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Choose the Best Camera for Documentary Filmmaking

Over the past decade, cameras have empowered filmmakers with higher resolutions, better optics, and smaller camera bodies, making them easier to carry and use in the field. But, with all the options available, what cameras should you choose? Although larger cameras can shoot better images, smaller cameras are ideal in

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How to Be an Effective Director in Post Production

Once a movie is complete and enters the post production phase, the director is usually exhausted and may be disappointed with the results of the footage. It’s rare in the independent world for a director to have achieved her exact vision due to time and budget restrictions. By this point

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Unlock the Most Powerful Acting Tool – Backstory

A play, story, or movie is nothing more than a short glimpse of a part of a character’s life in a moment of conflict. The audience does not have the luxury of knowing the character from birth, so personality and behavioral traits, quirks, likes and dislikes, and temperaments must be

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How to Direct Inexperienced Actors

As independent filmmakers, we need to use the resources we have available.  Often times, those limitations extend to actors.  While it would be great if we could afford to hire SAG-AFTRA actors from a top agency for our projects, the reality is that we are forced to work with amateurs.

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Surviving Long Shooting Days on Set

We’ve all been on productions that seem to never end. 12-hour days turn into 14-hours, which turn into-16 hours. The shoot runs late into the night with no signs of ending, and everyone on the cast and crew is exhausted. Driving your crew into the ground is not only counter productive, it’s also

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Choosing the Best Camera For Your Shoot

It’s time to start a new project, and the first question most people ask is “What camera should I use?” While professional cinematographers grimace when novice directors always want the latest and greatest camera, you should let the project decide the camera – not the hype.  Sure, the Alexa, Red

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Filmmaking Techniques to Get Proper Coverage

The set is a busy, stressful place to work.  You’ve spent weeks, if not months preparing for each shooting day, and when it arrives you have to create art out of chaos.  There are a thousand things that can go wrong. Crew members call in sick, a breaker pops, location owners get demanding,

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