Agus35 folks
 

I'm very interested in what everyone is doing to produced their own shallow depth of field systems. However navigating threads to find images and video clips is a bit daunting.

I've been talking with several people about reformatting my website http://www.VisionEngine.com to be more of an article/commentary based site geared toward no budget filmmaking. I'm using that term loosly.

I'm interested in doing a full layout of Agus35 types of setups. Images, video clips, written comments, ect.

Anyone interested in helping me put together an organized section of the site where it would be easy to look at everyones work (a gallery of the sorts) please send your video clips, images, name and any comments you wish to my email. I'll put you up a page you'll have full control over editing as easiy as editing a post here.

My email is roxics@roxics.com

thanks

That sounds really cool, Mike. I like the idea of sticking to $10,000 or smaller budgets. Lower funds requires higher levels of creativity, and that should be recognized. I've run accross a couple other "no budget film" showcase sites. www.hackermovies.com is an excellent site with excellent films. Unfortunately I can't understand a single word they're saying :).

I've found that most of the quality independant and no-budget film websites either get so popular that they become commercial (iFilm) or are foreign... although AtomFilms is still a great site, not too annoyingly commercial.

I also think the Agus35 (or any of the other variations) is going to revolutionize small budget films, allowing high cost film characteristics to be integrated into low cost video production.
You've mentioned that the clips are "a bit daunting." I know what you mean, but this is all in its infant stages. It is also growing very quickly. The photos and videos you gather now could be neat compiled into a "history of..." page, but probably nothing more than that.
Soon people are going to be using their own homemade adaptor for fully produced films. I think your website will shine then, with films, commentaries, stories, unique designs, etc.
It sounds like you plan on making a gallery that links to individual artist's personal pages. That would be great. I certainly plan on submitting my films once things get to rolling, and would like to help in any way I can.

<<<--
I also think the Agus35 (or any of the other variations) is going to revolutionize small budget films, allowing high cost film characteristics to be integrated into low cost video production.
-->>>

You know what would revolutionize small budget films? People learning to stop worrying about emulating film characteristics, and start writing good scripts.

There I've said what everyone else has been thinking. I hate to sound bitchy, but it's true. Indie film makers try so hard to emulate a pro film look, they never learn how to make a good movie... no matter how good it looks.

PS, You can quote me on your website.

<<<-- Originally posted by Nicholi Brossia : You've mentioned that the clips are "a bit daunting." I know what you mean, but this is all in its infant stages. It is also growing very quickly. The photos and videos you gather now could be neat compiled into a "history of..." page, but probably nothing more than that. -->>>

What I meant was that it can be a bit daunting to find the video clips and images by wading though all the text on the message threads here. I want to set up a nice gallery that is easy to navigate where you can see everybodies designs and video samples from them.

Dylan your comments are noted. Personally though I don't think anyone is wasting their time making mini35 alternatives. I do think that many though aren't taking enough time to write good scripts because they want to rush into shooting something. I know I'v been the same way in the past.

You're right Dylan, but the poor writing exists everywhere. Just like there are guys who spend too much time trying to emulate the "film look," there are also lots of folks who think that just because their production was filmed at 24 frames per second on celluloid, it is superior and writing isn't important. I believe the quality of a film/video doesn't depend on the material used, but the creative effort involved. Even a perfect script can turn out to be junk if the filmmaker doesn't believe in the film.
Personally, I want to make this adaptor in order to have more creative control over the visual and emotional aspect of my films. I feel that depth of field control provides the cinematographer with the ability to "manipulate" what and how the audience views the scene, even to the point of each individual frame. Video, in its natural form, just can't do that.
I also get frustrated with this whole subject. I feel "independant film" should represent new ideas. It seems to me that about 1 out of every 100 films is actually worth watching. Not because of the budget or acting, but because they lack dedication. And that is very apparent in the final result. Maybe that's why I watch so many foreign films.
I respect both mediums equally. As far as this being a revolution, I'm hoping everyone will stop bickering about film being better or video being better and just make good films. Of course that's basically a pipedream because there will always be those dedicated to each medium, and they'll always want to make their point.

I think it's easier to keep things under one roof. Submit your articles, images, etc. to DV Info Net and we'll be more than happy to host them right here.

I see now that Mike's main goal is to make the videos/photos more readily available to be viewed without having to rummage through all the posts. I do feel that everyone should be familiar with the history of the thread (reading all of the posts is sure asking a lot, but its somewhat necessary) before contributing. Mike's idea makes a lot of sense to me considering how many times I've wanted to go back to view a certain photo but had to search all through 45 pages of posts and basically re-read them all. His website idea would make refreshing much much easier. Honestly, it would be great to have this collection right here at DV Info Net. I think Chris is right that it would be easier to keep things in the same area, but I'm sure the demos and descriptions would soon be cluttered by critique and opinions, which would put it right back to where we are now.

Nope, I'm not referring to our message boards, but our companion site instead at www.dvinfo.net. We've got a pretty good start with all of Bob Hart's material. Plenty of server space and bandwidth, too. Wouldn't mind hosting a couple of choice video clips as well.

I didn't even think of that... sort of feel dumb now. I guess its so habitual to just click "community" that I forgot what the site was for. That does sound like a good idea, hopefully you'll be able to include more than just Bob Hart's design, but that will take a lot of work. Good luck.

<<<-- Originally posted by Nicholi Brossia : I didn't even think of that... sort of feel dumb now. I guess its so habitual to just click "community" that I forgot what the site was for. -->>>

That happens a lot with communities and their respective sites. That's why its usually good to have the site flow over into the community by having links to the rest of the site somewhere within the messageboard area.

Chris your running the same software I am. Have you checked out the free webtemplates addon? It's not a hack, just an addon. Lets you control the entire site (except the front index page) through the vb controlpanel. Very handy: http://www.vbulletin.org/forum/showthread.php?t=54875

But I'm not trying to tell you how to run anything. This site has been up longer and is a lot more popular then my own. I respect that alot. I've gotten a lot of good info out of it over the last couple of years. I'm thankful for it existing. I put a link up to the community on my site.

Anyway back on topic. It's cool if it's all kept in house. I just figured it would be easier on people working on the project to be able to quickly refer back to other peoples designs and images/videos if that key infomation were laid out nicely. Then of course you can always have a link back to a couple of the messageboard topics on the main page itself. A sort of "must read'.

I figured a nice layout would be something like how I have my Cinematography section: http://www.visionengine.com/board/vi...cinematography with articles and a list of peoples designs and on the right have the yellow post-its with quick infomation like "What is a roof pentaprism" "where to buy ground glass" "flange to film plane distances of various lens mounts." ect.
If all this information were on more sites then just one it would help spread the word about people doing this kind of thing. Right now a quick google search returns pretty much nothing about people building their own mini35-like systems.

Just a thought though.

I think its a great idea, no matter where it ends up. As long as people can find it.

I think this is a very good idea,
I had to read through a wack of posts to find the Maxell Label for the frosted CD.....but I got it...and I got the CD too.

I am more than available to help out.