Steal Like a Filmmaker

When I scroll through my Vimeo feed, I’m constantly blown away by what I see. Gorgeous images over and over again. There have been times these gorgeous videos have paralyzed me.
“Once I get a budget then I’ll make something like that.”
“I’ll get that camera, then I can shoot cool stuff like that.”
Don’t get caught on the Vimeo sidelines. It’s easy to watch amazing videos all day on Vimeo. It’s hard to actually pick pick up the camera.

Consider the possibility that you can have shots that look the same / better than what you’ve seen on Vimeo. It’s called Stealing to Learn (scroll down to see more).

I’m not saying delete your Vimeo account… just quit using it as ‘film porn’ (where you just consume for hours, then feel bad about yourself when you’ve created nothing the past 2 months).

Last week I talked about picking up the camera (check out my 52 Week Instagram Project). This week I’m going to hit the same chord.

PICK UP YOUR CAMERA. The best way to get better footage and get better as a filmmaker is to actually start filming stuff.

One thing you can do this weekend to grow as a filmmaker is using those gorgeous Vimeo videos as inspiration… then actually doing something with it.

Introducing ‘Stealing Like a Filmmaker’

You may think “Chris I’m a good person… I’m not a thief.”

To be fair we’re not trying to straight up steal, we’re trying to learn.

Call it a camera test. The whole point is to pick up the camera without any pressure. Quit putting so much pressure on yourself. Get out and shoot. If it looks like garbage – you’ve learned something.

So here’s how it works. Grab some screen grabs that you love – and I try to recreate them. No pressure.

I did it this past weekend, and here are some tests I did for an upcoming project. It took me a few hours of tweaking to get here. But in all honesty, it was fun goofing with my roommate on a Friday night. The goal isn’t perfection… the goal is learning.

Check out the tests I did:

Screen Grab I Liked: