you didn’t go to films ago you know what
I’m good in couldn’t get in they looked
at your early work and said those guy
has no future
I know when you’re starting out
particularly you have to play to your
strengths you have to do something that
really excites you I think it was
Stanley Kubrick who said the best way to
learn how to make a film is to make a
film and I certainly found that to be
the case need motivation what’s the top
ten believe nation
what’s that believe nation seven my one
word is believe and I believe in you I
believe you have Michael Jordan level
talent at something and I want you to
find it embrace it and use it to make a
difference so let’s get your motivation
to attend and get you believing in you
grab a snack and chew on today’s lessons
from a man who went from making his
first movies at age seven to not being
able to get into film school to now
becoming one of the most influential
filmmakers of the 21st century
he’s Christopher Nolan and here’s my
take on his top ten rules a success
okay let’s kick it off with rule number
one my personal favorite just start
you didn’t go to film school you know
what good ii didn’t couldn’t get in they
looked at your early work and said those
guys no no this is all over
so were you watching other movies do
I’ve always watched movies I mean it
always been a student of films and I
think it was Stanley Kubrick who
basically said if you want to learn how
to make a film just to make a film and
that was sort of my approach I started
making films when I was seven years old
on super 8 you know and I’ve never
really stopped and then my first feature
following you know was made on 16mm with
friends who just did it on the weekends
and put it together pretty cheap very
cheap I mean yeah all told about $6,000
very thank you
rule number two distinguish yourself
from others when you’re starting out
particularly you have to play to your
strengths you have to do something that
really excites you and whatever is
different about that and in the case of
following the the nonlinear structure
was a somewhat unusual choice but it’s
those things that are the strengths of
the project it’s the things that you can
bring to what you’re doing or bring to
the filmmaking craft that maybe not
everybody else is doing maybe not
everybody else can do or is thought to
do that’s what’s going to distinguish
the thing so it might seem in some ways
more difficult or seem like something
that would make the project more
difficult to to sell when it’s finished
you know what I have you but for me I
think the answer was definitely to try
to play to my strengths and the things
that I personally was passionate about
rule number three try everything I think
I think it was Stanley Kubrick who said
the best way to learn how to make a film
is to make a film and I certainly found
that to be the case I didn’t go to film
school and I just have always made my
own films I started at a young age and
when you’re doing films just with
friends with no money you don’t want to
shoestring you have to be able to do all
the jobs because when we made following
for example we were just shooting on
Saturdays we all had jobs in the week
and so not everybody would turn up and
sometimes you’d be recording sound and
sometimes you’d be shooting the film and
you know you really had to know a bit of
everything because you didn’t quite know
you know who your crew was going to be
on the day and and it’s a wonderful way
to learn everything and and the larger
the films have become I think the more
I’ve been able to appreciate the
learning that I did by doing and I know
enough about every job on set to sort of
be a pain in the ass to everybody you
know just enough to not say I can do
your job but just to give them an idea
that I’m paying attention to what
they’re doing and that I’m asking for a
particular approach and it gives you
confidence as a filmmaker I recommend it
to any young filmmaker starting out it’s
just try everything try recording sound
try shooting try lighting try a bit of
everything except maybe acting but but
if you can get your head around all
those different disciplines you don’t
feel quite so at the mercy of your crew
and there’s an interesting relationship
as a director between yourself and the
people who work for you on set which is
they’re looking to you for leadership
and guidance and and I think they also
want to feel like you care about their
job and I think one of the ways of
showing somebody that you care about
their job you know is to know about and
be able to engage in a conversation with
the sound Department about microphones
and which microphones are using and
things like that rule number four focus
on the audience to me shockingly you’ve
never been nominated as Best Director
does that kind of thing bother you no I
mean I’ve been working in a pretty
commercial end of things you know I’ve
been making movies for audiences you
know and so I’m always you know people
often ask about lots of stuff and it’s
like you know it’d be thrilling to be
nominated for an Oscar as an director I
mean obviously I’ve grown up watching
the Oscars and I’m a member of the
Academy proudly and I have been
nominated for right
which was very very proud of but at the
end of the day for me the movies are all
about the audience and with these films
have been making they’re about reaching
a wide audience really speaking to a lot
of people and so that’s really the
guiding the guiding principle for me and
if that’s not necessarily you know what
speaks to you know Oscar voters all the
rest it’s not something you can worry
about you just got to get on and do the
film that you believe rule number five
get experience for me everything I did
to do with the camera to do with editing
was useful experience and stuff that
paid off
when I came to actually you know make
features and really everything you do
you you learn from in terms of anytime
you’re shooting something a short film
particularly short film when you try to
write the script for a short film it’s
very difficult to write a short film I
think in some ways it’s harder than for
a feature to have a complete idea in
just a few minutes and have a beginning
a middle and have an appropriate
conclusion so you learn a lot about
narrative structure doing shorter films
for really every job I did including you
know corporate videos and industrial
training films and things fair enough to
go to a company and throw up some lights
and shoot interviews you know with
executives and things like that you’re
always learning about your craft you’re
as learning about you know how to
balance the pragmatics requirements race
against time using the equipment you’ve
got in a short space of time does it get
something that you can you can use it’s
all useful experience rule number six
challenge yourself I try to be all that
story and then as I’m writing create
visuals or situations that I actually
don’t know how to do and I try to take
my directors hat off what I’m writing
and write things that I I then come to
as a director and I I say I have no idea
how to do this I have no idea what this
will look like how to visualize it
because that’s when you know you’re
challenging yourself and it’s through
that challenge you then put together a
great team of people and through that
challenge you
something that you haven’t done before
you find something fresh and different
and that’s really the fun part of
filmmaking bat of that challenge rule
number seven care deeply well I think
making films is always about facing
insurmountable seemingly insurmountable
odds anybody who tries out to go out and
direct a film and has to get a budget
has to get a crew together has to sum up
all kinds of obstacles and so I’m just
trying to position and empower
filmmakers to to view their choice of
medium as one of the things that they
have to fight for and none of these
fights are easy particularly when you’re
starting out but they’re all worth
fighting for and they’re all part of
that tension and that process that
filmmakers go through to tell the
stories that they want to tell and I
think some of that tension can actually
be productive because you’re made to
think about what’s important to you and
what you really care about and what we
want to see as film goers on screen are
stories and presentations that the
people who made them care deeply about
rule number eight stick to your guns I
think really the only useful advice I
ever got in terms of you know trying to
figure out your way in to the film
business of film industry is to a gaze
of a script and hang on to it it’s that
idea that that screenplay that that
concept you know whatever that’s gonna
be that’s so important and you have to
stick to your guns you have to find
something that you can do that maybe
other people couldn’t do and even if
that seems different or doesn’t fit into
people’s expectations that’s what’s
going to distinguish it if you can do it
successfully so I think it’s really
about sticking to your guns and you know
doing something you passionately believe
in rather than trying to appeal to some
desire that you imagine other people
have for what they want to see in a film
and then you have to be true to your own
passion and your own sense of what
excites you as a storyteller rule number
nine do it all when I started making
studio films
it was very much the practice at the
time that you would have a large second
unit which is another director directing
shots that will cut into the film and
coming from independent film I couldn’t
get my head around that at all to me
each shot if it’s important enough to be
in the film you know if it goes on that
screen I feel like I should be shooting
it but so for me I like to say the
screen is the same size whether the shot
is small whether the shot is large it’s
all storytelling information and the
other thing I’ve learned over the years
is if if you talk about inserts of
actors hands for example an actor
performing an action there’s performance
in those gestures and you can really you
can really see that at any time in any
of my films there’s been something where
we’ve we’ve had to do it without the act
or put an insert in or whatever it
always bothers me afterwards you never
quite get that level of performance and
that level of integration so the idea of
embarking on a film and sitting down
with the producers at the beginning and
saying okay well I don’t need to direct
those parts or those parts I’ve never
understood that to me if I’m the
director I have to be shooting all of
the shots that go in the film and rule
number 10 the last one before a very
special bonus clip is be awesome to work
with we’re going we have to go to
he’s like they all own that gaff oh that
guy yes it’s just the skipper he sees
everything in the film at once because
he cozy pools timer and so much in his
films he asked her and you know
obviously you’ve got your own little
woman to think about but that guy he
sees everything
he’s a man with our plan very much so
yeah you were very very approachable to
talk about it I found him so he didn’t
talk about much on the set but but when
I met him first of all we talked
extensively about the script and the
story and I questions about the what
happened in the gaps in between scenes
as there was room for different
possibilities there and I wanted to know
what he had imagined he was he was
really open to you offering whatever you
had going on I think partly the reason
he casted to us because he trusted our
taste and he wanted most to bring what
we had to the floor and he completely
allowed that you know he knew he would
be looking up with all sorts of
suggestions and he would you know he
wrote the script thing
EP if you like with Australia and throw
it in try it
it wasn’t precious about it at all which
really really made it a huge difference
for us it gave us a real freedom to play
about he doesn’t talk about things he
doesn’t need to talk about Chris yeah
he’s actually quite shy I think and on
set he had so many things to think about
yeah as everything is real in front of
the camera so there was an enormous
amount of stuff to coordinate amongst
the unpredictable nature of the ocean
and the weather and things like that
this whole moment where the
Messerschmitt was coming over the
moonstone and I was on the Bauer’s
shipment the bow of the boat watching
this come over and quite to have the
cameras right here and Chris was stood
next to this monitor and it comes over
now just like the bodies that Chris was
like caught caught with the Unicode II
can’t smile Tom you can’t smile I was
I’ve got a really special bonus
Christopher Nolan clip on how to have
role models but before that I have three
questions for you I want to make sure
we’re moving from just watching another
video to actually taking some kind of
action so the homework for you guys
today is to think about these three
questions question number one what is
one small thing you can do today to move
one of your big projects forward
question number two how are you going to
challenge yourself this week and
question number three what experience do
you need to gain to be among the best in
your industry write it down for yourself
talk about it with a friend or leave
your answers in the comments below
either way I want you moving from not
just watch another video and consuming
but to actually taking some kind of
action in your business or your life
thank you guys so much for watching I
believe in you I hope we continue to
believe in yourself and whatever your
one word is much loved I’ll see you soon
I’ve been greatly influenced by
filmmakers in the past few joy I always
point to George Lucas’s first Star Wars
film as a seminal influence on me was
the first film that I remember the that
really just opened up the possibilities
of what you could do with movies Ridley
Scott has always been a tremendous
influence on me I’ve loved the worlds
he’s created that textured quality of
those things Terrence Malick is a huge
influence and Stanley Kubrick is a
filmmaker that I was greatly admired
although he’s on it’s difficult to try
and imitate will learn too much from
specifically but as an inspiration just
as a great genius of cinema and then
more recently specific to Dunkirk I
think you know the cinema of Alfred
Hitchcock clues a filmmakers work in the
suspense genre were very important to me
now terrific world domination
honey Empire right I’m grateful I
understand why I’m here I think because
I am so open I wanted to think unseen
it’s a bloody brief life all of you have
the potential for enormous success if
you want to know what Gary v-d-j Khalid
Oprah and others know about empire
building that most people miss check out
the link in the description for a free bonus video
I’m good in couldn’t get in they looked
at your early work and said those guy
has no future
I know when you’re starting out
particularly you have to play to your
strengths you have to do something that
really excites you I think it was
Stanley Kubrick who said the best way to
learn how to make a film is to make a
film and I certainly found that to be
the case need motivation what’s the top
ten believe nation
what’s that believe nation seven my one
word is believe and I believe in you I
believe you have Michael Jordan level
talent at something and I want you to
find it embrace it and use it to make a
difference so let’s get your motivation
to attend and get you believing in you
grab a snack and chew on today’s lessons
from a man who went from making his
first movies at age seven to not being
able to get into film school to now
becoming one of the most influential
filmmakers of the 21st century
he’s Christopher Nolan and here’s my
take on his top ten rules a success
okay let’s kick it off with rule number
one my personal favorite just start
you didn’t go to film school you know
what good ii didn’t couldn’t get in they
looked at your early work and said those
guys no no this is all over
so were you watching other movies do
I’ve always watched movies I mean it
always been a student of films and I
think it was Stanley Kubrick who
basically said if you want to learn how
to make a film just to make a film and
that was sort of my approach I started
making films when I was seven years old
on super 8 you know and I’ve never
really stopped and then my first feature
following you know was made on 16mm with
friends who just did it on the weekends
and put it together pretty cheap very
cheap I mean yeah all told about $6,000
very thank you
rule number two distinguish yourself
from others when you’re starting out
particularly you have to play to your
strengths you have to do something that
really excites you and whatever is
different about that and in the case of
following the the nonlinear structure
was a somewhat unusual choice but it’s
those things that are the strengths of
the project it’s the things that you can
bring to what you’re doing or bring to
the filmmaking craft that maybe not
everybody else is doing maybe not
everybody else can do or is thought to
do that’s what’s going to distinguish
the thing so it might seem in some ways
more difficult or seem like something
that would make the project more
difficult to to sell when it’s finished
you know what I have you but for me I
think the answer was definitely to try
to play to my strengths and the things
that I personally was passionate about
rule number three try everything I think
I think it was Stanley Kubrick who said
the best way to learn how to make a film
is to make a film and I certainly found
that to be the case I didn’t go to film
school and I just have always made my
own films I started at a young age and
when you’re doing films just with
friends with no money you don’t want to
shoestring you have to be able to do all
the jobs because when we made following
for example we were just shooting on
Saturdays we all had jobs in the week
and so not everybody would turn up and
sometimes you’d be recording sound and
sometimes you’d be shooting the film and
you know you really had to know a bit of
everything because you didn’t quite know
you know who your crew was going to be
on the day and and it’s a wonderful way
to learn everything and and the larger
the films have become I think the more
I’ve been able to appreciate the
learning that I did by doing and I know
enough about every job on set to sort of
be a pain in the ass to everybody you
know just enough to not say I can do
your job but just to give them an idea
that I’m paying attention to what
they’re doing and that I’m asking for a
particular approach and it gives you
confidence as a filmmaker I recommend it
to any young filmmaker starting out it’s
just try everything try recording sound
try shooting try lighting try a bit of
everything except maybe acting but but
if you can get your head around all
those different disciplines you don’t
feel quite so at the mercy of your crew
and there’s an interesting relationship
as a director between yourself and the
people who work for you on set which is
they’re looking to you for leadership
and guidance and and I think they also
want to feel like you care about their
job and I think one of the ways of
showing somebody that you care about
their job you know is to know about and
be able to engage in a conversation with
the sound Department about microphones
and which microphones are using and
things like that rule number four focus
on the audience to me shockingly you’ve
never been nominated as Best Director
does that kind of thing bother you no I
mean I’ve been working in a pretty
commercial end of things you know I’ve
been making movies for audiences you
know and so I’m always you know people
often ask about lots of stuff and it’s
like you know it’d be thrilling to be
nominated for an Oscar as an director I
mean obviously I’ve grown up watching
the Oscars and I’m a member of the
Academy proudly and I have been
nominated for right
which was very very proud of but at the
end of the day for me the movies are all
about the audience and with these films
have been making they’re about reaching
a wide audience really speaking to a lot
of people and so that’s really the
guiding the guiding principle for me and
if that’s not necessarily you know what
speaks to you know Oscar voters all the
rest it’s not something you can worry
about you just got to get on and do the
film that you believe rule number five
get experience for me everything I did
to do with the camera to do with editing
was useful experience and stuff that
paid off
when I came to actually you know make
features and really everything you do
you you learn from in terms of anytime
you’re shooting something a short film
particularly short film when you try to
write the script for a short film it’s
very difficult to write a short film I
think in some ways it’s harder than for
a feature to have a complete idea in
just a few minutes and have a beginning
a middle and have an appropriate
conclusion so you learn a lot about
narrative structure doing shorter films
for really every job I did including you
know corporate videos and industrial
training films and things fair enough to
go to a company and throw up some lights
and shoot interviews you know with
executives and things like that you’re
always learning about your craft you’re
as learning about you know how to
balance the pragmatics requirements race
against time using the equipment you’ve
got in a short space of time does it get
something that you can you can use it’s
all useful experience rule number six
challenge yourself I try to be all that
story and then as I’m writing create
visuals or situations that I actually
don’t know how to do and I try to take
my directors hat off what I’m writing
and write things that I I then come to
as a director and I I say I have no idea
how to do this I have no idea what this
will look like how to visualize it
because that’s when you know you’re
challenging yourself and it’s through
that challenge you then put together a
great team of people and through that
challenge you
something that you haven’t done before
you find something fresh and different
and that’s really the fun part of
filmmaking bat of that challenge rule
number seven care deeply well I think
making films is always about facing
insurmountable seemingly insurmountable
odds anybody who tries out to go out and
direct a film and has to get a budget
has to get a crew together has to sum up
all kinds of obstacles and so I’m just
trying to position and empower
filmmakers to to view their choice of
medium as one of the things that they
have to fight for and none of these
fights are easy particularly when you’re
starting out but they’re all worth
fighting for and they’re all part of
that tension and that process that
filmmakers go through to tell the
stories that they want to tell and I
think some of that tension can actually
be productive because you’re made to
think about what’s important to you and
what you really care about and what we
want to see as film goers on screen are
stories and presentations that the
people who made them care deeply about
rule number eight stick to your guns I
think really the only useful advice I
ever got in terms of you know trying to
figure out your way in to the film
business of film industry is to a gaze
of a script and hang on to it it’s that
idea that that screenplay that that
concept you know whatever that’s gonna
be that’s so important and you have to
stick to your guns you have to find
something that you can do that maybe
other people couldn’t do and even if
that seems different or doesn’t fit into
people’s expectations that’s what’s
going to distinguish it if you can do it
successfully so I think it’s really
about sticking to your guns and you know
doing something you passionately believe
in rather than trying to appeal to some
desire that you imagine other people
have for what they want to see in a film
and then you have to be true to your own
passion and your own sense of what
excites you as a storyteller rule number
nine do it all when I started making
studio films
it was very much the practice at the
time that you would have a large second
unit which is another director directing
shots that will cut into the film and
coming from independent film I couldn’t
get my head around that at all to me
each shot if it’s important enough to be
in the film you know if it goes on that
screen I feel like I should be shooting
it but so for me I like to say the
screen is the same size whether the shot
is small whether the shot is large it’s
all storytelling information and the
other thing I’ve learned over the years
is if if you talk about inserts of
actors hands for example an actor
performing an action there’s performance
in those gestures and you can really you
can really see that at any time in any
of my films there’s been something where
we’ve we’ve had to do it without the act
or put an insert in or whatever it
always bothers me afterwards you never
quite get that level of performance and
that level of integration so the idea of
embarking on a film and sitting down
with the producers at the beginning and
saying okay well I don’t need to direct
those parts or those parts I’ve never
understood that to me if I’m the
director I have to be shooting all of
the shots that go in the film and rule
number 10 the last one before a very
special bonus clip is be awesome to work
with we’re going we have to go to
he’s like they all own that gaff oh that
guy yes it’s just the skipper he sees
everything in the film at once because
he cozy pools timer and so much in his
films he asked her and you know
obviously you’ve got your own little
woman to think about but that guy he
sees everything
he’s a man with our plan very much so
yeah you were very very approachable to
talk about it I found him so he didn’t
talk about much on the set but but when
I met him first of all we talked
extensively about the script and the
story and I questions about the what
happened in the gaps in between scenes
as there was room for different
possibilities there and I wanted to know
what he had imagined he was he was
really open to you offering whatever you
had going on I think partly the reason
he casted to us because he trusted our
taste and he wanted most to bring what
we had to the floor and he completely
allowed that you know he knew he would
be looking up with all sorts of
suggestions and he would you know he
wrote the script thing
EP if you like with Australia and throw
it in try it
it wasn’t precious about it at all which
really really made it a huge difference
for us it gave us a real freedom to play
about he doesn’t talk about things he
doesn’t need to talk about Chris yeah
he’s actually quite shy I think and on
set he had so many things to think about
yeah as everything is real in front of
the camera so there was an enormous
amount of stuff to coordinate amongst
the unpredictable nature of the ocean
and the weather and things like that
this whole moment where the
Messerschmitt was coming over the
moonstone and I was on the Bauer’s
shipment the bow of the boat watching
this come over and quite to have the
cameras right here and Chris was stood
next to this monitor and it comes over
now just like the bodies that Chris was
like caught caught with the Unicode II
can’t smile Tom you can’t smile I was
I’ve got a really special bonus
Christopher Nolan clip on how to have
role models but before that I have three
questions for you I want to make sure
we’re moving from just watching another
video to actually taking some kind of
action so the homework for you guys
today is to think about these three
questions question number one what is
one small thing you can do today to move
one of your big projects forward
question number two how are you going to
challenge yourself this week and
question number three what experience do
you need to gain to be among the best in
your industry write it down for yourself
talk about it with a friend or leave
your answers in the comments below
either way I want you moving from not
just watch another video and consuming
but to actually taking some kind of
action in your business or your life
thank you guys so much for watching I
believe in you I hope we continue to
believe in yourself and whatever your
one word is much loved I’ll see you soon
I’ve been greatly influenced by
filmmakers in the past few joy I always
point to George Lucas’s first Star Wars
film as a seminal influence on me was
the first film that I remember the that
really just opened up the possibilities
of what you could do with movies Ridley
Scott has always been a tremendous
influence on me I’ve loved the worlds
he’s created that textured quality of
those things Terrence Malick is a huge
influence and Stanley Kubrick is a
filmmaker that I was greatly admired
although he’s on it’s difficult to try
and imitate will learn too much from
specifically but as an inspiration just
as a great genius of cinema and then
more recently specific to Dunkirk I
think you know the cinema of Alfred
Hitchcock clues a filmmakers work in the
suspense genre were very important to me
now terrific world domination
honey Empire right I’m grateful I
understand why I’m here I think because
I am so open I wanted to think unseen
it’s a bloody brief life all of you have
the potential for enormous success if
you want to know what Gary v-d-j Khalid
Oprah and others know about empire
building that most people miss check out
the link in the description for a free bonus video
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