Film School Journal.com

Archives for October, 2008

My “Campus MovieFest” experience

For those who don’t know, Campus MovieFest is a yearly competition where you are provided with the equipment necessary to create a 5 minute short film in one week. Naturally, being a film student, I decided I wanted to participate. So, me and two friends from class got together for three long days to create the movie below, titled “Life Goes On.”

I wrote and directed it, while my friend Adam was the D.P. and my other friend, Jonathon, served as our actor. Pre-production went smoothly with no problems at all. I wrote the script in about an hour. We shot the entire movie on Friday the 17th, edited the video on Saturday, and did audio and color with some tweaks here and there on Sunday.

In the end the hard work was worth it. We’re all extremely proud of our accomplishment. Luckily, Campus MovieFest also liked our movie. So much so that we were awarded the Wild Card Award and will be moving on to the Regional Finals, taking place November 15-16th.

For those of you in college who are thinking of participating next year, please do. It’s a great experience that you won’t regret. Well… you might. One word of advice to you, choose your teammates carefully.

Anyways, enjoy my team’s video below. I hope you like it. If so, please spread the word. Lets get those hits up!

10/30/2008 | A Student's Journal | No Comments

FreshDV Film School: Director’s Course

10/22/2008 | Directing, Videos | No Comments

Tips for Working With Non-Professionals on Set

Kendall Miller over at FreshDV has written a wonderful article in regards to dealing with non-professionals on set. One of my favorite tips is below:

Know Your Role and Be Aware
No director or department head enjoys constantly giving orders, reminding someone of what their job is. A true professional learns how to hear what is going on, and realizes what his or her job in the big picture is. For example a DP may mention to the camera op that the next shot is moving to a dolly. A good dolly grip would hear that and immediately begin moving the dolly into position. Meanwhile the AC overhearing the same comment would begin to move the camera off the sticks. A career AC once told me you can tell a seasoned crew by watching them on short breaks; they always face into the set so they can still see what’s going and be immediately ready to move quickly.

Read the entire article over at FreshDV.

10/22/2008 | Tips & Tricks | No Comments