A Good Profession?

SkiUtah

SkiUtah

Well-known member
I am currently a Junior in high school, which means almost everyday my counselor is asking me what I want to do with my life. I have the grades to go just about where ever I want, including NYU, USC, UCLA... (Whatever your opinions about filmschool are, please not here :) )

I've been shooting for a long time, and before I commit to the HVX/DVX, I wanted to ask today's filmmakers for advice and opinions about this industry. Looking back, is there anything you would have done differently? Any advice for a 17 year old who wants to get into the business? Is this a good direction for life?

Thanks for your help. :)
 
I think this is a great choice for anyone creative regardless or age. The advice I give everyone is shoot as much as possible. You'll find that everytime you shoot you'll learn and get better so the more you do the faster you'll progress. My specialty is music videos, and there's a lot of money to be made so you may want to keep that in mind as well.
 
I am not in a robust position to give advice as I am a student as well. However, most of the work
opportunities are handled by freelance self-employed individuals. Most of them are shameless
self-promoters (have to be) and own lots of their own equipment which they rent out to the
people that hire them to use it. So--getting started is easier when you own your equipment.
Being in prod. management is entirely different and I have no relevant advise in that area. srry.
 
Just a follow up to renting equipment. I've found that most rental places are closed on weekends so if you rent on a Friday it's not due back until Monday and they only charge you the one day rate. So with that I mind I try to shoot on weekends when renting so that I can get more for my money. Beginners should keep stuff like that in mind for sure. Work smart and hard!
 
if you want a career that pretty much consumes all your thought and time and money, this is it. ( though obviously, i am tremendously generalizing--there are so many offshoots in work stemming from a camera )

if you want a career that pays well and allows you generous time for other things (family, social, hobbies, travel) this is not it. I think dentists have this one covered?? among other professionals..

you could dive in and plunk every ounce of time and money into a video career or you could pursue another career and do this on the side. maybe someday you could make it fulltime? having some background in some other trade can be a big plus, as long as it is a solid background.

like any art-based professions, this one does not offer a ton of security, stability and sure fire success options. for example, there is so much buzz on the hvx and yet, even with the latest and greatest tool out there, no one has any guarantees of "makin it" even after they put down the money. or graduate from film school, or , or , or, or..

and like many art-based professions, if you are passionate about what you are doing, that can make up for a lot of sacrifices.
 
Do what you love, the money will follow. If you are the best in the world at anything (almost) the opportunity to make zillions is there. But the only way you can be the best is if you love it enough to persevere thru the tough times. If you choose a career for the money, you will not have either one.
 
galt said:
Do what you love, the money will follow. If you are the best in the world at anything (almost) the opportunity to make zillions is there. But the only way you can be the best is if you love it enough to persevere thru the tough times. If you choose a career for the money, you will not have either one.
Click to expand...
Ain't this the truth.
 
alright, gonna pull the old one out of the bag, srry. John Hudson....

What did the filmmaker say to the executive?
Would you like fries what that?
 
As anyone in the know would tell you, school will teach you how to do a particular thing. In the case of the schools you mention, a particular thing very well. School, as an institution, does not line up career options for you. That is kind of where friends you meet in school can help you out. It's a fellowship... a lifetime bond. Film communities are small fraternal organisations comprised of freelance self-employed individuals who call their friends when they have a project. One of the easiest ways to "get into the business" it to be skilled in a particular area and begin working with people in that respective field, whether as a technician in camera, electric, sound or in an above the line management position. Either way, the best thing to do is work with the people who are actually doing the type of work you want to do. Again, this is where specific schools could possible be a benefit as well. You might read some of the forum responses to similiar questions at studentfilmmakers.com for a better idea of what other students and ASC members have to say about the subject.. It might surprise you.

If response to your question, "what would you have done differently" I would have listened to the people who told me to develop strong friendships with the people I work with at an earlier time. You never know what opportunities may arise out of any situation. Production assistants have become producers on 35mm films because of stirrups in management. This happened to a friend of mine who was in college, offered to work for free on a movie as a pa, eventually he became Associate Producer on this film and it is a movie you could purchase at Blockbuster. Similiar opportunities have happened to me in different areas and from avenues I never could have imagined would bring success.

[EDIT]Being remembered as a "right hand man" is always the right thing to do. Many could share incredible success stories but the idea is you never know who you might meet, or what opportunities you may have, or places you can go, just through being likeable and easy going no matter what the circumstances may be like.[/EDIT]

Hope this helps,
brian wells
 
Good suggestions, but I think Pookie raised a good (yet unanswered) question. Only you know where you are at in the process, but at some point you will need to focus on a specific area of filmmakig, especially if you want to make money at it. Obviously nobody is going to ring you up to offer you a boatload of cash to direct a feature. So think about whether you want to be independent (start a small production company, do corporate videos, commercials, weddings, PSAs) make a living while you gain experience and contacts; or work for someone else, specializing in sound, camerawork, editing, lighting, etc, also gaining experience and contacts. Either way affords you opportunities to broaden your horizons and do your own projects as you go. Naturally there are plusses and minusses to both these general options. You need to be honest about what you want, what you are willing to do to get it, and what path works best for your personality and situation.

Ultimately if you love to shoot, and want to be involved in that process as a carreer you can find a way.
 
While I'm not at all part of "this" community, I look to Nancy Schreiber as a good example.
This autodiactic cinematographer and ASC member worked as an film electrician in New York
for ten years before she became a D.P. You don't become an ASC member without knowing one
(or several) and being excellent at your trade. Success in this business is ultimately defined by
your skills which ultimately determines who you know. And who you know is everything.
 
if you're 17 and already shooting a lot, have fun and take comfort that you already have a huge headstart. keep shooting and reading up. developing your skills is more important than breaking the bank on the latest equipment and already the dvx has lowered the price of entry for a camera with a lot of great pro features for you to learn on.

film/video does not offer as much of a linear path to success as some other professional fields might. what will make it a "good direction for life" is what you bring to it. my one word of advice is to take risks. I found that I appreciate and remember the lessons when I put myself out there and truth is that college is a pretty safe enviro to take a risk or two.
 
Good timing!

Good timing!

thisiswells said:
alright, gonna pull the old one out of the bag, srry. John Hudson....

What did the filmmaker say to the executive?
Would you like fries what that?
Click to expand...
Just today, I got a bunch of jokes in my e-mail poking fun of engineers (and other people). I think this one says it all:


The graduate with a science degree asks, "Why does it work?"
The graduate with an engineering degree asks, "How does it work?"
The graduate with an accounting degree asks, "How much will it cost?"
The graduate with an arts degree asks, "Do you want fries with that?"​
 
Thank you all for your help.

Mainly, I prefer the editing/shooting sides, and less the direction aspect of things.
 
Then you're on the right track for making money, at least. Hired shooters, and hired editors, are probably the two most in-demand, viable career choices. Someone wanting to get a job as a director has almost no chance. Someone wanting to get a job as a shooter or editor will have a much, much easier time.

Good freelance shooters with their own cameras command day rates of anywhere from $400 to $1000 per day. If you're getting a job working for someone else, well, that's a different story, a news shooter might get $8/hr. Freelancers don't work every day, obviously, so you get a lot of time off.

Freelance editors, when they get jobs, might get $300 to $500/day. But you can get a full-time job in a post facility probably easier, as an editor, than just about any other position.

The keys to surviving in the freelance business are to:

a) be very, very, very good.
b) have an incredible personality - whiners, complainers, talk-too-much'ers, the "needy", the ego-heads, etc. don't get hired a second time. Have an incredible work ethic, devoted to getting the perfect shot, and never, ever be a pain in the butt, and people will hire you again and again.
c) network. meet everyone. If you're good, and you're good to work with, you'll quickly move to the top of everyone's list. If you're good, and a pain in the butt ot work with, nobody will hire you unless they're desperate. If you're not very good but you're a joy to work with, they won't hire you. But if you're good and you're great to work with, they'll hire you again and again -- but they have to know you're out there. Network network network.

and finally,

d) fish where the fish are. Don't try to get a job as a shooter/editor in Muskogee, Indiana (or some other tiny market). If you want to get the jobs, go where the jobs are. Any reasonably big city should have plenty of need for shooters.
 
Barry_Green said:
d) fish where the fish are. Don't try to get a job as a shooter/editor in Muskogee, Indiana (or some other tiny market).
Click to expand...
Are you sure you were listening to Merle Haggard?

"I'm proud to be an Indianan from Muskogee..." Nah, that just doesn't sound right. :)
 
Barry_Green said:
Freelance editors, when they get jobs, might get $300 to $500/day. But you can get a full-time job in a post facility probably easier, as an editor, than just about any other position.
Click to expand...

Can freelance editors use software like FCP, or MUST they be an expert in something like Avid?
 
a growing number of production companies are using fcp, but the industry standard is avid. there are jobs for both, but you will be more marketable as an avid editor at this point in time.
 
Depends on the market and who's doing the hiring. Right now I've seen plenty of call for both. Not much call for a freelance Liquid or Edius editor, or (sadly) Vegas, but FCP and Avid are both well-represented in production and post houses. Avid has always been the "biggie", but just about everyplace here has at least one FCP station too.

Check with the companies in your marketplace to see what they're using.
 
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