Filmmaking is an orchestration of various elements that brings about the desired result, your story literally brought to life. Screenplay, crew, actors, location, camera, lighting, sound, and editing are all working together to bring you the finished product. One literally cannot do without the other. Lighting however is what makes your production look professional and if you are looking to actually market your film you want it to be as professional as possible.

There are many professional lights kits on the market and many of them are quite reasonable, but in many cases they are not necessarily needed. You can make your own light kit with a few things that can be purchased at the local hardware store. There are lights found at the hardware store used in garage repair shops that are metal and that have a high reflectance. These come with clips at the end and can be clipped and moved wherever you might need them. These are great to use and you can use a number of different bulbs that will give different wattage and color.

The next items you must have in great numbers are extension cords. These will be used in every other part of your filmmaking, but you really need them with setting up your lights. Another very useful tool would be old sheet music stands or something similar that has a 3 leg stand that can be raised and lowered. These can either hold the clip-on lights or a light diffusion material of some sort. You will also need white board for white balancing your camera before you shoot, also white boards can be used as bounce cards for bouncing light back on a subject.

The last thing in your light kit will be some sort of diffusing material. That can be any gauzy white material that the light will pass through. You can use your stands with binder clips on them to clip the material too. Shine your light through the material and this in turn will diffuse the light on the subject keeping it from being to bright or “hot” as they say in the business.

A consideration that most people starting out with lighting don’t consider is that light comes in different colors. Only when you start using a camera do you find this out. If you shoot in a room at night and you have only the interior lights to use, you may find the overall color of the light will be a little yellow. This is because the bulb lights in your house are Tungsten light and these give off a yellowish cast. Fluorescent lights give of a greenish cast that is quite unattractive, so if you film in an office building then that is a consideration as will. Outside light is blue light and while you always want natural light, things may be a little too blue for you, especially when you shoot in the shade.

The absolute best time to shoot, to get that magical quality, is that time right before the sunset. The sun is hanging low and directly on the faces of the subjects and gives everything a Carmel colored warm glow. The only drawback here is that the sun sets quickly so have everything ready in anticipation of shooting the final minutes before the sun set. Look at things at this time of day during late spring or in the summer and you will see what I am talking about.

The first thing to learn is the three-point lighting set up. This is a standard lighting technique used by professional photographers, television taping, and shooting film. This consists of three things: a key light to shine on the subject, a fill light to fill in the shadow created by the key light, and a backlight or kicker to use behind the subject to add dimension the subject. You will use variations of the 3-point lighting set-up in most work you do. I advise strongly that you practice this lighting set-up and shoot it to see how effectively it works. You will have to move the lights a little here and there to get the desired effect but this is the must useful lighting strategy that there is.

It is always good to use natural lighting whenever possible. Always remember that high noon is usually a harsh lighting situation and will cast unflattering shadows under the eyes and nose of the subject making them appear tired. You will have to use a light low down on the ground to counter-act this effect. Also anytime you light a subject from the ground as opposed to above the subject, you will get an eerie spooky effect that can be used in moments of suspense. If you are not looking for this effect though it might be disturbing to viewers.

This is lighting in a nutshell and I would highly recommend that you take some production classes in order to practice and get some tips on lighting.

My first introduction to film in school was during a film analysis class, although technically, it was classified as a philosophy class. The professor was quite pompous and made a big deal out of discussing how to actively view a film. No speaking was allowed, and we were to take notes while viewing. He was a little like the Movie Nazi. We discussed film theory and the power of the director in the making of a film at great length.

As a cultural phenomenon, film traces the human need to tell stories back to our oral traditions. Aside from recording history, we all want to be entertained and we all want to hear a good story. If you are going to make a film, you have to have a great story and then be willing to run with it. Talk it up to everyone you know. Enlist the help of others and win them over to the cause of your film. Give your film a catchy name–one that will pop out of people’s mouths.

Promote your film shamelessly before you ever have anything in the can. Sell T Shirts with your film logos and sell bumper stickers. Make a website and develop a fan base. Start a blog and be just as edgy and out there as you can, but make sure that people have your film’s name on their lips, regardless of how good it is.

I have a friend who produced a film about her high school experience 10 years ago, and this summer it will be distributed. She developed a website, sold things from her film promotion stock, and made a very good fan base for herself before the film was even edited. Her fan base, through the purchase of T-shirts and other promotional items, paid for various things throughout production of the film. She managed to get it made and now her film has been picked up for distribution 10 years later.

To be a filmmaker is to have a big picture mentality on a small picture budget. It is tough to stay true to the storyline when you have a bottom line that is keeping you from the production. One of the reasons you want to talk your film up is that, in the beginning, you will need to find a crew. Usually you will have to use talent that is willing to work for nothing (or next to nothing). You may have to act in your own film as well….and write, direct it, and edit it. Do what you have to do to get the film “in the can” and ready to edit.

You will have to develop tunnel vision with the project. If you have a day job, get used to the idea that you may have to take an extra job for a while to buy a camera or other necessary equipment for shooting. If you have the good fortune to still be a student you have great resources for equipment. If you are not a student, then maybe you can decide to go back to school and study film. You will have at your disposal some of the best resources an aspiring filmmaker can have. Film programs at universities have awesome loan programs that are a hidden resource.

At college, while you can take film equipment out on loan, you may also have access to edit bays and sound booths. In some cases, they are available 24 hours a day. Students are up all night anyway, right? Also, when forming a production crew, students provide good talent for your film when you are in need of actors. You may want to take turns crewing for your friends’ films, and they, in turn, will act in yours. Do what you can to build a crew, gather the bare minimum of equipment needed to shoot, and develop a shooting schedule. Once you have the crew and the guns to shoot, everything starts to gel. Press onward.

When you work for free in the film making business, it will not be because you don’t need or want to get paid. It will be because you are trying to gain experience and be able to find work in the film making industry. For one thing, you need experience to be hired in the film making business, and to gain experience you need to have worked in the film making business. It is a vicious cycle and most of the time the only way to break it is to intern or volunteer to work for free on a project.

This can actually lead to paying job on the film maker’s next project if he likes your work. This is a great way for a film maker who is on a tight budget be able to work with a production crew. And whether the film is a success or a flop, the knowledge needed to find gainful employment will be yours when the shoot is done. You will be able to add this experience in your resume to show that now, you have the experience needed to be a paid worker on the crew. If you worked hard as an intern on one production, but the film maker did not hire you for his next project, you should not worry too much. You will be able to show the experience you have gained and have at least a fighting chance to get a paid position.

If you enroll in a film making school or University, you will see that an internship with a film maker is part of a four year course of study. It certainly isn’t inexpensive to take a four year course at a school. Deciding to work on a film making crew as an intern, will be one of the best choices for you, if you have no experience in the film making industry and want to rub elbows and make contact with people who know the business inside and out, and they may be able to point you in the right direction. You will even find that some production companies will pay their interns minimum wage.

Investing your talent and know how in an internship will build your resume and network so that down the road you will be hired for the position you desire. You may want to intern more than once to really add to the experience on your resume. This is not a free ride for you, you must show the film maker that you are serious about working on the film, and are up for the position. Do network with the crew to aid you in finding a paying job after your internship is through.

If you find the work too grueling, the hours too long, and you just aren’t getting in the swing of things as you should be, maybe it is good that you learned this early. Above all, no matter how new you are to the film making business, always act in a professional manner and you will find you will be on your way to a great career.

The knowledge of film making is not enough to create a good movie producer. This quality might be good if you are a studio executive, or in any other job out of film making production. To be a good producer you need to develop certain skills, for you to become an independent film maker.

The first and most important skill is organization. You may already have this skill, and frankly it is not an easy skill to teach or learn, but you can learn to become more organized. If you have trouble remembering where you put your wallet or the last time you had the oil changed in the car, you will need some help in this area. Buy a book on how to get organized or take a class in organization. Do what you think best, but get organized.

The second skill is the ability to make quick decisions. No matter how well your plans have been laid, there are a lot of gray areas and changes that can come up during filming. You will run into decisions that need to be made right now. You can develop this skill by realizing from the start that you are in charge, and you will be making all of the decisions, any mistakes that are made, you will be making. If the decisions are wrong you will know it soon enough. As the film maker you must act decisively, accepting blame when necessary, the members of your cast and crew will go along with what you say.

The third skill is the ability to be a good negotiator. You will find that you will be making decisions about everything on the set. Everything will usually need to be negotiated. When rates are negotiated, know the top price you can pay for any one item according to your budget. Try to lower that by 20 or 30 percent by negotiation, you really need to keep yourself in the know. One thing to remember, if you don’t negotiate the right price you can decline the item and look elsewhere for it.

The fourth skill is one of diplomacy. Film makers need to keep a close reign on gossip and rumors. You may have to step in the middle of feuds and conflicts. The trick is to remedy the situation without taking sides. You need to practice diplomacy every working day.

To be a great film maker, you will need to have plenty of energy. Caffeine may help you wake up in the morning, but you will need real energy if you are going to make it through the duration of the film. You need to eat well and make sure you take vitamins to keep yourself from breaking down with the long working days.

When you have mastered these five basics of a film making producer, you will be able to use your knowledge of the film making process and produce a great independent film.

Without the camera there is no film, no movie to make. If you start making film on a regular basis you will learn to capture image with a number of different cameras. You will have your favorite but there will be many different ones that you have to hold. At a certain point using film became all but obsolete and digital took over. The introduction of the digital camera made capturing image infinitely easier.

Film cameras are good to work with in the beginning because they teach you how to use a lens. You learn about depth of field and how so push and pull focus plus a variety of other things that you will use when directing the camera. I like to think of using actual film as more organic. The image is a bit hazy and lacks that artificial crispness that a digital image can have. However there is no denying that digital is immediately gratifying.

In the beginning digital was no match for film, but the technicians tweaked it until they developed cameras that are amazing. Film has been relegated to high art and now we have no second thoughts about shooting in digital over film. The costs of processing are totally absent when you use digital to shoot. Getting your film developed was so expensive that in many cases it was prohibitive, but now there are completely acceptable digital cameras in a variety of cost ranges.

Find a digital video camera and a tripod to work with. You will need a tripod with fairly thick legs for sturdiness and a good fluid head for panning. Also before you buy your tripod, make sure that the camera releases from the tripod easily and quickly. You will want a camera that has a good battery system for remote shooting.

There are, any number of great digital cameras out there. You should be able to find a decent camera to shoot action between $500-$800. If you can manage to scrape together $1,000 a good camera is the Samsung VP X220L camcorder with wired external lens. This camera has a neat compact body and it is very durable. A testament to this fact is that this camera was used in the Jack Ass show.

Do some product research, buy your camera and start shooting. Handle your camera so you know just how to pan and focus with the equipment you will be using. Play it back and see how it handles different lighting levels and shutter speeds. Check out how it focuses automatically and practice a bit of manual focusing.

I suggest that you start carrying a camera and building an image bank. An image bank will give you basic generic images that you will need to use as cutaways and various other functions in your film. Learn to look at things through the lens. Direct and build different scenes in the frame and shoot them in still photography first. Before you start production of the actual film, practice shooting with your new camera. You can shoot your crew and the talent. Shoot anything that moves until you get it down.