Day 1: Just Make A Film
Self-learning is like therapy: you'll have to do most of the work. At some point, you won't know what to do. And that's okay. You'll figure it out.
This curriculum is a guide. There will be some resources but the point of having this kind of a structured thing is to give you direction. This is where you start and by the end of it, you should have a pretty good idea of the thing you've set out to learn.
My cinematography professor gave me a lesson that I wish I learned at the beginning of film school. He said: "There's no one right answer for anything but there is more than one way to do something and that's how you should approach filmmaking."
The goal for you right now and until day 30 is to make stuff, make lots of it so you can make lots and lots of mistakes. And have fun. That's super important.
Don't worry about not knowing the technicals or having expensive gear for this. It doesn't matter. Don't sweat the small stuff. This is your Day 1.
Just make a film.
CUT TO:
YOUR FIRST FILM
Running time: 1-3 mins
This is the first exercise we were in given in our cinematography class.
Make a film without dialogue. Without actors.
Treat it more like poetry. Scenes. Visual things. Shoot things that make you feel something.
Put it all together.
RULES:.
- Use your phone. Even if you have a camera, use your phone camera.
- Use your phone to edit. You are allowed to put music in and use filters but that's it. Just shoot and edit it together in CapCut or iMovie or whatever app you can use that is free.
- Upload it somewhere or don't, entirely up to you. If you do choose to post it, let me know. I'd like to see it. But save it somewhere. You'll come back to it later.