Special FX Software and Training

Showbiz Software Store Event Postponed

Tonight's March 5th seminar and book signing at The Showbiz Software Store in NYC has been postponed. Stay Tuned for a rescheduled date in the next few weeks.

Guerrilla Filmmaking Master Class at DCTV

This Friday, February 22nd @7pm I will be giving a Master Class on Guerrilla Filmmaking at Downtown Community Television (DCTV) in New York. Come learn how to develop a Down and Dirty DV filmmaking mindset and specific strategies and tactics for putting money back in your budget and up on the screen on any budget, any camera, at any time.



This is a paid event. Price of admission includes:

• Full Guerrilla Filmmaking Seminar
• Q&A Session & Booksigning
  
• A free copy of "The Shut Up and Shoot Documentary Guide" (a $35 value)
  
• Open Bar Networking Social

GET TICKETS AND MORE INFO HERE

This is the very first time that I am presenting this Master Class to the public, so tickets will go fast. I've been to many events at DCTV recently and I can tell you that they know how to do it up and I think it's some of the best networking in town, so come out and join us.

I promise an evening of education, networking, and Down and Dirty fun, so bring your notebooks, business cards, and sense of humor. (Remember, when filmmaking was still fun? Well, it is again.)

Sponsored by:

My Sundance Diary - Part 2

Sundance Day 2 Continued:

So I totally forgot to mention that I also went to the NYU/Sundance Party also on Sundance Day 2. Saw many of my NYU colleagues and current and recent students. Grad student, Dee Rees was at Sundance with her film "Pariah" which seemed to be getting some very good buzz.

Sundance Meet the Filmmaker Interview w/ Dee Rees:



Pariah Trailer:



Also, met up with an old friend or two from back in my film school days. Saw my fellow alum, Alan Jacobson, for the first time in about 15 years. He was a D.P. on the Sundance film, TheAuteurMovie and has also been shooting a number of other projects that have been getting noticed including HBO's "The Journalist and the Jihadi, the Murder of Daniel Pearl".

It's really satisfying to meet people that you started out with and to see that we are still grinding in the business and putting in work doing what we love. Everyone's followed a different path to get where they are, but the one common thread is always persistence.


Sundance Day 3

Started off the day with an early morning appointment to speak to a group of students taking an independent cinema class at Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, Florida. Their professor , Nathan Anderson, assigned "The Shut Up and Shoot Documentary Guide" and got in touch with me before the festival. Nathan is a genuine fan of the book and left an extensive review on Amazon.com.

I gave the class a private presentation on guerrilla filmmaking philosophy an tactics and spoke about a few specific production issues they were encountering. For a group of college students they were surprisingly awake and alert before 10am.

Headed over to a Slamdance Filmmaker's breakfast with my filmmaking friends and Down and Dirty DV bloggers, Nathan Kensinger and Meaghan O'Hara who co-directed and produced the documentary short, "Covered Tracks" about a mysterious abandoned section of NYC Subway. (FYI- There is also another Meaghan O'Hara that is an established documentary producer, but I'm sure that my friend, Meaghan O'Hara, will match her noteriety in a few more years.)

I first met Nate and Meaghan at a DCTV Open House in NYC about two years ago. We hit it off and they were instrumental in helping me complete my book and tieing up the final loose ends.


Dashed out of the breakfast to my booksigning at Dolly's Book Store on Main Street...the only book store on Main Street. The booksigning went very well, especially considering thye fact that I was signing at the exact same time as the NFL Playoff game was starting. Goooo Giants! (I should point out here that I remain a devout Ravens supporter, but I'm also a firm believer in sticking up for the underdog and I do actually live in NYC, hence my support of the Giants in the playoffs.)

I met fans and fellow and aspiring Down and Dirty filmmakers from all over the world including, fellow writer, Neal Thompson, who was looking to make a film based on his new novel, Hurricane Season, about a football team in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.


All set up for the booksigning. - A True Sundance Digital Video Pimp in full pimp outfit feauturing 3/4 length fur coat and of course the Digital Pimps Guide to the Universe a.k.a. "The Shut Up and Shoot Documentary Guide"-->






Signing a book for some new fans from Spain. -->











My old friend, Christie Pesicka, of Film Trix fame stopped by as well. Christie is featured in the book along with my long-time colleague and fellow producer, Rebekah Sindoris, who both give excellent tips for networking and party-crashing at Sundance. Trust me these ladies know this festival inside and out. My experience this trip would not have been nearly as cool without their guidance and connections. Best Sundance parties ever! -->








Video from the Film Trix Archive:



After the book signing I headed across the street with Christie and wandered into a venue sponsored by the all-new and super-swanky Dakota Mountain Lodge.

There are so many small cool events and little perks all over Sundance if you know how to sniff them out between the flyers, listings, blogs, and trading rumors. I think we honestly just stumbled into this one...free drinks (non-alcoholic unfortunately), free fancy sandwiches and hourse-devres, and free massages from the Golden Door Spa at the Lodge.

So needless to say we hung out there for awhile feeding our faces and getting massages while some very nice reps touted the virtues of the Dakota Mountain Lodge, which definitely looked like a very cool place from the videos, but undoubtedly one that we can't afford until after our big Hollywood pay day- whenever that comes. In the meantime it was good to close our eyes and pretend we already got that big pay day as our attractive and skilled masseusse rubbed away our worries.

Next, we headed to the Sundance Filmmaker/Press reception where all the hot filmmakers were gathered for a big smooze-fest with the press including yours truly. Although I tried to shoot a few interviews, it was just too noisy with music blasting and a loud crowd, that I eventually gave up and gave in to the open bar and smoozing with the filmmakers myself.

Some woman who wasn't looking where she was walking bumped into me and treated her sweater to a healthy helping of my glass of red wine- then got pissed at me eventhough she bumped into me. She was a stereotypical self-absorbed wanna-be Hollywood producer-type.

No doubt I'll find myself across the table from her at some crucial studio meeting in the future. Apart from seeing the guy who fell off the roof, this was my only bad Sundance experience this trip, but I was kinda happy it took her down a peg. Actually, in hindsight it was more of a funny moment that reminded me of why I left Hollywood in the first place.- I ran into too many delusional narcissistic people with a warped sense of self-importance...and the traffic sucked.

Stay tuned for the final Part 3 in which I will regale you tales of my funny chance encounter with Woody Harrelson...

My Sundance Diary - Part 1

So, I returned to Park City, Utah for my third trip to the Sundance/Slamdance festivals. As always, it was a worthwhile pilgrimmage. I doubt that there's anyplace in the world with a greater mix of networking, parties, indie filmmakers, and movies all in one place at one time. It's like the Oscars for indies.

Even if you don't have a project to promote, I think it's well worth the trip for bonding with fellow indie filmmakers, inspirational success stories, and networking alone. It makes you realize that:

1. You aren't the only person crazy enough to make a go of it in this industry.
2. You can be recognized for your work.
3. Almost every filmmaker in the festivals overcame the same hardships that you face.

I went down primarily to promote "The Shut Up and Shoot Documentary Guide" and just to spend some time vibing with fellow filmmakers. Met and partied with some of my favorite people in the industry and connected and reconnected with a bunch of fellow Down and Dirty DV filmmakers from all over the world. Here's my Sundance Diary 2008...

Day 1 - Slamdance Opening Night Party w/ Dead Prez

Kicked off the festival with the Slamdance crew at the Star Bar on Main St. The Slamdance events are always fun and down-to-earth with an ample supply of genuine characters.

I may be a bit biased, because Shelter premiered there a few years ago, but Slamdance is always good times and good peeps to me. Hung out with old friends and met some cool new ones.



I had no clue that there was gonna be a performance, so imagine my surprise when I heard Dead Prez was gonna hit the stage. Activist emcees M-1 and stic.man of Dead Prez turned out the party for those that stuck around a little later.

They played some tracks from their latest album, RBG: Revolutionary But Gangsta. Partook of the open bar. Shook what my mama gave me. Partied with friends after the show. Things were off to a good start.






...and later that night a guy falls off a building

As I left the club, I saw some guy who had just fallen a good 40 feet - landing first on a slanted glass ceiling then down onto the concrete. He was bloody but still conscious, although motionless on the pavement on a 14 degree night... Talk about a buzz kill.

Depending on who you want to believe he was:

a) very drunk and fell off a balcony at a party
b) very drunk and trying to scale between two snow-covered buildings
c) a very dumb cat burglar who slipped off the roof of the mall in a botched burglary

I feel for the guy, but any which way you slice it, you can be sure that there was a significant lack of judgement involved in the incident. Snow, rooftops, alcohol and/or idiocy are always a bad combination kids. It was a good reminder to party responsibly (and at low altitudes).

Day 2 - Some Good Seminars


Attended a Sundance seminar on "How to Talk to the Big Guys When You're a Little Guy" which gave advice on programs at various companies that offer film, equipment and services grants to indie filmmakers. The panel consisted of Ric Halpern from Panavision, Lorette Bayle of Kodak, Steve-O of Deluxe Laboratories, David Hays of Efilm, and Allan Tudzin of Fotokem.

They didn't have a rep on this panel, but since this site is about digital filmmaking, I should also tell you that Panasonic and AbelCineTech also offer a Digital Filmmakers Grant consisting of an AJ-SDX-900 Camera (standard def/24P/DVCPRO50) and Editing Rental Package.

The gist that I got from the panel, apart from don't be a jerk to deal with, was that you should demonstrate that you are passionate about your project and equally important, you'll need to demonstrate a solid plan on paper which means, script, shooting schedule, budget, talent and crew attachments, as well as DVD's of previous work. (Funny, it's almost as if they want filmmakers that apply for these grants and programs to actually be prepared to make their movie!)

Sony brought out some of it's latest guerrilla- friendly HD cameras. The XDCam EX and the brand new soon to be released HVR-V1U which
I think it's Sony's first pro-sumer HDV camera with a detachable lens, so naturally the early production model on display was pimped out with a beautiful and no doubt pricey Zeiss Digiprime lens.






Went to "Creating a Low-Budget Film with High Production Value" seminar at the New Frontier . It was given by Norm Hollyn the editor of the new horror flick, "Jack in the Box" and a Post-Production professor at USC. (Check out Norm's Blog.)

Since I'm generally a production guy, it was nice to learn about some of the tools and recent advances in post-production. Norm schooled me to an AVID tool called ScriptSnyc that allows you to import your script into AVID, phonetically scrubs the audio and then it graphically matches your video clips up with the dialogue from your script by drawing lines down the script to represent the dialogue covered by that particular take. (No $#:+!)

Maybe ScriptSync is old hat to some of you, but it blew my mind. This feature allows you to graphically see how much coverage you have for a given scene and easily audition various takes side-by-side. I'm continuously amazed at the new digital tools that are making our lives easier.

Norm also went on to demostrate how simple it is to color-correct footage using MacBeth color charts recorded on location and how they used the recently released Magic Bullet Looks program to customize the look of the "Jack-in-the-Box".






Narrowly dodged a row of PETA protesters hatin' on my endangered Great Grizzly bear fur coat. (Just kidding, my coat is faux Great Grizzly fur.)







Swung through Black House one of several filmmaker lounges up and down Main Street. They were running a trailer of the new documentary, Len Bias, about the tragic story of a would-be basketball great that could've rivaled Michael Jordan.

Also saw some beautiful portraits from the new documentary, The Black List. Producer/Photographer Timothy Greenfield-Sanders and film critic, Elvis Mitchell, teamed up to do a series of interviews with some of the most influential Black figures in America on Black culture. It was recently picked up by HBO Films, so stay tuned.

"THE BLACK LIST" TRAILER:







Kicked it at the Slamdance Happy Hour where my man Howie was serving up drinks (left). Met a cool cast of filmmakers including Jack Truman, who was there with his new film, Outhouse. Jack's previous Slamdance film was the provacatively-titled Phone Sex Grandma.






Also chatted it up with Tucker Dryden who wrote the equally catchy title, "There's a Werewolf in My Attic" directed by Sam Thompson.










Met and kicked it with fellow NYC filmmaker, Benedict Hadley, who was there with hip-hop artist, Analyze, star of Benedict's new feature, The End is the Beginning. I've got a feeling you'll be hearing both their names again.

It always bugs me out how this industry really is very small. In just a few minutes of talking with someone who was up until that moment a total stranger, we discover that we have at least three people in the industry that we both know and/or have worked with.

If there are six degrees of separation between any two ordinary people, I really believe that there are only 2-3 degrees of separation between any two people who've been in indie film game for a minute. Met more good people. Had more good times.

Here's the trailer for Benedict's new feature, "The End is the Beginning":




Peep the music video Benedict directed for Analyze:



Went back to the condo early and crashed out despite a tempting invitation to a 50 Cent Concert after party...that started at 2am. After 2 days of humping up and down mainstreet with a bag full of books and camera gear in cold-ass 14-25 degree temperatures I was already exhausted. (With a few previous Slamdance/Sundance's under my belt, I learned to pace myself.) I was just recharging for the next day's adventure...

Book Signing Sunday Jan. 20th at Sundance!

If you want a copy of "The Shut Up an Shoot Documentary Guide" and you're down in Park City for the Sundance/Slamdance festivals, come check me out at Dolly's bookstore and get an autographed copy and let me see what you look like.

Dolly's Book Store
1:00pm Sunday January 20th

510 Main St
Park City, UT 84060
Phone: (435) 649-8062

Free Seminar Weds. Jan 9 at B&H Superstore

The book tour ramps up with our next stop at B&H Superstore here in New York City. If you're a filmmaker and you've never been to this store before, you're in for a real treat. It truly is a "superstore" for filmmakers. Basically, it's our Toys R Us.

Almost any piece of equipment you may need or want to see in person is in stock and on their shelves and most recently, they've begun offering regular seminars in their brand new event space.

I'll be there Weds. January 9th from 5-6pm delivering a seminar on the philosophy, principles, and practices of Down and Dirty broke-as-ajoke by any means necessary guerrilla filmmaking. Come out and holla at your boy and see for yourself what all the hype's about. Booksigning to follow.

Event Info

Directions

Ant on Movie Geeks United Podcast

In case you missed it, last weekend I was interviewed by Jamie and Jerry at Movie Geeks United, a huge filmmakers podcast.

We touched on some of the principles of making guerrilla documentaries and I publicly confessed my preface for more tittilating movie fare over the artsier stuff. (Which I'm sure surprises everyone with a name like Down and Dirty DV!)

It was a good interview and I got to elaborate on some of the material in my new book. The link is below for your listening pleasure.

Anthony's Movie Geeks United Interview 12/3

PREMIUM Trailer (Director's Cut)

"Premium" Trailer

"Premium" Now on Cable

Don't miss the cable premiere of "Premium" a film by my fellow Down and Dirty filmmaker, Pete Chatmon. Many of you may recognize Pete's name from an interview that I did with him for StudentFilmmaker magazine last year on "Fundraising for Your First Feature". Pete offered some candid advice and shared his gameplan to raise the full budget for his first feature film, "Premium" as he was just midway in the process.

Not only did this first-time feature director overcome the obstacles to actually raise the cash to get his film shot and edited, he ultimately made a great debut feature with strong performances by an ensemble cast (Dorian Missick, Zoe Saldana, Hill Harper...) that's been critically acclaimed by Variety (read review) and others. If you can't catch the Showtime channel premiere in the coming week, I recommend you cop a copy or put it on your Netflix cue.

Look for a video podcast in the next week or two featuring highlights of my interview with Pete and his candid advice on how you too can raise the money to make it happen.



"Premium" on Showtime Channel
- Monday, December 3rd, 11:25am
- Sunday, December 9th, 1:15pm
- Saturday, December 15th, 6:15pm
- Monday, December 24th, 1:45am (while you wrap those Christmas presents...)
- Friday, December 28th, 4:30pm


(*check your locxal listings for additional screenings.)