What does it take to become a film maker?

It’s been over a decade since the day I decided to become a film director. I still remember that day. I used to work as a video journalist at a TV station in New York and every day I would do my best to go out and produce news pieces for the night broadcast show. However I always felt somehow disappointed with the fact that tomorrow, all my work of today would become old news, useless, unless in the future they need it as archive images. So I thought to myself movies, when well done, can last for decades and the real good ones are rewatched many times.

Movies are also one of the most powerful tools to influence people, and cinema as an art form provides great and fulfilling life experiences to the artist. But it’s also the most expensive art form, and because it incorporates all the other art forms, potentially, it takes many years to master all the technical, technology, artistic, strategic and economic skills.

Besides that, film making requires a great amount of expensive equipment. Cameras, lenses, microphones, stabilizers, lighting gear, grip gear, powerful computers, expensive software, just to get started. So if you are not an heir to a fortune it will take you some time and effort to invest in professional film gear and learn how to use it. But if you endure for sometime and become good at it you will most likely get your investment back and have no financial problems. Likelly!

The film industry has many jobs in different departments. If one wants to become a director, there are a few good paths to get there. One is through the camera department. You can start working as a camera assistant until you become a DP and then you eventually end up sitting on the director’s chair. That was my path. And I can say that calling yourself a DP after shooting some web videos on your own or with a small crew and working on a couple of student short films doesn’t work. You need to learn the workflow and the language of the film industry through real on set experience.

Besides the camera department, one can also start as an actor, or as an assistant director or even as an art director or production designer. But in reality there are no rules in this regard. The only rule is you need to convince someone who wants to invest in a film project that you are the best person to direct it. That’s how you get the director’s hat, no matter where you come from and how that process happens. Unless you are paying for the film with your own money. But I think in this case you still must convince yourself you can do the job and will not waste your own money on it.

Besides being a long and difficult path I can say it’s definitely worth it. I believe everything we do is part of our spiritual journey. So the process of making a film is not different. It is a constant process of overcoming hardships and growing. In every project I meet interesting people who teach me new ways to see reality. Every project brings me to new places, where I learn new history, every story makes me see life through the eyes of different characters. And opposed it than many other professions, I feel the older I get the stronger I become in this craft. I had a professor in film school and remember he was eighty something and his assistant told me a couple years ago that he was working on a new feature film. I was amazed and thought as long as a director is alive he will keep making films until his last breath.

If you believe the meaning of life is to develop yourself and always try to achieve a higher and deeper understanding of reality and humanity, filmmaking as an art form can be a way, if you are open to that. So I hope with this video I can help motivate the brave ones who, like me, decided to follow this path and dedicate their lives to the seventh art.