Question as in title, really.

I want to start a short film contest basically in order to have something to talk about for a bit of online presence/content and because I've been fairly lucky this year and would like to give back a bit (nothing huge scale though of course).

What would persuade you to join in a contest? What would help you not feel like it was scammy/corrupt/risk of your time? Do you think cash prizes or equipment is more appealing? I was thinking super short (like sub 30s) and free to enter with maybe a Blackmagic Pyxis 6k (though they're currently not available yet of course afaik) as the first prize, popularity of the contest depending. Any other feedback?

Don't roast me pls, genuinely open to feedback/thoughts!

I am (25F) about to graduate film school, I have been training as Camera assistant for the last year and half, I worked in commercials, short films and international features films.

I am now in a dilemma deciding where to live and start my career, Europe or USA? 1 can speak german, English and Arabic.

Reasons to live in Europe because its close to middle east and that will allow me to travel more frequently for job opportunities and also easy to move around Europe.

Although I have been told that the industry in europe is so slow because of the strike. Another problem is they dont give work permits to ACs as freelancers.

I always wanted to go to the US, but I have 0 network (not worried about that, will build a network) but not sure to what city or state, I heard Atlanta is good place but note if its good to starters ?

My goal is to be a cinematographer on the long run but for now I am happy working as AC.

Please let me know what would be a reasonable next step.

I am thinking of buying the 50mm F/1.1 and the 21 mm F/1.5 and want to know if the low price comes with more drawbacks than advatages for four man crew(Direcor/DP, AC, gaffer, sound mixer). Any opinion appreciated!

I'm currently creating a stop motion film (passion project) for the past 2 years with a friend and am a bit stuck on how to handle credits. It's for his book, and he wrote the script and is responsible for most of the ideating all the characters and world. I handled most of the work in terms of actually creating the film beyond that (including all creative decisions). He's a bit 'hands off' as he doesn't have much film experience but I just bring him in when there's something he can do. Here's a breakdown:

Myself: 80% directing, 0% writing, 50% storyboarding, 75% set design/building, 30% character design, 90% character fabrication (probably the hardest part), 80% character animation (2nd hardest part), 100% cinematography, 100% editing, 100% VFX

Him: Inverse of all the above percentages

Is there a way to credit this in terms of the primary "director" role (s) or should I just say "a film by myself and my friend"? Am I overthinking this too much lol? I think I just feel like I put a ton of work into this so just want to gauge from an outside perspective and decide what's fair for both of us.

Has anyone here rented out a storage unit and used it as a set for a film or used it as a sort of 'office' to make props/costumes in? My apartment is kind of small to be making/storing a bunch of props/molds/costumes, and this idea has been in my head for a bit. Wanted to know if anyone here has tried this and if it is feasible. Thank you.

I know it varies between cameras and what not but im just wondering what brand and size everyone usually realy on for their cards ? I know CFExpress is a popular one

So it is a bright room (lights all turned on) and I don’t know why, but unless the iso is maxed, it’s extremely dark. First time trying to use all this stuff so I’m not sure why this is happening. I’d be happy to answer any questions I can below which could help fix this all.

As well as that, I’m struggling with depth of field and how to actually achieve it. I’m focusing on something but the background remains not blurred.

so i want to get some on set experience as a runner to help me make my own short films. I’ve never been on set before so literally have no clue how anything works. I saw this opportunity come up looking for runners for a short film (voluntary) and I applied, they said they want me to be a runner as well as train me on recording sound. They sent me this video https://youtu.be/wa5sI8EcT7s?si=ufKtJgo5K9wvjMvR Which i’ve since taken a look at but im super stressed out because that’s so much to remember and i literally have never used it and im terrible at using technology and things. Will they expect me to be making all the sound decisions myself? What if i make a mistake? they’re on a tight schedule with really long days. I agreed to stay overnight at the set but it’s a group of guys i’m a woman and i think they’re all friends and i don’t know any of them but it’s quite far from my home town. I’m also the only runner. Just super scared cause i have no clue what to expect. Any tips?

Has anybody dealt with clients that want you to add a lot of effects to music videos like how they see other videographers edit their music videos? I had a client tell me that they want me to start adding more effects to the music videos. And I told them I don’t add a lot of effects to my music videos I try to add effects when it makes sense. I told them that’s my style in shooting music videos. I try to keep it minimal because I feel like it takes away from the music videos and that adding a lot of effects doesn’t make a video good necessarily. How do you deal with clients like that because now I’m second guessing my work and maybe I should start adding more effects.

I’ve been doing background for a little while now but I’m still very new to it. Today on set a very old guy who was also in background in his 50s/60s was starring at me while we were filming. It was a very simple scene, just walk from point A to point B and he stared at me THE ENTIRE TIME. We were filming that for about two hours and he looked at me the entire time. There was not one moment he wasn’t looking into my soul. One time he even winked at me. Whenever I locked eyes with him he wouldn’t look away.

An older woman doing background who was there noticed him being weird to me too and encouraged me to talk to the intimacy coordinator. Between takes I asked where the intimacy coordinator was and I quickly told her everything. I told her How he was starting at me and when I looked back at him he didn’t look away and that one time he even winked at me.

I made sure to elaborate that he was making me very uncomfortable and I was on the verge of tears. She got an AD and I explained everything again to the AD. The AD asked me if she should talk to him or what I think they should do. Through tears I told her that I wanted them to move him. She nodded and got up but a few minutes later everyone started filming again and nothing happened. I even watched and NOBODY came up to even talk to him or check up on me again. He kept looking at me for around two more hours until it was wrapped.

After checking out it was nighttime and I was crying running to my car because I’m scared that he was going to follow me. I’m scheduled to do the same thing tomorrow too.

Before this while in line for catering he was standing very close behind me. Like VERY CLOSE. I didn’t mention this to anyone though because it was in the morning and it was already 5PM when I talked to the intimacy coordinator. There’s no way he didn’t know what he was doing because he was starring at me from across the set and winked at me

I understand that if they moved him it would have been complicated to edit or re-film scenes he was in especially since we’ve already been doing this scene for about two hours and technically he wasn’t doing anything except make me very uncomfortable with his eyes. This is a very well known production by a huge movie studio too so idk why they didn’t do anything.

I just want to know if this is normal or if I am overreacting?

The longest focal lenght i got is a canon 50mm nifty fifty Recording using a Canon R7 Only lenses i have are the canon 10-18efs and sigma 18-35mm and nifty fifty 50mm

The 2 lenses are the sigma 70-200 art hsm f/2.8 and sigma 105mm art I dont really trust ebay so i only buy used on marketplace

Both great lenses Will also be using them for photography

WARNING: LONG POST (There will be no tl;dr listed at the bottom)

Filmmaking is not something I'm interested in partaking in at the moment, but reading about filmmaking and looking deep into how movies are made fascinates me to no end. Recently, I've looked into some creative choices that filmmakers resort to when controlling the vision they want to bring to life on the big screen, and I developed a lot of ideas from the casual research I've been conducting lately. Here are some things that certain filmmakers do that I thought seemed really interesting to me.

1. Working around a very low shooting ratio (1:1 or 2:1, which Shane Carruth did for Primer, and John Ford shot at around 4:1; This mean that for every minute of film the movie-goer sees, four minutes of film was actually shot and later included in the film's final cut)

2. Shooting limited coverage (like shooting only one or two takes per scene, like Clint Eastwood or John Ford do for their films to get the most emotional performances out of their actors; no pick-ups whatsoever)

3. Rehearsing along the film's actors and actresses (I remember someone saying that Wes Anderson does this for his films, along with renting out a hotel for them to encourage his players to get along with each other more; Not to mention John G. Avildsen made an entire rehearsal tape out of the first Karate Kid also)

4. Relying on solar-powered film sets (I remember reading that Christopher Nolan did this once for Inception)

5. Not using a second unit and shooting everything yourself alongside the DP (solely based on a piece of IMDb trivia about Christopher Nolan)

6. Overseeing each and every single aspect of a film's production to retain the most control of your vision as possible (i.e. pretty much being a huge control freak lol; I'm talking about directors who not only write and produce but also learn how to do other things like shoot, edit and color on the side as well; Some examples I could think of include John Carpenter, the Coen brothers, Shane Carruth, Steven Soderbergh etc.)

7. Relying on longer shot lengths (around at least 10 seconds or more) for a majority of the shoot, and having less angles and quick cuts/frenetic editing to prevent more camera and lighting setups on set that could inflate the film's budget much more.

8. Shooting scenes in order and editing in-camera to retain as much of the film's story from both producers and editors as possible (John Ford was also known to do this for many of his features)

9. Not having video villages on set (or any monitors on set all, with the possible exception of a wireless field monitor, which is that wearable monitor Christopher Nolan used for his features), and just standing beside the camera, looking through and overseeing shots either from the camera's viewfinder or video tap.

10. Having a tight script, shot list and storyboard, and making sure that everything that's written down ends up in the final cut. And from what I've learned, they don't necessarily have to be perfect. (Just look at the storyboard Rian Johnson wrote for Knives Out or the one that the Safdie Brothers did for Uncut Gems; Another example is George Lucas writing all of his scripts longhand on loose-leaf notepads)

11. Incorporating day-for-night techniques instead of actually shooting at night, since night shoots are considered to be more expensive.

12. Encourage all actors and actresses to not only do most of their own stunts and stand-in themselves, bring their own wardrobe and apply their own makeup as opposed to having separate departments do it for them (One example I could think of is another piece of IMDb trivia Eastwood encouraging his cast members to wear as little makeup as possible as he liked to print first takes)

13. Having no vanity vans or luxury cars for actors and actresses to drive to set in at all (based on the top comment of this post here: https://www.reddit.com/r/ChristopherNolan/comments/168bi8l/anyone\_have\_set\_stories\_of\_how\_christopher\_nolan/)

14. Renting out equipment as opposed to buying them, and using the cheapest, high-quality ones available (like preferring to use a Blackmagic cinema camera to shoot digitally as opposed to using the more expensive Arri, Sony and RED cameras)

15. Hiring semi-famous actors/actress that don't expect big paychecks from the films they work on (like characters actors as the leads, even if their names wouldn't sell as many tickets)

I'm sure there's plenty more that I could think off of the top of my head, like using tungsten spotlights over LEDs and prime, fixed focal-length lenses over zooms, as tungsten and prime are known to be much cheaper to use from what I've read, but these are just the few that I've thought of for now.

Hi, I'm currently a new senior in high school that couldn't fully decide my college major. Most of my extracurricular activities are related with videos — mostly basketball/sport videos and two wedding videos — so I am thinking about majoring in film.

For now, I'm thinking about studying film in college (prolly rutgers, stony brooks, or ucolorado), get a mba after, and then get into the sports industry. What are your thoughts and advices for me? (Majors, Colleges, anything.)

I could really use your help with some tips and advice on achieving my next stop, which is studying a Professional Bachelor in Multiplatform Storytelling and Production. Anything from building a digital portfolio to god knows what. What helped you get there?:):)

Hello everyone! I was asked out of the blue if I wanted to AD for a friend's 48-hour project in October. I haven't worked on a set since 2018 (as a PA) and haven't worked on an AD gig (my first and only one btw) since 2017.

I'm a little nervous about hopping back on the saddle after so long and not just helping out as a PA. Should I decline the offer to work as the AD or take the plunge?

My main concern is if my skills aren't up to snuff, I could totally derail the project and prevent the film from getting any sort of recognition during the challenge. If this wasn't a time-based challenge I probably wouldn't be so nervous to say yes.

Thanks all!

For months now, I’ve been working on a short film that I’m writing and acting in in my spare time. I wrote the initial first draft in March and we were supposed to film in April before I was convinced to push it back to June. Then June came and I felt we weren’t ready yet, so we went for July. Then I still felt we weren’t ready, so we went for August. And then everything was right in place and we were ready to film…and then my co-lead got covid. Quickly found a replacement and had to wait a week to officially start filming. We finally got onto set and things were looking good, even though we decided on set that another day would be beneficial to everyone, and then…no fucking sound on half of our footage. Yeah, I guess somewhere down the line, our sound guy accidentally unplugged our boom mic and plugged it back into the wrong part. Not to mention my performance was terrible because I was so busy with bureaucratic stuff that I never gave myself time to understand my character somehow. And now I’m trying to reschedule but everybody’s busy and it’s all just a fucking nightmare.

Like, I get it. Filmmaking is hard. I totally get that. But I feel like we’ve been so unlucky with this film that I just don’t have the drive to keep going with it. But I have to because people are depending on me and I spent over $1K on it already. And there are good things about making it: everybody’s really nice and we’ve had no drama, the script (at least what people have told me) is super tight, and I think if we get it done, it could be something incredibly special. But too fucking bad all of these roadblocks keep occurring. We’re due to shoot again in two weeks and once we’re done with that, we only have a month to edit the film so I can submit it to a film festival I really want to try for. Granted, they take in works in progress, but we’re submitting it during the final deadline time, so I’m not too hopeful about it getting in. This has all just been so goddamn stressful for me. At this point, I wanted to be done with filming and onto editing and I wanted to be working on my personal life and mental health right now, but this scrappy ol’ film just won’t go away. I don’t know. Just venting because I’m stressed. Don’t mean to sound like a wuss.

im recording with 4 different cameras. gopro, iphone, 80D, and A7iii.

is there a device i can hit record on that will start all 4 at the same time? any way to rig that at all?

Hello Documentary filmmakers!

Now in its second year, the Palladium Pictures Film Incubator Program is looking for submissions by up-and-coming, US-based filmmakers who are interested in funding and distribution assistance for a short documentary (15-25 mins).

To learn more about the Incubator Program, check us out below:

https://palladiumpictures.com/incubator/

Does anyone recommend a place (relatively cheap but still great quality) for DCP creation in NY? It is for a short film.

I assumed it was the whole season's worth, but I saw in Breaking Bad Bryan acted a scene for an episode, without knowing the twist coming in the subsequent episode, until he had read the script for that episode.

I saw this online and is a really good concept! But it’s $2500 and made for just a few cameras. Is there a way to make this diy or is there even a cheaper alternative?

Hello everyone, I really want to learn filmmaking is there any free content available on YouTube or any platform so I can learn flimmaking

Hi there! I'm looking for a tripod that I could pack into the side of a backpack for hikes. But at the same time, it needs to be sturdy enough for my DESVIEW teleprompter lens attachment. (I have a really old, small Manfrotto tripod and the weight of the teleprompter on the lens pulls it down.)

Any recommendations are greatly appreciated!

I'm running a team for an upcoming 48 Hour Film Project, and I'd like to get some recommendations for affordable production insurance.

The last time I made a short the insurance was $1600 for a month which was outrageous but I think it was mostly chalked up to stunts and Covid.

I'd love to find something more affordable to cover equipment and volunteer cast and crew in case of injury. Any suggestions?

Thanks!

I’m currently in pre production for a performance based music video for a local alt rock band.

As mentioned in the title we are aiming for a rooftop as the primary location, something with a high rise vibe.

Skyline view preferably. The taller, the better. In or near Downtown is a huge plus as well.

Thanks in advance!