Pros give insight into film industry
USUTube is on. Deadline for the short film competition is this coming Friday, which means students still have time to put together a short film, less than four minutes in length, and contend for a large cash prize. Visit the Caine School of Fine Arts Web page and click on USUTube for the rules.
How would it be possible, some might ask, to put together a film in just two days?
It can be done in less than that, according to itinerant USU student and working filmmaker Clay Olsen, who, in 2007, along with several other Aggies, put together a short film in 24 hours, winning several honors at Apple’s Insomnia short film competition, including first place in the celebrity judge category. The film is called “Imagine” and can be seen it after a quick search on YouTube.
Olsen and his friend, videograper Ashley Karras, gave a few tips on amateur filmmaking.
Olsen is taking the semester off while pursuing a degree in marketing. Karras graduated from USU in 2007 with a degree in broadcast journalism and now works as a freelance videographer and independent filmmaker.
In her most recent film, a documentary called The “Inheritance of War,” Karras tells the little-known story of American POWs who were captured and forced into slave labor by the Japanese during World War II. She says documentary-style filmmaking is extremely popular with audiences today. Karras said she structured the film as a narrative to engage the audience with a gripping story. She said she learned to write while at USU, but prefers telling stories through film.
“I like that I can tell a story using pictures,” Karras said.
Karras has also worked in Uganda, filming a documentary to advance the efforts of Engineers Without Borders, a non-profit service organization.
“The thing I asked myself when I started that project was, ‘What’s the story here?'” Karras said. “It’s hard, because with documentary filmmaking, you’re often moving down a storyline you don’t know the ending to.”
Olsen said the concept for his prize-winning film “Imagine” was a group effort. He said the group gave themselves one hour to come up with a good story idea. If the idea didn’t happen in one hour, they’d call off the effort and just have a normal day. One hour later they had succeeded in developing a great idea. Olsen said he immediately called in some favors from friends, including a helicopter pilot who showed up on short notice with an authentic Air Force pilot suit and a hovering chopper.
Olsen said he used creative cinematography in the short film to capture audiences’ attention. At one point, a man is being chased through a forest, dodging trees and jumping ditches. In order to film the scene, Olsen said he stood through the sunroof of his friend’s car as it drove along the road next to the trees. The camera bumps and jerks as it follows the running man.
Olsen said the jerkiness of the cinematography produced a disorienting feeling, which was just what he wanted for the chase scene.
“More important than having a good camera is how you use it,” Olsen said. “A good film has plenty of camera angles – close ups, wide outs, high up, down low. You want to have visual textures.”
He encourages amateur filmmakers to watch his Vlog, or video blog, tutorials by searching YouTube for nine essential tips for amateur filmmakers. Olsen said not to wait for a degree before getting involved.
“There isn’t a degree for what I do,” Olsen said.
Olsen said he started making films with the family video camera before he even got to grade school. Now he is co-creator of Logan-based company Advent Creative, an online marketing firm. Olsen said there is a demand for videographers like never before in history. Companies are looking for commercials, training and promotional videos, Olsen said. He said the Internet is more and more the best bang for the buck when a company needs to get their message out.
“The demand for videographers is skyrocketing,” he said. “Video production used to be a luxury for companies – now it’s a necessity.”
The phenomenon of online blogging will soon be eclipsed by Vlogs, Olsen said, because programmers are developing software which can translate video dialogue and keywords into text. That text will soon be searchable by the electronic spiders constantly combing the Internet, he said.
In addition, YouTube has made everyone a potential filmmaker. Olsen said the prices of good digital video cameras are within the range of almost any person who wants to make a film nowadays, and professional digital video editing is possible using free software bundles like iMovie for Mac and Windows Movie Maker.
“People would rather watch an online video than sit and read a blog,” he said.
Is being a filmmaker really all about unfettered creative freedom and artistic expression?
“Sort of,” Olsen said.
Karras disagreed.
“Not really. You don’t always get to do what you want to do,” she said.
Karras said as a freelance videographer, her everyday work depends on the project she’s been hired to work on.
“You invest in one film to pay for the one you really want to do,” Olsen said.
For those who would like to make a film or Vlog, Olsen suggests, “The number one key is, just do it. Don’t wait for a degree or a budget. Make it a hobby and go do it.”
– butler.brendon@aggiemail.usu.edu