If you're wishing you were a film maker, stop wishing and start making a movie!
You have a few choices. You can move to Hollywood, Toronto or New York City. But that takes money and a huge life change. What about all the folks in the middle of America who want to tell stories? These are the towns where the movie industry is not a realistic choice when it comes to making a living. However, it's not a dead dream. Do what others who came before you have done and continue to do: simply tell stories everyday.
These stories can come in the form of blogs, journals or poems. You can keep these for yourself, of course, but what about sharing them? Tell your stories to an audience, even if it's only 1 person.
You can start down the road of film making by getting your hands on your parent's handheld video camera. Film the neighborhood kids acting out the latest Disney story. Your daughter can be Rapunzel and her classmate can be Flynn Rider. Good luck finding Maximus, though. Horses are not easy to work with I hear. Mister Ed was a diva. Or you can set up Legos or other dolls and try for the stop-motion effect. Here's another idea: take a camera and go for a documentary. There are endless doc-style situations all around you, stories just begging to be told. You just have to make time for it, and execute the plan.
Your creativity (whether you think you have it or not) is a lot like a muscle. The more you exercise, the stronger your muscles become. It works the same way with writing and filmmaking. Don't be afraid to fail a bunch of times before you come up with a good product (or settle for adequate until you get good). This lesson also comes in the form of the cliche "practice makes perfect." While you may not be the next Christopher Nolan making millions of dollars off your recent backyard film about a superhero, you can still tell a story with what you have. Even if only your immediate family sees it at first, you're still telling a story, and that's really what's at the heart of film making. With today's technology, you can post it online and possibly share it with the world! Start with shorter (5-10 minute) films and go from there. A feature (90 minutes or more) is a huge undertaking.
Use the resources around you. Whether it's a high school drama club or a local theatre troupe, you probably have a community of people around you who want to tell stories, too. Look around for writers groups if you're not a writer and want to put words to film. Ask at the surrounding schools if there are drama programs in which you can involve yourself. Film festivals are great places to network. In Michigan, the Waterfront Film Festival is a terrific event to meet people and eventually submit your work (especially short films). Look for a festival in your area to connect with and begin networking.
Work hard. Filmmaking is difficult work, and often will not pay much, if anything. Work hard and work well, and you will begin to build a network of trusted people to help make your dream of filmmaking come true.
Want to read more about this? Subscribe to this blog to follow us. You can also check out this article we found about making a low-budget movie. You can find some good ideas in there.
Action!
Dan Moyle dabbles in creativity from writing to film and many mediums in between. Dan's day job is writer for AmeriFirst Home Mortgage as the marketing department. However his other interests include film & television, books and other storytelling venues. Looking for a fledgling production company? Read up on 0323 Productions anytime.
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