It's hard work. The ability to make something that people (strangers -- NOT your family and friends) will actually sit through to the end is processed by very few.
If you wish to be a good amateur filmmaker, this is a decent enough philosophy. As an aspiring professional however, this is just any early step along the way, rather than an end goal. The end goal is of course not just making something people will sit through, it's making something that people enjoy sitting through so much that they're willing to pay for the privilege!
The smart director while shooting is already thinking of herself sitting in the editing suite cutting the images together.
The smart Director will have already hired or booked a talented Editor and will have planned for what's going to happen in the edit suite well before shooting even starts!
Which you can get by reading a book(s).
You've got to be joking?! There's not a single individual art of any type at which one can become professionally competent from just reading books and filmmaking is harder still, because it's a number of different individual arts combined.
There's plenty of excellent ones [books].
There's not a single even half decent book on how to be a professional filmmaker, let alone "plenty of excellent ones"!!! There are a few excellent books pertaining to specific aspects of certain filmmaking crafts but there are hundreds/thousands of others which are outdated and/or just plain inaccurate and for some filmmaking areas there are not even any decent books, let alone excellent ones.
One of the potential benefits of film school is having lecturers who know enough about the film industry to direct students to appropriate reading material. Without that knowledge/guidance how is one to judge what is an excellent book from a poor or misleading one?
Basic filmmaking techniques are all the same.
No they're not, where did you read that?!
This is all you really need to make a great film
Name one "great" film in the last 50 years which only employed basic filmmaking techniques.
Never worked on someone else's set. I did however, have my own camera and experimented the hell out of it. It can be done if you're properly motivated.
I'd like to see this great film you've made just from reading books, experimenting with your camera and being motivated.
Filmmaking is one of the things that CAN be done by books if you get your head out of the box.
This statement demonstrates that you really don't know much about filmmaking in general and certainly very little, if anything, about professional filmmaking and also very little about film school. For example, one doesn't go to film school instead of reading books, one goes to film school AND reads books! The diligent/serious student will also be extremely motivated, will spend a great deal of time/effort experimenting and a good course will guide the the students' filmmaking experiments to maximise what they learn from those experiments. You seem to have the notion that there's a choice between reading books/experimenting/self learning and film school, which is a thoroughly bizarre notion because film school is in addition to reading books, experimenting and self learning, film school is not a replacement for, or instead of them!
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