The Indie Film Blueprint

Rubidium Wu

The Indie Film Blueprint

Rubidium Wu
4.7
4h 1m
15 modules (view curriculum)

$349
$199
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  • Total Time:

    4h 1m

Description

Are you about to make your first indie film? Watch out - there are so many roadblocks that many filmmakers get burned out and never make another film again. But thanks to this course, you won't have to make the same mistakes that thousands of other filmmakers make, over and over again. Join instructor Rubidium Wu as he guides you through the entire indie filmmaking journey, step by step, while providing his advice on how to launch a career in filmmaking without falling for the common traps and pitfalls.


Subtitles available: English

Modules

Rules of the Indie Game

28m

Many first time indie filmmakers get so burned out on their first film, that they never go on to make another film. Join Rubidium as he talks you through the ways to make indie filmmaking a long-term career rather than a one-time sprint. From avoiding pitfalls to learning how to embrace the daily challenges, this lesson also dives into how to develop your film ideas based around the resources you already have in your life and network.


Subtitles available: English

Genre

04m

When you're first brainstorming a film idea, it's important to decide on a film genre. Studios use a film's genre to estimate the amount they expect to spend and also make from a film. As an indie filmmaker, there are a few genres that you're more likely to achieve with a small budget, such as horror, and other genres that are expensive and typically better to avoid, such as Science Fiction or Action.


Subtitles available: English

The Pitch

06m

Refining your film pitch is an essential piece to getting your film written, produced, and sold. Starting with your immediate network of friends and family, you can often tell how successful your film idea might be by gauging the initial reaction to your pitch. Whether it's the film idea itself or your pitch delivery, you'll want to refine your pitch again and again during your filmmaking journey.


Subtitles available: English

The Screenplay

13m

Should you write your own film script, or hire a writer? How do you go from a film idea, to a treatment, beat list, and then the screenplay? How refined should your script be before you're ready to get it made? In this lesson you'll get a ton of real world advice for the script writing phase of your indie film project.


Subtitles available: English

The Budget

09m

Your total budget is how you transform dollars to film scenes, and it will dictate how you approach nearly every aspect of your production. In this lesson you'll learn the typical budget levels, such as a $10,000 film versus a $50,000 film versus a $200,000 film. Each level will give you a different amount of days to shoot, number of locations, and the type of actors you can afford to cast, which can determine if your film has a built-in audience with some guarantee of interest from fans of the actors.


Subtitles available: English

Raising Money

19m

It can take a lot more time and work to finance your film than it does to actually make it. Whether you're asking your friends and family to support your undertaking, or you're crowdfunding online, or you're sitting down with investors, there are a few things you can do to ensure you get the money you need to make your indie film a reality.


Subtitles available: English

Assembling a Team

26m

Once you begin your film's production, you'll need to line up your crew. The difference between a $10,000 film and a $100,000 film can mean a lot more crew members on set, which also adds a lot more expenses to manage that crew. For a no budget film, you may only have a director/writer, producer, cinematographer, focus puller or assistant camera, and a sound recorder. As you increase your budget, you may add more a gaffer and grip, hair and makeup, art director, script supervisor, assistant director, executive producers, and other roles both on set and off.


Subtitles available: English

Legal & Insurance

10m

Now for the nitty gritty business of filmmaking, Rubidium walks you through all the required insurances for a film, including Errors & Omissions (E&O), general liability, vehicle and workers compensation insurance. You can often lower the total cost and hassle of both insurance as well as payroll by hiring co-production companies who specialize in being the employer of record for independent productions.


Subtitles available: English

Casting

17m

Casting your lead and supporting actors may be the most important decision you make for your film. Learn how to cast professionally and efficiently with a rented space, auditions, callbacks, table reads, rejection calls, and more. You'll also learn what to do when an investor would like a friend or family member to be cast in your film.


Subtitles available: English

Locations & Schedule

14m

The art and science of planning your shooting days is where movie magic really happens. Shooting locations can be found through online searches such as Peerspace or Gigster, and standing sets that are all ready for shooting can be a life saver for your schedule. But scouting locations with your crew, arranging the shooting schedule to be as efficient as possible, and limiting location changes throughout the day can be the difference between a smooth film production and an unprofessional nightmare for the cast and crew.


Subtitles available: English

Pre-Production

08m

During the final moments of your film's planning before you start shooting, you have several opportunities to solidify any remaining questions and unknowns and ensure that production will be as smooth as possible. Scouting a location with your crew leads is an essential step to bonding creatively with everyone who will help your set locations look and sound the best they can. These days, previs, or pre-visualization, illustrates your scenes to cast and crew in a 3D animated version. Most importantly, actor rehearsals give you the final chance to get over any barriers before you start shooting and lock in your picture.


Subtitles available: English

Gear & Transport

09m

In this lesson, Rubidium walks you through all the best practices for dealing with gear during a film shoot. On any given film, it's usually a lot of small details that together work to make a film look great. So the camera, lenses, lighting, locations, art direction, talent, makeup, and the film grade all contribute equally to the look of a film. Some filmmakers might be tempted to rent an unfamiliar camera for their film shoot, like going up to a RED or an ALEXA, but it's better to use the gear you're already comfortable with. And when it comes to renting gear, a good rental house will give you a great discount, you'll be able to get all your gear from one location, and if you rent a Uhaul or a van you can keep all your production gear in one vehicle without loading and unloading it each day.


Subtitles available: English

The Shoot

18m

Finally we get to the shooting stage of your indie film. In this lesson you'll learn some technical recommendations about shot variety and cutaways, using one versus multiple cameras, and production expenditures. But more importantly you'll learn how to direct actors and provide criticisms that help rather than hinder their performance, how to set aside your normal life so you can dedicate yourself fully to the shoot, and how to set the right attitude on set.


Subtitles available: English

Post-Production

37m

Many first time indie filmmakers are unprepared for the massive task of post production. The average 90 minute feature film takes roughly six to 12 months of man hours if you go at it alone. But in this lesson, you'll learn about other options and typical processes for editing a film, including hiring a post house to walk you through every stage of the edit, to sound design and mix, to music composition and delivery. You'll also learn the stages of an edit from rough assembly to picture lock, and when it's appropriate to bring back the actors for ADR or Additional Dialogue Replacement.


Subtitles available: English

Distribution

17m

In the final lesson of the course, Rubidium walks you through the opportunities you have to sell your film. Where film festivals have been the primary method of showcasing independent films to distributors, nowadays streaming platforms like Netflix and Amazon Prime are buying films directly from filmmakers. But how do you get your film in front of distributors? What are the benefits of a commission-based sales agent? And how do global regions work? Take notes here because this lesson will be all about how you make your indie filmmaking journey worthwhile - and sustainable - so you can recoup costs, pay your investors, and go on to make more films.


Subtitles available: English

About the Educator

Rubidium Wu

Writer, Director, Producer, DP

1 Course

Rubidium is a writer, director, producer and cinematographer. He has a been working as a professional filmmaker for the last 20 years, including directing commercials for Nintendo and Sony Playstation, the documentary "Portraits of Silence" and two feature films, "Brooklyn Tide" and the upcoming "Devil’s Fortune".

Reviews

5
Wu is dropping nuggets you would never hear about from many people in the industry. His course is like the dark side of the business that affects your life but that you might not know how to navigate. He hands you the whole map on a golden plate. Thank you, brother! I am glad you took the time to teach this course.
Rodney Kimbangu
5
Great course!
Krzysztof Szczepanski
5
A very informative course. Great presentation and absolute nuggets and guidance for Indie-Filmmakers.
Tolani Mosweu
5
In depth look at the hurdles one must overcome to produce an indie film. Very useful info.
James Crocco
5
Awesome stuff
Siddhartha Mukherjee
5
Really good, definitely worth it. It gives the all the basic things you will need to know on having to jump into your first film. Learned so much and also learned that I have to learn so much more!
Dylan Kiely
5
very informative, a lot to take in. but worth it. cheers
Mark Bachar
5
Bhagavad Gita for an Inde film-maker!
Shyam Sundar
3
There are a lot of useful informations which I like. But compared to other courses the form of presentation was a little boring and there where less examples shown. In comparison Philip Bloom did it better in my perception. In short: Good content but not so good performed.
Juergen Jeibmann
Show more

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