do it yourself
Short filmmaker Hasraf Dulull explains it’s easier than you think to start making VFX shorts
Being a freelancer, you earn a certain amount of day rate, then you put a little aside in your piggy bank for filmmaking. And over the month I accumulated a certain amount of funds for sound, audio, crew, paid for the expense of actors and stuff like that, and saved a lot by editing myself. But still, you’re taking a risk. It’s a blessing though, because you’re much, much more careful about how you’re spending your pennies.
Sponsorships I’ve gone for haven’t been cash financing, because I funded it myself, and a lot of that’s to do with letting me retain more control as well. I got to use Adobe Premiere as long as I talked about it, which was a win-win for me, because I got to talk about Adobe, and I got to talk about the film. For my last film I got Black Magic involved, and they were impressed that I filmed very fast and they wanted to support independent filmmakers. Having cameras provided for you saves a lot of money! But most importantly it attracts people to your projects.
If I got a new piece of software, I wouldn’t read a manual and go, oh this is how you do it, I’d just go in and do it. But to me I find it more fun when you’re learning to use a piece of technology or a new tool on the job because all the problems you come across, and the things that you want done, are specific to you – it saves you reading a 200 page software manual.
Being in visual effects for 15 years, we’re so used to dealing with resolution, but now with VR it’s not about resolution anymore. We’re dealing with a whole different way of working. When you shoot a movie you film your shots, you compose your shots, you film your shots, then you edit. There is no editing in virtual reality! Even though we’re using existing tools and existing artistic skill sets, the way we go about it has evolved. We’re now thinking about 360, we’re thinking about the environment, which comes with its own nightmares, but also it opens up great opportunities and new ways of telling stories.
The lines are blurring between films and video game special effects. We’re going to get to a point very soon where we’re capturing stuff in real time and it stands side by side and it’s just as good. It’s very exciting. I can imagine a world where a director puts on a headset and they’re just set designing, moving stuff around, cuing an actor, and watching the scene. It’ll get to the point where filmmakers are immersed in the environment.