Jim Jarmusch's "Stranger than Paradise" was the first movie I saw that made me think "Maybe I could do that."

A few years later, I saw Errol Morris' "Vernon, Florida," and Les Blank's "Gap-Toothed Women" in the span of a couple of weeks. That's what sent me over the edge. I collaborated on my first documentary feature in 1986 and never looked back.

Biggest inspiration would be Bruce Brown.The godfather of surfing and motorcycle films.Steve Mc queen told him never to work with a major studio, and he never did...Still got nominated for an oscar for his movie On any Sunday...a true legend

Uncertain Inspiration
 

I'm not sure exactly what fires my movie making boiler. But I guess I always had an artistic side waiting to come out. I never thought it possible to make your own movies until DV came along. It all seemed a bit out of reach before digital.

I do dislike a lot of the films on at the cinema these days, too much CGI and unrealistic action for my taste. And not enough focus on character development and plot. I saw the new Indiana Jones (The Kingdom of the Crystal Wotsit) movie this year and felt almost suicidal by the end of it, I had a similar feeling when I saw Transformers and the recent King Kong film. My favourite director is Alfred Hitchcock and when I watch his masterful movies I really can't understand why people watch the big Hollywood films at the cinema, when to me they seem vastly inferior on so many levels.

I guess I hope to redress the balance and revive the old Hitchcockian days of traditional filmmaking!

I seem to have the bug for filmmaking now and I can't remember the precise moment it bit me.

But I intend to make a good go of it and make the movies I want to see!

I got the knack for filmmaking from my uncle. It kind of runs in the family. I don't know if I would have been aggressive or ambitious enough to attack the film industry if my uncle didn't lead by example. He is the Director of the Monaco Film Festival and has produced various television shows and indie films throuhgout the years but has never lost his passion for the art of filmmaking. He has always been there in support of my pursuit to succeed and I don't think I could have done it without him.

As far as movies go, I actually was inspired by X-men. Sounds silly but I have been a long time lover of comic books and action figures and new I wanted to transfer that passion over to filmmaking. Now I simply wish to create great films with a fantastic story.

VBS.tv for the idea of citizen journalism. Les Stroud for combing my love of the outdoors with DV.

This will sound sappy but my inspiration is my wife. If it wasnt for her, I'd probably be living in some ditch somewhere. I want to make my wife and I have the best life we can. Because of her I went back to school and learned my trade and am now setting my goals high in the industry that I chose. I now shoot in many different areas. From sporting events, concerts, music videos, weddings, and corporate videos.

I owe my career and the way I live to my wife.

I really like this thread, it's great hearing how everyone is motivated and to see the background behind the passion!

Movies have been a huge influence in my life. Some of my most memorable summers are ones that I spent movie hopping and watching movies all day long. I never really considered filmmaking seriously because it seemed like such an impossible undertaking. All the equipment, people, time and management involved. Scary!

I basically did everything I could (not consciously) that would eventually build the skills to create enough courage to start. I was always artistic as a kid, so I did a lot of pencil drawings and continued that through High School. In College, I satisfied my thirst for technical knowledge and finished with a degree in Computer Science/Electrical Engineering. Towards the end of my College career, I did an advance computer graphics course and produced a short animation. In my professional career, I've been doing a lot of project (and people) management and it's given me great insight into team building and being detail oriented to keep project milestones on track.

Just recently, I reached the tipping point when I helped a friend out on his feature film. When I went on set and saw a movie being made in front of my eyes, it hit me: "People can really make movies!" Since then, I've been on a quest to learn as much as I can and explore the field to find my true interest.

Without a doubt, the HBO Miniseries, Band of Brothers.

I first saw the series on DVD in November 2008. Immediately I went out and bought the Blu-Ray edition; friends and family got B.O.B. DVD sets that year for Christmas.

I've seen the series now five times in the 10 months since; I was incredibly moved by the interviews with the men of E. company, especially the Documentary at the end, "Band of Brothers: We Stand Alone Together". So many shots and clips from that film as well as the supplementary documentary simply leave me in tears; every time I watch it I see something new. I'm awestruck with the level of gentle care, detail, respect, and admiration Hanks and Spielberg gave every frame of the project from start to finish. I have never seen anything like it. (as an aside, I'm already reading, "With the Old Breed" and "Helmet for my Pillow" to ready myself for 'The Pacific' which debuts on HBO this coming March)

It was partly from seeing that film that I decided to finally interview my 83 year old grandfather who served in the Navy during and after WWII. This interview project was what facilitated the purchase of my Canon HG10 as well as a wired lav mic and two soft lights. Hopefully i can do his story justice. I never felt an urgent need to do this project until I started reading online about what's left of the men of E. Company. They interviewed 25 or so veterans for the Band of Brothers project between 1999-2000, and today there are only a handful of the men left, many dying mere months after they were interviewed for the HBO miniseries.

that's noble pursuit matt =)

Actor wanna be Filmmaker
 

Hi everyone,

Living in VT and being an Actor inspired me to become an filmmaker to create my own opportunities. Also, my Dad always told me (and keeps telling me more now he knows my intention): 'You've always been very good with you video camera when you where young'. I am 30 know, and I started recording when I was about 9 or 10.
We will see, time will tell; but I want to start shooting scenes and eventually short movies.

On the best of the best, here are my inspirations:

Actors:

Marlon Brando
Al Pacino
Robert De Niro
Johnny Depp
Anthony Hopkins
George Clooney
Jeremy Irons
Colin Farrel
Edward Norton
Alec Baldwin

Directors:

Michael Mann
Robert Rodriguez
Cohen Brothers
Tim Burton
I love all of their very different styles...

That is my inspiration ^_^

Nice to meet you all!!

Ben Tolosa

This is such a great topic!

I can't say that any ONE thing has inspired me. Instead, I believe I've experienced many hits - technological, full-length motion pictures, shorts - over time that has culminated into what has driven me to explore the possibilities of video today.

To start with, I know that I was fascinated by how my first digital camera (an ancient Fuji FinePix 40i) allowed me to take many pictures without much care in terms of running out of film or the bother of processing. I could take this tiny device with me anywhere and capture any moment within the reach of that puny lens.

As time passed, I got my hands on better and better equipment, which of course allowed me to do things I couldn't before. Being the creative type, this is like putting a kid in a candy store; it's gonna get messy, expensive, and only worse as time moves on... a wonderful thing!

And this is where I slowly come to video. Pictures may speak 1,000 words, but telling a cohesive story can be tricky with stills (although one could argue this... heck even I could). In a way, I think this is where my Casio EX-F1 comes into play. My father told me about this camera and it's ability to shoot high speed video, and after getting it, I couldn't stop shooting things. It's awesome to see the world at a snail's pace... but I couldn't keep my fingers off the HD button for long.

So, after shooting some random, horrid, everyday, bland videos, my mind started to come up with better uses for it, such as shooting photography episodes, and putting those mindless clips together to make a short documentary like creation about Kananaskis Country (which is on YouTube in case you want to see it).

And now I finally have have a camera that I can push even further, my Olympus E-P2. So all those movies I've seen that have struck a cord with me are starting to replay in my head; those funky angles, effects, shots that express emotion and feed the story... hopefully I can start emulating those to become a better ... video guy, director, cinematographer, or whatever the right term ends up being.

Oh dear, this is a long post! I should've stopped earlier, but I couldn't help it! And I haven't even touched upon the 3D animation I used to do for television and corporate videos... man that was fun too!

Imre.

I think for me one of the things that really got me interested in filmmaking was wild camera angles, and so Alfred Hitchcock was a pretty big inspiration. Not just his movies, but some of the TV shows he directed (Alfred Hitchcock Presents) had some crazy angles that really intrigued me, and made me say "hmm....I would love to do this." I've since collected a bunch of his films and his cleverness and his creativity never cease to amuse and delight me.

Re: Inspiration.
 

I worked for about six or seven years in Melbourne as an extra on TV shows and movies, having got into that gig from theatre. I was fascinated by the processes and jobs going on around me and wanted to give it a go.

I was lucky enough to be given the opportunity to direct, shoot and edit a series of five "At the Movies" spoofs with a Christmas theme for our Church. The script was very well written and I enjoyed this immensely. It was a great hook.