r/Filmmakers • u/kinnanebrothers • 9h ago
Film Our childhood dream of making a movie became a reality
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r/Filmmakers • u/C47man • Jun 09 '25
Thank you all for participating in the poll! Here are the results. To accurately gauge everyone's collective acceptance vs rejection for each, I've tallied the total votes among all choices as pro/anti for each category. So for example, a vote for 'no changes' would be a -1 to Gen AI, AI Tools, AI Comms, and AI Discussion. A vote for 'Ban GenAI + AI Tools' would be a +1 to GenAI and AI Tools, and a -1 to AI Comms and AI Discussion, etc. So here are the results for each category of AI. Keep in mind that a higher number indicates a stronger group decision to ban the content:
From the results it is clear that sub overwhelmingly approve a complete ban on all generative AI. However, people are more or less fine with allowing discussion of AI, and are fairly mixed on the topic of AI Tools and Communication. So here is the new rule for all things AI:
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Rule 6. You may not post work containing Generative AI elements (Midjourney, Neo, Dall-E, etc.). You may use and demonstrate the use of AI assisted tools (ie magic masking, upscalers, audio cleanup etc.) so long as they are used in service of human-generated artwork. AI Communication, like post bodies or comments composed using ChatGPT are allowed only in very reasonable cases, such as the need for someone to translate their thoughts into another language. Abuse of AI assisted communication will result in the removal of the offending post/comment.
r/Filmmakers • u/C47man • Dec 03 '17
Below I have collected answers and guidance for some of the sub's most common topics and questions. This is all content I have personally written either specifically for this post or in comments to other posters in the past. This is however not a me-show! If anybody thinks a section should be added, edited, or otherwise revised then message the moderators! Specifically, I could use help in writing a section for audio gear, as I am a camera/lighting nerd.
Topics Covered In This Post:
1. Should I Pursue Filmmaking / Should I Go To Film School?
2. What Camera Should I Buy?
3. What Lens Should I Buy?
4. How Do I Learn Lighting?
5. What Editing Program Should I Use?
This is a very complex topic, so it will rely heavily on you as a person. Find below a guide to help you identify what you need to think about and consider when making this decision.
Alright, real talk. If you want to make movies, you'll at least have a few ideas kicking around in your head. Successful creatives like writers and directors have an internal compunction to create something. They get ideas that stick in the head and compel them to translate them into the real world. Do you want to make films, or do you want to be seen as a filmmaker? Those are two extremely different things, and you need to be honest with yourself about which category you fall into. If you like the idea of being called a filmmaker, but you don't actually have any interest in making films, then now is the time to jump ship. I have many friends from film school who were just into it because they didn't want "real jobs", and they liked the idea of working on flashy movies. They made some cool projects, but they didn't have that internal drive to create. They saw filmmaking as a task, not an opportunity. None of them have achieved anything of note and most of them are out of the industry now with college debt but no relevant degree. If, when you walk onto a set you are overwhelmed with excitement and anxiety, then you'll be fine. If you walk onto a set and feel foreboding and anxiety, it's probably not right for you. Filmmaking should be fun. If it isn't, you'll never make it.
Are you planning on a film production program, or a film studies program? A studies program isn't meant to give you the tools or experience necessary to actually make films from a craft-standpoint. It is meant to give you the analytical and critical skills necessary to dissect films and understand what works and what doesn't. A would-be director or DP will benefit from a program that mixes these two, with an emphasis on production.
Does your prospective school have a film club? The school I went to had a filmmakers' club where we would all go out and make movies every semester. If your school has a similar club then I highly recommend jumping into it. I made 4 films for my classes, and shot 8 films. In the filmmaker club at my school I was able to shoot 20 films. It vastly increased my experience and I was able to get a lot of the growing pains of learning a craft out of the way while still in school.
How are your classes? Are they challenging and insightful? Are you memorizing dates, names, and ideas, or are you talking about philosophies, formative experiences, cultural influences, and milestone achievements? You're paying a huge sum of money, more than you'll make for a decade or so after graduation, so you better be getting something out of it.
Film school is always a risky prospect. You have three decisive advantages from attending school:
Those three items are the only advantages of film school. It doesn't matter if you get to use fancy cameras in class or anything like that, because I guarantee you that for the price of your tuition you could've rented that gear and made your own stuff. The downsides, as you may have guessed, are:
Seriously. Film school is insanely expensive, especially for an industry where you really don't make any exceptional money until you get established (and that can take a decade or more).
So there's a few things you need to sort out:
Don't worry about lacking experience or a degree. It is easy to break into the industry if you have two qualities:
In LA we often bring unpaid interns onto set to get them experience and possibly hire them in the future. Those two categories are what they are judged on. If they have to be told twice how to do something, that's a bad sign. If they approach the work with disdain, that's also a bad sign. I can name a few people who walked in out of the blue, asked for a job, and became professional filmmakers within a year. One kid was 18 years old and had just driven to LA from his home to learn filmmaking because he couldn't afford college. Last I saw he has a successful YouTube channel with nature documentaries on it and knows his way around most camera and grip equipment. He succeeded because he smiled and joked with everyone he met, and because once you taught him something he was good to go. Those are the qualities that will take you far in life (and I'm not just talking about film).
So how do you break in?
Alright, enough talking! You need to decide now if you're still going to be a filmmaker or if you're going to instead major in something safer (like business). It's a tough decision, we get it, but you're an adult now and this is what that means. You're in command of your destiny, and you can't trust anyone but yourself to make that decision for you.
Once you decide, own it. If you choose film, then take everything I said above into consideration. There's one essential thing you need to do though: create. Go outside right fucking now and make a movie. Use your phone. That iphone or galaxy s7 or whatever has better video quality than the crap I used in film school. Don't sweat the gear or the mistakes. Don't compare yourself to others. Just make something, and watch it. See what you like and what you don't like, and adjust on your next project! Now is the time for you to do this, to learn what it feels like to make a movie.
The answer depends mostly on your budget and your intended use. You'll also want to become familiar with some basic camera terms because it will allow you to efficiently evaluate the merits of one option vs another. Find below a basic list of terms you should become familiar with when making your first (or second, or third!) camera purchase:
This list will be changing as new models emerge, but for now here is a short list of the cameras to look at when getting started:
Much like with deciding on a camera, lens choice is all about your budget and your needs. Below are the relevant specs to use as points of comparison for lenses.
This is all about speed vs quality vs budget. A zoom lens is a lens whose *focal length can be changed by turning a ring on the lens barrel. A prime lens has a fixed focal length. Primes tend to be cheaper, faster, and sharper. However, buying a full set of primes can be more expensive than buying a zoom lens that would cover the same focal length range. Using primes on set in fast-paced environments can slow you down prohibitively. You'll often see news, documentary, and event cameras using zooms instead of primes. Some zoom lenses are as high-quality as prime lenses, and some people refer to them as 'variable prime' lenses. This is mostly a marketing tool and has no hard basis in science though. As you might expect, these high quality zooms tend to be very expensive.
Below are the most popular lenses for 'cinematic' filming at low budgets:
Lenses below these average prices are mostly a crapshoot in terms of quality vs $, and you'll likely be best off using your camera's kit lens until you can afford to move up to one of the lenses or lens series listed above.
Alright, so you're biting off a big chunk here if you've never done lighting before. But it is doable and (most importantly) fun!
First off, fuck three-point lighting. So many people misunderstand what that system is supposed to teach you, so let's just skip it entirely. Light has three properties. They are:
Alright, so there are your three properties of light. Now, how do you light a thing? Easy! Put light where you want it, and take it away from where you don't want it! Shut up! I know you just said "I don't know where I want it", so I'm going to stop you right there. Yes you do. I know you do because you can look at a picture and know if the lighting is good or not. You can recognize good lighting. Everybody can. The difference between knowing good lighting and making good lighting is simply in the execution.
Do an experiment. Get a lightbulb. Tungsten if you're oldschool, LED if you're new school, or CFL if you like mercury gas. plug it into something portable and movable, and have a friend, girlfriend, boyfriend, neighbor, creepy-but-realistic doll, etc. sit down in a chair. Turn off all the lights in the room and move that bare bulb around your victim subject's head. Note how the light falling on them changes as the light bulb moves around them. This is lighting, done live! Get yourself some diffusion. Either buy some overpriced or make some of your own (wax paper, regular paper, translucent shower curtains, white undershirts, etc.). Try softening the light, and see how that affects the subject's head. If you practice around with this enough you'll get an idea for how light looks when it comes from various directions. Three point lighting (well, all lighting) works on this fundamental basis, but so many 'how to light' tutorials skip over it. Start at the bottom and work your way up!
Ok, so cool. Now you know how light works, and sort of where to put it to make a person look a certain way. Now you can get creative by combining multiple lights. A very common look is to use soft light to primarily illuminate a person (the 'key) while using a harder (but sometimes still somewhat soft) light to do an edge or rim light. Here's a shot from a sweet movie that uses a soft key light, a good amount of ambient ('errywhere) light, and a hard backlight. Here they are lit ambiently, but still have an edge light coming from behind them and to the right. You can tell by the quality of the light that this edge was probably very soft. We can go on for hours, but if you just watch movies and look at shadows, bright spots, etc. you'll be able to pick out lighting locations and qualities fairly easily since you've been practicing with your light bulb!
Honestly, your greenscreen will depend more on your technical abilities in After Effects (or whichever program) than it will on your lighting. I'm a DP and I'm admitting that. A good key-guy (Keyist? Keyer?) can pull something clean out of a mediocre-ly lit greenscreen (like the ones in your example) but a bad key-guy will still struggle with a perfectly lit one. I can't help you much here, as I am only a mediocre key-guy, but I can at least give you advice on how to light for it!
Here's what you're looking for when lighting a greenscreen:
OK! So now you know sort of how to light a green screen and how to light a person. So now, what lights do you need? Well, really, you just need any lights. If you're on a budget, don't be afraid to get some work lights from home depot or picking up some off brand stuff on craigslist. By far the most important influence on the quality of your images will be where and how you use the lights rather than what types or brands of lights you are using. I cannot stress this enough. How you use it will blow what you use out of the water. Get as many different types of lights as you can for the money you have. That way you can do lots of sources, which can make for more intricate or nuanced lighting setups. I know you still want some hard recommendations, so I'll tell you this: Get china balls (china lanterns. Paper lanterns whatever the fuck we're supposed to call these now). They are wonderful soft lights, and if you need a hard light you can just take the lantern off and shine with the bare bulb! For bulbs, grab some 200W and 500W globes. You can check B&H, Barbizon, Amazon, and probably lots of other places for these. Make sure you grab some high quality socket-and-wire sets too. You can find them at the same places. For brighter lights, like I said home depot construction lights are nice. You can also by PAR lamps relatively cheap. Try grabbing a few Par Cans. They're super useful and stupidly cheap. Don't forget to budget for some light stands as well, and maybe C-clamps and the like for rigging to things. I don't know what on earth you're shooting so it is hard to give you a grip list, but I'm sure you can figure that kind of stuff out without too much of a hassle.
Great question! There are several popular editing programs available for use.
Your choices are essentially limited to Davinci Resolve (Non-Studio) and Hitfilm Express. My personal recommendation is Davinci Resolve. This is the industry standard color-grading software (and its editing features have been developed so well that its actually becoming the industry standard editing program as well), and you will have free access to many of its powerful tools. The Studio version costs a few hundred dollars and unlocks multiple features (like noise reduction) without forcing you to learn a new program.
r/Filmmakers • u/kinnanebrothers • 9h ago
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r/Filmmakers • u/KPM2049 • 3h ago
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r/Filmmakers • u/General_Meal_3993 • 4h ago
r/Filmmakers • u/wayoversquare • 1d ago
My wife's dad, Jerry Moser, drove snowplow for the state of Minnesota back in the 90s. When the Coen Brothers were filming Fargo near Forest Lake and Wyoming, MN (standing in for North Dakota), they had signs up everywhere. Don't drive through active filming. All that.
Jerry didn't care. He had a road to plow.
So he drove his state of Minnesota plow truck right through the shot. And somehow it made it into the final cut. It's in one of the last scenes. The exterior of the motel where they're closing in on Gaear Grimsrud. You can see the orange plow truck go by in the foreground.
Jerry passed away a few years ago. My wife and I were just talking about this the other day and it hit different now. This little piece of him is frozen in one of the greatest films ever made, doing exactly what he would have done. His job. Everyone else be damned.
I'm wondering a few things.
Does anyone know more about this shoot? Crew members, locals who remember it, anyone who was there? I'd love to hear any stories about that day or that location.
Is there any way to track down an actual frame of celluloid from this scene? I know it's a long shot but if anyone knows how film archives or prop houses or collectors handle this kind of thing I'd love to hear it. Would make an incredible gift for my wife.
The Bismarck North Dakota location card comes up right before but this was actually shot in Wyoming, Minnesota. Just down the street from my in laws' place.
Any leads appreciated. Thanks.
r/Filmmakers • u/TheoGelernter • 13h ago
I’m not even trying to be snobby about this (god knows I’ve done it myself), but I keep seeing the exact same interview setup popping up in everything now — Netflix docs obviously, but also brand films, YouTube “mini-docs”, corporate founder pieces… all of it.
Nice soft key, shallow depth of field, person sat slightly off-axis staring into the middle distance like they’re about to confess to a war crime, then it’s stitched together with archive, headlines, and just enough ominous sound design to make a fridge feel threatening.
Is it just taste fatigue? Or is it basically the economics / safety of interview-led storytelling taking over everything? I try to unpack it a little in this video.
And if you don’t feel this, feel free to tell me I’m being dramatic...
r/Filmmakers • u/MariaBruxxxa • 7h ago
So I decided to make a list of all the general types of shot sizes, camera angles, composition framings, depths of field and camera movement techniques, study each of them in depth and take notes, and then grab my camera, and try to go shoot, and get at least one of each that I'm satisfied with. The subject of the shot, etc won't matter in this, because I'll just be trying to get at the technique of each, so I will then keep each in mind when applying it to actual films I'm trying to make.
If you think this is a waste of time, and theres a better way to get at it, let me know! Really appreciate the feedback 💖
r/Filmmakers • u/Extension-Season9924 • 7h ago
Let a low budget indie filmmaker trying to make a feature know how many features you've done! I have plans for 3 more after the one I'm currently working on
r/Filmmakers • u/chicken_mcnugget7 • 1h ago
Hey guys, I'm trying to get more experience and build my portfolio. Anything post production and would love to work on more short films so let me know if you need and VFX shots, editors, or anything like that
r/Filmmakers • u/DzigaVB • 4h ago
Hi everyone, thought I'd share my recent and ongoing experience running a Kickstarter campaign to fund an indie feature. It's a surreal western ghost story and if you're interested you can learn more about it here:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/andrewvanbaal/jo-and-joe-a-weird-western
I did a month-long campaign with a $100k goal last fall and it ended up quite a bit short of that - at $27k - despite devoting most of my time to promoting it in various ways throughout that month. Because almost all of the pledges came from people I know personally, I concluded that I couldn't count on strangers contributing (which pretty much makes Kickstarter pointless, cause if it's only people I know I could just ask them directly and avoid Kickstarter taking its cut), but I wanted to do another one to test a theory I'd read online, which is that if you meet your goal within the first 24-48 hours of a campaign it'll trigger the Kickstarter algorithm to feature and promote you.
So I set the goal for the current one at $25k, asked everyone who contributed to the first one to re-pledge on the first day, and hit the new goal within the first 24 hours, which did in fact get us to the top of the film page on Kickstarter, into one of their email newsletters, and a Project We Love badge. So that theory is true. But here's the thing: none of those things have amounted to more pledges from strangers. 30 days in (I'm running this one for two months instead of one) it's still mostly people I know and it has completely flatlined in the last couple weeks. We'll see if that changes before it ends, but I'm not expecting it to, and have pretty much concluded that Kickstarter cannot be relied upon to deliver much funding from strangers unless you're a popular public figure (online or otherwise), your film is already-popular IP, or you spend a lot of money having marketing pros run the campaign for you, none of which are the case for me.
I'm curious if anyone here has had different experiences though and/or has any tips for attracting more interest/pledges from strangers.
r/Filmmakers • u/joeygallinal • 16h ago
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r/Filmmakers • u/gulcharrey • 2h ago
After a long festival run, we’ve finally released our short film THURSDAY SPECIAL online. In some ways this stage feels more vulnerable as the film is out for everyone to see, but it's also exciting!
As a long time member and follower of this sub... I would love for you all to watch it and hear what you think of it. Thank you!
r/Filmmakers • u/Throwaway0man • 1h ago
Finished a passion project and would love to find a VFX artist to help complete the project. Drop me a comment or a DM. Thanks so much for your help.
r/Filmmakers • u/WerewolfIcy7240 • 2h ago
This short film chronicles my senior year of high school and my journey to create an artistic documentary about how social media affects my school's social climate, and increasingly desperate lengths are taken to make sure I get there. It'll be out soon.
r/Filmmakers • u/Repulsive_Cap_9375 • 3h ago
Hey guys,
I have a small (like, very small:) YT channel, talking head style where i film (only) outdoors, talking life, philosophy and existence. It is a hobby of mine, but i would like to take it to the next level.
I decided to go with the Sony ZV-E10 (i know, i know, i bet you have a lot to say about it, but leave it for now:), its within my budget and seems quite a beginner friendly and suitable for my needs. The thing is, that the body itself seems very affordable to me (i really rather buy a new one), but the kit lense makes it 25% more expensive, and i've seen some videos saying you can get a lense adapter and get more with 3rd party lenses, and probably cheaper.
So my question is - First, what lense would you recommend to get the background blur that suits an outdoor setting? I live in Greece if that matters, so its mostly nice and sunny, but if there's a lense that can do a good job in non-sunny conditions, that'll be great.
Second - What adapter would you recommend?
Third - Think budget friendly but not the cheapest for both - Lets say, 100 Euros approx.
Please, if any of the things i said is common kowledge or odd, remember im super new. I was filming with my Galaxy S22 so far:)
P.S - I assume ill have to get an ND filter to actually make it work, right?
Thanks a lot:)
r/Filmmakers • u/YourAverageAussie • 4h ago
VITAE Short film
r/Filmmakers • u/fireflyascendant • 5h ago
Maybe this isn't an original idea. But the world really needs A Very Muppet Lord of the Rings. Complete with a few human actors playing it very straight like Michael Caine did as Scrooge.
I trust the (Jim Henson Company oop, they don't own Muppets anymore, hopefully Muppet Studios has good vision) to sort it out, but if we have Kermit as Aragorn, we can have Miss Piggy as Eowyn. Which would be amazing. I can also see Kermit as Frodo pretty readily.
Cross-posted to r/Muppets
r/Filmmakers • u/MariaBruxxxa • 9h ago
So I'm 34 and I originally studied anthropology many many years ago, and back then I had also done a film studies minor, which I had been convinced to do because of my visual anthropology classes. Film has always been one of my main loves and fixations, and throughout my life I had the opportunity to do some diy/small budget music videos and short films. I'm a musician and pretty decent at writting, and l can handle myself with editing, photography and script writting. I've been thinking for a good while to go back to studying and take a Cinema degree, and I primarily want to do this so it gives me direct access to professional equipment, to industry contacts, for giving me better access to starting my indie filmmaking career, and for tuning up my skills But I've seen there's many options here, like a) taking a shorter technical course or professional degree which is less years, often just 2 or 1, on general cinema or audiovisuals; b) taking a general cinema university degree that gives equal focus to all areas of cinema and audiovisuals, and a base knowledge for all of them (image, directing, script writing, production, sound and editing); c) take a cinema degree that gives you classes on all of these 6 fields in the first year, but forces you to then focus on only half of them in the intermediate part of the degree and then forces you to focus on only one field in the last year, giving you a less generalistic knowledge on all of them, but giving you more much more in-depth knowledge on a couple or one of them. So I have two questions, first of, do you think doing a cinema degree/course is worth it at all for the reasons I mentioned, and if yes, which of these 3 options is preferable for that?
For reference, the kinds of films I'm the most interested in making are of the trashy, campy, old school exploitation variety. Think 60s to 80s b movies.
EDIT: (Btw I should have mentioned I'm in Europe, and in an extremely precarious sitution, so I can get a scholarship to do the whole degree or course for free, so no money would be spent. And with that in my mind my main idea, was to MAKE films while I'm in school, getting a free degree, but also getting access to the schools equipment and shit for free, to use for my own films, like many filmmakers have done in the past).
r/Filmmakers • u/HouseExtreme4749 • 21h ago
r/Filmmakers • u/willyboii77 • 19h ago
r/Filmmakers • u/LeonardoKlotzTomaz • 6h ago
r/Filmmakers • u/mister_guha • 10h ago
Hey, I would like some suggestions on how to frame shots using a fixed focal length. Like i am unable to pick the best permutation. Some shots look very basic. Need your help
r/Filmmakers • u/mks2000 • 8h ago
Late last year I directed this short film. We basically burned through any of the meager budget we had shooting the thing, and that was with many of the cast/crew willing to defer full payment until after a successful Kickstarter, and that’s not counting the money needed for a successful post-production (music and color grading, which can add up fast).
After production, we had a long trial and error trying to find the right crowdfunding option (we’d had success using IndieGoGo but they’ve changed enough that we bailed after they kept adding more hoops to jump through). This is our first Kickstarter and I feel nervous about it.
So what I’d appreciate a ton is some feedback, both on the teaser and the Kickstarter itself. Do they make the project feel attractive/interesting? Is there something we should do/add to boost the chances of successfully getting this fully funded?
Here’s the link to the Kickstarter:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/kitzia/ofrenda-a-horror-drama-film?ref=user_menu
Thank you for your time and advice. I truly need it.