The Self-Taught Filmmaker: Part 1

This is the beginnings of an ongoing article about how to teach yourself to be a filmmaker online and through personal experience- which I will update often and add new parts to (because of all the information).  Reading this article can help make you a great filmmaker, but I must give a disclaimer... 

First of all, filmmakers are born... & second of all, filmmakers are made (if not born).  But in order to be "made" you MUST work as a filmmaker and experience the work many times before you realize your shortcomings and you chose to overcome them.  If you do not chose to do this- you will not be nearly as great as a born filmmaker.  You must use proactive, confident action.  And you must be willing to smack your head up against a wall of indifference over and over.

So, my disclaimer means that my information will help you to acquire a measure of technical skill and a measure of efficiency- but it is no substitute for talent or for experience.  This is where you come in.  NO ONE can make you great or motivate you to be great.  Only you can do this all by your lonesome.

I will outline the kinds of help you will be getting here and within each section I will expand and add information as I have time to do so.

The Self-Taught Filmmaker Outline

1.  Advice on your Attitude

2.  Build a knowledge base

3.  Find a Place to Fit in

4.  Get to know the Film Community

5.  Get to know Film equipment

6.  Get to know the small business basics

7.  Create benchmarks and goals for yourself

8.  Advice on Success & Failure


 Part 1
Advice on your Attitude: Determination & Humility


I approach filmmaking just as I do with life... as an imperfect system.  I cannot expect others to do things for me just as I cannot expect that I wont have to do ALL of the work other people don't want to do & pick up all the pieces left from an organization where most people just "don't care".  This is basically the job of the Producer- to pick up where others leave off after they told you they wouldn't leave you holding the bag & they did anyway.  The Producers have to be the shepherds or the parents in the situation.  Don't be resentful about it- take the position that others leave behind- it is a great position of respect within the industry.  Regardless of any respect however, this is an industry rife with failures.  We all love to talk about the few successes- these things give us fuel to continue on- but we need to get used to failure as a normal state of being.  


My belief is that determination and humility are twin maxims that may give you success in this arena.  Determination keeps you plodding on and humility keeps you from losing patience or forgetting why you are there & what direction you are heading.  We can all fail to remind ourselves that our work can become rote & boring... yes, even filmmaking can become a dull, dull existence when we haven't made any money after a year of pain & bitterness... and (like I said) no money.  But, if we remind ourselves that there are constantly things to learn- constantly, new projects we can find ourselves stimulated by, constantly reminding ourselves that even really great filmmakers lose their edge and become yesterdays news, we can stay motivated.

Humility always reminds us that we are not superheroes or Gods, we are silly, silly fools... lucky just to have a voice and an audience at all.  Do everything with humility because it helps you to learn more which will put you on top of a great many filmmakers not content to live outside of their massive egos.  Instead we already know that we are not perfect & we do not mind being reminded of that fact.  Instead we are grateful for the chance to continue learning more.

Filmmaking is also a long arduous process so we need to be prepared for this long journey.  At least if we are humble we will be more patient with that process and with ourselves.  It helps us to remain stimulated and growing constantly towards better filmmaking.  


A helpful process of creating films for me is "Feel, Think, Do, Cooperate, Re-assess".  This means start out with pure emotion.  What stimulates you?  What makes you happy when you watch a film?  What kind of filmmaking process do you love the most?  Then, go with that gut- but be careful- the next step is "Think."  Think about "how" you are going to achieve this feeling in a smart way- so that it will be a successful endeavor- different from past projects of the same genre- more efficient, more creative, more raw.  Then, complete it with diligence, confidence, patience and passion-- this is the "do" step.  Then, remember that you MUST cooperate with your collaborators on making working, friendly, trusting relationships and executing the work that is most important to make this film as it should be.  Last of all "re-assess" what went well and what went badly. Make a list of things to fix next time and a list of things to NOT change (or the things you loved about the project).  You will be continually growing and learning from this process.


So...
Feel
Think
Do
Cooperate
Re-assess


Do all of these things with determination and humility.  Remember where you came from and where you are going before you head out on your journey. :)




Next up: Part 2 is about building a knowledge base.  There are numerous sources of information on the internet- but there are other areas you can mine for resources and help too.