Stop Calling Yourself A Film Maker if You Can't...

There is a growing trend in the film industry, particularly within our African filmmaking community, where almost everyone wants to be called a filmmaker. The cinematographer is a filmmaker. The editor is a filmmaker. The actor is a filmmaker. The colourist is a filmmaker. The person who owns a camera is a filmmaker. And, somehow, the person who has shot a few videos for social media has also joined the conversation.

But here is a question we rarely ask ourselves: **Do we truly understand what it means to be a filmmaker, or have we simply fallen in love with the title?**

Let us have an uncomfortable conversation.

## Filmmaking Is More Than a Department

Filmmaking is not just about pointing a camera at something beautiful. It is not just about writing a screenplay, operating a cinema camera, editing footage, directing actors, or sitting behind a computer and making images look cinematic.

Those are specialisations within a much larger creative process.

A film does not begin when the camera starts rolling. It begins with an idea. That idea must be developed into a story, the story must find its structure, the structure must become a screenplay, and the screenplay must eventually be translated into images, performances, sound, and emotion. Those elements must then be assembled into a coherent work, finished, and delivered to an audience.

Every stage requires a different kind of thinking.

The person who understands only one of these stages may be exceptionally talented. They may even be among the best in their field. But expertise in one department does not automatically translate into an understanding of the entire filmmaking process.

And that is where we need to draw a distinction.

**Being part of the filmmaking process is not necessarily the same as understanding the filmmaking process.**

## If You Cannot Tell a Story, What Exactly Are You Filming?

A camera is a tool. A lens is a tool. Lighting equipment is a tool. Editing software is a tool.

None of these things can independently give you a compelling story.

You can own a RED camera, an ARRI Alexa, a Blackmagic cinema camera, or the most expensive equipment available on the market. You can understand exposure, frame rates, dynamic range, colour science, and lighting ratios. You can create beautiful images that look as though they belong in a Hollywood production.

But what happens when somebody asks you to create a film from nothing?

Can you develop an idea into a compelling narrative? Can you identify a character's objective, establish conflict, build tension, and create a satisfying resolution? Can you tell a story that communicates something meaningful to an audience?

If your entire creative ability begins and ends with operating a camera, you may be a cinematographer or camera operator. And there is absolutely nothing wrong with that.

In fact, I would rather work with an excellent cinematographer who understands their craft than someone who calls themselves a filmmaker but cannot explain the story they are helping to tell.

The problem is not specialisation. The problem is confusing specialisation with mastery of the whole craft.

## Can You Create Something Without Waiting for Someone Else?

Here is where the conversation becomes interesting.

Imagine that you have no producer handing you a script, no screenwriter developing your ideas, no cinematographer waiting for your instructions, no editor sitting in a post-production suite, and no production company providing the resources.

You have an idea, your knowledge, and whatever resources you can access.

Can you make a film?

I am not asking whether you can make a million-dollar production. I am not asking whether you can assemble a large crew or hire the best actors. I am asking whether you understand the process well enough to take an idea from conception to completion.

Can you create the idea?

Can you develop the premise into a story with believable characters, meaningful conflict, and a clear narrative direction?

Can you write a screenplay that communicates the story through action, dialogue, images, and sound?

Can you plan the production, determine what is achievable with your resources, organise the shoot, and translate the screenplay into visual storytelling?

Can you compose a frame, work with available light, record usable sound, direct a performance, and make the creative decisions necessary to capture the story?

When the shoot is over, can you edit the material into a coherent narrative? Can you work with sound, music, pacing, colour, and transitions to create the intended emotional experience?

Finally, can you finish the film, prepare it for delivery, publish it, and put it before an audience?

If you cannot do these things independently, do you at least understand how they work, why they matter, and how they connect to one another?

That is the distinction I want us to consider.

**A filmmaker should understand the journey of a film, not merely the part of the journey they have been hired to perform.**

## The Difference Between a Specialist and a Filmmaker

Let me be clear: this is not an argument against cinematographers, editors, screenwriters, directors, sound designers, colourists, production designers, or any other specialist working in the industry.

These professionals are indispensable. Many have spent years mastering disciplines that a generalist filmmaker may never master to the same degree.

A cinematographer who understands lighting and visual composition at an extraordinary level deserves recognition. An editor who understands rhythm, performance, structure, and emotional continuity is an