It’s amazing to think about, but I only have four weeks left at UCLA Film School. This is because I decided to graduate a year early, partly for financial reasons, partly for love, and partly because I was ready to move on. Like thousands of college graduates unfortunate to have been [...]
Archive for the ‘Film School’ Category
May 4th, 2012 - 12:22 pm § in Film School, Filmmaking
Funding A Thesis Film
I’m sorry to have been away for so long, but I’m happy to say that I wrapped shooting my thesis film in March and am well on my way to completing it. I’m also very excited to announce that I received the DAAD Artist Study Scholarship I wrote about a while ago, so I will [...][...]
October 9th, 2011 - 12:53 pm § in Film School
The Seven Components of Film School Strategy
A while back Short of the Week Editor Andrew S. Allen told me I should write about my thoughts about film school strategy. Here are the seven things I came up with that I find essential to any successful film school career: 1. Find Your Voice This is a murky territory that a lot of [...][...]
September 17th, 2011 - 10:53 am § in Film School, Filmmaking
Great First Features for 250K and Under
About a year ago I wrote a piece called the thesis film in the era of the microbudget. In brief the post talked about the evolution of the microbudget feature and its effect on the role the thesis film plays in launching careers. You can read the post by clicking here. It seems I underestimated the[...]
September 12th, 2011 - 6:38 pm § in Film School, Filmmaking
Good Enough
One of the great unspoken tragedies of film school is that many students never finish their films. The reasons for this are manifold; disappointment with the work, the potentially high costs of postproduction, and the desire to shoot pickups come to mind. If I look back on how long it took me to fin[...]
June 3rd, 2011 - 10:20 am § in Film School
Inner Maturity
Making films that move an audience is a very difficult thing to do. It involves a lot of hard work, craft and luck, and often doesn’t turn out the way we hoped. Making and screening a film, something I and my classmates will do next week, is one of the most humbling things a person can [...][...]
January 30th, 2011 - 4:43 pm § in Film School
Great Directors And Their Early Films
I’m in pre-production and a bit too swamped to write a longer post, so I thought I’d share some early works by some now very notable directors. Everyone starts somewhere. For your viewing pleasure. Rian Johnson USC Directed “Brick”[...]
Short Film Festival Strategy
I recently attended a seminar held at UCLA on festival strategy and thought I would elaborate on my own. At this point in my career I’m near completion on two short films, gearing up for shooting another, and am searching for financing for my first feature, which I’m developing with a wr[...]