Directing Your First Movie! A Beginner's Guide to making Movies with your Camera or Smartphone
© John R. Collins
Edition: BoD - Books on Demand GmbH
12/14 rond-point des Champs Elysées
75008 Paris
Print by BoD Books on Demand GmbH, Norderstedt
ISBN: 9782322116720
Legal Deposit: September, 2016
"Whether in success or in failure, I'm proud of every single movie I've directed."
– Steven Spielberg
Directing your first movie? – Sure, plenty of people go broke putting together a film that ends up looking as amateurish as you feel. This doesn't have to happen. Learn how to spend as little money as possible and put together your directorial début with funding and support from industry professionals. This notoriously difficult to penetrate career choice doesn't have to be impossible. Follow these rules and steps to success to make a reel film that doesn't suck. If you've watched, studied and loved film foryears, perhaps you would make a good director. It's easy to get the bug, but how to actually make it happen? The ability to see a story in pictures and manage people is a must, but so is the ability to see the project through from one end to the other. There's hard work and long hours ahead, but if your goal is to have a finished project you can be proud to show around, you can do it, just as so many before you have. It's important to realize that just because it's not easy, doesn't mean that it can't be a fun and truly rewarding experience that you'll either talk about for years to come or actually set you off on a new career.
This book will show you how to go from your unrealized dream of being a director. We'll start of by showing you how to doing all the planning that will help this film project go off without a hitch and avoid some of the more common pitfalls that commonly plague firsttime directors. Next, you'll get a look at the production itself, from how to keep your crew happy and productive to directing actors into giving the performance you've imagined. Lastly, your vision will truly come alive in the post-production process – this book will give you hints and tips for making the most of the footage you have.
More importantly, perhaps, this book will show you how to actually make enough money or notoriety that will allow you to make a second film, preferably with someone else's money.
You maybe surprised how much planning is absolutely necessary to guarantee the success of your directorial debut. It has been proven time and time again that there's nothing quite like skimping on this process to ensure chaos. If you're going to beat the odds, planning for contingencies and making sure you've got a road-map to will guide you through the entire process is essential. Don't kid yourself – making a movie is a very expensive proposition. Regardless of how you go about it, you will have to be extremely careful about how you spend your finite resources. Every moment you spend in production costs money, whether the camera is on or not. You can reasonably expect to spend 6-8 hours in pre-production for every hour inproduction.
Just what are you planning on doing with this film, anyhow? If your goal is to spend a weekend running around in the backyard with your pals and a camcorder, that's great. The pressure will be off and you can concentrate on having a good time. While you'll go through all the same basic steps, there will be less urgency and panic. Though the finished product won't likely look quite like what you've been seeing in your mind's eye, that's okay. As long as you don't go broke doing it – no harm, no foul. If you can't expect to get money out, you'll at least be aware that cash is only flowing one way and can plan accordingly. On the other hand, if you want to put together a short or featurelength filmm to bring around to festivals, that's quite another thing. This route is the classic long shot, but is also a chance for you to jump right in with both feet. This is most especially true in the case of short films of under30 minutes. There are many festivals that specialize in such films, and this is a good way to impress potential investors with your skills and build notoriety. Should you be considering a feature, you should be aware that most successful film-makers recommend against this. It's just a lot to fund or bite into, as a time director. Funding concerns usually keep this from happening. If they don't, you've either found a sugar daddy or are doing things even more cheaply than is advisable. Of course, there are stories of folks who've gone against all such advice and made a name (and new directorial career) for themselves, but be advised, they are few and far between. It's often best to start small, even if you plan on ending up in the big time.