u/Loud-Tooth4578

Hi everyone!

My cousin and I are currently in pre-production on a narrative short film, and we'd love to hear from people who have experience with filmmaking, writing, acting, or even just being someone who notices the little details in movies.

We're trying to make this film as realistic and emotionally impactful as we possibly can, so we have a handful of questions. If it’s at all possible even to just answer one; we would seriously love all the feedback we can get. 

1. Portraying severe asthma realistically

One of our main characters develops severe asthma after an accident. It becomes something that completely changes her daily life, and she has to give up the sport that was basically her entire identity because her lungs just can't handle it anymore.

We don't want asthma to become her entire personality, but we also don't want to downplay how much it can affect someone's everyday life.

The character doesn't know who she is without her sport since it became such a big part of her identity. 

If you have asthma (especially severe asthma), we'd love to know:

• What are the little daily things people don't usually think about?
• What habits have become second nature?
• What misconceptions do movies always get wrong?
• Are there small moments that would immediately make you think, "Yep... that's accurate."

We want to be able to portray asthma, including everything realistically, while finding a way to show it through an actor and screen. 

2. Showing survivor's guilt without saying it out loud

Another character lost her younger sister in a car crash and feels responsible.

We really want to show that guilt through visuals, dialogue, and behavior instead of having her just explain it to the audience.

What are some subtle writing or directing choices you've seen that portrayed guilt really well?

3. Making people emotionally invested

What are the biggest things that make you genuinely care about a character?

Were there any films that made you unexpectedly emotional because of the way they were written or directed? We seriously want to know what you as the public get attached to in a character and what you like to see.

4. Making a short film look more cinematic

We're filming on a DSLR and want to make the movie feel as polished as possible.

We're looking for advice on things like:

• Camera movement
• Lighting
• Framing/composition
• Transitions (or whether we should mostly avoid them)
• Color grading
• Anything that instantly makes a film look more professional

5. Audio 

We’ve heard from multiple sources that even though people are willing to forgive bad video, bad audio is a different story. If you have any recommendations for recording clean dialogue, that is seriously one of the biggest things we’d love advice on. If you have any favorite microphones (shotgun mics or even just lavaliers) that you’d highly recommend or tricks you know/have heard of. 

6. Editing & color grading

We're okay investing in good software if it's worth it.

Would you recommend:

• DaVinci Resolve Studio
• Adobe Premiere Pro
• Final Cut Pro
• Something else?

Anything that can give off a movie mood. 

7. Film festivals

We're hoping to submit once it's finished.

Which festivals are great for first-time or student filmmakers?

Any advice for preparing submissions, press kits, or things you wish you knew before entering festivals?

And finally...

What's one piece of filmmaking advice you wish someone had told you before making your first serious film?

Whether it's directing, writing, cinematography, acting, editing, producing, or something completely random—we'd love to hear it.

Thanks so much! We read every comment, and we're excited to learn from people who've already made all the mistakes before we accidentally make them ourselves. 

Thank you! :) 

My cousin and I tend to have a pattern of starting projects that sound a bit unrealistic at first… and then somehow actually finishing them.

We live in completely different parts of the world, so most of our collaboration happens remotely through planning, voice notes, and long messages where a simple idea slowly turns into something fully structured. Despite that, we’ve already written and published a novel together, so this isn’t our first time taking a project from concept to completion.

Right now, we’re working on a new project: an independent film, roughly an hour long. We’ve written a full script, broken it into scenes, and planned out the entire shoot for when we’re finally in the same place. We’ll be filming it ourselves with minimal equipment — just a camera, a clear plan, and whatever we can realistically manage on the day.

We’re taking the production seriously in terms of structure and preparation, but it’s still very much a small, self-driven project. Two people, one camera, and a script that has been revised more times than we’d like to admit.

The intention is to actually finish it properly and see what we can create at this scale. And if we’re happy with the final result, we’d like to release it somewhere publicly — partly as something we made together, and partly out of curiosity to see what kind of audience, if any, something like this could reach.

That’s where we’re looking for advice.

We’re trying to understand what realistic paths exist for independent films like this from a completely self-produced starting point. For example:

• What does the actual process of submitting to film festivals look like, and how selective are they with very small independent projects?
• Is releasing directly on platforms like YouTube generally the most practical route, or are there other distribution options worth considering at this scale?
• At what point does a project qualify for an IMDb listing, and is that something you can apply for independently or does it require a formal release first?
• Are there common mistakes people make when trying to release a first film that we should avoid early on?

We’ve read general advice online, but it’s difficult to tell what applies in practice versus what assumes budgets, teams, or industry connections. Any insight from people who’ve actually gone through this process would be genuinely appreciated.

Either way, this is a project we’re finishing — we’re just trying to understand what options exist once it’s done

My cousin and I tend to have a pattern of starting projects that sound a bit unrealistic at first… and then somehow actually finishing them.

We live in completely different parts of the world, so most of our collaboration happens remotely through planning, voice notes, and long messages where a simple idea slowly turns into something fully structured. Despite that, we’ve already written and published a novel together, so this isn’t our first time taking a project from concept to completion.

Right now, we’re working on a new project: an independent film, roughly an hour long. We’ve written a full script, broken it into scenes, and planned out the entire shoot for when we’re finally in the same place. We’ll be filming it ourselves with minimal equipment — just a camera, a clear plan, and whatever we can realistically manage on the day.

We’re taking the production seriously in terms of structure and preparation, but it’s still very much a small, self-driven project. Two people, one camera, and a script that has been revised more times than we’d like to admit.

The intention is to actually finish it properly and see what we can create at this scale. And if we’re happy with the final result, we’d like to release it somewhere publicly — partly as something we made together, and partly out of curiosity to see what kind of audience, if any, something like this could reach.

That’s where we’re looking for advice.

We’re trying to understand what realistic paths exist for independent films like this from a completely self-produced starting point. For example:

• What does the actual process of submitting to film festivals look like, and how selective are they with very small independent projects?
• Is releasing directly on platforms like YouTube generally the most practical route, or are there other distribution options worth considering at this scale?
• At what point does a project qualify for an IMDb listing, and is that something you can apply for independently or does it require a formal release first?
• Are there common mistakes people make when trying to release a first film that we should avoid early on?

We’ve read general advice online, but it’s difficult to tell what applies in practice versus what assumes budgets, teams, or industry connections. Any insight from people who’ve actually gone through this process would be genuinely appreciated.

Either way, this is a project we’re finishing — we’re just trying to understand what options exist once it’s done