How do I get into Directing/Writing?
"My first piece of advice is "never take advice." There is no one route to follow. The best way to make a plan for yourself is to read about how different people that you admire went about starting their careers. That might give you a few ideas, but the playing field keeps changing, so there isn't any one formula that can be relied on. In my personal experience, the best way to get started is just to go out and make a little movie or video. Or write a screenplay. Don't wait for anyone to give you money or support. Just start working with what ever means are available to you. In the independent world, creativity and originality are much stronger currency than production value. It isn't so important to make a technically adept work as it is to make a lively and inventive piece of filmmaking. If you are a writer, it is useful to find an agent. In either case the main ingredient to survival is persistence. It definitely helps to have friends to struggle along with you. If you keep at long enough, someone will eventually notice you. Somehow you have to find fulfillment from the struggle. Just to make a film, even a very small one, is a form of success. Most people don't even get that far. ...So, there's some advice to ignore." (Vincenzo Natali)

How do I get a Film Made?
"Again, my suggestion is to start by thinking small. Even the simplest story is a technically complex undertaking to render on film. In fact, I would recommend beginning on video tape, which is relatively cheap and easy to work with, before moving on to film. Above all, don't wait to be sponsored. Just pick up a camera and start messing around. If your work is good, or even if it isn't, but you are persistent, someone will notice you. But it seems like most people have to start on their own. Film school might be a good way to begin, but by no means the only way. The other route to go is to write a brilliant screenplay and then insist you are the only one who can direct it. But that one's a long shot." (Vincenzo Natali)

I'm Interested in Studying Visual Effects. Are There Courses I Should Take?
"I don't know too much about this, but I would say that given computer animation is such an essential ingredient of contemporary effects work, you should probably research computer animation courses available, of which there are quite a few. Sheridan College in Toronto has a world famous animation course." (Vincenzo Natali)

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Computerized Special Effects Versus Physical Effects?
"Physical effects or 'live' effects are effects that are photographed during production on the set. Usually that term refers to explosions and mechanical devices. This doesn't normally include "make-up effects"-- prosthetics and the like, which are their own category. The positive side of physical effects is that the filmmakers can see what they are getting while they shoot and the actors have something they can react to on the set. Computer effects on the other hand are produced in post-production after the shooting has ended. They usually encompass things that would be too complex or costly to create in the 'real' world-- ie. flying spaceships-- or as a means of saving money-- ie. increasing the size of a crowd digitally. In the old days, models and optical printing did most of the work that computers are now responsible for. Many people would say that in many cases the 'old' methods were superior. And many them are still used today, but as technology advances they are slowly being phased out. This is a subject that I could go on about for days, but in short form that is my distinction between physical and visual effects. The question of which is better can only be made on a case by case basis and frequently the best solution is to use them in concert with each other." (Vincenzo Natali)

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