» Posts Tagged ‘diy’
YouTube has released a 70-page Creator Playbook aimed at helping video creators build their audiences online. This is exactly the kind of thing that would come in handy for actors looking to build their own career, in addition to filmmakers. The digital download, which YouTube says will be updated regularly, looks to be an excellent resource on building an audience (not just with YouTube, but by using Facebook and Twitter as well). Here’s the release: More »
I heard recently from an NYC-based actor friend who is undergoing an internal debate common to his profession. Should he move to LA to pursue an acting career (uprooting himself in hopes of getting cast in a major TV show or film), or stay where he is and do what he can outside of Hollywood? As someone who runs a web site focused on DIY/independent careers, I thought I’d write him an open letter explaining why I think 21st-century performing artists should forget about putting their careers in the hands of others, and instead take the reins — and responsibility — themselves. Here is that letter: More »
French filmmaker Eric Bernaud has posted a short video on how he turned his garage into a prison set. When I see these kinds of DIY construction projects I always regret how little space is available in New York City, but you take the bad with the good I suppose. The walls Eric constructs could even be put to use as wild walls, in order to pull the camera back further and obviate the need for such wide-angle lenses as seen in the video (though with DSLRs and RED cameras nowadays, the depth of the camera is less of an issue than it used to be). Here’s his BTS: More »
As you know, this site is about DIY filmmaking and independent creativity, and few filmmakers are a better example of these pursuits than fellow 25 New Face M dot Strange, who self-distributed his animated feature We are the Strange in 2007. Now he’s back with a trailer for his new project, Heart String Marionette. More than just an atmospheric Tim Burton-esque trailer, the video also includes a call-out to an associated product that speaks volumes about forging an independent DIY career: More »
Did you know you can change the shape of your bokeh by cutting out paper shapes and placing them over your lens? Maybe you did. I didn’t, though, and found out about this simple trick from DANIELS (the guys who brought us this music video), in their mini-video for “Who Do You Love” by Sue Scrofa. Hearts, shapes, letters, entire words: you can make your background highlights appear in the shape of anything you can cut out with scissors. More »
Tze Chun’s feature Children of Invention was the subject of a NoFilmSchool interview, and the film’s much-talked-about D.I.Y. distribution has now landed it on Hulu for the next two months. Hit the full-screen button and kick back to the indie film Variety deemed “austerely poetic”: More »
Gareth Edwards’ appropriately-titled monster movie Monsters opened earlier this year and has grossed $1.7 million to date. With a $500,000 budget, Edwards shot the film himself on a Sony EX-3 and a Letus 35mm adapter; here’s a look behind-the-scenes. More »
*Okay, so it’s not actually a dolly move. But it looks like one, and all you need is a tripod. My co-panelist at next week’s PhotoPlus Expo, Vincent Laforet, posted this neat tip for getting a smooth, short dolly-ish move from any camera. Check it out: More »
Last week I wrote about bestselling author Seth Godin’s switch to self-publishing and what it could mean for filmmakers. Scott Macaulay at Filmmaker Magazine linked to the post in his invaluable Instapaper Sunday Morning Links, along with a pro-publisher argument written cogently at TechCrunch by author Paul Carr (whose book Bringing Nothing to the Party: True Confessions of a New Media Whore has been in my queue for a while). The slug of Carr’s post — “Self Publish and Be Damned” — makes his views pretty clear, but upon further reflection I think both Carr and I are oversimplifying the argument and missing out on a viable distribution strategy for the published and unpublished alike. More »
NoFilmSchool is “a site for independent creatives,” and to that end I’d like to make it about independent creatives other than myself. If you’re a writer, director, producer, artist, designer, programmer, blogger — anything, really, as long as you are supporting yourself without a day job — I’d love to hear your story, and I think the NFS readership would too. More »
It hasn’t been easy writing a blog about filmmaking without having a project of my own to show since my 2007 fly-by-night production of The West Side. The main reason for this? I tried to get something made in the studio system. 200 pages of screenplay and twenty-something meetings later, I arrived at the conclusion that I should’ve stuck to the DIY route. However, there’s another reason you haven’t seen a new project from me in a while: I haven’t had access to a camera, to actors, or to much of anything, because I’ve been living out of a suitcase for ten months. Why did I decide to do this — and why do I recommend others do the same? More »
My forthcoming (at some point!) project 3rd Rail takes place in a snow-blanketed New York City. From a production standpoint this poses significant problems, perhaps not as challenging as depopulating New York City like we did in The West Side (see also: hanging a guy from a 40-foot lamp post), but while we could use visual effects to overcome those problems in The West Side, snow and rain are more of a special effect that requires a practical approach (or just good luck with the weather). Here are a couple of really cheap methods worth considering if you need snow and rain but don’t have a large budget (or a direct line to God). More »
Or not. Still, the idea of a twisting handle for the follow focus is great, as it allows one to use both hands to support the camera while pulling focus.
[via Engadget]
Here is how many in my parent’s generation spent their careers and made their money:
They got paid by one company, and there was an assumption that the company would take care of them, providing health care, a retirement plan, and eventually, some sort of tacky gift to celebrate their 30 years of service.
But this isn’t the case for my generation; I don’t know anyone my age who’s going to work for one company for 30 years. Times have changed and no (large) corporation is going to take care of anyone, except maybe its executives. Indefensible golden parachutes. Fading pension plans. Growing income inequality. The writing is on the wall: it is up to us as individuals to take care of ourselves and forge independent careers. More »
Barry Jenkins’ terrific DIY feature Medicine for Melancholy won awards at the Sarasota, Woodstock, and San Francisco International film festivals and garnered three Spirit Award nominations. A.O. Scott of the New York times called it an “exciting debut” and made it a NY Times Critic’s Pick. M4M was picked up for distribution by IFC Films and was released theatrically last January (VOD and DVD releases followed).
Barry and I attended the Telluride Film Festival Student Symposium together in 2002 and have run into each other a few times since on the festival circuit. Here we talk about DIY filmmaking, distribution deals, VOD, new media, brand integration, and film school.
This isn’t for anyone who works at a huge corporation or has a lot of money, but for the rest of us, I think the best guerilla solution for filmmaking in 2010 will be a PC. I’ve been a Mac guy for the past four years but I suspect things are about to change; here’s why. More »
The world of film distribution is changing so rapidly that it’s worrisome for many and exiting for the rest. Among the many advances in DIY distribution in the past few months are the announcement and launch of OpenIndie and Indie Screenings, both sites focused on allowing filmmakers to screen their films more easily. OpenIndie is an Arin Crumley project that aims to help filmmakers geotarget their audiences, whereas Indie Screenings allows anyone to put on an DIY screening of a film and share proceeds with the filmmaker; the latter site has been brought about by the Age of Stupid crew. More »
My three year-old MacBook Pro recently started emitting a constant racket from its left fan (which sounds something like this). Most people will tell you you need a new fan for $50, but I decided to try to fix it instead, and so far (it’s been two weeks nine months), the repair has worked great. As any google or youtube search for “noisy macbook pro fan” produces thousands of results, I hope this saves someone fifty of their hard-earned bucks during this, the winter of our hardships. More »
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