Your resources.

When you guys decided that you wanted to make movies, where did you turn?

I didn't turn anywhere, but my friend David Heustis (BugSplat) pointed me here. I appreciate it alot.

If you decided one day that you wanted to make movies, whate would be the first three things that you would do?

(pretending of course that you have no prior knowledge of this site)


EDIT: I of course mean, in the learning process. What would you do to learn about making movies, the creative process, etc.

 

1. buy a video camera
2. learn how to use it and edit (probably use TFN as a resource)
3. get the hardware to import it to the computer

Hehe those would be the first 3. Now if you mean after these 3...then...

1. Figure out how to use the video portion of Vegas Video (since I only use it as an audio tracking program since they stopped making Vegas Audio.)
2. work on a script and film it.
3. submit it to Atomfilms for next year's contest.

Of course, that's if I ever got a video camera.

 

1. Learn to read
2. Learn to write
3. Learn to film

 

Well in the process of creating movies, these are your first three steps:

1. Get actors
2. Throw together a script
3. Plan a storyboard...

Yeah, but these would be the first three steps. That's how I've acctually start these movies.

 

First, I read all the books at my local library on the subject. I practiced the techniques at our HS baseball games and during volleyball and basketball practices (well, the JV practices, I was playing on varsity) then I wrote my script and made my first film. I continue reading and practicing today, and I have the perfect subject: my four year old!

 

*bump*


Also, what I meant was, where would you go to learn? This is assuming that you have NO prior experience (purely hypothetical situation of course ), and want to learn how to make movies. Where would you go? What would you do? Tell me everything. This is for a report BTW.

 

Back when we started making Challenge of the Sith in 1999 there were not as many online resources as there are today...this and the Fan Films Forum have grown quite a bit since then.

We emailed people who have made previous SW fan films with basic questions as to what software to use. Thats the easy part now...since there are threads here and there dedicated to the subject.

I purchased a few books (the Adobe Classroom in a Book series was my favorite). We found some basic tutorials on roto-ing sabers, creating masks in AE, etc. You have to remember, back then, we were like many others...we were just starting out and had no clue whatsoever as to what we were getting into at the time.

A lot of the software knowlegde came from just playing around and seeing what could be done and how to do it. I think in all the one main tutorial that I used was how to create the scroll in AE...that one was a life savior as our scroll before AE..pretty much sucked.

In all....a trial by error type of learning using the few people at the time who were proficient in the software. I will say this, making our films (Challenge of the Sith and Conspiracy) were both learning experiences which has given me a greater appreciation for film in general.

 

Well, when I wanted to learn how to make movies, I simply looked at stuff behind the scenes... I've seen how the director directs, how the cameraman films, how computer editors edited, stuff like that... Anyways, the only way I can learn right now, is by looking at how the pro filmmakers made thier movies, and developed my own way of doing things...

 

This is what I happened to me:

1. Realize the power of movies, realize you love watching movies.
2. Find out you have some artistic skill-- a natural knack for composition and a love for photography.
3. Realize your computer comes with a free editing program, and the capability to edit digital video.
4. Buy a digital video camera.

Really, I just knew I loved to point cameras around. It was just so cool. I started saving up for a camera, and then got into editing, and then got a better editing program, got bored with it, found this forum, and got into special effects!

--Colin

 

Effstops wins

 

I find myself often wondering why I call Colin a friend. Then he posts.


Same reason I wonder why I hate Sage. Then he posts, and I remember that too.

(Nuthin but love for ya, man. )


*Goes back into secret lair*

 

Hehe...

Whew! I'm glad I don't have to refrain from bashing you anymore Figgy...

Was almost killin' me...

Be on the lookout now, Laddy...



Sage H.

 

Google.

Will find you anything. Including this place.

/Z

 

Get Mum
pick up my girlfriend

hold up in the pub until it all blows over.


oh wait, thats zombie invasion not film making...


meh all the same in the long run

 

1. Ask myself if it's something I want to do or have to do.
2a. If it's the former, turn it into a hobby. Watch behind the scenes on DVDs, maybe pick up a few books, do a lot of online research, etc. Have fun.
2b. If it's the latter, realize that I'm choosing poverty for passion over security.
3(only after 2b). Make filmmaking not what I do every moment of the day, think about with every thought or talk about with every breath, but make filmmaking who I am. Then simply be me. From that point, everything I do to learn more about filmmaking becomes me learning more about myself. The more I like what I am learning, the more confident I am that I'm doing what I'm meant to do, because I'm discovering more of who I am. And of course, have fun.

-DeadEyesSmiling


EDIT: I guess the question is: 2b? Or not 2b?

 

Here is a good site with alot of information.

 

There are some books you can buy, like Stephen Katz "Shot by Shot, Film directing from concept to completion", I learned a lot from it.

But the best advice I can give, is to practice. Shoot some footage, even if you never show it to anyone. Get a feel for what works and what doesn't.

Plan out a shot, draw a story board, shoot it and then see if it turns out like you had expected, or was it better or worse, and why.

There is no better learning method than trial by fire.

Good luck!

Sauja

 

I'm actually a good example of someone who decided to make a film out of the blue. I didn't have any experience. I didn't know this community existed. I had an idea, and it just happened that through the years, I had ammassed enough experience that I knew how to put all the pieces of the puzzle together. And, in essense, that is what filmmaking is to me. A puzzle full of little challenges to be solved. Take everything one scene at a time until it's done.

I have always been a huge fan of special FX. I have been reverse engineering what I saw in films for as long as I can remember. This is why, even though I had never attempted FX before, I had more than a few ideas how to work them out. The FX in Disaster at Naboo really are the very first FX I had ever done.

The point to this story is that, if you put your mind to it, you'd be surprised what you can figure out how to do with little or no help at all.

 

I've found a great resource to be my friends. Because they have some really great ideas that are different from mine. Watching how they put their ideas into action versus my own, is really cool and fun to watch and do.

Also, director/cast commentaries on DVD's has proven a good resource. 1. It's neat to find out how they did a lot of things 2. It's somewhat inspiring to hear how much fun an actor/director had on a project and how much they enjoy doing.

A great text resource is "Applied Media Aesthetics" by Herbert Zettl. Seriously, it is the best "why and how shot's work", "lighting", "sound", "editing", "understand screen vectors", "framing", "timing" and a lot more. I've got quite a bit of experience shooting shorts and full lengths movies (12 years) and there's a lot that I'm learning from this book. It should definitely be part of any filmakers library.

--Jamball

 

I have to agree with dead eyes, I've been watching films since I can remember, and it's only been in the last 2-3 years that i've been able to experience and learn about the medium through college and work. You have to make it a part of your lifestyle - and the more you do that, the more it comes across in your work.

You just seem to get to a point where - you just know that you can do it.

 

When I first realised I wanted to make movies I attended some weekend film courses arranged by a film school, and now some years later I'm attending film school (1st year)

I didn't know a lot about any SW fan film forums like this back then, but if I did it would probably have been the first place that I'd have turned to!

 

I found this place first, by accident, through a Wall Street Journal article of all things.
Once I decided that I wanted to make a movie of my own, I started to search the net with many of the tools that are listed above.

The challenge started to be getting BACK to sites that were found in old searches. Especially when I wanted to post them as answers to questions that were appearing here a lot. That was how the Tutorials thread got started, but it quickly became a bit difficult to navigate too.

So...
Here's the Amateur Movie Portal.
Nearly 500 categorized, searchable links to useful sites related to movie making and special effects.

Have fun.

 

If you decided one day that you wanted to make movies, whate would be the first three things that you would do?

(pretending of course that you have no prior knowledge of this site)

Since I'm not very good at thinking hypothetically (meaning I do have previous knowledge of this site ), I'll say the first three things that I did when I wanted to make movies.

0. My mom bought my dad a camcorder.
1. I had my friend come over and we filmed some very unfunny skits that we almost wish we hadn't made.
2. We found some PVC pipe and decided to make a lightsaber duel (entry #4 in choreography contest 2.5 if you remember).
3. We looked around the internet for how to do lightsaber effects and we found Darel Finley's site.

Note: Why I put 0-3 is because I wanted to make movies after I already had a camera.

 

When I started I already knew how to make movies. Problem was that I didn't know how to make Star Wars movies. I would watch all the fanfilms I could and jot down all the ideas I could until I had a story in mind.

 

LMAO!!