My original thought process behind starting this blog was to share what I learn in the medium of film & art, and give tips and advice along the way. I realized that most of my posts so far have been 85% tips, tricks and advice, and 15% personal elements involved. So I thought, why not dedicate a post to just me – about me, how I got into filmmaking, what I do now, what I want to do later in life, my inspirations, etc.
My name is Ilya and I’m a 13 year old filmmaker currently residing in good ol’ Tennessee. I was originally born in Russia, and my parents are Russian as well. We moved to ‘Murica when I was about 5 or so. We moved to Texas first, near fort worth, lived there for about a year and a half, moved to Kentucky, lived there for about a year, then moved to Tennessee in January of 2011, and we’ve lived here since. We hope to move to North Carolina or Dallas in the future, but that’s a whole other story. I got into filmmaking when my friend started a YouTube channel, and I did the same. Then all of our friends started THEIR own channel. So all of us made videos and stuff, and pretty soon, everyone quit doing it, except for me. I was having a lot of fun learning new software, making these stupid videos, and getting 30 views on my videos. Eventually, I got really into it, now making stop motion animations with Legos. I began to actually build a small audience! People were coming back to watch my videos, and they commented. I was blown away. That’s how I met most of my friends on the internet. I continued with it for about 2 years, my subscriber count growing slowly. And then, in October of 2014, I decided to try something different. I wanted to try to make live action movies. So I started brainstorming ideas, and then, I believe it was November 1st – my friend and I shot The Apple Snapple. That was my first ever real short film. I did make some test videos before, and once even a small skit video, but those didn’t count. Because I brickfilmed for about 2 years, I knew how to make videos. I knew basic script writing, I knew very entry level cinematography, and, my best weapon in my arsenal – editing. I knew how to edit a clip and make it somewhat funny. I don’t exactly know how I got this skill, I think it was from constantly making comedy brickfilms and learning how to time my jokes. The short film came out WAY better than my expectations. Seriously, I still look back and think, wow, I actually made a decent first short film! I got really good feedback on it from my growing audience. I then continued making short live action tests and movies, and I was loving it. I slowly started ditching brickfilming. It was because of making live action though, that my channel grew so much faster. I began to make way more friends, network, etc. There is SO much to learn in the art of live action filmmaking, that I was constantly googling directors, watching movies and short films, etc. My hunger for more live action filmmaking grew. Eventually, it died as an interest. It became life. That may sound ridiculous, but it’s true. The thing I think about the most, in fact probably the only thing I think about every day, is making movies. Because there’s all sorts of stuff to think about! And I love it. I love every aspect of it – especially learning. I love learning new things, whether that be from the internet or from my mistakes – and improving. I love to interact with you, my awesome fan base.
So there you go, a bit of background knowledge about me and my filmmaking. Of course, there are more details that I didn’t put in, simply because it would take way too much time and would probably make this whole post more boring, and if you made it this far, well, I solute you. One more thing – people sometimes ask, why do you do filmmaking? I think it’s a rather dumb question. Why? Because – and this goes for every one of my favorite directors – because I love it. There is nothing more I would like to do than constantly be involved in this digital filmmaking era. I also love writing these blog posts. I chose writing as a kind of secondary medium, every filmmaker should have one. Writing is probably the second best thing that I’m good at.
Some people ask me – what is your number 1 tip for filmmakers, whether they are starting out, or seasoned. I used to tell them – make as much movies and content as you can, and learn as much as you can. Now I only give two words: Love it.
Extra notes
I highly suggest you check out this video by a good friend of mine named Darious Britt. The video is titled “The truth about making movies.” It’s really inspirational, and I really suggest you think about the very last thing he says in the video.
Here’s the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQn_MGrhljc