Filmmaking as a career

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danlthemanl

Hey guys,
I'm at that point in my life where I need to decide what I'm doing after high school. Since I was 9 or 10 I got my first video camera, and me and my friends made these hilarious movies and I always noticed myself being too evolved or wanting to make it perfect. Looking at every detail, and making sure it looks fantastic. I use my parent's iMac to edit in iMovie and at one point I even had a movie night showing my movies. I'm 18 now and I haven't been doing filmmaking as much due to none of my friends wanting to be involved. When I tell my parents I want to be a filmmaker, go to film school. All they say is: You don't make movies anymore, a filmmaker makes movies. I agree completely. Although, even know I don't make films anymore, I always get this urge to make movies. Especially if I listen to film scores (Lord of the Rings for example). Every year, I participate in the Local Film festival as a volunteer, just because I love the culture and as a volunteer you get a free pass so i get to see these great indie films that inspire me.

I guess my question is: What do I do?! I love filmmaking, but I haven't been making films. I want to make them, but my friends see it as a kids hobby and don't want to participate. I haven't made a movie in about 3 or 4 years. I miss it completely. When we use to go out and film these funny action movies, i always get this feeling inside me that I want to do this forever. :(
 
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you have filmmakingitis my friend, it is ferociously contagious. if your friends think peter jackson and spielberg are 'kids' then send them to an asylum. GET A CAMERA - MAKE A FILM.

FUCK YOUR FRIENDS
FUCK YOUR PARENTS (as in disregard what they think - dont engage in sexual intercourse with them)

YOU ARE A FILMMAKER - do it. dont wait for people to tell you when and how. buy or borrow some good books,

SHOOT SHOOT SHOOT WRITE SHOOT EDIT EDIT SHOOT WRITE DONT SLEEP SHOOT WRITE EDIT SHOOT be creative EDIT SHOOT WRITE WATCH EDIT SHOOT WATCH WORK DONT SLEEP

build up a nice portfolio and stick to this forum and not much can go wrong. i think - thats what im gonna do ;->

with experience things become clearer and clearer.

If you want to do this then you have to give it your all. its hit or miss
 
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hahaha
Yeah I agree, filmmaking is something I love and I really miss it :D

The only thing I have trouble with is making movies without friends: How do I make movies without actors?!?! I mean, I could make a nature documentary, but that's just boring >.>
 
Below is solely my opinion, obviously.

I went to film school. It was actually Video Production and Digital Media Production. I have an associates and a Bachelors degree in both.

The only thing I learned is that I wish I was taught more about the business side of things.

Anybody can learn the aspects of making a film. You can learn how to frame shots by watching other movies, reading a couple books, practicing yourself with a crappy little flip camera, etc. You can learn the proper format of a script. Slugs, descriptions, etc. (and they even make software that does it for you).

What can't be taught is how to tell a captivating and creative story. How to tell a story so damn good that people WANT to watch it. That comes with a natural inside skill and in my opinion you either have it or you don't.

It's easy to review a film and tell someone why the story rocked and why the story sucked. It's easy to sit back and say it would have been better if Character A did this and Character B did that. Big whoop. Means nothing and definitely doesn't mean you can tell an interesting story.

So if it was up to me, I would go to school for business. Learn how to start and maintain a business because a lot of filmmaking is business on the back end. Say you make a film from start to finish and you press it to 5,000 dvds. You start selling those DVDs and start making some money. You better believe you have to pay taxes on that income, etc. etc. etc. There's a lot of business behind making movies if you want to do it independently.

Like I said, I would take some business classes and understand that aspect. While doing that start working on a story. The money you saved your parents from going to film school, put that towards a decent camera and some equipment. And make one kick arse movie.

You have 1 positive already leaning your way. You are a perfectionist. As am I. You will be okay I'm sure!

Best,
 
TheOpusFuller said:
I went to film school. It was actually Video Production and Digital Media Production. I have an associates and a Bachelors degree in both.
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That's not exactly film school, as technically film school is a graduate program separate from under-grad studies.

As for the original post, make movies. No matter what, no matter how, just keep making movies. Never stop. Becoming a "professional" is another matter. Making a living at this is very hard, but if you branch into commercial production, you stand a better chance at making a living whilst pursuing the artistic filmmaking endeavors.
 
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People keep saying for me to: make films make films make films
I want to make films!!!
But I have trouble doing so, because I have no friends interested in such things!
 
danlthemanl said:
People keep saying for me to: make films make films make films
I want to make films!!!
But I have trouble doing so, because I have no friends interested in such things!
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Make films, even if it's by yourself with no help. Adapt and overcome young man!

Seek out people who ARE making films and become friends with them. Help on their projects and they can help on yours. Go online and see if there are filmmaking groups or anyone making movies near your community, then email or call and try to help on their shoots. Learn, help, and adapt.
 
A fellow named Rick Schmidt who resides in Port Townsend is on the cutting edge of impromptu digital cinema creation. I believe he runs an outfit called Feature Workshops where you go and make a feature film with him in something like 10 days. Hook up with him and you'll meet a whole lot of folks who'd like to make movies with you.
 
danlthemanl said:
Yeah, me and my parents are actually friends with Rick Schmidt. He's a cool guy.
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Then... what's... the problem? I don't get it? You have access to an apparently amazing resource for filmmaking and you're complaining that your no-talent, worthless buddies won't help you!?

Dude.
 
Yeah, me and my parents are actually friends with Rick Schmidt. He's a cool guy.
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Wombat beat me to it. You're friends with one of my indie filmmaking HEROES?!!? Stop talking to us; go talk to him. Tell him I said hello and would love to work with him someday.
 
I know a guy named Steve and he says he's made a couple movies now and then. The last thing he directed was something about an Indian named Jones who wears a cool hat. All my friends want to do is play World of Warcraft, though. I dunno what to do...


WAKE UP

Go work for this guy and begin your filmmaking career.

Jesus christ. Having the connection to do something is half the battle.
 
sonnyboo said:
That's not exactly film school, as technically film school is a graduate program separate from under-grad studies.
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Yeah, but that's all that some of us have so we're makin' lemonade :lol:

If film school is available go to film school. Find an affordable film school. Did I mention find an affordable filmschool? Oh, and make sure the film school is affordable. :D

If you can't, then find public access in your city or a media center and volunteer. And IF you know someone in the biz, nobody likes this word but VOLUNTEER. Be a good volunteer so that they might want to hire you. That works sometimes.

Consider yourself lucky that you are starting early!

-- spinner :cool:
 
Wombat said:
Then... what's... the problem? I don't get it? You have access to an apparently amazing resource for filmmaking and you're complaining that your no-talent, worthless buddies won't help you!?

Dude.
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The problem is that you actually will need your no-talent, worthless buddies to help. That is until you get in with people who have some of the same aspirations that you do. Even then, you'll have to find people who will want to work with you on your projects.

When you find those people, hang on to them like grim death cuz you will need them! Until then, have your buddies hold a boom.


-- spinner :cool:
 
ROC said:
Can you name an affordable film-school? I know of none.
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Sometimes you can find a small film department in your community colleges. I know in MI, Lansing Community College has a film department that is better than the University in the same city. In Flint, MI, there's Mott Community College and they have had prominant speakers come to the school -- like Spike Lee. (I was working that day :grumpy: )

Look in some unusual places, and check them out before enrolling, because there are some schools that are less than reputable. Some popping up in MI because of the influx of movies coming to the state.


-- spinner :cool:
 
spinner said:
Yeah, but that's all that some of us have so we're makin' lemonade :lol:

If film school is available go to film school. Find an affordable film school. Did I mention find an affordable filmschool? Oh, and make sure the film school is affordable. :D
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No offense intended, nor was it meant to denigrate, just a technicality.

I never even took media classes. I wish I would have had the most remedial film classes, as those would have helped me a ton. In relation to the main post, I made movies instead of taking classes. I set a goal, to learn something on every single shoot I ever did. Whether it was learning to work with a dolly, editing a non-linear story, trying a different form of comedy; all that mattered is that I learned at least 1-3 new things on every single movie I made. If I had classes, I could have possibly learned faster, but without it, I still learned, just on my own.

I agree 100%, don't let film school or a lack thereof stop you from making movies or pursuing a career in this field.
 
I'm a native Seattleite, so I know that Port Townend is a bit of a commute. However, you're definitely within commuting distance of one of the most active indie filmmaking communities in the nation. There are TONS of people in your area you can work with. Don't limit yourself to your friends. Don't limit yourself to Port Townsend. Start networking with people in Seattle. Find college students that you can work with. Look for volunteer positions on craigslist. The Seattle area is a terrific place to be making movies. You just gotta go out and do it.
 
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