Don't know where to begin!

H

Hamreet

New member
Hey guys! I really want to start practicing and making films. But I just don't know where to start. I have no friends who have interest in this. So I'm on my own. I want to start practicing because I can't afford film school. I've watched tutorials. Read a lot of books. But I feel like I'm not practicing the craft. I'm not putting it work rather just reading and watching videos.

I need suggestions on how to start. I own a t3i camera and have the stock lens and the $100 50mm lens. I just don't know how to begin. I feel like I need people who are into film making to learn. I want to be a director/camera operator. Any help would be appreciated. If you guys can help me on what I should do?
 
Give yourself assignments. Pick a different location each week and shoot it four different ways. This will give you practice time with your camera, a better understanding of framing shots, and how well they tie together when edited.
 
Remake a scene from a movie, just for fun. First script it, then storyboard it, then replicate the shots. You are more likely to be able to get others to help you out if it's something they've seen. It is more fun and less pressure for the family and friends you rope in and you get to go through the whole process. Figuring out and duplicating the shots (angle, lens selection, lighting) and editing (transitions, pacing, audio) will teach you a lot quickly, especially if you pick a famous scene from a top director/dp. There is a really good remake of the opening scenes of dark star I saw on youtube. I couldn't find it to link it for you but the guy had his kids and their friends reenact the opening scenes in his lounge room. He glued big bushy beards on their faces and it was hilarious but well done and entertaining too. The kids clearly had a ball.
 
shoot anything- a 1 minute music or "art" video using toys, landscapes, and objects, shoot "home" videos of mom cooking or the dog or whatever, do a 30-second comedy sketch with 1 or 2 friends. everything counts and is practice. I -force- myself to do this cause I have work habit issues (analysis paralysis they call it) and make a short like every 100 years and if I dont make myself JUST BRING MY CAMERA and JUST SHOOT WHATEVER Id never get any practice.

I didn't have any experience shooting events, but MADE MYSELF bring my camera to my neices gradation and lo and behold- learned alot.

shoot anything

you can always make super-short "art cinema"with objects, shoot YOURSELF, and video effects if you have no or few live subjects

Check my youtube channel to see examples of the rinky dink stuff I do, oftentimes with my nieces and nephews. the fake grinhouse trailer was just home footage we shot (we tried to make a cops and robbers movie), then later on i turned it into the trailer.

theres an (awful, but learned a lot) short there i made with ONE actor, me in some makeup, and props I scraped up from around the house. the monster makeup was me in liquid latex and toilet paper, (look up how to do a "toilet paper zombie" on youtube). and monster teeth i got from the halloween store

make ANYTHING just keep MAKING STUFF

my channel:

http://www.youtube.com/user/rayortiz313?feature=mhee
 
There's a lot to read up on. You can search through this site (using google, instead of the horrible search features of this board) as well as places like Redusuer and a lot of other sites.

Stabilization -- how to keep the camera smooth with tripods, diy stabiliziers, steadicam, jib, crane, slider, etc.

Lighting -- finding lights and how to use them, hard, soft, color temperatures, texture...

Composition -- thirds, framing, blocking scenes, moving actors around, rack focus pulling, etc.

Of course sound, which is another category altogether.

Editing, because you have to put the thing together.

Compression, how to understand it. Why it blows. Controlling dynamic range. Makeup, costumes, vfx...

Are you sure you want to do this?
 
I agree with all the prior posts. Shoot anything and everything. I know it is hard when you don't have others around to help. But you can get started and learn a lot on your own.

Shoot friends or kids birthday's, a day at the beach or park, local skateboard kids, kids sports. Any of these can be turned into a doc style story with tons of good b-roll and action and cuts between.

When you are ready to work with others go to age-appropriate settings and look for others. Your high school or college? Check your local craigslist under crew and creative gigs. Put your own post on CL looking for others to build a crew.

Good luck and have fun.
 
No doubt there are lots of others with your same interests all around you, you just need to find them and start working them. Locally we have a bunch of Facebook groups related to film. There are also numerous websites. Do some hunting. You'll probably be surprised just how many like-minded people there are close by.
 
Lots of good advice here for you; DVXUser is a hardware-centric board with highly knowledgeable and friendly members, so keep shooting with your camera and then you can post specific real world questions that arise from your experiments. But you also said: "I want to be a director". This is the story-telling component of your post, which is not so easy to answer. Perhaps initially you could look inside yourself to find out what sort of other films, stories or genres call to you most strongly (because usually that is where the energy and passion comes from). After identifying what type of stories you want to tell, you can go on from what has already been done by finding your own interpretation of these existing forms (your unique treatment, your style, your voice). If you find that you can't write scripts as well as you would like (after all, it is a separate discipline, and film making is usually a collaborative effort), it may be time to hook up with a young writer you can work with to create something that you want to direct - after a while you will want to move on from tests and start shooting the sort of film that originally energised you to get into this thing in the first place.

All the best.
 
I don't know what age you are, but if you feel like you could fit into a drama class in college... you will instantly find people to connect with for film projects or just experimentation in general. Another good source is craigslist, but not sure if it's as good in the UK. On craigslist, look in the talent / artist section and post that your interested in filming a band / music act or any artistic act for that matter. If it's for free because you want to learn and you enjoy doing it, you'll definitely find some interested people.
 
L1N3ARX said:
drama class in college... .
Click to expand...

this is a brillant idea,

ive actually been considering going to the local commuity center where they always have groups of neighborhood kids doing shows of this or the other type (dances etc), offering to video one, or maybe writing a script together with them , for them. . I only feel i can do this cause i have a certain level of technical competency, but Im sure you can find a group of amateur actors at the high school, or whatever use your imagination, adapt this idea to your resources.

do anything to make material to shoot for yourself and learn
 
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