Why you should be using Lynda.com everyday

LYNDA.COM, FREE...NICE

     So now the secret is out that Lynda.com is free to all of us students here at Ithaca College, and it's kind of a big deal. Why? Because in case you didn't know Lynda.com has an insanely large library of tutorials and resources, often times each tutorial being 2-3 hours. Especially in the camera department. So instead of browsing mindless Facebook posts or youtube for hours I suggest utilizing your time to learn, and become better at what it is you want to do. 

     I've always been a believer that education outside the classroom is equal and often times more important than that inside, especially in the medium we are in. Experience is key is learning and taking what we learn from the classroom into real life is where we synthesize and internalize.Lynda.com acts much like the classroom, often times giving assignments or tips on how to succeed in the field, and being able to take it at your own pace, and pick and choose what you want to learn, has been extremely valuable to me.  

     Lately I've been on a quest for knowledge, ingesting as much information as I can successfully and the resources we have now in this age are broader and vaster than ever before. There really is no excuse why our generation shouldn't be able to put out the best content in the history of the medium. Learning to utilize these tools is going to determine what the future of film is going to be and I intend to utilize all my resources until I can be the best I can be, which is a looooonnnnggg way off from now. 

     In summation, you have a fantastic resource that is free at the click of a finger. Use it and I promise you you won't regret it. 

YouTube And The Independent Filmmaker

YouTube And The Independent Filmmaker

     Does YouTube have a role to play to the Independent Filmmaker? YouTube is itself perhaps the greatest global distribution platform we have on the internet ; or at least the most widely used. With over a billion viewers, 4 billion views per day, and 300 hours of video uploaded every minute youtube is teeming with creators but what kind of creator? In Independent Filmmaker?
     YouTube has a reputation of cat videos, memes, music, tutorials, poorly shot bits of TV and Movies, and things that keep you distracted from your homework but not cinema that will engage you. Those types of things (short films, web series, ect....) have pushed there way into Vimeo, Amazon, Netflix, Hulu, and other sites. But why? Why isn't the next House of Cards, or the next great short film being not only uploaded but promoted through YouTube with its vast diversity and range for audience? 

     I  think there are many problems towards when putting your work on YouTube as a main mode of distribution and exposure. One is the sheer mass of content that is being put on youtube. Another is the audience that I think youtube has created and the culture around it. YouTube stars have dominated the marketplace creating a medium of societal commentary through narration rather than a platform to share storytelling ideas. 

     Though it's not as if youTube hasn't tried to cater to the independent filmmakers in the past. In 2013 at SunDance youtube launched "Youtube Shorts @ NEXT WEEKEND," featuring the likes of College Humor, Machinima, and VICE, to show the industry of short films on YouTube. But even then these companies do not represent the individual user that uploads content on YouTube. 

     This all ties into YouTube's recent announcement "YouTube Red" which is adding for a $10 a month subscription fee to those users who want access to things like no ads, more extensive music features, and exclusive videos from YouTube creators (mainly youtube stars). There are many problems with this flawed model, including why people wouldn't just use ad block, and how YouTube creators are going to deliver the quality and quantity videos needed to sustain a "exclusive" club for people who pay the price. 

     This idea of people paying for YouTube content I think is a failure as a  model considering their audience and the nature of their content but maybe it proposes a counterpoint to Vimeo in some way and a better model for the Independent Filmmaker and the web series that are littered the internet. If youtube could tap into the market of short films, web television and convince people to pay for seeing these services I think filmmaking could make it's way to youtube. With it's great distribution and audience and short films great quality and appeal maybe it could hold a future in the world of indie films.  

The Revenant: Words from the Set

WORDS FROM THE SET OF THE REVENANT

    

     The Revenant is a western directed by Alejandro G. Iñárritu (Birdman), it's release date is late December.The movie revolves around the Hugh Glas, and American Frontiersman and his escapades in exploring the West. If you haven't heard of Hugh Glass, wikipedia him immediately, his story is better than most anything and everything Hollywood has produced in the past five years. 

     Leonardo DiCaprio plays Hugh Glass and in a recent interview with the A.V. Club talks about the film process and says, "It's going to be one of the most unique film-going experiences that audiences have seen in modern times." Watch the trailer and you can see why. This film looks extremely ambitious, from it's filming, to it's production design, to the conditions that they were in. DiCaprio confirmed that thought the cast remained crew members left due to the conditions of the film. 

     We all know that a lot of work goes into every film but I have a feeling this film is going has broken our expectations of a hard day on set and I am hopeful in what the fruit of all their labor will be. 

     

The Painter Of Jalouzi: A Look At The Future Of Mobile Film Making

THE PAINTER OF JALOUZI

A LOOK AT THE FUTURE OF MOBILE FILM MAKING

    4K (4096 x 2160), or "Ultra Definition" has been probably one of the most hot topic words of 2015. With cameras coming out in increasing numbers in not only cinema style, but ENG, and DSLR models, as well as cameras like the GoPro Hero4 this year, and the increase in 4K TVs for a commercial market it seems safe to say that 4K is here to stay.

     "The Painter of Jalouzi" is a short documentary on a Haitian painter that was just released by RYOT just a week ago. The doc, which was shoot in 4K, is absolutely stunning with vibrant colors and detail in every pixel. However this was not shot on a typical ENG camera, or even a DSLR. No this documentary was shot on the new Iphone 6s. 

    I was stunned to see the footage that they produced with this Iphone, the details and clarity were unlike anything I could have dreamed be shot on a phone. It made me think of the capabilities and tools that we as content creators have accessible, and the future of mobile film making. 

    Does this mean that all of us will be able to make a "Painter in Jalouzi?" Of course not. As with all advancements in technology the priority will always be the story, will always be the composition. Like in the days of early handheld camera work, it looked like garbage, but if the right people were behind it the it doesn't matter. 

     You may also notice while watching this the amazing depth of field and shots in it. In a behind the scenes video the filmmakers used gimbals, drones, and attachments so they could use actual lenses on the iphone. However they did mention that the stabilizer on the iphone proved very impressive and that they used the gimbal less then expected. 

     It's exciting that to me to see the way we are going to start producing content change, whether that be through film, documentary's, or any media really. And the fact that the picture quality is getting better too is outstanding. The more tools we have, I honestly believe, the more creative we are bound to come. 

                     

      

Teaching Filmmaking for Dummies!

It's finally here. After three consecutive semesters of blog posts, this is my final post. First Fiction Field Production 1, then Motion Graphics & Animation, and now Fiction Field Production 2, my journey is finally coming to an end. It's not that I haven't enjoyed writing dozens of posts about the fascinating things we all ought to know about the film industry--I have, mostly--but, nonetheless, every good thing must come to an end. That's why deciding what to write for my last post was such an easy decision. What's the point of it all? Why are we even here? The answer is simple: we want to make the best films we possibly can.

I've spent the last few months informing you all about the responsibilities of each and every one of the most prominent positions on a film crew. That's great and all, but what about those of you who don't quite know what you want to do with your life? What about those of you, like myself, who are still learning the basics of filmmaking? Don't fret! Because this week, I'll be focusing on Teaching Filmmaking for Dummies!

Everyone has had good teachers, professors, and mentors. Everyone has had bad ones as well. When it comes to filmmaking, there are very precise guidelines a teacher must follow to be good. Their methods may differ immensely, but the range of information must always be the same. Thankfully, it's only taken me three semesters to realize this. Here we go...

Preproduction.
It's easy enough, isn't it? Nope. Writing a script. Creating a production schedule. Finding a crew. Visualizing the film's look. Finding and securing locations. Casting actors. Putting together the production design. Making a floorplan. Breaking down the script. Creating the storyboards. Making a shooting schedule. And that's it! I'm joking. That's a lot of stuff to get done in a reasonably short amount of time, so you've better do it right the first time. A good teacher (I say teacher because a person who furthers your knowledge doesn't necessarily have to be a professor) will help their students understand the importance of this preparation, and the students will usually ignore the teacher's recommendations and consequently realize its importance after they fail to give it the proper attention. A good teacher will say "oh well, hopefully you'll do better next time." And they'll tell you how to do better next time.

Production.
The concept is easy enough to understand. It's the part of the filmmaking process when you actually make the film. It's when all of your preparation pays off and you finally see your baby coming to life. Depending on the level of preparation, this step of the process can either go smoothly (or as smoothly as possible) or terribly. While things such as lighting and shot listing are often not prepared properly in student film productions, a good teacher will give you the knowledge to think on the fly. They will pass on all the information they posses on lighting, blocking, directing, shooting, etc. If they do a good enough job (and if you're paying enough attention), you'll have no problem having a good shoot despite your ill-preparation. A good teacher will make sure you know how to light a scene to give it the proper look. They'll teach you to frame a shot so that everything has meaning and nothing is where it shouldn't be.

Postproduction.
We finally get to the part of the process when everything starts coming together. You take the "what the heck are we gonna do with this" and make it into the "I can't believe we made this." A good film teacher will make sure of this. They'll teach you the importance of coloring, sound, and each and every edit. After learning from this person, you'll comprehend the meaning of each of these aspects and how the slight alteration of just one of them can change the entire meaning of a scene. Most importantly, as a wise man once said, "Cut, cut, cut, cut, cut." What he meant by this is that anything that's not of absolute importance to the film should not be there. If it doesn't contribute to the progression of the story, get rid of it. Even when you think something may be important, try taking it out and see if the story changes without it. Chances are, it can often be thrown out. The leaner the film, the better it usually ends up being.

"Who could possibly meet these standards? A semester simply isn't enough time to get across all of this information to students without having their heads explode." You're not wrong. Well, not completely, anyway. Students' heads will most definitely explode, but it's more than possible to successfully cram all the necessary information into a short amount of time. Including typical information, a good teacher needs to hold certain characteristics...

Be blunt.
A good teacher won't make their students cry, but they tell them how they feel about the students' work. Nobody wants a film teacher who will coddle them. They'll never learn that way. They tell students what they did wrong and how they can fix it. How else will they learn?

Be demanding.
Set high standards. If a teacher expects a lot out of their students or protégés, the students will give better work. Nothing will hurt students more than low expectations, because they'll have nothing to aim for. Students don't want to disappoint their teachers, so they will try to meet those high expectations.

Be inspirational.
The hardest working students are the most inspired students. Fact. The most inspired students come from teachers who connect with them and who explain how their success began right where they are. Those who believe they can achieve success, will.

"Ok, this is simply ridiculous. How can you be blunt, demanding, and inspirational?" Well, I'm not the one to ask. It's a tricky equation that somehow makes total sense. If you'd really like to understand, I recommend you take a class with Arturo Sinclair. In the past year of my life, I've learned more about filmmaking than I ever imagined learning over the entire course of my college career. For that, I say 'thank you', Arturo. Thank you for [attempting] to teach me everything you know. Thank you for teaching me to think [way] outside the box. Most importantly, thank you for always having faith in me. I can't wait to put all the knowledge you've given me to work. After everything, one thing's for certain: you're certainly no dummy, Arturo.

Storyboards: More Important Than You Think

          Today I want to introduce a blog that I've recently go into, run by former Pixar employee Emma Coats. Here blog is called Story Shots, and it caters to a curious audience who are interested in seeing what actually goes into developing and making films (animated or not).
          And an interesting piece that was brought up dealt with the technique of drawing storyboards from pre-existing films. Now you might think that that sounds silly. Why would you need to draw someone else's work? What if you can't draw? Isn't that just a waste of time better spent learning a more practical skill? Wrong, wrong, wrong!
          See, the underlying basis to making any film is knowing what exactly you're going to make. This ranges from how it's lit, how it's staged, how it's colored, even how the character interact within their environment. It may seem like storyboarding is just one of those "small" things you do in the pre-production process, but you have to understand that without a good storyboard you're film is basically lost.
          A storyboard is quite literally your film in its most negative form. Every single cut, transition, pan, tilt, etc., is captured in these drawings. But now you might be thinking, "cool, that makes sense. So this  means I should start storyboarding!" Yes...and no.
         You definitely don't have to be an artist when it comes to storyboarding, but knowing how light, shadows, colors, and perspectives interact with changing camera movements only helps in the preproduction process. And this is why this kind of technique should be encouraged for those looking to make a film (or to even just draw). Emma mentions that some movies that are famous for being "ground-breaking" in their genre are Jaws, E.T., Raiders, etc. are the best to draw from because it literally shows you what they did to make them.
          This can teach you about composition, lighting, camera position, and even the types of lenses you should consider for each shot. So storyboarding isn't just some off-hand thing you can get away with half-assing. It needs to be taken seriously because it what makes a good film great.

9 Tips For Cinematography And 1 Guy That Cares too Much About His Film "Drinking Games"

A man by the name of Ryan Gielen has released a series of videos made for directors and cinematographers that are filmmaking on a budget. Most of his advice just covers how to accomplish some cheap tricks, but many of them are effective cheap tricks. Anyone involved with how the camera should move and shoot it's surroundings should probably watch at least a few of these videos. There are several episodes with a wide range of content (Although he never fails to mention his fantastic film – "Drinking Games). Not all of these videos will be useful to everyone, but I've posted all nine episodes here because chances are everyone will find a different video the most useful.

What these videos ultimately show, and has been shown many times before, is that quality filmmaking does not require an extensive budget. Shooting in a dorm room, although not the most aesthetically pleasing place, does not doom your film. Effective tricks like the one in the final video can quickly change the dynamics and feel of a film. 

David Fincher: The Don'ts to Filmmaking

“Everything seems really simple on paper until you take a camera out of the box.”

                                                                                                                       -David Fincher

   Every filmmaker has their list of dos and don’ts and David Fincher is no exception. Producer and director of countless films such as Seven, Fight Club, and this year’s highly anticipated Gone Girl, he has honed a skill that has arguable been very influential.

   And if you want to understand his craft, you need to ask yourself this: what does David Fincher not do? To put it simply, there are three things he does not do: handheld shots, close-ups, and camera movement. But it’s not a matter of casting these aside, but using them when the times calls for it.

   In terms of handheld operation, Fincher is notorious for having as little to one shot not placed on a tripod or Steadicam. The reason for this is the way he wants the camera to act in any given scene. Camera shake (the most well-known trait of handheld) puts the audience in the scene with the character but a smoothly gliding shot drags us out of the scene. Normally, most filmmakers want to avoid this as they don’t want their audience to become separated from the story they’re trying to tell. But to David Fincher, this is exactly what he wants. He wants the camera to be this omniscient character. It forces you to really look at everything that’s happening on screen. Without the camera shake, you’re eye has nowhere to look but at the action. It’s subtle but a very powerful technique when executed properly.

   Close-ups are similarly a need-by basic sort of deal. Excessive close-ups will distract an audience and can potentially exclude too much for to hold their attention. Yet, having only a few close-ups in any given film is a crafty way to tell the audience that they need to look at something. It’s similar to grabbing a person by the face and physically shoving their attention at an object. It’s the equivalent of shouting, “you need to see this!” It’s a subtle way to tell an audience that what’s happening on screen is about to impact the movie in huge way.

    And the last don’t on this list, may seem like the strangest. It’s all about camera movement, or the lack thereof. David Fincher, if he can help it, likes to keep his camera in one place. This allows the scene to play out as it might be viewed realistically from a person on the outside (as he sets the camera up to be in the first rule).  This adds to the idea that what we’re seeing on screen is important and all of our attention needs to be focused on that specific thing. The lack of movement forces our eye, much like the lack of camera shake, to really look at what’s happening.

   All three of these techniques end up creating  the same thing: a movie we can’t force ourselves to look away from. They’re subtle, their powerful, and they’re not something to be overlooked. As Fincher said, “people will say ‘there are a million ways to shoot a scene,’ but I don’t think so. I think there’s two, maybe. And the other one is wrong.”

How to Get Arturo's Stamp of Approval: Short Film Edition

Since we'll all be spending the next few days thinking up the project that will control our lives for the next 2+ months, I thought it'd be nice to do a "Short Films for Dummies"-esque post on how to make a great short that we'll want in our portfolio.

As I'm sure you all expect me to say, a great short is nothing without a great story. Choose a story that you have a personal connection with. When the writer or director has a connection to the material, it demonstrates a powerful point of view--something that's much harder to find when you tackle big topics like space travel, the meaning of life, or an entire relationship. Then take your personal connection and tell a story of one character's or couple's journey, but no more than that. In a short film, there is little room for subplots and secondary characters and montages. Just a single dilemma that will be resolved by the end in some way. Short films are not about events, but the people those events happen to. While plot and twists are important, your film will be forgotten without memorable characters that your audience can empathize with. So you want a main character with a strong personality, including quirks, desires, and goals.

All great stories have three things in common: a beginning, a middle, and an end. Even if it feels like the story could go on or become part of a larger story, every short needs some sort of closure or resolution. Sometimes the hardest part is deciding where to start your story. You have a very short window of time to create a world that grabs the audience in. Mapping out your characters' journey is a good way to figure out where to start. You need to find the most visual and quickest way for the audience to get to know your character. Whether it be an image or action or line that makes the audience get where the characters are starting from, let that be your opening shot and scene. In a short, there's no luxury of 10 pages to set them up and tell us about their hopes, dreams, backstories, and all that little stuff you'd find in a feature. You've really only got your first page to make them interesting to your audience. In that first page, you want your audience to understand, connect with, and root for your character.

The last thing you want is predictable story. Audiences like when you set up their expectations, then subvert them. There should be twists in the first and last minute of your film. It's easy and tempting to use your film to say something cynical about human nature or relationships or society, but if you find a way to leave your audience with even the slightest positive impression, there's a much greater chance of it leaving a lasting impression on them and remembering your work. So if at all possible, end with a positive spin.

Let's move on from story to other aspects of making a short film. It doesn't take a great amount of money to make a great short, but it does take great production value. So how do you guarantee great production value? You start by choosing great locations. You want locations that add a visual element to your story and allow for great shot choices. When choosing locations, think about the tone and mood that each place creates and make sure it fits the tone and mood you have intended. In shorts, it's not just what story you tell, but how you tell it. The writer and director should always be trying to get their voice and style across. That includes having visuals and moments that show off voice, style, POV, technical awareness, knowledge of shot composition, depth, etc. You absolutely, positively must be prepared before you get on set. You should know exactly what you need to get from every scene, including what emotion, what action, what shots, what tone, etc.

Back to budget. As I said earlier, short films do not require much money. To keep your production at a low cost and on schedule, start by writing a project with only a few locations and a few characters. The fewer locations, the better. As for characters, try not to have scenes that call for a dozen extras. The more actors you have to manage on set, the more difficult your life will be. Quick side note. I'm only going to say one thing about the casting process. When casting, don't cast your friend cause they bought you beer or your professor's son out of convenience. Hold auditions like the young professional that you are. That is all. Another tip for saving time on set (and budget, if you're feeding your cast and crew as you should be) is to try to keep the times of days in your scenes as consistent as possible. Having all day scenes or all night scenes will condense the number of shoots you can film your short in. And the last thing you want to do is have a scene focused around a specific hour, like sunrise or sunset. You're practically guaranteed to not get everything you need in time and may lose a whole day of production.

If you want this next short to be one that you submit to contests, then it should not be longer than around 12 minutes. Festivals need to fit numerous shorts into 90-minute slots, so they can't program a short that takes up one-third of their time. The average length is about 4-8 minutes, plus end credits, which could add a minute or so to your short.

In conclusion, keep your short, short.

It doesn’t take a great deal of money to make a great short, but it does take great production value. - See more at: http://www.scriptmag.com/features/notes-margins-elements-great-short-films#sthash.8wTX71zo.

It doesn’t take a great deal of money to make a great short, but it does take great production value. - See more at: http://www.scriptmag.com/features/notes-margins-elements-great-short-films#sthash.8wTX71zo.dpuf

It doesn’t take a great deal of money to make a great short, but it does take great production value. - See more at: http://www.scriptmag.com/features/notes-margins-elements-great-short-films#sthash.8wTX71zo.dpuf

Indiewire's Project of the Day

As student filmmakers, I think it's really important that we take a look at new and upcoming independent filmmakers and their current projects. A great way to do this is by checking Indiewire's Project of the Day. Every day, they post another indie project in development that you can learn all about. Each project comes with a Tweetable Logline, Elevator Pitch, Production Team, About the Film, and Current Status. They also often have a clip or behind-the-scenes look at the project, as well as links to their IndieGoGo or Kickstarter page. Today's Project of the Day is "California Dreaming," a comedy/fantasy about an old lottery addict – his fed up wife – a multimillion-dollar jackpot and an armed robbery! While that "Tweetable Logline" didn't catch my attention, their "Elevator Pitch" sure did:

John has been playing the lottery over the last fifty years that he and Molly have been married, but never won. As always, she nags him for wasting money while he watches the draw on television at a diner. But today is John's lucky day! He has the winning ticket and is just about to hit multimillion dollar jackpot, when two robbers barge in for a stick-up! "California Dreaming" is a film about a relationship. A love story about discovering that you are the richest person in the world, as long as you have your loved one next to you!

For more information on "California Dreaming," go to http://www.indiewire.com/article/project-of-the-day-california-dreaming-20140919.

Staying in the loop of upcoming independent filmmakers can be great, but let's be real. We're all thinking it. It'd be sick if one of our projects made it onto Indiewire's Project of the Day. So how do we do it? Simple. Just fill out a form. Indiewire wants to help filmmakers like us get exposure. But there's more. At the end of every week, they ask readers to vote for their favorite POTD and the winner becomes Indiewire's Project of the Week. Then, readers can vote again at the end of the month and the winner becomes Indiewire's Project of the Month. The weekly winner gets a digital distribution consultation form SnagFilms and the monthly winner gets a creative consultation from either Tribeca Film Institute's Director of Narrative Programming or Director of Documentary Programming. Those are some pretty awesome opportunities for filmmakers like us. So what are you waiting for? Here's the form: http://www.indiewire.com/article/projectoftheday

Filmmakers Get A New Social Network

Movidiam

Pronounced: Mo-vid-ium 

Over the past few years there have been several apps and websites popping up to streamline the filmmaking process. Some organize scripts and storyboards, while others help distribute the film once it's completed. There are even sites like Filmkin, which markets itself as "The Social Network for Filmmakers". Although the functionality of Filmkin is all there, the overall design is clunky and there is a serious lack of users.

Movidiam (pronounced mo-vid-ium) takes on a fresh new approach to film networking, and aims to tackle every aspect of the filmmaking process from inception to creation to completion. Take a look at the video below to see what it's all about.

Before you get too excited to hop on and join, I should tell you that the network is not live yet. You can enter your email to get the latest updates on when it does go live, but for now all we can do is gawk at the fancy graphics and videos on their website. We can't know what kind of impact this will have until it does actually go live, but the professional feel of the website may attract professional filmmakers and brands. Aside from the networking side of it, there also seem to be additional helpful features like call-sheet creation and budget management.

Movidiam will be free to use when you first sign up, although to access all of the features there is a hefty $25/month price tag. I'm not sure if I'll be able to afford that, but we'll see how instrumental this new social network can be. 

The "Last Kiss" Photo

The other day I came across an interesting article involving spontaneous inspiration and the hassle of release forms and other annoying but necessary things to get done when trying to make a film. With the conclusion of our one shot projects, I thought this article was particularly interesting. The story involves a man named Mo Gelber, an audio engineer by day and occasional photographer who happened to follow a crowd of reporters outside a courthouse, not even knowing who they were following. Amongst the commotion, Gelber saw something he found more interesting: a young couple sharing a last kiss getting escorted by police officers on each side of them. He ended up snapping this shot.

Gelber was pleased and ended up entering it into a contest called "Project Imaginat10n," a collaboration between Canon and Ron Howard. The contest called for people to send in their photographs with the potential of one being turned into a film. Gelber's shot ended up winning. However, the judges gave Gelber only a few days to get all the release forms signed, leading Gelber on a wild goose hunt, since he had no idea who any of these people were or where to find them.

Gelber called the police station and tracked down the cops pretty easily, who had no problem signing the forms. The hard part came when trying to find the couple in the photo. Gelber ended up turning to his Facebook friends, who put him in contact with a popular photography blogger who ended up putting Gelber's photograph on his blog, asking if anyone knew where to find the couple. A few hours later (pretty much up until the last minute of the deadline) the woman in the photo contacted Gelber, telling him that she and her boyfriend (who were arrested for graffiti) would be happy to sign the release and help him win the contest.

Mo Gelber faced another problem when it came to working out the details of the contract with Canon with his photo subjects. The problem was that the release states that for the rest of their lives, only Canon or the contest representatives could photograph them. Long story short, Canon and the couple's lawyers tried to negotiate the terms of the release but were unable to reach an agreement and Gelber's shot was disqualified. However, a positive to come out of this story is that now Gelber's photography has gained much more media attention.

I think this story is quite interesting because it highlights all of the legal stuff involved in making films that we often forget about. Unfortunately, it is a necessary part of the filmmaking process and could potentially force the artist to compromise the project. Of course, Gelber's situation is a bit more difficult because everything was being done through the Canon company, but these kinds of issues are still things that filmmakers commonly face.

Read the full interview with Mo Gelber here: http://good.is/posts/how-this-last-kiss-photo-sparked-a-facebook-manhunt/

Ithaca Casting: A Social Networking Site for Casting

While majors in the Park School are notorious for the minimal amount of gen-ed's they require, we Television/Radio majors need to take a business class in order to graduate. Having forgot this and scrambling to find a half-way decent course to take last minute this semester, I picked up "Intro to Business." For the final, we are required to get into groups and come up with a business proposal. For my project, we decided to create a proposal for an Ithaca-based casting social network site. I figured this might be of interest to this audience and would welcome any idea for improvement.

One of the biggest issues we as student filmmakers face is finding and organizing actors. I know on my own productions, actors have created huge problems in the time management and scheduling of projects. While holding individual auditions, trying to steal the illusive casting DVDs that keep changing hands, and begging friends to make time in their own schedules to act in our films have worked out in the past, I have always felt there should be a more reliable and structured way of getting decent actors to commit to film projects. And I am sure I am not alone in this feeling.

Ithaca Casting (a tentative name) would be an Ithaca-based social networking site, created to connect local filmmakers with local actors. Both student and local filmmakers can create project pages where they can describe their needs and schedules. Actors can create profiles where they can upload their reels, describe their experience, and include their availability. Actors will also be able to post audition tapes and comments on filmmakers' project pages. Think of Ithaca Casting as the beautiful love child of Craigslist, LinkedIn, and Kickstarter.

There are a few big projects that have used similar approaches to find talent. The Queen Extravaganza is looking for talented musicians to perform with the surviving members of the band for the celebration of Queen's 40th anniversary. Interested performers can post auditions tapes to their website to win a chance to perform in the show. Fox's Glee is using a similar format to find new talent for their show as well.

While my project is proposing that members pay a monthly or annual fee to be able to access the website, it's still up for debate. Are there any other elements you would like to see in such a site? Any other features you would think that would make the casting experience a little friendlier?

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An interesting article on this sort of idea: Social Media is Changing TV Casting - thedefectorsblog.com

Continuity...must control my pet peeve

As previously mentioned I brought my camera to our shoot this weekend. Idid this for several reasons:

1) to satisfy the photographer side of me by taking a bunch of fun pictures

2) to satisfy peoples current obsession document everything and putting in on facebook

3) to satisfy my desire to have awesome behind the scenes photos

4) to satisfy my compulsion to control continuity as much as possible.

As a filmmaker and a photographer continuity is one place my interests can intersect. When ever I am watching a film or television and there is something that clearly is not the same from shot to shot, or scene to scene it really bugs me. When continuity is broken it pulls your attention from what is going on in the story to what is going on in the frame. It pulls your mind out from the fantasy of the story and back to the reality that this is just a film or TV show shot with a bunch of actors and filmmakers that all can make mistakes....instead of super heros or what have you. Ever set should have at least one person watching out for continuity because if not it is one of the easiest ways to loose an audience's attention. This is why even though I am still only shooting student films at the moment I am dedicated to as much perfection I can control. If you do not try your hardest, your film will not be as good as it could be.