Dont's, on your first try

[tolga009]

Ok guys, here's the story. A friend of mine who also wants to be a director tried his hand at directing last thursday and I took part as an actor. The script was written by someone else and it was very heavily dramatic and emotional, so much so that after spending 5 hours for one very short scene we found out that no one on the crew understood the script at all.

If you are going to try to direct something (by the way this was a short lenght movie) direct an easy and light hearted script.

One more thing, as I saw with my friend, to tell the truth that project was my first and last project with him, if you know nothing about what a director does, please don't even try. In my eyes he totally messed up, and was no good at it.

I will write more in the coming months as we start filming two short length projects.

[Tuukka]

Yeah, I definitely think that you should start with something very simple. Many people are too ambitious in the beginning and when their first film fails miserably after all the hard work, they feel disappointed and don't want to do films anymore. That's how it was with me, I was all too ambitius in the beginning. I had to to do six short films, before I came up with something decent. I'm working on my eight film right now.

So my advice to all beginners is this: Try not to be too ambitious in the beginning. Here are some other advices:

1. Write a very short screenplay for a five minute short film. Try to keep the dialogue in minimum. In fact, try not to use dialogue at all. Film is a visual medium and you should learn to tell your stories visually instead of talking heads. Also it's going to be a lot more difficullt for your actors if there is dialogue in your film.

2 Don't try to make pretty pictures. Don't bother to use lot's of time on lightning and special effects. Your first mission is to learn how to tell a story. How to shoot and edit a film so that it will move forward in an interesting, fluid manner. It always a good idea to shoot your first films outside in daylight, Then your film will look pretty good and you don't have to spend time on lightning, which is usually the most time consuming part in shooting a film.

3. Make your film fast paced. People are going to like a lot more of your fast paced 5-10 minute film than your deathfully boring 30-90 minute film. Don't waste your time in too long, ambitious projects. Learn your craft first, and THEN start making longer films. When you edit your short film, try to cut out everything that is not needed in order to tell your story. Most amateur films are all too slow. If other people will find your films fast and entertaining, you will get more excited by yourself and you will get more energy to do more films.

[tolga009]

I totally agree with tuukka on all his points. DO NOT BE OVERAMBITIOUS or you will screw up for sure. Try a small comedic scene, instead of a longer dramatic movie. Know the camera and what it can do. I try to mess around with my handicam to get to know cameras, and their limits, get a handicam and mess around with it and get to know all aspects before you try directing.

[Tuukka]

Once again I have to recommend the greatest book about filmmaking ever: "rebel without a crew" by Robert Rodriguez. It tells you everything about filmmaking you need to know.