What Is The Definition Of Professional/Amateur Filmmaker?...

[S8 Booster]

this has been discussed for ages but in our local club society this is the "popular" definition:

a professional filmmaker is someone doing it for a living.
if he/she can live from it (s)hes a professional.
of course he/she never shoots s8 except...

an amateur is someone who loves his/her hobby.
often he/she is capable of making professional films but dont do it for a living.

one option does not rule the other out.

both can/shoot home movies but not for a living.

s8hôôt

[Mitch Perkins]

an amateur is someone who loves his/her hobby.

s8hôôt

This gives me an idea for a short film about a guy who has a hobby that he hates. Kinda like the George Carlin line, "I had an imaginary friend, but we didn't get along very well."

As for definitions, I pretty much stick to the dictionary; Wittgenstein and all that...

Professional:

http://www.google.ca/search?client=fire ... gle+Search

Amateur:

http://www.google.ca/search?hs=uud&hl=e ... arch&meta=

Mitch

[Joe Gioielli]

An amateur is obsessed with being a professional, a professional lives in fear of being called an amateur.

It's like people who think that if it's shot on video is shall not be calleth a film. Good grief, what a thing to worry about.

Joe

[sooper8fan]

Joe Gioielli wrote:

It's like people who think that if it's shot on video is shall not be calleth a film.

it shall not. it shall be called a video.

[Evan Kubota]

Except something like '9 Songs' is definitely not a video, and neither are '28 Days Later' or 'Open Water'...

The use of video that bothers me most is when it isn't properly executed. A reasonably well-funded project with a crew that is competent can look OK on video (although not as good as film, obviously).

[Mitch Perkins]

Except something like '9 Songs' is definitely not a video, and neither are '28 Days Later' or 'Open Water'...

Tonight we watched "The Bad and the Beautiful", so I can tell you these are...Pictures! As in you oughta be in...~:?)

Mitch

[Superbus_]

Who is an amateur? Just try to find a mirror...
Who is a professional? Just count your money you've earned from filmmaking.
I know there are a few professional who are members of this forum but I think 90% are amateaurs here. On the other hand pros who are using s8 are clever ones because it is cheap and the camera is little and using negative stock you can get professional results.

[PITIRRE]

I think the problem is the word "AMATEUR" people used to think the word amateur is something cheap, not really good, something that people will laugh at it.
My opinion is , if you do (in this case) a film, maybe not expecting nobody to see, not expecting somebody to pay for it, but if you do it with passion, love and put all your knowledge on it you deserve the right to call you a professional.

The same thing happen with videographer and filmmaker (a topic that had been here before) in my opinion if you shoot film no matter if is a Super 8 or 35mm you are a filmmaker if you "shoot" or better record on video you are a videographer,but people used to called themselves filmmakers instead of videographers. The problem with this is that when you are going to ask for money for your film people tended to say "why you ask me for so much Mr. Smith is going to do a longer film and is going to cost half of what are you asking me"

[Alex_W]

'Amateur' comes from the Latin word for lover. A person who loves what he or she does, is an amateur. Whether you get paid to do it or not doesn't make any difference. The derogatory way some people use it only has to do with their own shame at looking at something simple and honest.

[mathis]

'Amateur' comes from the Latin word for lover. A person who loves what he or she does, is an amateur. Whether you get paid to do it or not doesn't make any difference. The derogatory way some people use it only has to do with their own shame at looking at something simple and honest.

spot on!

[mattias]

I think 'pro filmmaker' is easy to define (just look at your paycheck as somebody suggested) but the problems start when people start referring to 'professional results' (video camera ads) or 'amateur look' (santo rant). I've no idea how to define either but i usually see what they're getting at. /matt

[mattias]

'Amateur' comes from the Latin word for lover. A person who loves what he or she does, is an amateur. Whether you get paid to do it or not doesn't make any difference.

eep, you should have kept reading longer in your etymology dictionary. the use of amateur as a synonym to "dabbler" as opposed to "professional" is almost as old as the original meaning you describe. and if you stop to ponder the reason such an expression would arise anyway you'll soon realize that the "as opposed to for money" is implicitly there. people didn't usually work for fun back in the days you know. for the record professional means somebody who's taken a religious vow (profess=to take a vow). times change, so do languages. go figure.

/matt

[S8 Booster]

also from my webster dictionary:

amateur: Fr., from L. amator, amatoris, a lover, from amo to love] One who cultivates any study or art from taste or attachment without pursuing it professionally or with a view to gain; one who has a taste for the arts.

-amateurish a. Pertaining to or characteristic of an amateur; wanting the skill, finish or other faculties of a professional

profess (a chapter alone on this) -> profession, [L professio] The act of professing; a public avowal or aknowledgment of one´s sentiments or belief; a declaration; a representation or protestation (professions of friendship or sincerety) a calling superior to a mere trade or handicraft, as that of medicine, law, architecture; a vocation; the collective body of persons engaged in such calling.

professional, pertaining to a profession; engaged in a profession. A member of any profession but more often applied, in opposition to an amateur, to persons who make their living by arts, etc, in which nonprofessionals are accustomed to engage.

s8hôÔt

[Alex_W]

people didn't usually work for fun back in the days you know.
/matt

are you quoting from a history book? that sounds really scholarly. Anyway, my only point was that i liked the definition of 'lover' better as opposed to 'dabbler'. That's how language evolves, mediated through the people who use it. go figure.

[mattias]

my only point was that i liked the definition of 'lover' better as opposed to 'dabbler'. That's how language evolves, mediated through the people who use it.

point taken. this thread was about the definition though. you presented one definition and deliberately left out the more common one. go figure right back to you again. :-)

/matt