Another meeting tonight on the Salem Film Fest that takes place from March 1 to March 8. Hope to find out some of the filmmakers who will be coming from around the globe to attend. You can see some trailers at http://salemfilmfest.com/. Lot of activities in addition to showing films. Students have up to February 1 to enter the Five-Minute Student Film Contest.
While a lot of filmmakers realize that films are a collaborative effort, they don’t always know that the distribution and promotion needs to be one too. As independents, the only way you can have the clout of the majors is by joining together. This is against the nature of many independents. Sharing and helping each other may be the only way that many will survive.
How flexible are you? What would you do if one of your main actors didn’t show up? Do you have a backup scene that you could shoot? What if you lost power and didn’t have enough batteries to power a shoot? What if a piece of equipment gets broken or stolen? What if you didn’t plan well and didn’t have enough tape or cards? What if some of production crew didn’t show up? Would others be able to replace them?
These are some of the things you might run to in a shoot. Do you have your backup plans? Are you able to make instant decisions? Do you have enough cash to help? Cash can sometimes be key if your shooting in a production friendly environment. When you are in rural areas, you will find it harder to find or buy necessary supplies. Did you make friends with other filmmakers in the area. Maybe they can help you or give you advice.
Did you ever have a happy error? When Linkedin sent out invitations to most people in my inbox, I rediscovered a lot of people I forgot. While a lot of time errors cause problems, sometimes something good happens. Maybe you take a wrong turn and discover a scenic view or a good restaurant. Perhaps you didn’t mean to do something, but it comes out better than you hoped. It could be a shot or lighting. Maybe you met new people while looking for someone else. You went looking for some item, and found something you desired more at a better price.
A big question that many of us have is how long will the media that record on last. While film was great, there was still deterioration after many years. Sometimes it was the film color stock or maybe the actual film cellulose. Videotape and different magnetic media doesn’t last forever. There are different experiments to come up with media that will last our lifetime and beyond. Now we can only try and have backup and keep checking.
With the lack of attention of most viewers, do we have to try for perfection? Will more than adequate improve market share? Are the costs devoted to achieve perfection pay off? Is compelling information or a story the most important?
I believe the venue determines the quality necessary. If the production is meant for viewing over the internet or a smart phone, you don’t need the best quality. Even television shows usually don’t get our undivided attention. There are too many things happening around the home. Movies meant for big screens and theatres usually do require better quality, but even then there could be exceptions. A slapstick comedy might be one. What do you think?
Haven’t researched this, but movie on potential cancer cure is very interesting.
http://vimeo.com/24821365
For those who are interested in helping with productions in the future, please email me at mleibov595@aol.com.
