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Video Director David Lopez

admin — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 02:37:57 +0000

New York Film Academy Graduate David Lopez In The News

New video from NYFA Grad David Lopez !! I enjoyed all of David’s work during the peer reviews. He was a great guy to talk with before – during – and after class. Here is a piece for a new restaurant in the Village called La Lucha Tacos and Boutique. This is an authentic Mexican style restaurant serving it up “Street Style”. This is the street vendor style we are all familiar with but here at La Lucha of course everything is consistently super tasty every time. Great job David !!!

NYC Evening Digital Editing Class

admin — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 19:05:24 +0000

I’m starting the 3 month Evening Digital Editing class at the New York Film Academy on January 11, 2010. It runs 3 times a week until April 2, 2010. It’s a hands on class for Final Cut Pro 7… which is the most popular digital video editing software for professinoals. Of course there are other editing tools like Adobe Premier and Sony Vegas but I was told by someone at the NYFA that Final Cut was the only way to go if you wanted to be a professional. I actually own Premier CS3 and I found it a bit challenging to get started with although I’ve been using Photoshop professionally for 15 years.

So I’ll do blog posts on what we are studying and how I am making out. For now I have been using the onling stuff that comes with Final Cut Pro 7 and I bought the high end expensive subscription to Lynda.com for training videos. They are actually excellent vids if you can afford to subscribe to them.

(I have not been paid by any persons or firms for anything I’ve written in this blog post)

Book Review: DV Filmmaking by Ian Aronson

admin — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 09:18:32 +0000

Ian David Aronson was an Associate Professor at Ramapo College in New Jersey – my Alma Mata. As I was looking for books on digital filmmaking I spotted this and I bought it. I’ve read 5 other books and this was my favorite for a number of reasons. The quality of the printing is outstanding. And the material from start to finish is well written and many of the major points I learned about digital filmmaking at the New York Film Academy are explained beautifully in this book. I was surprised we did not have a text book for Evening Digital Video at NYFA… and this became my textbook. I have found in life that if I read 3 to 5 books on a subject, I might know more than the so called “experts”. Usually “the experts” have a PhD and they ultimately reform life to look like their pet theories. Aronson is a straight shooter and he gives real life examples of everything he teaches in the book. Ian Aronson is a genuine expert with lots of experience and no illusions that get in the way of the content. I recommend “DV Filmmaking” to anyone considering taking or teaching a class in digital filmmaking.

Here is a link to the Google Books version of DV filmmaking: from start to finish
By Ian David Aronson

Deciding on a Camera Height and Camera Angle

admin — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 17:16:10 +0000

Should you shoot down on your actor’s face or shoot up on it? Adjusting the height of the tripod can make a dramatic difference in the presentation to the audience. When they are looking up at an actor they get a sense the actor is powerful and in control. Looking down on the actor the audience may see more of the weaker side of the character.

The 180 Degree Rule of Film Making

admin — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 17:05:28 +0000

To maintain continuity, draw a line between 2 actors and keep the camera on one side of that line. Only break the line when there is a very compelling reason to. This is one of the basic principals of filmmaking and it’s easily demonstrated during a football game. If Team A is on the left side of the screen and they are trying to score on the right side of the screen, switching to a shot where Team A is rushing into the end zone on the left side of the screen would confuse viewers. The audience would thing Team A just scored on their own end zone! There is another great writeup on the Mark Kennedy’s Site site.

The Over the Shoulder Shot – OTS

admin — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 16:50:03 +0000

This is a fairly common shot in film making where the camera is placed above the shoulder of an actor or actress to give the movie viewer a look at what the actor sees. It creates a first person viewpoint. OTS is used a lot during interviews to help create a point – counter point exchange. Remember to keep one actor on the left side of the screen and the other actor on the other side of the screen to keep the audience from getting confused.

Poker Face Starring Carlo Fiorletta

admin — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 21:02:49 +0000

From the archives… October 25, 2006
Silent movie shot on 16mm film by NYFA Director Nicholas

NYFA Short Film Apocalyptica “Farewell”

admin — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 19:14:06 +0000

Shot on black and white film using an Arriflex 16S camera.

Continuity Film “Balloon”

admin — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 19:09:49 +0000

Here is a 2007 film made at Harvard… continuity project for NYFA

NYFA Video Lonelygirl

admin — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 05:24:49 +0000

Short from a 19 year old student in who moved to LA from New Zealand.