Done

and for the OP...lighten up on yourself. you're at an advantage, because you started trying film very young.

from the time i was 6 years old, i played drums. i learned on my own, and very quickly. i started my first band when i was 11, i was playing shows for friends at age 14, i was playing 18 and over bars when i was 16, i recorded albums, i toured, and i did it professionally until i was 30. i never made it big, but i got close. but i quit for the same reason...i felt beaten down, rejected, underappreciated. but it was the best decision i have ever made. i got married, i have a daughter, and another daughter due any minute now, and i turned to making films in that time.
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Damn Chris, this is moreless my life story as well. The funny thing is the time frame is pretty much the same too. I did keep all my gear for my kids, so if they have an interest to pick up music they won't have to beg steal and borrow like I did to get a decent guitar and amp.
 
Andrew McCarrick said:
I have nothing
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You're right. You're mentally bankrupt. Despite the fact that you have a parent that is willing to support you and help you with an education you persist is seeing the glass half full. There are countless young adults that would do just about anything for a second chance. Quite frankly you sound like an over aged spoiled brat.


Andrew McCarrick said:
my mom is forcing me into community college (I don't have a choice in the matter)
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Actually you do have a choice. You can get a job, move out of the house and start paying your own bills. If you can scrap a few dollars together after paying rent and putting food on the table you can buy some tape for your HV30. Then in what little spare time you have available you can make a short film about homeless people and the struggles they go through on a daily basis. Maybe then you'll understand what "having nothing" means.
 
I'm playing an unusual card, though plenty here have heard me complain about current college experience. I feel your pain OP, I have not gained much of anything from my school, and was semi-pressured into going. Truthfully, I do want to go to college - and learn something, or at the very least (and more importantly), gain connections and contacts with talented individuals.

Sadly, that is not the case for me, but I don't let it impact my own confidence. There's confidence in yourself, and there's confidence in the situation you might be in; you may have to change that situation. I'm 21 myself and have very little to say I've done in terms of short films; when I say I'm "playing an unusual card", I'm referring to the fact that I'm essentially trying to get editing and post jobs in the meantime, while in school, until I get out. The money I can make afterwards will be put towards my own short film work perhaps. Then again, my experience is mostly technical (I can ramble for hours in the compression board), so I seek those jobs more.

Most of all, what baffles me is your presumption from such a young age... And no, not even you being 22, but more so that you consider attempts over the last 9 years as you put it, (which would make you what? 13?) to be your greatest efforts. I know there's plenty of dream stories out there of directors who had great imagination from a young age, but that's hardly reflective or absolute of the capabilities of anyone else. I myself started getting a hobby in compression from age 11, and I'm just waiting until college is over to actually do serious work (trust me, the people there are largely incapable). Whatever commercials, edit jobs, and compression work I can get in the meantime satisfies me - all the more time to build an image that I can sell myself on later.
 
Andrew McCarrick said:
Okay, well I have nothing but a Canon HV30. No lights, no audio equipment, no tripods, no access to locations, no cast, no script (I hate writing), nothing. Nobody around this area is willing to help out.
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I ask again: where aren't you now that you think you should be?

So you're going to be spending the next two years in a community college. As has been mentioned already, you can probably find a couple of other students that share the same interest in film making just by meeting people on campus.

The tripod is an easy fix. The audio and lighting can be rented as needed, and even lighting can be engineered on the cheap if you really need to.

No script? So what? Hone your shooting skills: no script needed. Find an interesting location near your house. Maybe it's an abandoned building. Maybe it's an interesting park with creeks and streams. Do a Tom Guilmette-style short of just video set to some nice music. You'll be able to see these projects through on little/no budget, and use them to experiment with camera work and with editing and color grading. That's why Tom does it... to play with new ideas before using them in larger productions. Philip Bloom does the same thing. And in the end, you have some creative output and some stuff for your reel.

In the mean time, get a job. Income is income, whether you're getting paid as a PA, a tape op... or as a cashier. Even part time while you're in school... use that to fund your projects.

There's more in your control than you think.

Andrew McCarrick said:
I had a group of people who have pretty much abandoned me because I haven't been able to get anything off the ground in the past 8 years.
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Wait... is this because that multi-million-dollar movie didn't work out when you were 14? Realistic goals, Andrew. Realistic goals. Set out to make something. Don't set out to get millions from investors. Just set out to make something. Start easy and simple, and work your way up from there.
 
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Hell, put together a story conducive to production via hand-held shooting (or put the damn camera down on a table, chair, or ladder) under natural and available light. A great opportunity to learn how to extract the most from your camera...

Tell everyone it was an artistic choice.

They'll believe you.
 
Seriously, you can do this. I think anyone with a vision can. You have a vision right? Check out my Ultra Low Budget Indy Primer right here on DVXU. See if this helps and keep trying to shoot. I wish I could do this at your age.

-Nate
 
Nathyn said:
I wish I could do this at your age.
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Exactly.
So many of the guys reading this are probably thinking... "man, to be 22 again".
:)

At 22 I was just finishing up college, and was nowhere near making a living off film/video.
I think I may have been working at a video rental place (yeah, they still existed).
I had yet to own my first editing system... had yet to have a paying gig.
And yes, I had various large plans come together just to fall apart.

Granted, I may not be today where Andrew had hoped he would be - but I make a decent living, and it leaves me with the tools and time to create other projects.

Point is - my life today is vastly different from what it was at 22.
This is definitely not a sprint...it's a marathon.

That said - if it's really not something you want to pursue any longer... then don't.
No shame in that. I changed my mind about various things throughout my life, as everyone does.

But there is no reason why you should think that it's all or none.
Or that if you decide to drop film now you can never come back.
 
Let's see...at 22 I was making molds and pouring resin and building miniatures and painting models and injuring myself with power tools, at a small VFX shop in Burbank...

...don't do much by way of professional model making any more but I still sometimes injure myself with power tools, for old times' sake.
 
Andrew, when I was 22....You popped out of your mama.


At what point do you put on the big-boy pants and make your own choices? Nobody can MAKE you do anything.

You are getting a lot of encouragement here (WAAAY ,ore than you can expect in the real world), and you are still focusing on the deficits as opposed to the assets.

Jeez. Suck it up, be a man and decide what is important to you.

Then take responsibility for that choice. Never blame anyone else for where you are at. It's a waste of time.

Besides, if you give someone else the responsibility of your circumstances, you also give them the authority. That sounds like exactly what you are doing.

If you argue for your limitations, you get to keep them.
 
I don't wish I was 22. I'm a much more interesting person now. And I actually feel more physically capable now then I was then, one of the advantages I guess of having been a lazy, out of shape wuss when I was younger.
 
When I was 22.....oh hell I'm 20 yet....
jokes aside, I can't really give much advice as I'm only 20 at this time, but I can tell you that I don't really know where I'll be at 22, this world moves so fast that I could be a millonaire, living under my hometown bridge or living a normal live. (Hopefully the first or last options, but I don't reallly aim to be a millonaire, just to have enough money to be able to travel). in 2011 I'll finish my 4 years BA in arts (something equivalent in spanish) and hopefully by september 2011 I'll be attending a film school in Barcelona, mainly to get to use equipment and make connections (in Spain is really difficult to get into this industry if you aren't well connect or know someone, which I do...). Anyway, as of now I've only done 4 shorts, which none of them is mine (I dp or light) and worked in a aprox. 1M€ feature film (as electrician, thanks to the previously mentioned connection). This feature has given me the opportunity of collecting a handful of telephones with direct contact with the industry (you understand).
Maybe your solution is not to be trying to push your own film out (as you I'm not a good writer so I avoid that department as I avoid high voltages...), try looking in your area film commissions for coming productions or maybe move out during summer or pilot season somewhere more dedicated to filmmaking. Or try to get to a film school or community college with film courses to get connections, make friends with the faculty (I know a guy that got a lucrative offer from one of his teachers...in the filmmaking industry it is).

But as I said previously I can't give much advice, or not as good advice as all the experienced people that are trying to help you in this thread.

The choice is yours, the offers won't seek you, you are the one to run behind them....(or that is what they are telling us in college....).


PD:you always have the wedding video choice, which is another form of art, and a really needed art, usually lucrative. Where, if you organize well you don't need to write a script (though there are people that do) but you'll still tell a nice story, with the opportunity of practicing all your film making abilities, from camera or sound to editing. And it will be enjoyed by many people and maybe change the lives of a couple.
 
I was about 30 when the DVX dropped, as soon as I got one I made some movies. A few shorts, then my feature. My only regret is I wish I'd shot more. I have an HG10 now and am planning a feature, now all my DPs want to shoot on their HDSLRs, go figure.

-Nate
 
Alright, Anybody got any short scripts I can shoot? I've spent the past day and half trying to come up with anything to shoot and came up blank. The only location I have access to is a house. Clearly I can't pay anything.
 
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