Indie Entertainment – DSLR Stars

Up to now we’ve journeyed through the start of media with a look at Hollywood, and we’ve taken a look at how things differ in Canada. We’ve jumped into some of the technology changes making waves and enabling a new generation of independent producers. Let’s take a break to look at the amazing work of some of them.

Riding the wave of recent technology advances, some individuals have distinguished themselves by recognizing the potential and running with it. In some ways, it resembles very much the early days of the Biograph corporation. It looks like history is repeating itself! If you’ll recall, in the early days of the Biograph corporation, the company created short films for the purpose of promoting their equipment (in effect becoming the first dedicated film company in North America).

Philip Bloom

Enter Philip Bloom, the UK-based director of photography who was among the very first to recognize the revolution taking place in entertainment filmmaking. Much like the Biograph company’s “actualities”, short films featuring real-life situations, Philip has focussed on showing off the capabilities of the equipment he uses by filming sequences of life that promote the unique abilities of this new technology. These include the ability to create very high-quality run-and-gun style video in low-light or difficult-light conditions.

Dublin’s People: Canon 7d 24p from Philip Bloom on Vimeo.

Mr. Bloom makes beautiful video to be sure. He is also featured heavily in promotional video for Zacuto and Kessler Crane. While he no doubt receives incentives for this (he has his own signature edition slider with them), there is no strong uproar over his involvement with these companies, because the companies actually make products useful to people shooting with DSLRs. What could come across as heavy-handed advertising instead (for the most part) is seen as heroic individuals leading a revolution that returns filmmaking to the hands of the enthusiasts. There is probably no better advertising, and it’s all completely indie.

Mr. Bloom has stated that he considers the new cameras the ‘democratization of filmmaking’, removing the high barrier to entry into making good quality images. Of course, as with every revolution not everyone is going to be behind it and some have missed the point of what Bloom and others like him are doing.

Vincent Laforet

Philip Bloom is not the only director who has been able to work with the technology makers in order to produce interesting video with the prime purpose of promoting and selling product. Another is Vincent Laforet, the Swiss-born French-American photographer for the New York Times. In 2008 his short film “Reverie”, created with the Canon 5D MKII, was viewed more than 2 million times in the first week and helped fuel the subsequent wave of DSLR video shooters. It drew the attention of other equipment manufacturers beyond Canon, and Laforet has since reviewed a wide variety of devices.

Reverie from Vincent Laforet on Vimeo.

Recently, Laforet was the man charged with creating the footage that would reveal the C300, Canon’s new entry into high-end filmmaking. This is high honour indeed for a man only four years into shooting video. The images he created are fantastic, and the narrative elements are there, taking this slightly past a purely technical showpiece.

Shane Hurlbut

It is interesting that when any venom is directed at the directors of the DSLR revolution, Shane Hurlbut usually escapes the darts thrown. That’s because Hurlbut also happens to be an award-winning cinematographer, with credits dating back to music videos for Gloria Estefan and the Smashing Pumpkins.

“The Last 3 Minutes” Directed by Po Chan from Shane Hurlbut, ASC on Vimeo.

In more recent times, Hurlbut has leveraged his experience and enthusiasm for DSLR shooting into a tutorial series for B&H video, as well as product promotion for Letus, the camera accessory manufacturer.

This is Legitimate Okay?

There can be little doubt that much of the stir created by DSLR video has been the result of collaborations between experienced directors and cinematographers with the equipment manufacturers themselves. This is only natural, and is nothing new. To say otherwise is to not know much of the history of the cinema. All of Hollywood began that way, and it is very reasonable to assume that the same thing would happen today.

To their credit, each of these figures has other projects to their name, and have made mention of taking their technical prowess in the direction of high-quality narrative over technical demonstrations. Like D.W. Griffiths of old, they want to show what they can do beyond the short “actualities”. Hurlbut has credit for work on “Terminator Salvation”, and Laforet recently put out a call for scripts from his faithful readership. Of course with the eyes of millions of viewers upon them, the pressure is on these guys to do great work.

Of course, as with the Biograph company of old, the money and recognition that comes from being first out of the gate with a new technology must eventually give way to the actual business of filmmaking and narrative. And that as well is full of new players doing interesting things in content creation. Let’s take a look – at New Hollywood!