How To Become Exceptional In Film -For Real
Elia Canu Creative Director for Daniel Fernandez
As a creative director and filmmaker for many years, I found these to be the major check marks needed to the success of a project.
Let’s get into it!
Most important question you should ask yourself first. What is my mission with what I am doing.
This question brings us back to the concept of the why, what is it that I want to bring to the world with this creation. Whether that is create great, purposeful entertainment, tell somebody’s story in an authentic way, or share a message in a powerful manner. Establish that from the beginning and create around of it, without that all your work becomes empathy.
Have a clear tangible vision of where do you want the film to fit in, as well as the diligence of organizing video files with extreme precision.
Always assume the worst. Have backup storage devices and assume it will take forever to have the scene exactly how you want it. As my good friend who is currently selling a Netflix documentary says. Good organization means most of the boring work is already done. Then just enjoy and wait for the checks. (I won’t say his name for obvious reasons.. :)
Shoot more than you need. Have extra footage that, in case you want to add a specific twist you haven’t envisioned before, you can do that. It might suck at first, but you’ll be glad later. Sacrifice short term pain for long term pleasure. Make telling a story a must, through visuals and sound effects, as well as clever transitions to establish a clear paste. Your music choice will empower the story even more, keep in mind to choose music that allows a great variety of shots, personally I found classical music to work best for that.
Last of all, the marketing and distribution of the film will be crucial to the longevity of your work, even though we want to prioritize art over business it’s important not to disregard but instead put exceptional attention towards that.
A friend once told me: however long it takes you to make the movie, market that for double the time.
At the end of the day, you do need to make the ends meet. Even the best creatives need to have a business side in order to be rewarded for their art. Success without fulfillment is the ultimate failure.
As a filmmaker, if you manage to implement these guidelines there’s really nothing stopping you from achieving your film dreams.
Recap — How you can be exceptional in film:
- Have great organization skills
- Backup all your files and assume the worst
- Storytelling above everything else
- The why, why this matters
- Marketing and distribution
Elia Canu was born in Trento, Italy in 1997. From a young age he was passionate about film and technology, and he would use countless hours educating himself on that.
At 15 years old he had reached YouTube success gathering an audience of about 10.000 followers on two different platforms. He has also published several awarded short show reel videos of some of the most famous cities in Italy. For the past years, he has been focusing on mastering the craft, and at 20 years old he decided to move to the United States to pursue his love for film and personal development.
