Posts Tagged digital filmmaking
Shooting and Editing From Soup to Nuts
Digital Media Academy News + Events | April 22nd, 2010 by Lee Manansala
My classmates and colleagues and I have a particular way of speaking to each other when we discuss film and filmmaking, and after three years of film school the language we share is fairly rich and fairly idiosyncratic. One of the expressions we like to use is “from soup to nuts,” which means from beginning to end (back in the early 19 somethin-or-others, a meal at a restaurant started with soup and ended with nuts).
How long is the movie, from soup to nuts?
How much is the camera package going to cost, from soup to nuts?
Wow! She took first prize at Sundance!? How much did she win, from soup to nuts?
You get the idea. You’ll notice that the three examples I gave all have to do with money. That’s because, to be perfectly honest, film school is an expensive endeavor. I’m sure I speak for all my classmates when I say that we wouldn’t trade the experience for anything. We’re doing what we love, we’re getting better at doing it, and we’re surrounded by people who support and believe in our work, and we know that once we enter the professional filmmaking world we probably won’t be in such a comfortable environment. That’s not to say, though, that everything about filmmaking is prohibitively expensive. The actual equipment one needs to make a film, from soup to nuts, is very affordable. Chances are, you already own the major components. They are:
A video camera:
Most new video cameras shoot onto memory cards. The new handheld, consumer grade cameras yield a really impressive image, and they shoot in HD, but cameras that shoot on standard definition mini-DV are great, too. They’re just as easy to use, they have all the ports necessary to edit footage, and the fact that you’re shooting onto tape gives you the added security of having actual masters, meaning a tangible copy of the original footage you can archive.
A computer with at least 100 gigs of hard drive space:
For the Digital Filmmaking for Teens courses we use Apple computers because Final Cut Studio, the editing and finishing software we teach, only runs on Macs. I personally have a MacBook Pro with 4 gigs of RAM, and it edits High Definition footage like a champ. Before that, though, I had a PowerBook G4, and if I didn’t start getting professional editing work that requires a more robust processor I’d still be using it.
For now, a computer with a lot of hard drive space, at least 100gigs, will suffice. But once you start getting serious about your film projects, you’re going to want to invest in an external hard drive. Something in the 250 gig range is perfectly acceptable. Just make sure that the drive spins at 7200 rpm and that it has a FireWire port (as opposed to just a USB port). Glyph hard drives are really reliable and come with a great warranty. Here’s the drive that just about everyone at NYU used during first year. You’ll notice that it works out to less than a dollar per gig:
Editing Software:
We teach Final Cut Studio at Digital Media Academy, and it is in my opinion the best editing software on the market today. The interface is very intuitive because most of the editing is done on the timeline; you trim the clips, move them to where they belong in the story, and before you know it you have a movie. Final Cut Studio comes with the programs Color (a great color correction tool), Compression, Live Type, and DVD Studio, which is such a powerful program that I’d pay up to $500 dollars for it if it were sold separately.
Blank DVD’s:
To screen your movie! Look for bundles of DVD-r; they also work great as back-up storage media.
And that, from soup to nuts, is what you need to make a movie: a camera, a computer, editing software, and blank DVD’s, and much of this equipment can be purchased at DMA at a considerable discount. In my classes, I make it clear that the important part about making a movie—the writing and storytelling—is free. It’s entirely within you. Now, with cameras, computers, and editing software at such reasonable prices, the expensive part isn’t all that expensive, either.
I am teaching DMA’s Digital Filmmaking for Teens courses at Harvard and Brown University this summer.
![[Bloglines]](http://www.digitalmediaacademy.org/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/bloglines.png)
![[del.icio.us]](http://www.digitalmediaacademy.org/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/delicious.png)
![[Digg]](http://www.digitalmediaacademy.org/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/digg.png)
![[Facebook]](http://www.digitalmediaacademy.org/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/facebook.png)
![[Furl]](http://www.digitalmediaacademy.org/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/furl.png)
![[Google]](http://www.digitalmediaacademy.org/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/google.png)
![[LinkedIn]](http://www.digitalmediaacademy.org/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/linkedin.png)
![[Mixx]](http://www.digitalmediaacademy.org/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/mixx.png)
![[MySpace]](http://www.digitalmediaacademy.org/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/myspace.png)
![[Newsvine]](http://www.digitalmediaacademy.org/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/newsvine.png)
![[Propeller]](http://www.digitalmediaacademy.org/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/propeller.png)
![[Reddit]](http://www.digitalmediaacademy.org/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/reddit.png)
![[Squidoo]](http://www.digitalmediaacademy.org/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/squidoo.png)
![[StumbleUpon]](http://www.digitalmediaacademy.org/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/stumbleupon.png)
![[Twitter]](http://www.digitalmediaacademy.org/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/twitter.png)
![[Email]](http://www.digitalmediaacademy.org/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/email.png)
Stanford Summer Camp for kids 6-18
Digital Media Academy News + Events | March 31st, 2010 by Ben Hess
Stanford University’s innovation fuels creativity at Summer Camp !
Spring has sprung here in Silicon Valley, and before you know it, the school year will come to a close. We’re thrilled about Digital Media Academy’s summer camp lineup at Stanford and hope your 6-18 year old will join us for a week or two … or more!
Digital Media Academy offers both residential sleepaway and day summer camp options on Stanford’s picturesque campus, just minutes from downtown Palo Alto, in the heart of innovative, dynamic Silicon Valley. Whether you’re local, hosting grandchildren, or bringing the family out for a visit, Stanford University is the ideal location for US summer camps to explore filmmaking, game design, web design, photography and all the creative digital arts.
While the kids are soaking in the Stanford University summer camp experience, and learning to create visual effects for future careers with Avatar 6 or World of Warcraft, you’ll have prime access to all the Bay Area has to offer – San Francisco Giants or Oakland A’s baseball, Wine Tours in Napa Valley and the Santa Cruz Mountains, and beaches in Santa Cruz, Half Moon Bay, and Marin County.
As we’re an Apple Authorized Training Center, you can explore Digital Media Academy’s adult classes at Stanford University, regardless of whether you’re a seasoned pro or avid hobbyist.
One of our Stanford University summer camp instructors, Melanie Levy, is a professional documentary filmmaker and video producer. She recently reflected on the broad diversity of previous Digital Media Academy students, and she’s excited to guide this summer’s aspiring filmmakers through the documentary process.
Simply click here: Stanford University Summer Camps to see class availability and instructor bios at Stanford. We look forward to meeting you and teaching your child this summer!
Sony Renews Official Sponsorship of Digital Media Academy
Digital Media Academy News + Events | April 6th, 2009 by David
Sony Continues To Provide Professional HD Video Equipment For DMA Film and Video Courses Given At College and University Campuses in U.S. and Canada
Campbell, CA — The Digital Media Academy (DMA), a leading provider of film and video training for educators, adult learners and teens, announced today that Sony Electronics has renewed its official sponsorship and will remain the exclusive supplier of video equipment for DMA’s courses. Sony provides its most current state-of-the-art professional high-definition video cameras and other equipment for use by students in DMA consolidated classes, which take place throughout the summer on college and university campuses including Stanford, Brown, Harvard, U of Chicago, U of British Columbia in Vancouver, U of Texas, Austin and many more.
“DMA is thrilled to continue its successful relationship with Sony as a corporate sponsor,” said Dave Livingston, Director of Instruction for the Academy and its programs. “We’ve made our name providing beginner to advanced training for teens and adults, using the latest and greatest industry standard tools. This relationship puts the cutting-edge, professional Sony video technology, including the HDV™ series of digital video camcorders, directly into the hands of our film and video students.”
Sony’s high-definition camcorders are the choice of professionals working in a range of video applications including electronic field production and newsgathering, and event videography, as well as leading university film and video programs.
“Training programs like the Digital Media Academy are an important part of Sony’s educational focus,” said Shari Sentlowitz, Sony’s Education and Government marketing manager. “We are committed to preparing the next generation of industry professionals and educators, and we’re pleased to continue to be the exclusive video products provider to DMA’s film and video courses.”
About the Digital Media Academy:
The Digital Media Academy (DMA) is a nationally-recognized organization offering hands-on learning in a broad range of digital media technologies. DMA offers a wide range of courses targeted at kids, teens, adults and educators, Founded in 2001 by a group of professionals from Stanford University, DMA is known for its premier summer programs hosted at prestigious destination campuses nationwide. In addition to its summer programs, DMA provides on-site training to schools and companies throughout the year. For more information, go to http://www.digitalmediaacademy.org or call 866-656-3342.
We Loved DMA
Digital Media Academy News + Events | March 20th, 2009 by Phil Gibson
By Carolyn Perot
My son and his friend took the digital filmmaking course last summer at the Digital Media Academy and had a blast. They loved the camp, the food, the instructors. Plus, we let them loose with a digital movie camera on a school assignment this Fall and they came up with an amazing little film.
Documentary Filmmaking : Learn How to Make a Documentary Film
Digital Media Academy News + Events | March 10th, 2009 by Instructor
My name is Matthew Levie, and I’ll be teaching Documentary Filmmaking again this summer. I’m a professional editor, and feel free to browse my web site to see what I do.
Last year’s Documentary Filmmaking class was a fantastic experience for me as a teacher. The students included:
• a businesswoman from Boston,
• a sociologist from Japan,
• a teenager from France,
• a flight attendant from Miami,
• a scientist from Texas,
• and a teacher from South Carolina
Imagine what you could learn from a group like that!
Here’s a small snippet from the course. Since I’m an editor I can’t resist an example of phenomenal documentary editing. Have a look at the following clip, from the documentary Carrier, about the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz.
So first, one of the pilots introduces the idea that everybody on the carrier needs to do their job correctly, at the right time, for the carrier to function properly. And that sets off this montage of flight deck operations, set to—wait, can it be?—the “March of the Wooden Soldiers” from Tchaikovsky’s “The Nutcracker.”
Notice how similar motions are grouped together—there’s a beautiful series of circular motions, for instance. And at the end, somebody declares “it’s like a ballet.” Which makes perfect sense, since the filmmakers have already make that perfectly clear from a visual standpoint! But then they extend the metaphor to other areas of the ship, particularly the people feeding the ship and cleaning it up.
This is actually an important priority of the filmmakers: making the viewers understand that an aircraft carrier isn’t all about the planes and the flight deck, but that there are people greasing the cables and cleaning the toilets as well. And they’ve done a great job of conveying that visually at every opportunity.
Want more? Well, you’ll have to come to Stanford. Not a lot of people regret spending a week in Northern California, and I’m sure you’ll learn a tremendous amount and enjoy yourself as well!
Tate loved film-making
Digital Media Academy News + Events | February 28th, 2009 by Vicki Simon
Tate had digital film-making at UC Berkeley and he loved it. Tate was given the nickname “Tate Spielberg” in Anthony’s class. Tate spoke very highly of Anthony. I think he gave the kids a lot of autonomy. It was a cohesive group where nobody knew each other at first and they all got along great. We were very excited to find such a specialized camp and it really sparked a lot of interest for our son, who became quite dominant in his group in the directing of the short film they made called “Trapped”. Each student did their own editing on group created footage and proceeded to create a pro looking trailer and a 3 minute film. Tate has since created Trapped 2, Trapped 3, and Trapped 4 – engaging as many of his friends and relatives as are willing to be actors under his direction. He even recently attended an open house at E’xpressions College in Emeryville…. talk about igniting passion! He was the youngest person on the tour. He was captivated.
Watch out Hollywood…
