This short has all the elements of a great film – cinematography, story arc, suspense, intrigue. I really liked it and so wanted to share it with you. Congrats to Mathieu Ratthe! Excellent job.
While there are a lot of web services, consultants, etc. who will help in the search to find funding (and, yes, it comes at a price), I find that, if this is your first time, you should go it alone. Not alone in the sense that no one else is involved, but rather that you do the legwork yourself. Why? [...]
As we all know, we don’t get rich making film shorts. For many the process is an exercise for making a jump to features. For others it is a labor of love. Well, kiddies, have you ever thought of creating a portfolio and have someone else foot the bill? Try getting a grant.
Grants come in many forms. They can be from local communities, state or federal governments, foundations, or non-profit organizations. While the Internet provides a vast array of information, I thought I might help this group with the basics. So, hold on to your hat, we’re going for a ride…
(I’ve taken this info from experience, websites, friends, and other grant-writers)
Preparing for the Grant
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The biggest part of grant writing is in the initial stages. The time you spend getting your information together is the longest, but can be re-used for future applications. Work hard at this stage so your writing is simplified later.
TIP ON PERSPECTIVE: Even if a grant application takes six months to write, do it. The six months will go by anyway, and at the end of it you won’t look back with regrets.
The first step falls under preparation. Your mission statement does a lot to make clear your objective, so write it well. For yourself, write out the objective of your grant search, and this will help you to keep focused, especially when you are irritated with the whole process.
Determine the broad project goals, then identify the specific objectives that define how you will focus the work to accomplish those goals.
Example:
Goal: Improve production quality.
Objective 1: Recruit advanced production talent.
Objective 2: Train mid-level producers.
Objective 3: Upgrade production equipment.
Did you notice that these goals and objectives suggest the proposal will request support for recruitment activity, production training, and equipment purchase.As an alternative, a different proposal, while having the same goal might focus only on equipment upgrades.
Draft expected project outcomes in specific measurable terms.
Make sure you draft a timeline that includes your planning phase, the period of time you search for funds, proposal writing, and the project start date. Periodically update the timeline as you learn more about submission deadlines, etc.
Next we will talk about “How to identify which funding sources to go after.” Hope you benefit from this.
If you’ve never heard of Napoleon Hill, you are probably not an entrepreneur. Of course, you could be, but your potential is yet untapped if you haven’t read his book. “Think and grow Rich.” Incredible insight. Anyway, Napoleon Hill was quoted as saying, “No man can become a permanent success without taking others with him.” These are true words, and have spawned sayings such as, “No man is an island.” Why?
There is not one of us that can say we have had permanent success without someone’s help. If you can, you’re a liar. Someone helped you along the way. Solomon once said that “…there is nothing new under the sun,” which means that everything we know, or do, has been known or done before. The great part of this is that we don’t have to reinvent the wheel, but we can add our own unique stamp to it. This is the important part!
So, how does this apply to film in Albuquerque? Well, we all have differing talents we have learned from others. We have made these into a craft by using the knowledge, and now have experience. When we use this experience in a meaningful way, it becomes wisdom. Wisdom would dictate that we share those talents and beads of wisdom with our local film community so that we can all benefit. Most are new, and afraid of asking questions. So, why not offer your insight voluntarily so they don’t have to ask?
Whether we are writers, directors, actors, producers, crew, or support services, we have all seen a unique perspective of the film industry that others can benefit from. So, we need to network and share that knowledge. Spending only one hour with a group of like-minded film people is better than four hours of Internet research on the subject. Why? Because we can interact in a way that dumb computers can’t
Imagine an entrepreneur talking to a new filmmaker. The filmmaker says he knows how to convey his vision in film, but has no idea how to get the word out, or finance the distribution. The entrepreneur says, that’s the least of your problems, I know how. Wham! A connection is made that creates potential for a money-man to get together with a visionary and do something.
Albuquerque is a city that has much talent, and it’s getting more. It is quickly becoming a destination for a great variety of films, and a great variety of reasons. But, it is still in its infancy. There are a lot of people who haven’t even decided where they want to fit in. But, they could decide if they talked to others. The only way for us to be able to grow is to get the thinkers together with the visionaries. The creatives with the technical. The financier’s with the go-getters.
So, can you contribute what you know? If you know nothing, can you contribute your questions? The Indie Q website click here allows for this, but we have to be active. We have to come together and get to know each others strengths and weaknesses. Then we can find “permanent success” as Napoleon Hill highlighted. He also said, “The most successful people are those that serve the greatest number.” The Indie Q forums allow us to do just that. So, just do it! (Yikes! Nike flashback)
Thanks for listening, but, more importantly, thanks for getting involved!
I thought this was a great little promo film for Albuquerque because it absolutely captures what people’s initial feeling is about Albuquerque and then how they feel once they arrive. I was born here, left when I was seventeen, and then returned two years ago at forty-two, and I love it! If I get homesick for Cali, well, it’s only 13 hours away.
Take a few moments, grab a brew, and watch this film. Very cool!
Albuquerque: The Unknown from Puzzled Pictures on Vimeo.
In May of 2007, Sony Pictures Imageworks announced the opening of a satellite facility in Albuquerque, New Mexico that could take advantage of tax incentives offered by the state government.
Once in motion, employees of all tenure, and from many parts of the world, began moving to Albuquerque. Most knew absolutely nothing about the area. This is the story of the first forty employees who took the leap, and how they have come to experience the city of Albuquerque, and New Mexico.
If you are an self-financing indie film maker, how many cameras do you use for a typical shoot? Also, do you own your equipment or do you find that renting is the better option? I’ve done both.
I own one camera for shooting my films, and tend to shoot from different angles, and force the actors to pick up where we left off. This is due to the fact that I finance each film, and I choose not to look for outside monies. So, I’m cheap. <wink> This has actually caused me to write the scripts in a way that allows for this, which one could argue, gives a particular “style” to the films that is consistent.
What about you? I notice many films uploaded here on Indie Q seem to also use only one camera since the shots and dialogue lend themselves to stopping and starting a shot to move the camera and sound equipment. Am I wrong?
You know, when I started this blog, I thought, ‘Great! I’ll share all the information about film-making in Albuquerque with anyone who will listen.’ Then I found that information in Albuquerque is not that easy to attain - at least for film related stuff. There are so few sources, and they don’t share as you would think.
I also started to write a script of my own, and found that, unlike writing novels, where one can elaborate as much as they like, film doesn’t allow for that, since you have to be able to express unspoken things on the screen. Did that make sense? No wonder budgets are outrageous. Well, since I will produce my own, I decided to keep the story location specific, which presents its own challenges so that it isn’t boring, and found that I am loving the test of wit. I think it will be good. I even dreamed a scene this morning. It does take time, however, and that has taken me away from things like this blog.
Anyway, regarding finding information related to film in Albuquerque, I am now making more contacts that will help in that area, and you can see those updates on my Twitter account, ABQFilm. So, hopefully it will help you to find your own sources, and provide a way to get more involved. I’ll also try to keep up with articles related to important information and post them on this blog.
I am hesitant about joining every group I have seen, that is film related, since I may not like it and leave, which would cause hurt feelings. However, I do think that IndieQ may be of interest to me, which I recently joined (the mailing list anyway). It’s sponsored, I think, by the Film Office. I’ll let you know. Their next meeting is in April.
So, I hope to be more active here, and hope you’ll forgive me if I’m not. I’ll post as much as I can on Twitter, so definitely join me there.
Talk to you soon…
I wanted to share this video with you because it illustrates the basic concepts of using a green screen, and setting up shots to use a green screen with. It also helps to see a balanced view of your options when shooting a low-budget, no-budget film. The point I take away is: don’t give up just because you are unable to make a movie like the million dollar studios. There’s reasons to the high cost, but you can effectively achieve similar emotions with your low-budget films. So, do it… Enjoy the video.
First of all, let me tell you that I started this site as a way to collect information about the film industry in New Mexico, specifically in Albuquerque. To that end I want to provide as much useful information as possible to those who would like to pursue some sort of career in the film industry, whether it be as an extra, or to create films on their own. I myself have edited amateur film, and am in the process of writing a film short, so the information is useful to me also. [...]
Do you want to finance a movie script? Get your independent film produced, funded and financed. You can get the financing you need and live your film dream. This is a great introduction into the mind of someone who has already accomplished, from non-industry beginnings, the gathering of financing for film.