(* This was sent over from the folks at Zooppa about a new video contest they have going on that is wrapping up in November.)

Zooppa.com has an ongoing video contest that would make you excited!!! It’s all about creating a 30-60-second video exposing the secrets of the Ultimate Party Host with the help of the Margaritaville Cargo Mixed Drink Maker. Margaritaville Cargo Mixed Drink Maker helps you create delicious Margaritas fast and easy. You do NOT need to have and/or purchase a drink maker to enter this contest. Get as creative and out of the box as you can.

It could be an interview, backstage before a big party or a documentary-style spoof.

Submit by October 17th at 4pm PST and you will get a chance to win $5,000 for the early bird award. Last Day of submission is November 7th at 4pm PST. Voting period ends November 14th at 4pm PST. For more details, go to: Margaritaville Video Contest.

dsc

Welcome BACK to the DOJO!

Due to health issues, way too much work and my daughter being born, I’ve been just a bit absent from this site for the past two years! Gah…it’s insane that I’ve been gone for that long. Even more insane that during that “hiatus” MovieMaker magazine named the site one of the Top 50 Blogs for Filmmakers earlier this year. Of course, I’m not sure what it says more: that the Film Sensei is a pretty darn good resource for indy and guerrilla filmmakers or that there are just a lot of really bad film blogs out there. Either way, I was pleased to get word.

For my first post back I want to address the question I get asked more than any other here at the Dojo: What is the “best” camera for an indy / guerrilla filmmaker?

The pat (and, actually, incredibly accurate) answer I like to give is: whatever camera you can get!

The funny thing is, a lot of indy guys don’t realize the truth behind that statement. I am constantly talking to guys on message boards who want to be filmmakers but haven’t actually gotten around to shooting anything because they are in “research” mode. For a ton of guys, research mode becomes their focus instead of filmmaking itself. They spend weeks, months, even years researching, learning and comparing the specs of every camera out there, constantly updating the information as new pieces are released, constantly putting off investing in their filmmaking because the next new camera has been announced – the one they are convinced will give them the perfect results – but they just have to wait another few months for it to come out.

It’s all crap.

Here’s a fact: there is no such thing as a perfect camera, especially when you’re working on an indy or guerrilla filmmaker’s budget. There are positives and negatives about every single piece of equipment out there. The key is learning how to use the instruments you have and in learning how to make them play jazz the way you want them to.

My advice is this: go out and shoot your film with whatever camera you’ve got or whatever you can get access to. That should be where you start. Learn to light for whatever medium you’re shooting in (be it film or digital) because the most expensive camera in the world is still going to give you crappy results if the footage isn’t set up correctly. On the flip side, someone who knows what they’re doing can work wonders with some of the lowest end cameras. It all goes back to that old saying “trash in, trash out.”

Yeah, yeah. I know you didn’t come here to have me tell you to just go out and start shooting with whatever camera you had access to. You want my thoughts on what the best budget camera for indy and guerrilla filmmaking is.

So, here we go:

The Best Camera for a Filmmaker on a Budget – The Canon HV40 and HFS30 Cameras

The CANON HV40: One of the absolute best low cost video cameras out there is the Canon HV40. The HV40 is the last in the line of badass budget HDV cameras that Canon started years ago with the legendary Canon HV20. The HV40 is essentially the same camera (and takes all of the same amazing upgrades and add-ons) with one major bonus: native 24p.

The Canon HV40 is simply fantastic for the money (easy to find for under $800 new) and can take some great footage, especially now that it can shoot 24p footage without the hassle of the older HV20/HV30 cameras. The other upside, as I mentioned, is the fact that it has an incredibly active user-base and some incredibly sick after-market upgrade add-ons.

The reason I recommend this camera so highly is because it is perfect for a filmmaker on a budget. You can buy the core of your new camera package – the Canon HV40 itself – and then slowly build it up to something that rivals higher priced cameras over weeks or months. The modular aspect of this particular camera and its add-ons/upgrades is the reason it is so desirable. If you want a Canon XHA1, you have to pay for it all at once. With something like the Canon HV40, you can upgrade to something very similar, one piece at a time, as you need it or as you have the funds.

Sure, if money is no option, I’d always go with the best camera your money can buy. But, if you’ve got limited funds and are working on a budget, start with an amazing base system for your camera package and pick up the Canon HV40.

THE CANON HFS30: Now, if you’re not really interested in shooting HDV or on tape, Canon has a very similar offering for solid-state cameras with the Canon HF S30 for under $900 new. It’s essentially the same camera as the HV40, except it has an internal 32GB flash drive and slots for 2 SD memory cards. It also comes with native 24p and a solid Canon lens. You can also use a lot of the same modifications and add-ons from the HV40, which gives the Canon HF S30 a ton of options and expandability.

If you’re on a tight budget, but still want a camera that will grow with your needs, then check out the Canon HV40 and Canon HF S30, they’re worth taking a look at.

That’s it for today. I’m starting slow on the new updates. Look for a new post later in the week and, once I start feeling a bit cockier again, some video posts in the near future. As always, feel free to post your questions or comments, or send me an email. If your question is interesting I may even do a full post on it!

Thanks for stopping by and, until next time, keep shooting!

-Mat Nastos, The Film Sensei
http://www.FilmSensei.com

Welcome to the DOJO!

I just received this in from someone at Zoopa hoping to pimp out the contest, but haven’t had a chance to check it out.  Has anyone else heard about this?  If so, give us some feed back in the comments!

-Mat Nastos, the Film Sensei

http://www.FilmSensei.com

(Send from Zoopa/AT&T)

AT&T is hosting a video contest with a $20,000 Grand Prize to help promote how Online Services can simplify life.

Simple changes can make huge differences in our everyday lives — AT&T’s online services allow you to easily manage your account, pay your AT&T bills automatically online and get answers about your account at anytime without picking up a phone.

Here’s what you need to do:  create a video up to 60 seconds showing how AT&T’s online services can improve and simplify life.  Submit your video by December 1^st and be eligible to win up the $20,000 Grand Prize.  Share your favorite video with your friends and enter to win up to $1,000 in prizes.

To find out more about the contest details,  go to: http//att.com/simplify/

Don’t forget, I’ll be at Geeks Con tomorrow at Geeks Comics in Whittier - 6747 Greenleaf Ave. (Cross streets: Philadelphia /Greenleaf), Whittier, CA – 12:00pm – 10:00pm

Stop by for sketches, comics, my 2010 ElfSong Sketchbook, Star Wars and even Phineas & Ferb sketch cards!

I am going to be at the LA Rock’N Comic Con this weekend (May 28-30) at the Pasadena Convention Center in Pasadena, California and will be set up in Artist Alley booth #914 with Shawn Granger from King Tractor Press.  I’ll be there showing off artwork and new Nifty Comics merchandise from the Cadre and ElfSong, along with sketching like a madman.  In fact, I’m doing free sketchcards for anyone that comes up and recites a really cool dirty limerick.

For more information on the show, go to: http://rockincomiccon.com/

Drop by, pick up a sketch or a DeadPooh print and say “Hi!”

-Mat N.

http://www.ElfSong.com

Welcome to the DOJO!

Hey, all!  Time again for another Q&A with an indie and guerrilla filmmaking guru.  This time, horror FX genius, Marcus Koch, takes some time out of his busy schedule to answer a few questions for you, my loyal Film Sensei readers.  Take it away, Marcus!

Name: Marcus Koch

Year/Age Started as a Filmmaker:
I’d honestly have to say i got the itch, for making movies around age 7, my Parents had a video camera, and it was all down hill from there once i got my hands on it.

Credits:
ROT
100 Tears
Fell
and special effects for :
Walking Distance
Sweatshop
Imago
Closet Space
Sinners and Saints

Website: www.oddtopsyfx.com

Give the Filmsensei.com readers a bit of information on yourself and your experience as a filmmaker.

I’m a horror guy, I grew up in the 80′s so that’s probably my biggest influence was those glorious formative years, I love any and all horror movies, no matter how bad or low budget…and growing up in an era of Drive-ins and VHS tapes, I had seen some of the best horror films and Video Nasties my local mom and pop had to offer.  So it seemed obvious when I was six or seven, that was what I was going to do with my life, and so it began. I knew I had a knack for artistic ability , but it was somewhat skewed due to the movies I watched, so special effects was the route I took, making fake heads out of Styrofoam wig stands etc.

And when my Dad brought home a video camera, I would sneak it out while my parents were at work and make tiny short films around my newest special effect creations, ultimately leading to each effect becoming more grand, and needing to write plot lines around my FX gags.

All of this really laid the foundation for where I wanted to be.  Friends and family became my guinea pigs and victims, and dealing with “actors” became one of my first real looks into filmmaking and how Hollywood magic isn’t so magical when you have to deal with someone, saying they won’t do that, or not showing up.  LOL – Then came scheduling conflicts and pretty much just about anything that could go wrong usually will.

Its like filmschool.  Actually maybe even more so, I could read an instruction manual, so I could learn to use the camera, but that wasn’t going to teach me how to deal with everything else that goes wrong. I don’t think they teach that at film school.

With each project getting a little bigger and taking on new challenges, I had written , directed, shot and edited 3 Feature films before I was 16.  Granted I never show those to anyone, because they are absolutely awful, but it set me up for taking the next step, making a movie, and getting it seen.

At the age of 18 i shot ROT, punks puke and necrophilia, good friends who took me seriously and let me put them in wild situations.  It turned out good, at least good enough to garner national distribution ( i think it can still be found on amazon.com).  Its not a great movie, it’s actually pretty damn bad, but it got released, and 13 years later people still give me copies to sign at conventions. weird.

Since then I’ve pretty much just stuck to working on FX for other films, lots of films that sadly never got finished, or never found distribution.

I still have the itch to direct, so when the opportunity arose , I made 100 tears, my killer clown opus.  LOL – I have an odd obsession with clowns, and what better way to do a gore film, then to throw in a clown ? good times.

As a run-and-gun digital filmmaker, can you give our readers an idea of the problems that you’ve run in to on some of your past productions — or even problems they can expect on theirs?

Problems are due to Murphy’s law, which are always in effect, anything bad that can happen usually does.  I’ve been in run in’s with cops, run ins with crazy religious people, run ins with in inhabitants of a halfway house ( note to self, do not shoot a film at a functioning halfway house for crack heads and hobos ).  Some actors can be diva’s usually the wet behind the ears are the biggest pains in the ass, the coolest people are usually seasoned pro’s – they are laid back and know what to expect.

On a film set, the main motto everyone knows to live by is ” hurry up and wait” and it rings true in every sense of the phrase.  The days are long and usually seem like you are there not accomplishing anything but holding down a cooler with your ass, (or a chair if your lucky).

Expect the unexpected ! use your foresight, and instincts, if you have a gut feeling go with it, if you feel an actor or crew member may cause problems or have an attitude , eliminate it before half the film is in the can.. if you have a bad feeling about a location, you might be onto something, if something looks dangerous it probably is. if you think someone may call the cops, you better have a good story, or at least a decent white lie. and the more you do the more you will get to do.

What is the worst thing that’s ever happened on one of your indie film shoots?

So many to choose from. I’d say the scariest thing was during pre-production for 100 TEARS we started shooting Jan 12th and the owners of the warehouse we were using to build our sets held a huge party.  The owners of the warehouse were also artists and held art shows and raves, but they had this homeless guy living there, so we paid his rent and gave him a job helping us build the sets (he was also an amazing portrait artist).

So on their new years bash, he was drinking way more than a crazy person who isn’t on their Meds should have been drinking, and built himself a little hide-out room, among our maze of rooms used for 100 TEARS, around 6 am, he hid in a dark corner and waited for any female to pass by.  He had made a homemade garrote (or noose) with wire from some theatrical lighting safety cable, and jumped out at some party going teen, and wrapped it around her neck and started choking her, and dragged her back into his little hiding spot, complete with a dirty mattress.  Thankfully someone wasn’t too far away (our sets were on the first floor and the party was on the second floor) and rushed to her rescue, getting her free, the cops were called, and he was screaming “I was going to kill her and F*** her!” (yes in that order)  She was bruised and banged up pretty bad, but ultimately alive.  Needless to say, he was carted off to the pokey, but it was always a worry on set, if he would be let out of jail and return to the property.  Oddly enough when we saw his Mugshot on the interwebs, (god i love this modern day and age) we couldn’t’ help but ask ourselves…why didn’t we see this coming?  He looked like Charles Manson.

As someone who wears multiple hats on your films – writing, directing, producing, editing, running a camera — what is your favorite part of indie filmmaking and why?

All of it is pretty exhausting and time consuming, and stressing, doing more than 1 job on a single film just consumes your soul.  The whole process is going to be hell, be it a low budget or a big budget, the problems will always be the same.  However, the feeling of having a finished film, that everyone’s hard work was not in vein, is the best feeling, and nothing can top it.  Hell or high water, for better or worse, if its finished, and people can see it, its’ then that you realize, that’s why all the sleepless nights were had, what all the sitting around was for.  All the chaos had happened.

It’s truly the most frustrating business to be in, but when its done, all of the bad times are forgotten, and all you see if what you’ve accomplished.

Finally, can you give beginning indie and guerrilla filmmakers any advice on setting up their first films? In other words, what advice or tips do you wish you had been told before you put together your first film?

I’ve never been rich enough to afford film school, I hear it’s jump started many great careers. Honestly, I”d have to say, if you do have the money to go to film school, then you have the money for your first feature.  Sure, things will go wrong, expect that.  People will quit, tempers will flair, friendships will be broken.

You’ll learn as real life unfolding before your eyes.

Want to learn how to load and operate a 16mm or 35mm camera.. read a book, the technical know how can be found anywhere, dealing with real life problems is something you can’t learn in school.

Anything else you want to throw out to our indie film readers?

Rule # 1 that must be adhered to, no matter how small your budget is, FEED YOUR CAST & CREW. Even if you cannot pay anyone, FEED them.  FOOD is worth more on a long, exhausting day then anything you can imagine…

Marcus Koch, 2010

Thanks for the great answers, Marcus!  I also wanted to say that 100 TEARS was a fantastic film!  Anything with killer clowns is all right in my book.

-Mat Nastos, the Film Sensei

http://www.filmsensei.com

Welcome to the DOJO!

From now on, every Friday is going to be Reader MailBag day here at Film Sensei HQ.  That’s right, every Friday your Film Sensei is going to dip deep in to the massive amount of reader email I receive and post comments, questions and critiques from you, my loyal readers.

Today we’ve got a note from a man calling himself Devo from the Seattle, Washington based Booyah Films.  Devo has a couple of quick reviews to help out out indie and guerrilla filmmakers with getting their work out in front of the public.  Take it away, Devo!

Hi Mat.

Love the Film Sensei site – good stuff. I’m a would be indie film auteur myself, check out my first 3-minute short here:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1385504/

I have a couple suggestions for you to review and feature on your site (although I could take a stab at reviewing them):

Celtx – awesome, totally free, script writing software. It also allows you to do index cards (virtual) of scenes, storyboarding, and production scheduling. It supports film, TV, play, and comic formats.

WithoutABox.com – website, lets you submit to multiple (thousands) of film festivals all through one account online.

CreateSpace.com – website, you can send in a DVD master and artwork & they will distribute for you on-demand (when someone orders it). You can set up a site/page through them and also sell your DVDs on Amazon through them.

WithoutABox, CreateSpace and IMDB are all owned by Amazon. I Set up my film in WithoutABox for festivals, set up a DVD Master at CreateSpace (was free at the time), they listed it on Amazon for free and gave me an IMDB page – sweet!

Easy and cheap self-distribution.

Devo
Booyah Films
Seattle, WA

Thanks for the kind words, Devo!  Glad you wrote in.  Celtx is a great piece of free software for writers, producers and directors.  A fantastic alternative to Final Draft or MovieMagic Screenwriter.  Anyone interested in writing a screenplay, doing breakdowns or scheduling a production should check it out.  The website is: http://www.celtx.com/

The Amazon suite of websites for filmmakers (IMDB, CreateSpace and WithOutABox) are all essential places for any indie or guerrilla filmmaker to check out.  I love CreateSpace and have used it a number of times in the past. You can check them out at: http://www.withoutabox.com and http://www.CreateSpace.com

Thanks again for the note, Devo.

That wraps up this week’s Reader MailBag.  Please feel free to drop us a note with any of your own indie filmmaking tips or if you want to talk about something you’ve seen here on FilmSensei.com.  Take care and I’ll see you again next week!

-Mat N, the Film Sensei
Http://www.FilmSensei.com

Welcome to the DOJO!

In 2009 I had the pleasure of attending one of my favorite horror conventions, Texas Frightmare Weekend in Dallas, TX.  I was there to hang out with my buddy, indie film genius Stacy Davidson, and see what the Texas guerrilla filmmaking community had to offer.

I have to say that I was blown away by what I found.  The Texas filmmaking community in general, and the horror community in specific, is one of the most creative and innovative I’ve ever seen.  The group produces some amazing, and incredibly fun, work.

One of the filmmakers I had the pleasure to meet was a Dallas-native by the name of Abel Berry.  He was there pimping his first film, the killer clown flick called SPOILS.  After speaking to Abel and finding out he had shot the entire film on the amazing Canon HV20, I decided to pick up his DVD and check it out.  What I saw was an incredibly low-budget film with a whole lot of blood, a bunch of murders and more creativity and imagination than I’d seen in a very long time.

So now, a year later, I head back to Texas (well, at least via the Internet) to see what Abel has been up to and to get some of his great advice for indie filmmakers.  Take it away, Abel Berry!

5 Questions for Indie Filmmaker Abel Berry

Name: Abel Berry

Year/Age Started as a Filmmaker: 2007/24

Film Credits:
Writer/Director/Director of photography/Composer/actor on SPOILS
and KODIE. Camera Operator on OPIATE

Website: http://bsentertainmentfilms.wordpress.com

Give the Filmsensei.com readers a bit of information on yourself and your experience as a filmmaker.

Well, I started the journey as a filmmaker a few years ago with my friend Jennifer Stone. We had a little JVC handycam, and we would just play around and make silly videos and try to learn how to edit. Then a year or so later we got more serious about it, and we were approached to make a film in my friend Bart Butler’s haunted house, and that’s how SPOILS was born. We had no money, so we saved and got a Canon HV20 for around 600 or 700 bucks and edited on iMovie hd 6.  Jenn, Bart, and myself did everything. A year after that, we wanted to step it up and make something even more ambitious and used what we learned on spoils, to make it better. So I wrote the script for KODIE, (the girl in a teddy bear suit witchcraft ghosthunter splatterfest extravaganza!) And 9 months later we are deep in post production on that film.

As a run-and-gun digital filmmaker, can you give our readers an idea of the problems that you’ve run in to on some of your past productions — or even problems they can expect on theirs?

Plan your time wisely. Have shot lists ready for every day, and follow them. Of course its cool to come up with shots as you go, but shot lists have helped us save a lot of time on KODIE, because that was the biggest problem for me on spoils,… not having the time to do what I wanted with each scene. Oh, and absolutely back everything up once you begin to edit. We lost the 1st 30 minutes of rough edit and had to start over.

What is the worst thing that’s ever happened on one of your indie film shoots?

Worst thing to ever happen? On SPOILS, not having the mic on during a scene (because I was my own sound guy and messed that up pretty bad)

On KODIE, a certain effect that we prepared for weeks did not go correctly, and we had to do it over, and it cost us a few weeks. but we learned from it to be prepared for things to go wrong.

As someone who wears multiple hats on your films – writing, directing, producing, editing, running a camera — what is your favorite part of indie filmmaking and why?

I love shooting and writing, but by far, my favorite part is Directing. I’m not sure why, but I’m most happy when I’m on set and in the middle of it all ya know. Just finding creative ways to make the story work with friends.

Finally, can you give beginning indie and guerrilla filmmakers any advice on setting up their first films? In other words, what advice or tips do you wish you had been told before you put together your first film?

On setting up a first film, I would say, that first off do as much planning as you can in pre-production (shot lists, story boards, rehearsals, lighting, etc.). And also, the one thing I rant on and on about, the one thing I wish I would’ve known before, is that you shouldn’t blow a bunch of money on some fancy pants camera with all the bells and whistles. Find a camera that is ‘good enough’ and find a good deal on it. Use the money u saved on that, for other things like promotion. Indie Filmmakers NEVER plan enough for promo. I would say to be creative and come up with a good story that u can tell for no money at all, then just spend money on GOOD SOUND (because a film with bad sound will never be well received. never) and promotion.

Anything else you want to throw out to our indie film readers?

The only other thing is, don’t call your film finished, until you are satisfied that its the best it can be. Being indie, you don’t have the time restraints the big boys do so take your time.

Abel Berry, 2010

Thanks for the words of wisdom, Abel! I can’t wait to see KODIE!!

That’s it from the DOJO for today. I’ll see you all later in the week with a new article!

-Mat Nastos, the Film Sensei
http://www.FilmSensei.com

Welcome to the DOJO!

Ok, so my intended re-launch of Filmsensei.com wound up taking just a bit longer than I had originally planned.  However, I’ve got a lot of cool stuff in store and it all begins today!

As often as I can coax my filmmaker friends to do so, the Film Sensei plans to run question & answer sessions with cutting edge guerrilla and indie filmmakers here on the website.  We’re going to get down and get answers from filmmakers who are out in the trenches every day working on low budget films.  These guys started out just like you, my loyal readers, as run-and-gun low budget filmmakers and have been able to get their flicks made and out to the public.

The first in this on-going series of indie filmmaker Q&As is with guerrilla filmmaking wunderkind, Jacob Strunk.  I met Jacob in 2009 when he needed a good camera for his latest short film, “This is the Place.” Normally I don’t tag along to shoots, but having heard about Jacob’s reputation I just had to go and see the man in action.  Needless to say, Jacob didn’t disappoint.

I’m going to shut up now and let Jacob take over.  Enjoy!

5 Questions for Indie Filmmaker, Jacob Strunk

Name: Jacob Strunk

Year/Age Started as a Filmmaker: Probably around 12 or so, the usual “run around with the family camera covering friends in fake blood” story, though my first festival screening was in 2002. A wise man once told me you’re not a filmmaker until you’ve shown your work to a room full of strangers.

Credits as writer/director:
“A Day Awake” – 2002; premiered at Flicker Festival Los Angeles.
“Go Man Go” – 2002; part of the Pioneer 2880 Project.
“Valhalla” – 2003; finalist for Student Academy Awards, screened at 1 Reel Film Festival, Seattle.
“A Shadow Before Sunrise” – 2004; winner, Best Film Noir at New York International Independent Film Festival.
“Another Happy Ending” – 2005; one of ten films commissioned by Warren Etheredge for 1 Reel Film Festival’s Filmmaker Challenge with work by Jason Reitman, A.J. Schnack, Seth Henrikson, the Duplass bros., et al.
“Mr. Butters Syndrome” - 2007; premiered at New Rivers Press Moving Words : Moving Images literary festival.
“This Is the Place” - 2009; premiered at Olympia Film Festival, Olympia, Washington.

Website: www.sevenmileswest.com

Give the Filmsensei.com readers a bit of information on yourself and your experience as a filmmaker.

I was fortunate enough to find a great group of folks in film school, and all the films I directed there found their way into festivals. My film “Valhalla” was a finalist for the Student Academy Awards, which caught the attention of SAA judge Warren Etheredge of Seattle’s Warren Report and then curator of the 1 Reel Film Festival. Warren invited me to Seattle to screen the film and talk to the audience, and invited me back the next year to be a part of his annual Filmmaker Challenge.

In 2004, I received grants from Kodak and Fotokem, which allowed me to shoot “A Shadow Before Sunrise” on 35mm. In 2007, I curated the “Moving Words : Moving Pictures” evening of film in Fargo, where I premiered my film “Mr. Butters Syndrome.”

Since graduating from film school, I went to grad school and earned an MFA in creative writing, and I’ve been paying the bills and buying cat food working in post production while managing to pull together my own films as often as possible. It couldn’t be done without the continuing friendship and support of the group of filmmakers with whom I went to film school. It’s been a tremendous life lesson: respect and foster community.

As a run-and-gun digital filmmaker, can you give our readers an idea of the problems that you’ve run in to on some of your past productions — or even problems they can expect on theirs?

Expect everything to go horribly wrong. Expect the camera to fail, so make sure you have another. Expect someone to drop half the day’s film into the glaring desert sunlight, so be ready to scramble to reshoot. Expect your actors to die or be late, your food to be eaten by a bear, the power to go out, the AC to lose focus, a comet to hit. Expect everything to go wrong, be ready to deal with it, and you’ll be primed for battle. And, of course, pleasantly surprised every time something goes smoothly.

My productions have ranged from four guys in the woods with a tripod and a bounce board to a crew of umpteen people and a dozen actors on location for four days with generators and a truck full of lights shooting 35mm film; however big or small, have a backup plan for everything. And most importantly, don’t get discouraged when things go awry. Take a breath and deal with it, keep the momentum going. Your finished film will not be what you originally envisioned — it never is — but with any luck, it will become its own organic beast, growing and changing and chewing up the scenery. And that, quite often, is much better…

What is the worst thing that’s ever happened on one of your indie film shoots?

We’ve been fortunate enough to never have a major injury, maiming, death, divorce, or disfigurement on a shoot, so I have to say the worst thing thus far, the thing most inhibitive to a smooth day of work and a pleasant outcome, was on our final day of shooting the last film, “This Is the Place.”

My first mistake was casting someone I knew from previous experience to be unreliable. But he lobbied for a part in the movie, so I wrote a supporting role for him. He’s a fantastic artist, so I also commissioned him to create a visual effect for the film. And he came through on it; it was fantastic. It looked so great, in fact, that he decided he didn’t want us to use it. He liked it too much and wanted to keep it. At this point, I should have pulled the plug and found someone else. Mistake number two.

He assured me he’d create another. In fact, the day before we shot, the crew gathered at my house for a cheerful afternoon of pre-game beers and banter, during which he continued working on the replacement. Our call time was early the next morning at a location 90 minutes away, so we all called it a night early and got ready for the shoot. Well, almost all of us.

The next morning, he had disappeared. Without finishing the effect. And with my ATM card. I had the entire production waiting on me, so we had to move out without him. I was out an actor, out an effect, and had no money with which to pay everyone working that day. But in the moment, you have no choice but to push forward, so we recast the role (with the stage manager, no less, who did a fantastic job despite never having acted before in his life), someone lent me a bunch of money to pay everyone, and we reblocked the scene to make it work without the effect. In the end, while I still miss that one glorious shot that never was, it turned out to be for the best and, while the day was ridiculously stressful, I think the film is better for it.

Lessons learned: trust your gut and push through obstacles.

As someone who wears multiple hats on your films – writing, directing, producing, editing, running a camera — what is your favorite part of indie filmmaking and why?

It sounds tacky, but whatever stage of production I’m in, I love it (with the exception, of course, of pre-production, which I find daunting and tedious and discouraging). Working on the script is not only a time for ideas to birth themselves in front of you, red and wet and writhing, but also a time for meditation on the film, what it means, what you want to say with it; it’s a time to get to know your themes and characters. They become real.

Casting has always been a pain, usually because there’s not a pile of money involved, but when it finally comes together, it feels like a first kiss. Production itself is usually the most exciting. Terrifying, undoubtedly, but seeing the scenes you’ve written and rewritten and visualized and rehearsed actually happen in the moment while a red “record” light pulses or a reel of film purrs past the gate, that’s an untouchable high. It’s also a time to experiment, to have fun, the chance for true collaboration to take place. Shoot a couple takes, then let everyone have fun. Shoot what you know need for the edit, but then move the camera. See what other moments you can find. Let the actors improv. The true auteurs know that 90% of casting is directing.

Post is also tedious, but again exciting seeing the puzzle pieces fit together. More often than not, I find myself cutting a rough to script, then making drastic changes in subsequent edits. Things disappear, moments play out differently, characters take charge of scenes in ways you didn’t expect, the timeline skews. It’s wild. If the script is the delivery room and production is a fun childhood day terrorizing pigeons at the park, post must be that horrifying time in a parent’s life when they question whether their child can actually make it behind the wheel of a car or staying out until a later curfew or going to that rock show in the city. More often than not, they’re just fine. I think most parents will say you have to give teenagers space to find themselves and develop. That’s post-production.

And then comes the bittersweet moment where little Billy or Susan leaves the nest. You’re in a darkened theatre full of strangers, about to watch people watch your film. You can’t wait, you’re so happy for it, but you know your job is done. It’s up to the film now to captivate them, to teach them, to move them. And it’s up to you, depending on how masochistic you really are, to get back in the bedroom and start trying for the next. Apologies if that analogy skewed a little blue.

Finally, can you give beginning indie and guerilla filmmakers any advice on setting up their first films?  In other words, what advice or tips do you wish you had been told before you put together your first film?

I can offer two pieces of advice that may at first seem counterintuitive:
1)    Learn your craft. Study it. Take classes. Watch movies. Read books. Go to film school if you’re able. I know, I know, PT Anderson dropped out. John Cassavettes was self-taught. “Barry Lyndon” was shot with natural light. But you must. Know. Your. Craft. Learn how to do everything and how to do everything right: light, operate a camera, run sound, direct actors, pull cable. Take an acting class. Take a writing class, even if you’re not a writer. Learn it all. Arm yourself to the teeth. This is war, kid, and you can’t show up with a penknife to a gun fight.

2)    Take chances. Take risks. Now that you know the rules, see how far they’ll bend. Once you have the fundamentals down, once you know how the language of film is most effective, you begin to develop your own aesthetic. Don’t start throwing around whip pans and tracking shots until you understand the 180 line; don’t try to out-Fincher Fincher until you can shoot a scene in which two people speak in a single wide shot and make it interesting. Then…have fun. See where you end up.

Anything else you want to throw out to our indie film readers?

I mentioned it earlier, but I can’t stress the idea of community enough. Here’s the sad, painful, infuriating truth: almost everyone who makes it in this industry does so through connections you don’t have. Family. Friends of family. Significant others. What have you. Someone gets them a job. Someone gets them money for their project. Someone helps them get a celebrity in their film, which gets it into Sundance, which gets them a deal for a feature, which sets them up for a life of caviar and models and fast cars and magazine covers. It can be discouraging and depressing. Believe me. After a decade out here, you look around and sometimes wonder what all the hard work was for, why you bothered (as I mentioned) arming yourself. The war can sometimes seem miles away while you sweat with 100 pounds of armor and weaponry on your back in the sickening heat of the jungle.

You have to surround yourself with like-minded people. Surround yourself with believers, people who believe in both the craft of filmmaking and in each other. You have to help each other, you have to push each other, you have to pester the hell out of one another sometimes to keep making films. But it’s absolutely necessary. These people are your platoon and your support group, and as you go through experiences together, as you get better at what you do together, you’ll find you’re stronger as a team than any one of you alone.

And when someone’s rich uncle dies or you all discover that Todd’s cousin is dating the guy in the big ABC dramedy, you’ll be ready to pull the trigger and you’ll all be in it together. All joking aside, the longer you keep at it, all of you as a team, you’ll discover you’re making your own connections, through work and over beers and at the laundromat. Keep at it and support each other and force one another to keep making things, and the snowball will grow. Always be ready; when the opportunity comes, it’ll be yours.

-Jacob Strunk, 2010

Thanks for taking the time to answer questions for the readers here, Jacob!  Keep up the fantastic work!!

-Mat N., the Film Sensei
http://www.FilmSensei.com

Welcome to the Dojo!

I got some great news today, although it’s news that makes me feel bad too…let me explain.  I found out earlier today that this site, the Film Sensei (http://www.filmsensei.com), was named as one of the 50 Best Blogs for Filmmakers by Moviemaker Magazine.  That’s freaking fantastic and it’s great to hear that people respond well to the blog.  That’s the part that makes me feel all oogly inside.

The reason that fantastic news makes me feel bad is because I’ve neglected the site terribly over the past few months.  I’ve had a bunch of other stuff on my plate — including putting a new film together, my illustration and publishing work (http://www.elfsong.com) and a new addition to my family (baby Morgan Christina Nastos, born December 29, 2009). 

I guess what the listing means is that I’ve got to get things back on track with this site and start putting out some new tips, tricks and info every week.  Starting this week, look for a new article every Thursday.  I’m going to ramp back up to doing video posts at least once a week and upping my article output to at least twice a week…just give me some time.  Having a new baby really puts a hurting on my free time right now.

Thanks again to everyone over at Moviemaker magazine for the nod and thanks to you, my loyal readers.  Take care and keep shooting!

-Mat Nastos, the Film Sensei
http://www.FilmSensei.com