Potty Mouth

Check out this list. I don't know how people find enough time in the day to actually count these sort of things, but God bless 'em.

Fahrenheit 101

I worked briefly as a camera assistant and co-director of a short documentary film on homelessness in Little Rock, AR. I found that despite the chaos of a shooting day, I had much more control over a narrative film. Any magic could be manufactured. Documentaries require you to find the magic beneath the layers of regular mundane existence. The arched eyebrow, the impromptu smile, the silly walk, the strange turn of phrase, the quiet moment. You tend to shoot much more footage, because you don't know what gems you might accidentally capture.

Documentaries were also much more challenging legally. In a narrative film, you can always fall back on, I just made it up. In a documentary, you are capturing and rearranging pieces of reality. And sometimes, reality is not something people want exposed.

I found this lovely site that discusses some of the legal issues documentary filmmakers face. There are some excellent examples of Fair Use, which is vital to making a documentary that doesn't consist solely of talking heads spewing facts.

Shoot-out at the HD Corral

Many of you won't care, but for those filmmakers looking at getting an HD cam, this shoot-out at DVXuser.com is a godsend. It compares the Sony HDVs, the new Panasonic HVX200, the JVC HD100, and the new Canon XLH1, and the results are surprising. Even more surprising, since the site is heavy on the Panasonic love bone.

The shootout makes me feel better about buying the FX1, despite the fact the Sony doesn't perform as well comparatively. (The FX1's images are very similar to the Z1U being tested.) For the price, the FX1 would put up a good fight.

Read the whole thread, because more information is provided throughout. Try to ignore some of the more snarky posters. Camera fanatics can be rather evangelical about their brand choice.

Addendum: Apparently, there is some controversy that the tests on DVXuser may not be completely accurate. There's talk that attempts were made to make the HVX200 seem superior, instead of having an unbiased test. I personally have no idea, although I wouldn't be too shocked to find Panasonic favoritism on a pro-Panasonic site. They're not big fans of the other brands.

I personally like all the cameras, since they tend to have enough different features to make me want all of them. They each have their strengths and weaknesses, and the final image within their price category is truly subjective. I find this camera snobbery somewhat amusing, in a waste-of-time sort of way. After all, there's plenty of 35mm film purists who scoff at us video "filmmaker" enthusiasts anyway.

Nuclear Family

Lately, it seems like you can't start your day without a big bowl of crazy. A really big bowl of crazy, with loony sprinkled all over the top. Nuclear ambitions in Iran, saber rattling from the special ed kids in Washington, the international community in a conflicted tizzy. The Axis of Evil vs the Confederation of Stupid -- it can only end in tears.

Perhaps, I'm turning into an old fart, but reading the news is not a good way to start the morning. Next time, I'll just jab a pencil in my eye. It'll hurt less. Has the world stage always been this way, like a play written by a dyslexic sociopath? I'm sure the Left Behind people are creaming their shorts at the joy of this, one more day closer to their self-fulling prophecy of annihilation.

And after watching the farce that is the Alito Supreme Court "hearings," I think it's time that the cockroaches took over. Here are the keys to the house, my invertebrate friends. Turn off the lights when you're done.

Ha! #1,614

Not mine, but something people are passing around via that lovely Internet e-mail thing. Why post it? Dude, it's got He-Man. And I posted He-Man's crotch a few days ago. Can you say, serendipity?

He-Man, I wish I knew how to quit you.

Film is made from oil, and sometimes it burns

This movie will probably never, ever come to this town, but I would love to see it... Watch the trailer and prepare to be flabbergasted. That's right, I said it, flabbergasted. As in, your flabber will be gasted.

I love filmmakers who wield a movie like a warhammer, crushing everything in sight. Even if it doesn't turn out good, god bless the fire.

Crotch Rocket

So...

...I'm checking out the stats for the new Crowfeather site (and they're through the roof by the way, despite not doing any promos). The stat service I use allows me to check out where everyone is from by tracing their IPs and their favorite pages. (Which means I know exactly how long my friends actually visit the site -- you know who you are.)

For some reason, I get a lot of visitors to The Undergraduates film portion of the site. At first, I think it's because they just like the amateurish violence of the movie (yeah me!), but really, the truth is far simpler.

They like crotches.

They really like crotches.

Apparentally, since the page has the word crotch on it, and since Crowfeather Films is a movie site, the two together means I rank high on search engines. Put in "crotch" and "movie" and the Undergraduates movie page pops up. It's no wonder though that the same crotch-seeking cruisers never stay long. Someone from a Department of Defense military server in Iraq, a couple of people from China, and someone from Canada all found my site seeking "crotch + movie" but left, sadly flaccid.

Somehow, I feel dirty.