Camcorder Info Profile: Connie Fillippelli Teacher and Indie Filmaker

by Vinson Watson
Published on May 17, 2004 12:00 AM



What does a teacher, writer, goth vixen and Indie filmmaker have in common? The Canon ZR-40. In the field of multimedia, education is a big market. Everyone wants to learn it so they can get one of those ''hot'' multimedia gigs. But education isn't easy. Knowing the programs and knowing the hardware are two different things knowing how to integrate them is where it counts. But Connie Fillippelli, DV instructor at Chicago's Westwood College, knows her software. The software is easy enough to learn, but Connie only knows the hardware because she has years of experience. She was doing video when there were few women in the field and before DV was twinkle in the eye of Sony, JVC, Panasonic, or Canon. But she's not your average camera teacher. She's a writer of several short gothic horror stories, not to mention a full-length, but yet unpublished mystery novel, and she's also working on a short multimedia piece about her time as a medical illustrator.

With knowledge of all the hot programs and working video knowledge of not just form but function, what's this teacher's weapon of choice? A Canon of course „o but not the one you think.

''I decided to get a Canon ZR-40 because it feels so comfortable and shoots a pretty good picture,'' says the Raven-haired school teacher by day and goth geurilla filmmaker by night, as she tenderly strokes the camcorder. ''I have small hands and it fits them perfectly. I carry ''Sneakycam'' everywhere. It can fit in my purse, pocket, or concealed under a baggy sleeve.''

Sneakycam. I had to laugh, but that was pretty much cut short by the sharp glare of this goth vixen. No one makes fun of her cam. But I gotta ask the question that's burning so deep inside? ''Why Sneakycam?''

''I want to be prepared in case anything happens so that I¡¦m ready to shoot all the time.'' And prepared she is. ''I bought a battery charger for the car so I can charge as I go. I keep an extra tape in the glove compartment,'' she says opening the carriage and exposing the tape.

Considering I had already crossed the line by laughing, I figure I might as well dig deeper. I mean seriously, the Canon ZR-40 is a 1 CCD consumer camera, certainly not something for a filmmaker right? Wrong. ''I am a digital filmmaker. At one time, I belonged to the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Broadcast Engineers Local 1220. I worked with cameras so expensive you could put a down payment on a house.''

''But where does the Canon ZR-40 come in? It is simply cost effective.''

She smiled, and slid the camera back into it's padded bag. When she did finally speak, her answer made more sense than not. ''Until now, to actually make a movie and get it to play somewhere was a crap shoot. Many of my filmmaking friends struggled and sometimes failed to bring their picture to the can. (Getting a project in the can means finishing it.) Buying the film, renting or purchasing cameras,, lighting, and editing time... Editing usually took a big chunk of money to get done even if you edited at a studio during its down-time. All that is changed now.''

''So, armed with your ¡§one chipper,¡¨ you want to what, do a goth version of the ¡§Annieversary Party?''

I get the stare once again. She smiles slightly and moves some strands of the clustered jet black hair away from her face, then began to speak. ''15 years ago, video cameras were giving us an amazing 350 to 400 lines of resolution to play on our 260-line television sets. My Canon ZR-40 has 550 lines of resolution and looks great on my 260-line television. Most of the work I did was developing industrial videos and freelancing for television stations, cable, or independents.''

''Okay.'' I see where she's going with this. ''It can't however, stand up to a high definition camera, and it can't hold up to shooting a full-length feature then outputting it to film. So, what can it do for a filmmaker?''

''Simple. I can make movies to show on the Internet or on a VCD, a video CD. If I keep the movie short and interesting, I can break the once impossible barrier of trying to get a distributor. The Internet has brought democracy to the Indie filmmaker and has Hollywood shaking in their boots. And the shake-up has been clearly evident when BMWfilms.com hired top Hollywood directors to make movies for their Web site.''

''They got John Woo. You know how I feel about his stuff.''

''These movies are MOSTLY ACTION, and are so hot that people are downloading and trading them. In the early spring, BMW films will offer their short films on DVD. These movies run about 7 minutes each. Not only are they using top directors, but they are using popular stars, like Gary Oldman, Madonna, and James Brown. This is the future for Internet movies „o short films 3 to 7 minutes, with interesting stories „o until the infrastructure is in place for streaming movies and custom cable entertainment.''

''For that to take off, most people would have to have DSL or something.''

''When the price of the broadband, DSL, and Satellite go down to the average price of your favorite ISP, I say watch out. Content will be in dire need as the big Hollywood companies

struggle to put out the content to accommodate all the different tastes in entertainment. I can¡¦t wait for the day when I can just have the movie package I want and not have to pay for 85 sport channels I never use.''

''But it's the 89 channels that's got all the good stuff.''

She raises a brow. ''Another thing I create with my Canon ZR-40 are small QuickTime movies I load in a program called Videodelic by Uisoftware.com. This application allows me to load movies, still images, sound, and input for two live cameras and mix them in real-time while projected with LCD projector. Special effects are designed while the program runs, and they can be changed at anytime. VJ's (video jockeys) use this program or others that are similar.''

''So that's you're whole spill.''

''And tests shots are very important for a filmmaker. We must make sure that an idea works before we attempt to shoot it. I am pushing the limitations of my camera. What I have learned is the Canon ZR-40 takes remarkable pictures outside. Inside pictures, if well lit, are quite acceptable. I want a natural look, so I try to use ambient lighting. I can fix it in post if it needs a little

tweaking. I usually edit in Premiere and Final Cut Pro.''

So, Connie's sights are set for the future: teaching, writing, Web movies, and possible VJ¡¦ing for clubs. Are Web movies the future of DV? Well it's happening now. Full-length skeptics like myself shudder at the thought of becoming extinct, but realistically, there will always be room for full-length features. With the leaps and bounds technology is making, maybe this is the future. Only time will tell.

The images in this article were taken with a webcam, so we apologize for their low resolution