I attended the MeetUp for the New Orleans Filmmakers Group, which was attended by about 30-40 people in the area. There was a lot of talk about “building the industry” and “working together.” The session was geared more to performers, though admittedly about half of the people there were talent. There was a lengthy discussion about the need for professional-quality headshots for talent in order to woo NY and LA producers (otherwise locals seem naive and unprofessional).
I didn’t find anyone in need of a cinematographer, nor anyone wanting to go for a low-budget project as a show piece. In fact, most of the actors seemed more interested in my ability to take headshots. I don’t mind taking headshots (because I really do want to help cultivate the reputation of local talent), but it’s not really what I do. I gave out cards and I’d be glad to do it just for the contacts. At the very least it could give me something to do while I work toward my long-term goals.
Quite honestly it looks like I’m going to have to write and shoot myself if I’m going to get anything accomplished. I’d love to work collaboratively with a writer (because that’s more challenging for me than production), but I haven’t found anyone yet (though I haven’t looked very far). I feel that this industry is all very new to New Orleans, so locals don’t really know what they are doing and a DIY ethic hasn’t developed yet. The only real successes are people working the business (the people who could actually help the most, but have little interest in developing a unique aesthetic.)
My impression is that this city is being taken advantage of by Hollywood. There are lots of studio features shooting in the area, which is great, but most of the talent and principle players come from Los Angeles for the duration of the shoot, then go back to California for post-production. It’s essentially outsourcing, where they do principal photography here for cheap, but most of the profit still goes back to Hollywood. While this is does bring in a good amount of work and money into New Orleans (we all know this city could use as much money as it can get), it doesn’t take advantage of the talents and creativity of the locals, nor does it boost the reputation of local talent. The producers, writers, directors, DPs, stars, and principle crew still come from outside NOLA, and no one is going to take a risk on fresh talent.
I’ve gotten more photo assignments from Primer Magazine. My latest shoot on car maintenance should be out in the next few weeks. Andrew, the editor, sent out a status update email, pushing for more word-of-mouth promotion and maintaining high-quality content.
I started teaching a local producer/director the basics of Final Cut Pro. He’s going to Columbia for graduate school soon and he’s going to need to know how to edit. In the past he worked with other editors to do that work. And for me… well I don’t have anything else to do.
He showed me the picture edit of his latest film, a moody, semi-narrative post-apocalyptic profile. I talked with him a bit about local filmmaking scene. I told him about my frustration with DC’s obsession with political issues and documentary. He said New Orleans is also documentary-centered, though I get the impression that the subject matter is more personal and less political. His work seemed more in touch with what I’m trying to accomplish, so I hope he can help guide me in the right direction.
I’ve also been working on an opening credit sequence for Alex Drecun’s “The Hate.” I saw and early cut of the film last week. I can’t wait until I can see it in its finished form. Although I find it funny that Alex chose to shoot 3-perf Super 35mm, only to finish the film in HDCAM. This was a pretty high budget short, but I would have gone straight to digital to save development and transfer costs. Although maybe it’s not too misguided considering Dave Insley told me how he intentionally shot The Wire with 3-perf Super35, only to cut out the center to make a 4:3 aspect ratio and stay in standard definition. But this is all technical nerdiness anyway, so I’ll just stick to shooting with my standard definition MiniDV Canon GL2 (if I ever bring it from Houston).