog was “Film Making for Dummies” by Bryan Michael Stoller. I think it is an excellent book for anybody interested in making a film.

One interesting idea in the book was if you can get a well known actor interested playing a role in your film, get a letter of interest from him/her which is basically a letter saying he has read the script and is interested. This will help with getting finance. Something mentioned was that if you enquire about funding the first question asked is who is in it? Not what’s it about.  It’s also said that there is no real difference between a studio film and an independent studio film.  If you are making an independent film you can use non-union actors which saves money. Makers of independent films have trouble getting distributors and I think the idea of entering it in as many film festivals as possible.

Can I just say someone asked about me using H tags in the comments. I think you just have to do what is right for you. I read a Jack Kerouac book a while back. He was quite a well known author in the 60’s who used to take speed and then stay up for several days writing a manuscript on a roll of wallpaper. The book had no punctuation which I found disconcerting.