Low Budget, High Fantasy: Top Ten Tips to Make a Quality Fantasy Series Without Breaking the Bank (Article/Tips)

Posted by on Jun 12, 2015 in Articles, Behind-the-Scenes, Featured, Tips | 3 comments

Kate Madison directs James Malpas (Baynon) on the set of Ren

Kate Madison directs James Malpas (Baynon) on the set of Ren

Many low budget filmmakers would shy away from making a medieval fantasy with swordfights, horses, and a village full of extras, but not Kate Madison. Here is a sneak peek at the show along with some top tips from Kate and her team on how to put a quality epic on the screen.

Kate Madison will be known to many in the indie film world as the maker of the hugely popular Lord of the Rings fan film, Born of Hope. Released in 2009, the movie has had over 30 million YouTube hits to date.

Kate’s latest project is an original fantasy-adventure web series called Ren, about a young woman marked by an ancient spirit and ousted from her village. The teaser trailer for season one will give you an idea of its ambitious scope.

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Lighting & Cinematography Basics: Where to Put Your Key Light (Tips/Tutorial)

Posted by on May 1, 2015 in Articles, Behind-the-Scenes, Featured, General, Tips, Tutorials | 0 comments

What angle the key light hits a character at is a KEY (groan) decision for a director of photography. The lighting featurette [I posted on my site a while back] looked at some of the options, but today I’d like to expand on those with some more up-to-date examples.

Imagine a clock face. You’re looking down on the scene and your talent is at the center with their eyeline to twelve o’clock.

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Neither Rain nor Sleet: Shooting in a Downpour (Tips/Tutorial)

Posted by on Apr 17, 2015 in Articles, Behind-the-Scenes, Featured, General, Retrospectives, Specific Projects, Tips, Tutorials | 1 comment

Rain. How we’d love to go inside and have a cup of tea when the old British precipitation interrupts a shoot, but quite often the schedule demands that we carry on regardless. Here are a few tips for filming in the wet stuff. Cover the Camera

If you don’t have a proper rain cover, a transparent recycling bag with a couple of holes cut in it will usually do the job, but have someone hold an umbrella over the camera at all times as added protection. If you have them, put on a matte box and top flag to keep rain off the lens.

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Creating Content & Helping Fans Connect: Blogging Tips (Tips/Tutorial)

Posted by on Apr 10, 2015 in Articles, Behind-the-Scenes, Featured, General, Tips, Tutorials, Walk Throughs | 0 comments

I recently passed the milestone of my 1,000th blog post, and many people have asked me how I have the discipline to keep writing posts week in, week out. I think the key is to see it as an opportunity, not an obligation: an opportunity to connect with and help others in your field; an opportunity to promote yourself; an opportunity to marshal your thoughts and solidify things you’ve learnt by communicating them to others. Sometimes I see my blog as a giant virtual notebook – I’m just keeping my notes publicly – and I often refer back to my own posts to remind myself how I did something or what mistakes I need to avoid this time around.

“But I don’t have anything to write about,” is a common refrain. I doubt this is true. I’m constantly surprised that I manage to keep coming up with ideas for posts, but there is nothing special about me. If I can do it, you can do it too...

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Urban Dungeon Crawling: How to Make a Fantasy Action Movie for £28,000 (Tutorial/Video)

Posted by on Apr 3, 2015 in Articles, Behind-the-Scenes, Featured, Tips | 0 comments

The last of the Soul Searcher anniversary featurettes is a completely frank and open breakdown of the budget.

Find out how I raised the money, what I offered my investors, what distribution deals were put on the table, how much the film made worldwide and how much of that money came back to me (you may be shocked). Most importantly, discover exactly what was spent on each element of the budget, from travel and catering to make-up and lighting.

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