Category: Filmmaking for Beginners

How I shoot B-roll – My Techniques and Tricks


Let’s talk filmmaking tips and tricks. Here’s what I use to get B-roll. For those who are new to filmmaking, your A-roll is the footage of your subject speaking while your B-roll is the footage you cut away to. you can usually hear the subject’s voice over in the A-roll while you see something different on the screen.

Usually the B-roll is related to whatever is being discussed in the A-roll. B-roll is super important as we typically use it to spice things up visually. Check out the video to see my techniques for getting B-roll.

Continue reading “How I shoot B-roll – My Techniques and Tricks”

Top 15 Mistakes Beginner Filmmakers Make!

Tips for beginner filmmakers. When you’re starting out as a filmmaker you’ve gotta make some good mistakes inorder to progress. It’s all apart of the process. We cover the top 15 most common filmmaking mistakes beginners make from story, to lighting to editing, composition and more.

Short film mentioned Seafood Tester short

Here’s a written list of all 15 common mistakes from the video:

Continue reading “Top 15 Mistakes Beginner Filmmakers Make!”

Tips and Advice for Young Aspiring Filmmakers

I’ve gotten a lot of requests for this video. There aren’t many tips videos geared towards the youth. At this level the biggest priority should be learning the basic elements of story. Resources are usually a big issue at this level but your understanding of story and learned and honed at any level. We cover this and much more.

Video mentioned
principals of drama

My first short film

How to Brainstorm Ideas for a short film

Everyone has their own methods for brainstorming ideas but there are a few methods and techniques for brainstorming that are well worth exploring. One of the most effective methods is to establish a routine. As they say “inspiration tends to catch you while you’re working”. We cover this technique and more in the discussion.

How to Find A Theme

Many people find the notion of a theme confusing and even abstract. Let’s start off with the generally accepted definition of what a theme is and work our way up from there. We discuss examples of themes,the difference between a theme and a subject, and ways to find a theme.

Themes can also be an extremely helpful tool in the writing process once you understand how to use them.

How to Stay Motivated to Make Films.

Feeling discouraged? Here are a few tips for filmmakers on how to stay motivated to make films. It’s easy to stay motivated when things are going well and you’re making progress but what about when they aren’t. What about…

  • When you don’t have time
  • When you don’t have money
  • When you feel overwhelmed
  • When it’s tough to find an audience for your films

These are just some of the issues we cover

Video mentions
ONE AND DONE WEBSERIES
letters to july

 

What Makes A Good Story?

For filmmakers and Screenwriters. We discuss one of the most popular questions. What makes a good story? If you ask 20 different people this question you’ll get 20 different answers.

the reality is, just because you have an idea for a story doesn’t necessarily make it a story worth telling. There are certain time-tested ingredients that should be present in a story to make it engaging for an audience.

 

The ULTIMATE introduction to Camera Lenses!

For the beginner filmmakers and photographers learning lenses. We explain focal length, aperture, zoom lenses, prime lenses, Cinema lenses, wide angle, standard, and telephoto lenses. As well as background compression, lens distortion and all the lens markings.

 

MASTERING compositioin + Cinematography with Will Smith

We cover composition and framing techniques for filmmaking, the aesthetic of beauty, the rule of thirds, headroom, leadroom, and more. As with everything in life nothing can truely be mastered but with a lot of practice we can get pretty darn close.

Continue reading “MASTERING compositioin + Cinematography with Will Smith”