With Christmas (and Hanukkah) nearly upon us, we have compiled a list of gift ideas for the documentary filmmaker or fan in your life. Netflix Subscription – $4.99 a month and up ($59.88 + for a year) This one is easy and cheap. Netflix has a broad selection of independent […]
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Benefiting From Your Doc Community
By Tessa Moran While LA is central to fiction filmmaking, New York City is considered the capital for documentaries. And so I’ve often been asked why I don’t move to the big apple to pursue my dream. My simple answer: why not make films anywhere else? After all, the “set” […]
Copies, Copies Everywhere.
By Ben Crosbie Ok, so you’ve finished your masterpiece – color corrected until your eyes watered and sound edited until your dog could no longer hear that slight hiss in the audio – but finally your life’s greatest work is complete. All that remains is producing a bunch of copies […]
Arriving at a rough cut via script mid-edit
By Tessa Moran We’ve finally completed a rough cut of Keeping the Kibbutz after 8 months of editing! Admittedly, the project had been put on hold as we were busy with full-time jobs and paying gigs like our recently completed short Making Mothers. But in recent weeks, as our other […]
Reminder: Documentary Filmmaking is a Business
By Tessa Moran The work of a documentary filmmaker does not end when the final cut is set. Rather, his work has just begun. Now the film needs to be packaged, marketed and disseminated. After all, one’s film would have been produced in vain if it is never shown to the public. […]
“Making Mothers” To Premiere October 19
We are proud to announce the world premiere of our latest film Making Mothers! The short documentary, commissioned by the DC Birth Center, is set to premiere Sunday, October 19, 8 pm at Busboys and Poets on 14th Street in NW Washington, DC. Making Mothers captures the lives of two […]
The Short Subject Gets the Spotlight at Upcoming Film Festival
By Tessa Moran The short film is slowly finding its niche in today’s era of limited attention spans, especially this weekend as a bevy of modern shorts are set to screen in Washington. Thursday through Sunday, a total of 102 films will screen at the fifth annual DC Shorts Festival. The films range between […]
Review – “Man on Wire”
By Tessa Moran On an August morning over thirty years ago, Frenchman Phillippe Petit walked a tightrope illegally rigged between the two towers of the World Trade Center in New York City. “Dancing” midair, some witnesses recalled. No net lay below to catch him; no harness to prevent him from falling. […]
Filming life, literally as it happens
By Tessa Moran One of the greatest challenges in making documentary films is establishing a story line. It’s what propels the film along and what keeps viewers interested. The easiest way to establish a story line is to film a character when he or she is involved in some sort of event or contest. […]
Review – “Bulletproof Salesman”
By Tessa Moran “The Real Iron Man,” one viewer called the documentary Bulletproof Salesman during a Q&A following the film’s screening at the Silverdocs Film Festival. He was encouraging the filmmakers to take on the concept as a marketing avenue for the film. Q&A at these events often turns into an unwelcomed […]
Review – “Bigger, Stronger, Faster*”
By Tessa Moran In America, success is earned when one works hard and plays by the rules. At least that’s what Arnold Schwarzenegger says, the Austrian body-builder turned actor turned Governor of California. Success was certainly in his cards, but whether he played by the rules is questionable, especially as […]
A New Project.
By Tessa Moran We’ve recently been hired to make a documentary about an independent birth center in NE Washington, DC. It is the only independent birthing center in the district that provides gynecological, obstetric and pediatric health care services to low-income women and their families. The film will focus on […]