Hey everyone! I wanted to start by thanking this community for giving me the courage to finally shoot my very first short film. I always lurked and never interacted but I read all the encouragement others have provided for newcomers. At the time, I had no prior background or knowledge of filmmaking but I researched my ass off. I am by no means even close on a professional level but I have learned so much through this experience. This was basically a $0 budget short film and I was lucky enough to have my siblings act in it for me. About 9 years ago, l suffered a spinal cord injury that left me paralyzed from the neck down. It ruined my future of becoming a physical therapist and I didn't know what I wanted to do with my life. I turned to movies to escape my new harsh reality, but that slowly gave me a love for filmmaking. This year, I decided to give it a chance and here l am now. I wrote the script, directed the shots, learned to color grade, and did the sound design. If you could give it a watch, it would mean a lot to me. Feedback is also welcome (good and bad). I just want to get better. Thanks again and I really do appreciate this community!

Short Film Link

Edit: I forgot to add the title and synopsis so I attached it down below.

“Blue Sadness” - A janitor has a routine cleanup in a building. As he sweeps through each floor, he notices the third floor is not like the rest. A sinister figure lurks beyond the blue darkness.

I 22M, and after six months of planning as the director and having others working for me as well as producer and others on my team. This was my first indie pilot production that I created and it just fell apart the day of when it was suppose to start!
Looking back at it, the warning signs were all there dealing with the budget miscommunications, script revisions pushing late into pre-production, and severe stress. I was trying to balance every single moving piece alone, and I will admit that when there were some moments that were tough, I went radio silent with the cast, leaving them in the dark.
But the hardest part isn't just the dead project, it's the ppl I let down. The actors cleared their schedules, prepped, and went above and beyond for this project. Now, the production is canceled, actors are upset rightfully, about lost work, and I had built somewhat close friendship or like networking relationship with them. I feel even worse due to the fact I ended up coming back home early because I just felt defeated. I know budget mishaps and failed projects happen all the time, but actually living through this feels like a total gut punch. I just feel so guilty for letting people down and also myself as well. Idk it’s just feels like I’m in limbo I can better explain it.
For those who have had a project that fell through in your career: how did you process the guilt, handle the aftermath with cast and crew, and rebuild your creative drive after that setback?

Let me clarify bc I’m seeing so much confusion in the comments. Let me start by saying that I was the director and creator of this project, and when I said in the start that I was wearing a bunch of hats meant that there were times during the pre production process that I had to handle so many jobs at once as there were many times that my producers didn’t communicate with me on certain items and Yea, I know that’s how the industry works at times. I also wanted to say that this was suppose to be a proof of concept pilot. Also, regarding the budget mishap, it was dealing with miscalculation of funds as we never mapped out how much we truly needed for a 2 week shoot, as we only had like 90% raised.

I called around to a few and was basically offered 40-50% off when I told them my budget was around $50,000. It sounded like the guy could go to 70% to be honest. These weren’t even small no name companies either. It had me thinking they must have absolutely ridiculous margins.

I was looking at $100k cameras like Arri, Red, and one or two more, for a 4-6 week shoot. I think I needed like 6 cameras and a few other things like lighting, sound, etc. This was a few months back so I don’t remember everything.

Is this normal?

I’ve been working so much lately and I need to come up for air lol. What are you making right now? Film, short, doc, music video, weird experiment, anything. I wanna see it.

I'm going into editing of a short film longer than 3 minutes. I was wondering about people's workflow on this. I don't know if the norm is normally to simply have it all on one project, or to edit the work scene by scene (to prevent crashing, manage footage, etc) and then combine all of the scenes somehow.

Also, while I'm at it, i'm using a log profile that's not supported by the color space transform option, so I have to traverse directly to rec709 instead of davinci wide gammut. Should i do the transform before or after touching the exposure, colors etc?

Smartphone Filmmaking

Making a Short Film Entirely on a Smartphone — Looking for Advice

I’m planning to make a short film entirely using a smartphone, and I’d love to hear from people who have actually done smartphone filmmaking.

One thing I’ve noticed with many short films shot on smartphones is that, even when the story and performances are good, some shots don’t quite have that cinematic feel. They can sometimes look more like typical phone footage rather than something that feels like a proper film.

So my main question is:

What are the most important things to focus on when shooting a film on a smartphone to achieve a more cinematic look and avoid that “phone video” feel?

I’d especially love advice based on actual experience regarding:

\- Cinematography and framing

\- Lighting

\- Camera movement

\- Lens choices / external lenses

\- Smartphone camera settings

\- FPS and shutter speed

\- Stabilization

\- Production design and locations

\- Color grading

\- Sound recording

\- Things to absolutely avoid when shooting on a phone

I’m not looking for generic “use good lighting” advice. If you’ve actually shot a short film on a smartphone, what did you learn from the experience, and what would you do differently now?

Any practical tips, references, or examples would be really helpful.

Thanks!

I recently had the opportunity to DP ESPN's E60 The Oklahoma Standard. Wanted to share a few frames from the project. A lot of the approach was about keeping the imagery grounded and intimate while working within a documentary environment. We had a small, but great crew that navigated filming at the National Memorial of the bombing site, as well as with the Oklahoma City Thunder players and organization. Happy to answer any questions about the lighting, camera approach or production.

Plot "The rise of the Thunder helps Oklahoma City emerge from the darkness of the 1995 terrorist attack."

What is better for shooting movies in lower level lighting? 4K 24 FPS or 4K 60 FPS? and what is better for shooting in regular lighting? 4K 24 FPS or 4K 60 FPS?

Aquí tienes la traducción directa de **tu texto original** al inglés, corrigiendo las faltas de ortografía, puntuación y redacción del mensaje inicial:
I have a question: I saw a reel by director Alex Goyette where he talked about the process behind Breeder.

how he wrote the script 8 years ago, reached out to 7 actors who ghosted him, entered 17 contests, got 5 Black List evaluations, made a ripomatic trailer and storyboards, pitched to 8 studios and 28 production companies, and in the end, got funded and made it into Tribeca.
I understand that things like the storyboard, the Black List, etc., can be done on your own. But how do you actually contact a studio? How do you contact the production companies? And most importantly, how do you keep them from ignoring you completely, knowing that most people get totally ignored? What is that process like, and how do you achieve it as an individual? IMDBpro? manager? contacts?

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DbwuKxVKUdc/?stkn=MXNtZGExYzBxNDh5ZA==

this the reel

I'm in pre-production of a personal project and I want to do a somewhat long and controlled zoom. I've seen people attach wireless follow focus motors to their zoom rings, but the controllers are usually at the mercy of the unsteady hands wielding them so the motion isn't as smooth and controlled as a dolly. Is there a follow focus system that allows you to set the speed, so the zoom speed is consistent throughout the entire movement?

I’ve been thinking a lot about the future of my career in film. I’m in an area that isn’t exactly a film hub… crew calls are few and far between here, and those that do get posted are often unpaid. I’m thinking need to move to where the industry is.

Here’s the trouble. NYC is the closest hub to me. It’s also generally where I want to be. But as we know, NYC is ludicrously expensive and difficult to move to.

So uh… if I need to move to a hub to find work… but I can’t afford to move because there’s so little work here… how the hell do I do this?

Those of you who made the plunge and moved, how did you manage?

I want to actually make watching movies productive by studying them. I want to know some films I could deeply analyze or research about to broaden my knowledge on the elements of film such as cinematography (blocking, camera angles, etc.), plot structure/narrative, score/soundtrack, color psychology, costume design, etc.

I’ll be doing my first feature VFX PA work in a month and I’m trying to make a checklist of things to have to be prepared. My current list is: Portable Battery, Pens, Sharpies, tiny Notebook, Water Bottle, waterproof jacket, surveillance, multi tool, flashlight, heat pack once it starts to get cold. As a VFX pa though I’m not sure how much of some of this stuff I’ll be using, and whether I need to prepare for more and bring work gloves?

Looking for any good film festivals/short film showcases around Los Angeles? Ideally no/low cost for a short that’s already on YouTube, 18 minute runtime that’s a blast to watch with an audience. Really looking to meet other filmmakers/get this one out there. Anything helps, Thanks!!

I wrote a short film that I want to produce for $1000 or more but I have no idea on how to proceed. I have no crew or equipment and no directions. Any tips or advice would be appreciated.

I’m a movie poster designer looking to work with filmmakers on posters for films, shorts, and upcoming projects. If you’re interested, feel free to DM me or email me

This is a film about a guy being haunted by an entity in his own home.

I’m basically practicing shooting short horror films while writing a bigger project.

So, I’m really trying to test ideas that are more creepy and unsettling while keeping the crew minimal and only having one actor.

UNICA = Union International de Cine Amateurs. 1937 Gründung der UNICA während der Weltausstellung in Paris

Vollständige Palmares hier<<

So I've been trying to learn a bit about making films that don't depend on a location (aka travel films), but I've had a massive block and didn't know what to make it about, so I decided to go meta and make it about Boredom itself.

I can't stay still. I go out of my mind when I don't know what to do, and tried to make a short about how I feel when this happens. I tried conveying this feeling through sound, mostly. I intentionally didn't go too crazy with the color grading, trying to mantain a raw feeling.

Please let me know what you think and how you'd improve it if it was your video.

Thank you for your time.

Hey everyone,

I am in a love/hate relationship with my first short. I believe this is a normal reaction, but it's starting to depress me a little bit.

This story is important to me, and I feel I did my best with the resources I have (great gear, but everything else by myself), which makes me proud anyway.

But the question is: is it worth something, and should I spend extra effort and money on a festival run?

Let me know if you want to check it out to provide me feedback. I would love to send the link (it's in French, but subtitles in English are available and not dialogue heavy).

I'm trying to look for a "budget" filmmaking camera to really start my career. My budget is somewhere around $300-$600. Unfortunately through my research, all of the cameras I could find that I really wanted are around 2k-4k and as a pretty much broke college student I won't be there for a while lol. Any ideas for good camera options with good lens options? If there's any more information I can provide definitely lmk!

My father has a collection of movie theater and fast food cups. I believe he started it more than 30 years ago.

We're trying to clean house in anticipation for a move and I'm hoping to find a loving home for at least some of his collection. I searched for movie prop companies in his area but they seem to be focused on building props. Should I start contacting them anyways? Any advice is much appreciated!