Author: Ben Chiu

Hello and Welcome to my first blog and entry!

Yes, it’s been a long time! (And I need a new picture.)

To fill you in, I slogged away in aviation for a few years after 9/11 (the terrorists ruined aviation in the US), and eventually I came to realize that it was never going to come back. Because technology keeps marching forward as prices drop, the idea of making movies again entered my radar.
Most of you know me as the guy that teaches people to fly via books. What you probably don’t know is I earned a degree in Motion Pictures (from NYU), which led me out to California (I got a job at Paramount Pictures right after school) in the first place.

Making movies was always one of my first loves, but because I am a fanatic about quality and the cost of quality was always so high, it was never possible for me to make a full-length feature movie without a huge pile of money. To shorten a long story, a few years ago I realized that technology made it possible for an indie to make Hollywood-quality movies on a nano-budget. So that’s what I did.

While I still keep my CFII certificate current, I started a mini-movie studio here on the Central Coast to produce the highest quality movies I can. The big idea is to build a mini-industry here in an non-Hollywood town. My thought is if we can make enough money to employ a few people while we all do what we love, while living in a great place–well, it’s the best thing I can think of.

Our first feature, “MindScans” is just about to be released. You can have a look here: https://mindscans.com and there are other clips and goodies here: https://facebook.com/mindscans

This movie was inspired by a story from fellow Microsoft Press author, Steven L. Kent. I’ll save that story for some other time, but to get back to the point of this post, when people find out that I’m a movie maker, there always seems to be great interest. So at the behest of friends, I’m sure being a writer and author in a former life had something to do with it, I thought this blog would be a good compromise.

I figure that if I can successfully teach people to fly airplanes (one of the most complicated things humans can do) through books, helping people learn about making movies would be a lot simpler. I don’t want to re-hash stuff about tools of the trade that you can get anywhere. What I’d like to do is talk about the art and practical ends of making movies–the really valuable stuff that you miss if you don’t go to a top film school or have a great mentor. (I’ll explain in a future installment.)

At the very least, my hope is this blog should be entertaining to those interested in making movies and running a movie studio. Let me tell you, it is an Adventure!

(In case you’re wondering, yes, my blog’s title is a nod of sorts to FlightAdventures as well.)

Anyway, the studio (Alliance Digital Studios) is currently in production with our second feature and we have another in development (not to mention we have MindScans to release), so my time is sporadic, but I’ll try and blog when I have the opportunity.

I look forward to connecting with old friends again and am excited at the prospect of meeting new ones.

Cheers!
Ben