Just want to alert you to a couple links that I have found interesting/helpful…
The first is a website/blog called Self Reliant Film. Self-Reliant Film was started in November 2005 by Paul Harrill, who is an independent filmmaker from Virginia.
I’ve been reading his blog for about a year now and it’s quite good. Here is a post that I recently took particular interest in because I have been working my way through learning Final Cut Pro.
In the post he mentions the website lynda.com, which offers a variety of tutorials to excellerate your FCP skills or to help you out when you get stuck. I just signed up for their newsletter and I’m looking forward to becoming a more proficient editor.
Just letting you know I shot a got to shoot a series of packages for NAZ Today on the Ghosts of Flagstaff to celebrate Halloween…
I don’t have the links yet… I will post them soon…
Might be able to post the clips here. Had a lot of fun shooting this one! Though those pesky ghosts gave me a bit of technical trouble on the editing end (which is apparently what ghosts do and one of the ways they impact the physical world.)
I have been going through a number of director reels right now and I have a sample of three reels that I would like your feedback on…
The first belongs Jake Barsha of Right Hook Films. I have worked with Jake and I really love his reel… especially the visual quality of it… It’s sexy and has great visual quality (reminds me of a music video). The thing is that we never hear the actors interacting (except for the very end), which is a big part of directing.
The second reel belongs to my friend Jeremy Feig. His reel mostly contains clips with dialogue. I like this because you get a sense of the story and the transactions between the actors.
Third, is my reel. It’s been a “rough cut” for the last year, but now that I have a bit more access to better editing programs (and have become a better editor myself) I’m feeling compelled to redo this…
I would love feedback on how to make my director reel better… (and I’m sure my readers would like that, too!)
Do I add more music? Keep it with dialogue only? Make it more flashy? Playful?
I’ve been tempted to “front” the reel myself… shoot a “hello” intro… What do you think of that idea?
A lot of actor reels do this, and I like it because it puts a face to the material (something that most director reels don’t have).
But is that unnecessary?
Dunno.
I also didn’t add the “Grey Street” music video. I feel it is actually one of my best productions, but it is also a bit violent and I don’t want to repel anyone (Jake’s video is awesome but it’s also a bit violent for me at the end).
Additionally, do I jump genres too much? I know I go from commercial to comedy to drama. I’m really most interested in comedy, so I don’t want to give the impression that I’m aiming for horror or drama (not that I can’t do that, but I have a luke warm feeling toward drama and horror down-right repels me now. I won’t take jobs that are for horror movies.)
Soooo………..that’s why I’m asking you for feedback.
I encourage you to leave comments below. And please add links to YOUR film website, blog and especially to your own director or acting reel.
If I get one or several cool reels, I will maybe do an entire post to highlight them.
The prolific Vegas 1404 has come in with another short… “The Good Stuff”
I’m not going to call this a comedy movie, because it isn’t really funny as much as it interesting. I get what they are trying to do, but I didn’t really get it until the last line of the film.
Still, they continue to get technically better and better as far as production quality goes. I like the use of music and slow motion/fast motion. Framing was nice. Lighting was good.
The only thing that they need to look into is sound. I missed some of the dialogue because of the music and the hiss sound indicates use of an internal mic. An external mic would worked better.
Great job Vegas 1404! Looking forward to more… of the good stuff.
I’m not sure this is really an appropriate place to post this, given that it has little to do with filmmaking, but I figured I would do so anyway.
It might help some of you out because, like myself, I know that a lot of my readers are artists in many different regards… filmmakers, writers, painters, musicians… and I want to get the word out.
I am a DJ at KJAK 1680am that broadcast (live streaming) around the globe on the Internet at www.kjack.org.
We also have a video feed there where you can watch me in the booth.
Anyhoo, my current shift is on Fridays, 5pm-6:30pm ARIZONA TIME!!!!
ARIZONA is the rebel state (along with Hawaii) when it comes to Daylight Savings time. We don’t change our clocks… which means we are the same time as California in the summertime (Pacific Time) and the same time as Colorado in the winter time (Mountain Time).
So right now my show starts at 8pm for those of you on the East Coast, but it will be 7pm between November 1, 2009 and March 14, 2010.
The other reason I am posting is because I am requesting that musicians and comedians send CDs of their material. We are interested in recent material… The Copyright date should be 2009 or we probably won’t put it in our rotation.
Comedy is less likely to make it into the rotation, but I have a special affection for it, so I can play it on my shift.
All material should be clean… no swear words or anything that the FCC would raise an eyebrow about. (The general rule at the station is “when in doubt, don’t play it”, so keep it as clean as possible.)
Here is the address:
KJack Radio
Leslie Lello
Northern Arizona University
School of Communication
PO BOX 5619
Flagstaff, AZ 86001
I was fascinated and thought it would be a good post to add after the three-part series from the South Park guys, Trey Parker and Matt Stone (with Lloyd Kaufman interviewing).
It makes me feel very drawn to this program (Internet Marketing for Filmmakers) because not only do you get to keep creative control of your film (something that most filmmakers – even big time filmmakers working with the giant studios – don’t often get), you also are given a technique to market your movie and make money from your hard work.
This program will get you thinking of the selling of your movie many stages before you get to the distribution stage.
I like that because while it is important to follow your passion and your heart with your subject matter, it is also important to balance that with an audience that will want to watch what you have created.
I just found Internet Marketing for Filmmakers, so I have yet to try it out. I will probably try it in the next few months, but right now I’m back in school and I’m not really thinking about producing any major film projects for at least 6-12 months.
But I thought it would be cool to pass on, since this seems to be a major question that filmmakers have when they set out to practice their art.
This would also help those asking how to become an actor, because often it is not the most technically skilled actor that has the superstar career… it is the one that can create the most heat and the most buzz on a consistent basis. It looks like this program will help you do that with the films that you create.
If you do try it out, please let me know how you like it. Leave comments below!
This one is just Matt Stone and Lloyd Kaufman, taped in April 2006.
I love this one because he gets more into the business of it. Still funny, too.
“Just keep going. Forget about that. Just do something and keep doing something new…”
While Trey Parker and Matt Stone (South Park Studio) were shooting Team America, they were interviewed by Lloyd Kaufman of Troma Films for his (Lloyd’s) documentary/instructional film “Make Your Own Damn Movie”.
This is Part 1 in my blog article series for two reasons…
1. It was shot several years before the other videos I will be posting later this week.
2. Their attitude is pretty bleak. They were not having fun with working with marionettes and apparently they got screwed in their contract, and their probably exhausted from the shoot… so they are a bit down in these two videos.
Still, it’s good to be aware of the down side of things. If the folks at the top are being dicked over, how can you carve out the filmmaker lifestyle that you want, and still get paid the money you deserve for all the long hours and work you put in?
Not that they don’t have lots of money. But I’m thinking, “I want creative control (Trey has final cut on all movies he makes) and I want to get paid”. HOW? HOW? HOW?
If you figure it out please let me know.
(BTW, there was a first video to this series on YouTube but nothing really happens in the first one).
than he did with any of the movies he and Trey made with the big studios.