Are there any filmmakers here who made it?

[Gerald]

I don't know if this is the right section of the forum to post it, but I was wondering if any of you have made a film and can share their story of how they managed to do it.

I have written scripts, and even as a child I made audioplays and stop-motion movies, but I never figured out how to do it professionaly. I didn't go to filmschool, as the filmschool here is quite elitist and only few are admitted - and I know people who did go and are still not able to make films.
I tried to do it with friends and colleagues, but the problem you run into is that you can't fully count on people that way. Everyone has their jobs and can only make it at certain times and things like that, which is risky if you're gonna spend money on equipment.
Another problem you run into is, as soon as you hand scripts to people, suddenly everyone is a writer and wants to change things. If you're professional the actors are hired and essentially have to follow the script. Of course, some suggestions are good and helpful, but you can't change a script too much or it will fall apart as it is structured a certain way.

The best way seems to me when you're part of some group, who all are into filmmaking and want to make the best of it. But where would you find something like that? I went to an amateur filmclub, but often they're more into documentary and don't have a clue abour or are not interested in dramatic film.

Also, sometimes there is a contest where you can pitch an idea. Clive Barker recently did one, but my country is often excluded.

So, any filmmakers here who made it, and have some tips?

 

[Moderator]

I moved it over to the movies section instead.

 

[GNTLGNT]

...well, Kanye West is a "film-maker"......but probably not the ilk you're after.....

 

[Gerald]

...well, Kanye West is a "film-maker"......but probably not the ilk you're after.....

Kanye West? I suppose you're joking, but I don't get it...

A strange thing about Kanye West, by the way, is that while he seems to be huge in the US (I believe he's seen as one of the most ambitious rappers), you never see him on music channels here. He must make music videos, right?

(Anyway, that's going a bit off topic.)

 

[GNTLGNT]

Kanye West? I suppose you're joking, but I don't get it...

A strange thing about Kanye West, by the way, is that while he seems to be huge in the US (I believe he's seen as one of the most ambitious rappers), you never see him on music channels here. He must make music videos, right?

(Anyway, that's going a bit off topic.)

...he and his lady(Kartrashian) made a "sex tape".....just my way of being goofy about filmmakers....

 

[mal]

I remember reading that George Romero and nine of his friends/co-workers each threw in $600 bucks a piece and he made Night of the Living Dead. I'd love to read the production notes from that one. I also read that David Lynch filmed his 'Inland Empire' with a $20,000 digital camera. Like any production...sometimes the stars align and sometimes they don't. Yo can have unlimited time and budget and still turn out a stinker. Good luck going forward Gerald...I've always wanted to travel that path further but life always got in the way.

 

[Tery]

sometimes the stars align and sometimes they don't.

Sure wish mine would.

 

[Blake]

I know nothing about film making but watch a lot of films. Recently I watched one of the documentaries 'The Directors' this on featuring David Cronenberg. I think back then, back in the late 1960's and early 1970's like he went to University studying Science and gravitated towards Visual Arts and started on Super 8 then 35mm, I think then if you had a passion, it might have been easier than now. Then you could argue that the Internet provides a medium for up and coming film makers. I think the studio system seems now much more orientated to big blockbusters and I think the standard has gone down, dumbed down, there were so many films made in the 70's/80's on low budgets, but ended up classics, now they are big budget movies that have the feeling of a dead fish.

 

[Gerald]

Good luck going forward Gerald...I've always wanted to travel that path further but life always got in the way.

Yes, it's the same for me. Plus my health isn't optimal. This may be a bit personal, but starting at the end of the year 2000 I started to get tension headache. I don't know if anyone here knows what that is or has it. It feels essentially like something is bound quite tightly around your temples and above your nose and forehead. It's a sort of pressure that's always there. I tried all sorts of therapies, but nothing helped. It's been there every day since, you wake up with it and get to bed with it.
At first I gave up reading too, but when I'm rested enough I can still read thankfully.

Some days it's worse than others. The main factor that seems to intensify it is changes in the weather, apart from that it's impossible to tell when it gets worse or better.
It also makes me very sensitive to noise. Every noise essentially gives an emotion of irritation. Today for example it's quite bad - I live in an appartment building and you always hear noises of neighbours quite clearly - on other days those noises don't bother me as much, or I don't notice them.
It's really a mysterious thing, especially since you can't really tell what causes it - why it's sometimes worse and sometimes better.

 

[GNTLGNT]

Yes, it's the same for me. Plus my health isn't optimal. This may be a bit personal, but starting at the end of the year 2000 I started to get tension headache. I don't know if anyone here knows what that is or has it. It feels essentially like something is bound quite tightly around your temples and above your nose and forehead. It's a sort of pressure that's always there. I tried all sorts of therapies, but nothing helped. It's been there every day since, you wake up with it and get to bed with it.
At first I gave up reading too, but when I'm rested enough I can still read thankfully.

Some days it's worse than others. The main factor that seems to intensify it is changes in the weather, apart from that it's impossible to tell when it gets worse or better.
It also makes me very sensitive to noise. Every noise essentially gives an emotion of irritation. Today for example it's quite bad - I live in an appartment building and you always hear noises of neighbours quite clearly - on other days those noises don't bother me as much, or I don't notice them.
It's really a mysterious thing, especially since you can't really tell what causes it - why it's sometimes worse and sometimes better.

...Have you had a CT of your head done?.....

 

[mal]

Yes, it's the same for me. Plus my health isn't optimal. This may be a bit personal, but starting at the end of the year 2000 I started to get tension headache. I don't know if anyone here knows what that is or has it. It feels essentially like something is bound quite tightly around your temples and above your nose and forehead. It's a sort of pressure that's always there. I tried all sorts of therapies, but nothing helped. It's been there every day since, you wake up with it and get to bed with it.
At first I gave up reading too, but when I'm rested enough I can still read thankfully.

Some days it's worse than others. The main factor that seems to intensify it is changes in the weather, apart from that it's impossible to tell when it gets worse or better.
It also makes me very sensitive to noise. Every noise essentially gives an emotion of irritation. Today for example it's quite bad - I live in an appartment building and you always hear noises of neighbours quite clearly - on other days those noises don't bother me as much, or I don't notice them.
It's really a mysterious thing, especially since you can't really tell what causes it - why it's sometimes worse and sometimes better.

Hi Gerald, Sorry to hear that. It's gotta be tough carrying that around. I agree with GNTLGNT, you should get it checked out. Maybe even a neck/back crack by your local chiropractor might make a difference (be careful though...they try to get you to keep coming back). All the best, mal.

 

[Gerald]

...Have you had a CT of your head done?.....

I have, yes. Nothing was wrong.

 

[Gerald]

Hi Gerald, Sorry to hear that. It's gotta be tough carrying that around. I agree with GNTLGNT, you should get it checked out. Maybe even a neck/back crack by your local chiropractor might make a difference (be careful though...they try to get you to keep coming back). All the best, mal.

Been to a chiropractor too for a while, and for a long time with physiotherapists (if that's the right word) and other therapists, some specialized in this type of headache. But nothing ever came out of it, not even after months and months. It seems completely stuck.

I wonder though why sounds irritate me so much. Basically what happens is I sit down at a computer for example and go on internet, then you start reading and there's a door here that slams, something over there that moves etc. These sounds in a sense take my concentration away, since with the headache concentration is harder for me most likely, than people who don't have that.
But then there are other periods, when you're more rested somehow and you don't notice it so much. I never can tell though what the reason is for some periods being more easy than others...

 

[Gerald]

It's also hard to tell how loud the noises really are. To me it really sounds loud, like doors are really slammed with force. But I can't really tell for sure. I would estimate a sound to me sounds about three times as loud as when I didn't have the headache - as far as I can remember, of course.
You can't really ask everyone to walk on their toes all day, but it's a building from the sixties, things tend to sound quite hollow and close. I don't really hear tv's or music that much, or people walking around, but mostly what I think are doors, or perhaps cupboards and things like that.
Also from outside you hear cardoors slam and things like that - and with appartmentbuildings (or flats as they're called here, the whole building is called a 'flat') sounds on the streets tend to echo against it and get amplified in a way.
It's especially short, sudden sounds that annoy me, not so much the regular sound of a car driving by, which very gradually increases in sound.

Unfortunately there also aren't really medicine for it. There are for migraine, and I took those for a while, but they didn't do anything. But not really for tension headache. There are muscle relaxers (most likely the pain is caused by strained muscles in the neck and shoulders), but they don't want to prescribe these, as apperently these are quite 'heavy'.

 

[GNTLGNT]

It's also hard to tell how loud the noises really are. To me it really sounds loud, like doors are really slammed with force. But I can't really tell for sure. I would estimate a sound to me sounds about three times as loud as when I didn't have the headache - as far as I can remember, of course.
You can't really ask everyone to walk on their toes all day, but it's a building from the sixties, things tend to sound quite hollow and close. I don't really hear tv's or music that much, or people walking around, but mostly what I think are doors, or perhaps cupboards and things like that.
Also from outside you hear cardoors slam and things like that - and with appartmentbuildings (or flats as they're called here, the whole building is called a 'flat') sounds on the streets tend to echo against it and get amplified in a way.
It's especially short, sudden sounds that annoy me, not so much the regular sound of a car driving by, which very gradually increases in sound.

Unfortunately there also aren't really medicine for it. There are for migraine, and I took those for a while, but they didn't do anything. But not really for tension headache. There are muscle relaxers (most likely the pain is caused by strained muscles in the neck and shoulders), but they don't want to prescribe these, as apperently these are quite 'heavy'.

....Gerald,
just a thought-but maybe consult an Audiologist about the sounds and I'm not sure what the equivalent would be in your country, but here I take a direct skeletal muscle relaxant known as Parafon Forte or Chlorzoxazone....no addictive factor and they work quickly.....combined with an over the counter analgesic, it should work well.....another benefit is, they don't make you sleepy....

 

[Gerald]

....Gerald,
just a thought-but maybe consult an Audiologist about the sounds and I'm not sure what the equivalent would be in your country, but here I take a direct skeletal muscle relaxant known as Parafon Forte or Chlorzoxazone....no addictive factor and they work quickly.....combined with an over the counter analgesic, it should work well.....another benefit is, they don't make you sleepy....

Thanks. I'll consult my general practicioner about it. But I wonder if we have the same medicine as in the US here...

And, an audiologist, isn't that more for people with loss of hearing? Not people who are overly sensitive to it.

 

[danie]

Yes, it's the same for me. Plus my health isn't optimal. This may be a bit personal, but starting at the end of the year 2000 I started to get tension headache. I don't know if anyone here knows what that is or has it. It feels essentially like something is bound quite tightly around your temples and above your nose and forehead. It's a sort of pressure that's always there. I tried all sorts of therapies, but nothing helped. It's been there every day since, you wake up with it and get to bed with it.
At first I gave up reading too, but when I'm rested enough I can still read thankfully.

Some days it's worse than others. The main factor that seems to intensify it is changes in the weather, apart from that it's impossible to tell when it gets worse or better.
It also makes me very sensitive to noise. Every noise essentially gives an emotion of irritation. Today for example it's quite bad - I live in an appartment building and you always hear noises of neighbours quite clearly - on other days those noises don't bother me as much, or I don't notice them.
It's really a mysterious thing, especially since you can't really tell what causes it - why it's sometimes worse and sometimes better.

This is turning into the headache thread! Gerald, I had headaches for years. Sometimes they progressed into what one might call migraines, but seemed to start out as the tension headaches you're describing. After trying different things, my doctor prescribed a daily med called Topomax which really helped. I no longer take it because I don't have the headaches as often or in such severity. You might ask your doctor. Also, if I start to get one now, exercise such as running seems to alleviate it. Good luck!

 

[Gerald]

This is turning into the headache thread! Gerald, I had headaches for years. Sometimes they progressed into what one might call migraines, but seemed to start out as the tension headaches you're describing. After trying different things, my doctor prescribed a daily med called Topomax which really helped. I no longer take it because I don't have the headaches as often or in such severity. You might ask your doctor. Also, if I start to get one now, exercise such as running seems to alleviate it. Good luck!

Thanks. I'll ask, but I wonder if we can get the same medicine here as in the US. Actual migraines I don't really suffer from, and seldom is the tension headache so bad I have to lay down. It's just something that is always there and in general causes you to be tired - I do that thing a lot where you blow out air when you're tired - what's that called, 'puffing'?

The trick seems to be to think about it as little as possible, but with something that's always there that's very hard. When there's a distraction it's still there, but you don't notice it as much. For example, when I'm eating I don't notice it as all the attention goes to the food.
It's just all that time in between when you're not distracted enough by things, that you notice it a lot.

 

[GNTLGNT]

Thanks. I'll consult my general practicioner about it. But I wonder if we have the same medicine as in the US here...

And, an audiologist, isn't that more for people with loss of hearing? Not people who are overly sensitive to it.

...an Eye, Ear, Nose and Throat Specialist can consult, or an Audiologist can also offer advice....