Behind "Cold October": The Making of a HDV Special Effects Short Film

I had already directed a fairly successful short film in the psychological thriller genre titled “Cellar Door,” (click here to read about making “Cellar Door”) so it may come as no surprise that I might want work in that genre again. However, I am prone to trying new things, especially as I develop as a new filmmaker. So, yes, I chose to work on another psychological thriller. Only this one would be quite different from “Cellar Door.”

The Light Meter and Digital Video: the Basics

For those of you with a background in still photography, or who may have gotten the opportunity to shoot motion picture projects on actual film, you may have some familiarity with an amazingly helpful tool: the light meter। As digital video cameras continue to develop, many shooters have moved away from using a light meter. Especially as the new generation of videographers develop their skills without ever touching a celluloid camera, a light meter can be a rather overlooked tool. I know several excellent videographers who often shoot without the use of a light meter. But this doesn’t mean it is an outdated device that is no longer applicable to the new workflow of digital cinematography. Quite the opposite! Whether or not to use a light meter comes down to two things: (1) your own working preference, and (2) the type of project you’re shooting. What I’d like to discuss here are the occasions where I do choose the use a light meter (even though I am shooting digitally), why I use it, and how I use it.

Making “Cellar Door”: The Creation of an HDV Short Film.

Most of us aspiring filmmakers don’t have the luxury of endless resources. But you shouldn’t let that stop you, especially not these days. What follows is a sort of production diary, detailing how my very small crew and I created a short film for less than two grand, and how this little film has started to create new opportunities for us. Particularly, I want to discuss what we learned on the technical side of making an ambitious and very visual short film for such a small price tag.