With the 'game changing' introduction of DSLRs, it has made it possible for anyone to pick up a relatively cheap camera and shoot some high quality footage. It is something that would not have been possible a few years back without access to an expensive camera or biting the bullet on the camera hire costs.
I have heard a few people recently complaining that now 'anyone' can pick up a camera, point & shoot, 'it has saturate the market with wannabe film makers'. It has given amateurs the access they needed to think they could possibly be professional (how dare they?). It has meant they have improved the quality of their work and now could be considering a career in film making...(a market that is notoriously over stretched with people trying to 'make it' and does it really need to be stretched any further?).
Experience is everything in this game, the more experience you can get playing with a camera by yourself, the better you will be at knowing what works and what doesn't! How else can you learn?
In my opinion, you have to commend ANYONE who has the notion to pick up a camera and decide to give it a go. We need more of this attitude. People generally don't understand just how much work is really involved in making a film (I don't even mean making a good film...I mean 'any' film). It is so difficult just to keep focus on the story and try to control everything that is going on in a sequence, while staying on schedule and budget that anyone who gives this a go should be congratulated and not put down.
Its far too easy to tear strip off other people when you are not performing well yourself. If you are on of those who believe the world owes you a living and any new comers trying to become directors are just ruining your own chances, then I would suggest that you are exactly the type of person you are complaining about...YOU are saturating the market!
Be proactive, push yourself further and stop worrying about what everyone else is doing. Have your own game plan and go for it! Contrary to popular belief, not every director has made it because of their industry connections, but because of their hard work, unshakable commitment and ultimately...talent!
This country is starting to realise that it can produce independent films of such quality that they can rival the big film studios. And this can be done while flying in the face of economic strife and even while the UK film council is in dire trouble...there are always talented people out there willing to pick up a camera and learn the craft. That has to be admired in my view, because this is exactly the type of passion and stubbornness that you need to make a film in the first place. Can you imagine if Spielberg had never bothered to pick up a camera?
All these new people now trying something that they were not previously able to try will naturally mean a more saturated industry. But it will also mean that current directors will have to try harder, push boundaries further, be more experimental and creative than ever before...just to try and stay ahead. The wolf climbing the hill is not as hungry as the wolf on top of the hill. Ultimately it will make for a much stronger UK film industry and that can only be a good thing right now.
