Film Stock vs Video
On several occasions, I have spoken to passionate filmmakers who have no idea how a film is made. They have an afficionardo attitude about how they are going to make their first film, before they have even attempted to write a script. Mind you they don’t even know how to write a script. In these conversations, I have suggested they start out making their first film on video. They then become argumentative and adamant that they are going to shoot their first film on 16mm or even more daring 35 mm film stock. Good luck.

In my experience there is no use explaining to them, how expensive it is to shoot a film on film stock and the advantages of shooting on video. Their head space is in another world. When you first start as a film maker, it’s as if you are struck by gold fever. I understand their passion, but if they are really serious  about filmmaking they will eventually realise, video is the way to go.

Flaming Filmmakers
I am saying this at the outset because this blog post will probably attract a lot of flaming comments saying that filmmaking refers to shooting a movie on film stock not video. Well if you look at the wikipedia definition of Filmmaking, it states:  Filmmaking (often referred to in an academic context as film production) is the process of making a film, from an initial story, idea, or commission, through scriptwriting, casting, shooting, directing, editing, and screening the finished product before an audience that may result in a theatrical release or television program.

No where in this description of filmmaking does it mention the film production is shot on film stock or the final theatrical release is distributed on film stock. Filmmaking refers to film production or in   simplified terms ‘making a film/movie’.

Cut The Chatter And Make The Damn Film
I have also had conversations by wana-be filmmakers, who love to talk about their first film, which they haven’t made yet. But they never make the film. I know about these type of filmmakers because I was on of them. Eventually I did make my first film and I couldn’t stop making films after that. So come on guys cut the chatter and make the damn film.

Don’t Think (Hesitate) About Making A Film – Just Do It
Rather than hesitate about making your first film, grab a video camera. What? You don’t have a video camera! Come on, everyone has a video camera. Do you have a mobile phone? Almost every mobile phone these days has a video camera on it. Who cares what the camera looks like, just shoot a video and turn it into a film. I mean it. Use the video camera on your mobile phone to shoot your first film. Once you start shooting your first film, you’ll realise, filmmaking is highly technical and you’ll come across a whole load of of technical problems. That’s the joy of being a filmmaker. There’s so much to learn if you want to make a great film.

How To Shoot A Film
Now you’re probably thinking, “Damn!… How do I shoot a film”. Well, do your home work. Grab a DVD of your favourite film and watch it and watch it and watch it.

Don’t watch the film for the story line. Watch it and see how the director is using different images to tell a story. That’s what filmmaking is all about, how to tell a story visually.

You will notice a film is cut into different:

• locations
• angles of actors
• framing of actors
• and more

The Story Of Your First Film
At this stage all you have to worry about is coming up with a simple story. Such as:

• a car pulls up into the driveway of a house
• a person gets out of the car
• the person walks to the house
• the person knocks on the house front door
• someone opens the front door
• they have a conversation and the person is invited into the house
• the person goes into the house and the front door closes

Now you might take lengthy shots of each part of the story. But how about getting some more shots of:

• the person in the car
• what they are doing in the car
• their reflection in the rear view mirror
• their hand turning off the engine
• their feet stepping out of the car
• their hand knocking on the door
• and more

Get as many detail shots you can for this simple story. Don’t worry if you make mistakes. Your not pressured by a budget and justifying why you went over budget. We all learn by our mistakes and make improvements on what we do next time.

I hope this blog post has inspired you to make films. Leave a comment, if you have any questions on how to make films using video.

References
Wikipedia – Filmmaking: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filmmaking

One particular software  that many Linux users refer to as the ultimate video editing application is Cinelerra.

In this article I will talk about an Xtranormal State animation I made and how I edited it in the Linux distro Ubuntu using Cinelerra.

Why Use Linux?
This is probably the first question you’ll ask, so I’ll try and make it brief. Linux is free as in freedom. Yes I would love to use Final Cut Pro on a Mac, but I can’t afford it. Which I’m sure a lot of you are in the same position especially with the GFC (Global Financial Crisis).

The same goes for Windows, especially Windows 7 the operating system is expensive and NLE (Non Linear Editing) software ranges between  $AU1,000.00 – $AU1,500.00. That doesn’t include sound editing software.

Why Use Cinelerra Video Editing Software?
There are quite a few video editing applications you can use on Linux, but I found Cinelerra filled my needs:

• Viewer to view imported footage
• Compositor with many functions to manipulate the camera, projection and view timeline footage
• Timeline with unlimited video and audio tracks
• Rubber bands, keyframes to adjust video transparency, video/audio fade
• Video effects
• Audio effects
• HD editing (Bonus)
• Render Farm (Bonus) using several computers on a network
• Network file sharing

I could go on about the fuctions available in Cinelerra.

Here is the Xtranormal State video I edited with Cinelerra. You can watch it in HD (High Definition 1280 x 720p)

Linux Challenge Editing Video Produced On Windows
I have been making animated movies using xtranormal state, because it’s easy for anyone to make a movie. The problem is, I’m a perfectionist when it comes to video production. Don’t get me wrong xtranormal state is a great program when it comes to exporting your movie in HD.

What I wanted in my movie was:

• Introduction Title by importing a picture and titles
• Add sound effects and music (sound mixing)
• Cutting the movie, where the actors movements jolt
• Add scrolling, closing credits which you always see in movies

Recognition For Youtube Subscribers And Youtube Video Producers
In the closing credits I wanted to thank:

• The people who subscribed to my Youtube channel
• Thank the Youtube video producers whose videos helped me install Ubuntu and learn how to use Linux multimedia programs

There are 3 Youtube video producers I would really like to thank:

• Nixie Pixel – who helped me finally to install Ubuntu on my computer
• Vaasnaad – who helped me learn how to edit video with Cinelerra
• OSGUI Tech Show – because he’s an ozzy like me and because his videos helped me screen capture, webcam and interesting stuff, like using a network on Linux.

The only challenge I faced was the xtranormal state animation was created on Windows XP and exported to the .AVI format.

Cinelerra had problems with the sound. In fact the only sound I could hear was a popping sound. This meant I had to convert the video to a format that Cinelerra could recognize. Thank goodness for the FFMpeg multimedia software(Linux). Converting the video took only a couple minutes as opposed to +1 hour on Windows.

Editing the video on Cinelerra was easy, using the skills I learned editing in Adobe Premiere on Windows. The editing processes are similar.

The closing credits in the movie took some work because apparently the titling function in Cinelerra crashes. I hate it when a program crashes especially when it crashes the whole computer.

I followed vaasnaad’s Cinelerra Titleling tutorial on Youtube  using Linux applications:

• Open Office Writer (Linux) – typing out the credits and convert to pdf
• Gimp (picture editer on Linux) – adding the pdf pages in layers and save as one long image
• Cinelerra- importing credits picture and move image (beginning/end) in/out of the compositor camera view.
• Audacity (sound editor) Mixing sound, adjusting levels

Rendering Video In Cinelerra
It was really tricky rendering the video with Cinelerra. Guess what? It wasn’t Cinelerra’s fault it was mine because I didn’t select render the video and audio (Dummy!!!)

Get this, it only took 2 ½ minutes to render 1:17 minute HD video. That is amazing. It would have taken way longer on Windows.

Conclusion
Just writing this article made me reailize, I’ll have to produce some videos on how to use Cinelerra, so you can see what it’s like to use.

You will learn the basics of how to be a animation Cinematographer. If you live in the US, you may be familiar with the filmmaking term DOP (Director of Photography) which is the same title relating to a Cinematographer.

What’s Important About Camera Angles?
If you watched a movie on television, where the camera stayed in the same position and didn’t move through out the whole film. You and the audience would eventually get bored watching it, and change the channel.

Using camera angles or cutting to different shots in a film is really important because it:

• draws your audience into the story
• builds the audience emotion
• builds anticipation
• helps the audience relate to the characters
• makes your movie enjoyable to watch

When I shoot a film, I use a lot of shots (camera positions) as a story telling tool. People have complained about my films, because they felt the film was too short and they wanted to see more.

Why? Because I used a lot of camera angles that drew the audience into the story, without them knowing it. This is the most important point that all fimmakers should be aware of. In laymens terms, and I have told a lot of filmmakers this, so they understand ‘Slap your audience across the face to get their attention, and suck them into the vortex of the story’. Now this is symbolic speech to help filmmakers understand:

• In the first scene SHOCK!!! your audience
• Get their attention
• use camera angles so the audience has to keep watching the film or else they’ll miss pieces (puzzle) of the story (visually)
• Edit each shot so the actors movements flows from one shot to another.

How To Use Xtranormal State Camera Tools
I have created a video tutorial to help you learn how to use the State camera tools. You can watch it in HD (1280×720).

In the previous tutorial, I showed you how to start a scene in xtranormal State. I have choosen the Playgoz Showpak for this tutorial, which is installed in State by default. The reason for this is because the Playgoz Showpak has a street location that will help you learn how to use different camera angles to tell your story. Remember, different camera angles draws in the attention of your audience.

State Camera Tool Short cuts
Some of you, may like using shortcut keys to speed up your animation editing time. I have provided the camera tools shortcut keys below.

• Orbit    [ALT+Left mouse button]    Oribits the camera around the actors in a horizontal direction (left-right)
• Pan    [ALT+Middle mouse wheel held down]    Pan and Crane – Moves the camera in X (left-right) and Y (up-down) direction
• Look   [ ALT+Shift+Left mouse button]    Tilt POV – moves the camera in the X (left-right) and Y (up-down) POV (Point of view) direction
• Roll    [Alt+Shift+Middle mouse wheel held down]    Dutch Angle – tilts the camera side to side at an angle offsetting the horizontal plane e.g. -90°  – +90° degrees
• Dolly    [Mouse Wheel spin]    Dolly or Tracking shot – moving the camera in and out of the composed shot. * Note (this is only for setting up the camera, not movement while filming).
• Zoom to selection    [Alt+Shift+Right mouse button held down]    Select the area you wish to zoom to. * Note (this is only for setting up the camera, not movement while filming)

Now that  you know how to be a animation cinematographer using the Xtranormal State camera tools you can produce some very entertaining movies.

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial and I would love to hear from you. Please leave a comment on:

• What you thought of the tutorial?
• Do you have any questions?
• Do you have any suggestions for future tutorials that I can write about?

To use the xtranormal State offline animation program you need an xtranormal account.

Create an xtranormal account

The next step is to download the State animation program on your computer. Download it to a folder you will remember where it is, so you can install it.

Download xtranormal State animation software

When you install State, just follow the prompts

Once State is installed on your computer, you should have a State shortcut icon on your desktop.

Double click the icon and a login box will appear. Type in your:

• Username
• Password

State will connect to the xtranormal website to see if there are any updates, or new show packs you can install.

What I have just explained to you is in the video

How to install Xtranormal State Animation Software – video

Today’s video tutorial will show you how to create an animated movie using two actors. I have also included a video of the completed movie showing you what was created in the video tutorial.

The online xtranormal animation application is really easy to learn and use. Here is the end result of the video tutorial, to give you an example of what can be done.

Captain Broccoli Saves The Day – Completed Movie

I know the comedy of the story is a little quirky, but it shows you what can be done using the xranormal online animation application.

Captain Broccoli Saves The Day – Tutorial
I have created a video tutorial showing you how to create a movie with two actors. This video can be viewed in HD (1280×72) if you want to see the bigger picture.

Rather than have Captian Broccoli stand on his soap box bragging about his achievements in protecting the world from baddies, I thought it would be better for two actors to interact with each other. It adds a new perspective to the movie.

Having two actors in your scene, adds a little more complexity in the technical side of making a movie, such as:

• Choosing location
• Changing camera angles
• Directing the actors to use gestures to animate the actor
• Building a conversation between the actors

As you can see from the video tutorial, xtranormal’s ‘if you can type you can make a movie’ philosopy is true and yes it is easy to make animated movies.

The next article will show you how to download the xtranormal State offline animation program and install it on your computer. State gives you more control making your anitated movie and it is really easy to use.

To get started in making movies you can use the Xtranormal free online animation program where you can make your own movies. As they say ‘If you can type you can make a movie’

It’s really easy to use xtranormal and it gives you an idea how films are made.

I have created a video tutorial giving you an overview of xtranormal the free online animation program.

In this tutorial you will learn:

• how to create an account with xtranormal
• how to make a movie
• how to choose a scene
• how to choose a character
• how to choose a voice
• how select a camera angle

Here is the video I created giving an overview of the xtranormal free online animation program.

To use xtranormal, you need to create an account which is free.

Register for an xtranormal account
Xtranormal website

I hope you enjoyed this video. Please leave a comment or any questions you may have. I’d really love to hear what you thought of this article, so I can create more tutorials for you.

Captain Broccoli to the rescue. His mission is to save the world from evil.  But wearing a ridiculous green costume with a broccoli symbol doesn’t build confidence in his super powers.

Here is the introduction animation of Captain Broccoli.

I hope you were entertained by this quirky animation.

As the title suggests, ‘if you can type you can make movies’. Xtranormal is a quirky online application that you can use to make your own animated movies. The application is in Beta mode, which means there is no limitations on what type of characters you use. They are all free while the application is still in Beta mode. Here is an example of what you can do.

Xtranormal uses text to speech technology which gives a mono tone dialogue. But don’t be put off by this. It is fun and easy to create your very own animated movies. All you need to do is sign in (it’s free), create an account and start making a movie. Here is an example of a movie I made just to test out xtranormal.

Creating your movie is really easy.

• you choose your actors. There is a large selection of characters
• you can insert the camera angle of your choice by dragging and dropping the camera in the dialogue box.
• You can drag and drop an action such as hand movements, facial gestures, pauses etc

When you have finished making your movie, you can share it to the world by up loading it to your Youtube account. Xtranormal has the facility to upload your movies to Youtube.

I will be creating a tutorial shortly to explain how to use Xtranormal. In the mean time why not sign up for an account and start playing around with this fun application.

Here is another example of a movie I made dedicated to my fellow University class mates. It is a story about our assignements.

Here are 2 movies I have made with Xtranormal

Brads Joke #01
This my first attempt at using xtranormal. So please don’t be too harsh on my efforts.

Synopsis
Brad thinks he is comedian. But does the audience like his jokes.

Jenny’s Assignment Dilemma
This is my second attempt using xtranormal. It is a little slicker in camera shots, gestures etc.

Synopsis
Jenny is studying at University and has a problem with her assignment. She goes to her friend Ben to find a solution.

Producing a film, whether it is a short-film or a feature-film, is a mammoth task. To help reduce the stress and confusion of filmmaking, you need to learn how a film is made so you can be organized and prepared which is the secret to a successful filmmaker.

How a film is made
To simplify the task of making a film, you need to break the production down into 4 stages:

1. Pre-Production – preparation to shoot the film.
2. Production – shooting the film
3. Post Production – editing the film
4. Marketing – Promoting and screening your film

We then break down each production stage into tasks which will help you to be organized each step of the way in making a film.

Step 1 Pre-Production

• Write the screenplay/script
• Breakdown the script (locations, characters, props, effects)
• Casting (choosing your actors)
• Scouting for locations
• Determine what production equipment, props and effects will be needed for each scene as per the script scene breakdown
• Finding your crew who will help shoot the film
• Working out a schedule to shoot the film in the shortest amount of time

Step 2 Production
shoot the film as per the shooting schedule

Step 3 Post-Production

• Editing the image and sound of footage
• Add sound effects
• Composer creates music score for film
• Titles
• Final sound mix and format (e.g. mono, stereo or surround sound)

Step 4 Marketing
Screen and promote your film at film festivals

Conclusion
You have now learned the 4 steps to filmmaking. I will be writing articles taking you through each step from pre-production to marketing so you can be prepared and organized when making your films.

Add a comment for any questions or suggestions

What Camera Will I Need To Make A Film
When I first started making films I used a Sony Video8 video camera. I wasn’t concerned about the video quality of the images, I was more concerned about telling a story visually and capturing the images I saw in my head and recreating the story using a video camera.

When I first made films I used a VHS VCR to record and edit the film sequentially using what is termed crash editing. This method of editing is extremely primitive, prone to errors, pulling your hair out of frustration and destroying your VCR because it wasn’t build to do this type of  editing.

What Is Video Aspect Ratio?
The aspect ratio of the camera was the same as a TV 4:3 (720 pixels wide x 576 pixels high PAL). The problem with an aspect ratio of 4:3 is that it will be fine for television. But when it comes to transferring the video to film stock to be projected on a cinema screen, you have to chop off part of the top and bottom of the image to make it a wide enough to be shown on a wide cinema screen. This means basically the quality of your film will look crap.

Today you can get a HD video camera with a wider aspect ratio of 16:9(wide screen) which is perfect you transferring video to film stock to be projected on a cinema screen. The resolution is greater at 1090 pixels wide x 1080 pixels high. Which gives more pixels to a picture as opposed to the 4:3 aspect ratio and the picture quality fare more superior. You can also shoot at 25 frames per second using a HD camera which is the same frame rate that film stock cameras shoot at.

Before you rush out and buy a camera, you need to think about the sound quality.

Synchronizing Sound And Quality of Sound
When a film is shot on film stock the sound is recorded separately on a DAT or digital record. Which means when you edit the film you have to sync the sound up with the footage. A clapper board is used when shooting scenes as a visual aid for syncing up the sound with the footage.  Video cameras record sound as well as the video, so the sound is already synchronized with the video.

If you record sound for a scene from the video camera’s build in microphone, you may not be able to hear the actors, but you will hear the director talking in the background what they think of the actor/s. You need a video camera that has a microphone jack which will allow you to plug in an external mike. Using a long cable and a boom pole (window cleaners telescopic pole converted to hold a mike) you can get the mike close to the actors, but of course make sure mike doesn’t show in the picture frame.
Borrow, Hire or Buy a Camera

When you hire a camera it could be expensive if you are shooting a film over days or weeks and there is the problem of availability. Sorry it’s booked out till next week. Bugger!!! Or you can borrow a friends camera, but then what if you drop it? Oops sorry, it doesn’t work anymore, but thanks for letting me use it.  Not good for keeping friends. My philosophy is buy your own equipment and you can shoot a film any time you want and you can offer to shoot a film for fellow filmmakers as a Cinematographer.  Because it is your equipment you will look after it more carefully which will extend its working life.

How To Choose A Camera
So far from what has been discussed in this article, when you go to buy a camera you will need to be sure it has the following specifications:

• HD Video cameraHighest video image resolution 1090px X 1080px
• Frame rates (standard fps) make sure it has 24p fps (frames per second) for film transfer
• Mike Jack for external mike

Now what I have explained is just a basic explanation on what type of camera you will need to shoot a film. There are a lot more things you need to consider, such as

• Storage of footage e.g. DVD, Hard Drive or Memory sticks
• 3 CCD 3 separate video capturing chips that capture Red, Blue and Green (Professional)
• Inter-changeable lenses
• Microphone Jacks 3.5mm,  XLR (professional)

I hope this article has been helpful. If you have any questions or suggestions why not leave a comment.