“But where can I get more fonts?”

I will answer your question with a question, “How would you like a http://www.1001freefonts.com/ ?”

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As a film maker, we look at magazines and online and think to ourselves, “If I only had this thing, I could make it big.”

You don’t have to dream anymore, because thanks to the internet, it’s a Do-It-Yourself world out there.

Here are some practical and cheap ways to get some great shots.

Smartphone tripod adaptor: http://www.istabilizer.com/

Camera Dolley: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajZRTo5rr2M&feature=related

Shoulder Stabilizer:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sa7eeZgqRas&feature=related

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Not anymore.

Today, scientists have developed a camera that essentially takes this concept and shrinks it down to fit into one camera.

Unfortunately, it is not on sale yet, but they do have samples of the photos this camera can take at:  http://www.lytro.com/ .

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I can’t import old projects, it doesn’t like my previously used AVI files, the layout is more of a high end iMovie or like a low end Final Cut, and though it is cheaper, it’s also missing features I would much rather pay for upfront.

Here are some external reviews on the matter.

techcrunch.com/2011/06/23/final-cut-pro-x-or-really-imovie-pro/

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I’ve been thinking for a few days on “what I can put up here” and have been getting a lot of blanks.  I’ve been wanting to write for a while and I’ve been drawing blanks there, too.  It’s writer’s block, I assume, and I just need to get into the groove.  What I do when I’m in this “state” is that I watch movies or series and search for a character.

Characters are what I love, that’s the main reason I do it.  I find a character who has a story to tell or an adventure to go on.  The story is the flesh, but the soul of a movie or a book lies within the character.  How the character draws the audience to him or her is extremely important; without a compelling character people would simply just not care and, eventually, loose all interest in story.  Who wants to travel with someone they don’t like or that they aren’t even remotely interested in?  And if they do travel and take that journey, they won’t get the exact message that you’re trying to tell and won’t have invested any emotions into it.  That being said, I think it’s obvious that you must invest a lot into the character.

Remember to always add depth into the character, to make it three dimensional rather than two dimensional.  There are many ways that this can be accomplished.  The major thing is always to add a flaw into your character that the audience can identify with.  I once read a book called “Save the Cat” by Blake Snyder who said that it was essential that early on in the story the main character must do something or say something that earns him or her the sympathies of the Audience… metaphorically, “saving the cat.”   This is true, especially if you want your character to have serious and “fatal” flaws that could possibly turn the Audience against them.

The protagonist isn’t the only character than needs to be considered.  The more developed each and every character in your story is, the fuller it will be, the more soul it will have.  When creating a romantic interest for your protagonist consider the protagonist’s flaw; “How can the romantic interest help this character?”  This is also a very important thing to consider when creating a mentor-like character for your protagonist.  When creating an antagonist, consider him or her backwards.  Instead of a fatal “flaw”, could they have a fatal “virtue” that could possibly lead to their undoing?  Flaws are essential in every character no matter who it is.

Also consider ethnicity and background for your characters.  Where did they grow up?  Parents and location are an essential part of who you are, after all.  What important events have happened to them in their past?  We are the total sum of our experiences and who we are is derived from what we have done, lived and the choices we have made.  How do they look like?  An attractive person will always have a different perspective on life than an unattractive person.

Never consider your character just something you control at will.  Characters, or at least well formed characters, will always have a mind of their own and will resist being put in positions they don’t like.  If your character is a coward, does it really make sense for him to go back into a burning building to save his cat?  Some major change will have to befall him before one would even consider it logical for him to suddenly grow a pair and run back in for his cat.  Audiences are wrapped in a magical bubble when they are reading a story, enveloped in that world.  When a character “breaks character” and does something unnatural for the character, that bubble is popped and the audience starts to find other flaws and actually look for other inconsistencies.  Staying “in character” is extremely important.

The search for the character is always a search within yourself.  Who are you?  Who is the character?  Once you understand yourself, your complexity, you can begin to understand others and their complexity.  To write a character, your need to understand the character through and through.  Channel that character when you’re written dialog, imagine his or her mannerisms, slurs, posture.  Everyone is different, everyone is unique.

I use techniques such as character sheets and finding a song that fits the character well.  Everyone has his or her own way of writing and dealing with the issue of character creation, it’s something that you’re going to have to master on your own.  Another trick I like to use is taking that character, yanking him out of the story and putting him in an all new situation, and just see how he or she will react in it.  Other are that I’ll “role play” the character with other writers, make him or her converse with them as if the writers weren’t there.  It’s a pretty fun technique but can be a little dangerous (trust me).

That about all I’ve got for you guys today.  I was listening to a song today, which I felt was a lot about a certain character.  There are people who are the way they are, they do things without being able to control themselves.  It’s either because that’s the way they were raised or it’s because they simply have a very free spirit.  It’s a dangerous way to live, honestly, but it has its own rewards.  Without further ado, “Free Bird” by Lynyrd Skynyrd:

This song appears at the end of “The Devil’s Rejects” by director Rob Zombie, it’s a perfect ending for the movie’s characters because it stays true to them.  By the end of the movie you are feeling a great amount of empathy for them, making the ending with this song all the more emotional.

But yeah, that’s it.  Take care and let me know if you have any questions.

- Christian Layne, Remember the Name.
“You can tell alot about a fellow’s character by his way of eating jellybeans.”
Ronald Reagan

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The name’s Christian Layne, and I’ll be one of the bloggers posting articles about movies and movie making in general.  Just like Juan did yesterday, I’ll be taking this opportunity (a.k.a. first post) to introduce myself.  I’m a twenty-three year old student at Oxnard College, where I am currently working on two majors simultaneously:  Film and English. It’s pretty hard and leaves me with little time for anything but school work but with the excellent friends I have made making movies I manage pretty well.

Ever since I can remember I’ve wanted to be a writer.  I remember being in third grade and being asked to participate in a school-wide event in which all the students wrote a short story and turned it in.  Then, we would all shuffle around the gym, picking up stories and reading them during a whole day.  When I saw how other kids enjoyed and laughed at the ridiculous little story I wrote, I couldn’t help feel a great pride begin to swell in my chest.  I did that.  I had created a world that people had entered and left with a smile on their faces.  That’s when I knew what I wanted to do… I wanted to create worlds with words, create characters that people would remember and relate to, write about ideas, places, events… I wanted to show the world the worth of my mind.  It’s pretty cheesy… but it’s a true story.

So, that’s what I am.  A writer.  I study film, I may make films once in a while, or work in a television studio o teach kids to make movies or work any job that you can think of… but in the end, I’m a writer.  And like most writers, I’m a very weird guy!

I hope that gives you a little bit of insight on who I am and perhaps on why I will make the posts I do, involving what I like to do most… write.  I spend a lot of time thinking about stories and characters, and I love to talk about the subject so I’ll be spamming this with that type of stuff.

After writing and smoking, my greatest passion is probably the Internet… especially Youtube.  At th eend of every post I’ll put a link to a youtube video and speak about why I chose it.

This time, it’s a link to a trailer for a short film that Josh Martinez (another filmmaker and good friend of mine) and I co-produced.  It was entered into the film festival last year and, although it didn’t win anything, I’m sure that it made someone of an impact and, hopefully, more than one smile among the crowd watching it.  So, without further ado, here’s the video:

That’s it for today.

Take care!

- Christian Layne

“Why do writers write?  Because it isn’t there.”  – Thomas Berger

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My name’s Juan, and I’m an aspiring… Uh… person? Haven’t quite decided what exactly I want to do with my life beyond the fact that it’s going to be something that revolves around this whole film/television thing. I love working on any kind of set- but I also love editing, so I try to do as much as I can of both. Right now I’m studying at Oxnard College and that’s basically how I got involved with the SDFF!

At first I’d just hang around the TV studio every day; just to see what kinda help people needed be it shooting, cleaning or whatever. Then I started passing out fliers for the festival, attending all the meetings of the planning committee and before I knew it I was made the Coordinator for Student Filmmaker’s Day… Twice.

This time around I’ll be taking a break from heading up the filmmaker’s day, but rest assured I’ll still be helping out behind the scenes(and on this blog of course). You can count on me or one of the other bloggers to let you know about anything and everything going on with the SDFF, give you tips on how to be a filmmaker with no budget, or sometimes even just to share an interesting story or video with you!

Till next time!

-js

My first group photo with the film festival (2009)

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It appears that Amazon.com has a created a site called “Amazon Studios”.  This site is a movie development web site that is offering more than $2 million in monthly and annual contests.  I say check it out.  You just might win something else with the same movie you entered into our festival.  Around here, I call that a “two-fer”.

http://studios.amazon.com/help/filmmakers/?ref=stu_qp_filmmakers

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