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This episode of The Basic Filmmaker is brought to you by:
Gears!
Gear envy...(sigh)
I get a lot of questions about what lens should I get, how expensive should I go, what's the
next greatest camera, what about my sound...
And those are all legit questions and I love answering those.
But the main component on most of the videos that I'm asked to go see is:
Is the Story.
You can make a great film and shoot it and have great sound and have great special effects,
and put it out there, but if you don't have the story - that's the foundation and it all
falls down.
Writer's write, painter's paint, and filmmaker's make films, over and over and over and over
and over, to get better at it.
Well, as far as the main foundation or component in your film, everything will fall down without
a good story.
And that's what you should be practicing.
Grab an iPhone, grab a good story, and shoot it.
It's going to be more compelling to watch, than having half a million dollars in gear,
shooting that, and having a crappy story.
Now, what's a good story?
That's a matter of opinion.
But here's what I do know:
Good stories, with somewhat good film, and somewhat good sound, are always liked, and
crappy stories, no matter what you shot it on, aren't.
If you want other people to like what you're doing, and that's kind of the point of making
films, work on your story.
Write stories over and over and over and over and over.
Film it, shoot it, post it.
Write another one.
Film it, shoot it, post it.
Write another one.
Film it, shoot it, post it.
You're only going to get better at it.
But I can tell you, if you don't practice writing stories, the bedrock of everything
you make, this isn't going to get better no matter equipment you get.
Sure.
A couple of guys in an alley, a fight scene, wow that was great, you shot a fight scene,
it was awesome, good fight scene.
But, there's no story.
There's two guys fighting and you're showing your chops, and how you can do special effects
and cut things.
That's great, and there's nothing wrong with that, and that's also practice.
But the thing you need to work on is your story.
Write a lot of stories.
Just keep writing them over and over and over and over, and filming those, and you're going
to get better.
It doesn't matter what equipment you have.
In the end, when you technical ability gets up to the point where it's running into your
story, sure.
Go buy a better lens.
Go buy a better camera.
Go get some more lighting.
But the place where it's going to fail is the story.
Don't go out and spend $10,000 on equipment if you can't write a story.
Save you money, practice writing stories, and when you get really good at it, then go
buy the equipment, and you'll be a lot happier that way.
I hope that helps.
Thanks for watching.
(laughing guy) That's a wrap!
(dog barking)
See I have this dog out there, and for some reason, the dog is just...barking at...air particles.
(dog barking)
TITLE: "Later that day..."
"We hear the dog still barking, and we FADE TO BLACK."