Filmmaking is a mysterious fascination, especially for beginners but this makes it the perfect platform for many errors to flourish.
The biggest misconceptions about film production
You must go to a film school or institution to become a filmmaker
No, that is not correct! Some of the best filmmakers have never attended a film school. What do successful filmmakers have in common? They all watch films and learn to familiarize themselves with the ‘grammar’ of film production.
Film school is a great place to meet other filmmakers and partner up. But there are many skills that film school doesn’t teach. Most of it is learned by doing just like how to download Youtube videos online.
Directors and cameramen
Well, the director is the director, so you can do whatever you want on a very large scale. But especially when working with the cameraman, it is important to explain the visual “language” that you want to communicate in the shot or scene, instead of restricting yourself to technical aspects such as the shot size, angle and lens.
Good camera = good film
In all fairness, a good camera has never captured a great picture. Because this always has the people who used the cameras. Factors like lighting and camera movement have a far greater influence on whether or not a picture is good. Rather than worrying about the latest and greatest in equipment, focus on cinematographic techniques.
Digital is cheaper than analog film
No, that is absolutely correct. Sure, when you start out and have no money at all, digital is usually cheaper. However, they filmed movies with a RED camera and found that if you had added the cost of the RED camera plus the costly and time-consuming repairs that you might have to do and the cost of the laptop and hard drives, you probably would have instead can use Super16mm and the film would be much nicer.
Movies don’t need social media
Up until a few years ago, cinema productions were mysterious events that harbored a lot of mysterious knowledge. Nowadays it’s a completely different thing: You have opened yourself to a world of conversations, fan contributions and inputs, allowing relationships on an equal footing that are mediated through digital means. Nowadays it is hard to imagine that a movie would start without the help of social media.
The biggest mistake is probably: making a film is easy. Not only can it take years to write a single film, but it can also take years for the project to transition from screenplay to screen.
