Can't believe Tarantino wore an Astroboy tie to that TV interview.

A skill is a skill, you just have to learn it

Alfred Hitchcock directed 17 films before "The 39 Steps", generally considered his first classic. He had been working for over a decade. I keep that pinned up on my writing desk to remind me this is work, and success is relative. You don't get to the classics without making a lot of stuff you'll forget.

As a 16 year old filmmaker working on my first "real" short film, this literally made me tear up. I don't know why. Relief? Joy? Regret for all that time wondering why I sucked so bad? Still not sure. But I thank you and No Film School for this. I really needed it.

people forget that the arts (film, theatre, music, painting, sculpting, etc) are a craft that you have to keep working on. I forgot and this reminded me. Thank you :)

As a senior in high school trying to get accepted into film school with only films that I am not quite proud of, studying techniques from all of the directors mentioned in the video, even after watching Slacker for the first time just yesterday, this video comes as a huge sigh of relief for me. Thank you

Wonderful!

I expect this channel will blow up and be huge in the next year or so, but from those of us who are already fans- keep up the good work man, talent never goes unappreciated

I know this video only has a little over 100k views, but it feels like everyone from every film school has both seen this video and breathed a sigh of relief because of it. Thank you for that gift to the community.

I honestly can't say how much this means to me, I've been feeling insecure about my filmmaking abilities and your videos are comforting. They really inspire me and remind me to keep going :) Thank you!

A recently made a 5 minute short film with my friends at college, I had a wide view on what i wanted the film to be and when those things began going wrong, I felt disenchanted for a while, until my teacher said it was great and that it doesn't need to be a Tarantino, Scorsese, Anderson glory years film, it could be a Tarantino, Scorsese or Anderson first film. I feel more comfortable with it now and hope to continue making them because even though it went wrong in parts, and trust me, it did. I loved it, I loved the struggle of trying to piece up something that came from my mind

So as a 25 year old filmmaker in Denver, I have been at this for 9 years. I have made over 30 short films and my goal is to be in pre-production of my debut feature by 2020. And later this year I am going to be directing my first "big budget short". But some days it's tough. It's really hard getting into a business that less than 1% of people succeed in. But whenever I feel down, or I feel like I am going nowhere, I go to youtube and watch this video. It's so refreshing knowing that the people who I look up to and admire started exactly where we are now. And I am so excited to see what our generation has to offer.

Sitting here thinking I'm wasting away because I'm almost 22 and haven't made a feature film. You can't imagine how much I sigh with relief when I watch this video.

Wonderful message and thank you for your videos. Happy anniversary Royal Ocean!

this channel and this video reminds me so much of every frame a painting

I just watched all your videos. Awesome stuff, man. By far my favorite video essays on KZfaq.

Just when I am feeling down about myself and having to reconsider my aims and my goals, this video comes along. Thank you.

Congrats Man! I just got into your channel a few months ago and I've been impressed ever since. Keep up the great work!

So much inspiration in such a short video! Thank you for all of you great work, I'm a young filmmaker and a lot of my confidence comes from your channel :)

I'll be having a drink to celebrate your first year tonight! Your videos are truly inspiring and they also stand out because you manage to avoid doing essays on films and topics that have been covered to death in other videos already. Keep 'em coming!

Yet another one of your videos that I constantly come back to. Thank you 🙏🏾

This is a lesson that I have to keep learning over and over again, lol. Film making and storytelling is really a skill that just needs constant practice, repetition, and hard work. Thank you for making this video. I'm so glad to have discovered this channel this year.

Just found the channel. Enjoying it immensely.

Wonderful, inspiring video. Your channel is highly underrated -- the quality of your video essays are not so far off from those of other youtubers. Really needed to hear this advice, not as a filmmaker, but as an aspiring writer. Thanks for it.

Lovely essay, looking forward to your work in the future!

Really needed this at this point of my life, thank you

3:16 -3:26 Damien used that visual cue in La La Land Wow Ps love ur channel

Cheers, mate! Thanks for the timely message!!

What a great message. Thank you for this video!

That's just what I needed to hear today, keep up with the awesome work!

The title of this video could not be farther from the truth and this whole video has truly inspired me. Can't wait to see more from your channel!

Great video. This is also the tough thing about growing a KZfaq channel, I consider all the shorts on there my 'early work' and fall out of love with them very quickly. I like the idea of showcasing the journey publicly though, as painful as that can sometimes be.

thank you, you don't undersand how much i needed this today

Damien's first film looks amazing tbh. Great video btw. I love your channel!

Congratulations, man! I've just discovered your channel, really like it. Keep the great job :)

Your killing it with these videos keep up the great work!

simply beyond an amazing video with a great message that every aspiring artist should watch

Great work again man. Insightful essay.

Your channel is amazing! I'm so glad I found it!

it is very inspiring. Thanks for the essay Saladino

You're so right about the morose comfort of seeing how all the greats weren't that great at the beginning. Even Kubrick and Malick's first works were terrible, with Andrei Tarkovsky and Akira Kurosawa being the only filmmakers I can say were good from the start, but even then their early works are super stiff and more promising than anything. This video was just what I needed after making my second film, which I wouldn't call a failure but certainly isn't the personal triumph that my first was. Even though I didn't end up making the film I wanted, I learned something invaluable: You're not going to get anywhere if you're afraid to suck.

Thank you for that piece of inspiration. It came absolutely at the right time.

this is an amazing video....keep up the good work... also happy 1st anniversary of your channel,may it grow up and lead you to success.

Congrats man! I love your channel

This is very comforting to hear

So I'm just back from my watching La La Land for the first time, utterly crushed by the talent of the director while at the same time being hopeful to not give up and here you are telling me it's all going to be okay and to not give up, but just keep making, thereby reinforcing my main take away from the film and now I feel so very much happier than I did 5 minutes ago. Thank you. Your Film Blog is amazing.

Thanks! This is good to hear!

Thanks, i needed this one right now.

_Royal Ocean_ shares its birthday with me ^_^ Happy anniversary~

Guy and Madeline is really good, though.

You've done so many great videos in the space of a year! I want to start doing video essays but I don't know how I'd produce that many in that space of time

I'm so glad I discovered your work :')

This was good. I usually am not a fan of video essays. But this was really solid advice that I hadn't heard before.

Thank you. I needed to hear this! Making films for the last six years with no headway.

I really needed to hear this.

This channel is awesome - happy birthday! :)

I'm editing my first feature and this video is indeed comforting. Good luck!

This video essay is just the best encapsulation of what I was thinking about for ages and always try to prove to other people. It's great that now IMDb filmographies of known directors are MUCH fuller so that you can see that not one of them, not even geniuses like Orson Welles were overnight successes. It's good that this thought crossed my mind rather early into production of my first feature film. I'm still yet to finish it after 12 (!) years of hard work and learning through every possible mistake, but since I was also working on hundreds of amateur productions: short films, music videos, freelance gigs, etc. I am glad I never finished it in a few years as I intended, because now it will be a tiny bit better. Even though I am ashamed of my filmography now, full of unwatchable short films and so on, I'm glad that feature film has better chances because of all of them and I'm not disowning anything, even the worst... Still, I really hope that I will finally finish that train wreck of a feature this year because, well... I'm tired of it not coming through and I have more then 350 other big ideas I want to pursue. Hopefully 12-15 years behind the camera will make those projects move much faster, although I'm not intending on stopping learning: you should learn something every day if you want to stay in the game.

Thank you for making this!

I've been stuck making a short movie stressing out to make it perfect... your video is very comforting haha!! thx :)

Thanks for sharing this!

Great inspiration! Thank you 😊

I've had my first short film since film school halfway shot for the last six month and it's been hard to find the motivation to continue the project. This pretty much confirms my suspicions that it's probably gonna suck. However, it does give hope for the future. Thank you sir!

Congratulations on your anniversary.

Can't wait to see more of your work in the coming years :)

I really needed this sir. Being in film school I have struggled with the false idea that if I'm gonna be the best, I can't fail ever but boy is that not true.

Great vid, thanks for sharing.

This makes me feel so much better

thanks this was inspiring and reassuring.

Very thoughtful words. Nice.

Woww.. Thanks. This gives me a new hope. Great job.

I first thought that Spielberg would be the exception because his first feature, a TV movie called Duel, was pretty great if not fantastic. But if you dig deeper you find out that had already made several movies at this point since he was 13 or so. And he also worked a couple of years for some TV shows. He made his terrible first movies at such a young age that he was able to make his great movies like Jaws in his mid-twenties.

Guy and madeline on a park bench is a good first debut, good video BTW

I just finished working on my first real short, and I was super embarrassed by it. This video made me feel a little at easy. Thanks, Andrew.

great video with a great soundtrack as well!

this is such a relieving video to watch!! thank you for it:) but i just have to point out xavier dolan.... with his first film shown at cannes at the age of 19... truly iconic

cheers guys wish you all luck!

Another video for my Inspiration and Help folder

thank you, it's so beautiful

thank you so much for this video.

Love this channel. Subscribed.

Wow thank you for the inspiration I meZn it thank you. You really understand the beginner film maker.

Keep em coming!

This is comforting to know. my first film I wrote was pretty bad, so we didn't even put it on youtube. But the experience was good, and I won't try to film three different scenes in the same day at different locations again

congrats on your 1 year anniversary

Many thanks for this

This video is Electric! I’m 53 and was about to give up on my goal on being a filmmaker. I’m 2years from retiring from the NewYorkCity Police Department. I just figured let me settle in and just enjoy watching Movies. And then I saw your video… Thank you…

All my friends know I'm pursuing film and they all think I'm amazing at it even though I've made like 3 films in the last 5 years, none of which I'm even that proud of. This is exactly what I needed to hear and should get me through my last finals and finally graduate and really start my career. Thank you.

this reminds me of how we are not perfect, we're just human. Anyway, love the channel and it's content. Keep the good work.

This inspired me to get back out there. Cheers, friend

Thank you for not forcing humor into this video.

Yup, do it for loving it, thanks for that. Get started and get moving!!! all of our first short films we were varying degrees of unhappy with, but the whole purpose was to help us learn, and when we had time and as our experience grew we eventually got to a place where they are all getting re-edited (also digital remastered, as we shot 12 films on analog 8mm tape, all captured in pc at half screen size, it was 2001-2003) then when they're finished put them online, put up details/videos of the story behind them, mostly to re-enforce this message you just put out here, which we have also been saying for years. not that we compare ourselves to Orson Welles, but check out his avant garde short film "The Hearts of age" 7 years and 4 directed films before he got to Citizen Kane. No overnight film prodigies/geniuses is right.

I may not like many of my films but I still leave them up for everyone to see. Why not.

talent is drive. the need to get better at something because you love it.

Lovely! So much truth.

thanks for the pep talk ;)

thank you soooooo much!

thx for cheer my day

thank you for this

Good channel dude!!