I have always made an effort to travel light however, my trip to Germany and Ireland in 2007 was the first time I officially traveled as a filmmaker. I took with me my Panasonic DVX100B, full sized tripod, mini tripod, one full sized high wattage light, 15″ laptop, and a whole host of other gear I never used. It was the first time I’d carried a large suitcase as well. The suitcase needed to be large enough for my full sized tripod to fit collapsed. That’s still a pretty big bag. I didn’t like it at all.

So now I’m planning what looks like a trip to Singapore and Thailand and I have to travel light. Here are some of the issues I faced on my last international trip.

1. I worried about overweight baggage fees every time I had to catch a flight. At my home airport, I had to run to a gift shop, buy another bag, and transfer some items from the large bag to the new smaller bag to avoid paying $80 in overweight baggage fees. Later, I ended up having to pay $250 Euros on my trip from Ireland to Frankfurt because of my overweight bag. That was almost $200 Euros more than the actual cost of the plane ticket! **The airline was Lufthansa which does well on long flights (I flew from the US to Frankfurt with the same bags with no charges) but does not do well on short flights (I guess you have to travel damn near naked on short flights).

2. I had to lug around a heavy bag and my backpack. I did plan ahead with this as best as possible but the reality is, my bags were heavy. The smaller bag I had to buy at the airport fit on top of the larger bag and the large bag had wheels so I could just pull them around but again, the bags were heavy and I felt like I was running a marathon anytime I had to move them. I also stayed in a 3 story hotel in Germany with no elevators (yep I was on the top floor), and a 3 story B&B in Dublin with no elevators of course (and on the top floor again). So it was quite unpleasant trying to get my bags up and down the stairs. My backpack was also heavy because in it were my Panasonic DVX100B, 15″ laptop, batteries, tapes, microphones, etc.

3. I drew too much attention for my taste by using my fancy camera and carrying around my tripod. This by far became the biggest issue for me, although I had no idea I would be bothered by this prior to this trip. This is more of a personal preference if you will. I know many filmmakers who have no issues with drawing attention while they film, it comes with the job. However, I do not like this at all. For me there are some safety concerns as well as creative concerns. Some things to consider… I was grilled at the airport in Frankfurt about whether or not I’d filmed anything when I went to the Reeperbahn. My camera is always thoroughly checked at the security check points. This means pulling out all your gear for everyone at the check point to see (Not very safe; especially when they do it while you have to take your shoes off and on and you can’t glue your eyes to your stuff).

A funny thing… I was carrying around my tripod in it’s bag while in Dublin and I was riding the buses a lot. I got on this one bus and the driver asked me “Is that a gun?”. I had to laugh, it did look like a rifle bag. But what was really interesting is that the driver was serious but he didn’t seem at all concerned if it were a gun. Funny those Irish folks are. :)

So, now I’m committed to creating quality films with Still Guerrilla Films and High Contrast Media just as I have with Ijaba Films.

Still from Sociopathica:

1. Purposeful Content
The first thing for filmmakers to consider is the purpose of their content. If your content has no social purpose, then why are you making it? Responsible filmmaking is entirely in your hands. Don’t get me wrong, this social purpose can be purely entertainment, have deep meaning, or both. I’m just saying filmmakers need to make sure the films you make are not hurting society, but enhancing, educating, and/or entertaining it.

Examples of responsible filmmaking:
The Color Purple, Nuts, Bin Jip, A Tale of Two Sisters, The Signal, American History X,The Accused

Examples of irresponsible filmmaking:
300, Birth, Training Day, Halloween (2007), Bastard Out of Carolina, The Professional, Tropic Thunder

2. The Money Crisis
This is by far the fall of the art of filmmaking. When filmmaking went from being a grassroots art to big business … I take that back, when filmmaking became about big budgets and box office sales is when we began to see the incredible decline in filmmakers’ abilities to tell good stories on film. It’s funny, when filmmakers first started using more CGI in films, they always claimed it significantly brought down the cost of making films. That wasn’t all it brought down. It brought down the quality as well. Also, while this may have been true initially, why is it the cost of making films have reached such astronomical numbers? Compare the cost of the movie Aliens to any major box office sci-fi movie since 1996 and you will find an astronomical increase in production costs. When we decide to perfect the art of making great films with less money, only then will filmmaking resurface as a true art.

3. Gear Rip Off Madness
Ahhhh the great gear rip-off. This is the insanity where manufacturers and sellers of film gear convince filmmakers that great films can’t be made unless they own the latest and greatest equipment that they make and/or sell. But here is where your critical thinking has to kick in. Were great films being made prior to this new and improved “must-have” gear? And even more importantly, did you enjoy these films made prior to this new and improved gear? Of Course! So it’s important to realize when you are being brainwashed for the sake of profit. Folks can argue you down about gear and format quality but none of that matters if the film itself is of poor quality or exceptional quality. I enjoy movies on film, I enjoy them on VHS, I enjoy them on DVD and I will enjoy them on whatever else they make them on. Likewise, for what they were created with.

4. Reclaiming the filmmaking community
The sooner the filmmaking community gets rid of elitism the better. Film snobs have no place in art. Nothing ruins a film community faster than the seeds of negativity and arrogance. Either you are in it to create something fantastic or you need to walk away. You won’t find a painter needing his ego stroked by his brushes will you? How many film projects have fallen apart because of egos and attitudes? How many have gone to ruin because of directors, cast and crew, who thought they were too good to listen to a good idea or creative criticism? You’ve all seen it, felt it, heard it. Solution: When you find these people, drop them. Let them go create by themselves like the little kid in school who couldn’t get along with others. Cast, crew or talent think they are too good to show up when scheduled or on time? Drop ‘em. What about the contract? Add attendance and attitude clauses. This may sound harsh but we are talking about an art that takes collaboration from entire groups of people. The last thing this art needs are internal knives when there are many external ones every step of the filmmaking process.

She’d written about this emerging business model where on and offline companies, including broadcast and cable networks are essentially paying filmmakers less than what they deserve for creating digital content. In addition to paying less, they are also offering less supportive services to these filmmakers as well such as covering licensing fees and insurance, etc. She mentioned that the end result will be that it becomes the norm that filmmakers make little if any money from creating films and digital media and even worse; we come to accept this.

One only has to take a look at the book publishing industry to see what the true end result of this can and will be if we allow it to continue. Publishers, particularly vanity publishers, have been robbing authors in this same fashion for decades. They have taken it a step further, requiring authors to actually pay them to publish their work. So filmmakers should beware and take this very seriously. The next step is being asked to pay to give some company world rights and total ownership of our footage.

Mrs. Bernard’s article made me give more thought to the entire process of not only being paid for footage but also thinking about the worth of the work I do. For instance, there are many such websites out there offering a mere $100 or less for video you create and edit. In addition to that, they own all the rights to the video footage. So if you think about it in terms of labor, they are paying you $100 or less for a completed video that will take at least a few days for you to finish. To break it down even further, you may spend on average 6 hours a day on the video getting it finished. And based on what I know about artistic filmmakers, the real number of hours one would spend on the video would be closer to 10-12 hours a day.

Let’s take a closer look at this. let’s go with the very least amount of hours you would spend on it; 6 hours. Then let’s say it takes you 2 days to complete the video. If you are being paid $100 for the finished video, you are being paid $8.33 /per hour. That kind of hourly rate may be fine if you are working at McDonald’s but that is not OK at all when you are making any type of film or video. The amount is even more ridiculous if you spend longer hours and/or more days to finish the video. Imagine having to add a voice over or motion graphics to it as well…

$100 is actually being pretty generous from the sites I’ve visited. Many only offer $50 or less per video. If you upload some clips on free sites, you still own the clip. So there is a difference. You can upload your work for free and then do whatever else you want with it; including create your own DVDs to sell. Trust me, you would make more money selling your own DVDs than you would giving your footage away for peanuts to these companies. They need to pay according to licensing. If they want world rights, they need to pay for world rights. It is unethical to pay filmmakers $50-100 for world rights for any footage. Period.

Why so many business models that resemble that of the plantation, slave master and slaves relationship? Why are executives being paid obscene amounts of money relative to those who create the content? Their business and organizational skills are irrelevant if they have nothing to organize. Like any group being taken advantage of, we have to assess our collective self esteem and our egos as well. We can’t be so hell bent on seeing our work on TV that we give away the rights to it for less than what should be paid for those rights; thus making it impossible to make a living as a filmmaker and to get it to the audience for which it was intended. This is exactly what happens to authors; hence the term “vanity press” is used to describe publishing services that mainly attract authors who are more hell bent on seeing their work in print than they are with effectively managing a writing career.

We also have to watch out for deception as well. As with Current.com, it clearly states on their website that compensation for videos selected to air on TV range from $2,500 to $60K. So why was I only offered $500 to put something together with cutdowns from my documentary for TV? I’m glad that I found Mrs. Bernard’s article because after having read it, did more research and given things more thought, I decided not to go the route of being paid for content unless what I am being paid is fair for the license use requested. Seriously, I used to be annoyed by what I thought were insane licensing fees charged by photographers for a single image. But I’m thinking filmmakers need to learn from them and begin to reassess our worth and the value of our art.

If you would like a general idea of what you should be charging for your time and work, please visit this reference article at NJ Creatives Network.

I was reminded recently about the importance of sharing knowledge. Although I’m not a big Hollywood filmmaker (by choice), that doesn’t mean that my methods and particularly my early methods of filmmaking are of no use to anyone. So I decided to write a post about how I filmed my first documentary. Hopefully this post with help anyone trying to get started in filmmaking with little or no money.

First things first… Back in 2002, I impulsively decided to film a documentary on Black Homosexuality covering topics I felt were important. I don’t even remember what motivated this decision. All I know is that in the end I had a three volume documentary and a trip to Ghana, West Africa.

Over the years I’d acquired a great deal of information on most of the subjects I was going to cover so I felt I was doing a story about something I was already very familiar with. Then I put an ad on Craigslist and tons and tons and tons of Yahoo Groups. I also connected with a local group for LGBT people of color. Hooking up with this group was what jump started my project. There were my first interviewees. I was also able to get a few people from my ads on Graigslist and the Yahoo groups. A gentleman who answered my Cragislist ad was hosting an after party for an annual conference dealing with the issues of black gay men. He invited me to this party and set me up in one of his bedrooms where party-goers could come up and do an interview. This was just what I needed. They would come in, sign a release form and sit down for an interview. Easy as pie.

I interviewed a straight woman who was raised by a lesbian mother which added a different dimension to the film. I also interviewed a woman in D.C. because at the time, I was going to D.C. a lot to visit my cousin. The woman I interviewed in D.C. was an older lesbian who had a lot of information to add about being a lesbian in the 70′s and also spoke about the gay issue in regards to Africa. She took a group of black women to Africa twice a year. The first trip was a “Welcome Home” trip and the second was always a medical relief trip where supplies and help would be brought to villages in need. So after I was done filming, I went to Africa with one of her groups. This helped me see for myself the atmosphere in which homosexuals in Ghana lived. One couldn’t speak for the whole of Africa but it was interesting to be able to report on the one place.

What I really want to share in this article is information about what equipment I used because this seems to be what keeps people from making the films they want to make. You must understand that everyone has to crawl before they walk. Do not be ashamed of growth.

I filmed my three volume documentary on a Panasonic PV DV100. At the time, this was a $400 camcorder I bought at Devil-Mart (Wal-Mart). I wanted three things in particular out of a camera: Manual Focus, an External Mic Jack and a Firewire Port. This camera had it, I went with it. I also bought a $3 external shotgun mic on Ebay. Actually it was this Sima SZM but it was being offered for cheap on Ebay. I bought a bunch of MiniDV tapes and gathered up a couple of those “burn your face off” halogen work lights from Home Depot.

Here is the trailer from the film: Shades of Love: Black Homosexuality

The interesting thing about this is, at the time you have to understand that I did this on impulse and didn’t approach it with the same limitations that one may put on themselves if they were waiting for say the “right” camera, the “right” mic, the “perfect” whatever. Even on my limited knowledge this doc still came out pretty good. Also, at the time, I only used Adobe Premier and it wasn’t very sophisticated. I wouldn’t even touch Adobe After Effects.

If I knew then what I know now about editing, this film would have looked a lot better than it does using the same equipment. Had I learned Adobe After Effects then, I could have fixed 99% of the problems I have in this video; color correction in particular.

So my advice to you would be to use what equipment you already have and what you can afford and spend more time making sure you have well composed shots (i.e. no talking heads in the center of the frame), all the B-Roll footage you need, clear audio (this wasn’t an issue on this film), and learn how to effectively use Adobe After Effects for color correction and camera movement.

The biggest differences between my first film and my new films are:
1. More pauses between answers to interview questions which is necessary for editing
2. More B-Roll footage so the entire film doesn’t consist of “Talking Heads”
3. Color Correction, color correction, color correction
4. Better shot composition
5. Professional camera movement (created in Adobe After Effects)

Although I did end up upgrading my equipment, I still have and use my old camera. But the point is, upgrade when its time to and when you can afford to but don’t let equipment keep you from making great films. I could have just as easily bought a more expensive camera and made terrible films with it.

In addition, don’t be afraid to make your film whatever you want it to be. For instance, if it’s “too long” make it more than one volume. These do well when selling to academic institutions. It is helpful to plan to sell to academic institutions anyway. There is always some Humanities or Social Science class out there in need of good documentary media for learning. If you don’t want to add music, then don’t. Just make sure your documentary contains interesting information. I noticed on some HBO documentaries they will have an entire doc without any background music and its just as captivating. You can too!

In Summary:
If you have little or no money, you can still make a great documentary film. Buy, borrow, or rent a camera and mic you can afford. Learn how to use it well and learn it’s limitations. Decide what story to film and put out free ads on Craigslist, Yahoo Groups, MySpace, etc. Once you get responses, schedule interview times and places and shoot your film. Be sure to compose your shots well. There are many sites online that will tell you how to compose shots. It’s pretty easy. Be sure to light your interviewees well. This is critical. Lighting can ruin an entire film. I would not recommend using the Halogen lights I used but you can if it is all you have. Just use light sources that will allow you to light the subject pretty well with little or no harsh shadows (I don’t like them). When the film is shot, cut it in Adobe Premier or an editing program of your choice and rock it in Adobe After Effects. The best site to learn how to use Adobe After Effects is VideoCopilot.net. Once you are done, burn it to DVD, promote it, sell it, share it!