Review: Fightscenes for Motion Pictures by the Kerby Brothers

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I wanted to follow-up my earlier post on DVD courses for learning filmmaking with something a little different.  About a year ago I was working on a low budget indie action film of my own — I’d worked on tons of them in the past as a storyboard artist and have put together an insane number of action sequences as a comic book artist, but this was the first time I was going to be directing an action flick of my own.  Since I was on an incredibly low budget (anemic budget would be more accurate), I knew we weren’t going to have a big stunt team or have weeks of training for our actors.  To try and avoid the crappy looking action bits that plague low budget indie and guerilla films, I wanted to do as much pre-work as I could for the fight sequences we’d be filming. 

Sure, I am a rabid fan of martial arts and action movies and have hundreds (if not more) in my collection.  And, sure, I’d storyboarded 30 or more action flicks over the course of my career.  But, the truth is, I had no practical knowledge on putting together a fight scene on set.  What was worse was, I had absolutely no idea where to start.

Luckily for me a quick Google search resulted in one of the best low buget indie filmmaking finds I’ve ever had the pleasure to discover.  What I’m talking about is a down-and-dirty instructional DVD called “Fightscenes for Motion Pictures” by the Kerby Brothers (www.kbproducts.com).  I’ve stolen some of the images from their website — here’s hoping they don’t get upset and come to kick my ass! Full Story →

Film School Alternatives — What About How to Learn Filmmaking Courses on DVD?

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Woooo!  It’s time again for a new bit of wisdom from the Film Sensei.  Now that the holidays are over and the in-laws have all gone home and left the DOJO quiet and peaceful once more I can get back to the important things in life…enlightening to unlightened. 

While I do make fun of my wife’s family from time to time, one of the benefits of the holidays is a chance to hang out with her cousin, Cousin Frank.  You see, Cousin Frank is a wannabe indie filmmaker — and I use “wannabe” in the best possible way.  He loves film and is incredibly interested in the entire filmmaking process — from low budget, indie or guerilla filmmaking all the way up to the $100 million Hollywood films.  He buys DVDs just for their behind-the-scenes featurettes and is the only person I know to have scoured the internet for copies of every season of Project: Greenlight — heck, he’s probably reading this post right now!

Cousin Frank’s problem (aside from a receeding hairline he hides by shaving his head) is that he wants to take his passion to the next step but doesn’t know where to start.  He works fulltime and doesn’t really have the money for film school…even if he did, he’s read far too many articles online telling him that film school is a complete waste for most people.  Well, when I met with Cousin Frank at my wife’s Aunt Mary’s house on Christmas Eve he announced he was ready to make the leap and wanted to know what the best way to learn filmmaking — was it online?  DVDs? Books? Workshops?  All he knew was he didn’t want to waste the time or money going to film school.

What I told Cousin Frank was:  there is no universal way for someone to learn filmmaking.  For some people books work, while for others book-learning doesn’t.  Same for DVDs or online courses.  But, I did agree that film school really wasn’t the best place to learn — the best place is to get out and work on some sets and then to put together your own indie or guerilla films.  However, if he wanted to learn the how tos of filmmaking, then one of the absolute best courses I’ve had the pleasure to come across is the Digital Cinema Filmmaking DVD course by Rush Hamden (also called the Digital Filmmaker’s Training Course DVDs). Full Story →

Low Budget Lighting Equipment Tips: How good are Britek Lights?

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It was another fantastic holiday season here at the Sensei household, filled with fun,with friends and with family.  It was also filled, surprisingly enough, with some indie / guerilla filmmaking questions from a most unexpected of places: my in-laws!

Now, it’s not surprising to have various members of my wife’s family want to talk to me about making movies or ideas for films (heck, her father gives me hour long movie pitches at every dinner we go to with them!).  The unusual part was to have one of her relatives come up to me while attending the yearly Christmas party at Aunt Mary’s house and start to fire off some very specific questions on indie filmmaking equipment in general and guerilla lighting equipment in specifc.  Cousin Frank, you see, was very interested in what it takes for someone with limited funds to put together a low budget lighting kit — one that won’t break after a couple of uses and will still hold up to the rigors of independent filmmaking!

As somone whose career has spanned ultra high budget films all the way down to $5000 features shot over a week, I not only understand the necessity of a good lighting kits but also the need of an indie or guerilla filmmaker to put something reliable together on a low cost.  While the big boys have fantastic equipment from Arri, Mole, Lowell and Kinoflow, that same equipment is oft-times way out of budget range for a low budget filmmaker.  Cousin Frank wanted to know if there were any alternatives out there for him outside of working with Home Depot work lights.  Was there a way for him to get some “real lights” (his words) for under $1000, for under $500 or for less?

The answer I gave Cousin Frank was a resounding “Yes.”  Full Story →