After filming and interviewing for three full days, we finally sat down to discuss which direction we want the film to take. Our original plan was to document three teens as they prepare for their military service. However, we’ve found that the teens will be leaving in late August and […]
Blog
The First Shoot
Yesterday we joined the “breakfast club” and ate at a table beside the five men who the store owner Kathy calls the “hardcore” members. The “hardcore” group proposed the idea of the breakfast after the dining room closed. They had enjoyed long breakfasts there for years, and wanted to continue […]
DC Shorts 2007, here we come!
We received great news today. Our first film Barberin’ has been accepted to the 2007 DC Shorts Film Festival from over 500 submissions! It was such a sweet ending to the day, which was filled with anxiety over how to direct our feature length project. We spent the day exploring, […]
From Tel Aviv to Kfar Giladi
Yesterday we took a bus from Tel Aviv to Qiryat Shmona. It was Sunday, so all the buses were filled with young soldiers. After spending Shabat with their families, they were returning to military bases around the country. They look different from U.S soldiers we’ve seen back home. There are […]
Welcome to Israel!
By Ben Crosbie Hey everyone, we are officially both in Israel! I have been here nigh on 12 days now. I just finished an amazing tour around the entire country on my Birthright trip. You can see pictures of the trip here and here. We are headed to the kibbutz […]
The Path Less Taken
By Tessa Moran Bear with me as I rationalize my choice to quit my job, spend all my savings, and traipse to the middle east to film a documentary. This post could be considered an ode to my naysayers, of which there are plenty. And admittedly it serves as a […]
Our first project
By Tessa Moran As part of our preparation for the Kibbutz film, we decided to produce a short documentary. We hoped it would help us become more comfortable using the new equipment and working as a team. Our first task was to conceive of a topic for the film. It […]
Tripod, Tapes, Accessories.
By Ben Crosbie Like many young filmmakers, when I made my first film, I didn’t realize that I needed to use tape. I shot some really awesome scenes, and when I went back to watch them, all I saw was a blue screen. Call it learning the hard way. In […]
What you hear is what you get.
By Ben Crosbie In the last post I promised I would tell you more about audio. This is where I fulfill that promise – for only three easy payments of $39.99, you too can learn the secrets of documentary audio production! (Not a guarantee) Anyway… Audio is usually the part of […]
All the toys I get to play with… er, I mean the equipment.
By Ben Crosbie Now I know this is probably where most people will have Ctrl+F-ed their way through the page trying to find all the juicy info on what equipment we are using (I’m a self-admitted gear-head also guilty of this) so I hate to disappoint you – but due to […]
Israel is in the Middle East, right?
By Ben Crosbie I’d be lying if I told you we had not thought about how we were going to get to Israel long before we started researching the film. But I’m not a liar, only a crazy kid trying to make it in this world. I knew, or had hoped […]
The Kibbutz Doc or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Just Pick Up a Camera.
How do you make a documentary film? Just do it! Nike-isms aside, it really is as simple as picking up a camera and shooting some film. Just like many other creative fields – writing, photography, painting – no amount of thinking or dreaming about it will ever get you as far as actually producing something, regardless of the quality of the final product. Now of course it’s not really just as simple as picking up a camera and shooting is it? It takes a lot of hard work, failure and discovery, and courage.