StarNow
For our short films to date, the way that we have been organising our cast and crew has been through StarNow (www.starnow.com.au). StarNow is free for people to join and is a fantastic resource. Posting an ad requires a paid membership (around $10.00 per month) but it really is worth it. StarNow Listings StarNow actually works... Read More
Horror Movie
Vampires, Zombies, Human Centipedes, and Torture porn. The things that scare and intrigue people changes over time, and we are keen to make a horror / thriller short film of our own. Horror Movie Short The scariest stories are definitely ones that involve an element of realism. The Starling / Lecter first engagement in The Silence of... Read More
Shane’s Inner Circle
Shane Hurlbut is a cinematographer that has been involved with all sorts of productions, from music videos to Hollywood blockbusters. His work is renowned, and one of the best resources currently available on the internet is a paid membership to the Shane Hurlbut cinematography website. The Hurlblog Anyone who is interested in improving as a... Read More
Tropfest ‘Saved’
The financial burden obviously wasn’t insurmountable for the Tropfest organisers, who had been thrown a lifeline by CGU Insurance to conduct the short film festival on Valentine’s Day for 2016. This is fantastic news overall but still doubts remain about the viability of the event on an ongoing basis, especially with the revelation that entries were... Read More
Tropfest Signature Item: Institutional Failure
Tropfest. It’s not the reason that we make short films but it does get plenty of interest when we put a casting call out on StarNow, so we always enter. Well, we paid our $45.00 (including GST) entry fee for 2015 and submitted a good film, not great, but good. It wasn’t a surprise that... Read More
Stage 32
One really good (and free to use) resource available to filmmakers is Stage 32 (www.stage32.com). More geared up for users in the northern hemisphere, there are, nonetheless, many good features that everyone can make use of. Lounge Without a doubt, the lounge is well worth stopping by and browsing. Any time that I have some spare... Read More
Tropfest 2015 – We Didn’t Make It
We got our entry in for Tropfest with minutes to spare. The adrenaline, the excitement, the nearly punching the Mac Book Pro as the deadline loomed. Ahhhh, fun times. Then, after a couple of weeks, the dreaded email comes. “Hi Damian, Thank you for submitting your film ’Narrators’ to Tropfest Australia 2015 this year. Unfortunately,... Read More
Best Filmmaking Podcasts
Spending a ton of time in the car every day gives me the chance to listen to podcasts from every genre. There are dozens of high quality podcasts for those interested in filmmaking, but in my opinion the best three are: Go Creative Show Scriptnotes On The Page Go Creative Show Ben Consoli puts... Read More
Tropfest 2015 – Only Just!
Elfenshot’s entry for Tropfest in 2015 – ‘Narrators’ – only just made it, with last minute upload issues affecting hundreds of entrants on the last day. At 11:56pm, it was through. Four minutes in hand. Tropfest 2015 TSI – “Card” Trying to put a card (or at least some reference to ‘card’) into ‘Narrators’ and... Read More