Filmmaking / Directing : Aspiring filmmaker by Raffiel Newsome

Shoot some very short stuff. Shoot it a few times if you can, if you have the luxury of using different talent when shooting the same scene. 2 minute stuff. Edit it a couple of times. Leave it alone and come back to it in a couple of months. See what you like and what you would improve. IMO-It sucks to come back to your art months down the road after getting some shots under your belt. Recognizing areas you could have easily improved, while wasting money, time to boot. Practice, practice, practice. Digital is Cheap! Do not necessarily shoot your first short as your first short... Do one scene out of it. Polish it and then when you re-shoot and it is incorporated into your final short, you will see what I mean.

@SimonSimon Thank you for taking the time out to respond Iam humbled. I will definitely take your advice.

Raffiel, I got your message and will be responding this week. In the mean time if you need any help with your short let me know. I might suggest figuring out some detail to help with production value. Even if it's something small like moving the damn camera ;-). There are ways to stay cheap yet achieve some of the great techniques you will use later in your career. Like Simon said, one scene at a time, that is if you have the luxury of time and you have planed the shot well enough, usually my problem is the creative mad man inside sometimes sabotages the organization of the shoot. The only other thing I could add is if you have people acting in your piece try to get multiple shoots of each scene. Saves time worrying in editing. My first short was done in one day. Mainly because I have two locations, both day time and the people I got as my talent had been willing to do anything they could to help.

Stay positive, learn from your mistakes, and stay within your budget.

Ditto to the other advice you have received. It's always wise to get at least a couple of experienced people on a crew, one to advice pre-pro and camera, one to advise post-pro and editing. Also, after completing your script watch a number of films in the same genre that are considered classics of the genre you're working in; you will find them to be simple and straight forward without gimmicks and a lot of effects. Learn from what has been done then subtly add your own influences and you will develop a style.

Thank you everyone for taking the time out to respond to my post. I truly am soaking up these nuggets of wisdom you are giving me.

@KristoferAtkinson I will definitely need help with my upcoming short film. Whatever you can help me with would be great.

Hi Raffiel I agree with what everyone else has said. When it came to me directing my first short I put my baby of a script on the back burner and wrote something a lot more simplistic. I shot that last year and this year have shot my ambitious project. It worked out far better that way! So my advice don't shoot something that you're 100% precious about first time. Make sure you shoot all the coverage to cover your a** in the edit! Good luck, enjoy the process and learn as much as you can :D

@HelenCurran Thank you for commenting. And I will do just that Helen. :)

Surround yourself with some people who have experience and can point you in the right direction (if you can afford it)

find actors that are passionate, available emotionally and not egomaniacs. shows like The Vampire Diaries hired people who for the most part had never been heard of before, but they had this intense desire to become what the directors needed and so became so believeable and beloved that they have had 100+ series now! Good luck!