Hi,
My name is Navi. I'm 19 years old and I'm from India. I just completed my course in acting and I'm now making a short film.
Well, I direct and write stuff, too besides acting. So, about the genre, I did a research on short films on the internet and I found people saying that go for a comedy if it's your first film.
But, I had this idea of making a serious issue based movie about the student life in India.
Moreover, people were also cautioning me about the length. I'm thinking of keeping it to 6 minutes (credits included), just in case if I send it to a festival or something.
So, I'm not sure if I'll be able to pull off that movie in 6 minutes.
I also had this great idea about a comedy. It's basically a satire on method acting (I love it, btw). I've been pretty good with sarcasm and all and I used to write articles for a magazine and they got a good response.
But, I'm thinking that people won't take my next movies seriously. I'll probably not make comedies in future as I'm more of a "serious movies" director. As in, I'll be typecast or something. Maybe, I'm thinking too much.
Please give your views.
Welcome Navi!
If you want to make serious films, make serious films. If you feel like doing a comedy, make a funny movie. Don't worry about it! Is there really such a thing as a "best genre" to start in? I certainly don't think so. There are filmmakers who stay only in one genre, and others who span multiple ones. I would say to commit to what you feel the most strongly about. You can always change your direction in films, don't worry about what the audience might think about that: people just like to simplify things and thus don't like it when someone does something to challenge that view (like a horror filmmaker making a comedy, or a dramatic filmmaker making a parody, etc.). I would say pursue what you want to pursue. 🙂
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http://vimeo.com/corax
Are you only going to make one movie in your life?
My point is you can make several movies. Make an issue based
movie AND make a comedy. But if you only want to make serious
movies then drop the comedy. If in three years or three months
you decide you want to make a comedy; you can.
Regarding length. What you need to do is watch a lot of short films.
Let's say 30 to start. Randomly pick 30 short films and watch each
of them all they way through. Don't pick based on what you like or
the length, just randomly pick 30 different short films. Then you
will know what length YOU prefer. If you find most of the longer
short films are keep your attention then you'll know you can make
a longer movie. I suspect you will find that the movie in the 5 to
8 minute range are the best. But you won't know until you try it.
Challenging yourself is a good thing. Try to make a serious based
movie about the student life in India in 6 minutes. I bet if you
really put your creative mind and talent to the task you could do
it. But if you can't then what ever length you end up with is the
best you can do.
Then you make another movie.
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The aim of an argument or discussion should not be victory, but progress.
Joseph Joubert, essayist (1754-1824)
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The aim of an argument or discussion should not be victory, but progress.
Joseph Joubert, essayist (1754-1824)
If you're making shorts, the first dozen or so would be bad, but so what? You're learning, and that's what's important.
In the meantime, don't let that interfere with your schooling. 🙂
Yeah, I think you guys are right. I'll probably make both.
Right now, I started working on a 1 minute short film for a competition. Any tips?
