Filmmaking DVDs?
 

Hi,

I was wondering if anyone could recommend any practical filmmaking DVDs?

I finally got through Hollywood Camera Work, and I'm looking for more filmmaking stuff to get into my brain. Fight Scenes for Motion Pictures looks very interesting, and I'm waiting for it in the mail.

P.S. Visions of Light is interesting, but I'm looking for something more practical.

Hello Michael,

Would you recommend either of these DVDs ? I'm particularly interested in your mention of the Fight Scenes for motion pictures. I do weekly work of martial arts sparring, but very little of that, other than injuries, is convincing in a theatrical sense.

I highly recommend the Hollywood Camera Work DVDs. I think it's the must have DVD set for filmmakers. After this, you can throw out your Filmmaking: Shot by Shot book. It's time & money well spent.

* I haven't gotten to the Fight Scenes DVD yet, but I'll post a small review when I'm done.

If you type in that you are from DVXuser you get a 150.00 discount. Or at least that was available a few weeks back. If it's gone, maybe we can persuade Chris to talk nice and sweet to them to get us DVinfo discount?

A similar post for DVDs on Camera Technique

I can also recommend Hollywood Camera Work DVDs... they are quite ugly (poser characters, etc), but there is soo many (very, very useful) information there. Excellent. A must...
I don't know about "fight scenes"...

you may have already seen this somewhere but it looks pretty good.
http://www.dvcreators.net/products/
This is another neat link to a cyber college (totally free) and you don't even have to register. You just read the material on the webpages for each subject module and then take a multiple choice test on the material. Then move on to the next subject. Kinda neat really!!! Select where it says "TV production in English" and scroll to a subject you want to read and test on .
http://www.cybercollege.com/indexall.htm

dvxuser.com said their discount ended october 23rd, and they said to use coupon code "Highend3D". ordered last night and got the set for $299 + shipping ($191 off!). just after watching the first sample clip i was completely sold. i haven't heard nothing but good things about this set, plus you can't pass up on this deal. can't wait to absorb the knowledge. cheers.

The Fight Scenes for Motion Pictures DVD is also good. It's mainly an introduction to doing martial art stunts on camera, with a focus on keeping everyone safe while making the fight scenes believable.

When you're done, you will have some good basic knowledge on how to make your own Jackie Chan / Kung Fu movies safely and effectively. And while you're not going to make the next "Crouching Tiger" with this DVD, it is a good way to start. If you already know a martial art, this DVD will be very valuable for applying your skills to the camera.

One nice thing is that you can adapt the techniques to all kinds of special effects where people get hit, slapped, thrown, fall etc. and not necessarily in a fight scene. The first thing I did was get some skateboarders and we did a skateboard brawl/slapstick short with the info from the DVD. And though it was an amateur production, the stunts came out looking very good - and painful.

It's a short video and very specific, but I think it's worth the $20 to learn how to do effective on camera stunts. Martial artists will find that the info on the DVD will give them a good framework for taking their skills on camera.

For those of you who also got or are getting the Hollywood Camera Work DVDs, you can consider the Fight Scenes DVD a small but very useful addendum to the massive encyclopedia of the Hollywood Camera Work DVDs.

Kodak Cinematography Masterclass X8 VHS
 

just picked this up off ebay - anyone seen/tried?

Will post an update once i've watched..

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...MEWA%3AIT&rd=1

Quinn,

" Kodak Cinematography, Filmmaking, Lighting 8 Videos "

How was this series ?

Thanks,

Gints

How did "Fight Scenes for Motion Pictures" turn out ?

I've rented "Visions of Light" from blockbuster on-line.

Gints, see post #9 in this thread.

Thanks for the review, Mike. I forgot that I asked you about this a while ago. Though, I ordered the DVD yesterday.

Mike,

I ordered "Fight Scenes" , but the order was cancelled due to lack of supply. Would you be up for selling me your DVD ?

Gints

Sorry I've already sold my copy.

While the DV lighting tutorial "DV Enlightenment"disk looks good, I bought the "Shooting Awesome Video". The latter is really a basic course that is worth the $10-25, but if you're going to spend money, I think the Advanced Broadcast Camera Techniques videos are better for $65.

I just finished watching this instructional DVD. The production quality and content were good, and the presentation educational while entertaining. And, this was actually a DVD-ROM instead of a recordable DVD, which I like because I'm under the impressiont that DVD-ROMs last longer.

For $20, this DVD is well worth it. I'd like to see another DVD by this crew with more on camera angles, foley.

I almost hate to write this. As a martial artist that practices hard-contact techniques and spars regularly, this is yet another vehicle to promote fake martial arts action. It doesn't look real because it isn't even close. When the actors don't hit each other and walk out of the fight scene with no marks on the areas of contact, this isn't believable. When you're done hitting someone in the head/jaw with bare knuckles, they are red and often cut (from your opponent's teeth) or fractured. Humans tire, sweat and pant.

The "line of impact" is a reasonable concept, but really, what makes the action fake is not the acted reaction of the receiver but the lack of reaction from the "giver." Most of this is caused by recruiting gymnasts and "martial" performance artists to mimic blows they have never delivered strikes to anything. The guy in the light blue pants is a fantastic athletic example, but you can tell he's never kicked anything or anyone. The blocks and grabs in the final action sequence are so fake that even my brother beat me to the comment. It's common sense. If it's not a good strike, and it won't actually hit you, there is no need to block it with a wimpy block. As for blocking kicks with hands, open fingered or not, yeah, right. Either the kick moves your hands or you take a trip down to the emergency room to relocate that finger joint that is now positioned at 90 degrees in the direction in which your finger doesn't bend.

Punching a rope for "control" is also a problem. If the velocity at the site of the target is zero, then even an untrained eye can tell that the strike has been decelerated to avoid impact. If you can't train on a human, then spend time punching a heavy bag to understand how it feels to punch an opponent and what it does to your body.

How a real nunchaku or stick/staff is used ? It doesn't spend much time twirling in fancy, pretty circles.

Sorry about the roll. In no way am I changing my opion that the "Fight Scenes" DVD is worth every penny. I just have a beef with martial arts fight choreography in general.