Want to make a movie? You can!
Just keep in mind: filming a movie takes a while, involving the following:
• Development
• Pre-production
• Post-production
• Film festivals
• Marketing, and so on.
So, how can you succeed in directing a movie?
In this quick guide, we’ll show you the 5 steps in filmmaking, and how you can succeed in all 5. Let’s get started!
1. Study Human Behavior
“Getting to know your characters means to study human behavior,” says Phil Jefferson, a business writer at Essayroo and Via Writing. “When studying human behavior while looking at your characters, know what makes them tick, and why they do what they do. By answering those questions, you’ll make your characters more believable to your audience.”
2. Learn The Story
Characters aside, you’ll also need to know the story that you want to convey on film. Story involves the setting, characters, and what they’re up against. With that said, here are the factors that you’ll need to figure out when fitting your story and characters together:
• Point of a scene
• The purpose of this story
• What the scene beats are
• The climax
• How everything is resolved
• The dialogue
3. Learn About Using Montage
The principle of montage allows film makers to produce certain emotions from the audience by ensuring that the actor is guided through his or her performance. By implementing montages, the director can create the following:
• Good visuals for the script
• Good camera placement
• Layer actors’ performances
• The ability to block scenes (which we’ll discuss later on in this guide)
4. Learn About The Camera
Evoking emotions from viewers should be your goal when filming a movie.
First, think about the 3 angles views that you’ll need to convey with a camera:
• Objective (Point of view, or POV, for audience)
• Subjective – The viewer’s “eyes” (the film camera)
• Point of view – What a character sees
Plus, keep in mind that there are various camera lens to consider when filming:
• The Lenses either expand or compress space. In other words, you’re choosing a certain space that a shot should take place in. Think how intimate that you want to be with a character, and how to do so visually
• Depth is a part of visual storytelling, because it creates an illusion in a 2D medium, where you can block scenes with an eye for depth – either Foreground, Midground and Background.
• Focus is essential when directing the audience’s attention while telling a visual story. This is called a focal point.
• Framing refers to what the shot is about.
• Motion involves the camera moving to follow a scene and characters. Whether it’s to follow the action, reveal information, etc. the camera must move.
5. Learn About Blocking And Staging
“Blocking refers to how the position of the camera relates to the physical movement of the actors on screen,” says Candice Charles, an arts blogger at Simple Grad and Essay Services. “When a director plans to block a film scene, not only are they thinking about their shots and camera positions, but also on other factors such as the lighting, vehicles, windows, stunts, special effects, time and budget, extras, and other stuff.”
When blocking, your viewers will understand the following:
• What’s important in the scene;
• What the scene is about; AND
• What the needs and wants are for the characters
To have viewers understand the above factors, a director must be able to convey a character’s thoughts or emotions through actions, since actions speak louder than dialogue. When looking at action, know:
• Why a character is moving
• Where they’re moving to
• How they’re moving, AND
• When they’re doing it
When figuring out how to block scenes, you’re driving things emotionally so that the action feels real. It’s like solving a puzzle – you’ll have to adjust the blocking at your discretion. Once you figure it out, the whole scene will fall into place.
Conclusion
As you can see, there’s more to filming than just picking up a camera and shooting a scene or two. In fact, it takes definite and deep consideration as to what your film will be about, who the characters are, what the focal point is, etc. So, by learning the 5 steps from this essential guide, you’ll succeed in your filming endeavors, and learn to tell great stories for the big screen.
So, be sure to have fun, and … LIGHTS, CAMERA, and ACTION!
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