Delusions Of Success In The Film Industry
The following is a guest article from Theo Lee.
Are you a student trying to get into the film industry? Or perhaps you’ve decided to skip the formal route and are trying to make it big with an impressive debut short or feature. My question is this: Are you delusional in your expectations of success?
The film and entertainment industry is about connections. If you try, you can scour the endless supply of student films, Sundance or other contest entries, hobby films, geared-for-YouTube videos, and small major productions and you will be able to find a movie about any theme you can imagine. If you think that you will be the next breakout director because you are more profound than your peers and more profound than big budget Hollywood flicks, then you are delusional. In that endless pile of amateur films and scripts floating on the web (just search “free scripts” in your favorite search engine), there are many that are equally or more profound, deep, moving, and real than your movie. However, through your eyes it may seem that those subtle tricks you put into your creative product somehow make your script all the more majestic.
A film industry aspirer should never forget that film is a business. A machine. With the cogs and all. Imagine you are a producer. You have the money and you have the choice to choose film A: a beautiful documentary about failed American dreams, or B: a sci-fi drama that explores the moral themes that come with our advent into technologically elongated lives. Is there really a choice that can be deduced to be “better”? It may seem that the choice would come down to some sort of arbitrary reasoning (perhaps marketability). It seems so, because it is so.
If you are happy making a film that is wonderful in your eyes and in the eyes of your friends whom will pat you on the back and say good job, then THAT is the reason to make your film. Don’t make the mistake of being unable to discern your fantasies from reality.
With the advent of cheaper and higher quality digital camera equipment and technologies such as YouTube and other online streaming video sites/services, the competition to succeed has become that much more difficult. Of course, this is said about any industry. I’d just like to take the time to say it especially directed at entertainment industry apirerers, because we often tend be slightly more egocentric and for some reason believe, many times unrealistically, that fame is just another scene away.
The process of making a movie is fun. While making a film you are writing down your ideas in story form. Communicating the thematic questions that have been on your mind. Trying to rise up to the challenge of creating something that is pleasing to the eye and enjoyable. The technical challenges? Trying to make everything (all the extras, equipment, locations) work together in a fit of panic/frustration? Exhilarating. That road trip to nowhere with your friends that you planned? Try making a short movie in that time instead. It is just as, if not more, fun. Or just bring a camera with you on that road trip and try to plan something that will turn out coherent in post. It is for these reasons that we amateur filmmakers should make movies.
For some people, it turns out, that they love it so much that they want to make it a career. That’s going to be an exciting and interesting career, for sure. Just hopefully, you are not delusional in your chances for success, and are being realistic. Ambition is great. It’s just that a realistic mindset will help you more to reach that ambition, by allowing one to make judicious decisions.
Theo Lee is a film and wannabe physics major at UC Irvine. He likes to write film scripts and is constantly trying to find an excuse to take on a new film project. He’s made a number of small films already, most of which, he admits, have drowned in the pool that is YouTube.”
148 Films In The Last 365 Days: Movie Viewing List 2008
I watch an incredible number of films each year. I watch one almost every other day.
Because I watch so many films, I thought it would be fun to share with you a list of the 148 films I watched this year. Some of the films were great, others were a bit disappointing, and way too many were just plain stupid. As I look back on this list, I can’t believe all the crap I’ve subjected myself to this year. The list includes a number of superhero movies and sequels to superhero movies; poorly done comedies; and horror movies that didn’t even scare me in the least. That being said, there were some good films this year and in a subsequent post I’ll share my favorites with you.
For those who want to know how I watched so many films and how I can remember all the films I’ve seen this year, here is how I did it.
I subscribe to Blockbuster’s Total Access subscription plan. With this plan, I have three DVD’s being sent to me in the mail on a perpetual basis. I drop a DVD in the mail and two days later I get a new one delivered to me through the mail. And when, on occasion, I quickly run through all the films in my inventory, I can just ride down to my local Blockbuster video store and get some more (something you can’t do when you subscribe to Netflixbecause they have no local stores to do exchanges with). I was able to keep track of all the films I watched this year because the Blockbuster website keeps track of my viewing history for me!
Here is the list of films I saw this year in reverse chronological order:
Akeelah and the Bee
The Opposite of Sex
Shutter
Bella
The Strangers
The Incredible Hulk
Run, Fat Boy, Run
Kabluey
Smart People
The Bank Job
Speed Racer
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
88 Minutes
Iron Man
The Happening
You Don’t Mess With the Zohan
Fight Club
I’m Not There
What Happens in Vegas
Forgetting Sarah Marshall
Baby Mama
The Forbidden Kingdom
Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay
Where in the World Is Osama bin Laden?
The Fall
Casanova
The Spiderwick Chronicles
Under the Same Moon
The Ruins
How to Rob a Bank
Watching the Detectives
Be Kind Rewind
Chapter 27
Spider-Man 3
Nim’s Island
Love and Other Disasters
The Hammer
21
The Eye
Meet the Spartans
Semi-Pro
P.S. I Love You
Amazing Grace
Paranoid Park
The Onion Movie
The Ultimate Gift
Fool’s Gold
My Blueberry Nights
Vantage Point
Get Smart’s Bruce and Lloyd Out of Control
Go Further
Superhero Movie
Walk All Over Me
Stop-Loss
Drillbit Taylor
Delirious
Cassandra’s Dream
The Last Winter
Strange Wilderness
Mad Money
The Bucket List
Teeth
The Other Boleyn Girl
The Great Debaters
Over Her Dead Body
Gia
Disturbia
For the Bible Tells Me So
King of California
Jimmy Carter Man From Plains
The 11th Hour
Slipstream
Blue State
I Want Someone to Eat Cheese With
Hitman
There Will Be Blood
27 Dresses
In Bruges
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Transformers
Mr. Brooks
Cloverfield
Charlie Wilson’s War
Lars And The Real Girl
Unstable Fables: 3 Pigs and a Baby
2012: Doomsday
Alvin and the Chipmunks
Lions for Lambs
Juno
No Reservations
2 Days in Paris
August Rush
Stephen King’s The Mist
The Sasquatch Gang
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Goya’s Ghosts
Awake
Becoming Jane
I Am Legend
Nancy Drew
Enchanted
Dan in Real Life
Rocket Science
Atonement
Bee Movie
No Country for Old Men
Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium
Into The Wild
American Gangster
Martian Child
Gone Baby Gone
Land of Plenty
Michael Clayton
The Mystery of Picasso
One Last Thing…
Across the Universe
Hot Rod
The Interview
American Experience: Return With Honor
Paragraph 175
Good Luck Chuck
Eastern Promises
The Graduate
The Ground Truth
The Godfather Part II
3:10 to Yuma
The Godfather
Apocalypse Now
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End
Superbad
Waitress
Live Free or Die Hard
Rescue Dawn
Taxi Driver
The Deer Hunter
Funny Girl
Hello, Dolly!
Meet the Robinsons
I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry
The Astronaut Farmer
Hairspray
Easy Rider
Touch the Sound
The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill
Shine
License to Wed
A Mighty Heart
On a Clear Day
Stay tuned for my post on the best and worst films of 2008.
How High School Video Classes Can Help You Become A Better Filmmaker
High school video production classes are a great place to learn the basics of film and media production. If your high school has a video, film, or media production class… and you’re looking to pursue a career in film and television, then you need to be apart of these classes!
Over the past 10 years, more and more high schools have added video production classes to their list of available courses. With the introduction of personal video recorders and powerful home computers with video editing capabilities, it’s become easier and easier for young filmmakers to get access to basic filmmaking technologies.
The best part of high school video production classes is the opportunity to make mistakes. High school is an excellent time to experiment, explore, and find out what works (and what doesn’t).
Once you start working in the industry (and even once you start working on college films), there is a lot more pressure to make everything perfect. Once you get out of high school you won’t have the luxury of making so many mistakes. If you make a mistake in the film industry it can cost tens of thousands of dollars. Even worse, if you make a mistake that’s big enough, it could be the end of your career!
So, when is the best time to learn the basic techniques and explore the world of film and video?
You guessed it! – High school!
If you’re still in high school and you have a film or video production class at your disposal, don’t let that opportunity pass you by. Sign up for classes today… and start learning now – before it’s too late!
Using A Blog To Land Your Dream Job
Last week I posted an article about how traditional resumes no longer cut it in the job hunting world. Resumes, as I explained, no longer tell an employer what you are capable of, they only tell the employer what your limitations are.
But don’t fret! There is hope!
If you are looking for a way to not only land your dream job, but increase your pay and show what you’re really made of, then I have one big suggestion for you today that just might change your life entirely.
Create a Blog!
Yes! If you want to succeed in the film and television industry, a blog just might be your means of climbing to the top of this incredible, life-altering industry.
Instead of a piece of paper that explains in words what you have done in the past for your previous employers, a blog shows future employers exactly what you’ve done. On a blog, you can post photos, write articles, and even share videos you’ve created on previous gigs.
Now just imagine a potential employer who is looking to hire a new recruit. One person applying for the job turns in a boring paper resume, while the other turns in a cover letter explaining why he wants to work with the company and in that letter, he points to his website where the employer can find samples of his work, testimonials from previous employers and a whole host of images, articles and interviews the young filmmaker has done in the past.
Out of those two people, which one do you think stands the greatest chance of getting the job? The guy with the boring old resume? Or the guy with the interactive website, the long list of testimonials, and the video that knocks his future employer’s socks off?
You guessed it! The guy with the blog!
If you need help creating a blog for yourself that not only displays the work you’ve done in the past, but also lands you gig after gig in the future, please send an email to the people at Silver Mountain Marketing. Tell them you heard about their services through FilmandTVCareer.com and receive a 10% discount on any services they render. This is exactly the sort of thing they specialize in and they can help you to easily and inexpensively set up a blog to suit your needs.
What are you waiting for? Start your blog now! (And send me a letter once it’s helped you land your dream job!)
Metacafe Offers Free Filmmaker Training Videos & More!
Looking for a cheap and easy way to improve your filmmaking skills? Head over to Metacafe.com and click on the “Studio” tab at the top of the page. Here you will find all sorts of videos made just for you!
Metacafe had made special effort to compile a database of short “how to” videos and industry insider content just for filmmakers like you. The videos and articles have no doubt been created to improve the overall quality of the content published on the Metacafe site, but in the meantime, Metacafe has built up an impressive collection of videos for the up-and-coming filmmaker.
In Metacafe’s Production School area you can learn everything from the rule of thirds… to how to conduct a voice over… to how to color correct in post production.
In the Producer’s Forum you will find some great little interviews with working industry professionals and a community of people who can help you with your filmmaking endeavors.
You can even find some great filmmaker channels, like the one who’s tagline is “Smart Films For Smart People” – Filmcatcher.com. (Click here to view their channel)
Metacafe even has its very own online film festival (called Metafest) where viewers can vote and select their favorite video uploads.
Best of all, if you decide to upload your video to the Metacafe website, you can even make money from your work! The more times your video is watched, the more money you make!
If you’re looking for a quick and easy way to improve your craft, make sure you head over to Metacafe’s studio page today!
Check out the Metacafe video below to learn how to make your very own camera jib for less than $80.
Weekend Extra: DIY Jib Arm (Camera Crane)
