Improve your writing with practice.
If you want to become a better writer, there’s no better way than to constantly write. You, no doubt, have heard of the old saying, “Practice makes pefect,” and not surprisingly, it’s true! There are many different kinds of writing you can practice. You can practice by writing dailogue, writing good action lines, or by simply writing about your everyday life.
Remember to back up your data!
How would you feel if you worked really hard editing a video and then your computer crashes and you lose all your hard work? This happens more than you’d think. And this applies to not only your edited pieces but also your photos and documents. I’m willing to bet that the majority of people, including myself, don’t have a separate PC/Mac that is used ONLY for video editing. You probably use one computer for video, storing your family photos and documents. Well, guess what? If your hard drive fails, all these things will be gone forever!
Getting the best from non-actors
User HCoremark over at the HV20.com forums started a very helpful thread titled “Getting the best from non actors” in which various members have shared their tips/suggestions on how to get the best performance from non professional actors. The comments are very valuable such as:
“…keep encouraging them even if they’re really bad. I mean, they kind of know they’re not very good to begin with, but it would make things a whole lot worse if you keep saying things like “No, no, no…what was that?” I always just try to say “That was good, but let’s try it this way now.” And even if it’s going terribly bad while filming and you know it will be unusable, try not to cut them in the middle of it. You don’t want to annoy them or give them the idea they’re not doing well enough.”
Definitely head over to the thread and read two pages worth of really good tips!
Places to upload video
The internet is a great place to gain exposure. There are tons of sites that allow you to upload your short films so you can share them with people all over the world. Who knows, you might even get discovered.
Here are some sites to upload your video to:
Youtube - Revver - Veoh - Blip - MySpace Video - iFilm - Google Video - AOL UnCut - DailyMotion - Yahoo! Video and my favorite… Vimeo
Canon HV20 High Definition Camcorder
I recently purchased the Canon HV20 High Definition Camcorder and I am really satisfied by its quality! For only $749.99 you can own this year’s best reviewed camcorder — in fact it won four awards from Camcorderinfo.com — Best HDV, Best High Definition, Best Under $1,000 and Best of the Year! Anywhere you look, this camcorder gets tons of praise! You really can’t go wrong. If you do purchase one make sure to sign up at HV20.com, a great community of helpful HV20 owners.
Free sound editing software
Audacity is a free audio editor and recorder for beginners that will give you an idea of whether or not sound production is something you will enjoy. Audacity is completely free and is available for Windows, Mac and Linux. If you do decide that sound is the thing for you, I would suggest moving on to Pro Tools, which is the industry standard for sound production.
Cinematical’s The Write Stuff
The folks over at Cinematical, one of my favorite movie blogs, feature a weekly column called “The Write Stuff” in which Patrick Walsh interviews screenwriters and answers viewer submitted screenwriting questions. The column goes live every Wednesday and is worth a read.
http://www.cinematical.com/category/the-write-stuff/
Thousands of free sound effects
Want to add some sound effects to your movie but don’t want to pay big bucks to purchase a sound effects library? Well, guess what? You don’t have to. If you look hard enough, you can always find a good, free alternative, much like the Celtx screenwriting software.
At SoundSnap, you can find thousands of free sound effects ranging in categories from Animals, Comic & Film FX, Industrial, Nature and Unreal. Finding the right effect is very simple. Simply search for what you’re looking for, example: Machine Gun, and in a few seconds you’ll see a list of all the available sounds which you can instantly preview without having to waste time downloading. Once you find the sound you want, simply click on the appropriate format: mp3, wav, aiff and the sound effect is yours. It’s that easy.
List of film schools
Thinking of going to film school? Don’t know where to start? I would suggest looking over IMDB’s list of film schools. The list is divided into three categories: United States, California and International. Check out the list: http://www.imdb.com/filmschools
Free screenwriting software
If you’re a student on a budget then you probably don’t have money to purchase software. Worry not as you can download CELTX, a 100% free screenwriting program for Windows, Mac and even Linux! I have personally used the software and I highly recommend it. Along with the screenwriting aspect it also includes storyboard and scheduling support, among other things. Definitely check it out, you won’t be dissapointed.
