Boston 2010 48 Hour Film Final Cut

Bad Talent from josh dolby on Vimeo.

Zoom H4N

Zoom H4N Audio Device Comments from josh dolby on Vimeo.

Storyboarding...

Storyboarding is something that I find tedious... but critical.

Lenses/7D Conversation

Lenses and 7D... from josh dolby on Vimeo.

Jon Merz

Evasion from josh dolby on Vimeo.

Kingston Station... Roughcut, no titles.

A fantastic Boston restaurant, Kingston Station is located right in Downtown Crossing.



Bistro cuisine, great bar, and cool spot- check it out!

Corporate Video

This is an office video I put together for teams I work with and for. It is a parody bit- all meant to be in good humor.

Thanks to all of the folks who helped out!

New England Ninpo Situational Video Series

Capturing action is very challenging for me- I've got a couple of great books that talk about camera angles, movements and setup for a wide variety of situations, but they're mostly in regards to fictional "stunt" actions, or for tension-building moments in film.

Shooting actual martial arts videos, action works a bit differently - you're supposed to be able to see what's really happening, so that as a technician, you can parse the different movements in order to potentially replicate (or consider replicating them).

Hey, I'm overthinking again, right?

Well, add to that the very interesting position of working with people who could tear your arms off and beat you with them - they're not "actors" per se, they're martial artists, experts in hand to hand (and hand to whatever you want, in the case of Mr. Davis).

So, here's the first in an installment of online "situational self protection" videos.

The next step will be to add the "in class" demonstration portion, with Mark Davis, the instructor, talking through what's going on, and how to best keep oneself safe in the displayed situation.

Thanks to Mr. Mark Davis and Mr. Paul Etherington for their time and effort, and to Renato Rodriguez, Tom Lato (the shakahachi flute), and Ryan Oberland!

Comments and Ideas on Your Videos

Someone stop me. Now I see why Andrew told us NOT to get him that PS3 for Xmas. Yeow.

And here's one I was in...

Women, an adaptation of a David Mamet bit by Arlen Ladue and Luke Boelitz.

Cast- Ashely Burgess, my Honda, and me.

Jagpro35 Gear

In my quest for the "proper kit" I've read a LOT of posts on both Vincent Laforet's as well as Phillip Bloom's blogs. Mr. Bloom had a post back awhile ago where he talked about a "runner up" to the gorgeous, albeit pricey, Zacuto Z-Finder.

Mr. Bloom reviewed the Jagpro JagPro Follow Focus system, which I promptly ordered.

The Follow Focus is very cool, it gives a much more controllable feel to the focus - with an SLR you're reaching around to the front to turn the barrel of the lens, and this causes jumpyness or other shake in your video. The FF allows you to very gently turn a large, easy-to-grasp knob, and get the focus you want. It also could let a focus-puller come into play, though that might be overkill... Then again, it's really not when you're moving these cameras around and doing lots of interesting scene setups.

Once I got on the Jagpro site, the LCD Viewfinder caught my eye- here was the answer to the Z-Finder, but for under $200! Moreso than the FF, the LCDVF is a must-have for any daylight shooting, and for any 3rd party manual lenses. With the JP LCDVF I can actually tell if things are in focus without having to bring a monitor, or generally worrying about the results.

Listmaking...

I had been making lists for some time.

Perhaps last year I stopped.

It felt a bit like I was kicking off the training wheels- that I was done with making lists, that I was in process of finishing many projects, without needing to worry about the little tricks that I'd been using to get myself to actually DO many of them in the first place.

Now, I think that instead of training wheels, listmaking is more like a bicycle helmet- a little bit of extra insurance that's useful in a "just in case" situation where something might, or does, fall through the cracks... When you're a one-man band, you can't really expect to get it ALL correct- and I think that I'm feeling that from trying to write/shoot/edit EVERYTHING myself...

It's just not possible for me to have a "perfect" product without input from other people- and usually their input is "the sound is weird" or "there's a blue screen/shake/blip in that one part" or "that part jumped to quick" and so on... Most are comments that, had I taken a few days to let my work SIT before showing it, I could PROBABLY have corrected. Instead, I release to a few (20) sets of eyes, and see what they think- slapping my forehead and saying "ahhh shucks" with every comment that makes me think "I know that!"

Ed's Car- Shot on the 7D

Overcast, miserable-looking day... But, did it really matter?

What to do... Thoughts...

1) what can I learn the most from?
2) what can I do the best at (what's within my capacities)?
3) what is going to impact MY "visibility" to other desirable collaborators/customers?
4) what's going to look the coolest?!

Nikon 50mm F1.4 with adapter

We can do this until we get it right! from josh dolby on Vimeo.

Equipment Arms Race... plus, 'How DSLR Cinema Changed My Life... (part 1)'

DSLR Cinema has taken the world by storm- or at least it's taken my world by storm...

I've really been waiting for YEARS now for a dslr that takes video (SD or HD, didn't really matter!) - something that I can really work with, put different glass on for different situations, and enjoy.

The 7D has been blowing my mind. It's a great piece of equipment - so similar to my old 10D, so FAMILIAR in feel- so well-built, so solid... It performs well- I was concerned that shooting too much video at one time would heat it up, slow it down, shut it off, but so far NO that's not the case! The image that I'm able to get is fantastic- and of course, it's all about the glass here- the life-like quality of the video we're capturing has me saying - "I've finally found a camera that takes video like I experience in reality - video that feels like real life."

And all for under 2 grand.

Camera Bits...

Tai Chi Video

Vimeo seems to work pretty well...

This is the 2nd week I've had the 7D, but...

Tai Chi from josh dolby on Vimeo.

But what do you want to DO?

I was talking to a friend of mine while driving home the other night... He'd been very hot to get himself a T1i, the Canon camera that sports HD video capture in a Rebel-esque sub-$1000 body. That day, Gizmodo had an article proclaiming advance information on a newer version of the T1, potentially called the T2i - which would incorporate many 7D features, but in the consumer-style body.

Naturally he was deciding to hold off- to wait until the better featured version would come out. He said "I don't really want to buy a year-old camera - a camera that's already been out for a year." This comment struck me- how can you concentrate on WHAT you're shooting if you're obsessed with WHAT you're shooting on?!

I asked him - "what do you want to DO with whatever camera you eventually get?"

"What?"

"What do you want to do? Do you have some ideas?"

"I just need a camera."

"Yeah, okay but what are you going to DO with it?"

"No, I just need a camera- I just have to have another camera!"

We went along like this for a few more minutes.

My problem is that when we get too concerned with the gear, with having something, with possessing stuff, with the features and the buttons, we LOSE the reason one would want to shoot or film anything- to offer experience of different points of view, or situations, to other people. Not to show how cool our kit is, or which lens we have, or how large our equipment-penis is...

I've been a bit of a camera nerd for years now- and I don't claim to be very good at all - I do claim to (roughly) understand how the things work, and to be able to make my gear perform- but I recognize that I have much to learn, and that photo and video are lifelong pursuits, like painting or sculpture.

It bugs me to no end when I see the material-obsession in useful people. It's like an addiction, it takes precendent over lots of other more direct and important needs (like paying your rent or paying on debts you owe) and is so easy to be consumed with that starting to do creative work becomes almost impossible- you end up "playing with" your gear too much.

It's like the people who post pictures of their computers, their workstations, for others to see how sleek they are- rubbish!

Caught You Pickin' Comedy Videos

So...

I have to admit something.

I've always wanted to make comedy.

We grew up watching The Kids in the Hall, SCTV, and old SNL reruns. These shows all combined to warp my sense of humor, but to make comedy one of my favorite things- there's nothing else like cracking jokes and making people laugh.

That said, we've started to put some sketches on YouTube under the group name "Caught You Pickin'" - composed of John McGhee, Shadiah Sigala, Lou Susi, Sean Kelly, Tom Lato and myself.

Here is FelonDate (the one that most people say is by far the funniest)...

These are all shot on the DVX-100b as well.