Ebay Con-artists

Bismillah ar-Rahmaan ar-Raheem,

Being brand new to making films, I figured I should start off by finding what equipment I needed. I started googling the web, reading, doing research and came up with a list of stuff that would be ideal.

I found most of the small stuff on Ebay and B&H Photo/Audio but when it came down to buying the XL2 Camera I found a lot of bait & switch con-artists on the web. One guy tried take standard parts out of the box and sell them to me. Its like going to Honda dealership and the salesman selling you a car with no tires, even though its known that tires comes free with the car. Amazing! Another joker wanted to charge $300 for shipping (keep in mind other vendors ship between $39 to $69). And of course we had more than one vendor who took the standard camera apart and replaced the standard parts with cheapers parts. And finally one vendor was trying to convince us that the camera doesn't work unless you buy the "extra accessory" that he sells. Haha....Are you kidding me?

I only found 1 vendor on Ebay that was for real deal but he still wouldn't let go without a fight. Do you want a warranty? No. Do you want insurance? No. Do you want accessories you don't need? No. Do you want the camera? No. I mean yes. Agrr... Anyways, the camera was ordered and it should be here by Friday InshAllah. I'm excited!

Funding the Film - The idea worked!

Bismillah ar-Rahmaan ar-Raheem,

Coming up with a movie idea is easy. Getting people to help you make your film requires more work. Funding your movie, now that's a challenge!

What if you can sell something that is cool, unique, and inexpensive? Something that will help build awareness of your production company and would create a buzz. How about wristbands that say the work "MUSLIM" on it. Better yet, how about getting them in like in a bunch of different colors and they GLOW IN THE DARK! Now that's cool.

Starting Ummah Films

Bismillah ar-Rahmaan ar-Raheem,

I've been searching the web and haven't really found many Muslim Film companies out there. I read a lot of about people talking about doing this and that but it seem that there are many Muslim Film companies with anything on the web. I tried googling and searching forums and didn't find much.

So why not make our own films? Yeah!

Now I need a crew. Started sending emails to brothers, made a few calls, and I got a list of people who said they were down to help. Unfortunately, one of the weaknesses that many of have (including myself) is that we overcommitted to too many things. After the filtering process (figuring out who was serious, had the time, and was down to stick with it no matter what), we ended up with a four man film crew.

Now we need a name. First, I started making a list of what names would fit the type of films we wanted to make. I want to make films that the Ummah can relate to. I cross checked the list with domains which were available and I chose: "Ummah Films". Bought the domain name, hooked up the hosting, and UmmahFilms.com is now live! (well, kind of) Since all we have is a domain name (no films yet), the ummahfilms.com name is pointing back to this blog. The last thing I want is website with a bunch of "under construction" pages (very annoying).

I figure there are people out there who want to start making movies but since I have no idea where to start and what is involved to put a film together, I think the blog may be very interesting. I'm brand new to all of this and I have done nothing more than amateur stuff, this is going to be a new experience for me. Get ready for a crazy ride!