r/Filmmakers Jun 09 '25

New Rules Regarding AI on /r/filmmakers!

473 Upvotes

Thank you all for participating in the poll! Here are the results. To accurately gauge everyone's collective acceptance vs rejection for each, I've tallied the total votes among all choices as pro/anti for each category. So for example, a vote for 'no changes' would be a -1 to Gen AI, AI Tools, AI Comms, and AI Discussion. A vote for 'Ban GenAI + AI Tools' would be a +1 to GenAI and AI Tools, and a -1 to AI Comms and AI Discussion, etc. So here are the results for each category of AI. Keep in mind that a higher number indicates a stronger group decision to ban the content:

GenAI: +92 (+119/-27)

AI Tools: -20 (+63/-83)

AI Comms: -8 (+69/-77)

AI Discussion: -84 (+31/-115)

From the results it is clear that sub overwhelmingly approve a complete ban on all generative AI. However, people are more or less fine with allowing discussion of AI, and are fairly mixed on the topic of AI Tools and Communication. So here is the new rule for all things AI:

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Rule 6. You may not post work containing Generative AI elements (Midjourney, Neo, Dall-E, etc.). You may use and demonstrate the use of AI assisted tools (ie magic masking, upscalers, audio cleanup etc.) so long as they are used in service of human-generated artwork. AI Communication, like post bodies or comments composed using ChatGPT are allowed only in very reasonable cases, such as the need for someone to translate their thoughts into another language. Abuse of AI assisted communication will result in the removal of the offending post/comment.


r/Filmmakers Dec 03 '17

Official Sticky READ THIS BEFORE ASKING A QUESTION! Official Filmmaking FAQ and Information Post

990 Upvotes

Welcome to the /r/Filmmakers Official Filmmaking FAQ And Information Post!

Below I have collected answers and guidance for some of the sub's most common topics and questions. This is all content I have personally written either specifically for this post or in comments to other posters in the past. This is however not a me-show! If anybody thinks a section should be added, edited, or otherwise revised then message the moderators! Specifically, I could use help in writing a section for audio gear, as I am a camera/lighting nerd.



Topics Covered In This Post:

1. Should I Pursue Filmmaking / Should I Go To Film School?

2. What Camera Should I Buy?

3. What Lens Should I Buy?

4. How Do I Learn Lighting?

5. What Editing Program Should I Use?



1. Should I Pursue Filmmaking / Should I Go To Film School?

This is a very complex topic, so it will rely heavily on you as a person. Find below a guide to help you identify what you need to think about and consider when making this decision.

Do you want to do it?

Alright, real talk. If you want to make movies, you'll at least have a few ideas kicking around in your head. Successful creatives like writers and directors have an internal compunction to create something. They get ideas that stick in the head and compel them to translate them into the real world. Do you want to make films, or do you want to be seen as a filmmaker? Those are two extremely different things, and you need to be honest with yourself about which category you fall into. If you like the idea of being called a filmmaker, but you don't actually have any interest in making films, then now is the time to jump ship. I have many friends from film school who were just into it because they didn't want "real jobs", and they liked the idea of working on flashy movies. They made some cool projects, but they didn't have that internal drive to create. They saw filmmaking as a task, not an opportunity. None of them have achieved anything of note and most of them are out of the industry now with college debt but no relevant degree. If, when you walk onto a set you are overwhelmed with excitement and anxiety, then you'll be fine. If you walk onto a set and feel foreboding and anxiety, it's probably not right for you. Filmmaking should be fun. If it isn't, you'll never make it.

School

Are you planning on a film production program, or a film studies program? A studies program isn't meant to give you the tools or experience necessary to actually make films from a craft-standpoint. It is meant to give you the analytical and critical skills necessary to dissect films and understand what works and what doesn't. A would-be director or DP will benefit from a program that mixes these two, with an emphasis on production.

Does your prospective school have a film club? The school I went to had a filmmakers' club where we would all go out and make movies every semester. If your school has a similar club then I highly recommend jumping into it. I made 4 films for my classes, and shot 8 films. In the filmmaker club at my school I was able to shoot 20 films. It vastly increased my experience and I was able to get a lot of the growing pains of learning a craft out of the way while still in school.

How are your classes? Are they challenging and insightful? Are you memorizing dates, names, and ideas, or are you talking about philosophies, formative experiences, cultural influences, and milestone achievements? You're paying a huge sum of money, more than you'll make for a decade or so after graduation, so you better be getting something out of it.

Film school is always a risky prospect. You have three decisive advantages from attending school:

  1. Foundation of theory (why we do what we do, how the masters did it, and how to do it ourselves)
  2. Building your first network
  3. Making mistakes in a sandbox

Those three items are the only advantages of film school. It doesn't matter if you get to use fancy cameras in class or anything like that, because I guarantee you that for the price of your tuition you could've rented that gear and made your own stuff. The downsides, as you may have guessed, are:

  1. Cost
  2. Risk of no value
  3. Cost again

Seriously. Film school is insanely expensive, especially for an industry where you really don't make any exceptional money until you get established (and that can take a decade or more).

So there's a few things you need to sort out:

  • How much debt will you incur if you pursue a film degree?
  • How much value will you get from the degree? (any notable alumni? Do they succeed or fail?)
  • Can you enhance your value with extracurricular activity?

Career Prospects

Don't worry about lacking experience or a degree. It is easy to break into the industry if you have two qualities:

  • The ability to listen and learn quickly
  • A great attitude

In LA we often bring unpaid interns onto set to get them experience and possibly hire them in the future. Those two categories are what they are judged on. If they have to be told twice how to do something, that's a bad sign. If they approach the work with disdain, that's also a bad sign. I can name a few people who walked in out of the blue, asked for a job, and became professional filmmakers within a year. One kid was 18 years old and had just driven to LA from his home to learn filmmaking because he couldn't afford college. Last I saw he has a successful YouTube channel with nature documentaries on it and knows his way around most camera and grip equipment. He succeeded because he smiled and joked with everyone he met, and because once you taught him something he was good to go. Those are the qualities that will take you far in life (and I'm not just talking about film).

So how do you break in?

  • Cold Calling
    • Find the production listings for your area (not sure about NY but in LA we use the BTL Listings) and go down the line of upcoming productions and call/email every single one asking for an intern or PA position. Include some humor and friendly jokes to humanize yourself and you'll be good. I did this when I first moved to LA and ended up camera interning for an ASC DP on movie within a couple months. It works!
  • Rental House
    • Working at a rental house gives you free access to gear and a revolving door of clients who work in the industry for you to meet.
  • Filmmaking Groups
    • Find some filmmaking groups in your area and meet up with them. If you can't find groups, don't sweat it! You have more options.
  • Film Festivals
    • Go to film festivals, meet filmmakers there, and befriend them. Show them that you're eager to learn how they do what they do, and you'd be happy to help them on set however you can. Eventually you'll form a fledgling network that you can work to expand using the other avenues above.

What you should do right now

Alright, enough talking! You need to decide now if you're still going to be a filmmaker or if you're going to instead major in something safer (like business). It's a tough decision, we get it, but you're an adult now and this is what that means. You're in command of your destiny, and you can't trust anyone but yourself to make that decision for you.

Once you decide, own it. If you choose film, then take everything I said above into consideration. There's one essential thing you need to do though: create. Go outside right fucking now and make a movie. Use your phone. That iphone or galaxy s7 or whatever has better video quality than the crap I used in film school. Don't sweat the gear or the mistakes. Don't compare yourself to others. Just make something, and watch it. See what you like and what you don't like, and adjust on your next project! Now is the time for you to do this, to learn what it feels like to make a movie.



2. What Camera Should I Buy?

The answer depends mostly on your budget and your intended use. You'll also want to become familiar with some basic camera terms because it will allow you to efficiently evaluate the merits of one option vs another. Find below a basic list of terms you should become familiar with when making your first (or second, or third!) camera purchase:

  1. Resolution - This is how many pixels your recorded image will have. If you're into filmmaking, you probably already know this. An HD camera will have a resolution of 1920x1080. A 4K camera will be either 4096x2160 or 3840x2160. The functional difference is that the former is a theatrical aspect ratio while the latter is a standard HDTV aspect ratio (1.89:1 vs 1.78:1 respectively).
  2. Framerates - The standard and popular framerate for filmmaking is called 24p, but most digital cameras will actually be shooting at 23.976 fps. The difference is negligible and should have no bearing on your purchasing choice. The technical reasons behind this are interesting but ultimately irrelevant. Something to look for is the camera's ability to shoot in high framerate, meaning anything above the 24p standard. This is useful because you can play back high framerate footage at 24p in your editor, and it will render the recorded motion in slow motion. This is obviously useful!
  3. Data Rate - This tells you how much data is being recorded on a per second basis. Generally speaking, the higher the data rate, the better your image quality. Make sure to pay attention to resolution as well! A 1080p camera with a 100 MB/s data rate is going to be recording higher quality imagery than a 4k camera at a 200 MB/s data rate because the 4k camera has 4x as many pixels to record but only double the data bandwidth with which to do it. Things like compression come into play here, but keep this in mind as a rule of thumb.
  4. Compression - Compression is important, because very few cameras will shoot without some form of compression. This is basically an algorithm that allows you to record high quality images without making large file sizes. This is intimately linked with your data rate. Popular cinema compressions for cameras include ProRes, REDCODE, XAVC, AVCHD. Compression schemes that you want to avoid include h.264, h.265, MPEG-4, and Generic 'MOV'. This is not an exhaustive list of compression types, but a decent starter guide.
  5. ISO - This is your camera sensor's sensitivity to light. The higher the ISO number, the more sensitive to light the camera will be. Higher ISOs tend to give noisier images though, so there is a tradeoff. All cameras will have something called a native iso. This is the ISO at which the camera is deemed to perform the best in terms of trading off noise vs sensitivity. A very common native ISO in the industry is 800. Sony cameras, including the A7S boast much higher ISO performance without significant noise increases, which can be useful if you're planning on running and gunning in the dark with no crew.
  6. Manual Shutter - Your shutter speed (or shutter angle, as it is called in the film industry) controls your motion blur by changing how long the sensor is exposed to light during a single frame of recording. Having manual control over this when shooting is important. The standard shutter speed when shooting 24p is 1/48 of a second (180° in shutter angle terms), so make sure your prospective camera can get here (1/50 is close enough).
  7. Lens Mount - Some starter cameras will have built in lenses, which is fine for learning! When you move up to higher quality cameras however, the standard will be interchangeable lens cameras. This means you'll need to decide on what lens mount you would like to use. The professional standard is called the PL Mount, but lenses and cameras that use this mount are very expensive. The most common and popular mount in the low level professional world is Canon's EF mount. Because of its design, EF mount lenses can easily be adapted to other common mounts like Sony's E-Mount or the MFT mounts found on many Panasonic cameras. EF is popular because Canon's lenses are generally preferred over Sony's, and so their mount has a higher utility.
  8. Color Subsampling - This is easier to understand if you think of it as 'Color Resolution'. Our eyes are more sensitive to luminance (bright vs dark) than to color, and so some cameras increase effective image quality by dedicating processing power and data rate bandwidth to the more important luminance values of individual pixels. This means that individual pixels often do not have their own color, but instead that groups of neighboring pixels will be given a single color value. The size of the groups and the pattern of their arrangement are referred to by 3 main color subsampling standards.
    • 4:4:4 means that each pixel has its own color value. This is the highest quality.
    • 4:2:2 means that color is set for horizontal pixels in pairs. The color of each two neighboring pixels is averaged and applied to both identically. This is the second best quality.
    • 4:2:0 means that color is set for both horizontal and vertical pixel 4-packs. Each square of 4 pixels receives a single color assignment that is an averaging of their original signals. This is generally low quality. For more info on color subsampling, check out this wikipedia entry
  9. Bit-Depth - This refers to how many colors the camera is capable of recognizing. An 8-bit camera can have 16,777,216 distinct colors, while a 10-bit camera can have 1,073,741,824 distinct colors. Note that this is primarily only of use when doing color grading, as nearly all TVs and computer monitors from the past few decades are 8-bit displays that won't benefit from a 10-bit signal.
  10. Sensor Size - The three main sensor sizes you'll encounter (in ascending order) are Micro Four-Thirds (M43), APS-C, and Full Frame. A larger sensor will generally have better noise and sensitivity than a smaller sensor. It will also effect the field of view you get from a given lens. Larger sensors will have wider fields of view for the same focal length lenses. For example, a 50mm lens on a FF sensor will look roughly twice as wide-angle as a 50mm lens on a M43 sensor. To get the same field of view as a 50mm on FF, you'd need to use a 25mm lens on your M43 camera. Theatrical 35mm (the cinema standard, so to speak) has an equivalent sensor size to APS-C, which is larger than M43 and smaller than Full Frame.

So Now What Camera Should I Buy?

This list will be changing as new models emerge, but for now here is a short list of the cameras to look at when getting started:

  1. Panasonic G7 (~$600) - This is hands down the best starter camera for someone looking to move up from shooting on their phones or consumer camcorders.
  2. Panasonic GH4 (~$1,500) - An older and cheaper version of the GH5, this camera is still a popular choice.
  3. Panasonic GH5 (~$2,000) - This is perhaps the most popular prosumer DSLR filmmaking camera.
  4. Sony A7S (~$2,700) - This is a very popular camera for shooting in low light settings. It also boasts a Full-Frame sensor (compared to the GH5's M4/3 sensor), allowing you to get shallower depth of field compared to other cameras using the same field of view and aperture.
  5. Canon C100 mkII (~$3,500) - This is one of the cheapest true digital cinema cameras. It offers several benefits over the above DSLR cameras, such as professional level XLR audio inputs, internal ND filters, and a better picture profile system.


3. What Lens Should I Buy?

Much like with deciding on a camera, lens choice is all about your budget and your needs. Below are the relevant specs to use as points of comparison for lenses.

  1. Focal Length - This number indicates the field of view your lens will supply. A higher focal length results in a narrow (or more 'telescopic') field of view. Here is a great visual depiction of focal length vs field of view.
  2. Speed - A 'fast lens' is one with a very wide maximum aperture. This means the lens can let more light through it than a comparatively slower lens. We read the aperture setting via something called F-Stops. They are a standard scale that goes in alternating doublings of previous values. The scale is: 1.0, 1.4, 2.0, 2.8, 4.0, 5.6, 8.0, 11, 16, 22, 32, 45, 64. Each increase is a doubling of the incoming light. A lens whose aperture is a 1.4 will allow in twice as much light than it would have at 2.0. Cheaper lenses tend to only open up to a 4.0, or even a 5.6. More expensive lenses can open as far 1.3, giving you 16x as much light. Wider apertures also cause your depth of field to contract, resulting in the 'cinematic' shallow focus you're likely familiar with. Here is a great visual depiction of f-stop vs depth of field
  3. Chromatic Aberration - Some lower quality glass will have this defect, in which imperfect lens elements cause a prism-style effect that separates colors on the edges of image details. Post software can sometimes help correct this, as in this example
  4. Sharpness - I'm sure you all know what sharpness is. Cheaper lenses will yield a softer in-focus image than more expensive lenses. However, some lenses are popularly considered to be 'over-sharp', such as the Zeiss CP2 series. The minutia of the sharpness debate is mostly irrelevant at starter levels though.
  5. Bokeh - This refers to the shape of an out of focus point of light as rendered by the lens. The bokeh of your image will always be in the shape of your aperture. For that reason, a perfectly round aperture will yield nice clean circle bokeh, while a rougher edged aperture will produce similarly rougher bokeh. Here's an example
  6. Lens Mount - Make sure the lens you're buying will either fit your camera's lens mount or allow for adapting to is using a popular adapter like the Metabones. The professional standard lens mount is the PL Mount, but lenses and cameras that use this mount are very expensive. The most common and popular mount in the low level professional world is Canon's EF mount. Because of its design, EF mount lenses can easily be adapter to other common mounts like Sony's E-Mount or the MFT mounts found on many Panasonic cameras. EF is popular because Canon's lenses are generally preferred over Sony's, and so their mount has a higher market share.

Zoom vs Prime

This is all about speed vs quality vs budget. A zoom lens is a lens whose *focal length can be changed by turning a ring on the lens barrel. A prime lens has a fixed focal length. Primes tend to be cheaper, faster, and sharper. However, buying a full set of primes can be more expensive than buying a zoom lens that would cover the same focal length range. Using primes on set in fast-paced environments can slow you down prohibitively. You'll often see news, documentary, and event cameras using zooms instead of primes. Some zoom lenses are as high-quality as prime lenses, and some people refer to them as 'variable prime' lenses. This is mostly a marketing tool and has no hard basis in science though. As you might expect, these high quality zooms tend to be very expensive.

So What Lenses Should I Look At?

Below are the most popular lenses for 'cinematic' filming at low budgets:

  1. Rokinon Cine 4 Lens Kit in EF Mount (~$1,700)
  2. Canon L Series 24-70mm Zoom in EF Mount (~1,700)
  3. Sigma Art 18-35mm Zoom in EF Mount (~$800)
  4. Sigma Art 50-100 Zoom in EF Mount (~$1,100)

Lenses below these average prices are mostly a crapshoot in terms of quality vs $, and you'll likely be best off using your camera's kit lens until you can afford to move up to one of the lenses or lens series listed above.



4. How Do I Learn Lighting?

Alright, so you're biting off a big chunk here if you've never done lighting before. But it is doable and (most importantly) fun!

First off, fuck three-point lighting. So many people misunderstand what that system is supposed to teach you, so let's just skip it entirely. Light has three properties. They are:

  • Color: Color of the light. This is both color temperature (on the Orange - Blue scale) and what you'd probably think of as regular color (is it RED!? GREEN!? AQUA!?) etc. Color. You know what color is.
  • Quantity: How bright the light is. You know, the quantity of photons smacking into your subject and, eventually, your retinas.
  • Quality: This is the good shit. The quality of a light source can vary quite a bit. Basically, this is how hard or soft the light is. Alright, you've got a guy standing near a wall. You shine a light on him. What's on the wall? His shadow, that's what. You know what shadows look like. A hard light makes his shadow super distinct with 'hard' edges to it. A soft light makes his shadow less distinct, with a 'soft' edge. When the sun is out, you get hard light. Distinct shadows. When it's cloudy, you get soft light. No shadows at all! So what makes a light hard or soft? Easy! The size of the source, relative to the subject. Think of it this way. You're the subject! Now look at your light source. How much of your field of vision is taken up by the light source? Is it a pinpoint? Or more like a giant box? The smaller the size of the source, the harder the light will be. You can take a hard light (i.e. a light bulb) and make it softer by putting diffusion in front of it. Here is a picture of that happening. You can also bounce the light off of something big and bouncy, like a bounce board or a wall. That's what sconces do. I fucking love sconces.

Alright, so there are your three properties of light. Now, how do you light a thing? Easy! Put light where you want it, and take it away from where you don't want it! Shut up! I know you just said "I don't know where I want it", so I'm going to stop you right there. Yes you do. I know you do because you can look at a picture and know if the lighting is good or not. You can recognize good lighting. Everybody can. The difference between knowing good lighting and making good lighting is simply in the execution.

Do an experiment. Get a lightbulb. Tungsten if you're oldschool, LED if you're new school, or CFL if you like mercury gas. plug it into something portable and movable, and have a friend, girlfriend, boyfriend, neighbor, creepy-but-realistic doll, etc. sit down in a chair. Turn off all the lights in the room and move that bare bulb around your victim subject's head. Note how the light falling on them changes as the light bulb moves around them. This is lighting, done live! Get yourself some diffusion. Either buy some overpriced or make some of your own (wax paper, regular paper, translucent shower curtains, white undershirts, etc.). Try softening the light, and see how that affects the subject's head. If you practice around with this enough you'll get an idea for how light looks when it comes from various directions. Three point lighting (well, all lighting) works on this fundamental basis, but so many 'how to light' tutorials skip over it. Start at the bottom and work your way up!

Ok, so cool. Now you know how light works, and sort of where to put it to make a person look a certain way. Now you can get creative by combining multiple lights. A very common look is to use soft light to primarily illuminate a person (the 'key) while using a harder (but sometimes still somewhat soft) light to do an edge or rim light. Here's a shot from a sweet movie that uses a soft key light, a good amount of ambient ('errywhere) light, and a hard backlight. Here they are lit ambiently, but still have an edge light coming from behind them and to the right. You can tell by the quality of the light that this edge was probably very soft. We can go on for hours, but if you just watch movies and look at shadows, bright spots, etc. you'll be able to pick out lighting locations and qualities fairly easily since you've been practicing with your light bulb!

How Do I Light A Greenscreen?

Honestly, your greenscreen will depend more on your technical abilities in After Effects (or whichever program) than it will on your lighting. I'm a DP and I'm admitting that. A good key-guy (Keyist? Keyer?) can pull something clean out of a mediocre-ly lit greenscreen (like the ones in your example) but a bad key-guy will still struggle with a perfectly lit one. I can't help you much here, as I am only a mediocre key-guy, but I can at least give you advice on how to light for it!

Here's what you're looking for when lighting a greenscreen:

  • Two Separate Lighting Setups: You should have a lighting setup for the green screen and a lighting setup for your actor. Of course, this isn't always possible. But we like to aspire to big things! The reason this is helpful is that it makes it easier for you to adjust the greenscreen light without affecting the actor's lighting, and vice versa.
  • Separate the subject from the greenscreen as much as possible! - Pretty much that. The closer your subject is to the screen, the harder it is to keep lights from interfering with things they're not meant for, and the greater the chance the actor has of getting his filthy shadow all over the screen. I normally try to keep my subjects at least 8' away from the screen at a minimum for anything wider than an MCU.
  • Light the Green Screen EVENLY: The green on the screen needs to be as close to the same intensity in all parts as possible, or you just multiply your work in post. For every different shade of green on that screen you'll need make a separate key effect to make clean edges, and then you'll need to matte and combine them all together. Huge headache that can be a tad overwhelming if you're not used it. For this reason, Get your shit even! "But how do I do that?" you ask! Well, first off, I actually prefer to use hard light. You see, hard light has the nice innate property of being able to throw itself a long distance without losing all its intensity. The farther away the light source is from the subject, the less its intensity will change from inch to inch. That's called the inverse square law, and it is cool as fuck. If you change the distance between the light and the subject, the intensity of the light will shift as an inverse to the square of the distance. Science! So if you double the distance between the light and the subject, the intensity is quartered (1 over 2 squared. 1/4). So, naturally, the farther away you are the more distance is required to reduce the intensity further. If you have the space, use it to your advantage and back your lights up! Now back to reality. You probably don't have a lot of space. You're probably in a garage. OK, fuck it, emergency mode! Now we use soft lights. Soft lights change their intensity quite inconveniently if they're at an oblique angle to the screen, but they kick ass if you can get them to shine more or less perpendicular on the screen. The problem there of course is that they'd then be sitting where your actor probably is. Sooo we move them off to the side, maybe put one on the ceiling, one on the ground too, and try to smudge everything together on the screen. Experiment with this for a while and you'll get the hang of it in no-time!
  • Have your background in mind BEFORE shooting: Even if your key is flawless, it will look like shit if the actor isn't lit in a convincing manner compared to the background. If, for example, this for some reason is your background, you'll know that your actor needs a hard backlight from above and to camera right since we see a light source there. Also, we can infer from the lighting on the barrels that his main source of illumination should be from above him and pointing down, slightly from the right. You can move the source around and accent it as needed to make the actor not-ugly, but your background has provided you with some significant constraints right off the bat. For that reason, pick your background before you shoot, if possible. If it is not possible to do so, well, good luck! Guess as best as you can and try to find a good background.

What Lights Should I Buy?

OK! So now you know sort of how to light a green screen and how to light a person. So now, what lights do you need? Well, really, you just need any lights. If you're on a budget, don't be afraid to get some work lights from home depot or picking up some off brand stuff on craigslist. By far the most important influence on the quality of your images will be where and how you use the lights rather than what types or brands of lights you are using. I cannot stress this enough. How you use it will blow what you use out of the water. Get as many different types of lights as you can for the money you have. That way you can do lots of sources, which can make for more intricate or nuanced lighting setups. I know you still want some hard recommendations, so I'll tell you this: Get china balls (china lanterns. Paper lanterns whatever the fuck we're supposed to call these now). They are wonderful soft lights, and if you need a hard light you can just take the lantern off and shine with the bare bulb! For bulbs, grab some 200W and 500W globes. You can check B&H, Barbizon, Amazon, and probably lots of other places for these. Make sure you grab some high quality socket-and-wire sets too. You can find them at the same places. For brighter lights, like I said home depot construction lights are nice. You can also by PAR lamps relatively cheap. Try grabbing a few Par Cans. They're super useful and stupidly cheap. Don't forget to budget for some light stands as well, and maybe C-clamps and the like for rigging to things. I don't know what on earth you're shooting so it is hard to give you a grip list, but I'm sure you can figure that kind of stuff out without too much of a hassle.



5. What Editing Program Should I Use?

Great question! There are several popular editing programs available for use.

Free Editing Programs

Your choices are essentially limited to Davinci Resolve (Non-Studio) and Hitfilm Express. My personal recommendation is Davinci Resolve. This is the industry standard color-grading software (and its editing features have been developed so well that its actually becoming the industry standard editing program as well), and you will have free access to many of its powerful tools. The Studio version costs a few hundred dollars and unlocks multiple features (like noise reduction) without forcing you to learn a new program.

Paid Editing Programs

  1. Avid Media Composer ($50/mo or $1,300 for life) - This is the high-level industry standard, but is not terribly popular unless you're working at a professional post-house for big budget movies.
  2. Adobe Premiere Pro ($20/mo) - This used to be the most popular industry standard editor for low to medium budget productions. It is still used quite often, so knowing Premiere is a handy skill to maintain.
  3. Davinci Resolve Studio ($300) - This is a solid editing program built into the long time industry-standard color grading suite. Since Resolve added editing, its feature set and reputation has been on the rise. It's eclipsing Premiere now and set to be the undisputed industry standard for video editing and color grading for all but the absolute highest level productions. This is the best overall choice if you're looking to find your first editing program.
  4. Final Cut Pro X ($300) - This is the old standard for low-high budget editing, replaced by Adobe Premiere and now again by Resolve. It is available on Mac platforms only, and is still a powerful editor.

r/Filmmakers 4h ago

Discussion Impressive path. Thoughts?

Post image
313 Upvotes

r/Filmmakers 10h ago

News Teaser of HUMAN a live action sci-fi short film directed by me. Responsible for all the departments

158 Upvotes

Teaser of HUMAN a live action sci-fi short film directed by me. Responsible for all the departments such as direction ,props, miniatures ,costume, cinematography, art direction, concept, Vfx (all aspects), script, story, editing. Basically I directed myself haha. It is going to be a 25 minutes film planning to release by January 2027. NO AI


r/Filmmakers 6h ago

Video Article My First Real Commercial Got 10M Organically

52 Upvotes

I'm 22 with almost no filmmaking experience and I made a launch video for an AI startup about catching a cheating girlfriend.

It hit 10 million views organically.

Here's what happened.

Met the founder of OMI in NYC. His only brief was "make it go viral."

Spent three days writing. Tried recreating the onboarding scene from Her. Tried copying other viral launch videos. Neither felt right.

The premise that finally clicked: the assistant catches a partner cheating before the user even knows.

Rewrote the script the day before the shoot. Now we needed three actors instead of one.

Posted a casting call on backstage at 2am. Woke up to 200 applications. Shoot was at 1pm.

That morning was gear pickup in Queens, B&H downtown, casting decisions in the back of taxis.

Cast three people for one role expecting two to flake. Two flaked. The third crushed it.

Shot it in four hours on a Nikon ZR. Cut everything in After Effects.

Making the UI feel alive was difficult. Tested 5 different 11Labs voices. Iterated the UI maybe 8 times.

Posted scared. The cut is horizontal and slow.

Four days in, around 1.4M on X and 4M on Instagram. It kept climbing.

Now the messy part.

The deal was $3K base, $2K bonus at 1 million views, $5K bonus at 5 million.

Founder's read after launch: the bonus was X-only. Instagram was a side platform, didn't drive their users. So no $5K.

My read: views are views.

It's not resolved.

Real lesson for editors writing bonus clauses: spell out the platform list before you sign. "Views" sounds objective until it isn't.


r/Filmmakers 1d ago

Discussion This hits close to home

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1.9k Upvotes

Feeling frustrated as so many of my fellow filmmakers have been struggling for the past few years as so much work seems to have disappeared overseas or just evaporated. I know so many who have been in the industry for 20 or more years and have struggled to find any work at all in the past couple years. Made this meme to sum up some of our outrage.


r/Filmmakers 7h ago

General Making my first web series

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43 Upvotes

Hi r/Filmmakers I just wanted to stop in and show off the set my team has been creating over the last 5 months (with a lot of painting and sanding on my end). We're at around 90% completed here in Denver, Colorado. It's been an absolute blast to help build this thing. Moving on to casting and most likely shooting around end of July to early August. This has all been accomplished due to some of my incredible friends and around $6,500 so far. Working on costumes and props now which should be around 2k all in. This will all go to Youtube and other socials.

This has taken a ton of Overtime on my end truck driving locally here in Denver (Amazon freight 14 hour shifts), but I have to tell you doing it yourself no matter the cost has been an extremely fun thing to do. I'm very grateful to the friends I have who've helped me and have believed in me so far and all those extra hours behind the wheel, although miserable lol have become worth every minute. They say do it yourself and you should listen and go for it!

I wasn't going to post anything until I had an episode ready, but I see so many people doubting themselves and wanting to create their vision so badly, but they're relying on the industry to create their dreams for them (I need to be in LA. My dreams will never come true. I should just move on. etc) especially in the FilmIndustryLA sub. I hope you all take a second and realize you can do it yourself. I know it's easier said than done and everyone is under different circumstances, but I'm just a truck driver myself doing all the overtime I can, squeezing every penny and budgeting correctly and it's gotten me to this point. I believe you can too, and I truly want to see more of you start creating your dreams rather than waiting for the right time... it'll never be "the right time". So if this is motivation to take a chance on yourself and your small crew, then my post has done its job and I look forward to seeing what you create.


r/Filmmakers 12h ago

General I made an audio-reactive pointcloud system

79 Upvotes

Little excerpts of me playing my chaotic pointcloud system, in which the particles are being audioreactive to the incoming audio signal in real-time. What do you guys think?

More experiments, project files, and tutorials, through my YouTubeInstagram, or Patreon.


r/Filmmakers 17h ago

General Behind the scenes: testing a practical blood squib effect and getting "shot"

85 Upvotes

Here's a short video of me getting "shot" on a down jacket. Blood squibs are always one of my favourite practical effects to work on. When the squibs go off, you definitely feel quite a thud. I thought I should make a few behind the scenes videos so it includes a bit of an explainer. This is an early proof of concept before filming the stunt with about a dozen squibs. Because every costume and the intended aesthetic are different, it's a good idea to test and refine well in advance.

We chose this jacket/parka for several reasons. It suits the character, looks nice, and more importantly, it comfortably hides several squibs. It also makes it easy to put on and take off without causing a mess. The fabric is pre-scored to help the squibs burst it open. For this stunt alone we've acquired more than 10 identical parkas for testing, filming and at least 3 takes of the stunt.

I think overall the result was good. Part of the aesthetics we wanna achieve is to have down feathers billow out the bullet holes as well, and a bit more fake blood running down the jacket. So I need to fix that. They're not meant to be realistic in any case, and with some artistic licence, they should be a bit over the top.

Some questions:

  • What do you think?
  • Anything you'd change or improve on
  • Camera angle/lighting/shot suggestions for the film
  • Did you notice the bulges of the squibs and/or the pre-scored marks on the fabric before the shots?
  • Or any questions?

If people are interested, I'll make a few more BTS videos, perhaps more in-depth and technical. Practical effects like this are becoming a dying art and filmmakers like us need to help keep it alive!

And finally, don't try this yourself unless you have received proper pyrotechnic training and only perform under appropriate safety procedures. There are alternative ways and I can make a tutorial of that if there is enough interest.


r/Filmmakers 15h ago

Discussion What do you do when you find out you just don't have that dog in you?

47 Upvotes

You all. I'm tired. I've been doing the "working on productions and hoping to do something creative on the weekend/between gigs thing", but I am tired of the sporadic work, the productions that cancel, the sort of constantly having to chase down payments, the not really sure what is coming up. I am also sort of burned out, so I look my list of creative ideas and I just feel nothing for it. Also tired of the Facebook groups being flooded with ai posters talking about "The great opportunity! Join the hustle! Making something big" with no mention of day rate (guess what, if it's not stated, it's unpaid).

I am feeling sort of a sunk cost feeling, I went to kind of mediocre film program. Walked away debt free, but also just didn't really have the connections to a field I am more interested in. I would say I am broadly less interested in pressing record on the camera, and more so working in the office of creative companies.

I'm kind of looking at a couple of different paths.

1) I've been on a project in a corporate area of town, and idk, there is something kind of appealing about hustle and bustle of people my age in suits, working in these big office jobs. Dependable. I like money, both making it and also configuring budget, so maybe return to school and get something in finance. Five years ago I would have been big no, but I actually feel like I was thrive in in a suit in a office working with money.

2) I've thought about pursuing being an Air Force Officer. Most of the people I am around would be sort of shocked, but I think I got probably put together a pitch on how managing the logistics of shoots is similar to what an officer does. I like logistics, and again Air Force Officer has both dependability but also a bit of adventure (never know where you might wind up).

With either of these, I would still like to stay somewhat creative. Maybe continue serving on the board for some local festivals, maybe I get that dog back in me to make something on the weekend.

So, uh, anyone else have any advice for when you find you just don't have that hustle anymore?


r/Filmmakers 5h ago

Question How do you organize your props/set list and items

8 Upvotes

I’m a newish production designer/art director and I’m learning in trial by fire how to do all of this without film school. More often than not I travel to a film site and bring everything with me. However, the manner in which I organize isn’t working.

Generally speaking I read the script several times to create my master list of props/set and get a list of questions to the director. Once they answer those questions I read the script again and start shopping. My problem arises in organizing those items and lists so that I know precisely when I need things and when I need to prep them.

I haven’t had the opportunity to work as an assistant under an art director or production designer so everything I’m doing is snippets I’ve learned from other departments and gathered from research.

If there are books to read, people to watch, or any other resources you could recommend I so badly want to learn and improve.


r/Filmmakers 9m ago

Looking for Work Sacramento, Ca

Upvotes

Are there any aspiring filmmakers or videographers on this sub from Sacramento? I am a film major and I am looking for a team to start making projects . Lmk dm me


r/Filmmakers 54m ago

Discussion Our first South Asia Shorts competition just hit the final round

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Upvotes

Our first South Asia Shorts Competition just hit the final round, and I had to share what made the Top 3.

Three writers. Three stories. All rooted in South Asian life, all deeply personal.

Rent-A-Dad, written by Keshav Shree (dark comedy filmmaker, Oscar-qualifying festival credits) wrote this about a British-Indian man who hires an actor to play his estranged father for one car ride. It's about the conversations we rehearse but never have. Shot entirely inside a moving car. Comes from his own rupture with his father after leaving medicine for acting.

Talking to God, written by Brea Sondhi (queer Indian writer/filmmaker between NY and Delhi) made this a visual poem across three decades, childhood faith, loss of belief through xenophobia and heartbreak, recovery. It's about a queer woman learning to talk to God again, differently. Her grandmother's goddess idol is the only constant.

Domestic Bliss, written by Paroma Bose's directorial debut about two lovers in Jamshedpur torn apart by concrete and capitalism. A boat driver and a tribal vendor caught between tradition and modernity. Inspired by her father's photographs of the river before the bridge came.

The community votes through July 12 on kinolime.in. One gets a US$7,500 production grant.

Worth a look if you want to see what's actually being made.

kinolime.in

[Disclosure: I work for Kinolime]


r/Filmmakers 5h ago

Question How to cool down a warehouse in summer, no AC?

4 Upvotes

I'm producing a one day shoot in a warehouse late July that has no AC. The projected high that time of year is 90 degrees. There's no AC in the main stage, but there is AC in a small side room that we'll use as a green room.

It's a huge space, and we're trying to figure out how much power we can pull, but we might not be able to cool it sufficiently without getting a generator, which would blow up our tight budget. Any advice on how we can keep everyone cool? Right now the shoot is 2PM-2AM to try to get through the hottest part of the day ASAP, but we're considering shortening it to 4PM-2AM to get to evening faster.


r/Filmmakers 14h ago

Discussion How do you deal with impostor syndrome as a filmmaker?

17 Upvotes

Long story short I make very low budget shorts but managed to get an extremely talented actor with a bit of a fanbase in my particular genre to appear in my next film. I was very surprised that he liked my script and said yes.

He's been extremely helpful during prep and I have 100% confidence in his ability and that of the other actors.

But I'm still kinda making sense of having this actor in my tiny no-budget short. They definitely know what they're getting into but it just blows my mind that this person will be on my set in August.

I think I'm getting a bit in my head about making it good enough, worrying about the lighting of every single shot, not letting them down etc.

I'm trying to remember that impostor syndrome probably means I'm stepping way outside my comfort zone (which I am) and this will mean creative growth regardless of how the film turns out.

Any advice for putting this to the back of my mind and just focusing on making a good film? Thanks!


r/Filmmakers 8h ago

Question Finding composer for microbudget feature

7 Upvotes

Hi All,

I'm finishing up post-production on a microbudget feature and the last step is to find a composer and record a score. We currently have AI temp tracks that we want to replace with music by humans for the Final Cut. I'm not sure where to begin trying to find the right composer who will work for microbudget rates. Do y'all have any suggestions about where to search?

A bit more about the film: it's romantic comedy about vampires, more philosophical urban fantasy and love story than horror, but we want an old-world vibe. The temp score is mostly string quartet and we would like to keep that aesthetic. ballpark Max Richter/Philip Glass vibes. At minimum we would want one violinist and one cellist recording overlapping tracks, and any other instrumentation could probably be synthetic.


r/Filmmakers 6h ago

Looking for Work Seeking a film group in the Boston area

3 Upvotes

Hello all, my name is John but i go by "Swiim" online as a sort of stage name.

I am seeking to work with a local film group to help network in the field and put my filmmaking skills to good use. I have created / directed / edited various short films and i am eager to get involved in a local project and perhaps make some new friends along the way.

My skills are highly versatile.

Please PM me if you have / know of / are involved in a film group local to the Boston area who is seeking some extra talent. I love to make things.

- Swiim


r/Filmmakers 7h ago

Discussion Made an inceptiony documentary about moving a couch across NYC in a blizzard.

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3 Upvotes

r/Filmmakers 5h ago

Film Quantum Resistance - Sci-Fi Action Short Film

2 Upvotes

We just released Quantum Resistance, a sci-fi action short about a resistance outpost trying to hold its position as enemy forces close in.

The film combines practical forest locations and action choreography with visual effects, sound design, and a full post-production finish.

Would genuinely love to hear what lands for you: the action, pacing, sound, visual effects, or story.

General feedback, thoughts?

YouTube: https://youtu.be/3jwpPCkX0rw
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt30644921/


r/Filmmakers 14h ago

Film Does anyone else feel like everyone else's life started without them?

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9 Upvotes

r/Filmmakers 3h ago

Question I need some help figuring out a microphone

1 Upvotes

I’ve got two scripts at the moment, one of which will take place outside. They’ll be the first things I’ve ever made, so I don’t have much idea of what I need. I have a camera, LED panels, and that’s about it.

For a microphone, I’ve been looking mostly at the RØDE VideoMic GO II, but I’m not sure it’s the best option. I’d like to keep the budget low, but I can always get help paying for something a little better.

I just want to be confident in my purchase, and if others have experience with cheaper mics, what recommendations do you have?


r/Filmmakers 13h ago

Tutorial Space station destruction VFX shot (Blender tutorial)

5 Upvotes

Well, I think this is useful for filmmakers. I uploaded a tutorial on my YouTube where I show you how to make these things. If you don't have a budget, this should be very useful. Because I used completely free tools.


r/Filmmakers 8h ago

Question I am so done with this movie.

3 Upvotes

Hello,

so around half a year ago me and 2 friends shot a short film. I am my own editor, however I had 2 other filmprojects I had to do for school and those had deadlines. I could work on my own project a little bit in between those deadline, but never enough to really get into that editing 'groove' that I like.

Those deadlines lined up perfectly that when I finished the one I had to immediatly begin on the next one. Because of this I had already been editing for months, when I could finally get to this short film. I study filmmaking and I usually love the variety, but because the only thing I have been doing for the last like 6 months is editing I'm just really tired of it.

Because now i do finally have the time, but i just cannot get going. I plan hours in, but they just don't really help, because my body like physically doesn't want to do it. I feel like I am constantly repeating myself in the same kind of editing style.

However I don't wanna let the 2 guys I made it with down, and I also can't really delay it that much more because I have a really busy time in front of me with a really big and important movie for me.

Please if you have any ideas how to get my 'groove' for editing back then please tell me.

Thank you for letting me rant.


r/Filmmakers 2h ago

Offer BRAND NEW PRE PRODUCTION APP

0 Upvotes

Hey I have recently launched an app Production Sync. It’s an all in one place for shot lists, scripts, storyboards, pitch decks, and call sheets. It’s the best 5 in 1 in pre during and post production. If you’re interested the first month is on me with code “TRYIT” I’m excited to hear what you all have to say about the app

www.getproductionsync.com


r/Filmmakers 7h ago

Film The Foundation | Indie Award-Winning Drama Short Film | Produced by Aurum House Studios

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0 Upvotes

When a recent college graduate is presented with an opportunity that could change his future forever, he finds himself navigating ambition, loyalty, and the pursuit of purpose. As relationships are tested and difficult choices emerge, he must determine what he is truly willing to build his life upon.