Orson Welles on Film-making

AKA Why Film School is a Fraud

[BOBMAN]

Many of you are bickering about this--or will be--neglecting one very important fact:
Welles had never shot a movie before Kane, nor did he have any other kind of experience working in cinema.
Despite this, he made Citizen Kane.

[artofdrinking]

Honestly rather than pay for 3 years of film school, just get any books that cover the basics and then put the money towards making an actual film.

[robindro]

I think film schools should only teach students how to operate equipment, analogue as well as digital, rent it to you free of charge and have screenings of beautiful films as well as students' own. Maybe a little word on how to get funding or a connection to an acting school. But that's about it. In my experience they try to 'teach' and install principles, almost guide lines, way too much instead of letting passion lead the way.

[nekromatica]

Well the big mystery is having a budget that pays for people who know how to make the movie.

[yuzbasialatriste]

Guys, even valentyn vasyanovych can become director and can shoot movie like Atlantis bullshit, anyone who has an interest in cinema can become director. As long as you've camera and cast

[MarcosElMalo]

Let’s try and figure out the 3 points Welles was talking about. I’ll give it a shot.

1. Story is everything.
2. Editing is screenwriting
3. Film is a collaborative medium. Find people with whom to collaborate, ideally paid professionals.

An optional 4th point:
4. Film is kinetic.

For the genre commonly called “experimental film”, exemplified by the films of Stan Brakhage, the first three points don’t apply. For films like Warhol’s Empire, none of the points apply.

[MultiSmartass]

Welles is both right and wrong here.
The rudimentary basics of some aspects of filmmaking can be probably taught in a day or two .

However to execute and be able to work in filmmaking takes a mastery of craft and technology that requires more than a day to put into effect .

I saw that when I learned basic filmmaking as a kid more than 30 years ago.