I stumbled across a fantastic group on Vimeo the other day. It’s the Student Filmmaker’s Collective. This great group of young filmmakers is really serious about honing their craft, and they’re using a Vimeo group to foster their skill development.

Membership

Membership in this group is open, but if you intend to post videos, be forewarned. This group not only takes their filming seriously, they have the video toys to do some amazing things.

To date, there are 749 members of the Student Filmmaker’s Collective. They hail from all sorts of colleges and high schools from around the world. With 1700 videos uploaded to the group you get to view many unique filmmaking styles.

Videos

The creativity of this young group is absolutely riveting. I found their use of lighting, camera angles, and unique perspectives fresh and captivating.

Take, for instance, the video by Victor Suarez entitled Night Eyes. The entire film is shot at night and Suarez’s use of light within the dark is captivating. Even more impressive is all the effects were done with only the camera itself.

Contrast that video with Joshua Stocker’s The London Chroming Company Ltd. Toned down color schemes really reflect the historical value of the film.

Discussions

The exciting thing about this group is it’s ability to carry on discussions in the forums. They share their production techniques, items of interest, comments on films.

Vimeo is the Cadillac of video sites. Film quality is beyond that of the “talking head” videos on YouTube and the quality of the comments falls right in line with this standard. Unlike YouTube, unconstructive and hurtful comments are absolutely not tolerated. These students are all about helping each other improve their craft. If a comment doesn’t accomplish that, it’s removed.

Up and Coming Filmmakers

It’s going to be interesting watching the careers of these young filmmakers. In the meantime, check out their work in the Student Filmmaker’s Collective.