Garage Film Making

Okay, all five of you who have found this site and are following along should note that we’ve made some changes. We also started up a forum where you can discuss inexpensive ways to make a film on your own. This is referred to as Garage Film Making. It’s all the rave, I swear.

College Film Competition

I also attended the College Film Competition while I was there, a friend-of-a-friend had entered a movie (that’s right, I know a guy that knows a guy that got a film shown at a festival, damn I’m cool). They were all OK, but only a couple stood out.

One was an interesting movie about 3 minutes long, it was essentially a music video. It was one long shot panning through a model of a small town (think model train town), in the town there are people (blue screened) doing various things. The interesting part is that all the actors are under water, which gave it a very eerie feel. This is what a college film should be, experimental and interesting to watch.

The other that stood out was about 3 guys in their basement playing the board game Risk. Now, this type of movie is not very original, but I give these guys a lot of credit for getting costumes, and making the set interesting. The script was funny, and it was definitely the audience favorite. An great example of how you can make a vary good no/very low budget movie.

Made in Michigan (a seminar)

Here goes, the Made in Michigan seminar was very good. It’s nice to realize that there are real film makers in Michigan, they are talented, make great movies, and don’t have any desire to go west.

One of the most important points made during the 2 hour session, is that when you ask people for a favor to make your movie, finish the movie and give them a screening. Don’t wreck it for the next guy! Many of them have had both good and bad experiences, due to the previous film maker.

While we at Roxor don’t focus on raising money (we don’t need it, damn it) it is a reality of the business, a lot of time was spent talking about money and how to get other people to pay for your movie. The general consensus, sell your soul, no really, sell your soul. There’s no getting around the fact that, for anyone serious about the business, this is by far the most painful part. That’s why we don’t do it 🙂

I think many people overlook the seminars at film festivals. Even if you’re not a movie maker, there are always funny and interesting stories. If you’ve never been to one, I encourage you to give it a shot.

Holiday Snaps

Hey! I got some pictures of Friday posted. Still working on my rewiews of the College Film Competition and the Made im Michigan seminar.