LNOYL

We are in preproduction to shoot a video for the first track on the album, ‘sunset traffic’. By preproduction I mean, does anyone have a video camera, and what are we going to point it at. It’s going to be a DIY, shoestring budget affair that with any luck will involve some talented people along the way. All of our computers are outdated, and while we can get by with them for audio and photography, hi-def video will just cause them to seizure. So we’re probably going to be looking for an editor; director/editor would be even better. I took some pics of a potential shooting location:

I started acquiring some equipment this week. While surfing around, I began to experience that familiar feeling…the online audio engineering world allows for endless hours to bask in pure geekdome. Im looking at you, “gearslutz.com”. How many hours of my life did I give you? In any audio forum, you can discuss the sound differences between all sorts of gear, debate if analog is better than digital, and watch weekly flame-wars erupt over the most arcane details. Saturating your brain within these websites also predisposes to “gear-acquisition-syndrome”: you feel like you can’t do anything for real until you just get that special mic, or this particular plugin. There is always one more thing to get, one more excuse around the corner before you think you can put forth your best work. The ironic thing is that for all the countless hours I spent on those sites, I never ever read anything that actually translated directly into a better recorded sound per se. Those type of improvements were totally left to the realm of trial, error and experimentation…

So it was interesting to see that exactly the same structure and community exists for indie film makers: Huge, established online forums dedicated to film gear and discussions of technique? Check. Cult followings for certain pieces of gear, while certain other gear selections are frowned upon? Check. Periodic nerd-o-file flamewars between trolls, sages, and wisecrackers? Check. But beyond that – you can learn a tonne of essential details on some of those websites, really fast. Especially if you are taking baby steps. And many people are genuinely willing to give their time to teach…just cause they want too.

So I picked up a video camera this week – a tiny little tape based canon hv20 that’s got a huge following for indie film making. Like all great deals to be had in the digital realm, it’s a flagship model that’s outdated by three, four or five “product generations”. So the depreciation is quite severe, and you can ebay them for pretty cheap. My particular hv20 was the backup unit for a zombie flick, produced by a first time filmmaker who just happened to live in the same city as I did. I was in a total asthmatic haze when I picked up the camera the other day (im having the worst seasonal allergies ever – it’s like im ten years old again with a runny nose and asthma puffer). I could tell that Randy kept his stuff in good order, just by the way he had the original box and packaging set up. When you pack stuff in haphazardly, the little cardboard flaps never go down and the box bulges all weird. This camera and all of its add-ons looked like new. We talked about his recently produced short film – called “Fear of the Living Dead” (http://www.fearofthelivingdead.com/trailer.shtml). I thought it was cool that he just decided to use what he had available (his house and neighbourhood), then organize a bunch of people and just get working, ready or not. Cause it’s so easy to stay online…in forum land…