• Help me with my life dream, Facepunch.
    18 replies, posted
Hey Facepunch, my name is Moja. I've always dreamed of being a Movie/Film director, and it's something that I'm sure I want to do. Can you guys give me any tips, or advice on what to do? So far I've decided I'm going to create a portfolio of my best works, unfortunately, I have nothing to show you guys. If you could just give me any tips, or advice, It may change my life.
always use protection
-Work in small clips. Perfect one video effect until you feel comfortable with it, then move on to the next effect. Once you have a few nailed down then combine them to make a short movie. -Work with sound effects and ambiance. Have a sound build up that leads to a climatic part of the video. -Make sure the audience is able to follow the scene transitions through dialog and actor movement. -Try not to shake the camera from a 3rd person perspective. I'm not an expert, but to me this is what makes a good short clip. Hell...advertise anything you make. Start small and work your way up. Best of luck dude!
Start making some amateur short films like right now then. Get some books out from the library or read up online about film and storytelling theory etc. Stop [I]dreaming[/I], get [I]doing[/I] anything. Film school?
[QUOTE=l33tkill;34673292]-Work in small clips. Perfect one video effect until you feel comfortable with it, then move on to the next effect. Once you have a few nailed down then combine them to make a short movie. -Work with sound effects and ambiance. Have a sound build up that leads to a climatic part of the video. -Make sure the audience is able to follow the scene transitions through dialog and actor movement. -Try not to shake the camera from a 3rd person perspective. I'm not an expert, but to me this is what makes a good short clip. Hell...advertise anything you make. Start small and work your way up. Best of luck dude![/QUOTE] I don't plan on working with GMOD, but it's all I had at the time. Here's something I made, because of what you said. [video=youtube_share;tgAzRXEZr78]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgAzRXEZr78&list=UUWR6bessZ5_RgkvZxB2AocQ&feature=plcp[/video]
To make a shot appear to have a larger budget you can shoot a scene, pause the tape and change zoom then continue shooting. Then later when you cut and edit you can make it appear like you used multiple cameras to shoot the scene. This conserves tape and makes the film look more professional.
[QUOTE=imptastick;34674563]To make a shot appear to have a larger budget you can shoot a scene, pause the tape and change zoom then continue shooting. Then later when you cut and edit you can make it appear like you used multiple cameras to shoot the scene. This conserves tape and makes the film look more professional.[/QUOTE] Never thought of that, thanks.
A few days ago I wrote a pretty lengthy response to TheIceman's thread about filmschool but not many people saw that so it might be worth reposting here for your benefit. "Certain careers require a university level education but I think that filmmaking really isn't one of those. There are certain perks to going to a film school such as access to equipment and other services, the opportunity to gain contacts for future projects and having professionals view and critique your work but in the end a degree is worth nothing in this industry, it's all about what you can do. Your reel and resume are what counts and are what people will look at when they go to hire you or even invest. I hear about a lot of kids who jump right into film school and come out anywhere between $20,000 to $200,000 in debt. Forced to wait tables and work as runners on other people movies for years until they pay it off when they really they already had all the information they needed to get off the ground at their fingertips. There are so many ways to educate your self about filmmaking, it's great. Get a library card and rent out all the books you can find on film and filmmaking. Go to the video store and rent out some classics, study them, break them down, look at the films of your favorite filmmakers and ask yourself what makes them so damn good. Open a tab right now and look at sites like FilmmakerIQ.com or Indy Mogul, Tom Antos and Filmriot on YouTube. Film Riot alone have over 200 videos of juicy film making knowledge to sink your teeth into. Maybe get a job, start saving up. On the weekends get some friends together, use what ever camera you've got and just go out and make a movie. It doesn't have to be great, have fun with it. You'll learn and eventually you'll get good. Really good. Right now I'm at that stage you are Iceman, I've got $5000 put away for when I leave school. My plan is to put my heart on my sleeve, jump in and make an independent film and record the process in the form of a documentary Rodriguez style. In the end If it kicks ass I'll send it around to any film festival that will take it and get my name out there in the industry, instead of school fees and debt, I have 2 feature films under my belt. If the film sucks that was my $5000 film school (quite a saving) and I still have a documentary that might be great. Who knows? Either way sounds like a pretty sweet deal to me, that's why I'm doing it. Keep in mind these are just my 2 cents. In the end it's your choice. Do your own thing rather than just go on to a higher education because that's what's expected, do it because you think it's right for you. Don't try to please people that say you can't do things, fuck'em. Anything is possible. "Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude." -Thomas Jefferson Which ever path you take it won't hurt to make films right now before you leave school. Get out there and tell some stories man. Good luck!" Hope that helps man. I'd be more than happy to answer any questions you've got about filmmaking.
Think deep, and watch other movies and go in the depth of what they really tries to proclaim. Being a good movie director, you should be able to tell a story with out using hundreds of thousand dollar to tell it. Think small, yet big. Good Luck
[QUOTE=Purplevain;34676960]A few days ago I wrote a pretty lengthy response to TheIceman's thread about filmschool but not many people saw that so it might be worth reposting here for your benefit. "Certain careers require a university level education but I think that filmmaking really isn't one of those. There are certain perks to going to a film school such as access to equipment and other services, the opportunity to gain contacts for future projects and having professionals view and critique your work but in the end a degree is worth nothing in this industry, it's all about what you can do. Your reel and resume are what counts and are what people will look at when they go to hire you or even invest. I hear about a lot of kids who jump right into film school and come out anywhere between $20,000 to $200,000 in debt. Forced to wait tables and work as runners on other people movies for years until they pay it off when they really they already had all the information they needed to get off the ground at their fingertips. There are so many ways to educate your self about filmmaking, it's great. Get a library card and rent out all the books you can find on film and filmmaking. Go to the video store and rent out some classics, study them, break them down, look at the films of your favorite filmmakers and ask yourself what makes them so damn good. Open a tab right now and look at sites like FilmmakerIQ.com or Indy Mogul, Tom Antos and Filmriot on YouTube. Film Riot alone have over 200 videos of juicy film making knowledge to sink your teeth into. Maybe get a job, start saving up. On the weekends get some friends together, use what ever camera you've got and just go out and make a movie. It doesn't have to be great, have fun with it. You'll learn and eventually you'll get good. Really good. Right now I'm at that stage you are Iceman, I've got $5000 put away for when I leave school. My plan is to put my heart on my sleeve, jump in and make an independent film and record the process in the form of a documentary Rodriguez style. In the end If it kicks ass I'll send it around to any film festival that will take it and get my name out there in the industry, instead of school fees and debt, I have 2 feature films under my belt. If the film sucks that was my $5000 film school (quite a saving) and I still have a documentary that might be great. Who knows? Either way sounds like a pretty sweet deal to me, that's why I'm doing it. Keep in mind these are just my 2 cents. In the end it's your choice. Do your own thing rather than just go on to a higher education because that's what's expected, do it because you think it's right for you. Don't try to please people that say you can't do things, fuck'em. Anything is possible. "Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude." -Thomas Jefferson Which ever path you take it won't hurt to make films right now before you leave school. Get out there and tell some stories man. Good luck!" Hope that helps man. I'd be more than happy to answer any questions you've got about filmmaking.[/QUOTE] My biggest question is, where do I go from High school? Not sure if you stated it in this post, just wanted you to make it a bit more clear.
Once you make a trilogy of successful films, don't try to make a prequel trilogy. It won't be as good.
[QUOTE=Moja;34688366]My biggest question is, where do I go from High school? Not sure if you stated it in this post, just wanted you to make it a bit more clear.[/QUOTE] Well, that's really up to you. There are heaps of paths to take but I guess the most common one would be Film School (which as you know, I don't think is essential as I talk about it above). You can always just start making movies, getting bigger and better as you go or maybe you could become a runner on an independent (or Hollywood, depending on where you live) production, fetching coffee and doing all the work they won't pay you for. Being a runner may sound pointless but simply by observing things around you there is a huge potential to learn a lot both from the things all the professionals are doing and the mistakes that are made on set. What kind of person are you? Do you want a college degree? Do you feel somewhat entrepreneurial? If you believe in fate as George Lucas said, no matter what path you take, you'll get there sooner or later. (That's not a direct quote but that was the jist of it)
Going to a school that has a good film program certainly wouldn't hurt. I have a couple friends who just after freshman year, are making really professional looking stuff.
Just do something, not matter what: camera, editing, lights. Also you can always try something from movies you like. Some "making of" could be useful too, don't try to do similar but try to figure out how they did some things. Practice is your good friend.
[QUOTE=Purplevain;34692796]Well, that's really up to you. There are heaps of paths to take but I guess the most common one would be Film School (which as you know, I don't think is essential as I talk about it above). You can always just start making movies, getting bigger and better as you go or maybe you could become a runner on an independent (or Hollywood, depending on where you live) production, fetching coffee and doing all the work they won't pay you for. Being a runner may sound pointless but simply by observing things around you there is a huge potential to learn a lot both from the things all the professionals are doing and the mistakes that are made on set. What kind of person are you? Do you want a college degree? Do you feel somewhat entrepreneurial? If you believe in fate as George Lucas said, no matter what path you take, you'll get there sooner or later. (That's not a direct quote but that was the jist of it)[/QUOTE] I'm a 15 minute drive from Hollywood. So I think I'm good there.
Also if you can get a job with more menial tasks of any kind on a film set, that can help a lot as well. Whether it's just craft services or holding lights or something.
The best tip would be: Take the best film school in the country, best you can do. you also need to be very creative if your going to make your first film a big hit at the Box Office.
Sorry to bring this up again. But does anyone have any idea, how I could find locations around my area that I can film without hassle? Let's say I wanted to use a for rent office building to film in for like 2 days. How could I film in there without getting arrested?
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