Link: http://www.billboardmama.com/how-to-choose-your-film-school-p-422.html
If you have established yourself with a goal of becoming the new Steven Spielberg, then you probably should attend a Film School. There are many fine film schools ready. And the best news? You don't have to be in LA to bump into one.
Googling the term "film school" shall provide you with a great place to begin. Your hunt will surely yield with more than a dozen choices. And because there are a lot of them, it is more likely that you'll find one close to you. Be aware that film production has already left Tinseltown. The days of the biggest film studios watching everything is over. Still, a word of caution: Be certain that the institution you've found is approved. There are several means to check school accreditation. Visit http://www.ed.gov/admins/finaid/accred/index.html to get details about a school's authority.
Online courses that provide subjects in film production are also there. Many of these subjects stress on digital productions. Some may orient you on how to create documentary films.
Money is the next item to think about after finding a school and being accepted in it. How are you going to afford the school? The majority, if not all, of the accredited schools will offer financial assistance.
These are some of the interesting courses that are extended in film school.
History of Cinema - As the course title hints, this study will take you through how movies have changed over the years.
Screenwriting - This study shall orient and teach you on how to make a script for a movie - as without this, there shall be no picture.
Financing - Making a movie costs money. This course shall then instruct you on how to get financial backup in order for your picture to be materialized.
Budgeting - More or less, this is a complementary course to funding.
Directing - Directing is not just about yelling "action!" Directing a film encompasses quite a bit.
Camera Operation - You need to know how a camera works, and how to use one.
Lighting - This will teach you on how to light the film, so that when it is watched on the big screen, the scenes shall look natural and vivid.
Editing - Once you've shot your film, it needs to be put in the correct order. Bear in mind that many movies aren't shot in the direction that we view them on the big screen. Bloopers, boo-boos and mistakes must be removed also.
Sound Direction - You want your picture to be heard and seen, right?
Special Effects - Anything that happens on screen is a Special Effect. Even the natural happening of a rock breaking a window is a special effect. This, on the other hand, should not be interchanged with Special Visual Effects. Think "Star Wars".
These are just several of the things that you will know about in a Film School. Be aware that many Film Schools can be a bit expensive. There are alternatives, though. One of these is Film Connections: http://filmconnection.com/index.html. They can provide a mentoring course of study that just might have you behind the camera quicker and for little money.
In reality, you can easily get a camera and start shooting if you wish to call yourself a filmmaker. Only that can only offer so much - enroll in a qualified Film School if you need to learn how to create a movie, the CORRECT manner.
Link: http://www.billboardmama.com/studying-the-potential-of-filmmaking-p-421.html
Currently, there are several amateur films that have been circulating the web; this has us ask, "is filmmaking still feasible?" Is there still a prospect left for the film industry?
To answer that inquiry correctly, we need to properly determine our terms. Films don't have a future. Most of the time, movies are taken and showcased digitally. In this kind of business, there are holdouts. Steven Spielberg uses film and has not wished his films to be showcased digitally. But even the magnificent Spielberg has to give in - this passed with "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull." Paramount promoted it both on film and in digital format. The movie icon Michael Bay expresses himself in these words: "I'm old school because I like to use film." He remarks that he prefers his movies to be seen in cinemas, that "Transformers" wasn't made for an iPod. These two film giants, Bay and Spielberg are still part of the group of filmmakers who want to tell their stories through the larger screen professionally.
But are there still audiences to that kind of cinema? This is the kind of filmmaking that requires the parallel editing of set-ups. When the largest hits on the web today aren't feature films, but home-movie shorts of "The Worst Ice Cream Ever" and "Spider-Tard", will people even see feature films any more?
Cory Doctorow, a writer who believes that "commercially minded" big budget films "could simply die", mentions in an Internet article called "Media Metamorphosis: How the Internet Will Devour, Transform or Destroy Your Favorite Medium" that the future will be controlled by common and bad YouTube videos which, he says, will be seen by you and the "38 other people who are kinked just like you."
Is he correct? Is film-going soon to be a part of our memory? Will people prefer to watch a confused amateur movie on a phone? Is the kid with the phone-cam now the King of the movie business? Let's go to the facts. The movie "Where the Wild Things Are" grossed over 30 million dollars this weekend. That's approximately 3 million people who went to watch it in just 3 days and box office for the weekend is up forty percent from the same time last year. This amount demonstrates that not one video on the web has obtained this much response from the public - ever! Even the low-budgeted film (about $20,000) "Paranormal Activity" has made over 30 million dollars - on the average, that's more or less $25,000 per theater.
Annual box office hasn't dropped since the internet became such a vital aspect of our lives. The downtick in gains hovers around 1-2% yearly, which is really greater than the downturn in the economy. People still want to head out and enjoy an experience in a moviehouse with other people, lose themselves in something outside of everyday life.
"You try to show a story that's meaningful, and share it with people," this is what the famous creator of "The Da Vinci Code" Ron Howard told the present DGA Quarterly. That sort of shared-story is something that audiences still want. Lastly, while film may be dead, the filmmaking process as well as the movie-going experience is still so strong and vital.
Link: http://www.billboardmama.com/a-new-age-in-film-jobs-p-420.html
Once clustered almost totally in southern California, film jobs and film internships have become practically more common across the country as production proceeds to migrate to "third coast" locations. Because of this, the need for film talent across the country has dramatically increased.
Yet, Southern California is the primary hub of talents for the entertainment business. The most well-sought professional people - editors, actors, writers, film directors - are still in the Los Angeles region.
In The Meantime, New York City has also seen a growth in production with several network and critically acclaimed cable TV series using it as their home base. Commercial and feature film production in New Yor City also remains at a healthy level.
The "third coast" locations, situated between the coasts, has been a wholly new era in feature film production. Gulf states such as Texas, Louisiana and Florida have seen a significant growth in production over the last decade. While these projects generally bring in essential people, the demand for locally hired production crew has taken a big leap. This then resulted to a major increase in the number of film jobs available in these areas. Consequently, the said area has an inflated need for film talent.
Other key metropolitan areas such as Chicago, Minneapolis and San Francisco have also established themselves as film production giants. Chicago alone has been host to such leading film productions like "The Dark Knight" including TV dramas like, "The Beast" which featured the late Patrick Swayze.
The entertainment business has proven itself to be resilient during the past economic downturns - but this does not mean that the field is totally recession-proof. This can be explicated by the fact that the public tries to find comfort in entertainment - in TV shows and films - when recession hits.
Major growths in digital film production have also created an increased demand for talent with the skills to take film production into the next era. With film production taking place in new places and in new ways, the demand for talent has perhaps never been this high.
In the same way that films need new film directors and authors, the industry also requires new faces. This paves way for the growth in requirement of "below-the-line" talent in essential production functions. Talented, educated personnel to function as art directors, sound people, cinematographers, grips, and lighting people, are precious part of any film production.
The need for these skilled, trained professional people to join film jobs and film internships in new media and in new locations will proceed to rise as long as film production proceeds to migrate from the coasts and broaden.
Link: http://www.billboardmama.com/radio-dj-living-the-dream-p-419.html
Is the Radio DJ a failing breed? In the development of digital age, it sometimes seems as though Radio DJs have lost their niche in the world. For one, rather than tuning in to the local FM stations, people have been turning on their satellite radios. True, several satellite stations do employ DJ's - but such is a rarity - and all music stations outnumber them.
Then there's that Internet music market. Indeed, the potential of radio stations is bleak as songs can be downloaded at a affordable cost and some could even be easily bootlegged. Few people tune in their radios at the house for anything more than the news, and although newer models of MP3 players have built-in FM radio tuners, the online stations are more accessible and more popular. Why wait after commercials when you can simply turn on your customized Pandora that plays all of your preferred songs without gap? While numerous online stations like Slackeremploy Radio DJs, these again are rare and the occupations are available to just a few highly expert practitioners.
The world today, on the other hand, puts the most well-known DJ's in the trendiest nightspots, and not on radio stations. Over-the-air DJing is becoming a gradually difficult field to enter. The Radio DJs who are flourishing at their jobs and do land the significant gigs are set apart by a number of certain attributes. They possess personality, professionalism, a love for their subject, and an undeniable knowledge of their field.
Many of these attributes can be learned - except for passion of course, as it is something that comes from within. Aspirants can study the tricks and advice on how to become a popular DJ. Professionalism can be acquired, especially by trying the business side of the DJ industry. Finding a teacher or making contact with those who work in the radio field can offer precious experience. Learning about a few strategies of the job can make the difference between a DJ who falls between the cracks, and one escalates to greatness even with the hardship of today's highly competitive markets.
There are also a number of excellent radio and DJ-oriented institutions, many of which offer classes online. By enrolling in a couple of courses in the radio industry and the mechanical factors of DJing, a DJ student can rapidly master the required skills to back up personality with the knowledge radio stations like to find. You can even specialize - live audience DJing, audio engineering, working in particular genres of music , just to name a few. So if you truly want to be a Radio DJ, don't get easily discouraged - after all, a bit of effort is just what you need.