In light of my ramble about being the filmmaker I want to be, I have been taking it upon myself to be a more active filmmaker. At 1am the night before Thanks Giving, I made a crazy impulsive decision to drive to Plymouth, MA for the National Day Of Mourning gathering near Plymouth Rock. It was a bit of a “Eureka!” moment for me. I’m free! I can go anywhere I want and make films. I’m not trapped in my own city, state, etc.

It’s not that I didn’t know that before but every time I’d thought of traveling to make a film it’s always been this big ordeal; months of planning, etc. This was different. I asked myself, “Why not?”. I mean I had four days off, Massachusetts wasn’t that far away, I could come back home the same day and not have to pay for a hotel if I wanted, etc. So I packed up my grab-n-go filmmaking bag (just the basics) and I got up at 6am and made the 4 hour drive to Plymouth.

I love to drive long distances. It gives me nothing but “me” time to think about life and what I’m doing. So this drive game me time to think about what I need to do with my film and how much filmmaking I need to do (i.e. find a balance between filmmaking, music, writing and my personal life). Making the trip also helped me take part in something where all the variables were not known. I’d never been to Plymouth and I didn’t really know what to expect from the gathering. It turned out to be a very energy-less event, however I’m glad to have done it. I did do some filming but I didn’t stay for the entire event. There were a lot of other filmmakers there and a few folks from the press. There was also this sort of weird vibe where on one end you had this national day of mourning event and just a little ways down, out door church with a preacher talking about heathens, savages, and there being only one valid god. I got a little of both on camera. I may do something with it, I may not.

Yesterday, I filmed a friends band perform live, however the footage will be used in a new short film I’m working on for dvxuser.com’s BetrayalFest. It was also very freeing to just grab my tripod and camera and go film my friend’s band at a tattoo convention. I was also lucky in that there was no on near the stage when they were performing so I was able to put my camera anywhere I wanted. You usually don’t have those kind of circumstances at a concert!

I also haven’t announced I’m moving back to Florida within the next 6 months. I feel it’s the only way I can do more films and music. I have such a tough time finding talent where I live now, I’d all but given up on trying to do films here. I look forward to getting out of here and making more films.

Cheers!

Related posts:

1. Being The Filmmaker I Want to Be This past month has been a real eye opener....
2. Useful Tools For Independent Filmmakers Becoming a filmmaker is a big step that requires...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

This past month has been a real eye opener. Besides reinforcing my realization that I need to start hiring editors for my projects, it has lead me to think a little more carefully about being the filmmaker I want to be instead of going with the “norm” when it may not be the best for me.

The biggest issue I’m having right now is how long it’s taking me to edit projects. Editing all of them simply takes too long. I definitely need to obtain an editor for all of my wedding films. I find myself editing them as if they were a feature film! I have to keep telling myself that its “good enough” for what it’s for. I’m not saying I plan to slack on wedding projects, just that they don’t need composting, camera movement, and special effects like a creative film project would. It took me 6 months to edit my first wedding!

I’m finding that I want to enter into the short film festivals over at dvxuser.com. They are a great way to get used to making films, editing quickly, and having your work viewed. I’d neglected the short film route for some time because I wasn’t very interested in doing fictional films. However, they have been a great way for me to build my editing skills.

The biggest issue I was recently faced with was how slowly I’ve been working on one of my big projects “Our Side of Joy”. I decided this past weekend I’m going to present the film in the format for which it was intended instead of trying to create a shorter version for film festivals. I’d mentioned in previous posts that this film was several films but I filmed it for academic audiences (volumes for higher education courses). If it were intended for general audiences I wouldn’t have picked such a broad topic. I was just about to play myself on this one.

I’ve had this film down to an hour and fifteen minutes for months now and I just couldn’t go back to it. I’m very unhappy with this length. It feels like a long “preview” for what I intended to shoot. I felt as if I should make this film for general audiences and do the whole film festival thing. In doing a little soul searching… I’m just not a 90 minutes or less kinda filmmaker.

I have no problem taking a lot of info and making it into shorter volumes that represent an entire body of knowledge. But I can not just cut and cut and cut until my message is a mess at my feet and I’m putting out into the world some other animal.

Related posts:

1. Useful Tools For Independent Filmmakers Becoming a filmmaker is a big step that requires...
2. New Developments on The Creative Front In light of my ramble about being the filmmaker...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Becoming a filmmaker is a big step that requires you to use and have access to many resources in order to not only make the best films you can but to handle all tasks not related to a specific film project. There is a lot more to making films than just the movies themselves. I have taken some time to gather a list of resources that have helped me become a self-sufficient independent filmmaker.

Pre-Production:
Movie Outline Software http://www.movieoutline.com – It is essential to make a detailed outline of your film before you do anything. It will help you understand your story better which will help you move to the next step of writing the script. This software will help you to quickly and easily create an outline for your film projects. I’ve even written an entire script in this program (not what the software is for). The price has gone up significantly since I first purchased it so I can only recommend it if you really really need it.

Celtx Software http://celtx.com – This is thee software to have if you are an independent filmmaker. It is the one stop shop for all your filmmaking needs (wow that’s corny… but true). I use this program exclusively for writing outlines, scripts, creating lists of cast, crew, props, and sets, putting together my shooting schedules and much more! And best of all… It’s FREE!

Production:
I don’t have anything to add as a resource during the production phase because all I’m concerned about during this time is shooting. I’m not logging any tapes, filling out any forms or any other paper work. I’m shooting my scenes according to my shooting schedule, making changes to my script on the fly and watching the tapes after each shoot to catch any issues that need to be addressed by re-shooting.

Post-Production:
I’ll also keep this section simple because I don’t want you to get hung up on what tools to use for editing your film if you decide to edit the films yourself (I don’t plan to edit my films anymore.) You do need professional tools for editing; not necessarily for trimming and ordering but definitely for color correction, effects, transitions, and audio processing. I use Adobe Premier because it’s very easy to use. I use it to trim my footage, put the film together in the sequence it’s going to be in, and arrange the audio for the film. I use Adobe After Effects for everything else (for the video only. I never import the audio.), such as color correction (the first thing I worry about), and any other necessary effects like camera movements and transitions. Lastly, I use Adobe Audition to process any problematic audio (I try my best to shoot perfect audio so it is not something I have to “fix” when editing). Once I’ve corrected problematic audio in Adobe Audition, I import it back into Adobe Premier. Adobe Premier automatically links to Adobe Soundbooth for editing audio but Adobe is crazy. Soundbooth is a substandard audio program and I don’t know why they think film audio doesn’t need as much care as a musician’s audio. Adobe Audition has been around for longer than Adobe has owned it (used to be Cool Edit) and has outstanding, easy to use audio processing tools.

Release:
Kunaki.com – $1.75. Yes, that’s right. For $1.75 each you get retail ready DVDs plus full color covers and inserts using Kunaki.com. These DVDs and the printing are of the same quality you see in retail stores. To make this even sweeter, these DVDs are made on demand! So you don’t need to shell out hundreds or thousands of dollars for stock you may never get rid of.

Filmbaby.com – If you want great personal customer service from a respected industry company with a great history with indie artists, this is the company for you! Filmbaby.com is owned by the same people who own CDbaby.com and they offer affordable easy to use services for selling your films. And best of all, they accurately report sales and pay you when they are supposed to pay you…consistently. Switching all of my films over to them is the best thing I could have done for myself.

Promotional:
I can’t stress to filmmakers enough how important it is to have a website for your film company and/or your individual films. Let’s face it, many of of the earth’s inhabitants are slaves to the web. *Smile* It is the easiest and cheapest way to get the word out about your films. Making a website can be free or near free so there is really no reason not to have one.

4 Steps to getting your website ready:
1. Get good hosting (linux/unix hosting with Cpanel is highly recommend) – Hostgator.com is my favorite.
2. In Cpanel (fantastico), or on your own, install a content management script (Joomla.org, Drupal, Wordpress.org, etc.).
3. Fill it up with content about your film company and film projects.
4. Invest in an outstanding design template if you have no graphics design skills. I can not stress this enough. An uninteresting site is a worthless site, just like an uninteresting advertisement is an invisible advertisement (i.e. you website should not look like it was made in the early 90s). If you need great templates for many of the popular, free content management scripts visit: Templatemonster.com, joomlart.com, and many others.

If you need outstanding quality print media, I’d recommend GotPrint.com. I haven’t had too much of a need to use them for my films (but have used them for my publishing company) but you will need print media if you plan to work the film festival circuit.

Tutorials:
Videocopilot.net – If you are interested in producing professional quality films with great effects, or just to learn how to use Adobe After Effects, this is the site for you. Not only do they have incredibly useful tools for purchase, they have fantastic free tutorials and an entire website dedicated to help you learn the basics of Adobe After Effects; a boot camp if you will.

Enjoy your art, Cheers!

Related posts:

1. Being The Filmmaker I Want to Be This past month has been a real eye opener....
2. New Developments on The Creative Front In light of my ramble about being the filmmaker...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

It’s been a little longer than I would have liked since my last blog post but I still really enjoy having this outlet to share my thoughts and creative experiences. However, sometimes there is just too much going on in life to sit down and take time to write. But the more wonderful and supportive responses I get from readers of my blog, the more I know I’m on the right track and I need to return to it.

The last time I posted something to this blog, I was heading back to Tampa to shoot more of “Our Side of Joy”. I’m very glad I did because it wasn’t until I went to shoot some more of the twins that I was able to really capture what I wanted to capture about their relationship. I will write a separate post about this second shoot because it made such a huge difference for my film.

Although I’d returned to my hometown of Tampa, Florida almost every year since I moved away, I never truly enjoyed being there. But these past 3-4 times I’ve been back have really been quite amazing. I still have a somewhat love/hate relationship with Tampa but what I do know is that I have a wonderful nephew there who I wish I could see more of and all of my real friends are there. Don’t get my wrong I’ve made good friends everywhere I’ve moved, however they have not been lasting friends. At first I thought it was because it appeared we tend to keep friends we knew while we were children longer than ones made as adults. But I think what is more accurate is you will keep friends who strive for and enjoy friendships that are more than superficial and/or surface level friendships and unfortunately there are many people who only offer surface level friendships and this behavior can also be a part of the entire culture of a place (as I am witnessing here in upstate, NY). So I have decided to move back to Tampa as soon as possible for a maximum of 2 years.

Besides being closer to my nephew and wonderful friends, I have also changed a great deal since I’ve lived in Tampa and even since many of my visits thereafter. So what I’ve been finding is my own desire to “live” in Tampa because I hadn’t “Lived” when I was there. Especially compared to where I am, at this point in my life Tampa has a lot to offer me. From awesome food (OMG I never thought about this until I moved here. The food here is awful.) to many many creative outlets I can enjoy. Tampa does have an active film community which is a huge reason why I’d like to move back. I also feel like I can make many new friends in addition to the ones I already have. I can also accomplish some of my ideas for things like fundraising puzzle hunt races, murder mystery dinners, and my plans to start my own video series.

Over the years since I’ve moved away, I’ve also gotten used to traveling and driving long distances and just exploring areas further away from where I lived. I never did this in Tampa. So when I move back I plan to drive anywhere I want to go all over Florida and beyond as well. I plan to “LIVE”. I’m also planning to start traveling outside of the country more as well. For a while there, I was traveling to other countries every year and then the recession put an end to all of that. Now i’m back to a point where I want and can travel more and I’m really hoping to do that when I move back and after two years I will feel comfortable enough to make the big move out of the country. But also let me say this, being where I am now has been a serious learning experience. One, I’ll never waste my time in a place that doesn’t support who I am ever again. This has been almost 9 years of my life I can never get back. Two, I’m going to do all that I can to live life to the fullest anywhere I move and if in doing so, I am unable to create the social and personal connections that every human being needs, then I need to move. Being here has certainly taught me that having a good job is just not enough to make a person happy (at least not me).

I have so much to talk about, I’m going to have to break right here and create new posts for the other things I have going on. Just to share a little bit, I’ve started doing wedding videos to help fund some of my film projects and I’ve been thinking of new, fun ways to help fund my films. Also I’m really pushing towards finding a few editors to work with because editing is truly ruining my desire to make films and to enjoy the films I’m making. My publishing and writing has been suffering a little bit as well because of where I am right now but I have plans to get that back on track as well. So I’ll blog a little more about these things later.

Cheers!

Related posts:

1. Tampa Bound – More Shooting for Our Side of Joy Well, I had to make a very difficult decision...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Well, I had to make a very difficult decision to shoot more footage for my documentary “Our Side of Joy”. After having returned from an excellent workshop on documentary story structure given by Fernanda Rossi, I knew I was going to have to do more shooting.

The best thing is that the workshop was so excellent I was able to get my 2 hours and 30 minutes documentary down to one hour and 22 minutes easy. Having this new understanding of story structure, I could clearly see where my story was going or not going and easily remove elements that did not enhance or move the story.

I’m very appreciative that Marlene and Michelle, who have been so patient waiting for me to finish the film, were more than willing to have me return to Tampa to do more shooting. In the end, I think it’s also for the best because I definitely feel closer to them now than I did before the film and I feel this will make the new footage come across as more personal.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

The Idea: One online Marketplace where Buyers can find Programmers to fulfill the needs of their software projects. This is the basic idea although rentacoder.com (Rent-A-Coder) also has other types of providers on their site as well, (i.e. writers, personal assistants, marketers, etc.).

So how does rentacoder.com (Rent-A-Coder) work? Simple. As a buyer, you sign up for a new account, post a bid request which offers details about your project and service providers place bids on the project. There are all sorts of terms and options you can choose from to make sure your project goes as smoothly as possible. There are also help documents throughout the site on what to do to help your project along and what your options are if something goes wrong. Sound good? Well, what no one tells you up front is that all of this is irrelevant once you have accepted a coder’s bid and have put your hard earned money into rentacoder.com’s escrow system (a system they put in place because they were robbed).

When something does in fact go wrong with your project, the “arbitrator”, some non-technical individual (arbitrator confirmed they are a non-technical arbitrator), gives you two options. The first option is simply a time waster that will no doubt cause you to loose the arbitration and your money (i.e. lets spend weeks going over what the coder has done so far, just to have us decide they’ve done alright in our eyes because we can’t do what they can do). The second option which seems to be the true standard with rentacoder.com (Rent-A-Coder) is the “wait until the coder fails” option. This option forces you to continue with a coder even if they tell you they can not do what you are asking them to do or if it’s very clear that the coder doesn’t understand a word you are saying. What that translates into to me is that there is no arbitration. When you pick a coder, you are stuck with them. It doesn’t matter what it says on their website. When you pick a coder at rentacoder.com (Rent-A-Coder), you are STUCK with them!

Alarm bells should be ringing in your ears right now. If the obvious is evident when you start the arbitration and it is ignored by the arbitrator or deemed “O.K.”, how will they make the best decision for everyone when the deadline comes? To make this a little more clear… if you see a gaping hole in the road and no way around it but to take another road, how can you trust the navigator to do the right thing when they tell you to keep going on the road with the crater until you fall in?

In addition, the website pumps buyers up, telling them to make sure they are diligent in making sure their project is going the way it should. The rentacoder.com (Rent-A-Coder) site throws around phrases like “It’s your project”, but in the end, it’s the coder’s project in the eyes of rentacoder.com (Rent-A-Coder). If you ask the coder to give you an “accurate” mock-up (a requirement for the project that you choose when you set it up) and the coder fails to deliver this mock-up, “So, What?” says rentacoder.com (Rent-A-Coder). If you ask the programmer to confirm understanding on various important aspects of your project (the rentacoder.com (Rent-A-Coder) site strongly suggest buyers do this to make sure they get what they expect from their programmer) and they do not do this at any time , “So, What?” screams rentacoder.com (Rent-A-Coder). If you ask the coder “Hey can you add this link to the front page?” and their answer to that is “I like apples on Tuesdays with cheese and crackers.” because they don’t understand a word you said, “Pay them!” says rentacoder.com (Rent-A-Coder)!

This is the bottom line rentacoder.com (Rent-A-Coder)! When people post projects on rentacoder.com (Rent-A-Coder) and pay their money for that project, it is absolutely unacceptable to force them to use a coder who clearly can not do the job. It is also unacceptable to make buyers waste time and wait for the coder to fail especially when you have an arbitration system in place. Currently at rentacoder.com (Rent-A-Coder) as a buyer, you have no control over your project once you choose a programmer and the only thing you can count on is your time will be wasted with a high probability of your money being stolen from you (Yes, if you force me to pay for a box of coal when I’ve asked for a box of diamonds and the money I’ve given you is in fact the appropriate amount for a box of diamonds, then you have stolen from me).

*Note* A similar site is scritplance.com. They do the exact same thing only they don’t make you wait until the coder fails, they just make you wait and wait and wait. Deadlines don’t matter at all at scriptlance.com. Eventually they do give you your money back but they make sure they punish you sufficiently first.

Update:
In light of some of the hostile comments and mail being left about views expressed in this article, I felt it necessary to add a little more. There seems to be a misunderstanding here. Some seem to think I have reading and comprehension problems or that I have not tried the magic formula that would have surely made my experience better. However, these are mere misunderstandings. I do not have reading and comprehension problems and did in fact read all of the help documents provided by the site before getting started. There is so much to choose from while setting up a bid request you have no choice but to jump over to the help pages to make sure you are choosing the best option for your project. Also because I was coming from a rather insane experience on scriptlance.com, I was definitely all over the information about how the site works and the mediation/arbitration feature. It all made sense and sounded good as written. However, Rent-A-Coder is not following their own documentation.

As for this magic formula…. it made me laugh. The magic formula is: Look at the programmer’s reviews, at their portfolio, how many jobs they’ve completed or didn’t complete, the details of any disputes they may have already had, etc. This is very helpful and one would be a fool not to do this. However, it is not the magic formula to success. Project success relies on all involved. There are many ways to create programmer accounts with all of these in order and still not be a the best programmer or the best programmer for every job applied or bid on. Some issues come not from deception or incompetence but from poor judgment. It seems many programmers want to do the projects they bid on, but for whatever reason, bid with completion times they can not meet, unreasonable rates (too low for the amount of work they have to do) or just become “yes” men/women and later after they’ve accepted a job, realize it is more than they can handle.

However, this article wasn’t directed at programmers or buyers, although it seems those who are angry about this article are programmers or those who provide outsourcing who use Rent-A-Coder. So because they rely heavily on it, or it works for them, how dare I talk about it not working for me. *Smile* There are less than honest programmers out there, just like there are less than honest buyers or buyers who don’t know what they want or who haven’t read the site documents. There is no arguing that. However, you can’t assume that everyone who has a complaint did not understand what they were getting into or did not use the magic formula.

Let me restate the issue. Rentacoder.com does not follow it’s own documentation. Rentacoder.com has a faulty and useless arbitration system. Both of which makes their services not worth using.

Update: 2
Rentacoder.com chooses to be the robber instead of doing the right thing. I’ve been forced to pay the cancellation fee because the programmer doesn’t have any money in his account (he lost the arbitration). How convenient! So any lousy programmer can open an account, never keep money in it and fail to deliver what they agreed and never have to pay for it. And if they want, they can go ahead and open a new account under a different name (yes I had a person message me and say he works with two different accounts on Rentacoder.com. It doesn’t matter if they say it’s not allowed they need to have a way to keep it from happening). Rentacoder.com could easily make the programmer’s account negative or even be smart like odesk and require everyone to have a registered form of payment and make these deductions when the arbitration is lost. It is just unacceptable to make the winning party of an arbitration pay a cancellation fee because the loosing party doesn’t have the money in their account (especially if nothing is in place to make sure Rentacoder.com can get their fees in such a situation). What a pathetic business this has turned out to be.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

So, I’m planning another trip out of the country and the fist thing that came to mind was how heavy my bags and gear were on my last trip. After my last trip, I’d already decided that I absolutely had to travel lighter on future international excursions.

I have always made an effort to travel light however, my trip to Germany and Ireland in 2007 was the first time I officially traveled as a filmmaker. I took with me my Panasonic DVX100B, full sized tripod, mini tripod, one full sized high wattage light, 15″ laptop, and a whole host of other gear I never used. It was the first time I’d carried a large suitcase as well. The suitcase needed to be large enough for my full sized tripod to fit collapsed. That’s still a pretty big bag. I didn’t like it at all.

So now I’m planning what looks like a trip to Singapore and Thailand and I have to travel light. Here are some of the issues I faced on my last international trip.

1. I worried about overweight baggage fees every time I had to catch a flight. At my home airport, I had to run to a gift shop, buy another bag, and transfer some items from the large bag to the new smaller bag to avoid paying $80 in overweight baggage fees. Later, I ended up having to pay $250 Euros on my trip from Ireland to Frankfurt because of my overweight bag. That was almost $200 Euros more than the actual cost of the plane ticket! **The airline was Lufthansa which does well on long flights (I flew from the US to Frankfurt with the same bags with no charges) but does not do well on short flights (I guess you have to travel damn near naked on short flights).

2. I had to lug around a heavy bag and my backpack. I did plan ahead with this as best as possible but the reality is, my bags were heavy. The smaller bag I had to buy at the airport fit on top of the larger bag and the large bag had wheels so I could just pull them around but again, the bags were heavy and I felt like I was running a marathon anytime I had to move them. I also stayed in a 3 story hotel in Germany with no elevators (yep I was on the top floor), and a 3 story B&B in Dublin with no elevators of course (and on the top floor again). So it was quite unpleasant trying to get my bags up and down the stairs. My backpack was also heavy because in it were my Panasonic DVX100B, 15″ laptop, batteries, tapes, microphones, etc.

3. I drew too much attention for my taste by using my fancy camera and carrying around my tripod. This by far became the biggest issue for me, although I had no idea I would be bothered by this prior to this trip. This is more of a personal preference if you will. I know many filmmakers who have no issues with drawing attention while they film, it comes with the job. However, I do not like this at all. For me there are some safety concerns as well as creative concerns. Some things to consider… I was grilled at the airport in Frankfurt about whether or not I’d filmed anything when I went to the Reeperbahn. My camera is always thoroughly checked at the security check points. This means pulling out all your gear for everyone at the check point to see (Not very safe; especially when they do it while you have to take your shoes off and on and you can’t glue your eyes to your stuff).

A funny thing… I was carrying around my tripod in it’s bag while in Dublin and I was riding the buses a lot. I got on this one bus and the driver asked me “Is that a gun?”. I had to laugh, it did look like a rifle bag. But what was really interesting is that the driver was serious but he didn’t seem at all concerned if it were a gun. Funny those Irish folks are. :)

Related posts:

1. New Developments on The Creative Front In light of my ramble about being the filmmaker...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

I never thought I would need to write an article of this nature, however, due to the overwhelming flood of snore inducing e-mails from readers hoping for publishing deals or to obtain acting and/or film crew jobs, I feel I must offer some advice.

I’m not exactly sure what is being taught in school these days but how to write effective letters and inquiries must not be one of them. When I was growing up, we were indeed taught this in school (and I’m not that old). So let’s say you are my age and you skipped school those days or you are younger and are a victim of modern substandard schooling and you find yourself writing gems like this (Yep, I’m using a few real e-mail messages):

Your e-mail:
“I’d like to be a part of “XYZ” film. Thanks, Some lazy person”

“Interested in working on “X” film and “Y” film.”

My Response:
So what?

*And let’s not forget the messages sent entirely in capital letters.

Your e-mail:
“Hi, I have a book proposal for “XYZ” book for “ABC” audience. It’s serious info. presented in a slightly comical manner. Are you interested in hearing more?”

My response:
Why on earth would I? You’ve given me little or no reason to be interested.

I’m typically all about anti-conformity and pro-creativity, however, when it comes to getting someone to invest in you and your craft, you have to get their attention. That means being both professional and creative at the same time. If you are professional and creative in how you present yourself and it is clear that you value your craft and its place in your life then you are on the right path, even if others still choose not to invest in you. *If your art (writing, acting, and/or film crew member) is all about business than you are on a hustle plan I can’t help you with (for example, if the only way a filmmaker can make a film (i.e. do their art), is to get funds from investors for which they have to pay this money back and then some, then your art has become a business deal. Whereas if you make the best film you can make with your own money or from “gift” money, then your art remains art (and this art may become financially viable as well).

I find that people who do not take time to present themselves in professional and creative ways such as with the examples listed, usually lack the energy, commitment and drive that is vital to a working relationship and to their craft. Publishers and filmmakers see far too many inquiries from short-term energy sucking individuals and are conditioned to weed them out based on a set of warning signals. I personally feel these are valid warning signals unlike those used in 99% of standard job interviews (yes that’s a little jab. *smile*).

Ok, so now that you’re face has been ripped off, let’s put you back together here. It’s all about being helpful. At the least, you want to practice BASIC letter/inquiry writing. That means picking up a book or two or surfing the web and finding info on the correct elements required in your basic professional letter or inquiry. You also want to always use your spell check and double check your grammar. An e-mail or written letter is not an instant or text message conversation. Do not use “web” or “mobile talk” outside of your cell phone or instant message. This is the bare minimum to at least get people to respect your inquiry (now there is a word no one seems to be familiar with anymore).

If you are an author looking to be published there is absolutely no excuse for making unprofessional inquiries. The Writer’s Market and many other books have provided step by step instructions on how to write query letters for the publishing market. The Writer’s Market also provides information on how to contact publishing companies to obtain their guidelines for submissions. In addition, publishing companies with websites, usually list this information directly on their sites.

Those serious about acting should always write a professional letter to gather information about the production and to provide some information about your abilities. If possible, send a demo and resume and definitely a head shot. For acting talent, I’m personally less interested in the resume and more interested in a demo. I definitely put a high premium on a demo. Demos help filmmakers visualize how you might fit into their production. In this case the professional letter is a formality that commands attention and respect. From there, your demo helps me make a tentative choice.

Do not take rejection personally when you have done the right thing. Not everyone will be interested in what you love to do. That is a simple, unavoidable reality. Even if NO one is interested, it does not mean you have to change how you feel about your craft. You should be doing it for yourself anyway (no matter how cliche that is).

None of us can afford to give in to lazy people with power. Have you ever, in searching for a job, happen to read any of the contradictory articles about how to write a resume? The US is relatively the only country that uses what I call the “lazy man’s” resume. Whereas most other countries require a Curriculum Vitae to apply for jobs or universities. Upon reading the contradictory articles one thing stood out. The bulleted resume is for lazy people with power. CVs can and are concise but at the same time give the most accurate level of information for making hiring decisions. We must always present ourselves with the most accurate level of information. Period. Before you shift into powerless mode, ask yourself… Do I really want to develop a working relationship with anyone who can’t spend 20 minutes reading about me and my craft? (because just like how not being professional and creative says something about you, not taking the time to choose the best talent and crew or new author says a lot about them). In addition, presenting yourself to publishers and filmmakers with the best level of information will also give you an opportunity to review your accomplishments. This is always a good thing.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

I’m just about finished getting Our Side Of Joy down to two hours or less. It’s still a very tough process. It feels as if this film is really two complete films in one and most likely that’s pretty much what it is.  It has caused me to think about my documentary career. Before I think I just looked at making documentaries from the perspective of choosing a topic and trying to cover as many aspects of the topic as possible. In the end, I think this is fine for multi-volume and academic releases. But I need to be extremely careful in the future when I shoot films for the film festival cuircut. I never have it in my head that my films will be available for theratrical release. I’d be lying if I said I cared about having my films in theaters. The reality is… I don’t. I do like the idea of having my films show at film festivals, on TV and availale on DVD for retail sales. With that in mind, I must decide on topics and how they will be filmed based on where and how I plan to release them.  I should have shot Our Side of Joy differently for festival and TV release. DVD releases are awesome because you don’t have to compromise on content.  I did initially feel I was going to film Our Side of Joy for the festival cuircut but I didn’t think enough about content in terms of the extent to which I would cover topics and how they releate to each other. In order words, my initial goals for this film in terms of topic coverage was just way too broad. Now I have goo-gobs of very useful footage making it a nightmare to carve down to less than 2 hours for film festivals and TV broadcasting.

Related posts:

1. Being The Filmmaker I Want to Be This past month has been a real eye opener....

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

I’m back to share with you all that has happened since Part 3 of this project. *Smile* Several things… First, I received the 26″ HDTV and realized it was enormous. Then I opened it up and realized it was scary. Then I fixed it for $21.99. *Insert Diabolical Laugh Here* The 26″ HDTV did indeed have an issue with the 8 CCFL inverter. One of the 8 transformers on the PCB board was bad so for $21.99 I bought a new replacement transformer, desoldered the bad one and soldered on the new. Now I’m using the fantastic TV to write this post. *Smile* I have also written an Instructable on how to test and replace the transformers on the inverter in this TV (It is a very common inverter board that is present in lots of name brand LCD TVs and the transformer problem is a known issue for this board). You can check out the instructable HERE.

Alright, so this quest has rewarded me with a 26″ HDTV for roughly $60. Not bad. But what about my production monitor project? Well, it’s still on and poppin’. I received the Proscan controller board and inverter and hooked it up to my LCD panel. The only problem is, I have no cable to hook the inverter to the mainboard where it will draw it’s power from. So I was basically back to square one and had to order the connector cables today ($2). I don’t anticipate there will be an issue with this setup once I get the cable and I think I can move on to building a case for my monitor once I’ve verified it works with the new controller and inverter. … Well, I take that back. I did do something silly. I blew a capacitor on the Proscan board by plugging this high powered 12V adapter into it. It sounded like a cheap handgun going off and spewed its powdery guts all over the place. Neat. *Insert Diabolical Laugh Here* But I soldered on a new higher voltage capacitor in it’s place and will use a more appropriate power adapter if I haven’t killed the board. It didn’t look like the rest of the board was damaged but we shall see. The Proscan controller also has a DC connector and uses a laptop style power adapter. This is just what I wanted. If I’m feeling really lofty, I may build a solar powered UPS battery backup with two-stage battery charging for the monitor for extended use applications.

Lastly, I’ve abandoned the idea of using a laptop LCD for a production monitor. Simply put, it is the difference between choosing a car that just needs a new fuse to fix the head lights or a car that needs an engine and a battery and on top of that, the car in the worst shape will cost you more. *Smile*

Once I have the LCD guts working I can focus on building a rugged case to survive vigorous production use.

*NOTE* You may want to consider the size of your finished production monitor if you plan on traveling via the airlines. Mine will be 15-17 inches and I wouldn’t take that with me if I was flying anywhere. You could ship it and hope no one gets the hot fingers with it. *Smile*

I also want to add that my economic goal for this monitor is for it to cost less than $100. I admit that had I known as much as I’ve learned since I first started this, I would have spent far less than I have so far. Right now the cost of the monitor project is at about $75, if I stick to using the Proscan controller and inverter. However, if I just repair the original PSU, then the cost would be about $30-40 (but I would have to plug the thing into the wall all the time. Booooooo!). Also, if I’d known then what I knew now, I could have gotten a similar Polaroid TV with a good PSU for dirt cheap and swapped it out. But know YOU know and you should be able to avoid my costly mistakes.

*If some elements to the right block your view of the photos below, scroll down until they are off the screen. The image will stay in place.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.