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Guerrilla Filmmaking Magazine - No to Low Budget Filmmaking

G

GFM-Dustin

Hello All!

For the past year I've been putting together a magazine focused on no to low budget filmmaking. It's written by people in the independent film community and is geared towards helping new filmmakers and seasoned professionals alike overcome the hurdles they face every day.

We have just launched our Kickstarter campaign, and asking people to take a look.

If it looks like something you might be interested in, please pre-order a copy of issue 1 and take a look.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/71952678/guerrilla-filmmaking-magazine-no-to-low-budget-fil

Thanks!
- Dustin Mansfield
 
Hi Dustin- this is the sort of project I'd usually back, and I may still do. The magazine looks pretty well designed (although you might want to check your column widths in a couple of places) and is a great niche.

My question, however, is why does this need to be in magazine format? I feel like digital magazines are quite an antiquated idea- if you're not printing it, why publish as a magazine? Why not just make a GFM website and have the articles there? Works for HuffPost, can surely work for GFM. And then you'd cut down on the need to deliver it via apps.

Anyhow, seems like a good project and if you have a clear vision for it as a digital magazine then I'll probably chip in a bit.
 
Nick,

Thanks for the response.

There are many different reasons I decided to go with a magazine format. Individually, I'm not sure all my points are necessarily all that strong.

When I first decided to do this, a website was my first go to, but I couldn't help shake the feeling of... "Ugh, not ANOTHER website." Trying to follow all the websites is hard... I try, but I know I miss more content than I get a chance to see.

If people don't see it right away.. it tends to get lost in the shuffle, and then it becomes all about SEO, and fighting for rank.

I didn't want to get lost in the shuffle, or have to worry about the SEO fight, and the constant changes, or add to the problem of information overload when it came to all the websites.



I wanted to slow things down, and create something that would stand the test of time a bit more, I guess. Which may sound odd, since.. as you said.. magazines in general may seem to be a thing of the past.

But then I thought... I keep a bunch of filmmaking magazines, and I do go back through them every once in awhile. Some just for fun (Fangoria), and others because I'll remember a specific article.

Now granted, those are print, not digital.


But really, in this day and age... everyone has their smartphones and tablets. They're easy to carry around everywhere you go, easier to organize... and with an App... all the magazine issues are contained nice and neat in one little icon.

It'd take a long time for many of the articles to be considered "outdated" and many would never. For example, in our first issue... we have an article written by Steven Kalher called "The Key to Being an Insightful Director".

It's a wonderful article that deals with hooking your audience with the story, and the give and take between the director and the audience.

I felt like.. on a website, that article would get it's 15 minutes of fame, and be lost afterwords.

But in a magazine... it would always be there, easily referenced, easily carried anywhere you go, wouldn't require internet access if you were filming somewhere without wifi or cell service, and (digital) less messy and inexpensive than a print magazine. Digital also provides the benefit of interactive features such as video... which I felt was important.

So I guess simply put... I just felt that the magazine format slowed things down, and made things a bit more simple for the reader. If that makes sense...?

So although each individual point may not be that strong, I believe that all together, it's steered me towards a more unique solution. And feedback has been great. People really seem to love the idea.


EDIT: 2 things

Also... we did a lot of things with the magazine that would make it easy to print, if the demand was there. A lot of the articles/artwork is set up with bleeds, etc. That said, there are definitely some articles and layouts that would have to be rearranged a bit... and videos/links would have to be replaced with QR codes and web address.

But it's entirely possible based on how we did original InDesign Doc.



Second - I'm curious to know which columns you are seeing that need adjusted. Layout and Design is definitely not a strength of mine. My mother has been doing it most of my life however. So she helped me in a LOT of places... but I certainly may have messed up a few areas. The video of the pages flipping contains a very outdated copy of the issue 1. A lot of what is seen there has been changed, but the SAMPLES image should be fairly up to date.

Let me know what you're seeing! I'm definitely not to big to say I don't make mistakes... :)
 
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Hello new dude :cool:

I think it sounds like a good idea. I'm don't have the money to back your project right now, but I wish you the best of luck and I hope to see it in the future.

Good luck!
 
GFM-Dustin said:
Nick,

Thanks for the response.

There are many different reasons I decided to go with a magazine format. Individually, I'm not sure all my points are necessarily all that strong.

When I first decided to do this, a website was my first go to, but I couldn't help shake the feeling of... "Ugh, not ANOTHER website." Trying to follow all the websites is hard... I try, but I know I miss more content than I get a chance to see.

If people don't see it right away.. it tends to get lost in the shuffle, and then it becomes all about SEO, and fighting for rank.

I didn't want to get lost in the shuffle, or have to worry about the SEO fight, and the constant changes, or add to the problem of information overload when it came to all the websites.



I wanted to slow things down, and create something that would stand the test of time a bit more, I guess. Which may sound odd, since.. as you said.. magazines in general may seem to be a thing of the past.

But then I thought... I keep a bunch of filmmaking magazines, and I do go back through them every once in awhile. Some just for fun (Fangoria), and others because I'll remember a specific article.

Now granted, those are print, not digital.


But really, in this day and age... everyone has their smartphones and tablets. They're easy to carry around everywhere you go, easier to organize... and with an App... all the magazine issues are contained nice and neat in one little icon.

It'd take a long time for many of the articles to be considered "outdated" and many would never. For example, in our first issue... we have an article written by Steven Kalher called "The Key to Being an Insightful Director".

It's a wonderful article that deals with hooking your audience with the story, and the give and take between the director and the audience.

I felt like.. on a website, that article would get it's 15 minutes of fame, and be lost afterwords.

But in a magazine... it would always be there, easily referenced, easily carried anywhere you go, wouldn't require internet access if you were filming somewhere without wifi or cell service, and (digital) less messy and inexpensive than a print magazine. Digital also provides the benefit of interactive features such as video... which I felt was important.

So I guess simply put... I just felt that the magazine format slowed things down, and made things a bit more simple for the reader. If that makes sense...?

So although each individual point may not be that strong, I believe that all together, it's steered me towards a more unique solution. And feedback has been great. People really seem to love the idea.


EDIT: 2 things

Also... we did a lot of things with the magazine that would make it easy to print, if the demand was there. A lot of the articles/artwork is set up with bleeds, etc. That said, there are definitely some articles and layouts that would have to be rearranged a bit... and videos/links would have to be replaced with QR codes and web address.

But it's entirely possible based on how we did original InDesign Doc.

Second - I'm curious to know which columns you are seeing that need adjusted. Layout and Design is definitely not a strength of mine. My mother has been doing it most of my life however. So she helped me in a LOT of places... but I certainly may have messed up a few areas. The video of the pages flipping contains a very outdated copy of the issue 1. A lot of what is seen there has been changed, but the SAMPLES image should be fairly up to date.

Let me know what you're seeing! I'm definitely not to big to say I don't make mistakes... :)
Click to expand...

Hi Dustin, thanks for the detailed response. I appreciate your reasoning and it's a very legitimate way of looking at. For me, the concept of a 'digital magazine' is a difficult one, and I'd sort of rather the layout was tailored to my smartphone, but you can't please everyone all the time and it's clear you're passionate about the way you're doing it.

re:columns- I just caught a glimpse in the videos of some columns that were interacting with images and looking a bit squeezed. I'm not sure whether you're using 3,4 or 5 columns across the page, but as a general rule, I avoid having images that squeeze multiple columns so that they're only one or two words across. It's not the end of the world, but it makes things easier to read if you can build up a rhythm with each line. I firmly believe that InDesign is the most counter-intuitive program in the world, and it took me a long time to get to grips with it. I edit my university's student newspaper at the moment, so have to spend half my life on it and it doesn't get fun... :weird:
 
A single hundred-page publication every three months seems like an eternity in subscription time. I subscribe to a lot of audio & video podcasts, and if they don't have something coming out once a week they fall to the bottom of the heap in no time at all. They fight for my attention, and are all free! Why did you decide to go quarterly with many pages, instead of more frequently with fewer pages? Just wonderin'.

I'm all in support digital mags, fwiw. :)

Good luck with your Kickstarter. :cool:
 
ChimpPhobiaFilms - Hi! :D Thanks for the kind words... those are often worth more than money anyhow :) I really appreciate it.


NickClapper - The company I am using to publish is YUDU. Here are some of the other magazines they do:
http://yudu.com/portfolio.php

Try them out and see how they work on your phone? I have an Android phone, and they work great. I've seen their mags on a Kindle and iPad and they work great. I hope that it works great on an iPhone as well. Either way, it will give you a feel for the final product I'll be putting out. Many of my layouts are spreads (which I admit isn't the most phone friendly layout)... but everything still reads page by page. It's just the design elements that cross over the pages. And I've learned a lot, and the next issues will get better.

And I agree with you on InDesign. It was tough to get used to, and there are still many things I don't like about it. My plan is to outsources the design to a small group of designers that I've hand picked for their talents. So hopefully I won't have to worry about it too much longer :D

I'll definitely recheck some of my columns though. I appreciate the tip.



Zensteve - Originally... I had 0 plans to have any sort of release schedule at all. This started very much as a side project, as I was trying to launch another business and start my own film career. But several large companies took interest really quick (including a division of Lionsgate Film). The larger advertisers said they needed something. I originally was going to do biannual... but as things picked up and gained interest... I decided to drop my other company and focus on this.

BUUUT.... I'm still new to the entire process.. so I just wanted to give myself time. It's JUST me. As I pick up designers to contract work out to, and maybe some part time writing staff, and someone to do interviews, someone to sell ads... I'll increase the releases. I've also avoided subscriptions for the same reason. It's just me... and it's also hard to count on the "creative types" to be reliable with deadlines. Learned that one the hard way. lol.

Thanks!!



GuerrillaAngel - Thanks so much for the words of encouragement. It really really does mean a lot me :)
 
I'm sure it'll work out well for you, you seem to have a good attitude. Hard work and perseverance are the most important things here.

Chipped in $20.
 
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