Sacramento Film Festival Workshop

The Sacramento Film Festival ( www.sacramentofilmfestival.com ) begins soon...at the end of this month. In case you didn't know, the Festival does more than showcase movies. There are also many great workshops by movie people from far and wide. These are some very good deals for $20. One in particular coming up Thursday, April 3rd, I will be one of two panel members for "Film School 101-- Feature Films at Shorts Prices".
We're going to talk about making movies on the cheap...but they don't have to look cheap. I've made over 8 short movies in the past 5 years or so...most all award winners... and we didn't spend more than a couple hundred dollars on any of them. I've also shot a full length feature in the past few years... The budget there was maybe $10,000...and it looked darned good, if I do say so myself. That's related to what I'll be talking about. But wait...There's more!
I'm going to actually be giving the attendees some of my actual projected budgets for two or three new full length features The Studio Center will be producing. This is information I rarely share except with investors... I'll tell you how you can make a good looking movie for very little dollars. So see you at Film School 101 at 2:00 p.m Thursday April 3rd @ the 24th st Green Room.

We Made The Business Journals Top 25 List

Take a look at today's (3-21-08) issue of the Sacramento Business Journal... We came in as the 8th largest video production company in town. I must admit I looked at the list with a bit of a chuckle... OK, outright laughter in many cases. I haven't seen so much fibbing since the last Bush speech! If you believe most of those numbers, I've got a slightly used bridge over the American River I can make you a real good deal on. Especially #1 KVIE Media... They put the numbers for the whole station in, not the dollar amount generated by KVIE Media. And oh yeah, KVIE Media employs 60 people... How about 1 or 2 is more like it. My only regret is that I didn't lie enough! The challenge The Business Journal had was trying to figure out some way to rank video production companies. They went to their only formula which is Gross Dollars & Employees. But I don't think you can rank video production companies realistically that way. But granted, another formula (like number & type of productions) would take way too much time for the paper to do. So I guess the message is: If I want to move up the list next year... Lie Bigger!

Chromakey over the Web

Big trend these days (in case you didn't notice) is chomakey video over the web. Just in this week was Bob Murray and Tonya Rizzo from Trapeze,LTD. doing segments for a really cool bit for SureWest for a web presentation. Can't wait to see how the composite will look.
That's why we've recently purchased the new Sony EX1... because it gives a superb picture when doing web chromakeys. Fred Casanova, our ace editor, has perfected the chromakey process for the web... which is a mixture of technology, art, and voodoo. Unfortunately, it's not a "one button" process. We use different chromakey programs (FCP Keyers, After Effects, DV Matte Blast, Primatte, and Apple's Shake) for different camera framings and compositions since each has it's strengths and weaknesses. Maybe we can get Fred to talk about this... once we can get him to stop playing with the voodoo chicken bones.

How'd Ya Like That Spam?

Yes, I did spam a bunch of you. But it was in the interest of getting you here once in awhile. It actually worked. I had the opportunity to be contacted by a bunch of you I haven't been in touch with for quite a while. That was great!

Even people like director Rusty Nelson, who is still living in LA, and recently directed a project with Corbin Bernsen. I hated to tell him that Corbin and I go way back (You can see my hair was darker in the photo on the left).

Corbin was at The Studio Center a few years back doing an industrial and he and I had lunch on the back dock dining al fresco.

So Rusty, be sure and send my hello's to ole Corbby for me will ya?

First In A Long Series...Hopefully!

Well...Isn't this special! Frank's first blog. I guess we'll light a candle on the cake...or in a church...whatever! As I get better at this, I'll be posting my observations, questions, solutions...and of course, Opinions!... regarding the Video and Movie goings-on in the Sacramento Area.
As many of you know, I've been a video & film professional for nearly 40 years, and making a full time living at it for the past20 years here in Sacramento. The Studio Center will celebrate it's 11th anniversary this summer . Wow, does time fly when you're havin' fun!
So I hope you can check back often to find out "what the heck is he talking about now?"...