What is the best camera (part 3/3)

So, you want to buy a digital camera. How do you decide what will give you the best bang for your buck? Well, even this is somewhat difficult to decide. First off, you should know a bit about the features

Manual controls – In particular, manual focus and manual iris (exposure). Most cameras will have this, though cheaper cameras will require diving into the menus to turn it on. If you have anything on automatic the image will may rapidly change focus or exposure rapidly…this is the trademark of amateur cinematographers.

XLR audio – Its unlikely you’ll find XLR audio on most cameras under $1000. XLR is the type of input that allows you to connect most good microphones. Most cameras under $1000, and even some between $1000 and $3000 only have a 1/8th inch microphone input. Don’t buy the microphones that fit these plugs…they are pretty much useless (except for one, but that’s another article). Instead, if you have to settle for a camera with 1/8th inch plug, you can buy an adaptor that will allow you to hook up XLR microphones. Its not the best solution, since it could result in noise, but its better than nothing.

Zebra – Zebra is a function that shows zebra strips over areas that are overexposed. It’s a quick and dirty way to make sure you don’t overexposure the picture without having to resort to carrying a light meter around with you.

Gamma curve – Gamma curve is essentially an adjustment to the way the camera’s DSP is handling the signal coming from the CCD. Film tends to react in a nonlinear fashion in response to light, whereas up until this feature was introduced, video reacted linearly. If all that sounds confusing to you, suffice it to say that a good gamma curve setting makes the colors appear more like film. You won’t find this setting on cameras under $3000.

Real buttons – The more features actually have real buttons as opposed to a “soft” menu the better. If the iris is a dedicated wheel you can adjust it very quickly. Beginning cinematographers and directors never give much consideration to a camera’s ease of operation. Be sure to check out (LINK) the importance of an easy camera.

24p – This means that the camera has the ability to record 24 frames per second progressively (not interlaced). A typical video camera records interlaced frames, meaning it records every other line, then comes back and fills in the gaps. This is what causes those jagged lines on fast moving objects, or when the camera moves suddenly. Conversely, a camera that records in 24 frames per second progressive has a more film-like blur on motion.

Other Electronic options – Some cameras allow for adjustments of contrast, black-knee, (ADD OTHERS). These options are less necessary because they require some level of expertise to adjust them. However, its better to have the option, than to need it and not have it. I’ll be posting an article on how to adjust some of these parameters soon.

High frame rates – If you want to do really impressive looking slow motion you’ll need a camera that shoots 48 or even 60frames per second. In the past you needed a $120,000 varicam to do this digitally. However, cameras with this function are finally being introduced into the under $10,000 market. However, one warning…most of the cameras that currently have this function require expensive more recording media, or more difficult acquisition techniques. If you are on a low budget you should probably avoid these cameras for now.

So….what camera?

Geez you guys are persistant. Well, I’m going to avoid going into really specific recommendations for right now. After all, camera’s are being updated every day, so there is a chance that any specific recommendation I’d make would be out of date in just a few months. I intend to do a few camera reviews as I can get my hands on different models. For now I’ll just say I’ve always been a big fan of the DVX100a, so if you are looking for a DV cam in the $3000 range find one you can borrow or rent and check it out. But stay tuned for upcoming camera reviews.

Memorial Day Teaser

Updates were a little slow this Memorial Day weekend, and for that I apologize. But it was far from a vacation for me. I went through a few big meetings, and having some pretty exciting projects coming up very soon. Nothing solid yet, but as soon as the details are worked out I’ll be posting them. All I can say is this…network network network…you really never know who you might meet that you can collaborate with in the future.

What is the best camera (part 2/3)

Since in the last article, I just told you to spend your money on mics and not cameras, I suppose its a good time to get into the second most important consideration when it comes to deciding on a camera. Yes boys and girls I’m talking about the budget.

First off, I want you to stop thinking about things in terms of the “budget” you have said aside to buy a camera, and start thinking about the budget of your production. This is not one of those “buying vs. renting” arguments. Instead I’m just trying to get you to change your thinking. Your goal is to produce a film. You put in X dollars plus Y talent and you get Zfilm…everything else you have left over doesn’t count for anything. Fixed assets, aka things you buy that can be reused, do not count directly towards the budget of your production!

Always, write your budget as though you won’t own a anything, except a finished film, after its done. If you’ve bought a camera already, when you write the budget write it as though you’ve rented the camera. Find a standard rate, and rent the camera from yourself. This holds true for any gear you actually purchase. It may seem sort of strange to think in this way, but it achieves two things.

• You have a better understanding of what the production actually cost. If you bought gear and just ignore the cost, then you are going to think you spent almost nothing. If you add the entire cost of the gear you’re ignoring the fact that you still have the gear when your all done.
• You find out if it was really worth buying the gear. If you can imagine yourself as the production spending $400 to rent a camera, you can imagine yourself as a rental company earning $400. Its not a bad idea to actually write it down this way and keep a tally. Then at the end of the month you’ll add up all that imaginary rental from all the projects that you’ve worked on, and compare it to what the camera is really costing you (if you bought the camera on credit this is pretty easy…if you bought it cash you’re going to have to learn a bit about amortization). So what do the numbers look like? Are you a profitable “rental house”? If so then buying a camera was a good idea…otherwise renting was probably a better way to go.

Like I said earlier the budget is the second most important consideration, and it’s a distant second. Why do I say this? Because, if you know your goal you can find the means…

What I mean by this is that, if you have a script that is worth being produced into a full theatrical 35mm film…if you try hard enough you can get it done. Even completely untalented people have done it…all it takes is convincing someone to invest in you.

That being said, something like that is a lofty goal, and if your new to filmmaking you should be looking at a 35mm feature as more of a long term goal. After all, would you rather produce a big budget 35mm extravaganza…that turns out to be total crap because you didn’t know what you were doing…or would you rather cut your teeth on a few shorts and low budget features? I hope you choose the latter because I’ve seen plenty of the former and I’d rather if those people hadn’t wasted my time and/or some poor investors money.

Another reason budget is very secondary is that there is a good chance that even if you have no budget you can find a higher end miniDV camera that you can borrow or use for free. I personally have shot most of my shorts on borrowed cameras. Public access TV often have cameras you can use…you’ll probably have to take some sort of orientation class, and it may have restrictions on what you can do with the finished footage. Also, some universities arts, media, and film programs have cameras their students can use. Go to a college and see if you can find someone who would want to shoot your film with you. I’ve gotten a DVX100a twice this way, and a friend of mine got a HVX200. Third, you can make friends with someone else who has gear. And finally, you can rent get some very good camera packages for pretty reasonable prices.

So for that reason, this break down has a lot of gray area in it, but in general. And here I am talking about the production budget, not the budget you have available to buy a camera.

• 0 to $5000 - Whatever you can get
• $5000 to $15,000 - 3 chip miniDV cameras
• $15,000 to $100,000 - HDV, or HD
• $100,000 or more - Film or high end HD cameras.

Ok, I hear you saying this is obvious. It is! But yet somehow still people insist on believing that there is some best camera. More often than not though, when people are asking “What’s the best camera?” they just aren’t asking the right question. What they really want to know is ‘What is the best digital camcorder I can buy for X dollars?”

I bet some of you clicked this article thinking that that is what it was all about. Well, get ready because in the next installment we are going to get into that …and from an engineers prospective…so you are about to get way more info than you’ve ever wanted.

What is the best camera (part 1/3)

All over the internet where new filmmakers meet, on the message boards and chat rooms, one question is repeated over and over: What is the best camera?

Have you ever wondered this? Are you stuck with almost no money, and need to get a camera now to start filming? Or maybe you have a ton of money, and just don’t know what to do. Either way you need to know what is the best and you need to know now!

Well, let me ask you a question: What is the best hammer? Is it a claw hammer, a sledge hammer, M.C. Hammer? I think you know where I’m going with this…

It all boils down to a more important question: What are you trying to do?

Start at the end and work back to the beginning.

If you wanted to go on a rampage killing zombies, you’d probably pick a sledge hammer. If you wanted to make a crappy reality TV show with has beens from the 80’s, you’d probably pick up a claw hammer and hit yourself in the face (or at least you should).

In the same way, its best to make your initial decisions based on what you want to come out with. Since, this whole blog deal is about indie film, I’ll assume what you are making falls somewhere in the ball park of film, short, series, or documentary. But for simplicity we’ll just use ‘film’.

So lets consider the factors that go into your final product:

Distribution

Are you thinking about distribution yet? If not you should be. So how is the most likely way your film will be distributed?

• Theatre
• Festivals
• Television
• Internet
• DVD

Even if you haven’t thought about it, you have a good idea of where you stand. You may have totally discounted some of them (probably theatre and television) altogether because you don’t think you could break in. You can…but that is a subject for another article. For now, lets go through them:

Theatre
If you are going for a theatrical release then your film should probably be…well…film. As in good old fashioned 35mm celluloid. That is how it will be shown, so why not just shoot and edit that way. Alternatively, you can go High Definition. HD will probably save big money on production costs, but it may be costly to get the initial blow up to film. Nonetheless, it’s a good alternative.

Festivals
Depending on the festival your going for, you could practically shoot with anything. However, most of your competition will be shooting with 3-chip miniDV cameras such as the DVX100, some of the newer HD and HDV cameras in the $6000 to $10,000 range, a $100,000 “real” HD camera, or on film. That’s tough competition if all you have is a $300 miniDV camera. But a compelling story, and good acting trumps all of that. If you all you have is that $300 camera but you think you’ve got the talent, then by all means go for it.

Television
These days television is sorta tricky. Most of your reality shows are filmed either on digiBeta, or on 3-chip miniDV cameras. Sitcoms are shot on million dollar studio cameras (I personally don’t even know what you’d call them, but if I had to guess I’d assume Ikegami makes them). Episodic shows, like HBO series, most of the time are now shot on 35mm film just like movies.

It’s also a tough market to crack, so if you are shooting a movie you probably won’t get any major television deals unless you’ve either had a theatrical release, or you make Sci-Fi originals. Either way your shooting film or HD. On the other hand, you can get docs and shorts onto channels like IFC that were shot on miniDV. And if cartoon networks “Saul of the Molemen” is any indication…you can probably get on TV with a rectal biopsy scope up a goats ass if you are good enough at negotiating.

Internet
I’m talking here specifically about streaming video…we’ll get to selling DVDs on the net next. Lets face it though, your video is going to be about 320 pixels wide. Unless you are sponsored by some car company trying to tap into this “trendy new internet thingie”, there is very little reason to shoot on anything that costs more than $1000, unless you just so happen to have something better already.

The internet audience is widely accepting of video…even really bad looking video, so long as the content is entertaining and the audio isn’t terrible. Just look at programs on YouTube like Ask a Ninja, or webseries like Pure Pwnage, or sketch comedy like that produced TeamTeam (produced by Zach and Andrew, writers for KillerFilm which I also manage). Now I’m not saying these look bad, but its just plain old hand held video. On the internet, cinematography takes a back seat to entertainment. Spend your money on good microphones, not cameras!

In the next article I’ll cover budget considerations, and finally in the third article we’ll discuss how to go about buying the best digital camera.

Cinema Advanced featured in Carnival Of Cinema

A blog carnival is like an ezine built up by articles posted on different blogs. My article on Louisiana Film Tax Credits was featured in Carnival of Cinemea

Adding production value to your film

My friend and collegue Donny just wrote an article on Adding Value to your DIY film. In it he covers some common mistakes director’s make when doing a no budget film, and how to add value to your film by avoiding those mistakes. His article inspired me to write a bit about production value.

First off…just what is production value? It’s one of those buzz words we in the indie world like to throw around, but rarely do we define it. I would define production value as those elements within the film that make the film appear (whether it is true or not) to have been shot on a high budget. These can be anything from a nice car, to a building exploding. A film with high production value is one that the audience looks at and thinks its a big hollywood movie. A film with low production value is one where the audience asks, “Did this kid film this in his backyard?”.

Most of you guys reading this article probably don’t have alot of money to make your first films. So in your case, ‘production value’ achivied through creativity and hard work, not through throwing money at the problem. So lets cover a few ways to add production value.

Donny’s article already covered wardrobe, locations, and acting so make sure you read his article. Those three things usually aren’t too hard on your pocket book, but make a huge difference. Instead, I have a few tips more on the technical side of things

Ways to add ‘production value’ to your film

• Smooth Camera Movement - There is nothing like a smooth tracking shot to add both production value and emotional context to a scene. Handheld Stabalizers and dollies are the tools of the trade here. Unfortunately, high quality tools come at a high price…but fortunately if you search around the internet you can find ways to build these devices for a fraction of their usual cost. I’ll make sure to add some tutorials on building such devices in the near future.
• Sound (vocal) This is not so much a way to add production value, as it is something to prevent you from completely destroying your film. Bad sound is absolutely unforgivable. If you find yourself with bad sound and no way to fix it, go back and completely overdub everything in post (I’ve done this…its not fun, but the final product is worth it).
• Sound DesignYou typically only need to capture sound when you are recording dialogue. For everything else (and even when you have captured dialogue), there’s sound design. Sound design is building, from scratch of many tracks of audio to emulate the sound that would really be there if the scene were happening in real life. The first and most important rule is consitancy of the audio levels. If there is a refrigerator humming while one character is talking, when you cut to the next shot of a second person talking…that refrigerator hum better match up. If it doesn’t, it instantly breaks the audiences concentration. Most field audio engineers believe its good policty to capture at least 2 minutes of “room tone”, i.e. the sounds of the room while completely silent. These room tone tracks can sometimes save your life when it comes to editing. In addition to consistancy, sound design can include big effects, like gunshots, glass breaking, or other things that occur prominently on screen. If that weren’t enough, you may also want to add mood enhancing sounds. These are enviromental sounds that give an impression of the mood of the scene.

  The best example I can think of offhand is in the remake of War of the Worlds. When the first big hit of thunder booms out, everything goes quiet…except you can hear a dog barking what seems like blocks away and the backyard gate creaking. What is odd is that these sounds make it seem more quiet than just keeping a silent track would, because it gives you the impression that everything is so dead silent you can hear little sounds from far away.

• High Angle Shots - Getting the camera up in the air isn’t the easiest of tasks, but it certainly shouldn’t have to cost you much. There are several inexpensive jibs and cranes on the market that yield excellent results for smooth moving crane shots. And at the very least, I’m sure you can find a ladder to stand on to do a static high angle shot (becareful and have a spotter when doing so please)
• Proper ExposureIf your camera has a zebra stripe setting, its probably a good idea to turn it on (unless you are a pro and can work with light meters…but if that’s the case you don’t need my advice on this topic). A digital camera has a limited dynamic range…the range of how light and dark that it can see. Make sure you have adequate lighting so that you can see your subject matter…but also make sure that your background isn’t blownout (that super bright white that you tend to see on videos taken in sunlight). Always avoid the blownout look…it just screams amatuer video. I personally think its better to be slightly too dark than too light. When shooting outside this can be especially hard to avoid. Bounce as much light as you can onto your subject using reflectors. Also, another great tool is a circular polorizer. It’s a filter that fits over your camera lens, and like polorized sunglasses, it cuts down glare, and tends to make the sky look more blue…as well as cut down a bit on that washed out brightness.
• Color Correction In post, be sure that you have a consistant color pallette, and adjust your gamma curves. If all that sounds greek to you, then don’t worry…I’ll put out some articles on doing this as well soon. But basically, play with the colors in your editor or compositing software until you get something that looks good, and then make sure their is consistancy of colors throughout each scene and the entire movie. An actor’s red shirt should appear the same color red in every shot in a scene. Red isn’t just red…there are infinite varieties of shades and saturations you can play with. The color may appear slightly different from scene to scene (say for example you have a scene that is very blue because the actor is in a night club). However, even if you change colors from scene to scene, you don’t want to be skipping wildly through different shades of color for no reason. If the colors are ‘warm’ (saturated reds or yellows) it says something about the scene, or if they are cool (bluish), it says something different. Unless their is a total reversal of mood, your colors should not shift that much. This is one of those things you never notice when its done right…but when its not done right it shows bigtime

Keep these tips in mind when you are producing your next feature and you need that high dollar look, without the high dollar price.

Louisiana Film Tax Credits extended to 2010

The Louisiana Film tax credits were set to expire as of January 1st 2008. As of the passing of House Bill 139 (PDF) the credits now extend to 2010. Also, the credits do not completely go away as of 2010, but rather they reduce to 20% until July 2012, and then become 15% after that.

Get rid of bad acting once and for all.

Nothing puts a nail in the coffin of independent film like bad acting. You can get away with bad camera work…people will call it ‘Cinema Verde’ (that’s latin for too shakey to see what the hell is going on). But your film absolutely cannot escape a slow agonizing death if it contains even a hint of bad acting.

But, hey…what can you do? You can’t afford to hire professional actors. The only people willing to be in your movie are your friends, and your crazy aunt Kathy. Ok, so maybe your shooting DV and you can afford to shoot alot more takes than the average film…but by the time your taking 15 takes for each shot tempers begin to flare. So now you have to settle. Stupid actors…what’s wrong with them?

Well, sorry buddy….you’re the problem. The fact is there bad acting is more often than not really bad direction in disguise.

Have you ever caught yourself saying things like this:

• In this scene, you get really angry and start throwing things around.
• Here your sad because your boyfriend is leaving to go to the war
• Here your trying to be sneaky and creep up on the guard

Can you catch the problems with these statements? Each and everyone of these statements is an example of bad direction. Unfortunately, sometimes statements like these yield good performances. I know you may think that is a good thing, but if sometimes it yields a good performance then, as a director, you’ll never learn that its bad technique. Instead you’ll think, “it worked last time….this guy must be a terrible actor”. Then later it will work again and you’ll think, “damn, finally a good actor”. Pretty soon you’ll feel at the mercy of some random and esoteric quality of acting ability. What is really happening is your getting random results because you’re giving poor guidance.

You’ll find yourself in a similar situation at every audition. Trying to find some magic quality that is going to work when you get on set. But once again…you’ll find everything to be random. What is going on?

Lets examine the above “bad direction” statements for clues.

In this scene, you get really angry and start throwing things around.
One of the worst thing you can ever do is tell an actor how to feel. When you tell someone to act angry, what you’ll end up with is someone who looks like they are trying to act angry. Their face will tighten up and they’ll try to act super mean. But is that how we really react to anger? We react all sorts of ways to anger…sometimes we yell, sometimes we say nothing. Sometimes we even cry. But if you tell someone to be angry, they will always act the same way….mean.

Lets say for example a man and his wife is having an arguement. The wife is talking extremely fast and he can’t get a word in. You want him to get angry at a specific point and throw his coffee mug across the room so she stops talking.

Pretty much everyone will throw the coffee mug perfectly. Its easy…its just an action…you throw a mug fast. The part that will really show up as bad acting is the part just before the throwing. As the wife rattles off a continuous stream of words, the male actor will act more and more angry, until finally he gets mad enough to throw a cup. And it will look completely stupid.

The reason it will look stupid is because he’s trying to look angry. Don’t think in terms of the actor, but think in terms of the character. The wife is going on and on, and her husband is trying to look angry at her….trying to make her see that he is angry. Does that make sense? It doesn’t….he isn’t trying to show her he is getting angry…its just happening naturally as a result of the situation. If he is trying to show her he is getting angry it almost gives the impression that he’s been planing to pretend to be angry even before the conversation started.

So how do we direct our actor the right way? Easy, you tell him what he is trying to do. The wife is rattling off so many words he can’t get a word in. Tell him: “You are trying to get her to listen, but she won’t let you get a word in. Keep trying to cut her off, and when she doesn’t stop, throw the cup so she shuts up.”

Notice that there are no feeling words in that statement….its only actions. After all they are called actors not feelers.

If you give an actor that sort of direction the scene will play out a bit more like this: The woman will begin talking, he’ll try and say something…almost timidly…not angry but she won’t stop. Getting a little more frustrated he’ll try to say something, but she’ll just get louder and more intense. Finally, he’ll get so frustrated he’ll throw the cup.

NEVER TELL YOUR ACTORS HOW TO FEEL

Here your sad because your boyfriend is leaving to go to the war
This one is along the same theme, but a bit tougher. Once again, you’re telling your actor how to feel. But wait, there is no real action in such a scene. Maybe a girl and her boyfriend are having their last meeting before he leaves for war….or possible its even a scene where she is just sitting at home thinking about the fact that he is leaving. But unlike the previous scene there isn’t really a specific action that you can tell her to do. So what do you say to your actress?

Tell her: Think about your boyfriend leaving, and that you may not ever see him again, but you’re trying not let anyone see how you feel. We humans rarely wear our true emotions on our sleeves, we’re always hiding our true thoughts and feelings. A girl whose boyfriend is going off to war is never trying to act sad (unless she really isn’t). Instead she tries to stay strong, and not let anyone see how worried she is. The beautiful thing is that when you tell someone to pretend they are not feeling a certain way, they come across as feeling exactly that way. Think about it…how many times has someone sad to you “Don’t laugh…” and of course the very next thing you do is laugh?

With some actors and actresses such a suggestion has a risk of creating what will seem (on set) to be a flat performance. If this is the case, shine a dim light in the actor’s eyes (try not to blind them). Just enough to where you can see the light in their eyes on camera. If it still seems flat…then keep it. The camera (and editing) does some pretty magical things. You’ll be surprised at how these “flat” performances really sizzle once you add a sound track and intercut it with other elements of the scene.

A short side note: You film history buffs may remember a little thing called the Kuleshov Experimen. Essentialy Kuleshov made a short film where he intercut the face of an actor, Ivan Mozzhukhin, with various other shots. Mozzhukhin had a completely blank expression, but when the shot of his face was intercut with a bowl of soup, audiences said he looked hungry. The same shot of his face and a baby girl in her crib, and audiences thought Mozzhukin was cheerfully watching the little girl. The same shot of Mozzhukin again, but this time with an older woman in a coffin, and audiences thought he was in solemn mourning over the death of this woman. Not only did these audiences think he was feeling these emotions…they even raved at his performance. Not bad considering all he did was ‘look down at the camera’

Here your trying to be sneaky and creep up on the guard
Ok…so this one doesn’t contain any feeling words…but its still not quite right. After all, you’re telling the actor to try to be sneaky. How do you do such a thing? Well, unfortunately, more often than not an actor’s usual attempt at being sneaky is only slightly more realistic than a kid trying to sneak up on a leprechaun to take his lucky charms.

The solution though is still the same…tell the actor what he is trying to do. Tell him: Don’t let the guard hear you or see you, and take them out.

Don’t memorize your lines

For all you actors out there, how many of you as soon as you get a new part do the following: Take the script home, highlight your lines, and start repeating them over and over again to memorize them. Wrong, wrong, wrong!

Maybe its a bad habit from our elementry school spelling bee days, but most of us believe that memorization is best achieved by repeating something over and over again. For simple things that we only have to remember for short periods of time, repetition is a perfectly useful tool. But for something as complex as lines of a script, it simply doesn’t surfice.

Back in college I took an acting class. My first assignment was a monologue, and I blew it royally. I barely remembered half of it, and I probably performed it that much worse. From there on out, we were assigned partners, and we were graded as a team. Of course, as the class progressed the scenes we were working on had to be progressively longer. I had to find a technique that would help me remember my lines, and at the same time help me perform them more natually.

The Technique
In a film, most scenes with dialogue are going to involve two or more people talking. Therefore, everytime you speak you are reacting to something that was said or done by someone else before you. This is the key to this technique.

First give a quick read through of your scene. Try to develop a picture of the scene in your mind of how the characters are speaking to one another, but don’t try to memorize anything at this point.
Now, start looking through the lines of the other characters. Look for the words or phrases that your characters are responding to. For example:

Jill
If you would have trained that stupid dog properly in the first place, this wouldn’t have happened.

Jack
You’re the one who left the gate open!

You have alot of options here depending on how the rest of the scene goes, but lets say this scene takes place just after Jack and Jill have found their dog bit someone. If you were Jack, you would probably want to highlight “trained that stupid dog”, because this is the phrase that triggers your line. Jill is trying to blame you, so you are blaming Jill in response.

Continue to do this with every scene where you have dialogue, and memorize the words you respond to, and just give a cursory reading of your lines. Mentally, or verbally repeat the response trigger three times, then your line like so:

trained that stupid dog
trained that stupid dog
trained that stupid dog
You’re the one that left the gate open!

This technique has huge two benefits. For one, it helps you remember your lines because it builds an assocation with the lines of the other characters in the scene. These lines will then be spoken to you while you perform the scene, and thus trigger your memory of your own lines.

A second great benefit is that it will help you act more naturually. When people are really speaking to one another, this is more akin to the way they really speak. When Jill says “If you would have trained that stupid dog…” you already know what you are going to say, you are just waiting for her to finish her sentence so you can talk. When real people speak to one another they don’t listen to every single word the other person says, nor do they ignore them completely and recite a preplanned speech. Its not about acting is about reacting.

Using this method has a subtle yet profound benefit. You will begin to react in a physiological way that is more like the real character would have reacted. You will listen to Jill as she speaks, but as soon as she speaks the trigger word, your expression and posture will shift from listening to waiting to speak.

More reasons to film in Louisiana

If Film Tax Credits weren’t enough reason to film in Louisiana, I’ll give you a few more great money saving reasons.

• Locations - For most indie productions, finding a good location is both difficult and expensive. Louisiana, however, has one great benefit - no permits. That’s right no permits are required for public any public property. In fact, the only issues that will require any special permission are the following:
  

  * Filming in cemeteries
  * Explosions/Pyrotechnics
  * Filming in the Historic French Quarter
  * Parking/Street Closures
  * Police Details and Film Guidelines
  * Regional Transit Authority Use
  * Sanitation
  * Removal of Streetlights and/or fixtures
  - Source: Louisiana Film and Television

  Similarly, private property usually owners are very receptive to using of their property for filming as long as their is an assurance that no damage will be incurred.

• Right to work Louisiana is what is called a right to work state. That means by law someone can’t be forced to join a union. In a round about way, this means the unions have much less power here, and alot of productions go non-union. While I’m never an advocate of all voluneteer crews (I think you should pay everyone at least close to union rates), the paperwork and rules that unions put you through is a big hassle I’d rather not deal with.
• Cost of Living The cost of living here is generally much lower that of New York and California. A typical two bedroom apartment might cost you $600/mo in Lafayette, LA - A progressive city with population about 200,000. So when you look at it like that…SAG scale of $759 is a pretty good wage.
• Insurance The only required insurance in Louisiana is workman’s comp. Workman’s comp is costly, but if you are willing to take the risk (I don’t recommend it), you aren’t required by law to have any general liability insurance.

To be compeletely fair, I do have to give one downside. If you are coming from New York or Cali filming with a Louisiana crew…you won’t be able to pronounce the name of anyone on your call sheet…especially your Director of Photeauxs.

Filed Under: Filmmaking, Louisiana, Producing
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