I’ve started this blog to talk about filmmaking “small.” What does this mean?

Everyone always talks about “big” films, the tent-pole flicks that carry the box office every season and even the slightly-less-funded indies that manage to get wide distribution. Yet more and more films are being made each day on budgets significantly less than the 1-million dollar “low budget” indie film. Where do they get their resources? Usually through a combination of instinct, imagination, and know-how, as well as a keen business sense to match their creative prowess.

So this blog strives to put together resources for filmmaking “small.” I will be posting links to online resources, freeware reviews, software and gear reviews, and tips I have learned throughout my experiences on student and independent film shoots.

Some things you should know about this blog as I hope to make it:

  • I will be very open to what a “film” can be. This means that I may discuss 35mm (ha!), 16mm, and digital filmmaking.  I will also take into account films intended for theatrical release, television, DVD, and the internet.
  • Speaking of the internet, I will have a lot to say about the possibilities of online distribution and the specific qualities of short-form internet content.
  • I will often post articles, tips, and reviews on subjects that may not be directly related to filmmaking, but which I think will be beneficial to the filmmaking process. Subjects like business planning, productivity management, and tips from other art mediums can all be useful to a filmmaker.
  • This is not really a “personal” blog so I may be adding more commercial elements to it such as affiliate programs or advertising. However, this will not affect the integrity of my articles and reviews. I will only have affiliate links for products I really have used and do trust. The articles on this site will always be available to read for free. ALWAYS.
  • I read a lot, so expect a lot of book reviews. While books don’t replace on-set experience, on-set experience can never be as comprehensive as books. You need both.
  • I love, love, LOVE comments, like any other blogger, but I would ask that you are respectful to other commenters and myself. You’re welcome to disagree with me, and many times you will, but let’s keep the fight clean.

Finally, I would love to eventual expand this blog into a full-featured site and will be working on that for the next few months. For now, though, I will try my best to keep links updated and to keep a page that indexes important posts by topic.

I would love to hear feedback as I go, and I love reading other peoples’ blogs, so feel free to link to your own stuff in the comments.

Here we go!