How do you practice filmmaking and what do you need?

Question

I am in high school and I am very interested in filmmaking but don't know where to start!

Answer 1

Take classes and make films!



I'm an aspiring filmmaker and that's just what you have to do. It's the best way to learn, being hands on. Write a story outline, then a script (check out celtx.com), and then put it together. Find some friends to act and find a good time to shoot. If you don't have many friends interested in performing, recruit family members or just act in it yourself- that's what I tend to do considering many high school students don't know how to act/over act.



Invest in a decent editing software, a nice camera (if you can, otherwise, don't worry about it), and a tripod. Unless there's a specific effect you're going for, shaky-cam isn't the way to go!



Read scripts. READ. Watch movies and dissect them. Find what you don't like, find what you do. Develop your style. Read books- as you read you can apply your visual style and create a film in your head as you go. Write, and write a lot. Watch more films. Ditch the chick-flicks and explore everything. I found out that I love Quentin Tarantino and Martin Scorsese, even though most girls my age like Mean Girls and Bridesmaids (both fine movies). You've just got to work hard and do what you love.



Filmmaking is much harder than many give it credit for. You have to have passion and drive and a unique sense of creativity that will set you apart from the rest. You have to know what you want and not stop until you get it- you can't take no for an answer. You have to be able to see the world in a different way from everyone else in order to bring spark to your film.



Best of luck!

Answer 2

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Answer 3

Pull out your note book, watch a classic movie from the black and white days and start to write the movie from what you see and hear. It will take a number of times to start to SEE and HEAR the shots and more time before you also start to understand that the lighting and the sound play huge parts in the movie. When you can put together a 3 min. movie on paper in the form of individual sheets of paper with all of the information you want in that part of the movie, look, view point, what the light should look like and what the people may or may not say (just show an emotion is one thing they do that is not said) THEN you can move on to shooting. It is all practice for film making.

Answer 4

If your school has a Broadcast Communications class, get involved with it. If not, then get involved in a Photography class to start with. Always do photography first, and then learn film making.



Most DSLR cameras these days have video capability. I have a Pentax K5 that I use for photos and video, and I use Adobe Premiere Pro and Adobe Photoshop for editing, but that can be pricey unless you are a photography / art student and can show proof or student ID when ordering through Adobe's website.

Answer 5

I recently read a book called How To Shoot Video That Doesn't Suck by Steve Stockman. It changed the way I watch movies and approach my videos. It's available at Amozon in paperback and Kindle versions.

Answer 6

First you'll need a camera that shoots video. Next you'll need a software that edits videos like windows live movie maker. Write scripts. And you may be able to find some other class to help you.

Answer 7

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Answer 8

You could do all the parts yourself if u want to, kinda like a skit? I want to go into film making as well, so for now i just use the Sims 2 hahhah x

Answer 9

There are many training videos on Youtube and Vimeo.



Here is a link to one series, explore...



http://vimeo.com/channels/filmschool