SBP Podcast Mobile Filmmaking

SBP Podcast Mobile Filmmaking Episode 4 Ren Thackham

SBP Podcast Mobile Film Episode 4
Making A Thriller Film with A Smartphone with Ren Thackham in Sydney, Australia
Ren won the Best Film Award at the SF3 Smartphone Flick Fest in Sydney, Australia. Her film was a thriller short film under 5 minutes.
We discuss how she learned about the film festival’s deadline and had 49 hours to make a film using her smartphone. She had an idea and created a storyboard to guide her production. Ren is adamant about the professional aspect of filmmaking to make films using a smartphone.
She pretty much was her own crew, so she had to direct as well as edit the film. We discuss clever ways to capture footage for later use and creating a library of audio and video footage.
Ren discusses why the mobile phone camera was ideal for a few scenes of the thriller. We discuss creative shots where smartphones can be very helpful, such as putting a phone in plastic clear bag in a fish tank.
When it came to the lighting in her film she discusses how over exposed shots sometimes worked well for her thriller. Then we discussed how she used a hand-held microphone for audio.
We discuss a number of filmmaking tricks and tips but she also shares some interesting information about crocodiles. Ren manages to use crocodiles in all her films, one way or another. We asked her to share the reason why she makes sure to include them.
We also discussed the actors in her film and the performance of her protagonist.
We asked Ren to share her experience with SF3 SmartFone Flick Fest. At that point we also discussed the growing community in the mobile filmmaking industry.
When we asked Ren to give someone who is thinking about making a mobile film using a smartphone, she discusses the importance of planning and preparation and treating the experience like a professional and doing your best.
We thank Ren Thackham for sharing her experience making a short thriller with e smartphone. We hope our podcast shows inspire you and that you learn how to make your own films using smartphones and share great stories with the world.
Our website for the International Mobile Film Festival:
Ren Thackham is online:
Follow the SBP Podcast on Twitter: @SBPpodcast
Facebook:
Subscribe to our podcast to catch the next episode:
International Mobile Film Festival: https://internationalmobilefilmfestival.com
Our Patreon. We could use patrons like you! https://www.patreon.com/sbppodcast

Episode 3 Brian Hennings Sharing A Compelling Story With A Short Film

Welcome to SBP Podcast by S. Botello Productions! I am Susy Botello.
Mobile Film and Video is our focus and innovation is what drives us.
My passion for storytelling and technology brings me to connect my experience in video and film to storytelling for everyone—using mobile phones.
Hey, everybody, we’re coming to you from San Diego but we’re going down under to Perth Australia. We’re gonna talk to Brian Hennings. His film Express was one of the films we featured in our film festival last April. So let’s get started and let’s talk to Brian.
Brian Hennings submitted his short film shot with a Samsung Galaxy S7 Android smartphone and was accepted to the International Mobile Film Festival last April. Brian flew from Perth, Australia to San Diego to participate be a part of the festival. He met other filmmakers and was part of the Q&A Panel.
At about 2 minutes: Brian shares about his background and his experience as a storyteller and filmmaker.
At about 4:45: Brian shared how his project idea for the short film Express came about and how he got his production team involved to make a great story into a film shot with a smartphone. The film was their first mobile film challenge.
At about 7 minutes: I asked Brian about how he achieved the great look to his film and he explained the process. Brian then shared how testing before the production helped them work out the kinks and figure out what problems they would encounter beforehand. Especially, since the location for most of the film took place in a train station. He also explained why his footage was so stable.
At about 11 minutes: Since the filming was set at a train station, we asked Brian how he and the crew achieved the sound quality of the film.
Brian credits his team for producing an ultimately great film.
Express credits:
Actors: Sarah Harris and Nicholas Di Nardo
Director: Lydia Brisbout
Writer: Brian Hennings
Producers: Brian Hennings, Lydia Brisbout & James Corker
DoP: James Corker
Colourist: Matthew Gardner
Sound Design: Andrea Colbert
Composer: Jamie Murgatroyd
Shout-out to Sean Hellend as well
About 14:45: Then we ask Brian about the story behind the film. He shared the compelling story of the film and its message. It is a personal story for him as the writer but it’s a story with a message for everyone around the world.
At about 23 minutes: Brian discusses the importance of submitting films to film festivals to share stories and give light to important messages.
At about 25 minutes: Brian shares submitting to film festivals and attending them and connecting with other filmmakers.
At about 28:55: He shares his experience in the International Mobile Film Festival in San Diego and about the filmmakers he met during our film festival, including an 11 year-old girl who made her film with a smartphone and also attended.
At about 32 minutes: We talk about the importance of mobile filmmaking for the youngest storytellers and the future of film using smartphones. We discussed a bit about the democratization of storytelling through mobile filmmaking.
At about 39 minutes: Brian shares his film, Express made it into several film festivals.
At about 41:40: We played a little game and then asked Brian if he had any last words or something else he really wanted to share. Brian shared films and television movies and shows coming out of Australia which he would like to recommend to people around the world to watch. He also recommended to seek out more international films in order to connect better as individuals from one country to another.
At around 48:20: Brian recommends that the people listening who are listening to the podcast that they make a film using their smartphones and submit them to the film festival and make the trip out to San Diego and connect to other people and filmmakers during the festival. He also shared that he is planning to submit another film to the festival and make the trip back to San Diego.
You can watch Brian’s mobile film Express, that screened during #MFF2017SanDiego on Vimeo:
Express is also on IMDB:
You can follow Lot 3 Media on Facebook:
Here is a news article featuring Brian Hennings and his film, Express:
Below are links to things Brian discussed in the podcast:
RUOK (Are You Okay) Day:
Aussie TV shows Brian shared:
Rosehaven: or
Utopia/Dreamland: or (same show renamed for foreign markets)
Glitch:
The Principal:
The Code:
We hope you will submit your films to the International Mobile Film Festival and share your story with the world, experience the film festival experience, be a part of a Q&A Panel and connect with others. San Diego is a beautiful place to visit, too!
International Mobile Film Festival: https://internationalmobilefilmfestival.com
Our Patreon. We could use patrons like you! https://www.patreon.com/sbppodcast
Our website: http://SBPpodcast.studio
Copyright 2017 S. Botello Productions. All rights reserved.

SBP Podcast Mobile Filmmaking Episode 2 Mithran Maharajan

Welcome to our second SBP Podcast!
Tonight, we talk with Mithran Maharajan from Toronto, Canada. Mithran is an exceptional mobile filmmaker and snatched the Best Mobile Feature Film prize in our very first Mobile Film Feature Competition for MFF2017 last April. Mithran's film was shot entirely with a smartphone. The leading actress for the film, Avaah Blackwell put on an outstanding performance. Let’s chat with Mithran so you can learn a bit about him and how he accomplished making a movie with a smartphone.
We introduce you to Mithran Maharajan and begin our interview by asking him to share a bit about himself as a filmmaker because he is a professional who made a number of films before his mobile film, Figment.
Mithran is from India and lived in New York before he moved to his current residence in Toronto, Canada. His professional career began when he was quite young. He worked in television directing films he wrote and every one of his films won awards. He shares his experience in-depth with you in the interview.
We then ask him to share the story behind the story we heard from the producer, Javier Augusto Nunez, who attended IMFF 2017 in San Diego during the Q&A Session. MIthran shares the story of how he introduced the idea of shooting his great story using an iPhone, with a professional producer and how that was perceived and goes on to talk about his DOP (Director of Photography) who was a professional who had worked for many years in the industry, including BBC.
Mithran shares some of the differences with mobile filmmaking versus traditional filmmaking and mentions some details of how he shot his cinematic story through film using an iPhone. He shares what he did to make a truly cinematic film which screened at the Toronto Film Festival in the competition with films shot with traditional cameras used by independent filmmakers. We speak a bit about the International Mobile Film Festival platform and how mobile film festivals bring a unique dedicated platform to professional filmmakers to expand their creativity and try something new.
You may want to listen closely as he shares his experience in pre-production, production, and post-production which includes color grading, sound, and music.
Mithran tells us about how he worked with the amazing Avaah Blackwell as a director to bring out her best performance for her very tough role as Diana.
We asked Mithran what movies and directors inspire him and he mentioned quite a list. Some of them may be worth looking into for techniques.
We then played a fun game toward the end of the podcast.
This was our second episode and we look forward to more interviews. Subscribe to our podcast so you won’t miss any of them when we publish them on the platform. We hope to inspire you to make movies with your mobile phone. The Red Carpet is in Your Pocket!™
Mithran's Website: http://thoughtlabpictures.com
International Mobile Film Festival: https://internationalmobilefilmfestival.com
Our Patreon. We could use patrons like you! https://www.patreon.com/sbppodcast
Our website: http://SBPpodcast.studio

SBP Podcast Episode 001 Mobile Film - San Diego to Macedonia

First episode of SBP Podcast - Mobile Film from San Diego to Macedonia
Intro to SBP Podcast by host Susy Botello:
> Welcome to SBP Podcast by S. Botello Productions! I am Susy Botello. Mobile Film and Video is our focus and innovation is what drives us. My passion for storytelling and technology, brings me to connect my experience in video and film to storytelling for everyone—using mobile phones.
Intro to our guest to first podcast episode, Vesna Ristovska:
> Our first podcast is brought to you from San Diego to Macedonia. If you don’t know where that is, it’s okay…I didn’t know where that was until I met our guest!
Brief presentation of our guest Vesna Ristovska.
Vesna shares the beginning of her work with Mobile Festival in Macedonia and finding our International Mobile Film Festival in San Diego to seek a collaborative partnership. Vesna talks about what our collaboration entailed and how one of the filmmakers in our film festival in San Diego was recommended to us from their festival in San Diego.
Susy talks about how our partnership was supportive for the mobile filmmaking community globally.
Vesna mentions mobile filmmaking as the future.
End conversation with many thank you's and an invitation to Vesna to come to San Diego and a return invitation from Vesna to Susy to go to Macedonia as well.
Close outro for podcast show by Susy Botello:
> Thanks to Vesna Ristovska from Macedonia for being our guest in our very first podcast! I am Susy Botello in San Diego. Now that you know there is a global platform willing to share your stories if you are willing to use your mobile phone’s camera to shoot, we hope you are inspired. The red carpet is in your pocket! Go to our website www.InternationalMobileFilmFestival.com and learn more about our film festival and how you can be a part of it!
END Podcast First Episode
International Mobile Film Festival: https://internationalmobilefilmfestival.com
Our Patreon. We could use patrons like you! https://www.patreon.com/sbppodcast
Our website: http://SBPpodcast.studio