Cynematik • Cyndi Greening

Mike Curtis at HD for INDIES has been posting a lot of really valuable production information. Curtis stays on the “bleeding edge” so you don’t have to!! Some of the recent pieces include:

• Considering Digital Intermediate for your Film?

• Encoding Differences on Macintosh
• White Paper on Digital Intermediate
• Magic Bullet 2 Releasing

Blogroll or bookmark his site. The information is great! Curtis was one of the first reviewers of the Sony HRV-Z1 (which automatically moves him up in my eyes!)

Avoiding Distribution Hurdles

He also found a great site about the REAL costs that confront documentary filmmakers when they shoot first and get the rights later. This goes along with something I had previously reported about the film TARNATION, also an award-winning Sundance film. Coverage always begins with something like “Produced with consumer-grade software for a grand total of $218.32 (the cost of videotapes and a pair of angel wings), Jonathan Caouette’s film-festival circuit hit “Tarnation” is redefining the concept of low-budget filmmaking.” Then the REAL story is revealed: Clearances should catapult its budget to about $400,000!. Rights clearance is no small hurdle on the road to theatrical release for this film and the distributor is facing steep distribution costs.