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Category: Life

Black Production TShirt

Black Friday Christmas Gift Ideas for Teenage (or New) Filmmakers

Black Friday always makes me think about black production t-shirts (which I love!), and new filmmakers need all kinds of stuff to make their movies, especially teens without paying jobs. So, in the spirit of empowering black-clad filmmakers to experiment with and make better movies, here’s a gift idea list for the new filmmakers around you in time for Black Friday:

1. WRITE! SHOOT! EDIT! BOOK (approx $20 – $30) – I guess I have to start with my book, if you don’t already have it: a complete guide for teen filmmakers, useful for new filmmakers of any age because it distills the entire process down into a short, focused, entertaining book. It’s written for the reader to follow one of three paths: the Writer, Director/DOP, or Editor, so you could present each of the three key crew with a copy of the book to use from their own perspective. It’s available in paperback and eBook versions. For more into, see my book’s webpage: https://www.debpatz.com/book/write-shoot-edit/. If you want to shop straight from the publisher, the book’s even cheaper: http://mwp.com/product/write-shoot-edit-complete-guide-teen-filmmakers/

2. COLLAPSIBLE REFLECTOR (approx $20 – $30) – Even before buying any lighting, a reflector is essential. Useful outside and in, it can to bounce light and reduce shadows giving you the illusion of a fill light. Because it collapses, it’s wonderfully small and portable.

3. CLIP-ON UTILITY LIGHT (approx $20 – $30) plus LIGHT STAND (approx $30 – $40) – The next step from a reflector is an entry-level studio light (or two). The most affordable alternative has to be the clip-on utility light you can pick up at a hardware store and a light stand from a photography store. The stand gives the filmmaker the ability to light from any height and location – or use it to rig other objects (like curtains or other set pieces) for the film frame… which is why two stands are even better than one.

4. VIDEO EDITING SOFTWARE (a huge ranges of prices, e.g. from $20 – $120) – You may have a free video editing software on the computer already, but new filmmakers will soon appreciate the extra tracks and features of a software that more closely emulates professional editing software. I personally use VideoPad by NCH (which apparently has a sale until the end of November), but honestly, that’s not the only one out there. PC Magazine did a survey of video editing software for 2017: https://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2397215,00.asp

5. GROCERY STORE GIFT CARD (whatever price you’d like!) – Sounds like a strange idea for a gift, but it’s for buying “craft service” supplies for set. Since new filmmakers are tapping into volunteers to make their movie, food is one of the largest expenses on a low-/no-budget production.

6. EXTERNAL MICROPHONE (huge price range, depending on quality and type of camera) – Improving sound quality greatly improves the movie experience, and so an external mic is the way to go. Best to chat with someone at the store about best choices when you know what the film camera is (a cell phone, Gopro, video camera, etc.).

7. BLACK PRODUCTION T-SHIRT (approx $18 – $25) – Hey, while we’re talking Black Friday and recognizing that black is THE colour to wear on set (not only because it’s cool, but because it doesn’t reflect light and show the crew’s presence in reflected surfaces), why not a black t-shirt of sweatshirt to wear on set? I’ve made some Write! Shoot! Edit! T’s, sweatshirts and hats on Cafepress for you. Admittedly, Cafepress doesn’t appear to have a Black Friday sale (sigh…), but you may just need one anyway: http://www.cafepress.com/debpatz

Now it’s over to you. Bring a smile to the new filmmaker in your life!

Cheers & shopping to you,
Deb

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Deb Patz is the author of Write! Shoot! Edit! for teens and Film Production Management 101 for the industry – both books are published worldwide by MWP. She’s also part of the editorial board for Prism International. She’s worn many a black production t-shirt, sweatshirt and jacket over the years.

WHERE IS DEB? (upcoming events and appearances)
Wed.Nov.22 – Graduate Reader – UBC Graduate Reading Event
Sat.Feb.17 – Author Participant – Digital Media Youth Expo, North Vancouver, BC
Mar.26-28 – Instructor – Write! Shoot! Edit! Screenwriting Workshop for Teens – VPL

WHERE TO FIND DEB’S BOOKS?
Paperback or eBook: AmazonBarnes & NobleChapters/Indigo, direct from the publisher, and plenty of other great bookstores worldwide.

Location Scout Time Warping

Saw a field of daisies recently and it make me think of location scouting for the movies. Huh?

Every morning the daisies open their petals to the sun. The vast field of green becomes carpeted with sparkling, white miniature flowers. As the day wears on, the tiny flowers turn and face the sun on its path across the sky. In the evening, the flowers once again close up for the night.

So, depending what time of the day you visit, you see the all the flowers facing east, west or closed up. If you were scouting the field as a location, you’d want to see it at the same time of day that you’d intend on filming it, or on the shoot day you might be surprised that the field looks different than planned.

Now, in this particular field, the flower change is rather subtle, but the sun’s position and the shadows could make a difference to usable shot angles.

On a bigger time scale, this field scouted in spring (with flowers) vs a shoot in the summer (with no flowers) would also make a more significant visual difference. No sense in having surprises when you show up for the shoot. You can’t exactly paste the flowers back in… well, without CGI. 🙂

So, when considering locations for filming, consider time-of-day for the projected shoot day. An intersection at rush hour does not look the same as when it’s Sunday morning. A parking lot at the mall during mall opening hours it also totally different after hours.

So, time warp yourself to the shoot day when considering a location. What are you going to see then? The daisies tell us it changes for every hour of the day.

Cheers & a good location scout to you,
Deb

– – – – – – – – – –

Deb Patz is the author of “Film Production Management 101” and the upcoming “Write! Shoot! Edit! A Complete Guide to Filmmaking for Teens” both published by MWP Books. She found it hard to choose when daisies to photograph…. there were so many!

WHERE IS DEB? (upcoming events and appearances)
Jun.24 – Book launch party for “Write! Shoot! Edit!” at Chapters Pinetree, Coquitlam, BC
Jul.30-Aug.3 – Panelist – UFVA Conference, Los Angeles, CA

DIY Summer Camp: Write! Shoot! Edit!

Wow, there are a lot of fabulous summer camps out there: Knight camps, space camps, sailing camps, horse riding camps, and on and on… and of course camping camps. But you can’t attend camp every week of the summer, and at some point you age out of some of them too.

So… what about a do-it-yourself camp? Why not make a movie with your friends?

My new book “Write! Shoot! Edit A Complete Guide for Teen Filmmakers” comes out July 1st… just in time for camp season! Pre-order now or pick up a copy when it comes to bookstores, then gather your friends and use it as your guide to a DIY Filmmaking Camp all the way from writing the story to editing the final version. The book shows you how to make a movie with whatever equipment, cast and crew access you have right now.

Summer camps are all about learning new skills and making discoveries about yourself. How better to to that than making a movie… YOUR movie. You may discover a whole new exciting career ahead of you – all because you started this summer. Now.

And when you do make your summer movie, drop me a line and tell me about it and the experience. I love to hear about your filmmaking stories.

Cheers & a good shoot to you,
Deb

Here’s a link to learn more about the book and to read an excerpt:
http://mwp.com/product/write-shoot-edit-complete-guide-teen-filmmakers/

Here’s a link to places where you can pre-order the book:
http://www.debpatz.com/a-world-of-book-store-links-aka-finding-write-shoot-edit-for-pre-order/

And, if you’re in the Vancouver Lower Mainland, come to the Sat. June 24 Book Launch Party!
http://www.debpatz.com/book/write-shoot-edit/

– – – – – – – – – –

Deb Patz is the author of “Film Production Management 101” and the upcoming “Write! Shoot! Edit! A Complete Guide to Filmmaking for Teens” both published by MWP Books. The movies she made at her own DIY summer camp led to her career in the movies.

WHERE IS DEB? (upcoming events and appearances)
May 31 – Guest Speaker – Encompass, Coquitlam, BC
Jun.3-7 – Guest instructor – PEI Screenwriter’s Bootcamp, Charlottetown, PEI
Jun.14 – Guest speaker – Charles Best High School, Coquitlam, BC
Jun.16 – Guest speaker – Heritage Woods High School, Port Moody, BC
Jun.24 – Book launch party for “Write! Shoot! Edit!” at Chapters Pinetree, Coquitlam, BC
Jul.30-Aug.3 – Panelist – UFVA Conference, Los Angeles, CA

How The Creative Brain Works: Two Perspectives

I read an interesting article in the May 2017 issue of National Geographic about how the brain works regarding creativity. As a people, we’ve tried to understand creativity for years. Can’t see it, can’t touch it, but it – whatever “it” is – is definitely there.

Nat Geo reports another scientific attempt to understand the creative process.

Researchers managed to record brain waves in an MRI while jazz musicians played music that was memorized and then music that was improvised. They learned that for the improv, the brain activity was “fundamentally different” and that it appeared the brain was able to turn off its own ability to criticize itself.

I find this fascinating because, I’ve learned the same thing from leading a creative life, and share as much in my new teen filmmaking book (“Write! Shoot! Edit!”) coming out this July. I believe it’s important to understand the creative process so you can better harness your creativity.

Though it appears the researchers break the creative process into two types of activities (in this case playing improv vs playing memorized music), through my experience, I believe the creative process breaks down into three stages:

(1) wild invention (the improv, free-creative activity)

(2) structural edit (a big picture activity where you work with historical conventions)

(3) nit-picky edit (a fine-tuning activity where details and consistency matters)

Each one of these stages needs its time at centre stage, its time of focus, so if it’s a writing project, you’ll have to write the project at least three times to focus your brain’s perspective for each draft.

I’d love to see an MRI scan of differing brain activity for each of these three phases of the creative process, as I believe each one taps into a different skills in the brain… but I guess we’ll have to wait for science to explore that idea someday.

For those living the creative life, what’s your perspective on the activity happening in your brain while you’re creating?

All the best of creativity to you,
Deb

For more info on my new book “Write! Shoot! Edit!” see my website’s book page.

– – – – – – – – – –

Deb Patz is the author of “Film Production Management 101” and the upcoming “Write! Shoot! Edit! A Complete Guide to Filmmaking for Teens” both published by MWP Books. She’s lived a creative life for… uh… all her life!

WHERE IS DEB? (upcoming events and appearances)
Jun.3-7 – Guest instructor – PEI Screenwriter’s Bootcamp, Charlottetown, PEI
Jun.24 – Book launch party for “Write! Shoot! Edit!” at Chapters Pinetree, Coquitlam, BC
Jul.30-Aug.3 – UFVA Conference, Los Angeles, CA

Where Do You Write?

Back from the UFVA Conference, it’s time for me to get back to writing! But rather than talk about my works-in-progress today (there are two of them), let me ask you:

Where do you write?

When I was single, writing was hard to schedule around life, but I had a dedicated desk at home for the job… then I had a family and wow! it’s HARD to schedule writing around life!! Consequently, I find I’m not writing in one designated place anymore. I’ve written on desk, table and lap – wherever and whenever I can, including:

  • At coffee shops (of course… hasn’t every writer?)
  • On the train (thank you, thank you for those excellent tables and plug-ins on the train!)
  • Backstage at the theatre (waiting for dance class to finish)
  • On a boat (fine, until the seas get lumpy)
  • On a plane and in a hotel room (more, classic out-of-the-house locations)
  • On the patio (trying to enjoy the good weather, but it’s too bright for the screen)
  • And, at home (the family made me a “Busy Writing” sign, thank you very much!)

bzywriWhat about you? A designated spot, or wherever you can?

Cheers & productive writing to you,
Deb

 

What I Learned About Filmmaking from… RC Flying

rcflyAmazing the places you can learn concepts useful for filmmaking. Here’s a look from the perspective of RC Flying…

1. There Are A LOT of Crashes
The first take-off is exhilerating, but, boy, are there a lot of crashes before being able to deftly fly the mini aircrafts. From each of those crashes, you build on your knowledge to fly better and better next time. Not that there won’t be any crashes in the future, but (1) you’ll be more prepared for them physically and mentally, and (2) you’ll recover from some of even before hitting the ground. Echoes of a freelance career, doesn’t it?

2. Gotta Have Spares
To weather those training crashes, you can’t be flying just 1 plane and have no spares. To increase airtime, you have to have multiple planes and, most certainly, spares. It’s your B-plan. For an industry career, your network is your multiple planes, and your side jobs I see as your spares.

3. Put Your Imagination In The Pilot’s Seat
You’re flying an RC plane “from away.” Basically, it’s the third person POV. Your actual perspective on the plane is changing constantly and you need to put your mind into the pilot’s seat to instinctively know which way to manipulate the controls to bank in the direction you want to go. Get it right, and the plane flies seemingly effortlessly. On a film production, you need to put your imagination into the story – in effect, “fly the scene” – to see and create the necessary details to make the story and characters come alive.

How about you? Where do you find parallels between life and the film industry?

Cheers and a high-flying shoot to you,
Deb