No matter the aspect, whether acting, directing, producing or any other host of related fields of independent film making, the perfect venue for the up and comer or veteran is the independent film festival. Below is a list of internationally held film festivals for cinephiles.

The Sundance Film Festival
Held in January annually in Park City, Utah this festival is the largest independent festival of cinema in the United States. In order to raise awareness about independent films, Robert Redford founded this festival in 1978, attracting aspiring Oscar winners of tomorrow and Hollywood’s biggest executives.

Cannes Film Festival
France’s most prestigious and oldest film festival, also referred to as the Festival de Cannes is held annually in Cannes, France in May. In addition to high profile industry executives, this festival boasts 150 selected screenings, galas, and food markets.

Hong Kong International Film Festival
The largest cultural event in Hong Kong with crowds of 600,000 at 11 different venues. Held in March and April.

Venice International Film Festival
The worlds oldest film festival with 275 screenings for up to 50,000.

Toronto International Film Festival
One of the most prestigious film festivals in the world, screening 336 films from 64 countries, covers 10 days with crowds pushing up to 500,000.

Melbourne International Film Festival
As the most influential film event in Australia attracting up to 170,000, it screens 385 films from over 50 countries.

Wild & Scenic Environmental Film Festival
Held in January, this is a festival for activists by activists. The largest event of its kind on the West Coast of the United States.

To name a few, these independent film festivals are some of the largest held internationally. For more information on these and many more check your local listings

By visiting Los Angeles or New York City, you can see locations used in some of the most popular films of all time. In Los Angeles, for instance, you can drive down Sunset Boulevard, Mulholland Drive or Laurel Canyon, all of which have been used as movie titles and settings. You can also visit buildings captured on film, including the Las Palmas Hotel, used as the home of Julia Roberts’ character in Pretty Woman, the Regent Beverly Wilshire, where she hooked up with Richard Gere’s character, and Rodeo Drive, where the movie’s famous shopping scene takes place.

In New York, you can see locations of classic films like Taxi Driver, Shaft, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, When Harry Met Sally, and most of Woody Allen’s film work. You can also visit famous landmarks, like the Statue of Liberty, the Empire State Building, Times Square and Central Park, all used in a number of movies, as well as the New York Public Library, major setting in movies like Ghostbusters and The Day After Tomorrow.

If your favorite films are foreign, you’ll likely have to travel overseas to visit the film’s locations. If you’ll be travelling overseas, you might as well make it a luxury tour. Harry Potter fans, for instance, can get a full fan experience by visiting the Warner Brothers Studios in Leavesden outside of London.

Though movie filming is common in Los Angeles, New York and London though, filming takes place all over the country and the world. The holiday classic A Christmas Story, for instance, was filmed in Cleveland, Ohio.
So, if you want to visit some movie locations near your home, check with your local film office. You may find some movies were filmed right in your own backyard and won’t have to travel far at all to visit a movie location.

First thing that has to be done in order to make a movie is get the materials needed for the project. Theses materials include:
1. Actors
2. Script
3. Lighting Equipment
4. Video Camera
5. Memory Card
6. Microphones
7. Tripod
8. Dolly
9. Editing Software
10. DV Cable
Once you have all of your equipment you have to go through the production process. Here is an outline of what needs to be done during the production process:

Step #1: Create a script.
Step #2: Cast your movie.
Holding local auditions in your area is great for a movie with a less than impressive budget.
Step #3: Set up locations for filming.
Step #4: Prepare equipment.
Make sure that you have extra batteries and the correct power cords.
Step #5: Set up lighting, microphones and overall sets for filming.
Step #6: Rehearse scenes.
Step #7: Film scenes.
It is best to film the scenes in such an order that will make the editing process easier.

Once filming is complete, the post-production of your movie begins. This is when your scenes transform into an actual movie and the final additions can be added. During post-production editing is done as well as other final changes such as special effects and burning you movie onto DVD if you have plans of distributing your film.
Making your own movie is a fun project for anyone interested in filmmaking. It is a great idea for anyone who wants to make his or her mark as a filmmaker. Once all the work is done you will have a complete movie to distribute to contests and festivals. Good luck!

The movie goer can save money on movies if he knows how. The first thing he may want to do is to see if there are drive in theaters in his area. The drive in theaters only operate during the warmer months, but they give a movie goer the chance to see summer blockbusters without paying the high cost of the theater tickets.

Summer offers the highest amount of blockbusters of any season, but there is a second blockbuster season that occurs around the holidays. If someone wants to see a movie during Christmas, he cannot rely on seeing it at a drive in theater. He can still save money. He can save money by seeing a matinee. If he wants to save even more money, he can get a coupon for the cinema.

The price of admission is the most important cost of seeing any movie, but it is not where the movie theaters make most of their money. Movie theaters make most of their money off of concessions. One of the best way to save money on movies is not to buy snacks from the concession stand.

If a movie enthusiast is willing to wait for the movie to come out to DVD, he can save even more money. The cost of a rental is much less than the cost of a movie ticket.

Rotten Tomatoes:

This website is the top website for movie reviews. The website stands out by involving fan interaction. Vote for the favorite movies and it will factor in to the final results. If the results is over 60% of total votes it’s ‘fresh’ or a must see. Below that it’s called ‘rotten.’ Also read detailed reviews of the movie linked from top critics and audience watchers.

Roger Ebert:

This website gets two thumbs up for great movie reviews. Teaming up with the Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert personally gives his thoughts on movies as only he can–with honest and unbiased reviews. He grades the movie with stars and invites the fans to grade it too. And if the reviews are too long for you there is a shorter one-minute version that’s worth checking out.

Metacritic:

This website is another go-to destination for movie reviews. This standout website collects every movie review and places them on one easy to read page. They gather reviews from critics and audience watchers and allow the people to rank them from best to worst. Also the movies are ranked and color coded with green being good, yellow being maybe and red meaning bad.

Filmcritic:

It may not be quite as famous as the first three but still a website worth checking out. The sister site of websites amctv.com and filmsite.org has a presentable and neat layout complete with detailed information, trailers, photos and a review of any given movie. The ratings scale has a competitive approach pitting the critics vs. you vs other users. Check out the critic’s credentials and comment on their movie reviews.

Movies.com:

The obvious sounding place to go for movie reviews actually gives out reviews. The review section has two critics just for the website and in a competitive manner pits their opinions against each other and other critics. Thanks to fandango fans can post their own reviews too.

There’s no need to waste money on movies that aren’t worth watching. Try any of these movie review websites. They check out the movies so you won’t have to.

There are many different types of film and video editing equipments out in the world today, but some are better than others. Enough though the world revolves around digital editing, there is still good reasons to take a good-hard look at all options available for film equipment. In the past there was film splicing, which just rearranges most of the film. Then, there’s tape to tape editing, which used a linear editing machine to record blank tape on a recorder. Next, there’s digital computer, which records video footage onto a hard drive, then it the video footage is edited using specialized software like Final Cut Pro or Adobe.

Looking a the conventional camera, it has 3 different elements that make it tick. First, the optical lens is a component that is a considered to be a curved piece of glass and/or plastic. That lens, in essence, is an instrument that takes beams of light and rebounds it off an object, therefore redirecting the light towards the camera person’s eye, where it can be recorded into a pixel. The film, second, has the job to record this beam of light and make it chemically recorded on a pattern or image. Every film as a collection of holes, or light sensitive grains, that in turn help to produce and record the light by chemically reacting to it. Lastly, the when unused light is in excess, a film will get a washed-out feeling, and not enough light will make a film too dark. The optimal solution is to having the light come in perfectly, giving the exact pixels of the portraying light. For dark situations, this requires more light, for light situations, it means less light.

Setting your exposure longer will capture more light, but could make it dark if messed up. A digital camera works very similar to this concept of a regular film strip camera. It still uses images to record light, and has lens to capture vibrate scenes. Instead of using film to record, however, it uses a semiconductor that captures light electronically in 1s and 0s. This makes for much more convenience, because chemically processing film takes a long time and can be a painstaking process to any individual. All photos that look good are usually from digital cameras, because there is less room for error and shots look better. Professional photographers are more into digital than film, and digital is the way of the future.

If you know a screenwriter with a good script, you may not need to write your own script. Writing your own script, however, gives you the ultimate control over the project, allowing you to play to your strengths. If you know how to create very realistic special effects, for instance, you can write numerous effects into the script. If you work well in comedy, on the other hand, you can write a comedic screenplay. Writing the script yourself also allows you to keep the settings within locations you already have available to you. If you have a house, for example, you could write a script set entirely in and around the house.

The next step to becoming a film director is to make your own film. Most successful independent filmmakers suggest making the best movie that you can for the money that you have available to you. If you have only a small amount of money, you may want to attempt making a short film first, which runs considerably cheaper than making a feature. You may also want to borrow additional money for a feature or better-funded short so that you can make the best possible project. The goal is to make a project good enough to get into film festivals and garner good buzz.

Once you have a film in the can, you must either edit the film yourself or work with an editor to get the finished project that you desire. After you clean the project up as much as possible, it’s time to get your film seen. Do this by submitting your film to festivals or putting your film on video-sharing sites. Once you make more than one film, edit clips of your film together to create a reel just like that of an actor to showcase your directing and get as many people as possible to see view your work.