Top products from r/WeAreTheFilmMakers

These might help, especially the first one:

• What I Really Want To Do On A Set In Hollywood
  
  
• Film Production Management 101
  
  
• The Guerilla Film Makers Handbook
  
  
• The Complete Film Production Handbook
  
  From my own personal experience:
  
  First Assistant Director
  
  
• The directors right hand, the producers left
  
  
• Breaks the script down into what is needed, props, cast, etc
  
  
• Creates the schedule from the broken down script
  
  
• Hires the 2nd AD, 2nd 2nd AD and 3rd AD if neccesary (I've only worked on sets that had a 1st and 2nd, I did work on one TV Show that had a 2nd 2nd but they were more a field producer)
  
  
• Calls for the 2nd AD to bring the talent to the set when they are needed
  
  
• Tells the rest of the crew the planned shot after the director has blocked it
  
  
• Is responsible for keeping the production on time and moving, any overtime is on their shoulders (well, them and the production manager)
  
  
• Oversee's what the 2nd AD is doing
  
  
• Quiets the set down, lets everyone know when the director is going for a take
  
  
• Calls out the rolls (Roll camera, roll sound), sometimes repeats Action from the director, and calls cut after him (but louder).. you need to be loud to be an AD
  
  
• Makes sure the director got everything he had planned, every setup and shot
  
  
• Checks to make sure the director is happy after a take, if he is he calls "Moving on" and begins motion to move everyone to the next shot. Releasing the actors to their trailers, calling the DP into a meeting with the director to plan the next shot. It's like a huddle, everyone comes in, makes a plan, breaks and then it is the AD who is responsible for making sure everything happens.. and happens quickly.
  
  2nd AD:
  
  
• Makes call sheets
  
  
• Calls talent and crew for updated call times
  
  
• Uses PA's to pass out call sheets
  
  
• Shuttles the talent from their dressing room/trailers to the set and back as needed
  
  
• Typically in charge of the set PA's
  
  Plus there's a lot of paperwork involved, filling out time sheets, crew sheets for payroll, daily breakdowns, etc.
  
  [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assistant_director](This wiki page) has a lot of good information on what the entire assistant directing team does. As well as the book that ou mentioned "The Film Director's Team" is also very valid.
  
  The hierarchy on set, if something goes wrong, is something like this:
  
  
• Producer > Production Manager (sometimes called UPM) > 1st AD and Production Coordinator > 2nd AD and Assistant Production Coordinator > PAs
  
  If you've been a non-union AD on four films, you are probably in pretty good shape. It also sounds like you might have enough days to apply to be a 2nd AD in the union, you may not need to go through the DGA Trainee program.
  
  You need 400 days worked non-union (with proof (call sheets) and pay (pay stubs) as a 1st AD to get in. Or if you have 400 days between working as a 1st AD, 2nd AD or UPM, you can apply to be a 2nd AD.
  
  Also, check out Sheli The AD on Twitter, send her a tweet and she should respond. She's really responsive and helpful and just an all around good person.
  
  Good luck, and if you are still non-union in the future drop (and based in LA) me an email to [email protected]. A good AD is hard to find, I've been with way too many bad ones.

Dude. You need to get serious about what it really costs. I know you want to think it's $16k, but that's PER semester. link This is a private college, so it doesn't matter if you're in state or not.


So let's look at this realistically:

Tuition: $16,140

Fees: $675

Board: $2670

Housing: $2600

Books & Supplies: $1312

Total: $23,397


This is for ONE SEMESTER. The fees and tuition will continue to rise every year, and to get your bachelor's degree, you'll need 8 semesters, totaling at a minimum $187,180 for a degree in film that is only as good as your reel.


Unless you have a rich uncle that's willing to foot the bill, DO NOT GO TO THIS COLLEGE. Be a self starter. Read Robert Rodriguez's book, Rebel Without a Crew. Take whatever money you have and make a movie. If you have money left over, make another one. Submit to film festivals. Network. Get your name out there. You'll be much better off in the long run.

You know, I was about to type a long reply but I've decided to be lazy and copy/paste the contents of an email I sent to a buddy who just bought a T3i. I use a 60D, and use all these things, but most all this stuff should work for you with a 5D.

Crane and eyecup:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003SAHSVI

Cards:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002WE4HE2
I buy 8 or 16 gigs, with the idea being that that's NOT a lot of room. If I had a 32 or 64 gig card and that card failed I'd much rather lose 16 gigs of footage than 64 gigs which could be an ENTIRE production.

Batteries:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003ZSHKIO
Work justs as good as the Canon name brand ones.

My 'Kit' lens:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000EXR0SI

Cheapo plastic shoulder mount we used for the music video:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0036NMQ7S

Gini camera rigs:
http://www.ebay.com/sch/gini-2011/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_from=&_ipg=&_trksid=p3686
I did a minimum purchase right as the auction ended, and snagged their "dslr rig pro 10" for 235 + shipping. If you look at their past auction history, it seems like EVERYONE does this.

Audio Recorder:
http://www.amazon.com/Zoom-Handy-Portable-Digital-Recorder/dp/B001QWBM62/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1315766729&sr=8-1
They just got me this bad boy at work to plug my XLR mics into, so I record audio to it, and video to my dslr and then sync in FCP. Works awesome, however you probably could do the same thing with your HDV camera, they'd be about the same size.

As always: cheesycam.com has the best reviews and whatnot on all this stuff.

Here's KEH.com's listing for the kit lens you are looking at. They have a rating system with UG at the bottom, then BGN, and up. I'd go for BGN though, they tend to be extremely conservative with their appraisals. http://www.keh.com/camera/Canon-Digital-Zoom-Lenses/1/sku-DC079990648100?r=FE

Remember, it's the glass that matters. so buy the (or borrow my) cheapest lens you can and start saving for the nice lens.

Own a LCDVF, love it and it's a great value for < 1/2 the price. I think I paid $120 shipped from Amazon.

This one looks even nicer

Perhaps, But I don't know a damn thing about Color hahah I think it looks great! I'm just starting to get into color correcting and was just curious if those effects could be achieved totally in Final Cut. As for my question about a shoulder mount, I was going to recommend this if you weren't already using one.

http://www.amazon.com/CowboyStudio-Shoulder-Support-Camcorder-Camera/dp/B0036NMQ7S

Its $30 and works pretty damn well for the price. I love mine to death. Heres a quick (and very sloppy) sample of the first thing I recorded with it.

http://vimeo.com/22252489

With much respect to deftouch's comment, you said you are just starting?

The one, absolutely critical, must read book you need is: Rebel Without A Crew by Robert Rodriguez. Because right now what you don't need is a lot of information on this camera, or that lighting, or this microphone, or that editing system.

What you do need is the confidence to start making your own movies, without which you will end up like people I know, owning thousands in movie equipment and still never having shot anything (I've made four short movies). Robert Rodriguez Robert tells the truth; the camera you need is the one you can get your hands on fastest. That might mean borrowing you mom's handicam - do it! Having a fancy camera doesn't make you a filmmaker anymore than owning a private jet makes you a pilot.

A lot of people are going to tell you that you need to buy expensive equipment, go to film school, get a filmcrew together, hire an editor, etc.... This is all bullshit. Robert Rodgriguez made his first feature ('El Mariachi') himself for $7,000 and got picked up as a director by Columbia Pictures because he had spent years teaching himself movie making on borrowed equipment.

What you really need is any camera you can find, a decent story idea, someway to edit, and lots of practice. Rebel Without A Crew will inspire you to do just that, get out there and make your own kickass short movies, with whatever equipment, props and actors you have available. The more you do it, the more you learn. And you will learn about what's important: How to tell a story, how to work with actors, how to edit. All the technical stuff about camera etc. can be learned as you go. But get started. And that's what you're really struggling with, right?

Do yourself a favor, pick up this book, get inspired, and start making your own movies!

[EDIT] P.S. In regards to editing equipment, anything you can edit with is a good start, even if it's just Windows Movie Maker. If you want to buy something, Sony Vegas Pro 9 is great for about $100. Professionals use AVID almost exclusively (watch any movies credits), but that might be just a little out of your price range.... Start simple, learn as you go.

Ah, sync-sound is a beautiful thing. I love my Zoom H4n more than any other audio equipment I've had in my career.

I've read pretty much all of the books referenced here and I would say The Visual Story:
http://www.amazon.com/Visual-Story-Second-Creating-Structure/dp/0240807790

Nothing else provided as much useful information about how to make a good movie as this for me.

If you want to see what it is to truly break down action into its smallest and most concise bits, you need to read this book:

http://www.amazon.com/Directing-Film-David-Mamet/dp/0140127224

You need to decide what the impact of the action is. WHY does he need to shown deciding to head for bed? Once you have that answer, you'll have the action which best correlates to displaying that decision.

My girlfriend bought me this from Amazon. We live in Sweden. It's pretty awesome. It's about Directing.

The Filmmaker's Eye - Easy to read book that I've fallen in love with. Not sure if it's what you're looking for, but definitely something to consider!

It's sometimes embarrassing to have a DSLR because DSLR filmmakers show up to a pro set looking like Blankman.



I'm trying not to be too critical but Flourescent bulbs aren't exactly sought after for their CRI, flicker characteristics, and inability to be dimmed well. Sure, they output a LOT of light, but you need to be careful because they pulse like mad, have a REALLY strange color cast, they can't be dimmed, AND are really noisy if you get dimmable ones.

Just get a PAR64 as a direct light through diffusion or build a softlight with some bare studio bulbs for softboxes and (the only good idea in the whole tutorial) that crazy cake pan reflector painted white. Either idea would probably only cost slightly more (for the REAL bulb receptacles) and put out A SHITLOAD more light (and a better quality/CRI of light).
Also, it's not that hard to build film lights with spare parts. There's even a section that starts on page 144 of the Harry C Box Set Lighting Technician's Handbook that teaches you how to make quality lights for the same amount of money or slightly more. The coop light that they recommend is REALLY good and isn't an embarrassing blankman invention. Clients actually do respond negatively to cheap equipment.

Also, you can build a kino flo if you have the time. All you need is coreplast (corrugated plastic), some fluorescent shoplights with ballasts, and real kino bulbs (since they have a much more acceptable CRI and are more rugged by a factor of 100).

It boggles my mind how people are so scared of real film lights even though they are commonly hand-built for specific purposes in the pro parts of the industry I'll get off my high horse. I'm just getting really tired of DSLR shooters kludging everything together just because they're scared of real film equipment.

I'll recommend von Hurkman's Color Correction Handbook, which is exceptionally helpful. And thorough.

Best After Effects book ever. Taught myself AE using an older edition of the book. Still use it as a reference after almost 10 years.

http://www.amazon.com/Creating-Motion-Graphics-After-Effects/dp/0240814150/ref=pd_sim_b_6

Adorama, where I think I bought mine.

Amazon

I purchased from Adorama. I had used the lens many times before buying it because my school had a bunch of them for us to use. When I got mine, I knew right away something was wrong with it because the focus ring was way too stiff/had too much friction when manual focusing. This seemed to mess with the AF and it would mis-focus (although not always). I called Adorama and they exchanged it free of charge. Second one was much smoother and it has served me well. It's my default lens for most shoots, unless I wanna get super close up to an actor, or I need to get really wide (and even then I usually end up just getting farther from the subject).

And to follow up on this solid line of thinking, I'd strongly recommend this:

http://www.amazon.com/Film-Directing-Shot-Visualizing-Productions/dp/0941188108/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1321583365&sr=8-1

I read this one in film school and really liked it.

Independent Feature Film Production by Gregory Goodell
http://www.amazon.com/Independent-Feature-Film-Production-Distribution/dp/0312181175

Also, Michael Caine's Acting In Film is worth reading as well.

Fancier Fluid Head Tripod, $130

I own one of these and it has performed quite well for me.

I'm a fan of this book, The Filmmakers Eye.

For versatility, I recommend the Tamron 24-75mm f/2.8

It's fixed aperture, decently fast, and its focal range goes from wide to juuust about close-up. It's not going to be as sharp as a prime, but if you can afford to shoot stopped down to a f/4 it can do good things.

slider

tripod

video that used slider+tripod combo
(see first 30 sec for slider shots)

I bought this

and it isn't going to work.

Story

Rebel Without A Crew

Story by Robert McKee

Have you looked into making your own?

i was looking at shoulder rigs yesterday and had the idea of maybe doing a diy rig and this is the rough list I've come up with so far.

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