The joy of traveling matte

Take a look at this video, then read further for some discussion. Hats in the Ring editing demo from Joe Dzikiewicz on Vimeo. In my latest film, “Hats in the Ring,” we had a scene where there were photos displayed on a computer. To do this, we put a green...

Slow FPS camera test

Another camera technique experiment!  First, take a look: This is testing something I saw on one of the many how-to videos out there.  The basic idea is that you can get a ghost look by playing with shutter speeds and frame rates. That turned out to be a bit harder...

Year-end reflections

It’s the end of the year, and time to reflect on the year gone by. 2014 goals in review I entered 2014 with one major filmmaking goal: be a major contributor on six short films.  How did I do? March, “Better Days.”  In March, I was DP for a short...

On escalations and “Flowers for Daniel”

Last summer I took a class in screenwriting taught by Corey Mandell, who makes his living teaching folks how to write movies.  As I’ve written, I had mixed feelings about the class, but one of the things I liked about it was Mandell’s approach to story...

The Shutter Speed test

Starting with “Saving Private Ryan” and “The Bourne Identity,” having jumpy action scenes has been one way to make action stand out. This can be effective when going for a hyper-realistic effect, as in those movies. It can also have a real...