Small Gauge Guerrilla Filmmaker Initiative

Video Shorts (also referred to as Digital Stories) are a new form of expression that start with the written word and then combine image, sound, and voiceover to mesh the layers of a narrative. This medium is being used in creative writing and video production courses at a growing number of colleges and high schools, and as social networking technologies in building communities. Types of digital stories are:

• Self-reflective narrative: written and recorded in a first person voice—recalls a personal story or journey

• Documentary short: a sociological or ethnographic piece that tells a story about one’s interactions with local culture and community

• Stories without words: an image based narrative that depicts experiences through photographic images, video clips, or footage and ambient sound

• Flash fiction: a creative short story or poem transformed into video format: adding image and sound to the text layer of a basic narrative

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This semester for Multimedia Engineering we will be doing something a little different. As independent filmmakers in the Super 8 Militia you all must do your civic duty and speak out about what you think of migration and diversity. You will do this by creating your own video that uses your own voice and view. If you want, extend the idea to things like migrant integration, inclusiveness, identity, diversity, human rights and social unity. Whatever you make, it will be 1-5 minutes long and handed in as a DVD in the last week of class. More details will follow.

Should your team decide to submit your project once complete to the PLURAL+ Video Festival, the festival must receive it my September 30th. If you win an award at PLURAL+, your work will be seen at an international level as the PLURAL+ Video Festival shows your video on the internet, broadcasts, and provides screening opportunities around the world. This way, your message goes global! Also, each of the 3 winners of PLURAL+ JURY AWARD will receive a USA $1,000 cash award. Other awards and prizes might include equipment and professional opportunities. Who know? So think about submitting your project. It could be worth something.

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Some day you will become a graphic designer or work in video production or audio engineering. And when that day comes you’ll either work full-time for a company getting pay, or contract yourself out. If you’re lucky you’ll be the one running the business (which is that most contractors like to believe they are doing). But in all cases you’ll have to deal with the client.

I hate clients. I don’t even like to think about them. As Randal Graves said in the movie Clerks, “This job would be great if it wasn’t for the ****ing customers.” However, even as an independent filmmaker, we need to pay the bills. And for that we need clients.

Clients have no respect for you, your skills, or your equipment. They will do everything and anything to try and get out of paying you what you deserve, or even paying you at all. And they will do whatever they can to squeeze more work out of you without paying you for it. This is true of pretty much all clients no matter who you are and where you are.

That’s what the contact is for. They think it’s to make sure you do what you’re paid for. But it’s really for making sure they pay you for what you have done, and can’t make you do more than you’re paid for. Always read the contact. Make sure it meets your requirements. Get paid what your worth and don’t let them try and convince you otherwise.

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Shooting Downtown

For those interested in knowing, before my time working at RIMT International University Vietnam I was a nightshift assistant television editor, certified steadicam operator, and ran a small telecine transfer business out of my live/work loft in downtown San Francisco, California. The month before coming to Vietnam I had to take a quick trip to New York city to work on an fashion shoot with Mariah Carry. I know, name dropping. I shouldn’t be doing that. It’s the reason why I left Los Angeles. Oh, just dropped another name.

Of all my work in Information and Communication Technology, my favorite was steadicam operator. Steadicam operation is all about keeping the camera steady while you are in motion. Steadicams are not made for standing still. In that respect this shot of me does no justice to the work required because you don’t see the process of me moving across the street while trying to avoid being hit by a car. And you don’t see the quality of the results.

Video Production is my passion and I hope it is one you’ll have as well. I’ll see you all next semester. Everyone have a great break.

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Here is a little memory I have from when I first got to Vietnam. Richard Streitmatter convinced me to shoot some HD footage on a fishing boat heading down the beach. I was willing to hurt for my work, but 8 hours on the back of a boat that smelled like gas and a killer sunburn was not exactly what I had in mind. Rich could have at least fed me on the boat.

This website is gearing up as a nice reference point for those taking Multimedia Engineering and Video Production. We’ll soon be trying to put the focus around students as independent filmmaker and what they must do to create something great. Next semester we’ll see how that goes. Until then, enjoy this semester videos. They will be removed as the next group of students replaces them.

If anyone is interested in starting a Video Club at RMIT, please use the message boards as a contact point. If we don’t push to make it happen, than it never will. But we gotta start pushing now, because things are already changing an we don’t want to keep Video Production in the hands of the Design Club.

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You know, I hate when people ask me what still camera they should buy. I mean it really depends on what they plan to do with it. But you ask, so here is my answer.

For working on my films, I want to use it to take still images or video images for pre-visualization. At the extreme I want to use the camera for video, but that’s what I have a video camera for. In my personal life I take pictures of my friends and family doing stupid things around the house or at big events. In both cases portability is a big factor.

If you are getting a camera to learn on and trying to do it as cheaply as possible, then get a Canon. I say this because there are a few Canon cameras out there where the firmware can be hacked to give you even greater functionality than you thought possible for what you paid. I’m talking live histograms, depth of field calculators, customizable grid markers, and even a zebra mode to watch for overexposure. Don’t believe me? Look at the CHDK Wiki and see for yourself.

A word of warning. Whatever you get, make sure it can be hacked. Go through the list on the website. See which camera they have tested such as the SD1100 IS. See how well the hack has been tested. And make sure that whatever you do to the camera and be undone. In the end the purpose is to have a camera that works.

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I’ve been coveting a Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH1 ever since I hear it’s the first DSRL camera that can record 1080p. For those of you who have never heard me talk about the importance of a lens, I’m telling you now. The lens can make or break the look of your film. But your budget for a video camera increases in thousands when you start talking about removable lenses. And as great as 35mm adapters are, you lose at least 1/3rd of your light in the process, and that is a killer when shooting indoors. So a camera like this that shoots the larger high definition resolution there is under $2000 and allows external microphones is a dream come true.

But then again maybe not. First generation equipment that has not been heavily field tested can sometimes be the worst investment of your life. As I write this the GH1 has yet to come out for sale to the general public. I’ll be watching on the DVXuser Forum.

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Every year I buy a new Mac computer. Some years I buy two, but that’s usually because the year before I forgot to buy one and didn’t fill my quota. Whenever I look for a system, it’s mainly for the purpose of editing. So I couldn’t help but stop to read this article at the Pro Video Coalition:

Mike’s Buyer’s Guide - Inside the new iMacs for editors

Given the choice I’d go for the Mac Pro so I have the option of adding multiple hard drives, upgrading memory, and slotting in a few cards such as my favorite little Black Magic for direct higher quality video capture. And don’t forget the logic keyboard since I can’t remember every shortcut all the time. Color coding is nice for the eye. But all that said, having a little space saving iMac on a desk in a small room with Final Cut Express installed doesn’t seem like a bad idea. And for you crazy Windows users out there, don’t forget you can install Parallels and run both operating systems at the same time.

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The first meetings of the Super 8 Militia began in Santa Monica, California around the fall of 2001. It was made up of a small group of independent filmmakers interested in creating short films on the smallest motion picture film gauge possible: Super 8.

Super 8 film has a width of 8mm, the same width as 8mm motion picture film. However, Super 8 film has smaller perforations in order to make room for a larger frame size. It is also was contained in a looped plastic cartridge to ensure a light free environment until processing. The cartridges made it easy to load and unload film into the camera.

Super 8 filmmaking was widely used in the 1970’s, but deemed archaic by 1980 with the inception of consumer level video cameras. As time when on video camera progressed into the digital age and Super 8 film was passed by an expensive tool only used by artists and media purists. Perhaps that’s what we were 21 years later. Artists who wanted the pure film media to tell their story on. Film had a look to it that made what was shot appear timeless and unique. Eventually you start to appreciate the film grain in each film you do.

The Super 8 Militia had a few productions we worked on together, but the planning really wasn’t there. Eventually, due to boredom or conflict, people went their own way. I went back to San Francisco, California and started flying around the world working as a web content management consultant. It was fun for a few months.

On Valencia the Artist Television Access was looking into get a film group going. We decided to list it under the second inception of the Super 8 Militia and see how it went. At the start we presented some crazy films done by a variety of filmmakers. At this point we began to include workshops on equipment, film development, and editing on a flatbed editor.  Soon someone came up with the idea that we, as a group, need to start making our own films. We agreed, and the Small Gauge Guerrilla Filmmaker Initiative was born.

S2GFI was a privately funded initiative to create new films at least one a month on a smallest gauge there is. This mission created about 5 short films in the name of the Super 8 Militia. The mission ended when the leader decided to go take a trip for two weeks in Vietnam.

By the time the leader returned, the group had disbanded and moved on to other endeavors. The group was not the same without their leader and soon everyone vanished once the leader began to put his focus back of his job.

But that was then and this is now. Times have changed and this website will be of use again. In this case we will focus on small gauge guerrilla filmmakers in Vietnam. A place linked with the historical use of guerrilla tactics. Only in this case, it’s in the cause of getting that perfect shot to complete a movie.

Unfortunately in Vietnam Super 8 cameras and film are impossible to get. Services like film processing or telecine transfers would be found nowhere. As such, the term “small gauge” must be redefined to use the now defunct analoge broadcast standards. That being said, we look now to the MiniDV cameras with 3 CCD and prosumer controls to be of assistance. Or in consideration of HDTV, I’d go 720p.

Super 8 film is gone for now in Vietnam. But the principles still remain in the new S2GFI: Small Gauge Guerrilla Filmmaker Initiaitive.

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