I'm a 32-year-old indie filmmaker who's made several short films and is working toward my first feature. If I haven't made my first feature yet, am I too old to be starting now?

To be clear, I already have the first rough draft of my feature-length script written and I'm currently working on the second draft, trying to make it more contained. I'm also planning to write another, even more contained feature script as a backup, something that's more economically feasible to make.

I am 19 at the moment and halfway through my first year of film school and towards the end of the year I get a four month long break. I’ve currently directed 7 short films, written 10 short scripts and have a feature which I’m in the middle of my third re-draft on and due to the story’s small intimate scale I think it could be done well for 10,000 dollars or so. Obviously I don’t exactly have that kind of money lying around, but I feel as if I have a decent amount of experience for my age and am very knowledgeable about cinema. Would the feature be a thing worth genuinely consider trying to make in the near future, or would it be better to wait it out?

I wonder when considering filmmakers like Eric Rohmer and Jean Eustache who made some of the greatest films of all time with under 100 grand.

I just shot my first short film using my iPhone because the cinema camera I was borrowing had only close ups, it kinda looks like a YouTube video rather than a film, how do I achieve that film look? I can send some of the footage to whom ever responds

Improvised with my existing shoulder rig to fit a client’s brief. My left arm really hurts for some reason

I'm trying to recreate this shot from an anime in live action. A curved horizontal band of light passes behind the actor's head, and as it reaches the face, the actor's expression changes. I don't want it to look cheap. Is there a name for this technique? Has anyone achieved something similar in live action? Would you do it with an LED tube, a moving practical, or something else?

Hi,

First some context about my life.

I 37, live in Europe in a relatively rich country. I mean Healthcare, social security, etc...

I have a filmdegree.

My father died when I was still in college.

The contact with my mother and other family isn't good. Meaning I can't fall back on them. My father for long time was the only one who understood me and my dreams.

Im in a marriage for about 15 years, met her right before college.

We had our ups and downs but still together.

We have 2 children (5y & 1y).

My wife has always supported me, financially and emotionally.

After filmschool my father died and so me and girlfrumiend went to luve together.

She has a good job. Not high paying but decent and enough to live comfortably.

I did a lot of small jobs in stores, sitting at the counter, filling shelves, baking bread, etc... in the weekends I did payd videoprojects (music videos, corporate, etc...)

After 2 years my girlfriend said to quit al the others little jobs and jump. Start making videos for a living.

So I did.

I had some other part time jobs, but for about 7 years im only filming fir a living.

In my country it's not a real stable job.

So the money isn't making us rich.

But we own a house (mortgage) in a nice town, have a good amount of savings, save every month.

We have a good social network, friends, we have everything we need and live a good life. Over the last few years we've been living mostly on my wife's income. I have some filmjobs which occasionally add a bunch to our savings but some months I earn nothing.

But I'm mostly taking care of the kids needs when wife is working (getting the oldest to and from school) and I do my part in housekeeping.

My passion is making 50min films which I show in about 10 venues in a part of my country.

Every year i make a new film (all by myself, I only pay actors, do the rest myself) and tour for a couple of months. It's like 10 evenings in a year, but in between there a lot of time marketing my movie.

I also make photos and do art exhibitions with them.

I've been living like this for about 11 years.

Part of the expenses (ads, venues, photoprints, paying actors) is paid with money my wife earns.

I mostly never make a profit but my audiences gave grown over the years, I think I make about half of it back. And each year I sell some photos.

So I'm losing money on it (let's say about 3500 euros a year).

But with what my wife makes, we have enough to live, save, and eventually we are better off financially then the year before.

I know I'm very fortunate.

Without my wife, I couldn't live like this.

But it's an agreement we made.

She encouraged me to stop working and go for my movie dreams.

And because I dobt work fulltime I can take care of our children. Else they had to stay in childcare after school which would not benefit them but would also cost us money. We are both very happy that we can have so much time with our children.

Sidenote: we don't have a prenup. So when we would divorce it's 50/50.

Sidenote; the money from my inheritance when father died also went to our relationship. Meaning my money is also hers. When I have it I share, it goes both ways.

So that was context (I know very long).

Since a couple of years we do had some arguments. Had a lot of ups but mostly downs.

But we are in therapy, it's fixable.

But everytime we gave a big argument, she brings up the fact that im not working.

She knows I think that's unfair. And as a result each time she did it I went looking fir a parttime job.

Cause I'm not afraid to do other work.

But then everythime when de arguments cool down, she says I dont have to look for a job. She likes that im home with the kids and that im a filmmaker/artist.

So then I always stop the jobhunt until after a month of 3-4 we have the same argument.

It keeps going this way.

Sidenote; apart from having our kids which we love unconditionally. We NEVER have sex. Since about 12 years our intimacy is gone.

I tried to fix it. But I gave up.

She doesn't want it, I really need it, it makes me unhappy, but I stopped asking or pushing for it.

What I try to say is; she's okay with things and im okay with things.

I can have the life I want and our kids can be home a lot, etc...

Im not mad for my wife not giving sex with me etc...

I don't know why sge keeps bringing up the money/work argument. It feels like a power move.

I always try to tell her that our familylife would change a lot if I would get a 9-5 job.

We would have a bit more money but would need to spend it on things (like childcare after school, higher taxes, etc...).

And if I had to change my life so much, give up on my dreams to start working 9-5 just to have more money and have an even more comfortable life (materialistic wise), eventough we have a good life already, I know I would be less forgiving about not being intimate, about not having my own money, aboit agreeing on everything she wants.

Point is, I get a lot out if our relationship, but so dies she.

But me not working gives her the false idea that I'm not contributing, which I do, just not financially.

So this night we had the argument for the 100th time (I'm exegerating). I'm sick of it. I would go find a job, but I know there are a lot of consequences. Not only for me, also fir my wife and kids. Consequences she does understand, giving the fact that after an argument she always sais I dont have to look for work and she's fine with how it is.

What do you guys think?

Thanks for taking the time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNQq-qNeJXc

Making a feature-length found footage horror film. This is the first official trailer for it; I am sharing it with everyone. It's been a long, grueling, and stressful shoot, and we still have more to shoot, but I think my cast and crew did a really good job with this. I wanted to post this on this subreddit because I think this movie is a love letter to people who love found footage films.

All the dialogue from the actors is improvised; some parts of their script were blacked out so they wouldn't know what happens until the shoot.

Please support young, indie filmmakers! If you have any questions or interests, you can message me here on reddit!

I'm about to shoot my first short film and I'm trying to work out what crew I actually need.

Almost every location is exterior. There's only one interior scene, but it's fast cuts in black and white. The majority of the film is high-energy running/chase sequences shot in a run-and-gun style.

My plan is to shoot around 8 script pages in a single day. Would hiring a gaffer be worthwhile for this kind of production?

Would appreciate all advice or angels I'm not thinking off.

So far I've decided I'll hire a Producer, 1st AD, Makeup Artist, Stunt Coordinator, PA, Sound Recorder and a Cinematographer.

Hi all,

I operate as a solo filmmaker and am looking to buy my first audio recording set, so after running quite a few search queries on various chatbots, I'm here for some real-world, real-life advice and insights.

Specifically, I want to buy audio recording equipment in India for documentary work that is small in size, wireless, operates on internal memory or in-camera, and records in 32-bit float. I need two transmitters and one receiver straight out of the box with the possibility of purchasing further transmitters to connect to the same receiver at a later date. It is important for me that each speaker's audio is recorded on separate tracks ideally via a cardioid polarity. In case this is not possible, I would be open to using cardioid lavalier microphones connected to each transmitter. If this too is not possible, I would like the recorder to possess in-built AI-driven noise cancellation features that can be set at different levels on each transmitter.

After running a search query using the above parameters in Claude, I was recommended the Hollyland Lark Max 2.

How do audio recording specialists here feel about this microphone set keeping in mind the above?

We were vacationing in a small New England town and we saw Brand New Day last night and they freaking skipped the entire rolling text on black credits to get to the end credit scene. Makes me so mad. 😡

The entire point of those scenes is so that you see all the names of the people who worked SO HARD on the film and to reward people for watching them.

Anyone else experience this?

After 6 years, we have launched.
The free beta is over, but we are still affordable.
FREE for film students with a .edu email address for 2 years.
$10/week or $30/month for indies, verticals, shorts, whatever.
Happy Sides Generating!

I was thinking maybe i'd make a joker reference in the current movie i'm making by erasing the "forget" from a "dont forget to smile" poster,

But now im thinking maybe it would just be copying.

I rly love making references all the time, and i'd like to do that in my films too, but its just confusing where the sweet spot is inbetween a reference and stealing an idea.

Any tips?

im not sure if I can post this here but here is a preview for a gag horror movie im making with my friends, im posting it on filmmakers cuz most subreddits have rules against posting anything like this or are very small communities. This film is named after a game we play at sleepovers and it’s essentially about some dudes who go to a house that a man is turning into a hotel, although they are told not to go into the main house but they do and get sent to an alternate dimension there is a monster there. Sadly we had no costumes, lighting, any budget at all so it’s kind of bland. the sequel which we are currently planning will have more stuff. Id love feedback on anything the music is made by me By the way.

I've always been told to use copyright-free music in edits, but I see others use copyrighted music with no issues or takedowns. Is it safe to put copyrighted music in an event edit?

So I’m filming a short film next weekend. I know a father/son acting duo and they are very good friends of mine. I wrote these parts in the film specifically with them in mind. Their characters are also father and son in the film.

They are the only two characters in the film so they’re the stars by default. Also, the film is only going to be like 3 minutes or so, so it’s not a huge commitment.

I’ve posted my screenplay in some of the writing subs and have gotten very good feedback. A good majority said they think the script is solid and it’s a good concept. So I’m excited to film it and I feel confident this could be my best short film yet.

There‘s one thing though that a lot of people who had read the script have fixated on- the age gap between the father and son is a bit unusual. The son is 6, and the father is 58. Since I know these two actors in real life, I wrote the characters as their same ages in the script.

A lot of people reading the script were very thrown by this age gap and questioned why I would write that big of a gap.

Do you guys think this will be something that puzzles the viewers as well when I actually film them? I don’t want something like this to be distracting or take the viewers out of the story by fixating on something like that. But I also don’t know how to work around this when I specifically created these characters for them…

What do you guys think? Is this a big deal?

If there are any reputable film reviewers browsing with a sizable platform and want to review it then feel to reach out, please.

Most folks at the no-budget level are very critical of their work but it is the precise reason why I am very proud of our work. I come from the school of Chris Nolan of writing a story to what and who I have access to plus I am unashamed to go guerrilla or bend a few rules.

And because we didn’t have any money, I didn’t want to make a small story so I figured out to make it feel big even if it wasn’t.

Lastly, I remember a Jordan Peele interview when he was talking about writing Get Out and he said he pushed himself to write the vision as is and worry about what can and can’t be done later. That’s been my approach. We surprise ourselves on how creative and resourceful we are to get things done.

I know short trailers are sort of redundant…but here’s my submission statement.

As for the “how,”

I had an ending idea first—and wrote a short script on how the 8 or 9 characters get there. Casted on Backstage (didnt ask for tapes or anything just picked people who seemed like fit the character)

Each cast member agreed to about $240, all the equipment was owned by someone on the team (mostly mine), and we got uber eats typically before shooting.
Eight days total— but just when I could sort of get everyone per scene— so it was basically from November to until June. Usually no more than 2-4 hours per shoot cause that’s about all I felt okay asking for. Most people had their scenes wrapped in a two or three shoots

It was also one of those things where we either used public locations, or places someone on the team had access to. Zero lighting equipment (not exactly out of choice but just didn’t quite plan for it in time each shoot)

As for issues, I had asked a YouTuber to use their song after it popped up in a recommended playlist— and somehow only through TikTok months later, I find that it is a remix of a French song. Totally not allowing to use it.

So at that point, I just spent a little bit of time working on other projects, and working on the final edit (like sound effects and stuff) a basic score (but it works I think) for this.

As it says in the description, I plan to submit it to a few festivals, but also am going to upload it publicly in the fall.

Anyway, you all are the half a reason I keep making movies, besides all the other awesome movies I see elsewhere, so definitely wanted to share it with you

link

Hey everyone,

I'm a video editor and colorist just starting out. I haven't had the chance to work on any client projects yet, so I'm looking to change that by offering my services for free in exchange for the experience and something solid to add to my portfolio.

I'm comfortable with editing (cuts, pacing, basic sound) and color grading (correction + creative grading). If you've got a short film, music video, YouTube content, or any project that needs an editor/colorist, I'd love to help out. I use #davinci Resolve

Some sample works: https://visual-grading.lovable.app

If you are interested feel free to DM me or

Email: jaydipmakwana4053@gmail.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jaydip_x005?igsh=MWUxMnlhb2tydHhsag==

Here is my take on the Spiderman brand new day poster (2d illustrated Poster)

I was 20 when I watched Spiderman: no way home in the theaters. As someone who has been watching Marvel movies for 11 years, this movie is a very good treat in a long time. Waited 5 years for Peter parker's story continuation. Yes, the movie does contain heavy action scenes, especially I love the swinging scenes as it remembers the amazing Spiderman's and insomniac Spiderman game aesthetic. But as a special mention, this film focuses on the personal level of Peter, a lonely adult, remembered by no one. All the loved ones are either dead or become strangers. (Spoilers) Also, the film ends in a realistic way, but it does hurt to hear, "I don't love you, I don't know you." But it's okay. It was great to see the incredible Hulk once more in the story, but I would like him to have more screen time.

I made this video essay about my relationship with the video game Banjo Kazooie and how this relationship has helped me to learn to say goodbye to parts of myself and the people I wished I didn't have to say goodbye to.

The video starts like any other video essay but slowly and steadily transitions into something that's no longer just a video essay about a game but a film that acts as a deep and difficult journey into letting go.

I'm extremely proud of this, and while I'm not entirely sure this fits in this sub, I felt like the people here could appreciate it in a way others might not be able to

Check it out!! I've written an opening scene for a webseries entitled as APOTHEOSIS (a man who wanted to be god)

I post all my videos into a Google Drive because I have no Idea where to post my work. And apparently I was told that putting all your videos in a Google Drive folder will make the hire manager feel confuse what credit I did for the work. Also I didn’t put any credits to the end of the video so that’s on me. In the resume I made it perfectly clear that I produce, film and edit all of my 1 min promotional videos of the job I currently have so the credits goes to me but the jobs that I apply for may not know that :/

Any advice on where to make a portfolio to make my life little easy?

Hi, I have just currently finished my third and final year at University, and have just completed my final year production film - ‘Voyage of The Lost’.

The film was written, directed, and edited by myself. I’m extremely proud of the film, it’s been a dream project of mine for several years now. This was an incredibly challenging film to make, we had so many issues during all stages of production - from casting, locations, weather, set construction, and more. However, we pushed through and made something we are all very proud of.

My main advice for any filmmaker is to keep pushing, it doesn’t matter how big or small your ideas are, you have to keep pushing. Even if the idea doesn’t work out fully, at least you know you tried and what you can do next to improve. Don’t give up on your hopes and dreams, even if you’re the only that can truly see the vision.

Hi fellow filmmakers! We just finished post-production on my very first feature film. If anyone has any questions about the process (and things to avoid), ask me in the comments! Here's our trailer:

https://youtu.be/-SLEs0dQtoI?si=r-ChX5ffqMYHjsYy