by Cybel Martin | Jun 11, 2023 | Art, Film, Movies
BY CYBEL MARTIN for Shadow and Act/Indiwire
“It’s always good to make up for a lack of (financial) means with an increase in imagination.”
— Wim Wenders
*Originally posted – Dec. 6, 2013*
Friends who know me, know I really dislike talking about limitations. I prefer to dream big and be optimistic. I’m a “let’s put on a show! ” type optimist.
However, I will need to dip my toe into the murky pool of limitations for a second. Stay with me.
There are a lot of indie films being made with fascinating stories. Yet too many have mediocre to painful to look at visuals and poor production value. We can adjust our approach to storytelling and raise the bar of expectations regardless of budget.
I’m sure that I speak for many DPs. I’ve no delusions of shooting the next Bond film but hoped for more, given my experience, education & resources, than interviewing to shoot on a 5D in the director’s apartment. I “should” be shooting features with $3-10m budgets but US film production has lost it’s middle class. Or as DP Ryan Walters says in his post “Three Reasons Why It’s Bad Business to be a Cinematographer”, there is an “evaporation of the middle market”.
I love our Indie Film producers, even though they speak with limitations. Many are of the “we don’t have. You can’t have” variety. A film crew’s natural instinct is to problem solve & figure a way to make your film better. However, many producers hear our requests as saying they are incompetent or that crew wants to cheat them out of more money. Make too many suggestions & we can be labelled difficult and replaced. So we keep quiet. And you get what you get.
In 2012, 2% of films were shot by female DPs. When I am offered a gig, the last thing I want to do is lose it to someone who “looks more like a DP” because my inquiries and suggestions deem me “hard to work with”.
In the same way I gave advice that 1st time doc filmmakers are unlikely to hear, here are some creative suggestions I wish low budget directors would entertain and their producers be open to.
If you do nothing else, seriously consider your approach to camera movement and scene coverage.
1 Shoot High End & Rearrange the Budget. I’m prepping a low budget feature to hopefully shoot in 2014. I told my director (Don’t worry, she’s on the hunt to attach the right producer) that if we shot on 35mm or the Alexa, I guarantee we would not rent Grip/Electric equipment. The only exception would be if she wanted a dolly or car rig. I’m very comfortable with both the Alexa and Kodak stocks. I know the combination of latitude, how I can manipulate available light and decisions made with the Production Designer, will create the director’s desired look. I’d commit to not changing the total amount budgeted for cinematography, just how we allocated funds.
Shooting 35mm for a low budget feature film is nothing new. “George Washington”, “Duck Season”, “Napoleon Dynamite”, “Pariah” and “Chop Shop” were all impressively shot on 35mm for budgets under $1 million.
For inspiration on how to shoot with an Alexa and mostly available light, read about DP Yves Belanger’s work on “Dallas Buyers Club”.
2 Hire a Professional Production Designer as a Consultant. A PD’s ability to elevate a story via color, space and furnishings is it’s own form of wizardry yet frequently an afterthought in low budget films. Before putting your best friend’s unemployed roommate in charge, see if you can consult with a pro. Pay them well for three days work (instead of 2 months) to offer suggestions on the overall look of your film, advice on which resources and locations are budget friendly and to recommend crew who can do the “day to day” and operate successfully within your limitations. Ask how they’d like to be credited.
3 Color. I’ve already discussed at length the importance of color. Also see “Blue Caprice” for white wall interiors handled beautifully and “The Loneliest Planet” for subtle yet stylized use of color in nature.
4 Radical Story = Radical Visuals. Don’t play it safe visually if your film is crafting a new “reality”. Consider: “28 Days Later”, “Eraserhead”, “Pi”, “Texas Chainsaw Massacre”. A new reality means you and your creative team can experiment and redefine what NYC looks and feels like at 120 degrees (in December) or how someone’s vision changes when they’re “one of the infected”. Have fun, be bold and let your restrictions work in your favor.
5 Go International. Adding footage from a different country can have immense visual impact on your story and in explaining the inner lives of your protagonists. Hire a filmmaker friend in another country to shoot b-roll. In a similar vein, shoot visually captivating insert shots that don’t require actors nor much crew. I was extremely moved by the time lapse in “Boys Don’t Cry”.
6 One Hyper Realistic Scene. If your budget, resources and narrative dictate simple visuals, see if one scene can be stylized to play against that. I don’t want to spoil it but there is a perfect example in “Dallas Buyers Club”. Low budget horror films will do the same: save their money for one big scare or special FX. Budget for a lean crew and hire “day players” when needed.
7 Shoot B/W. It gives the lowest budgeted film a certain panache. Even subjects that you think “should be shot in color” can be more effective in black/white.
8 Sound Affects Cinematography. Poor location audio can ruin the most gorgeous of images. Innovative sound design can make them more powerful. I can’t imagine my beloved “There Will Be Blood” without “the work of Christopher Scarabosio and Matthew Wood. Instead of spending money on music rights, collaborate with your Sound Dept. Tap into their creativity the same way you would with your DP.
Access is key. What do you have free access to that you take for granted?
9 Access to a Vehicle (motorcycle, car, bus, boat, hoveround). I recently saw “Bellflower” ($17k budget). It benefits from a unique twisted premise, an extremely crafty DP and a road trip. It’s amazing how a change in terrain makes me feel like they’ve spent a lot of money. Think “Easy Rider”, “Y Tu Mama Tambien”, “Thelma and Louise”, “Little Miss Sunshine”.
10 Access to a Visually Unique Location. Before you set a scene in your dorm room or parents’ suburban home, ask yourself where else do you have access? Production value increases even more if you can show the “behind the scenes” of a location. Access to your aunt’s jewelry shop? Also film in the back where she does repairs.
11 Access to a Major Public Event. Protests, holiday fireworks, parades, carnivals etc. This is my favorite. Examples are “Get On the Bus”, “Medium Cool”, “La Haine”, “Blow Out”, “The Official Story”. Take advantage of someone else’s big budget or event planning. The b/w photo above (Actress Susan Heyward with my 2nd unit camera op) was taken while filming a narrative during the 2009 Inauguration in DC.
12 Access to a Niche Culture. A glimpse into another community offers immeasurable production value. It can provide not often seen locations, costumes or people. Your Capoeira club. Your Dad’s union meetings. When you have access, creatively exploit it: b-roll, using real people as extras, consider how it reflects on your protag and their journey (see the Housing Rights Committee scene in “Medicine for Melancholy”).
13 Access to Under-represented Weather. Does every exterior scene take place on a partly sunny day? That may be easiest to film but snow, during or after the rain (see “wet down“) or fog could be more dramatic. The short film, “A Story of Water”, co-directed by Truffaut & Godard wonderfully takes advantage of the flooding of Villeneuve Saint George.
14 Access to Other Arts/Artists. Are you also a visual artists? Use photography (opening scene of “My Brother the Devil” and of course “La Jetee”) or animation. Almodovar is brilliant at incorporating known performers into his films. Buika, in the “The Skin I Live In”, was more than a beautiful singer, she epitomized “enchantment”. The same could be said of his use of Caetano Veloso and Piña in “Talk to Her”. Cooking is also an art. Think of all the films with beautiful cooking sequences.
15 Access to Your Old Films. You can use footage from your previous shorts, docs, or film tests for atmosphere, for flashbacks (see “The Limey”), for dream sequences etc. Unfortunately we all have films we are extremely proud of but couldn’t finish. Can you recycle that footage?
Finishing a film of any genre, length or budget is a huge accomplishment. More people talk about it, critique it than can actually pull it off. I hope I acknowledged our limitations but left you armed with new creative tools to make a good film great.
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by Sandy | Aug 26, 2020 | Arts, Entertainment and Music, Blogroll, dvd, Film, Movies
“I Bring What I Love” – is a documentary film about Youssou N’Dour, the pop music superstar from Senegal, West Africa.
N’Dour is revered all across Africa for his “remarkable range and poise and for his prodigious musical intelligence as a writer, bandleader and producer. He absorbs the entire Senegalese musical spectrum in his work, often filtering it through the lens of genre-defying rock or pop music from outside his culture. N’Dour has made “mbalax”—a blend of Senegal‘s traditional griot percussion and praise-singing with Afro-Cuban music—famous throughout the world during more than 20 years of recording and touring outside of Senegal with his band, The Super Étoile”.
The director of “I Bring What I Love”, Elizabeth Chai Vasahelyi, followed the singer for 2 years through Africa, Europe and the U.S. to bring us a picture of this super talented and complex man that spread the music and rhythms of his homeland worldwide.
by Sandy | Nov 8, 2019 | Blogroll, Directors, Film, Movies
In a movie review, the writer described a film as “Felliniesque”. No reference to the director, for whom the term was coined, just – “Felliniesque”. I understood.
Federico Fellini, 1924 – 1976, was one of the most influential Italian directors of his day. His films were character driven, people and plots sometimes bizarre and outrageous, but the inhabitants of his pictures were closer to the reality of the everyday world than what was usually seen on screen during the 50s and 60s.
Four of his films won the Best Foreign Film Oscar: La strada (1954), with his wife Guilietta Masina and Anthony Quinn, Le Notti di Cabiria (1957) (Nights of Cabiria), 8½ (1963) and Amarcord (1973).
But, his film La Dolce Vita (1960) with Marcello Mastroianni brought him worldwide fame. The famous/infamous frolic in the fountain scene with Marcello and Anita Ekberg seemed such wild decadence in the 60’s, but, pretty tame now.
BTW: “Felliniesque” is often used to describe films that put a character’s inner thoughts and/or memories into dreamlike sequences, and/or scenes that move backward/forward in time.
Films to find on DVD:
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by Sandy | May 29, 2019 | Actors, Arts, Entertainment and Music, Directors, Film, Movies
The “Film Noir” genre, a label used primarily for crime dramas of the 1940’s and 1950’s, were mostly in black & white. They’re famous for their evocative, often lurid, pulpy titles, (This Gun For Hire, I Wake Up Screaming, Phantom Lady, The Blue Dahlia, etc) the snappy dialogue, the scrappy, tough guys in trench coats, (Bogart, Robinson, Ladd) and the dangerous, smart, tough women in wedgies (Joan Crawford, Gloria Graham, Barbara Stanwyck).
These broody “who dunnits” are experiencing a resurgence in popularity (along with the coats and the shoes) and are soooo entertaining.The men are menacing, the women are manipulative and both are inclined to make some bad choices.
Small, independent movie theaters around the country, those that are left, often plan double bill weekends for these clever little gems. There are also DVD box sets featuring the films of major directors of the era – Nicholas Ray, Fritz Lang and Samuel Fuller. The most famous of the group, Billy Wilder’s, Double Indemnity (’44) and Otto Preminger’s, Laura (’44) show up on PBS every few years. 
.
According to a PBS documentary about “German Hollywood”, the dialogue and subject matter of “Noir” might come from American crime writers, like Dashiel Hammet and Raymond Chandler, but the shadowy mood lighting, the scenes shot at night on rain slicked streets were influenced by the German expressionist movement of the 20’s (Pabst, Murnau) and was also colored by the melancholy of those who just escaped Hitler’s net: Peter Lorre, Marlene Dietrich, Paul Henreid, Peter Lorre, Conrad Veidt, Fritz Lang and Michael Curtiz (he directed “Casablanca”, 1942. Most of the extras were refugees – that impassioned “La Marseillaise” gets me every time.)
Just an example of typical dialogue:
Out of The Past, ‘47 – “Is there a way to win?”, the femme fatale asks and Robert Mitchum replies, “No, but there is a way to lose more slowly”. (Love it! Goes great with popcorn.)
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by Bob Martin | Dec 20, 2018 | Actors, Art, Concerts, Film, Movies
Bohemian Rhapsody, It’s the Music. It’s the Energy and the Memories
See Queen! Listen to the music and the fun. It is not the “Phantom Thread” nor should it be. It is pure entertainment! And It makes no difference when it happened, date time or order, it’s the entertainment. Sing along if you know the words or just dance in your seats. Just go see it, it’s fun.
Note: With all public figure we never get the whole story because no really knows what that is.
Rami Malek as Freddie Mercury
by Cybel Martin | Aug 22, 2017 | Art, Film
BY CYBEL MARTIN for Shadow and Act/Indiwire
** Originally posted – JUNE 5, 2013 6:11 PM **
“DP Notes” is a new type of article I’m trying out for Shadow & Act. I’m in the midst of some very fun jobs and thought I could use specific examples from these shoots to show you how I approach each job.
Case Study #1 “MadCap: New York”. A musical shot in 5 days. The original concept and approach was indeed “simple”. A woman traveled from borough to borough seeking artistic inspiration. Filmed in one borough per day for a total of five shooting days. We’d ask a bunch of artist friends to participate. They’d encounter and perform for our protagonist during her journey. It would be unscripted but with definite plot points. We “knew” several musician friends would say no & we’d end up with maybe five people. Wrong. The interest exploded. Creative influences doubled and then tripled.
Origins: My director, Deborah Goodwin and I have been prepping another feature of hers, called “She Lives”. Developing the look for her film has been a wonderful collaboration. As you all know, the process from script to screen in the US is a lengthy one. At some point in April, I was having lunch with a dear friend and fellow DP, Frank Sun. He offered a hard to refuse deal for his Canon 5D Mark III. Around the same time, another good friend/filmmaker, Asli Dukan, hooked me up with a bunch of Zeiss Prime Lenses. I reached out to a bunch of directors, including Deborah, saying we should shoot something with the 5D and lenses. Something fun.
I knew for me, inspired by “Beasts of the Southern Wild” and “Oversimplification of Her Beauty”, I wanted to shoot something less conventional. Deborah and I met for lunch and came up with the original concept mentioned above. We agreed on feature length to give it more distribution possibilities. Our only rule was that every decision be “joyous”.
What we didn’t anticipate was the power of our own inspiration and how many people would want to be involved. From that first lunch to the first day of shooting, the idea evolved and evolved (and still is).
Deborah currently describes the film as “a hybrid-docu-dialogue with music! Talking & listening across the five boroughs to artists as they reframe their reasons for staying in New York City”. What follows are some details on our process and how our film (hopefully) is evolving from being clever to being beautiful.
We had one month to prep. I pitched the idea of shooting B/W. I was inspired by an article on “Frances Ha”, and the industry “wisdom” that no one will finance a B/W film. What better time to do it than now? I showed Deborah examples of the old “Calvin Klein “Eternity” ads. A look flaunting the blown-out whites would naturally take advantage of the Canon’s limitations (remember: turn a limitation into an aesthetic). Deborah showed me images from my idol, photographer Roy DeCarvara “The Sound I Saw” and his spirit is all over “MadCap”. We also agreed to shoot B/W and not create the look in post. Collectively we all loved the idea of the old days of indie-film : having to commit to black/white. I knew magical moments can happen for me when I encounter what others call creative restrictions. Plus, as I’ll explain shortly, I didn’t have a DIT person. This was the easiest way to show Deborah immediately what images I was creating.
At our next production meeting, Deborah and I brainstormed with producer Erin Washington. Together, we pooled our resources to find other crew members, musicians and shooting locations that would make the film special.
Since there was no script nor locations locked down, I couldn’t do my usual pre-production. What I did do was watch films that I thought could help me “troubleshoot in prep”. Our narrative had morphed from one protagonist to several people representing one character, akin to “The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus” or “I’m Not There.” We discussed our “take-aways” from each film: what strategy we believed the filmmaker used to pull it off: shooting a feature in limited time, shooting B/W, working with musicians or multiple protagonists. Some of the films I studied were Slacker, She’s Gotta Have It, No One Knows About Persian Cats, Mala Noche, Tickets, Down By Law, Man Bites Dog, Two Lane Blacktop and Chronicle of a Summer.
Biggest lesson learned in prep: My iPhone was acting erratic (no one could hear me speak) and I had to rely on text message. After noting how communication was breaking down and our joyous film was turning into a “job”, I realized I had to hear the voice of my director/crew/producer during each step of production to gauge their concerns and brainstorm on solutions.
Inspired by the film “Chronicle of a Summer”, Deborah wanted to let the story emerge from our interactions with the musicians. The idea of a single protagonist became several protagonist became several real people protagonist. This is where the film began to drift from narrative to documentary and I had my next big lesson: defining a film (narrative, doc, commercial) was getting in my way. I needed to focus on capturing the authentic moment. The moments that speak to the audience’s heart, regardless if it’s an actor, man on the street or model holding a Pepsi. (Someone told me I sounded like Tarkovsky and that made my day).
We were all a bit amazed (and appreciative) by how many artists were excited and wanted to participate in our film. More artists meant more shooting days. The artists we were able to film were Illspokinn, Maiysha, Rabbit And The Hare,Hassan El-Gendi, Queen Esther, Peter Valentine and Derrin Maxwell. During our short production schedule, we managed to shoot in Park Slope, Bushwick, Harlem, Midtown and Staten Island. We had Queens, the Bronx and several more musicians scheduled when a film organization contacted Deborah and asked to see a cut of the film. That meant our 5 day schedule was cut to 4 so Deborah could rush off to work with our editor. “MadCap” was living up to its name.
Add to the “MadCapness”: I was shooting in Philly prior to “MadCap” and would leave for the Dominican Republic for another shoot as soon as we wrapped. Since “MadCap” was a love song to NYC, I figured on a way I could add more production value and visuals within our short production schedule. I bought a $30 weekly subway pass and shot b-roll each night after we wrapped. I grabbed the 5D, stuck a 50mm lens on it and walked around like my old days as a photography student. When an idea struck, I’d jump on a train and explore NYC. I shot anything that spoke to me. Lobsters in a tank in Chinatown. Handball players in the LES. That was super fun and gratifying, especially once I heard our editor, Henry Maduka Steady, was excited by my visual musings.
As I’ve mentioned before, I no longer want to hire people to work for free. There wasn’t a budget for “MadCap”, so I took on Assistant Camera & Sound responsibilities. Ill Spokinn hooked us up with sound gear. The camera, accessories and lenses fit perfectly in a backpack provided by Frank. Once I got over the fact I looked like an awkward teenager, traipsing around NYC like this was quite efficient. I kept a list of all of the equipment in the backpack and checked/cleaned my inventory each night.
My original camera package was the 5D, lenses (Canon 70-200mm Canon, Zeiss Super Speeds:18mm, 25mm, 35mm & 50mm) and a monopod. After the first day of shooting, I got a better understanding of what was exciting Deborah aesthetically. By the end of the second day, we both were in love with the 35mm and 50mm lenses exclusively. The monopod came in handy when shooting interviews and the musicians singing accapella. The rest of the gear was left at home.
I had 2 CF cards totalling 96gb and could have definitely used more. Cards were given to the editor each night after we wrapped. Extra memory would have been ideal, not to shoot the artists but to handle all of my b-roll that had to be saved on cards not going to the editor.
You’ve heard the expression “write what you know”. Since I had no crew and no lights, I employed the tactic “shoot what you know”. I made decisions on lenses, shutter and exposure for each “scene”, the same way I approached shooting B/W stills. With each location, I found an angle on the talent that worked well with whatever the weather or available light was doing.
Highlights from our shoot: Three of the musicians are good friends of mine (Maiysha, Derrin and Queen) and I already adore their talent. It was a huge treat to be introduced to the other artists. Rabbit and the Hare’s studio rehearsal was AMAZING. Braving ticks and poison ivy in Staten Island to find the perfect location with Peter Valentine (his poetry and process is “wow”) was another treat. Meeting the nicest security guard ever in DUMBO while shooting Hassan is another great story. Maiysha chatting with Ill Spokinn, while Yette Bames did her make-up. Even just talking philosophic nonsense with my director while we sipped coffee and waited for Queen Esther to arrive at the Chipped Cup in Harlem was entertaining.
(Until it changes) “MadCap” is an expressionistic compilation of interviews with NYC based artists plus performances throughout the city. It was definitely the unpredictable and yet joyous thrill I was hoping for. Deborah (aka @GoodFilm )says the trailer will be released Independence Day Weekend. I’ll keep you updated on the next artists and locations we shoot, the post process, any surprises or things I wish I did differently.
Help From the Archives:
“Filming in NYC? Again? How to See It With Fresh Eyes When Working With a Limited Budget”
“5 Things Cinematographers Look For in a Director and Project Before Taking a Job”
View my work at Magic Eye Film, discuss film at @CybelDP .
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There are a lot of indie films being made with fascinating stories. Yet too many have mediocre to painful to look at visuals and poor production value. We can adjust our approach to storytelling and raise the bar of expectations regardless of budget.
