quote:

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Originally posted by newbiefilm

I'm new to making films, I just started a few weeks ago. My first film, that I filmed three weeks ago, really sucked and a lot of people didn't like it, even my family members. I feel really discouraged because I feel like I'm really bad at it and I'm scared of making another movie.

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Did you walk on two feet the first time you tried? Did you play Mozart the first time you sat down at a piano? Did you paint the Sistine Chapel the first time you sat down with finger paints?

Ok, so once you get over the sadness that EVERY artist feels when unleashing his work out to the world for critique, instead of giving up, why not reevaluate what you DID do and what those around you didn't like about it. This isn't to say that you'll be honing your work around what others like at the detriment of your own artistic desires, but take a careful look at what you did accomplish. Tear it apart yourself. Compare it to other movies, big and small, to find out what you could do better if you had to remake it all over again.

Perhaps your characters weren't real enough, so you need to write better action and dialogue for them. Maybe the acting was poor so you need better Actors. Maybe the photography was poor so you need more practice lighting and framing shots. Maybe the story was boring or uninteresting or too superficial so you need to rewrite the basic plot.

The point is to be honest with yourself first about what you set out to accomplish and how it succeeded and in what ways it might not have. Then don't be afraid to take constructive criticism from others. It'll sting at first and non-film people aren't always great at articulating their feelings so it can take a little work on your part to decipher what they are getting at. Take all of that feedback and look at your movie again. Rewrite it in your head, then on paper. Then rewrite it again until you're happier with it. If you're having trouble, look for friends who are better writers and ask them for help. When you're ready to shoot the movie again, look for better Actors in a local theater department in town or on a University campus. Find an experienced Cameraman who knows how to light sets and Actors and who could possibly shoot your movie with a better camera than the one you have.

Above all, don't quit just because a few people don't like what you did. Dust yourself off and make the next one better in every way. If you truly want to do it, don't let anyone stop you.

Good luck!

Brian Dzyak
Cameraman/Author
IATSE Local 600, SOC
http://www.whatireallywanttodo.com
http://www.realfilmcareer.com

Welcome to filmmaking.net, newbie film.

Please tell me three things you have done for the very first
time that you were absolutely perfect at.

Any video games you saw for the first time and went all the
way to the end without making a single mistake? Do you
play any sports? The first time you tried were you good enough
to play pro? Were you good enough to win in a local college
game? High school? The very first time you got on a skateboard
were you pretty close in skill to Tony Hawk? The first time you
got on a bicycle could you have even entered the Tour de France?

I suspect the answer to Brian's and my questions is, "No." So why
did you think the first time you made a movie it was going to be
great? Or even good? Were you somehow under the impression
making a good movie was easy? That anyone with a camera and
an idea can make a good movie? If so, how did you get that
impression?

Of course you're really bad at making movies. Making movies is
very difficult. Making a good one is even harder. Have you ever
watched the credits at the end of a movie? Did you ever stop
to think what all those people were doing? Did you think that
maybe a movie can take a lot of different people with different
talents working really hard? And you know that everyone of
those people listed were really bad when they first started.

You're next movie is going to be pretty bad, too. If you can't
handle that, you better quit now. If you have any passion at
all for making movies, time to get back on that road and try
again.

=============================================
The aim of an argument or discussion should not be victory, but progress.
Joseph Joubert, essayist (1754-1824)

Well, you've come here looking for encouragement, and you're going to get it. 🙂

A few questions though, to help you polish your skills:
1) First, how old are you? I get the impression you're either a teenager or in your 20's, but I may be wrong.
2) Second, what's your education and training?
3) Last, but certainly not least, what're your goals in making films? Are you doing this as a hobby, a school project, or because you want to be a film maker?

Your goal should be to get better with every movie. Before you quit, make another one or two and see if you can improve upon that first movie. Seeing improvement can get really addicting! You can also learn a lot by helping on someone else's movie.

www.midnightsunent.com

I agree with these guys, just keep at it. It takes a lot of time and projects before things start getting good. I suggest doing smaller projects and making them the best they can be. Maybe make fake film trailers or commercials for fake products. Spice them up and make people laugh or think or whatever...then move up to short films and when those are good try making a feature film.

http://www.mrgablesreality.webs.com
My site to promote my writing/opinions/and soon movies!

Heya Newbiefilm. Don't quit, it doesn't matter if your film sucked, it's a learning curve, at least you're not deluded like Michael Winner, Uwe Boll, Ed Wood and Michael Bay (sorry, but Transformers 2 was unimaginably bad on every single level!). Look back at the film and note what you didn't like about it from a spectator's perspective. It can be difficult to separate yourself from the material having devoted so much time to it. Once you have done that, go back to the drawing board and start again.

I remember when I shot my first film on super 8. I had no idea how to use the camera, as such I didn't put a mat box on the end of the lens and ended up with over exposed film (looked great, but it wasn't my intention) and the interiors looked horrendous as I didn't know how to light it. But it hasn't stopped me from wanting to make films, so don't give up.

The only time you should give up is if you are genuinely are bored with the whole process, but if you have celluloid flowing in your veins, you'll feel like a junkie and keep looking for your next fix, which is what I do.

All the best and keep at it.

We all have stories of our first few films.

My very first time with a camera was my dad's regular 8mm.
For those of you who don't know, regular 8mm was 16mm
film that was run through the camera twice. 25 feet exposing
half the stock - turn it over and expose the 25 feet on the
other half. At the lab the film was processed and split down
the center, attached the ends and you ended up with 50ft.

I loaded it wrong and did a double exposure on 25ft. And
nothing at all on the other 25ft.

Even after making about 15 short films I remember doing
my first night interior and really blowing it. I put together
a nice light kit with scoop lights and shop lights - we even
built a grid from 1x1's and hung it from the ceiling. I then
exposed for the white wall. Every actor in the scene was
in silhouette and the wall was perfectly exposed.

That, of course, is the technical mistakes. I could fill PAGES
of terrible films I made because of lack of experience. Poor
camera angles, static shots (I came from a theater background
- even at 16 I had directed theater), really bad audio, not
directing actors properly, badly written scripts. All that
changed because I kept at it.

Newbiefilm, If you want to see my "first" film, shot on
super 8 when I was 16, I'll post the link. Even that "first"
film was really my 28th. I would NEVER show anyone the
real first one or even the other 26 short films I made. No
typo - I made 26 short films (on film) in three years from
age 13 to 16. All of them terrible, but each one better
than the one before it.

I had no "natural" talent. I had to work hard to make a film
that was even watchable.

=============================================
The aim of an argument or discussion should not be victory, but progress.
Joseph Joubert, essayist (1754-1824)

hey bro thats my big fear when i unleash my first short while preparing for my feature but ya gotta remember this Nathaniel Hawthorne got fired from his job and a year later wrote the Scarlet Letter, Toby Maguire is a high school dropout so many ppl have failed in their jobs at first like Clint Eastwood blew his first audition, look at him now all it takes is belief and perserverance and trust me u can do it homie plus the ppl in these forums and other ones are cool and will help u anyway they can trust me i know this is a wild ride we've embarked upon but a fun one ya dig so just keep ya head up and surround urself with good ppl and above all when taking criticism listen and re-evaluate what u did and see how u can make it better