A lot of people aspire to become movie directors but do not know how and where to start out. Most think that they should head out to film schools or work as understudies for top Hollywood directors in order to get noticed. What they fail to realize is that all the resources to make films are lying around, its up to them to identify them and use them. With the advancement of technology and reduction in prices of cameras and software, anyone can direct a movie now. All it needs is a mixture of the right people and you will be able to set off on your own movie projects.
There are three steps needed in order to make a movie. These are Preproduction, Production and Postproduction. Preproduction involves getting all the necessary resources and people who are going to take part in the film and preparing them for the project. Production involves filming the footage of the screenplay and postproduction deals with editing the footage that has been filmed during the production stage. Postproduction will be the stage that also involves addition of digital special effects and music.
Since I will be concetrating on small independent film making, I will focus on the necessary personal needed for this.
Preproduction
At this stage it is necessary to get all the personal needed in the project. For a small production unit you will need a Casting director, Screenplay writer and Location scout.
The Casting director will take care of deciding which actors will fill in which roles. The Screenplay writer will take care of writing the script. The location scout will decide which locations are suitable for filming.
Production
The filming takes place at this stage. The actors chosen by the casting director fill in the roles that have been written by the screenplay writer and bring the characters to life. The locations chosen by the location scout are used as the locations for filming the movie.
Postproduction
The footage is now taken and edited. Using nonlinear editing software, effects are added, soundtracks as well as transitions are added to the footage between scenes. During the editing stage the director works with the effects superviosr and editors. If you have a friend who is good at composing music you can ask him to make some recordings for your film.
I know there are a lot of aspiring directors out there and they might complain they do not have the money to get the necessary equipment. For $260 you can get the Canon Elura which is a pretty decent camera with high end features for its price. Editing software ranges from price. You can purchase Sony Vegas Movie Studio for $89.95 which is a pretty powerful editing software for its price as well.
Right now i am in the process of following these guidelines and I am starting my own small production company that will film no budget to low budget series and short films. This is how every top director starts out. For example Sam Raimi directed Evil Dead which was a really low budget movie but now he has been directing the multimillion budget Spiderman franchise. If you are interested in making movies, dont give any excuses and start now since all the resources are out there and waiting for you to pick them out.
