Ever wonder which career opportunities you could pursue with a film and video production degree? Finding a job with great benefits and ideal growth opportunities is important to most people who get a degree in Film & Video Production. Here are five of the top career choices for film and video production professionals.

1. Motion Picture Camera Operator - This career choice could be perfect for you if you enjoy capturing images that tell a story. A motion picture camera operator will often film movies, but also could work on television shows and commercials. This dynamic career is ideal for detail-oriented people who strive to achieve at an above-average level. A motion picture camera operator could pursue employment opportunities in production companies.

From LazyFilm:

There are only two things that can make any motion graphic artist flinch and that's rotoscoping and chroma keying. Why? Mainly because both processes are time consuming and arm numbing. However despite all these, rotoscoping and chroma keying still remains to be very important in the industry we move in. Which is why, lately, software companies are launching new products that aim to lessen the pain in rotoscoping.

Here we will talk about the Top 5 best rotoscoping softwares currently available that deliver accurate and fast mattes.

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?   

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!