How to Make a Film in BLENDER Without Experience | Dave Makes a Movie

The VFX Process Podcast #68 | Making an animated film solo with no prior Blender experience, Dave Brain shares his journey, challenges, and how he’s learning by doing.

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In this inspiring interview, we sit down with Dave Brain — a hospital administrator and freelance VFX artist diving headfirst into Blender filmmaking with his incredibly ambitious animated short, Kosmic Kidnap. With zero prior experience in Blender, Dave created his first character five years ago, then decided to go all in on the film two years ago, working on it in his spare time.

Kosmic Kidnap is a sci-fi adventure being created entirely in Blender, and Dave is doing it all solo — writing, animating, editing, and rendering — learning as he goes. Six months ago, he started sharing his progress across platforms under the name "Dave Makes a Movie", documenting every step of the process and offering valuable insights for anyone curious about how to make a film in Blender.

Whether you're a Blender beginner, a solo creator, or just fascinated by indie animation, this interview is packed with real talk about the challenges, tools, mindset, and breakthroughs of making a movie from scratch.

📌 Topics Covered:

How Dave Brain started making a movie with no animation experience

The tools and workflow behind Kosmic Kidnap

The reality of solo animated filmmaking using Blender

Growing an online audience by sharing the filmmaking journey

Advice for beginners who want to make their first animated film

KOSMIC KIDNAP TRAILER:    • Kosmic Kidnap Teaser - Blender Short Film  
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CONNECT & SUPPORT DAVE: ‪@davebrainvfx‬   / davemakesamovie     / ornsack  
  / davemakesamovie  
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⏰TIMECODES⏰
00:00 - INTRO TO DAVE
03:10 - PROJECT: KOSMIC KIDNAP
06:12 - PLANNING A PROJECT SOLO
09:10 - ADVANTAGES OF BLENDER AS A FIRST TIME USER
10:19 - WHY I'M ANIMATING THE BORING STUFF FIRST
12:55 - SOLO FILMMAKING & IMPOSTER SYNDROME
18:32 - ANIMATION & RIGGING
19:52 - WHY THE VISUAL STYLE CHANGES THROUGHOUT
21:46 - FILE & PROJECT MANAGEMENT IS IMPORTANT
23:39 - SUPPORT DAVE'S JOURNEY
25:25 - HOW TO FIND THE TIME TO START AN ANIMATED FILM
29:15 - QUICK FIRE QUESTIONS
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MUSIC: Motion Array - https://motionarray.com/
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