Libertine Dreams

Technology has come a long way from my beginnings with my Super 8mm GAF from back in the day. Who knew that digital cinema would be a thing? Truth is, no one, because it didn’t even exist back then.

When I began my journey to make my very first feature film, Girl 214, I had such grandiose ideas. I’d dreamed of multiple Panavision 35mm cameras on set with one of the best cinematographers, DPs, great actors, craft tables, etc. They would all be there to help me see my dream come to fruition.

But reality is a great awakener. When you don’t have millions nor the resources to tap into enough donors, you must compromise.

Not enough to water down your vision, but enough to find ways to still get the story told. Isn’t that what it’s about? The story is most important, right?

I spent a lot of time searching for what options I had by going digital. There were literally thousands of videos online that looked pretty convincing, but those were polished in post and did not show what you’d get right out of the camera. That was important to me because I not only wanted to know what the procedures were, but I also wanted to know what my costs would be. What good was it to save money on a digital camera if post-production was going to cost me more than if I’d shot on film?

I decided to give digital a try. I figured that I’d take the plunge, buy a camera, and give it a go. If it didn’t live up to my expectations, I would sell it and then get back to film. But if it worked, I could rebudget and get on to production.

After my research, I decided to go with Sony. I’m using the A7III with a single 50mm lens. That, along with all the needed accessories, lighting, gimbal, etc, is all there is.

I’d taken lots of test footage with my assistant, Eileen, and looking back, I’d had enough to put a few clips together to make a short. Don’t try to make sense out of it; it’s intentionally vague. Some may get it, and some may not. The idea was to capture footage right out of the camera and to see how it would look, and that’s what we did.

There are no LUTs, color correction, or editing. I can definitely work with this.

Creole Gaudet

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A long time ago, I received a gift from my mother that sort of changed the course of my life.

She’d purchased a Super 8mm camera along with a projector. They were both made by GAF, which was a well-known brand in home movies.

She’d also picked out, or perhaps they were suggested by the salesman, several movies to watch: The French Connection, Abbott and Costello, and Herbie the Love Bug, with the projector and a pull-down screen that had a sandy, sparkly textured surface. I understood it was to illuminate better and to eliminate shiny spots. It was so long ago… I could be wrong.

I was a young child who had no idea how to make a movie, let alone how to use all the wonder brand-new equipment, and neither did my mother. As always, she’d left it up to me to…figure it out. And I did.

Looking back on some of the footage, which survived Hurricane Katrina, I can now see where my lack of education in filmmaking is evident. And I don’t mean in my compositions, I think I did well with that and my lighting. It’s not knowing how to clean my gate or having my lens properly polished.

But, hey, I still get nostalgic when I look at this clip. No editing or separate sound recording. This is right out of the can.

Creole Gaudet

If you enjoyed this content and would like access to all my books, stories, and series episodes, please visit my Patreon page.