Film school classes can be really expensive, and if you’ve talked to anyone in the industry, they’ll tell you that all they ever learned in class, is filmmaking theory. Even those coming from the biggest and best film schools, such as USC (university of southern California) and NYU (New York University) feel the same way. All theory and no practical experience getting down and dirty with the camera.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that there’s no place for film school or a quality education. What I am saying is that if you can’t afford to study filmmaking and take filmmaking courses at a university film school, you shouldn’t feel left out.

There are many filmmaking courses online that are much more reasonable and accessible to the average person, and even though they don’t cost the same as a traditional school, there value cannot be discredited.

To start off they will teach you what to look for in proper filmmaking equipment. Don’t go crazy, just the basics will work in getting you off the ground. These include a video camera, tripod, and lighting. This is just the beginning and it would be really wise of you to stick to a budget regarding these purchases because if your not careful you’ll end up spending tens of thousands of dollars on equipment that you could hod off on buying for now.

Next they will get you to develop your creative juices. That is the most important part of the process.

One of the most important, and sometimes one of the hardest things when you are starting out is getting ideas. Follow our filmmaking tips to get inspiration for your movie.

You may be full of ideas, and if so, more power to you. But, a lot of times that can be a hang up to getting started. If you have been knocking your head against the wall to come up with something then these tips are for you.

1. Real Life Examples:

I know you may be thinking that everyday life is not all that exciting. But that’s where you are wrong. The show Law & Order for example, admits to using the headlines for coming up with a lot of their storylines.

You’ve heard the saying that “truth is stranger than fiction”, and that can definitely be true. How many times have you heard someone tell a story that was so extraordinary that you know they couldn’t have made it up?

There are certainly headlines every day about crime, adultery, health scares and human interest stories, etc. Have you ever seen a movie about an epidemic? Outbreak, for example? Think of the bird flu outbreak and how that could provide ideas for someone to make a movie about a bird flu epidemic. Anyway, there have been a number of movies based on epidemics.

2. Check out what’s been done already:

Tons of movies have been done that were remakes of old movies. That’s not even mentioning all the ones that are similar in plot to another movie that’s already been made. Or adding a different twist to the ending of a familiar story.

Sit down and go through lists of old movies and see if you can get some inspiration. You don’t have to come up with something that is totally unique, just your unique version of a successful, proven to be crowd pleasing movie.

3. Look at history:

Past events can offer a lot of ideas for inspiration. There are more wars than I can count, for example. The Bible has certainly had a lot of movies based on it. Historical movies interest a lot of people and could be a good place for you to start if you are at all into history.

4. Think of categories:

You can come up with a list of categories for all kinds of ideas.

Categories like:

Romances
Comedies
Suspense
War movie
Crime stories
Science Fiction
Spy flicks
Biographies