film making as a career?
DjArcadian
3,633 Posts
This is sort of a follow-up to my old post at http://www.soulstrut.com/ubbthreads/show...ic=&Search=true I think 2007 is gonna be the year that I struggle to switch careers and I'm hoping to get into some amateur film making with a eye towards doing some documentary work and creating commercials, instructional videos, documentaries and maybe even some porn to pay the bills (who knows). I want to try and parlay my current business management business into this with the intent of a full switch over to this by 2008 or 2009. I know there's some people here that do this for a living. I live a pretty frugal lifestyle so big bucks is not what I'm aiming for. However, what hurtles can I look forward to? Especially since I'm coming at this with zero experience. I'm hoping to purchase some equipment and maybe film some small documentaries just to get the hang of it and I might wanna do some work with local film crews. Real world movers advice needed here.
Comments
It would be wise to own your own camera if you plan to do Documentary work. I'd recommend getting something HD.
learn about Audio and editing as well. The more technical knowledge you have the better your chance of getting projects done the way you want them done.
I'll PM you some better info in a bit
sharpen your networking skills.
get ready to start at the bottom no matter what experience you have, how old you are, or how much better your ideas are than everyone else's.
learn how to make coffee, take lunch orders, and deliver things from one place to another.
Great adivce. iIt really is about who you know and how you talk with them.
pretty much a truth at the start. But while doing these things learn how to network. You'd be amazed what kind of deals you can make while giving a guy his decaf
I'm in a good position as my regular company makes enough money to feed myself and supplement this new company until it's off the ground. Maybe a full switch over isn't likely by 2009 but I can use my current business for networking and getting new clients.
Any advice/knowledge is appreciated!
I destroyed Andrew Dice Clays comeback
I tried to documentary route a few years back, its a tough, tough business, very competitve. Look for a partner, the ideal relationship is one person who does all the filmaking and another who handles the business side of things. Expect a lot of dissapointments, hurdles, and your ego to be bashed. Also expect to make little to no money for a few years.
this is great advice. if you can afford it, then take cinematography, audio recording, picture and sound editing courses, too.
if you're going into this with hardly any background then try to volunteer on sets, in edit suites, production offices...anywhere you can. the more you know about every aspect of filmmaking, the better.
keep a steady job for as long as you can and save $$$, it is very difficult to make a living as a documentary filmmaker alone. most of the doc directors i know, even those who have been doing it for 20+ yrs do other work in-between their films and/or have a partner/spouse with a steady income.
take any freelance job you can get on a set/crew/shoot, and try to learn anything you can/any people you can. the freelance life is a constant fucking hustle (not for everyone- me, for instance.)
personally, i'd say classes are just more overhead; you can learn a lot of things through OJT, and there is always the chance you can get paid as you learn.
if you know someone already in the business, see what their relationship with an equipment shop is. Cameras, etc. are super expensive. If you can get a good rental rate until you save up enough to buy one, that can help. Plus, you can get some great equipment you otherwise couldn't afford. We just had two XD cams for the last six months this way...fucking sweeeeet cameras.
Good advice all around.
I plan to buy some equipment which I think will be enough to get my foot in the door in a lot of cases plus it gives me time to experiment and learn a lot of this stuff on my own.
My schooling is zero except for like one film making class I took in college fucking forever ago. The editor of Eight Heads in a Duffel Bag taught it (no wonder Pesci retired).
"you sound white" comment notwithstanding, you should realize 2 things:
1) what you're going to do, and the world you're trying to break into is probably going to be really hard
2) nothing that's worthwhile is easy anyway so go for it.
as far as cameras and equipment go, in my time as a TV director i've learned that there's a lot of reasonably priced equip. out there that you can get your idea across on. the same analogy applies to music. most people today have more equipment than more talented people from years ago. i might have a 64-track studio, but put otis redding in front of a cheap mic and a dude with brushes on a snare and he blows me out of the water every time. get something that you can afford, but realize your creativity is going to be your best asset, not how many chips are in your camera.
best of luck.