Dumbworld: A Sacramento Based Blog on Entertainment, Media and Art

Good hip-hop music- and did I mention that it is free.

I first met Mike Carroll about a year into my own attempt at becoming a filmmaker.  He came out and did a story for KCRA 3 on a feature film that I was camera operator on.  I never saw the story but I remember my mom calling and leaving a frantic message on my voicemail that she had seen me on the news.  You have to love moms.  Without my mom, I don’t think I would have any fans.  But I digress.

After the feature wrapped, I came across Mike’s first “one man” film, Year.  I was blown away.  Here was an excellent film, shot on the same camera that I owned (a DVX-100B), on a very small budget, by one person.  I emailed Mike, and he was very cool and down to earth. He was very forthcoming and helpful with advice.  We stayed in touch, he sent me the script for his second feature, Nightbeats before he started shooting it, and he even had me out to shoot some behind the scenes for Nightbeats (part of the making of Nightbeats is here). Both Year and Nightbeats are available on Amazon.

Mike recently released a book on his “one man” filmmaking process called Naked Filmmaking: How To Make A Feature-Length Film – Without A Crew – For $10,000 Or Less.  I haven’t got a chance to check the book out yet, but it is available on Amazon.com.  See the video below for an interview with Mike about the book on KCRA Channel 3.

embedded by Embedded Video

Also, Mike is leading a Sacramento Filmmaker- Cameraman Meetup on Sunday, June 27th on the west steps of the capitol, with the goal of people bringing their cameras or interest in cameras and sharing information.  Go to his website nakedfilmmaking.com for more information.

If you haven’t checked out a New Media Webinar you really should.  Lots of up to date information from industry professionals, they give away free stuff, and best of all the webinars are free (as long as you catch them live).

On June 17th they are having a free webinar on using a DSLR like a pro (Also, check out their webinar on DSLR post-production workflow):

Peter Cote, host of “The DSLR Show“, will identify the limitations of DSLRs as a filmmaking tool and how to work around them to make your project look and feel like it was produced by Hollywood.

[vimeo

DSLR Show - Rolling Shutter - Episode 4 from Conscious Minds Productions on Vimeo.

nolink]

Every year, the first Saturday in May is Free Comic Book Day.  Participating stores give out free comics to anybody who comes in.  See the Free Comic Book Day site to find a store near you.

My favorite for now are the Mad Decent Worldwide Radio podcasts, and they are free.  It’s been described as NPR for the streets. (more…)