Money might not be a match for the love of filmmaking.
New Vision and other programs established by the New Mexico Film Office have suffered severe cuts this fiscal year.
Trish Lopez, director of the New Mexico Filmmakers program, said that while indie filmmakers will have fewer resources from the state to execute their visions, this will not steer them away from the business they love.
“If they want to be filmmakers, they’re going to find a way to be filmmakers,” she said.
Cuts took effect at the start of the fiscal year, but Lopez said the program will look for ways to continue educating filmmakers at no expense to its office.
Anyone interested in filmmaking needs only a camera and a laptop with the appropriate editing software, Lopez said.
With these basic necessities, filmmakers can break into the industry and work their way up into major film production or work for their stories to be heard, eliminating money making as a concern.
Bryan Konefsky, a professor in the cinematic arts department, said the concern with keeping up with technological trends is something the department de-emphasizes in favor of nurturing students’ “creative juices.”
“As a result, one doesn’t need a Red camera to tell their story; if the story is that compelling, it will carry the technology,” he said. “As an example of this, a friend recently told me about a dream she had where she met Orson Welles, and together they decided to make a movie. However, neither had a camera.
Ultimately, they decided that they didn’t need a camera to make their movie: They simply carved the film into their arms. That knife was their version of a Red camera.”
According to a 2010 article in The Chronicle of Higher Education, this emphasis on creative development, as opposed to acquiring vocational skills, is becoming increasingly important.
“To stay competitive, America will need to draw on its ability to tell stories, create visually compelling messages and designs, come up with new ways to organize and synthesize information and invent programs and businesses to solve complicated social problems or tap emerging markets,” the article said.
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Joe Montoya, a student of cinematic arts, said that there are innumerable film festivals that filmmakers can find out about through sites like Withoutabox.com. Festivals are a lucrative avenue for filmmakers to pursue because having a film festival on your résumé helps it stand out among the rest, he said.
“Even if you don’t win awards per se, the festivals make it legitimate,” he said. “You can’t be afraid of rejection, but that’s just life. Yes, you would like to win, it’s competitive and you want to do your best … No matter what, you’ll have an audience who either appreciates it or not.”
To support themselves while developing a thorough vision of the story they want to tell, Deborah Fort, a professor in the cinematic arts department, said students should seek hands-on experience.
Breaking into the industry typically begins with a production assistant position, which involves dirty work like coffee runs and wrangling extras. This essentially serves as a networking opportunity for filmmakers to figure out what areas they’re most interested in and impress the people who could connect them with those kinds of jobs.
“What most people think of when they think of film is what can be seen at the Cineplex,” Fort said. “That is just the tip of the filmic iceberg. The web has opened up huge areas of film/video work … In the current economy, everyone is concerned about where to get work. There are a lot more job opportunities for recent grads outside of major productions.”
Local indie productions are always looking for people to fill a diverse range of positions on set, said Laura Brunette, a student of cinematic arts. Opportunity is readily available, though it typically pays in experience, she said.
“I think the accessibility of the film industry depends primarily on your willingness to work for free,” Brunette said. “Generally, local shows don’t have very large budgets, so they can’t afford to pay crews. But what you do get out of it is experience and the opportunity to connect with filmmakers.”
