Hello filmmakers! This week I answer your questions with another filmmaker Q&A. This time I go over how to sound design your film.
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It’s been a moment. Sorry about that! I took some much needed time to spend with family and just live life, as well… I’m usually so busy with all my various projects that I don’t often get to stop and smell the roses like Spence. Seriously though, he loves smelling flowers and it’s adorable. With the end of one year and the start of another I found myself reflecting on my life goals and how I can better achieve them. And if you haven’t noticed, one of those life goals is directing films. So here's an update about the future of the channel.
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Nowadays it feels like we spend our whole life on zoom. It’s how we connect with friends and for some of us even how we work. I mean right now my entire job is remote directing where I’m on zoom all day. And like probably most of you, I suffered from bad lighting and unflattering camera angles at first, but as a filmmaker I knew this wouldn’t fly. So I thought I’d share with you some handy zoom video lighting tips so I can show you how to look better on zoom calls.
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Recently I went to the Oregon Short Film Festival and decided to upgrade my phone vlogging setup before I went. While I love my camera, sometimes when I travel I just don’t want to be weighed down by a bunch of video gear and the iPhone cameras have gotten really good, so I like to rock an all iPhone setup. And I’ve got to say, this is the best flogging phone setup I’ve ever had, and I’m super excited to share it with you.
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Good composition in simplest terms is the arranging of subjects in your frame to form a pleasing image, and the keyword here is pleasing. So let’s go over some tips on how to compose your frame and when to break the rules.
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If you can believe it, Christmas is right around the corner though it still feels like I’m living in some sort of weird bad dream that started in 2020. But as a fellow filmmaker that people always struggle to buy things for, I thought what better time to share with you my top gift ideas for filmmakers for Christmas!
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Recently my short film The Round Table premiered at the 2021 Oregon Short Film Festival. If you’ve seen my other videos, you’ve probably seen lots and lots of behind the scenes footage for The Round Table, so I thought this might be the perfect time to share with you my adventure outside, review the Oregon Short Film Festival, and go over what it’s like to go to a film festival right now. So let’s get into it!
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White balancing can affect the overall look of your film, and by color balancing incorrectly you can end up with a color cast to your footage. So let’s get into why white balancing is important and how you can do it!
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Aperture or depth of field can help focus your audience’s attention and give your films a cinematic look. So let’s get into what aperture is and how you can use it.
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Often when you hear people talk about the technical specs of a film they focus on frame rate and resolution size. I mean who can blame them, 4K is pretty exciting! But there’s another huge factor that comes into play when shooting your film, and that’s shutter speed.
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An Electronic Press Kit is a digital document that has various information and images about your film. It’s a vital piece of marketing for your film when submitting to film festivals and making sure it’s the best it can be is a key piece to getting your film accepted into festivals. So let’s go over all the things that need to be included for an electronic press kit for film including some tips on how you can really make your film EPK shine.
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Recently I’ve got a lot of requests from all of you about how I edit my videos and what editing program I use. So I wanted to go over my complete premiere pro editing workflow and give you a taste of just how I edit my videos.
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It's spooky season and that's why I'm super excited to announce that I'm joining forces with 13Days13Shorts.com and doing a virtual film festival! There will be special guest judges, prices, and a virtual screening right here on Film It Yourself! But first, we need themes, so head to http://13Days13Shorts.com to submit the themes we'll use for the film festival and let's get spooky!
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If you’ve watched any vlogger on YouTube you’ve probably seen them using this guy, the Gorillapod. But should you buy the Joby gorillapod 3k? Well while it might seem like a tool only for the influencers out there, it can actually be super handy for indie and documentary filmmaking. So let’s get into the pros and cons with a joby gorillapod 3k review.
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You’ve finished your film and you’re excited to start submitting to film festivals, but slow down there speed racer because there’s some important steps you should do first. So, let’s go over some tips to know before submitting to film festivals.
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Production assistants, or PAs for short, are pretty common on sets, all the way from big budget Hollywood films to small indie films. But what does a film production assistant do? Well the answer is a lot of things, so let’s go over all the various things a PA does on set.
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When your film shoot is over and everyone’s rushing to wrap the set, it can be tempting to rush through wrapping up equipment. However, not wrapping XLR cables probably can actually damage the cords on the inside and result in a knotted mess the next time you try to use it. So let’s go over some tips on how to wrap a cable properly.
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When people watch films, they often don’t think about all the hard work that goes into the set. After all, if a production designer did their job well then the backgrounds and sets should just feel like authentic real world spaces. So let’s go over a film production designer job description and discuss exactly what they do.
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We’ve talked about what a Director of Photography is, but you might be thinking what exactly is a camera assistant? And how do they fit in the hierarchy of the camera department? So let’s go over what a camera assistant does and where they fit in.
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Directors of Photography, also known as cinematographers, are usually depicted as the person with the camera. But what does a director of photography actually do? Because you might be surprised to learn that often they actually aren’t the person with the camera. So let’s get into what a director of photography does and why they are essential to every film shoot.
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