Our Mission

Vidjam is a non-profit on a mission to encourage new filmmakers and educate the public about the filmmaking process. Our goal is to enable and develop a filmmaking community through education, resources, and collaborative opportunities. Vidjam seeks to provide a creative outlet for current and aspiring filmmakers through the development and coordination of workshops, competitions, and other collaborative opportunities.

 

The Situation

Filmmaking has never been more accessible than it is today. Cameras are available for $200-$600, and many modern smartphones have considerable video recording and editing capabilities. Some films have even been shot entirely on an iPhone filmmakers, including Oscar-winning filmmakers like Steven Soderbergh (Oceans 11, Crash, Unsane, High Flying Bird) and Sean Baker (Tangerine, The Florida Project)

Tools and services like Youtube, Vimeo, Tik Tok, and Instagram provide artists with opportunities to share their work with the entire world. Services like Amazon VOD and Pateron allow them to monetize that work to millions of potential viewers

The Problem

 

  • It can be difficult to find collaborators to work and learn with to gain experience working with other filmmakers and actors.

  • Tuition for film classes or film school can be prohibitively expensive.

  • Filmmaking can require a large time commitment.

  • There is now more competition than ever for the attention of the audience.

Vidjam hosts monthly meetups for filmmakers, new and seasoned, which provide opportunities to network, collaborate, and learn with the community. We host a quarterly “Open Screen” with Midtown Cinema in Harrisburg, PA which allows filmmakers to submit their work to be screened in an actual theater, along with other filmmakers from the community. We also host a variety of filmmaking events, like our “Filmmaking Weekends” and “Vidjam of Horror”, where filmmakers are challenged to create films on a shortened production schedule and then have their work screened at theaters like Midtown Cinema (Harrisburg, PA) and Zoetropolis (Lancaster, PA). We also host workshops and screenings throughout the year.

Networking through these resources have lead to collaboration on short films, feature films, feature length animations, and on-going paid work.

We have hosted a variety of workshops including lighting, animation, production, writing, independent distribution, smart phone filmmaking, and finding work as a freelancer.

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Feature films such as “The Special”, “Secret Within the Sphere”, and the feature length animation “Grandma” feature Vidjam alumni on their cast and crew.

Our Central PA Filmmakers Meetup began as a monthly meetup in December 2016. The meetup regularly include:

  • Guest Speakers, like local filmmaker Abdullah Abu-Mahfouz, Youtuber Cody Wanner, and animator Dana Sink.
  • Open Screen at Midtown Cinema, where filmmakers can screen their work to the community in an actual theater.
  • Evolution of a Filmmaker, where we take a journey through the career of a local filmmaker, beginning with their first projects to what they are working on now.

Our Central PA Filmmakers Meetup and Facebook Group provides filmmakers with the opportunities to share their current projects and begin collaborating with other filmmakers on personal projects.

Paid Production and Acting gigs are regularly posted in the Central PA Filmmakers group.

Stay in Touch

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