Interview with Director Blake Calhoun by Eugenia Loli-Queru

Today we are happy to feature an interview with director Blake Calhoun, known for two feature films (”Killing Down” and “Hit”) and a number of short films during his earlier indie career. These days Blake is testing the waters for internet-based TV series. His first effort in the field is called “PINK“, it’s of TV/broadcast quality and it’s starring Natalie Raitano (of VIP fame, next to Pam Anderson). Two episodes have been released so far (1, 2), while new episodes are posted every Tuesday on YouTube, Revver and MySpace. Read on for what Blake had to say about this new trend.

1. How did the idea of releasing a web-only series come to be?

Blake Calhoun: The idea of course is not that new. Well, “new” in quotes. There have been some good web only series going for about a year or so, maybe longer. But of course on the Internet, that IS a long time. Anyway, our show came to be because of my interest and work in feature films. I’ve produced, directed and edited three features and will be doing a fourth next year. So in between movies I wanted to produced something. I’ve done tons of short films and those really don’t do much for me anymore. You can show them at festivals, etc. But besides honing your filmmaking skills, I wasn’t that interested. So, cut back to my feature filmmaking - I’m an indie and the toughest thing about the movie business is the BUSINESS side of it. Mainly distribution. My first film found foreign DVD distribution. My second film was never distributed (not yet). And my third film has distribution, but only foreign DVD (however, a domestic DVD and TV deal are on the table). Distribution is very hard to come by, and then when you do find it, it’s sadly still hard to be profitable in most cases.

So in saying all this, I have been looking long and hard at new avenues for distribution - mainly via the Internet and digital downloads. There has been a lot of buzz about this over the past year or so, but it really hasn’t taken off in my opinion for features (although I think it will as bandwidth and technology improve over time, and audiences accept this new model) - but short form shows seem to be popular with Internet audiences, like Prom Queen, LonelyGirl15, etc. - so we decided to use our feature filmmaking skills and make a show for a web audience.

2. What are the obstacles you had so far? Would you accept commercials midst the broadcast of your series?

Blake Calhoun: Our main obstacles have really been marketing the show. Just because you have a Myspace page… just because you’re on YouTube… and just because you have a website, does not mean you’ll find an audience. Our show is independently produced, so we don’t have a lot of money for advertising (really none). We’ve been relying primarily on grassroots marketing through email, blogs, the aforementioned Myspace, etc. It’s pretty tough to cut through all the stuff on the web. But we’re starting to feel some momentum building - we’re now featured on Revver, we’re about to be featured on the online TV show “Viral The Show”, and we’re getting some press from folks like you.

As far as commercials, yes, we will accept commercials and as a matter of fact we are doing that already with Revver. We have no problem being part of the capitalist system. :)

3. Are you happy with the quality YouTube, MySpaceTV and Revver offer? Do you have plans to sell higher quality versions?

Blake Calhoun: The video compression on most video sharing sites is okay, not terrible considering you can watch the video almost instantly. But of course as a filmmaker you’d much rather see your work in higher resolution. “Pink” was shot in 1080p HD and we plan to make HD downloads available in the future, and likely an HD-DVD (or Blu-Ray) version too. Not sure on pricing, but it will be very similar to what’s out there currently online.

4. What kind of equipement did you use to shoot Pink? How many people overall for the cast and crew?

Blake Calhoun: We shot “Pink” on two HDV cameras. Our main camera was a Canon XH-A1 and our “B” camera was a Canon HV20. This was my first narrative project with both cameras and I was very impressed with the results. One thing we did too, to enhance the image, was use a 35mm adapter. We chose the Letus35 FE and used a Nikon AI mount for our SLR lenses. This really gave the HDV footage a cinematic look with it’s shallow depth of field. We used a 24mm, 28mm, 50mm and an 85mm.

The other thing we did to add production value was use a Steadicam, a jib arm, a dolly and an underwater rig. These things are typically reserved for higher-end productions, but we felt they were important to tell our story and create the look we were trying to achieve.

Our crew was fairly small in comparison to a feature film, but on an average we had six to ten crew members on a given day.

5. What kind of software do you use to edit your works? PC or Mac?

Blake Calhoun: We are editing the show on two PCs running Avid Xpress Pro - one is a Dell laptop and the other is an HP workstation. We also use a variety of plug-ins and third party applications like Boris Continuum, Magic Bullet Colorista, Digital Film Tools 55mm, and Adobe After Effects.

6. Do you think that video sharing sites make more harm than good to movie industry?

Blake Calhoun: No, I think video sharing sites are good for the movie industry. All studios today run their trailers on video sharing sites (and some allow remixing of them), and they all have Myspace pages to promote their films, etc. The only negative in my opinion is piracy, but none of the big sites would allow a pirated movie to stay on there very long (in most cases).

7. What do you think of this new kind of reality show (”vlogs”) that appears on video sharing sites in the last few years? (e.g. LoneGirl15) Is there any artistic merit in there, or just random rants from random people?

Blake Calhoun: I think a lot of it is random. But I don’t think LonelyGirl15 falls into that category. Those filmmakers knew what they were doing from the beginning, and look where that show took them? Pretty impressive and creative too.

8. What do you think of the Canon HV20? Can it be used exclusively instead of a semi-pro camera in its 24p/Cinemode modes with good results?

Blake Calhoun: I think the HV20 is an incredible camera FOR THE MONEY. I was one of the first people to buy one. Can it be used instead of a semi-pro camera? The short answer is yes. You can use the HV20 to do professional work, but there are many caveats. Most of these have been covered extensively on various forums like DVInfo.net, but the major issues are no XLR inputs, the “wobble” you can get with the rolling shutter, it can be very challenging to use the manual controls (especially shooting 24p in cinemode), there is no focus ring (only a dial), and it shoots 24p into a 60i stream with no flagged frames - so removing 3:2 pulldown is difficult, but can be done with various methods and tools. Overall though, the camera is amazing. For under $1000 you can shoot true 1920×1080 HD. As I mentioned, I own one and used it as a “B” camera on “Pink”. Great little camera and I’d highly recommend it, with caveats. :)

FreshDV guest-contributor Eugenia Loli-Queru is a Senior News Editor at www.OSNews.com. You can catch up with her online at eugenia.gnomefiles.org.