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.”

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.

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!

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 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)

The truth is, you become like the people you associate with. If all your friends smoke, you probably smoke too. If all your friends are fat, you’re probably fat also. If your friends are into cars, you’re probably interested in cars as well. And if your friends are filmmakers who like to push the boundaries and try new things… you’ll begin to act that way as well!

The people you associate with determine who you are, how you act, and how successful you will ultimately become.

Don’t believe me? Just take a look at the people you spend most of your time with. I bet that if you look hard enough you’ll begin to see a lot of parallels between those people and yourself.

As filmmakers, we need to be selective when picking who we hang out with – both at work and off the job.

While your friends and family probably make the most direct impact on your life, your co-workers and bosses also serve to determine your ultimate happiness and success in life.

When looking for work in the film and television, you not only need to look for a job that matches your skill sets and pushes you to become a better filmmaker, but you need to find people to work with who are in alignment with your morals, your attitude, and your vision for the future. 

Just because you found a great job doesn’t guarantee you’ll be happy. Happiness comes from working with and being around the right people!

What’s more important than your job title is the people you are working with. If you pick the right people, you’ll be happier than you could ever believe. But choose to work with the wrong people and you’ll forever regret your decision to work in the entertainment industry.

For more reading, check out Seth Godin’s “Be Careful Who You Work For”

I found out at an early age that I had a passion for film and video. It wasn’t difficult for me to decide that I wanted to pursue a career in the film and television industry. I went to film school, graduated with honors, went to work on numerous movies, films, and documentaries… and accomplished almost every goal I set for myself.

After years of studying goal setting and working to achieve my own personal and professional goals, I began to realize that not only did I have a passion for filmmaking, but more than that, I had a passion for helping other people make their dreams come true. I realized that what I wanted to do, more than just work on movies, was to help other people accomplish their most heartfelt life goals.

With this in mind, I started a career coaching company called Farview Point. The company has now been completely restructured and no longer offers personal career coaching, but has morphed into something completely different. However, the aim for Farview Point from the beginning was to work with individual filmmakers from around the world to help them set goals, recognize what is needed to accomplish those goals, and then work with these individuals to help them accomplish the tasks that they have set out to achieve.

This website is now the collection place of Farview Point’s early filmmaker lessons. What you will find here has been designed to assist the future filmmakers of the world by helping them to improve both themselves, their craft, and the planet as a whole by way of their work in this most exciting and influencial medium.

In 2006, I published a book titled, “Film School & Beyond.” In that text, I set about asking a list of questions pertaining to film school and the film industry as a whole to approximately three hundred past and current film students from across the country. Over the next few weeks, I will be sharing with you both the questions asked in this book and their answers.

Some of these people I interviewed for this book attended major universities such as USC and NYU, while others attended smaller film schools you may have never even heard of. Some of these individuals completed their schooling and immediately went to work in the industry, while others failed to find work after graduation. Some of these people express a pure joy in having chosen film as their career, yet others resent the fact that their decision to go into the film industry has “wasted” so much of their time and money. Some of these people went to film school part-time; others began, but never completed their film education; and a few individuals never went to film school at all, but are now successfully working in the entertainment industry.

By asking these probing questions to a mixed group of individuals from across the country I have provided the stepping-stones on which you will be able to stand as you navigate the sometimes rought and turbulent water that is the film industry.

Whether you are a high school student looking to go off to film school, a current film student, or someone who is about to make their break into the industry, this website and the stories, ideas, and tips for success shared here will provide you with the direction you need for your journey.

Navigating these waters may be scary at times, but working in this industry can be an incredibly rewarding and life-altering experience. Success is possible! You just have to know which steps to take.

So when Jesse’s high school grades started to drop and his enthusiasm for school was at a complete and utter standstill, Gilmour asked his son a question that would forever change both of their futures. “Jesse,” he said. “Put down your pen. Stop for a second please.”

“What?” Jesse responded.

Gilmour continued, “I want you to do me a favor. I want you to think about whether or not you want to go to school.”

Like many people, Gilmour too had hated his time in high school. I personally feel the same way. Looking back now, I don’t know how I survived it. But Gilmour was brave enough to give his son the option of dropping out of school, living at home for free, and not forcing him to get a job – as long as he agreed to watch three movies a week with his father. Jesse agreed and dropped out of school shortly thereafter.

Now dropping out of school isn’t for everyone, but for some people I do believe it is a good option. In Jesse’s case, I couldn’t say (You’ll have to read the book). But as The Film Club’s story progresses, Gilmour and his son watch a plethora of films. They don’t watch the latest Hollywood trash, but instead, most of their time is spent on the classics and rarely seen goodies of the past.

As time goes on, the book becomes less and less about film and more and more about girls, drugs and the life of a father who is working to do the best he can for himself and his family.

The book chronicles Jesse’s ongoing girl problems and his encounters with alcohol, drugs, and emotionally abusive relationships.

Time slips by and Gilmour and his son grow close but at the same time are very much growing apart. Jesse is looking for freedom and independence, while Gilmour is simply savoring these ;ast precious moments with his son – a son who is quickly becoming a man.

In the end, The Film Club is not about a boy who drops out of school and watches movies all day. Instead, it is the story of a father, fighting to keep his son on a positive life path. Instead of speaking to his son through a raised voice and a hardened hand, Gilmour speaks to his son through the movies he chooses to watch each week. In each film is a lesson and it is placed there, in front of Jesse, for him to soak up, absorb, and take with him as he moves from one place in his life to the next.

To order a copy of David Gilmour’s The Film Club, please click here.

Vision Quest – 1983
Married to the Mob – 1988
And the Band Played On – 1993
What the Deaf Man Heard – 1997
Any Given Sunday – 1999
Weeds – 2007

Additional credits and background history of Matthew Modine can be found here.

In the video below, Matthew shares his thoughts on the digital age of filmmaking and tells you the one thing you must do if you want to become a successful and original filmmaker. Be sure to watch this video to the end, because it is the advice he gives in his closing words that is of most importance.

This interview is part of a series on BigThink, sponsored by Dell and Digital Nomads.

Just like my list of favorites, this list contains some films that were not actually released in 2008, but are simply on my list because I didn’t get around to watching them until this year. That being said, you should also know that the films listed here are not necessarily the worst films I saw this year (although one of them is), but instead, films that I was looking forward to and was severely disappointed by. So here’s the list (in no particular order):

Where In The World Is Osama Bin Ladin?

Morgan Spurlock was the creative mind behind the hit documentary Super Size Me and the “30 Days” TV series in which Morgan and other normal people try living the life of completely different individuals for 30 days straight. Morgan’s past successes had me really looking forward to his release of Where In The World Is Osama Bin Laden – a somewhat similar take on Michael Moore’s Roger And Mein which Spurlock travels the world asking people to get down to the heart of the war in the middle east and at the same time, trying to find terrorist #1 – Osama Bin Laden. Sadly, as much as I was looking forward to the film, I finished it having not remembered much of what happened. And when you finish a film and can’t remember what happened, you know it isn’t very good! Super Size Memade the viewer leave the theatre and never look at a McDonalds in the same way again. But this most recent work of Spurlock’s left no such affect.

The Fall

The Fallis a film directed by Tarsem Singh, the same man who directed Jennifer Lopez in The Cell, which released in the year 2000. Because of the huge success of The Cell, I was looking forward to The Fall and was severely bummed at its end result. I knew the film would be strange and maybe even difficult to comprehend, but in the end, the story was just plain boring. I was impressed by some of the special effects and cinematography, but the story (like many bad films) was lacking. I didn’t care about the characters and therefore, didn’t care about the film.

Across The Universe

This was the film I was probably looking forward to most of all. I imagined it as a cross between The Beatles classic rock songs and Baz Luhrmann’s Moulin Rouge! But sadly, Across The Universe was a huge disappointment. It had its moments, but overall, it was a gigantic letdown. Where Moulin Rouge! acts as an actual story propelled by song, Across The Universe seemed more like a two-hour music video that just seemed to go on and on and on. I kept waiting for it to end… and thankfully, it finally did. Whew! What a letdown!

The Golden Compass

Now here’s a film that I wasn’t necessarily looking forward to per say, but it is a film that is marketed in such a way that you half way expect the film to be pretty good. With Nicole Kidman playing a lead role, you’d think it’s gotta be half way decent. But like too many films lately, there are too many special effects and too little story. Once again, I didn’t care about the main characters and actually became a bit angry when the film just suddenly ended by eluding to a sequel (which I pray they do not create!).

Rocket Science

Rocket Science was a film that appeared, to me at least, to be a story meant to ride the waves of success that Napoleon Dynamite created in 2004. The story revolves around a stuttering young man who joins his school’s debate team. On a whole, the movie isn’t half bad. But when you compare the film with its rival Napoleon Dynamite, it doesn’t even come close.

Hairspray

As I discussed in my previous article on The Little Mermaid being moved to the stages of Broadway, there is a huge movement right now to take the best Broadway hits and transform them into Hollywood products. It’s a quick and easy model for making successful movies, but as I’ve stated before, “Some things are best left in their original formats.” In the case of Hairspray, there’s nothing technically wrong with the film. The story is strong (but predictable), the music is good (not great), and it is a film in which you actually care about the characters. However, I’m not impressed by most Broadway productions on a two dimensional screen. They just don’t have the same pizazzas they do when performed live right before your eyes. Sometimes it’s the stage on which the real “magic” happens.

Slipstream

Finally, Slipstream isn’t a film I was ever looking forward to. I’m throwing it in here simply because it is possibly the worst film I have EVER seen. In fact, I had never heard of it before I rented it. But a film directed by world-renowned actor, Anthony Hopkins, has got to be pretty good, right? WRONG! This movie SUCKED! And it sucked big time! I turned it off after about 10 minutes and have never been happier to return such a piece of shit to the rental store. Wow, do I want my ten minutes back. Imagine the worst film student movie you’ve ever seen and multiply that by 150. That’s Slipstream.

What films were you severely disappointed by this year? Or which ones do you think just plain sucked? I’d be curious to hear what you have to say.