DV Filmmaking

Foreword

“If you don’t know where you are going, all roads will get you there.”

—Anonymous

The world of postproduction is a perfect vantage point for observing production and filmmaking. Postproduction—editing, sound, color correction, and output—is often nothing more than solving one problem after another to get a film finished and out the door. Many times one wonders how many of these problems could have been avoided, and time and money saved, had the producers or directors paid some attention to a few basics.

Possibly the biggest hurdle in any filmmaker’s path, it seems to me, is often his view of his own creativity. I have never met a filmmaker who has said, “I have a so-so idea for a movie.” All filmmakers have always told me that they had a really great idea for a film they were working on. I am sure they are being honest. However, this sense can often blind most producers and directors to a need to at least understand the tools and use them correctly to tell a clear story.

There’s a flip side to this as well. Producers and writers who know their filmmaking tools well, and yet lack any sense of drama and creative ideas.

Some years ago, Mario Puzo, author of The Godfather, wrote a book called The Godfather Papers in which he described his process of writing, and in which he recalled his experiences in the film business. Puzo related an anecdote to point out the illusions that often surround creativity and writing.

Puzo was a private in the Italian army, and at the end of WWII, he was stationed in Germany, where he met up with a group of Russian soldiers. This particular Russian regiment was from a far-off Asiatic province, and the soldiers had never seen plumbing. They were amazed to see water flow out of faucets. One of these fur-hatted Russians ripped a faucet off and nailed it to a piece of wood outside his tent. When he woke up the morning and opened the tap, nothing came out. The Russian soldier was very disappointed.

Puzo’s point: Some people think words flow out of a pen.

Flash forward a little. In 1984, the Mac arrived, courtesy of Apple Computer, and Adobe soon came out with PostScript, a technology that allowed for superior graphics and high-quality text printing on home laser printers.

WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) was a completely new concept and created something called “desktop publishing.” Predictions were made that desktop publishing would make a novelist out of everyone. People would sit around, churning out novels from their laser printers. Cultural pundits predicted the demise of publishing empires and heralded the arrival of a new age of authors. Alas, the dream turned out to be a vapor. All that came out of most people’s laser printers were bake-sale posters with awful clip art and mismatching fonts.

Conclusion: Talent doesn’t flow out of computers.

Let’s go to the year 2005. The digital video revolution is in full swing. “Desktop editing” is here. Hey, anyone can make a great film!

Oops.

You get the point, I think. The old adage “the more things change, the more they remain the same” still holds true.

There’s something sorely lacking in current books about filmmaking. Either these books talk about the tools, or the books explore the creative side of filmmaking. Here’s one book that combines the two.

Ian David Aronson’s book merges these two critical needs:

1. To understand the tools you are using.

2. To use other great creative ideas to draw from and understand how the process of creative filmmaking works.

By using examples from relevant and well-made films, Aronson effectively illustrates the use of the tools he discusses.

It may seem like a no-brainer to read “Use Headphones” during the book’s tips on recording sound, but you’d be amazed at how often I have been challenged by materials with bad audio where the recordist simply put out a microphone without any facility (like a pair of headsets) to monitor the sound. Oversights like that are expensive to fix in post, and create unnecessary chaos.

At the same time, the creative side is not ignored in this book. Using examples of films that are either part of the cultural canon or are easily available, all of the techniques are well illustrated. I cannot imagine a better starting point for any filmmaker than to view the films Aronson uses as examples, while at the same time working to understand the tools described in the book.

Yes, you too can create good works. But first understand the tools well, and take time to learn from people who have already walked this road before you.

Happy filmmaking.

—Zed Saeed

Senior Post Production Consultant

DigitalFilm Tree

Los Angeles