InfoLink - Asian Filmmakers Fight Back Vs. Hollywood

While reading this article on Asian film producers pooling their resources to challenge the influx of Hollywood movies, I was struck by the challenge they face and the similarities to the challenges of the Christian film producer. True, the Asian market may already be established and producing films for different reasons, but the challenges of creating a market for our films is the same and faces the same competition.

"Ultimately at the end of the day the battle will be fought and lost or won over showing the audiences of Asia that Asian production companies, Asian producers and directors can give them product that is as entertaining, and of a comparable quality to the foreign language product coming into the marketplace. And if we can't do that, ultimately we should all pack up and go home."

Asian Filmmakers Fight Back Vs. Hollywood

InfoLink - Lucas: Big pics are doomed

George Lucas, one of the kings of the big film, is predicting the death of the big film?

"The market forces that exist today make it unrealistic to spend $200 million on a movie. Those movies can't make their money back anymore. Look at what happened with 'King Kong.'"

"In the future, almost everything that gets shown in theaters will be indie movies. I predict that by 2025 the average movie will cost only $15 million."

New York Daily News - Lucas: Big pics are doomed

Do It Yourself - Video Lighting Using LEDs

The low-power requirements of LEDs have made them a popular choice for many battery-operated devices and a number of LED-based products for video production have appeared in recent years. Commercial vendors such as LitePanels and VidLED have produced a variety of useful LED video products.

If you'd like to harness the power of LEDs in your projects and want an inexpensive alternative to commercial solutions, just whip out your soldering iron and visit the links below, introducing you to the work of LED Hacking.

DIY LED Bike Lamp

DIY LED Video Lights - The Digital Video Information Network

LEDTronics

OpinionLink - Leaving Behind Family Entertainment

Dallas Jenkins has been making faith-based projects for some time, primarily based on the writings of his father, Jerry Jenkins of Left Behind fame. Dallas contributed the following article to the Christian Cinema Web site and it has several good observations. Though I don't necessarily agree with his conclusions (that Christians need to fight their way into the Hollywood system), I certainly agree with his call to quality, creative filmmaking from those who find their hope in God.

"Many Christians make the mistake of hiding their faith in order to avoid "preachiness." We try so hard to avoid making the mistakes of earlier Christian films that we develop products that blend in with everything else, and that's just as ineffective as making films only for Christians."

"We're much farther along than we were even a decade ago. But why compare ourselves to that standard? Shouldn't Christians be the pioneers? At our most effective, shouldn't we be creating magnificent, life-changing entertainment?"

Leaving Behind Family Entertainment - Dallas Jenkins

InfoLink - Beowulf, Worldview and the Middle Ground

Karen Kovaka's blog is called Rhetorical Response and appears to have nothing to do with film at all. It does, however, have a lot to do with literature and she has posted her thoughts on the classic poem Beowulf.

I stumbled on Seamus Heaney's translation a few years ago and it was one of the few books I carried to the other side of the world when my family went to Thailand to do missions work. It's a magnificent story, intertwined with both Christian and pagan imagery, heroic and engaging.

Karen's look at Beowulf is done with the aim of examining the underlying worldview of the epic, but there are a few things that we as filmmakers can learn as we prepare our own stories to be shown to a post-modern audience. I particularly appreciate Part 3: Evil and Goodness in Beowulf, which closes with this note and a challenge for us to emulate:

"What does Beowulf accomplish by successfully synthesizing two rival conceptions of evil without compromising the truth? The work is a masterpiece of diplomacy. In a culture beginning to accept Christianity but still clinging to its pagan roots, the poemÂ’s author fed his audience a Christian message (perhaps unconsciously) without threatening their cultural moorings. That he did this without weakening the truth of Christianity is impressive indeed."

Rhetorical Response - Beowulf

InfoLink - Homebuilt Stabilizers

This is one of my favorite sites in the whole world, combining filmmaking equipment, do-it-yourself attitude and the sharing of information that the Web is supposed to be all about.

Why do you need a camera stabilizer, a dolly or a jib? Because using these tools adds production value to your films with a relatively small cost. Moving the camera smoothly can give your shots that Hollywood big-budget look for pennies.

Although camera stabilization systems of all kinds are the meat of this site, dollies and cranes and jibs are the potatoes and green bean casserole. If you're the hands-on type, you'll find plenty of inspiration, lots of photos and a helpful community of homemade film equipment aficionados.

Homebuilt Stabilizers

InfoLink - Based on a True Story... Sort of.

John Lippman's piece in the Wall Street Journal examines Hollywood's habit of marketing fiction as reality.

"Meanwhile, Hollywood agent Joel Milner is touting 'The Dog and his Boy,' a script about Seaman, the Newfoundland that accompanied Lewis and Clark. Though the movie would be labeled 'inspired by the real dog,' the story will be invented. 'You have to dramatize it, make [the dog] more heroic,' says Mr. Milner. 'The historical facts known about him are boring.' "

Inspired, Sort of, by Real Life - by John Lippman

ToolLink - DAZ Studio - Free 3D Toolkit

The rise of the independent film industry is being driven by the ready availability of inexpensive tools. In the past, the results achieved when consumer-level equipment was so far below professional standards that achieving quality without a large bankroll was impossible. That situation, thankfully, is changing.

The increasing power and low cost of desktop computers has allowed not only non-linear editing by the masses, but also access to the tools of pro-grade special effects. The 3D tools needed to produce photo-realistic images are available at little to no cost. One new specialized tool in the "no-cost" range is DAZ Studio, which can be downloaded from the DAZ 3D Web site.

DAZ is best known for producing realistic human figures for Curious Labs' Poser software. As a major supplier of content for Poser, they have also emerged as a broker for other third-party developers of Poser content.

The question arises, then, of how to leverage all of this content to increase profitability (in other words, "How can we make more money with this stuff?"). The answer? Create a piece of software that uses the content, give away some basic content for free, then hope that users will pay to download additional content.

Since DAZ is building on an established content base (and not just human figures - people, animals, clothing, props, complete environments and more are available), there is quite a selection. In particular, I've been looking at the medieval town and castle construction kit, as well as some sci-fi objects for a future project.

Now, as a photorealistic 3D environment, DAZ Studio might not be the best choice (though export to other 3D tools is a feature), but it can certainly play a role in previsualization. There's a link below to an article in millimeter magazine that outlines the importance that previs has assumed in modern filmmaking. For this use, DAZ Studio is a very nice tool. You may need to purchase some additional content to reach its full potential, but it's well-suited to the task.

Finally, by way of warning, since DAZ initially made a name for itself by producing highly realistic human figures, it seems like a certain segment of their users are enamored with the idea of having a virtual woman to dress up in lingerie and revealing "warrior woman" outfits. If this is likely to be offensive to you, I recommending NOT following the link to the DAZ Web site. Some of the content is definitely PG-13 in nature

DAZ Productions - 3D Models, 3D Content, and 3D Software

Populist Previz

InfoLink - Mr. Christian Goes to Sundance

Plugged In magazine's Adam Holz joined a group of Christian film students on a trip to the Sundance Film Festival and followed up the trip with some insightful thoughts on the film experience, the rise of independent film and Christian involvement in the cinematic arts. Three parts and worth a read.

Mr. Christian Goes to Sundance

The Spirit of Independence

Believers in the Biz

InfoLink - Digital Matte Painting

An earlier post about the independent feature "Able Edwards" made reference to the use of scanned photos that were manipulated in Photoshop to produce new environments for the actors to be composited against. If you're interested in how such an effect is achieved, you might want to check out the links below. There are two tutorials on creating a digital matte painting which take you step-by-step through the process, from finding source images on the Web to adding realistic details and lighting.

The use of matte paintings goes back to the early days of film production when mattes were painted on glass and then shot live. Using matte paintings made it possible to add production value to films by making it appear as if a special set was in place when all that existed was paint. The advent of producing images digitally puts the power of big production values within the reach of those without the budget to hire a skilled painter. While a certain level of skill and craftsmanship is still required, often only basic manipulation of existing images is required to create a new location or world.

Matte Painting for Film and Television by Dennis Sedov

Matte Painting - The Castle by Dragos Jieanu

OpinionLink - Should There Be a Christian Movie Industry?

This article from Christianity Today is a few years old, but encapsulates the wide variety of opinions about Christian films and their place in the world. Me? I'm remaining cautiously oblique on the best method. Without Hollywood's budgets, it will be hard to compete on Hollywood's turf, but without a solid alternative distribution method it would be hard to compete otherwise.

The idea of a "replacement industry" is intriguing, but has a lot of logistic challenges.

Should There Be a Christian Movie Industry? - Christianity Today Magazine

InfoLink - The Motion Picture Production Code of 1930

In one of the Hollywood vs Christian Culture audio CDs from Vision Forum, Geoff Botkin refers to the "Hays Code," an early attempt at self-censorship by Hollywood studios that was implemented to avoid possible government censorship and fight Hollywood's reputation as "Sin City."

The links below will take you to the full text of one iteration of the code and a Wikipedia entry outlining the Code's history. A very interesting read when you consider the content of current films. What I find particularly compelling is that so many films that we consider "classics" were produced while the code was in effect. I have long contended that Christians producing films have no need to include coarse language, graphic violence, inappropriate sexuality or other questionable content. Just as Hollywood writers, directors and producers were forced to find creative ways to tell a strong story under the limitations of the Hays Code, so Christian filmmakers can find creative ways to do the same under self-imposed restrictions.

The Motion Picture Production Code of 1930 (Hays Code)

Production Code - Wikipedia

InfoLink - A Brief History of Christian Film: 1918-2002

I've posted a few items about the history of Christian film in the past, but this is the first I've seen that's scholarly, with footnotes and bibliography. Although the focus is much more on the early days of Christian film than more recent times, it's detailed, interesting and insightful. Worth a read to understand our rich heritage.

"Literally thousands of Christian films have been made over the last 65 years by dozens of companies. The vast majority of those made 1939-1980 have never been released on home video formats and remain buried in the elephant's graveyard of 16mm. This is a shame because they are important to social history and film history, shedding light on both the church's attempts to utilize a new medium for the spreading of God's Word, and the forgotten backwater of independent religious film producers. It's also a shame because once the films are gone, they're gone."

A Brief History of Christian Film: 1918-2002

OpinionLink - How Deep are Your Movies?

I haven't read Doug Jones in awhile, but he's in fine form with this article lamenting the lack of depth in so many modern films. As a wanna-be filmmaker myself, it's a good question to ask - how deep are my scripts? Are my stories worth the time and effort needed to turn them into films?

"This penchant for propaganda hobbles most grown-up movies. Non-Christians rail against 'preachy' stories when they come from Christians, but they're blind to their own constant propaganda and moralism. How many times, for example, do movies and sitcoms have to try to convince us that any sort of discrimination or social hierarchy is fiercely immoral? The 'mainstream' can never be accused of propaganda, only the margins. Non-Christians can't see their tedious didacticism, but to those of us outside their worldview, it's exasperating."

Credenda Agenda - Deep in Lame Movies - Douglas Jones

InfoLink - Beyond Miramax

I ran across this article that discusses independent film and has a number of interesting takes on distribution methods. It's a little old (2001) and most of the links are broken, but the interest is in the article, not the links. After reading this, I was reminded of Rich Cristiano's comments on reviving the church rental market during an SACIFF session. An alternative, yes, but not one that's open to secular indies.

"Many articles have been written about one sort of indie-film success story: the "young," "scrappy" "maverick" whose Internet short or ultra-low-budget tape gets viewed by the right Hollywood exec, allowing the fresh-faced filmmaker to vault over those barriers and land a job assembling dream-widgets. This is not such a piece. This is about the moviemakers who don't want Hollywood jobs, or at least don't want them on Hollywood terms -- about people trying to find ways around the distribution bottleneck, and the audiences that are tentatively coalescing around them."

Reason Magazine - Beyond Miramax by Jesse Walker