Lets start with the end of the story first. It was the tenth day; the final day. Actually, it was technically the eleventh day. We had been driving for almost 18 hours straight, a bee-line from Easthampton, Massachusetts back to our home in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The moment happened somewhere near the Illinois/Wisconsin border. All of a sudden…
Industry trade rag, The Hollywood Reporter, has published what sounds like it might be an annual list raking the 25 Best Film Schools in the world. Any “best” lists always come with an element of subjective assessment, but THR says that that list was compiled based on polling a wide range of filmmakers and industry execs….
The 40th anniversary celebrations continue for legendary rock band Queen as they invite talented videographers and film makers to create an original music video for their 1977 classic track “Sheer Heart Attack”. This will be the first original Queen video since “Under Pressure” in 1999 – so they will be looking for really fresh and innovative ideas, reminiscent…
Delivered by Film London and Film Export UK, the Market Place scheme is aimed at providing people starting out in the industry with the knowledge, skills and experience needed to establish a successful career in film sales – be it in acquisitions, business affairs, publicity and marketing, or sales. Delivered by Film London and Film Export UK, the Market Place scheme is aimed…
Fancy yourself as the next Martin Scorsese or Tom Hooper? Well this may be the competition for you. Direct Line has teamed up with Raindance, founders of the Raindance Film Festival and the British Independent Film Awards, to launch 40 Seconds Straight – a film competition all about making complicated situations straightforward. The closing date…
Occupying the niche in the industry that I do (as a colorist not associated with a lab or telecine house), I grade mostly digitally captured images, and I have to admit that I was tremendously excited when the Alexa came onto the scene. I’ve worked as a DP for more than a decade, and I’ve…
“So you want to make a movie?” That was the message that flowed through my mind when I first came up with the idea for my documentary “In the Mix: DJs Doing Work”. I wanted to do something about the culture that I love, hip-hop, and I knew that anything about hip-hop had to begin…
Some colorists I have talked to have been very disappointed to discover that Blackmagic Da Vinci is about to be offered for free (or at least a slightly limited version). Even though I will still be buying the software (the limitations of the free version will be a bit too much for me to use…
Apple have just announced that they’re lowering the cost of Final Cut Pro software to $299 (probably the same in pounds). Given that the new generation of digital cameras bring the basic cost of the hardware necessary to shoot and cut a HD feature film well within a four-figure price bracket, it’s now possible to be completely…
Werner Herzog famously stole a camera he’d officially won in a film competition in order to make his first few films, feeling that it was destined to be his. With his admonition that in the age of digital cameras, anyone could make a film if they chose to do so, a few friends and I…
From the outside looking in, a movie is just a collection of scenes that are tied together. So what separates the great films—the ones that are embedded in our collective consciousness—from the forgettable ones? Several things elevate a movie into being memorable: a great concept, a great cast, and ultimately, a great screenplay. As a writer, you…
The RED Epic-M, originally announced to be $40K, is now up to $58K. Addmittedly, it does more than the RED ONE, which cost only $17K, but does it do 3 1/2 times more? And also, don’t camera’s always come out every few years that do more and stay the same price? For instance, a top…
