Tag Archives: DIY

One Too Many Mornings — new indie film, new indie film distribution strategy

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Trailer for One Too Many Mornings

Each year it becomes harder for an independent filmmaker (or anyone) to release a movie. Making a movie is hard; distributing it is nigh on impossible.

So it’s interesting to see a filmmaker taking the simplest approach and releasing a movie straight to DVD and to web purchase and download. John August featured the micro-budget One Too Many Mornings on his blog and highlighted their distribution strategy (brief overview post; brief review post), and in the comments of the first post he, blog readers, and the film’s director Michael Mohan are having a discussion about how the film was financed and made, the web software being used to market and distribute the film, and more. Terrific info for anyone in indie film, but also thought-provoking for anyone creating media and considering alternative or straight-to-the-public distribution (fiction and nonfiction, video, podcasts, art).

I particularly love the bundles in which you can buy the DVD. In the Limited Edition Deluxe Package ($34.99) for example, you get a piece of the film’s set: “Yes, literally a scrap from the upholstery of the couch used in the main set of One Too Many Mornings.” It comes with a certificate of authenticity. Buy it now!

Ready for any closeup

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Today I made a little light tent, for closeup photography. I needed it for a client’s product photo — usually our clients have their own product images, and when they don’t I’m more than happy to refer them to a professional photographer in the area. But this was such a simple little job, and we needed it in a rush.

Plus, I was itching to try out the DIY $10 Macro Photo Studio I’d seen on Lifehacker — they’d initially mentioned it years back, and again recently. And goodness knows I need a better solution for shooting little things for this site, like cocktails and whatnot.

The project was simple. The box I used is a basic U-Haul cube (from my last move, nearly 10 years ago, still sitting in the garage with unused ski clothes mouldering in it). It’s perfect for most small items. For lights, I used some old lamps that previous owners had left in the house when I bought it. I bought the tissue paper at Target (since everything I had on hand was red or green for holiday gifts).

The product photos are clear and nice, and while the light color wasn’t
ideal — due to my using those incandescent lamps — Photoshop heped me
fix the colors and brightness easily.

I was so pleased I decided to celebrate with a Bijou cocktail.

Here’s my fab, oh-so-cheap-and-good macro photo setup:

Expect more and better closeup photos in future.