Post by Paul Dudbridge on Oct 29, 2006 12:04:40 GMT
Okay, so there were no posts for Last Contract so I thought I'd put it out of it's misery.
When I look back at The Last Contract, first I think "ouch" and then I kinda remember what it did for me. To put down what that film taught me, would take too long. Even longer than the film itself! Some points however...
Time. Every waking moment, was spent of that film. An 18 month shoot, shooting weekends, evenings... Understanding that just because I want to shoot Good Friday, Saturday, Easter Sunday, maybe my cast didn't.
Learning not to be open and honest with "civilians" when arranging shooting in a public place. Some people don't know what a "dolly track" is and subsequently get scared it might damage the paintings on their art gallery wall and tell you, you can't bring it. However, if I'd just turned up with it as "part of the film kit" they wouldn't have been any the wiser.
I learnt about dolly track. When to use it, when to not use it, how to over use it! Funny, I work with "Directors" today who still like the idea of it but don't know why or how to use it. They, like I did, copy from shots from others that have put it in their films but fail to realise you can't just cut and paste one shot in a completely different film and put in your film. There was a reason it was in that shot, at that speed etc. Use their shots as a spring board but try to have an understanding of why it's there. ( I recently worked on a film where we were shooting a slow dialogue scene and the dolly is firing back and forth on the whole scene! You get nothing but sea sickness and after 2 hours of wasted time, the crew decide it might be better "on the sticks".
Pacing is also something to consider. The structure of a feature is some what different to a short and even tho I wanted Last Contract to be slow, some said it was too slow. Down to opinion I guess but I may have misjudged it.
Editing on the old tape to tape analogue systems, teaching you that you must know your next edit and they next five down the line as you can't make any changes after. And unlike in today's digital areana only having 2 audio channels not 99 like it is today on the Non-linear editing setups. Looking back I'm so pleased I caught the tail end of the analogue methods. That was such a good disipline...
I met professional cameramen who I still use today, which led to leaning other kit and meeting other people in the business. Oh and also not shooting on 3 hour tapes. After I nearly lost all 12 of the 3 hour tapes in a car accident, I reaslised if just one tape had been damaged, what exactly I would have lost. Losing a 40 minute tape however, wouldn't have been as bad...
Well, that's as close as you'll get to the movie. As it's crap. But a few insights none-the-less.
When I look back at The Last Contract, first I think "ouch" and then I kinda remember what it did for me. To put down what that film taught me, would take too long. Even longer than the film itself! Some points however...
Time. Every waking moment, was spent of that film. An 18 month shoot, shooting weekends, evenings... Understanding that just because I want to shoot Good Friday, Saturday, Easter Sunday, maybe my cast didn't.
Learning not to be open and honest with "civilians" when arranging shooting in a public place. Some people don't know what a "dolly track" is and subsequently get scared it might damage the paintings on their art gallery wall and tell you, you can't bring it. However, if I'd just turned up with it as "part of the film kit" they wouldn't have been any the wiser.
I learnt about dolly track. When to use it, when to not use it, how to over use it! Funny, I work with "Directors" today who still like the idea of it but don't know why or how to use it. They, like I did, copy from shots from others that have put it in their films but fail to realise you can't just cut and paste one shot in a completely different film and put in your film. There was a reason it was in that shot, at that speed etc. Use their shots as a spring board but try to have an understanding of why it's there. ( I recently worked on a film where we were shooting a slow dialogue scene and the dolly is firing back and forth on the whole scene! You get nothing but sea sickness and after 2 hours of wasted time, the crew decide it might be better "on the sticks".
Pacing is also something to consider. The structure of a feature is some what different to a short and even tho I wanted Last Contract to be slow, some said it was too slow. Down to opinion I guess but I may have misjudged it.
Editing on the old tape to tape analogue systems, teaching you that you must know your next edit and they next five down the line as you can't make any changes after. And unlike in today's digital areana only having 2 audio channels not 99 like it is today on the Non-linear editing setups. Looking back I'm so pleased I caught the tail end of the analogue methods. That was such a good disipline...
I met professional cameramen who I still use today, which led to leaning other kit and meeting other people in the business. Oh and also not shooting on 3 hour tapes. After I nearly lost all 12 of the 3 hour tapes in a car accident, I reaslised if just one tape had been damaged, what exactly I would have lost. Losing a 40 minute tape however, wouldn't have been as bad...
Well, that's as close as you'll get to the movie. As it's crap. But a few insights none-the-less.
