Let’s Film Stuff!

Hello filmmakers! This week I answer your questions with another filmmaker Q&A. This time I go over how to sound design your film.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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!

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!

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.

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.