Cinematography Class with Erik Curtis

Our wonderfully talented friend, DP Erik Curtis, who was extremely busy during this last movie he was shooting (known as The Chaos Experiment with Val Kilmer) finally arrived back in Tampa for the much anticipated Cinematography class for the Tampa Weekend Film School. The event was sponsered by Kodak & we were going to be 'having school' in ValComm/Chameleon Filmworks Studios in Clearwater and we were going to be using Panavision with (of course) Kodak high grade film. There were about 20-30 students and about 15 crew including Erik Curtis & Pete Guzzo (acting as Director) & while we were training loading film, dolly gripping & using the camera we were going to be shooting a PSA for a benefit to raise money by bicycling for a cause. There was another Director working with us as well (who I really liked) but I didn't really get his name. We shot HD alongside and got to compare between the two on the $30k monitors. Of course, the processing of the film will have to take place in the next week or two & Erik has informed us that we will be going on a trip to the Lab... Continental Labs in Orlando! It should be very informational & a lot of fun! I will learn a great deal I'm sure! I think that as film goes out of style... it will become cheaper, but also the skill set will be harder to come by... this experience will become a valuable one!

I have to say, that Erik was one of the nicest, coolest & most accessible DP's I've met & I was VERY honored to work with him, even a little bit. I LOVED pulling focus for the last second of film in the camera! Go out with a bang, baby!! This has been the favorite of my film school experiences so far!

Dinner with Joe Davison

In anticipation of Director of Photography Erik Curtis (who had just finished production in Michigan on The Chaos Experiment with Val Kilmer), we had planned a dinner to talk about our upcoming Tampa Weekend Film School Cinematography class! What ended up happening instead was an unexpected rare treat!

Instead of Erik Curtis, we got to eat dinner with horror movie writer/actor/producer/director Joe Davison from the movie 100 Tears. Joe turns out to be an awesome guy who schooled us on a lot of misconceptions in the film industry & his experiences. We really had a great time & I think we have formed a long-time bond with Joe... so much so that near the end of our dinner, we brain stormed about some story ideas that we would like to do before Halloween & now we have planned a shoot date & set locations & everything for a three part YouTube video release starring Joe! Sounds like indy heaven! We did miss Erik but we know that he was very busy... After a tough shoot its good to take a break from all the stress & I do hope Erik got to do that!

The State of the Film & Entertainment Industry Summit

On October 9th, the "State of the Film & Entertainment Industry Summit" took place in St. Petersburg, FL. to address the sad situation of the film & entertainment industries in Florida. Most states in our country have gone to some lengths to engage in a healthy competition to court the film industry to continue shooting & doing projects in their states (of course except for a few, one, namely being Florida). The lame incentives Florida offers are kind of like an insult to the industry almost to the point that they are 'asking' productions to leave the state. I really don't understand the logic in it whatsoever but the politicians that headed the 'summit' (as they called it) didn't really offer any solutions except to help them do their jobs & to keep doing more work for them.

I have to say, if I am going to have to do something & if what I do is successful, why do I need these people to speak for us filmmakers in Florida? They are proving to us all that they are not doing their jobs by putting on the farcical show they staged. It ended up being a forum for us to all complain about the fact that the capitol in Tallahassee is doing 'nothing' to help us poor, innocent filmmakers & videographers... blah, blah. Once again a waste of our efforts on politicians to save us.

I don't care for their efforts & I don't expect anyone to do anything to help me, I simply don't want anyone to get in my way to create as an artist. If at least, the state & local governments were offering a policy to help with permits, security & insurance it would make creating easier. I'm not asking for money for myself, I'm asking for these bureaucracies to fast-track some of the processes we have to wade through because we are doing things up-front & in cooperation with these governments. Plus I think it contributes to our tradition in Florida to have smaller government. Taxes could be waived as well possibly... who knows? There are actually so many ways that the state could help (without having to put up any funds whatsoever) that it is almost shocking to see so little action on their part. Which, again, makes it look like they are actually asking for production companies to leave Florida!

Once again, government saves mankind! Well... with some reservations. So, the plan is for us to go to Tally & once again, not be heard. :-\

Our Non-Profit P.S.A.'s

Training at the Tampa Weekend Film School (in Association with the Weekend Film Crew created by Daniel Brienza) has been steadily increasing with our 'Non-Profit PSA Project' we have embarked upon. The project entails finding organizations that might be able to use the help that a Public Service Announcement might give them, in order for our group to practice making small projects (like commercials) and then to continue on to making shorts or films as time goes on & we gather more knowledge & experience.

The first we did about three months ago was for a non-profit organization called "Connected by 25" which helps foster kids who graduate out of the foster care system. Many times, these young adults find themselves cut off from any meaningful help or any support system they may be used to having when they leave their foster home. This organization seeks to help re-establish the support system these kids need so desperately. Dan Brienza Directed, DP'ed & is editing it currently. I Produced. Chris Gayle AD'ed, Cheryl Williams was the Casting Director & we had a few really great actors!

The second one we have been working on is going to be completely created with V.O.'s, Final Cut & After Effects, etc. and the third we are going to be doing is still yet to be determined. So far it has been successful & a lot of fun... we just have to do the editing... :)

Editing Class with Rebecca Croft

About two months ago (I neglected to post it then), we at the Tampa Weekend Film School had a great time putting on the last editing workshop with Rebecca Croft on Final Cut Pro. Rebecca has been editing in Final Cut for the last 8 years but before this event, she had never trained anyone to edit (except for me) and she found it difficult to imagine teaching others at first. But, she did an awesome job and everyone seemed pleased with all the very detailed bits of knowledge she imparted to the 10-12 or so students that attended.

I really hope we continue to do events like this in the future. It was very practical & informative for everyone involved! Thank you Rebecca! :)

The 48hr Film Project

I have to say- I had a great time working on this years 48 hr Film Project. Rebecca was the Editor & I ended up helping as an Assistant Editor & Music Supervisor since we came on board late in the project. When the movie we made (that Bobby Marinelli Directed & Matt Wightman DP'ed) called "The Champ" gets posted on YouTube I will update this post & let you all know...

OK HERE IT IS--




Heres a link to YouTube just in case the embed doesn't work.

Everyone did a great job & I was proud to work with our team members even though I never knew most of them before this. I think more than half were from HSN though.

My take on the films? Ours was pretty good besides a few last minute editing mistakes. When you're given minutes to do everything that you would normally have weeks or months to do... things are going to happen- some things slip by. They were fixed for uploading to YouTube so you wont see those mistakes here. Well, you might see some mistakes. I'm not sure.

As for the other films, I really loved the film "A Minute Too Late" it was like watching a currently produced police/crime network tv show and the winning movie "Crime's a Cookin'" was a really good b&w silent film. It was very funny! I wonder how these guys did all that while being allotted the same amount of time we had!

We have been working with a few of our team members since then & also have noticed... we NEED to update our editing suite badly! A lot of the new cameras (it appears) can't be edited by our older FCP 5 system. We need the Studio 2 to be able to make our workflow more seamless.


If you are interested in learning more about the 48 hr Film Project heres some links.

48hr Film Project
48hr TV

We were participants in the 2008 Tampa/St. Petersburg competition. Our genre was Sports Movie, the character was a food connoisseur named "Bob Percival", the line was "How could you do this to me?", and the prop was a hair dryer.


My hope is that more opportunities open up for us because of this involvement as I'm sure they will.

:)

The new "RED" camera gets shown off at the Pinellas Filmmakers Society!!

First of all, I have to say I am so grateful to Curtis Graham and the other gentleman (a local Digital Imaging Technologist) who brought their cameras to display to the Society! Let me explain...

If you shoot in HD you know the resolution... Well, the RED camera is so much more of a revolution in filmmaking than I could hardly imagine! Curtis Graham (a local commercial & feature filmmaker) brought his entire RED rig to explain it's features for all in the audience to see. He used the in-house projectionist as a subject to get some recording done at a resolution of 4096x2304 as opposed to the normally used 1080 in the industry now!! By the way, the projectionist should consider acting-- he has a great face for film! So, he then transferred his RAGE 320G hard drive from his camera to a Mac G5 with a wide-screen monitor which was wheeled up into the front area. He showed us in post the amazing things you could do right away with your footage (with the free red editing software and with Final Cut) that couldnt be done if you were using film or most digital rigs! I was blown away at the picture quality, size, and incredible features that the red camera offered at a staggering $17,500! I am focusing now, on trying to get this technology into the next major project I want to do in this area.


I couldn't hope to explain all of its revolutionary features to you here! It is the best film rig combined with the very best digital rig imaginable!

As Wikipedia says "According to Red's official website, director Steven Soderbergh is shooting the first of his two upcoming features Guerrilla and The Argentine" using the RED. Also, "Soderbergh is very enthusiastic about the camera, saying that 'This is the camera I've been waiting for my whole career...'!"

Please... if you wanna know what I'm talking about go to their page and these other web pages.
www.red.com | Home Site
RedUser.net | Red Camera Forums
RedRelay | 4k Gallery Host Site
Wiki Red Camera Company
WonderHowTo on the RED camera

If this wasn't enough... as you may be able to notice... next year the Red company is planning on a new handheld 3k camera called "Scarlett"! It is also better than HD!! And in the palm of your hand! So you can understand my gratefulness towards the PFS! They have my full attention with this new technology!

....


Some essential news about the group. The Pinellas Filmmakers Society is run by Pete Bradshaw & Curtis Graham. There is no dues or other fees & the meeting is open to the public. Meetings take place on the 4th Friday of every month (it used to be the 3rd) from 7pm to 9pm (come an hour early for networking & rubbing elbows with local filmmakers). If you want to get involved in the local filmmaking scene, this is the best way to get moving! So, bring a stack of business cards & get over there next month!!

Image on upper right from red.com.

Antisocial Butterfly Update

My wife (Rebecca) & I have been sporadically putting together her short mini-DV film "Antisocial Butterfly" now for the past 6 months or so. Every so often we'll have time on the weekends to do a half day of shooting for certain scenes & she'll need to get a new haircut & keep her "continuity" up for the look of the film. We have been doing only the scenes where she is alone so far until we can organize for more complex scenes. So we still have a long way to go as it comes to the entire film being ready for the final edit.

...Although... As you can see we had just enough footage to make a small teaser!!

Enjoy!



(If the embedded video doesnt work heres the link)


...Whaddya think?


Make sure to tell Rebecca how awesome she is... It always helps when people encourage!!
You can talk to her via her YouTube page.
http://www.youtube.com/user/ladyrebeccacroft

"Tampa Weekend Film School" Update

Daniel Brienza really is awesome. This is because, I really like the new business model they are pursuing for the Weekend Film School. To elaborate, I guess its not so much a business model as a strategy to make this network learning experience most effective to Tampa Bay filmmakers.

First of all, their mission is for the group to start making films together. Second, the way they want to do this is to break the entire network up into four more manageable teams (based on the basic teams in the filmmaking process).

The teams are as follows:
1. Scriptwriting
2. Acting
3. Pre-Production/Production
4. Post-Production

Then, after these phases of training within each team is done, the filming process might start taking place & hopefully, good films will ensue from this process. Sounds good to me!

At the last Tampa Bay Industry & Actors Network we signed up for our team so, hopefully there will be some emails going out soon to keep us up to date on upcoming team meetings.

(I hope it wont get in the way of "Electric Picasso")
:O

"Electric Picasso" Update

Hello folks!

I am & have been an Assistant Producer for "The Electric Picasso" production by CandiMark Productions now, for the past month and a half or so. We are going to be mentored during production by four professionals from the Pinellas Filmmakers Society meeting in St. Petersburg. They will, also, be generously donating use of much of the equipment (especially for production phase). As this will make our movie of much higher quality I am so very grateful for this gift by the PFS.

This has been a really exciting project! I am loving everyone on the team & we are really forming a great production team in my view (which can do other projects in the future). I have been helping the Producers a lot, hopefully, and now we are into the location scouting and filling all crew positions phase.

I can't really talk about the story "The Electric Picasso" simply because I am not very good at the "pitch" just yet, but I can say some technical details. This is probably going to be a 12-15 min. comedy movie on color Panasonic DVC Pro. We have most of our primary crew positions filled. We, of course, still need to do the ultra-important casting for most of the parts.

Our Producer, Mark Keim, is so awesome. Our Director, Lisa Inserra, is also so awesome it makes you want to scream. The DP, Connie Pearson, I am really taking a liking to and for this reason I have personal hopes to work with her in the future. There are also others I wont mention just yet, but let me tell you... so far we are a great team.

We have these positions open still: 1st AD, 2nd AD, possibly a PM, PC, PA's, Gaffer, Key Grip, Best Boy- Electric, possibly a Location Manager, and a Marketing/Ad Guru or Publicist (depending).

So, for now I am really psyched! I have been generating some reports & having meetings (which I love), and I have really been learning a lot.

If you have any questions... please ask!

The "Electric Picasso" Project

The Pinellas Filmmakers Society has been assisting & collaborating in a new production (as a training & experience building exercise) and they have been working once a month to building local industry networking partnerships (in their meeting on the fourth Friday evening of every month). My assessment of the group has been very favorable and continues to be so! I am so very excited about this new production as well! They may accept me as a possible candidate (probably in some production capacity) and soon I may be contacting various individuals for some sort of filmmaking or financial support for the film. We have made progress from this last production meeting and I feel we are getting ever closer to making this a film for which I will be proud to be a part.

The film is called "Electric Picasso" and so far we have made some great progress! It will most likely be a 20-25 min. digital short utilizing local talent & crew. There are a few International Academy of Art & Design students and a DP originally from NYC (so far a production staff & crew of 11-12 people). I read the script recently and was surprisingly pleased with it. I'm usually somewhat disappointed with a lot of stories these days, but this one has some really great moments. It is also a very appropriate script as a short film. It gets to the point quickly. It has a good ending. It has some great opportunities for talent to shine & for us to have some technically & artistically creative moments so that makes me happy.

I hope I do a great job & I remain grateful to Mark Keim- the Producer & Lisa Inserra- the Director for taking me on so graciously! I will probably be referring any readers to a soon-to-be created web site for the production from this blog.

So... more to come ASAP!

The first Tampa Bay area film school experience ever??!

While there actually had been a studio in St. Petersburg as far back as 1933 (called Sun Haven Studios) who made three films (Chloe- Love is Calling You, Playthings of Desire, & The Hired Wife), there has to my knowledge never been a film school in the Tampa Bay area... even after USF students & faculty have attempted to start one for decades now. The first (what appears to be) film school experience seems to be coming out of Tampa called the "Tampa Weekend Film School", run by popular locals, Daniel Brienza & the Guzzo Bros. of the Tampa Film Review, Tampa Digital Studios & 1 Day Films. The program, which is not run like a college or a state run school is (so far, fashioned in a very economically sound way) to be run in a weekend session, like a hands-on film school with very affordable prices! Sessions are, however, only taking place every six months or so.

I have yet to attend because I would like to go with a group (you get a discount if you come with a team of 5-10 people). So, if anyone is interested in going with me as a team member in my group we will go together and you should be able to get in for as little as $30 to $50 per person/session!

They have yet to announce the new dates for their next session. Although they seem to be having specialty classes (such as a screen writers class they just had the first week in april) now as well, I hope this doesn't mean they are changing their format to continue doing only specialty classes (& no longer having the team experience). I have to say though, regardless, I am (so so) excited that there is now a film school experience of some sort in the Tampa Bay area and I would be honored to attend with any of my friends or co-workers!

Yay!
:)

Favorite Movies & the Great Influences

My Top 10 are numbered (1-10):
updated as of Jan 7th, 2014

Blade Runner (1)
Citizen Kane (2)
The Seven Samurai (3)
Star Wars (4)
Lord of the Rings (5)
The Maltese Falcon (6)
Alien (7)
The Empire Strikes Back (8)
Aliens (9)
Raiders of the Lost Arc (10)

I realize that some people might say "what is The Seven Samurai?" but this just means you might need to brush up on your film watching in the evening and thats fun for everyone! I recently changed some of these rankings based on recent re-watchings. The talent shows on screen in the storytelling, but ultimately it shows in your memory of that film years later! Some things just stay with you and others fade away. It isn't always something you can understand, but if you end up with a good feeling after you've seen it and it's made an impression on you for years, well, you should think about the fact that many movies can't achieve that kind of influence.

What I love about "Blade Runner" is that (among other things) it achieves a cohesion between eastern & western cultures in the art direction & writing that is so rich that I am still amazed at it! It doesn't stop there though, the characters & story have a depth unparalleled in most films. There is so much there... people still discuss it in forums & the like (just like I am here). It was based on "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" by Philip K. Dick who wrote a few very influential sci-fi stories back in the day. Of course I am a major sci-fi lover but rarely do I feel that what I am seeing in sci-fi films is believable. I can almost see the exposed set & boom mics peeking out between takes in my imagination. "Blade Runner," in contrast, actually achieves believability. I also am a lover of film noir, so "Blade Runner" achieves a synthesis of everything I love in film, period. Another thing that is oft overlooked in films is the soundtrack and this film, utilizing one of my favorite musical genres, New Age music, is used in a way no other film has done before or since.

"The Maltese Falcon," "Citizen Kane," and "The Seven Samurai" all express my love of older b&w cinema. "The Maltese..." for my admiration of crime-story writing translated to the screen as it was done in noir films. "Citizen..." for the technical artistry, ingenuity & talent used to make the film. "Seven Samurai" for , well… everything utilized to achieve putting such a story of tragedy and human commitment on the silver screen. The writing is pure, classic, perfect gold.

"Lord of the Rings" is there for obvious reasons (and yes, I mean ALL of the three movies together as one product). "LotR" is simply the very best fantasy films ever made and they can be judged together because they were all filmed at the same time and they all, then, very easily achieved the same look & feel to them. Incredible VFX and acting. It is hard to say that films do books justice, but I would say that this one does! And I am a major Tolkien fan!

I suppose "Alien" is on this list for some similar reasons that I love "Blade Runner" but obviously not all. It does have a noirish feel to it. The art direction is quite good, showing my love for that era in sci-fi filmmaking. But its the creature design, acting & cinematography that make this a sci-fi thriller most worthy of distinction in my book. I almost listed "Aliens" higher but it isnt as raw in it's artistry & acting. "Aliens," however, is tons of fun to watch & is more descriptive in it's art direction & storytelling.

If you don't know who Akira Kurosawa was, you'd better get cracking! It was a close vote for me between "Yojimbo" and "The Seven Samurai" to list here. They are both incredible films as well as monumentally influential to filmmakers worldwide just as Hitchcock is influential. But there is no Hitchcock film (this is really hard for me to say) that achieves the enormous artistry on screen as a Kurosawa film (& I LOVE Hitchcock!). Hitchcock is a technical genius and a serious student of the human psyche (and it shows in his films) but I consider his work... awkward as it comes to the point of the storytelling. I suppose if I was a major suspense fan, he'd be on the top of my list... so that is saying something I suppose. Kurosawa, in contrast, uses a very organic set of tools to his disposal... to tell a powerfully impactful story & he achieves it almost every time. His very human stories are also great stories. I think the "Samurai..." affected me the most because of all the factors involved to tell such a big story. Each character (each of the seven samurai in the story) affect the viewer in very different ways and each character is also, like the main character. This is rarely if ever achieved in a film. Look at "Oceans 11," or "12," or "13" to compare (which all attempt to achieve this)... Ha ha! There is no comparison!

"Raiders..." is on this list for obvious reasons. For awhile I didn't list this film or the "Empire Strikes Back" film because I considered those choices too obvious and I hadn't seen them in awhile. They were not as fresh in my mind as some other films I had seen more recently. Well, since then, these films come back and back into my memory, pushing the others out of the list. These films are both a ton of fun to watch and the characters are as rich as someone in your own family. You seem to know exactly who they are and you want them to succeed at whatever they do, even if it is to restore the balance to the Force or to restore the prized artifacts to their rightful place. We like to think that Spielberg and Lucas aren't as influential as they are for some reason, but the proof is in the pudding, as they say… They just make darned good films.


Here's the entire list (A-Z) of influences that didn't make the list:
12 Monkeys, 1984, Airplane, Akira, Alphaville, Apocalypse Now, Batman Begins, The Big Lebowski, The Big Sleep, Braveheart, Brazil, The Breakfast Club, Brick, Buffalo 66, Casablanca, Casino Royale, Dark City, The Dark Crystal, Detour (1946), Donnie Darko, Dr. Strangelove, The Elephantman, Faust, The Fifth Element, The Fountain, Gaslight, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Interview with a Vampire, The Island, Ivanhoe, Kill Bill, Krull, The Labyrinth, Ladyhawk, Laura, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (All of Wes Anderson's work), Logan's Run, The Lost Boys, Lost in Translation, The Machinist, The Man Who Wasn't There, The Matrix, Moulin Rogue, Napoleon Dynamite, North by Northwest, Nosferatu, Notorious, Pi, Pulp Fiction, Renaissance, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, Baz Lehrmann's Romeo + Juliet, The Royal Tennenbaums, A Series of Unfortunate Events, Signs, Sixth Sense, Soilent Green, Superbad, The Third Man, The Truman Show, Unbreakable, Vanilla Sky, Vertigo, We Are The Strange, Wings of Desire, Yojimbo (really- all of Akira Kurosawa's work), all James Bond movies, ANYTHING with Humphrey Bogart...

Well this must be why I'm wanting to go to film school! I love studying the process & the translation of good storytelling to the screen... It makes me happy! I hope reading this has helped you make some selections at your local video store (which doesn't exist anymore so go to amazon or ebay and pick out some previously watched DVD's or BD's at greatly reduced prices), and brought peace into the home & to all the world... but maybe we can just settle for the home.

Peace-out folks!
Jon

Invitation to Network & Recent Happenings

So, some local film stuff going on right now-
(I plan on attending a lot of these events & i would love for anyone who is an amateur or aspiring filmmaker to come with me if you contact me beforehand & of course, if you live in the Tampa Bay area).

1. The Tampa Film Review (TFR) meets (in the International Bazaar at Ybor City, Tampa) at 7 pm on the 2nd Friday of every month (they might soon change their location). They've been getting a lot more involved & active lately with plugging into local film events & helping local filmmakers get VIP treatment at events. Theres also some workshop & training opportunities but it is mostly a place to show your work to local fellow filmmakers for free.

2. Pinellas Filmmakers Society meets on the 4th Friday of every month at 6pm at the Indie Studios (1776 11th Ave N., St. Pete). They are a more personable group who actually meet in a professional studio. They are hardcore & they like to train & give advice. If you bring something to show they will show it but expect an honest assessment of your work as they are keen on giving advice. Great place to network in my opinion & talk about yourself & your work.

3. St. Pete Creative Network meets once a month as well but the date & location is not the same every month. They are a group of Pinellas artists who want to network, to have fun, & to come up with ideas to help the community through their art. It is under-represented in the filmmaking department... a lot of graphic designers & ad people from what ive seen.


Recent Goings-on...
I have been working with a few people to discuss moving to NYC to do film up there & to expand into web design also (Flash). It isn't probably within this year but should be the beginning of next year. I just have to get our condo fixed up, on the market, sold, debts paid off, need to finish making Rebecca's "coming of age" short entitled "Antisocial Butterfly" & to get my short HD b&w film noir up & running ("The Dark Cinema") so I have some of my own personal work to shop around up there. I have been looking for opportunities to do this cheaper & with more indy artists who are more dedicated hardcore filmmakers at heart.

Its been hard as well as expensive- Ive had to work all kinds of jobs on the side to make artistic projects & to keep our studio open for business but with the right people I know we can do this thing- I have a few collaborative projects I have been shopping around- one called "Holy War" & the other an untitled zombie vs vampire short. Ive actually got a lot of different projects going on but the hardest part has been staying afloat financially.

Well either way local filmmakers can help each other out in so many ways & networking is one of the greatest, so bring along a stack of business cards & show up with me to one of these events!

Thanx all!
Jon

Why I love NYC (& why you should too)!

I am a great fan of New York City if you might have noticed. I've even been a fan of former Mayor Rudy Giuliani for some time (and I had typed like 2 paragraphs here before about politics & the like... yea. I omitted it!) So you can thank me later! So anyway, theres so much to like about NYC that its hard to list it at all... its like im stunned! Theres shopping, theres shows, theres every kind of event & fun thing to do you can imagine! I'm from Florida saying this... the beach can be overrated at times. Theres not much of a filmmaking industry, there's not many cool cafes or book stores. There's not that many intellectuals down here it seems. There's this attitude of animosity from a lot of people, you know, it's like a "my way or the highway" kind of thing. I think its cuz people don't like debating ideas typically down here. New Yorkers, in contrast, are more used to competition in every way. You are forced to be stronger as a result.

Speaking practically, while New York has a great weakness as a place to move to (financial reasons)- that weakness also serves as it's greatest strength as a filmmaker & as someone who is planning on having very marketable skills when (& if) I move there. I plan on not only having mad skills (filmmaking experience & flash design skills) but assets to bring to the table as well.

This will take some time though- but, if I am blessed with a few good friends here in Florida who believe in me- I am counting on an inspiring, blessed moment to occur... the moment in which I can create a short film with the help of my friends in order to open up my filmmaking career in NYC. What this provides for me is an invaluable asset for the rest of my life as it can really showcase my talent & it will allow me to finally pursue the kind of career & work I am actually passionate about. I've never cared much about being rich & famous like so many Americans these days, but I have felt out of place in each & every job I have ever had which now has reached up to 34 (!) jobs in my life! Why has this happened to me? No reason except I have not ever been given a chance to do what I have wanted. I'm like Ethan Hawke's character in Reality Bites! It's kinda funny.

I am confident that if I am in New York, I will be given better job opportunities, more exposure for my artistic talents & better use of my experience. The CUNY state university system (hopefully Brooklyn) can give me a good opportunity to go to a low cost film program, and if I am able to room with 2-4 more film enthusiasts, our housing costs should remain manageable.

In the rent department- I am really liking craigslist for the most up to date system (because in NYC- if you don't acquire your apartment the next day- you lose!), but there are other sites I am open to as well (A reminder... as it comes to craigslist just be leary of scams!). I am also planning on (when ready), asking our already present NYC friend-base to help us with 'what is' the right kind of place to look for and kind of being a present witness (possibly) of how good or bad this place is before we get there. From what I can tell, these seem like the numbers to watch for from my (mostly) uninformed position... $800 (or less) for an efficiency, $1600 (or less) for a two bedroom, and $2000 for a three bedroom. As you may be able to tell- im staying around the $400 or less per person area. This looks to me VERY reasonable if you are a sport and can live in a small closet (for awhile at least). It is much better for each of us the more people & bedrooms weve got here but there's got to be a limit on what is manageable. We are adults here- we should be able to establish a consensus on agreed-upon basic rules for the apartment as alot of these places have shared kitchens, living spaces & bathrooms (if not bathROOM='singular'). This means many things will have to be shared & so we need ways... of staying out of each other's way (if that makes any sense). Marriage teaches you that togetherness is also responsibility- theres a responsibility to nurture harmony & compassion. Well, I hope its just a very mutually beneficial experience and also a lot of fun!

If my friends haven't as of yet discovered some of the NYC film incentives I would challenge you to do so- some of them are VERY attractive- I don't expect to just be able to film whatever projects we want right away- but to get in contact with people who can help us, to do great things in our own time & also, to use our film/web design/animation/industry jobs to (at the same time) promote and create our own work and therefore improve our reputation.

Also have you been to the STORES in NYC- I have never been more charmed in my LIFE!!! It's just... to find a grocery store- sheesh! Actually I did find a Costco with an internet search. Its just... now a new set of problems! How do you take your bulk foods with you on the bus??

If you haven't seen them- here's some pics of our trip to the Big Apple on flickr.

Jon the filmmaker.

Made in NYC: Some NYC Resources

First let me start out with a link to MovieMaker's article about the ten best cities to make movies in, NYC being the #1 city for the past three years, beating out Austin and all the other film havens in the U.S., even for independent filmmaking.

Top 10 Cities for MovieMakers (2007)

This article explains some of it's reasons, of course, being state & city resources & incentives & a strong independent filmmaking spirit as opposed to L.A. which has not even showed up on MovieMaker's list for a while, no doubt to the domineering control that Hollywood has had over the local industry there.

here are a few more resources, of course animation job links are located in another post as I get them...


General NYC Info & Some Articles
NYC.gov
"Made in NY" Program
NYC Webcams
A Guide to Filming In NY
NYConvergence


Resources
Mayor's Office of Film, Theatre & Broadcasting
IFP/New York
NewYork411
Motion Picture Enterprises
New York Production Guide
New York Film & Video Guide
New York City Film Resource
Grip & Electric


NYC Blogs
Cine Cultist
NY Brain Terrain
NY Locations
NY Indie Seen
Subway Cinema
NYC loves NYC
NY:MIEG
New Directors/New Films
NYC Daily Photo
Film Flap
A Daily Dose of Architecture
Location Files
Times Square
Brave New World: NYC!
New York Portraits
Elusive Lucidity
House Press
Between Productions
The Bowery Boys


Theatres
Lincoln Center
IFC Center
The Angelika
Pioneer Theatre


Film Schools
Digital Film Academy
School of Visual Arts
NYU
Brooklyn College
City College
Hunter College
New School
New York Film Academy
Manhattan Edit Workshop
Columbia University


more to come...
Jon