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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

Instead of "filming", what word to use ?

Les Dittert

Les Dittert

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I'm probably not alone in searching for the right way to say that I'm going to '[SUB][SUP]shoot[/SUP][/SUB]' some '[SUB]film[/SUB]' on the weekend.
So I'm not going to shoot some 'film'
I'm not shooting some video. , video reminds people of VHS.
I'm not going to say 'media' , too nebulous.

So what do you say no a non industry person to describe the act of capturing film resolution media without either sounding like a dork, or making no sense, or sounding like an elitist snob ?
And still have general people understand what you are doing!

Fill in the blank : " Hey Bill, I can't go to the party because I'm _________ some ________ of dancers that day" ( or some slight variation .... )
 
I am shooting or capturing motion pictures of dancing gummi bears. With high resolution digital acquisition from Red happening at 5k and 4k, this is more true than ever.

If my images are destined for the screen I'm often called a Cinematographer. If I'm shooting anything else people just call me a Director of Photography. Sometimes I just get "camera dude".
 
Funny I was just thinking about this earlier today "Shoot some Bites", "Expose some Sites" "Shoot some Sites" photosites that is, Fill some Drives, and you know we can do that. I dunno I'm running out of things. But I know what you mean I've been looking for the right words to describe what exactly I'm doing.
 
The meaning of "film" has been expanded... It simply means motion pictures. "Filming" simply means capturing motion pictures. Motion pictures is the most politically correct term, and movies is the right slang if you want to avoid "film".

If we were to be accurate, it would be "non-interactive audio-visual media".

Martin Weiss said:
I'll be capturing some footage of them dancers.
Click to expand...

Footage of what? More like bytes. Doesn't sound as cool, does it?
 
Hi Les,

very good question indeed. But calling us "motionpicture capturors", "digital Cinematographers",... and what else won't give the right impression in the non-media-world. We need something like "butcher". Isn't that the advantage of the english language to have simple short explanations for complex things. Leave us Germans those sophisticated stitched-together-word-explanations ;-)

Cheers
Thomas.
 
If you are the one capturing STILL images via the use of a still camera you are "THE PHOTOGRAPHER"

If you are the one capturing MOTION images via the use of a still camera you are "THE VIDEOGRAPHER"

If you are the one capturing the images via the use of a motion camera and also you are the DP, DOP, Director of Photography, He whom decides what lighting and were and how much to use, then you are "THE CINEMATOGRAPHER"

If you are the one capturing Motion and Still images via the use of a still motion camera, know also as EPIC camera you are "THE CINEPHOTOGRAPHER"... ;)


Example:

Yeah, I'm going to shoot one of those "Protected Eagles" next week, is going to be so much fun.

Yeah I love to shoot the President, but He always has so much security around him that makes it so difficult to shoot him.

Then of ocurse as I said traveling in many countries of the world, you'll find immediately that the simple use of " SHOOT" or "SHOOTING" is simply not appropriate.

I never use slangs as I travel to much, and some countries might understand it many others would not, also you don't want to be using the word I'm going to "SHOOT" I'll be SHOOTING" when in some countries, or in some locations even in the USA.

So I do use the word "FILMING" or I'm making a "MOVIE" or "MOTION PICTURE".

But I don't use the word Shoot or Shooting, unless with American friends of the industry, as no one outside the industry, knows the term and easily mistakes your intentions.

Get my point???
 
I'll proceed calling the motion pictures as films right up to the day my heart stop beating. No problemo.
 
I guess I'll call it 'filming' then... the term has taken on the new meaning, and most people get it nowadays.
 
You mentioned what you would say to a non industry person. Definitely filming. They won't know the difference with "digital-ing" or filming in the first place. If they end up being smart enough, they would know what a RED is and then it wouldn't even matter because they already know.

Plus, with the hundred years of that word being used, it's kinda tough to use any other words. The word filming is basically a concept more than a verb.

Maybe similar to:

"Can you xerox that for me?"
"No dumbass, it's not xeroxing, it's photocopying"
 
Recording Digital Video. Maybe RED wil come up with a phrase to describe what we're doing.
 
My adopted solution has been to say "make" rather than "take" video. This small variation in semantics makes all the difference. Example: Instead of asking "can I take some video?" at a location, you ask "may we make some video?". It's a subtle difference between being subtractive or additive. Try it next time your getting some unpermitted B-roll and someone comes up and asks what you're doing. If you say that you're making video that communicates you are creating. If you say you're taking video that communicates you're stealing.
So, I would say: "Hey Bill, I can't go to the party because I'm making some video of dancers that day"
 
I am an Omniographer that shoots footage or in the broader sense, movies. Calling it a film is not specific enough since there are other means of movie-making. Film no longer is in my vocabulary as a movie description.
 
I'm making movies on location
I don't know what it means

(to paraphrase Dire Straits :lol: )

Mike
 
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