My Favourite Films this Year

Wishing all my readers a relaxing and fun Easter Break. 

After Easter we have a major announcement to make in relation to something that I believe  will be a major turning point.  If you want to learn from the very best in the Australian Film Industry, keep you eyes peeled for my next post.  I will leave you in suspense till then.

As it is Easter,  I would like to mention some of my favourite films that I have seen at the cinema this year. These films should be available online or at your local DVD shop soon.  If you have time over Easter check them out. I think you will really enjoy all three of these films.  Of the 14 that I have seen in the cinema this year these three films were the most enjoyable.

Tower Heist (Action Comedy)

For plain entertainment value, I really enjoyed  this film. Ben Stiller and Eddie Murphy lead an all-star cast in Tower Heist, a comedy caper about working stiffs who seek revenge on the Wall Street swindler who stiffed them. After the workers at a luxury Central Park condominium discover the penthouse billionaire has stolen their retirement, they plot the ultimate revenge: a heist to reclaim what he took from them.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo  (Thriller)

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is the first film in Columbia Pictures’ three-picture adaptation of Stieg Larsson’s literary blockbuster The Millennium Trilogy. I have seen the Sweedish version of this film and I much preferred this years updated American Version. The Film is slow to start but once it gets going, the intriging plot takes you into the most surprising twists. Directed by David Fincher and starring Daniel Craig and Rooney Mara, the film is based on the first novel in the trilogy, which altogether have sold 50 million copies in 46 countries and become a worldwide phenomenon.

The Descendants  (Drama)

I really liked this heart warming drama.  From Alexander Payne, the creator of the Oscar-winning Sideways, set in Hawaii, The Descendants is a sometimes humorous, sometimes tragic journey for Matt King (George Clooney) an indifferent husband and father of two girls, who is forced to re-examine his past and embrace his future when his wife suffers a boating accident off of Waikiki. The event leads to a rapprochement with his young daughters while Matt wrestles with a decision to sell the family’s land handed down from Hawaiian royalty. Very moving and engaging.

Five Film Directing Skills that make a difference

Directing a Shot on the Set of Dealing with Destiny

Post:  Five ways to make your film shoot work effectively 

Most people on our Film Courses love the Film Shoot.  The Film Course Participant learn more on the Film Shoot than any other part of our four month Film School.

The main reason for this is  team work.   A group of people bond and make a creative endeavor.  There are many laughs, intense moments and character tests. The satisfaction of creating a film, that will be seen by millions of eyes in the future, also adds a sense of purpose and excitement to the shoot.

However the amateur film maker can make a mess out of a Film Shoot and end up having a very challenging time. How can a Film Director make the most of a Film Shoot?  Prepare Prepare Prepare.  How does the film director make a Film Shoot fun and memorable. Here are five areas that one can focus on.

1. The Script
2. Actor Rehearsal
3. Plan the Blocking in Advance
4. Shot list and/or Storyboard
5. Pushing the Standard High.

2 Actor Rehearsal: 

3 Plan the Blocking in Advance. 

4 Shot List Storyboard

5 Pushing the Standard High. 

One needs to learn how to make films professionally and that is why it is very important to get the very best training available on the very best film course .  Remember learn from the best and when you are shooting prepare prepare prepare.

Film Schools in the very near future 2012  

• The Sydney Four Month Film Directors School
  Screen Australia Studios, Lindfield
  February 4th 2012  -  May 18th  2012

• Melbourne One Day Film School
  Saturday February 11th 2012

• Adelaide One Day Film School 
  Saturday March 10th 2012

•  The Melbourne Four Month Film Directors  School
  University of Melbourne, Parkville
  March 31st 2012 – July 20th 2012

• Online Film School     Enroll and start today

Story Generation and the Creative Process

 Post:  Driving in the Outback can be inspiring.

Praying for Inspiration

Valeska and I took off for about ten days and went to outback NSW and rambled from town to town, going with the flow and only moving when we felt like it. We did not see a drop of rain and loved  the constant blue skies.

Before you ask, “How can you go to a part of the world that has temperatures hitting the 40C mark (105 F)”, please let me explain.

Well I did have a mission. I wanted to come up with a great story outline and treatment for our next screenplay.  I love the great open spaces of the outback and country New South Wales. Very inspiring. No tourists are crazy enough to go out here in the heat of summer and that is exactly why I love it. It feels like the real deal,  like a road movie.

Our goal was to create an awesome story outline  and utilize the passing scenery and all the quirky cooky and very friendly characters we met on the way.

Ok our bomb does not look the best but it got us around

Idea after idea flowed and nothing seemed to gel. We would come up with one story outline after another and then trash them.  We could only find enough for B Grade film.  Story after story idea was tossed around and then trashed.

Even  at Lightning Ridge where black opals are mined, we could not get a story outline that was a winner.  All the story ideas, we came up with in the first eight days of traveling just seemed to be a cliche and stale.  From Coonabarabran to Gundegai to  Lightening Ridge to Bourke to St George , we created only garbage. Our characters seemed to be just flat.

Exasperated, I was about to give up on Day 8 and just enjoy the rest of our road trip, when it happened. We were approaching Moree when something on the radio sparked me off. Suddenly an amazing idea floated into my head. I got out my IPhone recorder and started flowing with a story that would prove to be so cool and original and dare I say it “Fresh”

Road going to the West

Valeska and I then started talking about the story and more flowed. Out of that amazing creative dimension called creativity,  scenes spouted out at a faster rate than we could record them.

There was an excitement about this idea that was missing from all previous ideas. We were suddenly on fire.

The next day we went back to the story and it still seemed like a really fresh story.  More ideas and more scenes appeared to us and we felt that sense of flow that happens when you hit oil. I reflected on inspiration and what happens when a story truly appears.

Here are some of my thoughts:  I believe that finding a great story is like searching for gold. You have to shift a lot of dirt to get to gold but when it happens it’s priceless. Then it’s like striking oil. Ideas and scenes spew out at an alarming rate faster than you can process them.  To get to this point I believe  that you need to trash bad story outlines as soon as you know it. This saves you so much time and stress later.

A Beer always helps

Today I am knocking out a 20  page treatment of the story that will encapsulate the whole film from beginning to end. Then the story is submitted to my 3 week test. In other words, will the story be as strong at  the end of Janaury as it is now. If so, I will fully comit and move on to producing and developing the story as a  film.

What is the movie called ,   “Hot Streak”.   30% of the film takes place in California and the other 70% in Australian outback towns. Our lead character is American and most of the supports are Australian. Anyone interested in investing, get in early.

If you are interested in creating a really cool story, look at our
4 month Film School in Sydney . The first two weeks is all about developing a story and writing a screenplay or please look at our Weekend Film Schools in Adelaide and Melbourne 

Till next time, have a great one.

Colm O’Murchu

Four Tips for Finding the Best Location

Location Location

I am very much looking forward to presenting the Weekend Film School in Sydney on  this Saturday and Sunday May 21st, 22nd. One of my favourite parts of the Weekend Film School is how we get people to meet each other and network.  On Sunday Afternoon, we launch film projects that then get produced over the following three months. If you are in town and have next weekend free,  please enroll on one of the very best film making weekends, The Sydney Weekend Film School

What I want to talk about this week is Locations. Finding locations for your film is one of the easiest part of preproduction.

Beautiful Cafe Scene for Free on The Makeover

Tip One Do not be afraid to write as many locations into your script as you need for your story to be told. I love beautiful locationsand finding the best locations in your city is rather easy. There is an old adage in low budget film making that says “Shoot in a one loacation for three weeks and never move out of there. Yes that is called a play and there is nothing wrong with plays. But if you are shooting a movie, make the movie visual. One can do this by having appropriate locations in your film.

Tip Two . Only have one location move per day and do your best to to schedule only one location for a full shooting day. Over a 30 day shoot, you could have 30 locations. Moving in the middle of the day chews up time. I remember supervising a student short film called Money We only had a one day shoot and we had five locations to shoot in. We spent half the day in the car driving from one location to the other.  If you have to change locations,  only move once on the day. I know this seems contrary to what Tip One outlines. It is important to find the balance.

Tip Three: Make sure that you have a written agreement with the location owner. Most locations are free and are contributions to the film. Still it is very important to have an agreement. with the owner about the hours and day the location is needed for. Also outline

• Will the location get an end credit in the film?
• Will the location signage be seen in the film?
• Make sure that the location is free of all external people or customers. There is nothing worse than shooting in a cafe that is still open to the public. If the location has external people, pack up and go home.

Bar Location for Free The Makeover

Tip Four. Clean up the location after the shoot and make it cleaner than before you arrived. This is very important and I know I am stating the obvious.

If you get the owner excited about your film in advance of shooting and then when you leave the location,  the owner is  happy , you will help future film makers have an easy time. That could be you again. Invite the Location Owner to all parties and screenings. Leave a great impression.

Of the 55 locations that we found for The Makeover Feature Film, 44 of them were free. When an owner, contributes a location to your film, they are in a way an investor in your project.

On our courses, we teach you how to find locations with ease and for free. Find out more about our courses by clicking on an interesting course on our home page

6 Tips for Attracting the Best Crew

Before I get into the tips, it is important  to differentiate between two different types of crews.

• Big Budget Crew
• Micro Budget Crew

When you read the credits after a big budget film, often the scroll will last fifteen minutes. There are a vast myriad of different people who do many different crew roles on the set. Recently I was invited by  Director Michael Apted on to his $140 million film “The  Chronicles of Narnia The Adventures of the Dawn Treader.”*. The Film was shot at the Gold Coast Warner Brothers Studio in Australia.

The crowd on set resembled the entrance to a football stadium on Match Day. One could hardly move. The set was packed. So many crew were doing different jobs. One lady I spoke to was the Dialogue Coach for specifically one of the  young actresses. She probaly did ten minutes work all day. The rest of the time she was on call and doing nothing more than spectator. That is the big end of town

The other end is the Micro Budget Film Crew which is all about efficiency and effectivness. Everything is about working smart and hard.  Many crew roles are double ups and one crew member could well be doing three different roles.

Here are my top five tips.

1 Keep the Crew lean mean and keen.
What I mean by this, is keep the crew to the bare minimum to effectively shoot. An effective crew is about 10 – 15 members. However some crews are smaller. There were days on The Makeover where we had only seven working crew members and that included me as the Director Producer and DOP. On my Online Film School and Weekend Film School, I outline the Crew needed and where to find them. I also show you how I have designed my Crew Contract. This Contract motivates and inspires crews to work smarter and more focused. In fact many of my crew treated “The Makeover” as if it was their  film.

2 Keep your shoots to five days per week  and no longer than 12 hours per day.
Twelve hour days are  from arrival on set to conclusion. This is so important. Every crew member is keen to be working on the film and no one wants to be seen to be tired or a whinger. Give your crew two days off per week. When you do the above you will have a happy crew and not a bickering crew.   As a Producer or/and Director, please do not take advantage of your crews enthusiasm. Do not flog your crew.

Just as an aside, time on set goes so fast. There are many times the First AD calls lunch and I will say to him” Why are you calling lunch at 9am”  He will reply. “Look at your watch. Its 1pm” Time accelerates and goes so fast on set. The reason for this is that as a Director, you are fully in the moment and a 100% focused.

3  Treat the crew with respect and love. Feed the Crew exceptionally well  Good healthy food that nourishes the crew is like filling up your car with grade A Petrol (Gasoline).  Your crew will work so much better and they will appreciate your efforts. This ultimately results in a better film. Do not  welsh on this area.  Be generous and if you are smart you can feed a crew really well for about $200 per day. You can learn all the tricks on our Online Film School or Weekend Film School

4 Ever Crew member must have a  written contract or agreement and agree willingly to the terms set in the contract. This is so important. The crew feels secure knowing that you will pay what is owed when the film is successful. Also it will protect the producer from unwarranted claims when the film is a big hit. Everyone will know what they are owed. I always add in a clause that our bookkeeper will update crew on Sales for the film. This is very important at the micro budget end of the market.

5  Always keep the crew informed about the progress of your film in film festivals and sales.  Most micro budget crews are paid in shares and a small cash payment. They work on your film for fun and career advancement. Many times, they are seeking experience and credits so that they can get the next job. Long after wrap, they will wonder what ever happened to the film. Keep them informed of the progress via regular email updates.

6 Throw the best parties mid-shoot and on the final day at wrap and at the Cast and Crew Screening. This is important because it can be a time to promote the film and celebrate the amazing achievement of shooting your film.

If you want to set up a career as a regular film crew person, work your way up via working on the micro budget films. Over time  you will find yourself on the bigger budget film crews where you will be paid exceptionally well. Work begets work, so always accept the lower budget jobs when starting out.

If you want the best start that money can buy please look at our practical film courses on http://www.australianfilmbase.com/ or at our Online Film School on http://internationalfilmbase.com/ This way you will effectively attract work on micro budget films or/and create your very own film production.

Till next week have a great one.

Colm O’Murchu
Director International Film Base.

Author Details: Colm O’Murchu is the owner of International Film Base in Sydney Australia. He has currently written directed and produced The Makeover Feature Film. The Film screened at the recent Cannes Independent Film Festival in France and won Best Film at the New York City Film Festival. The Film is currently on release in Australia and has sold to Pay TV in Europe. Colm has created the Online Film School that helps emerging film makers produce their own films with no budget. For more about Colm O’Murchu please go to International Film Base.com

* “The  Chronicles of Narnia The Adventures of the Dawn Treader” was the 12th highest-grossing film of 2010 with over $415 million and received a nomination at the 68th Golden Globe Awards. The film was released by 20th Century Fox

16 Steps to make your film happen now

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