Hey Everyone!

W

War-Lord

I've been lurking for a good bit and it seems like a friendly place for new filmmakers. I'm a 25 year old college student that just took up filmmaking this year. I have a D-5100 with no sound equipment or editing software. I'm hoping to get suggestions from people here. I also ran into many problems of worrying about different things and hopefully someone can give me suggestions on what to do.

1.) I have favorite filmmakers, but starting out now I'm trying to find my own style. My first few short films should I just copy shots from my favorite filmmakers? How do I find my voice?

2.) Am I screwed in ever doing anything in film because of my age? It seems like most filmmakers were making short films as kids.

3.) I tend to overthink things as you can see above..haha Though how do you guys know camera placement in a particular scene? Do you just go with what feels right or is there a deeper meaning behind your choices.

Thanks everyone for all the help. I hope to learn and grow while being here.
 
Go shoot and have fun, just like those kids :P
Copying shots is a great way to learn.
Painters used to learn the craft by copying, before they would make their masterpiece in their own style.

I'd suggest to make short stuff.
That can be 1 minute or 3 minutes.
It can be anything from spoofing a commercial to a little joke or just something crazy or moody you'd like to try. Have fun, don't worry about finding your voice too much now.
This is the time to just try all kind of things.
And by keeping it short you can try a lot of things in a short time :)
Don't feel discouraged when your first efforts aren't as great as imagined: that's part of learning skills.
Fail fast, learn faster :-)

Welcome to IT :)
 
War-Lord said:
........

3.) I tend to overthink things as you can see above..haha Though how do you guys know camera placement in a particular scene? Do you just go with what feels right or is there a deeper meaning behind your choices.

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Click to expand...

Most important is: does it make sense like this?
Or is it confusing?

There are some rules that help keeping a sense of direction (180-rule in conversations or duels).
Some rules for compositions that help to keep it 'in balance' (like the rule of thirds).

And there is one (secret) rule, almost nobody mentions:
'edit evokes thoughts', meaning that the previous shot gives context to the next. It helps to give meaning.
But don't overthink this now.
You just need to get in action. Being 25 years in only a setback if spend the next 30 years pondering about what shot to shoot instead of actually shooting.

And a very important rule:
Sound is half the experience.
Some other ITers can word that much better than me :P

But don't let less than optimal sound stop you now.
 
yeah i'll turn 33 in april
but actresses stay the same age

i-get-older-they-stay-the-same-age.jpg
 
Hey War-Lord!

To your 2nd point:

I feel like I'm kinda like you: I didn't get into filmmaking until I was 17, and I felt the same way - really behind lots of others who started at age 4.

It took me a while to realize that just because you started young, doesn't mean you know a ton yet. In fact, the older you are, the faster you can learn because you can work on projects, people take you seriously when you try to do your own stuff, and you tend to have more money so you can buy gear, take courses, etc. so it's not a huge disadvantage after all.

To your 3rd point:

Yes there is a craft in cinematography (lighting, where to put the camera...). I recommend looking up Aviv Vana and his Big League Film School website and the CineSummits he puts on once or twice a year. CineSummit 5 just finished and I'm excited to take some time and start going through the courses - yes you have to pay.

http://bigleaguefilmschool.com/
 
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