Posts by videofilmmaker:

Teaching screenwriting to young students

September 8th, 2011 Reader’s question: I teach 9-12 grade students and struggle with helping my teens write their own stories and screenplays.  What strategies can you share for idea generation, plot development, teaching story structure and most importantly how

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Should the look of a video be achieved by tweaking camera settings or should it be done in post-production?

September 7th, 2011 Reader’s question: Please take a look at this video: The colouring for me is beautiful. For DSLR users, is this something you can do by the use of picture style settings to achieve this? Like saturation, contrast etc. or is it something to do

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Character arc

August 26th, 2011 Character arc is the term used to refer to a change undergone by a character in a movie. We call it character arc because the change is not a quick one: it goes from the beginning of the movie to the end, although there is usually a fairly obvious po

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How to direct

August 19th, 2011 This post is about how to direct actors, cinematographers and other crew members on your movie. How to direct actors 1. The key with directing actors is to tell them what is really happening in the scene over and above the dialogue itself. This is kn

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Camera movement: equipment, techniques and best practices

August 17th, 2011 Camera movement is one of the aspects that distinguishes movie making from still photography. In camera movement the feeling of motion is generated by the fact that objects that are close to the camera appear to move more quickly in the frame than ob

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Film networking

August 15th, 2011 Film networking is one of the filmmaking topics that is most replete with fantasy, wishful thinking and downright nonsense. In this post I will share my experience of film networking and make a distinction between what works and what doesn’t, based

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The movie making process: a step-by-step breakdown

August 10th, 2011 This is a succinct outline of the movie making process. 1.0 Development Development (also known, appropriately, as “development hell”) is a fuzzy, amorphous, painfully interminable period in which the film’s conception takes shape and the foun

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Screenplay basics

August 3rd, 2011 What is a screenplay? A screenplay is a document that tells the film production team what they need to film. It may sound like a simple description, but do not be deceived – its full significance will become clear by the end of this article. I will

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Film and video competitions: a warning for independent filmmakers

July 24th, 2011 The purpose of this post is to warn independent filmmakers – particularly the newbies – about the true nature of many film and video competitions, in the hope that you will be in a stronger position to make the best decision for yourself and avo

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Steven Spielberg film techniques

April 3rd, 2011 I have been admiring and studying Steven Spielberg’s filmmaking techniques for some years now and in this post I will share some of my findings. No written description can ever do justice to an artist of Steven Spielberg’s magnitude, but

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Royalty-free production music

March 3rd, 2011 It’s been one hell of a slog: you have written, shot and edited your film or video.  Congratulations!  But the work is not over yet: your film or video is not complete until you combine it with music. At this point you have essentially two op

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Film techniques

November 10th, 2010 Following my very popular posts on filmmaking tips and how to direct, this post will look at some nitty-gritty film techniques that every filmmaker needs to have in his or her toolbox. Some of these techniques are very basic and others are more advan

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Independent film distribution tips: a guide for indie filmmakers

November 6th, 2010 After attaining the hard-won goal of completing an independent feature film, filmmakers are confronted with the equally gargantuan task of securing distribution. It may seem like a tedious task, but without some form of distribution, your film will l

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Independent film self-distribution

November 2nd, 2010 Independent film self-distribution is now unquestionably the way forward for the overwhelming majority of small independent films. Even before the massive economic recession, it was next to impossible to secure meaningful distribution for small indep

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Cobra Crane II review

November 1st, 2010 I had the pleasure of using the Cobra Crane II on a film I shot a few years ago and I was extremely impressed and thoroughly addicted to using it. First things first: the Cobra Crane II is a crane that produces extremely smooth and impressive crane s

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Independent film distribution with CreateSpace

October 31st, 2010 In this day and age independent filmmakers no longer need to toil for years only to put up with the terrible deals offered by independent film distributors — they can distribute their independent films extremely easily, efficiently and profitab

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Production design and your project’s color palette

April 30th, 2010 (Page 7 of 7) <<< Camera settings: gamma, sharpness, shutter speed, frame rate Copyright © 2007 LAvideoFilmmaker.com – All Rights Reserved. _______________________________________________________________ The color scheme or color pal

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Camera settings: gamma, sharpness, frame rate and shutter speed

April 30th, 2010 (Page 6 of 7) <<< Shoot video with a shallow depth of field | Production design, color >>> Copyright © 2007 LAvideoFilmmaker.com – All Rights Reserved. _______________________________________________________________ Almost al

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Shoot video with a shallow depth of field

April 30th, 2010 (Page 5 of 7) <<< Color correction, timing| Camera settings: gamma, sharpness >>> Copyright © 2007 LAvideoFilmmaker.com – All Rights Reserved. _______________________________________________________________ Video cameras work

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Video color correction: timing/grading

April 30th, 2010 (Page 4 of 7) <<< Camerawork tips | Shooting video with a shallow depth of field >>> Copyright © 2007 LAvideoFilmmaker.com – All Rights Reserved. _______________________________________________________________ The color corre

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