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17 4. Vital Survival Knowledge FILM SCHOOL TENDS TO BE a delightful period. You glide through three or four years having fun, occasionally bitching at teachers or assignments but on the whole enjoying yourself. That’s fine, but it can also be too much of a passive experience. Equipment was automatically supplied from the film cage in the hall. You just signed up and took what was available. Exercises were rigidly formulated, and for the most part you turned them in on time. And never ever did you have to consider, “How does all this help me make a living?” But now the sign says, “Get with it,” indicating you have to make a drastic change from passive to active mode. This means, for starters, mastering both equipment and technical changes and at another level becoming market savvy. Mastering Equipment and Technical Changes Until the late seventies, most documentaries were made on 16 mm film, using simple flat-bed editing tables like the Moviola or Steenbeck. You bought or hired your Arriflex, Bolex, or Beaulieu camera, and that was that. You could have fallen asleep like Rip Van Winkle, woken after five years, seen little change in the film equipment, and continued exactly where you left off. Today, with the revolutionary switch to video, change is the name of the game, tapeless cameras, P2 cards, and new work-flow patterns. Once, you just bought a camera. Now, after going through an alphabetical and numerical maze of camera markings such as DVX, XYZ, ABC, PD100, PD170, and the like, you have to decide whether you want an optical stabilizer, flash memory, hard drive, HD potential, progressive recording, or gen lock. I am surprised manufacturers don’t tell us that the cameras 18 / Vital Survival Knowledge also make toast. No wonder camera courses now last a lifetime instead of two days. But that’s not the end. Next time, you will find even more changes and almost have to go back to square one. Similar changes are affecting all editing systems and sound recording. You thought you were happy with your Avid Xpress system or Final Cut Pro programs. Well, think again. A new program has just come out enhancing your ability to create fantastic titling and superb rainbow credits, and everyone is getting on the bandwagon. So those old programs have to be junked unless you want to be regarded as an industrial primitive. OK, I know I am overstressing the situation, but the bottom line is you had better make yourself familiar with the changes, or you’ll be very hampered professionally. This situation can also be seen in the effects game. Once, effects in documentaries were mostly limited to fades and dissolves . Documentary had to be seen to be real, and tampering with the image was just not done. Today, all those rules and maxims are up for debate. Documentary style has broken through all sorts of barriers, and the use of effects is commonplace, particularly in history documentaries such as Simcha Jacobovici’s Exodus Decoded. This means that you must familiarize yourself with techniques such as the use of computergenerated images (CGIs). The easiest way to do that is by going to an effects house, telling them you are thinking of using some effects in your next film, and asking if they can put on a demonstration for you. Most houses will be more than willing to show you what they can offer. The drawback, of course, is that CGIs cost the earth. Recently, some houses have come down in price, so there may be hope. However, don’t be too dismayed, as most editing-software programs now include a wide array of animation and motion effects, as well as extensive graphics programs. The Need to Know the Market In the past, the sheer joy of filmmaking was an end in itself. You’d made a film, shown it to your friends, and risen in their estimation. Now you want to do more. You want to make films that sell and that will provide you with an income. To do that, to realize that goal, you must familiarize yourself with the marketplace and be prepared if necessary to accommodate yourself to it (see chapter 12, “Making Money,” for more on this topic). This means knowing what is out there—knowing the structure of the markets, what is being made, for whom, and what the broadcasters seem to want. Let’s start with the television-market structure. [3.144...

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