Filmmaker's Dream Blog

There are many experts within the film industry that have to oversee a business plan in order to make sure the movie is successful. The right person to look towards in this case would be the film producer. The responsibilities of a film producer include:

• Producing a film within its budget
• Supervising the film project from concept to distribution
• Secure financing for a film project
• Hire cast/crew to make sure the film is delivered and put together to the best of its ability. 

The list goes on and on as far as what a film producer has to do to make sure the film happens. I decided to research and review two industry experts to see how they gained their success in the business department of film. The industry experts I have chosen are Kevin Geiger and Kathleen Kennedy.
Kevin Geiger is known for films such as, 'Reign of Fire', 'Species', 'Chicken Little', and 'Henry's Garden'. With his major focus being in digital arts, Kevin has also offered great details on having an indie film business plan. Kevin says, "Most indie filmmakers have a strong creative pitch, but not a strong business pitch when going to investors, and if those aren't linked, you've got a problem." According to Kevin, a few key factors investors are looking for an a business plan include:

• How are the investors going to make their money back?
• Prepare a cash flow projection
• Create a business plan presentation for investors
• Select development and advisory teams.

Check out his great informational videos below!
The next industry expert is Kathleen Kennedy, by far one of the most successful film producers of all time. She's produced films like 'Jurassic Park', 'ET', 'Adventures of Tin Tin' and many more. Kathleen attended San Diego State University and later worked as a camera operator, video editor, and floor director. Kathleen started as a production assistant in working with Steven Spielberg and worked her way up to becoming the second most successful film producers in the world. Kathleen Kennedy is now the co-chair person for Lucasfilm. ( Deadline, 2012)
Kathleen Kennedy says she became lucky after taking a job as a production assistant for Steven Spielberg's '1941' and later became a producer. Kathleen mentions how she looks for someone who is talented, nice, balanced, with various interests in the film industry when hiring new people. She also mentioned that for great advice you have to have a lot of tenacity, work hard, and strong values to make it in the film industry. (HollywoodTV, 2007)  Kathleen gives excellent advice in the video below for ways to make it in Hollywood.
 Deadline. (2012, June 01). [Web log message]. Retrieved from http://www.deadline.com/2012/06/lucasfilms-names-kathleen-kennedy-as-co-chair/

HollywoodTV. (2007). Kathleen kennedy how to make it in to hollywood [Web]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OlxCUyC9fmE

If you haven't watched the first Luv.Net, please watch it now! Me as well as the original cast and new actors are putting together the sequel for Luv.Net! The sequel to this story is highly intense and a complete thrill ride before you even sit down comfortably. All of the actors are extremely excited to jump back on board and put the film together. I can't wait to get started. I also need some help and support, as a strong contributor to the indie film community, I'm asking for a huge favor for any of you out there to please help support this film. You can do this by checking out my KickStarter Campaign for further details! More information about the film will be posted soon! Thank you so much for all of your support!
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    We all love 3D movies and how magical they can make our movie going experience, but how would you like to create a 3D film? There has been a release of some awesome 3-D enabled cameras to give you a different effect. They can range from $155.00 to $25,000. How are they achieving this? By a new technology called Parallex which combines two lenses that captures two images in different positions simultaneously giving you a 3D effect. Here is a list of some new 3D HD cameras.

• Aiptek 3-D HD Camcorder features dual 5MP sensors to give clear and high quality pictures and videos.  One touch enables the 3D feature to give you the versatility of shooting in 2D or 3D. 

•  It works with nVidea 3D vision enabled computers, TVs,  and laptops.
• How much does it cost? The retail price is around $179.99, but you can purchase it for $151.95 from Amazon. Amazon Price
• Test Footage: Here is the test footage from the camera- Aiptek Test Footage
• Sony 3D Bloggie Camcorder captures 3D and 2D footage in HD quality and displays your images and videos on a 2.4 LCD screen. Connect it to a 3D HDTV3 and enjoy! It has an easy flip out USB arm and pre-installed software to allow you to place tags on your movies for easy sharing on Youtube. 
• How much does it cost? in nearby stores it runs about $248.00 and you can find it online for $179.99 here- Online Price
•        Test Footage: Check out the test footage of the Sony 3D here:Test Footage
•  FinePix REAL 3D W1 camera can shoot stills and videos with double 10 megapixels CCD and a 3x Optical Zoom. The buttons are blue and stay illuminated and the menu is even displayed in 3D. The LCD screen is 2.8 inches which makes it easy to see your images and videos on a larger screen. The images and videos can be viewed on any 3D digital image viewer.
• What makes it different? This camera can send images and videos wireless to any 3D digital viewer with IrSimple technology.
• How much does it cost? The retail price for the Fuji FinePix W1 camera is $899.99 and can be found online for $330.00 on Ebay
• There is also a new updated version called the Fuji FinePix W3 which can be checked out Here
• Test footage of the Fuji FinePix W1 can be found here: Test Footage
•  JVC Everio GS-TD1 camcorder shoots in full HD 1080p and 1080i. It uses twin HD GT lenses which shoots in High Definition and low dispersion for crisp, crystal clear, high contrast footage. It has a 5x Optical zoom and an optical stabilization system to give a greater depth to your images. JVC's Biphonic technology for dynamic 3D sound and automatic parallax adjustment to optimize the 3D-video comfort zone. 

• How much does this cost? The retail price for the JVC Everio GS-TD1 costs $1499.99 and can be found for $1089.00 here. JVC Everio 3D Online price 
• Here is the test footage for the JVC Everio 3D camcorder: JVC Everio 3D test footage

There are many more 3D cameras that provide awesome effects, but instead of reviewing all of them I've decided to briefly overview editing with 3D quality. It's a strong question to many filmmakers thinking of upgrading to making 3D films.  Here's a list of some awesome 3D editing software and applications:

• Cineform Neo3D, this application allows you to edit footage in your favorite editing software such as FCP, Avid, After Effects, Sony Vegas, and more. You will have to edit the footage twice when it comes to editing 3D videos. The price for this application costs around $3,000.00. While that is expensive, it makes creating 3D films a lot easier.

• Sony Vegas 10 and Sony Vegas 11 is a very popular editing software that just enabled a feature that allows you to edit 3D videos at a much cheaper price than Cineform at $600.00.
• Magix Movie Edit Pro MX Plus allows you to edit full stereo 3D videos and Multicam editing. This software supports Windows Vista, XP, and 7. The price? for a great cost of only $99.00

Editing your 3D footage is a complicated and can cause a headache, but imagine the awesome effects you could achieve! Features like Rotoscoping will require you to do double the work and you must be sure everything matches up. Enjoy your 3D filmmaking and wow your family, friends, and fans!

What's a Cinemagraph you ask? It's basically a still image with a slight motion to it that makes for an awesome effect. Check out these awesome examples!
<---- click the picture to see the effect in motion!
www.cinemagraph.com
28 beautiful cinemagraphs
A cinemagraph is exported as a GIF that holds a very artsy feel to it and seems to really be picking up in the fashion and photography industry. Many people create them in Adobe Photoshop, Adobe After Effects, taking multiple stills or taking a mixture of video and stills. Check out these great tutorials to find out how to achieve this effect.