Hello Everybody. I am a 17 year old high school student and Im really really new to film making, it has become a passion of mine now, I dont know much if anything so please dont laugh at me. I would like to know where to begin and what the first steps I should take are. Let me know where you started. Feedback is very much appreciated.

Hey welcome to the boards! All you really need to start filmmaking is a will and a camera. If you have a nice enough computer and you have a minidv camera, you're set for editing (granted you may want to buy some software as windows movie maker isn't the greatest). If you don't have nice computer, see if you can use a friends, or maybe the school has some to edit on. You don't really need a script, you can just go out and shoot something with your friends. At this point in the game you just needt o make stuff and try to progressively get better. Here's some good links you may want to check out.
www.exposure.co.uk
www.filmaking.com
www.filmmaking.net

Also surf around google for filmmaking and stuff like that, you can find some prety good sites out there.

I agree with Heliotrope on borrowing your schools/friends camera. You could even use the movie mode on a digital camera if you were desperate. If your not ready to use computer editing you can cut in camera by just turning it off, this is messy, but easy for a beginner.
One of the first things I did was make a 5 min rip-off of the predator movies. Took the same concept, same characters and just changed the dialogue to make it goofy. Sounds stupid, but it was an easy way to get an idea and have something to film (easy sets too..backyard). Another thing you might want to do is sit down and watch your favorite movies to see why they are your favorites, watch for camera work, color use, character development, plot, etc. Then you can "borrow" shots and ideas from them to try out with your friends. (On a side note, once you get more into film you'll learn to love movies for their technical stuff, if a film has bad technicals it'll bug the hell out of you. I haven't been scared by a monster movie since I got into special effects, now all I see is the technical details)

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Originally posted by particleman:
(On a side note, once you get more into film you'll learn to love movies for their technical stuff, if a film has bad technicals it'll bug the hell out of you. I haven't been scared by a monster movie since I got into special effects, now all I see is the technical details)

lol, yeah it's kinda bad when you're watching a war movie and you're thinking "man those are nice squibs" when people are dying.

Thanks Guys I really Appreciate your responses, Ill be sure to stick around here

Well, keep making films. If you stick with it, eventually you will keep learning. This forum is a great place to learn, and advance your skills, but honestly the best thing to do is go out there and film.

Yeah Im gonna put my heart and soul into this. Thanks Elephant

Heart and soul can definately be powerful tools. If you're enthusiastic enough about something, it can be done. (Earthy, flowing music fades in)

This should help motivate you: