Strong Mindset is exceptionally important in the film business.

Strong Mindset is exceptionally important in the film business.

Why is that? Well when you start out in the film world, it can seem like Mount Everest is in front of you. It seems like you will never get to the summit and this can lead talented people to give up.

I think the mountain analogy is a wonderful one. I remember when I climbed Mount Kinabalu in Borneo, I was not prepared for how difficult it would be to climb. My mindset was not initially strong.

Mount Kinabalu is exceptionally steep. It just rises out of the ocean and goes up and up to 4300 meters or about 14000 feet.  It is the biggest moutain in South East Asia.  There is no let up, it is just one direction…UP.  When I started to climb the mountain, I kept looking up at what was ahead and it seemed nearly impossible. I felt exhausted and dispirited.

Once you get to the half way point at 2100 meters, you naturally begin to feel altitude sickness. What I discovered is that if I just looked at my feet and took it one step at a time, I discovered that I did not get tired or dispirited. If I just kept focused on my feet, I began to feel fine and just found a rythm. However, if I looked to the top I would once again become exhausted. When I stayed focused on the now and on where I was now, I felt fine and energized. And what happened after two days of climbing, I arrived at the summit and could see all over the island of Borneo. Beautiful.

The same is true for film. Just stay with what you are doing that day.

If you are starting out in film, set a goal of making your own short film now and take one step at a time. Keep with what you can achieve that day and when you have completed production, do your very best to get your short film out to the world via film festivals and the internet( You tube, Blip TV)

Then move on to the next film. It is a great idea to get five short films behind you and then move on to feature films or documentary at that point. Till that point, do not even think about them. Just one short film at a time.  Five Short films gives you a chance to learn how to produce and direct films and learn via film courses how to make them better and better.

The second part of a strong mindset is having a supportive team and people you like working with. Everyone has their strong points and therefore teams that work the best is where everyone is working to their strong points. That is a Producer and Director team.

There is nothing worst than feeling lost and isolated and not knowing how to get motivated to make a film. That is why it is so important to attend film courses like ours.

Why because you will

Learn how to make a short film

Network with people who want to make films

Become very motivated and find that strong mindset that you need to make films.

And if you have all ready made short films, you will re-energize and get your next film happening with enthusiasm and gusto.

Please look at our film schools on our website and we look forward to meeting you there.

Till next time, have a great week          Colm

Colm O’Murchu is the owner of Australian and International Film Base.

He has produed and directed films for the past 15 years

What’s the best Camera to use on your film shoot?

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In many of our film Schools, people always want to know what camera they should buy or rent. They also want to know whether their $1500 camera can shoot a film.

There is now a mobile Film Festival that screens only films shot on a mobile phone.

In one sense, I guess that proves that one can shoot a film on any camera.

So if you have nothing better than a mobile phone to shoot your film on, well you may as well get out there and shoot something. But that is all it is….. Something and possibly practice at best.

In the final analysis, we all want the same thing. Films that sell and get seen by an audience. We also want quality films that sell. I still love going to the cinema and seeing a properly produced quality film on the big screen. I believe therefore there is a certain quality camera that one should shoot on and the best low priced camera starts about $4,000.

One can buy the high end cameras that cost about $50k – $250k , but these days you can get excellent results on some of the lower end cameras for around $4k – $15K.

It is very difficult to work out exactly what one needs and what one should pay for their equipment. What to buy and where to buy your camera?

Should one rent the gear?  Knowledge can save you thousands of Dollars in costly expensive mistakes. Also how does one use this equipment?

For example, Australian Film Base can get you all the professional $10K Cameras, Tripods, Lights and  Sound Equipment and tracks with a dolly for $500 rental  for a two day shoot   But you must know how to use the equipment and what is the best equipment to use.

That is why we have created the Weekend Film Schools now happening in Brisbane Sydney and Melbourne.   This is to help the emerging enthusiastic film maker learn how to make their own films.  Please check out our Film Schools in the links at the top of the page. There is a special price of only $195 for the Weekend Film School. But the special ends today.

EDiting an essential Directing Skill

Editing The Essential Skill

Over the years I have learnt several different Film Making Skills. Many Film Makers are compelled to learn different skills so as to earn a consistant living from Film Making. Five years ago, I was earning most of my living from shooting other peoples films. In other words DOP work. I also had  gigs booming as sometimes it is difficult to find a Boom Swinger. And of course I spent years editing other peoples films. I believe of all the Film Making Skills, this is the essential for good strong Direction

When I first learnt to edit, we used Steenbacks.
A Steenback use to be a very cumberson table where you placed your work print and physically cut the film on spools.  You then  spliced it back together with tape. Then after a painstaking cut, the Negative Matchers cut your negative and created prints either from the original or alternatively from  a Dupe Neg. You hoped that the Negative Matcher would get it right and cut your precious negative perfectly……….. Scary.

So much has changed in the technology and today we have the two most common  editing  professional  applications, Avid and Final Cut Pro.  I know there is a myriad of other editing software but the above two are favoured by professional editors.  Having worked on both old and new, I much prefer today’s technology. Before we used to have numerous bins with different Work Prints hanging with labels. Today all my scenes are in Bin Folders on my computer.

In the end no matter what the technology is, Editing is a skill that is as old as Motion Picture.
It is one of the most important parts of Film Making. The only way to get good at it is to do lots of it. It is separate from knowing how to use a computer as it is in its essence Story Telling. The whole aim is to pull your audience into a scene. That is why I spent six months editing “The Makeover” and about four months on  ”A Day in the Life”.

As the budget was low on “The Makeover”, I did all my own editing.  On a Day in the Life where we had a substantial budget, I had an editor.  When you have a good editor, you can really get the intensity of two people working on the cut. The Director can have a break and come back with a Fresh Eye and the editor can keep working on getting the next cut. In the end editing is very much a collaboration between and Editor and a Director and therefore it pays to learn to be an Editor initially so that you can work with and Editor as a Director later.

It also develops an eye for shots and coverage that is essential to strong Film Direction.

I recommend every emerging director learns how to edit as it will develop your shot choices for your Shot List and Storyboard. If you want to be a Film Maker, Make Films NOW. One of the quickest best ways to achieve this goal is to enroll on one of our Film Schools listed above.

Hope to see you there soon and in the meantime Have a Great Week.

Colm O’Murchu  Director

International Film Base

Australian Film Base

Cannes Film Festival and Market

It has been a busy time over the last two weeks. Many events have happened in that time.

• We have completed The Sound Mix and the Colour Grade on “A Day in the Life”.
• We have signed with a New LA Based Film Distributor for “The Makeover”
• We are off to Cannes, the epicenter of the Film World, in the South of France in May to sell sell sell.
• On top of all of that “The Makeover” has now been selected into The Cannes Independent Film Festival in Cannes, the epicenter of the Film World
• This will be our World Premiere Film Festival Screening.
• The “Day in the Life” will have its Market Premiere in the Palais at the Cannes Marche  which happens at the same time as the Film Festival

Cannes is the number one Film Event in the world. It starts on the 12th May and finishes on  the 22nd May.One has to have the Market Badge and that costs $500. This entitles you to go to all the screenings and all the events. This is my first Cannes visit.  However, I will have two feature films to my name screening at the event. Now that is something to look forward to.

What I have been told is that the day starts with business meetings at the Cannes Market. Some Sales Agents like the Producer to be present at the meetings and some Sales Agents hate the producer being there. In my case, my sales agent wants me to be around. There are seminars screenings and meetings all day long.

Then one moves to the cocktail drinks and networking and then on to the various parties that happen around the town. Hopefully one can fit in a few hours of sleep before the day starts all over again. Also I will get a chance to attend the French Tennis Open for the first time at Roland Garros in Paris.

I will find some time to write a blog from Cannes and let you know first hand about my personal experience.  If you would like to get into the Film World, please attend my two day Film School happening in Melbourne and Sydney. I will tell you everything I know about making low budget feature films and getting them out into the world. The Makeover was made with no budget and cash flowed  with about  $70K  over two years. This is virtually nothing for a 90 minute feature film. During that time I was hired to shoot A Day in the Life on a relatively good budget of $700K

Why I love the weather this week.

One thing I would like to talk about is the weather this week. Yes I got rained out on the weekend but that is not the reason.

I have just completed a three day shoot which now concludes the extra shooting on A Day in the Life. Every day we got  exactly the weather we needed. This never happens in Film Making. Usually you get “Murphy Law.”  In other words, the weather you do not want.

Day 1 Saturday: It rained cats and dogs, but we were shooting interiors in an Eastern Suburbs house. Who cares? There is nothing better than shooting interiors on a wet day.

Day 2 Monday: We were shooting at the Chinese Gardens in Darling Harbour. We needed a dull day with clouds so we could put in smoke to make it look misty.

We got exactly that.

Day 3 Tuesday: We were shooting at a Harbour Front Mansion with a swimming pool with three swimsuit models and our one of our key actors Steve (Ricardo).

I was asked by some of you why there is extra shooting days on A Day in the Life movie

The reason is that the film came in at 75 minutes of pure quality. However we need 85 minutes and so we have shot 10 more hilarious minutes for the end of the film. The film is now even better and will be finished by Easter. The main shoot was 31 days.

The second small shoot is four days. One day in January and three days in a row this week. (Feb)

And what fun scenes.

One scene is set in Northern Thailand where one of our protagonists has become a buddist monk. It does not take him long to get on the wrong side of his Master.

The other scene is where our biggest loser student Ricardo has won $20 million dollars in lotto and is now living it up with three  beautiful models. What happens? You will have to wait and see the movie.

We cast Jessica Kahawaty as the lead model. She is currently Miss Lebanon and came fifth in Miss World in Macua last year.  It is a very funny scene and beautifully shot mainly at 30 frames per second.  Have a look at our WIP Trailer  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gF6nWJjjXTM&feature=player_embedded

You can also see some First Time Student films made through our courses on More from Australian Film Base.

I worked with DOP John Biggins who is one of the best DOPS. He has such an eye and together we collaborated to create some wonderful scenes. The crew were wonderful and one of my great pleasures is recruiting the most enthusiasitic talented students from our recent courses to do small crew roles and get their first major credit.

Three people who attended the November Weekend Film School and then went on to our One Week Directors Film School in January worked on the Three day shoot of Day in the Life. I know they had a wonderful time and it is very inspiring for them. They are also gearing up to make their own films and music videos and that is the sign of a wonderful film school. That is when film school participants are out there making their own films now.

Join the dream and have a look at our film courses. Details above for the film school schedule for this year.

If you book into one of our courses this weekend, I will extend the discount for the courses for the weekend. The $200 discount ended yesterday  but if you are  a fan of my blog, please take advantage of this discount and book now for the discount.

Have a great week

Colm O’Murchu

http://internationalfilmbase.com/

http://www.australianfilmbase.com/