STAR WARS UNIVERSE TURNING THE PAGE WITH FAN FILMS

STAR WARS UNIVERSE TURNING THE PAGE WITH FAN FILMS

With the recent arrival and rejection by a huge part of the fan base the new Star Wars film Solo represents a pivot point in the biggest franchise in motion picture history. 

The movie Solo is a lesson for the mega motion picture studios that could have been taught to them if they had bother to ask those of us in the low to micro budget world. The lesson is that the audience dictates to you rather than you dictating to the audience. when it is your own money at risk rather that Mickey Mouse’s pocket change it is a universe where reality rules the day. If it is going to be your house, your future and that of your families on the line you go out of the way to find out what it is that will please the intended audience. 

This is sometimes difficult to discover when making a micro budget digital film. In the world of Star Wars it is easy to uncover because the fan base is gigantic and cannot shut up about their likes and dislikes. Leading into Solo the core audience told the studio and its heads that they did not want a Solo film. Their were a dozen properties in their extended universe that they would have lined up for weeks ahead of time to back and this was not on the list. A Vader film or a Revan film or a Thrawn film or a Bane Film or a reboot of episode eight would have served them better. The head of the studio laughed in their faces and called them fat lonely losers who will eat what is put in front of them like Oliver Twist and like it. They of course instead did what fans of a rebel alliance would do when confronted with imperial rule, they rebelled by not showing up. Today I am not here to bury Solo. That is up to others. Today I would like to suggest that the Star Wars universe will be fine because of the fans and the amazing film makers that they are becoming. A hand full of the fan films are already better than the last two offerings from Disney. These films do not have the budgets and the access to the best actors on earth, but what they lack in scale they make up for in passion. These film makers love the material and understand it in ways that the bosses at Disney will never come close to. 

Today we are going to look at a few such films in this mini Star Wars Fan film festival. I hope that you enjoy them. The first and perhaps most popular is the amazing Darth Maul, Apprentice.   

The making of footage.
    

 The next film is Star Wars: Dresca. This is a newer fan film that I like and some people close to me absolutely love.  

 The next movie is one of my personal favorites. I wished that the film maker had maybe made a few changes so that it could have been a stand alone film in a scifi universe of their own making. It is part of what could be a compelling feature if ships and uniforms were changed. There is a lot of solid low budget film making going on here. The film is titled, Days Past - A Star Wars Fan Film. 

 




 The last film I want to share is the longest, almost an hour, and should be more well known. It has flaws, but so does Solo. It is not a great film, but there is alot to like about this movie. The film is titled Regrets of the Past. 

  Thanks for checking out my little film festival and do not worry the future of star Wars is in good hands it is in the hands of the fans.

Blade Runner Thoughts on Filmmaking

Blade Runner Thoughts on Filmmaking

I was a kid when I saw Bladerunner for the first time and it was on television. I thought at the time that it was the most visually interesting film that I had even seen. It was not in the scifi class of The Empire Strikes Back, but I liked it. I just did not love it or understand why it was considered groundbreaking or an all time classic. 

Many years later I saw it on the big screen and at this point having become a Ridley Scott fan I saw what all of the fuss was about. I had gone into it the first time around think that I was going to see straight scifi and had no clue what CyberPunk was all about. My scifi reading had been limited to Ray Bradbury, Harry Harrison and Robert Heilein with a little Arthur C. Clarke throw into the mix. I needed years of Anime and other influences. 

Now decades later we get a sequel and of course it was doomed to disappoint. This did not have to be the case, but we all knew that it would when we discovered the ridley Scott was not going to be the director. I personally wish that he had tackled this project and handed the last Aliens film off to another filmmaker. Lets look at the original trailer. 

   

 Now the new film.


   
 Now what made the first film so damn good. This is a pretty good film making tutorial.

 
What Blade Runner Teaches Us About Filmmaking from CinemaTyler on Vimeo.


Thanks for dropping by my blog. I am doing a free giveaway of any of my books that you wish to read in exchange for a review posted to iTunes, Amazon or Google Play. If you want a copy you can leave me a message in the comments and I will respond.

FILM MAKING RANTS AND A COOL FREEBIE

 

I would first like to thank Rob for making the video that I am presenting to you today. He touched on so many of the problems with movies today. I wish that I could say that he is only correct about studio films, but low budget films and micro budget digital films suffer from the same problems.

Readers of the blog know that I have problems with CGI and the god awful screenwriting that dominate the playing field, but there is so much more and the video below touches on things that I have overlooked.

We need our heroes back. I do not mean another Marvel film. I mean big time film makers. Why is it that most of the truly great thrillers come from places like Korea. Memories of Murder came out almost fifteen years ago. Where are the domestic answers to that kind of film making. We have the basic equipment. We can raise the money. I know that we can craft the screenplays, but they do not get done.

Maybe too many of us are chasing money instead of quality.

Look it, I thought when I started this blog almost five years ago I would be networking with amazing film makers and by this point in history the digital revolution would have changed the industry forever.

Instead too many film makers are either walking away just when they are getting good or dreaming about cashing in at Netflix or Amazon. Allow me to offer up the three F's that you need to consider.

Fuck Netflix, Fuck Amazon and just go out and make some really good Fucking movies.

Okay I am back with my Freebie offer. Today I am giving away ten free copies of my Audiobook on Writing A Low Budget Screenplay. The first ten people who email me at cannonbooks777@gmail.com with a request for a copy will be sent an Audible.com code. Even if you do not have an account there you can use it anyway. This is for those of you who are having problems with crafting a low to micro budget screenplay or just want to improve your screenwriting.

IPHONE FILMMAKING POST

 IPHONE FILMMAKING

Sometimes I forget that just because I run a blog dedicated to iPhone film making that Not everyone visits that blogs. That this is my top film making blog so it is here that I should sometimes share updates on the state of smartphone film making in all its glory.
A few years ago I was asked the question, Do you think that someday people will be making top of the line digital feature films using their iPhones?  My answer was that as the technology improves there is no reason why not. I think that we passed that thresshold two years ago and now it is up to you, the micro budget film maker, to embraces these amazing film making studios that you have in your pocket.

The iPhone can capture footage equal to that of some of the mid range DSLR cameras. It can record native sound better than all of them and with an added app and a Mic it can record amazing sound. Also you can edit your footage in phone and or sent the files almost instantly to your laptop.

Here is a look at some great iPhone film making gear.

 The next question that needs to be asked is, What kind of film fits this tool the best. I am about to say a bad compound word. Do not panic and run screaming off into the dark of night. FoundFootage. Yes Found Footage. If you are ever going to shoot a Found Footage film then using an iPhone makes perfect sense. The problem with many Found Footage films is logic. Where did the camera come from and why won’t the person involved put it down. Who would drop their iPhone during a crisis? Think about it and if you need some real advice on how to make a Found Footage film you could always check out my well researched book on Found Footage film making, link here for the book at the iTunes store and the picture is a link for the paperback. I know that this was a shameless plug, but a Blogger gotta eat and raise money for the new iPhone coming soon.

Thanks for visiting and remember to share this post.

MyAnnabelleCreation contest Post

I normally shy away from contest because of the entrance fees and the lack of any real exposure. For instance screenplay contest are notorious money grabs. I understand the need to pay the readers, but certain contest that I will not name charges more than a hundred dollars to enter.

This is a short film contest that charges nothing. I wish that I had been informed about it earlier, but here it is. I will allow the director of Lights Out and the new Annabelle film (I saw a screening and it is pretty good, much better than Lights Out) tell you about it.

 



You can click here to find the contest rules. It ends the 27 of this month.

Now we get to turn this into a great little post of short film making. The film maker of this great little horror movie has posted some amazing advice on how to make a winning short film. Let's have a look.

 

 
 

 

 

SCREENPLAY, THE DREAM VS. BUDGET REALITIES

SCREENPLAY THE DREAM VS. BUDGET REALITIES

You wrote a great screenplay. You were dying to go out and shoot it. You sat down and did a budget breakdown and discovered that Guy Ritchie would think twice before blowing that much money. In other words you are a low budget film maker, but you wrote a big budget screenplay. 

 

This has happened to us all. 

 

The thing that you are going to have to do is set it aside until you can afford to make this film and go about writing and producing a film or two that will help you to raise the money for that script. 

 

You are going to have to learn how to write a low or micro budget screenplay. The problem with this is that most film makers only have a few clues as to how to do this. Limited locations and limited cast members is part of it, but not the whole story. Because if you are not careful you will limit yourself right out of writing a quality screenplay. Instead you will end up with a film that looks and sounds like it was paid for with food stamps. 

 

The rules of crafting a great script does not change. In fact you have to focus more or these fundamental rules when writing your low budget screenplay.

This is a chapter from my new audio book on screen writing. If you have an audible account or a kindle account you can easily check it out there. Also available on iTunes.

You see that writing a low budget screenplay is not enough. You need to write a quality one. When I started this blog many years ago I wanted to help other film makers while learning as much as I could along the way. I love movies and want to see better and better stories being told. If you go back in time to the 1930's and 40's then jump to the 70's it seems like people did know how to make great films, but since then the secret of steel was left on the battlefield. It is time to get back to making great movies again. Great movies begin with a great script. Over the next few post we are going to talk about writing.

Thank you for visiting my blog and please take a moment to share this post.

A CROWDFUNDING POST

I know that it has been awhile since we did this, but I have been busy with the release of my screenwriting book on audio.
Let’s get down to business a huge part of digital feature film making is fundraising.
There usually comes a time during production or in post that the money runs low and  you need to reach out for some more. thankfully Kickstarter and indiegogo are there to help. 

Yes, I know that there are other sites, but for today we are going to focus on campaigns that are live on these sites.

First up is a film titled INNER GHOST.

     

Remember that if you do not have money to donate that is fine. You can help by spreading the word. Share the campaign on Facebook or Twitter. Okay we are going back to back horror movies on Kickstarter. This one is titled The Black Gloves.



    

Over at Indiegogo we have a few campaigns that I believe are worth taking a look at. Remember the difference between the two sites is that at Indiegogo you get all the funds raised whether or not you hit your goal.

 This film is being prodced  by a seventeen year old. The coolest thing about micro budget film making is that it knows no age. You can be sixteen or sixty when you get started.  The title of
this film is A GUY, A GUITAR AND A GIRL.


 The next campaign is for the scifi film AGAIN.  This one has just started so you have almost two months to think about it and talk about it.





Anything that reminds me of Andromeda or Babylon 5 is a good thing and this next crowdfunding campaign does just that. Project Abaddon: Rise of the Destroyer




Back to Kickstarter for the last film on this list today. VOYEUR



I love to highlight crowdfunding campaigns, but to do so I need a little help.
If you have a indiegogo or kickstarter campaign for your project up and running please do not hesitate to contact this blog about it, just leave a comment and a link and I will do my best to help.
Thanks and good luck guys.

POND 5, BUY AND SELL DIGITAL FOOTAGE

At the moment, the website that has the world’s largest collection of stock footage is no other than Pond5, a marketplace for royalty-free media. This site has become the go-to option for numerous producers of digital media to buy and sell.

A Grand Selection to Increase the Value of Your Content

On Pond5, you will find millions of stock footage, audio, and images that will help stimulate your creativity in different aspects and thus achieve more original content in order to create a greater impact among all of your potential clients. 

The 411 on Pond5

Pond5 emerged in 2006 in New York, as a digital content agency that commercialized royalty-free videos. The success of the company resulted in the extension of its catalog; therefore, it started offering customers photographs, audio, and sound effects, too.

In the year 2013, the company acquired Pixmac and this merger allowed it to considerably increase its repertoire, becoming the biggest in the field. Since it is translated into more than 12-languages, it is visited on a daily basis by individuals from different parts of the globe.

Currently, Pond5 provides digital resources to many of the world's leading brands, including The Wall Street Journal, BBC, ABC, Weather Channel, and even National Geographic. In the network you will be able to find hundreds of agencies that offer audiovisual material.

Positive Review Galore

Ever since it was introduced to the public, Pond5 has been able to obtain numerous positive reviews, which indicates that most of its users have been satisfied with the material that they have obtained from it. Many consumers have highlighted the originality and good quality videos that are present on Pond5, emphasizing that they will continue to utilize its services.

Earn Money on Pond5

As a digital film maker, you cannot only buy footage on Pond5, but you can also sell it. Once you upload all of the creative work you want to sell, you will be able to set your own price, and once it goes live for the world to see, you will be able to earn 50% of each sale. You will be able to sell your work, without selling out!

Other Ways to Make Money on Pond5

If you have a blog or website, you can earn money by helping spread the word about Pond5. You simply have to register on the page and choose a banner to place on your site . . . that’s all! Each of the people who register through your referral link will earn you money. You will receive 5% of the total amount of purchases that each of your referrals has made in a year. If you do not have a blog or website, you can also earn money by recommending Pond5 to your friends and family via email.

Pond5 Keeps Standing out from the Rest

Just by entering the site you will realize that Pond5 provides quality and original content. All the footage is divided into categories, making it easier to search for what you are looking for. If you want your work to be professional, the sound effects must be impeccable and in Pond5 you will find them, from epic, footsteps, fire, explosions, and water sounds . . . whatever sound you want . . . you will more than likely find it on Pond5, which is just another reason what it keeps standing out from the rest.

Found Footage 3d Screening

For the found footage genre to survive some people are going to have to take risk. This film, Found Footage 3d, was a risk and so far if word of mouth can be believed then that risk has paid off. Check out the trailer and try to check out one of the upcoming screenings.





You can visit the official site by clicking here.   

FILMMAKING, LEARNING IS ABOUT MISTAKES

“I counsel you, put down in record even your doubts and surmises. Hereafter it may be of interest to you to see how true you guess. We learn from failure, not from success.” ― Bram Stoker, Dracula


Before we begin, if there is anyone who wishes to do a guest blog post about a film project that they are working on you can contact me by leaving a comment at the bottom.

Now we are going to look at the learning power of failure. Film making unlike almost any other endeavor, is an exercise in trial and error. You get take after take to get a scene right. Before it was very expensive when film was used, but now with digital cameras and audio recording we can try and try again until perfection is found. The video that I would like to show you was shot around 2011 and the film maker made a ton of mistakes that he is happy to share with us.


  


     
 You as a film maker can help other film makers by recording behind the scenes footage and going over what worked and the mistakes that you learned from. One of the best interviews that I ever did was with a found footage film maker who made the mistake of shooting with multiple cameras and while not using the same frame rate. The editing process turned into a nightmare that took months rather than weeks. Always keep in mind that low-budget filmmaking is about learning a process. It is more difficult than big budget filmmaking because we can not solve every problem that pops up by throwing money at them. This a business where learning is everything. As the technology changes, you should learn and adapt along the way.


Good luck guys and please take a moment to share this post on your google plus.

 

FOUND FOOTAGE, THE STATE OF THE GENRE ADDRESS

 

What qualifies me to give the state of Found Footage film making address? 

Have I ever made one? 

God no.

 Would I make on? 

Sure, but not in the horror genre and not pure found footage. 

Now back to the address. I am qualified because I spend almost an entire year writing a book on the subject. I interview dozens of low budget filmmakers for the book and sat through almost two hundred found footage films. I am a found footage war vet. I am the American Sniper of found footage films. When one is about to come out I get sent trailers and screening passes. I watch the trailers and never go to the screenings. Well until I got a pass for the new Blair Witch. I try my best to encourage film makers and rarely criticize them, but in this case... WHAT THE HELL? Scream, fall down dead and get dragged away. Lucky we have multiple cameras present or else we would not be able to scream, fall down dead and get dragged away some more and more and more and again. We are talking Eat, Sleep, Suplex, repeat.

  

    

  The state of found footage on the big screen comes down to this that during the last three years the only film maker who cracked the code (I am from Philly and have seen the guy) is that legendary waster of movie goers time and studio's money M. Night. Yeah, The Visit points us in a direction that we needed to go if we are going to save this genre for future generation to suffer through. It works because it broke the unwritten rule about death. The leads do not have to die. The kids in that film survive because they behave like human beings, not puppets, when trouble strikes they actual use reason to survive it. I suppose that the lesson from the Visit takes us back to the first Blair witch Project. The movie is character-driven. The kids drive the film in the same way that heather drove the events in The Blair Witch. These two movies also have natural humor. Think about both films and I would bet that you can recall every major character in the films. Can you do that with any other found footage film? Maybe Paranormal activity, but come on there are only two real people in the first movie. Perhaps character driven is the way to go save this genre. 

 
 

  Found footage films are still films. To make a good found footage film you have to go out and make a good film that happens to be found footage. Go found footage only if it enhances the story like in the movie End of Watch. Remember there is also the footage film where no one was harming during the making of the film. With the ability to shoot world class footage with a smartphone the possibilities are endless. To conclude this post I believe that going back into the past to try to copy the success of the Blair Witch Project was a tactical mistake that will hurt the genre in the short term while looking into the past for inspiration in the form of another new film could be part of the answer.  Operation Avalanche.

 

STAR WARS ROGUE 1 TRAILER

THE NEW TRAILER FOR STAR WARS ROGUE ONE.

Film School with Werner Herzog and Other Filmmakers

Film School with Werner Herzog and Other Filmmakers

I have mixed emotions about a director who has on many occasions put the lives of his cast and crew at risk. I have mixed emotions about a director who is fond of hiring Klaus Kinski to carry more than one film. His daughter Nastassja would be another story, but Klaus was a talented actor who was under the best of circumstances a lunatic. 

Back to the subject of this digital film making post, Werner Herzog is offering you a chance to learn from the master. You can learn film making from him in a course that he offers. If he is one of your favorite film makers I would jump at the chance to learn from him if I were you. Hitchock use to teach film when he lived in LA. and I would have killed for a chance to sit in his classroom. 

 Let’s first have a look at who this film maker is. 




Now 10 questions for the famous film maker.

Next the trailer for his course. You can find a link to the course by clicking on the trailer.


 

 When I want a master class of film making I watch a great film. I visit the film makers who understood that film and art could walk hand in hand. Not every artist realizes that they are making art while it is happening, but there are a few who know it and still manage to do it well. Here is a glimpse at the work of one such film maker. The class can be found in his few films. Yasujirô Ozu was an amazing film maker who understood stillness and shot (for you camera buffs) almost totally with a 50mm lens. He chose this because this comes closes to the human eye.

 

Thank you for visiting. Now go out and find a great filmmaker and study them whether they offer you an actual course or a few films as a masterclass. Good luck and remember to share this post on your Google plus and to follow me there. 

GROWING AS A FILM MAKER, JAMES WAN

GROWING AS A FILM MAKER, James Wan
 A few weeks about I found myself at a screening for the film Conjuring 2. I did not want to be there because I did not love the first one and the sequel rule (sequels usual suck) was ringing in my head, but I went because it was free tickets. Well it turned out that I loved the sequel. It was a much better film that the first and I chalk this up to the fact that the filmmaker had improved since the first film.

 I give the filmmaker most of the credit because I thought that the first script was better than that of the sequel, but not nearly as well shot. Filmmakers like athletes should get better with practice. They should learn and grow. This thought made me consider doing this post. Let’s begin with Saw. He directed the short film version as a pitch for the feature. Something that many micro budget filmmakers have done. 

 





 Next came Insidious, a very effective horror film. I did not like the last act, but still a good film. 


I think that horror is like composing music. Hitchcock described suspense that way. He would imagine himself as a conductor and the audience his orchestra. There is a rhythm that a good horror movie must have. When it is there you do not notice it and when it is missing you find a thousand things wrong with it. For me the Conjuring has a great many good scenes, but lacks rhythm. While the sequel has nearly perfect rhythm.


  


  

 Thank you for visiting my blog. Please share this post and if the Conjuring 2 interested you as much as it did me take a few moments to check out my new ebook on the story behind the script, the Enfield Poltergeist. You can find it at itunes and Kobo and B&N, click image below. Good luck with your filmmaking.

HOLLYWOOD AND THE MICRO BUDGET PUZZLE

There are those in Hollywood (the Industry) who believe that they have figured out the concept of micro budget filmmaking.

 There are those who went to film schools and worked on big budget films who believe that they can drop down and play in this digital filmmakers world. A few filmmakers have mentioned to me that they are worried about an invasion from the big boys as if the Avengers are going to show up armed with Dslr cameras and Zoom recorders. I wish that they would. They would not last long out here on the frontier. You know, down here in the fields where we fight for our meals.

Before I continue I want you to take a look at a fantastic video that was posted on what a 200 million dollar budget looks likes.

 

 Can you imagine those pay checks? I am a screen writer and I do not think that the writer is worth that much money up front, especially if you wrote any of the last mega budget super hero films. I could produce and distribute five feature films with name actors for what the script supervisor gets paid. Then again all of us would love to hit it big with a micro budget film so that Hollywood would come knocking and throw a few million at us.

 Look at it this way, the industry list micro budget as 250,000 dollars. That is their floor.

Now let’s look at what is meant by low budget film making and then micro budget. I would like you to picture it this way. If a film shoot was a date, low budget is burgers at Five Guys, without the bacon or cheese and micro budget is grilled cheese sandwiches at your place, the bread is the dollar loaf for the dollar store and the cheese is that orange stuff that is 99 cents a pack in the supermarket. You know the cheese they do not even have to keep in the refrigerators. All real micro budget film makers know where to find this bread and cheese because we feed it to our cast and crew.

 



  

Bonus footage:::: Here is sort of a Ted talk for the producers out there. I love this advice and let us all remember that producers are people too and they are the ones with all the grey hairs.




Thank you for visiting my site and please take a few moments or better yet a few hours to share this post online. You can post it on facebook, you can add it to your Google plus you and even go twitter or pick up the phone, call someone and say hey I just read a great blog post. The guy who runs that blog is amazing and we should buy all of his ebooks on film making and if we can’t afford it let’s leave 5 star reviews on B&N and Amazon to convince others to buy them.

ABOUT LOW COST LENSES

ABOUT LOW COST LENSES

When you purchased your dslr it either came with a kit lens or just the body only. As you developed as a filmmaker you most likely added a few lenses.

 This post if for those of you who maybe neglected to do this and are now scrambling to add a few more. There is a thinking that if you are ever given the choice between a really expensive camera and a low cost lens r a cheap camera and a high end set of lenses the real film maker will spend money on the lenses. My response to this is that spending money is wrong. You are a micro budget film maker. You buy nothing brand new and you only spend money after begging and waiting for the seller to die fails.

The first thing that we are going to look at is a tutorial on what lenses and why we need them. It ends with prices for certain lenses. They are in the five hundred dollar plus range. Please ignore this. We are low budget digital film makers. We cannot afford that kind of money. Five hundred maybe the budget for your whole feature after camera cost.


 Now let’s look at some low cost lenses. We are talking under one hundred dollars.


Do you feel better about lenses now? No. What do you mean no? I did not mention camcorders.Well I do not know as much about camercorders and lenses. This is ancient and buried knowledge known only to the Sith, but I will give you my own advice. My camcorders are Canons. The vixia series and the Hv series. This is what I can tell you. All of the Hv cameras and most of the Vixia cameras have threads for lenses. If you gave me one hundred dollars to spend on one lense and I do not have a depth of field adapter then i would get a Raynox 6600 lense. It is a wide angle lens that gives you a kind of depth of field if you light well. also it travels well. You can go indoors and outdoors with it.



 Thank you for visiting. Plese take a moment to share this post on your google plus and to follow me. I want to leave you guys with the trailer for the new Star Wars film, Rogue One. I do not hate the fact that Disney is going to make a Star Wars film every year nonstop or until one flops. I feel like they are making up for the five or six films that Lucas did not make for the hardcore fans (he made Willow instead). Also I know what some of you are thinking before I post this Rogue One trailer, this site is about low budget film making and what is up with the Star Wars love. There is a movie or a series of movies that made each of us consider for the first time the idea of making movies. For me it was Star Wars. I am that little boy again everytime that I hear that intro music.

 EXTRA NOTES.

 Two crowdfunding campaigns I want to share. They are fiends whom I have interviewed in the past and they are raising funds for their new projects. If any of you want to do an interview about your project and crowdfunding campaign you can let me know by leaving a comment and I will get back to you.



 Visit the Joker Rising/ City With Two Faces Campaign. click here.

Fan Films are the Sith

There is a great new fan film that I want to talk about today. Darth Maul, Apprentice. I have to say I liked this little film more than Star wars Episode one which it would serve as a prequel to. 

Let's face it, a great many film makers got into the business shooting fan films. You could make the argument that Raiders of the Lost Ark is a huge fan film based upon chapter series from the thirties and forties. 

The film making is just as difficult as if you were shooting a film that you were planning to market and the love and care involved is far greater because all that you get in the end is to see the finished product. I have been a Star Wars fan for most of my life and there is probable a Star Wars fan film in me if I can ever find the money and someone who can pull off playing Ahsoka as a grey Jedi. 

 

  Back to the subject of this post. A fan film can become a digital film making classroom if you approach it the right way. The built in limitations of both character and situation will make you a better screen writer. The requirements of set and situation will force you to be inventive. You will have to learn to construct sets and do special effects that you may have not learned how to do otherwise.

 

  Below is a bts video of the fan film. I know it is in German. 

 

  Thank you for visiting and I am still looking for showreels and acting reels for the page that I am adding.

 

Behind the Scenes Hateful Eight and Campaigns

Been super busy with projects big and small.  I love this blog, but finding time for the next few weeks is going to be hard.
Right now I would like to share at little bts from the Hateful Eight. I have mixed feeling about the movie, It brought back memories to see a movie shot in actual 70mm. it is stunning on the big screen. Many of you have seen the Hateful 8 by now, some of you love it, some hate it and some like me have mixed emotions about it. It looks like a Spaghetti western, it is bloody like one, but is too talky to be one. Also it was of course not shot in Italy by an Italian film maker.

Watching this film makes you want to grab that western script from the back of the dresser drawer (I have three such scripts) get some 70mm (really 65) camera equipment and shoot a modern masterpiece. Then you find out that you are gonna need 20 to 30 grand for the equipment and another 30 to 50 to process and edit the footage. Without a massive kickstarter or indiegogo campaign that ain't happening.

Let's look at some bts footage from the Hateful 8.

Now a scene from the movie.




The last thing I want to mention about the movie is the cast. I think this is the best job of casting that Tarantino has ever done. It is almost a perfectly balanced cast. I had forgotten how good Jennifer Jason Leigh was and this film is probably her best performance.








Thank you for checking in and please take a moment to bookmark this site and to check out these two kickstarter campaigns I have been following. If you have an upcoming campaign. Let me know and I will be happy to post a link in a future post. If the campaign looks really interesting maybe we will do an interview to go along with it.

Joker Rising Sequel News

Looks like one of the most popular and well made fan films of all time is going to be getting a sequel with the help of the fans of course. 



The Joker Rising is a prime example of what can be done on a micro budget. With just a few thousand dollars and a quality cast and of course a great screenplay you can produce something that can stand side by side with film that cost hundreds of times more.

If you liked the first film and wish to support the sequels then you can either donate direct to the upcoming kickstarter campaign or you can spread the word through social media. The most powerful marketing tool that the indie film maker has is social media. A few hundred dedicated fans can help you to reach hundreds of thousands of future fans and customers. 

Thank you for stopping by and if you wish to help this site grow you can do so by sharing your favorite post and adding me to your google plus.    I am going to leave you with a bonus, the international star wars trailer, just came out yesterday. 

Digital Feature Filmmaking, Blocking A Scene

Digital Feature Filmmaking, Blocking A Scene

 Far too many micro budget film makers just dive in and never give a thought to things such as lighting or blocking a scene. Today we are going to look at scene blocking and why it is as much an art as it is a learned skill. 

The learned skill is easy. You can learn blocking from a book or a few videos on the subject. If you wish to make a low budget film that looks professional you are going to have to master this basic skill or hire someone who has. To put it simply, blocking is the art of pre-determining the visual relationship that the camera will have with the actors in the scene being filmed. Look at it as moving around pieces on a game board. You can look at the art of film making as the art of placing a board game. If you do not know the rules then you are bound to lose sooner or later. You cannot play a game and trust to dumb luck. If this is true then why would you trust to luck where your film is concerned. The following video will lead you through the basics. 

    

This next video is a scene from the master film maker Orson Welles. He is considered perhaps the greatest artist to every make a motion picture and his masterpiece is of course Citizen Kane.


 

  I hope that this gives you an idea of how it is done. The cool part is that thanks to digital video you can practice for hours until you get comfortable with the process of blocking before you every have to record one second of your actual movie. Thank you for visiting my site. Please take a moment to add me to your google plus and to check out my books on film making.