The Toolbox
Tools have been key to the survival of our species. Tools to make fire. Tools to grow food. Tools to express complex ideas that engender progress and growth.
We invent. We create. And as a result, we connect with one another.
Filmmaking, like all art forms, uses a combination of tools and techniques. The essential tools of filmmaking are those that enable you to manipulate images and sound.
Most likely, you can think of at least three:
- a camera
- a light
- a microphone
You might also be thinking, what about shots? What about editing? Are those tools too?
The answer is a resounding “yes!”
There are dozens, hundreds, even thousands of tools that are used to bring our ideas to the screen. Multitudes of toys that manipulate what we see and hear in innovative and compelling ways.
However, you must remember to balance an appreciation of these toys with a clear sense of what you want to say. After all, the tools are there to serve the vision, and no more. Understanding how these tools work will give you ultimate control over the stories you plan to share.
In truth, filmmaking borrows from all other art forms, from theatre to dance to music and beyond. It lifts ideas from engineering and architecture and poetry and painting. Thanks to generations of scientists, inventors, engineers, artists, entrepreneurs, and artisans, you have access to many tools with which to actualize the magic in your head.
Use any and all tools available to you. You are a communicator and an innovator, a technician and an artist. To be a filmmaker, you must understand the tools of your craft.
Without tools, you cannot create.
