5 Steps To Becoming A Successful Filmmaker
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5 Steps To Becoming A Successful Filmmaker: In this video, Will talks about 5 important steps to becoming a successful filmmaker, cinematographer, camera operator, or any video related creator. These are all practical tips to help you succeed faster! Hope you enjoy!
GENERATED CAPTIONS:
The first point is to simply film a lot every day as much as you can. There are a ton of things to learn in a video like your equipment, exposure, composition, lighting, camera angles, audio storytelling, and so on. So the more you practice, just like anything else, the better you will learn. To utilize lighting and composition to tell better stories or to make your videos more interesting the idea is to experiment and to just keep creating. Beyond that, never stop learning I've been shooting video professionally for over 10 years and video in general for over 15 years, yet I'm still learning new things all the time. Creating something for yourself each month is important to keep your creative juices flowing because as paid work comes in it's not always going to be work that you love. In fact, most of the time paid creative work is controlled by the client and they take out all of your creative input. As your business grows you'll filter out those types of clients naturally because the point of being hired is to be professionally creative and if they aren't giving you the space to do that you'll get burnt out over time. I'm getting a little off track here but the point is to create time for yourself each month where you're working on a project just for you and the more you practice filming the better you'll be throughout the rest of your career.
As someone who spent twenty thousand dollars going to film school, graduated, and then not once was asked about it or to see my diploma. Take it from me, you do not need to go to film school if you're into it go for it but it's definitely not needed. There's a vast ocean of knowledge available online as well as companies to intern with to gain the skills required to get involved in the industry. I think it's far better to plan ahead. Buy an entry-level camera and take what I said in my first step, which is to always go out film and practice.
The goal should be to film enough to put together a demo reel which is basically a highlight of all your best work. This is used to get you paid work unless you have a following that you can tap into to get video work. Your demo reel will be invaluable to your success to get paid work as a cinematographer, videographer, camera operator, or any other video-related position. Keep your demo reel updated every year. Each year you'll get a bit better you'll work on bigger projects and have higher-end looking footage so make sure you're including the updated footage in your demo reel. My first-year demo reel was absolutely terrible. It mostly consisted of free creative projects I filmed just for myself. But over time I got better and updated the reel to where it was landing me consistent work. I do believe that a demo reel is far more valuable than any diploma you can get when it comes to the film industry similar to your demo reel your social media accounts need to be presented in a way that represents you as a creative professional. So go back and delete all of your old party photos and start only posting content that relates to growing your freelance career or creative business.
Since you're watching this YouTube video, chances are you also have set up other social media accounts and learning to take advantage of these accounts to help market yourself. It can only help attract more business your way also if you're just starting out make sure you set up a modern-looking website that displays your demo reel as well as describes who you are what you do and the work you've done. Set up all your social media channels to reflect you as a professional and keep all of your marketing on brand and consistent. As you grow your career the connections you make will play a huge role in the success you achieve, so do not overlook staying connected with people. I can guarantee you that you know right now someone in your network that has a brother, sister, uncle, cousin, friend, or someone that can recommend you to people hiring. Sometimes all it takes is sending them a message and letting them know what services you provide and if they know of anyone that might need your services, to keep you in mind when the time comes when someone does refer you. This is where everything we talked about earlier comes into play like your website, social media accounts, demo reel, and of course your well-practiced skills.
That's something that was challenging for me as an introvert when Ii was first getting into the industry. I didn't realize at the time how important connections were but trust me, referrals are a big part of any business and those referrals come in from doing quality work for clients and by also staying fresh in the minds of people. You know so every couple of months make sure at the very least you're reaching out to the people in your network because these people will bring you a lot of success.
Over the last 10 years, I've spent a lot of money on gear and there are so many things I wish I couldn't buy. Honestly, there's this strange thought process that happens in the film industry, and even here on YouTube where people think their channel isn't going to grow or they won't get any future work if they don't keep buying all the latest gear. Of course, it's just not true. Before starting our production company, I worked freelance for several years shooting commercials, web corporate and event videos, and the amount of money I wasted buying tripods sliders Steadicams camera bodies lenses lighting, and so on was just ridiculous. Sure owning a cinema camera may attract some clients but honestly
Since starting our production company in 2014, we've only owned Panasonic gh4s and in the last couple of years GH5 cameras. I'm thankful we never bought a cinema camera because when those types of shoots come up that need a higher-end camera, we just rent. In most cases, a GH5 is more than enough. Yeah, it's not full-frame and it doesn't shoot raw but we've worked on several hundred video projects for hundreds of clients over the years and it's never been an issue. In fact, I'd argue that cheaper production costs are better suited for most clients. Only if you're working on higher production value projects with big brands, should you bring on a full team and include the best cameras, otherwise you're just wasting your clients' money and your profit. So don't spend all your money buying gear unless you're certain you'll make that money back, and then some as creative professionals money comes in waves. Some months there's a lot of money that comes in and some months there's literally nothing.
I don't know about you but in my first years in the film industry there was a month here or there where literally no money came in and it was tough. So if you can develop some financial responsibility and save the money you make on good months so that you're taken care of throughout the rest of the year, it'll help you so much in the long run, especially if you don't spend it all on gear.
Okay, there are five factors for you to think about to find success as a professional shooting video. That's it for this video. We have a ton of other videos you'll probably find helpful in the channel, including dozens of film-making tutorials. So subscribe to stay connected and hit the bell to be notified when we release each video thanks so much and we'll see you next time.
SUBSCRIBE ON YOUTUBE FOR MORE! (120+ FILMMAKING TUTORIALS):
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