Pan Left Productions

Since things have been somewhat slow on the blog I thought I would start a new "category," something others can contribute to over time: Tips and Tricks. As we were discussing at the last Pan Left meeting, there should be more skillsharing and "quality control" within our collective - constructive feedback on works in progress, mentoring, checklists, and the like. This helps us all improve and also keep the Pan Left name as a mark of something people know is great.

Part of that should be helpful little bits of advice that could be shared to assist each other to become better at our craft. Anything from ways to look at video philosophically, to practical stuff like "treat your mastertapes carefully. On a big project, dub everything to VHS and then use the dubs to do your paper logging and showing other people raw footage. Don't keep playing your masters, they'll wear out, or be at risk of damage or loss."

With that explanation I'll start with a meta-tip: beware of tipsters who want to SELL their tips to you. There are many people in the industry who want to market their "howto" guide or book of movie biz wisdom - some of them are truly wise and offering useful information, but others are just trying to make a fast buck. Many of them have websites, from which you can get lots of free tips and then decide if it's worth it to buy their book. I just ran across one such site, a blog at http://filmdirectingtips.com - another one I saw recently was about the craft of story and screenwriting: http://www.blakesnyder.com/

Overall, go with names you trust and people whose work you admire, and stuff recommended by people you know and trust. And like with anything, take advice with a grain of salt and confirm it with your own experience. If it works, keep it in your arsenal.

Here's a list of books I've found to be useful (and one that I haven't read yet but definitely want to) and relevant to making videos and films:
http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/585893?shelf=filmmaking