D.I.Y. Filmmaking

Last Christmas, I was visited by the Ghost of Filmmaking?s
Future. He appeared in the form of my 15-year-old nephew, Michael
Alan, soliciting cash for a camera to shoot and direct a
self-written horror trilogy.

Without warning, my previous life as an aspiring filmmaker
flashed before my eyes: exorbitant student loans to finance film
school; the kindly Boston
real-estate-mogul-turned-independent-producer who took me under his
wing while I worked on his first film, Next Stop,
Wonderland; an amazing three-month internship with my
childhood filmmaking hero, Richard Donner; the crash-course career
in Hollywood feature film development that ended almost as abruptly
as it began; the stunning realization that my storytelling
sensibilities made me a square peg in the round hole of
?entertainment? and that, in order for my vision to persevere, I
would have to do it myself.

The lesson that took me years (and more than $100,000) to learn
took my nephew an afternoon of Internet research. Thanks to
burgeoning digital technology, an entire generation of filmmakers
now has access to the information and even some of the gear once
available only to the industry elite. Whether you?re interested in
filmmaking as a profession or you just love to watch good, honest
movies, here?s a quick look at the evolution of do-it-yourself
filmmaking.

Erin Ferdinand is an online intern at Utne.