What trade would be good for filmmaking

V

Victor Nhat Nguyen

Well-known member
It's my second semester in school and I really want to study in a trade that would help me with my filmmaking. Would an electrician be a nice choice?
 
Victor - that's a really silly question. You need to decide if filmmaking is a hobby or a career. If it is a hobby, then select your trade or profession by your aptitude, chances of success and the satisfaction the job will give you. Do you want to be an electrician? I studied RF engineering because I was interested in radio - it's a long time ago, but I was a radio ham, loved operating, but was ill prepared by school for the maths needed to be able to design circuits. So I had to do maths (that I didn't like) to be able to pass the radio ham exams, and discovered I could do maths - so I studied further and decided radio was a career. On the first day of work - I realised that the people I was working with actually had no interest in the subject and the last thing they wanted to do was more of it as a hobby. So I switched track. Video was booming. U-Matic Sonys, new fangled VHS and betamax not quite invented, and weird video systems that cost £600, and I was earning £20 a week! A video tape cost the equivalent of a weeks wages! I was also good with my mouth, so it was me who went to the schools, universities and oil companies to sell them this new fangled technology. I turned eventually into a teacher - media studies! Then my hobby, that had also generated part time work in theatres took over and I moved back to performing arts and music, which had also been a paying hobby.

So my entire career has switched between similar and linked spheres of work. Do you want to be an electrician? Will you enjoy it? Does it allow the possibility of helping your filmmaking? Somehow, I doubt it. Real electricians (as in not arts electricians) are great for fixing your house up, or putting lights up in an office - BUT - give them the problem of getting temporary power to some lights, ten feet above the ground, or any other of our day to day electrical issues, they're usually hopeless!

For goodness sake - before it is too late, select a career that YOU will enjoy for long enough to feel it's been worthwhile. I've got to the stage now where I'm clearly overtaken by my old school friends, and even my old students in the salary stakes, and I really don't let this worry me. I really still enjoy what I do, and I have enough income to do what I want. If I had stuck with what I trained for then I'd not have had the fun career I've had.

Do you WANT to be an electrician?
 
Working in 'the arts' is a challenging career choice.

I beleive mechanical + electircal engineering are good subjects to study and set you up for a steady career, but are useful if you are luck enough to get a job in the camera department?

S
 
Exactly! The flaw is that many people who fix things in the camera department would not be seen dead using one!

The question is "Do you want a steady job" or do you want an interesting one!
 
I think train for a steady job, and try and get an interesting one.

If you want to make films you can study normal stuff and make films at the weekend with a T2i

I have serious concerns for reams of youngsters doing 'media studies' and other such pointless waffle

S
 
Waffles are NEVER pointless. Especially chocolate chip waffles.

(And yeah, not the best way to choose a trade.)
 
Best training for filmmaking is construction! I grew up working summers/weekends for my step dad and found it very similar to filmmaking. Wake up early, load the truck, arrive on location, unpack...sweat for 8-12 hours, load up and then home.
 
Depends entirely upon what job you want to do in filmmaking - do you want to be director, cinematographer, AD, screenwriter, gaffer, editor, actor, grip, costumer, hair/makeup, production designer, driver, craft service, props, sound, or catering?

Decide that first and it will help you make informed decisions about your studies

As for the specific field of study that you mentioned, while it might teach you some basic concepts that will be useful to you in climbing the ladder to gaffer, in reality a little time reading Harry Box's fabulous book and a day on set working with a real movie electric department will teach you far more about film electric work than such a degree would.

Personally I believe a strong liberal arts education is the best thing to have going into this industry. Specific "trade" education is far less useful in the movie world than a broad understanding of many subjects.
 
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I know I want to be a filmmaker 100 percent. But I'm in school and I don't want to get a filmmaking degree because there are books, forums, and working on sets is the best film school. The jobs that I want is in the sound department, G & E, camera crew.

BTW I do make film on the weekend with t2i and I do have Harry Box book.
 
Victor Nhat Nguyen said:
The jobs that I want is in the sound department, G & E, camera crew.
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You will very likely need to pick only one of these choices. As soon as the industry sees you doing one thing, that's what they'll see you as being good at and that's what you'll get called back for.

On the subject of school though, I'm not sure what your position is, but I know I wouldn't have gotten any of the connections that I have if it weren't for film school. A piece of paper obviously isn't the point of being there, and I do agree that working on real jobs will better prepare you. But if you're in a film school, particularly in an area where there is a lot of work in the industry, it can't hurt.
 
I just got out of high school and decided to not go to film school or school for film at all. I have a decent amount of gear Nd still practice annd try to learn all I can but I've been on student film sets teaching them things. I also know I want to be a DP so I decided I would just practice the art rather than go to school for it.

Now for school I decided to give EMT/Paramedic a try and so far I'm enjoying it. Not really film related but it gives me something to support myself with while also allowing me to do film work as well. Plus I really need something to support myself when I move out go californja.
 
I think that the best course of study would be Project Management, especially construction Project Management. There are courses of instruction for this in many places. Making a film and building a building are very much the same in that they both require managing considerable resources and craftsmen with a realistic plan and schedule. Making a film is a huge project and to do it successfully takes great attention to detail and outstanding organizational skills. Learn those.
 
I completely understand the desire for security, lord knows I wish I was more secure. But I really believe that for the most part, filmmaking is an all or nothing career path. I can't think of any successful filmmakers who didn't pursue it full time. I know of a few that did something prior to making films (James Cameron was a truck driver, Ruben Fleischer worked for an internet company), but every director I know, when they decided filmmaking was what they wanted to do, that is what they pursued full stop.

One question you need to ask yourself, is what would you do in this hypothetical scenario: You're out of college, and you have a stable career in something you don't hate, but it's not filmmaking. You then are given an opportunity to work some smaller position on a major feature film, say maybe a 2nd AC or a PA. You would make decent money on this film, but it only lasts 2 months, and then you go back to being without work, and there is no guarantee more work would come anytime soon. Obviously in order to take the job on the film, you would have to quit your stable job, and I doubt they would take you back after 2 months. What would you do?
 
jghenderson said:
I completely understand the desire for security (James Cameron was a truck driver, Ruben Fleischer worked for an internet company), but every director I know, when they decided filmmaking was what they wanted to do, that is what they pursued full stop.

One question you need to ask yourself, is what would you do in this hypothetical scenario: You're out of college, and you have a stable career in something you don't hate, but it's not filmmaking. You then are given an opportunity to work some smaller position on a major feature film, say maybe a 2nd AC or a PA. You would make decent money on this film, but it only lasts 2 months, and then you go back to being without work, and there is no guarantee more work would come anytime soon. Obviously in order to take the job on the film, you would have to quit your stable job, and I doubt they would take you back after 2 months. What would you do?
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Only if it's major like a Christopher Nolan or James Cameron film. I would quit my job and work on it. Try to get as many connections as I can. After the 2 months, I would just wait, try to see if anyone calls and try to make that money last.
 
Victor Nhat Nguyen said:
Only if it's major like a Christopher Nolan or James Cameron film. I would quit my job and work on it. Try to get as many connections as I can. After the 2 months, I would just wait, try to see if anyone calls and try to make that money last.
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If you are inexperienced and not even pursuing film full-time, then there is no way you would get a gig on such a production. If you are unwilling to quit your job for anything less than a major, then you will be working that job for the rest of your life.

I have to agree with jg that you won't get anywhere in this industry without going after it full time. People with "day jobs" don't make it until they quit said job.
 
Shooter said:
I suggest Banking (or Bank robbing) could be helpful trades to have if one intends making films.
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An excellent answer:)

My English teacher, Sister Perpetua, had a broad Irish accent that was often difficult to understand. She was livid when she found out I was working on film sets and gave me some careers advice; she said I'd never make it in movie-making, but I'd be an alright banker, at least I think that's what she said...
 
My suggestion... A business degree which can be applied to any field.

To be honest there are more people wanting jobs in filmmaking than there are openings in the field.
 
I've got a great trade you can learn, believe it or not, it's filmmaking! Don't worry about creating this false safety net for yourself, really it's just a distraction. The only job that I've seen work for someone who also did film was driving a cab. It was flexible so he could take off work if he got a job, but it still got him some money every month, that's the kind of job you want. The other guys I ultimately stopped calling because their other job took up too much of their free time, and I knew they wouldn't be able to take the days off no matter how good the job.

There is plenty of need for people to work on films. You'll start out as a PA and ultimately learn whatever craft you choose, be it sound, lighting, or camera, and once you've got one of those skills under your belt you can go to any production town and have something marketable. If you're worried about making money, in the bigger production towns you can work as an extra when you aren't on set and pay the bills that way. Do that enough and then you can go on unemployment for a while so you can work more freebies in the position that you actually want to do and learn a bit more. It's really not that difficult to do film full time, it just takes a little patience, the right attitude, and a willingness to do whatever it takes to get there.

I have to ask, if you're so dead set on filmmaking, why waste your time with this at all? If you think the best education is working on set, then why not go do that instead of spending your time on something you're not passionate about?

Hate to ask the tough questions, but someone's gotta do it!
 
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