I totally agree. All blogs from so self called pro are full of comparison of who has the best and latest equipment (biggest dick?). But rarely talk about the shooting technique.

but i don't like other people that much...;)
and i had my share of directing docu.
i rather try to make a decent mysterious short.
i agree most are really terrible.
truth is i really don't care about how extra fine the picture will be.
it's just while i wait to find a good enough story+energies to direct.

Of course all thys is a good game for the industries because people are ready to change more often the objects that have (thynk only about TV screens before they remains the same for decades, now after two years a TV screen is old whe hawe see HDready, FullHD, LED, now 3D, in a year 4K and so on). We live on what we can get or do with tomorrow and not now.

I agree. I don't visit that many sites. It's just clutter of people shouting mostly unimportant stuff. There's always people telling others how they need the most expensive stuff to be professional, how the high iso in this camera makes it the best deal, etc. and dismiss all other things. Maybe I'm harsh, but I see certain snobbery. And these people tend to stick around in certain forums.

This focus on super bitrates, etc. is also noise for me. Yes, I like the stuff you are doing, meaning providing the hack. Though, personally, I just want to install a reasonable patch that I can trust, and that's it. I won't change it, even if better bitrates, etc come along. I just want something that works good enough, meaning as close to what I regard as acceptable quality.

Also, I want to know more about how people go about filming one man, or woman. How do they setup things, interact with people, do their thing? Show me a great collection of people's work. I mean, the net is just clutter for me. I can't find the things I want to aspire to from independent people. Show me what I can do with certain gear that makes my shots work better. Doesn't matter if it's cheap or expensive stuff. I want to see how things work, without being bothered by advertising or the showdown, shootout, and mine is better than yours, this is better than that, this grading software is what you really need, etc. I don't care. I just want to know what's the creative process. Don't show me tests! I'm getting tired of the endless trials and previews. Show me the works of people. Show me amazing stuff people do without having any funds, but with their creativity. But complete works, even if it's 30 seconds shorts. Show me how people create perfection with their creativity!

Vimeo is a great hunting-ground for inspiration. But yes I hear you and I would love a simple "how do I plan a music video" flowchart.

I think one of the problems is that people who have passions / abilities get stuck in their medium: for instance (I'm guilty on this one) sound people tend to use a lot of words, colour-grading people show before and after scenes with lots of colour corrections, directors show off their films. But I would find it more useful if a producer would produce a nice flowchart, a sound guy a plan of mic placements, a director a plan or some comparative what if... type animations. But this takes them away from their chosen medium and their expertise. Teachers are quite good at this imaginative work because they will naturally come up with analogies which help explain stuff often better than actual "experts" can. That's a rare thing to have the right combo of expertise and ability to explain, and that's why we get stuck in these ruts. I think.

Anyone who's worked professionally in a field (like I did in sound, for what seemed like hundreds of years) will know that there are a million different problems that crop up, and solving them is part of learning. I'm sure others who work in other fields will have the same thoughts - that you can't really easily set out "how to..." because there are so many different, unique, crazy, or urgent things to sort during the course of a day, and you learn by doing that, and it takes a lifetime. I don't think my experience would be any use to anyone else unless I was telling them how to solve a specific problem that I'd solved earlier. But that's not about me helping someone learn, it's about me telling them what to do to solve a specific issue, which isn't quite the same thing.

I was interested that someone was saying on this forum that "courses" are no good - can't remember who - but if you have the right teachers it's great and very different from having a huge expertise in the craft. The reason I say this is that "expertise" is not enough - because that's all about the expert. It's the ability to actually teach the stuff in a way that allows other people to succeed and do well (which is I think @Vitaliy what you're saying about not knowing what other people want). Same in music - you get musicians who do "masterclasses" and all it does is allow them to show off how they solved a problem for themselves, it doesn't actually "teach" anything that anyone else can usefully apply to their own work. So probably a bit like your last point - even if you know your craft, that doesn't mean you can provide what other people really need, because that isn't the same thing.

Difficult to explain though so I hope I've understood right. I would love to know more about how to make an interesting visual sequence that people want to look at and stay watching! Or even...where to start!

Yep, its human nature to strive for better 'designs', 'machines', 'aesthetic'. The outsider may often find themself in the middle of the crowd and invariably they can't stop themselves from communicating an alternative until it itself is not.

Nothing is original that originates from nothing pardon the paradigm.

I'm gonna defend hi bitrates or 'super bitrates' as people refer to them for one single reason only; INTRA requires it to work correctly for high i frames. Low bitrate INTRA equals crap Quantisation in real terms on the GH2. Simple as that. People seem to think that the super bitrates are there because it looks good as a number. Wrong. Personally, Ive been constantly looking at how low I can adjust the bitrate down before the metrics change to shit.

@Vitaliy_Kiselev >So, you generally ask them to stop making that they like and brings them money and switch to something you need and that won't bring any money.

No. My point was, a site like this or other sites is full with people (pro or non-pro) sharing their patches and gear or problems, but few examples are given of real works. What have they been up to with these patches and gear? If somebody can show me real good things, I'd be happy. Sometimes Vimeo is good, but also many times not. I always have the feeling I'm missing some of the creativity. I get it, people who are great in their art, don't share, they just create. It's also like open source. It never really works, because it produces no real solutions. Me, I'm no filmer. I'm a film enthusiast that only studied film. I'm into writing, not shooting. But I'm interested in the creative side of people.

@alcomposer

I used the driftwood hacks for far too long before I realized that my computing equipment couldn't possibly keep up with them. I am a perfect example of what you're talking about.

However, now, I've taken it to the opposite extreme. Even after buying a newer, much faster computer, I still won't be using driftwoods intra hacks until I have a 3 or 4 tera raid setup, an adequate render farm and a second cam, oh and i almost forgot, an actual production. It took me awhile to realize that 44mb/s works for me.

@tmcat

be careful not finding yourself in GH3 period ;)

For those who do not understand what VK is getting at:

He is saying to please stop trying to be Hollywood, and to find interesting ways to tell stories that do not necessarily immediately speak of the cliches that these larger (and small-larger) tentpoles exploit. For instance, the basic girl/boy love plot.

Part of your teaching when you begin to write is that sub-plots or main plots of a love interest are important to stories because it helps to round characters out, shows another dimension to them. I have grown to HATE the instant inclusion of a love plot between a male and a female that is not earned or warranted, and most of the time it's the most thin part of the plot of all.

However, there are movies that focus only on this plot that work on a deeper level. I have not seen LIKE CRAZY (the 7D feature film that sold for millions at sundance) but apparently, it is one of those movies that explores first love and how painful and beautiful it is at the same time.


Overused and overcooked plots like saving the princess, so on and so forth, or finding the special item. That's what he's referring to.

As no name, no budget filmmakers, we have the advantage to tell different kinds of stories to get noticed AND do the more traditional "wanna-be" hollywood affair. He's asking you to take advantage of your freedom and try something new.

I don't find much wrong with doing Genre pictures, and we all have preferences, I only encourage people to try and do better with whatever they are creating, be it cliche horror, cliche love, etc. At least try to do it very well. And if you want to go outside of the box, at least try to do that well. Me, personally, I do not want to make a sleepy movie in my current state of career, mostly because I am very young and I am not versed enough in life to do it successfully. I like genre pictures, I want to do that to build my career, make some money doing what I love to do and not having to result to a second or third job to feed my addiction. So, yeah, I will make the movies that VK is saying are crap right now, but try to be a little different in various ways.

My favorite movie, number one on the list, is Ghostbusters. Mainstream, Super mainstream.

My second favorite movie, number two on the list, is Primer. Far from mainstream, far from easily understandable, but outright freakin' incredible.

Movies are for a wide variety of people.

And for the concept that every movie is derivative: so is art. Art imitates life, we all share similar experiences and have similar dreams. Nothing is new under the sun and can always be traced back to something similar. That's fine, it's not about re-inventing the wheel but present it in a different light if possible.

Cinema can do a lot of things for people, but no matter what it is always basically a means of escapism for a temporary amount of time.

@kholi

What I am telling is far more extreme.
I am talking about another wrong trend.
Idea to mimick big studios on lower level with inappropriate crew.
Idea to use same main script ideas, etc.
You can find much more interesting and specific idea, as your film can be aimed to small and specific audience.
Big guys can't do this, as it means instant cut in their income.
Other bad things is that huge number of people who just want to shoot their family in an interesting way, shoot their collegues, make small advertisment for their own firm read all this and are afraid to ask.
Because fucking "professionals" have such a great new ideas about Romeo and Julien each time.