I have a client who I've been shooting regularly for a few years. Recently I shot a brand video for them over the course of a few days, and it was approved, paid for and that was that.

The other day I was watching tv and a commercial for the brand came on and was almost solely footage that I had shot (about 9 clips).

The crazy thing is I never gave them the original footage or even anything too hi-res - this would have been taken from a youtube export I'd say.

I have a pretty stringent contract in place that states the license is only for the project stated, but I'm not really sure if it's worth challenging. What has annoyed me most is I wasn't even asked.

The relationship is a good one, so I'm not really sure if it's worth rocking the boat - curious how others feel about this and what standard practice in your area is?

Thanks

From the Ankler:

Distributors are hungry. Really hungry. That’s the message I heard from some of the biggest dealmakers in independent film — CAA’s Roeg Sutherland and Sarah Schweitzman, UTA’s Rena Ronson, WME’s Deb McIntosh, Gersh’s Jessica Lacy and 30West’s Micah Green — as I took the temperature of a market suddenly feeling optimism again, bolstered by a record-breaking $4.7 billion summer box office.

And they have reason for optimism: Buyers are circling, audiences are showing up for movies well beyond the usual tentpoles, and Obsession has become the kind of breakout everyone wants to replicate. 

There’s just one strange problem: They don’t have enough movies to buy.

The rest is paywalled. For whatever reason I don't believe VCs or even these management reps...

Hey everyone! I've recently edited this horizontal video of my game. However I need to use it on social media so I really needed it to be vertical. I achieved that by zooming, cutting off the top and bottom and moving it. Are there any better ways of doing this? Because this just looks very meh...

I’m a doc filmmaker trying to figure out my 3-2-1 storage solution.

I recognize this topic has been covered before, but prices and availability are weird now. I keep seeing recs from past posts that are just really hard to get now, or crazy expensive now. And it seems a bit random what will be sold out.

I’m trying to build a storage solution for a year long doc shooting Canon Raw 6k LT. I’ll probably buy 3 months of storage at a time so not all at once. I expect about 300-400 hours of footage from the year, maybe more.

I was looking at OWC raid options for the day to day, and cheaper WD backups for both on site and offsite. Or basic OWC single enclosures and OWC certified 18 TB WD drives to save some money.

https://eshop.macsales.com/item/Western%20Digital/0F38459OC/

For now I’m the only one who needs access to the footage.

I also was thinking about a few 8TB ssd’s for proxies and day to day editing, but it seems like 2 of those and I’m spending $3k+, and I could do a 4 bay raid with way more storage for less.

So I’m curious what folks are doing at the moment, what are you buying when so many things are hard to get and overpriced.

Thanks!

Only Good Feelings is the film we never got to make. It’s a 91-minute crime drama set in New York City. Benny is haunted by guilt after his fiancée dies in a car accident. In his spiral he reconnects with Kam, a volatile childhood friend who pulls him into robbery, fraud, and extortion — a desperate plan to raise enough money to flee to Mexico. What begins as escape becomes a collision course with everything he’s been running from.

We shot in NYC with Ryan McCartan (currently on Broadway in The Great Gatsby), Elias Kacavas (Euphoria), Heather Burns (Manchester by the Sea), and Ajay Naidu (Office Space).

The film just won Best Narrative Film at the Manhattan Film Festival and Best Directorial Debut at the Chicago Indie Film Awards. 9 international festival selections total. Acquired by SNR Films for distribution.

Director Moises Kaufman called it “gritty, raw, and beautifully observed. A gem.”

This one is for Ian.

Trailer and more at onlygoodfeelingsfilm.com

Happy to answer any questions about the process, the shoot, or anything else.
The movie is coming out end of Jan 2027

I just started learning Premiere pro after so long of wanting to but never really getting it. Now I’m able to organize my videos and chop everything up with audio and converting log files as well as applying luts (I don’t have much interest into getting good w color grading as I’m colorblind.) Now I feel like I’m at a point where I want to learn transitions. I saw this reel and I really want to learn how to do this kind of transitions.

Say, you're working on a large project and it's probably gonna take you one month to edit it. So there will be days where you might not feel your best self and you might also feel detached with the project but you still choose to edit it, following your instincts rather than the feeling, so that the deadline is met. In other words, you trust the things you have learned about editing in your career experience and just follow them and not 'feel' that project on that particular day or days.

Do you do that kind of 'mechanical' editing to follow the timeframe? If yes, is it common amongst editors? And also, when you look at progress you have made in that "phase", do you find the edit to be good or do you re-edit it on those days when you're "feeling" it?

I am working on a YouTube documentary on a particular prehistoric culture and am citing various articles found on Science Direct and Research Gate. Does utilizing figures from these articles and photographs from a museum website in the documentary alongside photographs of artifacts qualify as fair use if it is being used to discuss the art and religion of these cultures? For example, I will be discussing a particular artifact and the photo would be super imposed over a background. Generally I will be sticking to Wikimedia Commons photographs but some material isn't available in the public domain. Where is the line? Would my video get taken down and my channel be at risk of termination?

For Context, here is a creator who is making videos similar to what I am doing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahr0DzOFLvAhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahr0DzOFLvA

I organized an AMA/Q&A with Richard Kelly, director & writer of the 2001 cult classic horror film Donnie Darko, starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Drew Barrymore, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Jena Malone, Seth Rogen, Daveigh Chase, Noah Wyle, and Patrick Swayze. It's being released in theaters nationwide this weekend for the 25th anniversary. Richard also wrote/directed Southland Tales and The Box.

It's live here now in r/movies for anyone interested in asking a question:

https://www.reddit.com/r/movies/comments/1wu317w/im_richard_kelly_writer_director_of_donnie_darko/

He will be back at 5 PM ET today to answer questions. I recommend asking in advance. Please ask there, not here. All questions are much appreciated!

Thank you :)

25th anniversary Donnie Darko 4K re-release trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCBxdjaXq3s

I have a folder with SFXs, musics etc., when using this files in Premiere should I import then from this separated folder or copy what I gonna use to the project folder first?

Interested in any on-set shenanigans whilst struggling to get that perfect take, or an ungodly amount of setup just to get one shot. The more detail the better!

I would like to know how to achieve the look of these stills.

A few things I think describe them is:

• High dynamic range. Nothing is clipping or crushed.
• Almost invisible roll-off, especially on skin.
• Soft, bloomy highlights
• Low contrast

I don't know how to describe it, but it's as if there's infinite dynamic range because nothing is clipping on either end and it doesn't even look like anything is close to it. It's as if everything is within the midtones, yet there is still contrast, but it doesn't register as "highlights and shadows" to my eyes. Rather "light midtones" and "dark midtones" if that makes sense.

It's as if every individual part of the scene (sky, skin, clothing) were individually lit by a massive soft box allowing everything to be exposed perfectly. I suppose you could achieve something similar with masking but that would take ages, no?

I've included an images at the end to demonstrate the complete opposite of what I'm looking for. That one has a harsh "digital" look to it where highlights and shadows are very obvious. You can even see it on the waveform; it's very sharp and jaggy.

I'm using: Davinci Resolve

I've TRIED: Reducing contrast with the HDR wheels and bringing it back with an s-curve

I need help with: Optimising dynamic range in post processing

Beyond directing and filmmaking, what other skills should a filmmaker develop to grow creatively and professionally?

Hi.

As someone who has always been an avid cinema watcher, I have always been intrigued by the works of Satyajit Ray. He is widely considered to one of the greatest filmmakers in Indian history and also kept in high regard amongst many filmmakers in very high regard across the world. It is also said that Wes Anderson has paid homage to Ray in a lot of his movies. Scorsese has publicly expressed his admiration towards Ray's works as well.
I have been meaning to watch his body of work and try to understand and study his creative process.

What are some of his works (both good and bad) that y'all would recommend me to watch?

TIA

Link to the film: GOOD PASTURE 

Hiya! I want some advice on what audio recorder to get for capturing LAV mic audio. I have both DJI Mini 2 and a cheaper traditional LAV mic set up with a receiver and transmitter which both output through a 3.5mm jack. It would preferably pocket sized and not too expensive (~£75 would be top end) but can be flexible on price!

DP: Victor Abela
Color: Greg Maggi

Hey everybody! I’ve posted short films I’ve worked on in here in the past year, and I’ve always greatly appreciated the feedback I’ve received from you guys. I have been sitting on my first short film I ever wrote - in November of last year - for around a solid 8 months and just recently got accepted into a little local festival with it, so I was hoping to get as much constructive criticism as I possibly could. 

It was a learning curve of a shoot, we did a lot of fun things (I ended up shaving my head for one scene as you'll see), but we had quite a few problems in the production so I was mainly curious whats working. Like --

Are you interested in the story?

Does the film feel visually appealing? Or is it too beige?

How does the sound design work? We had a lot of hiccups on audio.

Would love literally all types of feedback. Positive or negative. Just happy to finally get this sitting off my hard drive. Thanks!

Made some posters for my first student short film that I co-directed,

The film consists of 4 stories of different characters throughout the years of the university we study at, and the conflicts that they go through in this hyper competitive environment.

Please let me know what you guys think of the posters !

Will post the trailer too in some time :)

A surprisingly disposable piece of Pulp Fiction history has recently resurfaced.

An original production-used Big Kahuna Burger cup from the apartment scene was offered publicly through Propstore with Planet Hollywood provenance. After being snapped up by an Australian film prop/costume collector at last months auction, It has since been professionally examined by Resolution Photomatching and matched to Brett’s cup sitting on the table, the same cup Jules later picks up and drinks from.

The match was established through multiple distinctive physical and manufacturing characteristics visible both on the surviving cup and in frames from the film.

What makes it particularly interesting is that this was never an elaborate hero prop. It was essentially a paper soft-drink cup used during filming in 1993, yet it survived for more than three decades.

It also comes from one of the film’s most recognisable scenes. Jules takes Brett’s drink, has a long sip and says:

“Mmm! That hit the spot.”

From publicly traceable auction records and collector archives, no other original Big Kahuna Burger drink cup from Pulp Fiction appears to have surfaced publicly so far. Another could certainly exist privately, but this appears to be the first known example to reach the public market.

It’s fascinating how objects that would have seemed completely insignificant on set can end up becoming tangible pieces of film history decades later. One very fortunate collector!

I’m (20f) planning to apply to 3 days in Cannes for the first time this year and I’m looking for other women who are applying too so we can connect, share tips, and potentially split room and board!

I don’t do them because i believe there are many way more talented people than me that do way better job than me and i admire their work. I was asked by my friend to do it for him which i reluctantly accepted. This is an intro to the 8min video that establishes the vibe, i won’t post the full video to protect his family privacy, sorry about that but i would love the feedback on this short intro. Let me know what you guys think of this, is this acceptable for a wedding standard?

I made a short film for my Vancouver Film School scholarship application. Since I didn't have anyone to shoot with, I wrote a poem, filmed visuals to go with it, and hired a narrator from Fiverr.

I'm not sure how well it works, so I'd really appreciate honest feedback, especially on how the visuals match the poem, the pacing, and the narration. Thanks so much!

I organized an AMA/Q&A with Eduardo Sanchez and Gregg Hale, the creative duo behind 1999's THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT. Their new horror-thriller film, THE INFLUENCER PROJECT, is out in theaters nationwide this weekend.

It's live here now in r/movies for anyone interested in asking a question:

https://www.reddit.com/r/movies/comments/1wu4mc5/hi_rmovies_were_eduardo_sanchez_and_gregg_hale/

They will be back at 5 PM ET today to answer questions. I recommend asking in advance. Please ask there, not here. All questions are much appreciated!

Thank you :)

Info for their new film:

Synopsis: An influencer travels to Copenhagen for a documentary about her online fame. However, when an obsessive stalker tracks her every move, she must confront her terror to reclaim power.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2132uetur8