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Committing sepukku by swallowing a frisbee... Getting electrocuted while sitting on a metal toilet...

Try getting a high-quality DAT recorder that will transfer to the computer in a common audio file format, then sync it up in post. This way you don't have to bother with finding a new camera and you can control your audio independently of the camera. If you have a local Guitar Center, they...

Anywhere that sells paper and pens: Office Max will have them for sure. But even Walgreens, Osco Drug, Wawa. Your neighborhood convenience store will probably have them.

Absolutely. Two books you need to pick up: Rebels On the Backlot and Rebel Without A Crew. The first is about the first wave on indie filmmakers in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Only one or two went to film school. But think about guys like Kevin Smith, Quentin Tarantino, or Robert...

New York Film Academy has a well-reputed 2-year Masters program. Highly recommended, and they offer campuses in New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago. I highly recommend the program. I have several friends who have gone through the program and moved directly into production jobs after earning...

It really just depends on your own particular style. Always remember that producers and directors, actors and craftspeople will never know the method that you used in order to get your script to the point that it was ready to go out to them. Personally, I much more enjoy using paper cards or...

Do you have your bible written?

I have had the experience of shooting in a hospital on two separate projects. The key to getting permission is to have somebody that can make it happen for you. On the first project, we were all in film school at the University of Kansas. Instead of trying to find one of the local hospitals...

The storyboard software that I've seen allows you to "build" your set in a 3-D space and move things around (actors, props, furniture) and then move the camera to where you want it. It then takes a picture and that becomes your storyboard. While cool, this really amounts to a very simple...

I ran across this quote the other day and thought it to be very apropo: Hollywood does not buy good ideas. They buy great stories. I thought about this and I feel that it is very true. Everybody who knows I'm a writer always tells me that they have a "great idea." I always ask them, "well...

Screenwriting is... the most intense and enduring activity that a human being can engage in, next to soccer.

I think it really just depends on the script. In some cases, a name that "means" something can give you a sense of the character themselves, taking into account the etymology of the name itself. But, unless you go out of your way to explain the origin of the name, it may just be a "name" to...

This is film school, right? My advice? Make him a P.A. and tell him if he doesn't like it, then he doesn't have to show up. But you're not going to defend him when it comes time to do crew/team evaluations for your professor. He'll hate you forever, but it might just make your time working...

Go to school. Study anything that is not film related: history, political science, math, english literature, foreign language. Classes come in all shapes and sizes. Not only will you get good ideas, but you will become knowledgeable enough about your subject matter that you can write it...

Deciding which movies to watch for a new or young film maker is really only half the battle. It is not really which films you watch as much as it is how you watch them. What I mean is this: watch some really good, low-budget films. Watch them a couple of times just for fun. But after a...

It depends on what you mean by amateur. If you plan on becoming serious about filmmaking, whether you want to produce short films, documentaries, features, web series, or even just make some extra cash doing wedding videos once in a while, then the Adobe series is absolutely essential and worth...

No, you don't need studio permission to review a movie. Only if you plan on using footage from a movie in your videos, then you will have to get permission depending on how much is used. But, double check. I think that there may be a "fair use" doctrine that allows you to use up to 30 sec. of...

I never said that this kind of opening doesn't get made. I'm just saying there are more creative ways to open a movie. Let's face it -- inventiveness and creativity have never been good ideas to make movies. Just look at all the straight-to-DVD sequels and remakes that are coming out. And...

Easy way: shoot your newscast however you want it. In the scene, place a piece of Chroma green on the screen, and super the scene on in post production. That's how the pros do it.

The trick to writing the introduction to your movie is to write it in a way that intrigues people enough to stay sitting for the entire movie. Now, this doesn't necessarily mean an explosion or a chase scene, but anything that is high drama (even if it is a comedy). The worst openings in...