Teenager interested in film, how do I start this journey?

[dyntopo]

Hi everyone,

I'm still in High School in the US, and I know that I want to go into filmmaking. I plan to try and go to school to study Production or Screenwriting. What steps can I take to prepare myself for the future? Is there anything I can do to make myself a better candidate for my future career? What schools or classes or clubs or anything would you recommend?

I've always been really interested in cinema and filmmaking, but I only recently decided that it is something that I want to do as a career. Now I'm looking for advice so I can prepare myself and maybe have a chance because I know that it is a competitive field.

 

[Chris W]

My best advice would be:

• Read constantly. Write constantly. Read good stories. Learn how to tell really good stories. At its heart filmmaking is all about storytelling. (Stephen King's book On Writing is excellent to learn the art of storytelling)
• Watch films and analyze shot choices and scene choices. Read scripts too for the films you want to analyze.
• Start shooting shorts with your phone. Or even try telling stories with just photos (telling a story in 5 photos I believe is one of the portfolio options for USC)
• If there's a film or theater club consider joining to find people with similar interests as you who might want to help film some projects and for fun to learn the art of storytelling.
• But at the heart try to get really good at writing as that is what will get you far. Many film schools we've interviewed said that the personal statement was the most important thing about the application.

Good luck!

 

[dyntopo]

My best advice would be:

• Read constantly. Write constantly. Read good stories. Learn how to tell really good stories. At its heart filmmaking is all about storytelling. (Stephen King's book On Writing is excellent to learn the art of storytelling)
• Watch films and analyze shot choices and scene choices. Read scripts too for the films you want to analyze.
• Start shooting shorts with your phone. Or even try telling stories with just photos (telling a story in 5 photos I believe is one of the portfolio options for USC)
• If there's a film or theater club consider joining to find people with similar interests as you who might want to help film some projects and for fun to learn the art of storytelling.
• But at the heart try to get really good at writing as that is what will get you far. Many film schools we've interviewed said that the personal statement was the most important thing about the application.

Good luck!

Thank you so much!

 

[Chris W]

Many film schools we've interviewed said that the personal statement was the most important thing about the application.

This is also true no matter what school or concentration you apply for even if it has nothing to do with film.