The Truth About Filmmaking! 

To all potential film makers reading this- After 30 plus years of film school and working in the trade I will let you know a secret. It took me twenty years to learn this secret.... And I will give it you for free! Here it is- The reason most independent films fail is because the people making them are still trying to make them as if they were mainstream, studio films. That is it. The only way to make low budget films is to work against the way films are made by the mainstream. How is that you ask? For starters you have to forget EVERYTHING about how film making has been taught in film school and in the traditional trade. Let us begin with the basic concepts - Pre production- Screenplay. The traditional rules about story/ structure work against independent films and favor traditional /mainstream/ studio film making. Why? Because if you follow the standard screenplay rules you will find yourself trying to write the same kind of movie the big studios make! The only problem is that you DO NOT HAVE THE KIND OF MONEY THEY HAVE. So, find yourself a story the majors will not touch with a ten meter pole. You have to reinvent the wheel for your film. After all who wants to pay to watch a watered down version of what the get at the multiplex every damned week? -Pre Viz. This is a phase independent film makers have to nail before trying to shoot any footage. If you do not you will be toast. I wish I had a dollar for every time I have heard an independent filmmaker say storyboards are for big budget films. Every time I have told someone starting a film to story board and they have ignored me and they go ahead and shoot the films they end up with a mess of footage. And they go broke. -Financing. Trying to finance a film using traditional business schemes is A- Almost impossible. Such schemes are designed for traditional films! B- It condemens you to make a more expensive film if you manage to make it under that regime As in the screenplay phase you WILL HAVE TO FIND YOUR OWN WAY TO MAKE YOUR FILM. Production- -The concept of CREW. - OH my. Every time I walk into the set of a low budget film I find a miniature version of a major Hollywood crew. That is WRONG. Think of the French New Wave for an example of how the crew can be re invented. And you will have to find a way to customize a crew for your film. If not you will be toast. Hint- Watch the making of film of The Shining. S Kubrick had all the money he wanted and yet he choose to make it with a VERY unusual crew for a major Hollywood film. Ask yourself WHY he did so. - Mise en scene and style etc- The same thing I said about the screenplay applies here- YOU WILL HAVE TO MAKE YOUR FILM DIFFERENT FROM ALL OTHER FILMS SIMILAR TO IT or you will find people bored to tears by it. -Casting . Avoid clones. You now what I mean... POST PRODUCTION (Yep, in ALL CAPS) Editing - Some people think editing as an after thought. Oh boy. Editing rooms is where films are actually made! Before editing all you have is footage. People don't pay to watch footage. Ever heard about a movie titled Heaven's Gate ? Best damned footage ever shot in Hollywood and one of the worst movies ever made. -Music-/sound- Same thing as about the screenplay. After 30 years people have become bored to tears by the ''Standard indy movie soundtrack'' including all the damned top 40 songs of the last 60 years... After all this rant all i can say is that there is ONE film that proves all of the above things. You should buy the disc of it and watch it 20 times before trying to make a film. Want to know the title of it? ERASERHEAD. That's it. Lynch rewrote all the rules of film making to make it. At the first screening there were 20 people in the audience. The rest is history.I know, you will say ''But I do not want to make Eraserhead!'' Of course not! What you will have to do is actually harder than what Lynch did- YOU WILL HAVE A FILM AS DIFFERENT FROM ALL OTHER FILMS AS ERASERHEAD IS FROM ALL OTHER FILMS!!! But then you will have to HAVE THE GUTS the guy had. PS- If you can not stomach Eraserhead (I cant) there are two others you can watch just as good- El Topo and Repoman. The reason I give you all this for free is because I do not think this is what you want to hear. Right? None of the people I have told it to have wanted to hear it either. They got angry/bothered and did not care about it. Then they went ahead tried to make their movie just like EVERY other independent film is made, then got angry and bothered when it crashed and burned. Oh well.

This just shows how rough the life of an independent filmmaker can be. You can be as good as possible, more talented than anyone else, but if you're not spotted you won't succeed. It takes luck and tenacity... and courage. Good luck to everyone who's trying to succeed! Don't give up and remind yourself why you're doing it!

This made me cry.

because we love it! simple, yet elegant! bro, you put tears into my eyes.. :')

Three days into directing my first short, I needed this. Thank you so much

I watch this every time I'm not sure about pursuing a project

I'm 17 years old and I just finished my first short film. After rendering the final cut, I watched this video. Honestly, I felt a tug in my heartstrings. I could look back and almost relive those moments, if not all, to full extent. I was blown away by myself and my crew. Whether my film is good or bad, I realized that we made this short film together and we spent 15-20 hours each and every day perfecting the craft that we've grown to love. Sometimes it would just be me and my actor on set but we still did our best and it would feel so hard for us to do the things we ended up doing. And then when I watched my film after a million times already, I did feel insignificant. I felt guilty dragging my crew in to make this short film that I thought wouldn't make much of a difference in anyone's lives. But then I realized, it did. It made a difference to us, to the people who worked on it day and night, dragging their asses through glass and smiling while they were doing it because they LOVE what they do. And that's why we are what we are. We're filmmakers. We may die but our films live forever. Thank you, Mr. Darious.

"You're going to fail." "Millions of us fail, but how many even try in the first place?"

Every filmmaker needs to watch this video, beginner or pro. I've only been doing live-action film-making for 7 months... I have this weird obsession with it.

LITERALLY MY ENTIRE LIFE. I have an obsession for making videos, but I don't have the people to help. In my area, people think what I do is worthless... that's why its hard for me to release a good RU-vid video every week :( quality over quantity any day.

It was all worth it for this! Such a great short film!!!!! Keep inspiring!

As a highschool student with a GoPro this totally resonates with me, I'll hike 6 kilometers out just for a shot that lasts maybe three seconds.....its hard work, but I love it!

You start with a dream And then you understand how hard you must work to get this done You stand against the question "Do is continue pursuing this?" And then you realize there is nothing that makes you as happy as making movies does! thanks guys... see you on the reddest carpet

Perhaps it sounds ridiculous, but the best thing that young filmmakers should do is to get hold of a camera and some film and make a movie of any kind at all. -Stanley Kubrick Theres never been a better time to be a filmmaker.

Now think about all of the hard work put in just to make this!

That's why we keep going, you're totally right. Great video man! Very inspiring.

Goosebumps my friend! You summed up my life!

I must never let myself stop doing what I love, I'll watch this every time I get discouraged, so I can tell myself HELL NO, you're a film maker god dammit! thank you D4Darious :)

Thank you. Just, damn. Thank you.

The most honest and beautiful explanation for why we do what we do I have ever seen. I've watched and shared this video countless times and every single time it hits home. Every time I've wanted to give up this year I watch this video and find the strength to carry on. Thank you. Thank you for all that you do.... it means more than you'll ever know.

Thank you for creating this in a way so as not to be discouraging! I liked that you outlined all the hardships and then went into why real filmmakers push through and keep going. Thanks for the heads up on what I'll probably experience in the future...

It is a privilege. Thanks for this, Darious- we shall keep on keeping on.

Breathtaking and inspiring, thank you Darious this made me remember why I got into filmmaking in the first place.

I watched this week's ago and shared it now I'm back and this time in tears. Someone gets it! It's what we do, who we are! Thank you Darious you are a God send.

That was just, well, awesome. "Because we love it." :)

I keep getting discouraged about making films cos it seems like I have none of the resources... I am trying my best to do it, but it seems like everything keeps falling through. This video gives me some ray of hope though. Thank you Darious You're really helping out a lot

My hats off to you D...... This is my favorite of all I’ve seen you do bruh. It hits home TOTALLY Authentic and heart felt. Thanks doc.

nice to hear a story about a dream that's still striving.. this is what's real to me. God bless your crew and give his awesome presence in your lives.

Me again, watched more than 10 times.

I couldn't say it any better. Great job, this video was done beautifully! :)

This video, is what I needed. Thank you 😃. Good luck on all you're future projects!

I literally applauded this video in my empty room. Inspiring, and thoughful ! I'm so glad that I found your channel !

Darious, you are 100 percent right. I've worked the big budget shows. There's a lot of waste of money. The smaller projects, no pay are fun to work on. But it's a labor of love. If you want to do a project. Learn from the bottom up. The problem is, everybody wants to DIRECT..And nobody wants to be the clean up guy. Does anybody know the James Cameron story or J.K Rowlings. They did it when nobody believe in them, and they made it big time. " The Chronicles of Jake Tanner Hell's Lane... Now that's a story.

You are awesome.. This video totally blew me away.. The work that goes into filmmaking is incredible.. It is so important to have a good team that works well together. Wow you are very talented.. Thanks for sharing

Great stuff! This was like a checklist of stuff that I'm going through creating my first feature. Motivating. Thanks!

I've used many of your videos in my high school classroom over the years. I've not seen this one until today. I love it. This is exactly what I was looking for to get my students thinking differently about cinema and their relationship with it.

I do believe your video cleared the bar above the 99%. Every once in awhile someone comes along and expresses the thoughts, feelings, longings of the masses. YOU, unequivocally, have done that here. BRAVO!

I used to make short little amateur films in high school and this speaks true. I mean, I didn't do it as a profession, but as a hobby. The whole headache of finding reliable people to film with, a good location, a doable story, dealing with schedules of your actors, buying new equipment with barely any money etc...Such a pain in the ass, but once you finally got to film day and started shooting, it was so damn fun. It's weird, because I never made a single cent off of these videos, even though I poured a lot of money into making them. My videos never really got past a thousand or so views. But why did I keep making them? Because the reward of finishing a film was awesome. Sucks now, that I don't have time to film. If I was willing to, I'd go study film in college right now. But the risks are too great for me.

This was incredibly moving Darious, thanks so much for sharing. I'm definetly going to purchase Unsound when it comes out!

This video just came up in my feed... I am now confident that this is my life calling. So thank you Darius

loved this video... very inspring, seen it several times.

Brilliant! I know what it means and you just nailed it!!! Thanks a lot. It helps a lot.

I literally have to watch something from you everyday to keep me motivated and inspired to push through. You are a powerhouse of inspiration darious ! Keep pushing though the struggle

BRO I LOVE YOU FOR THIS RIGHT HERE!! THANK YOU!!!

Absolutely loved this video Darious! It hits right at home with me and I'm sure a ton of other film makers out there. Everything you said is true and I'm sure inspired a lot of people. I'm one of them,!

Subbed. This is awesome. Great work.

Couldn't have said it better myself man! Keep making dreams on film come alive. God bless!

literally am on tears. its what i felt but your presentation of that feeling is beautiful.

This needs to be uploaded to Vimeo and put on Staff Picks

Spot on!

D thanks for sharing part of your story in a way that all of who truly desire this can relate to.

Nailed! Perfectly! Thanks for this. I needed it.

Hey thanks man, this is encouraging.

You're the man D4Darious. you gave me more faith in doing my Film.. im actually 16 and im buying a canon and some things to make a film. a Zombie film you motivated me more. thank you.

This made me cry...thank you. Thank you for your words, thank you for your hard work. You are extraordinarily talented, but the fact that you choose to give back just makes you even greater.

You have summed it all up man!!! Great work

Well done, well said... it's a calling...

"Because We Love It" 💯💯💯

This is so motivational. D4Darious. Filmmaking is all about entertain, educate and inspire people. This video is just one of those rare inspirational video you can hardly find when RU-vid is squeezed with millions of pointless videos.

I keep coming back to this video after feeling down and hopeless about film-making. this video just says it all, the ending always gives me goose-bumps. Kudos to you Darious for making this video in such a professional, engaging, emotional, expressive, and informative way. am I exaggerating? nope :)

Feel ya bro same goes for us independent hobby musicians Don't make a dime (yet) but its the passion/calling that drives us The video itself tells a great story. Looking forward to seeing your movies

Well done sir!!

What a fantastic and inspiring video Darius. Thank you so much.

I love the indy film community, it's so much more than just superhero movies and sequels! And I'm so proud of all of those who will never give up on filmmaking! You may never earn the fair amount of credit you deserve, but you are a true storyteller and don't let anyone tell you wrong. Hell the indy community is called a community for a reason, we're all here for eachother, to help eachother tell a story that will hopefully inspire people. And only if we inspire only one person then it will be worth it! Btw thanks D4darious for inspiring and helping the indy film community! We are the future, let's make the future great!

"Winners are not people who never fail but people who never quit." -- Unknown The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams. Eleanor Roosevelt Dream it.Wish it. Do it......

Such a great video. Makes everything we do seem easy. Keep it up D4. You're doing great.

Perfect video insight on indie filmmaking. Hits on every point as well as explain what makes us tick. Very motivating also.

As a writer, I already can tell how hard it is to make a movie. This is why I want my first movie to be directed by someone instead of doing myself, not because of this video, but because I want to see how it works. It sure is depressing to think your work isn't good enough. But it is still a privilege to assemble so many ideas. I like to think that I'm like Stanley Kubrick or Charlie Kaufman. I'm a really perfectionist guy.

Right on point. Everything is perfect until you hit the record button

You have no idea how much I needed this thank you so much!

I'm just getting into videography, and this is honestly the most inspiring thing that I have ever seen. It's been a lifelong passion of mine, so it was nice to see this! Thank you so much

In school, whenever we have a class project that involves film, they always pick me as the director. Sometimes I wanna bail because they just depend all the work on me, but I still do it because I love doing it anyway. I've been through a lot of sleepless nights, actors with disgusting attitudes, equipment failure (which happens all the time) and sooooo much more. But after all of that, I just keep in mind that this is what I like to do. Im still in high school. I know that I will encounter even more problems in the future especially that making through the film industry depends on your creativity, hardwork and sometimes a bit of luck. I honestly still dont know what job I will take. Will I just take a normal job where everything will just go smoothly? Or will I pursue my dreams in filmmaking where I can either be successful or a FAILURE? And you know what, I think I'm going with filmmaking, if I fail, I'll just try again, right? That's a better thing than being stuck with a "normal" boring job you don't even like.

51 dislikes,who are they

You are great! This is something really moving. Hope I find my purpose through Filmmaking!

This made me teary eyed, it's beautiful :,) You are such an inspiration!!

A friend shared a story with me a few weeks back and said that it's meant for me. I read it constantly now: "Creates the man and next to him the Fate,wicked: "Why you hustle oh poor one? For fame and fortune, for blessings or just because of obstinacy? Don't you see that day after day the man only for the bread thinks" But the man creates, doesn't stop "I want - he says- to leave a mark, I shall not be a slave of reality, I feel, I create. There are no other fates for me, no hard times, no obstacles. Only freedom! Every other one leave a drop and I shall leave a mark, like this - in one or two hearts... What more than that to seek from the world? " The Fate stayed there for a while and looked upon him and thought - "I shall not take his soul" And left the man alone but his way never even hint "

Outsiders don't really understand all the hard work that goes into even the smallest production. #creativeminds

Keep trucking playa.. your vids are great!!

Beautiful and inspiring!

The funny thing is once in a while we have something that happens that is the nail in the coffin, or at least we think. That's it.....I am done with this crap. But then some time passes, and the creative juices still flow, and just like you said.....we've got to do this. We do not have a choice. People would think we do. We can do whatever we want, or not do whatever we want. However, it is not that easy when you've got these visions, these stories, these moving moments, the really cool shot ideas.....a killer line for a character....or something you know will blow you away, and you hope it will do the same for others. When that hits you cannot avoid it. You cannot say no to it. It has to be done..... ......so you start thinking about what you are going to need; what kind of location, where you can find that, what equipment you would like to have, and what equipment you are "likely" to have.... Whatever your situation you figure it out, because you have to. Creativity will happen, and we are taken along for the ride, sometimes kicking, sometimes with an "Oooooohhh yeeaaahh!!!!!"

Damn.. All I can say after watching this is damn... Too good.

This is just beautiful. Please continue making this channel active. I'll help in making it prosper. From artist to artist :) Good luck on everything Darious

I watched this video shortly after it came out and it was really encouraging. Soon I will begin my second term in the first semester of film school. Thank you Darious!

After watching your videos for days, I feel like I know you. Wanna come over for dinner?

Best video on RU-vid

Thank you so much for this. I needed it. Right now myself and my team are coming to the end of over a year and a half of pre production on our first major project, and the idea of entering production is terrifying and daunting. This really summed up why I need to push through!

This could not have summed up the craft any better! Bravo, and stay brave.

Everytime I am in doubt of myself while in the processing of mine art project, whether its a photoshoot for a album or possibly short film in the future, I will watch this video till i gain some strength of carrying on.

made me cry .

I am watching this video for the 4th time in a row! I just completed my film All the emotions I went through for the past one year combined in a single video.. Thanks.

You and your crew should be so proud of what you have achieved .i have just been re energized by this inspirational film keep on with it you will get there you have the vision and the passion strength to you all .

Film-making isn't easy, but for God's sake, after two minutes of this all I was thinking was "So?...And?.." Just BUCK THE FUCK UP and accept the difficulties, forget your failures, and face the next challenge as a person better conditioned for adverse situations and just do it! With all due respect, calling this the "truth about film-making" is just an ambiguous statement about the challenges you will probably run into as a film maker.

If it was easy everybody would do it.

Very nice piece. You found that emotional connection. Great job. So true and relatable.

This video always gives me self-confidence. Thank you!

You better have something to fall back on if you're gonna Max out credit cards.

Very cynical perspective though....challenges should be seen as mere hurdles to the end goal, which makes it more rewarding.

This is so good I added it to a playlist so that I can watch it anytime I need inspiration to continue through the hardships of making my own film.

I'm half way through my Film Production BA Hons degree at university, and I needed to see this video! I'll be showing it to others as well. You hit the nail on the head. Great work as usual, man. Keep it up!

Im just starting to write/film my first ever short. This was brutal but encouraging all at the same time. Love your work!