Blog

Many people (not filmmakers) wrongly assume that a film set is always an exciting, dynamic place, where artists of equal standing share and contribute to the making of the film as the shooting unfolds. The public often imagine a director calmly chatting with their actors and department heads about the set design, or the lighting, mulling over issues of form and colour, drama and performance. They assume that the shoot is both a creative and democratic process.

Nothing could be further from the truth. Continue reading “On Set Etiquette”

Something for Nothing?

When the day comes for you to cast your ultra-low budget film (short or feature), you’re faced with a problem. You’ve already decided that you can’t afford to pay your actors (we looked at the ethics of not paying in the article Not Paying – coming soon), yet despite this you naturally want the best possible actors for your project. Continue reading “Casting for Free”

To Each Their Own?

I’m going to talk (or maybe rant?) about something close to my heart – the false distinction too many people (especially students) make between the technical and the creative areas of filmmaking.
Continue reading “Technical vs Creative”

At short film festivals and student screenings I quite often hear audience members talking among themselves. More often than I would like, I hear comments such as: “That short film looked great, but it’s a pity about the sound quality, I could barely understand the actors”. On low-budget short-films, there often isn’t enough money or time to spend on fixing the sound. But a surprising amount can be achieved with just a little expense and a bit of patience.
Continue reading “ADR”

An understanding of “stops” is essential for anyone who wants to be involved in film making, especially in the areas of cinematography and lighting. Stops can seem confusing at first, especially since the word is often used in slightly different ways in different contexts (“stops”, “f-stops”, and “t-stops”).
Continue reading “Stops”

Corporate documentaries are an avenue for creation and income that many beginning film makers overlook or ignore. Some don’t feel comfortable with the genre, others actively dislike the whole idea. Yet these films have the potential to offer far more challenges and rewards than, say, your average wedding video – as long as you are comfortable within the genre.
Continue reading “Corporate Videos”

White balance is one of those video functions that separates the weekend camcorder user from the more dedicated video maker. Casual users don’t understand this function, so their images often have an inappropriate orange or blue tint to them. The more experienced or interested users do care about this feature, and their images usually have more natural and life-like colours. So what is white balance?
Continue reading “White Balance”

Ever watched a film or video sequence (perhaps one of your own) and it just doesn’t cut together right? It can be painful to watch (especially if it was one of your own). There could be a number of reasons for the edit not working, but in this article we’ll be looking at just one cause – crossing the line.
Continue reading “Crossing the Line”