(electronic music)
(electronic music with vocals)
- You might be wondering where I am
and how I got here, or maybe you don't care at all,
but let me tell ya a story anyways.
So, I spent the last week in Maui, with my family,
vacationing, and of course doing a little bit of work.
But then I didn't quite plan this part,
because things were booked last minute and all that,
but I left on April 5th, around 9 pm from Maui.
We had a five hour flight to LA, three hour layover,
another five hour flight to Toronto.
I arrived at 3:30 pm in Toronto.
Through traffic, I had 40 minutes to repack all my stuff,
shower up, eat, and then Peter picked me up
and we went back to the airport,
and another four hour flight, I think,
and now we're here in Las Vegas.
I niced out of that one.
And I'm exhausted, but you know what, it doesn't matter,
'cause I'm at NAB!
This is one of those nerd, geek, filmmaking dreams
that I've had for so long, to come to NAB.
If you haven't heard of NAB, it's a, um,
you should just look it up.
I've always wanted to come here, since I started filmmaking,
and a massive thanks to Adobe for hooking this up.
I'm gonna be hanging out with Peter and Adobe,
and I think it's gonna be pretty good.
Also, super cool, this has never happened to me before,
I came to the hotel last night, and I had a package.
(grunts)
I actually think I might know what this is,
and no, it's not a massive camera.
(grunts repeatedly)
It's a Onewheel, and I'm out of breath.
I've wanted one of these, so this is gonna be pretty sweet.
(upbeat techno pop music)
Alright, so we're at this super random spot,
I think it's called a ghost town, it's in Nelson, Nevada,
super random place.
We're here with Adobe, they're doing this
really cool workshop with a bunch of filmmakers,
aspiring filmmakers, and I thought this would be
a really good time to address something.
Tons of you email me saying you're an aspiring filmmaker,
how do I do what you do?
Essentially what you're asking is,
how do I become a professional filmmaker?
How do you go from someone who's aspiring to be a filmmaker,
to actually doing it?
Well, the answer's actually pretty simple.
Oh, and sorry for the wobbly camera,
it's not exactly the best tripod.
It's a bit wobbly.
All it really is, is hard work and time.
It's that simple.
Learn, make, repeat, that's it.
Now of course there's the debate of raw, natural talent,
and then hard work, how much do you need of both,
and I would say ideally you'd have both,
at least a little bit.
But can you become a filmmaker even with very little
natural talent?
And I think the answer is yes!
I think anybody can get good at something.
I think only a few become the best,
but I think anybody can get good at something
just with hard work.
And hard work is one of those funny things
that anybody can do.
Listen to me: anybody can work hard,
no matter what your situation is,
you can work hard.
It doesn't matter what camera you have
or how much experience you have,
anybody can be a hard worker.
That is the one thing that nobody can take away from you.
Put in the hours, you watch tutorials, you go shoot stuff,
you hang out with other filmmakers, you're making progress.
Think of it kind of like a video game,
even though life isn't a video game,
think of it like a video game.
You know, you're leveling up, you're getting experience,
and you don't see that "okay, now I leveled up".
That's the hard part, is that you don't have those
kind of checkpoints, like "alright now I'm on level two,
and now I'm level three, and now I'm level ten".
You don't have those, but that's essentially
what you're doing, is as long as you're just working hard,
you're getting stuff done, you're gonna make progress.
And we're gonna get to some practical tips,
but there's so many ways of doing filmmaking.
When I was in high school, I had no idea
that half the jobs existed in the filmmaking world.
I only really knew about directing
and being behind the camera.
I didn't even know it was called a DP,
a director of photography.
So maybe you don't actually have a ton of raw,
natural talent, but you just love filmmaking.
Well, there's a lot of positions for you
that you can work in.
There's things like being a creative director,
or being a producer.
Producer, I've said this before,
producer is like, one of the most important roles
on a film set, and it's one of those skills
that goes with you wherever you go.
It transcends filmmaking.
It applies to so many different fields.
So it's one of those skill sets
that would be so good to have.
If you don't have that raw, natural talent,
but you're really interested in filmmaking,
definitely think about becoming a producer.
There's also different kinds of producers.
Maybe we should actually do a video
on the different roles on a film set?
I feel like that would actually be pretty good.
That's not for this video,
but we'll talk about that in another one.
Alright, I think it's time to explore this place.
Let's get some B-roll, and we'll talk about
the practical tips a little bit later.
(dramatic country western music)
Alright, so we've been hanging out with other filmmakers
at the Adobe workshop, it's been fun,
but it is way too hot, and the light's not really the best,
so, we're gonna wait for sunset.
Why don't we just skip to that right now.
(electronic music)
Alright, it's been fun mobbin' these Onewheels around here,
but I think we're done.
Let's get back to the hotel.
(electronic music)
Alright, I gotta be honest, I am super tired,
but I promised to give some nice, practical tips
on how to go from an aspiring filmmaker
to a professional or semi-professional
or somewhere around there.
Here's some tips.
First off, get a camera, any camera.
It can be the camera in your pocket, a phone,
but I do recommend getting a camera
that you have interchangeable lenses.
So a camera that you can take the lens off
and put on a different lens.
That means you can essentially upgrade your camera.
Tip two is to use that camera.
Use it for anything.
Find a reason to use it and just use it.
Don't wait for some opportunity to come.
Make your opportunities, just use that camera.
Three, watch tutorials.
Watch all the tutorials you can find.
A lot of the times I've watched a tutorial
like two years ago, and then all of a sudden
I have to do this certain thing,
and I'm like, oh wait, I've seen a tutorial on that,
and then I might even revisit it,
or I already know how to do this thing now
because I watched that tutorial a long time ago.
Or, it might click something else in place,
and you start understanding this other thing now,
even though the tutorial was about this thing.
You now understand this thing.
Just watch tutorials, that's gonna make such a difference.
That's how I learned everything.
Number four, collaborate with other people
and film stuff that you love.
So, figure out what you like.
What kind of filmmaking do you enjoy, and then
find other people in that space to collaborate with.
It's one of the best ways to learn,
and you're gonna make way better stuff
when you're working with other people
and doing something that you actually like doing.
And then number five,
this one's a little bit unconventional,
but start doing paid gigs.
Nothing pushes you more than a paid gig,
'cause there's this pressure to do more,
to try harder, to just be better.
So don't be scared of a paid job.
If somebody's wanting to pay you, take that job,
take that opportunity, do not be scared.
It's gonna be fine, you're gonna survive,
you might stress a little bit, but it's all gonna be good
and you're gonna learn a ton.
And after that, you're gonna be a professional filmmaker.
Obviously not, but I hope these tips help you.
They helped me to get to where I am today.
Man, guys, I'm really tired, I should rest up,
because there's a lot to see at NAB.
I'm super excited to see everything.
People always say that three days is not enough
to see all the stuff at NAB,
so I have a feeling there's gonna be a lot to see,
a lot to do, a lot to walk.
Alright, good night guys.
See ya!
(electronic music)