I took a 10-day in-person filmmaking workshop with Eric Lau. The class size was very small during the pandemic, and safety precautions were observed. There was the opportunity for lots of individual attention and the instructor was extremely open to working on the students individual needs. We wrote scripts, directed the actors, lit and shot the scenes, and edited the footage. Eric's feedback was invaluable. He is extremely experienced and knowledgeable about all aspects of filmmaking. You get a ton of hands on experience and guidance. A highly recomended class for any aspiring filmaker. read more

I'm Grateful that, I've met Eric because he's the person that I wanted to meet. He's a professional and will Show you how to do more with less. In five days, after taking this filmmaking workshop, I'm able to start shooting my project with a clearer idea of what I'm doing!" Eric's high knowledge, tricks and generosity allow you to get to the next level saving time, money, and stress. Thank you Eric! read more

The most powerful part of the lighting workshop is that it is hands on experiential learning! I was looking for a workshop where I was able to experiment and get direct feedback on what I did well and what I could have improved. That is exactly what I got. I would have enjoyed working in a bigger space with more equipment, but to understand the fundamentals of lighting, you don't need it. Eric is fun and engaging and likes to connect with people/students. If you are a beginner and you are looking for hands on experience, check out the lighting workshop. It is really helpful. read more

I am the actress that worked with Eric in the workshop that the other user was referring to and I actually learned a lot! He is an experienced director and his directions are insightful. It was interesting to film the scene in different ways, learning how little details and gestures affect the scene and how our characters are viewed. I think there was a misunderstanding during the workshop regarding the moment when he said the ¨B¨ word - Eric was actually talking about how my character behaves towards others in the scene. I knew he was not referring to me as a person/actor but instead about what direction he wanted to take on with the scene/characters. Eric accidentally hit a part of my eye with a script but it was unintentional and happened really fast so I do not think he noticed it, but if he had, I am sure he would have apologized for that. read more

This was one of the most helpful workshops that I've been to as a recent college graduate entering into the film industry. Eric has a very clear and concise syllabus and executes it great given the time constraints. I was able to learn a lot of new lighting techniques that can create a big feature film feeling using small budget lighting fixtures. As an instructor, Eric was very knowledgable and thorough in his explaining everything and more. Overall I would highly recommend this workshop for anyone that would like to learn some great new lighting tricks. It will make your movies better!!! read more

Perhaps if you've never seen a camera in your life, you may find this workshop useful, but you'd probably be better off watching YouTube - at least there you'll get comprehensive, concise, easy to understand explanations that follow a logical order. But if you've got any amount of experience in video production and you're looking for a deeper dive into *contemporary* approaches to filmmaking, please look elsewhere. You will learn 3 point lighting and other lighting techniques (indoor only). You will get a very basic overview of storyboarding (brief example of how a script gets made into a storyboard; how to draw stick figures looking left, right, and straight ahead; how to draw an over the shoulder shot with two people). He loves to tell stories about his heyday in the industry; occasionally you pick up useful nuggets of information from these stories. Other than that, you will often find that he goes off on lengthy tangents rather than focusing on teaching the actual syllabus. He loves to tell you how awesome he is at everything but his lack of recent work makes me question that. Everything on the website is dated. The videos produced in the workshop also look dated. Much of Eric's equipment is decades old. This is not bad, per se, as you can still learn filmmaking concepts on old equipment just don't expect training on today's industry standard cams or monitors. Aside from that, expect to factor in about 1 hr per day of him fiddling with old cables with poor connections, which cause the monitor to go black when moved. Each time he will say he keeps "forgetting" to get a new one. Despite what the course website suggests, you will not be coming up with your own material as a class. You will not write an original script, but rather be given a script of a scene from a pre-existing film, with a few modifications. The course advertises that you will learn scriptwriting and character development among other fundamentals. Eric will simply tell you that stories have a three act structure - beginning middle and end - and to put twists in your stories to keep the audience interested. He will play clips from a few movies he likes to show ways to move the camera; but we never actually learned *how* to write a script (this was supposed to be Day 1's focus) or how to move a camera dramatically (all shots are from a tripod). You will essentially observe Eric directing and shooting a single scene with actors he acquires - for an entire day. I get doing a few takes to get things right, but literally he will ask the actors to do the same 1 minute scene a ridiculous number of times (too many to count) and his direction is often contradictory which makes the process take even longer. The actors were clearly confused and exasperated by the end of it. He also has them doing unnatural and odd gestures; Eric will say the one thing he can't do is act, so I'm not sure why it makes sense for him to give acting direction to the actors - like telling them to use their whole hand to point angrily instead of their finger. He also said to cut out most of the pauses in the dialogue, which made it sound less natural. The 2nd day of shooting is more of the same, with the exception that you may be doing more of the camera operation (hitting the record button) or audio monitoring (watching the sound level on the camera LED) or saying "action." He cut one of the day's classes short by 1.5 hours for reasons unknown, shortchanging paying clients. The camera technique he uses/teaches leaves plenty to be desired. The scene that gets filmed is just a basic tripod shot but he often adjusts the framing in the middle of recording - intermittent jerky movements (as opposed to intentional camera shake). This made the shots look amateur. Just as an FYI, the lunch provided Saturday and Sunday is not going to be something catered from a restaurant, not even a couple pizzas (which considering the price of the workshop you'd imagine he could get at least a couple pizzas or Subway sandwiches, esp. for a class size of 4). It'll be something he or his wife whipped up at home. Ours was cold pasta salad. He emphasizes doing productions for as little money as possible and it shows in his workshop, sadly. He's vulgar; I am too so I personally don't care - except when it's directed at people. He got impatient with the actors several times, calling the actress a "fucking bitch." He'd probably call it joking but it was inappropriate and the actress was clearly uncomfortable. He (accidentally?) hit the actress in the eye with the script but didn't apologize or acknowledge it. Things like this, in addition to needlessly repetitive sessions made for a tense environment at times while shooting, but the actors were very professional and took everything in stride. He didn't even cover everything in the syllabus, let alone go into detail on topics, but his excuse when confronted was there's not enough time. There's shorter cheaper more robust workshops out there. read more

As a novice filmmaker I would recommend this course to anyone starting out in the industry to the seasoned professional. Eric's extensive and respected background allows him to lecture on all aspects of moviemaking ranging from small independent projects to large Hollywood style endeavors. I found his unique teaching style relaxed and informative. Much more so than other well known established workshops I've attended on the east coast. Will be enrolling in another Solar Video workshop scheduled at the end of this month. read more

I really really recommend this workshop to any aspiring filmmaker. I went from having no knowledge of making movies, to feeling confident I could make my own short after the five days of learning. The key aspect of this workshop is how hands-on it is. You spend the entire time actually running the camera, setting up lights, directing the actors, and editing the footage. There is no memorization or rote learning---that you can do on your own time. For that reason alone, this workshop is a tremendous value. Do yourself a favor and take it today. read more

This is a very advanced class. Just to start out I hate writing yelp reviews because anybody who gets mad at someone can write a 6 page review saying "the director was so impatient and did not understand true script writing etc." Eric is a very intense guy. In all these classes it is like we try and learn 1 whole years film techniques in just a week or a few days. Very intense with lighting and rehearsal and changing camera angles and doing different with small things adjusted. Very hardcore class for those like me with a time schedule who don't want to attend years of film classes. Truly though I have taken 4 of Eric's classes and next month am going to do an outside lighting class. That is going to be great! Like Eric says in the class everyone prefers different styles and scenes and senses of drama as everyone prefers different types of food. Please be open minded for the class. What it isn't equivalent to: years of film experience crammed into a week. What it is: years of film classes crammed into a week. No one can say anything is equivalent to time in the field like years in the field. But with 37 years Eric has this nitch for polish. He sees when it is too high or too low or wide or too narrow. He puts as much he can into a workshop to help the student define how a camera tells a story. For someone like myself that had too many other jobs and classes in my life I had to climb through to finally start making money I did not have time for 2 years at film school. I love filming and it is more of a hobby but I have tried to film things and weeks later after banging my head into the wall trying to figure out why what is on film does not look good I will show it to Eric and in a few seconds he will speak to me for a few minutes and the explanation is usually along the lines of "hey I had this same problem 40 years ago when I first got into filming. You see you got the angle too much like etc. Etc. And this type of drama has to come forth in such presentation and never put the type of lens for that type of shot etc." and in minutes he cures my issue of lacking the knowledge to understand what I did wrong after weeks of frustration. Then I will go to try again and BAM! it works " oh of course it came out horrible if I just focused on these changes now its so much easier." Getting into filming is a lot like getting into meditation it takes lots of patience and changes of perspective. Lots. Lots. Lots. This is for sure the best workshop class I ever taken as much as you can learn in a workshop this will teach you. And I have taken them all. Try it out and be prepared for a very intense class just like you were on a real set! Many many changes to writing, lighting, composition, rehearsal and actual takes. Eric is very persistent in the art of learning how a camera tells a story. Very intense and a great learning experience. Of course don't take my word for it. Take the class and try it out for yourself and see what I mean. Bring your thinking cap. read more

Eric holds a solid, insightful 5-day workshop that takes you through the step-by-step basics of lighting a set (and finding when to follow the "rules" and when to break them), shooting footage for a scene, and editing the raw footage into a viable piece of filmmaking (a whole day is spent working with Final Cut Pro and orchestrating both sight and sound into a clear edit of the scene, this proved one of the most valuable sessions as it is a great reminder of the precision, accuracy, and clarity required to make a good movie) . Eric's extensive experience with shooting both film and video (as well as his lively industry anecdotes) make this a thoroughly enjoyable week. Highly recommended for someone looking to get started with their cinematic ambitions. read more

Our 15 year old daughter attended Solar Film camp for a week this past summer. She learned a lot and loved every minute of it. She met other students who were equally as enthusiastic about learning. Within just a week they learned how to use a variety of equipment, met professionals in the field who were guest speakers, and worked together to produce a finished product. Eric is very knowledgeable and professional. He did a great job guiding students through projects, listening to ideas and answering questions. Our daughter wished she had signed up for more than just one week. read more

TL/DR: Cash-grab workshop in broken down studio does none of what was promised. Go on YouTube or take on of these instead: (http://mononoawarefilm.com/workshops/ ; http://www.savethecat.com/services/beatsheet or this FREE class https://school.rocketjump.com/learn) Workshop Material: Workshops generally have a breakdown of the curriculum into 15-30 minute increments so that participants know exactly what, and when they will be learning material. Here, that is missing, and it is the first sign that something is off. The singular portion of the material that was covered well enough to validate listing it in the curriculum was indoor, 3-point lighting. You will learn how to make hard/soft light hands on. That is all that you will learn. Your first two days will focus on lighting, and then Eric will take a scene from the Boiler Room and add a few words to the script. Then you will watch Eric talk to actors, "direct" actors, watch him set up lighting and a camera and watch him film the actors doing a one-minute, two-shot script for two days. The workshop appears comprehensive and hands-on from the website but, unfortunately it is not. We did not learn about script writing, story conception, character development, script structure, script formatting, directing professional actors, staging the scene, directing the camera, selecting camera angles, lenses, and movements, shooting & lighting as stated on the website. It became quite clear after the first day that Eric was unprepared to thoroughly teach anything beyond basic indoor lighting, and was unprepared to teach or give a lesson on any subject beyond stating a sentence or two. Teaching Style: Eric's teaching style is sporadic, though I can only assess his teaching style in regards to the lighting portion because he did not teach anything beyond that. He gets consumed in stories of his time in industry, which cut down many hours of potential instruction (if instruction was prepared). He talked about 3-point lighting, and using color gels (blue and orange) to create mood. He briefly skimmed over script writing by saying that you should write characters to be less black and white (with him then launching into his discussion of many films) and that stories have a basic three point structure. He briefly mentioned story boarding by making us draw stick people in boxes and went on for a while about his time in the industry. In sum, Eric is not invested enough in this workshop to create a solid curriculum that an attendee can follow, it is more so what he feels like talking about. When confronted about the lack of material, Eric insisted that his passing mentions were him teaching about it, and proceeded to give the same passing sentence or two he gave the first time. Any attempts to steer the ship otherwise didn't work, as he did not come back the next day with a plan to make up for script writing, character development, story boarding or any of the materials missed, instead he pressed ahead to edit the reel for the actors. Equipment Equipment used for the workshop is from the 80s. This is not on its face a bad thing, however if you are not teaching shooting on film cameras, it is unwarranted. The tv monitor showed on the website (from the 80s) connects to an old camera that goes in and out all day. The audio equipment is dated (using wired mics), and a boom mic which we were going to use but "I'm too lazy to use that," so we did not get to experience that either. All computers are dated, including a first model Apple desktop and dated versions of Final Cut, though editing in Avid Media Composer was promised. Lighting equipment is also worn and broken apart with many lighting stands being broken, and the diffusers/colored gels are quite tattered (he only has orange and blue). The studio in general is in disrepair with broken chairs and clutter abound which makes for a dangerous set. Also worth noting, that Eric will tell you that you do not need much money to make things happen, and will boast about his ability to save money. That is most apparent with the food he provides. He brought in pasta, pre-opened bags of chips and cookies that sadly shows that he cuts corners in both money and effort. Instructor Outside of the instruction we were set to learn, Eric's demeanor was troubling. While he over shared many stories about his time in the industry, he inflated his work (though we have yet to see the work he has produced, see if you can find any of his credits on IMDb.) When my class asked about the materials we were set to have learned but didn't, Eric became defensive and shut down a classmate voicing their opinions. He is reminiscent of the culture that many in the industry are fighting to replace. Between his yelling at people accidentally walking into shots ("Mother f**ker watch where you are going,") and hitting classmates when they are not as quiet, saying to a woman actor "fucking b**ch," were just the incidents that we saw read more

This filmmaking workshop is SO useful, practical, and informative. I'd recommend it to anyone looking for a solid foundation for understanding and creating films. I'm an actor who's been on set many many times, so I have a sense of what's really done and what's not, but I wanted to understand the language that the crew was using. Eric's workshop is fantastic -- the information is right on point, and the hands-on approach can't be beat. read more