Chris...

I undertook the art of direction this past summer in an abortive attempt to film Green River.  It was...well, it was fun.  Too bad my cast all acted like they were fucking movie stars.  My casting director re-wrote portions of the script without my authorization, my production designer took off for Job Corp with a three days forewarning, we ran out of money before we could procure the props (guns especially...25 dollars per gun per day to rent), and my "star" (the guy playing Saul) thinks he's Brad Pitt or something.

It was a learning experience.  I'd love to direct, but I want to wait until I'm better prepared to attack the process.  I was fortunate to have access to two high quality DV cameras, lighting rigs and cool locations.  I also had a videographer with experience on the project.

Sadly it all comes back to money, which I don't have much of.

Nah.  And I'm in a class for it.

Directing requires a helluva lot more than it takes to write a script.  Leadership, determination, focus, and a will to see your movie turn into something.  Regrettably, that's out of my league, but I encourage anyone else to take it on.  I dunno Chris....Daizen turned out good for two days worth of shooting in hasty conditions...lol

and Scott.  I feel for you.  It must have been really frustrating to have so many problems arise in your filming of Green River, which was a really good script by the way.  Hopefully your next aspiration won't be so unfortunate.

Much luck...

I haven't given up.  I have a new cast...GREEN RIVER might come to life after all...If I don't do it, no one will...thanks for your words of support.

yeah, wanna write, direct, act and produce. Soem of the best writers are directors, Cameron crowe, Woody Allen, the Coen brothers, Ingmar Begman. It's kind of like the singer/songwriter mould- think Bob Dylan. ;)

I'm going to be making my own animated series for download and watch with voice actors and all, each episode might be 25 megabites so if you don't have high speed internet or a lot of time you're out of luck

I'm just depending on my friend to send me the program

And when i finish my little "show" on the program I'll be back somewhere to ask for people who would like to lend there voices for characters

I am going to college in a attempt to become a director. I am a control freak and I just can't stand to see my ideas be torn apart (producers will probably do that, always someone higher up to ride your ass). I love the imagination and I believe I see things mentally to get what I want without to much help by others (indie films, this will help me). I love the whole process of directing and I have quirelled with an actors for a psychological flict I tried to make but my actors were just to frustrating and they said they wanted to wait tell spring because it was October and we needed good weather, resulting in us to pull out of it. I plan to film a horror film right after SAT's this year though. I am looking forward to, I have some clever tricks I developed without having to use a crap load of money and a expensive camera.

I hope to become a success later on in life and the right college and indie films are my first step this year. I hope to see you there. Peace!

I direct my shorts for school

I have light kits, gels, shotgun mics, boom mics, cannon GL2s, a Cannon XL, 16mm, Final Cut, a cast of friends that do terrific jobs acting.  After a few more semesters Ill burn my student shorts to  DVD.

I just started shooting my latest project this week, and it is going very well so far.

Making a feature length film with no budget imo is near impossible.  My plan to work hard on my student films, enter them in as many film festivals as possible, get my name out there.  Then build a portfolio of student films, feature length screenplays (in industry standard format of course) and get an agent to find producers and investors for my project.  You cant make a movie working a joe job and having actors who arent getting paid.  You need money to hire actors and money to live on while you make your film.


My last film "Dirt Lucky" was chosen out of my entire school to be in the film festival.  It was about the life of a 20$.  I followed it around for a day through a slew of scumbags and misfits, and it had a twist ended.  My teachers apparently thought it to be the best in the school, as it was submitted to represent my college.

I also have a mentor who is a proffession film maker.  I get to PA for him, hold mics, do-boy type stuff but its a foot in the door.

wow....quite a load of equipment you got there....
niiiice

That film about the 20$ bill sounds sweet. Was there a script for it, or did oyu post it online?

no, i dont post shorts, i only am interested in features

these are just for school

the 20$ one is silent, as that semester all of our project were no audio.  They wanted us to learn how to convey story with no dialogue.  This semester though I have audio and mics.

Dirty Lucky didnt have a script, it was more of a shot list.  This one im doing has a script but its only 6 pages and I dont really need like feedback or anything, i have teachers and im already shooting it.

thats sweet
are you like the main guy that does these?

everyone in class does their own projects

Dirt Lucky i had a partner, but only to get double the equiptment time...I wrote it and all my friends were in it, he didnt really do anything.  But i didnt mind crediting him as co director, everyone knows it was my idea and MY friends in it.  I just needed more time.

ahh....i see

ya know, depending on your friends to show up and be actors sucks.  If only I had money to hire actual actors, I wouldnt be nearly as stressed out.

hahhhaaha

well you have to find friends who WANT to act in your movies.....or else theres not motivation

after i finish one project, everyone wants to be in the next one.


Then when it comes time to shoot and I ask them to give me their schedule when they can shoot, they committ.  Then comes the day and they say "ohh..i ..i think im going to the beach..." 

they want to, but when it comes down to it they want to be on screen but not do any work.  I hate this.  When your friends have crazy schedules, its near impossible to get say 5 of them at the same place at the same time for an entire day.

I agree, I have these great ideas but none will do them for "we might get arrested" or "i don't like him, i won't act with him" and other stupid crap that my friends make up even though they can't act their way out of a closet. I freakin' hate the process but I don't want to work with the druggy, low life, gothic, skateboarding morons at school so I will have to do. At least I have saved enough money to fund my own projects and I can be very convincing and aggressive while directing but my friends hate is I make them do the lines over and over and over again tell I feel some sort of intensity and the chance of reaching that level is like hitting a three-pointer at half court while playing the game for the first time. It is a lucky shot but sometimes it goes in and you have a winner unforunetely, it is usually not on camera and you never get it and feel bad. Well that is my couple pieces of mindless jabber, night.

If you are shooting digitally film ALL THE TIME! Even when it is rehearsal. That way if some greatness comes you have it and can delete the other junk.

I want to write a COOL low budget script. The action script my friend and I were gonna make bombed when the snow melted. So i am moving on to try and find a new plot line that can be filmed with a minimum number of actors.

that's a good idea...

i figure, if Evil Dead can become such a hit, than there's an off-chance a coupla kids can make something relatively similar....

if not better!!! mwahhahhaha!!

.....but i'm getting ahead of myself.

that was SO not my fault....scott is simply bad at handling sharp things....soo....

muzzle flashes are difficult, but we should actually try out a gun fight with them and see how it turns out....

sword fights....agreed, to many nicks and dents.....we need to come up with a good way of making wooden ones look like real ones.....

excellent.....so i was thinking....kenny's got Adobe Photoshop 7.0 or something....
since i have more patience than him, i've got some ideas for special effects....all i gotta do is get the program...

like using the program in the same way he made lightsabers of drum sticks to make sticks that look like swords look like...um.....swords....only better...or something like that

Director is what I want to be. Nothing but that. Noting can be harder than that.

I remember this:

"If I am a dreamer. I'm not the only one."

I once filmed a black-and-white short with tiny toy aliens.  I did a lot of the voices too.  It was really funny.  If I ever find that video tape, I'm going to have to upload it to the internet for all to see...  

...and risk demolishing your reputation.  Just kidding.  I'd love to direct some day,

I've made three or four short films with only two actors. There are two hitmen films, a zombie film, a reality tv show in space (three people), a martial arts tournament flick and a killer movie.

Me and my friend (only two of us) have made quite a few shorts. We're working on our longest right now, a half hour samurai flick. We do pretty good, we shoot real fast and just get whatever we think will work, then I edit it all together at the end. So far we're at the 15 minute mark (non-stop fighting and such, yay!) and we've come out of it intact. Though I did take a good hit to the head that knocking me into the side of a tree. One for the blooper reel.

As soon as I head off to college then it'll really start, because I'll have more people to use--I mean, hire. With just two people it's hard to do anything but kill one another.

I made a short flick where I only had three people. It was just a kill after kill script, so after the hero killed the two people I had to dress the other two guys up in different clothing then kill them again. And the short turned out to be only about 5 minutes.

That's what we did one time, only it was just me. And I was wearing the same red jacket every time. We just said they were clones and went from there.

In almost all of my stuff, there's always some continuity error that we end up masking with improv. Clothes, accents, and weather that constantly changed became one of the key aesthetic features in "Six Twenty Five" (lets write a normal script and then f*** with it as much as possible), my first film.

Hi,

I was just reading your posts, and I must say that I wish I had the contacts that most of you people seem to have. I'm pretty much a lonely writer with no big bucks to actually make a feature. Currently though I am writing my first full length feature, titled "The Haunted." And I think having practically no budget has given me a lot of creativity when I write. Like for instance, I can't put in large special effects, but I can write a suspenseful scene where nothing is seen, only heard. I love that type of scene.

As for directing, well I for one wouldn't allow anyone to film something I wrote. I would want to direct it because I know how I want it to look. I know the feel of the story. Like I read above a few of you had problems where other people changed your work. No, not me, it's either me directing my own script, or it's nothing. Maybe I'm too stiff in my stance about it, but it's just how I feel as a writer.

Anyway, that's my two cents =0)

J.F.

http://hometown.aol.com/joecartoon131

Hi. I'm Ian. I plan to direct two shorts next year.

Tomorrow

The good, the bad, and the ugly days of a relationship coming to a close, played out to the harrowing tune of Tomorrow (Avril Lavigne)

Shadow & Bobcat

The tale of two disgraced Paranormal Investigators who take on a cas that backfires royally.

I would like to become a director one day as said in one of the other topics. I'm not following an education in movie stuff just yet. First my degree right? The reason why I wanna become a director one day is well I came up with this idea since I was 14. At first my brother showed also intrest in it but he backed up and letted my down as he always did. But also want to become one to make people listen to me since no one does here where I live. No one seems interested in what I try to reach. So if that's the only way to make people listen to me, I sure wanna try it. It's also the way the have it my way.

Go for it.

Just make them. Let everyone else flaunt over your work when you've finished it. Experience is key.

What do you mean "listen to you"?
It's not a soap box.

Unless you want to write your scripts as well.

Right!! Of course I write my own scripts. Experience is the key, I know. Besides a little writing experience, don't got any yet, I hope soon enough. It's not I wanna make big epics if I can reach the level of the average actionflicks, like Lethal Weapon, I think I've reached more then enough. I'm always in for a buddy cop film. Only one I didn't really like and that was Hollywood Homicide too much plotholes I guess. Too much unexplained things.

I'm still confused as to what you mean by make people listen to you.

Well maybe not really MAKING them listening to me, but they'll have to do it my way, the way it is written in the script.

Someone:
So, you're not talking about messages to your audience, you're more talking about control over the project.

Well, as the director of your own work, you will have a lot of control.

I can tell you, honestly, that you need to read up on this subject because it sounds like you don't know what you are doing or want to do.

I find its very hard to be in anything I write, because, to quote Zach Braff, one eye is always on the camera.

Bryy sorry if I sound a bit confusing but I'm a bit... well maybe I'm looking a bit too far ahead and get too overzealous. I got to calm down a little and think everything over again.
Heretic, so you think Richard Donners level higher then I think? You might be right. Dude what would've you said if I said I'm trying to reach James Cameron's level or Peter Jacksons level? I'm actually still a very very big nobody.
I better take everything one step at the time and I'll get there when the time is ripe. I'm only 17 still goes to school every day and I'm already trying to figure out a scenario for when I get into Hollywood which can take another ten years.

Someone - don't think about it like that. Just write the work. Don't think about fame and fortune yet. Hone your craft.

Thx Chilli I will. Hopefully. I'm still puzzeling things out.

Wow that one minute short sounds really cool! If you ever can, you should post it up, I'd love to watch it.

For Someone- Rather than thinking that you're too young to start, that you should just wait another ten years, blah blah, you should just go for it now. Write scripts, participate in making films, go to and volunteer at festivals, watch movies. Just learn as much has you can and when you feel ready and at your best, make your film. You can't think of yourself as a nobody, but you have to already see yourself as a screenwriter, a filmaker. If you're young, then that's the best time to start cause you have a whole life ahead of you! Well thats my two cents on for you. :p

Anyways, I've helped out in several films. Two being a sort of educational short (becoming an episodic I believe) for little kids. It actually won many awards and the director finally recieved funding from a big production so she's making her third one and she's hoping that it becomes an episodic series. Anyways, I'm helping out with that, can't wait until it starts again. I helped out on a couple student films as well, I think the directors are trying to send it out. And yeah, I've always thought that if I was to make one of my films, I would want to direct it myself. But I guess most screenwriters think that way, because it's your work and you don't want to see someone twist your vision.

EsKayEye,

Are you kidding me? 20$

Twenty Bucks (1993) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0108410/

The film follows a $20 bill from its ATM birth to its eventual demise. Along the way, the note weaves in and out of the lives of a street person, an aspiring writer, a stripper, two thieves, and many others in surprising and inventive ways.

Quite a coincidence eh? Or is it?

i still have to see that, heretic.

and what's cool about the one minute short film things, is a lot of them don't require any dialogue (as a mandatory requirement, i mean) so you could basically just film 60 seconds of random footage.

i like that idea.  of course, i love dialogue, but when they dispense with the restrictive force that it can transform into, you can experiment with other aspects of film.

Quoted from Paula-Hanes, posted September 12th, 2004, 9:21pm at here EsKayEye, Are you kidding me? 20$ Twenty Bucks (1993) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0108410/ The film follows a $20 bill from its ATM birth to its eventual demise. Along the way, the note weaves in and out of the lives of a street person, an aspiring writer, a stripper, two thieves, and many others in surprising and inventive ways. Quite a coincidence eh? Or is it?

wow that is quite a coincidence, and I must say I must see this movie now.  Mine was only 7 minutes.  I was trying to think about my project, and I was watching "the man show" and in the begining, the beer mug is followed around by its point of view and different people drink it ect.  I had the idea of following around a 20 that goes through a bunch of different scumbags, and eventually winds up back to the person that wrote "Luck" on it in the first place.  I also had the begining of Snatch in mind where the camera weaves through the different characters in the opening montage.  Its not like mine was anything but a student project though.  That idea im sure has been thought of by many people who handle money and give change, ect.  I can see where more than one person has thought about where money goes ect.

I would like to be a director..  Or some other part of the creative part of actually making the movie.  But I lack a certain thing called motivation..  So I won't try and make it happen for myself.  I'm a person that will wait to see if someone feels sorry for me and gives me a chance to do something.  

I'm hoping to codirect a flick called Retribution.

This is Taj a. w. I own my own production company and am currently Directing my firt script that is being produced right now. I own C.E.P. I'm the Writer/Director/Producer...This is because you can't find good writers living in Northern Virginia. lol.

well my utterly terrible story the Shiyashu Dispute (rivalled in horribleness to the infamous and controversial "What the Hell was That?") has been filmed.

i'm officially throwing in the towel on screenwriting for quite a while
hahaha

Quoted from TheParadoxicalShaman Directing requires a helluva lot more than it takes to write a script.  Leadership, determination, focus, and a will to see your movie turn into something.

I disagree.  

How so?

I am interested in directing. I wrote Escape From Heaven and Dust To Dust (in the proces of being rewritten).

I have directed commercials.

One way or another, I plan to direct every script I write. I'd hate to see anyone ruin what I worked so hard on.

To throw in my two cents, I believe writing and directing take some special skills that aren't always inherent in the same person. Sometimes directors can write and sometimes writers can direct, but inevitably they will be one over another. The two jobs require skills on nearly opposite ends of the spectrum. They both take a creative vision to bring an idea to life, but while the writer contructs the world from scratch, the director must take the concept and make it real. The writer must create characters that you can believe, but the director must take actors and make the characters believable. The writer uses a dramatic arc to tell a riveting story. The director must use his crew to make sure that story translates to the screen. The writers uses the proverbial pen, while the director uses people.

I wouldn't regard one as more difficult than the other. They are both workers in a large process where each person brings their own skill to the table to make something. No one compares the cinematographer to the costume designer. They're both vastly different jobs. Sure, some people could do both, but others excel at one or the other. Why compare the director to the writer? It's the same deal.