Film Making Seminar

One under-explored method of low cost film production is a documentary short which is essentially a “super-charged slideshow” (for lack of a better term) in which a filmmaker uses pre-photographed photo stock much in the style of a Ken Burns documentary. This can be a very effective method of communicating ideas at very low cost. In fact, beyond the cost of editing software and time, it can be totally free.

Through some links at the end of this article I’ll share an example of this type of film and provide a link to a more thorough explanation. For now, a simple introduction…

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The days of simply using a camera and manually editing the film are behind us. There were a lot of great films made that way but today filmmakers have so many resources available that you need to find out about the technology and wide variety of equipment that is out there. Film production software can turn your computer into a machine that can create spectacular special effects and alter images to suit your film.

Check out these filmmaking tips about the different ways to use this software.

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Canada’s film tax credit (by the way that includes productions in television and the rising category of digital animation) is becoming an intrinsically important method of financing independent productions in Canada.

When discussing these credits around Canadian film productions with clients it seems increasing evident that three key factors are driving the tax credit issue. Let’s quickly recap what we believe those three factors are, and then let’s discuss your ability to monetize those tax credits into valuable cash flow and working capital.

First of all Canada’s credits slowly seem to have risen to the top of the popularity pile – there isn’t a day these days when we don’t read about U.S. states either considering lowering the state film tax credit, or in some cases abolishing them altogether. A very Fox news clip discuss the potential total abolition of film tax credits, which have long driven the industry to a certain degree. Secondly, the Canadian tax credit program on the other hand is considered more generous a better run. (We suspect that might be also because we only have 10 provinces as opposed to 50 different state laws around such credits!)

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If your reading this article chances are your looking to make a great film and need a little help. Also, you may or may not know everything about lighting, but ill see what I can do to help. Cool? Lets dive into this thing.

It goes without saying that without proper lighting and exposure, your actors are left in the dark. Lighting is important because it helps the audience see whats going on and where your actors are. Lighting can bring beauty to your shots, but it can also bring ugliness. You have to do it the right way to make your scenes come to life.

If your just beginning, go ahead and experiment a little. Don’t be shy. Just choose your lights and move them around. Set them where you want around your actors. See how the light reacts in the areas you choose. Find which ones look the best depending on the situation and see what it looks like on your actors. This will help you determine whats best for your actors.

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Film production is a very long process and in this lengthy process the people of film production have to use many tools. All these tools are very important in the entire procedure. Among all of them clap board is a very simple and small device. But we cannot consider it unimportant because this tool plays a crucial role in the entire path of movie making. Without this device you cannot get the perfection as you can with it. If you ever saw the movie shooting then you must be heard a loud noise before every scene start. This noise produced by a simple board looking device. Actually it is one type of black and white board. It contains all the information about the scene like name of director, scene number, take number, etc. All these information help the editors during the course of editing the film.

The loud noise which produced by this device is help the operator of audio clips to start it at exact time. With this the production people will come very close to the perfection and remaining part will be complete during the editing time. Mainly this tool helps in synchronization of audio and video clips. With the help of information on the clap board director and editors will come to know the perfect scene very easily. Without this tool you cannot have a perfect movie because without this device it will be very confusing to know that which scene was perfect. So in my views though it looks very simple and small device but it has the main role in the entire course of movie production. There are many companies in the market who are selling these tools in a vast range. You can purchase your instrument from any reliable company.

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Getting a crew together can be a little tough, but its not as hard as you might think. I’ll show you some tips I have learned in my experience in filming and putting a good crew together.

When shooting a film you must take everything into account. To do this, we separate it all into different departments, which makes it easier to manage. I am going to list some departments here, although yours may be a little different: Production which includes the producer and any assistants, Art which includes the artists, sets, props etc, Make-up, which includes hair, make-up and costumes, Camera which is who is shooting the scene with the camera, Sound and Lighting, which is where your technicians come in, and Crafting, basically making food etc. Yours may have more departments then that, but that is the basic set up.

If you know anyone in the industry that has some type of experience in filming, editing, shooting or anything like that, see if you can acquire their help. If your just starting out you probably wont know anyone like that, but its always a good idea and ask your friends if they do. Maybe they did a little project awhile back you didn’t know about, or before you met them. It never hurts to ask.

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