A lot of people often cognate me to ask about filmmaking and I must be honest, it is not something which I am overly familiar with. That being said, I am always keen to help the readers so I caught up with a goof friend of mine recently Nathan Kroll, a filmmaker who is incredibly talented and who can help out. Nathan has worked in all aspects of filmmaking and producing including stints with high tech companies working on virtual reality and graphics. Nathan spends a lot of his time working with Current Studios and I was lucky enough to catch him on his day off to find out what skills are required to become a filmmaker.
Creativity
It will probably come as no surprise that the first skill which Nathan recommends that you have to start a crane in this industry is creativity. To be creative is not something that comes naturally to everyone and whilst you can practice it, the likelihood of you getting to a great level is low. If you do have natural born creativity however, you should nourish it and let it fly in order to become the best filmmaker that you can.
Attention to Details
When we watch a movie or a video, we allow the scenes to pass by our eyes, picking up the main points. When a filmmaker or producer like Nathan Kroll watches a film however, they are paying attention to every pixel on the screen, how it looks, how it helps the film and what can be done to improve it. This attention to detail is prevalent in every filmmaker and even just a few seconds of film could have taken hours upon hours of a producers time, who will have been focussing on every detail on the screen.
Hard Work
There is a foolish notion that those working in film have something of an easy job, which Nathan feverishly denies. In fact filmmakers, producers and directors have to work incredibly hard on all of their projects, putting in long days of up to 16 hours, and doing so for a number of months, or even years until the end product is just what they have been working towards. If you have any dreams of one day working in this industry, you must be prepared to roll up your sleeves and put the work in.
Networking
The final skill which Nathan says that you will need in order to begin a career in film, is to be able to network well. Contacts are so important in this industry and without them you will face an uphill battle to make it. You should be looking to create, solidify and maintain relationships with all kinds of people inside the industry, contacts who could very well help to give you a leg up further down the line.
