Drawing inspiration from the punk rock music scene, Sujewa Ekanayake has earned his title as an independent filmmaker and enthusiastic promoter of the DIY filmmaking ethic. His recent feature comedy, Date Number One has been on a successful, self-promoted screening run throughout the US and Sujewa frequently writes about his DIY experiences and exploits through his informative blog, DIY Filmmaker. Determined, vocal, and energetic, Sujewa has high hopes for no/low budget filmmakers willing to go the self-reliant route in producting and distributing their work. He is based out of Washington D.C., and I was happy to have the opportunity to solicit his thoughts on DIY filmmaking, DV, and Date Number One.

How did you get into filmmaking, and what is the draw to DIY-style filmmaking in particular?

I decided to become a film director at 18. I was motivated to select that goal by the successes of Spike Lee and Steven Speilberg. I thought to myself that if those two dudes can do it, so can I. Rick Schmidt's book Feature Filmmaking at Used Car Prices pointed to the practical way to go about becoming a filmmaker, a way that I could access. Jim Jarmusch's film Mystery Train gave me permission to think freely about casting and storytelling through film and also about new technical possibilites (editing, shooting, etc.).

In 1999 I made a feature flick called Wild Diner on 16mm, submitted it to Miramax, was rejected. Around the same time Dogme 95 broke - with The Celebration in '98/'99, and I have always been a fan of DC punk rock - which is a very DIY thing - they've been DIY since the early 80's (see the new doc American Hardcore for more on that scene). So, the availability of digital video as an affordable production medium and with having DC punk as a model for DIY distribution, I slowly formulated my DIY approach to film production and distribution in the early 00's. If I had used DV for Wild Diner, it would have been a better film due to having the ability to do more takes, and self-financing it would have been possible if it was shot on DV, so all around, there were very good reasons for going DV and DIY on the next feature, which was Date Number One, a comedy about several first dates.

A big draw of the DIY-style is the self-reliance thing. I don't have to wait around to get permission from other people/Hollywood/Indiewood to make and show movies, I can just go and do it myslef, with the help from likeminded people.

You're driving home from work and notice the sky seems to be getting a bit darker. You figure it's just going to rain, and that's good because your brown lawn really needs it. You get home, turn on the TV for a quick weather update and you're greeted with video of a wicked storm, violently rotating and heading your way! While you run screaming like a little girl into the 'fraidy hole, you are probably wondering how the TV station was able to get that video on the air so quick! Well in most cases that footage is obtained by an experienced storm chaser who's out there for the love of storms and whose actions could help save your life.

David Drummond knows storms. He seeks them out because of his love of all-things-weather and he's turned that passion into a business. David took some time to answer a few questions for DV Guru readers about shooting video and storm chasing:

How long have you been storm chasing?

I've been chasing storms in some form or fashion on the U.S. Southern Plains since the mid 1980s. That's a long time! I've been making a career out of it for the last 4 years. In the down times between weather events, I also manage a Web Hosting and Web Design business.

You've been able to build a business around your passion for storms. Tell us a little about that.

Basically what Dryline Media (myself and a few others at this point) does is primarily provide local, national and international news networks with extreme weather video. That could be covering severe storms, hurricanes, snowstorms, or even just heatwaves. There is weather every day, even if it's nice. :-)

We generally deal with NBC NewsChannel, ABC, FOX, CNN and The Weather Channel. We have also worked with Granada Television in the UK. We also provide stock video to various production companies such as Indigo Films and Pioneer Productions that create shows that you often see on cable networks like The Learning Channel, Discovery Channel, National Geographic, and the well known Storm Stories on The Weather Channel.

On a more local level, I provide storm chasing services for the local NBC affiliate, KCBD NewsChannel 11. When not in the local area we have the ability to do the same service on a moments notice for just about any local TV station, and have done some things for shows like Good Morning America. These types of things are known in the business as "stringers" and we basically can provide near real time video as well as live cell phone reports on the air.

8BIT is an independent documentary about video games, art, and music directed by Marcin Ramocki and co-directed/produced by Justin Strawhand. I got a chance to interview Justin about the project just before it premiered Saturday night at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

First things first, how did you come up with the idea to make a documentary about video games?

The original concept for the movie came from Marcin Ramocki, who is credited as director. He runs a very cool new media art gallery in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, and for almost five years has had this group of musicians who use hacked Nintendo Gameboys to make music performing there. He became very friendly with them, and they had a discussion at a local bar one night about documenting this totally new and unique scene.

I see you used a DVX100a to shoot with. What led you to pick this camera over others?

I chose the DVX100a after a lot of sweat and research. I had shot extensively on both the PD-150 and XL1 previously, and while I like both cameras for their different capabilities (the PD-150 gives a very cinematic image, I think, and the XL-series is the past, current, and future king of low-cost ENG) I was really intrigued by the customization capabilities of the DVX, as well as the whole 24p thing. We planned from the beginning to treat this project as something that would be a success, that would go to the theaters, and come hell or high water, we went ahead with that goal in mind. So, I shot it in 24PA, with an anamorphic adapter, and had to fix the framerates for the 60i stuff, much of which was archival footage, as well as various grabs of games, artworks, and demos going back as early as 1950.


See the trailer after the break.