SOLO FILMMAKING: Turn Your Ordinary Videos Into Cinematic Films

I want to make something you can feel something that stands the test of time I don't know about you but I find this beauty in taking ordinary footage that I shot with my friends and turning it into something that feels like it belongs in a [Music] movie because I think there's this magic that Hollywood films have that move us in ways that most Ordinary videos just don't but how can my footage evoke that same emotion I don't have big sets or Crews or the craziest equipment but there has to be a way for what I create to be more than just a video thrown into the void because I don't want to make videos I want to make true cinematic films that make people feel something real and I've always looked for the answer to do that and if that's an answer you're looking for you're in the right place I want to make something you can feel something that stands the test of time so the other day I sat down and I watched the movie The Arrival and whether or not you've seen it the end scene in the film is just so insanely beautiful it's one of those films where I finish watching and I just got full body chills and I knew immediately I wanted to go out there and create something we are so Bound by Time by its order now it was a combination of the voiceover the music the shot selection all of these things in tan that made this Hollywood film make me feel so just alive you know when you're finishing watching a film and you just want to go out and make something and that's exactly what this film did for me and it got me thinking because as a filmmaker myself and someone who's also on YouTube and creates for the internet how can we take our own films that we shoot on the ground and have that same emotion and have that same effect on our audience we're going to talk about three things we're going to talk about the visual presentation of your film we're going to talk about the auditory presentation of your film and we're going to talk about the storytelling the message that you have in your film and how you can package these all together to make something great this is purely just my mentality going into films and how you can even take footage you've already shot and create something powerful even if you don't feel like it's deserving of a powerful message and so with that let's get into it and start with what every film needs the visual [Music] presentation [Music] so obviously when we talk about the visual component we're going to have to talk about shot selection this is the core component of your film and I don't necessarily want to talk about how to frame things and how to set things up as opposed to the emotion that's coming across in your shots specifically for me I'm always trying to highlight The Human Experience so shots of Silhouettes shots of people staring into the camera as cliche as that might be shots of people laughing and truly feeling like they're living in that moment for me that's going to create a very authentic experience for my viewer and 99% of the time I'm not working with models I'm working with my friends I'm trying to make my friends look like superheroes so how can we take all of that and create that emotion within our shot selection so all the shots you're looking at right now are shots that I've gotten with one camera with no extra lighting that I just feel create this certain type of emotion so you have to be very intentional when it actually comes down to choosing the shots in your film the next one might seem a little bit obvious but from taking something that seems like a video and turning it into a film it is such a core component that I think a lot of people just kind of half ass which is the color grade and the aspect ratio and like the packaging of your film itself right if you can have incredibly framed shots but if they just look a little off and they don't match the mood and the tone that you're going for everything's going to fall apart so spend time really honing in what your message is and then how to match that with your visual presentation with the color grade with the aspect ratio I know it could be pretty cliche sometimes to drop the bars on top uh but it does give you that feeling right it gives you that feeling of Cinema it gives you that feeling of something a little bit more filmic for lack of a better term or the aspect ratios that are a little bit more 4x5 with the Box uh it it feels retro it feels genuine it feels authentic it could feel shaky with a handheld all of these things play a role with the emotion that you're going to get across visually and so while you're color grading while you're choosing the aspect ratio while you're choosing all these shots visually just try to be very intentional on how they're gluing together and how they feel right a warm grade ver versus a cold grade cold cold grade uh you get the point it's just really important to think these things through for me I use my uh my travel luck collection Shameless plug screw me if you're interested they're always down below but to find your style will be really really important to find something that really fits with you um and just lining up the visual with the next step which is the auditory component of your film do you hear it too that moment that keeps calling you you see you can try to ignore it but it will only get louder and louder and louder and it will never stop until you find it now the audio the sound this is what immerses people and I think it's something that a lot of people take for granted it's what takes just a bunch of random images and brings you in and makes it feel like something tangible like something real and whether you're using sound effects like hits risers and hushes uh or you're using the raw audio that you captured out of your camera it's just really important to just not neglect this portion of your film and give it the same amount of time as you would with your shot selection because I think a lot of people just tend to ignore that now for me a huge part of the audio component is obviously going to be music I cannot understate how important it is for my films to have the most powerful music for me I always sit down I put on my headphones and I listen countless hours to music over and over drink a cup of coffee and wait till something just moves me right I have this huge collection and art list that I have saved of uh songs that I really like that really move me and then I start writing down my script because in almost all of my films and and the same thing with the ending to the arrival it has this voiceover and for me a voiceover is such a simple powerful way to connect with your audience that feels human and feels real and creates something that feels like a film uh and I've worked for years on my voiceovers I'm going to give you a few voiceover tips and tricks right here but for me that auditory component right once you nail the music which is so important to find something that you genuinely feel I'm hot right now so I'm going to take this off uh something that you genuinely feel and then sound effects that can enhance that right that's going to be onea and 1B for me is creating a voiceover that really feels genuine really feels powerful authentic it can be mysterious it can be friendly it could be whatever you want it to be but just sit down and make sure this voiceover fits seamlessly into the music now I do it a lot with my films where I sit down this is a real story um I find the song and I mumble what I'm trying to say right I don't know exactly what I'm going to say but it's so important for your voiceovers to fit into your music that you choose as if it was a part of the song so I'll sit down I'll bust out my notes app and I'll just go and I know it's looks stupid and it might sound stupid in the first version but you get that pacing and that Cadence and that tone and I heard somewhere I'm going to butcher this but like 90% of something that you say is how you say it and not what you say so really focus on your Cadence your tone and your delivery of The Voice voice over fitting into your film and it just makes for it to be so much more impactful memory is a strange thing it doesn't work like I thought it did so when it comes down to your message obviously we've heard story is King but for these kind of filmic videos and a lot of the videos that I do they don't necessarily have like a narrative story if you will they don't have like a you know rise in action and a climax um and uh what whatever the the the rest of film School taught I didn't go to film School uh but you get the idea my films aren't like narratives uh and a lot of times I just want to create this like sense of mystery sense of wonder uh in in my voiceovers and so when I'm writing I'm trying to find a song that really brings that emotion out and then I want to match that level of Power with my voiceover because if you have a really powerful song and your voice over Falls flat it just doesn't quite hit prob I've never never been on live television before I've never ever been on live television and I think this is where a lot of people screw up when it comes to taking a video and turning it into a film that gives you that emotion is you're afraid to write something poetic or write something powerful or write something you know that really resonates with you because you know and I've gone through this time and time again it feels stupid it feels dumb you sit down you write it and you're like why am I doing this I feel like a complete idiot but for me to actually get that powerful Hollywood feeling in my my uh audience I have to realize you have to go past that you have to sit down and write something that resonates with you and you'll know when it does you won't have to fake it because you'll hear it with the song you'll fit it in and you'll just be moved at the end of my films if I'm not like genuinely in tears watching the films that I'm making I know I can step back and be like all right how can I be this moved by my film and if you're that moved by your film your audience will be moved by your film so when you're writing try your best it's going to be hard but to block out all that noise of how stupid it is and lean into the cringey lean into the cliche lean into the overthe top because I think the one thing that Hollywood films have that most YouTube videos don't is besides money and actors and access to resources and all that other uh but the big thing is they they have this sense of wonder and Unapologetic just like powerful stories to them and with our own videos I feel like we tend to think they're not cool enough or not uh exciting enough to actually have that powerful storyline or that powerful message when we're writing so you have to lean into the cornan you have to lean into the cliche you have to lean into the over-the-top nature of it to really get something that's going to move someone um because I know some of my videos some of my voiceovers have been corny as so cliche but at the end of of the day if I really want to get to a point where I'm moving millions of people and inspiring you sitting down right now to make something I have to be passionate about this I have to be it has to be real I can't be bullshitting uh and I hope you would see that same enthusiasm that I have about my films whether I'm talking to a camera or actually making it so try it's going to come with time but that story Message is something you can't fake and when you put it all together it's something truly truly magical and and it's something that could take your video into a true hollywood-esque type film so I hope you learned a little bit I'm trying to do some more of these where you can actually tap into my mind and I can teach you guys a little bit more about making a film that just resonates with people and that feels real and feels authentic but also feels powerful and inspires people because at the end of the day that's what I want to do um oh God I'm choking up I always do that um this video is sponsored by Art list like I said at the beginning I genuinely believe they have the most powerful emot music that you can possibly put into your films and on top of their music they have assets sound effects it really is a OneStop shop for any Creator and their needs so if you want an artless subscription you can always click the link down below and get 2 months extra for free it helps me out a ton and you can step up your creating game however we're not here to talk about the art list catalog we're here to talk about the art list 100K fund I talked in a past video about how they are giving one Creator or creators $100,000 to make their dream film come to life and art list has announced the winner over on their Channel and I helped them do that and without giving away too much I can genuinely say that the Winner's pitch was one of the craziest ideas that I have ever heard they're planning on doing something that has never been done in human history so click the link down below and make sure you go watch that video and go to artless channel make sure you subscribe I'm going to be very involved in their Channel over the next year so I would love if you checked it out so thank you I don't know how long this was but I appreciate you sticking along to the end comment uh let's get cinematic if you did make it to the end I appreciate you guys I'm having a film festival February 24th here in La if you want to come I'll tell you all about that later on but just save the date in the meantime and uh yeah I love you stay creamy let's get cinematic bye boo

Channel: Sam Newton

Views: 192,937

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Id: JMrCKWz0gJk

Length: 14min 17sec (857 seconds)

Published: Thu Jan 18 2024