The Tools I Use

Here you’ll find a list of sites and apps that I personally recommend.

Looking for Film/Video Production Job resources? Click here to be taken to our special page dedicated to those.

This resource list covers those tools, apps and sites that I find beneficial as a filmmaker and video production freelancer.

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. As one of the biggest evangelists for their use in productions his website became the place to go to for budding filmmakers as well as experienced ones keen to embrace the new technology. 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.”

• • 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. He has worked as an Lighting Cameraman, Director of Photography, Producer, Director, Editor and Colourist  and has first-hand experience of every part of the industry and how to create stand – out work. Den is a Sony Independent Certified Expert, A Tiffen Image Maker and in 2012 was the first official global ambassador for Carl Zeiss Lenses.”

• • 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, audio, music, and software training, CreativeLive unlocks previously closed doors by making dynamic education accessible to everyone.”

Film Funding 

 

• • Film Directing and Film Making Tips for the Independent Filmmaker: “The primary purpose of this blog is to share film directing tips and film making resources. So if you have any short filmmaking or film or television directing tips or tricks to share, please post them on this blog. And don’t forget to include your email address so other filmmakers can contact you if they want.”

• • Sherri Candler: Marketing and Publishing: “Sheri Candler is an inbound marketing strategist who helps independent filmmakers build identities for themselves and their films. Through the use of online tools such as social networking, podcasts, blogs, online media publications and radio, she assists filmmakers in building an engaged and robust online community for their work that can be used to monetize effectively.”

• • Scott W. Smith: Moving Pictures, Moving Stories: “Once upon a time I made a couple videos in high school, became a 19-year-old photo journalist in Florida, and then graduated from film school in California back when schools only used film.In the past 20+ years working in film, video, and TV/radio I’ve been able to travel all 50 States and five continents working on an eclectic mix of media productions.”

• • indiewood: “I grew up loving everything and anything mechanical, and later electronic as well. I studied Aerospace Engineering of all things but have since combined my creative talents with my engineering talents and have forged a path into the nuts and bolts of digital cinema production and post production.”

Planning

 

• • Milanote: “Milanote is a tool to help organize and plan filmmaking projects with ease. From developing a concept, exploring the look of your film, storyboarding scenes – you can organize it all visually in Milanote. They also have a great guide on the pre-production process.”

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. While it gives you complete control of the formatting, its focus is on helping you get to the end of that awkward first draft.”

• • 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.”

Time Management

 

• • Pomodoro Technique: “For many people, time is an enemy. We race against the clock to finish assignments and meet deadlines. The Pomodoro Technique teaches you to work with time, instead of struggling against it. A revolutionary time management system, it is at once deceptively simple to learn and life-changing to use.”

• • 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.”

• • Remember The Milk: “Managing tasks is generally not a fun way to spend your time. We created Remember The Milk so that you no longer have to write your to-do lists on sticky notes, whiteboards, random scraps of paper, or the back of your hand. Over 5 million awesome people now use our apps to stay organised!”

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.”

• • Harvest: “Whether it’s from the web, your smartphone or another application, it’s never been so easy to track time. With a simple, intuitive interface, getting you and your team on board is fast and easy.”

Online Advertizing

 

• • Yell: “We are in the business of helping small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) be found by consumers. How we do that continues to advance with technology. Our global resources help give local business a competitive edge in finding customers in a fast changing world.”

• • 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

 

• • Elance: “Elance is where businesses go to find, hire, collaborate with and pay leading freelancers from more than 180 countries. With a community of over 3 million freelancers and 1 million businesses, on Elance it’s easy to hire a top freelancer. Find a developer, freelance designers or other talented freelancers with the most in-demand skills.”

• • Freelancer: “Post any project you need done and receive bids from our talented freelancers within minutes. Compare their proposals and price, then select the best freelancer to complete your project. Easy!”

• • 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. We brought together some of the best minds in the legal and technological fields to make this vision a reality. The result is LegalZoom, the leading, nationally recognized legal brand for small business and consumers in the United States.”

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.”

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

 

• • 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.”

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. It’s their go to—and ours too: We use Basecamp every day to run our own company. Combine that with our best-in-the-biz customer service, and you’ve got a powerful package.”

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

Website Domains & Hosting

 

• • Godaddy: “Life online starts with a domain name. That’s where domain name registrars like GoDaddy come in. Over 12 million people trust us to make them look like rock stars on the web, starting with fast, efficient domain name registration. Then we load them up with everything they need to build and manage an online business. Everything.”

• • 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.”

• • Weebly: “Weebly gives millions of people a surprisingly easy and affordable way to create a site that is as unique as they are. With a Weebly site, people can start their own business, communicate with their clients, showcase their achievements, and be an authority on personal and professional interests.”

Website Creation

 

• • WordPress.com: “Create a free website or easily build a blog on WordPress.com. Hundreds of free, customizable, mobile-ready designs and themes. Free hosting and support.”

• • 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.”

• • 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

 

• • Elance: “Elance is where businesses go to find, hire, collaborate with and pay leading freelancers from more than 180 countries. With a community of over 3 million freelancers and 1 million businesses, on Elance it’s easy to hire a top freelancer. Find a developer, freelance designers or other talented freelancers with the most in-demand skills.”

• • 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. Through more than 377,709 design contests, we’ve paid out $94,905,172 to our designer community to date.”

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

Stock Video & Audio

 

• • 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. Items are priced on the complexity, quality and use of the file; the total price also includes a Buyer Fee. The site is home to a bustling community of motion graphics junkies!”

• • 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.”
  • Videvo: “Download free stock video footage with over 70,000 video clips in 4K and HD. We also offer a wide selection of music and sound effect files with over 180,000 clips available. Click here to download royalty-free licensing videos, motion graphics, music and sound effects from Videvo today.”

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. Items are priced on the complexity, quality and use of the file; the total price also includes a Buyer Fee. The site is home to a bustling community of graphic designers and illustrators.”

• • Flickr Creative Commons: “Many Flickr users have chosen to offer their work under a Creative Commons license, and you can browse or search through content under each type of license.”

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

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

 

• • 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.”

Backups

 

• • 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!”

• • 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.”

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.”

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.”

Business Documents / Contracts

 

• • Rocket Lawyer: “Make free legal documents for your business or family. Legal made simple.”

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.”

• • YuuGuu: “Easy web conferencing and screen sharing. Low cost. No IT worries.”

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.”

Lifestyle Design

 

• • Life Outside The Box: “I love life and explore its possibilities by ignoring common sense and discovering what is really possible. If you are sick of the Standard 9-5 Lifestyle and want more out of your life, you’re in the right place.”

• • Encouragement and Know-how for Adventurous Entrepreneurs: “Everyone else is telling you to “play it safe.” This site is here to encourage you to run with your ideas and chase your dreams with reckless abandon. I want you to live with intention and a sense of urgency.”

• • Four Hour Work Week Blog: “Tim is Indiana Jones for the digital age. I’ve already used his advice to go spearfishing on remote islands and ski the best hidden slopes of Argentina. Simply put, do what he says and you can live like a millionaire.”

• • Thrilling Heroics: “Cody McKibben—voted “Sexiest Lifestyle Design Blogger” by popular poll of all the ladies of the world—is a writer, traveler, and nomadic entrepreneur, as well as a WordPress magician, and all-around renaissance man with a short attention span.”

Health/Fitness

 

• • Starting Strength: “The title “Starting Strength” has two distinct meanings. Firstly it is Starting Strength The Book (View On Amazon) by Mark Rippetoe and Lon Kilgore. Secondly it is Starting Strength The Program also by Mark Rippetoe and widely referred to as “Rippetoe’s.””

• • Mark’s Daily Apple: “If you want to lose weight, gain muscle, increase energy levels, reduce stress or just generally look and feel healthier you’ve come to the right place.”

• • RippedBody: “I believe there is a need for a counterbalance to the fitness industry’s growing nonsense. A practical and applicable one.”