I often come across beginners in filmmaking who used to seek tips to improve their skill. Of course I used to share what I learnt with them and ask them to push their limits. I have seen similar kind of questions in several forums and online groups as well. So to help beginners today I am going to share 5 important tips that can help you to become a better filmmaker. Think Positive – Stay Positive
When you are in your starting stages of filmmaking you will feel it to be very difficult and confused of how your output will come out because of lack of knowledge in varied aspects like film lighting , camera framing, angles and motion. Just don’t worry – it’s a vast ocean out there and can’t be covered in a single day. It may take months or even years. Ensure you stay positive at any instance and keep learning the craft and make you a better filmmaker than yesterday.
Always be in positive mood even when your film doesn’t come out good in the beginning stages, don’t fire on your team mates but just try to find it why and what went wrong. In this way you invest time in learning every day. Positivity is the key to keep learning more in any field.
Keep Learning
Nowadays everything is on internet. Every doubt in your life can be clarified by Google. If u don’t know anything about making films but passionate about creating content then make a start. Hit Google, I suggest you best filmmaking channels and YouTube and some other websites to learn easily about filmmaking links below
- https://www.youtube.com/user/D4Darious
- https://www.youtube.com/user/filmriot
- https://www.youtube.com/user/YapperDesign
If you are having budget spend it wisely in filmmaking – maybe you can enroll yourself for some online classes like www.masterclass.com And learn from the masters who made beautiful films in history they will share their experiences and tips regarding the cinema
Pre-Production:
Preproduction is the key. It means, like any other venture, for filmmaking also you need to plan before you shoot. So without planning you can’t do anything and worst case is that sometimes (I am afraid – ‘most of the times’ even planning also fails. In that case, a filmmaker should ideally be a ‘seize the moment’ type who can create magic out of anything that’s given to them.
In the pre-production you need to go and search for the locations where you have to shoot in prior and take permissions if they are prohibited areas for shooting.
Recreate a scene or Photo:
This process may sometimes be interpreted with ‘Copying’ content from other creators. However, while learning if you follow the works of masters and try to work on them – you will learn things that you mostly don’t if you just go blindly for creating content. Take a Picture or painting or whatever it may be a scene or shot in the movie – just take it as an example and start recreating. It teaches you many many things.
Start observing the light and the way it is projected on the subject and plan the way you want it to be lit. Take care of production design and art around the subject and their color pattern / schema which you want to recreate.
Shoot with what you have:
This is the most important learning most of the filmmakers/photographers/videographers need to understand – especially at the starting of their careers.. It doesn’t matter with what equipment/gear you use to shoot. It always matters how creatively you shoot with the gear that you have in your hand. It’s the brain/mind behind the camera always matters, Believe in this. START capturing images and try to tell some stories through them. Maintain Instagram/social profiles account to showcase your pictures.
Experiment
If you are a good storyteller then start creating experiments with your stories through photographs or in your videos whatever it may be that you are doing at a given time. Always try to experiment because when you are in the beginning stage there is a chance to experiment more. Keep doing them.
Eventually your experiments may lead to your own style or aesthetics in your work.
Short & Sweet
Always keep it short and sweet because you have to shoot to edit it with emotion and required pace in editing. Storytelling needs to be crisp since you need to keep the audience hooked with your content.
Team Work
Make a team and trust yourself. Don’t share your creative your ideas with anyone except with your team and if you are alone you can’t do anything in filmmaking but if you are with the team then you can do something interesting. Build a creative team that can create magic. Believe in your team more than anything else.