It’s not often that you hear a director ask an actor, “Can we get a few grunts from you? Can you just get that grunting? Okay, now how about some heavy breathing? And where’s Zombie Number Two? We need you!” So begins a hectic day of filming a five-minute thriller for the Sci-Fi-London 48-hour Film Challenge.  

Director Vicki Psarias , who won last year’s 4Talent Best Filmmaker award, is asking actor Chris Rogers – playing “a strange man” – to re-record some sound. The planes flying overhead, the dismal weather and the lack of a sound monitor have made things a little more difficult than usual. The team only have a few more hours to shoot out in the forest by Barnes station in south-west London, as the next day will be devoted to editing.

Submitted article from Zenia Mai Enriquez:

Can you outsource video post-production work?  Can outsourcing efficiently provide the cost advantage benefit without sacrificing quality?   

Al Gore’s climate change documentary, An Inconvenient Truth opened up people’s eyes to the devastating potential effects of climate change around the world. There has finally been an increase in the film world of the sometimes controversial carbon offsetting, whereby carbon used in a film's creation is offset through environmental projects such as tree planting or energy saving in the developing world. Film such as No Country for Old Men, The Day After Tomorrow and Syriana have all been carbon neutral, with an increase in the past two years in lower budget independent films also taking this path. Carbon offsetting may seem like a luxury for a low budget shoot, yet costs no more than 1% of the budget and often less.

Ali Selim’s Sweet Land , for instance, cost $1m to make and a further $5,000 for London based Carbon Neutral Company to calculate and report on the 8,000 tonnes of carbon used in the process. Offsetting this by investing in a reforestation project in Germany and windmills and compact fluorescent lighting in Jamaica cost another US$10,000.

The filmmakers were given incentives to minimise environmental costs during the production – ‘shooting out’ each location, by filming all the scenes there before moving on. Actors used an on-set carpool, while sunlight was used as a light source wherever possible.

There are lots of services online to try and help you estimate your costs for small things, such as flights to Film Festivals - which will cost less than you think. A return flight from London to India (as I've just found out for personal reasons), for instance, costs around £13, a trip to Cannes would be much less. Of course the best option is to take a train, or not go altogether, but at least with an offset there is some positive impact.

This Carbon Calculator can tell your CO2 for flights and offers a choice of options. Two directory sites provide links and details of carbon offsetting providers - Carbon Catalog and the Emisions Offset DIrectory .

In Europe last year there was €1.5bn in public funding for film & video projects - and its often the same people getting their hands on this cash.

Information on media finance in 45 countries published here (after UK Film Council said no*) 

Finding info out about film finance has long been reserved to the old boys networks, a fact which has motivated Netribution since our birth in 1999. We've long tried to publish the biggest collection of film funding contacts we can find, as cheaply as possible, or ideally, for free.

The result of a ridiculous amount of geekery, here are links to some 400 film organisations, funds and screen commissions in 45 countries, with over 1000 funds in total. It's perhaps the biggest collection of links to film funds ever published online, and it's down to the painstaking work of a bunch of people, including Catherine Allen, who I worked with on this edition, and Cyndee Barlass, Rachel Bibb, Caroline Hancock and Stephen Salter in previous versions.

Obviously this is free, and if we can, we'll put far more info about each fund online, perhaps with a search function and a way for you to add comments (or horror stories!). But if you want to support our aim to make all the info about film financing as open and freely available as possible, you could buy a copy of the book - How To Fund Your Film, which has full info on all of these funds. And of course let us know if there's anything missing...

The inevitable disclaimer now - please don't base any plans on this info - stuff changes all the time, please check with the organisation concerned first. Also, if you want to reproduce this list or parts of it elsewhere, please credit Netribution and the book. Thanks.

.

Australia | Austria | Bali | Belgium | Brazil  | Bulgaria | Canada | Croatia | Czech Republic | Denmark | Estonia | Pan-European  | Fiji | Finland  | France | Germany | Greece | Hawaii | Hong Kong | Hungary | Iceland | Ireland | Italy | Jamaica | Latvia  | Lithuania | Luxembourg | Macedonia | Malta | Mexico | Netherlands | New Zealand | Norway | Poland | Portugal | Puerto Rico  | Romania | Singapore | Slovakia | South Africa | Spain | Sweden | Switzerland | Tenerife  | Trinidad and Tobago | UK (Screen Agencies - Private Funds -  Other sources) | USA (General - State and County screen commissions ) 

This is a clip note - select stickynote from the styles menu

This is a download link. Select download from the styles menu

01.Use <p class="blocknumber"><span class="bignumber">01.</span>Your content goes here!</p> to form a block number!

02.Use <p class="blocknumber"><span class="bignumber">02.</span>Your content goes here!</p> to form a block number!

03.Use <p class="blocknumber"><span class="bignumber">01.</span>Your content goes here!</p> to form a block number!

Your error message goes here! Use error from the styles menu.

Your info message goes here! Use message from the styles menu.

Your tips goes here! Use tips from the styles menu.

Before editing software was developed and even before there were any edit suite controllers, video tape was edited by manually slicing it by people using very sharp razor blades.

This was a process known as Kamikaze editing. Early editors also used a microscope, a cutting block, magnetic developing fluid and degauzed (demagnetised) razor blades. For a clean edit, the tape had to be sliced at the video vertical interval between frames. This was found by painting the surface with a special developing fluid, which Ampex called Edivue. This dyed the tape, exposing the magnetic scan lines to the the naked eye.

Aimed at first time visitors, Shizana Arshad and Laura Horowitz at 6 Degrees Film have put together a Cannes Guide containing information on the festival itself, how to submit your film and obtain accreditation along with useful numbers and info...

What do you need to know about attending the Cannes Film Festival? What should you expect? Who gets accreditation? Find out the answers to all of this and more in our Essential Guide to the Cannes Film Festival. 6 Degrees Film will also keep you updated with all the latest information as the jury members get picked and films are selected for competition so check their website regularly: www.6degreesfilm.com

Here's what this guide gives you:

• Intro
• Jury
• Films
• Submitting a film
• The Film Market
• Short Film Corner
• Attending the festival
• Accreditation
• Flights
• Accommodation - 4% discount to 6 Degrees Film Readers
• Getting Around
• FAQ's
• Useful Information and numbers - including 10% discount on Cannes: A Festival Virgin's Guide book

At a time when international cinema and DVD revenues are declining and TV audiences are dwindling, why would a young company spend time signing up distribution rights for all sorts of independent content from all over the world? The answer might elude, confuse or scare many of the traditional media giants, but this is exactly what Wysiwyg Films is doing - and why? Because they looked to the future of content distribution three years ago and saw the internet as the inevitable way forward. For all media. Everywhere.

Screenwriter and script reader Danny Stack has written up 11 commandments for script readers on his blog. Even if you don't get paid to read, it provides quite an insight into the life of those who write those painful rejection letters. Eg:

7. All Scripts are the Same, but Some are more Samey than Others A lot of scripts follow the generalised style of screenwriting and so-called rules of the game. This can make them feel very ordinary and mediocre, despite one or two promising ideas or glimpses of talent from the writer. However, the never-ending pile of samey scripts will diminish your optimism about ever reading a good script again. Try to remain patient and positive. Good scripts, and good writers, are out there. They’re just hard to see in the crowd.

Tom Swanston Reports from  the NORDIC CO-PRODUCTION FORUM

Haugesund, Norway  21-23 August 2006

This year the beautiful coastal town of Haugesund, Norway was host to the first ever Nordic Co-Production Forum, held from 21^st to 23^rd August. The town is situated on a long sea inlet in the South West of the country, a 45-minute flight from Oslo.

21 Minute Film School

Have you ever had a desire to make a movie? If so, set 21 minutes of your hectic life aside and read on!

Writer Simon Rose on Getting His Story to the Big Screen

I can't be the only writer who, after sitting through umpteen appalling movies, has thought, "Surely I can do better." By 1994, I was itching to write a screenplay, but a subject eluded me.  Then I heard about Graeme Obree. This down-at-heel Scot built a revolutionary bicycle from scrap and washing- machine parts and became world champion, only to be banned by the cycling authorities. Instead of giving up, the amazingly determined Obree redesigned his bike and had another go.

I've worked as an actor on a number of film sets and with a wide range of directors and filmmakers.  It's an exciting place to be and when you hit the scene right, there's no better feeling in the world; despite shooting out of chronological order and out of emotional continuity.  Each day, each scene, each take, brings its own challenges for the actor - and when you're tackling these challenges with a good team of people who are all heading for the same goal it's a very rewarding experience.

Uncover Favourite UK Film and TV Locations

When I lived in Oxford a decade or three ago, it would have amazed me to imagine that my modest street in the working-class neighbourhood of Jericho would one day witness scores of escorted tour parties earnestly retracing the murder investigations of Inspector Morse. But at last this sign of the times has gained a name. Set-jetting is defined as a passion to visit places you read about in books or see portrayed in films and television. Estimates vary on how widespread the fad is, but it's a fair guess that well over a quarter of us are influenced to some extent in our choice of holiday destinations by novels or screen presentations.

It's 3 AM in central London - dark and quiet except for the odd car and the hum of generators huddled round the outside of Westminster Cathedral. But here, inside, light is flooding in through the windows as though it was midday. And in the minds of the 150 or so people here it is midday and this isn't London, it's the Escorial Palace in Spain in the year 1588. King Philip II of Spain, the most powerful man in the world, is about to tell his ministers that he now has the right to invade England - the Spanish Armada is about to be launched.

Jon Williams and his creative team spent in excess of two years crafting their underground comedy Diary of a Bad Lad and a further year taking it through post, producing a film that many film luminaries have acknowledged to be fresh, original and different.

After getting endorsement for their product from people like Chris Bernard, Alex Cox and Nik Powell, you would think that getting it "out there" might not be too difficult. Think again. Jon Williams certainly did and when Netribution asked him, wrote this account of driving his film to market.

Jon's article makes it clear how just a few people hold a pernicious grip on UK film distribution and what an impenetrable cartel it has become. Diary of A Bad Lad is being distributed by WYSIWYG Films and is finally being released this autumn on the Digital Screen Network. 

"Memes don't exist, tell your friends" spouted the t-shirt of Hugh Hancock when I first met him at a Dundee hotel loby for a Scottish Screen new talent event. Hugh, for those who haven't read James' Wideshot interview with him, is one of the pioneers of the Machinima movement and through his Strange Company (whose t-shirt he was sporting) has made 16 Machinima films. If you're new to the technique, Machinima uses video game engines to allow people to quickly shoot 3D animated films - on the fly and live - so to speak. A nice example is Hard Light Film's Deviation about an existentially challenged video game character.

Hugh is currently exec-producing BloodSpell, and has written an in-depth guide to the making of the film from development through to animatic, voice recording, editing, sound and screen. 

How Do I Sell My Film Part 2 - Delivery Format

Netribution and film distributors WYSIWYG have joined forces to present on-line WYSIWYG's Filmmaker's Toolkit....

Okay. So you now know who will watch your film. Well, that means you can also estimate how many people you have as potential audience. That gives you an idea of how much money you can spend. It also tells you... but wait, how many people will watch your film? That depends on how you offer it to them. Let's look a little closer at delivery format.

How Do I Sell My Film Part One - DEMOGRAPHICS

Netribution and film distributors WYSIWYG have joined forces to present on-line WYSIWYG's essential Guide to Film Distribution.

We're both interested in building a strong industry for independent filmmakers. This means creating films that people want to see and buy. It does not mean sacrificing creative integrity, but it means business. To do the business with independent film.... Read On

   In Britain we like our television scriptwriters to be lovably eccentric - think the anarchic Paul Abbott, the flamboyant Russell T Davies or the wonderfully indiscreet Andrew Davies.

In the US, TV dramatists are a more serious breed altogether.