This past weekend, I shot this short film about Scarecrow Video, the largest independent video store in the world, which is fighting to survive in the era of Netflix and Redbox. This video was shot using a Black Magic Pocket Cinema Camera, a 20mm f/1.7 Panasonic lens, a $50 Polaroid hand-held rig, and a Sennheieser wireless microphone feeding into a Zoom H4n. In other words, the total equipment cost for this thing was less than $2400. It’s an amazing time to be a filmmaker.
One year ago, I had pretty much no idea how to shoot or edit a video. Today, after hundreds of hours of reading cinematography blogs, watching Lynda online video tutorials, and shooting dozens of practice videos, I’m having my first video project debuted at slashfilm.com (plus getting featured on Slate and The Dissolve). It’s been a long, arduous, rewarding journey, but it proves my theory that if you are willing to give up all of your free time and a significant chunk of your sanity, you can learn how to do something cool.
The video took about 2.5 hours to shoot and 10 hours to edit/grade. Your thoughts on it are welcome.