You may want to start out by producing your own film, if you are up to the task. It is a great burden to take on a project, especially when you are new to the business. If you can accomplish this, you will have a film you can show to display your commitment to a film making career. Once you decide to produce your own film, you will need the resources to make your movie.
A film grant is one way to get the funding for your film, but it can be difficult to get this type of grant. You will need to know how the process works when applying for a grant. There are different types of film grants, money, equipment, room and board, film, music, producing, screen writing, directing or a combination of any or all of the above.
Each grant giver has certain guidelines you must meet to qualify for their grant. Quite a few of them want you to produce a documentary of some type. Many of these grant projects have been given awards and are shown on television because they are so inspiring. The purpose of these grants is designed to help film makers who are unable to get other funding.
Others do not have the money to get into a good film school, but they have the talent. These grants create great film makers as well as wonderful films. Some grants allow film makers to get regular funding in the future, after they have shown what an excellent film maker they are. When a grant funder is considering a project to give to, they look for the passion the film maker has for the project. This is the most important point of consideration when reading a grant application.
The film maker will carry this passion and dedication throughout the film making process, no matter how long it takes to finish the film. The Guerilla Filmmaking Grant was designed to encourage creative, resourceful filmmaking for artists working outside of the "Hollywood industry". Twice a year they award $1000 to produce, shoot, and edit a feature length film.
The film maker has control over the look, feel and content of the film. A DVD release of the movie is included. The film maker keeps all rights to distribution. They also include Marketing Advice to help the film maker distribute and sell the movie. All film rights are retained by the film maker. Anyone in the world that is thinking of producing an English language feature film may apply for this grant. You need to go to http://www.mediadarlings.org/filmgrant/ to check out the entire grant process of this grantor.
You will find all of the information you need, and all of the guidelines you must go by to apply for this Guerilla Filmmaking Grant. If you have any questions you can contact them. There are many places an independent film maker can apply for. Just type filmmaking grants into your favorite search engine and you will see what I mean.
So many cameras, so little time
Without the camera there is no film, no movie to make. If you start making film on a regular basis you will learn to capture image with a number of different cameras. You will have your favorite but there will be many different ones that you have to hold. At a certain point using film became all but obsolete and digital took over. The introduction of the digital camera made capturing image infinitely easier.
Film cameras are good to work with in the beginning because they teach you how to use a lens. You learn about depth of field and how so push and pull focus plus a variety of other things that you will use when directing the camera. I like to think of using actual film as more organic. The image is a bit hazy and lacks that artificial crispness that a digital image can have.
However there is no denying that digital is immediately gratifying. In the beginning digital was no match for film, but the technicians tweaked it until they developed cameras that are amazing. Film has been relegated to high art and now we have no second thoughts about shooting in digital over film. The costs of processing are totally absent when you use digital to shoot.
Getting your film developed was so expensive that in many cases it was prohibitive, but now there are completely acceptable digital cameras in a variety of cost ranges. Find a digital video camera and a tripod to work with. You will need a tripod with fairly thick legs for sturdiness and a good fluid head for panning. Also before you buy your tripod, make sure that the camera releases from the tripod easily and quickly.
You will want a camera that has a good battery system for remote shooting. There are, any number of great digital cameras out there. You should be able to find a decent camera to shoot action between $500 and $800. If you can manage to scrape together $1,000 a good camera is the Samsung VP X220L camcorder with wired external lens.
This camera has a neat compact body and it is very durable. A testament to this fact is that this camera was used in the Jack Ass show. Do some product research, buy your camera and start shooting. Handle your camera so you know just how to pan and focus with the equipment you will be using.
Play it back and see how it handles different lighting levels and shutter speeds. Check out how it focuses automatically and practice a bit of manual focusing. I suggest that you start carrying a camera and building an image bank. An image bank will give you basic generic images that you will need to use as cutaways and various other functions in your film.
Learn to look at things through the lens. Direct and build different scenes in the frame and shoot them in still photography first. Before you start production of the actual film, practice shooting with your new camera. You can shoot your crew and the talent. Shoot anything that moves until you get it down.
Excerpted from the book Understanding the Basics of Film-Making by Wings Of Success.
This excerpt has been edited and condensed for clarity.
Download this book on Boostlane:
https://boostlane.com/p/boostlane/1066/understanding-the-basics-of-film-making/
