DIY
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Director Diane Bell on What You Should Do if Your Film is in Sundance
Following this week’s Sundance announcements, I linked in my newsletter to two articles I wrote back in 2009: “So You Didn’t Get into Sundance” and “Letter from the Future.” This first is a consoling “what to do next” kind of piece, and the second is an only partly tongue-in-cheek riff on alternative ways to approach festival distribution. The latter owes a lot of Jon Reiss, who in articles written for Filmmaker and elsewhere has advocated for making your festival premiere your premiere and to make a DIY distribution your plan A, not some hastily considered fallback plan when a big […]
by Scott Macaulay on Dec 7, 2014 -
“You May Have Made the Most Amazing Film in the World, But You Have Zero Followers on Twitter”: VHX’s Jamie Wilkinson on Building Film Communities
Jamie Wilkinson, CEO of the direct-to-fan online video platform VHX, had some words to filmmakers on Peter Katz’s Hollywood 2.0 podcast. Specifically: amp up your social media game. In the conversation, which also discusses some of the platform’s early successes, the role of filters and gatekeepers, and VHX’s partnerships with distributors, he preaches the virtues of building an audience online. “How do we get people promoting each other’s works?” he asks. “You may have made the most amazing film in the world, but you have zero followers on Twitter. How are you going to get the word out? In the […]
by Scott Macaulay on Oct 26, 2014 -
Not So Fast: A Short Film With G&E Equipment Sourced From Ikea
In his short film Not So Fast, filmmaker David Sandberg managed to achieve a dramatic tunnel effect with no more than a few Ikea products and the free 3D modeling app, Blender. The very embodiment of DIY ethos, Sandberg fashioned a portable light — enclosed in a trashcan — to his dolly — a bit of shelving — and orchestrated the action atop his PVC pipe track. Granted, his battery pack and Black Magic Cinema Camera don’t exactly run cheap, but the homemade equipment used to relay his protagonist’s sleepwalking probably rounded out to no more than $30. Watch Sandberg break down his […]
by Sarah Salovaara on Aug 5, 2014 -
Nine Lessons for Self-Distributing Filmmakers with No Money and No Experience
This article by Tom Putnam and Brenna Sanchez about the distribution of their Detroit firefighter documentary Burn originally appeared in our Fall, 2013 print edition. It is appearing online for the first time. “The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated.” — Mark Twain As filmgoers are increasingly flooded with new media options to keep them at home, the prevailing theory is that the days of theatrical releases for independent films are in their last slow throes. We disagree because we just spent the last year filling 300- to 2,000-seat theaters in 170 cities with our firefighter documentary Burn. We […]
by Tom Putnam and Brenna Sanchez on Jul 15, 2014 -
Parsing DIY Distribution with the CRI Virtual Toolbox
Need to make a snap decision about a crowdfunding or DIY distribution platform? Then check out the Virtual Toolbox from NYU’s Cinema Research Institute. The Cinema Research Institute at NYU Tisch School of the Arts’ Graduate Film Program selects four fellows a year who “engage in the entrepreneurial exploration of the film business and initiate valuable research to be leveraged by the film community at large.” This year’s fellows have explored everything from dynamic pricing models to modeling film investment, but while we wait to learn more about their work, recommended and available online now is the Virtual Toolbox, created […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jul 8, 2014 -
Independent Film: Hobby or Career? Kentucker Audley on the Eternal Question
Independent filmmaking: hobby or career? It is a question that has been on more than a few lips for years now. Though digital platforms have greatly democratized the distribution process, filmmakers are still reaping minimal financial returns on their work. Should the aspiring independent filmmaker pursue her passion wholeheartedly, or should she be pragmatic from the get go, making films as a hobby alongside a more lucrative career? Filmmaker spoke with Kentucker Audley, filmmaker, actor and proprietor of NoBudge, about the professional concerns of the modern moviemaker, and the benefits of having yet another passion project to keep you busy. […]
by Sarah Salovaara on Sep 4, 2013 -
The Week in Digital Platforms: VHX and Target Ticket
The past week witnessed big announcements from two divergent digital video platforms. VHX, the direct distribution site, lauded by the likes of Shane Carruth and Ira Glass, publicized its recently acquired $3.2 million in Series A financing. Spearheaded by new board member Andy Weissman of Union Square Ventures, the funding will allow VHX to expand into public beta, bringing their services to a greater user network. They’ve already put out a call for “filmmakers, distributors, publishers, educators and moving-picture-creators” who are ready to sell their work, thereby joining the ranks of Sound City, We Are Legion, Upstream Color, and, most recently, […]
by Sarah Salovaara on Sep 2, 2013 -
A Digital Camera Built Like a Film Camera: The Black Betty
The Black Betty is a custom made camera that is quite simple in nature: an SI-2K Mini and a Mac Mini housed in one unit. What separates this from rest of the digital cinema crowd is its form factor: it’s actually built like a film camera. As technology progresses, things get smaller. We now have cameras like the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera that shoots RAW video (soon, currently only ProRes) and is no bigger than a point-and-shoot — all for $1000. This is awesome. However, the issue is that filmmakers don’t seem to take advantage of the small form factor […]
by Shaun Seneviratne on Aug 29, 2013 -
Six Essential Websites for the No-Budget Film Editor
Let’s face it. Being an independent filmmaker often means having to find unusual solutions to problems that most Hollywood filmmakers would just throw money at. You can’t turn around and hire a foley artist to replace those garbled or missing footsteps, or hire a 2nd unit cameraman to film a specific shot you missed, etc. In many cases, you are the one editing your film and so you’ve gotta figure out a way to make it right, and do it free or cheaply (and hopefully fast!) In my continuing quest to seek out the best resources for post-production goodies that […]
by Katie Carman-Lehach on Aug 21, 2013 -
Foreign Sales 101: What Independents Need to Know About Selling Films Abroad
This article originally appeared in our Summer, 2013 issue. With substantial revenue (sometimes well above 50 percent) coming from exploitation outside of a film’s home country, it is vital that producers know how to target and then structure deals with foreign sales agents. For those beginning to explore international distribution, here are some very basic ideas and concepts about the business of foreign sales to know going in. What is an international sales agent? In simplest terms, an international sales agent is the conduit to your film’s distribution outside of its country of origin. The sales agent will acquire a […]
by Ryan Kampe on Jul 18, 2013
