Film Making Tips & Tricks - Shooting Basics

The folks over at Vimeo.com have a great series on the basics of creating your own videos. Here's the second part in that series, Shooting Basics

And for the rest of the Video 101 series - http://vimeo.com/videoschool/101

Film Making Tips & Tricks - Basics: The Tripod

Pick a point on your computer monitor, maybe the period at the end of this paragraph, and stare at it. Now wiggle your head around a bit, bounce up and down in your seat, or even try balancing on one foot while still staring at that point. What you'll find is your eyes and your brain start communicating and working together so that you can keep pretty good focus on that point - the human body really is an intelligent thing. Video cameras however, are pretty dumb in comparison. Luckily you can "smarten" them up with the use of a simple tripod.

Quick Tip: Smooth Panning

Having used many cheap tripods I usually just resort to never panning because it's never smooth and just makes things look awful. However, here's a quick video tip on how to get a professional looking pan out of your normally jittery tripod using nothing more than an elastic

Film Making Tips & Tricks - Basics: The Camera

So, you want to make a film but you don't have thousands of dollars to spend on a camera. No worries! Luckily we're living in a digital age where anyone that knows how to use a computer can make their own videos and put them online for the world to see - and that's resulted in a cornucopia of inexpensive and sometimes surprisingly good quality cameras.

New Film Making Tips & Tricks Series

A film festival is nothing without film makers

But what is a film maker? Is it a multi-million dollar budget, with top-of-the-line equipment, a crew 100+ strong and years of experience? Maybe it's all in the recognition - box office ratings, reviews, awards. Or can anyone be a film maker?

I like to think that any person that has a story to tell is a film maker, they just may have never held a camera before. And that's why we're starting the Film Making Tips & Tricks Series - it's for all the people who have had ideas for fantastic films but thought that they needed more time/money/skill to do it right.

I'll be writing about the most common set-backs I've come across while making films with youth, along with some basic tips that will help everything go a lot smoother. On top of that, I'll be scouring the internet for other peoples' tricks to get professional results without a professional budget.

So, no matter how much experience you have now, follow along and you'll be making your own movies in no time. Who knows? Maybe one day you'll be showing your films at ReFrame!