I've since heard from a few producers that this clip helped them get a better idea of the aesthetic I'll be going for -- if the Kickstarter campaign is successful, that is -- so feel free to adapt this multimedia approach for your own projects...
Given many of No Film School's readers are shooters themselves, I've been asked a lot about what camera I'm planning on shooting Man-child with. First of all, I'm not entirely sure: we're several months to a year away from shooting, so who knows what new cameras will come out in that time? However, as I mention in the lookbook, there are a number of slow-motion sequences in the script. This is a first for me: I've never called for slow-motion in a script before, but it's organically appropriate to the project in this case. It's hard to beat a RED for slow-motion prowess, and so by default that makes it a top choice for this project. Additionally, because there is a lot of handheld camerawork, including in action scenes, the less we have to worry about rolling shutter, the better. Every CMOS sensor suffers from rolling shutter to a certain extent, but the RED's sensor readout is far faster than any DSLR I know of.
This is not to say that we won't employ HDSLRs in some ways -- certainly for the behind-the-scenes videos, and possibly as B-cameras as well. And who knows what new DSLRS will come out in the next several months? Ultimately you best tool you can afford (to rent, in the case of a RED).
As for the MK-V Camera Stabilizer, I discovered it at NAB this past year. It was my first time at the tradeshow, and I found myself conflicted between covering it as a blogger and covering it as a filmmaker. The MK-V was one discovery that made the trip worth it as a filmmaker, because it was so appropriate to my particular project and I wouldn't have known about it otherwise. Oh, and the MK-V pictured at left isn't the right model, but I thought it was pretty funny -- Conan walking around with a steadicam on screen would further ruin any chance of suspending disbelief in the box office disappointment.
Of course, all of these things are dependent on the budget -- it may be we end up running around with several DSLRs and a Steadicam Merlin. But I'm hoping for a RED and a MK-V!
If you recognize some of the clips above but couldn't quite place them, here is a list of films incorporated into the lookbook:
- Ballast
- Black Swan
- Blue Chips
- Boy A
- Chop Shop
- The Class (Entre Les Murs)
- Fish Tank
- Friday Night Lights
- Half Nelson
- He Got Game
- Hoop Dreams
- MK-V Camera Stabilizer demo
- Raising Victor Vargas
- Rebound: The Legend of Earl "The Goat" Manigault
- Soul in the Hole
- Sugar
- The West Side
- The White Shadow
- The Wire
All copyrights are property of their respective owners; I'm not selling these clips or even using the sound, so I hope this video doesn't run afoul of anyone.
I've also added this video to the main Kickstarter page, as I think it gives a few more details about the project that I couldn't include in the pitch video itself. In general, when making a Kickstarter video, you want to keep it as short as possible. You want to make sure everyone makes it through the video, at the expense of leaving out details; if someone gets bored while watching it, they're going to click away and you've lost a potential backer. Plus, if you leave viewers wanting more, you can further describe the project with a few paragraphs on the page.
Do you think this multimedia lookbook was effective? What other materials would you think about bringing with you to a producer's meeting? Finally, have you thought about backing my Kickstarter project yet? We're reaching the slower middle timeframe of the campaign, so any help at this point is greatly appreciated!
[Basketball photo by The Tattered Coat]
[Music by Clams Casino]
