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On SmashWordsFilm School Alternatives — What About How to Learn Filmmaking Courses on DVD?
Welcome to the DOJO!
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).
The Digital Cinema Filmmaking DVD Course
If you’re like me, then the best way to learn is by watching and listening to someone else as they do things. Reading works fine for a foundation but things really only click when you can see a task being done. The Digital Cinema Filmmaking DVD course is a perfect example of that. The filmmaking course comes on a set of 25 DVDs loaded with practical examples and information on almost every aspect of filmmaking you can image — anything you could ever want to learn about filmmaking can be found in this DVD collection. Hamden goes well beyond his own expertise and recruits experts in the field to help you out — learn basic lighting techniques from techs at Arri, learn lighting control and correction from Rosco techs and more. These guys give some fantastic information. As someone who has been on tons of low budget and big budget films, I was still learning stuff while watching the DVDs.
The DVDs cover filmmaking equipment and gear, basic filmmaking, feature filmmaking techniques, lighting techniques, audio and even digital compositing. And, as I mentioned, these topics are covered by some of the top people in the field — pros working every day for the top companies in the business. This is the key to the success of these DVDs — you’re getting information from working pros with verifiable credentials versus training or film web schools by people with iffy credits at best.
I just can’t say enough good things about the quality of the Digital Cinema Filmmaking DVD Course
The only downside to the courses, if there is one, is the price. The full course costs a little over $500. However, you’re getting an entire filmmaking course that would costs $20,000 or more if you were forced to go to filmschool. This set is an investment in your career and is far beyond any of the cheaper film courses advertised online. The Digital Cinema Filmmaking DVD Course is something that every indie filmmaker should have in their DVD player 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. If you are serious about wanting to learn filmmaking, this is the DVD course set for you.
If you are a newbie looking to get started in low budget, guerilla filmmaking or a seasoned pro looking to expand your knowledge, then you are doing yourself a disservice by not checking out the Digital Cinema Filmmaking DVD course set by Rush Hamden.
Anyway, Cousin Frank placed his order for the Digital Cinema Filmmaking DVD Course
That’s it from the DOJO for today. Check back tomorrow for a new post. Until then, keep shooting!
- Mat Nastos, Film Sensei
http://www.FilmSensei.com
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Im also interested… How i wish I could buy this DVD’s but I will save enough money…
April 18th, 2009 at 9:40 pm