December Update

    What's new with you...? That's almost a rhetorical question, but if you want you can answer in the comments.. haha

   I've just been working on The Spies. Which has been interesting to say the least. There is this tip I learned from Andrew Kramer (VideoCoPilot), basically it is P.E.R.F.E.C.T. This acronym will help make really really good video (specifically compositing), but when I was working on T (Timing), I came to realize that we aren't very good at it. What will make The Spies worse than our next video will be that the timing of shots wasn't well planned, and it was too fast. We try to keep to about three seconds a shot. But some of the scenes in The Spies needed slower shot time. While we can speed things up in post production, we have a difficult time with slowing them down. Though The Spies (2010) will be a great film, comes out a week from Friday, it will be a fast paced 10 minutes, that should have been about 15-20mins.

   What I might try, but may not actually use, is to use the extra takes to show shots multiple times. This was done in the early stages of some European film (either the Russians or the Germans). But what it does. It creates this uneasy feel and it will slow a shot down quite well... I'd like to slow it down, but make it flow better, and not create unease, a lot like they do with explosions in spy films and action TV shows... I may be able to do this successfully... Wish me luck, ha

   Well what else is going down? Well LO2 looks like it will be released as a series of disconnected short films; well they are slightly connected, but not very well. This due to the fact that we want to make the movie, but we know it will be impossible to make the whole thing without serious dedication (which we can't get unfortunately).

   In preparation for LO2 we may make some sort of super hero battle sequence, or a Harry Potter inspired battle sequence. Not to sure on that...

   Then we are looking into a new series that would start up this summer called Gett'n Tasty. It's a cooking show, but we would film it whenever, release it later. Other than that we have a couple short films in conception, but nothing is really being filmed, the weather is wretched (we tried to film last weekend, way too wet, too cold for the camera, battery didn't last, and then we only got one third of the project done.. a five minute film...whatever).

   Look forward to the video on the 24th! I'm excited :D

Thanks for reading,

~Alex Chandler

The Greatest Film Day Yet!

The Spies (2010)

The Spies (2010)

To Watch The Behind The Scenes Click Here

    Yesterday was the filming of The Spies, it was predicted to be the largest film we have attempted yet, and it definitely was! You can always expect people not to be able to show up; and so three people were unable to make it. But we had my brother, Zachary Chandler, fill in those roles.
    In essence we had eight people show up for this, of a planned eleven. And we got a lot done, with the help of some strategic setups.

    What is coming from yesterdays effort? Well this coming Friday we should have a blooper / behind the scenes video coming out. Then there will be a trailer for this movie released in about a month, and sometime in December the actual video will release.

Some Important Learning Curves;

    Today was like any other day, I learned a lot. While reviewing the film I discovered that a lot of us seemed to blink a ton (maybe due to the cold) and there was way too much looking at the camera. To top that off there was the wind factor, meaning we will likely have to perform some ADR on the outside scenes.

    What to take away from this. The camera man, in this movie it was Ethan Carlson, should be watching for what peoples eyes are doing, whether that be blinking or looking at the camera (I was the worst, doing both of those a lot). Though if you are lucky enough to have a director watching from a ways away on a monitor, reviewing the footage, then you are lucky.

   With the wind, it's not like it's something I didn't know. It's more or less something that should be prevented, and prepared for. You can't hear someones voice if they are too far away, or if the camera is being hit by wind. Luckily for the first scene, a silent scene, I was able to remove all the clips audio and substitute my own (though I still have to go out and get foot steps).

   Another problem we faced was not knowing the script well enough. At the filming we tried out this new concept of having one person cook food for the actors, while another is doing up the make up, and then the rest of us are filming the scene. What does this have to do with not knowing the script? Well I think having someone who knew the script to the point where they could direct the camera man on what to do. Basically the director, but I think maybe having another scene director would work good too. But perhaps I should take it upon myself to do such. Because our script has planned out near every shot. But when things get tense and we are running low on time we can't look back at the script fast enough. And it would give us more free time if we were able to just sump into scene. Another step I had in mind for rolling through this faster is having the directors (in this case Ethan and I) go through the script before the filming actually starts and get a run down on everything.

Based Off Earth Wars;

    This film was really taking a lot of the things we learned from making the Earth Wars Series. A lot being based around just having a script for the film, and the amount of shots planned into the script. In Earth Wars much of our film was choreographed and, things were planned out around the camera. And then whenever we would be talking about the script we'd refer back to techniques we used in Earth Wars. If I had to credit one movie we did for teaching us tricks for this, you guessed it, it'd have to be Earth Wars.

Alex David Chandler is not Yet an actor...with much skill

    I found out the hard way that I'm not an actor... At least not yet! haha, while reviewing the film I could easily tell I was overly directing, though it was supposed to be Ethan's job, I was taking too much of it. In the footage I find myself looking at the camera excessively, talking about the next cut during a cut, and just a lot of really bad things for an actor to be doing...

    I figure with time I might be able to train myself to act better, but for now I'll continue playing minimal roles and just directing. Because this film was supposed to be serious and like Zachrey Manning said, "you can tell Alex isn't used to serious films." haha, it's true. There were many instances where there was 7-12 takes of me because I just couldn't keep a straight face.

Alex Chandler

Ethan Carlson; For the win!

    Luckily for this film we had Ethan Carlson directing. Before we started filming I told him that if something doesn't play across the camera right, or doesn't look good, make us retake it. And it is because of that, that I have looked over all of the footage so far, and it is fairly nice; even with all the minor mistakes.

    Ethan was also playing a character in this movie. Originally he was supposed to play the goth, but that didn't happen, but he got the role as the waiter, who was a pretty awesome character! Overall we were lucky to have him as a director on this film!

Ethan The Director and Camera Man of The Spies

    Haley Rondeau was a great asset, playing as a chef in the background as we filmed. She cooked so many pancakes! But it was all good fun and game, I'm glad we had her over.

    Mariah Puccia-McAllister came over and played the Lead Spy. That was interesting, I think she will be surprised to see how well she did acting when the film releases.

    Kalyn Erickson worked the make up side of things, creating a demon snake, the devil, and a goth. She also did some hair work for a couple characters. To top things off she played a spy character! It would have been impossible without the help put forth by Kalyn.

    Mariah Morey played the main character Jane. This was a difficult role that she did an amazing job at, to be honest she did more than two times a greater acting job than I did [as the other main spy character]. Well it was an honor to work with her talent, she was able to convey many emotions very well. You'll just have to see the video to understand how vital her skills were. (That and that of Ethan's skill, pulled this movie out of anything else it may have been).

Kalyn ~ Mariah Morey ~ Haley ~ Mariah McAllister

    Zachrey Manning played interesting characters to say the least. A Fluffy T-Rex (aka F-Rex) and a Demon Snake. The make up he had to put on was pretty hilarious! I was glad to have his help on this film. He is a self proclaimed "Blooper Creator." And I think he did a good job at that.

    And then Zachary Chandler forced into using his skill, I wasn't dissatisfied at all. I knew he had acting skill, he just used to have a very high pitched voice, but now it is all about gone, and I look forward to using his skill in future productions.In this film he plays the Goth and the Devil.

Zach Manning and Zach Chandler ~ "Zach Squared"

    

    Having reviewed the footage I feel it is safe to say this will turn out to be a fairly great movie. Everyone put a lot of awesome effort into it. And through our teamwork we will have created, more than likely, our greatest film yet.

To Team Work and Great Fun

Thanks For Reading,


~Alex Chandler

We The Spies - Exciting New Short Film (upcoming)

We The Spies

Mission 666

   Hey, things are going great here in the Filming Humor HQ. Haha, we're just preparing for our next video where we will be doing a short (10-15minute) film following the journey of this team of spies. It is currently looking to be a great movie. Lots of interesting parts. Not so random like our last video, but implementing almost every skill we have ever used in film making, among many more. Making this a very exciting production.


    This movie is also exciting because we are going to be having the largest number of actors on scene than ever before. Granted this will be hard to organize, but my Co Director, Ethan Carlson, will be there as well helping out with the production. We will be trying out a few new actors. To be quite honest this has got to be the largest high class thing we have ever really really gotten into (exempting LO2 as it is not finished, and still under construction - but if this turns out as well as it looks, we may be better prepared for LO2... whenever we get around to it ha).


   Some of the new actors we have coming out include, Mariah Morey as the spy Jane, Nick Mendenhall as a spy, Haley Rondeau will be working a bit behind the scenes, Mariah McAllister as the Spy Leader, and Sam Shake as Lucifer the Devil (though he was in one video we made over a year ago). 
   Mariah Morey is an exciting actor to have over, she has some background working in theater, and much like Scott Sabatini (who will also be at this filming) she is capable of fulfilling near any role or position needed for the character. Whether that be poor on the street, rich and fancy, or wild and crazy, making Mariah a surprisingly lucky addition to the team. 
   Nick Mendenhall, red hair, smart, crazy and out of this world thinker. We have him playing this spy role that's not to main, but will get to see some action in the film. From what I know of him we should expect great results. And then Mariah McAllister, friends to Kalyn and Sabrina from our last surfer film. 
   Haley Rondeau found out about Filming Humor through Mariah Morey as they are friends. Mariah Morey was talking to Haley and going through the script together, and as it turned out they would be hanging out the day before the filming, so as it so happened we got another hand behind the scenes and for any back up characters. Currently we have her as the pancake chef (if you don't know already, Pancakes while filming for us is tradition). 
   Mariah McAllister is... twisted, wild, and fits the position as a Spy Leader, to what extent she can act is to be found out, but it'll be interesting to see how that plays out. 
   Sam Shake, playing Lucifer the Devil, is a menacing person, with that sort of personality that you can see the evil lurking inside. But seriously, he is pretty amazing, we worked one film with him and he was never able to make it back for another until now. Just look at this photo of him, he makes the perfect devil character haha.

Sam as a Zombie for Halloween

   Other actors we are having over who have been in recent productions include, Kalyn Erickson, Scott Sabatini, Stephen Gomes, and Myself. 
   Kalyn has from the start, been a great help in productions! She has been a dancer for many many years, and has costumes up her sleeves. She also has the knowledge about make up, face paint, and other fields to be major help behind the scenes. And then she is also pretty good at displaying emotions as we were able to see in the prior movie we made. In all it's going to be great having her out for another movie... the fact that she can drive and lives less than a mile down the highway also helps, ha.

Kalyn and her many costumes

   Scott Sabatini, his name gives me chills of excitement. If you can get him to the filming he can be the single greatest actor when given the chance. He will do anything for a film; once he threw himself down a flight of stairs, and another time he took his shirt off and got shot full of airsoft (he did bleed, but laughed through it all haha). In the last film he played the blood covered monster, we told him what to do and he did it... to be honest that was my favorite character in the surfer movie. Scott also played the cave dweller character in the surfer video. He is going to be a great asset playing green hell dwelling lizards.

Scott as the Bloody Monster

   Stephen Gomes is back in the team! I'm actually really excited, he did a great job in Antigone, and an amazing job in The Sandwich. I'm hoping this time around we are able to get a more serious tone (the last filming he attended we were all pretty wild and off the walls laughing). Hopefully he will progress even further in this filming. He will be playing a red demonic lizard, much like Scott's role, just red. It's great to have him back in action and on the team!

Stephen in Antigone

   And then there's Alex Chandler, myself, playing a main character in the movie. Which in a way is awesome fun, but a draw back as I can't direct all that much myself. Thankfully Ethan will be there. I play James who is a spy in a relationship with Jane (played by Mariah Morey). Anyhow, I'm hoping I can pull off my role nicely.

From the last film, I played a military man.

   I'm also pleasantly delighted to announce that Ethan Carlson will have a part in this movie. It has been ages since he last attended a filming (The Sandwich was filmed forever ago, but he was in it). If you know anything about Ethan, then you know that he could be considered a genius easily. Place him behind the scenes of any production, or in the spot light, or in a side role of any production, and suddenly you have an amazing film. Period. He is such a forward thinker, he has been helping out here and there with the script of We The Spies. He told me just the other day, "hey Alex, if the Gothic role isn't filled by 7 days and 6 minutes before the filming I'll take the role. Cause I've always wanted to play a goth character." That there is Ethan, very extraordinary. This will be a very nice role to see him play, though it lasts less than 20 seconds. But I swear he will probably be one of your favorite characters. A summary of Ethan would have to be that some of his ideas are so good and so well thought up or out of the box, that they never get released (as is true with many of the films he is in), but when they are released they are as good as butter.

The Priest is Arriving - from The English Channel

   Zachrey Manning will also be there. He will have a couple... err... interesting? roles. They are out of this world and hard to explain. Therefore I will just call them, Snake and Fluffy T-Rex. The thing about Zach is that he is hyped up on either life or sugar all the time (much like myself). But this can be distracting to film with. So I have given him some roles that may fit... We haven't made a movie with him in awhile, it'll be nice to have him there. In an unfortunate, fortunate sense, it's almost good Chase couldn't make it. Cause Chase plus Zach equals one wild time. haha, though I am sad to say that Chase can't make it to the filming this time around.

Zach as Dr Hobo from The Spaztastic News

   I am delighted to say that Isaac Mort will be joining us behind the scenes on this one. He used to come over for videos a lot. Unfortunately none of them were ever released because of the complications of The Original Legend of Two (he was in an episode of The Spaztastic News in Season One). But he was a great actor, he has said he doesn't particularly want to act in this one, which is fine, Ethan said the same thing before he got a role, ha. But if he is still able to make it we will be having some good input from him. He would also be helping Haley in the kitchen.

From the video Awe Not Again

   In final conclusion, we are appearing to have a great turnout this time around, and the desire to push this movie to it's limits is high. We have lots of work on the Script and Plot every day, and things are falling right in place for the filming in November, let's just hope it doesn't rain or else my brother will be holding an umbrella haha...


Thanks For Reading,


~Alex Chandler

The Best Surfers Of All Time!

   Originally this video was going to come out today around noon... but I wasn't nearly close to being finished editing last night. So, I've moved the release date to a week from today; next Friday.

   But the behind the scenes are out for your viewing pleasure :D

   To simply clear up what "I wasn't nearly close to being finished editing last night" really means. Well it's still in the basic cut of the video. Though it would have been perfectly fine to release four months ago there is a need to go and add ADR (footsteps, breathing, ocean waves, cool breezes and the like), as well as background music. Also at the current state the cuts don't flow too smoothly which I'm hoping will be cleaned up by some background music and other elements.

   Though this video is taking awhile to come out, I think that's the consequence of one editor, school, and an amazing video with loads of cuts. And by that I mean that this video will be well worth waiting for!


Thanks for reading,

~Alex Chandler

Edit; This is the final product (a bit random lol)

As I Run

Just wanted to make a post talking about things... but I'm not quite sure what I want to say.. so I'll keep it short

    I just recently put out a video... it is realization, but at the same time, I just can't explain why I feel stupid. It seems as though no matter how much you learn or know there is something else to try and learn... and the unfortunate truth is there is no easy way to download it all...

    I'm reading this book How To Make Friends and Influence People and the further I go the more I realize... which I do and don't like lol

So back to this video I just made
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07iSSlUw-tg

    When you aren't the person shooting the video you sometimes feel less control in post... That's how I felt with this video. Until I was actually editing the video I didn't even know the full plot outline, I had just scene a few random clips from it.
    So the thing about this particular video is the only thing I did as far as making this video went was the editing... Which is common in the professional world, but ussually I'm there, I'm the Director, It's my vision, I'm the camera man, and so this time I felt really out of control. But the truth of the matter is that it turned out quite well, there are only a few things I really, really wanted to change (that I could have done).
     This was filmed with my old camera (the Sanyo Xacti). But when I was done editing it had the feel of my Panasonic because of some color correction I did near the end of editing. Another thing I really liked about this video is I composited 3 or 4 different audio tracks to match the feel of each scene.
    I think this is huge in preparation for my upcoming short Surfer Dudes. This video was more to teach Ethan and Chase about the importance of multi cuts; this was filmed before Ima Get You, which was a real showing of multi cuts... my attempt to prove it to Chase and Ethan.
   As things go, they now understand the importance, but if you put it this way.. Ima Get You was my demonstration of multi cut action and The Sandwich was Chases attempt at it with help from Ethan. When I reviewed the video they shot it needed some serious work but after all was done I think it turned out well, everyone has been highly impressed with it, so all is well.
This is getting to be a lot longer than I expected, but that's a good thing...

Thanks For Reading,


Alex Chandler

The coming months

What If

   I don't mean to boast, but I think our short film "What If" is going to be amazing.  I spent two weeks writing up the script and getting all the prep work done, the actors are selected and all we need is a couple days to film. Which apparently is the hard part.

   Next week on Sunday we plan to film almost all of it and save the other smaller parts for another day. Now we were going to film it today and this Sunday, but that didn't work due to actor inconvenience. But with a little bit of rescheduling we're back on track.

   So what is "What If?" Well it's a short film that will be just over 10mins in length about a guy named James who has some interesting experiences. But more importantly it's going to be submitted to a film festival, hopefully the Gig Harbor Film Festival, but that's another story, anyway, that'll be on our minds for awhile.

   Just wanted to finish it off with the fact that I get to play James who look almost nothing like me, it's going to be a lot of fun! xD

Just another reason why we'll be busy is due to the Spaztastic News starting back up, and school just around the corner...if you haven't seen the newest news your missing out on an amazing season two premiere here is the link and then the video just because ;-)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vO7N8gCC-zQ

Thanks For Reading,
Alex Chandler

Small Update

   Lately we have been putting out some videos of our experiments. No real purpose, just showing what I've learned in editing and where we are going.
   The first part of this (for the summer) was making a video with a ton of cuts. Now this video was to prove to Chase and Ethan that a lot of cuts is needed to make a film; they didn't believe me. Until they saw this video and I told them about the 3-4 sec cut rule. But now things are all in good order and we are taking this little concept to heart, which in and of itself will improve our videos drastically. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MiXKAEPeU-g
   Another little video I made the other day was a quick 15 sec video (took me 15 hours to edit) that showed off some cool effects and explosions I made in After Effects. This video kinda blows you away, but more importantly the audio brings the piece together. I found every free explosion I could, and as many good explosion sounds as I could get, just for this video. But the reason it took so long to edit was due to me having never used AE before, so I had to watch tutorials and spend time learning the ways.

   As far as audio goes. So we've started using ADR, as you may know, and so far it is turning out really nice, and helpful. The chasing video with a lot of cuts was about 20% (extra audio/replaced). And this keeping in mind that most movies are 70%. But ADR does help out by making the scene a little more epic. Just stand somewhere, anywhere, for a minute and try to pick out as many different audio sources as possible. One day while doing that I picked up about 10 or so; wind, grill, people talking, birds chirping, ocean, cars driving by, people walking in the grass, and a bunch of others. But you can see the importance of fully creating that ambiance.
   Well that is all I will leave you with for now, head on over to the LO2 blog to check out what I said about the first filming (if it's not up yet it will be soon)

Thanks for reading,

Alex

Living In Filth

FYI this post is a bit different than the norm.


   Ever wonder how hobos get by? Or how people, so long ago, could possibly live in the terrible conditions that havocked the world? Pondering along one may think, is it right that Africans live in such terrible conditions? Or right that there are Kenyans who run miles a day just to go to school?
   How can it be. Is there some force around us that brings these conditions to be, in some way, bearable? There may be an answer.
   I like many of my teenage friends live in a room that is commonly seen to be "filthy", "disorganized", or "in need of a cleaning." Where as I perceive it to be simply natural. Easy to live with and proactive in my creative process. Not to say I don't clean my room [though I do much more over the summer] but to say that this "Living In Filth" is a matter of perception.

   Back in the day conditions were rough. You lived in times of war and amputation was the best cure. "Live with the pain or lose it." Now a days, doctors will prescribe you pills that can fix anything. From migraines, to inherited diseases. Is there still wonder why those conditions were bearable. Or why, when you go back even further you lived in war. Where a slow death by blood loss and a dagger wound was more common than the unwounded troop count.
   Or perhaps we consider pain. How long does it last? At what point are you Numb? Have you ever fallen? Well of course you have, and what happens, soon after you find yourself in this sort of Numb state. A place between in pain and joy. A mix that really isn't conceivable in words.

   Try imagining the future? To bad you can't see into the future, and even if you could would you want to? Would you want to look at a Thanksgiving turkey feast, or live with what you have, not knowing of other existing ways of life.
   If the future has transportation beyond that of cars...what would they think of our lives? Would they feel sorry for the few hour commutes we have to take...that life wasting time, that could be spent better with family, friends, kids, pets and EVERYONE ELSE!
   It is a true shame that humans pity those of the past, who in their time, thought highly of themselves or did not care. How many in the industrial revolution thought they lived in the best conditions that there would ever be. And look at us now, with worldwide connectivity through the internet, TV and so many other devices!

   If we take a look in my video editing experiences I find multiple examples that show this well. I use to think what I did on the green screen couldn't get better. But it slowly got better, and increased in greatness, and even now I realize that in the future there will be a better green screen for me. And when I first started trying to do flame effects I had a better idea at the end of the week. I look back now and consider what I saw as impressive then to be my worst works ever. Even when some of them took me hours of work. All in all, it is a learning experience that builds to become who you are, and what you are, in the now and future...
   It's one of those things where you know something better is out there, but you don't know how, you just can't fathom it. Which in itself is a good thing as it makes you a much happier person.

   Another good example of crap conditions would be of the AE (After Effects) establishing body. Many think that you are more or less born into greatness. Which as we all no is only true for f'd up actors and musicians...
   But anyway. The AE team started out with meetings in an apartment building where one of the team lived with his Girl Friend and a couple other guys. This is the start of AE, right there, pretty crappy huh? They soon moved into a bigger building. At that time they were likely thinking, "Damn this is nice." And with all the odds piled up against them, it was likely the best they'd ever get. But everything got better they moved on in life and got greater, and look now, we just got AE CS5 [which I'm getting this summer--yaya].

   But all of this just goes to show you that, even in the past when things look bad, or in the present when you see something like a dirty room. It is only going to get better for the person. And they are living in an awesome place right then. Why try and teach them to live better when they are doing just fine? Yeah, sure, we can help the Kenyan school kids out, but it is their normal, they grew up with it. That's just how they live. And showing them little bits of a beastly thanksgiving, just pisses them off.


Thanks For Reading,


Alex Chandler


(and yes this was written just to prove to my mom that I can live with an unclean room for a bit)

Busy...But a New Understanding Since Last Time...

   Everyone has made a good short. But what many don't attempt, but need to attempt, is a serious series, or a significantly long video.
   We have been working really hard to make are series LO2, but it is draining in all forms of the term. We spend multiple afternoons to script an entire episode, it takes about three hours to write up a day plan, and then getting actors for all the parts takes a long time. In fact we have yet to fill three of the main parts...we are three weeks away from the first film day...hah
   From many afternoons of lying on bed ignoring homework and trying to find ways to make LO2 a success I learned something of great importance. In all honesty I've had a very pessimistic attitude to the probable outcomes of LO2, but I think I solved my biggest problem of all - the one that has been driving me nuts for months. We need the humanoid actions.

   When you read something you wrote up and you know there is something wrong with it...well it tends to drive you nuts. I wrote something up with my two co directors and I could tell there was something wrong with it.
   Our script was a problem. It's not that it wasn't amazing, it was that we didn't show enough detail. We would say what the scene felt like in our minds, but did not convey the shots, the expressions and everything that really goes into filming a movie.
   Today we started something that will, in the optimistic perspective, bring LO2 from the grave it had dug itself out into the sky where every movie deserves to be. We created a list that holds all of the different types of Gestures, Facial Expressions, Cuts & Lighting Techniques that we may use.
   In each of these lists our a series of our own thoughts and complexes that will bring about the sort of mood we describe in the script. In the future...likely this weekend...we will be implementing these humanoid expressions into the script.
   But in short I have cleared much of that worry off my chest with this single fix and we have great hopes in where we are going.

If you are further interested in some of the works being done on LO2 visit:
http://picasaweb.google.com/alexrules94/untitledalbum/#

Thanks For Reading
The Director,

Time Can Fly Like A Bird.....and as for LO2

   So as you may or may not know I've been scripting a movie with my two Co. Directors; for LO2 (The Legend of Two). We used to get an episode-of 60-written every couple days, now it seems like we haven't written one in a long time. I came to a realization awhile back that we have a month to two months to finish the script and we are no where near.
   We started many of months back but have just been overwhelmed. We plan to start filming 1-2 months before school gets out and time has just flown by. We have the whole outline but...we need more time is all.
   A few months back we learned that Tim a great friend of mine, and close companion to Filming Humor was moving to Texas. We always wanted to get a video made before he left but he will be gone as of this Saturday. You may remember him as Vader from Earth Wars, or Gregory from The Spaztastic News, he also played numerous roles in side videos.

   It's a great loss that will be heavily impacting and will take some time to recover from, he was definitely a guy to call upon when a new video was going to be made, or if we had an extra spot open. It would have been nice to have him in LO2 as there are a ton of roles and parts that still need occupying.

As for LO2:
   So this plot has like a bazillion characters, most of which die, lots of foreshadowing, and as much epic as you could possibly imagine. The plot has nearly a bazillion places where we need to go for on location, not to mention all the other complications....such as the editing hassle. We don't plan to release the video series for nearly half a year after we finish filming and the effects are so far beyond us right now it is unbelievable. I mean I practice from time to time and try to learn to do super power effects but it is difficult.

This is the as of now logo...will likely go back into construction for a makeover.

   I want a better camera, not that I don't have a nice HD camera but it could be so much better....but then I'd also like to get AE (After Effects) as that would also be very helpful. Now I haven't yet got to my point of interest. This is a long freaking movie, hour and a half about, and if we are successful, which I fully intend to be, I'd want to take a step further then YouTube with this video. Either selling maybe it as a DVD or something else...but that means we need probably better quality....which means a better camera...gah, so confusing this must be.
   Because I always like to tell the history of LO2 here it goes. So one day, about a year ago,i had an idea for a stick fight I could make, drew it up in class, they had super powers. I then went to design a plot for how they got their powers and their saving of the world. At this point in time I was not really big into making movies...more animations actually...but I was in video editing class and made great work with windows movie maker. I actually didn't have a camera either so the idea that I would get anywhere was over my head.
   My friend Ethan and my other friend Erik were going to play the main characters. Ethan being as crazy as you know him to be (created the idea to The Spaztastic News among many others like Earth Wars) had to take my plot and twist it into a new. From the kind peaceful plot it was turned into a druggie based movie that probably would have been terrible. The first filming was spectacular in that it was hilarious and I wish I could release it but am incapable due to the fact that Ethan would more or less chop off my head and throw it in a sewer then burn my body...
   Anyway, we scrapped that version because Ethan became to busy to film. But you have to remember that the only directing experience before the filming was a little for a Romeo Juliette skit for school. But before we scrapped it we assumed Ethan would be back and filmed a whole scene without him and kept his name in use but when it came time for the next filming he was gone and so we brought in Dylan who then played Ethan. This got pretty far but eventually failed as summer came because Dylan was soon a lost cause during the summer when no one could get in contact with him.
   Eventually LO2 was scrapped. Until I met my friend Chase and learned that we both enjoyed video production and then teamed up with Ethan (who came back into video as of summer) and created Filming Humor. From there we made a series of skits and other random videos.
   LO2 went back into production about a month and a half before the end of summer with Chase and I exchanging the original plot outline and making changes as needed to the point of perfection. We removed all that Ethan had added that made it bad, and reset the plot scenes and everything the Original LO2 was.
   Google Wave had just come around soon afterward; Chase, Ethan and I took advantage and started the scripting of every scene. We changed from having two main characters as two males to a male and female who pick on each other in a funny fashion and came to a splendid point. We started recruiting people we thought fit character roles, set new guidelines and planned for everything to be without flaw as to avoid all bumps we faced last time.
   From there we are here, and yet we still have nearly a year until we will release the video, but such a short time that is.

Thanks For Reading
The Director,

Spoofing The History Channel

   Quite a feat it was. When looking to make a movie there isn't usually a deadline unless you want there to be. This is an occasion when time was of the essence.

Prep Work:
   Original intentions were unclear, we were given a week and a half notice, but didn't learn we could work with partners until a week prior. With one week and counting we rushed to get ideas together and had filming underway that evening. We all knew that this project for our English class didn't have to be as extravagant as we were making it but we were going to have fun with it, and we were going to blow the competing power-points out of the water.
   The assignment was to compare Ibo culture to that of our own. Our first ideas were sketchy, but we eventually settled with Ethan's idea of spoofing The History Channel. We choose to compare religion because we wanted to hit on all the topics, but the only way to do this was to use a wide range topic, and religion fit the bill. From there we planned out speeches and skits to play over the audio.
   Making costumes was a bit fun. We had a lot of supplies just laying around...an old shield, a black table cloth and a tin foil sword. Each of these was modified for the purposes of the video. The old shield became a mask by cutting holes into it and painting it. The black table cloth became a robe & headband, the tin foil sword became a cross. From there we took some paints and attempted to make black, but it came out as purple; until the second filming. Which was two days prior to the release, where we made a successful black. Other costumes were fresh to the market.
Filming:
   I have a 16GB SD card, it can hold nearly four hours of video, we almost used it all up. Day one of filming we shot mostly the short skits to go over the video which took quite a bit of time. And the second day we shot all the speeches as well as a few more skits. We filmed for a total of about seven hours, which isn't all that much.
   One of the more interesting parts of filming was the cold. The temperature may have been 65F but when you factor in wind chill and rain it seems closer to freezing. When we shot the arrival of the Christians, which was out in a leaking canoe, we had to get out in the even colder water where our feet soon became numb. We wanted to show the canoe as though it were out at sea. So we got the canoe a bit out and Ethan and Tim got in the canoe, I stood out in the cold water.
   When you plan to put someone on the screen four times it is best to have some careful planning. Ethan got dressed up like an Egwugwu and we then shot him entering the screen four different times. Now I'm not trying to complain or anything but Ethan and Tim often think very highly of my editing skills, some times too much. So Ethan keeps walking out on screen and I keep reminding him, don't cross into "the area". We had way to many takes of this, but it is a learning experience.
   The green screen; you would be surprised what you can do with one of these. I don't mean to boast but I nearly have it down to a science. So the first day we filmed just a little on the screen, but what we forgot to do was remove this object from leaning up against it which messed with the shading and added a big object in the background! But it wasn't to bad, I fixed it nicely. The second day I was sure to get it all right, and we did many a things to make it look a bit more professional. Such as changing the positioning of the chair, getting close ups; among other shots.
Editing:
   Would you believe me if I told you I spent about 14 hours editing and would have prefered another five for finishing touches. So yes it was a great movie, but for the first day of it's release I had a bazillion things I whished to fix. Although I am now over it I would have prefered to have removed the picture of weed, and could have shortened some of the talking parts. Pretty much everyone who has seen it was highly impressed with the work, and I'm glad it turned out so well and more importantly glad the class liked the presentation.
   Getting to show off some new techniques was fun. More recently I learned to use this effect in Primiere call "Roughen Edges." Basically you add that on top of the green screen mask and you achieve removal of the green glow. I'll admit that there was still a bit of green glow, but it fooled many people into believing that the speaking shots were filmed on a real book case.
Final Words:
   I'm pleased, liked having a deadline and we achieved what we shot for; a great grade and blowing everyone else out of the water. My family has sent the video off to their friends because their impressed and their friends enjoyed it which is pleasing. Ethan still a bit to embarassed to show his mom, but my mom later informed me that she sent it to Ethan's mom anyway...haha.
   I learned from this a new techniqe for video that I knew but never had a chance to incorperate. But for the most part I learned to incorporate this technique succesfully. This technique I am reffering to is the ability to place video over the speaker which is a big thing in the history channel theme. Therefore I was forced into learnig it, and learning it well. I realize now that back when we did our news that this technique would have improved the videos ten fold if not more. Plus everything else we now know how to do and we would have been well on our way to a great series.
   In a conclusion everything was extreamly well made, and a three teamed video project takes some work but we pulled it off with flying colors and will further use this in the production of LO2 [which most of everyone doesn't know exists, so click the linck to read a short post about it]. As that is all tell me what you think of the video and what you think could be improved.

Thanks For Reading
The Director,

The Earth Wars Series

Call me crazy, but I am glad it's over...

   It has been over half a year since the first attempt at Earth Wars. I took a look back through my notes and was surprised to find that the original name was going to be Bay Wars. The name was changed because I didn't want to focus on the bay. There are a lot of different things prior to the first attempt at creating Earth Wars, and even more to the second and final attempt.
   When I say attempt I literally mean attempt, there was no guarantee that we would get the video fully created; the final version took two days of filming. One day for the basic stuff (parts 1 & 2) and another day for the more complicated fight scenes (part 3 & 4). In fact it was originally only supposed to be one 10 minute video, which then formed into the idea of having a three part series. But in reality it became a four part series.
   One of the major changes that happened between attempt one and two was when we got an HD camera; which in some ways is better, but not all. What I'm getting at here is something you might have noticed in episode four. Did you, in the very last scene, see how the lighting changes tremendously. Well there is a reason for this, and it has to do with the options available; but the camera too. For one, the last part was filmed at attempt one with a camera that can go down to 0lux (lighting adjustment). So we could in effect film at all hours of the day and capture great footage. *paragraph down below where I will expand on this. When we filmed at attempt two : day two, we were filming at night with our new HD camera, but it can't go to 0lux, which means we can't film past deep sunset. We had filmed a very similar scene to the one in the video with minor adjustments, but we couldn't use it because the lighting was to the point of darkness that the saber was all you could see. That is a problem, but we didn't see this until less than a week prior to the release of the video, and with no chance of getting to re-film it, I, using my brain, decided to use some of the old footage because it was all we had. So in the end it turned out quite nicely, but you know what, no one is perfect, and we are just a work in progress, learning as we go. *my section below talks about all that we learned during the creation of Earth Wars.
   Now I wont say Earth Wars was the best it could have been, almost every episode was edited the day prior to release (major procrastination). But I will admit to the fact that I believe it was a well made thorough video that could have been made better if we were to remake it. What I'm getting at is that because this video is obviously are best work we have gone to a level of marketing that we have never reached before. [Side note before I finish this paragraph, from part one to part four, the skills in editing had changed so dramatically, that it was incredible, but not only did the editing improve, our field work also increased a lot as well. We have grown in so many different way it is all in preparation for the big Kahuna, LO2 - the biggest project we can imagine at this point.]
   So what is it that we have done to advertise this series that we did not do prior? Well for one, advertising was not something we did a whole lot of anyway. But we did take about several step leading to our final professional leap in advertising. It is in my opinion that free advertising can be majorly efficient, some times the market is unaware you are even marketing to them. How can this be you may ask? Well for one it's called "viral", which means the video is being spread via email and social networks. I sent off many emails about this series to friends, family, even teachers. They would like the series so much they would beg to know about the next ones release. This is very effective and the views are 'strong' views.
   Another good way in which you can advertise is a sort of force feeding mechanism. I was never a fan of it, still I disprove of it and use it as little as possible, but it works and we did it, please don't judge. Sending your targeted audience a video might seem a bit of a weird approach to marketing but it works quite well. Say my target audience is a bunch of Star Wars junkies, how do you find them? First you search YouTube for popular Star Wars videos, "Yoda Fight Scenes" is a good choice, I actually got my video as a response to that video which is another form of advertising (basically the video gets shown below the video so viewers will see it after they watch the video, and seeing as this video had over a million views this was a prime location). After you have a location of people, simply copy their username, compose a message, explain why they might like it, and attach the video, send it and you might just have a view.
   We used many others that I'm not willing to admit to because I never plan to use them again and they go against my morals. But what we have now got running and in place are a some popular techniques of marketing that cost minor amounts of money but are completely worth the cost. What I'm talking about is both the Facebook advertising system and the YouTube advertising system, both of which are way more extensive then I first imagined.
   The Facebook advertising system allows me to choose specific demographics to target and basically I could choose down to a single individual if I so wanted to target. It also gives you advanced tools and options to watching how the ad preforms. The YouTube advertising system is not as specific about the demographic but you are targeting based on search queries and other misc. items. YouTube offers a even more extensive tracking of your ads performance. For each of these services I set my price and the resulting effect follows likewise. All in all I am over excited to be using these two wonderful programs.

Major Learning Curve:
   Throughout the course of filming we learned so much incredible information it was insane to think we didn't know that back then. From editing to on location film preparation, we faced difficulties and tasks impossible prior to now. But I think it is all just how we will learn, how we will prepare, and like I said before this is our first taste into the making of the big goal, The Legend of Two (LO2). But where will we be in four months when we start the filming of LO2, will we be even further improved will we have better equipment? I have no idea, but I am excited, as the future is so untold even though I like to make it seem as though I know it...
-Flashes & Clashes
   This was more of a Star Wars related only task but it shows just what can be done. When I first started I had no idea how to build a successful flash on the screen, in fact in part three you will notice that I just put a picture of a spark on top of the clash. But as I soon after learned by using the lighting effects I could simply place a big flash outwards of the clash, and it turned out quite nicely. I had it down to the point where  I could do five or so flashes a minute; pretty good compared to the original two flashes a minute.
-Lighting
   This is more or less something we just need to pay more attention to next time. I can do a lot of things inside of the editing, but the really good video is when the least amount of editing is needed. I learned, from a professional in the trade, awhile back, over the summer, that there is a certain time in the morning that is perfect for filming, it's known as magic hour. Everything is just right and makes for good shot. But that's besides the point, lighting is important and we are more in tune with this.
-Speed Clips
   In an old post I described this, but I'll just reiterate its importance. The main reason for being an editor is to shorten clips, I never really took this to heart, but it truly is key. To make a good video it need to be short, snappy, flowing, and the more cuts the more you have the viewers attention; of course it must look good.
-Audio Offset
   A problem we use to have but no longer have but had to face again which I hated was when the audio is offset. Before our new camera we use to record to tape, unfortunately tape means dropped frames, which means audio offset. This was probably a bit noticeable if you watch the end of part four carefully. But it's all good, another thing I was able to do in audio was at the beginning of part four I took some audio from attempt one at filming. I then placed this on top of the video and was able add more emotions to the video, I thought it turned out nicely.
-Costumes
   We have always enjoyed making up costumes, but this was the first time we really got into it. We made Yoda Ears, the Vader "box" and we even painted my face green to look like Yoda. There wasn't anything really learned, but it was fun. Although we faced an unfortunate loss of Yoda's ears when Ethan thought it would be a good idea to chuck them in the water, which is why the Yoda scene is so short.
-Choreography
   Probably one of the most incredible advances in our filming. Ethan took the role as choreographer, and did a mighty fine job. When you watch footage from the first time and the second you see a significant improvement, and the best thing about choreography is it makes camera work easy. Sometimes Ethan had the shot plan, or I would just circle around with the camera. And we could re-film it over and over because everything was the same. Back in the original LO2 we tried to do this but failed, I'm so glad it is working now...
-Plug Ins
   Not used in Earth Wars, but I did learn about them.They basically can be used to further your editor, in my case premiere. I may or may not start using some.

I enjoyed making this project and am looking forward to future projects. If you still haven't seen it there is a player at the top of this post.

Thanks For Reading

The Director,

Concluding January

   To think back on January, just January...well a lot happened and that is for sure! Earth Wars started up, the popularity or just the knowledge in general of our work is spreading. But not only did things start in January, many ended too. Not that there is anything negative about this, more positive if you ask me. Swim season concluded, that's a relief, more time is absolutely necessary for everything, especially school. The semester came to an end, which in itself is a completely new beginning.

The Following Picture is a Great Representation of This:

   I know that there probably won't be a post after this for awhile, maybe another month, but things are and will remain at a constant rate of nonstop action. As you may know the month of January will consist of; The Final Part of Earth Wars, The Start of Much Advertising. Not that it is really important to you, I just thought I'd keep you up to date.

My Thought:

   We all have goals in life, and I very much so respect that, but it is my job to look at the future as an open door of possibilities. The only problem that I have with this door is some of my "Co Workers" are looking through other doors, which isn't a problem. The problem here is that I need to prepare for, in a sense, a rebirth of the team. That's where it gets to be a bit of a problem.
   My plan is rather simple, but I can cope with this problem in few ways. In one way I can choose a whole separate career path, which may happen, I don't know the future (I'll get back to this thought)*. Secondly, I could simply join another team and go from there, growing amongst them and improving my skills. Honestly...all of the ideas, including the one you do not yet know, are spectacular in every way none are better nor worse, just  it would be and it is my choice to do the following.
   Let's look where I am now, and my future goal, along with the known future. Right now Filming Humor is a small acting company creating shorts to YouTube trying to attract the internet's attention to semi-crazy videos. My goal is to be a multi-million dollar acting company that produces media for the galaxy. Obviously I have just said something a bit odd, most people don't look at the future as what it will be but what they could make today look like without the outside influences; technology and other advances. But the way I look at it...by the time I'm nearing my goal we will most definitely have humans existing on the moon, as well as other planets.

*Easily skip-able side note:

So the future is unknown, as I said before, "I don't know the future." But let me tell you one thing that is for sure, you can't have a crowd of baboons follow you around unless you tell them you know where the food is. Same sort of concept, except these are intelligent people who can be a lot more helpful then they realize in finding this so called food. So in a sense, I don't know the future, but I sure like to pretend that I do. Even if it seems like you may disagree with this decision....sooner or later you will understand that it is a necessary step in growing beyond the confined restraints of the truth. In much the same way I over exaggerate the outcome to improve the work ethic and the strive to meet this higher standard rather than is custom to take the path of least resistance.*

   So what is the undisputable and impossibly unmistaken future? Well I will be going to TCC for my Junior & Senior year of high school (that's next year). And in 2014 I will graduate from college, whether or not it will be a 2 year specified college or a 4 year college is unknown at the current time. Then how can this vague future be written into a highly detailed and planned future? Well for starters, Filming Humor is going to the Gig Harbor film festival this October (going to film fest's are highly suggested to all). And over the summer leading up to October we plan to try and make some TV ads for local companies. The following four years until I'm out of college are nearly unknown; one thing we plan to do is try and get a sponsor for our YouTube videos and or become a Partner.
   The summer of 2014 I would assemble a team of people, any amount would work; I'm currently building a list of possibles. We would then start work on a big movie project for theaters, just the scripting for now. While all at the same time creating a big TV series idea. And of course if YouTube is still a money maker we would keep that going too. One thing I mentioned in my notes, that I still agree with highly, is to keep the online strategy, as we all know the internet is rapidly becoming the thing we as humans need to connect to. On the internet there would be everything from a website with merchandise to personal side notes from the team.

   The great thing about the TV series idea is that not only does it pay rent, it allows for skills and capabilities of every team member to increase, and the quality does not have to be high class. Honestly look at some of those top rated TV shows....there is a lot in there that would be considered crap in an actual movie! I don't want to list them all off but I mean really, you are not supposed to have such crazy transitions between scenes, although I do realize that this is the way of the TV, but I don't think I enjoy them.

That's all I have to say for now, thank you January and let February be just as great.

Thanks For Reading

The Director,

Earth Wars Anticipation

That's the Earth Wars poster, we plan to put it up around school after the final episode is released.

You might wonder, "What is Earth Wars?" Well for the most part it is a spoof of Star Wars. The story takes place on the planet Earth instead of space. "Well why are you so excited?" Because this is an amazing video....we have been working on it for many months now, finally filmed and the trailer for it just came out, with the first part scheduled for this Friday!
:D
But that really doesn't explain it fully....Not only is this an amazing video series, it is the first series we have done. It is not a long one but it is not a short series either. And from all the work we have all put into making it...we do expect some magnificent results.

Oh and here is the trailer.....


The nice thing about a series is that there is no real effort put into the creation of videos for the next couple of weeks, which in my case is nice as I have loads of homework.

Make It Good:
   So one thing I learned while and before the making of the Earth Wars Trailer was that to make a video good it took something special, a key component.
   One day my good friend Ethan, he plays Luke, pointed something out to me. "Did you ever notice that really good videos have lots of cuts in them." He pointed out something I had never really payed much attention to. We got to talking about it and discovered that even are first really nice video, Jeromy & the Cookies, was also filled with lots of cuts.
   We pondered this idea for awhile, and figured that if you want to make a video better you need to add more of a snappy action to the clips. So in the trailer we decided not to play any clip for more than a few seconds. One thing that would have been better, but would have detracted from the Star Wars theme, was if we had made the scrolling titles a bit faster.
   But why is it that a video must have lots of cutting? Well after some time I think we figured it out. It is a semi well known statistic that YouTubers have an attention span of less than 10 seconds. So you ask yourself, Self how does this show with the statistics of my videos? Well because of this a video with an intro longer than 10 seconds has little chance of being passed on to someone else, which is what you really, REALLY, want to happen. It also means less popularity & views for your video.
   For example, say I am your average youtuber I start watching a video, it take 10 seconds to get through the intro....I have already left. I can see where an interesting introduction, might keep their attention, but still.
   How do you get their attention? I don't know if you ever watch Fluffee Talks, but what he does is pretty basic, he has an introduction then a 3 second animation. He first says something about what he is going to talk about to get your attention, then shows the intro, which seems weird on paper but in the working of YouTube he has achieved greatly! Is there another way? Sure, You might have to make one up on your own but don't forget to grab their attention and do it well!

Thanks For Reading

The Director,

LO2 (The Legend of Two)

The Legend of Two:
    You remember Christmas morning, excited as could be, anticipation, desire to be in the midst of the action, as the presents just drool their possibilities all over you. Well that's how I feel. I'm over excited and the plot just keeps building, the script gets better, and my imagination goes wild. If you were in the excitement you would better understand....
Here is a little practice test I did in using CGI, turned out nicely =D

   So we are using this unreleased Google app. to produce the script and make all the plans. The app. is called Google Wave, basically it is a real time editor that allows for just about anything to happen. While in live action, Ethan, Chase, and I can all be on typing, changing, and commenting on the script. We are also using it to plan out each filming day, as well as every episode, but not only that, even choreography.  We are able to use the Google Maps Street View to take photos, choose locations, all from the comfort of our computers. You could say technology and the internet give major support to the imaginations that create Filming Humor.
    The plan is to make thirty 5min episodes, they would come out once a week, lasting half a year. We are going to start filming a month or two before school ends. We would probably film every week on Saturday, filming multiple episodes at a time. Unfortunately the two main characters have not been set, but should be sooner or later.
    It's so exciting to think we are only a few months from the start of filming. Once it is all filmed and edited and the first episode has been released, we plan to have the DVD for sale, so that you don't have to wait a half a year before you can see the end, or just so you could own it. Well come to think of it, we could distribute on iTunes, that would be awesome!
    As you may know, the idea for LO2 started a long time ago, the first project we ever embarked on. The whole process was going rather smoothly, it looked likely we would have the videos start their release in 2009. Unfortunately, due to multiple factors, LO2 was scrapped and we moved on. If you ever are ever to start on a large project here are a couple things I'd suggest.
1. Don't set yourself up for failure. By that I mean look for stupid mistakes before you start. Such as the fact that we had a bunch of things in LO2 that made it an inappropriate video to be shown to our parents.
2. It's good to get ideas from actors but look at the idea thoroughly, and make sure it can correctly work with the plot.
3. Write a script before you start filming! Get that plot and everything fully thought up before you start. For example the writer of Harry Potter had the whole idea planned out before she wrote out the books. If you don't have a finalized plot, then when you need to go back and change something you can't.
4. The actors, haha, well basically when you make a typical short actors come over once or twice, no problem, make a long video, it can spread to many days. What I have found is that actors are incapable of remembering that they are apart of this production. Basically you get stuck with this halfway filmed movie.
5. I'd like to emphasize on planning. When LO2 first started the only plans we were going from was this flimsy flip book that had a picture and a couple words on it. I called it a storyboard, but it was far from it. You need a plan, and a whole lot of organization....

Recently Learned:
   You ever learn something new and it makes a major impact on your perception? Well in the last few months of 2009 I watched some videos, read some things, and I came to a new realization. One that will be carried out from here on out, and emphasized in LO2.
My first awareness to the obvious fact happened while using my cameras focus. I was trying to get the perfect focus on this object off in the distance, soon enough I had gained the focus. I was overjoyed, having spent a couple minutes working on this pointless task...so I took a photo...

Wasn't the best but I took the photo from across the room, using almost the full zoom. Prior to this I let the camera use it's auto focus, and that is not the best, trust me.
   The whole reason I was sprung onto the concept of using the focus was because, a friend of mine took a photo and complained it was a tad bit out of focus. I didn't notice till she mentioned it. So I had to test out the changing of focus too....not that I hadn't prior to this, but it had never been something I really thought about. Which is funny because I worked with a professional camera man for awhile, and he did talk a lot about focusing on the subject, and getting it just right.
   But what I was about to discover, what makes a video professional, something that should have been obvious but I missed it, well it was a bit surprising.
   I was at the Youtube screening room, watching some of the videos there (if you haven't seen them, you need to check them out, spectacular works). There were many contributing factors that led to my final realization. For one there was an advertisement for a camera everywhere, sponsored by or something. And the other thing that grabbed my attention was what made these videos different. I have an HD camera, it shows professionalism, being in HD, but what was missing from being professional was how the focus was used correctly.
   If you ever watch a movie you will tend to notice that there are parts, and let me tell you I think this sort of focus change is over used. There are parts where you have focus on the forward actor, then it changes to the one behind... This shows how focus can be used, but I always discarded the the idea because I considered it over used.
   While watching these videos and analyzing how they were created, I discovered something unbelievable. The true dividing line between adequate and professional.When you focus on a character and the background is blurred, this points the viewers attention in a direction. Instead of watching everything, and getting distracted by the background, you have their focus on the place in which the camera has set it's focus. Of course you can always change the point of focus in the middle of a shot, but you need to keep it set at almost all times. I'm sure there are times when it is appropriate to let all be focused on, such as a zooming in on an area effect.
   But I have seen even a TV show scene where I was angry because I couldn't keep focused on the scene. It was the show Heroes, there was a scene with this one guy in the background who was moving his head all about, and I forgot to pay attention to what was happening. You don't want your viewers distracted. So keep their attention focused where you want it.
   This new technique will be used in LO2 for sure, I am going to try and make sure I use the best of this, along with everything else I am continuing to learn.


Thanks For Reading

The Director,