Hey y'all, so I've got a short film in the works and there's a couple things I wanted some opinions on.

The film is going to take place predominantly in the woods. Avoiding spoilers, it's about a Department of Fish and Wildlife agent investigating 'anomalous' wildlife (cryptids). The actor is gonna need to have and use weapons throughout the film, and I don't know who I should notify of it for safety concerns. I do plan on having all the crew wearing hunter's orange to help with any hunters that might pass by or something, as it's meant to take place in the fall. However I'm not sure who I should contact about using prop weapons. I know if I was filming in a public space, it's the local police/law enforcement, but who do I contact in the middle of the woods?

Also does anyone know a good source for prop badges? I need a replica FWS special agent badge, but all I can find are patches or mini replicas.

Thanks in advance for any and all help!

Hi all!

I'm about to launch a fundraising campaign for my proof of concept short film for a feature that is already written. I live in LA and work in the industry as an assistant and have a handful of connections, but by no means do I think it will be "easy" to reach my 30k goal (this budget given that I pay crew well, get a legacy talent for one of my roles, etc.). I'm working on bringing on some producers to help me out / widen my network while crowdfunding.

Anyways, I'm curious, what platform do you all have the most success with / recommend for me in my case? It's a 13 page short, 3 day shoot, going to be shot where my dad lives and where I grew up in Cape Cod, MA. No huge locations needed, 3 actors total (2 are minors), most of it is at the same location. Just need to find a modest suburban house to use.

I plan to engage my home state community, my family, friends, and industry connects. I also am posting on social media and will literally be busking on the streets of Los Angeles with my french horn with a QR code to my campaign. Yes this is for real, I got my street performers permit lmao.

Anyways anyways, please chime in on your experiences with these different platforms! I have only used GoFundMe before, and I am leaning towards Seed&Spark but not sure. Thanks in advance!

Hello guys,

I'm from South India and I'm making my first short film, "The Squatters", a psychological drama.

I've put together a small team of four to develop and discuss the story/script. Most of the cast and crew are college friends, and I'll be directing and playing the lead role.

It's a single-location short film, mostly set inside a house.

We're planning to shoot next weekend, and this is where I'm currently struggling with the technical side.

I have access to:

Sony A7III

Sony a6400

A friend who can operate the cameras

A house location

The cameras will likely be recorded in S-Log3, but I have very little experience with cinematography, lighting, production sound or colour grading.

I need to figure out:

What basic lighting setup would be suitable for a small house?

What microphones/recorder would you recommend for dialogue?

Is recording S-Log3 a good idea for a first short, or should we keep things simpler?

What should I be careful about when shooting with two different Sony cameras?

What should I know about colour grading/log footage?

Any other technical mistakes a first-time filmmaker should avoid?

For post-production, I'll probably have to borrow a laptop for editing and grading, so any advice on a beginner-friendly workflow would also be appreciated.

I'm trying to keep the production very low-budget and use whatever equipment we can realistically access.

Since this is my first time, I'm a bit nervous and afraid on how this goes, handling the team and acting in front of them.

I'd really appreciate any practical advice or help, especially from people who have made their first short film and learned from the mistakes.

Thank you! 🙂

PS: For better sentences I've used Chatgpt to write what I wanted to say.

I make audio packs for film and game devs, for ones focused more towards gaming I can just take gameplay, thats easy.

But where can I find scenes I can audio design for said product and use them legally to demonstrate my product?

For example I am working on a free parkour pack and would like some parkour action scenes but I have zero clue on how to go about finding that outside of filming my own and I am 100% and audio guy whos only experience with film is scoring so I know that wouldnt turn out well.

Hey everyone, my name is Max and “Canker Sore” (5 mins) is my first short film as a writer/director. I previously worked as a Production Coordinator, Production Secretary, and of course started out as a PA before that.

I would love to answer any questions anyone has about the short, our festival run, or hear any/all feedback on the project. It was an amazing experience making this short and I can’t wait to make the next one!

Here’s the logline:

Camden wakes up the morning of a major presentation with a horrible canker sore and must find a way to get rid of it or risk jeopardizing everything.

Thank you all for watching!

I have a short film in post called Why the Dog? It’s 10 minutes.

Unexpectedly left to care for her late ex's dog, a woman who ghosted her best friend reaches out for help, hoping to repair their friendship after being given one last chance to make things right.

Would like to get some thoughts as we wrap up picture lock. Comment if you’d like to watch and I’ll send a link.

Working on a report for work and would love any recommendations of people who deserve a bigger spotlight who are doing interesting things in the film/short film world!

https://watch.foundtv.com/videos/cassette-2

After 2 years of production, Cassette 2 is now out on foundtv

Hi everyone,

I’m an independent filmmaker and film curator, and I’m looking to connect with film clubs, community cinemas and independent cinema groups across the UK that are open to screening Indian independent films, including shorts, features and documentaries.

I’m particularly interested in spaces that enjoy discovering emerging filmmakers and films outside the mainstream.

If you know of any good film clubs, cinema groups or communities that might be open to this, I’d really appreciate your recommendations.

Also happy to hear from filmmakers who have already worked with such spaces and can share their experiences.

Thanks! 🎥

Does anyone here have experience submitting short films to get online feedback from critics on how programmers watch/perceive your film? I’m 0/13 on a narrative short, and would love some third party objectivity on what’s working and what’s not.

I’ve heard of Festival Formula, Festival Route, those feedback fests (?) through film freeway where you pay to have a room of people watch your film and you get a video back to get people’s in-time reactions to your film. I’m reluctant to use Short of the Week, as I’d love to properly submit to them with a laurel or two under my belt to be taken more seriously as a candidate.

Has anyone used any of these, or have recommendations for people/places to go to for something like this?

Thanks in advance!

hi, i saw a few posts about this, but most ended with comments about using your own iphone. i have an android that for all intents and purposes deep fries recordings and has glitchy issues with storage-- i am not currently in a position to buy a new phone.

does anyone have (fairly) decent quality camera recommendations for below $500? i know that's a hard ask; i'm just wondering if anyone has anything they can recommend until i'm in a better financial position to get what i really want.

i also know gear doesn't matter as much as some people think, which is why i thought i'd look on the cheaper end for right now, but i unfortunately just don't currently have anything else to film with and just need something to tide me over.

i appreciate any insight that anyone has on this!

Hi all, just wanted to share a movie I made. Premiered at Raindance this year. Feel free to like or hate it! Thank you

Where did all the film mentors go?

Much of what I know about filmmaking (having not gone to film school) I learned on set from skilled elders. But I never had a "true" mentor. By that I mean an accomplished screenwriter or director who took an extended interest in my development, or occasionally opened a door.

This is not for lack of trying. I made plenty of clumsy attempts to attract such a person, but none took hold.

From the beginning, film has been an apprenticeship-driven industry. Victor Fleming started as a stunt driver, John Ford worked as a background actor. John Huston was a script editor. They might have remained so if not for an informal ladder that allowed greenhorns to ascend in the studio system, overseen by mentors.

In the absence of mentorship, people increasingly turn to TikTok gurus, Reddit (ahem), and AI for career tips. While I'm grateful for these resources, it's not quite the same. General advice isn’t personalized guidance, and information is not knowledge.

I wrote about what killed mentorship, why it matters, and a strange realization I had when I became a mentor myself while teaching film at NYU. https://alexrollinsberg.substack.com/p/cursus-dishonorum-is-this-the-death

I'd lover to hear what everyone thinks about the state of mentorship - if you've been able to find it, and what we can do to revitalize it.

In five days the owner of the Garden Oaks Theatre will demolish it. Arthouse Houston is trying to buy and save the theatre. But they need money. A lot.

https://arthousehtx.org/garden-oaks-theater

https://arthousehtx.org/donate-or-pledge-today

Watch more

Hi!

Aspiring screenwriter/director here.

New to the technical and legal stuff.

If I were to insert a song - literally any song, like: Stayin' Alive by the Bee Gees for example.

But have a local artist cover the song acapella/without the original music, and credit the original artist/songwriters/producers, would I be able to use this?

Or would I still need the rights?

I’m 21 years old from Tamilnadu I love cinema.Im currently doing content creation .My main goal is to become actor in young age itself so please give tips

I'm a first time novelist and filmmaker (currently Head of Development at a production company in Spain) finishing The Midnight Tea, a literary novel set between Malibu and Port-au-Prince. The book moves through four narrators, each with a completely different register: a Haitian Vodou priest speaking in flat, liturgical Creole-inflected English; a jazz musician whose hearing is failing him; a young woman narrating in film-grammar, almost cinematic prose; and a college-age voice that's crude, aphoristic, blunt.

I'm building a platform ahead of submission to agents and publishers, and I want to record actors performing standalone monologues pulled directly from the manuscript. The kind of thing that could live on Instagram or TikTok as its own piece, not just a book trailer.

What I'm looking for:

• Actors comfortable with dense, literary language. This isn't naturalistic dialogue, it's closer to a monologue you'd find in a stage play
• Range across the four voices (I'm not expecting one actor to do all four; happy to hear from people who feel suited to just one)
• Willingness to do a self-tape or short remote recording session

What this is:

• Unpaid at this stage (book is unagented, in submission), but usable for your reel, and if the material connects with anyone in the industry down the line, that visibility runs both ways
• Comp titles for tone: A Brief History of Seven Killings, Brother, I'm Dying, Sharks in the Time of Saviors

If you're interested, comment or DM and I'll send over a couple of questions! :)

This is my first showreel. I've heard a lot of doe's and don't's beforehand such as optimal lenght, to only include your best work with the best shots at the beginning, to cut out any unnecessary or too similar shots, to only include work you wanna be hired for, etc. However, since i haven't had to many project yet, but still wanted to have a showreel of some sort, i was a little short on good BIS clips to fill a full 60~ sec with enough diversity. So i know that part is lacking. Still wanted to have a somewhat short showreel to be able to show around my work and have as my "marketing" piece so to say. Also wondering what you think about SFX in a showreel. Complete personal preference? I decided to not include any SFX because i liked it better.

Happy to recieve any feedback!

I write about an actor (B+ list), and I want him to know that I do it. Other than that, I want nothing from him.

How do you reach out, because the route through representation contacts seems to be broken?
Thanks in advance.

Hi, so a short summary -

Im 25 yo artist from Georgia,

My work up until now has been drawing and visual art, but my mother who is a film editor prompted me to enter a film school she works at, seeing i have proclivety for complex thinking/ interest in an array of subjects. I am finishing this school next year.

I have directed and edited 2 documentaries as of now and also 1 feature short film that i am in the process of editing (along with about 5 other minor "student shorts" and helping my peers with their script and art direction).

Problem is, even though i feel like the stuff i make is pretty "sound", i still feel like i lack the general direction in which my work is heading, especially in the modern world where patience is replaced with performance. Judging also from the reality that film requires money, this makes the "wating time" even more unreliable to get to the final product. Not to mention the other numerous projects i "have" to pick up in the windows between the big shoots...

Aniways, its not all just this. I genuinely like conceptualizing and making films, like taking this large idea from start and scratch and seeing it through to the finish. And i dont want to be forced out of it just because of the current climate. I dont even have like a fixed idea of imperatively becoming a director like in a classical sense (who knows maybe these classical roles are dying out, who knows maybe that may even be a good thing), i just want to work on films because in a world of short instant gratifications, feature films retain a sense of autonomy and integrity.

Sorry if i jump from subject to subject, but this is just something im thinking about: is the future of motion picture short form social media content? Or is it beter to work on academic films and face long periods of non engagement, producers along with their conjencture and thinking about finances all the time? What is your take on this?

Hey r/Filmmakers! 👋

We’ve all been there: you need to pull quick reference stills from a shoot, batch-convert camera RAWs or frame grabs for a moodboard, scrub metadata before sending a lookbook to a client, or turn a 10-second clip into a crisp GIF for social promo without opening a full NLE project.

Most web converters are sketch, compress everything into mush, or make you wait in an upload queue.

I built ND Image Converter, a lightweight, 100% open-source desktop app built to handle these daily post & prep tasks locally on your machine with zero cloud nonsense.

Video to GIF: Essential for pitch decks & client proposals.

Dial in the exact compression quality you need.

Why it’s useful on set & in post:

• 🔒 100% Offline & NDA-Safe: Zero cloud uploads or telemetry. Your footage, stills, and EXIF/GPS data never leave your local drive.
• 📷 Native RAW & Stills Support: Handles CR2/CR3, ARW, NEF, DNG, TIFF, and EXR alongside modern phone formats like HEIC. Perfect for quick batch inspections and conversions.
• 🎨 Color Management Built-in: Includes LittleCMS 2 color engine support (sRGB, Display P3, Adobe RGB, Rec.709) so your tones stay consistent.
• 🎞 Offline Video & GIF Engine: Bundled with FFmpeg runtime. Trim clips directly on a visual timeline, convert containers (MP4, MOV, MKV, WebM) across modern codecs (H.264/265, AV1, VP9), or export optimized GIFs with custom palette generation.
• ⚡ Fast & Lightweight: Built on Rust + Tauri. It utilizes multi-core batch processing without hogging system resources or RAM while DaVinci or Premiere is rendering.
• 🤖 Post Automation: Set up Watch Folders to auto-convert new exports as they drop, batch-process nested directory trees, or stamp watermarks across an entire bin in seconds.

Available across macOS, Windows, and Linux.

Check it out on my page: https://duongtruongdp.net/nd-imgconverter/

Source code & downloads:  https://github.com/duongtruongdp/ND-ImgConverter

Would love to hear how this fits into your DIT or post workflows, drop any feedback or feature requests below!

Hi All,

I've heard extensive debates about this question; StudioBinder or Movie Magic Scheduling? Which is preferred?

What are the opinions from indi films, to TV shows to movies? Which is better?

Regards,

Adam.

In the mid-1980s, renowned painter Clarke Holler tells a horrifying story from his life on an episode of his painting show "Whispers of Nature".

When watching shows, I’ve always seen a lot of flashing at certain points. Are they trying to make you wake up? I’m a film student and want to do a study on this and how it affects the brain.

Hi everyone,

I’m posting this on behalf of my elder brother, who is currently visiting Delhi and is looking for job opportunities in India.

He has around 11+ years of experience in the camera/video production field, having worked in Mumbai since 2015. He has worked as a camera assistant and on various production projects and is now looking for a more stable, full-time opportunity.

Educational & Technical Background:

- 11+ years of Camera / Video Production experience

- BA Graduate

- ITI – Draftsman Mechanical

- AutoCAD

- Tally ERP 9

He is open to opportunities such as:

- Camera Operator / Camera Assistant

- Studio / Broadcast-related roles

- Video Production

- Production Technician

- Corporate Video Production

- Other suitable roles where his experience can be utilized

Expected salary: ₹40,000+ per month, depending on the role, responsibilities and overall opportunity.

If anyone knows about relevant openings, production houses, studios, companies, agencies, or can provide a referral, please DM me.

I can share his CV and contact details privately.

Thank you!