Hey there, ShoHawk readers! We have some really exciting announcements, and a few changes you’ll see around here, but first let’s get some context. SHOHAWK TODAY ShoHawk is almost a year old, and we continue being blown away by the growing relationships we’ve made with all of you! Creating this site and throwing ourselves into creating online filmmaking resources has become a real passion; we’re excited to continue. Your readership and support is a gift and we’re excited to continue fostering that! SHOHAWK TOMORROW We’re really proud of the content we post and you’ve all given us great motivation to keep moving. And move ahead, we are. As our readership and subscribership grows, we continue scouring for what we can give you that you don’t already have. The internet is full of information. This upcoming second year is going to be a big one for ShoHawk, and all of you coming along for the ride. From the beginning, ShoHawk’s M.O. has been to make movies and careers, … [Read more...]

Louie, Louie, Louie, LOOOOUIE. Louis C.K. is a lot of things. Comedian, filmmaker, auteur, and expert marketer. Wait, what? Ohhh, marketer -- no, no Louis is NOT a marketer you're saying to yourself. Louis is a pure comedian who shoots from the hip. He is so anti-marketing, it's not even funny. Well, my friends, you're wrong. Louis has built a persona around not caring about marketing and just putting his stuff out to the internet. It's true, he does often post his stuff online without much fanfare. Most recently he created the much talked about show Horace and Pete, which he self financed and self-distributed through his website louisck.net. In 2011 he put out a stand up special directly on his website, and last year he did the same thing with Louis C.K.: Live at the Comedy Store. The Hollywood Reporter stated, "The special cost virtually nothing to make, was sold for $5 a pop and grossed a reported — and astounding — $4.5 million in the first two days after it was posted. … [Read more...]

Read this if you are: • A director • A writer • An actor Mike introduced me to Podcasts many years back, and I didn’t glom onto them immediately. It wasn’t until he introduced me to WTF with Marc Maron in 2011-2012. I became completely addicted to it, marathoning episodes during post-production on my film Light. Slowly but surely, I began seeking out other podcasts, building a sizeable library of subscribed programming I liked. Many of these below are directly relevant to filmmaking, while others may not have a direct correlation, but can deliver valuable lessons that will positively impact a filmmaker’s artistic aspirations and/or career. We have some podcasts listed on our Resource page, here, but I wanted to do a deeper dive for all of you who love consuming information via audio, and this article will be linked there as well. None of these appear on that page. So, here are my top Podcasts for filmmakers to check out, in no particular order: 1) WTF WITH MARC … [Read more...]

Here are my favorite film industry and production articles + videos from around the internet from the last month. There is an awful lot of junk to sort through every month, so I’ve broken down my favorite articles and videos to help cut through the noise. VIDEOS Louis CK's Top 10 Rules For Success   Short ass Tutorials - extremely short editing tutorials that are straight to the point. Advanced Color Correction: Vectorscopes 4 Toy Lenses under 30$ you can use for weird effects How to End a Movie Actor Tom Hanks dedicates Tom Hanks Center for Motion Pictures ARTICLES David Fincher’s Custom RED Xenomorph for Netflix’s “Mindhunter”: Here's what David Fincher's custom RED looks like for his new NetFlix show. It has: RED Weapon Dragon 6K Sensor Technology 7.0″ LCD Touch Paralinx wireless video Extended WiFi/Foolcontrol antenna array RT Motion Lens Motor Control Zaxcom wireless audio and timecode Anton Bauer Gold Mount … [Read more...]

Read this if you are: • An Independent Producer • A Freelance Videographer • A Director of Photography Exploding in popularity for everything from sports videography and recreational use, to ecommerce delivery, drones are becoming a fixture of modern life. In 2015, over $260 million in commercial drones were sold, and double that amount is forecasted for 2016. We can all expect to see more drones in the air and it’s safe to say they’ll become somewhat of a regularity in the sky as years press on. Drones, or remote controlled copters carrying cameras, are phasing out helicopter shots, relegating them to an expensive thing of the past, and opening up aerial videography to the masses. This unearths mounds of possibilities for filmmakers, both monetarily and artistically. Epic overhead footage is no longer reserved for Hollywood blockbusters. But with great privilege comes great responsibility. DRONES FOR FILMMAKERS Most filmmakers are aware of drone’s value … [Read more...]

Production is a tough business to learn. Of course you can go to film school to learn film theory and camera techniques, but the nuts and bolts of running a shoot, it’s tough to find a teacher. Most people assume the only way you can learn is by being on set and watching how the machine runs. This is the way I learned, and this is the way everyone I know learned. A couple weeks ago I got the chance to hit up the AICP (THE ASSOCIATION OF INDEPENDENT COMMERCIAL PRODUCERS) seminar, and I was blown away. Everything I had learned (and more) by years of being on set had been condensed into a two-day workshop. I had walked in with low expectations, hoping I would glean a few things here or there, but was floored by the two days. The two days consisted of five sections, outlining the production process. This seminar was technically for commercial specific productions, but nearly all of it can be transferred to indie filmmaking. PART 1: CREW AND LABOR UNIONS (AICP BUDGET) This … [Read more...]

Read this if you are: • A 1st time feature director • A 1st time feature producer • Working with either Maybe you’re aware of Quentin Tarantino’s first feature film, or Richard Linklater’s? No, not Reservoir Dogs or Slacker. Both Tarantino and Linklater made full feature films before their breakouts, which are commonly referred to as their first films. The thing is, little to no one ever saw those original movies. Conversely, Darren Aronofsky and Steven Soderbergh hit the ball out of the park with their first films, Pi and Sex, Lies, and a Videotape, respectively. These four filmmakers began within a few years of each other and made their first films on tight budgets. Two of those films disappeared forever and two became indie classics. Two are remembered and two can’t be. The common thread is each of these filmmakers learned every lesson they needed for future success and improvement on those first films. The films served their makers enormously, informing their … [Read more...]

Here are my favorite film industry and production articles + videos from around the internet from the last month. There is an awful lot of junk to sort through every month, so I’ve broken down my favorite articles and videos to help cut through the noise. VIDEOS He's an American filmmaker and actor. His films have garnered both critical and commercial success. He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his contributions to the film industry. He's Quentin Tarantino and here are his Top 10 Rules for Success. The Coen Brothers worked closely with Adobe to create their cutting edge post-production workflow around Premiere Pro CC & After Effects CC. Learn more about Adobe Creative Cloud pro video & audio tools This tutorial shows you how to create great incision effects using scar wax. Scar wax is a great material for low budget effects, but is often used incorrectly or not to it's full potential. One of the biggest issues is the cooler that it comes in, … [Read more...]

Read this if you are: • A Documentarian • A Producer • A Videographer/DP This article chronicles the production of  my micro-budget feature documentary Light, in 2011. It marked a huge inflection point in my career and personal growth as a producer, director, editor, and DP. I was blind to all obstacles throughout the pre-production and production process. Shooting Light put me at the epicenter of a culture that could not be further from what I’m used to, while uniting me with my heritage. I also learned the power of invisibility as a DP, and much more. This post is meant to illuminate how producing (not post-producing or releasing) an international documentary on a micro-budget is entirely doable. Here are a few key points to know before diving in: My budget went mostly toward equipment and my time on the road in Lebanon. The remainder covered life expenses in my absence. I had a day job in retail before leaving the country to make Light. I’d been at that job … [Read more...]

“My pictures are not yet good enough to compensate for the advantages I have enjoyed through you. But believe me, if one day they should be good enough, you will have been as much their creator as I, because the two of us are making them together.” — Vincent van Gogh to his brother Theo “He was for long my only audience ... But for his interest and unceasing eagerness for more I should never have brought [The Lord of the Rings] to a conclusion.” — J. R. R. Tolkien on C. S. Lewis “We’ve got it. Everyone just stay the fuck away.” — Neal Brennan on working with his Chappelle’s Show co-creator, Dave Chappelle Creative collaborations are magic. Like Chewie and Han, Marty and Doc, or Woody and Buz - duos are better than one. Thankfully Christopher and I met early and started hashing out our goals at an early age. If you don't know our whole story, you should check it out here. :) We're lucky because we're on the same page. We've had the same goals and values from an early age … [Read more...]