2-day Film School

Otis Grapsas

Otis Grapsas

Carbonite Member
It's a series of DVDs by Dov Simens.

Judging by the title, it should be nonsense. Judging by the marketing on the web page, it should be a waste of time. But I was discussing with a director on the phone today, and I don't mean a "director", the guy has decades of experience and has produced a number of films in the entire budget range in many european countries, he has worked in development, production, distribution, you name it. He has also funded films in all possible ways.

He thought it was fantastic, incredibly useful, informative and entertaining. He is not endorsing it in any way, I can't even mention his name. But he thought it condensed what typically takes quite a lot of reading and asking around.

Just thought I should post something, since I haven't seen this DVD series mentioned on the forum.

http://www.dovsimensfilmschool.com/dvd.html
 
Dov usually does a seminar at Screenwriting Expo.
Cheaper and you get most of the same schpeal. I mean that in a good way.
 
I took Dov's 2-day film school when it came to my town way back in 2000......maybe 1999, can't remember. It was great, and motivated me to get into the business.

The book is definitely a good one. Covers everything and then some.
 
I took the seminar back in about 1998. It definitely will jump-start you. The great thing about what he does is he rips down all your preconceived notions and then builds you back up with decent info. I liked it enough that when I put together the Independent Cinema Expo back in 2003, I had Dov come in as one of the headline speakers.

I haven't kept up with him since then, so I don't know how much he may have changed the info based on all the upheaval that's happened in the industry in the last 7 years, but ... man, it was spot-on back when I took it.
 
Okay, I watched it with a friend. I guess we own Dov buying 2 extra sets of the DVDs now:)

It is a little over the top with the delivery, all the yelling etc. A little annoying but still entertaining. I had some university teachers that did that sort of thing to keep attention.

It could come in a DVD case with only 4 DVDs instead. One will get tired of changing the DVDs and it takes a lot of space.

The advice on script is excellent. The first pages are extremely important. Dialogue is very important. The approach to the fear of stolen ideas and scripts is great. Hollywood wouldn't bother doing that for the minimum they pay to first timers. If they stole the script, it would probably cost more to rewrite the idea to a new script. I also agree that they definitely read every single script for at least a few pages. This seminar gives you the idea that some big head bothers with your script as it comes in, from what I have heard this is not true. Readers handle that and sometimes stop a script from getting further. They only stop very badly executed scripts though. I have a friend who does that for a living and he never stopped anything. He is scared of stopping something that might get big. So, it's usually reader->extremely short synopsis->executive reads the synopsis and at least a few pages. I like the way Dov describes a reading script vs a shooting script. I don't see many reading scripts these days. Even when it needs two rewrites, all the camera angles are there. Waste of time and a lot harder to read.

Everything on budget is spot on. At least someone hears that a 50million film does not cost that much to make after taking out the marketing and the above the line costs. I have friends that have done multiple goverment/private funded films in Greece for a little less than a million (below the line), and they still think hollywood is a magical place where 100 million is the norm. After this seminar they would be happier with their budget. The same applies to newcomers that believe they absolutely need $500,000 in the digital age.

I absolutely loved Dov's approach to extreme low budget filmmaking. I wish everybody took his advice. We would have less ideas and a lot more finished films around. I can't believe the number of filmmakers wasting 5 years of their lives trying to get to the budget the BELIEVE they need. One can always shoot at a lower budget and still demonstrate skill. It doesn't have to be perfect, it doesn't have to cost a million, learn by doing and stop wasting time.

Advice on guilds is practical, it takes one to the right direction which would be budgeting the film in all possible ways before making a decision.

Advice on directing is a little strange. It reminded me of episodic TV not feature filmmaking. It's a get the job done approach. In europe we are at the opposite side, some countries do not even use the word director. In Greece we use Schenothetees. Which means: one who puts scenes together. In France it is realisateur, which means one who brings the project to reality. The word director makes one look like a manager. But directing is all that combined, isn't it?

Dov is a little misinformed on the film sound mixing department. It doesn't hurt the seminar in a major way though.

The approach to project management is good. Textbook approach as universities teach it, and I mean in real long term engineering projects, like building tunnels and laying highways, not film project management.

Everything on marketing, dealmaking and distribution is very precise.

I only heard something new two or three times throught the entire series of DVDs. But I did receive an engineering education that included project management, budgeting, planning etc. Anyone that has spent years reading on the topic, following the industry and discussing the industry could find that there is nothing new in this series of DVDs. For someone that is just starting out, or one who majored in arts, it's a massive amount of information. Very useful.
 
I own Dov's book. Handy little resource to have around. Like most of the books of this ilk, its primary value is as motivational literature.

The most glaring issue I had with Simmons book was his dismissal of the digital medium. I really hope he has updated that portion of his book, because that information/POV in itself pretty well renders the book obsolete.
 
Dov is a bit "old school" in my opinion, so his opinions about technology may be outdated, but the essence of what he teaches is sound, which is a testament to the decades old time-tested process of filmmaking. I took his 2 day thing back in the late-90's in Los Angeles and even though I thought his binder full of 10th generation Xerox copies was a little wanting, I dug what he was doing.

There ARE methods that work and smart people use these methods rather than trying to invent their own.

.
 
Otis Grapsas said:
It is a little over the top with the delivery, all the yelling etc. A little annoying but still entertaining. I had some university teachers that did that sort of thing to keep attention.
Click to expand...

I did the same thing as a university professor myself. It works! It's often needed when you have a class with 5 or 6 individuals also holding night jobs and then teetering on unconsciousness during daytime lecture.

I'm not sure why they would do that in a video though??? Habit? :Drogar-Smoke(DBG):
 
I got the book a number of years ago and even then it was obvious that some of the material had to be taken in context. However, the underlying points were spot on.
 
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