Chapter 1

So You Want to Be a Filmmaker

IN THIS CHAPTER

Recognizing how independent films differ from studio pictures

The power of digital technology in the world of filmmaking

Getting an overview of the filmmaking process

Motion pictures are a powerful medium. With the right script under your arm and a staff of eager team players, you're about to begin an exciting ride. The single most important thing that goes into making a successful movie is the passion to tell a story. And the best way to tell your stories is with pictures. Moviemaking is visual storytelling in the form of shots that make up scenes and scenes that eventually make up a complete movie.

As a filmmaker, you have the power to affect people's emotions, make them see things differently, help them discover new ideas, inspire them, or just create an escape for them. In a darkened movie theater, you have an audience's undivided attention. They're yours - entertain them, move them, make them laugh, make them cry. You can't find a more powerful medium to express yourself.

Independents Day versus the Hollywood Way

There are three main types of full-length films made to be distributed (hopefully) for a paying audience:

• Studio films: A studio film is usually greenlit by the head of a major studio, has a healthy budget averaging $60 million and up (some go as high as $150 million or more), and has major star names intended to guarantee some kind of box office success (as if such a guarantee were possible). Nowadays many studio movies are based on franchises, brands, best-selling books, and sequels to successful properties. Examples include comic book superheroes (Superman, Batman, Spider-Man), popular TV shows (Mission Impossible, Star Trek), best-selling books (the Harry Potter franchise), high concept (unique ideas that have commercial appeal like Jurassic Park, or The Avengers) that end up becoming their own franchise, and/or big name stars (Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise, Hugh Jackman, Emma Stone, Jennifer Lawrence). If a major film studio puts up the money for a movie, the studio - not the filmmaker (unless you're Steven Spielberg) - ultimately ends up calling the shots.
• Independent films: A true independent film is often a low-budget movie (costing anywhere from $5,000 to $3 million) because the filmmaker has to raise money to make the movie on his or her own, independent of a studio for the financing. A true independent film has no studio influence. One major advantage is that the filmmaker doesn't have to report to anyone or to be limited creatively by a studio. Many films circulating the film-festival circuit are independent films, produced independently of the studios (with some exceptions at Sundance and Toronto International Film Festival). Kevin Smith started his career with his small independent film Clerks. Robert Rodriguez started his career with an original budget under $10,000 for his film El Mariachi. The Blair Witch Project is one of the most profitable independent films, grossing close to $250 million on a $60,000 budget.

• Independent studio films: A studio's independent division is really a smaller "boutique" division of the big company, with smaller budgets and possibly fewer black suits deciding how to make and distribute the films that come from these divisions. Some films are acquisitions and then distributed by the big studios. Get Out, A Quiet Place, and The Big Sick are perfect examples of independent films released by major studios - and all received the exposure that a big studio picture expects, including studio marketing dollars in the millions, when they were nominated during the major awards season.

  The term independent studio films is actually oxymoronic because a film produced by a studio is not truly independent. A film produced by a studio's "independent" division is a studio film in disguise.

You can find both advantages and disadvantages to making a studio picture or an independent film. On an independent production, your movie ends up on the screen the way you envisioned it, but you are restricted by your budget. A studio picture has larger financial backing and can afford to pay the astronomical salaries that actors demand as well as for seamless special effects and longer shooting schedules, but the movie ends up the way the studio envisions it - and in the most commercial way. The studio looks at commercial viability first and creativity second. Many independent filmmakers discover that, although having and making money is nice, being independent allows them to tell their story in the most creative way.

An independent film doesn't always have to be a low-budget or no-budget film, however. George Lucas will always be known as the ultimate independent filmmaker. He was independent of the studios and made his own decisions on his films without the politics or red tape of a studio looking over his shoulder. The original Star Wars may not seem like an independent film, but that's exactly what it is - even though you may have difficulty seeing yourself as one of Lucas's peers. Eventually, Disney bought out the Star Wars brand from Lucas for a few billion dollars, and now the franchise is definitely major studio fare.

Filmmaking: Celluloid Film Stock or Digital?

Today, you can shoot your movie in several different formats. You can choose digital - high definition (HD) using a digital camera or even your smartphone - or a traditional film camera using Super-8, 16mm, or 35mm motion-picture film stock. However, the majority of studio films are now shot on digital.

The medium on which you set your story - whether it be actual film celluloid or digital (high definition) media with a film-style look - engenders specific feelings and reactions from your audience. A movie shot on actual film stock tends to have a nostalgic feeling, like you're watching something that has already happened. Something shot on digital elicits more the feeling that it's happening right now - unfolding before your eyes, like the evening news. You can use this knowledge to enhance the emotional response your audience has to your movie. As technology continues to develop, digital cameras are coming closer and closer to emulating the look of film. Arri, for example, has been very successful with this look with their Alexa digital camera. Currently there is a myriad of software applications that helps you play with the grain, colors, and other elements to better emulate the look of film in post-production.

Another style you can give your film is to finish it in black and white. Steven Spielberg delivered Schindler's List in black and white, as did Alfonso Cuarón for his film Roma, to help convey the film as a long-past event and to express the dreariness of the era. Black and white can be effective for a vampire or zombie movie as well. As an independent filmmaker, you would shoot your movie in color (just in case) and turn it black and white during post-production.

Why do we still call it filmmaking when hardly anyone uses film anymore? When we go to the movies, we often say, Want to go see that film? or they're filming a movie at the local mall. When we enter our movie masterpiece, we submit it to a film festival, not a digital festival.

The word film as a noun refers to a thin flimsy strip of celluloid with sprocket holes evenly lined on one side (to accommodate the projector registration pins). As a verb, the word film means to record or capture something through a lens - that is, to create moving images or motion pictures, whether it be through the use of a film camera, a digital camera, or even your convenient smartphone - Hey, I'm filming you! So when I use the word film throughout the book, remember that it refers to the same thing whether you are shooting on digital or with actual film stock.

All digital: The new age of technology

The professional format of choice for most television shows, including TV movies and streaming films (Netflix, Amazon Prime, and so on) is shooting digital. It's less expensive and much more convenient than shooting with film, and it's perfect for the fast schedules of television productions and mini-series.

In this age of digital technology, anyone with a computer and digital camera (or smartphone) can make a movie. You can purchase a digital camera (like the Panasonic Lumix GH5 or the Black Magic Pocket Camera) that emulates the look of motion picture film without incurring the cost of expensive film stock and a pricey motion-picture camera. You can also purchase computer software such as Magic Bullet Frames (www.redgiantsoftware.com) that can take a harsh video image shot with an inexpensive home camera and give it the look of a motion-picture film camera.

Most digital cameras use SD (Secure Digital) flash memory cards to store your footage, which can be downloaded to your computer or a separate hard drive, and then the SD card can be erased and used over and over again.

If you can't afford a professional digital camera, you can shoot your movie on your smartphone. The quality is almost as good - or even fully as good - as many...