"just say no" to three point lighting - Library - Mount Saint Mary College

Filmmakers Networking
Donald L. Vasicek
Profile: DonaldLVasicek
Job: Writer, Filmmaker, Consultant
Location: Centennial, Colorado
Work: “I write scripts. I direct and produce documentary
films, short films, and feature films. I consult with writers,
directors, and producers regarding their individual
vocations.”
Challenge: “Writing and making films presents many
challenges because you’re going into basically uncharted
territory, creatively. You have to nail down what you set
out to write, direct, and/or produce. One big challenge
I had was to interview thirteen Native Americans in
one day. The challenge existed in communication, and
getting the interviews on camera in about ten hours.”
Solution: “To frame the interview questions so that it
would bring out of the interviewees what they most
wanted to discuss, yet making certain they stayed on
track with the subject matter and theme.”
Technique: “I have spent hours getting the lighting just
right. With the Sony PD170, as long as I make sure what I
am filming is ‘bathed’ in real light (sunlight), I am able to
get the shots I want. The Sony PD170 bears a tremendous
ability to self-adjust with respect to lighting and sound.
If you go into a room, or if you are outside, simply strive
to utilize the natural light, the sun, as much as you can,
and you won’t go wrong. The thing is to make sure the
sunlight is hitting what you are going to shoot to the side
or at angle to your subject matter.”
Favorite Tool: “The computer. I’m first, a writer, then
everything else. I love to write. The computer provides
a tool that saves me time when I have to research.
Before computers, I had to make a list of things I needed
to research, then truck over to the library and start
32 studentfilmmakers May 2009
Writer/filmmaker Donald L. Vasicek and
Edward Harrison, Southern Cheyenne.
http://networking.studentfilmmakers.com/DonaldLVasicek
researching. This really hindered my creativity. When you
get on a roll when writing, you want to stay with it, and
not be interrupted. The computer saves me a lot of time,
energy and helps preserve my creativity.
“I also love my Sony PD170 camera. It does for me what I
want it to do without a lot of fiddling around with sound
and light. It’s easy to handle, and it gets sound and
lighting down. I can rely on it and trust it.”
Credits:
— Faces, Writer, Director, Producer - Olympus
Films+, LLC (www.donvasicek.com)
documentary film.
— Warriors of Virtue, Writer/Consultant - MGM
feature film.
— Die Hard with a Vengeance, Extra - 20th Century
Fox feature film.
— Mystery of Flight 1501, Extra - ABC Movie of the
Week.
— The Sand Creek Massacre, Writer, Director,
Producer - Olympus Films+, LLC award-
winning documentary film.
— Father Dowling, Extra - ABC episodic series.
— The Lost Heart, Writer - American Pictures
feature film.
— Born to Kill, Writer - Rocky Group, Inc. feature
film.
— Born to Win, Writer, Story - Incline Productions,
Inc. cable television movie.
— Genocide in America, Writer, Director, Producer
- Olympus Films+, LLC documentary film.
Writer/filmmaker Donald L. Vasicek and
filmmaker Shonie De La Rosa.
Michael Roland Williams
Profile: MichaelRoland
Job: Writer, Producer, Director, Editor, Actor
Location: California, New York, Texas
http://networking.studentfilmmakers.com/MichaelRoland
Work: “I wrote, produced, directed, and edited
the documentary, Black Mold Exposure (www.
blackmoldexposuremovie.com). The film
premiered in Dallas, TX on April 15, and will
screen May 14 in Cambridge, MA; May 19, in
Seattle, WA; May 26 in Houston, TX; and June 16
in Chicago, IL. All the screening thus far will be
within the Landmark Theatre chain. Prior to that,
my experience in film was as an actor.”
Inspiration: “Inspiration is everywhere. I carry a
3x4 composition notebook and a wallet pen in my
pocket, and when I get an idea or I see something
that inspires me, I write it down.”
Alan Chase Shumway
Profile: chaseshumwaydotcom
Job: Videographer, Director, Writer, Host
Location: Las Vegas, Nevada
Challenge: “Time and money. The mortal
enemies of filmmaking. You can never have
enough of either.”
http://networking.studentfilmmakers.com/chaseshumwaydotcom
Work: “These days I do a lot of graphic design for
television, but my main passion is creating videos
and films, and hosting my internet radio show,
Who Asked You?. My main video/film projects the
last couple of years have been our fake [funny]
newscasts. Our satirical take on local TV news
has developed a small fan base on the internet.
We had such a great response to our first one
we decided to do a sequel to it. Both can be
seen on my StudentFilmmaker.com profile or on
my website at www.chaseshumway.com.”
Technique: “Since I’m always the editor on my
projects I start the editing process in my head
even while doing tasks like setting up lights or
a tripod. I’m constantly blocking the shots in my
mind deciding how I’m going to assemble them
in editing. Making sure the talent pauses so I have
an edit point, etc. I get exactly the shots I want and
just the right cover or cutaways, mainly because
I already know how I’m going to edit it. If I’m
shooting for another editor, or I’m not sure how
I’m going to edit something, then that’s different.
But for the most part I often mind-edit the video
while writing or shooting it. So I don’t have huge
amounts of footage to sift through and essentially
have the scene’s imagery narrowed down.”
Challenge: “Time and money. You’ll notice with
my work that it’s a core group of guys and gals.
We all have other jobs so scheduling shoots or
writing sessions is really tough.”
Solution: “We’re fortunate right now to have
Solution: “One way to lower your budget is to hire
talented people who haven’t been noticed yet. If
they’re excited about your project, then they’ll be
willing to work for the potential exposure that the
project will bring. And there are a lot of talented
people out there.”
Favorite Tool: “Steadicam. It’s the ‘go anywhere
and film’ tool.”
Favorite Technique: “Whatever works. I’m not
partial to any technique or camera. I use whatever
it takes to get the shot I need that I think is true to
the scene.”
Photo courtesy of Looking Glass
Entertainment Company. Michael Roland
Williams (director) and Ryan Wigzell (camera)
setting up a shot for the feature-length
documentary, Black Mold Exposure.
a golden day each week when we’re all pretty
much available the entire day. That helps a lot
for meeting up and writing scripts or shooting.
But it’s tough to only have one or two shoot days
a week to do so. Our newscasts, around 40 to 45
minutes per show took us a year to shoot each.
And as for money, I come from cable access and
a PBS member station, so shooting with a limited
budget is embedded in my blood. We pool our
funds together whenever possible, but if the guys
want to shoot something that’s just out of our
range budget-wise, I’ll take a day and figure out
a way to do it for less money. For example, one
of our scenes on our first newscast is the traffic
reporter in the helicopter. We couldn’t rent a real
chopper so we used his Honda Accord. I angled
the camera low like they do in a news chopper
sometimes, added a flicker in After Effects and
the engine sound of a helicopter and a filter on
our actor’s voice and bingo. A lot of people don’t
realize at first that it’s in a car, so I guess we did
alright. At the same time, that’s kind of the punch
line in our videos - ‘oh, look how cheap that is.’”
Favorite Tools: “Adobe After Effects because
it opens the possibilities up for doing so many
awesome things with your video or film. And, a
good Sennheiser shotgun microphone. People
will tolerate bad video a lot more than they will
bad audio. Use a boom, a wireless, a shotgun -
anything to get good sound.”
May 2009 studentfilmmakers 33