Category: Options

Movie Process

When this “Movie Process” site was created, the goal was to document movie process ideas that we had regarding alternative methods of making feature films and television programing. There was a fascination with processes and workflows and the impact they could have on how much time was spent as well as how many people were necessary behind the scenes.

A Key to Making a Movie is Having a Good Name for it As Well as Domain Name for Your Film’s Website

It has been getting tougher and more difficult to find domain names that are eight letters or less and no more than three words. This is due lately in a surge of domains being purchased in mass end then reselling them as “Premium” for hundreds or even thousands of dollars.

Thank Goodness for Domain Name Generators

That is why you must have a search strategy to find a domain that integrates the words trending and is short. This can be frustrating. Thankfully, there are some domain registrars who provide you with a “Domain Name Generator” which you search, and purchase sites have a mode where you can put in a keyword or two and see what is available.

Watch Out for “Premium Domains”

Be careful when using sites because it has been known to happen where you end up with a site where they tell you a domain name is available, only to find out it is yet another pathway to being asked to purchase a premium domain. A premium domain is simply a domain that a broker purchased and is sitting, knowing that there is someone out there for who this domain name is a perfect match for what they are doing. Even so much so to pay thousands of dollars for it.

From feedback regarding last week’s email, it seems as though there was a misunderstanding.

If in Fact I Have a Sense of Humor, it is Very Dry

Sometimes what I see as an attempt at being satirical, is taken literally. I do not do “Ironic” very well. Last week’s email message was my poor attempt at being tongue-in-cheek. It was intended to come across like a bad script that is trying too hard until it become so so pseudo intellectual that is comical. Much like what I am writing right now.

Some of you thought it was real life, an incident that happened to me in Southern California. It was not. It. It was pure fiction, and poor fiction at that. Sorry for any misunderstanding.

Short Term Role

I am old enough to have made Super 8 films when I was a kid. My intention at 18 was to pursue what I had been doing since age 8, be a magician. I already had a nice side business doing birthday parties, fundraisers and even public performances in theaters and in some cases, magic with a storyline from start to finish. It was my passion, but then those Super 8 films changed everything. I had submitted them on video to an educator who was from a well-known arts family. Suddenly I was being asked to move to the city of angels, which I did, setting my magic wand and collapsible top hat to the side.

And finally, the Theme of of “Living Life as though in a Movie is Introduced!

I mention the just written series of details because it, for me, was a significant moment when I went from something I was genuinely good at (magic) and began to live a part that I had never intended to play which is that of a wanna be filmmaker with very little actual filmmaking talent but was in complete denial of this fact. And tragically, I portrayed this filmmaker character for literally decades. Even after moving to my beloved home since 1988, New York City, did even the reality-inducing Big Apple wake me up to the fact I had been cast in the movie known as my life with a possible tragic ending.

Saved by a Reflection I Never Saw Coming

And it wasn’t until, I was fast becoming and old man that I finally looked in the mirror and knew the sad truth. Ironic, because mirrors are great friends to magicians because they rehearse their tricks for hundreds and hundreds of hours. But no longer pursuing a career as a conjurer, myself and “looking glasses” never got together much. Why then, now, finally taking in “reality?” A much better part came about. A role I never saw coming but when I took it, turned out to be the most rewarding and an important experience for me in my life. One through which I finally found something far more important outside of myself. I became a parent. The most meaningful and important role that I have ever had. And of course, I am not unique with this. Many are having the same kind of experience.

How about You? Are You Living Out a Part?

Are you on the celluloid screen of your own making? If your life was a movie, how would it end? Tragic? Ambiguous? Happy? 

P.S. And by the way, this was not intended as a dry satire, although it may seem to be.It was “real life” if such a thing exists.

Is Making a Video Promo for You?

For all you filmmakers out there who are feeling the pinch of losing the “indie” pathway (did it ever really exist?!) and are now, in this pandemic era, looking for a way to put your movie process skills to work, if you have not already, you might consider this. To help pay the bills, a possibility to consider is making promo videos. No, this is not “selling out.” It is a method for putting food on your table. And now more than ever that is important.

Pros and Cons

The fact is that there has been an explosion of interest in using video of a way to sell products and services. This interest in using video to promote things has both a good and bad side to it. The good side is that there are an ever-growing number of technologies available, that make it increasingly easier to help you create videos. The bad side is that there are an ever-growing number of technologies available, that make it increasingly easier to help you create videos. YES, you read that correctly, both the good and bad sides of the emergence of technologies share identical reasons!

Things to Think about when making the Choice of Whether or Not to Make Videos

With it being easier than ever to make videos, should you still use video as a means of earning an income? In other words, the creation process being easier makes it easier for your potential clients to make their own videos! This fact could make you think twice about offering the service of making videos for people. In other words, if everyone can easily make videos now themselves, why would someone hire you to make videos for them?

An Upbeat Insight and then Another Issue

Why would someone enlist your assistance with media development if they, themselves, could quite simply do it themselves? As my 12-year-old daughter, who is wise beyond her years, says, you cannot do everything. She suggests that people exist out there who have no interest making their own videos and would much rather prefer to hire someone like you to make them for them But then another issue arises which is that since video technology is so accessible to anyone, you are going to have lots of competition from folks who want to get paid to make promotional ideas just like you do!

Is there a Solution to Getting Hired to Make Videos Despite the Competition?

Yes, there is a way to be able to get hired, despite the competition that is out there. The solution to this problem is to specialize in making videos for a VERY SPECIALIZED niche/industry. Become THE person to hire to have videos made in this niche. If you choose the right niche this could make your videomaking skills to become in high demand!