Tutorials

Lessons & Advice from Top Editors: “In this series of videos, feature film editor Billy Weber, reality TV editor Glenn Morgan, trailers editor Carol Streit and jack-of-all trades editor Terry Curren discuss the lessons they have learned in decades of work and offer bits of wisdom not found in any film school or editing manual.” Great sounding stuff (no, I haven’t watched it yet…guilty as charged).

Pro Juice: Featuring tutorials on audio, video, and other multimedia, this could be a promising source of good learning materials.

Articles

Distribution: Best Online Video Sites: “You’ve just finished compressing your great video. You’re ready to distribute it using online video-sharing sites. But wait! Not all video-sharing sites are created equal.” Videomaker’s always a fan of the guide style article, and this is no exception. And when it comes to internet distribution, nothing could be more appropriate.

Web Series: Four Things to Ask Yourself Before Starting: “I get many many emails every week about people who are wanting to make web series. They want advice, which I would love to give, but there’s no way that I can address everyone individually or I’d have no time to keep up with my own obligations. So I’m going to post an occasional blog on the topic, because it’s important to me to help people make their stories.” Felicia Day is somewhat of a hero of mine I suppose, from her acting work to her Guild series that’s taken people by storm, and this blog entry is a great addition to her cheerful, helpful character. And there’s the promise of more to come too!

When To Use A Camcorder Filter: “Most cinematographers use filters. Most videographers do not. Why? Money, time and tradition. Besides, you can always fix it in post. Right? Not necessarily. There are some things filters can do that you really can NOT fix in post.” Again with the guide articles, Videomaker delivers.

Case Studies

Reinventing Star Trek’s VFX: How J.J. Abrams Demanded, and ILM Delivered, More Story from Every Shot.

Wolverine : The Making of an X-man: “Wolverine is the 4th of the X-Men films or the first of the spin off Origins series, depending on your point of view. We have a look behind the scenes of this film, talking to artists from Rising Sun Pictures, Luma Pictures and Hatch Productions as well as exclusive crew shots from on-set.”

Director Alex Rivera on Third-World SF: “Sleep Dealer Looks at Problems Facing Rural and Urban Mexico.”

CG Society: Coraline: If you saw Coraline, you likely marveled not only at the stereoscopic 3D but at the stop-motion animation as well, and this breakdown is a pretty sweet-ass walk-through of that process.

From no-budget to a Microsoft-backed third season, The Guild has caught on at ComicCon, YouTube and elsewhere on the ‘net to great levels of geeky fandom all over. In short: it’s awesome. Anyone with a decent knowledge of computers, gaming and the geek stereotypes will get a kick and a half out of this series. From a no-budget, web-friendly filmmaking standpoint alone, this’ll knock your socks off. Yep. Really. Knock ‘em right off. Check out the series at the show’s homepage, and episode one below.

Felicia Day’s co-producer of The Guild has her own web series, a mock Asian talk/game show where the joke’s basically on…well I suppose the guest, but the viewer definitely gets more then they bargained for. Lots of fun, great if you’re familiar with similar shows or personalities. Check out the series on its site and episode one below.

Eclectic

Mark Apsolon apparently is a guru of greenscreening and filmmaking, and his website won’t hesitate to tell you that. It’s one of those sites you hate until…well…no, you pretty much just hate it. Unless there’s some good content. I only post this because I remember a while back I watched a few of his videos and found them informative. That’s likely changed now, since I’ve gone through education in the area, but for those of you without the benefit of a VFX or film school – or choosing to rough it (more power to you in that case) – this stuff may prove useful.
Videomaker, always a good source of beginner/intermediate level information and tutorials, published this article on ‘lighting objects for video ads’, definitely a useful bit of knowledge for anyone, maybe something to supplement (or support) your original video & film efforts.

Web Shows

Kevin Pollak has a talk show – yea, who knew? – and it’s actually pretty cool. The Paget Brewster episode alone was cool, but the reason I’m posting it here is because his latest update features Felicia Day, the well-known (at least online) creator of The Guild and actress in Joss Whedon’s Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, and they have a lengthy discussion about web shows, web-based creative content and making that something creative and original, engaging but still marketable. It’s pretty cool as a fan just to see her interviewed, but it’s also applicable to the online filmmaking community. Hearing from someone who’s been there is invaluable stuff to listen to. Head over to the site or – oh… you could watch it here:

Also in helpful web show stuff, check out this video for a quick listing of what you can do to make a guaranteed successful web series. Heed the advice, it’s good stuff.

However, what is of note is the quality of this project, the in-depth material on their website (which is actually becoming characteristic of this director‘s projects, who is also helming the long-in-progress Human Residue), and the obvious dedication that went into the project from the acting, the costumes, the CG (which is impressive, they whipped Terragen 2 into shape and did some sweet-ass work for this project), even their Gollum wasn’t disappointing. Yes, an independent project pulled off a version of Gollum this soon after the multi-million-dollar studio-backed features won Oscars for theirs. Why don’t you go and check it out? The trailer’s below, along with a link to the full film.

Trailer 1

Trailer 2

Website Link | Full-Length HD Stream

Announcements

Adobe’s got a new Marketplace with sections for Photoshop and AIR, basically another resource center, only this time you pay for stuff. Not to fear though, there are some free entries scattered throughout the site.
Studiodaily posted an article titled ‘First Look: Canon 5D Mark II‘, and I know your mouth is watering just reading that.

Case Studies

Studiodaily: ‘Rain and Fire as Metaphor‘ is an article/video combo about Pierre Michel, who you may remember from the gorgeous Loris Paris Spot and the awesomeness-filled French film festival intro.
There’s an article about the Honda Insight spot. May be interesting to probe the minds of makers out there and their processes a bit.
Also, in Script magazine there’s an article about reality shows and crafting the new Star Trek screenplay.

Articles & (yes) Tutorials

indieWIRE posted an article about distribution, useful tips for any indie filmmaker out there.
Videomaker posted an article about knowing your on-camera audio workings, good advice for anyone operating a camera at all.
Studiodaily posted a tutorial video on editing to the music to the beat of your accompanying music.
Finally, I know nothing about this film itself, but there is an interesting concept mentioned: that of distributing a single DVD with two completely different versions of your film on it, made simply through editing and organization of scenes and sequences. Cool to think about, I remember reading a while back about interactive movies, where it plays out a scene and give the audience member a choice about what happens next, the next scene is played and another choice is given, all leading to the same (or even different) endings, but letting the viewer, in essence, create their own story. That would be sweet.

They’ve got some awesome stuff in their repertoire (which is huge, by the way, these guys are powerhouses when it comes to low-budget filmmaking), and that stuff is definitely all worth checking out. I especially like Equal Justice, Southwest Orange County vs. the Flying Saucers, and Complete Breakfast.

Other stuff worth checking out includes their Gangster Movie and an old favorite of mine, their Star Wars Fanfilm The Vorzyd Gambit. And not only do they make some great stuff, but they usually make behind-the-scenes videos for their projects which are not only informative but entertaining and rare in the arena of low-budget filmmakers out there – at least the ones that I’ve seen. Most of the time we’re so busy trying to get the film itself made, we don’t have the time, energy or resources to make a ‘making-of’.

Now that you’ve got some backstory, check out the trailer for their new film, Space Lasers here. It looks like another addition to their collection of good, fun, amateur (but good!) films, and one I’m definitely interesting in watching the final release of. Enjoy!

Free Stuff

Clone2Go Free Video Converter looks like a somewhat-sketchy piece of software, but could be useful. I myself and a fan of MediaCoder for Windows and Handbrake for Mac (and Windows, but last I tried it’s build didn’t work too great).
DVCreators has a list here of some free and cheap stuff that could be cool. I like to keep lists of free stuff, you know, just in case .
Paranoia FX has some great macros for Shake, I actually use some of them in my comp work.
Celtx recently came out with a new edition of their sweet-ass filmmaking app. And don’t forget to check out their Project Central section, a cool spot to look for collaborators, browse other projects, list your own and gain attention.
Lee Gabel has generously posted some links to resource sites, as well as his ‘Screenwriting’ section which shoots you on over to Frankenscript, a sort of in-progrss blog about his screenwriting, as well as a short listing on his work.

Tutorials

HenryTheJedi has a list of After Effects and 3DS Max tutorials and downloads up for the taking, complete with watchable, downloadable videos and project files, so head over and check that out.
Videomaker’s new article Color Correction/Enhancement could prove useful, especially for compositors, motion graphics artists, or a anyone just starting out in the digital realm of filmmaking.
The always-awesome Studiodaily blog added a tutorial on tracking and compositing with Mocha and Final Cut, definitely a useful skill for you low-budget DIYers out there in the film world.

Articles & Sites

Videomaker also put out a kind-of-funny article titled ‘Anatomy of a Vidiot‘, pointing out the common characteristics of someone getting into videography who has no idea what they’re doing.
21st Century Cinema is an article I would really like to read when I get the chance. The subtitle is ‘An indie look at DIgital Dinema’, that should be intriguing enough for ya .
CGpov looks like a decent blog by a 3D artist, offering up opinions, points of view, showcasing work and occasionally handing out a tool or two.

This is a sweet-ass example of how literally paper, pens, a video camera and access to two windows and a crosswalk (which could be in three completely different places, mind you) could make a short film pretty cool. Pretty close to the ultimate in low-budget filmmaking techniques. Oh, yea, I guess a kitchen and bedroom would be good too, but I’m assuming most people have one of those . Basically, once again, proof that a solid, simple story with common human characters acting in identifiable, even lovable, even hateful ways.

Anyway, enjoy the film, feel free to leave comments, thoughts, reactions and whatnot at the bottom of the page, and happy filmmaking .

YouTube via Videomaker