Ryan Connolly

Ryan Connolly (born February 25, 1982) is a writer, director, and presenter best known for his internet television shows Film Riot and Film State. He works with his brother, Josh Connolly, and with Bruno Vieira, Arris Quinones and Todd Bruno. His show Film Riot is a collection of YouTube videos about filmmaking techniques and has just over 1,000,000 subscribers as of December, 2016 and is affiliated with Revision3.

Early life

Connolly attended Full Sail University's film program, where he met many of his future collaborators. After graduating from his course, Connolly worked in construction and 2 other side jobs so he could get enough money to buy some gear. Connoly after around a year was employed to produce advertisements and product videos for companies including Dell and Alienware. He also founded Triune Films, a production company under which he became involved with multiple film projects. Through his work with other production companies, he became friends with Eric Kessler, who lends equipment to Connolly for use and review, and for whom Connolly presents Pimp Your Productions.

Film Riot

Connolly was first noticed by Revision3 when he began making Making the Film, a YouTube show documenting the process of producing a movie. They approached him, and pitched the idea of a higher-budget version of the same premise. Connolly signed up to their team, and began producing Film Riot. The first episode was released on May 27, 2009, and made available on both the Revision3 website and the Film Riot YouTube channel.

Structure

The content of the show is geared towards low budget filmmakers, with sections explaining how popular effects can be achieved on a low budget. Episodes usually begin with a short sketch, sometimes making up part of an ongoing serial across multiple weeks. Connolly then describes how the sketch was produced, focusing on one or two specific elements of the production. This may be part of preproduction, filming, or post production. Footage filming behind the scenes of the sketch is shown, along with screen captures of Connolly compositing, editing, or processing the footage to produce the desired outcome. Connolly narrates throughout this, describing his method, and alternative methods for viewers with different equipment or software. The subject of the episode is usually the result of a viewer request, sent via email, Twitter, or Facebook. As such, the content of some episodes changes between weeks, and little information is given about upcoming features.

In some episodes, Connolly reviews equipment or software. His choice of items to review generally reflects the audience of Film Riot, being aimed at low budget filmmakers. Equipment Connolly purchases for use in Film Riot is also subject of many of his reviews, as is hardware he is loaned or rented for other projects. Some of this equipment is beyond the price range of his viewers; he notably reviewed the RED Epic camera used to film Losses. Early tutorials on effects and editing featured Connolly's editing suite of choice at the time, Final Cut Pro. After releasing an unfavorable review of Final Cut Pro X, the newest version of the editor, Connolly switched to using the Adobe Creative Suite. He regularly includes reviews of plugins for this software in episodes, as and when they are used in tutorials.

Film Riot Mondays

In the years of Film Riot, Connolly began uploading episodes of Film State to the Film Riot YouTube channel. Later Film State became a separate entity, and Film Riot Mondays was introduced. Episodes are shorter, less resource-heavy, and take less time to produce than their standard Film Riot counterparts. The first episode was made available on July 5, 2011. The majority of these episodes consists of fixed camera footage filmed in a physical studio, rather than the chroma-keyed studio used for Film Riot. This speeds up production, and significantly reduces post production effects work.

A prominent feature of Film Riot Mondays episodes is "Ryan's Mail Sack", where Connolly answers a range of short questions about the content of Film Riot, films, or general subjects. These questions are submitted by viewers, and Connolly selects ones that fit a similar theme.

Quick Tips

In 2014, Ryan Connolly chose to produce another show to the Film Riot channel that gives quick tips to common filmmaking techniques. This has since been discontinued.

Other channels

Film State

Connolly presents Film State, an industry news and review programme created by his brother Josh. The show follows a weekly format, and was launched in March 2011 by Revision3. Alongside news and rumors regarding the film industry, Film State reviews trailers for upcoming films and those being released on DVD and Blu-ray. To celebrate the 85th Academy Awards Film State held their own awards ceremony. Fellow internet celebrities announced the winners of each award, who were chosen through a public vote. In December 2013, Connolly announced that Film State would be put on an indefinite hiatus due to other commitments. A farewell episode was broadcast on December 31, 2013.

Pimp Your Production

Pimp Your Production, an internet series created/ produced by Eric Kessler, was also hosted by Connolly. Similar to Film Riot, the program focussed on more professional filming techniques, and therefore utilised more expensive equipment and techniques. The show followed a much more sporadic release schedule, with a total of 8 episodes from its launch in April 2011 to its discontinuation. Connolly featured some of the effects shown in Pimp Your Production episodes on Film Riot, where he explained alternative, cheaper techniques that could be used to achieve a similar outcome.

Short films

Connolly runs Triune Films, an independent production company. Through it, he has released multiple short films.

Losses (2011)

First short film produced by Triune Films. Intense action film starring Josh Connolly and Todd Bruno.

Tell (2012)

Tell is a 2012 psychological horror film written, directed, and edited by Connolly. It is loosely based on the Edgar Allan Poe short story "The Tell-Tale Heart". The production of the film was the subject of many episodes of Film Riot, and many of the Film Riot crew also worked on Tell. Compared to Connolly's earlier work, Tell took a longer period of time to write and produce. It is significantly longer than his earlier shorts, and required 8 days to film.

Outsiders (unreleased)

This was planned to be a short film released through Triune Films. Due to funding and budget difficulties, the project was put on indefinite hold, and "Proximity" was shot in its place.

PROXiMITY (2013)

This gritty, action heavy short starring Todd Bruno, and featured fast-paced action and stuntwork.

U.F.Oh Yeah (2015)

Though not a full-length short film, this sci-fi comedy was the first Film Riot "Short Short" released as part of Film Riot's Epic Summer. Starring Josh Connoly, it utilized dramatic make-up effects and cinematography.

Real Gone (2015)

Although not directed by Ryan Connolly, this film was directed by Seth Worley as part of Film Riot's Epic Summer. Produced by Triune Films.

Portal Combat (2015)

This action-comedy was released in July 2015 as a collaboration with HitFilm. Though not a full-length short film, this second Film Riot "Short Short" was released as part of Film Riot's Epic Summer. The film stars Emily and Josh Connoly as the leads, with frequent collaborator Todd Bruno as the antagonist. The short film features Emily purchasing a Portal gun from a group of gangsters, the film title being a play on the game Mortal Kombat, however the short is based on "Portal" and its successor "Portal 2".

Chainsaw (A Horror Movie in Real Life) (2016)

A horror-comedy short starring Anthony Carboni and Nic Daire. It was made in events during the 2016 Bloodtober giveaway, partnering with Blackmagic Design, HP, Kessler Crane, Adobe, Filmstro, Westcott, Aputure, RODE, Lens Pro to Go, My Case Builder, CFX, Benro, Rampant Design, Red Giant, and Shot Lister.

Ghost House (A Horror Movie in Real Life) (2016)

A horror-comedy short starring Graham Powell, Hannah Ward and Emily Connolly. The second short made in events during the 2016 Bloodtober giveaway.

Intercept (TBA)

Coming soon. Written and Directed by Andrew Kramer. Third film in Film Riot's Epic Summer.