Q&A for How to Be a Film Director

You can start creating films on your smart phone. All you need along with the phone are some actors and a good story idea.

You can start training at any age! Keep in mind, however, that if you wish to attend film school, you will need to finish high school first. Other than that, you can make films at any age.

Let them know that you are much more interested in doing this than any other thing in your life. Show them that you have enough knowledge about film making by talking about it in an authoritative and learned way. Ultimately though, you make the decision about your career, not your family, so look around for a suitable film school and talk to them about your hopes.

By becoming a director yourself and getting noticed among the different filmmaker unions and guilds. Seek to stand out from other directors of your category. If you become noticed, then a famous director may become interested in working with you but you'll need to have carved out a known niche and have specific desirable qualities. Read the biographies of great film directors to begin your in-depth research.

If you're following the standard format for a movie script (like a script made in the Celtx computer program), the script should be 43 pages. The format allows for each page of a script to be approximately 1 minute of the film.

It would be difficult for a deaf person to be a film director, but it is not impossible.

Read a lot of scripts, and try writing your own. Also, take some film classes and consider joining a film club at your school.

Not necessarily, but if you want to be a GOOD film director, then you have to know how to be good at acting. This will help you guide the actors better, and make it easier to create more dramatic, believable scenes.

This is entirely up to you. A TV series is a big commitment, as they generally tend to run for several seasons--that is, if the pilot episode gets approved and the series gets renewed for another season. A movie on the other hand is generally more expensive to make, but is usually a one-time deal--unless you plan on making sequels from the start.

What you need to do is prepare everything before you hire a cast. That means complete your script, prepare your camera shots, and have a setting and schedule. If everything is planned ahead of time, they will not leave.

Absolutely. There are many foreign-born directors in the United States.

Feature length movies typically run between 70 and 210 minutes. The bare minimum is 40 minutes, according to some film institutes.

Yes. Although it is a very male-dominated industry, there are female directors. For example, Sofia Coppola directed Lost in Translation.

Drama and film classes are a good idea. Communication classes are useful as well.

Try calling someone who is a good director and ask them for advice.

Pick a few famous directors, pick a few of their films, and watch them over and over again. How did they use camera angles and what information did they convey through that? What would a scene have felt like to you had it been shot in a different angle? There are also lots of film classes to teach you this information, or look online for tutorials.

No.

The director has a role, but that job more specifically falls to the cinematographer. Cinematographers also often hold the camera when filming, but they are in charge of things like camera angles, framing, and the lighting seen on screen. It is a very important role on set and similar to the director, but specifically for the camera and what is seen in each shot.

Yes, the way you say letters has nothing to do with your creativity and imagination.

It depends on video quality. If the smartphone shoots in HD, then it's better than the camcorder.

Acting is greatly encouraged, but not necessary. It does help though because then you can envision scenes in your head and act them out to help your actors understand what you're trying to accomplish in the movie.

Yes, you can, although it might be a more difficult path without that experience.

All great directors started out small. You'll need to rely on family and friends, convince them to fund your movie, keep the budget as small as possible, get a loan, invest your own money, work small jobs, get actors and crew to work for less or even for free. You'll need to have an actual movie, and it will have to be good enough to attract producers, who can get you started on the road to being shown in theaters. But a finished movie is the first step.

You first will need recognition. You could start by uploading videos to YouTube or Facebook.

Yes, they take the story and bring it to life. They are in charge of displaying whatever the writers have written in the best way that they envision it.

It certainly helps. Directing is an art, and it's difficult to be successful in any art form if you're not creative.

Getting an interview with the directors is the same as any other jobs. Submit a resume and your reel. Make sure you stand out, as countless are being submitted. A great way for this is, of course, experience; another is the creation of creative work. With the popularity of YouTube, it has never been easier to submit a film to the mass population; a volume of views, likes, and subscriptions on your YouTube channel could make it more appealing than an award at a film festival. Although not as professional, it shows your content and creativity attracts the people.

No, film directors are usually not in charge of screenwriting. Someone is assigned to that position, and they're called screenwriters. The director interprets the script written by the screenwriter and produce a film from it.

You can find many online courses for film direction online, from universities such as CQU, NYFA, and SAE. However there are many more, so you should find which one fits you best before deciding.

Starting a GoFundMe (or any other related website) could get you money to start your project!