Kickstarting your indie filmmaking career

Canon Ambassador Tania Freimuth has come a long way since starting out in the film industry as a clapper loader, recently working on the critically acclaimed short drama Kid Pitfall; on Little Darlings, a live-action comedy-drama miniseries for Sky Kids, as DoP; and on Cyn, a short film about John Lennon's first wife, Cynthia. But despite working with large crews on big-budget productions, Tania continues to also invest her creative energy in personal indie film projects.

"You're going to need so much passion," says Tania, who is based in the UK. "Making a film in itself is tough. If you're going to make an independent film, it is a challenging journey personally. You are exposing a side of yourself. You're having to dig deep to really understand the truth behind what's motivating you to make the work. You're not doing it for any sort of corporate or commercial reasons. It's purely driven by your creativity and passion. That's key."

Here, Tania shares her tips on how to make a short film and explains why she believes the Canon EOS C70 is an ideal camera for indie filmmakers.

If you are fizzing with creative ideas, then these ideas need to be organised in order to play their part in producing a fully realised indie film. Many indie filmmakers will have experienced that moment of arriving on location and opening the kitbag, only to realise something important has been left behind. Whether it's props or camera kit, Tania recommends a checklist. "I would say check, and double check," she says. "Make sure you've got everything with you, because once you're a mile down the road, you really don't want to be turning around and coming back to get something."

Of course, there's more to planning than practical considerations. Tania pinpoints a shot list as fundamental to her process and the success of her indie film shoots. "The great thing about a shot list is that you've got a point of reference for what you've shot, so when you get to the logging process afterwards, they marry up with each other," Tania enthuses.

In a similar way to a shot list, a shot log acts as an early post-production edit. "It's the moment at which I review all my material and figure out which take is best," says Tania. "It's also instructive if, as was the case with my current project, I decide I need some additional pickups. I never would have been able to know that without my shot log."

Indie filmmakers can often find themselves as a crew of just one. Resourcefulness and resilience are necessary throughout production, and all along the journey, if you want to see your initial idea making it all the way to the big screen.

It's a voyage that begins long before a film goes into production, of course. Crucially, there is the question of funding. The typical path for new indie filmmakers to fund their projects is through investors, crowdfunding, grants or loans. Tania's big break as a cinematographer came when she won the Kodak Student Commercial Awards, which saw her receive camera equipment and prize money. These plus her continued resourcefulness gave her a platform from which to build her career and keep creating for years to come.

As one of Canon's smallest cinema cameras, packing professional Cinema EOS features into a mirrorless camera form factor, the EOS C70 is designed with solo operators in mind. Firmware update 1.0.5.1 strengthens the EOS C70's offering for indie filmmakers, introducing Eye Tracking AF as a key feature. Canon Europe Product Marketing Specialist, Ram Sarup, says: "Eye tracking AF builds upon the existing EOS iTR AF X (Intelligent Tracking and Recognition) system, which already offers quick and accurate subject and head tracking. Now with the addition of Eye detection and tracking, you can rest assured knowing your subjects' eyes are always in focus, which is critical especially when capturing 4K content. Face Detection AF and Eye Detection AF are now possible in Slow & Fast shooting modes too, covering 24fps to 120fps."

In the scaled-down world of indie film, with crew and full lighting typically absent from the picture, filmmakers like Tania often turn to cinematographic tricks in order to create a look that they are happy with. "Consider your camera position in relation to light and where you want to put your exposure, as well as focusing the viewers' attention on where you want it," she says. "And in the absence of [cine] filters, depth of field can add texture to an image. I shoot in Canon Log and the highest bit depth and colour spacing available, too, for the flexibility it provides when grading the images.

"The Canon EOS C70's built-in ND filters were crucial to me to get a good exposure," Tania says of her current solo film, discussed in the video above. "Finding a balance of the exposure was tricky at times, but the camera's accessibility was just brilliant in enabling me to check the waveform monitor to toggle between different ND settings and get an exposure that was correct for my personal tastes."

A consistent look also matters, which has been possible because the Canon EOS C300 III and the Canon EOS C70 have the same image sensor. Tania shoots her footage in Log colour profile for a flatter tonality to edit from, accentuating colour and contrast afterwards.

Tania believes that filmmaking is a collaborative process and each role is a craft in its own right. She highlights the importance of the role that composers and editors can play. "When I'm making my own films, I find it really important to work with an editor," she says. "They bring something to the process that I find invaluable; another perspective. Having that person to work with allows me to further develop some ideas that are buried within what I've shot, and bring them to the front.