Help for an aspiring filmmaker

J

Josep

Hello, everyone.

Name's Joey. I am an avid film lover and wish nothing more than to become one myself. I understand there are many roads to take to do this, but I figured I go through what I do and don't have and what I am wishing to do as a more immediate goal rather than the ultimate one.

Alright, first off. I do not have any experience. Zero. Zip. Zilch.
I do, however, have the dream, and an incredible imagination.
Also, I have a Nikon D3200 DSLR camera I purchased with the intent of using it for making little films with. With it I have quite a few accessories. Nothing particularly fantastic: a few third party lens attachments, a flash thingy and a mic.
Now, I have this thing and about a billion ideas of things to make. My question(s) are:
What advise do any of you have for someone so entirely new to this all and with very little equipment?
What kid of software... such as editing (which I really need) do you suggest? Also, I do not have the money to really purchase anything, so suggestions, if any, should be free.
I really guess that is it. I may have future questions.
But I welcome any and all suggestions and advise you all can throw at me.


Alright, laters
Joey
 
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Welcome Joey.

The first thing you're going to need is a script.
If your script is outdoors you won't need lights, just a bounce board. So that is a good place to start since you don't have lights yet.

You want your script to be as short as possible. 1-2 pages is a good length. The shorter your script is, the better you are setting yourself up for success.

Go from start to finish and make a completed project and you'll be well on your way. The shorter the script is the faster you can complete this step.
 
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Josep said:
But I welcome any and all suggestions and advise you all can throw at me.
Click to expand...

1. Get out there and start learning how to convert that "incredible imagination" in to watchable films!!

2. I noticed you mention camera + accessories. Even relatively low budget films usually employ millions or tens of millions of dollars worth of equipment/facilities and the camera is not even near the most important! Ultimately, all of the equipment used in modern filmmaking is less important than the storytelling skill of those who employ it.

3. If you've got no budget, just use whatever free editing software you can lay your hands on. Not far down the road you'll need to spend some cash on a proper NLE or find someone to work with who has.

4. Don't be afraid to make crap. In fact, an expectation of making anything other than crap to start with is unrealistic and the most likely route to killing your dream!

5. Get out there and start learning how to convert that "incredible imagination" in to watchable films!!!!!!

Josep said:
Small addendum: How the heck does one get financing?
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Forget that for now, that's much, much further down the road! As a general rule, no one (except maybe family and friends) finances crap. Film financiers only finance those filmmakers who know enough about making films to give the financiers a fair chance of making profit. That obviously counts you out for the moment and for the near term. Crowd funding is often a recourse for amateur filmmakers, as those who donate tend to weigh their decision on their personal liking for the idea of the film, rather than on the filmmakers' ability to complete a film with commercial potential. This maybe changing though, as more and more filmmakers pursue this funding avenue, potential donators are likely to become more choosy/savvy.

G
 
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Josep said:
But I welcome any and all suggestions and advise you all can throw at me.
Click to expand...
Make one short film a month for 9 months. Use what you have.

By September 2016 you will not be able to say you do not have any
experience. Zero. Zip. Zilch. You will have 9 finished short films. As
G pointed out most of them will be terrible. But if you have more than
a dream; if you have some talent and a lot of drive and creativity then
each one will be a little better than the last. Number 9 might be pretty
good. If it is and you still want to make movies then you will have the
skills and experience to make a really good short film.

Are you up to that challenge?
 
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Welcome to IT.

I've got 1 question: since when do you have that gear?
And what have you done with it since then?

Like Rik said: you have to get into action: do things, try things, make videos and get exprience.
The first videos will probably not come close to what you imagined, but that is part of the learning proces. And as sfoster said: start with short things: they ytake less time to make, so you'll learn faster by 'failing fast'. Everytime you finish a project you can look back on the result and the proces and learn from your mistakes. By keeping the projects short, you can learn more in less time than when you embark on something that takes a year only to discover you made all kind of mistakes you could have made and learnt from in small projects.
 
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We see it here on IndieTalk all the time; a newb goes out to make films with zero experience and minimal gear and makes the same mistakes 10 million other fledgling filmmakers have already made.

As always, I suggest that you participate in other film projects to gain experience as well as to make contacts and build your network. When you have no money a large collection of contacts is essential.

"Amateurs/hobbyists learn from their mistakes, professionals learn from the mistakes of others."

So go out and learn from the mistakes of others. And yes, make your own mistakes - uh, projects - as well.


Oh, your first lesson... Preproduce the hell out of everything.


PlanAhead.jpg
 
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WalterB- To answer your question I've only had it for a few months and have not really tried much yet.
I have ideas I am trying to get to work on now just for a little practice. I have some friends that wanna try it all with me, so hopefully we can come up with and make something acceptable.
 
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Alcove Audio said:
............

"Amateurs/hobbyists learn from their mistakes, professionals learn from the mistakes of others."
Click to expand...

You do realise that if this were 100% true that either professionals learn everything from amateurs or that professionals don't learn from their own mistakes. ;)


Alcove Audio said:
So go out and learn from the mistakes of others. And yes, make your own mistakes - uh, projects - as well.

Oh, your first lesson... Preproduce the hell out of everything.


PlanAhead.jpg
Click to expand...

Without making some mistakes yourself, you don't value the lessons you learn from others, because you lack the real world context of that lesson.
Or you're just reading, which is not the same as doing.
I read a lot about filmmaking before ever making video and it was useful, but actually doing it is when the real learning starts.
And yes, learning from other people's mistakes is very important as well. Just like learning from other people's successes or best practises.

Preproduction is indeed everything.
Another reason to start small.

Just get started.
 
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Josep said:
WalterB- To answer your question I've only had it for a few months and have not really tried much yet.
I have ideas I am trying to get to work on now just for a little practice. I have some friends that wanna try it all with me, so hopefully we can come up with and make something acceptable.
Click to expand...

So, it is about time to get started.
It's been sitting there too long already.

Shoot your car as if you want to sell it. And you have a little (spoof) commercial.

Interview your (grand)parents about when they first met. Shoot them while looking through old pictures. And you'll have a ittle mini family documentary.

Don't try to get to work on ideas. Just work on those ideas.
Create time and space to do so: take 90 minutes to do nothing but writing down your ideas.
No idea is bad in this stage.
Pick one that is funny/cool/whatever a make a little script and shoot it.

Have fun :)
 
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How the heck does one get financing?
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The paths to financing are even more varied than the paths to becoming a filmmaker. It's a rather complex topic, but the basics of it: Create a package which has significantly more value than your asking amount.
 
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WalterB said:
You do realise that if this were 100% true that either professionals learn everything from amateurs or that professionals don't learn from their own mistakes. ;)
Click to expand...

You're reading too deeply into the saying... Professionals learn from the professionals they work with, who learned from the professionals before them. It's what they call a trade craft.

You could spend years learning from TONS of mistakes. Or you could spend a short amount of time learning all those same mistakes by learning from someone who has already made them. You'll then learn more mistakes from others you work with (It's pretty fluidly learning from each other in the field).

It in no way means you won't make your own mistakes and learn from them... you just won't make the ones you already learned quicker from someone else.


Work Smart, not just Work Hard.
 
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WalterB said:
You do realise that if this were 100% true that either professionals learn everything from amateurs or that professionals don't learn from their own mistakes. ;)
Click to expand...

Almost nothing in film is 100% true but as SkyCopland said, to an extent you're missing the point. I learnt by working with professionals who had certain workflows, certain ways of doing things, certain corners which could sometimes be cut and others which couldn't, a large array of tricks and techniques to achieve certain standards and requirements which I too had to meet or I was out. To start with I didn't really think about why everything was done the way it was, I had more than enough on my plate just learning it all and doing it in the time given (which usually wasn't enough!). As the years passed, I came to understand why much of it existed and why it was done that way but even now, a fair amount of the way I do things is because that's the way I observed or was told, not because I learned it from my own trial and error. Often, to start with, the way things are done appear unnecessary or over the top but almost without exception this way of doing things comes from up to 100 years of professional film making history and has evolved to be the most efficient way of achieving the required results, while minimising the chances of costly or even disastrous mistakes. An enlightening (for me) and unexpected consequence of my becoming a member here on indietalk is that when replying to posts, I've often been forced to think about aspects of what I'm expected to achieve and how I achieve it, which previously I'd just taken for granted and never really thought about.

The difficulty for self-taught amateur filmmakers is unless you've got a spare 100 years or so, you've simply not got enough trial and error time to learn what most experienced professionals already take for granted. While there are always a myriad of issues to overcome, on the very few occasions I've worked with self-taught amateur filmmakers I've always run into additional, surprising issues which: 1. Would normally have been avoided, often unconsciously avoided, simply by virtue of standard workflows, 2. Have caused significant delays/inefficiencies and most importantly, 3. Which have seriously compromised my ability to achieve the professional quality results I expect of myself and which the filmmakers were paying for! In one case, I ran into a very serious issue which I'd never even considered could exist, simply because that's NEVER the way things are done.

We are all self-taught to some degree or other, the difference is that what I've taught myself is in addition to nearly 100 years of cumulative professional experience, rather than instead of it! As difficult as it is for the aspiring amateur filmmaker to gain experience working with a highly experienced professional cast and crew, I believe it's almost impossible to move beyond being an amateur without it. Those who believe they can make it in the industry purely via the self-taught amateur route are, virtually without exception, fooling themselves!

G
 
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Thank you, Sky and APE.
I knew what you were saying, but I think both your replies clarify a lot for the OP.
Let's say I envisioned the OP thinking: "Oh no, I don't want to be an amateur." And he starts reading and watching BTS videos, expecting that will be enough for him to learn the craft.
Working with pros is indeed a great way to learn, but the OP has no experience, which poses the problem: why would any pro want his help.* So he needs to start out by doing.

*)
I've had people helping me on set often: they were either people/friends I knew I could trust they would take their often simple tasks (moving stuff around) serious or people with experience that had a portfolio to show for what they can do.
A total stranger with no experience atall: I wouldn't let them on my set.
 
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