Shadowsfilmsstudio.com

This site can put you in touch with a course that will teach you film making without going to school. This DVD course is taught by 15 Emmy, Telly, and Cine award winning Hollywood film maker Jason J. Tomaric. He spent over 2 years developing this ideal film instruction course. He uses his film- “Time and Again” as a case study for the 5.5 hour interactive DVD that will take you through the entire film making process.

He has taught at film schools throughout the nation, including the New York Film Academy, and Ucla, and will take you to the set of his film. Your instructors will be the professional film makers who worked on the film. There is certainly no boring instruction on this DVD set, and you will be shown how to make a Hollywood caliber movie on a very small budget.

The advice and guidance you will glean from this DVD series is easy to follow, and no serious student of film making should be without it. Everything the novice film maker needs to know can be found on this series. These quality production values are available to anyone who has ever wanted to be a film maker.

You will learn everything about directing, casting, writing, cinematography, producing, editing and much more. This set includes a CD-ROM with all of the storyboards, scripts, industry resource guides, and contracts. There is even unabridged footage that you can practice editing at home. You will also receive in-depth interviews with cast, crew and other important people on the film.

First you will watch the film “Time and Again”, and then move on to Disc 2. This has over 30 chapters in 5 units over 5.5 hours. These cover the film making process from start to finish. Disc 3 contains the actual script with notes from the director himself. You will also receive templates to use for your own projects.

The Producer’s Notebook is a tool that will show you the paper structure you will need to make a great movie on a small budget. This includes:

* Directors notes and Shooting Script.
* Storyboards.
* Contracts with crew, cast and locations.
* Breakdown of the scenes.
* Call Sheets.
* Camera Logs
* Industry resource guides from, Panavision, Apple Computer, Arri, Audio-Technica, Lowel, Matthews Studio Equipment on lighting, editing, camera gear, and more.

You will also receive a 270 page Production Manual, full of tips you need to know, diagrams, resources, tricks, and charts. This manual will tell you everything you need to know about film making, and covers everything from insurance, acting, directing, editing, distribution, fund raising, and budgeting.

If you want to know more about this great DVD on film making, or you would like to order the DVD set you can find it all at: Filmschoolondvd.com. You will learn film making from the best and never need to set foot in a film school. Better yet, you will learn at your own pace how to become a great film maker.

Fly Filmmaking is closely related to Guerilla Filmmaking.  The latter is done literally with all that there is on hand and in the shortest amount of time possible.  Spike Lee did this with his film “She’s Gotta Have it” and he has received continuing critical acclaim for his first effort.

Fly Filmmaking is very similar and was conceived by the organizers of the Seattle International Film Festival.  The name literally refers to filmmaking on the fly and this is a challenge done every year for about the last 10 years.  This is done to showcase the filmmaking community in the Seattle area.

It consists of 3 separate teams that are given all that they need to make a film and a time frame of about 10 days.   In this time they have to conceive of and create a film.  The run time of the films is anywhere from 5 minutes to 22 minutes.  The judges view the ending result and announce the winner at the festival.

The arrangements and actual work are done about 3 weeks before the festival starts.  The producer, director, sound engineers, director of photography, actors, and post-production facilities are arranged and after everyone meets to go over the final details, the 3 crews are let loose to make their films as fast as they can.  The music is even done on the fly by local composers and recorded by professional musicians.

This challenge is an effort to have film made without the consideration of cost and avoiding the politics that are so frequently present in filmmaking.  However, the boundaries of time can be a bit of a headache, but that is the challenge.  Participants are surprised by their own efforts.

This form of filmmaking has been “borrowed” by other festivals in the following years and it has always been a real crowd pleaser.  It would seem that a similar plan was used with the new Fox show “On the Lot”.  There may be some differences but basically it is the same model as SIFF’s Fly Filmmaking.

The results of these attempts are amazing and it would seem that they took much longer to make.  Usually in the process of making a film a great deal of time is taken to make decisions about what would be best in the production.  There is no time to spend making decisions or discussing ideas.  You have to go with whatever comes up at the moment.

As an experiment I would suggest that as an exercise you try Fly Filmmaking.   Of course you may have to use your own camera and figure out how to do your own post-production as best you can, but it may be worth it.  Any film school student could probably pull this one off.  Use the school’s equipment loan program and you would also have a post facility available to you at not cost.  This should challenge you and teach you to economize on the time and resources it takes to make a short film.

Being a location scout would seem to be the most fun out of all the jobs offered in the filmmaking industry.  It seems that it would be a dream vacation to travel and see if a location checks out or not.  Believe it or not, headaches abound in securing a location to shoot.

There are many more details involved in securing a location to shoot a film than simply finding the location.  There are permission and releases to be obtained from everyone involved.  Proof of liability insurance and authorizations of access to the location may need to be obtained.  The scout will convince the owner that having a 150 person crew camped out on their front lawn it going to be good fun.

Previously it might have pacified the local authorities if you gave them some small compensation, like a good bottle of whiskey, but these arrangements are no longer available.  Now you must have official permission from the local authorities to use certain locations for filming.  These releases must be paid for and put on file so that they can be accessed during the shoot.  Once the location scout has secured the location they become the location manager.  This means they are responsible for parking access and accommodations for he cast and crew.

Sometimes unusual arrangements are made in order to use a location.  Stephen King’s “Rose Red” was filmed at Thornwood castle in Lakewood, Washington.  This castle was brought over from Europe, brick by brick, and rebuilt on she shore of American Lake by Chester Thorne.  Chester Thorne was one of the founders of the Port of Tacoma.  Initially while it was a good location, the castle needed to be returned to its old grandeur.  The production and location managers struck a deal to refurbish the castle.

The result was that almost $800.000 of renovations were preformed on the castle.  The restoration work done to the castle can be seen at Thornewood castle’s website.  The work done was in exchange for the use of the location once it was finished.  The owners of the castle in exchange for the use of the location received $800,000 in renovations.  I am sure they thought it was good deal.  This case exemplifies the lengths to which producers will go to in order to secure a good location.

Location scouting was previously done at a time when the digital technology was not available to the location scout.  Scouts were required to travel to the actual location and they usually ended up using Polaroid shots for their reference.    Now there are location agencies that can give you virtual tours of locations and the scouting can truly be done online.  All you need to do is put in a request for locations on the Internet and you will find scads of listings for location scouting agencies.

Now for those of you that are producing your own independent films, you will have to use your wits to secure your locations.  If you are using your own house or apartment it will be no problem but if you are using a location that doesn’t have general public access you will need to secure releases from the owners of the facilities you want to use.

My first introduction to film in school was during a film analysis class, although technically, it was classified as a philosophy class.  The professor was quite pompous and made a big deal out of discussing how to actively view a film.  No speaking was allowed, and we were to take notes while viewing.  He was a little like the Movie Nazi.  We discussed film theory and the power of the director in the making of a film at great length.

As a cultural phenomenon, film traces the human need to tell stories back to our oral traditions.  Aside from recording history, we all want to be entertained and we all want to hear a good story.  If you are going to make a film, you have to have a great story and then be willing to run with it.  Talk it up to everyone you know.  Enlist the help of others and win them over to the cause of your film.  Give your film a catchy name–one that will pop out of people’s mouths.

Promote your film shamelessly before you ever have anything in the can.  Sell T Shirts with your film logos and sell bumper stickers.  Make a website and develop a fan base.  Start a blog and be just as edgy and out there as you can, but make sure that people have your film’s name on their lips, regardless of how good <or bad> it is.

I have a friend who produced a film about her high school experience 10 years ago, and this summer it will be distributed.  She developed a website, sold things from her film promotion stock, and made a very good fan base for herself before the film was even edited. Her fan base, through the purchase of T-shirts and other promotional items, paid for various things throughout production of the film. She managed to get it made and now her film has been picked up for distribution 10 years later.

To be a filmmaker is to have a big picture mentality on a small picture budget.  It is tough to stay true to the storyline when you have a bottom line that is keeping you from the production. One of the reasons you want to talk your film up is that, in the beginning, you will need to find a crew.  Usually you will have to use talent that is willing to work for nothing (or next to nothing).  You may have to act in your own film as well….and write, direct it, and edit it.  Do what you have to do to get the film “in the can” and ready to edit.

You will have to develop tunnel vision with the project.  If you have a day job, get used to the idea that you may have to take an extra job for a while to buy a camera or other necessary equipment for shooting.  If you have the good fortune to still be a student you have great resources for equipment.  If you are not a student, then maybe you can decide to go back to school and study film.  You will have at your disposal some of the best resources an aspiring filmmaker can have.  Film programs at universities have awesome loan programs that are a hidden resource.

At college, while you can take film equipment out on loan, you may also have access to edit bays and sound booths.  In some cases, they are available 24 hours a day.  Students are up all night anyway, right?  Also, when forming a production crew, students provide good talent for your film when you are in need of actors.  You may want to take turns crewing for your friends’ films, and they, in turn, will act in yours.  Do what you can to build a crew, gather the bare minimum of equipment needed to shoot, and develop a shooting schedule.  Once you have the crew and the guns to shoot, everything starts to gel.  Press onward.