Hmmm should you go to film school or not go to film school? How about going for 18 minutes. 18MinuteFilmSchool.com is a brief, 21 point guide to making a movie from idea to profit. These tips will help get you going in your quest of producing an independent film. If you have more questions, then maybe film school is for you. If those 18 minutes were all you needed, then best of luck to you. Even if you aren't thinking about higher education at all, these tips are a good read. Now don't come late to this class or you'll miss everything.

Coming from the world of televison, a production switcher is something that is extremely expensive. A decent low end model will cost often in to the low $20,000s. Luckily for us, we can use a software solution that produces great results. Wirecast is a software-based switcher that out of the box will shock any person from the television industry, and impress anyone else. The software runs on literally any machine (Mac or Windows, or Paralells, I'd guess...) and has a built in chromakeyer (green/blue screen compositing tool,) built in titler and will play back any video source Quicktime or VFW can handle. Download and play with the demo, it's totally worth the $400 easy. I know it sounds hyperbolic, but I've never used a peice of software that has so much potential. That being said, the interface is a little clunky if you're used to TV switchers, but If they refine the interface to fall more inline with tradition, I'd have no problem recommending the software to any small multi-cam environment.

The latest version adds support for a built in streaming server, instead of streaming to Darwin, and then having Darwin stream out to the interwebs. They also support HDV cameras, and will deinterlace 1080i (and 480i for that matter.) The result of the stream can be output to another monitor, another video out source, streamed live or recorded as a video file locally. In the limited testing I've done, I've found Wirecast most limited by hard drive bandwidth available. Wirecast + solid state storage = switching bliss on the cheap.

[Thanks, Lars N]

Creative Cow posted a video tutorial that shows how to create those light trails featured in Apple's latest iPod nano commercials. I have been trying to figure the details of the effect in my head so I am exicited to see this tutorial which does a wonderful job of explaining everything. The tutorial is done in After Effects and all the source files that are used in the tutorial are also available.

(via Tuaw)

Low budget filmmakers face many challenges in creating their work. (Ok. That's probably an understatement.) In the world of film production, money means (almost) everything, and to create a film without any cash requires a lot of ingenuity and creativity on behalf of the filmmaker. Finding solutions to new problems is half the battle. For all those urban low budget-ers out there, the New York Times offers a handful of very sound and very reasonable solutions to common obstacles. ("PROPS: Visit your favorite pack rat. Or buy what you need, hide the price tags and return the stuff after the shoot.") Much of the excitement in creating low/no budget films comes from the creative element of working with and around limitations, and this article's tips are a good starting point to thinking about your production attack plan.

Bean bags can be a camera persons best friend for stabilizing shots. If you use bean bag objects in your projects then you will be interested in the Cinesaddle. Like a U-shaped beanbag, the Cinesaddle molds around the shape of your camera giving you support and minimizing bumps and jitters. The sample videos show some good examples of the thing in action including strapping it to a car and making a small pocket dolly out of it. Now I suppose you are wondering how it works? From the site:
The way the Cinesaddle works is basic. Hi tech foam balls push the sides of the bag tight up against the camera, holding it rock steady.
Hi tech foam balls? I guess that is how he justifies the $350 price tag. I'm sure if you brushed up on your sewing skills you could make something comparable. Anyways, the site gives some good ideas for doing things with little resources. The Dynamite Emails section has some good photos of the thing in action too.

Drawing inspiration from the punk rock music scene, Sujewa Ekanayake has earned his title as an independent filmmaker and enthusiastic promoter of the DIY filmmaking ethic. His recent feature comedy, Date Number One has been on a successful, self-promoted screening run throughout the US and Sujewa frequently writes about his DIY experiences and exploits through his informative blog, DIY Filmmaker. Determined, vocal, and energetic, Sujewa has high hopes for no/low budget filmmakers willing to go the self-reliant route in producting and distributing their work. He is based out of Washington D.C., and I was happy to have the opportunity to solicit his thoughts on DIY filmmaking, DV, and Date Number One.

How did you get into filmmaking, and what is the draw to DIY-style filmmaking in particular?

I decided to become a film director at 18. I was motivated to select that goal by the successes of Spike Lee and Steven Speilberg. I thought to myself that if those two dudes can do it, so can I. Rick Schmidt's book Feature Filmmaking at Used Car Prices pointed to the practical way to go about becoming a filmmaker, a way that I could access. Jim Jarmusch's film Mystery Train gave me permission to think freely about casting and storytelling through film and also about new technical possibilites (editing, shooting, etc.).

In 1999 I made a feature flick called Wild Diner on 16mm, submitted it to Miramax, was rejected. Around the same time Dogme 95 broke - with The Celebration in '98/'99, and I have always been a fan of DC punk rock - which is a very DIY thing - they've been DIY since the early 80's (see the new doc American Hardcore for more on that scene). So, the availability of digital video as an affordable production medium and with having DC punk as a model for DIY distribution, I slowly formulated my DIY approach to film production and distribution in the early 00's. If I had used DV for Wild Diner, it would have been a better film due to having the ability to do more takes, and self-financing it would have been possible if it was shot on DV, so all around, there were very good reasons for going DV and DIY on the next feature, which was Date Number One, a comedy about several first dates.

A big draw of the DIY-style is the self-reliance thing. I don't have to wait around to get permission from other people/Hollywood/Indiewood to make and show movies, I can just go and do it myslef, with the help from likeminded people.

Now here is a device mash-up ahead of it's time. ShakinDave has constructed a streaming live web cam setup that can go anywhere he can go using a tabletPc running the freely available Windows Media Encoder, an EVDO wireless card, a microphone, a GPS receiver, and a tiny web cam attached to a pair of glasses all concealed in an ordinary backpack. Using a custom written application the GPS data is updated on a Google map so not only can you see what he sees and hear what he hears but you can also see exactly where he is. The limitations of this system are not the equipment but the bandwidth. EVDO just can't allow as much data through as needed for a better picture and faster updates. The total cost for everything is between $5,000 and $6,000 but that is totally worth it for such a cool experiment. Unfortunately, I don't think Dave is doing this anymore since I can't find the link. At least it is documented.

There is probably a good reason Apple refers to their portable computers as notebooks -- you would be crazy to use the hot things on your lap. Well now you can tweak a few files causing your fans to be on more and thereby lowering the temp of your hot little box. Of course the author of such secret takes no responsibility if your cpu goes boom boom (though really nothing should happen). DV Guru is just pointing you to the info and it is upon you to decide to go through with it. Although if you are tired of burning your man/womanhood, I would highly recommend giving it a try as there are claims of a 40-50F decrease. And please let us know how it goes for you. Pretty please?

Have you ever wanted to add that professional touch to your film/movie trailer/movie poster/DVD cover? Below are a few resources for fonts, logos, and box art templates you can use in your project and increase its production value.

DVD and CD Logos from Discmakers
DVD/Box Art templates
CD/DVD templates

The following TrueType fonts are from TracerTong.com, an excellent resource.
Movie Credits Font (used above) - Steel Tongs Download
Movie Credits Font - Top Billing Download
Movie Credits Font - Pliskin Download
Movie Credits Font - Universal Accreditation Download
Game Logos Download
Filmstrip Font Download

Update: To install TrueType fonts on OS X simply unpack the .rar or .zip file and drag it to your font book. If you have problems decompressing it, check out UnRarX.

And if you are looking for some other fonts, the best place to go is BetterFonts.com and they have a couple of Movie fonts.

Know of other resources? Let me know and I'll add them to the list.

Setting color profiles in a multi-monitor, single video card, XP environment can be difficult, if not impossible. In some cases, the video card will only allow you to use a single color profile for all monitors attached. If your setup falls in this category, here's an application that will help you out:

• Download/install the Microsoft Color Control Panel Applet
• Create color profiles for each monitor using your favorite calibration tool (Eye One, Spyder, etc)
• Run Microsoft's Color Control Panel Applet, go to the Devices tab and assign the appropriate color profile to each monitor

• Apply and exit
  
• Create a shortcut to the Color Control Panel in the Startup folder so the app will start up automatically
• In the shortcut properties, go to the Target field and add "/L" (without quotes) to the end of the command that starts WinColor.exe. The "/L" tells the app to load the video LUTs (look up tables) with the default display profiles. I installed it in the default location so my command line looks like this:

"C:\Program Files\Pro Imaging Powertoys\Microsoft Color Control Panel Applet for Windows XP\WinColor.exe" /L

• In your startup folder, remove any other color profile managers that are set to startup automatically (Adobe Gamma, Colorvision, etc)

That's it! Now everytime you restart your computer the correct color profile should load for each monitor.

We all know working with lots of media files requires a large amount of space, but if you happen to have several computers networked together, having multiple hard drives on multiple machines makes managing those large files very difficult. The solution? Keep one central storage system and use it for all of the computers. While traditional file sharing might work, using a network attached storage (NAS) device can save both time and resources. Typically storage is attached locally, or directly to your computer, but a NAS works like a barebone computer on your network with nothing but storage. This guide walks you through how you can set-up your own NAS and configure it, even allowing remote access over the net if you so desire. Yes, the guide is a bit techie, but having network storage will be worth it. While the obvious route is to by a customized NAS box, if you've got an old computer laying around, add some drives, attach it to the network, and load up the software and voila! An ancient computer turned NAS device.

If you can't afford one of those high-dollar fluid heads for your tripod, here's a tip to get a smoother pan with the less expensive "fluid type" or just regular pan heads. Attach a rubber band to the handle, then use your finger to pull the rubber band when panning. This will smooth out your pans and also allow you to easily (and smoothly) switch directions if needed. I always keep a few rubber bands around my wrist during a shoot, they're cheap and can be very handy.

Joe Swanberg is a notable independent filmmaker I've been following for a little while now with significant interest. His no/low budget, DIY, and totally self-reliant filmmaking style is what really attracts me to his work, and although I have yet to actually see any of his features (missed the recent LOL screenings in New York, and Kissing on the Mouth is on my GreenCine rental queue), I can still say I respect what Swanberg is going after. A director, editor, and photographer, Swanberg shoots with a single video camera (Sony PD-150), and uses nonprofessional actors and real settings. This all-in-one, use what you have, low key style of filmmaking is exciting and invigorating, and something I personally and specifically respect. There are a number of great interviews with Swanberg up on the web that are worth reading, the latest offered up by FilmThreat. If you have any interest in DIY filmmaking, filmmaking on the cheap, or anything remotely like that, give him a looksee. His official website features several shorts that will give you an idea of what he has to offer. Swanberg has made some headway with his first two features, with Kissing on the Mouth receiving an official DVD release from Heretic Films, and LOL making nice rounds on the festival route, and his recently completed third feature, Hannah Takes The Stairs should hit festival screens in 2007. UPDATE: Here's a podcast interview, via The Flux!

Engadget has a how-to on making a simple sound mixer. It get a little technical and you will probably spend some money. And you will need some tools like a solder and decent work table to do the work, but it is a great way to learn how to build something or how something is made. I seriously wish I had a spare life where I could tinker around with this stuff.

As part of their so-called sheeps week, Participartory Culture Foundation's Nicholas Reville has written an excellent essay titled, "The Future of Online Video: Openness Matters. RSS Can Help." In the article, Reville makes an argument for open source, open standards, and deep linking, and how all of these concepts apply to online video distribution. The question of web page-based versus RSS-based video viewing is raised, and it is an important one with several implications. In the article, Reville claims that YouTube and other video hosting services, which are centralized hubs and depend on the website itself for viewing, may not serve more serious video creators as well as an open, accessible from anywhere, subscription/RSS-based content delivery system can. I tend to agree with this idea, particularly after experiencing a great surge in traffic after creating my own Broadcast Machine, complete with RSS feed. It truly is easier to sustain an audience when you have a feed that people can subscribe to. If you have any interest in the means and modes of online video distribtion and how to gain and build an audience, this is an excellent read.