For the penny saving filmmaking creatives… This one's for you

Film Riot 

If you haven't already heard of Film Riot, now you have (you're welcome). If you're a low budget filmmaker, or even if you're not, you're part of the audience this panders to. Ryan Connolly offers up some insanely useful, cost-effective tips in his simple 'how to' style YouTube videos, dowsed in quick-witted humour. Each episode begins with a comical sketch that breaks the ice before heading into the not-actually-too-nitty-gritty tutorial of how he created the effects in the first place. His videos are informative, articulate and really easy to understand. It's a filmmakers niche that everyone can get down with.

Tom Antos

Let's talk about Tom. You might have heard of Tom Antos from one or all of his highly successful youtube channels: Tom Antos, Tom Antos Films and GALGATV. He's a true filmmaking polymath with a lot of experience in animation and VFX under his metaphorical filmmaking belt.

 Tom has a wealth of knowledge that he willingly shares with the world. His YouTube tutorials, although on the slightly more technical side, are a great resource for those looking to refine their filmmaking skills. If you're on a budget, no problem. You can still produce high quality shiz!

 His Facebook live videos offer really useful in-depth information about things like camera performance, reviews on gear and he documents all the equipment he uses in his livestream, so try and catch one of those.

 Story & Heart

Are you looking to really impress your peers, naysayers, family members, and love interests alike by taking your filmmaking skills to the next level? Story and Heart might just be the ticket for you. It's an amazing educational platform that's essentially a film school... without being a film school, so you can embark on your educational journey from the comfort of your own home, in your underwear, if it suits you and it feels right! It's one of the best available filmmaking resources online.

It's a paid subscription that costs a measly $30 a month where you can then opt to pay for classes, which can make one anxious when one's purse strings are tight, but this is an incredibly cost-effective solution compared to the monumental price of film school. You get to dive directly into the classes you want to take, no faffing. You're essentially invited to watch entire documented filmmaking processes from preproduction to post-production, with step-by-step tutorials that breaks down the filmmaking process into several components.

D4Darious

This. This right here, is another great resource for online filmmaking tutorials that delve into the core of the filmmaking process, especially for (but not limited to) aspiring filmmakers. Darious himself (Darious Britt) is a cinematographer, producer, director, actor blah blah blah- this man is a Jack of all trades, with the gift of effective storytelling and no shortage of insight into the processes of filmmaking. 

His short film Seafood Tester toured 4 independent film festivals in 2012, and in 2015, his first feature length film, Unsound, won several awards and was screened at more than 20 international film festivals. He even vlogged the whole process in 41 short episodes on his YouTube channel.

Although his YouTube channel only came into fruition in 2013, it has an abundance of subscribers and has received millions of views. Clearly Darious is onto something. His tutorials take the seemingly complex terms and technicalities of the filmmaking world and make it easy and fluid to navigate through. What sweetens the deal even further is that he takes the time to regularly communicate with and reply to his viewers on his channel. It's pretty cool to see the sweet, sweet human connection working so well on a digital platform! It also helps that he's a funny dude. Seriously. He's like a super niche filmmaking comedian.

Philip Bloom

Philip Bloom is the type of guy that can produce high quality footage with any means he's given, within the camera realm. He's like the kid that was in your class at school, that you secretly resented because they were always so efficient, but really, you were probably just deflecting from your own internalised insecurities. He's known for his high-caliber filmmaking abilities using just a Canon DSLR, and it helps that he is also extremely savvy with small drones and everything inbetween. His superior camera knowledge means that his camera reviews are really detailed and makes him one of the best resources for helping you choose the right camera and filmmaking gear in general.

Philip has worked for pretty much all of the big names in UK broadcasting, as well as working with many other renowned worldwide news organisations. Plus, he won a BAFTA in 2012 for one of his indie projects, How To Start A Revolution, so you can absolutely trust that he knows the ins and outs of the industry.

His social media game is strong, with over 100,000 followers on each of his various platforms, he has certainly captured the attention and gained the respect of a wide audience, and for good reason. He often does workshops, tutorials and reviews aimed at all levels of filmmakers, so if you haven't already, dive right in!