Film Strategy

Captain's Log. Star Date: 8.14.13 "On August 14, 1945, film director Wim Wenders was born in Düsseldorf. Well, almost. Wenders’ parents wanted to call him Wim, however – despite this being over three months after VE Day – the authorities did not consider this (Dutch) name acceptable for a German baby, so instead he was christened Ernst Wilhelm Wenders. (“Ernst” was the name of his godfather, and “Wilhelm” was the closest Teutonic name to “Wim.”) While his parents were forced to conform, it’s something that Wim himself resisted: in the mid 60s, he dropped out of university to become a painter. He moved to Paris to achieve his dream, and while his quest to get into art school floundered in the City of Lights, he found a home at the Cinemathèque Francaise, where he allegedly watched five movies a day and fell head over heels with film. Returning to Germany, he was accepted into Munich’s newly founded Hochschule für Fernsehen and Film (HFF), and graduated in 19

Captain's Log. Star date: 8.12.13 I just had breakfast.  I'm full.   So I'm keeping it light this morning. So... there are more new rules of screenwriting? How does the architecture in a movie influence the movie? How do you find a great composer for your film? Just for fun, what would you make after you learn how to create WebGL animations ? Why and how do you make a film that's a rebuke to commercial filmmaking ? This looks fun... designing the title sequence to Spring Breakers ?

The Last Legion | Doug Lefler | 2007 | USA | Format: 35mm | 102 min  

  The no-to-low budget director is a man of many hats and throughout the production, the director will, at different times and simultaneously, wear the writer's cap, the executive producer's top hat, the director's beret, the line producer's helmet, the editor's hood... hell maybe even the caterer's toque. This is simply a reflection of how a no-to-low budget forces one to do more with less and so the director becomes a hybrid doing many of the most important jobs on the set by himself.  In an otherwise standard or big budget production, the director would pass the head gear to someone else who can devote all their attention to that specific job at hand.  One of the most important jobs that a director MUST perform with a no-to-low budget production is the job of the line producer.  In fact, even when he can delegate to someone else, the director would still benefit from wearing the line producer's helmet. It's easy to imagine the line producer wear

Captain's log. Star date - 8.7.13. There's a saying in Spanish that says, " Hace el trabajo mal, lo haces dos veces ," which means "Do the job poorly, you'll do it twice."  Avoid having to correct a badly done job by doing as much to learn how to do it right the first time. And so, without further ado: Why are ridiculously long hours on a movie set the norm and what can we do to correct that? What can we learn about filmmaking from Alejandro Jodorowsky ? What are 7 no-budget post-production tools you can start using today? Why do you need to put together a winning team if you want investors to fund your film? What can you learn from a "Writer's Room" panel of Breaking Bad creators ? What can you learn from legendary producer, Randall Emmett? At least, 13 golden rules . What are 3 ways filmmakers can adapt to a changing media landscape?  Plus 5 (+1 tip I added in the comments section) to break into the film industry. And

The recent crowdfunding campaigns for Veronica Mars , Zach Braff and James Franco brought one thing dramatically to light: it's good to be a celebrity when you're crowdfunding.   Celebrities tend to easily reach and even surpass their crowdfunding goals when they go online and ask for cash (James Franco is a rare exception - he only raised $328,329 out of the $500,000, still a sizeable number that a non-celebrity filmmaker would have a hard time getting).  Even though they are subject to criticism for not offering profit participation in their films, celebrities do offer a panoply of prizes and rewards for the contributions they receive.  I found that interesting since their prize lists are exhaustive.  Filmmakers should learn from these celebrity campaigns even if they can't always do all of the things celebrities can do with theirs while also being attentive to potential changes or improvements occurring with crowdfunding legislation. Hollywood is watching and lea

Captain's Log. Star date: 8.5.13 Congress goes into recess in August but we in the film world never stop writing, reading, seeking funds, producing, directing, editing and screening.  But even though you're a busy artist-businessperson hybrid , take a moment to ponder the following: Will changes in the use of video in social media (like Twitter) have a large impact on entertainment and how it will be made? No one likes to think about this, but you're going to die one day and you should have a will to leave behind to distribute to your loved ones... things like the money in your account, your comic book collection, your library of intellectual property and any future residuals/royalties.  So don't be like these 5 celebrities ... Would you get this camera now that it's dropped to $2000? Compared to this 6K RED ? Or the 7D with Magic Lantern RAW Video? Now that you've probably moved on from FCP to Adobe Premiere Pro, want to know some shortcuts ? Ev