education

[ilpostino]

So how many people here are on are doing are plan to do courses in film? I'm talking anything from film studies one day a week to full on production courses in London etc. Also how do you rate these things? I've heard film school isn't all that shit hot but if you've got the money it's okay. Reason I ask is I'm set to go to London soon on a production course, it's every saturday for six weeks, a ten hour day. I made myself unemployed to get a job with more suited hours. But now my new job is set to infringe on the course I booked ages ago. I haven't even made a single short, although I've written two over the last year, last one never went into production becasue I based loads of it in specific parts of the new forrest which now is totally off limits! You think I should so some DV shorts before going to any of these all singing dancing courses? Your opinions would be great.

[N. Foster Tyler]

Even though I'm a young filmmaker, I'm taking journalism this fall in college. I don't need film school; I have access to all the equiptment I need in order to make my movies.

[no_one119]

Mr postman,

Two things:

1) I've got a degree in Film (I studied at Southampton Inst.) and, although I'll bow to some of the criticism levelled at film schools, I'd say it improved me.

A lot of my course was theory but even this was great as it made me start to look at films in a whole new way, to not just look at the obvious but at all the other things that go to make up a complex and wonderful medium. It really has helped me during my writing and I hope to direct a short in the not too distant future.

On the practical side we messed about with everything from VHS through to Super 16 and some digital stuff and I played around with many different roles (despite wanting to be a director I wanted to experience film making from other roles to get a more rounded feel for film making). It was great fun and I came from the process a more mature individual with a better idea of what I wanted to do and how to go about it.

So, in my humble opinion, film courses can be very worthwhile but you take from them what you put in.

2) I too am a Southampton based (well Chandlers Ford if you want to be exact) filmmaker and would love to get in touch and maybe team up on something. I have been having trouble finding any collection of people in Southampton so let me know.

Yours

Lee
aka no_one119

[eddie]

I think the best thing you could do is get a decent education in anything you like, be it film making of flower arranging.

If you cant film in the New Forest then film in the garden. Why should the loss of a location scupper your film making?
If its in the script, write another script. If you can prove some experience in using a camera then a film school will be more impressed than if you just blather about how much you'd love to do it, but never got around to it and kept making excuses like the above.

[ilpostino]

I just wanted to say, no_one I sent you an e-mail, you should have it by now I hope!
Eddie, my back garden doesn't have a one mile strip of road in open heath ground, a metaphor for the mind our journey through life and the feeling of the main charecter. Other locations we're forrests and trees and other such like things. However you do have a point about re-locating, maybe I was just to set on the original idea, after all the area in which I live was the very insperation for the film. I'm developing another script though, I've put the last two scripts through pre-production and learned a lot from writing and production even though I have nothing to show for it. Third time lucky eh!

[no_one119]

Experience is king, don't get me wrong. I'm all for the learn by doing approach but film-making ain't something that can be undertaken lightly really.

About creative scriptwriting I agree, it's easy to limit yourself in your mind. The first short I've written relies on some red paint being picked up by the MNA (that's Main Narrative Agent - who says I learnt nothing at film school!) in a train station. No problem all the doors are painted red, voila. Unfortunatley they've since changed the doors to BLUE and can I find a station with red doors (if anyone knows of one in Hampshire I'd love to know) so I had to think round it - post box - was the answer, most stations have one. Easy this scriptwriting lark.

I got your email ilpostino and so hopefully 3rd time will be lucky.

[eddie]

Thats my point exactly. Unless you have something to show for it, then really you have nothing. Unless you want to be a script writer. (it sounds like you already have a couple of scripts finished)

Low budget filmmaking is all about getting over problems, such as loosing a location. Its all about compromise, unless your initial 'vision' is very small (or realistic).

Personally I would say that 1 or two 5 minute shorts of a couple of people talking in a garden is better than nothing. And with it you can experiment with all sorts of things, such as pacing, cutting, framing, a moving camera, a stationary camera, mood. Im not bullshitting, with some imagination you could just have a couple of people reading a n act from Hamlet. Film it in 3 different styles, add different music, see how the mood changes (although they are reading it in exactly the same way each time), make it funny , make it tragic, make it serious, make it comic book..... Even that is better than nothing.

If you have a camera and something to edit on - be it 2 VCR's, a computer, an AVID or a Steenbeck flat bed - you dont have an excuse not have a couple of these experimental shorts to show.

Thats my opinion anyway.

[eddie]

sorry, I didnt mean that to sound quite as harsh as it did. All I mean is - get out there and do it! There are too many people making excuses in this game. (Because its so difficult!!!)

Good luck with your script!

[ilpostino]

I think what your saying is fair, I should have carried on with it. When I was reading your replies I came up with an idea about what I could use instead of the Forrest. It is easy to make excuses your right. I won't be giving up so easy next time. Just for the record I'm in the middle of editing a charity appeal made by Gorden Banks, I started with a load of clips that at first I thought Hmmm this might look shit! Two days later using simple B/W effects and a little music I've created this whole mood and pace that's nostalgic and sympathetic.