Tag: film school

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Truly Free Film

Always Read The Label! — 7 Questions You Should Ask Your Filmschool Before Applying

By Carl Schoenfeld, Program Leader Raindance Postgraduate Film Degree.

littleraindanceWhat is the point of film school?

There are quite a few filmmakers who suggest that emerging talent should put their money towards making a film and presenting this at festivals instead of investing in a degree.

Ask any festival programmer: they see a lot of films that have been made by filmmakers who’ve not attended film school long before their festival starts. Submission numbers to the Sundance film festival have more than tripled since 1999 when films like The Blair Witch Project shaped the mould and gave rise to that question above. This year, more than 12,000 films competed for less than 200 screening slots, from which about a third may find a buyer, and so a future audience.

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Truly Free Film

What Issues Do Filmmakers Need To Track?

If filmmakers don't track core issues, they will find their form abandoned in the parking lotA creative life is a precarious thing.  Actions occur that could profoundly effect your ability to earn a living doing what you love.  We get blindsided again and again, sometimes not recognizing things until they are too late to alter them.  It’s one of the reasons I have tried to meticulously track for you what are the good thing and bad things happening in indie film these days.  Yet, it seems to me we all need to do a better job of tracking them if we don’t want to get trapped in a future we won’t be part of..

My thought is that we should be able to define a series of issues in which we can put events, ideas, and articles into as they occur, helping each other stay on top of them. 

The first step is to define the issues.  That is what I am doing today .

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Truly Free Film

15 Predictions On The Future Of Indie Film

The future shines brightNote: If you’d like to share this post, please use this link: http://bit.ly/18LXym8

I have written about the good things in indie film. I have done it quite a bit. I have written about the bad things, and more than several times there too.  I have written about the thinkers and doers who are shaping where we are (and will post that later this month).  I have examined the cultural changes, the realities of our industry, and provided recommended best practices. I examined why it is sooo slow to change. I would like to help us find our path forward; what more can I do to help?

I tried to take action.  I left the city of my youth (and many years well beyond that), and the practice that I had dedicated my labor to (i.e. producing films), on the hope that the support of an organization in a land of innovation could accelerate the pace of change for my industry and culture (taking the reigns of the San Francisco Film Society). Okay, so that wasn’t to be, and I have now resigned from that gig and again I am pushing new boulders up the mountain now. But where are we all headed? What will we see on the way? Will we miss the path before us? How can we shine a light so we don’t stumble and get crushed by our own labors?

Specifically, what really is on the horizon and what is the mirage? Where will the seeds that have already been planted bloom most glorious in our indie film evolution?

Can we actually future-cast #IndieFilm?

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Truly Free Film

The Digital Recession

By Jim Cummings

In 2011, a speaker at a reputable film festival said to an audience of filmmakers, “the best part about making movies today is that anyone can make movies, and the worst part is also that anyone can make movies.” I turned to inspect the audience because I wondered, as I do still, to whom he was speaking? How could it ever be good for artisans that everyone can make art? What realtor or travel agent is thrilled by new advancements in global connectivity and the democratization of their work? We are all the victims of an imploding digital revolution and although many seem confused about what this means for our future, and the pursuit of film as a career, I’d like to be honest about my experiences in the economics of art, where we seem to be heading, and how we might survive the fallout.

Our first short film was seen by over a million people in 140 counties.

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