Many people go into business of making videos and films, believing that pointing the camera in one direction and pressing record is the way filmmaking works. Unfortunately, this idea is hugely misleading since filmmaking is not only about pointing your camera in one direction and recording whatever happens in front of it. Of course, there are some documentary filmmakers, who simply point cameras in one direction and record the events happening in front of them. However, for the purpose of this blog, we are talking about narrative filmmaking that requires much more planning and pre-production. First of all, you need to have a reason why you want to point the camera in that particular direction and why not opposite. What is in that frame that will give your audience information and understanding of the story, character motivation, and actions? Before you start setting up your framing, you should always consider if that particular frame is going to move the story forward, add something new to the story and is not random or accidental. Whatever makes …

Telling a story, developing a story, organising production, selling the finished product, finding the audience; all those elements are part of every filmmaking process. Unfortunately, nowadays it seems that quite many filmmakers have forgotten that having the newest or most expensive equipment is not the beginning, the middle, or the end of the filmmaking process. Every production stage needs focus, understanding, knowledge and time to be developed, brainstormed and re-worked if necessary.  A lot of people think that the fancier the equipment one has, the better the product will be. Maybe visually the project you work on can be on the higher end, but there are lots of questions you, a filmmaker, need to answer before you start setting up your shots: – What is your story about? – How are the characters developed in your story? – Is the story coherent? – What is your budget? – How are you going to market your film to your audience? – Who is your target audience? If the story is not strong and developed enough, no amount of …

Spike Lee is an American film director, producer, writer and actor. He is known for such films as: “She’s Gotta Have It”, “Do the Right Thing”, “Malcolm X” and, most recently, “BlackkKlansman”.  Spike always dedicates one notebook, in which he collects ideas for a story, names of the characters, dialogue, plot points, etc. Once the notebook is filled up, he transfers all those ideas into the index cards. He puts the index cards in order, in which he would like the story to go. This process helps him visualize the story. At the same time as working on the fictional elements of the story, Spike is also doing his research (of course if this is what his story requires). The research combined with the fictional elements of the story gives him enough material to start writing the script. He believes that everyone should devote specific time of the day to just writing the script without any external interruptions such as: emails, phone calls or social media. Find out more about writing and filmmaking at Indie …