Rishi Jha

Hello there, Thankfully I am not completely clueless. Its my dream to make films-direct my own film of my vision someday, but as of now I would rather write screenplays and try to find a place. My friend is really rich and currently he is at NYFA in LOS ANGELES for the one year film makin program. The cost ? 19000 dollars per semester ! and this is only tuition. Living expenses are extra(which would be high in a city like LA) I cannot afford nor ask my father to loan me 60,000 dollars so that I can pursue my vision. He gets to shoot with RED and film even but the price is way too high. Other film schools are also similar(Vancouver film school charges 34,000 dollars for scriptwriting) so I rather pursue a course in a normal college. To think of it you don't even need to attend college to learn scriptwriting. I have learnt more from the books of Syd field than in my classroom but I gave it a try. To succeed in this field, I would say you need to have contacts and this is where my friend is way better off in LA(or NYC,Toronto,Vancouver) and I am way off in a dead film town. So basically what I meant to say was- Yes, It is my dream but I would rather write and make contacts and try to make a name for myself in this department, and then I would earn my rights to shoot a film of my own. PS- The Brian Dzyak book looks very informative and fascinating. Thanks for the recommendation

Hello everyone. I just registered on this website because I have a rather embarrassing query. I am a student from India currently in Canada studying the art of writing films, ie Script-writing. I have zero technical knowledge but I harbor a desire to make my own film one day. If I can make a film like Tarkovsky's Solaris or Ridley Scott's Alien, I would die a happy man. It is currently snowing heavily in Ottawa and the atmosphere is ethereal. To make things worse I chanced upon the trailer for Mallick's Tree of Life. I want to make something right now ! It does not have to be a proper short even, just a few shots in HD of things I consider artistic like snow capped trees or a frozen pond next to my house. I borrowed a Sony digicam and a tripod from my college and shot a few scenes which looked amateurish. I have been wanting to upgrade to a HD camcorder for sometime, since the price is at an all time low but I am confused about the choices. Budget is also an issue and I do not want to spend more than 250 CAD $. One more thing- I am illiterate as far the technical jargon goes therefore I usually look for cameras which are compact and basic-point and shoot. Let me put it this way....Would this Kodak camcorder suffice if I wish to create the feel I saw in The Tree of life trailer(or Tarkovsky's Solaris) ? Tree of life trailer(check the tree scene at 0.19-0.21) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DlYYreuK8vo and this is the camera: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5U54RjDrBc&feature=related http://www.amazon.ca/Kodak-1080p-Pocket-Camcorder-Black/dp/B002HOPUPC Thanks a ton. Rishi