Let’s face it, filmmaking is an expensive endeavor, there isn’t really many ways around it unless you know a lot of people with a lot of equipment they’ll lend you for cheap or free.  Being a young filmmaker doesn’t help either, a lot of times we’re working on a fairly tight budget.  One thing that has really changed the game, especially for the younger generation of filmmakers is the introduction of the DSLR to modern cinema.  One of the many great things about the DSLRs is their ability to have so many interchangeable lenses.  That way if you have friends with similar cameras it is easy to swap and borrow lenses from one another without having to be responsible for the whole camera.  This opens up a world of possibilities.  Even just having a few, each for different purposes, can make filmmaking incredibly easier.  Stuck shooting in a tiny room? Throw on a wide-angle lens to open up the shot making it easier to fit everything in the frame.

Owning a DSLR myself, I use a Canon t3i, I love the versatility of it being able to borrow lenses from friends when I need specific shots or simply want to broaden my familiarity with various lenses.  DSLR’s also have features like the ability to shoot at 24, 30, or 60 frames per second.  24 gives us that look similar to shooting with film that so many of us love, 30 is more of a standard fps rate for modern digital filmmaking and 60 allows for crisper slower speed shots.

One of the great things about filmmaking is the ability to have a variety of shots, using the visuals to convey just as much of the story as the dialogue.  From close-ups and medium shots, to pans and dolly shots, there are so many options. However, when working on a budget it is sometimes harder to get these more professional looking shots, limiting the options.  There is a solution though; another great tool for budget filmmaking is indiSystem.  They are a resource for all sorts of camera rigs and other tools.  On the home page of their website it says, “Welcome to indiSYSTEM, where camera gear doesn’t cost more than the camera.” The equipment they offer is not only affordable but also easy to use, allowing for everyone to achieve their full potential.

An incredible tool they offer is their indigo-JIB, a jib that has an 8’ height reach that folds down to 42” with the ability to support up to ten pounds of camera equipment.  What is a jib though? A jib is a boom device with a camera on one end and a counterweight on the other, operating similar to a seesaw.  They are usually mounted on tripods for support and are used for getting high shots, or shots that need to move a great distance horizontally or vertically.  Using a resource like this could definitely push your film to the next level.
Here’s a product demo for the indigo-JIB:

There are a multitude of options for youth filmmakers or filmmakers simply trying to film without emptying their pockets.  The whole perspective on filmmaking is changing now, allowing for greater availability of professional style equipment leaving the wide variety of shots not just to the professionals.  Where do you think this will take the future of filmmaking?

Watch Champ’s film TONAL here: http://www.nffty.org/nffty-films/t-o-n-a-l

Facebook Event: http://www.facebook.com/events/157480404367362/

Musicians: Sean Nelson (Harvey Danger, etc)
Alexandra Niedzialkowski (Cumulus)
Eric Anderson (Cataldo)
Live painters: Skye Graves
Jackie Moulton
Slam poet:
Barton Jackson

Here’s a cool stop-motion video showcasing the venue, and artistic stylings of the Fremont Abbey Arts Center.

Lord of The Rings has won a grand total of eleven Oscars and Avatar won four, it is no accident that the actors utilizing motion capture are being overlooked, even for nominations. There is clearly becoming a gap separating opinion on motion capture acting. Opinions lying on opposite sides of the fence: you either love it or you don’t. Interestingly enough, the gap is not one created by age-difference or the ideals of old film traditions verses new ones. The central contention lies between the popular opinion of audiences and opinion of academy members. So goes the million dollar question, why are academy members so against motion capturing acting? The question boils down to this: many question if the cross between animation and real life acting can really be considered acting. They would probably agree with Jeremy Renner– “Some movies are actors’ kind of movies and some movies are more directors’ movies. ‘Avatar’ is a spectacle. It’s a beautiful experience, but it’s not really an actors’ kind of movie. It doesn’t really allow for an actor to truly tell a story. The director’s telling the story in that one.”

So what is next for motion capture acting? One compromise being promoted thus far is for motion capture acting to have its own category at the Oscars. But that doesn’t suit all. Andy Serkis responds with this: “What’s fantastic is that there’s a real growing appreciation for performance-capture technology as a tool for acting. Over the years, people have asked me, ‘Do you think there should be a separate category for acting in the digital realm? Or hybrid sort of awards for digital characters?’ and so on. And I’ve always really maintained that I don’t believe so. I think it should be considered acting, because it is. My part in it, what I do, as say the authorship of the role, the creation, the emotional content of the role, the physicality up until the point of delivering that for the director, it is acting.”

Written by Amy Olson, NFFTY Intern

For two days Seattle youth attended NFFTY’s Youth Filmmaking Excellence Workshop: Visual Storytelling Through the Modern Lens.  At this workshop participants got advanced training with professional equipment, focusing on directing and cinematography.

Instructors: Caleb Young & Cameron Currier

A big thanks to the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, Seattle Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs, and Handcrank Films.

Video shot by YFE Students & Sam Kelly, NFFTY Programming & Outreach Manager

Edited by Louis Weissman & Joseph Weiler, NFFTY Interns

This new style that is becoming progressively more common is called being an auteur.  The term came around in the 1960s as a direct translation from the French word for author.  This is because the auteur is a director that has so much creative influence over the whole film that they are considered the “author” of the film.  Many famous auteurs include Alfred Hitchcock, Stanley Kubrick, Woody Allen, and more modernly West Anderson and the Coen Brothers.  However, amongst all of these great names a new one is appearing proving his worth in the film industry.  James Franco has now progressed from just acting in films to writing eleven of the fifteen films he has directed.  In fact, he is now set to write and direct two different adaptation films, As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner and Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy. Within the title of auteur there is still the ability be different types of auteurs.  For example, the Coen brothers who write, direct and edit all of their own films versus Woody Allen who tends to write, direct, and star in his films similar to what James Franco is doing now.

However, it is important to keep in mind the art of being a director and how directors like James Cameron are able to control all of the various departments to create a film working with so many different elements.  What are your opinions on the rise of the auteur? Is the trend increasing because of modern technology? Is it pushing out the art of collaborative filmmaking?

Written by Joseph Weiler, NFFTY Intern

The Underwater Realm is an amazing sci-fi/fantasy project currently making moves to produce a series of short films, followed by an epic franchise of feature-length films. As a part of the pre-production/crowd funding strategy the production team behind the film has released some amazing tutorials for indie filmmakers, and have multiple packages for kickstarter donors that include custom-made gear!

I had to share these because they give great information, packed with style and substance.

Written by Sam Kelly, NFFTY Programming & Outreach Manager

More about the Film: http://www.theunderwaterrealm.com/
Twitter: @UnderWaterRealm

February 15th is when we need to have received all films.  You can upload your film until the 15th, and if you are mailing a DVD it needs to arrive by February 15th, this is not a post-marked deadline.

Submit your film here: www.nffty.org/submit

How to Submit Your Films

Best Picture

War Horse
The Artist
Moneyball
The Descendants
The Tree of Life
Midnight in Paris
The Help
Hugo
Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close

Best Actress

Glenn Close, Albert Nobbs
Rooney Mara, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
Viola Davis, The Help
Meryl Streep, The Iron Lady
Michelle Williams, My Week With Marilyn

Best Actor

Demian Bichir, A Better Life
George Clooney, The Descendants
Jean Dujardin, The Artist
Gary Oldman, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Brad Pitt, Moneyball

Supporting Actress

Berenice Bejo, The Artist
Jessica Chastain, The Help
Melissa McCarthy, Bridesmaids
Janet McTeer, Albert Nobbs
Octavia Spencer, The Help

Supporting Actor

Kenneth Branagh, My Week With Marilyn
Jonah Hill, Moneyball
Nick Nolte, Warrior
Christopher Plummer, Beginners
Max von Sydow, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close

Best Director

Michel Hazanivicus, The Artist
Alexander Payne, The Descendants
Martin Scorsese, Hugo
Woody Allen, Midnight in Paris
Terrence Malick, The Tree of Life

Best Original Screenplay

Michel Hazanivicius, The Artist
Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo, Bridesmaids
Woody Allen, Midnight in Paris
J.C. Chandor, Margin Call
Asghar Farhadi, A Separation

Best Adapted Screenplay

Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon and Jim Rash, The Descendants
John Logan, Hugo
George Clooney, Beau Willimon and Grant Heslov, The Ides of March
Steven Zaillian, Aaron Sorkin and Stan Chervin, Moneyball
Bridget O’Connor and Peter Straughan, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Best Foreign Feature

Bullhead
Footnote
In Darkness
Monsieur Lazhar
A Separation

Best Animated Feature

A Cat in Paris
Chico & Rita
Kung Fu Panda 2
Puss in Boots
Rango

Art Direction

The Artist
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
Hugo
Midnight in Paris
War Horse

Cinematography

The Artist
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
Hugo
The Tree of Life
War Horse

Costume Design

Anonymous
The Artist
Hugo
Jane Eyre
W.E.

Art Direction

The Artist
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
Hugo
Midnight in Paris
War Horse

Cinematography

The Artist
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
Hugo
The Tree of Life
War Horse

Costume Design

Anonymous
The Artist
Hugo
Jane Eyre
W.E.

Documentary Feature

Hell and Back Again
If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front
Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory
Pina
Undefeated

Documentary Short Subject

The Barber of Birmingham: Foot Soldier of the Civil Rights Movement
God Is the Bigger Elvis
Incident in New Baghdad
Saving Face
The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom

Film Editing

Anne-Sophie Bion and Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist
Kevin Tent, The Descendants
Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
Thelma Schoonmaker, Hugo
Christopher Tellefsen, Moneyball

Makeup

Martial Corneville, Lynn Johnston and Matthew W. Mungle, Albert Nobbs
Nick Dudman, Amanda Knight and Lisa Tomblin, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
Mark Coulier and J. Roy Helland, The Iron Lady

Music (Original Score)

John Williams, The Adventures of Tintin
Ludovic Bource, The Artist
Howard Shore, Hugo
Alberto Iglesias, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
John Williams, War Horse

Music (Original Song)

“Man or Muppet” from The Muppets, Bret McKenzie
“Real in Rio” from Rio, Sergio Mendes, Carlinhos Brown and Siedah Garrett

Sound Editing

Drive
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
Hugo
Transformers: Dark of the Moon
War Horse

Sound Mixing

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
Hugo
Moneyball
Transformers: Dark of the Moon
War Horse

Visual Effects

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
Hugo
Real Steel
Rise of the Planet of the Apes
Transformers: Dark of the Moon

Short Film (Animated)

Dimanche/Sunday
The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore
La Luna
A Morning Stroll
Wild Life

Short Film (Live Action)

Pentecost
Raju
The Shore
Time Freak
Tuba Atlantic