Am I actually any good?

[lightcameraction]

Heres the thing .

Ive always been inlove with the cinema and I always wanted to make my own films but I couldnt . I didn't know how to start or what to do .

About an year ago my dad got me my t2i and I started filming a lot and now , year later I must say that my films are still horrible ,there is hardly any story . I always want to make the sound great and the effects great and the colors and the lighting and the camera work and since im 1 man crew I just lost track of everything and in the end it turns to be shit .

Everytime I shoot I learn so so much and I become so much better than the last time I shot something but I've seen people that are shooting for couple of months now and they already have some awards and they are not working that hard , their camera work is crappy , the sound is shitty etc .

I'm 16 years old and I barely sleep to make those videos . I haven't slept for 4 days in a row , I skipped school for 1-2 days just to make a short film and at the end it turns to be nothing but a regular boring youtube video .

I'm so passionate about it and I keep on going but today I failed with another video and it didn't turned out the way I wanted so I started thinking that i'm actually pretty talentless and that I'll never do anything good .

I've always been pretty confident that as the time pass I will be able to find other people to work with and eventually do something great but here I am a year later with a lot more knowledge but still shitty clips that are absolute nonsense .

I always script very cool stories , they have twists and comedy and drama or suspense but after the production they just turn to be nothing because I missed moments or couldn't handle something so it becomes nonsense as always ..

How long did it took you guys to make good films ?I mean ,even average ..

I've been thinking over this for the last couple of months and I think im slowly falling into depression over here

Thanks for reading this .

 

[Danielassault]

You seem to be in a place a lot of fortunate people are. Yes, fortunate. You actually have the time and own a camera to go out and try things out.

You are probably very knowledgeable for your age in film making.

The first thing to do, is not to take this so seriously. Enjoy it, enjoy the doing and worry less about the outcome. You'll keep learning and things will naturally get better. You can't expect to make films that look like they are Hollywood movies with what you have to work with.

However, you can most definitely work your way up there, to the point you'll being to understand why things don't look as you want them to look.

Here's a suggestion - Try filming a short scene, with 2 characters. Give them dialog and give them actions. When you create these characters give each one three conflicts:
1- Give them a conflict with the other character
2 - Give them a conflict with the world
3 - Give them a conflict with themselves

Now pit them in a situation and make sure each character is different enough so you'll see the conflict become interesting.

This is just for you to become better at story telling and not at being technical. You need to hone your skills at being a story teller, at understanding characters, subtext and what makes the scene work. Forget the action and effects for now, they will find a more natural way to wind up in your scripts and it will make them all the better.

Don't give up.

 

[Lucky Hardwood]

You say that you improve with every project. Read some of the advice given by Director Rik. You should concentrate on one specific aspect of filming and practice until you feel confident in your abilities. The next step is to pick another aspect of making movies and focus on that until you gain confidence. Lather, rinse, repeat as needed. If there are any film groups in your area, get involved with those. Volunteer to work on other people's movies. It also sounds like you need to develop your Producer skill set (budgeting, casting, scheduling, finance, etc.) and perhaps you should try storyboarding your scenes so that you (hopefully) won't forget anything on the day. Good luck and stick with it.

ETA: And what Daniel said.

 

[MileCreations]

I'd been making 'films' for years and didn't produce one that I was relatively proud of until I was 16. Perhaps you're being to hard on yourself? Because you're only 16 you have a lot of time to grow as a person still maybe doing all those jobs isn't for you, you might be better at just sound or something?
You're way too young to give up, keep at it

 

[Sweetie]

I'm going to give you a slightly odd suggestion.

Take time time and watch some things. Pull them apart. Really pull them apart. What you liked, what you didn't like. What made it good, what do you think could be done to make them better.

If its a movie, Go to Box office Mojo and check out the box office results. That's where the scorecards of movies are kept. The more successful a movie is, the more money it will have made. (All you starving artists, shutup!)

The more you watch, the more patterns you'll learn that successful pieces of work have. They're all there. You just have to really look for them. It can be story (often is), music, sound, visual effects, right camera movement and angles at the right time, great dialogue, good choice in actors, great acting and so on.

Post your thoughts about it. See what other people also think.

Over time, you'll get in your head more of what you'll want to make. When you go out and accomplish that vision, you'll regain your confidence and probably make a successful career. When you make it, remember us little people.

 

[8salacious9]

im going to be honest not everyones talented, you may have passion but not talent, thats fine.

sometimes we have to accept defeat.

but not me, if i want to do something and i really want to be good at it, i sit back, observe, read books, watch what others do, use examples of pieces that inspire me, then i get to planning and i keep planning until my plan is almost perfect enough for me.

your 16 years old, im 23, when i was your age i was playing for a popular football team i sustained an injury which meant i couldnt play professionaly and my dreams were shatters so i moved on, i wanted to be a policeman, then a DJ, then a rapper, then a music producer, then finally i have now settled on what sets my belly and heart on fire.. FILMMAKING.

never before have i had such a desire to do such a thing, for it was only in april that i bought my first DSLR and i didnt even know how to take a picture properly or what an iso did.

well i learned, i wasnt beat down, i then started writing my first script, i havent even filmed any 2-3 minute shorts like recommended on here, my script is 10 minutes long, i have halfway done the storyboarding, i have my actors, im shooting in january due to constant people pulling out, people not making rehearsals.

im confident in my ability and i have never doubted myself, but the most important thing i did at all times was... ASK

if you do not ask you do not get, my motto is .. dont walk a mysterious path without constantly asking for directions on the way, on this path you will be led astray but then led back again, but its the experience we gain that makes us wiser.

so focus on one thing, then learn how to turn it from dust into a diamond.

 

[TheArtist]

I have to disagree completely with 8salacious.

There is no such thing as talent. There is only work. Henri Cartier-Bresson said "Your first 10000 photographs are your worst" and I believe it works in filmmaking too.

Every one who is good at what he's doing spent a hell of a lot of time doing it. The Beatles performed more than 10000 hour on stage in Germany before they came back to England and went popular.

The more time you spend on it, the better you'll get, that's a certainty. To get better even faster, try to understand what's wrong with what you're doing. Is it sound ? Is it composition ? Is it light ? Throw us some YouTube links and we'll tear them apart for you. And the next time you shoot something, have that in mind and see what you can do to improve on it.

You're 16. You don't have the right to be depressed. Whatever you do, someday you'll get a benefit from.

 

[8salacious9]

I have to disagree completely with 8salacious.

There is no such thing as talent. There is only work. Henri Cartier-Bresson said "Your first 10000 photographs are your worst" and I believe it works in filmmaking too.

Every one who is good at what he's doing spent a hell of a lot of time doing it. The Beatles performed more than 10000 hour on stage in Germany before they came back to England and went popular.

The more time you spend on it, the better you'll get, that's a certainty. To get better even faster, try to understand what's wrong with what you're doing. Is it sound ? Is it composition ? Is it light ? Throw us some YouTube links and we'll tear them apart for you. And the next time you shoot something, have that in mind and see what you can do to improve on it.

You're 16. You don't have the right to be depressed. Whatever you do, someday you'll get a benefit from.

i agree in somepart to what you say, working on something for a long time should in theory make you better, however thats not always the case.

i believe in talent, for me the definition of talent is when someone is naturally good at something, for example someone might not sound like an angel but can sing technically, whereas someone else might have the godsent voice for it but not be able to sing technically for it < hardwork vs talent.

in the end i feel there has to be a mix of talent and hard work. however as i said some people just dont have talent and just passion.

for me it boils down to this, if you are writing scripts and they are crap and you cant seem to make them better, then maybe you dont have talent for it.

if you are writing scripts that have potential, but just arent there yet, then you have talent that needs to be unlocked through help and hard work.

 

[TheArtist]

Well I still disagree and I would like you to give me an example of someone who didn't get better with a lot of practice.

Obviously, depending on where you're born and how you grew up, you might have an advantage in some form to start with. But that's it, it's just an advantage.

 

[8salacious9]

Well I still disagree and I would like you to give me an example of someone who didn't get better with a lot of practice.

Obviously, depending on where you're born and how you grew up, you might have an advantage in some form to start with. But that's it, it's just an advantage.

oh thats easy, eddie murphy, adam sandler these two get worse with each film they make.

but i think your misunderstanding something, talent doesnt mean how hard you work, it means how easy something is for you and that you make it work better than most with less effort.

i can write a well written script that flows perfectly, however is it interesting?

its the spark that is talent, its the mind of the individual that is the talent.

there is no one direction with hard work.

of course everything is hypothetical we can only create something interesting if the world finds it interesting.

we might work years towards something that we class as a moment of brilliance, yet the world looks at it as something average.

having talent puts you one step ahead of the creative game, years of work just brings you up to that level, but by that time, the talented one is already one step ahead.

 

[TheLoganDaniels]

I will agree with salacious and say someone with raw talent is extremely important.

I will use myself as an example. I love playing baseball. I worked my butt off when I was younger to get better but in the end I was never going to be good enough to play at a major college much less professionally. My brother on the other hand was so naturally gifted that playing came easy to him. He worked as hard as anybody which made him even better and he could be playing professionally if he hadn't decided to be a pastor.

The point is that raw talent starts you further ahead and if you work hard you will always be better than the person without the raw talent. But a person who has raw talent can easily be surpassed by someone who works hard if the raw talent person doesn't work hard also.

The OP may find he has raw talent for one of the jobs he is trying to do. He needs to try and get others to work with him so that he can focus more on what he wants to develop skillfully.

 

[MileCreations]

I will agree with salacious and say someone with raw talent is extremely important.

I will use myself as an example. I love playing baseball. I worked my butt off when I was younger to get better but in the end I was never going to be good enough to play at a major college much less professionally. My brother on the other hand was so naturally gifted that playing came easy to him. He worked as hard as anybody which made him even better and he could be playing professionally if he hadn't decided to be a pastor.

The point is that raw talent starts you further ahead and if you work hard you will always be better than the person without the raw talent. But a person who has raw talent can easily be surpassed by someone who works hard if the raw talent person doesn't work hard also.

The OP may find he has raw talent for one of the jobs he is trying to do. He needs to try and get others to work with him so that he can focus more on what he wants to develop skillfully.

I agree pretty much with this. Having the raw talent just makes it easier to strive ahead

 

[movingon]

Heres the thing .

Ive always been inlove with the cinema and I always wanted to make my own films but I couldnt . I didn't know how to start or what to do .

About an year ago my dad got me my t2i and I started filming a lot and now , year later I must say that my films are still horrible ,there is hardly any story . I always want to make the sound great and the effects great and the colors and the lighting and the camera work and since im 1 man crew I just lost track of everything and in the end it turns to be shit .

Everytime I shoot I learn so so much and I become so much better than the last time I shot something but I've seen people that are shooting for couple of months now and they already have some awards and they are not working that hard , their camera work is crappy , the sound is shitty etc .

I'm 16 years old and I barely sleep to make those videos . I haven't slept for 4 days in a row , I skipped school for 1-2 days just to make a short film and at the end it turns to be nothing but a regular boring youtube video .

I'm so passionate about it and I keep on going but today I failed with another video and it didn't turned out the way I wanted so I started thinking that i'm actually pretty talentless and that I'll never do anything good .

I've always been pretty confident that as the time pass I will be able to find other people to work with and eventually do something great but here I am a year later with a lot more knowledge but still shitty clips that are absolute nonsense .

I always script very cool stories , they have twists and comedy and drama or suspense but after the production they just turn to be nothing because I missed moments or couldn't handle something so it becomes nonsense as always ..

How long did it took you guys to make good films ?I mean ,even average ..

I've been thinking over this for the last couple of months and I think im slowly falling into depression over here

Thanks for reading this .

Please save this note and read it when you accept your Academy Award. There will be new 16-year-olds who will benefit from hearing it. Keep learning, doing, and asking, and enjoy the journey.

 

[Alcove Audio]

Back to your original question, lightcameraction...

You suck. That's okay, you used to really suck. If you work hard your work will be really bad, then bad, then not too bad, then good, then pretty good. Your talent, your work ethic, your budget and your network/connections will decide if you get better than that. And, if you are talented and disciplined, there will be the occasional moment of brilliance to keep you motivated.

How fast this happens will depend upon you. Yes, there is your real life out there - school, family, etc. That's also part of the lifestyle; balancing your reel life with your real life. But you have to spend A LOT of time pursuing your dream; you have to do it every single day. The big problem with filmmaking is that too many of the individual filmmaking disciplines - writing, cinematography, production/post sound, set design, costume design, make-up, etc., etc., etc. - each take years to master. I've been doing audio post for over ten years, and it took me five years to feel that I really had a solid handle on it - and I was a music recording engineer before migrating to audio post!

For your projects to be excellent, or even just good, you need a solid grip on writing, cinematography, production/post sound, set design, costume design, make-up, etc., etc., etc. There's just too much to learn quickly. Have a little patience.

Work at it really hard for another five years and then ask yourself "Am I actually any good?" And let's face it, Bulgaria isn't a major filmmaking center, so your access to assets will be somewhat limited. However, if you're talented and work hard you can become a big fish in a small pond, and maybe that reputation will help you escape to a bigger pond.

 

[Alcove Audio]

I'm 16 years old and I barely sleep to make those videos . I haven't slept for 4 days in a row , I skipped school for 1-2 days just to make a short film and at the end it turns to be nothing but a regular boring youtube video .

How much time did you spend on preproduction?

 

[Sweetie]

Raw talent is rare. If you have raw talent, that's great. You're one of the rare few who truly possess it.

Becoming good is a mix of knowledge and application of that knowledge. It can all be learned and achieved, given the right set of circumstances. Becoming great is just a more refined version.

Can most people learn film making? Yeah sure, given the right combination of smarts, determination and hard work and the right method of learning for them. Can everyone become a great film maker? I don't have an opinion on that yet, but I suspect yes... most don't though.

The ones with raw talent have it in them already. Bless their heart. Then it's all a matter of application.

 

[knightly]

Just over a decade... that's how long I've been at it. I started out doing every job too. First breakthrough was when I realized this was a team sport and doing everything made my work suck.

So... I'm finally making things I feel are decently done. 2003 was my first stab at this for real. A couple of semi-successful (not distributed, just watched and enjoyed) shorts before that was all I'd done. Then I jumped head first into a feature... still incomplete. That was a team effort that I didn't know how to direct.

In the realm of Lather, Rinse, Repeat, EVERY project, I sit down with my friend (now my producer) Roo and we tear apart everything we do. Both the good and the bad. Each new one we do, we concentrate on improving the worst thing we did last time. And we pick the worst of the best and try to improve on it. Only 2 goals each short from a technical standpoint allows you to really focus your energies on improving.

We've gotten progressively better and I eventually figured out that I'm most comfortable as a Cinematographer. It's got enough technical that I can approach it comfortably (I'm a geek) and enough art that I can really explore it from that standpoint. I no longer run sound (although there are times that I'm tapped to do so if we can't find a consistent boom operator -- unpaid work means finding people who might be interested and seeing who wants to stay), I no longer direct, I no longer produce.

I do advise others on each of these pieces of the puzzle as our group starts to specialize. I'm the one who took the time to learn all of these parts early on, so I'm the specialist in all of those areas. I couldn't find others to do it consistently for me, so I had to get my hands dirty in every department. Eventually, that allowed me to find my real passion... LIGHT! Cinematography happened as I started working on our lighting portion of our next short which was the worst part of the previous. I really liked what I could do with photons.

If filmmaking is your thing. Start building a regular crew. Look at it as a repertory theatre company. Do many films often. Challenge yourself, never stop beating yourself up over them. You need to be your own worst critic. Figure out the broken pieces and fix them. One at a time though or you'll drive yourself insane. We all suck at this. Spielberg sucks at this too. I guarantee he's never really happy with what he puts out... he's pretty close, but I know he can point out every single flaw on screen when he releases his films.

Let that keep you hungry for sucking less! Improvement and learning is the reason I drive forward. Figure out why you come back to set and repeat that part... the good bits get done again, the bad bits get fixed.

Carry on! Ever Forward!

 

[Alcove Audio]

Ever Forward!

Keep Moving Forward - Walt Disney

Every day you learn something hasn't been wasted.

Patience is a virtue.

 

[GuerrillaAngel]

IMO you're putting gear and tech over story. Ignore the gear and tech threads in this forum and think of a story that would WOW people even if shot on Hi-8. Once you have that, then get out your digital gear.

Good luck.

 

[Cracker Funk]

lightcameraction, for many of us, filmmaking is as much an emotional struggle as anything else. There's nothing wrong with questioning yourself or what you're doing. In fact, that might be really healthy. Just don't sell yourself short.

It sounds like you're spending a lot of energy on trying to do EVERYTHING right. Problem is, you can only rely on yourself to make it right? Dude, one person can't do EVERYTHING. Beware of trying to be a Jack of all trades, but master of none.

Don't get me wrong, I think it's great to be well-rounded, and for what it's worth, I am currently trying to make myself more adept at the areas in which I've been weakest. But dude, you can't master everything. Without having seen your films, I'm wondering if perhaps you might benefit by choosing a specific skill-set and focusing on working on developing that.

By the way, a few people have commented on "talent". There is definitely such thing as talent, but nobody is born with it. Every talent that anyone has ever had has been learned and practiced. Keep at it!

BTW -- now I wanna see your videos, but you've removed them. Put your favorites back up and I'll be glad to comment, should you want that.