All by Myself (place sad emoji here), Post #3

Filming alone has many perks, however, I personally believe it has more negative factors. As I have been addicted to attempting to create my own “short films.” I know the struggles of trying to create projects all by myself. A majority of today’s independent creators are all on YouTube. Although, I don’t think that is a bad thing, I think there might be an issue that might arise from the creators of that medium. If they don’t start collaborating I think they will most likely not succeed at all.

Now before I get into my own theory of YouTube I think it will work best for your interest if I tell my experiences first. The struggle is real when you’re by yourself. You are the director, writer, talent. You have to storyboard, script, organize everything on your own, set up the mics, lighting, and props… The list goes on. As I attempted to make my own videos, I do feel limited in my resources, especially with being on such a tight budget. From my friends to family members, they were the ones who had to be my talent. When they couldn’t be in the video, I had to step in. With being alone and on YouTube you’re limited from growing your abilities, trying new things, and getting feedback. Although, you can be your own boss, be more independent, and maybe you can potentially learn better being self-taught, but when you hit a roadblock it could be difficult to go around.

Collaborating can give you endless abilities. As I explore college and film more in depth, it gives me the opportunity to get to know others with similar interests. Soon I’ll be able to create better quality films, have more developed storylines, and fewer flaws. Sure you have to direct everyone onto one theme and you may have to persuade others why your opinion matters more, but working together and creating people skills is a great thing to have. Which I think if most YouTubers, which are potentially the future filmmakers if done right, collaborating right away and learning how to express themselves, as well as, learning how to receive and use constructive criticism, then they can do great things.

               

If you’ve ever seen the show “The Chair,” it takes a YouTube filmmaker/ star and your average film student who went to college and puts them through a test of who could create a more successful full-length movie, on a short budget. Within the season-long show of this documentary, it was hard for the YouTuber to let go some of his old responsibilities, as someone else wrote the script or someone else took control of wardrobe, lighting, storyboarding, and what not. He was so use to doing it all on his own, that he had to put a lot of trust in his new crew, which really put him to the test.

Although, I’m far from becoming a great filmmaker I do believe that I’m on the right path. From learning the basics on my own and YouTube, to going to school and learning how to collaborate and learning more elaborate techniques, I think one day I could make a decent living as a filmmaker. 

Your World is as Big as You Make it, Post #2.

I’m not going to lie. I feel pretty cool when I carry this thing. It’s a whole lot bigger than your phone, it does a lot better than your phone, and it’s just awesome to play with… A DSLR camera is the best camera to have, from just starting out to becoming a pro photographer or short filmmaker. I personally learned how great these cameras were when I joined my high school’s yearbook class.

Never in my life did I notice how much work really went behind operating one of these cameras. In class, I learned different photo compositions, techniques, how to use Photoshop, field of focus, and other technical camera stuff… Although this was only my yearbook class, taking photos in a school is really hard. If you don’t learn different ways to make a photo interesting, then all of your photos within a 164+ page book would look pretty boring and similar. Especially if all of the photos were of a student with the school’s brick walls in the background or of the identical looking classrooms. Trust me, once you saw one boring classroom photo, you’ve seen them all…

With photography and film, you need to keep your observer pleased. People will pay attention to your story if you have a great picture that builds interest or has character, the same goes for any moving visual projected onto a screen. No matter what you're using a camera for, photo compositions should be taught to you. Even if you just enjoy taking snapchats. Don’t keep taking selfies that your friends will skip over, make them interesting so they will want to keep looking at your story or Instagram feed… Some good composition I enjoy are; 

The rule of thirds: Most cameras have a grid-like screen that will pop up. By learning how to position the subject properly within the four main interceptions of the grid lines, the picture will become very pleasing to the eye.

Repetition: wherever you are, usually there will be some sort of pattern or reoccurring object placed accordingly. Especially with man-made objects like buildings, street lights, the placement of construction cones, beer nozzles at a bar, or the way tiles are laid on the ground (example to your right of repetition).

Those are the two main compositions that I enjoy using, the most but other important ones you should know include; worm's eye view, bird's eye view, action shots, leading lines, symmetry, and patterns, depths, framing, and cropping just to name a few… If it helps you can even join a photo club, most schools, and colleges (like Delta) have them… And hey, maybe you could get paid for your work as I did when taking photos for G’s pizzeria (Fun Fact: All photos but one maybe two from their current menu and online ordering menus were takin by myself)!

However, the main reason a filmmaker would like to have some photo composition knowledge, allows the creator to better tell their story with better and more interesting camera angles. As well as, to expand the world they live in. As most independent filmmakers are limited in which locations they can and cannot film at or in. Sometimes the best photographers can take a picture at the same place you could take one and it would look absolutely different.

You don’t want to have an hour and a half long movie of the same single shot or of the same location. With limited locations and resources, you have to create a big world on a little budget. Don’t show your audience that same classroom, or that same brick wall. Yearbook or film will get boring right away. Try going to your local park and making it look like a never ending forest, make that pond turn into a lake, make that corner store into a little delightful coffee shop. With an open mind, you can have endless possibilities of different scenes and locations. Let your mind go wild!

(Here are two random pictures of shots I took on a spontaneous photography walk around the city of Saginaw. One picture could be a scene of a possible bar fight in a dark alley. The other photo was taken at the Saginaw Children’s Zoo. Most people would probably never recognize this location as it was taken from a faraway distance behind the building, but this could be an awesome establishing shot for an old warehouse on a lake or swamp). 

Film and I, Post #1.

A click, followed by a beep, and an overwhelming flash. That was one of one hundred and twenty-five photos for one video I made back in 2009, during my summer break for seventh grade. As my cousin and I were taking photos, off my old silver flip cell phone, we were fascinated in how realistic the Legos looked when we took our time to reset the plastic figure, take a photo, and repeat the process a couple hundred times.

 

This self-discovery of stop motion led me to an endless desire to make words on paper turn into something "real.” All your wildest dreams and inner thoughts are given a chance to be expressed through this visual creation. This expressive outlet along with YouTube gave me the knowledge, inspiration, and competitive drive to empower myself, to produce better and better videos.

Within the past couple of years, I’ve created stop motions, vlogs, short films, challenge videos, and fake infomercials. The channels I’ve created have all been branded, tagged, edited, scripted, and so on. Although the channels are all fairly small, they give me enough to work with in order to receive feedback and practice.

In the end, I hope that all this practice will pay off as I’m sure it will. In high school, I fell in love with learning everything from Pre to Post- production, film genres, and the evolution of motion pictures. So I know that the topic will keep my attention. Currently, I’m going to school for digital film at my local community college.  As I continue to go further in my studies I plan to transfer to MSU and or to combine my degree with advertising.

Although this isn’t a traditional route for many people in my family to go down, they are all very supportive and interested in what I'm doing. Around Christmas time I show my annual holiday video that I have created for that specific day. We all gather around the TV, pull up the video, and let the laughter fill the room. My expertise is comedy when it comes to film, so in this case laughter is a good thing. In all honesty, that little gathering once a year is one of the main inspirations that fuels my drive to continue doing what I do.

Film to me is more than just a hobby, but a passion. Film isn’t just about getting subscribers, likes, or views, it’s what gives me an outlet to be creative and myself. I love collaborating with others especially with my friends who have helped me, to the best of their abilities, with little to no experience with the subject. I truly believe too, that along with film comes great power. Power to tell a story, power to influence others, and power to make people think. Personally, if you’re going to make a film yourself I think there should be some sort of message or reason behind it for the viewers.

I will be expressing my own personal opinions, experience, thoughts, ideas, advice, and so on about film here. Feel more than welcome to follow me on my journey, as I attempt to make film more than just a hobby, but my life.

...If you have an interest in film, collaborations, or if you, yourself would like to share your own thoughts on the subject, then this is the Blog for you. Contact me for any suggestions, comments, or collaboration opportunities at filmfriendsinthetricities@gmail.com.