How to Learn Filmmaking FAST! – Without Film School

The Game Plan:

50/50 Rule: 50% of your time should be devoted to watch a video or learning something new, the other 50% should be devoted to practicing that thing.

Day One 1

Search for “Composition and Framing” on Youtube.
Find three videos.
Watch them all twice.
Go get your camera, take a hundredredredred (100) pictures, practicing what you learned.

Day Two 2

Take another 50 pictures around a park or somewhere interesting, again, practicing what you learned yesterday.

Day Three 3

Search “Three Point Lighting” on Youtube.
Find three videos.
Watch them all twice.
Mess with lights around your house, replicating what you saw.
Take another fifty (50) pictures while doing this.

Day Four 4

Take fifty (50) more pictures practicing framing, composition, and three-point lighting.
Take twenty (20) pictures of a subject that is close to a window. This means you’ll have to use “Window Lighting”.

Day Five 5

Look up “Depth of Field” on Youtube
Find and watch three (3) videos.
Watch them all twice.
Take fifty (50) pictures practicing depth of field.

Day Six 6

Look up “How to get the Film Look” on Youtube
Watch three (3) videos about this.
Watch ’em all twice.
Grab your camera and record at least a two (2) minute video using the settings that you learned.

Day Seven 7

Record a few more videos, messing around with the shutter speed as you see fit.
Record a few videos messing around with the ISO.
Do all of it completely incorrectly, you’ll probably learn more that way.

Day Eight 8

Get some free editing software. At this point, any of ’em will work just fine.
Search for videos on Youtube as to how to edit in whatever editor you chose.
Watch three (3) of them twice.
Import some of those videos you made yesterday and the day before into that software.
Make two (2) edits, and then render it out. Do nothing else.
CONGRATULATIONS! You’ve made your first video!

Day Nine 9

Tell a story using light.
Find five (5) interesting shots using light.
Pay attention to your camera settings an composition while doing all this.

Day Ten 10

Edit that lighting exercise videos (the ones from yesterday) in your chosen software.
Review it. Make notes on any mistakes or anything you’d like to change.

Day Eleven 11

Vlog your day!
Again, pay attention to camera settings and composition.

Day Twelve 12

Edit the vlog together, render the lot of it.
Take note of any mistakes.

Day Thirteen 13

Search “Types of shots and camera angles” on Youtube
Find three (3) videos, watch them all twice.

Day Fourteen 14

Grab some friends and record a video of them reading of this script HERE.
You can mess with the script to fit a mood or theme as you see fit.
Don’t worry about lighting and sound right now.
Do focus on camera settings, framing and composition, and camera angles.

Day Fifteen 15

Take that scene you recorded yesterday and put in your editing software.
Render it, review it.
Take notes of what you did right and what you did wrong.

Day Sixteen 16

Using the same script from before, make another video.
This time with one scene, as well as fixing some mistakes that you made before.

Day Seventeen 17

Edit that new video, render it, review it. You know the drill by now.

Day Eighteen 18

Shoot another one scene film, but focusing on framing and composition.
Mess with your camera settings.
Shoot the whole with available window lighting.

Day Nineteen 19

Edit the scene, render it, take notes.

Day Twenty 20

Buy or borrow a sound recorder.
Vlog your adventures getting the thing.
Keep it short.

Day Twenty-one 21

Look up how to use whatever sound recorder you have.
Watch three (3) videos twice.
Play with the settings a bit.
Record three (3) sounds from various locations in your house.

00:00

wait so Iowa people learn I know

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dynamical see focus over every point

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light under suppose well the cod and the

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bird appears to be inside the game

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because your eye holds each image

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briefly after it is gone

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your spit here and this is how to learn

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filmmaking fast without film school

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disclaimer there ain’t no disclaimer hey

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I am NOT against going to film school I

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went I learned a ton I am speaking to

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those who want to learn filmmaking

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without going to film school here’s a

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little 30-day curriculum you can follow

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absolutely free or your money back

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about that time Lego their game plan

00:38

first things first we got to cover the

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50/50 rule 50% of the time you should

00:42

watch a video or learn something new the

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other 50% should be spent actually doing

00:48

that thing this way you’re getting

00:49

plenty of hands-on experience and

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practical knowledge while you learn I’m

00:53

not putting links to specific videos

00:54

because I noticed over time things

00:56

happen to some of those videos and I end

00:57

up with useless links so you guys will

00:59

have to look things up there are plenty

01:01

of videos out there on just about every

01:03

topic I’m just going to assume that

01:04

whoever’s watching this knows absolutely

01:05

nothing so this is where we’re going to

01:07

start you got to get a camera either a

01:09

DSLR or mirrorless camera preferably

01:10

with all manual functions you’re gonna

01:11

need a tripod eventually you’re going to

01:13

need to get a sound recorder why it

01:14

borrow and steal it if you need to I’m

01:16

joking about the whole stealing thing

01:17

before I told nobody new studio day one

01:20

search composition and framing on

01:21

YouTube watch three videos watch each

01:24

twice pick up your camera and go take

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100 pictures

01:27

practicing what you learn 100 goes by

01:30

real fast a tune take 50 more pictures

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around a park or somewhere interesting

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practice framing and composition rule of

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thirds etc etc data research three

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points lighting on YouTube watch three

01:41

videos about it re watch each video

01:43

twice use lights around your house to

01:45

replicate which you saw take 50 pictures

01:48

lighting a subject if you don’t have a

01:50

person to use practice on a toy or a big

01:52

teddy bear day four take 50 more

01:54

pictures practicing framing and

01:56

Composition three-point lighting

01:57

take 20 of those pictures with a subject

01:59

close to a window and use window

02:01

lighting day by look up depth of field

02:03

on YouTube watch three videos twice each

02:06

pick up your camera and take fifty

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pictures using your get lens

02:10

experiment with different folks

02:12

Ling’s mess with your aperture and watch

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out both of them affect your depth of

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field day six look up how to get the

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film look on YouTube watch three videos

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each one twice I did one of these so

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I’ll leave a link in the description

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pick up your camera and record at least

02:27

a two-minute clip of anything using the

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proper settings you learned day 7 do

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camera tests record a few sample videos

02:34

playing with just the shutter speed then

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record a few tests playing with just the

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ISO do it all wrong date get an editing

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application it could be Adobe Premiere

02:44

or it could be any any free application

02:46

just get one watch three videos on how

02:49

to edit in whatever application you have

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import one or two of those camera tests

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you did make two edits and then render

02:56

it out that’s it don’t do anything else

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to it congratulations you made your

03:00

first video you’ve gotten something into

03:01

an editing application and then back out

03:03

of it day 9 lighting exercise tell the

03:05

stories using light find six interesting

03:07

shots that have something to do with

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lights I’m a light bulb so I’m a

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darkroom with light pouring through a

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doorway Magic Hour make it interesting

03:15

pay attention to your camera settings

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and Composition day 10 edit the light

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exercise together render it out review

03:21

it take notes on any mistakes day 11

03:23

vlog your day pay attention to camera

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settings and Composition day 12 edit the

03:27

vlog together render it out take note of

03:29

any mistakes day 13 search types of

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shots and camera angles on YouTube watch

03:34

three videos each one twice I’ve also

03:36

done one on the topic link in the

03:37

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video blog STATCOM /pu cast day 14 she

04:49

just came with a couple of friends and

04:50

using the script character 8 says hey

04:52

character pieces how long do we have

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character aces all night character

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pieces okay those are the lines you can

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transform the meaning of those lines

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into whatever you want don’t worry about

05:01

the lighting in the sound right now

05:02

those things will probably suck that’s

05:04

okay we’ll get to that later right now

05:06

just focus on the camera settings

05:07

framing and composition and getting your

05:09

camera angles day 50 cut the scene

05:11

together and render it out review it and

05:13

take note on any of your mistakes there

05:15

will be quite a few day sixteen shoot

05:17

another one scene film this time try

05:19

lighting with household light use the

05:21

same script but took a different room or

05:23

location learn from the mistakes that

05:24

you made in the last video day 17 cut it

05:27

together render it out review it day 18

05:29

shoot another one seam stone focusing on

05:31

framing in composition camera settings

05:33

shoot the whole thing next to a window

05:35

using available window light this time

05:37

day 19 cut the scene rendered out take

05:39

notes day 20 go buy a sound recorder or

05:42

borrow one from a friend and vlog your

05:44

adventures getting it keep it short keep

05:46

it sweet have fun don’t steal don’t

05:48

steal day 21 look up how to use

05:50

whatever’s hammer recorder you got watch

05:53

three videos and play with the sound

05:55

recorder record three sounds around your

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house with the sound recorder day 22

05:59

record fifty sounds with the sound

06:01

recorder play with the gain experiment

06:02

with over modulating a few sounds import

06:05

them into an edit project drop them on a

06:07

timeline crossfade between each one of

06:09

the clips and then export day 23 sound

06:11

exercise record 20 sounds and try to

06:13

tell a story record your morning routine

06:15

brushing your teeth and getting ready

06:17

for school

06:18

enforces on cliffs trims them down

06:20

render it out this should be your second

06:23

sound video day 24 grab a friend

06:25

interview them about their day if you

06:27

need lights use them as you record make

06:29

sure your sound recorder is no more than

06:32

three feet away from them you don’t have

06:33

to use a slate for this first exercise

06:35

day 25 look

06:37

how to sync sound on YouTube watched

06:38

three videos then take footage of your

06:41

friend dump it into an editing

06:42

application sync the sound and picture

06:45

cut it up so it flows nice render it out

06:47

now you’ve completed another video this

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time with much better sound quality day

06:51

26 look up the 180 degree rule on

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YouTube watch three videos twice each

06:55

practice with toys day 27 search how to

06:58

write a script on YouTube watch three

07:01

videos each one twice day 28 write a

07:03

simple to page scene with like maybe a

07:05

couple of people in one location I mean

07:07

like really really simple

07:08

make sure to sprinkles you know a little

07:10

bit of conflict in there day 29 record

07:12

the scene with two friends if they can’t

07:14

remember the lines that you’ve written

07:15

exactly then have them improv around the

07:17

lines but just keep the spirit of the

07:19

dialogue that you remember your framing

07:21

and composition remember your camera

07:22

angles remember the 180 rule and when

07:24

you’re recording sound remember to keep

07:25

your sound recorder at least 3 feet away

07:27

from whoever you’re recording day 30

07:29

edit it together render it out now you

07:31

finished your first microfilm with

07:33

picture and sound what I’ve just

07:37

outlined for you is the curriculum that

07:39

we were pretty much shown in film school

07:40

just condensed into one month I remember

07:43

thinking that all of those assignments

07:44

were so lame but now thinking back on it

07:47

I realized the only point to those

07:48

assignments was to get you to play with

07:50

camera settings and play with gear

07:52

through a simple fun task

07:55

you know like repetition from here on

07:57

you can get a microphone a mic stand

07:58

learn color grading after effect by life

08:01

you know learn story structure blah blah

08:03

blah blah but like you’ve got a

08:04

foundation to build upon now test

08:07

everything do tons and tons of tests

08:10

whenever you learn something new make it

08:12

a point to go out and do a camera test

08:14

like if you just learn how slow-motion

08:15

works or something go through a camera

08:17

test do not wait until you’re shooting a

08:19

film to experiment microfilm there’s a

08:22

little secret

08:22

shooting micro films is the quickest way

08:24

to get nasty good just like crank

08:28

through micro films build your

08:29

understanding at the basics get that

08:31

muscle memory going power through all

08:33

those like beginner level mistakes and

08:35

start really small just do like really

08:37

manageable one scene films and builds

08:40

and work your way up to a short film

08:42

after you power through like 10 or 20

08:44

micro films you’ll be more than ready

08:46

and confidence

08:47

tackle your first short film

08:52

let’s talk about some traps you can fall

08:54

into here do you watch filmmaking tip-in

09:01

tutorial videos over and over and over

09:03

again but you can’t really like remember

09:05

the last time you picked up a camera

09:07

yeah you’re a video head so many good

09:10

videos if I watch enough of these I’m

09:12

going to be nasty good

09:13

nobody ever learned how to play

09:15

basketball by sitting on a bench and

09:16

watching other people play you have to

09:18

actually get out there and practice

09:20

dribbling practice shooting you have to

09:22

feel the ball with your hands film is

09:26

the same way you need the repetition of

09:27

actually doing the thing there is no

09:30

video on this planet that can show you

09:33

what it feels like to to actually hunt

09:35

for a composition the muzzle memory of

09:37

setting up a tripod levelling it going

09:40

through the settings on a camera and

09:41

knowing which settings to check you have

09:43

to physically do it so many times that

09:46

eventually you don’t even have to think

09:47

about it jump the gun yo what cast in my

09:54

first short film you want to be in what

09:56

weight we start shooting in three weeks

09:57

have you ever made a short before no

09:59

have you recorded anything sound video

10:01

anything course not this is still making

10:04

you just jump in and learn as you go

10:05

what what there are several things wrong

10:09

with this picture

10:10

first off did you go and you get a whole

10:12

cast and crew together shoot this short

10:13

film you are going to waste everybody’s

10:15

time because you’re not going to have

10:17

the slightest idea of what you’re doing

10:19

– you’re going to make a whole bunch of

10:21

mistakes on that short that you could be

10:22

making right now for free shooting

10:25

camera tests and micro films and three

10:27

usually when you’re planning for a short

10:29

film you’re not doing anything else for

10:31

three weeks or so you could have shot

10:33

like five or six micro films and learned

10:35

ten times that much in the same

10:39

timeframe excuses I don’t have crew you

10:41

don’t need crew to learn the basics

10:42

thing you don’t need crew to shoot micro

10:44

films I don’t have actors then don’t use

10:46

actors use friends and family and if

10:47

they can’t remember the lines that you

10:49

wrote and have them improv around the

10:51

lines getting like the spirit of the

10:53

lines that you wrote closing thought the

10:55

funny thing about taking your time and

10:57

pacing yourself while you learn is that

10:58

you actually learn things a lot

11:01

faster now not saying you can’t go out

11:03

and make an ambitious project like you

11:05

can definitely do that just don’t do it

11:07

right now

11:08

allow yourself to grow into those bigger

11:11

projects like really work your way up to

11:14

them so if you’re freaking out at the

11:16

thought of shooting your first short

11:17

film maybe you’re not ready yet crank

11:19

out more camera tests crank out more

11:21

microfilm

11:22

you’ll know when you’re ready festivals

11:24

and success and fame and glory blah blah

11:27

like all that stuff is not going

11:29

anywhere guys it’ll be there don’t rush

11:31

you’re not going to be Quentin Tarantino

11:33

in 30 days so just just let that dream

11:36

die filmmaking is a lifestyle you’ve got

11:38

to really take every opportunity to keep

11:40

learning and growing unfortunately there

11:43

are no shortcuts to greatness what I do

11:45

believe that’s all I got for you you

11:47

guys can follow me on all of the social

11:49

medias I also offer short film feedback

11:51

and chat with musicians you can find

11:53

more details at d4 darius calm or i’ll

11:56

leave a link in the description section

11:58

beep it up