Film School Dropout Case Study

The day I moved in to my apartment building in 2006, I stumbled upon a small film shoot. There were bright lights, gaffing equipment, and a focused kid carrying a Panasonic DVX 100. That kid’s name was Pete Atencio, and you’ve probably never heard of him. He isn’t ultra famous like Steven Spielberg or Quentin Tarantino. But Pete has been ...

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5 Great Cautionary Movies About Making Movies

Everyone loves a movie; and people who make movies love making movies about people making movies. Self referential humor has become a cultural norm. The humor derived from most of these movies is either about how insane it is to make a movie, or how insane or ridiculous the people are who decide to make a movie. But if you ...

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Angry Film Student Inadvertently Proves My Point

I received an interesting and aggressive comment today, as I sometimes do from film students who become defensive against what I am saying. This film student started out attacking the validity of what I am saying on the site and then went on to prove my point. I have responded to each point below. Um… so let me get this ...

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Interview: Working as a DP at Age 16

I get a lot of emails from high school students asking for advice. The reality is that your high school’s A/V program is advanced as any film schools’. Seriously. In the old days, yes, a big name school might need $70,000 to buy a quality camera. But if your high school has any HD Panasonic or Sony Cameras, or any ...

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Best “Die Hard” Music Video Ever

If you haven’t seen this, drop everything and watch it. It’s not a mish mash of clips with some random song overlayed. These guys actually wrote a ballad, a 4 verse rock song describing the entire Die Hard Series! (Minus the 5th installment thank God). The band is called Guz Nite. The video is expertly edited, very funny, and has one ...

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