If you are an aspiring filmmaker, never allow anyone to deceive you into believing it is impossible to learn filmmaking on your because there are great filmmakers out there who are self-taught and myself is one of them.
When I started filmmaking, I made several errors and with time I discovered that those errors were my stepping stone to becoming a successful filmmaker. I can vividly recall that my first storyline did not have any character development.
The story was about a man who married a promiscuous wife from another tribe or village, and throughout the whole story the woman was always causing one trouble after the other for the man until he finally caught her sleeping with her best friend and sent her packing.
As I advanced in the art of screenwriting, I later came to understand that I should have began the movie with the woman pretending to be submissive to the husband but sleeping around with other men outside.
And when the resolution came, the man would have been heartbroken to discover that the woman he spent his time and energy to love and care for was fooling around behind his back.
So from my experience, I can clearly state that you are going to make scores of errors if you want to learn filmmaking on your own. But if you are able to weather the storm and forge ahead, and above all else learn from your mistakes, you are going to catapult yourself into one of the greatest filmmaker the world has ever had.
In this article, however, I am going to reveal some of the steps you need to follow if you want to learn filmmaking on your own.
Can you learn filmmaking on your own?
The answer to this question is yes, you can learn filmmaking on your own long as you have the passion and zeal and are willing and ready to exercise patience and learn from the trials and errors you are going to face
Yes, you are definitely going to face several trials and errors while attempting to learn filmmaking on your own because you have no professional who is on the side to guide you on the right steps you need to take.
But then, before you start to learn filmmaking on your own, make sure you decide on the career path or profession you are going to choose in filmmaking.
How to learn filmmaking on your own.
Below are the steps you need to take if you want to learn filmmaking on your own:
- Choose a career part or profession in filmmaking.
- Watch as many movies as you can.
- Go online and study.
- Practice what you are learning.
- Find a successful filmmaker to imitate.
- Exercise patient.
1. Choose a career path or profession in filmmaking.
Filmmaking has various career paths and professions you can choose or pursue as a filmmaker, so before you start learning filmmaking on your own make sure you choose one of those paths to keep focus.
As a matter of fact, all the career paths or professions in filmmaking are very profitable, all you need to do is to master the art and make yourself very outstanding.
Some of the career paths or profession in filmmaking are:
- A cinematographer: This is the person who handles the camera and records all the visuals and sometimes sounds during the production stage of a film production.
- Director: The duty of a film director is to ensure all the casts and crew are able to interpret the scenes in a movie script and bring the respective characters to life.
- Gaffer: A gaffer is the lighting engineer who works hand in hand with the cinematographer to ensure that the interior and night scenes are clear enough for the audience to see what is going on in the movie scene.
- Production manager: The duty of the production manager is to ensure all the casts and crew and everything needed for the daily film production are in place before the camera rolls.
- Costumier and makeup artist: A costumier and makeup artist is the person who ensures that the character’s appearance depicts the lifestyle they are going to portray in the movie.
2. Watch as many movies as you can.
Another way to learn filmmaking on our own is to watch as many movies as you can and look out for the things that attracts you the most.
For example, if you want to become a cinematographer, you need to observe the camera movements as well as the various shots an angles that are used in every single scene of the movie.
3. Go online and study.
The online community has several platforms that can help you to learn filmmaking on your own.
For example, you can enter queries on Google search to discover the blogs that will help you read important articles on the career path you have chosen as a filmmaker.
You can also visit social media platforms like YouTube to watch tutorials that will enlighten you on the the things you need to do in your chosen profession as a filmmaker.
4. Practice what you are learning.
Practice makes perfect is what they usually say, and for that reason you must ensure that you put all you are learning about filmmaking into practice.
For example, if you have chosen to be a cinematographer and you have read blogs and watched tutorials on how to set a DSLR camera, make sure you physically get a DSLR camera and experiment on those settings to discover if the results the blogger is giving on his article or tutorial is exact.
5. Find a successful filmmaker to imitate.
Every successful filmmaker has a story behind the success they have been able to achieve in the film industry, and for that reason, you can dig them out and read their stories and try following their footsteps to also become a successful and rich filmmaker.
6. Exercise patient.
Don’t rush into the movie industry because you feel you are behind or ahead of your time as a filmmaker, rather exercise patience and gather much experience that will enable you to avoid certain errors and mistakes when you finally take on a job as a professional filmmaker.
