Filmmaking Training: Where, What, and How
ByAs with any career out there, filmmaking training, to be effective, need not be of the formal kind. Film school is not the be-all and the end-all of a career in film. There are other sources of knowledge, such as firsthand experience, befriending a filmmaker, joining workshops, reading a how-to book, making your own movie, or getting a job as a movie extra.
All these will rack up experience points in the filmmaking industry. All you need is a receptive mind and a willingness to learn. Throughout these diverse ways of getting a good training experience, the 12 basic lessons that any aspiring filmmaker will have to learn can be enumerated here:
- How to recognize a good story
- How to translate it into a script
- How to look for a distributor
- How to scout for locations
- How to choose the right crew
- How to cast properly
- How to direct actors effectively
- How to shoot good scenes
- How to record sound
- How to edit a rough film
- How to add a soundtrack
- How to release a movie
These 12 lessons can be grouped into the 5 processes of making a film. The first is the development stage, the second is the pre production stage, then there are the production and post production stage, and the last is distribution and exhibition to an audience. Comprehensive filmmaking training will take one through all the aspects of this process.
The film is a very popular medium, and one of the hardest to do of all the art forms. It requires the involvement of a lot of people in different fields. It requires months and even years of work. A big budget is the norm, although independent filmmakers have been doing more and more good movies on a low budget. This new development in the field of filmmaking has made possible the entry of relatively untrained or informally trained artists. It has also given rise to a new category, the indies, and therefore the need for additional lessons in the art of movie making.
The lessons in the art of independent filmmaking start from the concept of the story itself. A script has to follow a low budget format. Less nighttime scenes and less special effects are the first rules in a low budget film. These are not elements that lessen the quality of a film. In fact, a pared down script will sometimes work wonders for a film. It is all in the handling. The other lessons in this new field in filmmaking will have to do with technical know-how. Digital filmmaking requires different handling. It lessens the overall budget, it requires a lesser film crew, but it also requires a person to have more knowledge on the operation of the equipment.
The concept of filmmaking training is thus outlined. From the different sources you could go to, to the general ideas of filmmaking, to the modern trend in this exciting field. A filmmaker is thus made.
What about you? What do you think?
The most important part of the video production process isn’t the tools or hardware, it’s the individuals who make the magic happen. So the most critical part is finding quality people to add to your team who can carry out your vision for what the completed video should look like.
As individuals learn to connect on production projects and aggregate the talent they need, we will see some remarkable videos come from teams whose members are located all over the world.
Whether a filmmaker is trained or not trained, whether he/she is working with a large budget or a small budget, whether he/she is working for a studio or is working independently, the filmmaker should answer two vital questions before embarking on the odyssey of making a film:
• What is my reason for making this film?
• What do I want the audience to feel, believe, or understand with this film?
Once these questions are answered, the filmmaker will have the motivation and the direction that are needed in order to fully learn the twelve lessons that are mentioned above, and to complete the production of a film.
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