Hanging Downtown (Full Movie)

Hanging Downtown from Ted Fisher on Vimeo.

Here, finally, is the full 15-minute film "Hanging Downtown."

Please, after you watch it, go to:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2170278/

and sign in (there are several options, including using FaceBook)

and give it an honest rating.

Thanks!

Last Book Read: The Filmmaker's Eye

Last book read:

Gustavo Mercado's The Filmmaker's Eye: Learning (and Breaking) the Rules of Cinematic Composition.

Who is it for?
Mercado's book can be used in a class introducing the basics of cinematography or filmmaking, but can work as a refresher for more advanced practitioners of the craft.

What does it cover?
The approach here is to break down the "standard shots" used in filmmaking, considering both the technical and aesthetic concepts behind the standard approach. Then, as counterpoint, examples of breaking these standard rules effectively are given and discussed. So, a typical chapter is titled "Medium Close Up."

How well does it work?
I recommend this book, but I think two problems interfere with how effective it can be in a classroom or for personal study. If the reader is informed of those two issues, it is well worth the read.

Two problems?
The first problem: Mercado is incorrect in the definition of certain shots, and a student comparing this to more standardized practice will be confused. (I find this really puzzling myself, and pulled out several cinematography textbooks for comparison.) The book's definition of a "Close Up" is generally considered a version of an "Extreme Close Up" in general cinematography textbooks, and this sets up an examination of each shot that is very closed (and a bit too narrow) in definition.

As an example, if we study this book's example of a "Medium Close Up" we read:

"The size of the subject in this medium close up requires that the top of the head is cropped to give him the proper amount of headroom."

Well, that's a bit confusing -- we crop into the head to give headroom?

More importantly, however, is that this proposed definition:

• the top of the frame cropped into the subject's head
• the bottom of the frame is shown at the shirt pocket of the subject

is often considered a Close Up, and many directors would consider a looser framing as a workable "Medium Close Up." For example, if you turn on a typical TV news program, you might see:

• the top of the frame just above the subject's head
• the bottom of the frame at the shirt pocket

Mercado doesn't address this very common news/documentary framing -- it doesn't exist in the book, implying it wouldn't be acceptable. I would be happier with a more open approach -- obviously "standard" shots expand out into variations, and that's fine. So Mercado's implied "here's the right way" becomes an issue. If this is an issue that can be discussed in a class (or in one's personal reading of the book) that will be fine. But it's written as if the shot examined in the book is a closed truth, rather than one example of many possibilities.

The second problem, in my view, is that book puts so much energy into the "breaking the rules" aspect of the discussion ... yet some of the examples are nearly identical to the shots discussed as standard. The framing of the "breaking the rules" shot under "Medium Close Up" is essentially identical to the main shot presented.

So ... what does Mercado say makes it "break the rules"? That it is used "by itself" rather than in a progression of shots toward a Close Up. This is a strange interpretation, and really focuses on editing choices rather than cinematography.

But ... you like it?
Yes, I think this is a good book, and worth the space on a filmmaker / film student's bookshelf. Take the definitions with a grain of salt (and learn from where you personally disagree, or from examples that differ). It places a system of shots at the heart of the study of cinematography, and serves as a good introduction to a key concept.

Recommendation
Read it in sequence with related books and form a bigger picture you can apply to your own practice.

Formal

Found on the street.

Timelapse Plus Tiltdown

This was a test shoot to learn how to create a timelapse shot with a camera tilt down at the beginning.

Timelapse Experiment

Cloudlapse from Ted Fisher on Vimeo.

I wanted to create a timelapse that also slowly zoomed out.

So, here's how I did it:

1. I shot stills at an interval of 2 seconds apart.  I shot for about 15 minutes.
2. These were then dropped into a 1080/30p sequence in Adobe Premiere. Each still became one frame in the video.
3. Since each frame was 2 seconds apart, one minute of shooting creates 30 frames or about 1 second of video. So - 1 minute of filming equals one second of timelapse video.
4. This sequence was exported as a QuickTime movie at 1920 by 1080, 30 frames per second.
5. The exported clip was imported back into Premiere and dropped into a 720p/30 sequence.
6. By using keyframes to control "scale" I was able to start with the clip at 100% scale -- larger than the 1280 by 720 frame of the video, and therefore "zoomed in" -- and then set a keyframe at 67% scale ("zoomed out"). This keyframed change in scale results in the feeling of zooming out.

Nature Calls

This answers at least one age-old question.

Kino Flowing

Today: good sound, good light ... good day.

Editing "Escape / Artist"

I'm working on the edit for Escape Artist. Two major sections of the film are shot, but there's more to do.

Above: Jason Escape in San Diego.

Jazz Friday

A member of the Luther Hughes & Cannonball / Coltrane Project plays the saxophone at Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Friday, August 16, 2013.

On the Richter Scale

Saw a few Hans Richter films.

• Rhythmus 21 
• Rhythmus 23 
• Filmstudie 
• Inflation 
• Ghosts Before Breakfast 
• Race Symphony 
• Zweigroschenzauber 
• Alles dreht sich, alles bewegt sich 
• Die neue Wohnung

Ghosts Before Breakfast is the best. 

One Complete Year: The Film Festival Run

I've been tracking (and learning from) the film festival "run" of my short documentary film "Hanging Downtown." The idea is to learn from how the process went for this 15-minute-long film so that we can do better when we finish our feature-length doc.

Shot in April 2010, completed about two years later, and submitted to film fests starting May 24, 2012, one year ago.

It's had a good run so far. So, where are we? To date:

• five festival acceptances
• nine festival rejections
• one festival that has delayed or cancelled

Our festival batting average, then, was 33%. That's pretty good.

Here's the scorecard:

FILM FESTIVAL	Entry Date		Notification	Result
Coney Island Film Festival	24-May-12		28-Aug-12	Screened 22-Sep-12
Big Sky Documentary Film Festival	24-May-12		6-Jan-13	Not accepted.
San Francisco Documentary Festival	26-May-12		25-Sep-12	Screened 10-Nov-12
New Hampshire Film Festival	26-May-12		27-Sep-12	Not accepted.
Chagrin Documentary Film Festival	16-Jun-12		15-Aug-12	Not accepted.
True False Film Festival	16-Aug-12		1-Feb-13	Not accepted.
Winnipeg Real to Reel Film Festival	14-Sep-12		15-Jan-13	Screened 16-Feb-13
Sebastopol Documentary Film Festival	16-Sep-12		7-Jan-13	Not accepted.
Boston International Film Festival	16-Sep-12		12-Mar-13	Screened 15-Apr-13
Independent Film Festival of Boston	16-Sep-12		25-Mar-13	Not accepted.
Detroit Docs	22-Sep-12			Fest cancelled?
Thin Line Film Fest	27-Sep-12		4-Jan-12	Screened 13-Feb-13
Rooftop Films	4-Nov-12		10-May-13	Not accepted.
Biografilm Festival	17-Nov-12		30-Apr-13	Not accepted.
Olhar de Cinema Curitiba Int Film Fest	20-Nov-12		8-May-13	Not accepted.

Numbers worth considering:

The Fees: $362.

The Odds: Rooftop Films said they received 2,800 submissions. We didn't make it into that one, but did make it into others that had hundreds of submissions, so we feel pretty lucky.

The Communication: One festival sent a nice note explaining the film made it to the last decision round and just missed. Another festival sent no email, no Withoutabox notification, nothing -- just cashed the check and then put us on their email list asking for financial support.

The Love: Film festivals give shorts very little love. Some. Just a lot less than features. So you really have to promote and publicize as if they aren't going to do anything at all, then be happy if there's any significant support on that front. Maybe you'll have better luck than we did. We received some support, and a great deal of friendliness ... but we should have worked to gain more (any) media coverage.

The Screenings: My wife and I attended two of the screenings in San Francisco. The first was great, the second had technical difficulties -- and that was very frustrating. Our film's subject attended the screening in Boston and said it went very well, but the screening was the same day as the bombings at the Boston Marathon, sadly.

The Followup: Very few of the folks who saw the film gave it a vote on IMDB. (Based on the timing of the events.) One brief review came out of SF DocFest.

So ... is the film festival approach a good one? Let's discuss that in upcoming posts.... 

Paris Photo

Saw all the latest from the photo world this weekend at Paris Photo.

Paris Photo, you ask?

You know... "the most prestigious art fair dedicated  to historical and contemporary photography. This fair takes place annually at the Grand Palais in Paris mid-November and at the Paramount Pictures Studios in Los Angeles at the end of April."

That one.

Hanging Downtown Screened in Boston

Hanging Downtown screened at the Boston International Film Festival on Monday.

The screening was at approximately the same time the bombs went off at the finish line of the Boston Marathon, sadly.

I spoke to Jason Escape by phone right after the screening ended, as events became known. Apparently the screening went very well -- the film looked great on the big screen, and sounded good, and Jason spoke at the Q&A session -- but in light of these other events, it's been impossible to celebrate or to even think about the film.

So, here's to hoping that when the new film -- Escape/Artist -- is complete, we make it into one of the Boston festivals, and get to attend a screening there, and that Boston has only peaceful events in its future.

Screening: Let's All Be Free Film Festival

My short documentary Rolling on the Floor screens on Friday, April 5, 2013 at the Let's All Be Free Film Festival in London.

It features Killebrew Mason and was made with Kirk Dilley and Matt Conway.

Rolling On The Floor

4 min - USA - 2012 | dir. Ted Fisher | INTERNATIONAL PREMIERE

They say you should dance like no one is watching ... but what happens when you do? When the idea of free, unrestrained self expression crashes into the vanity and pride of youth, which wins out? When Killebrew Mason went to the college dance, she knew it would be a moment she'd never forget. She just didn't know why.

60-second Trailer for "Hanging Downtown"

60-second Trailer for Hanging Downtown from Ted Fisher on Vimeo.

Previously, Hanging Downtown had a trailer that was 1 minute, 42 seconds long. Now, here's a 60-second version.

Rolling on the Floor Screens in London

My short documentary Rolling on the Floor screens April 5, 2013 at the Let's All Be Free Film Festival. So check out the trailer for the festival (above).

Let's All Be Free

Some notions take a long time.

In January 2010, I had an idea for a mini-documentary, and decided the best way to approach it would be to find an interview subject on Twitter. Believe it or not ... it worked.

As you probably know, however ... there are always complications. In fact, in this case, there were many delays. The film -- less than five minutes long --wasn't completed until March 03, 2012. From there, the filtering process of finding, entering, and being accepted into film festivals has meant that no one has seen it yet. Finally, though, we've got the good word: two festivals have accepted the film -- Rolling on the Floor -- and will screen it.

I'll write more about the March screening soon.

Today, though, I want to direct your attention to our April 5th screening in London at the Let's All Be Free Film Festival.

The festival will be held in Central London at the Brunei Gallery, part of the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London.

Let’s All Be Free Film Festival aims to explore and celebrate what it means to be free. We seek to create a comfortable and open forum that will encourage constructive dialogue and debate around the notion of being free, with the aim of creating greater understanding and awareness around this vital issue. We want to use this enhanced knowledge and insight to implement a tangible, positive force for good in the world around us, and inspire others to do the same. 

One of the ways we want to achieve this is through creative expression – through the powerful and timeless medium of film. We seek to find the best, boldest and brightest cinematic expressions of being free, and showcase them to the world.

(Above: poster for the festival designed by Tim Leete of Creative Meld.)

Rolling on the Floor to Screen in London

My short film "Rolling on the Floor" is in competition at the Let's All Be Free Film Festival, scheduled to screen April 5, 2013.

I feel lucky: the fest notes that

"Out of the 675 films that were submitted to our film festival from all over the world, we've managed to choose the official selection of 37 films that will screen in competition at our film festival."

More on the film -- and another festival screening -- soon.

Hanging Downtown Screens in Winnipeg

My short documentary "Hanging Downtown" will screen at the Winnipeg Real to Reel Film Festival two times this weekend:

• Saturday, February 16th, Noon 
• Sunday, February 17th, 5:30 p.m.

You can see the trailer for the film, or find out the backstory, here:
http://tedfisher.com/hangingdowntown/

Hanging Downtown Screens Today

My short documentary "Hanging Downtown" screens at Thin Line Film Festival today.

I have a page all about making the film right here:

http://tedfisher.com/hangingdowntown/

You can see the trailer for the film here:


Trailer for "Hanging Downtown" from Ted Fisher on Vimeo.