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This is the 7th installment of this feature here on Filmmaking Lifestyle, where we chart the best-of-the-best from around the filmmaking and video production world. This article covers the best posts from April 2016.
Every month, I post a round-up article featuring the best things I’ve found around the web on filmmaking and video production. If you missed one, we have a complete archive here.
We’re talking articles, videos, infographics, all sorts. Anything that stands out to me and that I think is worth keeping in an archive, I’m going to include in these reports.
I post these articles at the end of each month, along with all the regular posts you get on Filmmaking Lifestyle.
Quick note: this is a dated archive. Cameras and software from 2016 have moved on. The business and craft questions in these links often have not — who gets to enter the industry, when you quit the day job, and how you actually run a video company.
The Best Posts Of April 2016
I was away for the first part of April on holiday with my girlfriend, but I still managed to keep up with things here at Filmmaking Lifestyle and it’s been another really busy month for articles.
On a personal level, April has also been a pretty hectic month for me for filmmaking projects. It’s fair to say I’ve been ‘on the go’ this month!
And it seems the rest of the filmmaking and video production communities around the web have been, as well.
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So without further ado, let’s get into this month’s collection of best posts from around the web!
Filmmaking & Video Production
In an interesting interview with The Guardian, director Paul Greengrass declares, “Young people starting out in film and TV are being screwed to the ground.” The Oscar-nominated director asked that urgent action take place to avoid the poor getting priced out of entering the creative industries.
He was talking about class, not talent. Unpaid “experience,” living in the expensive city where the work is, and needing parents who can float you for a year are still the real barriers. If you are coming in without that cushion, you design a different path: paid commercial work, a day job you do not romanticise, and projects you can finish without waiting for permission. The industry congratulates itself on diversity statements while the entry cost keeps rising. Greengrass was naming the thing a lot of “just hustle” advice pretends is not there.
Here’s an interesting article with a roundup of YouTube channels that will help you watch films more analytically.
Watching like an operator is a skill. Pause on the cut, ask why the camera is that height, and notice when the sound is doing the storytelling the picture is not. A good analysis channel is a stand-in for a tutor you cannot afford. Do not binge them as entertainment and call it study. Pick one film, take three notes, and try one of those notes on the next paid job — even if the job is a local business video and not a short.
Considering quitting your job? How a read of the 7 Reasons To Listen to JJ Abrams, Quit Your Boring Job & Make Your Passion Project.
Abrams can say quit because the downside for him is not the rent. For most of us, the day job is the thing that lets the passion project exist without turning into a panic. I would rather you keep the job, protect evenings and weekends, and finish one real piece than burn the safety net on a project that is still a folder of notes. Quit when the video work is replacing the wage, not when a quote from a famous director made Monday feel worse.
On Filmmaking Lifestyle, we had an article on by Thierry Denis entitled the 11 Tips to Grow Your Video Production Company. As well as that, we discussed warm calling and getting leads for your video production business.
Growth is usually not a new camera. It is repeat clients, a clearer offer, and the unglamorous habit of talking to people who already know you. Warm calling is that habit with a spine: you are not cold-pitching strangers from a bought list, you are following up relationships you have already earned. If you cannot describe what you sell in one sentence a busy owner understands, no amount of “personal brand” will save the pipeline.
Here’s a funny image doing its rounds across the internet. How to Be a Motion Picture Director:
The joke in those “how to be a director” graphics is always the same: the job looks like sunglasses and a chair. The actual job is taste under time pressure, managing tired people, and deciding when “good enough” is the professional call. Laugh at the meme, then go back to the call sheet.
Software, Hardware & Visual Effects
Sony announces a new full-frame, E-mount 4K action cam. NewsShooter wonders if this could be the ultimate ‘in car rig’ camera.
In-car and action work still punish cameras the brochure never mentions: heat, vibration, weird mounts, and a producer who wants the shot you cannot redo. The body in that 2016 announcement is not the point anymore. The point is whether the camera can be trusted in a place you cannot stand next to it. If you shoot cars, sports, or anything that moves faster than a talking head, build the rig around reliability and data, not around the press release.
You should definitely check out the work the awesome guys at StudioBinder are doing. StudioBinder is an intuitive software for film production. You can manage talent & crew contacts, send & track call sheets, backup production files in the cloud and more.
Stop under-scoping jobs on the discovery call
The Discovery Call Checklist walks you through the questions that surface scope, budget, and timeline — before you send a quote you’ll regret.
Paper still works until the moment someone does not get the sides. Production software is boring on purpose: contacts, call times, who has the latest cut. That boredom is the job. A call sheet that actually goes out, and footage that is not only on one dying drive, will save more shoots than a new LUT pack. Shoutout to StudioBinder for treating production like a process instead of a mood board.
This is pretty cool: a Sony hack removes recording limit: it’s easy to install and works on all cameras that support apps. The hack removes the 30min video recording limit and unlocks the language menu.
Thirty-minute clip limits were a tax on interviews and live events. Hacks that remove them are tempting, and they are also a warranty and reliability conversation. If a client’s keynote is one take, I would rather a camera that is rated for it than a clever sideload. Know what you are doing if you modify a body, and do not build a business on a trick the next firmware can kill.
Sol March, over at Suggestion of Motion, made a guide for anyone trying to decide between the different Speed Boosters for their GH4. It’s worth checking out if you’re consider Ultra or XL.
Speed Boosters were the Micro Four Thirds answer to “I want full-frame character without full-frame money.” The GH4 is not the camera people argue about now, but the question is the same: are you buying light, a look, or an adapter that will live in the bag unused? Match the glass to the jobs you actually book. A wedding and a talking-head corporate do not need the same speed booster debate.
Picture Of The Month
We featured David Fincher’s Advice to Young Filmmakers last month. This month’s Picture of the Month is Jon Favreau’s Advice For Young Filmmakers. Here’s the image:
Favreau’s version of that advice, like Fincher’s, is usually less “follow your dream” and more “know the work.” Young filmmakers want a quote they can post. What they need is a habit: shoot, cut, show it to someone who will be rude, shoot again. Keep the image in the archive even if the file never made it into this markdown. The point of the picture was never the JPEG. It was the reminder that the people you admire still talk like craftspeople.
Video Of The Month
Find anything else that was great out there in cyberspace? Drop some links in the comments below!
What to read on Filmmaking Lifestyle next
If you landed here from search, start with the pages that sit next to this month’s themes:
- When is it time to leave your job?
- How to grow a video production company
- Warm calling for video leads
- Starting your video production business
- How much money do you need to set up a video production company?
- The filmmaker career roadmap
Some third-party URLs from 2016 may have moved.
Until next month’s article, stay shooting!
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