How to Become a Filmmaker: The Only Guide You Need
In 2016, there were about 250,000 people working in the film industry.
If you want to join all of these people, one popular job is that of a filmmaker.
While it can be a really fun and entertaining job, it can be difficult to land a job without knowing a few essential tips first.
Are you trying to learn how to become a filmmaker? If yes, you should check out our guide here on the important things to understand.
Volunteer
One way to get your foot in the door is to always make sure you try and volunteer. It sucks doing free labor, but sometimes there isn’t any other way to do it.
While you won’t get paid with volunteering, you will get valuable knowledge, mentorship, and be able to do something you’re passionate about. It can also be a good way to make sure that you really do enjoy working in the filmmaking industry.
To start, you can find some people who are shooting and ask them if there is any way you can volunteer and help them out. If you’re not expecting to get paid, people may be more likely to let you help them.
You should also tell them that you’re interested in filmmaking; this may convince them to let you volunteer for them.
While you’re volunteering, you should learn all kinds of things and have all kinds of new opportunities. As time goes on and you get more experienced, you’ll be to the point where you’ll be turning gigs down and only taking the ones that pay.
To make it big, you need to start small and work your way up.
Enjoy the Small Victories
You should also make sure that you enjoy and relish the small victories while trying to make it in this career.
You can’t compare your journey to anyone else’s because everyone is different and has a different path.
Hopefully, you have a long journey in the career, but don’t beat yourself up too much if you encounter some obstacles along the way. It’s not always an easy journey, so you have to make sure you don’t get discouraged.
Take Classes
You should also make sure that you try and take some classes or enroll in a film school.
This can really help boost your resume and give you the credentials that some people are looking for.
In these classes, you’ll learn about the craft and be able to make connections with others that also share the same passion as you. You can normally find classes at a community college if there is no film school near you.
You can also check out music licensing for film makers.
Study
You should also make sure that you are studying enough, even if you’re not in a class or film school.
You’ve seen all kinds of films, but have you actually studied them? After you watch a film, make sure that you read as many interviews as you can about it. What kind of team worked on it? What were some of the special features? Read breakdowns on the entire process of your favorite movies.
You can also find plenty of books that talk about how filmmaking works. You can even read bout filmmakers as well, and you may pick up some handy tips you may have never known before.
While watching the film itself, you can break it down and try and figure out why they shot something a certain way. Why did they write that specific plot? What else could’ve been done differently?
Once you do that, you start thinking like a filmmaker.
Network
In the film world, it’s also very important to network as much as you can.
It’s really easy to put it into practice, but you need to make an effort to make a name for yourself. It’s a tight-knit community, but once you’re in, you’re in.
One thing that will help you with networking is to make sure that you pay it forward. If someone hooks you up or drops your name, then you should do the same thing for others when they’re trying to network as well.
Another great way to network is by finding yourself a mentor. To do this, you should find someone who is experienced in the type of filmmaking you’re interested in.
You should ask them if they have any tips or advice for you. if you seem to get along, you can also ask them if you can tag along and shadow them. You may also be able to make connections while you’re shadowing them.
Read
If you’re going into filmmaking, then you may be wondering why you would need to read anything.
Even if you’re extremely talented at filmmaking, you’ll only get so far. In a competitive business, you need to make sure that you’re the best of the best.
To do this, you’ll need to read everything about the trends of the business, developments, and who’s who.
You should also find any books you can about making film; you may learn something you never knew before.
Learn More About How to Become a Filmmaker
These are only a few things to know when figuring out how to become a filmmaker.
You can follow all of these tips, but you won’t get very far unless you have a true passion for this career. That is what will help carry you through any obstacles.
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