Do you ever feel overwhelmed with the amount of filmmaking content out there? Do you ever feel like you could do with a list of the best filmmaking tools and resources all in one place?

Well, I have just the thing you for!

I’ve been working on a list of resources for the filmmaker/video production freelancer.

These are links to resources that have helped me with different aspects of my business – everything from technical filmmaking information, right through to things that help me physically run my business, fund projects, find staff, etc.

Yes, this is a one-stop list of the best filmmaking tools and video production tools out there. These are links, apps and services that will help you get more done and in more improved ways.

Whether you’re an Indie Filmmaker, a video production company owner, or any other kind of freelancer, these resources are for you!

If you have any more tools/links/resources to add to the list, please mention them in the comments. This list will be edited and added to as time goes on and more great filmmaking tools and resources become available.

(You’re going to want to print this out, bookmark it, share it with your friends, etc).

Filmmaking Education Resources

Philip Bloom: “Philip Bloom is a world-renowned filmmaker who, for the past 7 years of his 25-year career has specialised in creating incredible film-like images with low-budget video. His most iconic work is created with Canon DSLRs. His site now regularly has over 1,000,000 visitors a month.”

Vincent Laforet: “I’m a filmmaker, photographer, producer, teacher, advisor, innovator and very, very proud father of two. Throughout my career, I have been fortunate to witness extraordinary news events, the evolution of story-telling technologies and work alongside many people who have inspired me.”

Video Business Guides: “Whether you’re just starting out in video production, or if you already have a video production company, these guides will help put you on the path to running a successful and profitable video production business.”

F-Stop Academy: “Den has worked in the industry for over 20 years and in every major TV genre conceivable, including Music, Documentary, Travel, Sport, Factual & Entertainment. His site features filmmaking education of all kinds.”

No Film School: “No Film School is the leading worldwide community of filmmakers, video producers, and independent creatives. No Film School is where filmmakers learn from each other — “no film school” required.”

creativeLIVE: “CreativeLive empowers you to unleash your potential by bringing the world’s greatest experts directly to you, live. Featuring workshops in photography, video, design, business, etc.”

The Black and Blue: “Tips and tricks for camera assistants and filmmakers who want to know what really happens on set”

   

Youtube / Vimeo Channels

Film Riot: “Film Riot is a how-to trip through filmmaking from the hyper-active mind of Ryan Connolly. From how to make great effects to following Triune Films through production, Film Riot explores the art of filmmaking in a way you’ve never seen.”

Indy Mogul YouTube Channel: “Fun, cheap, filmmaking. Indy Mogul is the webby-award winning filmmaking network, circa 2007. Home of “Backyard FX,” “Reel Good Show” and more.”

Every Frame a Painting: “I like movies. I don’t take requests. Every Frame a Painting is dedicated to the analysis of film form. Pictures and sound all the way, baby.”

Film Funding

Think Outside the Box Office: “Considered one of the best film funding resources out there.”

Sherri Candler: Marketing and Publishing: “Sheri Candler is an inbound marketing strategist who helps independent filmmakers build identities for themselves and their films.”

Film Submission

Without a Box: “Submit to film festivals and get noticed.”

FilmFreeway: “FilmFreeway – submit to hundreds of film festivals and screenplay contests in one simple place. Free and easy for filmmakers. Fair and simple for events.”

Film / Video Jobs

Mandy: “We have a detailed directory of 100,000+ production companies, film makers, production crews and equipment.”

Creative Cow Careers: “List of available jobs and also the ability to post your resume and go job hunting!”

Film & TV Pro: “The #1 networking and jobs resource for film and TV professionals.”

Staff Me Up: “Staff Me Up is your #1 source for production jobs in Los Angeles, New York and nationwide. Post for free and apply for free. 100+ new production jobs every day.”

Stock Video

VideoHive: “At VideoHive you can buy and sell royalty-free footage and motion graphics as well as After Effects Project files starting at just a few dollars.”

Pexels Video: “Pexels Videos makes it easy to find free stock footage for your website, promo video or anything else. All videos are free for personal and commercial use.”

VideoBlocks: “Upgrade your creative projects with unlimited downloads of studio quality, affordable stock footage, motion backgrounds, After Effects templates & more.”

Pond5: “4.5+ million royalty-free video clips (more added daily!) available for immediate download. Pond5connects artists selling and media makers seeking video clips.”

Stock Audio

AudioJungle: “At AudioJungle you can buy and sell royalty-free music and sound effects that are completely Podsafe for just a few dollars, which includes a Buyer Fee. The site is home to a bustling community of audio composers and producers.”

Musicbed: “Musicbed is all about enabling artists to do what they love while providing filmmakers with an inspiring selection of music to license for their projects.”

PremiumBeat: “PremiumBeat is the leader in high quality royalty free music for new and traditional media.”

Photos, Images & Graphics

iStockPhoto: “Royalty free stock photos, vector art illustrations, stock footage and audio for print and use on websites and presentations.”

GraphicRiver: “At GraphicRiver you can buy and sell royalty-free, layered Photoshop files, vectors, icon packs, Adobe add-ons and design templates for just a few dollars.”

Unsplash: “Free (do whatever you want) high-resolution stock photos. Download 10 new free stock photos every 10 days.”

Pixabay: “Finding free images of high quality is a tedious task – due to copyright issues, attribution requirements, or simply the lack of quality. This inspired us to create Pixabay – a repository for stunning public domain pictures.”

Pexels: “Free stock photos you can use everywhere. Free for commercial use. No attribution required.”

Video Editing Plugins, Etc

Red Giant: “Red Giant delivers Production-proven special effects tools for digital video & film professionals. Plug-ins built for Adobe After Effects, Premiere & more.”

Pixel Film Studios: “Pixel film studios presents Final Cut Pro X Plugins, Effects, Transitions, Themes and Motion 5 Special Effects. Specifically designed for FCPX.”

   

Motion VFX: “FCPX Plugins, Motion Templates, Final Cut Pro X Plugins, Motion 5 Templates, mFlare, mObject, etc.”

FCP Effects: “Our FCPX plugins & effects are incredibly powerful & easy-to-use. Download today & see why so many editors choose FCPeffects.com!”

Cinematography Tools

CameraSim: “Online DSLR camera sim that allows you to test focal length, lighting, etc.”

RED Cinephotography Tools: “Use this tool to preview how a given focal length will appear depending on resolution setting and sensor type.”

Buy & Rent Equipment

Rentorlend: “Rent or Lend Cameras, Lenses & more. From local, trusted members.”

B&H Photo Video: “Offering photographic and consumer electronics, including new and used equipment.”

Present Client Work

Vimeo Business: “Get the powerful video hosting and video analytics tools you need to make, collaborate on, and manage videos; generate leads; and engage your audience.”

MediaZilla: “Present professional videos with online interactive menus created in minutes. Easily export projects to DVD, Blu-ray and USB/offline formats.”

Video Editing Training

Larry Jordan: “Larry Jordan is an Apple-Certified Trainer in Digital Media, specializing in DVD Studio Pro, Final Cut Pro, and Motion.”

Ripple Training: “Professionally produced, highly focused online video training that will teach and inspire. Ripple Training plugins help you animate, add effects, and accomplish”

Learn Sound Design / Post Engineering

JWSound Group: “Best in the biz in there. Yeah, they’re cranky, but they know their stuff.”

Gearslutz Post Production Forum: “Many top shelf post pros still talk about stuff in there.”

Designing Sound: “The de-facto front page of the sound design community.”

Business Documents / Contracts / Legal

Docstoc: “Docstoc provides the best quality and largest library of documents, videos and resources to start and grow small businesses.”

Yumpu: “Yumpu offers a digital platform for publishing your magazines, brochures or catalogs. Communicate your message and grab the attention of new readers.”

DocuSign: “Why settle for less? Get the security, mobility, reliability, and ease-of-use you need to digitally transform your business with DocuSign eSignature solutions.”

Writing & Note Taking

Evernote: “From short lists to lengthy research, no matter what form your writing takes, Evernote keeps you focused on moving those ideas from inspiration to completion.”

Scrivener: “Scrivener is a powerful content-generation tool for writers that allows you to concentrate on composing and structuring long and difficult documents.”

Screen Writing

Final Draft: “final draft is a screenwriting software for writing and formatting a screenplay to meet the screenplay submission standards set by theater, television and film industries.”

Celtx: “Combines full-feature scriptwriting with pre-production support and also enables online collaboration.”

Discuss / Collab With Your Team

Skype: “Skype (stylized as skype) is an application that provides video chat and voice call services. Users may exchange such digital documents as images, text, video, etc.”

Slack: “Slack brings all your communication together in one place. It’s real-time messaging, archiving and search for modern teams.”

Filmmaker / Creatives Networking

Stage 32: “Stage 32 is the world’s largest social network and educational hub for film, television & theater creatives.”

Meetup: “Find Meetups so you can do more of what matters to you. Or create your own group and meet people near you who share your interests.”

Time Management

Pomodoro Technique: “The Pomodoro Technique teaches you to work with time, instead of struggling against it.”

My Life Organized: “Create new tasks and checklists easily. An elegant To-Do list view will help you to focus on the most important items and act immediately. Clean and simple drag-and-drop interface allows you to rearrange tasks within a plain list or organise them into a tree.”

ClockSpot: “Clockspot’s online time clock makes timesheets and payroll painless. No more paper, messy spreadsheets, or manual calculations.”

Time Tracking

RescueTime: “With so many distractions and possibilities in your digital life, it’s easy to get scattered. RescueTime helps you understand your daily habits so you can focus and be more productive.”

Toggl: “Toggl’s time tracker is built for speed and ease of use. Time keeping with Toggl is so simple that you’ll actually use it. Toggl drives a stake in the heart of timesheets.”

Online Advertizing

Yell: “We are in the business of helping small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) be found by consumers.”

Google Adwords: “Be seen by customers at the very moment that they’re searching on Google for the things you offer. And only pay when they click to visit your website or call.”

Outsourcing Work

Upwork: “Upwork is where businesses go to find, hire, collaborate with and pay leading freelancers from more than 180 countries.”

Fiverr: “Fiverr is a global online marketplace offering tasks and services, beginning at a cost of $5 per job performed, from which it gets its name. The site is primarily used by freelancers who use Fiverr to offer a variety of different services to customers worldwide.”

Setting Up An LLC

LegalZoom: “Our founding vision was for an easy-to-use, online service that helped people create their own legal documents.”

Invoicing

Freshbooks: “FreshBooks is a cloud-based accounting software service designed for owners of the types of small client-service businesses that send invoices to clients and get paid for their time and expertise.”

Wave: “More than a million small business owners have trusted Wave to track $60+ billion in income and spending, for free.”

Synchronizing / Sharing Files

Dropbox: “The Dropbox client enables users to drop any file into a designated folder. The file is then automatically uploaded to Dropbox’s cloud-based service and made available to any other of the user’s computers and devices that also have the Dropbox client installed.”

Contact Management / Call Sheets

Highrise: “Highrise is a flexible contact management tool that helps you stay organised. It’s easy to import your contacts from any email system and get started with Highrise right away.”

StudioBinder: “Web-based film & TV production management software. Manage talent & crew contacts, send & track call sheets, backup production files in the cloud.”

Think Crew – Casper: “Casper is an Excel workbook that contains a Call Sheet, Production Report, Exhibit G and Hot Cost Report.”

Project Management

Basecamp: “For over 10 years, millions have relied on Basecamp to help them get their projects done on time, on budget, and on point.”

Trello: “Infinitely flexible. Incredibly easy to use. Great mobile apps. It’s free. Trello keeps track of everything, from the big picture to the minute details.”

Website Domains & Hosting

Namecheap: “We make registering, hosting, and managing domains for yourself or others easy and affordable, because the internet needs people.”

Hostgator: “Whether you are a seasoned Internet pro, or just starting out with your first website, our professional staff is here to assist you every step of the way.”

Website Creation

WordPress.org: “WordPress is web software you can use to create a beautiful website or blog. We like to say that WordPress is both free and priceless at the same time.”

SquareSpace: “Squarespace is the all-in-one solution for anyone looking to create a beautiful website. Domains, eCommerce, hosting, galleries, analytics, and 24/7 support.”

ThemeForest: “The #1 marketplace for premium website templates, including themes for WordPress, Magento, Drupal, Joomla, and more. Create a website, fast.”

Business Cards

Vistaprint: “Vistaprint is an online supplier of printed and promotional material and marketing services to micro businesses and consumers, specializing in print on demand products.”

Moo: “We love great design and believe it can work wonders for every business. That’s why we make it simple to create beautiful, expertly crafted business stationery and promotional materials that’ll help you start conversations, open doors and strengthen relationships.”

Logos

99Designs: “99designs pioneered the design contest, where designers submit competing designs in response to a customer’s design brief—and the winner receives a cash payment for their work.”

Crowdspring: “Effective, easy, and affordable. Name your price, watch dozens of talented participants submit their ideas and choose your favorite.”

Bookkeeping

Quickbooks: “QuickBooks is Intuit Inc’s set of software solutions designed to manage payroll, inventory, sales and other needs of a small business. The software’s features include marketing tools, merchant services, product and supplies, training solutions.”

Presentations

Prezi: “Prezi is a cloud-based (SaaS) presentation software and storytelling tool for presenting ideas on a virtual canvas.”

Screen Capture /recording

Camtasia: “Camtasia gives you the tools you need to record on-screen activity, edit and enhance your content, and share in high-quality to viewers anywhere.”

ScreenFlow: “With ScreenFlow you can record the contents of your entire monitor while also capturing your video camera, iOS device, microphone and your computer audio.”

Document Collaboration

PBWorks: ““Millions use PBworks each month for partner/client collaboration, new business development, project management, social intranets, and knowledge management. “

Google Docs: “Google Docs brings your documents to life with smart editing and styling tools to help you easily format text and paragraphs. Choose from thousands of fonts, add links, images, drawings, and tables. All for free.”

Online Storage / Backups

Dropbox: “The Dropbox client enables users to drop any file into a designated folder. The file is then automatically uploaded to Dropbox’s cloud-based service and made available to any other of the user’s computers and devices that also have the Dropbox client installed.”

Google Drive: “Get access to files anywhere through secure cloud storage and file backup for your photos, videos, files and more with Google Drive.”

Mozy: “Mozy is the industry-leading solution for online cloud backup and data recovery. Sign up now and sync your most important files securely to the cloud!”

Online Payment / Collection

PayPal: “Discover PayPal, the safer way to pay, receive payments for your goods or services and transfer money to friends and family online.”

Stripe: “Stripe is the best software platform for running an internet business. We handle billions of dollars every year for forward-thinking businesses around the world.”

Surveys / Online Forms

Survey Monkey: “SurveyMonkey is the world’s most popular online survey software. We make it easier than ever to create polls and survey questionnaires for learning about anything from customer satisfaction to employee engagement.”

Wufoo: “Wufoo’s HTML form builder helps you create online web forms. Use our web form creator to power your contact forms, online surveys, and event registrations.”

Opt-in Forms

OptinMonster: “OptinMonster is the best lead-generation plugin for WordPress that allows you to create attention grabbing optin forms that convert.”

Phone & Web Conferencing

Skype: “Stay in touch with your family and friends for free on Skype. Download Skype today to chat and call on desktop and mobile.”

GotoMeeting: “Work can happen anytime, anywhere. GoToMeeting’s HD video conferencing software is a simple yet powerful way to collaborate in real time.”

Remote Computer Access

GotoMyPC: “Web-based remote-access service that lets you access and control your computer from any web browser.”

LogMeIn: “It’s time to take control of your schedule, reclaim your free time and work the way you want. With remote access from LogMeIn, all your computers are just a click away.”

TeamViewer: “PC remote control/remote access software, free for personal use.”

Faxing

EFax.com: “eFax, fax to email, Internet fax service, email fax, electronic fax, Internet faxing, fax software, paperless, virtual, toll free. Using email to fax has never been easier and more cost efficient than with eFax’s online fax service.”

Mailing

Stamps.com: “Stamps.com’s online postage service enables small businesses, enterprises and online retailers to print U.S. Postal Service-approved postage with just a computer, printer and Internet connection, right from their home or office.”


I hope you’ve found this list of my favourite filmmaking tools and resources useful. What are your favourite filmmaking tools? What have I missed out? Let us know in the comments below!

Also, this is a super-helpful list of resources for other filmmakers that you know. Make sure you share it with your social media audiences using the share buttons below. Let’s get the word out there!