I've finished writing, and I'm about to film this piece. Well, pre-production, that is. I'm gettign the actors around, and then I'll be filming it. I have what I'll need to do that...and everything is looking pretty fine.
Does anyone have any suggestions of things I should avoid, any tips of things they've learned from filming, or any encouraging words?
haha. remember detail shots?
if you're not paying them, feed them as well as you can humanly provide. people often neglect this, but feeding your crew is like one of the most important things ever, this prevents so many instances of grumpiness and such, I swear.
if you're also the producer, then get cracking, stress your head out over everything during pre-pro and your time on set will be a lot easier. you can actually find restaurants that will donate food to your cause, for free.
also get cracking on your actors, don't worry about the shots so much (I'm saying that because I reckon most young filmmakers will already spend so much time on the shots and the technical aspect of things), know exactly what you want out of the performances. when you shoot, always let the performers know exactly where they are and how exactly they should behave, especially if you're shooting out of order. most of bad acting I've seen in low-budget productions actually just comes from performers getting disoriented and not knowing what to do or where they are in the storyline. have a very strong sense of the timeline.
My advice is to listen to Pete. He's got it down pretty well. For your project, definitely focus on performance and have a good sense of how you want the movie to feel. When you're on set, things are chaotic, even on the smallest project--it's very easy to lose sight of what you're trying to do.
(Of course, when I made Poof!, I did focus mostly on the technical stuff just so I could get that out of my system--it was a good experience. If you ARE quite into the technical side, I recommend making a movie that's just all about the technical stuff so you can get that out of your system and actually experience it, and THEN you'll be freer on future projects to focus more on the actors and feel of the movie.)
Yeah, feed your actors and crew, and treat them well. When you're not paying them, you have to provide a good reason for them to be involved. Make sure that they have a good experience; if they're happy, it shows in the movie. Also, make it clear to them what they're getting into. I've had a lot of experience with people saying, "Yeah, I wanna help with your movie!" but aren't really willing to commit more than an hour to it. Make sure that everyone involved knows how difficult and long the process will be.
Think about how many people should be involved. Too many people will make things way more difficult to manage, and too small an amount of people will be less productive. Let people know how many hours they will be working that day--people really hate working later than they expect to. A few people have said to me that they'll stay as long as it takes--but still truly expecting around two hours, and by the 4th hour, they're wearing thin.
When you film inside a house, it's really easy for the whole crew to begin to slack. When I filmed outdoor stuff, it went by pretty smoothly. When we moved production into a house, people began to sit and slack--me included. Just remember to keep an eye on everything and make sure things are going smoothly.
Plan for the worst. Have extra money (called Contingency). DO try and move things along quickly and smoothly as much as you can. I know that as completely independent filmmakers, we don't have a set amount of days or any deadline--but when production drags, it wears everyone out and totally affects the movie. There are so many moments of "I'm so tired, let's just do this and go home" that create mediocre work, and this especially affects the director/producer, because you'll be more stressed, usually.
That's all I can think of now. Be in a learning mode--absorb as much as you can for future projects. Good luck, and have fun.
What everyone else said, plus the words I always say, since no one ever said them to me: make sure you get good sound. Follow this basic checklist:
a.) If you're getting audio through the camera, don't plug the camera in, use batteries
b.) watch out for anything else plugged into a wall outlet, it'll hum
c.) use a good microphone if you have one
d.) watch out for planes/traffic/wind
e.) have blankets on hand for baffles
d.) etc.
There's a lot more, but at a certain point one would start describing things that cost money, like mixers and such.
Unless you're shooting the Blair Witch Project, get a f*ing tripod. Nothing makes a production look more amature than shaky visuals, except maybe terrible audio.
Basically what Ghostboy, Pete, and Matt35 already said but I would stress preproduction. If you know everything right to the last detail before you go into production your shoot will go fine and if you want I would get location permits if you are shooting in specific spots where there is a high possibility of getting caught by the cops.
Pretty much what Pedro, Pete, Matt, Ghostboy, subversive and Silias said, but watch for missing manhole covers.
don't ask anyone to do anything you wouldn't do yourself. Infact, do it yourself. No job is too small for the director! Treat your crew better than you do yourself. In Hollywood, the director and cast eat first. This ain't Hollywood, don't let anyone pull any rank on each other. Get coffee for the grips. Make decisions...even bad ones. Bad decisions are usually better than waffling back and forth. don't let anyone tell you it can't be done. Check the gate. Be everyone's friend and remember THEY ARE DOING YOU A FAVOR. Be cool. Don't wear black socks with sandals. Be first on set, last to leave. No alchohol on set. Don't get AIDS. Be a fascist when you're on someone's property without insurance.
That should just about do it.
Yeah, and don't allow yourself to become dependent on a single person to do something important for you. If they pull out, which they often do for whatever asshole reasons, you're screwed.
Quote from: meatballYeah, and don't allow yourself to become dependent on a single person to do something important for you. If they pull out, which they often do for whatever asshole reasons, you're screwed.
Yeah, you have to make sure the people who are working with you are not slackers people that you can trust and count on, and actually want to work on your project.
Thank you all for what you're saying. It means a lot to me.
If and when I finish it (it's pretty ambitious) would it possible to get it hosted here so you guys could give me feedback? (Not to say I won't need any advice until then, I'll always need to learn)
I just hope I do a great job. Whenever I'm not writing, I'm thinking about it, and now that I've finished writing it, all I can think about is casting it and where the shots will be.
You guys are helping me out so much.
also, important important important aspect of being a director on a low-budget shoot, NO EGO WHATSOEVER. Keep your head as small as possible, move the equipments, pick up food, whatever, do whatever you can to keep the crew reasonably happy, so much of directing is actually just socializing, being able to get people to do what you want them to do, and keep them satisftied enough to want to work with you again in the future, half of directing actually has nothing to do with artistic vision.
I think this is obvious, but if the actors are your good friends, don't be polite and say "okay good take" if it wasn't really to your liking. Make 'em work regardless. I know people who get their good friends to do things and they do a half-assed job, when they could've got somebody who wasn't such a close friend but could've done a really great job. So focus on how you'd like the actors to play their roles, discuss the delivery of lines and such in advance... conference with them about their characters as much as you can. If it's going to be low budget, at least make sure the actors allow the characters to really come alive.
Yeah, it's a strange balancing act.
On one hand, people are doing jobs for you for little to no pay and you want to make sure that production is nice and easy and even fun, so that they keep coming to get the job done. I know that I have the need to make sure that everybody is doing okay.
On the other hand, if you're too relaxed with your crew and treat the whole thing as a party then you might slip and not get the shots that you need or compromise and get something completely half-assed to what you originally intended.
You have to find the right balance that works for you. Which is more important, the atmosphere of the set or the quality of your film?
Quote from: CinephileI think this is obvious, but if the actors are your good friends, don't be polite and say "okay good take" if it wasn't really to your liking.
That was my mistake.
Tru dat.
I shot a 35mm short in February. Not bragging, just hightening the fact that it was a pretty big short film production.
Here's 2 minute crappy behind-the-scenes footage i've posted before.
Behind the scenes (http://medlem.spray.se/masterkotte/behind.wmv)
Right-click. Save as...
Here's the shot we're talking about in the behind-footage.
Trailer (http://medlem.spray.se/masterkotte/torte.wmv)
Right-click. Save as...
I'm not gonna give you advice but tell you what I did. First of all everyone worked for free. So what did I do?
I got on the set 45 minutes before everyone else. The day before we dropped of the equiment at the location. Fucking $150000 worth of equipment. I brought the prime lenses home. Couldn't leave those spite the security.
As said, I got on the set 45 minutes before everyone else. I carried the lenses inside the house. I was alone. I made breakfast. As people dropped in between 7 am and 9 am they had as much food and coffee they wanted. Everyone was happy.
I had my Co-producer be in charge of the 15+ extras we had on set. He took care of them. They all felt well-treated. Important.
Lunch-break. As much chicken, sandwiches, pancakes and muffins the 30+ team wanted. Everyone was happy.
I had one actor be on set 8:30 am. She shot her first scene 4 pm. Had to keep her busy and happy. Important.
Make every single person on set matter. If they don't (why are they even there?) make them believe they are.
Be open to suggestions from everyone. Care about everyone. Care about what extra no. 7 did yesterday and what her plans are for the future.
Sounds like you should care about anything but the film? Absolutely not! I'm telling you: Preproduction! Know exactly what you want. Know every beat of the script and performances. Know where to put the camera. If you feel secure in these areas when you get on set you can put more energy in keeping your UNPAID crew happy (and not leaving).
(https://xixax.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fmedlem.spray.se%2Fmasterkotte%2Floni.jpg&hash=52aca20146929ed46de2dc6a8d8ecf92ae8e9a83)
Talk to everyone!
Yeah, you're quite welcome, Walrus.
Well, you guys have covered pretty much everything, but I will go back and point out how important the sound is, as Ghostboy pointed out. I had a short doc I shot in March and I had a lot of trouble with the sound. Not so much because it was a difficult situation, but because my sound recordist jsut did not give a shit. It was me and her, we were the crew, and the guy we were doing the doc about. I drove out to the middle of nowhere to pick her up at 5 am and bought her breakfast (even though this was an assignment she was handing in for school as well, so she wasn't really doing me a favor). All she did was bitch and complain about how I made her get up so early. She only had to shoot on two seperate days, and then transfer the audio from DAT to CD so I could do the editing and maybe I would have needed her help to clean it up a bit later on. Well, she did a half assed job recording the sound, then ran out of DAT tapes cause she only bought one after I specifically said we'd need at least 4 or 5, what with the interview footage. Then, I went into post production for a month while she was supposed to be transfering the audio to CD. But she didn't do it. So finally, when I did ask her for the audio, she said she couldn't get any time in the audio lab because it was all booked solid, since she had not reserved any time. By the time we did get in, the machine used to transfer DAT tapes was broken, so she couldn't do it. She ended up throwing together this horrible sound with the audio from the built in mike that sounded like we sat the guy in a giant can and said her job was done. I ended up redoing it from home and did a way better job, despite my limited knowledge and experience with sound, and she got a better grade for the assignment in her sound class then I did in my TV prod. class. I guess this isn't really advice as it is me just venting out my frustration. And today, she asked what our next project was going to be, because she has more assignments to hand in. If I wasn't such an idiot I would tell her where to shove it.
Oh man, working with people who don't care or want to work (who are just taken in by the glamour of moviemaking) is Bad News.
You've all missed the most important thing. You need to make everybody believe in you and the project. If you have that, people will go out of their way for you.
Quote from: mutinycoYou've all missed the most important thing. You need to make everybody believe in you and the project. If you have that, people will go out of their way for you.
Exactly. I just got off a shoot where the director was aimless. The actors knew it, the crew knew it -- and without that strong vision and just knowing what the hell you want, nobody is going to want to stay around, especially if it's no pay.
Just to add to that, you earn somebody's belief in you and your project because you know what you want -- not because your set is nice and friendly and relaxing. I've been on plenty of relaxing sets where little work was done. The worst thing you can do on the set is keep people waiting around doing nothing at all.
Quote from: meatballingThe worst thing you can do on the set is keep people waiting around doing nothing at all.
dude, that's basically all a set is.
We didn't do much dallying. When anyone was feeling like we weren't moving on, they'd yell (in a thick German accent) "Shoooot!"
It's a reference to Texas Chainsaw Massacre and it was our friendly little way of saying "all right I'm ready to go home so let's get this done." It's a little comic relief and gets the message across. Of course we did quite a bit of making up our own lingo to confuse the cast. Our favorite was the T&A shot. You know "tight and angular".
Quote from: PubrickQuote from: meatballingThe worst thing you can do on the set is keep people waiting around doing nothing at all.
dude, that's basically all a set is.
Not my sets. :P
Quote from: metroshaneOur favorite was the T&A shot. You know "tight and angular".
lolz. Remind me to
steal borrow that for my next shoot.
I like it when the director is organized and self-sacrificing. On small shoots, it's really the director's film, so he should be depended on for organization. No one else can do it for him. This is from experience. So know what you want, be organized, (i.e. move your own damn equipment, have scenes set up ahead of time, etc.), and be nice to those who are helping you. This is probably just a rehash of what everyone else is saying, but it's worth repeating.
So far, all the projects I direct I work on as videographer, too. I guess I'll have to let that go at some point, but it's so damn fun. Anyways, it gets a bit hard to motivate the rest of my crew, since I always want to do everything myself. It's not that I don't trust anyone else to do it right (well, yes it is) but I just love doing it.
pre-production whine-venting:
i'm shooting this week on 16mm. i'm nervous. i'm the DP. i have no experience on film, even stills.
i know enough to remove the lens cap, set the focus, and check the gate. i've never used a light meter before, but i'll read up thoroughly on how to do it and i won't shoot until i'm sure about something. i know i won't do anything half-assed. i'm just worried about trying my hardest and still fucking up out of sheer ignorance resulting from being new to this whole thing.
using a filter improperly, not knowing how dark a shadow will have to be to show up, how to correctly frame the close-ups he wants with my lens (minimal focal distance of 6ft... i've got a filter that's supposed to help if i set it up correctly). there's no sound, but he does want a fair number of tight shots that will be hard for somebody with no acting experience to pull off with confidence.
i've told this all to the writer/director that i'm working with, but i don't think he gets it-- he says things like "it'll be great. but if it's totally over/underexposed we'll start from scratch." there doesn't seem to be any middle ground in the way he's thinking about it, so if we do it and it's only mediocre (and i think it will be), but not totally over/under exposed, i think it'll fall into the total disappointment category.
he says he knows where he wants to shoot, but doesn't have a clear idea of where exactly or when in the day. he didn't write the parts specifically for these actors, they're just who's around. the director of this project is a good friend and i don't mean to sound i think like he's an idiot. i think he just doesn't realize how much planning necessarily has to go into this type of thing.
keeping actors happy is no problem. they're his mom and brother. sigh. i'm the crew. it's only a 3-minute project. perhaps i'm worrying too much about what will probably just amount to an amateur project shot on 16mm b/w reversal as opposed to mini DV.
we only spent $60 on film, and it'll be another $60 to get it processed... then we'll look at it to see if it's worth transferring to digital. so it's not a huge deal financially, i just really don't want to fuck this up. whine whine whine.
the good news is that we're going to shoot it on friday unless rain is forecast. we're going up to his house tomorrow morning, so there'll be plenty of time to get locations solidified (nowhere public) and get specific shots mapped out. i'll also read up on some of the questions i have about the nuts and bolts of cinematography. i didn't expect to be doing this thing for another month at least.
i kind of wish there was a holiday inn express around.
How did you get roped into being DP on a film when you've never done it before? You need that experience. I'm telling you nothing you don't know. Have you even touched a film camera before? If not, you're sorta-kinda fucked.
I don't mean to be foreboding or anything, but I was DP on a shoot a while back, and it takes a while to warm up to your camera, especially depending on how old it is. That you've never used a light meter is kinda scary. Be sure you set it properly to the speed of your film before you shoot a single frame. You'll need a tape measurer and depth of field chart to set focus too. Those were just crutches we used on our shoot 'cause we were beginners at the time, and from what I've read, you are too. Our professor also told us to adjust the light meter one way or another to account for the type of film we were using, but it was a year ago, so I don't remember which way we adjusted the dial. I bring this up not to confuse you, but it's just something else to be aware of. The way he put it, manufacturers "lie" about the actual speed of film and an adjustment to the light meter can help matters in certain cases. You're shooting outside, which definitely makes things easier 'cause there's more light. I hope what I've said helps you a bit. Don't let the technical bits about the light meter confuse you too much. Maybe someone else with a little more working knowledge can illuminate it more.
I wish there was something else we could say to help. I realize you're just venting and that should be help enough. But if I were you, I'd read all you can in these last minutes, just so you can do your part to make things go better.
i spent this week warming up with my camera, but the true test is getting it developed, which i won't have time to do before this week.
we'll also be using a tripod on the shoot, so i'll have slightly less to think about without it on my shoulder. i have a good eye for estimating depth and focus but am not too proud to use tape measures and charts. that does help.
i'm using kodak plus-X reversal stock. it's known for deep blacks but isn't very forgiving with bright areas. i have a spot meter in addition to the incidental meter to check the levels on bright articles of clothing. reversal in general isn't rumored to be as forgiving as negative film with variable levels within the frame, so i thought the spot meter was a good foresight.
this is my first-ever film on film attempt. they don't give cinema studies students here access to cameras or cutting equipment, so i bought my own and am teaching myself from scratch. even fucking up will be valuable in this project-- it's only a learning exercise.
and even if it was vitally important to some other area of my life, it's such a small project that i can reshoot, learning from my mistakes. right now, the only thing really holding me back is the lack of practical experience. there's only so much that reading the manuals and doing dry runs can do.
edit: one area in which i would like specific advice is using changing bags. i have a roll of ancient ekachrome stock that i bought for the purpose of screwing around for a few bucks on eBay. i can practice some with that, but any tips or particularly successful techniques would be great.
Quote from: Xidentity Crixax on April 12, 2006, 12:42:17 AM
edit: one area in which i would like specific advice is using changing bags. i have a roll of ancient ekachrome stock that i bought for the purpose of screwing around for a few bucks on eBay. i can practice some with that, but any tips or particularly successful techniques would be great.
have someone show you how to do it. that is one thing that if you read about it you'll only be confused.
Definately.
Also if you can, load up a second mag before you go out. If you dont need to reload on loaction you might not need to use the bag. If you can find a blacked out room to use at home. That way you can really lay everything out really nicely and not feel claustrophobic!
I doubt you have time now but the Camera Asistants Manual by focal press was a real help to me.
Good luck.
Quote from: Xidentity Crixax on April 12, 2006, 12:42:17 AM
i have a good eye for estimating depth and focus but am not too proud to use tape measures and charts.
I'm using Kodak plus-X reversal stock. it's known for deep blacks but isn't very forgiving with bright areas. i have a spot meter in addition to the incidental meter to check the levels on bright articles of clothing. reversal in general isn't rumored to be as forgiving as negative film with variable levels within the frame, so i thought the spot meter was a good foresight.
Always use a tape measure. I'd guess you already know this but def. check out http://www.Kodak.com/US/en/motion/products/Be/tech7265.HTML?id=0.1.4.4.10.10.4&LC=en
If you can get a hold of a Greycard you should. When using the spot meter remember to be close to the lens. And if you are using filters find out their filter factor and adjust the exposure accordingly.
i have an 18% grey card.
we got the locations down, made a shooting schedule, re-did some storyboarding, set up a bunch of the shots and spiked the tripod locations, talked the actor through the script (we kept him fed and happy).
and then we tried to load the camera to be ready for shooting in better light tomorrow.
after more than 4 hours of messing with the fucking thing, we discovered that one of the sprockets is missing a tooth, causing the film to go off-course, jam, and eventually break or have to be ripped out. we had to call the shoot off until i can get my camera repaired.
whine.
Damn that sucks. What camera are you using?
Quote from: killafilm on April 13, 2006, 03:45:18 PM
Damn that sucks. What camera are you using?
used Krasnogorsk K-3
Just last month, a K-3 wasted a roll of film and a day of shooting on my most recent film. From now on, I'm renting my cameras.