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watch 5 Tips To Improve Your Filmmaking Skills

not everyone here agrees with your stance on watching a ton of movies, but I personally do.
 
Thanks for the tips! I'd add to sometimes just listen to the sound of the film as well in order to see how filmmakers use it as well. Also yes watch a lot of movies, I personally don't understand filmmakers who rarely watch movies. If you don't watch movies you'll just be re-inventing the wheel and not pushing the cinematic medium forward. I'd just add to watch a variety of films from different genres, different time periods, different countries to understand as much cinema as you can (this is what the New Hollywood filmmakers like Scorsese and Spielberg did btw).
 
Great tips and thanks for the cool channel ;p

One thing that I have to disagree on is watching movies without sound. Sound is so hyper important especially for directors,that you can't simply turn it off. Try Kubrick and you will destroy the majority of his films. The scene in Clockwork Orange when Alex plays the 9th for example. Or smth like Black Narcissus which was filmed to music.

If you can't separate the effect of camera and sound watch the scene again or get inside your NLE.
 
baoliun said:
One thing that I have to disagree on is watching movies without sound. Sound is so hyper important especially for directors,that you can't simply turn it off.
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No, watching without sound can be instructive, but you also need to do the reverse - listen without the picture.


It's more of a "study" type of discipline; you watch a scene normally at first. Then you watch without the "distraction" of sound and break down the visuals - the costuming, set design/decoration, lighting, etc. But take notes; what is seen in the frame(s) that gives you information about the story and the character(s)? What visuals are directly related to sounds? Then reverse the process; listen with the picture turned off. What do the sounds tell you about the location(s), the story and the characters? Then you compare both sets of notes.
 
Alcove Audio said:
No, watching without sound can be instructive, but you also need to do the reverse - listen without the picture.


It's more of a "study" type of discipline; you watch a scene normally at first. Then you watch without the "distraction" of sound and break down the visuals - the costuming, set design/decoration, lighting, etc. But take notes; what is seen in the frame(s) that gives you information about the story and the character(s)? What visuals are directly related to sounds? Then reverse the process; listen with the picture turned off. What do the sounds tell you about the location(s), the story and the characters? Then you compare both sets of notes.
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As an editor I learn so much watching a movie with out sound on
 
Beatlesfan1225 said:
I can't imagine how absurd the argument would sound for not watching a ton of movies... when you want to make movies.
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I do believe that filmmakers should watch films lol but I have read/heard arguments that watching too much films will make you less original as a filmmaker. There are some filmmakers that claim to not even watch films such as Orson Welles (though I don't believe what he says), Spike Jonze, Robert Bresson, David Lynch, Paul Schrader (well he didn't see a film till he was 18 but then he became a film critic/filmmaker so not sure if that counts), and Werner Herzog (although I don't believe what he says either). Though that list is a lot shorter than the countless amazing directors from all over the world that are cinephiles.

It could also be said that the original innovators in the early film days didn't watch many films due to lack of access, but I think that is irrelevant today lol. So yeah I think that the arguments made about not watching many films as a filmmaker are not really strong at all.
 
Watch tons of old/not well known movies.
Steal cool ideas
????
Profit

There are sooo many movies that it is impossible to watch them all. + filmmakers must also develop themselves by reading books,researching art,science,technology the list goes on. Oh and have a life too ;p

So it is a question of balance
 
baoliun said:
:P more Tarantino route,Aronofsky bought out rights for anime so he is not as hardcore :P
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LOL true if you pay for the rights then you are technically not "stealing."

In all seriousness though, cinematic references and quotations are awesome and can be seen in the works of French New Wave directors (especially Godard), Woody Allen's work (and the New Hollywood directors in general), and even going back as far as Yasujiro Ozu's silent films you can see these references. Also I think some "original" ideas are not even original a lot, like for example the famous Persona shot in Bergman's film, I saw that in Agnès Varda's debut film made 11 years earlier. Now Tarantino and Aronofsky just don't do anything new with this stuff though so I can't call them great directors, they're pretty good directors and have made some good films but they're no masters IMO.
 
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