grab a camera and shoot!
the best thing you can get is practice,
film anything you want, write little skits, film dialouge,
get together w friends, it all really helps you get used to it as a hobby and eventually, as i hope too, a career.
theres always a damand for ppl who are good. and practice makes perfect.

"They say a picture is worth a thousand words. But a film? Well, thats worth a thousand pictures."

-(Own3d Studios)-

www.own3dstudios.com

I would suggest you find someone with a camera and make some
movies. Or buy a cheap DV camera and shoot!
I would suggest you write every day.
Practice is how all great film directors and screenwriters get better.
Shoot anything you want. Have fun.

Oh wait....

You've already gotten this advice from Own3d. It's excellent advice.

How old are you A.A.? If you spend, say, one full year writing and
directing and you find out you aren't any good and you don't like
it will you be too old to try another career?

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

three things to be a film maker
1.camera
2.the ability to see
3.the drive and ambition to make movies

" see things through my eyes "

I'm pretty much in unison with everyone else on this. Just shoot something. I, too, am planning on a career as a writer/director as well, and am planning on it within a year or so.

I'm assuming you may be worried about not being good at it because you may not be very well educated. If you feel that you need some education on filmmaking, here are my suggestions.

First, I'd recommend reading a few books on writing, directing, and filmmaking in general. My personal favorites are 'The Screenwriter's Bible' by David Trottier, 'Film Directing: Shot By Shot' by Steven D. Katz, and 'The Filmmaker's Handbook' by Steven Ascher and Edward Pincus.

Second, watch movies. Watch the classics. Watch bad movies. Watch movies in between. You might also want to think about genre when choosing which movies to watch. For example, if you're planning to write a bunch of sci-fi scripts, You might be wiser to watch a movie like 'Star Wars' over a movie like, say, 'The Shawshank Redemption.'

Third, read scripts. And make sure these are scripts for movies you already have seen. Lucky for you, the internet has made it possible to read scripts through script databases. My personal favorite is http://www.script-o-rama.com/

But, remember that there is no teacher like the real thing. If you still feel strongly that you need some understanding about what you're doing, feel free to take my advice. If, however, you feel confident enough and you are determined to become a writer/director, just remember the old Nike slogan, 'Just Do It.'

I wonder if we'll ever see A.A. again.....

The first step is always to write. Write a short film or a long film or a commercial. Really just write anything and move on from there. Once you have a completed script show it to people who have cameras and want to make movies and maybe then you guys could start filming.

Ah! Sorry for being absent. School kept me busy and then I got sick during the weekend (and got obsessed with the Oscars too). Thanks so much for all the comments.

I'm 23. I guess its still open for me, but it's more about the whole finding out the dream is a "fake" that I don't want to happen.

I have and started to read/study "Shot by shot". I also have "Screewriting 434" by Lew Hunter, "Story" by Robert McKee and "The Hollywood Standard" by Christopher Riley. I haven't really taken the time to study/learn from them yet though. I always get distracted by other stuff and its hard for me to learn on my own.

I'm a writer first actually. I've written alot of stories and even completed a novel. I started a script once a long time ago, but got stuck at the second scene when I realized I was crap. I was thinking about writing before I shoot, but if i never actually finish anything, I'll never shoot anything and I think my biggest problem is my lack of camera skills.

I have a camera (ooold Sony Digital 8 Handycam) and I understand what you mean with shoot anything, but since I don't have many friends or any that are interested in movies like I am, I'm stuck on what exactly I should shoot.

I sort of wish someone would give me specific assignments and I just report to them.

The reason I asked your age is I was wondering if it?s too late
for you to spend a year or two doing what all great film
directors and screenwriters did.

You aren?t too old. If you spent the next two years making a movie
every 8 weeks and writing even two pages a day, when you?re 25
you would have 12 finished shot movies (I bet the last 3 or 4
would be pretty good) and 10 or so finished screenplays. I bet at
least 2 of them would be pretty good.

And if by the age of 25, with four good short films as a director
and 3 or 4 good screenplays finished you find the dream is fake,
you can still try something more real.

But it?s going to be tough for you, A.A.

Coming up with excellent reasons to not make a movie is easy.
Coming up with reasons to make a movie despite all the
distractions and challenges is really difficult.

It kind of sounds like you need to be in film school so someone
will give you specific assignments.

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

You should just start by just doing certain small projects that film students start off with. Like tell a 30 second story with just close ups and one wide shot. Or shoot a 30 second to 1 minute film where you talk to yourself using creative shots or body doubles. Another project you can do is a minute long movie of a day in the life of you. Start out with those that you can do without relying on actors and you can do in a short period of time so you might actual finish them and work up from there. Hope this helps.

Thanks, both of you have helped me greatly.

I work best when I have a specific goal in mind, but I could figure out a sensible goal when it came to filmmaking. Now I have something.

I'm gonna try those projects out and see how it goes.

I'm glad we could help you. I'll come back and post more ideas if I can think of other small projects I've worked on.
Good luck.