FILMMAKER RESOURCE THREAD - please contribute

[Benjamin Boer]

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

[Jack Barker]

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.

[Michael Wisniewski]

Microsoft OneNote

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.

[Marius Boruch]

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

[Michael Wisniewski]

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

[Dan Hudgins]

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.

[Greg Donovan]

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

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

[Dave Brown]

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

[Alex Payne]

Mandy's Film and TV Production Directory - television - video - broadcast
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

[Chris Sgaraglino]

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, we have a satellite group in Oceanside - California 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

[Bob Hart]

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