Vimeo Find of the Month - April (The Leviathan - Ruairi Robinson)

  This months find, is actually a find from last month (and not an April fool). And has since been fast tracked closer to a greenlight to feature. The Leviathan by Ruairi Robinson

Watch the video here

Credits:

Created by Ruairi Robinson

Website me on ruairirobinson.com

Developed with the assistance of Bord Scannáin na hÉireann/ the Irish Film Board

And Jim Uhls

Creature design by Jordu Schell

Sound design by Brandon Jones

Article on The Verge - 

Neill Blomkamp is helping turn viral sci-fi short The Leviathan into a full movie

Vimeo... Feature Film of the Month? (SUNDAYS)

 And so yesterdays Vimeo find of the month (for March) post proves that the online release of independent shorts and proof of concept trailers are garnering more and more studio attention. Where once "musical stars" were discovered through social media and You Tube, now too are directors and original concept films. 

 SUNDAYS has been greenlit with studio backing and will indeed become a full length feature film, after a studio bidding war which saw Warner Brothers win out.

Full article on Deadline

Follow up article on The Verge

  I can only hope that one day we will finally see a movie length feature film about the exploits of Maru.... We've all been thinking it, and it has more originality than the regular studio remakes, reboots and adaptations.

  We all dream of discovery, but it's nice to know it is actually happening for some people and judging by the work on display, rightly so.

Vimeo

SUNDAYS

Deadline

The Verge

Maru

Coming in under budget - Layover

 Often it seems like an impossible task to make a short film with little or no budget which is of a high enough standard for mass consumption, so when I read that Joshua Caldwell made a feature length film for $6000 (currency unknown) it was quite a surprise. It was so much of a surprise it filled me with hope and a desire to see the finished film, and even more now since he's managed to get his film into a film festival! He has said he would like the film Layover to be the first in a trilogy, and with his sudden new found fame all power to him and I hope he is able to successfully accomplish his goal. This fills me with confidence and should do for all budding film makers especially when you read the guest post on the No Film School by Caldwell. The article talks about his film Layover and also some tips and pointers for other film makers to learn from. Read the article here

  Previously Robert Rodriguez successfully made a low budget action film for an estimated $7000 (USD), which was El Mariachi, and although a great film, it does have it's flaws and hasn't aged well. Rodriguez went on to create several film franchises while wearing multiple production hats, including: Director, Writer, Cinematographer, Camera Operator, Special Effects, Editor, Composer and so on and so on. It got to the point where he was releasing films, all under-budget, at such a pace he was the golden boy of the minute. Sadly however this was to the detriment of the quality of his films, because he was often left to his own devices some of those films just marred a series or simply didn't work. Perfect examples of this would be Once Upon a Time in Mexico - which was more style over substance, Shorts - which was just poor in every aspect and Machete Kills - which just goes so overboard it becomes impossible to follow and you lose interest very quickly.

  Both Joshua Caldwell and Robert Rodriguez are inspiring directors (although I've yet to see Caldwell's film) and appear to offer helpful tips and solutions to upcoming or aspiring film makers (although Rodriguez less so of late).

Get out there and get filming!

Bibliography to check out for additional inspiration:

Rebel without a Crew - Robert Rodriguez

Digital Film Making - Mike Figgis

Make your Own Damn Movie - Lloyd Kaufman

The Guerilla Film Makers Handbook - Chris Jones & Genevieve Jolliffe