ASK & DISCUSS

I am looking for a new laptop.

Almost certainly the one you feel most familiar and comfortable with, as long as it has a copy of Microsoft Office. My preference is for a great big heavy laptop but which has a …

Have googled but can't seem to find a good one. Thanks, Louise.

Thanks all, broadcaster is sorting the map. But advice all useful for the future. Thanks for the Dad's Army clip. Now that is a good use of a map!

Hi everyone.

After months of searching I think I've found a location that could work for our film.

The problem is that the film is set in the 80's and I'm concerned that even …

Yes it would end up like Chinese whispers, a copy of a copy.

It's not too much of a problem finding photos from albums that my parents own. The main issue is getting items that …

Hi there,

Have a short film up for film of the month (link below) and have had a few good and not so good responses so far, one of the issues surrounding the short is its subject…

I killed a child...in a film. It was made for one of those 48hr things and I was very surprised by the reaction it received. It wasn't done for shock value, that honestly never oc…

Anyone have particularly good techinques for record keeping in departments in the film industry as I tend to work in the camera department on most shoots but work in the script de…

Hi John,
the simple answer is discipline. I hate it, but you have to do it. On the computer you need to use lots of folders and folders within folders, but a lot of it you'll need…

Hi Shooters,

I'm shooting a scene in which someone has to do a drinking challenge (similar to the ones in "I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here") and drink a disgusting brown liqui…

I use supergreens powder, a bit of a fruit smoothie and a teaspoon of virgin coconut oil with water. I actually drink this most mornings! Tastes OK, looks rank, and is super healt…

Worried whether your script should have 3 acts, 5 acts, 22 steps...? Don't. Take a step back and ask what elements a story really needs. Here's what I think:


http://cuttingroomt…

Checkout the commentary track on Reservoir Dogs ... Tarantino talks about the accusation that he use flashback in his scripts or non-linear storytelling... he just says the screen…

This year's BFI Stat Yearbook is out. Full of interesting, nail-biting stats of our fair nations cinema habits, and, what kinds of films are getting made, by whom?

http://bit.ly/…

Hmmmm... so, independent British filmmaking takes only a 9% market share and more than half of the films shot in the UK are done so on budgets of less than £500,000?

At first gla…

I’m making a documentary and want to put still images of famous people in it at the points they are mentioned. For instance I might be talking about Daniel Day Lewis and then show…

There really needs to be a dedicated SP FAQ for intellectual property questions! Anyway,what you need to find out is what rights the copyright holder/s claim. If they haven't exp…

Please, could anybody recommend any good music archives? Thanks.

Yes royalty free is an option...another way would be to give a music producer a piece of music that you would like to use and have them create something similar that you can agree…

I've been watching some Shootingpeople shorts today, and a theme has developed, and it's not good. I spent most of my career "saving" movies. Basically working uncredited directin…

Guys just to update you: we're now live with asking shooters to review 3 films when they login. It's make a big difference - and the reviews coming in are really wonderful and sup…

Hi we are shooting an ads with a french crew, and we are looking to rent a body cam like this one https://vimeo.com/30812046 anyone know where can we hire it?? Many thanks

Many thanks.

Guidelines say two or three days.

How long is it really?

8 days.

Is it a good idea to streamline one's workflow and remove the legal and production issues in that sense while you focus on current work. just interested as still await footage fro…

Sure agents won't do that "for free" but they will do it as part of what they do for you if they rep you. And if they want to rep you are not depends on all the usual stuff, like…

Hi Editors!

Just a quick one.

I was wondering what the average rate is to just edit a wedding video? Around 140Gb of footage (shot with 3 cameras) condensed down to a 1-1.5 hou…

PS people only get married once/infrequently so there is no repeat business!

I've just completed my second draft on writing my feature film. Just wondering if there is any other ways of improving the script making it the best it can be!

Hi Jamie

Excellent question. Of course it depends what you mean by "second draft" - I generally write at least seven drafts for myself before I consider calling a draft "first …

Hi there,
I've just arrived in London and have a possible doccie job coming in.
I expect a high volume of footage to cut a 30min film which will take a minimum of 14 days - dates …

Thanks Greg!
I've dropped him a line.
A

Just wandering about script quality currently producing two high quality shorts for 7 weeks each approx but wondered about quality scripts for more cinematography work as they see…

Hi folks. I've recently written a script for a short (circa 15 mins) that I intend to film on DSLR and other commodity cameras. I figured that it could only be a good thing if I g…

Option one : paid £150 for 12 hours, spent mostly waiting, and get shown 'out of focus' in the background
Option two : paid DVD and a hd download. No pay but continuously acting f…

London based. This is for a web series sketch type of thing, done for the love of it only Two actors, three crew, no lights, nothin'. Run and gun. Not disruptive!

The idea is to …

Hi, thanks for your help so far guys. I'm looking for a relatively bare one (i.e. no garden, not too much attention paid to it for human use) that would imply the roof of a corpor…

Hi,

The British Council have pleasantly awarded a grant for me to go to this festival in order to support my film, but with the additional expenses always incurred (and time take…

Hi Ash,

Great! Congrats!
When are you going? I am from Sao Paulo, never been to the festival but if you need any help with location , finding a place to stay, or anything like th…

what would be a good starting rate for 8hrs / 10hrs working days 80 -£ 100 / 100-120? + expenses good idea to sign contract with these conditions within? based in Sussex I might c…

As a runner? Qualified gaffer? Grip? Soundie? Producer? Employed, self-employed, as a contracting limited company?

Someone might make you an offer for a role, you take it or lea…

The scene is a comedy- it sees a flustered accountant attempt to get a detailed expense report from a young creative who has spent the office petty cash on cocaine for clients. It…

Try any of the Regus or other serviced office meeting rooms - they're extremely generic and corporate, just dress it with some room dressing

I'm writing a horror anthology series aiming to have six half hour episodes I already have the stories in place and some episodes finished and am currently working on developing s…

That's the difference between US and UK commercial half hours which, the last time we had to cut one, was 26 minutes. I've noticed that some of the low budget satellite channels i…

Film everything that moves. Don't think about how or why, but never cut - it may trigger brain activity.

Produce nothing. Who needs a story? Relentless coverage of unstructured,…

Ha...nice one but those tips would probably improve most reality shows.