VINE

The next generation of Instagram is here! Instead of pictures (memes, quotes, etc.) you can upload six seconds worth of videos. You can find the vine app on your app store—it’s free! Once you’ve downloaded the app, simply tap for every new image you want to record for a maximum of

Gatekeeper Quote of the Day: Mike Plante (Sundance Shorts Programmer)

So What’s The Deal With…Film Collectives?

I used to be the film kid who didn’t play with others. My dream was to be the traditional auteur: writer, director and editor. A triple threat not to be messed with.

In reality, I was just too afraid to ask for help.

To All My Homies About That Indie Film Set Life

As a member of the XLR brotherhood, you have chosen a path many nine-to-fivers will not understand. Luckily filmmaker Tanuj Chopra (his feature PUNCHING AT THE SUN played at Sundance in 2006) is sharing a pretty great list of insightful “do and don’ts” for indie film set life.

Filmmaker Quote of the Day: Steven Soderbergh

“If you’re sitting around thinking what other people think about your work, you’ll just become paralyzed.”
– Steven Soderbergh, Director (SIDE EFFECTS)

Filmmake Quote of the Day: Darren Aronofsky

 

“If you want to be a filmmaker, the best thing you can bring to the world is your own story.”
– Darren Aronofsky, Director (BLACK SWAN)

 

Filmmaker Quote of the Day: David Mamet

“[Screenwriting’s] all about working on it and working on it until it comes out even. There’s really no magic to it.”
– David Mamet, Screenwriter (PHIL SPECTOR)

Filmmaker Quote of the Day: Deepa Mehta

“I don’t see myself as carrying a placard with a message in my films. What motivates me are the stories. But those stories are usually issue-oriented. It has to be something I’m passionate about, because making a film is too much time and energy.”
– Deepa Mehta, Director (MIDNIGHT’S CHILDREN)

Filmmaker Quote of the Day: Gus Van Sant

“Something harder than making a movie is not making a movie.”
– Gus Van Sant, Director (PROMISED LAND)

My Reluctant Pixie Dream Girl

Check out–and share with your friends–fellow Ithaca College alum John Ungaro’s short on a “quirky, manic pixie dream girl like no other.” Short, simple, and sweet.

“I didn’t ask to be tiny and adorable. I didn’t ask to look like a free spirit who inspires sad sack neurotic writers. But everyone has a role to play, Adam.”

My Reluctant Pixie Dream Girl from Avenger_Comedy on Vimeo.

Filmmaker Quote of the Day: Charles Burnett

“For me, anyone who finishes a film I take my hat off to. When an audience sees a finished film, it doesn’t know the wars fought by the director to make his or her picture.”

– Charles Burnett, Director (KILLER OF SHEEP)

Do You Budget For Life Expenses During Pre-Production?

Remember back in the day when indie filmmakers was mortgaging their homes, maxing out credit cards and borrowing money from every person they’d met in life just to get films made? Yeah, that’s not cool anymore, especially to producers. So what’s a director to do?

Filmmaker Quote of the Day: Nora Ephron

“I don’t care who you are. When you sit down to write the first page of your screenplay, in your head, you’re also writing you Oscar acceptance speech.”

– Nora Ephron, Screenwriter (JULIE AND JULIA, WHEN HARRY MET SALLY…)

Filmmaker Quote of the Day: Roger Deakins

“Someone said to me, early on in film school… if you can photograph the human face you can photograph anything, because that is the most difficult and most interesting thing to photograph.”

– Roger Deakins, Cinematographer (SKYFALL)

Filmmaker Quote of the Day: Quentin Tarantino

“Great artists steal; they don’t do homages.”

– Quentin Tarantino, Director (DJANGO UNCHAINED)

Filmmaker Quote of the Day: Kasi Lemmons

“I find cinema to be a very beautiful medium to influence. And I’ve seen a lot of things that I didn’t necessarily think of until I saw them in a movie. But there are tons of things you never thought of before, but you can relate them perfectly.”

– Kasi Lemmons, Director  (EVE’S BAYOU, TALK TO ME)

What To Do When The Words Won’t Come? Oscar Screenplay Nominees Share Their Hardest Scenes

FADE IN.

I’ve got this idea for a blog post. Grabs notebook and pen, anticipating the words to flow easily from my head to the paper. I get a sentence or two. Nope, that’s not quite what I want to say. Scratches out words. Tries again from a different angle. NO. NO. NO. Tosses notebook aside, sulks for a minute and checks Hulu for the latest episode of “Parks and Rec”.

FADE TO BLACK.

A very smart woman named Gloria Steinem once said “I do not like to write – I like to have written.” And it’s absolutely true. Writing can be awful because it’s all on you. You have to do the work, mostly alone and it is hard.

Filmmaker Quote of the Day: Fred Elmes

“Cinematography is a job that can be either boringly technical or magical. I was never trained to be that technical, so for me, it has to be magical.”
– Fred Elmes, Cinematographer (BLUE VELVET, BROTHERS)