Cover of The Blair Witch Project

You may have enjoyed famous independent films such as “The Blair Witch Project” or “Juno” and, while you may or may not have realized these films were not produced by major film production studios, perhaps you dreamed of making a great film yourself some day.  These days, there are more opportunities to become an independent filmmaker than ever before.

In the early 1900s, the major studios dominated filmmaking, as making movies was a relatively new idea using new technology and naturally, it took a lot of money to produce films.  Studios such as 20th Century Fox, Paramount and Warner Bros. are the three major film studios with the longest history from the Golden Age of filmmaking to today’s environment full of smaller studios to compete with the big boys.  Also, independent films are popping up all the time made by studio’s nobody in the industry even knew existed.

Today, however, a lot of mainstream movies are actually indie films using well-known actors.  The Coen brothers, making movies such as “Fargo” and “No Country for Old Men” are essentially independent filmmakers, but because of their skill, previous successes and expert storytelling, they are well known producers who make movies featuring megastars such as Brad Pitt and George Clooney.  The little guys, so to speak, are now more able than ever before to achieve their dreams of making movies.

Independent films are being made all the time and many become popular.  Most, however, probably have a small market share overall, but the filmmakers can still make a nice profit.  Imagine making a profit of even just $50,000 on a film that only took you a couple of months to make.  That is a yearly income for a lot of people, and if you make that much by fulfilling your passion, well, you can not put a price on that.  So, you can make a living out of making indie films, but how much do they cost to make?

While making films certainly does not generally come cheap and production companies often have big budgets, a good indie film can be made for as little as $100 or as much as $10 million.  The advent of digital filmmaking is one welcome improvement in filmmaking technology.  A lot of productions these days shoot entire films with digital cameras that give crisp images and then edit the film with computer programs such as Final Cut Pro, Avid Media Composer, and Adobe Premiere Pro.

You may be interested in film directing or producing, or more interested in cinematography.  Most independent filmmakers will be proficient in all these areas but may hire someone else to fill some of these roles and work with them because it is an almost impossible task to do everything on your own.  You will likely want to engage in a film studies course to learn the trade and to get some experience, or find  production companies that provide internships.  Working with people who have been there before will help you to achieve your dreams.  If you are ambitious enough, you could even be accepting an Oscar someday!

Related articles on the web:

• Indie Film Shakeout: There Will Be Blood (time.com)
• Paranormal Activity tops US box office despite micro budget (telegraph.co.uk)
• Following ‘Paranormal,’ What Price Scary Glory? (nytimes.com)

As 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.