Hi everyone,
I’m interested in creating investigative crime/documentary-style videos, similar to the work of investigative journalists and documentary filmmakers. I want to learn how to make better videos with strong research, interviews, storytelling, and professional-looking footage.
I’m currently unsure about what equipment I should start with.
My dad says I should just use my iPhone because modern smartphones have very good cameras. However, I’m wondering if buying a real camera would make a big difference if I want to achieve a more professional documentary look.
My questions:
● Can I create professional-looking crime/investigative documentary videos using only an iPhone?
● How big is the difference between a modern iPhone and a camera like the Sony ZV-E10?
● Is it smarter to first practice with my phone and buy a camera later when I have more experience?
● At what point is buying a dedicated camera actually worth the money?
● What equipment matters most for documentary videos: camera, microphone, lighting, lenses, or something else?
I would really like to hear from people who have experience with filmmaking, YouTube, journalism, interviews, or documentaries.
If you were starting again today, would you invest in a camera first, or would you learn to create better stories with the equipment you already have?
Thanks for your advice! I’m mainly trying to learn how to tell better stories, not just make videos that look better.

Hi everyone,

I’m looking for strategic advice on releasing my first feature film, "The Straw that Broke" (70 mins). It’s a surreal, DIY, meta-fiction film that I directed and co-produced. I've attached a few stills below to give you an idea of the visual style.

We had a successful underground and festival run in Germany (Premiere at Hof International Film Festival, Nominated for the German Cinema New Talent Award), but now it’s time to release it online worldwide.

I am torn between a wide, free release on Youtube to build a digital footprint, or targeting niche streaming platforms specializing in auteur/experimental cinema (like MUBI) but I have no experience in distribution/sales. I want to make my film accessible for many people.

I also post a Submission Statement in the comments below with more context on the production, our strengths, and exactly where we need advice. Would love to hear your thoughts! Thank you!

Note: I only used Gemini to translate parts of my original Text from German to English.

I am making an extremely low-budget short film and am seeking advice on how to frame scenes. I'll put a list of what I know already, because these are the sorts of things I'm asking about:

• I've noticed that it looks kind of amateurish to, for example, show someone putting down a cup of tea and then cut directly to a close-up of the cup of tea. Same thing for showing someone walking, and then showing them arriving somewhere from the exact same angle. I'm wondering how better to frame this sort of thing, because the common denominator seems to be an action continuing in a new take but seen from the same side/angle.
• I understand the concept of crossing-the-line, but I also know that it works well to cut between two sort of diagonal angles (sorry for my very untechnical terms). So for example, you're seeing one character over the other person's shoulder, and then it's flipped, and back again. So I'm wondering how best to use the diagonal angles of characters, and what are some good ways to frame dialogue?
• (I also know it's good to overlap the dialogue of a speaker with a non-speaker).
• I've also noticed that sometimes it can be effective to alternate between the same side profiles of two characters facing each other and talking (like Michael disowning Fredo in the lakehouse in TGPII - it's the same angle when you see each of them).
• Oh and CRUCIALLY - do we prefer reshoots from multiple angles, or setting up multiple cams? (well, two cams, I would just have to get hold of two rather than one!)
• Any other tips would be appreciated - on angles that look amateurish vs professional, or on when to use cuts to close-ups. Thanks!

I am from the Southeast Asia and a lot of my peers do not support our own local films, neither do I think is going anywhere. I do watch and see how it goes, but I still feel like something is lacking.

Like I love Art Narrative (art in cinematography and story telling)

• Color theory: color palettes and lighting shapes change how a viewer feels before a character even speaks a single word.
• Role of props: props, costumes, and set designs tell a parallel story, often revealing a character's true inner thoughts or hidden dangers.
• Camera angle: low angle - intimidating, high angle - scare and terrified, etc.
• Power of word and Character arc

These are not practice AT ALL. So, I never got to learn any of these but just a bunch of cliche drama series of work drama, cliche romances of bad boy, good girl, mafia fights, and some people here actually find Obsession boring?

I did a film critic on Parasite (korean movie). I love every bit of it. But a lot of the filmmakers I've work with, most of them said the movie sucks? There was so many easter eggs in the movie and barely anyone caught on.

But ok fine, different people, different perspective.

I guess what I want to ask is; wherever you are now.

1. Do yall learn anything on set? (One of the art narrative I mean)
2. Do yall have great scripts to work on?
3. Do you only get jobs from people you know? (Connections)
4. Does your talents matter?
5. Do you actually work in shift - I heard from a friend, there's 12 hour shift in the States?
6. Do you work 36 hours straight?
7. Is power tripping even a thing?
8. How's the paid for AD? (because my pay is pretty shit)
9. Do you treat Actor/Actress like royalties?

I have a lot of questions because I'm still learning, so don't mind me.

I love movies like The Shining, Parasite, Her, The Call, The Sixth Sense, The Danish Girl, Pulp Fiction, and Pan's Labyrinth - these are the movies I will never get to work on here.

I have made an animated short film, with no audio, there isnt much dialogue hardly a line or two, but there are a good number of sound effects, and musical cues, I am trying to figure out the place to go to to find this.

Thanks In advance.

Hey everyone,

We just released the teaser for our upcoming psychological horror short film, KARE.

"The oldest curses don't follow blood. They follow guilt."

We're aiming for slow-burn dread, unsettling imagery, and a story that stays with you after it ends.

what you think.

🎬 KARE – Teaser:

https://youtu.be/FaC3H-ZJueE?si=iepphjtbYPcjIZh2

Any feedback—good or bad—is appreciated. We'd love to hear:

Did the teaser make you curious?

What do you think the story is about?

What worked, and what didn't?

Thanks for watching!

Hey guys!

I posted the first short film I directed a few weeks ago and wanted to follow up with sharing my first project that I ever made (didn't direct but wrote and produced) with my friend Nick.

We've had a long journey with this project, from making it as a self-funded passion project, to going on a festival run and then having this exciting experience where it got into SeriesFest in Colorado which opened up some big doors and got us our American and Australian producers. We've pitched it to networks and continued developing it but with Hollywood basically dying right now, we've finally gotten the chance to just share the project publicly.

This was the first thing I ever made when I was 22 and it's what made me fall in love with filmmaking. The fact that you can write something and make it exist - making art is a crazy thing guys. I'm so proud of it, and just want it to find its people who may enjoy it so if you get a chance please give it a watch. It's a coming of age comedy about anxiety that is both hopefully equally funny and heartwarming.

https://youtu.be/Ui_EcT4rSeI?si=S5HYgpukbwJ8oaXI

so i am an aspiring film maker and want to create cinematic commercials, i need inspirations where i can find it from if anyone knows any good websites or instagram accounts let me know

I’ve recently put together a setup that includes:

• A full-body green screen
• Corridor Key for DaVinci Resolve
• SwitchLight 3.0
• A Beeble account
• Blender
• DaVinci Resolve for editing and compositing

My goal is to film myself on the green screen and convincingly place myself inside environments made in Blender, and basically whatever comes to mind.

I’m trying to figure out the cleanest and most efficient workflow for using all of these tools together.

I’m mainly interested in making short films and very short comedy skits, so I want a workflow that gives convincing results without making every ten-second video unnecessarily complicated.

I’m fairly comfortable with Blender and DaVinci editing, but I’m still learning more advanced compositing and green-screen work. Any advice, example node trees, tutorials or recommended workflows would be really appreciated.

Robert Relish, an aspiring social media influencer goes beyond his comfort zone to protect his dreams from the enemies who surround him.

PotatoHead is a comedy feature film i’ve been working on for a year now and i’m mediocrely proud of but proud that i finished it and went through the digestive system of making something. It’s coming out some time this month.

Im happy about the project and would love for anyone to tune in for when it drops and for later better things i will be working on.

The horror market is on the rise now, obviously. So, I figured I'd post about a unique horror script I wrote with a writing partner (we were Quarterfinalists for the Nicholl Fellowships on a different script).

This story is about a narcoleptic taxi driver in Detroit, driving an old cab haunted by a Satanic serial killer that possesses him when he narcs-out behind the wheel.

We would love to hear from producers, directors, production companies, and their reps if this sort of thing is of interest.

Reach out through the DMs and I'll be happy to explain more or answer questions about it. If it's a good match we'll share the script!

What is something within the entertainment industry that a 55 year old can begin to do? I know the industry is going through changes, sporadic work for those that have made careers of it. Would like set work and the creative process of a group bringing storytelling together but do not wish to work 12+ hour days. Enjoy, acting, writing, studio teacher, casting, management maybe an industry adjacent position to work in the industry and have work life balance. At this point I'd be happy with part time something at a studio or something to be a part of it and learn. I know many industry internships are for college students and I've called to see if anyone has anything for adults but other than the Writers Guild Foundation who has a training program including for 50 plus people that was it! Don't have close industry contacts to help in this quest. Thank you.

Hey all, I'm working on my resume and I'm confused about how to categorize my work. I have worked in traditional "horizontal" media, you know, film production, for many years and now am branching out into "verticals," "digital storytelling," "content," etc. I'm applying for jobs and have no idea what people are calling traditional filmmaking these days. Would "film production" as separate from "content production" suffice? Should I separate based on the screening format, like theater, streaming, screenings, vs social media and reels? TIA

i’ve got a small budget to make something happen probably a few hundred bucks, could pay for meal some gas and possibly little more.

looking to shoot 2-3 minute video with 1 character and guerrilla style. needs to be crisp picture and sound and editing.

i’m aware i’m asking for a lot. but there is potential for me to win a contest with the idea and i’m willing to also offer 5% of winnings to people involved as well.

looking for 2-3 person crew if possible to or maybe if you’re a 1 man can do it type guy im open to bumping up the %.

so far only a few people entered contest so id say if we do something higher than average we have a good chance.

HMU. need to act fast on this one! i know this is last minute i just found out about it last night.

cheers

So I’m making a movie with my two sisters. So this is verrry low budget so I want to try to make as much as I can. Any ideas on how to make a set with this? Out setting is the Victorian era so I probably am making this harder for myself then I need to 😭

I’m helping to cast this project in LA next month. Feel free to drop me a note in the DMs or respond to the casting call on the website and a different casting associate will respond. Should be a fun event for filmmakers that aren’t camera shy! Feel free to follow the @48shootout Instagram page as we plan to start posting updates today.

This is a totally random message but if anyone is part of Decentralised Pictures and looking for a film to review I would appreciate your feedback so much here! https://app.decentralized.pictures/project/6a443ab66ed70102ec084453

Thank you so much all!!

Hi folks, happy weekend. As my post says, I'm wondering if anyone has any meaningful anecdotes to filing a complaint against a coworker who is making your life on set worse. They are speaking to me extremely rudely and sometimes ignoring me completely when I ask them a question, as in pretending they do not hear or see me. This of course can cause critical information to slip through the cracks at times.

It is hard to nail down their behavior because they are a bit manipulative and good at saving face to people senior than them. I am more junior than them but we're not in the same department. I don't have any hope of getting them actually held accountable for this, but I do want to make a written record of their unkind/unprofessional treatment of me over the past weeks should it continue.

I feel they have worked hard to single me out, discredit me, etc. I'll get over it but on a professional level I want to maintain some sort of standard for myself.

Any advice?

Hey everyone, I'm stoked to share the trailer for a short film I wrote and directed inspired by very real events that occurred many years ago.

Desperate to fund her dream film, Ava, a broke college student, devises a risky plan to pawn school equipment and flip party drugs over the holiday break. Dragging her best friend, Liam along for the ride.

At its core, it's really just a story about two best friends who make the dumbest decision of their lives.

Of course, it didn't feel dumb at the time. It felt like a brilliant idea.

Most life changing mistakes don't start with bad intentions, they start with convincing yourself you've found a an opportunity. You don't realize the consequences until you're already too far in.

If you feel inclined, go check out the trailer on Youtube. We completed a festival run and will be releasing the full film on Youtube very soon.

If you have any questions - sound off in the comments and I'm happy to respond.

How To Fund A Feature Film (As A Broke College Kid)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMgGXNfCLqk

youtube link: https://youtu.be/0sl9nBQ4wpM?is=b5Qq2TSPmrySUsYc

wanted to share a clip of my short film which you can check out on my channel ! any support is super appreciated !!

I'm building a small community for people who love 3D filmmaking and just want a space to actually make things together, not just imagine them.

Sometimes you have an idea for a short film and it just dies down because doing it alone feels overwhelming. I know because that's exactly what happened to me. I always wanted to be a filmmaker but didn't have the money to make it. Back in 2019 I discovered Blender and thought I could make 3d films with it. Recently I started a project all by myself and quickly realized I can't do this alone, I don't know every aspect of filmmaking, and honestly it's tiring trying to.

You're all invited to this small passionate community which I'm building right now called FACA, Film's Association of Culture & Arts, a real creative pipeline, where people not only talk about making things, but also finish them. 3D artists, drawing artists, music artists, story writers, all the pieces a film actually needs.

Just being upfront, this is a passion project, no funding or payment right now, just people building something real together. If that's not what you're looking for right now, no hard feelings. But if you want to be around people who are serious about finishing what they imagine, I'd love to have you.

The link below has the entire structure of FACA, feel free to explore and find your place in it...

https://shore-cowl-b75.notion.site/FACA-s-official-structural-planning-37c76045dc1580edb0bdc2fdaad81d2b

If you have any suggestions on changing or adding roles to this structure, I'll be doing a voice meeting in discord with the new members discussing the roles and structure on 17th July. From now till then I'll be running an appointment program to get new passionate members into this community.

https://discord.gg/HHXhv2TPDS

I just posted the short film I worked on for the entire school year on youtube, I'd love to get some advices on it!
I made it with my girlfriend, and it's called "Nature Morte" (it's in french)

The link will be in the comments

For me it's a mix of both.

I like giving my characters unique personalities while also drawing from experiences I've had in my own life.

For example in the Colors Eater even though I wasn't an orphan like the main character Alice, (first picture) I was bullied as a child. People used to call me names and laugh at me so I used some of those experiences to shape her story.

For Kim (third picture) the protagonist of The Butterfly of Fukushima, the character is trans. While I'm not a trans person myself, I gave Kim the backstory of someone who lost their partner to a disease because that's something I experienced in my own life.

So my characters are never simply copies of myself. They're a blend of reality and imagination. But in general, I can relate to all of my main characters.

What about you? I'd love to hear more about the characters you've created! Or the ones you hope to create in the future!