How To Increase DV Resolution By 200%

Other than creating a great script, the biggest problem a micro-budget film maker faces is achieving high production values.

For the many no budget film makers, a $1000 budget means shooting on DV. In these days of HD and HDV, a film-maker shooting on DV has to be ultra creative to end up with a saleable product.

DV is probably the hardest format available on which to get high quality images, it’s a format that needs very careful handling and at some point I’ll pull together some articles on best practice when shooting on DV.

However, today I want to talk about a couple of different approaches that can transform DV into an acceptable format for shooting cinema quality films.

The first technique is slight of hand, a trick, an illusion.

Basically, a film can get away with being shot on a format like DV when the audience accepts the lower quality images as part of the film.

So, for instance in Spike Lee’s film Bamboozled, the use of DV cameras is annoying because the image quality is patchy and the Spike uses the cameras exactly the way he would use professional film cameras. So you have the same style of camera usage, but a poorer image quality. For some reason this is incredibly annoying.

Now, compare this with Blair Witch, where the vast majority of that movie was also shot on DV, but here we know that we’re supposed to be watching the video diary of the film makers — the poor resolution isn’t an issue in that movie, it’s part of the story. The audience accept the images, because the format had become part of the story.

This integrating the format into the story is the “slight of hand” technique. The mock documentary is a just one way to do this, but there are many other ways DV is used, that a film could be built around.

James and I looked at the slight of hand technique, discussed possibilities, but instead decided that there was a second, more radical way to make DV an acceptable format.

For cinema production DV presents not one, but two problems. The first one is the low resolution, but the second problem is that DV cameras are all native 4:3, whereas movies are usually widescreen, or 16:9.

DV filmmakers who decide to create a 16:9 movie are placed in a dreadful position. They can crop their 4:3 image down to create a 16:9 image, which means you’re using even less of the already small image area. (This is a bad option)

Some cameras offer the option to shoot anamorphic 16:9, which is where a widescreen image is distorted into a 4:3 frame, and then undistorted in post production. In theory this gives identical resolution, but in reality it doesn’t.

James and I, however, have come up with another way of approaching this issue. One that increases the resolution of the image rather than decreasing it.

Basically, we shoot in 4:3, because the cameras performs best in that aspect ratio. Then, instead of cropping a single image to create 16:9, we use a 16:9 frame on the timeline and place two 4:3 images within it.

In order to do this, you have to decrease the size of the 4:3 frames. Doing this decreases the pixel size by over 200% and therefore means the image quality increases significantly.

It does mean taking a different approach to story telling, because you’re running two frames and offering two points of view at the same time. This kind of film making needs to be very carefully thought out, so it doesn’t become confusing.

However, it offers some incredible possibilities — including the option of throwing the second camera through ninety degrees and shooting some shots in portrait.

We’re pretty excited about this technique and are already looking at ways to tell stories using it.

Now the chances are that we’ll find a way to shoot on HD within our budget, because James has a real talent for cutting deals on production equipment, but even if we do shoot on HD, we still think this is an interesting way of overcoming one of the limitations of shooting on DV — and overcoming limitations creatively is the heart of the $1000 Spielberg approach.
tags: DV micro budget filmmaking video production technique

$1000 Interview - James

When James and I wrote the questions we’re going to use for e-mail interviews, I figured the first person up to bat should be James.

James is a UK based screenwriter, film maker and cinematographer — currently working on the $1000 movie — which he is co-producing, script editing and will be the DOP.

Here’s the interview.

1) What do you think makes the difference between a good movie and a bad movie?

A great story, absolutely a great story – everything else is vitally important, but without a great story you don’t have a movie.

2) What do you do, to make sure you don’t turn out a bad movie?

You don’t make it until you’re absolutely sure you’ve got the best script you can possibly write – it’s got to be a film you’d ache to see yourself if someone else made it. Once you’ve got that script, just stick to your guns and don’t compromise your movie.

3) What are the two most important things you learned on your last project?

Always nail down your workflows, especially when you’ve got a tight deadline. On the last movie we were using a new camera and the software for getting it into the editing software just wasn’t sorted out – we got hung up on a glitch that even the camera manufacturer seemed unable to solve.

The other thing is, when you’ve committed to doing a shoot, make it happen regardless of circumstances. On the first day of film we were shooting at sea and we were getting incredibly rough weather – all the crew was sea-sick and we’d got one scene down instead of ten scenes. On the second day, already a day behind we had to decide whether to pull the production or to push hell for leather to catch up – I decided to push on, and rewrote the script on the fly to be able to tell the story in fewer scenes. I’m glad we did – the film looks great – but without the ability to adapt to circumstances we never would have got that film finished.

4) What’s the one piece of advice you’d give to anyone thinking of making a film, regardless of budget?

Just do it – don’t just talk about it – you’ll never find out how good you are unless you actually get out there and make things. No film is ever a waste of time, because even if it doesn’t become a monster hit, you learn so much about both yourself and your current skill levels – every time you do it, you get better – it’s a win, win situation.

5) What are the two mistakes you’ve made in your career that you learned the most from?

Not learning from my mistakes has been my biggest mistake – On too many of my early movies I didn’t allow enough preparation time – on my second movie I went into production without having the ending written and I also didn’t give the actors enough rehearsal – I was so keen to get into production I forgot that I needed to nail the script down – on the same production I also didn’t raise the money I needed to make the film and so right from the start I was fighting against both an incomplete script and inadequate funding.

Although I think some people make the opposite mistake, too much prep and not enough shooting – on a serious project you have to prepare everything – and on a no budget movie that’s ten times as important.

6) What’s the single most important advice you’d give to anyone making a $1000 movie?

Don’t compromise from concept to delivery, it’s got to be the best movie you can make regardless of the budget.

7) If you only had a micro-budget to work with, how would you approach the project?

Doh! Exactly the way we’re doing it you dolt!

Which three movies would you recommend every film-maker should watch?

Jaws, Far From Heaven, The Lost Weekend

9) Who in the industry have you learned the most from?

The Unknown Screenwriter – “We’re not worthy, we’re not worthy!”

10) If you had to recommend one “how to” book, which would it be?

Independent Film Making - Lenny Lipton – it’s an old book about 16mm film making, but when you apply the principles to video shoots it completely changes the dynamics of what you’re doing.

Other related articles:

Springtime For Screenwriters

The One Thing A Film Maker Can’t Afford

tags: filmmaker interview

Make A Successful No Budget Movie - Think S.A.N.T.A.

I’ve been trying to find a simple way for people to remember the basic principles of $1000 Movie making — the ideas we believe will allow us to make a commercially successful movie on a $1000 budget.

Then when I was busy hanging up my Christmas stocking, it hit me! Santa! Santa would help me explain.

S - Start with Story

The key to having a successful movie is about having a great idea for a story, a story people will want to see — so forget about genres, forget about what camera you’re going to shoot it on and concentrate on coming up with the perfect idea. When you’ve got that perfect idea — write a logline and test it out.

When you’ve got your story, make sure you write an outstanding Script.

A - Assess your resources — Before you start writing your script, start planning your production and this starts with a list of the resources you currently have — you’re going to need a camera, sound recording equipment, a way of controlling light, a few skilled people to operate the equipment, locations, actors, editing equipment and music for your sound track.

Your list will try to cover as many of those items as you can — and then will extend to people you know who may be able to fill in the holes.

Play to your strengths, you may not own any film making equipment or know any film makers, but maybe you know great musicians or your friends are great actors.

Then when you’ve worked out what you’ve got, Acquire the things you don’t have.

The way you do that is by inspiring the people who have the resources you need to make the film, to come on board and help. By far the best way to do this is to have a great story idea and a stunning script — nothing brings in resources faster than a hot project.

N - Never compromise, Never settle for second best, Never assume how much your film can achieve

The worst thing a $1000 film maker can do is assume that because of their budget, they’ll have to make a product which is substandard and that won’t be able to compete in the market place.

This is utter nonsense — There is absolutely no reason at all why a $1000 movie can’t achieve global cinema distribution or be the toast of Sundance.

But the only way to achieve that is to Never, ever make a decision to produce a lower quality film, based solely on financial necessity.

Which leads us neatly onto

T - Turn your disadvantages into advantages.

At the heart of $1000 movie making is this one simple idea, be creative and keep a positive attitude — and by this I don’t mean a Polly Anna “everything is rosy” kind of denial of the realities of a situation.

My experience is that every situation that occurs can be turned to a film makers advantage if they constantly ask themselves “How can I get this to work for me?”

When my first feature film bankrupted me, I thought it was the end of the my career as a film maker, instead I’ve managed to take being penniless and turned it into an advantage.

and finally

A - Advertise your movie and build an Audience

Don’t expect to be discovered, don’t expect to become an overnight success, don’t expect to get distribution for your no-name, no-budget movie if you can’t create a buzz about it.

Right from day one successful film makers think about how their movies is going to be sold — they create a demand for their movie.

So, there you have it — if you want to create a successful movie on $1000 just think S.A.N.T.A.

Story, Assess and Acquire, Never compromise, Turn adversity to your favour, Advertise to build your Audience.

tags: indie+film successful no budget film making

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