-
Hello again all,
I'm just going to ask the remainder of my questions in this post so as not to take up to much space on the board. Here goes;
1. How do I go about getting a copyright for my scripts/films?
2. How do I go about sending scripts to different agencies? Do I need to register with certain screenwriting groups in order to do this? How do I obtain addresses of studios to send them too?
3. How do I get films entered into festivals? Every festival site I go to never explains how to do this. They just tell about what happened at this years festival etc. One said you have to have professional status to enter. How do you get professional status?
4. Lenses, I'm confused as to what effects certain lenses give. I know I need a wide angle lense, but what exactly do telephoto lenses and fisheye lenses do? I'm not sure but is the fish eye lens the one they use to make it look like someone is looking through a peep hole on a door?
5. My audio always sounds airy when I record, how do I stop this? Will a simple mixer get rid of this? Whats a good program to edit audio on? If I record with a minidisc how do I sync up sound and video on to the same minidv tape?
I think thats all folks, if I have anymore I will ask at a later date....thanks for any help
-
1. How do I go about getting a copyright for my scripts/films?
Easiest and cheapest way to send the material to yourself with recorded mail, that way theres a record it being sent to you on a specific date. Obviously if you are going to make a carear out of this sort of thing you are best joining some union or group or something.
-
Can't speak for UK, but in America, registering a script with the Writers Guild is a smart move, quick and painless, and cost like $30. I think you can do it online. I did it by going into their office here in New York. I was in and out in 15 minutes.
You don't have to be a member to register a script.
-
National Copyright Archive Ltd., PO Box 88, Burwell, Cambridge, CB5 0BU -- ?10 per document.
Otherwise try the Writers Guild. Sending the document to yourself should hold up in court as long as the package doesn't show signs of tampering. Some suggest you simply give it to your bank manager.
Agencies? -- author.co.uk should have a list.
-
Hey there.
"well im no expert on law but ive read it from a few different sources, websites on writing, books on writing...
so i presume it would hold up
besides... think about it, you have a package that is recorded as being sent by the royal mail on the 1/1/2003 with your name credited as the author... 6 months later someone else is claiming they wrote it, yes thats gunna stand up as evidence that you are the lawful author"
Well let's put it this way... It's perfectly legal to send yourself an unsealed EMPTY envolope via the Royal Mails Recorded/Special delivery service. That means I could go out tommorow buy a whole bunch of envolopes. Have them all sent to myself via recorded delivery. Now if what you say is true, all I have to do is wait for a few months untill the George Lucas starts shooting Episode 3 wait for it to be released. Download the screenplay of the internet. Print it out, put it in my empty unsealed envolope. Seal it. And what do you know? I have a sealed and dated recorded delivery of a script "I" wrote months before Episode 3 even started shooting. Now do you honestly think that would hold up in court as copywrited material? Would it chuff.
Despin out.
-
In denmark there are seals made by the post office to I think
-
Hey there.
If you do that, dont expect it to hold up in court....
Despin out.
-
Uh preferably one that will hold up in court...anyone got any good unions to join? What about the screen writers guild? How much does that cost and is it worth it.
-
well im no expert on law but ive read it from a few different sources, websites on writing, books on writing...
so i presume it would hold up
besides... think about it, you have a package that is recorded as being sent by the royal mail on the 1/1/2003 with your name credited as the author... 6 months later someone else is claiming they wrote it, yes thats gunna stand up as evidence that you are the lawful author.
<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ February 18, 2003 12:34 PM: Message edited by: ickle_jim ]</font>
-
Uh thanks for all the replies so far but feel free to answer some of the other questions too fellas. [img]biggrin.gif[/img]
-
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size=2 face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><table border="0" width="90%" bgcolor="#333333" cellspacing="1" cellpadding="0"><tr><td width="100%"><table border="0" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2" bgcolor="#FF9900"><tr><td width="100%" bgcolor="#DDDDDD"><font size=2 face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Originally posted by ickle_jim:
well im no expert on law but ive read it from a few different sources, websites on writing, books on writing...
so i presume it would hold up
besides... think about it, you have a package that is recorded as being sent by the royal mail on the 1/1/2003 with your name credited as the author... 6 months later someone else is claiming they wrote it, yes thats gunna stand up as evidence that you are the lawful author.
</font></td></tr></table></td></tr></table></BLOCKQUOTE>
That's usually considered "Plan B", not the primary thing you do, but a back-up plan.
Writers guild registration is generally regarded as the way to go.
-
I think you should work on someone elses movie before making your own. You gain so much knowledge while helping others, and you might meet talented individuals who you want to hire/use on your movie.
I've entered several film festivals in the last month. It wasn't too difficult. They usually post an entry form on the internet.
Perhaps you encountered festivals that were "off-season".
-
Even the major festivals such as cannes and sundance? I by no means am planning on entering anything that big just curious though. I'm in the military and where I am stationed at there are not alot of people interested in film. No film schools close by, no talent agencies, etc. So I have to do my own thing and just get friends to help out. Thanks for the replies though
-
2. People will tell you to get an agent when you wanna start seriously sending scripts out..for legal ourposes. Obtaining addresses of the people you want is VERY easy. There special books you can buy in any book store with names and addresses for the film industry. They have thos for stuff like: distributers, production companys, etc, etc. As for signing with different agencies, i don't think you need to do that.
3. There are thousands.. no make that millions of festivals you can enter. Very indipendent. Buy some filmmaking magazine and they should have a film festival section. Look in the Exposure home page, they have a section for film festivals.
4. There are many lenses. Some are fast, refering to the aperature, some are slow. A wide-angle lense will capture more of the picture. A telephoto lense is used for shooting something far away, like a bird on a branch, or an airplane in the sky. A fisheye lense makes the image curve. The lense itself is like a bubble so the image gets stretched out towards the sides of the frame dependeing on how fisheyed, the fisheyed lense that you get is. For the peephole, you'd probably wanna get a fishhole lense, that'll give you the desired effect.
5. If you're not liking the sound you're getting your mic is probably trash. Recording diolouges in films, in my opinion is harder thn recording any other audio, so you need a very good mic. The mic they use for films are called "boom" mics or "shotgun" mics. Any which way, you need what they call a directional mic. I think i know thei "airy" effect you're talking about. I have a mic that did that, i just got a new one for 80 bucks and it sounds **** **** good. This was for music making though. But same goes for films, you need a good mic to get people talking. Try putting your mic closer to the person talking. That way you can lower the mic vol. so it'll have less background noise. Zoom in more if you need to get rid of the mic in the frame.
Syncing sound is pretty easy once you get the hang of it. A minidisk is an excelent machine to use to record sound. All you need is a clapboard. Or you can just use your hands as the clapboard. So when you have the video and audio on seprate tracks you can put the "clap" in the audio track directly over the video of the person who's clapping. This should get the tracks synced. You might have to adjust it multiple time until you're sure the tracks are perfectly alligned.
If you edit on computer you don't have to do anything to sync when you put it on a minidv tape. You'll already have your film on computer so that file will just get transfered to the tape.
A mixer will solve yourproblems. But are you sure you wouldn't just wanna buy a better mic. I think in the end, it'll be cheaper and a much better investment.
Good luck.
-Ivan
