I Want To Make Movies - Now What? PT. 2

So in my last blog I talked a little bit about myself and how I got started in film making. I discussed my opinion on where a new film maker should be putting his or her energies and how motivation isn't always the key to success.

Film makers come in many different verities and styles, starting with your self taught film maker, which is the school which I come from. When one doesn't have the time, money or ability to attend a formal film program at an university or specialty school, one has to get the tools and information that makes them useful on set. I personally went to a four year college, but it was to study Computer Science and not film making and cinematography. When I first started making films, I did so by learning through books, DVDs, the web and experimentation. Here are some useful links to sites and books that I found useful:

Informative Sites:

Prolost - http://prolost.blogspot.com - ProLost is the blog of Stu Maschwitz, director, author of The DV Rebel's Guide, and founder of The Orphanage in San Francisco.

HD For Indies - http://www.hdforindies.com/ - A How To Guide for Digital Filmmakers

Pro Video Coalition - http://provideocoalition.com - Has a great number of informative blogs on film making, production, cameras and post production.

DVX User - http://www.dvxuser.com - Home to the original forum for information exchange for the Panasonic DVX/HVX and other indie film cameras and topics.

Red User - http://www.reduser.net - The ultimate forum for getting information on digital cinema and the technology to deliver it.

Red Rock Micro Forum - http://www.redrockmicro.com/forum - General discussion on Red Rock Micro products, production techniques for indies and networking.

Fresh DV - http://www.freshdv.com/ - Great source for digital video news and great podcasts/video.

FX Guide - http://fxguide.com/ - News, podcasts and discussion of todays production and post production workflows for digital cinema.

Studio Daily - http://www.studiodaily.com - The Resource for Film, HD, digital production and post news, tools, tutorials, reviews and case studies.

Digital Video Information Network - http://dvinfo.net/conf/ - Forum for discussing everything digital video.

Equipment Sites:

Red - http://www.red.com - Makers of the Red One 4K Digital Cinema camera and Scarlet the 3K camera for $3K.

Canon - http://usa.canon.com - Home of the HV20/HV30 cameras.

Red Rock Micro - http://www.redrockmicro.com - Makers of the M2 35mm adapter, Mirco mattebox and other great priced cinema gear.

Element Technica - http://www.elementtechnica.com - Support, mounting and production equipment for Red One.

B&H Photo Video - http://www.bhphotovideo.com - The best priced equipment on the internet with some of the best customer service and selection. If someone has it cheaper, its a scam.

Apple - http://www.apple.com - The only computer for me. Also the makers of Final Cut Pro, Shake, Color, and many other useful applications for the indie film maker.

Adobe - http://www.adobe.com - Software make for creative people. Photoshop, After Effects and the whole Creative Suite.


Hope that some of these links will help you learn a bit more about digital cinema. This list is by no means a complete list. If you have more useful links, add them in the comments. These are just the sites that I visit on a daily basis.