Chris Santucci
Veteran
I'm looking for feedback on US cities that might have a lot of indie film activity, preferably in the southwest and California. Not looking for studio and large budget activity. Thanks for any help.
Where's the most filmmaking going on?
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filmguy123
Veteran
Austin, TX
jamedia.uk
Well-known member
Where's the most film making going on? Mumbai, India.
And anyone with a smart phone.
Why do you want to know? That might affect the answer as you say "Not looking for studio and large budget activity. "
And anyone with a smart phone.
Why do you want to know? That might affect the answer as you say "Not looking for studio and large budget activity. "
Liam Hall
Veteran
jamedia.uk
Well-known member
That makes fascinating reading.
This might surprise a few "India is the largest producer of films in the world and second oldest film industry in the world which originated around about 103 years ago.[17] In 2009 India produced a total of 2,961 films on celluloid; this figure includes 1,288 feature films.[18] India is the country that produces more films annually and has the largest number of admissions.[19] Indian film industry is multi-lingual and the largest in the world in terms of ticket sales and number of films produced and 5th largest in terms of revenue mainly due to having amongst the lowest ticket prices in the world" However it is from wiki so the usual caveats apply! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Film_industry
Also it is referencing 2009 and celluloid. So things will have changed.
With the increase in low cost pro-sumer digital systems coupled with youtube and vimeo the market has changed some what anyway. Some youtube "film makers" make serious amounts of cash compared to their costs. Not in the millions but still a reasonable living.
Chris Santucci
Veteran
Had that one in mind. They seem to have a pretty healthy Indie film scene there.
Out of curiosity, I made myself watch a ton of Indian movies over a few weeks. After that experience, I don't feel like I'm missing out on anything, if I don't watch any more of them. Mind you, I didn't just watch "average" movies, but movies which had a good rating on IMDB or otherwise had a good reputation. So, a ton of movies made, but - speaking here just for myself and nobody else, just my own personal taste, nothing more - but for all that work there's hardly anything worthwhile (for me, I speak for nobody else!). A few historic figures do stand out, as legit fantastic filmmakers, such as Satyajit Ray, but on the whole, I have never seen such an abundance of quanitity to quality, as in "you have to wade through insane numbers of films to find one that's even quarter-way decent". But of course, that's a matter of taste, so to each his/her own. For me, Bollywood is a wasteland for the most part, so hearing "India is the largest producer of films in the world" means there's a tremendous amount of trash out there (for me, not anyone else). YMMV.
jamedia.uk
Well-known member
Bollywood is aimed at very different cultures to the US. I would expect they think the same of Hollywood films. Personally (being a European in the middle) I don't lie the Indian films either (but they viewing figures are better than Hollywood's) though I must say over the last decade or so I don't think much of the majority of Hollywood films either. Their quality (of story telling rather than technical quality) seems to have gone through the floor.
Your words perfectly described the state of Hollywood and almost all western cimena -and my sentiments towards it...
In the Mand of Blind people, one eyed person is considered to be the Sage!
I don't know where tou got tour recomendations what to watch, but matbe sometimes you should relypurely on your gut feeling?!
Try this:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanghai_(2012_film)
Or this:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_(2005_film)
Indian movies that are not "Indian"...and that put western filmmakers in a basket of over paid amateurs...
Or this classicwho's action scenes puts everybody in the west, from la Famme Nikita to Lord of the Rings to Jackie Chan to shame:
http://m.imdb.com/title/tt1305797/
Thanks Maest. I did not mean to imply that Hollywood (or any film industry, really) doesn't put out tremendous amounts of trash. I just meant that saying "country X" is a huge producer, doesn't mean you necessarily have a huge supply of good films. Plus, there really is the matter of personal taste - which is why I kept repeating it, that it's my personal opinion and subjective taste, and not an objective statement of quality etc., etc., etc.. But yeah, taste is gonna enter into it. For example, I am for whatever reason, very tolerant of Hong Kong trash movies - no matter how trashy, I enjoy it at least to some degree... my wife hates Hong Kong movies, go figure. But my taste just doesn't jibe with Bollywood movies - all the dance routines bore me stiff, for example, even though I recognize that it really is a matter of taste, why am I not bored by the same lame kung-fu fighting sequences in Hong Kong trash movies? Beats me, I can't defend it.
That said, I'm always willing to open my mind to whatever experience that is worthwhile. So I'll try to track down your recommendations, and hope to discover something new. After all, the more great stuff you discover, the richer you are for it! That would include Bollywood movies as well, I have no problem with that at all! I go by IMBD rankings for the movies I selected to watch, plus accessibility. The other thing I did was rely on word of mouth from my more adventurous friends who would recommend movies. Word of mouth, btw. is how I found my love of Indian music, including fantastic film music and vocalists (strange, considering how much music there is in Bollywood films, that I still don't like the films!). Bottom line - I'm willing to give it another go! Thanks again!
That said, I'm always willing to open my mind to whatever experience that is worthwhile. So I'll try to track down your recommendations, and hope to discover something new. After all, the more great stuff you discover, the richer you are for it! That would include Bollywood movies as well, I have no problem with that at all! I go by IMBD rankings for the movies I selected to watch, plus accessibility. The other thing I did was rely on word of mouth from my more adventurous friends who would recommend movies. Word of mouth, btw. is how I found my love of Indian music, including fantastic film music and vocalists (strange, considering how much music there is in Bollywood films, that I still don't like the films!). Bottom line - I'm willing to give it another go! Thanks again!
The first feature film was made in Australia, technically doesn't that then apply that the film industry started here first? We've been making films ever since...
jamedia.uk
Well-known member
I don't know about that but the majority of the Bollywood films are made for a completely different culture, history , social values etc than the Hollywood films so they are unlikely to appeal to an American Audience. However on viewing figures Bolloywood surpasses Hollywood. As the Wiki page i cited points out due to entrance prices across Asia being much lower than in the US and Europe raw gross profit figures are meaningless. However it would be interning to see percentage profits as I expect the Bollywood films also cost less to produce.
The other point is that as it is posable to do good work with a smart phone upwards (see the Bentley motors adverts https://youtu.be/lyYhM0XIIwU ) the entry costs of doing "film work" have plummeted and you can work from just a small camera, a microphone and a laptop costing <1000USD upwards. SO "where is the best place to work in film/video the answer is "anywhere you want!"
That's the part I don't understand about the students in my department. Every one of them has a smartphone. Less than 3 per class are doing any sort of video work with any tool until they start using our equipment. A good 30% have something available in their grade schools and don't take advantage of it. Yet they come to us to teach them to have a passion in this line of work. I don't get it.
DPStewart
Veteran
It's horrifying!
Right now cameras and film making tools are in the hands of a MILLION more people than twenty years ago - but I almost NEVER see any shorts (or low-budget features) that I would even call WATCHABLE.
Yet back when an 8mm or 16mm film camera and film processing were what was required - almost everything I saw had some genuinely appealing element to it.
...even the super funny and creative explosion of 7-second "Vines" seems to have died off.
You mean "BILLION", right? (sales of smartphones are about 1.5 billion units shipped annually, so a rough estimate is that there are 3.5 or so billion smartphone users).
As to the OP, I'd say Southern California is the hub of anything movie/TV (or music or performing) related, whether it's small budget or high end production.
puredrifting
Major Contributor
Plus, trying to shoot ANYTHING non-union in New York is really challenging.
Run&Gun
Veteran
That's because no one that shoots REALLY wants to shoot on a cellphone. If I was in school and paying money to be in production classes, I'd want to use real equipment.
I get it. You can learn the basic fundamentals on almost anything, but you have to admit that there is something inspiring about using good equipment.
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