My
name's Jeremy Hanke and I am a Micro-Cinema filmmaker
who began his career as a webmaster. About five years
ago, I co-created a review website called Gamerz-Edge
Magazine for Sinclair Broadcasting, the company that owns
television stations all across the country that reach
roughly a quarter of the population of the U.S. Since
it's inception, the site grew from about 10 hits a month
to a few million hits a month and is now hosted on over
65 television websites nationwide for local affiliates
of Fox, NBC, CBS, and the WB.
In
Gamerz-Edge, I did reviews for all sorts of video games,
films, and DVDs, refining my view of what made a good
narrative and improving my own filmmaking through it.
However, I didn't come up with the idea for starting a
spin-off website until I tried to do a Google search for
camera reviews on prosumer and professional DV cameras
for filmmakers with budgets similar to mine. Despite the
oversaturation of websites devoted to consumer cameras
and the like, there were very few reputable websites that
reviewed prosumer and professional cameras for low and
ultra-low budget filmmakers. In fact, I actually found
more reviews for the $120,000 Sony HDC-F950 (the camera
George Lucas used on Star Wars Episode III and Robert
Rodriguez used on Sin City) than I did for the new $6,000
JVC GY-HD100U (JVC's new true-24P HD camcorder). That's
where I became aware of the huge divide: that there were
"Indie" filmmaking websites for equipment that
low budget filmmakers could never afford and there were
consumer websites for equipment that filmmakers would
never want to use, but almost nothing in-between.
Since
I'm a professional reviewer, in addition to being an ultra-low
budget filmmaker, I wanted to find a way to remedy this
situation. At first I was just considering starting a
straight equipment review site for cameras, lighting kits,
and accessories for the ultra low budget filmmaker. But,
then I started coming up with ideas for making the site
more helpful to low budget filmmakers in general-the sort
of things that would have helped me out when I first got
into filmmaking. For example, I discovered a wealth of
helpful articles scattered all over the internet for making
light kits, steadicams, dollies, cranes, jibs, carts,
and whatnot, but many of them were horribly formatted,
lacked any sort of pictures to go along with them, and
were so scattered that most people would get a migraine
trying to find them at all. Then I decided to try to create
a fairly thorough library of plans and ideas for ultra
low budget filmmakers. Not all at once, but over time--with
new plans, guides, and DIY manuals published each month
in the form of issue-like updates. Rather than just haphazardly
adding new articles, reviews, and DIY guides throughout
a month, I would make it so people would know that each
month a new issue would be available, free of charge,
to be read online. And all the articles that were published
in the past would be part of a searchable database.
My
site might have ended there until a filmmaking friend
asked me what I found the most frustrating about being
an ultra-low budget filmmaker. I confessed that the most
frustrating thing was the fact that, because I make films
on such low budgets, I have to involve all my friends
and family in making my films. The reason this is a bad
thing is because, when I'm done with the film, there's
no one to proof or review my film with any intelligence
who isn't already involved with-and therefore biased toward-the
film. Which means that I have to submit films to festivals
and distributors without an unbiased critique of my films
from someone who knows what they're talking about. And
festivals and distributors never send you a critique-they
just tell you if they'll accept your work or not, with
no explanation given if they don't like your film.
My
friend then asked me if I couldn't provide this service
to other filmmakers, since it's such a frustration to
me. I realized he was correct…I could provide that
service. I am especially suited to this task because,
in addition to myself, I have a group of filmmakers here
that are professional reviewers…who are tired of
the repetitive garbage of Hollywood and long to review
new work from fresh voices. And, to make our critiques
as beneficial as possible, our site will actually review
your film up to three times if you make any changes after
our initial review(s). We also provide links to trailers,
websites, and contact information for any studios that
might be looking to pick up your film.
Down
the road, we are also hoping to enlist the assistance
of well-known Indie producing companies. Our mid-range
goal is that the top three reviewed films each year would
get a production deal from one of these larger companies.
Our
eventual goal is quite simply to become the one-stop website
for ultra-low budget filmmakers and people looking to
purchase ultra-low budget films. Whereas sites like Mandy.com
provide just your contact information and a synopsis of
your film as you see it, our site will provide an impartial
review of your movie which helps encourage would-be release
agencies to request your film for consideration--plus
the reviews provide professional quotes that you can put
on your film's home page and press releases. To help connect
us all as a community of filmmakers, we will eventually
incorporate a community bulletin-board section so that
more experienced filmmakers can mentor and help less experienced
filmmakers along. I also intend to get special guest writers
from the professional gaffing, film correcting, and special
effects houses in Hollywood to give tips and tricks on
things like lighting, color-correction, and special effects
on ultra-low budget films.
