My goal with this little film was to try and limit myself to only one shot per scene, which I hoped would force me to pay more attention to staging, rehearsal, and choreography. It really felt like I had my hands tied behind my back, knowing that I couldn't get away with just taking the best bits of multiple shots and stringing them together in whatever way I wanted after the fact. The effect is much more theatrical, in the sense that I was required to nail the pacing of a scene in camera rather than the editing room.
Then I had the bright idea of shooting on a miniDV camcorder, rather than the beautiful canon DSLRs that most people have switched over to. I figured that my long scenes would be better suited to the tape format, which I assumed was much more reliable.
Lies. The damn camera botched my opening scene! Sound cut out, video skipped, everything went to hell. As a result, I've sworn to never shoot on tape again.
I think I'm also done acting in my own movies. It's too distracting. I used to feel like I had more control when I was in the middle of a scene, but now I just feel like it blinds me. You instantly lose the perspective of an objective craftsman and quickly devolve into the self importance of an artist.
MAN VERSUS SAVAGE from Alexander Cooney on Vimeo.
Thanks to all who helped out!
Who would you have found to be as believable a documentary host?
Posted by: Rob | May 27, 2010 at 08:15 AM