For most of the history of filmmaking, creating a Hollywood quality film required a massive budget. Films like Jurrassic Park and Star Wars utilize the latest SGI technologies, rendered by computers costing hundreds of thousands of dollars, out reach of the hands of ordinary individuals.
But in the last five years there has been a change in the filmmaking industry. The introduction of the Digital camcorder has allowed the average person to film video and easily transfer the film into his or her computer, eliminating the need for the expensive film equipment traditionally used in films. Also, the power of both the Macintosh and PC in the last five years has risen up to become a major opponent of the SGI machines, especially in the area of price.
Add to this the affordable software packages like Cinema 4D, Softimage, and Lightwave, and still add to that the power distribution of the Internet, and you have yourself a world in which both SGI and big Hollywood production studios could soon be running scared.
An excellent example of this would be Sky Captain and The World of Tommorow, starring Jude Law, Angelina Jolie, and Gwyneth Paltrow. In the production of the film, footage of the actors was shot againts blue screen backgrounds and then the CGI for the film was outsourced to about five special effects houses. This cut both the cost of production and the time needed to produce the film.
In the book, Make Your Own Hollywood Movie Ed Gaskell demonstrates how to produce your own Hollywood quality film. In this article, we wanted to take a look at his book and go over some of the primary topics covered.
In Chapter one The Digital Movie Studio Gaskell covers all the basic toolsets needed to produce a movie. The overview of digital video is discussed and how it differs from film. The second part of chapter one discusses the use of the digital camera and its characteristics, such as how to properly use the lens and the different lens types. Chapter one also discusses how to take video and transfer that video into a computer and begin to create a story. Chapter two deals with Preproduction, and what is necessary to produce this. Other chapters in the book deal with the shoot, taking control,the final cut, editing audio, and distribution. A must read for all those aspiring producers and directors out there.
