As a filmmaker, I get a kick from working with well-designed, cutting edge technology. I’ve had the opportunity to use some amazing stuff over the past year: Tab Firchau’s RC helicopter, gyro-stabilized camera mounts, and the incredible Sennheiser 8060 mic. But nothing has had a bigger impact on the way I make films than the Nissan Leaf that Lara and I purchased in August. I use it on EVERY shoot. It carries everything I need. It’s sexy. It’s fun. It’s silent. It uses ZERO gas.

But what’s even more amazing, is that it’s the first car I’ve ever owned that I actually enjoy driving. The visceral enjoyment comes from it’s quiet, push-you-into-your-seat acceleration. It’s a trip to be sitting at a stop light next to another car and when the light changes, to leap from a dead stop to 30 mph – silently. The intellectual enjoyment comes from knowing that the oil and gas industry gets ZERO of my dollars, and the environment gets ZERO emissions. And because I live in Seattle, where in excess of 90 percent of our power is generated from hydro, I’m driving a car that is almost literally powered by the rain.

Since August, we’ve seen an increase in our monthly electric bill that will equate to about $200/year. By comparison, we were paying $200/month to fuel our Jeep Cherokee, before we traded it in for the Leaf. The Leaf doesn’t have nearly the cargo capacity of the Jeep, but with careful packing, it’s proven big enough for my current productions. And so far at least, none of my projects has taken me beyond the 100 mile range of the Leaf. If it does, our Nissan dealer offers Leaf owners a deep discount on SUV rental. And it won’t be that much longer before the first SUV-sized EVs hit the market (such as the Toyota RAV-4 EV or the Tesla Model X, due to be announced in first quarter of 2012).

Red carpet treatment: Free EV chargers are starting to appear, and commercial ones too. Our local Fred Meyer has just installed two Blink EV charging stations, right next to handicapped parking. So now it’s like I’ve got my own parking spot reserved every time I go pick up groceries.

Wish list: One thing that filmmakers never have enough of is power. It’s easy to blow breakers by plugging too many tungsten lights onto a circuit. And on location outdoors, it’s sometimes necessary to carry a noisy generator to get the power necessary to run hot lights. But with a car like the Leaf, which is basically a giant battery on wheels, shouldn’t it be possible to get power flowing OUT of the car? Yes. But no one has come up with a hack to tap it, yet. Nissan has announced plans to sell a device that converts the Leaf into an emergency power supply for a home, but it’s the size of a small refrigerator. I’m sure contractors and others who use large amounts of power at remote locations would be very interested in a small, portable power tap for the Leaf. I’m hopeful somebody will give me a chance to buy one in 2012.

After 5 months with the Leaf, it’s clear to me that the future of filmmaking – and driving – belongs to electricity.

There’s an excellent conversation happening right now on D-Word, the online community for documentary filmmakers. Peter Broderick, host of the conversation, is an expert on the changing distribution models that every filmmaker needs to understand.

I learned about a couple of new services that I’d never heard of, in particular one called Distrify that allows you to embed your film as a free preview or instant paid viewing on social media sites, in same way you would a Vimeo player, only you get to charge money. Distrify takes a 30 percent cut. And, I got some great ideas for promoting and distributing the film I’m currently making.

Now, thanks to a new 3D video camera from Panasonic, it looks like 3d filmmaking could become an option for documentary filmmakers. The specs on this camera are pretty impressive, right down to the fact that they record onto standard SDHC cards, which I’m a huge fan of (I HATE how most every major camera manufacturer has it’s own proprietary solid-state card type, and applaud the move that Panasonic seems to be making to support the inexpensive SDHC standard).

This camera is estimated to begin shipping this fall at a price of approximately $21,000. The price will put this camera outside the range of most documentary shooters, but within the reach of someone dedicated to pushing the boundaries of what technology makes possible. Projects that involve extraordinary visuals – imagine Winged Migration if it had been shot in 3d – would be a natural fit. But I’m intrigued by something else: what emotional impact would an interview shot Errol Morris-style looking straight into the lens(es), look like in 3d? Could be pretty powerful stuff.

Vincent Laforet is a still photographer turned filmmaker, who approached Canon recently with a contest idea designed to bring more still photographers as he put it, “into the fold” of DSLR filmmakers. The result is The Story Beyond The Still contest, which began accepting submissions yesterday.

The idea: begin with a still image, and use it as inspiration to create a 2-3 minute short film, which itself ends on a still images. Filmmakers use the ending still up which to base the creation of their own 2-3 minute film. The best film wins, and the next chapter begins, and so on, for 8 parts.

“It’s an ultimate huge social experiment of filmmaking to see what a community can  bring to this, and where they can lead to,” said LaForet. “I have a feeling that with the right ingredients, it’s going to lead to some very interesting end film of all these chapters that is going to be quite fascinating.”

While certainly not a new idea (writers have been doing these kinds of serial works for a long time fueled by the internet), it’s the first case I’ve heard of this being applied to filmmaking (although there have already been successful collaborative films like War Tapes based on submissions from many camera operators).

I’ll certainly be watching closely as the episodes unfold, not only to see what happens with the story, but to learn what I can from how the films are made. 

One critical observation: the first film, made by Laforet with a small army of a crew members, has VERY high production values. In the making of video, I spotted a $4,000 gyro stabilizer being used for the car scene, a $15,000 Steadicam Flyer operated by a very experienced operator, a jib arm mounted on track, and crazy lighting equipment.

If their goal was to set the bar high, and encourage high-quality submissions, they achieved it. But Laforet’s stated goal is to make more filmmakers out of still photographers. In that case, the first film should have emphasized creativity within reach. It shouldn’t have included carefully scored music, when the contest rules expressly forbid including third-party music in submitted clips. I suspect setting such a high standard with the example film will have a chilling effect on beginner level filmmaker submissions.

But I’m more interested in what this type of filmmaking could hold in store for inventive filmmakers looking to push the limits of technology to make films that were not possible to make before.

It seems to me that collaboration technology is equally important as camera technology in trying to understand what technology makes possible for filmmakers looking to do inventive work. Motivated with the right balance of incentives, perhaps tackling a huge social issue, filmmakers could use a similar approach to harness the collaborative efforts of filmmakers or anyone capable of operating a video camera, to create documentary films that have never been made before. What would be the elements of such a project, and what might one look like?