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Michael Pressman - On Shooting a DV Movie
 The best part of shooting digital for me was I could literally go uninterrupted for long takes and improvize and not worry about the costs for film and printing. And then to be able to play back a take and study it and re-think things. It was a luxury that comes with the process.
The worst part of digital is that it just doesn't have the magic of film.
Hopefully that will go away with the improved technology. But there is
something about the precision and excitement of shooting film, and feeling the
heightened intensity to get it right in the first or second take that will
always be there with film.
We shot in multiple formats for technical as well as creative reasons.
For starters, the digital high definition still doesn't perform well in
daylight exterior. So we used 16 mm film for all of those scenes. The rehearsal process was shot in high definition for cost reasons, and it gave us the improvizational abilities. All
the material in the house interior was on mini-dv to give it that home movie look, and to be able comfortably move the camera without being obtrusive. The finale of the movie coincides with the performance of the play, and that was 35 mm film for the emotional effect of conclusion. It will hopefully be the prettiest and most satisfying image that the audience will be left
with.
I really like working on Final cut pro because I thought the image that
was printed out was far superior than the avid image. The other big advantage
was of course, savings.
My advice to young film-makers is to plan carefully, especially in the
post process. There are a lot of hidden costs that can be prevented with
preparation and decisions made before shooting, like dealing with the sound
synch situation.
The defining moment to make the film was first and foremost the idea,
which seemed like a natural to make as a very small independant movie. The rest
just fell into place. If it were ten years ago, I just would have done it
on 16mm, and would have shot it completely differently. The digital formats
gave me freedom and choices that I wouldn't have had otherwise.
This was one of the most rewarding and exciting experiences I have ever
had in my career. I felt like I was back in film school, and I was loving
every minute of it. I would do it again in a second. In fact, I'm sure I
will.
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