Why not ask around at the film school where you were? I mean, go to the cafetaria or student lounge and get the lowdown. Just as importantly, every school has a student day, where prospective high school students go to get the formal presentation from the faculty, and you should go to that one as well.

Good luck! 🙂

sorry, i guess i wasnt clear enough. When i said (A film school) i just ment a school to study filmmaking, not any in particular.
(By the way, all the schools im interested in are out of state, so visits are not possible at the moment.

thanks for the reply

Hey Ender,

Check the websites of the schools you are interested in. Sometimes it's really hard to find the information but I think most schools do in fact have some sort of recommendations for a portfolio.

On the notion of a portfolio itself, well of course you'd want to put a short film on there! Anything you're interested in really. If you somehow know right now that, let's say, you want to get into broadcasting then you would want your portfolio to reflect that by having interviews, newscasts, documentaries, commercials, etc that you have done. If you want to make features, then short films (or better yet, a feature film!) would be what you'd want to put on there.

That make sense? Basically:

Have a varied amount of material that reflects your interests, passions and direction in film/video.

This is all coming from someone who's trying to figure out the whole "what the heck am I supposed to do after high school" thing myself so I'm not an expert, but I hope my advice can help guide you along a bit.

I guess what I don't understand is why anyone who is
interested in making movies would even ask this question.

Of course you should make a short film. You should make
several short films. You should be making a short film a
month. Not to add to a profolio, but because you are a
filmmaker.

What are you waiting for Ender?

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

Thanks for all the replies guys, and certified instigator, your right. And i would love to make a film a month 😀 its just that i dont have the budget, and im still putting together recources and all. I guess i wanted to make sure i wasnt wasting my time before i started investing all my time and money into this project.

but now im ready to start getting this done, thanks again guys, im very excited about this

First things first - you have to get into school, so you can get your education. The experience will come along naturally.

quote:

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Originally posted by Ender
i would love to make a film a month 😀 its just that i dont have the budget, and im still putting together recources and all.

---

I'm not being argumentative.... But you said:

quote:

---

Originally posted by Ender
i have the resources, not to mention i would enjoy the process quite a bit.

---

Making a short film each month shouldn't cost
more than $30 to $50. You use your resources
from church, use actors from your school and
church, get just two friends to be the crew.
You buy one fast food meal for each person
helping and that should be your only expense.
Surely you spend more that $30 to $50 per
month right now on stuff not related to making
movies.

Sacrifice a little.

For someone considering a career in film (that's
why you go to film school, right?) making a
movie is never a waste of time. The only thing
that's a waste of time is finding reasons to NOT
make a movie.

Set yourself apart from all the other 16 year olds
who talk about making movies and be the guy
who is out there all the time making movies.

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

? certified instigator, Please don't take this the wrong way, i appreciate all your advice greatly, i just want to make one thing clear. Just because i don't spit out a film every month it doesn't mean i don't take my film career seriously. I understand i could make a movie once a month for 30 bucks, but I'd rather make one perfect film, than thirty -just okay- ones.

I plan on making this film in about a year (the script will probably take up half of that) and on a budget of about $300, which may all go towards a camera if my church cant allow me to use theirs (which is very possible)

oh, and by resources i meant actors and editing program, and the possible borrowing of my churches camera. I did word that quite wrong didn't i? Sorry about that.

If you feel you will get more knowlege and experience making one perfect
movie in about a year than you will making one movie a month for that year,
I wish you the best!

I look forward to seeing your perfect movie.

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

quote:

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Originally posted by certified instigator

I look forward to seeing your perfect movie.

---

Ha, thanks, though i do detect a bit of sarcasm, but I'll post it when I'm done, and I'm sure I'll be posting during the process with many more questions

Make some shorts in your spare spare time (ha!) and get some experience with narratives. Use a handycam. It can look like crap, sound horrible and have a non-existent story, but if you learn from it it's worth it. I'm 17 and considering film school, so believe me when I say I'm in the same boat as you. You learn lots by just fooling around. I have a ton of crappy movies and shorts I've done with my friends and while looking at them now I realize that they are not portfolio material, I did learn a lot from them. Quantity =/= quality, but, quantity can = experience.

Basically, make some videos in your spare time while preparing your awesome high-budget (I've never worked with money on films before, yet :P) movie. You won't regret the extra little tid bits of experience, even if you think the films are awful.

Wonderful advice, thank you

There are different kinds of people who want to be, or consider themselves, filmmakers. The transition between the one and the other (wanting to be and being) is usually the biggest challenge.

Those in the first group (who want to become filmmakers) fall in two groups:

1. People with many story ideas that they would like to transform into a film;
2. Those passionate about filmmaking as a craft, skill and process, who would love to get involved with it, learn the skills of script writing, directing, cinematography, editing, visual effects, but have a hard time coming up with ideas for projects that could take them to their goal.

Regardless of the group, the only true way to get from wanting to be a filmmaker to being a filmmaker is a short. Get a very short story, take it through the steps (outline, treatment, first draft, revisions, final draft), get a camcorder and friends and shoot it. A single-page script is enough; just shoot something and finish it. Even a 30-second short will still require taking it through all the stages of a filmmaking process. That process is quite well worked out and standardised, but there is plenty to learn. Reading books is great, but just like ANY complex and creative skill, most effective and longest lasting way to learn is by doing.

There is a kid on this forum who "spits out" a "movie" every Saturday. He has a bit of a chip on his shoulder (rebellious, geeky teen, it seems), but he's doing it, and it shows. And he clearly isn't spending ANY money. He is (most likely) using his dad's camcorder and tripod. His friends and himself are starring in the series, and they're doing it after school or on weekends. Their parents are feeding them and it's all being edited on his home computer. There are NO expenditures if you're a high school kid, working with other high school kids.

After spitting out eight or nine of short films, you are definitely absorbing the complex process of filmmaking and it is becoming routine. This makes the art of your filmmaking much easier to focus on.

Work on your "perfect" film as long as it takes to make it perfect, but try "spitting" out 3-5 page shorts once a week, or month, or two months. It is immensely rewarding and improves you as a filmmaker much more than you could possibly imagine. All of your skills get significantly better; you write better script, you direct actors better, you frame your shots better, you cut your shots better.

So, to make the long story short, as Corax suggested. He may be only 17 (and I may be 30 years older), but the point is very valid.

I'm sure we're all looking forward to your first offering.

Thank you, im already getting ideas for shorts.
By the way, what would be a good camcorder i can find on ebay, for about three hundred bucks? I say ebay because I dont mind if its used and im hoping for something HD. Any ideas?