Should I go for it?

If I can make a recommendation... if you use people your own age (14-16) please write a script in which the ages of the characters are of similar ages. Please no movies about gang/mafia people played by 16 year olds. So many young filmmakers try to write a screenplay about older adults and cast people their own age. It always is an obvious pitfall.

Here is a good skit about student films. It touches upon bad casting for a min:
 
Interesting video...

I've always been like that. I've done a few shorts before with some friends. I always like to stick to similar ages in films because I'm one of those people who just like things to be perfect. Anyway, I've done some Mafia films before and it's all good for some fun and games. But I realized a while back that when put into film festivals, it's not going to be taken seriously at all.
 
Ewan L said:
Thanks for the advice.

I'm looking for some theater groups just now, preferably people my age for it (teenagers) so I can interact with them easier. I shouldn't be expecting to pay too much should I?

I suppose some could see it as an opportunity rather than "school" if you know what I mean.
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I think if you can connect with and communicate with them over time you might find yourself a team of actors willing to take a chance on it just like you are being at the ages they would be.

Absolutely agree with Ryan above as well - very important. Make it age appropriate for your cast.
 
Noel Evans said:
I think if you can connect with and communicate with them over time you might find yourself a team of actors willing to take a chance on it just like you are being at the ages they would be.

Absolutely agree with Ryan above as well - very important. Make it age appropriate for your cast.
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Will it be up to the managers of them if they're allowed though I believe? Or will they cast as part of the theater group, or individually?
 
Yeah go for it - a friend of mine did the same thing, and it ended up as the only fan film (at least that I know of) that run in a regular theater for a week.

 
Ryan Patrick O'Hara said:
Here is a good skit about student films. It touches upon bad casting for a min:
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That was funny- a clever variation (including the "18 YOs playing 25 YOs") of the old Twilight Zone TV episode where some people keep reliving the same moment over and over, then we cut to a writer at a typewriter ripping a page out of the typewriter, wadding it up and throwing into an overflowing trashcan- good stuff... and I think the first filmed version of Shakespeare's "All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players..."
 
A documentary is a different animal than fictional film-making.

You will learn a lot of technique that will cross-over, but since a doc is more of discussing a situation that actually has happened/is happening/will happen, there is not much real acting. And the story is already there for you to capture (as long as you keep it non-fictional). Documentaries, the way I look at them, are similar to news stories, but expanded to give the viewer all the information involved.

So, on one hand you will get some great hands-on on the tech side, there is a lot that won't apply to narrative film-making. Your directing style will be substantially different, because you will not be working with actors per se. You will be working with people that have experienced the event or are personally impacted by it. Telling them to "emote more" or handing them a script is not going to be a good thing for your documentary, because then it will feel contrived.
 
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Doc Bernard said:
A documentary is a different animal than fictional film-making.

You will learn a lot of technique that will cross-over, but since a doc is more of discussing a situation that actually has happened/is happening/will happen, there is not much real acting. And the story is already there for you to capture (as long as you keep it non-fictional). Documentaries, the way I look at them, are similar to news stories, but expanded to give the viewer all the information involved.

So, on one hand you will get some great hands-on on the tech side, there is a lot that won't apply to narrative film-making. Your directing style will be substantially different, because you will not be working with actors per se. You will be working with people that have experienced the event or are personally impacted by it. Telling them to "emote more" or handing them a script is not going to be a good thing for your documentary, because then it will feel contrived.
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Thanks for the advice.

I know that it will be a lot different. I'm still hoping just to get a bit more familiar with technical things, like you said as well as other aspects of it like editing and distributing etc... I'll be working on a few shorts first, to get the feel of directing a fictional piece. I'll be filming my documentary with some techniques that I use in some shorts, especially the camera techniques.

I'm mainly making it just to get a bit more familiar with a few things, then do some shorts at the same time. Then tackle the feature.
 
Two things will KILL your film:

1) Bad story
2) Bad audio

Unless you are a screenwriter or a very, very, VERY talented 14-year old savant, I suggest you find a screenwriter and hammer out a story. You can hook up with someone on Craigs who just wants to get IMdb credit. Lots of them out there. I would go to donedealpro.com in their forum section and get to know screenwriters. Filmmaking is all about COLLABORATION! Learn to network. Get yourself out there.

2) Get yourself a SOLID audio person. Good mics. Knows what they are doing. Bad audio will kill any feature and any short films in a ginger snap.

Steven Speilberg started out shooting short films.
Cameron's first film was 12-minute short shot on 35mm, Xenogenesis, which he directed, wrote and produced.

What short films do for you is build character. The experience allows you to become confident in what you're doing and the less insecurities you have on set, the better leader you are for cast and crew, no matter the age.

I say shoot a short film that goes viral and then shoot a feature.
 
Thanks Charli.

After reading other things in books etc, I've found that it'd be wise like you said to try and get a short film big then move onto a feature with people who know my name etc...
 
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