Mark Jeavons had already made three shorts when he came to work on my film, Mnemosyne, as the Director of Photography. After my film was finished, he went away, made another short, and then went bravely into a feature.

Mark is probably the most prolific budding filmmaker I have ever met or heard of. I watched his first feature, The Boy With A Thorn In His Side, and thoroughly enjoyed it. Shot on DV over the summer of 2004, the film is a light-hearted tale of a boy coming down whilst growing up. Read about Mark's debut feature here.

With a passion for Italian Horror Movies, it wouldn't take a genius to figure out Kevin Gates' first full feature would be a retro horror incorporating elements of his favourite movies.

With a budget of £5,000, The Unseen was completed in 2004. In this candid interview, director Kevin Gates talks about his film and independent filmmaking in general. Read his interview here.

Before making Savage Island, Jeff Lando had worked as a cinematographer and shot a number of independant films in New York City. Lando noticed that none of the feature were getting distribution.

He then set himself a mission: make a film using digital technology that could get distribution. Did he succeed? Read Jeff's interview here.

Once upon a time a C++ programmer by the name of Shane Carruth, from Dallas, Texas, decided to make a film. He had no background in filmmaking, nor had he ever made one before. So he set out to learn what he needed to know, moving from one person to the next, one piece of advice to the next, until he finally made his movie, which he called PRIMER. It cost just $7,000. The price of a used car.

This unknown chap from Dallas then submitted his film to the Sundance Film Festival. In 2004, he wins both the Alfred P Sloan award and the Sundance Grand Jury Award. Not bad. Want to know more? Read Shane's interview here.

I was fortunate enough to be up at 3am one sleepless night when the short film 'Tag 26' suddenly came on, on Channel 4. The film was one of the best short films I have ever seen, and after seeing it I just had to interview the talented director, Andreas Samland.

In this interview, Andreas tells us how he got into filmmaking, and how he first arrived at the idea which spawned 'Tag 26'. You can read the interview here.

Recently, Mike Conway, a filmmaker from Las Vegas, took third at ManiaFest with his sci-fi thriller: Terrarium. Julian, the stills photographer on my film, Napanee, was lucky enough to get hold of a copy.

In this interview, Mike talks to Michael Bartlett, Kevin Gates, and Julian Newman Turner about the epic journey he has made in the production of his film Terrarium. You can read Mike's interview here.

Bille Eltringham was the director of the first movie ever to play at both cinemas and people's home computers! Her film 'This is not a love song' can be downloaded for £2 over the Internet, and is a sign of the times.

In this interview, Bille talks to Michael Bartlett and Stuary Folley about her experiences shooting the film on digital. You can read Bille's interview here.

After a very successful media campaign, Vicki Psarias recently came to the attention of my co-producer, Hakan Besim. Her short film 'rifts' has been received very well, and is seems it will be only be a matter of time before the feature film version goes into production, after her pitch was given a special mention by the raindance LIVE AMMO panel.

In this interview, Vicki answers questions on a wide range of subects, all revolving around her film. You can read Vicki's interview here.

Julian Willson has worked as both a sound recordist and a foley artist in a large number of shorts and features. It was his work on the film Racing Post that first brought him to my attention.

In this interview, Julian talks about the processes involved in the job of a sound recordist and foley artist. You can read Julian's interview here.

Daniel Outram's education was in Psychology, not film. But after graduating, he wrote to a number of production companies and finally got his foot in the door. His most recent film, Racing Post was featured on this year's Raindance DVD.

In this interview, Daniel talks about various issues of filmmaking and production. You can read Daniel's interview here.

Jerome Poynton works for Swiss Effects, one of the leading players in digital-to-film transfer. This interview was actually pieced together after a number of e-mails between Jerome and myself.

In this interview, Jerome talks about the myths involved in digital-to-film transfer, and uses the film Everything Put Together (perhaps one of the best examples, if not THE best) as a case study. You can read Jerome's interview here.

Colin Foster, an independant filmmaker working under the production company, Big Woo Films, was roped into filmmaking by a close friend. Now he already has a feature behind him and has a thorough understanding of the technicalities of filmmaking; just see his site for more info!

In this, the first interview of 2003, Colin talks about one of the most overlooked factors in filmmaking: sound. You can read Colin's interview here.

Chris Watson is a low-budget b-movie-maker from Kansas. With titles such as The Day The Vampire Ate My Brain, and ZombieGeddon in the can, it should come as no surprise that his inspirations are set heavily in the old b-movie horror genre.

In this, the final interview of 2002, Chris talks about his experiences on the sets of such movies. You can read Chris's interview here.

Jeff Povey has been working as a screenwriter for over a decade, and has written for BBC series such as Eastenders and Holby City. He was even resposible for the emotional exit of the character Ethel in Eastenders, an unforgettable moment in the programme's history.

In this interview, Jeff talks about what it takes to be a writer and offers up some good advice for people starting out. You can read Jeff's interview here.

DJ Hupp, a filmmaker from California, had two short films under his belt when he finally decided it was time that the Steven Spielberg movie, AI: Artificial Intelligence, needed a re-edit. This is probably the only movie in history where everyone who has seen it knows at least one person who vehemently disagreed with one or more portions of the film (In most cases it was the ending that spoiled it).

A lot of the problems stemmed from the fact that AI was originally a Stanley Kubrick idea. He had produced a treatment, meticulously detailed storyboards and had discussed the project at length with Spielberg. But Kubrick's original idea was much darker than the film Spielberg ultimately directed, which bounced schitzophrenically from darkness to disney, and never seemed to settle.

Richard Kelly, writer and director of "Donnie Darko" is a 26-year-old film school grad (USC class of 1997) who has directed only one previous short and had never before written a screenplay.

Regardless, Kelly has become one of those remarkable stories of unlikely success, his persistence and belief in his project gaining him an agent, a series of disheartening pitch meetings, a fortuitous meeting with Nancy Juvoven and Drew Barrymore at Flower Films (who agreed to take on the project, with Barrymore cast in a small role), selection in the 2001 Sundance dramatic competition and finally, a distribution deal with Newmarket Films.

In this incredible interview that has been replicated with kind permission from the IndieWIRE site, Richard Kelly explains just how this was achieved. You can read his interview here.

Danny Boyle is well known for his movies: Trainspotting and, more recently, The Beach. His latest movie is a horror film set in a post-apocalyptic Britain where the majority of people have either been killed or turned into violent mutants by a psychological virus.

In this interview, Danny, together with producer, Andrew MacDonald, and writer, Alex Garland, talk about their movie which was shot on miniDV. The film, 28 Days Later, is in many ways a tribute to films such as Day Of The Triffids, Dawn Of The Dead, and Omega Man. You can read their interview here.

David BirdSell graduated from the University of Southern California's Graduate Film Program in 1997. His films to date have all been shorts, some of which have played at festivals as prestigious as Cannes and Sundance.

In this interview, David gives his take on issues such as miniDV to 35mm transfers and getting your work bought for TV broadcast. You can read Dave's interview here.

David Nutley had massive nationwide press coverage in 2001, following the completion of his home-made star wars movie, Star Wars: Dark Skies. Dave's excellent use of special effects prompted me to interview him about the packages he uses and the software and plug-ins he would recommend to filmakers on a no-to-low budget.

You can read Dave's interview here.

Elliot Grove is the founder of RainDance. Raindance is an organisation devoted to film-making, film-training, and even has its own film festival.

In this interview, Elliot shares his knowledge of selling films at Film Festivals, and mentions some of the courses that he runs which may well be of use to anyone wishing to know more after reading his answers. You can read Elliot's interview here.

Dusty Rhodes wrote and directed the war-time love story, Distant Bridges. The film has been screened ubiquitously around the world; Dusty even caught a glimpse of the dubbed version in Thailand recently!

In this interview, Dusty gives general tips about film-making, and uses his experience of having a feature film under his belt to help young directors avoid some of the more common pitfalls involved. You can read Dusty's interview here.

Brad Osbourne caught captured the imagination of young DV filmmakers the world over with his directorial debut, Hall Of Mirrors, which he shot on a digital8 camcorder.

Hall of Mirrors went down very well with critics and fooled most people into thinking it was filmed on 16mm film. Critical acclaim included: 'One of the best shot-on-digital movies I have ever seen' and 'One of the 10 best films of 2001'. The most incredible thing, however, was that Hall Of Mirrors was shot on a virtually zero budget. In this interview, Brad talks about how to achieve a professional look with an average digital camcorder. You can read Brad's interview here.

Writer/Director Faye Gilbert has had much success in the film industry. Her accolades include a nomination for best short film at the BAFTAs, and she has recently been shortlisted in the last 6 of the Orange FilmFour competition.

In this interview, Faye gives advice on how to approach writing and directing your first film. You can read her interview here.

Colin has worked as a freelance video producer and editor. He currently works as a freelance writer for prestigious publications such as Camcorder User and Computer Video. The popular miniDV web site, SimplyDV.Com, is his latest accomplishment.

In this interview, Colin gives advice on the kind of equipment you'll need to know about in order to get started on your road to film-making. You can read his interview here.