Resources

In the spirit of finding the path of DIY education, here are some things I found greatly helped me.  I’ve either read or learned from personally all of the following books, blogs, or DVDs, so you know I’m not blindly recommending things I’ve heard were good.

• Books
  • Acting
    • Acting in Film: An Actor’s Take on Moviemaking by Michael Caine – A quick read and a wealth of information from one of the greats.  Feeling cheap?  Then check out the 6 part series on acting that covers most of the same topics on YouTube.
    • How to Stop Acting by Harold Guskin – Actors aren’t supposed to ‘act,’ they’re supposed to ‘be.’  This book delves into how to draw out a more natural performance.
      
  • Directing
    • Rebel Without a Crew by Robert Rodriguez – The ubiquitous ‘tome’ of DIY filmmaking, Rodriguez tells the story of how he made El Mariachi on the cheap and where it landed him.  A very encouraging book for those starting out.
  • Editing
    • In the Blink of an Eye by Walter Murch – A little light on the digital expansion of editing, but still a solid book on teaching the principles of editing, and how the audience views a film.
  • Sound
    • Ty Ford’s Audio Bootcamp by Ty Ford – A handy booklet about what microphones to look into getting, how to handle your equipment in the field, and what to look at when running sound on location.
  • Writing
    • Story by Robert McKee – The textbook of storytelling for a screenplay.
    • Save the Cat by Blake Snyder – A book every first time writer should read.  Snyder hammers on the importance of structure, and teaches you with the Blake Snyder Beat Sheet how to properly pace your screenplay.
• Websites
  • AfterEffects
    • VideoCopilot – Offering many free tutorials and a ‘boot camp’ to get you started using AfterEffects, Andrew Kramer also sells a lot of great stock effects, premium tutorials, and other elements that will add production value to your projects.  I’ve picked up most of their products to date.
  • Lenses
    • BorrowLenses.com – If you’re curious about a lens or just want to use a nice lens for a project, this is a great site to get a chance to rent a lens.  They send you the lens and the return label and when you’re finished you send it right back.
    • KEH – Where I buy all my used lenses.  Great prices and high quality standards.
    • Ken Rockwell – Primarily photography based, Ken has a lot of great information when it comes to reviews on lenses, and they are all personal, hands-on testimonials.
  • Lens Adapters
    • Cinevate – Creators of the Brevis35 lens adapter, Cinevate is coming up with a lot of products to stay relevant in the HDSLR democratization wave.  Based in Canada and super friendly, I highly recommend doing business with them.
  • Title Sequences
    • Art of the Title – Great blog that hosts videos of opening sequences of films and occasionally conducts interviews with their creators.

Here are some people I’ve worked with or admire that I think deserve a little promotion.

• Whitestone Motion Pictures – (www.whitestonemotionpictures.com)
  • Whitestone is based in Atlanta, Georgia, and filmmaker Brandon McCormick shows a lot of tenacity in constantly creating high quality short films.  They’ve been ramping up the scope of their projects and Whitestone has recently been named a finalist in the 2010 Doorpost film competition.
• John Barnett Photography – (www.jbarnettphotography.com)
  • John was my director of photography on Greyscale and is a consummate globetrotter, constantly taking incredibly photos wherever he goes.  We were lucky to pin him down as long as we could to work on Greyscale with us.