If you are a teen filmmaker, or really just any filmmaker starting off, then in all honesty you should live by the phrase “smaller is better.” Now what exactly does that mean? Basically, the smaller the project the is, the better. Why you may ask? Is our goal not to make feature films in Hollywood? Why not work on big projects?
Yes, we do want to work on bigger projects AS WE GO ON. When we are just starting out, we don’t need to be making thirty minute or hour long films that require a big budget. For example, my first short film that I plan on making is called “TEXTING” (working title). It’s a simple story about a father and son sending text messages back and forth during a football game as they sit inside different homes (and of course, there’s a twist at the end to make things more interesting 🙂 ).  That film is at most going to be around three minutes long, including credits. The script is short and the dialogue is minimum. It’s something that I can easily make with what I have and no budget. Instead of paying to shoot at a location, I can just shoot in my own house and maybe a neighbor’s house. Also, I don’t need a large cast of people. I need a little boy, a man, and a woman. Simple enough, I can just go find people from my church who are into acting. And no RED cameras or Arri Alexa’s for this project. I’m just shooting on my T3i with a nifty fifty and a Zoom H1. Get my cell phone and one of my parent’s cell phones and BOOM, we have a short film.
What I’m saying is: do well with what you have before going any further. Just this morning, I saw a Youtube video of a 15 year old unboxing a Red Scarlet! 15 years old and buying a RED camera?! I’m 15 and I have no idea where he got that money from, unless he had been saving for like ten years! But, guess what, when he got the camera up and running, he had a nifty fifty mounted onto it. Now, there’s no real problem with that; it’s a perfectly fine lens. However, investing in a ten to sixteen THOUSAND dollar camera is just stupid if you are just going to slap a cheap $100 plastic lens on it! He spent all that money on a camera and basically nothing on a lens, making the camera purchase almost pointless! That’s a result of trying to go to far to soon; you end up looking like an idiot putting a $100 lens on a RED camera!
The only thing that I can say is absolutely worth investing in EARLY is a audio. Audio is such a major part of your productions that you can really pass with any sort of clear picture with good audio. I would recommend you get a Zoom H1 and use that for a little while. It’s only $100 and it’s a very versatile mic; great for dialogue, sound effects, and much more. And I’m not just saying that because it’s one of the microphones I personally own ;). Â Audio and lighting, the only two things that are worth investing in early.
Also, don’t try to do a project early that requires locations (which cost money) and tons of actors (especially pros, which cost money most of the time). Do projects that you can shoot at your house or a friend’s house with just you and some people you know. Don’t worry, you WILL get to work on bigger projects with a big budget and fancy cameras. FOR NOW, though, just stick to trying to tell a good story with what you have. If your story is truly great, it won’t matter what it was shot with.
Teen Filmmaker 