DIY Filmmaking Sucks

New indie distribution secrets for activating the audience

I just returned from another exhausting, exciting trip to Sundance and wanted to share with you the DIY indie film distribution and marketing tricks I learned.

Things are seriously popping on this topic, so a warning: this is a long post. Get a cup of soy hot chocolate and a danish and get comfy.

I attended four different indie distribution panels/clinics/summits/confabs, in addition to talking with dozens of individual filmmakers one-on-one. Here are the three key themes I heard time and time again about distribution and marketing low budget DIY indie films:

1) Making a film is not enough. You need to become a marketing and distribution guru too.

2) And you need to be innovative and creative about how you do it. Be unconventional while reaching your audience in a way that's both unique and true to the specific audience.

3) The single best way to ensure you'll recoup your production (and distribution) costs is to keep costs low. Very low. We're talking six figures and way under. The vast majority of $250,000 - $5M movies without stars are DOA from a business perspective, particularly if they are not genre films.

So now, low and behold, us DIY filmmakers are the ones making the microbudget films that have a chance of turning a profit, because we're such damn cheapstakes. Aren't we lucky.

Longtime readers know that I've been crowing on for years about how you shouldn't expect anyone to distribute your film for you -- that DIY filmmakers need to be prepared to distribute their films themselves.

This is now conventional wisdom.

That's why we're planning to self-distribute our sci-fi feature, In-World War (currently starting post-production) -- and why we've been blogging (and now tweeting) about the film literally years in advance of the release of the film.

But this year's Sundance made it clear that the bulk of indie filmmakers get it at last and are turning their prodigious creative talents to the problem of distribution. Out of this cauldron of desperation and resulting "no rules" marketing innovation, whole new paradigms and channels for indie film distribution are being pioneered.

It's an exciting time (unless you want to make a bunch of money on your film, in which case, you're still screwed).

If you want to make indie DIY films, you should be paying attention.

I took a bunch of notes of the ideas and suggestions that resonated best for me. These comprised only about 1% of the topics and strategies that were discussed, proving once again that if you consider yourself an indie filmmaker, you should be at Sundance to experience the whole fire hose of indie guts and glory -- and to learn from the others who face the same challenges.

Why recreate the wheel when you can just go shopping at the tire store?

Since you couldn't make it, here are my notes. Steal these ideas for your film's distribution. Seriously.

[BTW, Sundance is notoriously expensive, but you need to go anyway if you consider yourself an indie DIY filmmaker. To find out my tips for going to Sundance on the cheap, check out my post from last year: Secrets of Sundance.]

The must-get book.
Everyone was talking about it. Even when the author wasn't in the room. Buy it now:
Thinking Outside the Box Office: The Ultimate Guide to Distribution and Marketing for the Digital Era
By Jon Reiss

VOD is where the action is at, increasingly.
In two of the key distribution events I attended, VOD (video-on-demand) was a hot topic for indie distribution. It's increasingly seen as a strong revenue source, if (and this is a big if) you can get your film on VOD systems of the big MSOs (cable operators like Comcast, Time-Warner, etc.). Some quick stats and notes from the VOD world:

• You won't be selling your film directly to Comcast, but instead will go through an aggregator like Gravitas.
• Because of this, expect to get about 35% (at most) of the consumer price back to the filmmaker.
• Over the 18 months of Magnolia's day-and-date VOD strategy (where films are released on VOD on the same "day and date" as they are in theaters), $100,000 is a solid performance though it can be lower or higher, depending on the film. But that's gross, so with the (estimated) 35% cut going to the filmmaker, we're looking more at $35,000 net to the filmmaker if you get on nationwide cable VOD and don't screw up too badly.
• Yeah, that still kinda sucks. Let's hope you didn't pay too much to make the film in the first place. Har har.
• Also, look into Distribber. They are doing some interesting things and seems like a simple way to get on iTunes and soon other sites. And they give you 100% of the royalty (!!!).

DVD is still king.
No doubt, but DVD is dying. But it still accounts for 80% of the "home video" revenues. VOD is now starting to emerge as a factor with 20% of the revenue, but still has a long way to go before it eclipses DVD. Unless you're willing to ignore 80% of your potential revenue, you should plan to release a DVD. There's a lot to be said about DVDs, but it's the last time I'll mention it directly in this post. DVD is so not sexy for us forward-thinking indie maverick rebels. It barely got a mention.

Genre films play well on VOD.
Turns out, when the film has no stars, the audience gravitates toward genre. So, horror does well. As does sci-fi. Am I happy? You betcha.

Getting "merchandised" is the key to VOD success.
"Merchandising" is the term for promoting and highlighting a film (or any product) within the store that sells it. So while it might be great getting your film on iTunes, it's INSANELY GREAT to get it listed as a Recommended Staff Pick. Think of all the people who will be exposed to your film if it's featured in some way like that. That's the difference that merchandising can make. So ask your VOD/digital aggregator and any sites you approach directly: how do we get merchandised to go big? (Same is true for DVD -- whoops, mentioned it again accidentally.)

YouTube is now offering paid VOD for feature films online.
A week ago, YouTube started with a small fistful of recent Sundance films, but are seeking more indie filmmakers to join up for the paid VOD trial. This could be huge and we will soon see some film recoup 100% of their production costs (and then some) from YouTube. Watch for the story of the breakout hit that banks it on YouTube alone.

YouTube vs. cable VOD vs. theatrical.
The cable VOD people don't like you to distribute your film first or at the same time as you're on their VOD system. Yet, it makes sense to offer the film a variety of ways at the same time, since you can better maximize your marketing and publicity window. The best idea comes from Peter Broderick: better to ask for forgiveness than ask for permission. Just do it, don't tell them and kiss up when (if) they find out. Odds are, you're just another piece on the assembly line to them anyway and no one will notice.  A smart plan might find the film available in a DIY-day-and-date manner: in theater(s), on cable VOD, on iTunes, available for DVD purchase on your website and on YouTube for paid VOD. Plus you'll offer the DVDs and tie-in products for sale at the theater too, after the Q&A. Milk it baby.

Doing your own theatrical.
Self-distributing your film in theaters is not for the faint of heart. I should know since we did it with our previous feature, Quality of Life. However, this is one of the areas where there's a lot of great innovation and creative thinking going on by indie/DIY filmmakers. Basically, the overriding rule here is to be nontraditional. Do NOT simply book a theater and buy ads. Go off the rails.

Do a live event with each screening.
Find a way to wrap in a cool live event with each screening. It could be a party at a bar (co-sponsored by a local organization that ties into the theme of your film). It could be a concert (if your film has a music hook). It could be an art show (if your film has some art component you can exploit). It is more logistics, but if you partner with someone who is trying to reach the same audience and also wants to travel to all these places (i.e. a band on tour), you're golden. Richard Abramowitz said he's starting a distribution company focused on films with strong event tie-ins especially around music, so talk to him if you think this could work for you.

If your film's a comedy, partner with comedy clubs.
This is really brilliant. If you have comedians in your film, why not book a comedy tour with the film tour? They can promote the film and you give them a hook to work with to bring an audience in. Not my idea, but one I'll gladly steal when I do a comedy (perhaps my next film).

Think like a doc: be a cause.
My fellow narrative filmmakers have a thing or two to learn from our documentary comrades. Since docs have no real biz plan outside of a golden-ticket moment on PBS, doc filmmakers have adapted and become adept at activating their audiences in creative ways. Generally, they attach themselves to a cause and make it clear that their film is part of the movement. Anyone passionate about the cause would be remiss if they don't see or buy the film. For many indie narrative films, we can do the same thing and that's what we did with Quality of Life. We focused on the graffiti/street art movement from the earliest phases of writing, kept the film authentic, involved people steeped in the subculture through the writing, production and distribution and then became an iconic film for the movement. Ask yourself: what's your cause?

Find local partners.
Partner with local organizations who are a good fit for your film. The fantastic film Mine by my pal Geralyn Pezanoski is a great example of this. She is partnering with animal rescue and related orgs in order to reach out to her core audience. Better still if you partner with a national organization that has local chapters in most major cities.

Think outside the movie theater.
Theatrical doesn't have to mean traditional theaters or even traditional art house theaters (don't get me started about Landmark Cinemas). Think of other venues to show your film: schools, community centers, art galleries, house parties, pizza joints, even bars. If you want to get crazy and the weather is good, do a guerrilla screening on the side of building in a parking lot -- you might get arrested, but you'd become a legend in that town (if you don't ask for permission, which is an option to consider).

Go on a college tour.
You know who has great facilities for showing films and does so on a daily basis: colleges. If your film has a particularly strong potential with the college audience, consider a screening, panel and other outreach at the National Association of Campus Activities events (both national and regional). These are the people that bring films and filmmakers to their campuses: and they PAY for them. One filmmaker charged each school $1000 to show the film and $5000 if the filmmakers and stars came too. That adds up real quick.

Get off the beaten path in a clever way.
Naturally, we think we want to show our film in the top twenty markets nationwide. However, consider other options. Smaller metros with more conservative populations might be smart places for lefty fare that is too tame for jaded New Yorkers, but like a cool breeze on a hot day for the minority liberals who live these Red State burgs. In that case, look to the South my friends. If you're a Christian filmmaker, Bible Belt exburbs beckon while LA, SF and NYC might be better left to those with fornication and depravity in their films (as for me, I know which opening night party I'd rather attend...).

Tranny is the answer.
Transmedia that is. What is transmedia? Look it up. In short: don't just think of your film as a film. Think of it as a story machine from which you can spin off other stories in other mediums: webisodes, comics, books, music, games and so on. Imagine that you are George Lucas and the only way you're going to make money from Star Wars is by creating a whole huge universe of stuff for people to engage with. Do that with your film and you'll have multiple, content-rich doorways to your film. You'll stop thinking of it as a film. The film is just one output of the story machine. Once you have the audience, serve them other stories from the same story machine. Basically, you're taking a page from Hollywood. There's a reason why we get all these damn sequels. It's because transmedia works as a way to get more dollars fromthe same audience. This is probably the most important idea in this whole long tortured article. Don't ignore your tranny future!

Transmedia gurus and thinkers.
I'm sure there will be others, but these three were mentioned:

• Power to the Pixel: far as I can tell, a "cross-media" consulting company with a blog, events and lots of free goodies and ideas. They're Brits, so everything sounds brilliant, just brilliant.
• Henry Jenkins' blog: a leading academic/fan (an "aca-fan" as he unfortunately calls himself) of transmedia with a fertile mind and USC chair.
• Christy Dena: an Australian of cross-platform, transmedia DNA. Saw her talk via Skype video as part of a Filmmaker Summit at Slamdance and was quite impressed. Her blog has pics from her trip to the last Power of the Pixel event, so you know this community is tight.

Ask your team for tastemakers.
Your biggest asset is your network and I mean "your" in the plural sense: the network for your entire team: cast, crew, caterer, friends and family. This was great advice that I don't do often enough: Ask each team-member: who do you know that other people might listen to? What tastemakers do you know? What about famous people and/or others that people respect -- particularly among your target audience. People will surprise you with the contacts that they have, when asked. Even Oprah has a good friend or two that isn't famous and might make an introduction. What if that friend was your accountant and you never asked?

Facebook ads, targeting friends of fans.
I'm usually 100% opposed to paying for ads, since our precious dollars are better spent on important stuff like food for crew or hard drives. However, this is something worth trying and came as a suggestion directly from the Facebook guy on a distribution panel. Buy ads that target ONLY friends of people that are already fans of your film (via the fan page you can create on Facebook). The ads show up to these friends-of-fans indicating that the friend is a fan already, hugely increasing click-throughs. I haven't tried it, and If it turns out to be a waste of money, well, let me know.

B-side is worth talking to.
B-side has done some interesting thing pairing up music and movies. Our film was part of their MySpace movies/music tour a few years ago. They do a lot of work with film festivals so they have a huge database of indie film goers to pitch to. I have no idea what they are looking for or what their deals look like, but it was mentioned and seems worth exploring. Caveat emptor.

Paramount is making twenty $100,000 features.
No one thinks this will work. But maybe there's something that be salvaged from this announcement: after the success of Paranormal Activity, Paramount has said they will be funding twenty $100,000 films a year. I was one of the few that thought this could work, until I was reminded that Paramount is a union signatory -- they just plain can't afford union talent and crew for that price. Do-oh! Well, regardless, it's worth looking into. I'm not too proud to beg. [And for everyone offended that Paramount would dare to have us artistes work for nothing and then give up no points on the back-end, I say: welcome to DIY filmmaking. Would you rather earn nada with no budget or do it with $100,000 budget? So stop your griping and make the damn movie. You're not gonna paid either way, so might as well take the $100,000 and get the film made. If the unions let you, I mean.]

Want to sell out? Me too.
So I went up to the William Morris Endeavor exec after one panel and asked her how I can get on the pathway to representation. After all, many Indywood movies (i.e. films with real budgets whose names you know) get packaged by the big agencies. She basically said to give up, since the agency is trying to shed clients, not sign more. After further prodding, she said to try to the literary coordinators at the agencies, since they might have time to direct me to someone (who will never return my call). It's worth a try -- my soul is for sale and it's priced to move.

Gang up.
Why recreate the wheel? Find other filmmakers covering similar subjects or in the same genre and team up. Do a roving festival. Share lists. Swap links. Exchange media outlet and press lists. Introduce each other to theaters and niche audiences. Basically, leverage the work you're all doing to raise the visibility for all your films together. I can't believe how hard it is to cultivate an audience for a graffiti-themed film -- but I only had one to give them and I know we could have kept selling them more.

If you're making a science fiction film, let me know.
Along those lines, let's talk. My next film, In-World War, is sci-fi and I want to connect with fellow indie sci-fi filmmakers to strategize and pool our resources. That's how it's done. Email me brant at studiolomismo dot com. No joke. I have some ideas and want to hear yours.

Whew.
Special thanks to everyone on all the panels and events (I couldn't begin to list them all), but above all a shout-out to the guru of indie DIY distribution, Peter Broderick. He was our mentor and key adviser when we distributed Quality of Life and continues to be the high priest at the nexus of this rag-tag band of DIY lunatics.

Last but not least, please add your own wacked-out DIY distribution/marketing idea to the comments. I just spent all night writing this (it's 2:30am), so the least you can do is expel a few characters of snark.

Interview with Film Ireland on ultra-low-budget filmmaking

I did a recent audio podcast interview with Film Ireland covering the following topics of interest to other DIY low/no budget filmmakers:

• How to make a feature film with nearly no money.
• What we learned about theatrical self-distribution from our experience with Quality of Life.
• The best marketing technique for ensuring people see your film.
• Why science fiction is a good choice for an indie film.
• The future of indie/DIY/artisan filmmaking.

Buckle up your headgear, since it's a wild ride down the rapids of DIY independent filmmaking:

Film Ireland: Niall McKay talks to Brant Smith Director of 'In-World War'

Writing your screenplay

Our friends at io9, one of the leading sci-fi websites, have a great intro to the basics of screenwriting. If you're not a sci-fi fan, you might have missed it, but it's worthwhile for anyone interested in writing for movies (be them sci-fi or not).

io9: 5 Simple Rules For Turning Your Cool Idea Into A Screenplay

Directing actors and great performances

As a director, my most important goal is to create a safe space for the actors to act. 

1) First and foremost, respect that they have the toughest job: they must open up and be vulnerable on cue. I'm always trying to find ways to protect them from the crazy chaotic energy of production.

2) Feedback to the actors on their performance only goes through the director (not other crew or producers).

3) Never give an actor negative feedback (instead, we merely do another take with an adjustment).

4) Lastly, I try to focus suggested adjustments on playable direction: the actor is asked to do another take but adjusting the performance slightly with a verb (an action) or an objective (a goal) rather than an adjective or feeling.

Examples of verbs/action adjustments:

"Ignore him."

"Seduce her."

"Belittle him."

Examples of objectives/goal adjustments:

"Make her look at you."

"Make them understand you are the boss."

"Make her hit you."

"You want him to kiss you."

In other words, try to avoid telling an actor how to feel or how to do it. Give them an action or a goal and a solid actor will make it happen.

Post-production workflow for an indie film

Independent filmmaking is all fun and games until you hit post-production.

The cut corners and in-the-moment decision-making of everything leading up to that (including writing, fundraising, pre-prod, and the crazy circus act of DIY production) cannot be sustained in post-production due to the cost in both time and money of wrong turns.

The only way to do cheap DIY post is to do it smart the first time -- and have plenty of time to do it all right. And the only way to do that is to plan out your post-production workflow before you start work.

Be prepared to bring foresight, diligence, experience and a deep attention to details. In the age of non-destructive digital editing, it's not that you can permanently ruin your film, but you can mess up in a way that only more time and money will solve.

The worse case scenarios go something like this: you've sent a DVD screener to a festival and they accepted your film. Now, you just need to get them the film on HDCAM SR tape to digitally project. As you scramble to get this delivery completed, you discover a major issue that requires fixing before you can output to HDCAM -- an issue that resulted from a bad decision early in your post-production workflow (perhaps the media is no longer connected correctly to your offline edit). You end up having to do a bunch of work (or pay rush fees for it) prior to the festival.

Can you afford it? Will you make it in time?

Sounds like the plot of a movie. In storytelling, you always want the audience asking "what happens next?" But in post that's pretty much the kiss of death. Instead, it's vital to plan it all out before you begin and give yourself plenty of time for problems to emerge and then get fixed.

My top suggestion: do not start submitting to festivals until you have a 100% finished film. You wouldn't go out on a first date wearing dirty, half-finished clothes and tell your date "don't worry, I'll look good someday, I promise."

First impressions matter. And from a post-production perspective, you want to know that you can deliver the full film tomorrow if need be, since you can't afford the money to pay if there's something unforeseen between now and the first festival screening.

So don't start submitting to festivals until you have the HDCAM SR tape in your hands.

That means you need to build in more time before you start submitting to festivals. Don't assume you can finish it up in-between the time you get accepted and the premiere. That's the time you need to be working on marketing and publicity prep for the festival anyway.

The last couple months I've been stressing about post-production on our film In-World War. We completed principal photography this summer and two months later we finished most of our 2nd unit, so we were ready to start an assembly edit.

Since I'm no post-production expert, I didn't know where to start, except I didn't want to start any work until we had a plan. On our last feature, Quality of Life, we got accepted into the Berlin Int'l Film Festival based on our rough cut and had to scramble to get the film finished and ready to premiere (on 35mm no less).

We almost missed the festival due to a number of key errors along the way. It was grueling and extremely painful. I wasn't about to go through that again, but also didn't have the technical knowledge to do it right.

I had to reach out to a number of experienced post-production people. Thanks to the help and guidance from these experts, we're finally on our way with In-World War.

My advice on planning out your post-production: if you're not an expert already, find a small handful of experienced post-production supervisors and digital workflow experts. Get them to develop your plan and then start the work with your eyes open. If they disagree, bring them together to work it out (that's what we did and they quickly came to a unified plan).

If you're interested in seeing the specific post-production workflow we came up with, visit the step-by-step list on the In-World War site:

Post-production workflow step-by-step

Three ideas at the core of great film acting

Here are a few notes I took when I was studying up on acting prior to directing In-World War. I just noticed I never posted my notes so here they are. These apply to any type of acting really: feature film, independent, DIY, theater, etc.

1. Listen (react don't act). The reaction shot is key.
2. Be present (participate don't anticipate). Roll with it -- allows spontaneous real moments to happen whether on an improv-friendly project or a strictly script-faithful film.
3. Be yourself (be real, not fake). Don't act. Just be.

Often on set, I would try to find a quiet moment to allow the actor to silently connect with that part of the character that is part of their authentic self and use that as a way in. In this way, the actor would only need to be themselves and not try to "act" which usually looks false.

Working with non-actors, particularly kids

Need to get a great performance from people who are not professional actors?

You're not alone. This is one of the huge challenges for many DIY and indie filmmakers, especially when we have younger roles in our scripts.

I was lucky enough to see The French Kissers (Les beaux gosses) recently at the French Cinema Now festival in San Francisco. The film has been an indie hit in France, telling the timeless story of two self-involved teenage dorks obsessed with girls.

Director Raid Sattouf was at the screening and during the Q&A afterwards, revealed that none of the kids in the film were professional actors. He had specifically asked the casting director to find non-actors that looked right, to avoid the ambition and scrubbed look of most young actors. In his own words, he wasn't interested in making High School Musical 3.

Curious to know more about his process, I raised my hand and asked how he got such great performances from these kids. He said that this was a real problem; at first, the young actors were extremely stiff.

His solution was brilliant.

For rehearsals, he brought the kids together with the professional cast as well as main film crew (himself, the dp, the sound mixer, etc.). Together they all pretended they were monkeys and eventually even acted scenes as monkeys with monkey-talk ("ooo-oo-oo ah ah"). This helped them get more free and more physical -- and by including the crew, created all-important trust and safety.

On location, he said they often would "do the monkeys" before a scene or if a scene wasn't working right.

The proof is self-evident: the performances in the film are fantastic and natural. The monkeys did the trick.

Interestingly enough, only one of the professional actors (a big name in France) refused to do the monkeys, and Sattouf confessed unequivocally that the actor's performance was the worst of the film.

So, if you're working with non-actors (especially if they are kids), bring out the monkeys. And avoid any professional actor unwilling go ape.

How to make movies in a recession, or anytime

More on the secrets to successful indie filmmaking, focusing on how to raise money, maintain creative vision and much more:

Filmmaker Magazine: Tips on how to be a successful filmmaker during the recession

In fact, the advice is good for anytime, recession or not. Check it out.

Sarah Fisher, our Line Producer/Location Manager on In-World War and a great filmmaker in her own right (check out her Meditate and Destroy), forwarded me the link.

How to start making movies

So you have an idea for a movie or a video?

But you don't know the first thing about how to make a movie or even make a video for YourTube?

I have a friend who recently got fired up with an idea and emailed me with questions about cameras and the filmmaking process. She had no film/video experience and didn't know where to start. Inspired by her idea, she wanted to get started filming soon, and didn't want to take "a six month course."

Here's what I wrote back to her. I thought I might share it with other brand-new aspiring filmmakers:

Glad to hear you're fired up to do the film/video idea. That's the most important part, since without that passion, all the hard work (and money) needed to make it happen won't be there either.

I have two main answers for you (and others that want to quickly start making movies):

1) It takes time to be good at any discipline. I've heard it takes ten years to change careers (i.e. move from being a beginner to a pro). Thus, six months of classes would be just the start of the pathway, not the long road.

There are no short-cuts to excellence in any field and filmmaking is no different. I'm still VERY new as a filmmaker (esp. as a director) and definitely learning a ton every day. IWW is my directorial debut (not counting my horrible student films), so I'm no pro. I'm particularly ignorant about many of the technical aspects such as using a camera, editing, video format conversions, audio mixing, etc.

I would strongly recommend taking a course in hands-on filmmaking, as soon as possible. If not, then at least get your hands on a camera and start shooting ASAP to gain experience. Work on other people's films as a PA. There are plenty of opportunities to get experience.

Movies, in particular, take a ton of different skill sets to do right (writing, directing, producing, camera, sound recording, sound mixing, editing, effects, titles, distribution, fundraising, etc.). No one person can be an expert in all of these and certainly not overnight. Be prepared for a learning curve. As in most things that you want to last, it's a marathon, not a sprint.

2) The good news though: it may be a marathon, but it's a team sport too. You don't NEED to be an expert in all these areas. You just need to assemble a team of people who are.

That's the essential job of the producer (or, in DIY filmmaking, the producer/writer/director).

The basic bare-bones crew for any project are: cameraperson (director of photography), location sound mixer and editor. Together, they will figure out the gear you need (camera, sound equip., etc.) based on what you're going to do with the footage (aiming for YouTube distribution is different than aiming for a Sundance premiere, which is different than aiming for a 1000 screen theatrical release, etc.), what your available funds are and what gear they have already or can get.

So, you just need a team of experts to help you out.

How do you get these pros on your crew?

You become a producer first.

How do you do that?

Well, how's this:

Congrats! You're now a producer!

Okay, next you get a group of advisers -- people like me who are filmmakers and/or already are producers. We can't and won't produce it for you, but you can run ideas by us and we can give you advice. Sometimes we'll be too busy (and you don't want to annoy us with too many questions anyway), but that's why you have multiple advisers.

People like us will have referrals and other ideas on how to recruit crew and produce the project.

And then follow the advice, go your own way when necessary, and generally keep moving forward. You'll screw up a ton along the way, but that's how you become a pro and start producing great work.

Okay, now on to my direct answer to your question about cameras:

- Use only 720p or 1080p HD cameras. Do NOT use 1080i, since they are much tougher to edit with. The "p" stands for progressive, which is better than the "i" which stands for interlaced. If the camera is 720p or 1080p, then you should be fine for virtually any use. 1080p is best.

- As for specific cameras, I'm no camera guru, but at minimum you want something that you can plug an external microphone into. You do NOT want to use the onboard/existing mic that is part of any of these cameras. For docs (and, honestly, most narratives), the most important part is usually the AUDIO not the video. You only get good audio with good audio equipment and that means a boom and a mic and a mixer. Again, if you have an audio pro, they can help you ensure you're on it. Just don't record using a camera's existing mic. That's the most important lesson and probably why you want to avoid the flip camera and similar low-end (i.e. cheap) consumer HD cameras.

- On the other hand, if you only want it to be amateur video (i.e. not for big screen or broadcast on TV or for distribution via DVD) and YouTube is your target, then you're fine probably with the onboard mics. Even then, you'll notice the difference on YouTube too. But at least the audience expectations will be low if it's there.

Audio is king.

I hope that's at least semi-helpful. Good luck and let me know how it goes.

How to turn ambitions into reality

We're currently in production on my next film, In-World War, and so I haven't had much time to blog here (you can follow the film production on my production blog, which gets more frequent activity right now). But I'm getting a ton of new experience on the set that I'll pass along in the coming months.

Today is one of our two days off (17 days of principal photography over the course of 19 days), so I had a moment to share a secret with you.

Steve, one of my best friends, wrote a nice email to say how impressed he was with my ability to clearly define and then conquer my ambitions, such as on the current film and other projects.

It was an inspiring note to get in the crazy hurly-burly of production (16-hour days, etc.), but I don't think that I'm extraordinary or even that successful. I've had my share of solid and complete failures, which is mostly what I've experienced through my life.

But I do have a secret that helps get some of my major projects done: I tell people I'm going to do them, while (at least partially) ignoring how challenging these goals really are.

Here's what I wrote to him:

My ability to tackle these crazy ideas is testament to my semi-dysfunctional ability to harness the forces of denial (of the workload) while building expectations among the people that I know. When it's time to act, I'll look like a loser and a fool if I don't follow-through. There's something to be said for telling everyone I know what I'm going to do, as a way to ensure it happens so I don't lose face.

Another way to put it: use your dysfunctions to your benefit.