Choose Your Weapons

By Chloe Burrell

For today’s blog, I think it’s best to dispel a myth that I, only recently, discovered to be untrue. A few of you might even have already known this, but for those of you who didn’t, this may come as a big relief. Ready? Film courses don’t care about what equipment you’ve use. In fact, having rubbish equipment could work to your advantage. Let me explain that. 

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When you apply to a practical film course, the majority ask to see a portfolio of your creative work, in order to see what skills you may or may not have. This means getting out and about, and practising your skills and making your own films. Now, this might automatically send alarm bells ringing if you aren’t armed with a Canon 600D, but that shouldn’t be the case at all. Whilst having a 600D makes things a hell of a lot prettier, most of these courses in the UK, including all the ones I have visited, suggest picking up the closest thing with a record button on it is a perfectly fine alternative. They say they couldn’t give a single monkey whether you use a £5000 camera, your dad’s camcorder, or your Nokia – it’s not about what you use. All they want is to see your interest, your ability to frame shots, to edit, to tell stories. In short, they want to see you work with what you’ve got. You could create the same beautifully framed shots on a top-range DSLR as on your iPhone. Think, Blair Witch Project – a wildly popular film, created on a ridiculous small budget and a couple of camcorders that Daniel Myrick probably had lying around his house. Think about the cheesy phone adverts with the beautifully filmed shots. They can do it, and so can you. In fact, I can guarantee your course will be more impressed if you’ve managed to cobble together a great short with a mediocre camera, than a mediocre short with a 600D. We have no excuses, so dust off your camcorders and happy filming!