Where to begin?

I get regular emails via my Youtube profile from people asking me where to start. They think they should get the greatest & latest equipment like Depth of Field adapters and then start making films.

I've said to all of them, as many film makers will no doubt also say, get any camera you can and as long as you can get that footage on a computer, you're good to go. Even if your camera can't connect to a computer you can still practice things like shot composition and review the footage on a TV.

When i started film making i used to make films every night! Nothing great, just a few minutes, say for example:

A guy knocks on the door of a house, the owner opens the door and gets punched in the face. He comes round to find the intruder robbing his house, so he decides to fight back.

This was an actual short film i made with a friend. No fancy editing software, all shots were shot in the order we needed them. Now with a computer, it's easier than ever to practice the essentials needed to make quality films.

Once you have learnt the basics you'll automatically start wanting more from your equipment like manual exposure (it's really unprofessional to have your footage get lighter or darker when you pan across a shot - locking the exposure stops this) and better image quality. Also, if you've already started making short films with what you have, it's easier to convince parents or partner that you need new equipment!!

Another great way to start is by watching a scene from a film, music video or trailer with no sound, it allows you to concentrate on the shots and edits more clearly and it really does work, try it!

More from me soon including video tutorials too.