hey guys... I'm sorry if this a major faux pas... anyway...
If you could, i'd appreciate anyone taking the time to read this and give me an answer, and if you could take the time to elaborate, it'd be nice if you could give your reasons.
I've basically been studying cinema last 2 or so years, so one day I could become a "filmmaker", and its come to a point where I can't decide what path to take... I've gotten into a fairly good (digital) film school, but anyone in the industry will tell you film school's a waste of time. anyway, last few days i've emailed a few of my idols to ask them for their opinion with the following message. They're all people who work in the film industry and sorta teach as well, so I thought it appropriate for them. if there is anything that's even the slightest bit confusing, don't hesitate to ask. i'd be happy to clarify... I am however, taking out any reference to what country I'm in at the moment, purely for personal reasons, along with an introduction and general hello-how-are-you's. some bits are edited, but here's the bulk of the message:
I'm an aspiring filmmaker living in ******. I do a lot of theatre, charity and community work, and part of that work is geared towards reviving cinema as a medium here... stuff like working to set up mobile drive-ins in remote villages, making more people aware of cinema's power as a storytelling medium. I'm working on expanding on such work in future, but that's somewhat irrelevant for this discussion. Filmmaker's too vague a term though, so personally I like saying that I'm an aspiring director-editor. For the sake of making a living, I'll be making tv commercials. That's the only place where there's any money right now. Either way, I have a decision to make. I have a little over $50,000 (USD) to invest in either film school (the Cinematography course at the IFSS, i've gotten in, and I need only give in a deposit) or into "equipment" and learn on my own. Personally, I'd go for the latter, but there are more than a few problems. I'm trying to make movies in an industry that doesn't make movies.
Hmm... I'll explain exactly what the local market's like right now. Basicly, there's only a make-do-with-anything DV/SD crowd, and the ultra-rich whatever-works 35mm adfilm crowd. DV crowd slaps together anything at all and puts it on tv. Everything that is shot here on 35mm (only TVC's have the budget for it) is done with technical expertise from abroad. Most of it anyway. The DOP comes from Singapore usually, and that's where it goes for Telecine and color grading. Both Primary and Secondary color correction. The footage is then brought back on Digibeta tapes usually and then they do the edit. Now this entire setup is costly (for people working here atleast), because the director (and sometimes even the clients, unnecessarily) has to be flown out for the grade, enough takes have to be shot. There are a handful of 35mm cameras around, owned by something like 7 to 10 people, and only 4 of those have a wholly functional camera package, and only two large production houses with their own studios/soundstages. There are no rental houses here, per se. Since there are such few people doing this work, there's no real demand for technical expertise, because those who're working at that level already have that money to spare, so they'll go the whole nine yards and outsource. People are happy, because really their clients don't know any better, they're making wayyy too much money for the work they do (one person I know can and would pull in upwards of $100,000-200,000 dollars a month, depending on what and how much he wanted to take) and their requirements/standards seem inversely just as low to boot.
The main problem's the startup money, and that's the only reason nobody has bothered trying to build up the industry, because its too costly trying to get the expertise (from out of town) to maintain an enterprise of that magnitude to get it off the ground. Or to work it for that matter. The other problem, which ruins the few people who have enough money to invest is not having any expertise to even buy the right equipment in the first place.
Nobody knows how to color grade. Or edit. Or work with large amounts of data. Or plan for upgradable, scalable solutions. Hmm. I suppose that's not entirely true, because there are exceptions, but its of no real world value to a clientele that doesn't require it. To some extent they know how, but its purely through trial and error, they just don't know why or when to do what they do. i'd say that while I appreciate their intuition, I find that they have no real structure in their workflow. The only experience is insulated in this industry. Everything's hack-slashed together into what works for the industry. If this was a predominantly english speaking country, we'd have a flood of easy "talent" around to work with. Right now its whoever takes the time to bother, because you can pick up a copy of Adobe Premiere Pro at the store for a little over a dollar. And its not that I don't respect their work, its just that years of experience here means very few people even have the notion of having a method. They work very well with what they're given, but its the sort of insulation where the top post facility in town will almost blank out at the mere mention of a vectorscope or a waveform monitor. it is important though, to point out, they may very well have better, more solid workflows in mind, but personal preference or capability doesn't necessitate investment here.
High-end digital cinema has not entered the market yet, and I cannot see the RED succeeding in the near future (which many people are banking on) because they have the money for the basic production package, just not enough for a full editing/color grading/sound setup and lenses (or they just think its immaterial to invest in it). Or storage for that matter. They'll be editing it purely on FCP or Premiere, but again, with no attempt to use waveform monitors (even the software ones built into the NLE), no attempt to control the logistics of having that much data to work with. But that's still workable. The main problem with the lenses is that there are only a couple of lens sets available in the market for rent, and I doubt those are going anywhere because nobody can use the 35mm cameras without them. and the more compromises made, the less you get out of it.
The problem for these guys is that a) they don't have the money/talent (or the money to hire the talent) to pull off the same quality of work as the people working on film, i.e. they don't have the money or the setup at production, let alone a good DOP, or lights. Or even a crew. And some bare necessities are simply out of reach. Gels, filters, etc, for example, are scarce because they have to be brought in from abroad. b) Remember, the only people with the studios and the cameras don't like the RED. At all. I know so personally, because I worked for one of the three big Director/Producers who run this town (and by town i mean country. local industry is that small). It'd cut into their profits and their market if they helped the RED guys out. Not to say its not doable. It'd just be a pain for a while. The benefit of the RED as a replacement for the film cameras, however cheap it might be, will cancel out, because the cost of renting everything from one guy who owns it all, and knows it, is too much. Clients whose budgets exceed that already have the big shot director/producer/studio owners on their bench. I don't think they'll be able to deliver the same quality anytime soon, not without a fully flung out setup. If say, the footage isn't perfectly shot out, and not handled decently and correctly in post, it'll be a waste (and there's a lot of room for error there). Especially if they make this much of an investment, and end up with a camera that only allows returns on pseudo-HD work. that is, if no one's putting more attention towards it in terms of quality control.
Haha... If I think about it, ****** might have one of the only industries where everything is an indie production.
So... Issues.
If you could, i'd appreciate anyone taking the time to read this and give me an answer, and if you could take the time to elaborate, it'd be nice if you could give your reasons.
I've basically been studying cinema last 2 or so years, so one day I could become a "filmmaker", and its come to a point where I can't decide what path to take... I've gotten into a fairly good (digital) film school, but anyone in the industry will tell you film school's a waste of time. anyway, last few days i've emailed a few of my idols to ask them for their opinion with the following message. They're all people who work in the film industry and sorta teach as well, so I thought it appropriate for them. if there is anything that's even the slightest bit confusing, don't hesitate to ask. i'd be happy to clarify... I am however, taking out any reference to what country I'm in at the moment, purely for personal reasons, along with an introduction and general hello-how-are-you's. some bits are edited, but here's the bulk of the message:
I'm an aspiring filmmaker living in ******. I do a lot of theatre, charity and community work, and part of that work is geared towards reviving cinema as a medium here... stuff like working to set up mobile drive-ins in remote villages, making more people aware of cinema's power as a storytelling medium. I'm working on expanding on such work in future, but that's somewhat irrelevant for this discussion. Filmmaker's too vague a term though, so personally I like saying that I'm an aspiring director-editor. For the sake of making a living, I'll be making tv commercials. That's the only place where there's any money right now. Either way, I have a decision to make. I have a little over $50,000 (USD) to invest in either film school (the Cinematography course at the IFSS, i've gotten in, and I need only give in a deposit) or into "equipment" and learn on my own. Personally, I'd go for the latter, but there are more than a few problems. I'm trying to make movies in an industry that doesn't make movies.
Hmm... I'll explain exactly what the local market's like right now. Basicly, there's only a make-do-with-anything DV/SD crowd, and the ultra-rich whatever-works 35mm adfilm crowd. DV crowd slaps together anything at all and puts it on tv. Everything that is shot here on 35mm (only TVC's have the budget for it) is done with technical expertise from abroad. Most of it anyway. The DOP comes from Singapore usually, and that's where it goes for Telecine and color grading. Both Primary and Secondary color correction. The footage is then brought back on Digibeta tapes usually and then they do the edit. Now this entire setup is costly (for people working here atleast), because the director (and sometimes even the clients, unnecessarily) has to be flown out for the grade, enough takes have to be shot. There are a handful of 35mm cameras around, owned by something like 7 to 10 people, and only 4 of those have a wholly functional camera package, and only two large production houses with their own studios/soundstages. There are no rental houses here, per se. Since there are such few people doing this work, there's no real demand for technical expertise, because those who're working at that level already have that money to spare, so they'll go the whole nine yards and outsource. People are happy, because really their clients don't know any better, they're making wayyy too much money for the work they do (one person I know can and would pull in upwards of $100,000-200,000 dollars a month, depending on what and how much he wanted to take) and their requirements/standards seem inversely just as low to boot.
The main problem's the startup money, and that's the only reason nobody has bothered trying to build up the industry, because its too costly trying to get the expertise (from out of town) to maintain an enterprise of that magnitude to get it off the ground. Or to work it for that matter. The other problem, which ruins the few people who have enough money to invest is not having any expertise to even buy the right equipment in the first place.
Nobody knows how to color grade. Or edit. Or work with large amounts of data. Or plan for upgradable, scalable solutions. Hmm. I suppose that's not entirely true, because there are exceptions, but its of no real world value to a clientele that doesn't require it. To some extent they know how, but its purely through trial and error, they just don't know why or when to do what they do. i'd say that while I appreciate their intuition, I find that they have no real structure in their workflow. The only experience is insulated in this industry. Everything's hack-slashed together into what works for the industry. If this was a predominantly english speaking country, we'd have a flood of easy "talent" around to work with. Right now its whoever takes the time to bother, because you can pick up a copy of Adobe Premiere Pro at the store for a little over a dollar. And its not that I don't respect their work, its just that years of experience here means very few people even have the notion of having a method. They work very well with what they're given, but its the sort of insulation where the top post facility in town will almost blank out at the mere mention of a vectorscope or a waveform monitor. it is important though, to point out, they may very well have better, more solid workflows in mind, but personal preference or capability doesn't necessitate investment here.
High-end digital cinema has not entered the market yet, and I cannot see the RED succeeding in the near future (which many people are banking on) because they have the money for the basic production package, just not enough for a full editing/color grading/sound setup and lenses (or they just think its immaterial to invest in it). Or storage for that matter. They'll be editing it purely on FCP or Premiere, but again, with no attempt to use waveform monitors (even the software ones built into the NLE), no attempt to control the logistics of having that much data to work with. But that's still workable. The main problem with the lenses is that there are only a couple of lens sets available in the market for rent, and I doubt those are going anywhere because nobody can use the 35mm cameras without them. and the more compromises made, the less you get out of it.
The problem for these guys is that a) they don't have the money/talent (or the money to hire the talent) to pull off the same quality of work as the people working on film, i.e. they don't have the money or the setup at production, let alone a good DOP, or lights. Or even a crew. And some bare necessities are simply out of reach. Gels, filters, etc, for example, are scarce because they have to be brought in from abroad. b) Remember, the only people with the studios and the cameras don't like the RED. At all. I know so personally, because I worked for one of the three big Director/Producers who run this town (and by town i mean country. local industry is that small). It'd cut into their profits and their market if they helped the RED guys out. Not to say its not doable. It'd just be a pain for a while. The benefit of the RED as a replacement for the film cameras, however cheap it might be, will cancel out, because the cost of renting everything from one guy who owns it all, and knows it, is too much. Clients whose budgets exceed that already have the big shot director/producer/studio owners on their bench. I don't think they'll be able to deliver the same quality anytime soon, not without a fully flung out setup. If say, the footage isn't perfectly shot out, and not handled decently and correctly in post, it'll be a waste (and there's a lot of room for error there). Especially if they make this much of an investment, and end up with a camera that only allows returns on pseudo-HD work. that is, if no one's putting more attention towards it in terms of quality control.
Haha... If I think about it, ****** might have one of the only industries where everything is an indie production.
So... Issues.
I've had so many situations where we were on fire developing rolls during powerouts and all other places stop working 3 hours a day it felt great.
very comfortable with computers. and I get most of my material online anyway, so the forum is nothing new.
