rik carter

I've good good news! You can do this. Yale labs in Burbank will do it. Bono Film does it. There are more places all over the country that will develop your 16mm film and telecine it to what ever format you want.

No filmmaker is required to join either union. As several people have already said, "top actors" are members of SAG so in order to hire them your company will need to sign an agreement with the union - meaning you agree to follow their rules regarding payment, scheduling and hours. The advantages of being SAG or DGA are the available talent and the bargaining strength of any union regarding pay scale and benefits. For specific info regarding fees and eligibility you should call. They are usually happy to give you the information you need. What do you mean by a "film library"? A library that has books about filmmaking? Or a library that has a lot of movies?

Experience doesn't hurt..... A good script supervisor can be a great help, too - even on a small set. But if you can't afford one (or can't find one) you should learn what a marked script looks like and do it your self. Keep the marked script handy and double/triple check your coverage before you move on.

Lance could be referring to "financial core" - http://www.bizparentz.com/coreTruth.html and http://www.futurenet-surf.com/wwwboard1/messages/122.html The SAG rules aren't federal (or state) laws enforced by the government - they are an agreement between actors and producers. However the government DID weigh in on the rights of individuals - if a SAG member agrees to work for you without using the union agreement they can. But they know the consequences of making that decision.

Even Sorerberg can't really get away with black and white. I love black and whilte so my producer made me do some research befor she would consider letting me shoot. Take a look at these numbers. The HUGE drop in box office convinced even me that audiences won't go to see a movie made in black and white - even from an established director with big stars. "The Good German" didn't even do as well as "Full Frontal" and the Coen Brothers really tanked with "The Man Who Wasn't There". There might be other reasons - but black and whilte seems to have something to do with it. Steven Soderberg Oceans Thirteen - $115,886,856 The Good German - $1,308,000 Ocean's Twelve - $125,531,634 Solaris - $14,970,038 Full Frontal - $2,512,846 Ocean's Eleven - $183,417,150 Traffic - $124,107,476 Erin Brockovich $125,548,685 The Limey - $3,193,102 Coen Brothers The Ladykillers - $39,692,139 Intolerable Cruelty - $35,327,628 The Man Who Wasn't There - $7,494,849 O Brother, Where Art Thou - $45,506,619 The Big Lebowski - $17,498,804 Fargo - $24,567,751 The Hudsucker Proxy - $2,816,518

I've done it. It's not easy for the very reason you mention - there is a lot of movement and it's very slow. But I'm glad I gave it a try. You should try it regardless of what other people have done.

Try this link

What you're looking for is a good shotgun mic. That in itself is a generic term that means any long barreled mic. You want a good condenser (externally powered) mic with a ?lobar? pick up pattern to put on your boom pole. Lobar pick up means the mic focuses its audio pick up to a narrow area. This is why you want to use a boom pole to get the mic as close the the actor as possible - you?ll get clean dialogue tracks with less ambient noise. Sennheiser is the mic most used by professional sound recordists. They are expensive and worth it. Check out the ME-66 and the ME-67. The MKH60 is the best if you can afford it. Audio-Technica is cheaper. Check out the AT835B. It?s a workable mic, a little muddy and not as directional as it should be. The AT835ST is a good mic for the price, but it, too, sounds a bit muddy - the vocals don?t sound crisp enough for me. I?ve never used Azden mic?s. They?re inexpensive and I don?t hear too many good things about them, but if that's all you can afford it's MUCH better than using the camera mic. Rode is an inexpensive mic - it?s okay for recording insterments but their shotgun mic?s aren?t very versatile. A good mic is an investment. It will last longer than your camera - why skimp? A great place to check prices and purchase is B&H Photo The further away the mic is from the actors, the higher the volume needs to be. The higher the volume, the more ?noise? you get. Your goal is to have a very high signal to noise ratio - more signal (the dialogue) less noise (the background). Even a very good, expensive Sennheiser mounted on the camera will pick up a lot of background ambiance because it?s far away from the actors. So you need a boom pole. This can be as simple as a painters pole with a microphone shock mount on it - or a 3 or 4 section, expandable Carbon Fiber, Graphite Fiber or Aluminum boom pole. The lighter the pole the better. Expandable is also very convenient. A pole that?s a fixed six or eight feet (painters pole) can pose problems if you?re shooting in a small space like a bathroom or small apartment or if the boom operator needs to be twelve to fifteen feet away to be out the the lights. A good Graphite, five section boom will be light, range from two feet to nine feet and cost $500 or so. A pro boom-op will invest in a good pole. No need to spend that kind of money if you?re making one or two shorts a year. The standard for field recording is still the good ol? Nagra I know a lot of recordists who still use the analogue Nagra 4.2 but they now offer excellent digital recorders. Even though Sony stopped selling DAT, they are still used by a lot of location recordists. But HDR (hard disc recorders) are gaining in popularity and use. Roland makes the R-4 Pro - one of the best field recorders available. With a price tag to match. Fostex is a reliable brand - Check out the FR2LE. So is Marantz The CDR-420 is a HDR with a 20GB hard drive.

You'll find as many different answers as there are waning/obscure actors. Some will work without using a SAG contract - some won't. Some would be happy to get $100/day, some what much more. Several years ago I made a movie with the waning/obscure Christopher Knight and Linnea Quigly. They both worked for $3,000 for 6 days without the SAG contract. Five years ago I contacted the waning Stella Stevens and she wanted $5,000 per day and would ONLY work if it was a SAG show. The obscure Joe Estevez's quote was $3,000/day for a while - not sure if he can still get that. Many waning/obscure actors don't want to work outside of a SAG contract because they are hoping to become unobscure or for a career recovery.

Two years ago I shot a movie in Bainbridge Island. I found Seattle actors (and crew) to be very professional. We didn't use the internet, we used two casting agencies. It cost us a little money (surprisingly cheap) and was well worth it. The Seattle acting community is, in my experience, very good. But since you can't pay anything that might be why you're having difficulty. I'm not sure you'll find it too much different here in L.A. Sure, actors are willing to work for free for the right project, but even here you get what you pay for.

That's good to hear, Kevin. I've known Brian for several years and I agree - he's a good guy who is always fair. I'm glad he's offering better maintained equipment these days. I have a show shooting in September - I think I'll give Wooden Nickel another try.

I'm sure the DP and gaffers here will be better able to discuss this, but I believe that the camera itself isn't as important as the skill, talent and experience of the people involved. Just point and shoot HDV is better than SD - but only slightly. No camera is a waste of money if you want to make movies. As you get better, you can upgrade. But there is SO much more to making a good movie than the camera. I know that doesn't really answer your question - but it's an almost impossible question to answer. I think I would buy the cheaper camera and use the money I save to make several more movies.

What kind of equipment? Are you looking for cameras? Are you looking for cranes? Are you looking for lighting? Shipping grip and lighting equipment is very, very expensive. Are you sure that renting from a house more than 300 miles from you is really cost effective? "Good" is difficult to determine as is "inexpensive". Wooden Nickel is cheaper than most here in L.A. - and their available equipment isn't as well maintained as other places. Check LA411 and NY411 for hundreds of rental places.

In order to get any kind of financial commitment you need to have better answers to those questions. As Jonathan pointed out "Land and No Budget" isn't the answer people with money are going to be able to work with. Do a budget - you don't need to attach it here, you simply need to know the exact number down to the last battery, bag of chips and Band-Aid. 3 - "Anybody" doesn't do it. You might want you intended market to be "anybody" but that's not a good answer. "Selling it to a business" isn't a good answer either. Does a business that specializes in recycling tires need to buy copies of your movie? Does a business that tests water quality in Africa need to buy your movie? If you to find backers you need to be specific. You need to know who is likely to buy your movie. Do the research. You skipped number 4. Why? If you don't understand the question this is a great place to ask for and get an answer. We are here to help you - not trip you up. 6 - What I mean is what name talent do you have involved in the movie. People are more likely to pay to see a movie with an actor they have heard of. If you don't have a known actor then just say so. Jacob - you have a long road to travel. This is a great place to ask questions and learn what to do before you ask someone for money. It sounds like you don't have the experience to get a studio to back you and it seems like you don't have the experience to get investors looking to make a profit to back you. In this case you are going to have to approach people who know you. People who believe in YOU and are willing to spend their hard earned money to help you. The first one is always the hardest - though the second, third and forth can be pretty hard too, if the first one doesn't make a pretty good profit. So how about making sure you have the following things to give to people who know you: 1) The line item budget. 2) What your plans are with the finished movie. 3) 3) A short bio of the people involved. 4) The amount of days you will need to shoot and edit. 5) A copy of the script.

A few questions you will need to answer before anyone can really help you: 1) What format is it being shot on? 2) What is the budget? 3) What's the intended market and what is your distribution plan? 4) What ROI are you offering? 5) What funding do you have in place already? 6) What names are involved in the project? 7) Is there anyone involved in the project who has successfully taken a film to market and produced a profit for investors 8) What existing feature credits does your primary team have -- ie writer/director/producer.