Saturday, 31 May 2014

Hope for Film: Six Keys to the Current State of Indie Film | FilmmakerIQ.com

Ted Hope makes 6 observations about the state of the independent film market and what we can do to make the business sustainable.


filmmakeriq.com/2014/05/hope-for-film-six-keys-to-the-current-state-of-indie-film?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+filmmakeriq+%28Filmmaker+IQ%29

Friday, 30 May 2014

Visual gags in comedies: US vs UK - Boing Boing

Tony Zhou created this fantastic, 7-minute critique of the visual style of comedy in US films, as compared with UK films (especiallythe films of Edgar "Shaun of the Dead" Wright). Zhou makes a compelling case for the superiority of British sight-gags and visual comedy -- and the fundamental laziness of US directors in their use of visuals to get a laugh.


boingboing.net/2014/05/28/visual-gags-in-comedies-us-vs.html?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

Wednesday, 21 May 2014

How To Achieve Your Filmmaking Goals



How To Achieve Your Filmmaking Goals

As filmmakers, we dream big.  Perhaps we want to win an Academy Award one day; change people's lives with our stories; or just make a full-time living from our craft.  Most of us are not taught how to achieve our filmmaking goals and dreams but this is a learnable skill. Like anything getting things done takes knowledge and practice.

How close are you to accomplishing your New Year's Resolutions and your filmmaking goals?

Hopefully you are closer than when you started.  If not, here is a Quick Start Guide to Achieving Your Filmmaking Goals.

http://www.filmmakingstuff.com/achieve-filmmaking-goals/

Monday, 19 May 2014

Filmmakers need to focus more on story, less on technology



Filmmakers need to focus more on story, less on technology

With the tech industry growing faster than the film business can keep up, speculation has grown over what entertainment will look like in the next year, much less by the end of the decade. The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) Show 2014 is the world's largest event covering filmed entertainment and content development, management and delivery in Las Vegas, Nevada. The NAB Show 2014 in April talked a little about how today's technology develops a better movie.

UK film finance scheme Microwave relaunches, sets team



UK film finance scheme Microwave relaunches, sets team

The BFI has joined Microwave founding partners Film London and BBC Films for the next iteration of the low-budget production initiative behind Sundance hitLilting and Eran Creevy's debut Shifty.

The trio has earmarked £2.2m for the next round of its Microwave scheme, which will now offer development funding to all shortlisted filmmakers and further development grants of up to £10k for advancing films.

The scheme is due to produce up to six features over three years with production budgets of £150k. £100k will come from Microwave, £50k from the film's producers. Completed films will have access to an additional £25k of P&A funding.

The extended development programme, supported by Creative Skillset, will develop and train up to 36 filmmaking teams. It will also see the return of Microschool, the intensive five day training 'bootcamp'.

Olivier Kaempfer, who produced previous Microwave title Borrowed Time and executive produced Sundance 2014 title Appropriate Behavior, joins the team as senior Microwave executive, while Tessa Inkelaar steps into a development producer role. 

http://www.screendaily.com/news/microwave-relaunches-sets-team/5072067.article

Wednesday, 7 May 2014

Shooting Documentary: Five tips for filmmakers - Imagejunkies

I've been lucky enough during my career to shoot a number of documentaries. Above is my most recent, a 45 minute film exploring the lack of equality worldwide between men and women.

I find shooting doco's much more intense than shooting daily news. The whole process takes over your life from the planning stage through to the editing and delivery (I also edited the film above).


www.imagejunkies.com/2014/04/25/shooting-docos-five-tips

Sunday, 4 May 2014

Interactive: Apps and tools for the mobile multimedia journalist | Media news

Here are the contents of the multimedia kitbag used on a day-to-day basis by Christian Payne, also known as his online alter-ego @Documentally.

www.journalism.co.uk/news/interactive-apps-and-tools-for-the-mobile-multimedia-journalist/s2/a556586

Documentaries May Be Cool, But They Aren't Making Money

You know it's spring in urban Canada when you see hipsters lining up in the rain, with their grandmothers, to see a documentary. In Montreal they're at RIDM (Rencontres Internationales du Documentaire de Montreal), in Vancouver at DOXA and in Toronto at Hot Docs, the biggest doc fest in North America and the most important in the world. For audiences and doc makers alike, these festivals are illuminating and energizing, if somewhat bittersweet.


m.huffpost.com/ca/entry/5249713?utm_hp_ref=fb&src=sp&comm_ref=false&utm_content=buffer53fe4&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

Friday, 2 May 2014

Hot Docs: 9 Tips On How To Make Your First Documentary



Hot Docs: 9 Tips On How To Make Your First Documentary

You've got a great story idea for a documentary, but aren't sure how to pursue it. Today at Hot Docs in Toronto, Academy-Award nominated documentary filmmaker Marshall Curry, who is at Hot Docs with his latest project "Point and Shoot," moderated a panel discussion featuring first-time filmmakers with films screening at Hot Docs: Amar Wala ("The Secret Trial 5,") William Westaway ("Writer With No Hands") and Clare Young ("From the Bottom of the Lake"). 

While the focus of the panel was on creative and funding challenges, Curry steered the discussion to provide helpful hints for aspiring documentary directors in the audience wondering how they can get their project off the ground.

http://www.indiewire.com/article/hot-docs-tips-on-how-to-make-your-first-documentary

Expect surprises when making documentaries, filmmakers say



Expect surprises when making documentaries, filmmakers say

TAMPA — When it comes to documentaries, the story you fall in love may not always be the one the filmmaker set out to tell.

Just ask Camille Thoman and Tony Armer, who will be at the Sunscreen Film Festival running through Sunday in St. Petersburg.

"Documentaries are real life and real life cannot be planned out perfectly," Armer said. "You take what is given to you and tell that story."

Thoman will attend a screening of her documentary, "The Longest Game," 3:30 p.m. Friday at the Museum of Fine Arts in St. Petersburg.

"I was such a documentary filmmaker cliché," said Thoman, a 39-year-old resident Los Angeles. "I heard it all the time about a filmmaker who thinks the documentary will be about one thing easy to make and then years later realizes otherwise when she finally finishes it."

http://tbo.com/news/politics/expect-surprises-when-making-documentaries-filmmakers-say-20140501/

Thursday, 1 May 2014

Hot Docs: 9 Tips On How To Make Your First Documentary|Filmmakers,Film Industry, Film Festivals, Awards & Movie Reviews | Indiewire

You've got a great story idea for a documentary, but aren't sure how to pursue it. Today at Hot Docs in Toronto, Academy-Award nominated documentary filmmaker Marshall Curry, who is at Hot Docs with his latest project "Point and Shoot," moderated a panel discussion featuring first-time filmmakers with films screening at Hot Docs: Amar Wala ("The Secret Trial 5,") William Westaway ("Writer With No Hands") and Clare Young ("From the Bottom of the Lake"). 


www.indiewire.com/article/hot-docs-tips-on-how-to-make-your-first-documentary#.U2FTVI49DTk.twitter?utm_content=buffer31e22&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer