There have been millions of things written on making movies... none of them the same, none of them right or wrong. All of the great directors (and some of the not so great ones too) have all had their say on the nature, purpose and process of making a movie. Who's theory is better? Welles or Bergman? Hitchcock or Peckinpah? Fellini or Kurosawa? Kazan or Fuller? Name after name, I could make a list of the hundreds of well respected directors who have written on the subject of their art or trade. How does one study movies or leanr how to make movies?
The first option that comes to mind in today's society is, of course, film school. You can pay a lot of money to attend a University and be taught how to make a movie. This is a useless option, trust me, I speak from experience. Film school, much like any art school is an ego bloating party where those on the inside shameless attack and compliment each other into believing they are somehow superior to the outside world because they are artist and being an artist is your birthright into an enlightened existence--come to think of it, this sounds an awful lot like Hollywood. Film schools are stupid, throw rocks at them. Film school gives you no preparation for what lies in the outside world, especially if you want to be a director. If you are more sensical and want a career as a technician or in special effects or post production, you are less likely to get the heavy foot of reality kicking your ass.
If you want to be a movie director, film school is the worst place to go. I would recommend going to business and management school, take a minor in film studies and take acting classes on weekends. Business to learn management, budgeting, sales and negociation skills. Film studies so you can watch what the great film aueteurs did and learn from them. And finally acting classes so you understand your actors and what they learned and what its like to be in their shoes.
Because as a director, especially independantly (nobody will hand you a $100 Million budget right out of film school--if ever) you will need to know how to motivate people to work for free or for cheap. You will need how to get things done without a million assistants--more than likely you will be spending your own money, so learning how to make a sophistacted budget would be a great help.
A lot of people I know often tell me they wish they could make movies. "Go ahead and do it," I say. In fact go ahead and chase your dream no matter what it is and no matter what age you are or what stage of life you're in. Making a movie is simple enough, you need a camera, someone to operate it, a story, actors and editing. Well, with today's technologically evolved world these things are not hard to come by. You can buy a good quality digital video camera for under $2000, you can get a editing software for any PC for as little at $60 and if you tell people you are making a movie, you will see that it's not hard to get someone to act in it for free...
If you want to make a movie go ahead, if you want to go to school go ahead, or if you just want to pick up a camera and film stuff go ahead. That's the essence of cinema, experiment and developing new things and ideas. Go ahead, make a movie.
The first option that comes to mind in today's society is, of course, film school. You can pay a lot of money to attend a University and be taught how to make a movie. This is a useless option, trust me, I speak from experience. Film school, much like any art school is an ego bloating party where those on the inside shameless attack and compliment each other into believing they are somehow superior to the outside world because they are artist and being an artist is your birthright into an enlightened existence--come to think of it, this sounds an awful lot like Hollywood. Film schools are stupid, throw rocks at them. Film school gives you no preparation for what lies in the outside world, especially if you want to be a director. If you are more sensical and want a career as a technician or in special effects or post production, you are less likely to get the heavy foot of reality kicking your ass.
If you want to be a movie director, film school is the worst place to go. I would recommend going to business and management school, take a minor in film studies and take acting classes on weekends. Business to learn management, budgeting, sales and negociation skills. Film studies so you can watch what the great film aueteurs did and learn from them. And finally acting classes so you understand your actors and what they learned and what its like to be in their shoes.
Because as a director, especially independantly (nobody will hand you a $100 Million budget right out of film school--if ever) you will need to know how to motivate people to work for free or for cheap. You will need how to get things done without a million assistants--more than likely you will be spending your own money, so learning how to make a sophistacted budget would be a great help.
A lot of people I know often tell me they wish they could make movies. "Go ahead and do it," I say. In fact go ahead and chase your dream no matter what it is and no matter what age you are or what stage of life you're in. Making a movie is simple enough, you need a camera, someone to operate it, a story, actors and editing. Well, with today's technologically evolved world these things are not hard to come by. You can buy a good quality digital video camera for under $2000, you can get a editing software for any PC for as little at $60 and if you tell people you are making a movie, you will see that it's not hard to get someone to act in it for free...
If you want to make a movie go ahead, if you want to go to school go ahead, or if you just want to pick up a camera and film stuff go ahead. That's the essence of cinema, experiment and developing new things and ideas. Go ahead, make a movie.
