A Filmmaker took kit

So, you've written a story and you have big plans to cast it, shoot it, edit it, and distribute it to the masses. As an independent film maker, this is a giant task and you need tools to make your life a little easier. In this blog, I would share some of such toolkits that may not produce the film for you but definitely could help you along the way.

Screenplay

The mantra to success is a great screenplay. Writing a screenplay that everybody understands in a standard way generally requires software such as "Final Draft" (US $180) to format. Fortunately web applications and opensource are mostly free.

• celtx is a great open source screenwriting suite. Most of my work is done on this, from treatment to screenplay to schedules. It even has a way for writers to share and collaborate on screenplays.
• Plotbot is a great screen-writing tool available online. Online means it allows producers, directors to give notes to writers while it's being written.
• If you are a mac user, an inexpensive solution is Storyist (http://storyist.com/) software that costs only $59.

Financing

What tools do you need to raise money you say? It might sound pretty surprising but there are so many sites around that help you arrange money for you film such as Lending Club, Prosper, and Zopa. Friends and family funding your film, use Circle Lending to set that up.

Casting

Screenplay and money is lined up, now you'd need good cast for your film. How do you advertise for cheap and try to hire talent who is willing to work for peanuts (or even free)?

• Craigslist (www.cragslist.org) has a "tv / film / video" category in each city that's a great place to post an open casting call for your film.
• Actor's Connect (www.actorsconnect.com) is a social network exclusively for actors and actresses. It's a great place to find your film's star or post a casting call.
• Backstage.com is another major site for actors where you can post your casting call.

Storyboarding

There aren't many inexpensive tools that could help you storyboard and sometimes a pen and paper is just as good. However, if you must, you can use celtx for storyboarding too.
Octopz may be very helpful during storyboarding if you want to work with collaborators not in room with you. It is a great alternative to webex designed for creative people.

Shooting

It's time to shoot your film. What do you additionally need is a camera, a DP (if not doing it yourself), crew and a location. The best place to spend some time is Wize and ViewScore where you can find reviews of a good camera, lighting equipment other gear that fits your style and wallet.

Also hang out at Zoetrope run by Francis Ford Coppola's company, StudentFilmmakers Magazine and GlobeShooter. GlobeShooter is an invite only social network of videographers (Hint: Craigslist is another good way to find a DP, many times you can find one with their own camera outfit and save yourself some money.)

Editing

When it comes to editing all the footage you have shot, it's all about tools. You can get as fancy as an Avid Media Composer but we are on a budget here.

• If you are editing a movie for web based distribution, a web-based editing tool might help. JayCut is the only editing suites that allows for exporting and I will recommend it over JumpCut.
• Avid FreeDV is a great, free offline editing tool, only if you still have it. Avid discontinued distributing it last year.
• On a budget of US $79, you can get Apple's iLife suite which includes iMovie. iMovie is probably the best consumer level video editor on the market.
• Anything more serious requires you emptying your wallet on either Adobe Premiere (my preference) or Apple Final Cut. These prosumer software packages have a bit of learning curve but allows you to do much more
• Chances are that you need some stock footage to increase the production value of your creation. You can turn to Footage Firm's free stock clips collection.
• I can bet that you are not planning to score the film yourself. If you haven't found anyone willing to do it for a dime, use the FindSounds search engine to locate sound effects for your film

Distribution and Promotion

This part is easier today than ever, specially if your production is in areas of the world where broadband is universal. Just put previews and teasers on Youtube, Revver, MetaCafe and Daily motion. Myspace and facebook will also be handy specially if you are a social network junkie and have large networks.

If your stuff comes out really good, you need to hit the festival circuit. Refer to Cinaka's upcoming events section to find the festival that you need to send your DVD to. How do you print multiple DVDs for distribution? If it's 10-20, I bet you can do it yourself however if you need to get in 100s it's wise to save time and use services like cafepress that offers the most basic of on demand DVD duplication. You'll have to sell via your Cafepress store, though. Lulu is another similar option for creating print on demand DVDs and sell through their network.
But the best option out there for your movie to make its mark is using CreateSpace service for 2 very compelling reasons. They're owned by Amazon, so your DVDs are sold through Amazon, including the option of Amazon UnBox downloads, Second reason is higher chance of getting your film listed on IMDB.

There you have it, I have shared some of the tools that if didn't know already might help you. Movie making is getting easier and easier and that means more and more people are producing stuff that no body wants to see. So, regardless of tools, ultimately what matters is content of your film. Concentrate on the story first. Everything else might be available for a dime, a good story that makes it impression isn't.

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