Gotta give props to Mike Curtis of "HD For Indies (http://www.hdforindies.com/)" fame for pointing out this site:

Tools and Utilities For Filmmakers (http://www.dependentfilms.net/files.html) -- check out all the useful stuff in there and bookmark it immediately!

Good stuff Chris.

ATTENTION TO EVERYONE:

I've made this a sticky thread so we can keep one database of any resources for indie filmmaking that we find. Please add anything you think is worthy. Please keep off topic posts and meta-posts to a minimum (or I'll klenze them) so we can keep this an easy thread to read for any new visitors.

Thanks!

Script writing:
http://www.scriptsales.com/
http://wordplayer.com/
http://www.writemovies.com/

Movie scripts:
http://www.movie-page.com/movie_scripts.htm
http://www.scriptcrawler.net/ (script search engein)
http://www.script-o-rama.com/snazzy/dircut.html
http://simplyscripts.com/

THE film festival submission site (almost every film fest is using them now):
http://www.withoutabox.com

filmsound.org (http://www.filmsound.org/) - more information than you ever wanted to know about sound for film.

sagindie.com (http://www.sagindie.com/) - actor's guild site for indie filmmakers

shootingpeople.org (http://shootingpeople.org/) - indie film community board for people based in London or New York

monstrous.com (http://www.monstrous.com/) - a place to research things monstrous

ifp.org (http://www.ifp.org) - independent film p... ???

scottspears.net (http://www.scottspears.net/filmmakpg3.html) - indie film tips, techniques, video tutorials, and articles

storyteller.net (http://www.storyteller.net/) - a place to delve into traditional storytelling

The Amateur Movie Portal (http://www.jushhome.com/AmMoviePort/) contains hundreds of categorized, searchable links to indie resources including...

General Tips & Tricks (http://www.jushhome.com/AmMoviePort/links.asp?CatId=145)
Screenwriting (http://www.jushhome.com/AmMoviePort/links.asp?CatId=171)
Do-it-yourself gear (http://www.jushhome.com/AmMoviePort/links.asp?CatId=153)
Lighting (http://www.jushhome.com/AmMoviePort/links.asp?CatId=196)
Sound (http://www.jushhome.com/AmMoviePort/links.asp?CatId=175)
Visual Effects (http://www.jushhome.com/AmMoviePort/links.asp?CatId=146)

And much more.
You can even add your own links.
Have fun.

I've learned that www.imdb.com is a great way to check out (and even verify) potential fellow filmmakers to help out. In this industry, there are few serious people, plenty of talkers and a couple of strange ones. I ran into a strange one recently, hence me posting this.

heath

Hey Heath, I was looking at all the search options on IMDB. Is there a certain way you searched that allowed for "Location" etc? If so, can you point me to the page? They have 4-5 different searches, but none are giving me a "Location" search!

Thanks..

This may help, Murph. (http://www.imdb.com/Help/search-tips)

heath

www.moviebytes.com

Excellent resource for screenwriters. They have a screenwriting contest rating system that is very comprehensive. They also regularly publish interviews with screenwriters who have just landed their first sale.

Heath, exactly! Thanks..

Association of Independent Video and Film

www.aivf.org

Why hasn't anyone mentioned http://www.sonnyboo.com yet?

<<<-- Originally posted by Rob Yannetta : Why hasn't anyone mentioned http://www.sonnyboo.com yet? -->>>

We were waiting for you to post it.

clickable
http://www.sonnyboo.com

Work with people you know, or know of. A friend of mine and I (and a crew) got burned. Or at least have a rock-solid contract.

heath

NOrthern California, San Francisco and the Penninsula resouces.

Bay Area Video Coalition www.bavc.org

Film Arts Foundation www.filmarts.org


Both excellent sources. Filmarts for equipment rental, BAVC for classes and post finishing. Both have 'job forums' with some cross-posting, but not always. Divided into paying and non-paying gigs. Good stuff

I know I sounded a little cynical, but BE CAREFUL out there!

A local resource for South Florida filmmakers: www.palmbeachfilmschool.com

I know, I work there, but we're helping to cultivate local filmmakers and the free lifetime use of gear is GREAT, upon graduation.

heath

Ran across this site through a series of links out of www.Homebuiltstabilizers.com:

Click here for Behind The Scenes (http://www.sticktowhatyouknow.com/bts/)

Software for basic storyboarding / pre-vis.
Runs on Mac and PC.
Starter version is free!

http://www.directorsnotebook.com/

I can't believe no one has mentioned IFP.
http://www.ifp.org/
Becoming a member has REAL benefits.
Both Coasts and in between as well.

Hollywood Camera Work (6 DVD set) (http://www.hollywoodcamerawork.us/) This is a very good DVD course on narrative camera work. Excellent for thinking and visualizing what the camera is "saying" and doing. The content is densely packed, so expect repeated viewings to catch all the details.

Highly recommended. Here are some sample clips (http://www.hollywoodcamerawork.us/mc_sampleclips.html?frontthumb=1) to get a feel for the DVDs.

NOrthern California, San Francisco and the Penninsula resouces.

Bay Area Video Coalition www.bavc.org

Film Arts Foundation www.filmarts.org


Both excellent sources. Filmarts for equipment rental, BAVC for classes and post finishing. Both have 'job forums' with some cross-posting, but not always. Divided into paying and non-paying gigs. Good stuff


hello,

i wonder if somebody could share their expirience with BAVC in san francisco.
since i have my canon, i learned, that i have to learn.!

the web site looks interesting, and this company is also in driving range.

thanks for your input.

greetings

Just wrapped a 3-day short horror film shoot, written and directed by one of my former students, Lance Stranahan, which I produced. Jon Fordham (http://hdvinfo.net/articles/misc/fordham6.php) was the DP, and we had a full crew, many from the school (www.palmbeachfilmschool.com) I teach at. Footage looks great, and everyone busted their butts to help Lance realize his vision.

We shot on the Z1, provided by Jim York of the Palm Beach Film School (www.palmbeachfilmschool.com), and we had a full grip and electric to get the lighting just right. Boris CiFuentes (www.borisnyc.com), our gaffer, along with Matt Miller (www.rentacamonline.com) (our 1st AC) worked hard with Jon to get things right. Also, big thanks to the entire crew and cast, the owner of the house we shot in, the Film School, and everyone else for all their hard work. Oh, and Pro Video Sales (www.provideosales.com) were kind enough to allow use of their matte box and follow focus.

I believe Jon will write a review of the shoot, along with thoughts on the Z1, when he gets a chance.

heath

I love classic movies of all sorts, and Turner Classic Moviess channel if one that I watch regularly. Tonight the have a Danny Kaye block on, so I'm there. In between movies, they start talking abiut the elements of all the classic films, from lighting and music, to directors. They also have an online curriculum that discuss all of these elments, at http://www.storyofmovies.org/

http://www.cinematography.com Great resource for DPs

www.celtx.com free scriptwriting and more software - very cool with a collaboration feature that lets you upload it to a server and work on it from anywhere and share it with others you choose (i.e. attach photos, notes and more and share with say producers, DPs, other writers, crew, cast, etc)

Hey everyone,

I attended an Indie Film club meeting Thursday night in West Palm Beach, Florida. The meeting was held at G-Star Studios, and this place and its people are great!

G-Star is a magnet high school, with over 500 students, and it will increase to a maximum of 700 next year. It is the largest school of its kind in the country. They have a full movie and television production studios on the grounds, with eight buildings, 84,000 sq. ft. under roof on 12 acres.

The school was the brain child of founder Greg Hauptner and with its great success came donations and support that enabled them to buy the school and property from the Palm Beach County school district. They have had at least 6 feature films shot there since their opening and others are scheduled.

Let me give you just a few reasons to visit their site and or make an appointment for a free tour, besides the beautiful Southern Florida weather!

My top five reasons to consider them!

5. They have full facilities, to include set construction, machine shop, commissary, full editing studios with Avid, FCP, Premiere, etc., and T-1 lines in all buildings. They are a non-profit organization, and those donating get tax write offs. At a recent shoot, a production company needed a high-rise building location, and the owner wanted $11,000 for the use of the building. The school got the owner to donate its use for a tax deduction and so it cost the production company nothing, free!

4. They have agreements in place so that you can mix SAG actors with non-SAG actors, for crowd scenes etc., and many award winning students to draw actors and other help from.

3. You have a great selection of other locations near the studio, and one-stop permitting for films etc., with support by local, regional and State politicians, Congressmen, school officials and business organizations.

2. You need only your normal insurance, as they carry full production insurance at all times.

1. And #1----IT IS ALL FREE, NO CHARGE! You pay only for electricity, phone usage, housekeeping and trash pickup. There is no additional cost.


Additionally, you don't have to be shooting a big movie to use the school, any project is welcome. Visit the website for additional information, but if this isn’t the ultimate tool for the Indie Filmmaker, then I don’t know what is.

Mike

http://www.gstarschool.org/motionpicture.asp

You have to either allow G-Star's high school students onto the set or lecture. It's a win-win.

G-Star is the kind of school I wish was around in 1990, when I entered into high school. One of the teachers there teaches sound at the Palm Beach Film School, where I am lead instructor.

South Florida's film industry is growing, and schools like G-Star and the Palm Beach Film School are helping to train the filmmakers who will give us great art.

heath

UCB Theatre (http://www.ucbtheatre.com/) - Upright Citizen's Brigade Theatre

A great place to cut your teeth on live, on-the-fly story telling and sketch comedy. Watch a few of the shows or take some classes. Checkout ASSSSCat Sunday nights in NYC, and you may see a few SNL people joining in on the fun.

It's a great way to immerse yourself in the art of the storytelling.

Be inspired to use stabilizers and bring some new flavours
to your shots.

www.steadishots.org



Alexandre Lucena

Anybody find a good website that gives you a reference to scenes of actual movies allowing you to study them.
Why, you ask?

This would come in handy if were struggling to figure out how to shoot a scene in the script. Something which a DOP could find handy as a reference.

Example: If I was looking for a shot in an alleyway, I could search the database on the site and recieve the title; the time in the movie it happens; and comments on the technique used etc.

Thanks for your comments.
(I am still searching and I am looking at the sites mentioned above too.)

Benjamin

The most DP-centric web site I know of is
http://www.cinematography.com/forum2004/
Whether they have what you are looking for is another matter. I think wat you suggested is a great idea for any web site devoted to the motion picture arts.

Microsoft OneNote (http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/onenote/HA100325211033.aspx)

An "electronic notebook" that actually works! The interface is simple, effective, and can be very addictive. A good tool to organize all that un-structured / one-off data.

where can I find information about legal aspects of film making (ie. what can be filmed and what requires signed release; general giude)

Being a lifelong geeky Doctor Who fan, I picked up the Doctor Who: Shooting Scripts book and have been having fun breaking down the first season. It's a great way to see how BBC production interpreted the scripts and it's also to see how Russel T. Davis structured the scripts for a television series. Think of it as one step beyond the DVD commentaries.

Book - Doctor Who: The Shooting Scripts
DVDs - Doctor Who: The Complete First Series

I am developing a "freeish" full post production DI system with color correction and sound mixing for feature film post production and would like to work with filmmakers to help them produce 35mm prints of their projects for projection, as well as down sized output frames for making Blu-Ray and DVD etc.

My system works with both movie film scans 8mm to IMAX size, and with digital frames from Digital Cinema cameras and frames converted from video files with a program like VIRTUALDUB (tm) etc.

You can read more about the 0K to 8K+ workflows at my site, and can e-mail me direct if you have any questions or need support for finishing your feature film project. The program names are: DANCINES.EXE (tm) for DIY movie film scanning, DANCAD87.EXE v3.7N (tm) for DI, editing, color correction, and sound mixing, and DANCINEL.EXE (tm) for DIY film recorder output it, shoots off a 1600x1200 LCD monitor or 2048x1536 CRT monitor and controls the movie camera and gamma adjustments to compensate for the film stocks used, negative or positive.

The programs run under FreeDOS FAT32 (tm), Windows ME boot floppy (tm), or on some computers under Windows XP Home SP3 (tm). FreeDOS FAT32 (tm) lets you run several PC boxes in parallel to process frames faster "without" OS licence fees.

My software also includes 512 track sound mixing going out to 16 channel sound for multi-track feature film sound track finishing. Dual computer playback is used with one computer running Magix deLuxe (tm) or some other SMPTE WAV player, and the other running my programs in MASTER/SLAVE for image playback 25/25/30fps full screen.

Dan Hudgins
tempnulbox [at] yahoo [dot] com
The official DANCAD3D (tm) Beta Test Web site. (http://www.DANCAD3D.com)

I just thought that I'd let you guys know that if you go to http://www.archive.org and use the Wayback Machine, most of the Amateur Movie Portal is available.

Amateur Movie Portal (http://web.archive.org/web/20070930222127/http://www.jushhome.com/AmMoviePort/default.asp)

Some of the links you need to shift-click to open in a new window for them to work, but for the most part everything functions.

Greg

To add to a recent thread, here is a link to information about filming with firearms:

The 12 Greatest Myths about Firearms on Film Sets: What every filmmaker needs to know (http://www.b-independent.com/production/12firearmmyths.htm)

Mandy's Film and TV Production Directory - television - video - broadcast (http://www.mandy.com)
is basically craigslist (but a more reputable craigslist) for filmmakers. You can find job listings, casting calls, various gigs in your area, etc., etc., and I believe you can post one free ad a month (so if you need crew or actors....)

For people in the New York area, I've had fantastic luck getting actors from
www.nycasting.com

The Video Production Network in Colorado Springs,and the now have a satellite branch in Oceanside CA.
With over 100 members, this has been a HUGE resource for me in getting film projects done!

Their About Info:

This group (Network) has been formed to allow the freedom of its members to produce film and video projects with like-minded people in a friendly and creative environment. We are a network of industry amateurs and professionals, most with day jobs, that are getting together to complete different projects.

Founded in Colorado Springs - Colorado (http://www.thevideoproductionnetwork.com), we have a satellite group in Oceanside - California (http://oceanside.thevideoproductionnetwork.com) and we are looking to move into Denver - Colorado and the Washington DC area in the very near future.

From Indie shorts for the next film festival to nationally televised commercials. We are not a social club; we will run like a fully staffed production house, a business with a set of leaders and directives with a long-term focus on completing profitable projects.

http://www.thevpnhd.com

Here is a link to one of several post-production ":how-to's" published on vimeo by the DoP of the techically ambitious short film "Factory 293".

The publisher, Andrew Gordon is somewhat of a post-production wizard. As well as doing digital cleanup of what was a very derelect location for the also ambitious short film "Trigger", he used a technique of shooting high quality background stills and using them with tracking techniques in post to enhance the apparent definition and image quality of motion footage shot on Canon 5D and 7D cameras.

3D CAMERA STABILISATION TUTORIAL (by Andrew Gordon) on Vimeo