Submitted by Peter John Ross
Where did I leave off? Oh yeah, one more scene to go. February 2002, for me it was infamous, Scene 41, which had more FX shots than the rest of the movie combined. It was grueling. Working freelance, and working on FX all the time, wore me down and fried my brain.
I would work out each FX shot in Adobe After Effects, then set all the shots I worked on to render, or compile all the FX together in a compatible video clip, and not find out for another nine to twelve hours if it worked. Some FX shots took as much as twenty-three hours to render for four seconds of footage.
Upon completion of the scene, I looked it over and put together my final rough cut with what I thought was all of my FX. The movie was bad. Real bad. It was nothing but a collection of sometimes good and sometimes awful scenes, and there was no flow, or any really good transitions. I came up with the idea of releasing it in five or six minute online “webisodes.” I felt this was my only salvation. I didn’t think I could make it work otherwise.
I started releasing the “chapters” online. There are pockets of people out there who love low budget, B-movie science-fiction, and it’s even better online. Within a couple weeks I got e-mails of praise and scorn, but mostly scorn. After some fairly scathing reviews, I decided the best two chapters that are short and to the point were chapters six and seven. So I focused on getting these out there more.
I did receive an e-mail invitation to submit to a science-fiction convention in Little Rock, Arkansas called “Roc*Kon.” I sent a tape of the best two chapters. Within a week I got a phone call from the lady that had invited me to submit New World, where she promptly ripped me a new orifice. She wanted it all, not a part, not a piece, but all of New World. She also said I should re-edit it and make it one long movie, the very thing I dreaded since I tried and it didn’t work. But her passion for the project invigorated my efforts, and terrified me as well.
I tried again, but there were definitely some moments where I needed something more. The 3D animator, Don Drennan, a local animation genius, agreed to contribute five shots. He did several matte paintings of a CGI “hive,” like a 30 story high alien beehive. It looked amazing. He went way over the top and delivered some top-notch FX work, and made me want to cry whenever I saw my own FX shots.
I now had a forty-nine minute version of New World.
In May 2002, we decided to screen it publicly for the first time in our hometown. I rented a theater with three other independent filmmakers. The intent was to screen our movies to the public and for the casts and crews. We didn’t sell out, but we had very good turn outs for two showings at a local multiplex, even though we digitally projected. Running mono and stereo independent movies through THX created audio problems, so for the second show, I volunteered to ride it out in the projection booth raising and lowering the volume manually.
Understand my pain. My sole reason for making movies is to eventually sit in a dark room with a bunch of strangers and experience the story. Well here I am, at one of the precious few times my movie plays in a dark room complete with strangers, and I’m in the projection booth. Immediately after the second screening, I am approached by Matthias Saunders, who caused so much disarray during the shoot, and his only words to me are “You made some editing choices I didn’t agree with.” Since he has never directed or really edited anything, I didn’t take too much offense.
Michael Evanichko, one of the other filmmakers with a movie playing, had the brilliant idea of handing out comment cards. We did and most people did take the time to fill them out. I learned a lot about my own movie from that. People can tell you what they really think unadulterated. Especially if they weren’t part of your cast and crew, they’ve got no reason to lie or hold back. And they didn’t. The results were still about seventy percent pro-New World, but even the positive cards had criticisms, and they were primarily valid.
I then made a decision. Based on the first screening, and sitting in the theater with an audience, the first twenty minutes of New World seemed to drag and drag on. I wanted to cut it out completely, but how do you cut it out completely and still have a coherent story? My girlfriend and I were driving along Interstate 270 one day discussing this, and she suggested a “previously on Buffy The Vampire Slayer” introduction with just clips. At first I told her that she was nuts because Buffy the Vampire Slayer footage wouldn’t work in our futuristic science-fiction movie. I then got slapped in the face, and then heard her say, “No idiot, make your own previously on New World.” Then the genius of her suggestion kicked in.
I edited together the footage of highlights from the first twenty minutes and cut it down to two minutes, added a professional voice-over saying “previously on New World,” and then I had a much tighter, much more fluid New World, that now runs at a scant twenty-eight minutes. I am now much more content about the status of New World.
I sent a VHS tape off to the lady in Little Rock, Arkansas, and then the idea of screening New World at science-fiction conventions as opposed to film festivals occurred to me. Film festivals with their black beret wearing latte sippers would never like New World anyway. It’s B-movie science-fiction, and not that good either. But I figured that if people still like the original Star Trek series, then I have a chance. I started submitting New World to science-fiction conventions around the country and it got around.
We screened the movie at several conventions here in Columbus, Ohio, as well as Cleveland, and as far as Fort Worth, and Baltimore. The new twenty-eight minute version plays much, much better now with audiences. I breathe easier, but I still notate every flaw and try to imagine what re-doing it will be.
Then I bagged the elephant, San Diego Comic-Con, the largest comic book and science-fiction convention in the world. This happened to be the first year of the Comic-Con Independent Film Festival and New World got accepted. We screened it for a decent sized audience there, and I got to do a Q & A afterwards. I even got to meet and have a conversation with Joss Whedon, my hero and creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, in the green room.
What did I learn? A whole bunch, mostly what not to do. I learned to not bite off something this big and expect it to come off great. At least not until I’ve learned more about the basics of the craft. Moviemaking is a collaborative art, and planning is the key.
Be realistic.
Tuesday, September 23, 2003
The Making of In Memory of My Father
Submitted by Chris Jaymes
In Memory of My Father was shot over a five day period using three cameras following a four week on-location rehearsal process where the script was further developed. One week after returning from Southeast Asia, where I had been for three months, I wrote the script in five days after David Austin, the executive producer, asked me to write a script to film in his house. Austin lives in one of Samuel Goldwyn’s old mansions, off Franklin and Camino Palmero in the Hollywood Hills, and was planning to sell the house and wanted to have it documented before doing so.
I had been planning to see the revival screening of Luis Bunuel’s The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie all week at the Fine Arts Theater and it was Thursday evening, the last night of its run. So I rushed over for the 10 p.m. screening. An hour into the film, I realized that I hadn’t seen a single frame of the film as my mind had been running through images of what soon would become In Memory of My Father. I immediately left the theater and started jotting down notes in my car.
Five days later the script was complete. I sculpted three story lines to unfold throughout the house using specific actors that are friends, including Judy Greer and Jeremy Sisto. I wrote each of the actor’s story lines in a manner that would cater to their specific personalities and set each actor’s story amongst their friends, partners, and families to enhance the intimacy and comfort levels of the performers. On the sixth day, I had all of the actors come to David’s house for a reading, without allowing anyone to look at the script beforehand.
Everyone seemingly loved it and we were set to go. I rewrote for the next week, as I began producing the film with the ever so miniscule budget I was given. At the end of that week, we had another reading, which confirmed the reality of the production that would begin four weeks later as a weeklong shoot. With the limited budget and the availability of the actors, I honed it down to a five day shoot. Taking the blue prints of the mansion, I mapped out the set-up for each scene with the blocking of the actors, the placement of the cameras, camera movement, and other details in order to move quickly and as smoothly as possible.
Over the next four weeks, I produced the film and prepped the house. Abe Levy, my friend and director of photography who I had worked with as an actor in two of his films, worked with me for the final week and a half, setting lights and shooting tests. The actors were made aware that I would be at house prepping for the film, and that they could have access to the house at any time. The majority of the cast took advantage of this situation and on a voluntary and improvised schedule would show up with their scene partners to rehearse and prepare. I would try to spend as much time as possible with each of them, and during these sessions I would constantly rewrite in an attempt to bring out what seemed more familiar to them. Knowing them all as well as I did, it was easier to nurture their natural instincts and help find the beauty and core of what I had loved about them as people. The cast brought so much more to the script than I could have imagined and really took advantage of the freedom that I had given. Since we were shooting the entire film at this one location we had the benefit of pre-setting the entire house, which is the only reason we were able to complete the task of capturing seventy hours of footage in five days of shooting. The house itself was already nearly perfect.
Aside from re-decorating two of the upstairs rooms, all that really had to happen was to light the house in an invisible manner. We had a bedroom transformed into a make-up room and the rest of the house served as a green room, which was pretty amazing, and no one ever wanted to leave. The house has a fifties retro-Hollywood sort of feel to it. Large balconies overlook a swimming pool that is neighbored by a jacuzzi room (something you don't see much of anymore), both of which are set into a brick floor. An overgrown south of France yard surrounds the house and the trees seem to give you a feeling of privacy, regardless of the fact that you’re just a few steps away from Franklin Boulevard.
Unfortunately, upon David selling the Goldwyn house, the buyers gutted it and completely redesigned every last detail of the property turning it into just another ostentatious looking mansion, where prior to that there was absolutely nothing ostentatious about it. At the risk of sounding a little pretentious, there was definitely a nurturing quality about the property. It did feel like another character to a certain degree, however not a character that wanted any attention as much as one that just liked being a part of something. Not one piece of furniture or any part of the house was damaged with well over a hundred bodies moving around it at any given time, and that is something that I've never seen happen.
There was definitely a sense of wonder in the back of my mind; occasional flashes of what may have happened here forty years ago, and curiosity of the glamour and the darkness that lived inside the history of the house. The footage that I have will be the last true documentation of the property as it was originally designed, which is fortunate and yet unfortunate at the same time.
We’re currently looking for distribution and some additional financing. A short cut sneak peak of the film is premiering at the IFP market on September 23 at the Angelika Theater in New York City.
In Memory of My Father was shot over a five day period using three cameras following a four week on-location rehearsal process where the script was further developed. One week after returning from Southeast Asia, where I had been for three months, I wrote the script in five days after David Austin, the executive producer, asked me to write a script to film in his house. Austin lives in one of Samuel Goldwyn’s old mansions, off Franklin and Camino Palmero in the Hollywood Hills, and was planning to sell the house and wanted to have it documented before doing so.
I had been planning to see the revival screening of Luis Bunuel’s The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie all week at the Fine Arts Theater and it was Thursday evening, the last night of its run. So I rushed over for the 10 p.m. screening. An hour into the film, I realized that I hadn’t seen a single frame of the film as my mind had been running through images of what soon would become In Memory of My Father. I immediately left the theater and started jotting down notes in my car.
Five days later the script was complete. I sculpted three story lines to unfold throughout the house using specific actors that are friends, including Judy Greer and Jeremy Sisto. I wrote each of the actor’s story lines in a manner that would cater to their specific personalities and set each actor’s story amongst their friends, partners, and families to enhance the intimacy and comfort levels of the performers. On the sixth day, I had all of the actors come to David’s house for a reading, without allowing anyone to look at the script beforehand.
Everyone seemingly loved it and we were set to go. I rewrote for the next week, as I began producing the film with the ever so miniscule budget I was given. At the end of that week, we had another reading, which confirmed the reality of the production that would begin four weeks later as a weeklong shoot. With the limited budget and the availability of the actors, I honed it down to a five day shoot. Taking the blue prints of the mansion, I mapped out the set-up for each scene with the blocking of the actors, the placement of the cameras, camera movement, and other details in order to move quickly and as smoothly as possible.
Over the next four weeks, I produced the film and prepped the house. Abe Levy, my friend and director of photography who I had worked with as an actor in two of his films, worked with me for the final week and a half, setting lights and shooting tests. The actors were made aware that I would be at house prepping for the film, and that they could have access to the house at any time. The majority of the cast took advantage of this situation and on a voluntary and improvised schedule would show up with their scene partners to rehearse and prepare. I would try to spend as much time as possible with each of them, and during these sessions I would constantly rewrite in an attempt to bring out what seemed more familiar to them. Knowing them all as well as I did, it was easier to nurture their natural instincts and help find the beauty and core of what I had loved about them as people. The cast brought so much more to the script than I could have imagined and really took advantage of the freedom that I had given. Since we were shooting the entire film at this one location we had the benefit of pre-setting the entire house, which is the only reason we were able to complete the task of capturing seventy hours of footage in five days of shooting. The house itself was already nearly perfect.
Aside from re-decorating two of the upstairs rooms, all that really had to happen was to light the house in an invisible manner. We had a bedroom transformed into a make-up room and the rest of the house served as a green room, which was pretty amazing, and no one ever wanted to leave. The house has a fifties retro-Hollywood sort of feel to it. Large balconies overlook a swimming pool that is neighbored by a jacuzzi room (something you don't see much of anymore), both of which are set into a brick floor. An overgrown south of France yard surrounds the house and the trees seem to give you a feeling of privacy, regardless of the fact that you’re just a few steps away from Franklin Boulevard.
Unfortunately, upon David selling the Goldwyn house, the buyers gutted it and completely redesigned every last detail of the property turning it into just another ostentatious looking mansion, where prior to that there was absolutely nothing ostentatious about it. At the risk of sounding a little pretentious, there was definitely a nurturing quality about the property. It did feel like another character to a certain degree, however not a character that wanted any attention as much as one that just liked being a part of something. Not one piece of furniture or any part of the house was damaged with well over a hundred bodies moving around it at any given time, and that is something that I've never seen happen.
There was definitely a sense of wonder in the back of my mind; occasional flashes of what may have happened here forty years ago, and curiosity of the glamour and the darkness that lived inside the history of the house. The footage that I have will be the last true documentation of the property as it was originally designed, which is fortunate and yet unfortunate at the same time.
We’re currently looking for distribution and some additional financing. A short cut sneak peak of the film is premiering at the IFP market on September 23 at the Angelika Theater in New York City.
Tuesday, September 09, 2003
Ten Things to Help You Prepare for a Film Festival
Submitted by R. Dekker Dreyer
Just like every other starry-eyed young director in America I had ambitions of traveling to Park City, Utah in January and showing off one of my masterworks to a crowd of adoring sophisticates and landing that well-earned three picture deal. After you get into one of the well-known festivals, you might imagine everything comes together like magic. This is a pipe dream. The film industry is an industry, a job. From my own experiences at festivals around North America, and more specifically Sundance and Slamdance, I’ve compiled a list of ten things filmmakers need to know about festivals. When I was selected for Slamdance 2003 I found very little information online about what to do as a filmmaker at a festival and I wanted to provide this information to other directors who may be packing a bag and hitting the circuit. If you’re a serious filmmaker I suggest you study this list and take it for what it’s worth.
1) Nobody knows who you are. You have to be very outgoing and make friends quickly otherwise you’ll have wasted your time.
2) Your movie needs an audience and it is your sole responsibility to bring in that audience. Bring flyers, posters, post cards, a bull horn, and a giant panda suit, anything to attract attention to your film.
3) Celebrities are available to give you advice, make sure you ask good questions. I can’t stand people who ask things to the effect of, “How do make it as a director?” Truthfully, asking this will make you look like a fool in front of very important people. If you’re asking this kind of question you’ve ruined a great opportunity. Questions of that nature are greedy and give the impression that you don’t care about the craft, only yourself. Ask questions that matter, like, “When you’re directing do you...” or “I’ve seen you in ______, how did the scene where you escaped the mental hospital come together for you as an actor?” These types of questions are things you can learn from and they make the person being questioned feel good that you are interested in their work.
4) Be prepared at any moment to pitch ideas in a professional way. If your film is well received you may be asked about future ideas. Have handy, non-disclosure agreements, treatments, budgets, demographic information, comparables reports, and press clippings. Make well presented packages, nice folders and business cards are a must. The Movie Producer’s Toolbox from www.movie-producers.net is great tool for putting this package together.
5) Participate in roundtable discussions. There will be many chances to sit in on discussion panels on wide range of film topics. Sit in on as many of these as you can and ask intelligent questions while sharing your own experiences.
6) A word on parties. There are lots of them. There is a lot of free liquor. Do not abuse the free liquor. Parties are a casual environment to meet up with your contemporaries. They may be the first point of contact with some important people, so be careful to make a good impression. Dress to impress, and do not get drunk.
7) Bring a camera. Take as many photos as you can, they can be used in promotional materials about you and your film in print or online. Capture it all and let the world see how great you are.
8) Film festivals are expensive. Visiting one may cost you upwards of $800 on the low end. Make sure you can afford this by saving money from the time you submit your film. Even if you are not selected you may have financed your next short, so remember to save.
9) Many of the people you will encounter are professionals so be smart when you talk to them. Even if they are not the president of Universal you still may need them as a valuable contact. If you’re serious about making a living in the entertainment business then you need to respect the fact that everyone in the industry can help you in some capacity.
10) Leave your pride at the door. Don’t ever be afraid to ask for what you want or tell people about your goals. The only time you will look foolish doing this is if you haven’t really thought about your future as a filmmaker. If you’ve done your homework and know what you want and you’ve made your own plan on how to get it people will respect you and want to help.
Just like every other starry-eyed young director in America I had ambitions of traveling to Park City, Utah in January and showing off one of my masterworks to a crowd of adoring sophisticates and landing that well-earned three picture deal. After you get into one of the well-known festivals, you might imagine everything comes together like magic. This is a pipe dream. The film industry is an industry, a job. From my own experiences at festivals around North America, and more specifically Sundance and Slamdance, I’ve compiled a list of ten things filmmakers need to know about festivals. When I was selected for Slamdance 2003 I found very little information online about what to do as a filmmaker at a festival and I wanted to provide this information to other directors who may be packing a bag and hitting the circuit. If you’re a serious filmmaker I suggest you study this list and take it for what it’s worth.
1) Nobody knows who you are. You have to be very outgoing and make friends quickly otherwise you’ll have wasted your time.
2) Your movie needs an audience and it is your sole responsibility to bring in that audience. Bring flyers, posters, post cards, a bull horn, and a giant panda suit, anything to attract attention to your film.
3) Celebrities are available to give you advice, make sure you ask good questions. I can’t stand people who ask things to the effect of, “How do make it as a director?” Truthfully, asking this will make you look like a fool in front of very important people. If you’re asking this kind of question you’ve ruined a great opportunity. Questions of that nature are greedy and give the impression that you don’t care about the craft, only yourself. Ask questions that matter, like, “When you’re directing do you...” or “I’ve seen you in ______, how did the scene where you escaped the mental hospital come together for you as an actor?” These types of questions are things you can learn from and they make the person being questioned feel good that you are interested in their work.
4) Be prepared at any moment to pitch ideas in a professional way. If your film is well received you may be asked about future ideas. Have handy, non-disclosure agreements, treatments, budgets, demographic information, comparables reports, and press clippings. Make well presented packages, nice folders and business cards are a must. The Movie Producer’s Toolbox from www.movie-producers.net is great tool for putting this package together.
5) Participate in roundtable discussions. There will be many chances to sit in on discussion panels on wide range of film topics. Sit in on as many of these as you can and ask intelligent questions while sharing your own experiences.
6) A word on parties. There are lots of them. There is a lot of free liquor. Do not abuse the free liquor. Parties are a casual environment to meet up with your contemporaries. They may be the first point of contact with some important people, so be careful to make a good impression. Dress to impress, and do not get drunk.
7) Bring a camera. Take as many photos as you can, they can be used in promotional materials about you and your film in print or online. Capture it all and let the world see how great you are.
8) Film festivals are expensive. Visiting one may cost you upwards of $800 on the low end. Make sure you can afford this by saving money from the time you submit your film. Even if you are not selected you may have financed your next short, so remember to save.
9) Many of the people you will encounter are professionals so be smart when you talk to them. Even if they are not the president of Universal you still may need them as a valuable contact. If you’re serious about making a living in the entertainment business then you need to respect the fact that everyone in the industry can help you in some capacity.
10) Leave your pride at the door. Don’t ever be afraid to ask for what you want or tell people about your goals. The only time you will look foolish doing this is if you haven’t really thought about your future as a filmmaker. If you’ve done your homework and know what you want and you’ve made your own plan on how to get it people will respect you and want to help.
Location, Location, Location: Scouting Tips
Submitted by Scott Spears
Just like in real estate, when you leave the studio (if you were ever in one) one of the biggest factors to a good shoot, is location, location, location. I’ve been location scouting many times and have seen some great locations and some not so great locations. One of the biggest things when seeing what looks like a great location is you have to think will it work logistically. The factors to locations are cost, sound issues, power, and logistics. We’ll break those down in a minute.
First, who should go on the location scout? As many crew people as possible. It’s not feasible to take the entire crew to each location (unless you have a small crew), so you need to pick department heads, the director, cinematographer, first assistant director, art director, sound mixer, and production/location manager. I like to bring my gaffer if possible. These people all look at locations in different ways and will have different and valuable input. When all of these people aren’t there, then somebody on the scout should be looking out for them. Sometimes when it’s just me and the director out scouting, we both have to wear different production hats and not just consider picture needs.
Cost
This is the easy one, either you can afford the location or you can’t. A good producer might be able to wheel and deal a better price. Sometimes you have to use some imagination with a place that doesn’t quite work, but is affordable. This is where the director has to envision the shots he will need. There’s a famous story from Akira Kurosawa when he was asked how he achieved a “perfect” frame for a period film he directed and he said, if I had panned to the right there was a modern factory and if I panned to the left, there were power lines, so the frame was set. I’ve been on scouts where people have said the location wouldn’t work because of some factor, but after talking with the director, we realized that element would never be on camera.
Sound Issues
Here’s a line I like to use on sound mixers (please sound folks, don’t take a offense, I’m joking), “they’re called motion pictures, not motion sounds.” It usually gets them riled up, but seriously, you have to not just look at a location, you have to listen to it. Is it on a street with heavy traffic? Is there construction nearby or the potential for it? Is it in the path of an airport? Do a bunch of college party kids live next door who will throw the world’s biggest party ever in the middle of your intimate drama? If it’s a multi-story building, who lives upstairs? Somebody who stomps around in combat boots? There are hundreds of noise factors that can slow or grind your production to a halt, so be on the lookout.
If you start to like a location and think it will be high on your list, take a moment and stand silently. Listen for hums and buzzes. Find out if they can be eliminated. You should visit it again at a different time of day to make sure there isn’t some factor that changes. Say you visit an apartment that looks perfect in the morning, but it sits above a bar that at night cranks up the music, well that would be a sound killer. Some smaller airports cut back on night flights, but during the day your location will have a flight overhead every two minutes. In general, try to think when you’ll be shooting and seek out any sound factor which would slow or halt shooting. Sometimes these things can come out of nowhere and cannot be predicted, but you should do your homework.
As a side note, refrigerators are the bane of sound mixer’s life, humming back to life in the middle of takes thus ruining the sound. The solution is to turn them off during the shoot, but often times they don’t get turned back on after the shoot and the production gets a bill to replace the spoiled contents. Here’s a clever way to avoid that. The person that is assigned be the last person to leave the location, be that the assistant director, the location manager, or a production assistant, should put their car keys in the fridge, that way when they go to their car and pat their pockets for the keys they will remember they put them the fridge for a reason and will remember to turn it back on. This was taught to me by a wise assistant director. I love tricks like this.
Power
A nightmare for gaffers is lack of power. If you need a shaft of sunlight pouring through a window that is created by lighting, not the sun, and the production can’t afford a generator, then you need lots of power. Older buildings should be given special inspections. I’ve shot in apartments that had only two twenty amp circuits which means if you plug in more than four lights, you’re going to start blowing breakers. We ended up borrowing power from an apartment two stories above and just dropped cables out the window to feed our lights. Not ideal, but it worked. Does the place have plenty of outlets? Where are the circuit breakers? You should know where they are so if you blow a breaker you can get at it to reset it. I’ve had hour-long production delays because a fuse box was locked in a closet and nobody could find a janitor to open it. Get to know whoever’s in charge of the keys to all the doors in a building and make them your best friend.
Another side note, here’s the Scott Spears lazy man math formula for calculating power needs for lights. Say you want to use three 1000 watts lights (1Ks for short) and a 500 watt light. You take the watts and add them up which makes 3500 watts, then you divide that by 100 (I know it should be 110, but that’s why I call it a lazy man formula) and that will give you the amps you’ll need, which in this case will be 35 amps. Most houses have 20 amp breakers, so you’ll need at least two dedicated breakers for your lights. Total watts divided by 100 is the number of amp you will need.
Logistics
Locations bring their own set of logistics, just like people. There are a lot of things you don’t think about as you walk around a cool location lining up shots and thinking how you’ll use the space, but there’s a lot more to a location than that.
Where the heck are the cast, crew, and equipment vehicles going to park? A film production takes up a lot of space so there better be parking. How do you get all the gear to the location? Are there elevators or is the crew going have to drag a ton of equipment up four flights of stairs? Exterior locations have these same concerns. I’ve had to hike about a mile uphill for a shoot with gear on my back and in each hand which isn’t fun, but you have to do what you have to do. Do that six times to start and end your day and you’ll think twice about that location.
Don’t forget about changing rooms for cast and a make-up area as well. Here’s a biggie, are there enough bathrooms? Nothing can get you booted from a location faster than having thirty people trying to use one bathroom and to have the toilet overflow.
Now that you and your stuff are on set, where do you put people and extra gear when they’re not working? All the grips and cast not on camera need someplace to hang out while shooting is underway.
Do you have a place for the cast and crew to eat? Is there a large space so everybody sit together and eat? That’s a great way to build camaraderie (as long as the food is good, but that’s a whole other topic). If you don’t feed people on site, are there restaurants nearby. Be careful letting cast and crew loose on the world because they’ll all come staggering in a few minutes late with the excuse that the waiters were slow or there was some other problem.
Some locations have special requirements, like no shoes, cover the floors, or be out at a certain time. Make sure everybody respects these rules or you may be looking for a new place. If a location throws on too many restrictions off the bat, you may want to look elsewhere because once you’re there, life may get even worse with more rules and complaints about even minor infractions.
Final Thoughts
I’ll close by saying my rule is to try to and leave a location better than you found it. Don’t leave a mess because eventually that reputation will catch up to you and you’ll start getting locked out of places.
Just like in real estate, when you leave the studio (if you were ever in one) one of the biggest factors to a good shoot, is location, location, location. I’ve been location scouting many times and have seen some great locations and some not so great locations. One of the biggest things when seeing what looks like a great location is you have to think will it work logistically. The factors to locations are cost, sound issues, power, and logistics. We’ll break those down in a minute.
First, who should go on the location scout? As many crew people as possible. It’s not feasible to take the entire crew to each location (unless you have a small crew), so you need to pick department heads, the director, cinematographer, first assistant director, art director, sound mixer, and production/location manager. I like to bring my gaffer if possible. These people all look at locations in different ways and will have different and valuable input. When all of these people aren’t there, then somebody on the scout should be looking out for them. Sometimes when it’s just me and the director out scouting, we both have to wear different production hats and not just consider picture needs.
Cost
This is the easy one, either you can afford the location or you can’t. A good producer might be able to wheel and deal a better price. Sometimes you have to use some imagination with a place that doesn’t quite work, but is affordable. This is where the director has to envision the shots he will need. There’s a famous story from Akira Kurosawa when he was asked how he achieved a “perfect” frame for a period film he directed and he said, if I had panned to the right there was a modern factory and if I panned to the left, there were power lines, so the frame was set. I’ve been on scouts where people have said the location wouldn’t work because of some factor, but after talking with the director, we realized that element would never be on camera.
Sound Issues
Here’s a line I like to use on sound mixers (please sound folks, don’t take a offense, I’m joking), “they’re called motion pictures, not motion sounds.” It usually gets them riled up, but seriously, you have to not just look at a location, you have to listen to it. Is it on a street with heavy traffic? Is there construction nearby or the potential for it? Is it in the path of an airport? Do a bunch of college party kids live next door who will throw the world’s biggest party ever in the middle of your intimate drama? If it’s a multi-story building, who lives upstairs? Somebody who stomps around in combat boots? There are hundreds of noise factors that can slow or grind your production to a halt, so be on the lookout.
If you start to like a location and think it will be high on your list, take a moment and stand silently. Listen for hums and buzzes. Find out if they can be eliminated. You should visit it again at a different time of day to make sure there isn’t some factor that changes. Say you visit an apartment that looks perfect in the morning, but it sits above a bar that at night cranks up the music, well that would be a sound killer. Some smaller airports cut back on night flights, but during the day your location will have a flight overhead every two minutes. In general, try to think when you’ll be shooting and seek out any sound factor which would slow or halt shooting. Sometimes these things can come out of nowhere and cannot be predicted, but you should do your homework.
As a side note, refrigerators are the bane of sound mixer’s life, humming back to life in the middle of takes thus ruining the sound. The solution is to turn them off during the shoot, but often times they don’t get turned back on after the shoot and the production gets a bill to replace the spoiled contents. Here’s a clever way to avoid that. The person that is assigned be the last person to leave the location, be that the assistant director, the location manager, or a production assistant, should put their car keys in the fridge, that way when they go to their car and pat their pockets for the keys they will remember they put them the fridge for a reason and will remember to turn it back on. This was taught to me by a wise assistant director. I love tricks like this.
Power
A nightmare for gaffers is lack of power. If you need a shaft of sunlight pouring through a window that is created by lighting, not the sun, and the production can’t afford a generator, then you need lots of power. Older buildings should be given special inspections. I’ve shot in apartments that had only two twenty amp circuits which means if you plug in more than four lights, you’re going to start blowing breakers. We ended up borrowing power from an apartment two stories above and just dropped cables out the window to feed our lights. Not ideal, but it worked. Does the place have plenty of outlets? Where are the circuit breakers? You should know where they are so if you blow a breaker you can get at it to reset it. I’ve had hour-long production delays because a fuse box was locked in a closet and nobody could find a janitor to open it. Get to know whoever’s in charge of the keys to all the doors in a building and make them your best friend.
Another side note, here’s the Scott Spears lazy man math formula for calculating power needs for lights. Say you want to use three 1000 watts lights (1Ks for short) and a 500 watt light. You take the watts and add them up which makes 3500 watts, then you divide that by 100 (I know it should be 110, but that’s why I call it a lazy man formula) and that will give you the amps you’ll need, which in this case will be 35 amps. Most houses have 20 amp breakers, so you’ll need at least two dedicated breakers for your lights. Total watts divided by 100 is the number of amp you will need.
Logistics
Locations bring their own set of logistics, just like people. There are a lot of things you don’t think about as you walk around a cool location lining up shots and thinking how you’ll use the space, but there’s a lot more to a location than that.
Where the heck are the cast, crew, and equipment vehicles going to park? A film production takes up a lot of space so there better be parking. How do you get all the gear to the location? Are there elevators or is the crew going have to drag a ton of equipment up four flights of stairs? Exterior locations have these same concerns. I’ve had to hike about a mile uphill for a shoot with gear on my back and in each hand which isn’t fun, but you have to do what you have to do. Do that six times to start and end your day and you’ll think twice about that location.
Don’t forget about changing rooms for cast and a make-up area as well. Here’s a biggie, are there enough bathrooms? Nothing can get you booted from a location faster than having thirty people trying to use one bathroom and to have the toilet overflow.
Now that you and your stuff are on set, where do you put people and extra gear when they’re not working? All the grips and cast not on camera need someplace to hang out while shooting is underway.
Do you have a place for the cast and crew to eat? Is there a large space so everybody sit together and eat? That’s a great way to build camaraderie (as long as the food is good, but that’s a whole other topic). If you don’t feed people on site, are there restaurants nearby. Be careful letting cast and crew loose on the world because they’ll all come staggering in a few minutes late with the excuse that the waiters were slow or there was some other problem.
Some locations have special requirements, like no shoes, cover the floors, or be out at a certain time. Make sure everybody respects these rules or you may be looking for a new place. If a location throws on too many restrictions off the bat, you may want to look elsewhere because once you’re there, life may get even worse with more rules and complaints about even minor infractions.
Final Thoughts
I’ll close by saying my rule is to try to and leave a location better than you found it. Don’t leave a mess because eventually that reputation will catch up to you and you’ll start getting locked out of places.
Tuesday, August 26, 2003
Advice to First Time Writer/Directors
Submitted by Scott Spears
Nothing is more horrifying to a first timer than realizing very early in your shoot that you're going way over schedule, over budget, and your crew is about to mutiny because of long shooting days. At this point, after shooting all day, you are forced to start cutting pages while trying to keep your film's story coherent and alive.
This little tidbit of advice is aimed at the beginning first time writer/director that is embarking on their first feature or even a long short. I hope this article can help you along in the scriptwriting and pre-production phase.
First, a little about my background; I have over seventeen years in film and video production, shooting over fourteen feature films, producing a couple of films and writing eight feature scripts, two of which have been produced. I have shot video features with tiny budgets and 35mm features.
Having worked with many first time writer/directors I've seen many great scripts and great plans and I've seen many of the pitfalls. I've seen writers who refused to cut scenes that were great little character asides, but bogged down the pacing and added very little to the plot. Many of the scenes were cut during editing because the film was running too long.
I've created an analogy for helping writer/directors gearing up for production. Think of your script as a wagon in the pioneer days preparing to make the trek across country. You have to carefully select what goes in your wagon before you start the long journey, just like with your script you have to select the scenes that are most important to your movie. Don't go loading that big old grandfather clock on the wagon and don't go adding a scene where a character goes to a bar and gets drunk with his friends that adds little or nothing to the story. You want to load on your meat and potatoes and the tools you'll need to set up your homestead. In your script, think of these as character development, sub-plots, motifs, plot points, and your major conflict. If your story is overloaded with extras (grandfather clocks and boxes of lace tablecloths), sometime during production, you're going to have to start throwing these items out and think of ways to patch your script back together. Doing this at the production phase is hard and can create plot headaches when you are cutting your script after a fourteen hour shooting day. Doing it at the editing stage is painful because you see all the expense and time that went into making those scenes land on the cutting room floor.
Here are a couple of stories from my rich life. A writer/director buddy of mine asked me to read his script. It was a long script and I recommended cuts. He made some of the cuts I recommended and some cuts recommended by others. It still came back a little long. He decided to stay with the length. As a side note, I did notice that his formatting was off and when he later formatted to the script into a shooting script is it ballooned to over 135 pages. On a low budget, that's huge. He ended up making cuts during production which he said were very painful because he was juggling shooting, prepping for the next day, and he was producing. Some were good and some muddied the plot. He regretted not making those cuts at the script stage.
On another film, the writer/director came in with huge sprawling script that he did cut after input. Again, he failed to format it into a shooting script and the thing exploded to 130 plus pages. So remember to get your formatting right. As a side note another friend just finished a first cut of his ninety pager and it ran only seventy-two minutes. So be aware of pacing and run time. I like to do a full cast read through with no stops so I can get timing. You can tape it to get pacing ideas.
So back to the sprawling epic, after the script grew to over 130 pages, he dug in his feet against any cuts saying that he didn't want to cut his poetry. We ended up shooting the script as written, but the days were long and nerves were frayed, but the director did adjust after some crewmembers did quit because of overwork.
Well, the first cut ran over 200 minutes. Over three hours. After much editing, they ended up with a ninety-one minute cut, so they effectively cut over half the work the crew did. It hurt because I think of all the wasted time we could have devoted to make those scenes that ended up in the final cut so much better.
What does all this mean? You have to focus on what is most important to your story. Only put in the wagon what you need, or in film speak only have in your script scenes that build your plot and streamline the story. Make those cuts before you start pre-production so you can focus your efforts on the scenes that matter, not the fluff which lands on the cutting room floor or, in today's editing room, being deleted off the hard drive.
My advice is to get as many people as possible to read your script and get a thick skin about criticism. Try to get people who have been through the process and understand filmmaking. Don't line up your close friends and family who love everything you do and aren't knowledgeable about filmmaking.
My final piece of wisdom is to raise a couple extra dollars and get yourself a producer. I know budgets are tight, but I highly recommend that you find yourself a friend, buddy, pal, right hand man or woman to help you because as writer/director you are already wearing some big hats. My friends who have tried it have said they wouldn't do it again. You'll spend too much of your time worrying about lunch, watching the clock, finding props, keeping the crew happy, setting up for the next day's shoot, and doing a multitude of other things that you'll hardly have the energy to direct and/or re-write if needed. Get somebody who's been there before, loves your project, and filmmaking in general. Some may work for free, but I always recommend that you try to pay them something. That makes them fiscally responsible to you. It doesn't have to be a fortune, but it will cover their time, any phone calls they make, and gas for the car.
In closing, during the writing process and even in the beginning stages of pre-production you must focus on what is essential to your story. You must be merciless and cut the scenes that don't help build or support your story goals. This makes you define the spine of the story, it saves you money because you don't shoot scenes you don't need, and it gives you more time to focus on the scenes that matter. Your crew will love you because they will not feel like they are wasting their time. You must FOCUS, FOCUS, FOCUS on story and do what's best for your screenplay.
Nothing is more horrifying to a first timer than realizing very early in your shoot that you're going way over schedule, over budget, and your crew is about to mutiny because of long shooting days. At this point, after shooting all day, you are forced to start cutting pages while trying to keep your film's story coherent and alive.
This little tidbit of advice is aimed at the beginning first time writer/director that is embarking on their first feature or even a long short. I hope this article can help you along in the scriptwriting and pre-production phase.
First, a little about my background; I have over seventeen years in film and video production, shooting over fourteen feature films, producing a couple of films and writing eight feature scripts, two of which have been produced. I have shot video features with tiny budgets and 35mm features.
Having worked with many first time writer/directors I've seen many great scripts and great plans and I've seen many of the pitfalls. I've seen writers who refused to cut scenes that were great little character asides, but bogged down the pacing and added very little to the plot. Many of the scenes were cut during editing because the film was running too long.
I've created an analogy for helping writer/directors gearing up for production. Think of your script as a wagon in the pioneer days preparing to make the trek across country. You have to carefully select what goes in your wagon before you start the long journey, just like with your script you have to select the scenes that are most important to your movie. Don't go loading that big old grandfather clock on the wagon and don't go adding a scene where a character goes to a bar and gets drunk with his friends that adds little or nothing to the story. You want to load on your meat and potatoes and the tools you'll need to set up your homestead. In your script, think of these as character development, sub-plots, motifs, plot points, and your major conflict. If your story is overloaded with extras (grandfather clocks and boxes of lace tablecloths), sometime during production, you're going to have to start throwing these items out and think of ways to patch your script back together. Doing this at the production phase is hard and can create plot headaches when you are cutting your script after a fourteen hour shooting day. Doing it at the editing stage is painful because you see all the expense and time that went into making those scenes land on the cutting room floor.
Here are a couple of stories from my rich life. A writer/director buddy of mine asked me to read his script. It was a long script and I recommended cuts. He made some of the cuts I recommended and some cuts recommended by others. It still came back a little long. He decided to stay with the length. As a side note, I did notice that his formatting was off and when he later formatted to the script into a shooting script is it ballooned to over 135 pages. On a low budget, that's huge. He ended up making cuts during production which he said were very painful because he was juggling shooting, prepping for the next day, and he was producing. Some were good and some muddied the plot. He regretted not making those cuts at the script stage.
On another film, the writer/director came in with huge sprawling script that he did cut after input. Again, he failed to format it into a shooting script and the thing exploded to 130 plus pages. So remember to get your formatting right. As a side note another friend just finished a first cut of his ninety pager and it ran only seventy-two minutes. So be aware of pacing and run time. I like to do a full cast read through with no stops so I can get timing. You can tape it to get pacing ideas.
So back to the sprawling epic, after the script grew to over 130 pages, he dug in his feet against any cuts saying that he didn't want to cut his poetry. We ended up shooting the script as written, but the days were long and nerves were frayed, but the director did adjust after some crewmembers did quit because of overwork.
Well, the first cut ran over 200 minutes. Over three hours. After much editing, they ended up with a ninety-one minute cut, so they effectively cut over half the work the crew did. It hurt because I think of all the wasted time we could have devoted to make those scenes that ended up in the final cut so much better.
What does all this mean? You have to focus on what is most important to your story. Only put in the wagon what you need, or in film speak only have in your script scenes that build your plot and streamline the story. Make those cuts before you start pre-production so you can focus your efforts on the scenes that matter, not the fluff which lands on the cutting room floor or, in today's editing room, being deleted off the hard drive.
My advice is to get as many people as possible to read your script and get a thick skin about criticism. Try to get people who have been through the process and understand filmmaking. Don't line up your close friends and family who love everything you do and aren't knowledgeable about filmmaking.
My final piece of wisdom is to raise a couple extra dollars and get yourself a producer. I know budgets are tight, but I highly recommend that you find yourself a friend, buddy, pal, right hand man or woman to help you because as writer/director you are already wearing some big hats. My friends who have tried it have said they wouldn't do it again. You'll spend too much of your time worrying about lunch, watching the clock, finding props, keeping the crew happy, setting up for the next day's shoot, and doing a multitude of other things that you'll hardly have the energy to direct and/or re-write if needed. Get somebody who's been there before, loves your project, and filmmaking in general. Some may work for free, but I always recommend that you try to pay them something. That makes them fiscally responsible to you. It doesn't have to be a fortune, but it will cover their time, any phone calls they make, and gas for the car.
In closing, during the writing process and even in the beginning stages of pre-production you must focus on what is essential to your story. You must be merciless and cut the scenes that don't help build or support your story goals. This makes you define the spine of the story, it saves you money because you don't shoot scenes you don't need, and it gives you more time to focus on the scenes that matter. Your crew will love you because they will not feel like they are wasting their time. You must FOCUS, FOCUS, FOCUS on story and do what's best for your screenplay.
Advice to First Time Writer/Directors
Submitted by Scott Spears
Nothing is more horrifying to a first timer than realizing very early in your shoot that you're going way over schedule, over budget, and your crew is about to mutiny because of long shooting days. At this point, after shooting all day, you are forced to start cutting pages while trying to keep your film's story coherent and alive.
This little tidbit of advice is aimed at the beginning first time writer/director that is embarking on their first feature or even a long short. I hope this article can help you along in the scriptwriting and pre-production phase.
First, a little about my background; I have over seventeen years in film and video production, shooting over fourteen feature films, producing a couple of films and writing eight feature scripts, two of which have been produced. I have shot video features with tiny budgets and 35mm features.
Having worked with many first time writer/directors I've seen many great scripts and great plans and I've seen many of the pitfalls. I've seen writers who refused to cut scenes that were great little character asides, but bogged down the pacing and added very little to the plot. Many of the scenes were cut during editing because the film was running too long.
I've created an analogy for helping writer/directors gearing up for production. Think of your script as a wagon in the pioneer days preparing to make the trek across country. You have to carefully select what goes in your wagon before you start the long journey, just like with your script you have to select the scenes that are most important to your movie. Don't go loading that big old grandfather clock on the wagon and don't go adding a scene where a character goes to a bar and gets drunk with his friends that adds little or nothing to the story. You want to load on your meat and potatoes and the tools you'll need to set up your homestead. In your script, think of these as character development, sub-plots, motifs, plot points, and your major conflict. If your story is overloaded with extras (grandfather clocks and boxes of lace tablecloths), sometime during production, you're going to have to start throwing these items out and think of ways to patch your script back together. Doing this at the production phase is hard and can create plot headaches when you are cutting your script after a fourteen hour shooting day. Doing it at the editing stage is painful because you see all the expense and time that went into making those scenes land on the cutting room floor.
Here are a couple of stories from my rich life. A writer/director buddy of mine asked me to read his script. It was a long script and I recommended cuts. He made some of the cuts I recommended and some cuts recommended by others. It still came back a little long. He decided to stay with the length. As a side note, I did notice that his formatting was off and when he later formatted to the script into a shooting script is it ballooned to over 135 pages. On a low budget, that's huge. He ended up making cuts during production which he said were very painful because he was juggling shooting, prepping for the next day, and he was producing. Some were good and some muddied the plot. He regretted not making those cuts at the script stage.
On another film, the writer/director came in with huge sprawling script that he did cut after input. Again, he failed to format it into a shooting script and the thing exploded to 130 plus pages. So remember to get your formatting right. As a side note another friend just finished a first cut of his ninety pager and it ran only seventy-two minutes. So be aware of pacing and run time. I like to do a full cast read through with no stops so I can get timing. You can tape it to get pacing ideas.
So back to the sprawling epic, after the script grew to over 130 pages, he dug in his feet against any cuts saying that he didn't want to cut his poetry. We ended up shooting the script as written, but the days were long and nerves were frayed, but the director did adjust after some crewmembers did quit because of overwork.
Well, the first cut ran over 200 minutes. Over three hours. After much editing, they ended up with a ninety-one minute cut, so they effectively cut over half the work the crew did. It hurt because I think of all the wasted time we could have devoted to make those scenes that ended up in the final cut so much better.
What does all this mean? You have to focus on what is most important to your story. Only put in the wagon what you need, or in film speak only have in your script scenes that build your plot and streamline the story. Make those cuts before you start pre-production so you can focus your efforts on the scenes that matter, not the fluff which lands on the cutting room floor or, in today's editing room, being deleted off the hard drive.
My advice is to get as many people as possible to read your script and get a thick skin about criticism. Try to get people who have been through the process and understand filmmaking. Don't line up your close friends and family who love everything you do and aren't knowledgeable about filmmaking.
My final piece of wisdom is to raise a couple extra dollars and get yourself a producer. I know budgets are tight, but I highly recommend that you find yourself a friend, buddy, pal, right hand man or woman to help you because as writer/director you are already wearing some big hats. My friends who have tried it have said they wouldn't do it again. You'll spend too much of your time worrying about lunch, watching the clock, finding props, keeping the crew happy, setting up for the next day's shoot, and doing a multitude of other things that you'll hardly have the energy to direct and/or re-write if needed. Get somebody who's been there before, loves your project, and filmmaking in general. Some may work for free, but I always recommend that you try to pay them something. That makes them fiscally responsible to you. It doesn't have to be a fortune, but it will cover their time, any phone calls they make, and gas for the car.
In closing, during the writing process and even in the beginning stages of pre-production you must focus on what is essential to your story. You must be merciless and cut the scenes that don't help build or support your story goals. This makes you define the spine of the story, it saves you money because you don't shoot scenes you don't need, and it gives you more time to focus on the scenes that matter. Your crew will love you because they will not feel like they are wasting their time. You must FOCUS, FOCUS, FOCUS on story and do what's best for your screenplay.
Nothing is more horrifying to a first timer than realizing very early in your shoot that you're going way over schedule, over budget, and your crew is about to mutiny because of long shooting days. At this point, after shooting all day, you are forced to start cutting pages while trying to keep your film's story coherent and alive.
This little tidbit of advice is aimed at the beginning first time writer/director that is embarking on their first feature or even a long short. I hope this article can help you along in the scriptwriting and pre-production phase.
First, a little about my background; I have over seventeen years in film and video production, shooting over fourteen feature films, producing a couple of films and writing eight feature scripts, two of which have been produced. I have shot video features with tiny budgets and 35mm features.
Having worked with many first time writer/directors I've seen many great scripts and great plans and I've seen many of the pitfalls. I've seen writers who refused to cut scenes that were great little character asides, but bogged down the pacing and added very little to the plot. Many of the scenes were cut during editing because the film was running too long.
I've created an analogy for helping writer/directors gearing up for production. Think of your script as a wagon in the pioneer days preparing to make the trek across country. You have to carefully select what goes in your wagon before you start the long journey, just like with your script you have to select the scenes that are most important to your movie. Don't go loading that big old grandfather clock on the wagon and don't go adding a scene where a character goes to a bar and gets drunk with his friends that adds little or nothing to the story. You want to load on your meat and potatoes and the tools you'll need to set up your homestead. In your script, think of these as character development, sub-plots, motifs, plot points, and your major conflict. If your story is overloaded with extras (grandfather clocks and boxes of lace tablecloths), sometime during production, you're going to have to start throwing these items out and think of ways to patch your script back together. Doing this at the production phase is hard and can create plot headaches when you are cutting your script after a fourteen hour shooting day. Doing it at the editing stage is painful because you see all the expense and time that went into making those scenes land on the cutting room floor.
Here are a couple of stories from my rich life. A writer/director buddy of mine asked me to read his script. It was a long script and I recommended cuts. He made some of the cuts I recommended and some cuts recommended by others. It still came back a little long. He decided to stay with the length. As a side note, I did notice that his formatting was off and when he later formatted to the script into a shooting script is it ballooned to over 135 pages. On a low budget, that's huge. He ended up making cuts during production which he said were very painful because he was juggling shooting, prepping for the next day, and he was producing. Some were good and some muddied the plot. He regretted not making those cuts at the script stage.
On another film, the writer/director came in with huge sprawling script that he did cut after input. Again, he failed to format it into a shooting script and the thing exploded to 130 plus pages. So remember to get your formatting right. As a side note another friend just finished a first cut of his ninety pager and it ran only seventy-two minutes. So be aware of pacing and run time. I like to do a full cast read through with no stops so I can get timing. You can tape it to get pacing ideas.
So back to the sprawling epic, after the script grew to over 130 pages, he dug in his feet against any cuts saying that he didn't want to cut his poetry. We ended up shooting the script as written, but the days were long and nerves were frayed, but the director did adjust after some crewmembers did quit because of overwork.
Well, the first cut ran over 200 minutes. Over three hours. After much editing, they ended up with a ninety-one minute cut, so they effectively cut over half the work the crew did. It hurt because I think of all the wasted time we could have devoted to make those scenes that ended up in the final cut so much better.
What does all this mean? You have to focus on what is most important to your story. Only put in the wagon what you need, or in film speak only have in your script scenes that build your plot and streamline the story. Make those cuts before you start pre-production so you can focus your efforts on the scenes that matter, not the fluff which lands on the cutting room floor or, in today's editing room, being deleted off the hard drive.
My advice is to get as many people as possible to read your script and get a thick skin about criticism. Try to get people who have been through the process and understand filmmaking. Don't line up your close friends and family who love everything you do and aren't knowledgeable about filmmaking.
My final piece of wisdom is to raise a couple extra dollars and get yourself a producer. I know budgets are tight, but I highly recommend that you find yourself a friend, buddy, pal, right hand man or woman to help you because as writer/director you are already wearing some big hats. My friends who have tried it have said they wouldn't do it again. You'll spend too much of your time worrying about lunch, watching the clock, finding props, keeping the crew happy, setting up for the next day's shoot, and doing a multitude of other things that you'll hardly have the energy to direct and/or re-write if needed. Get somebody who's been there before, loves your project, and filmmaking in general. Some may work for free, but I always recommend that you try to pay them something. That makes them fiscally responsible to you. It doesn't have to be a fortune, but it will cover their time, any phone calls they make, and gas for the car.
In closing, during the writing process and even in the beginning stages of pre-production you must focus on what is essential to your story. You must be merciless and cut the scenes that don't help build or support your story goals. This makes you define the spine of the story, it saves you money because you don't shoot scenes you don't need, and it gives you more time to focus on the scenes that matter. Your crew will love you because they will not feel like they are wasting their time. You must FOCUS, FOCUS, FOCUS on story and do what's best for your screenplay.
Tuesday, August 19, 2003
Contracts and Low Budget Moviemaking
Submitted by by Peter John Ross
Have you ever heard of success stories like Kevin Smith making Clerks, Edward Burns directing The Brothers McMullen, or Spike Lee shooting She's Gotta Have It? Well, what if they forgot to cross every “T” or dot every “I?” We might not have ever heard of them. It would have been very easy for an actor or the owner of a convenience store to screw them over if the filmmakers had not gotten signed contracts. If you do not have a signed release form for the actor, or a signed location agreement with the property owner, they might become the owner of your film, or at least ruin any chance you have of publicly playing your movie. By getting certain blanket legalities in order, you can maintain control and ownership of your movie. A lot of independent filmmakers forget the business half of the movie business. Contracts are a very serious aspect of making movies. All too often it's enticing to go out and shoot your movie with a camcorder and then put it out there.
Even putting your movie on your own personal website is considered a public performance and if you don't have written permission to use the likeness or performance of your actors they can change their minds and legally there is no recourse. Interestingly enough there were some producers in Texas who worked with an up and coming local actress, actually had contracts, and even used the SAG Experimental contract which everyone thinks is a safety net. There's one problem with that. There’s a big loophole for people that are actually SAG members. If you use the SAG Experimental contract and then land a video distribution deal, any SAG actors have the right to veto the sale. This particular young actress made it big in movies like Jerry Maguire, and then these really bad movies made several years earlier became valuable, and the producers lost the sale because she exercised this little loophole. Even if you do a non-union digital video short with your friends, GET THEM TO SIGN RELEASE FORMS. This allows you to send it and screen it at film festivals, and if you should be so lucky to get the movie broadcast on television or distributed in any way, you are protected. You never know if this actor might become famous ten years from now, and if you don’t have a signed release form, you can’t sell your movie with them in it.
Locations work differently. Each state, and even each city, will have different laws and complications. Private property needs signed location agreements pretty much without fail. I know in Ohio you do not need any permits to shoot on public property, but then certain cities and towns have made their own laws concerning that, so it's not one-hundred percent statewide. In California you almost ALWAYS need a permit to shoot anywhere. Building exteriors work a bit differently. Usually a building that is large, public, and unable to be obscured is fair game, but if there is a trademarked logo of a company visible, you enter into a different arena of legalities. Trademarks are similar to copyright laws, but these protect the image of the company much more so, and lean heavily toward the corporations.
Again, if you shoot at your friend's parent’s house, but you don't get written permission, and later they felt the use of their house in the finished movie portrays their neighborhood poorly, they can stop your movie from being released. However, they can't say much if you can present a signed location agreement where they gave you legal permission to use their house in your movie.
On the flip side of things, when working with friends, read the contracts carefully among yourselves. I have personally been screwed over by people that, at the time, I would never have believed would make things difficult. Now I have lost all the rights to two of my movies that I wrote, directed, produced, and edited. Whenever I put them on a short film site, shortly thereafter, a cease and desist order comes to the site from my former partners. No real reason, they just want to be annoying. Similarly, I know a filmmaker who had an idea for a movie and went to his friend and asked for help to turn his idea into a movie. Now he is legally entangled over who owns the character from the movie. In this case, the filmmaker did not get contracts signed beforehand, and never knew that his friend was going to screw him over until he presented the contracts after the movies were screened at film festivals and had some early buzz. Now he can't have any screenings without getting letters to his attorney about “alleged monies lost” for their client. We aren't Kevin McClory fighting over rights to Thunderball and James Bond, we're a bunch of morons who made some digital video shorts with a camcorder in four hours.
If your movie gets selected to play on television in Canada on the “Moviola Channel for Shorts,” or the Sky Network's “Short Film Channel” in the United Kingdom, or the “Sundance Channel” or “IFC” in the United States, they will be unable to play your movie without signed contracts. There's this thing big budget movies have listed called “Errors and Omissions” that deal with this kind of thing. Since most filmmakers are on the low end of the financial scale, simple contracts for locations and actors can be found for free online. Use them. Always.
Protect yourself and get it all in writing, that way if your movie is a success, you can grab on and enjoy the ride. Otherwise you may become one of the “almost got famous, but I forgot to get the contracts signed.”
Have you ever heard of success stories like Kevin Smith making Clerks, Edward Burns directing The Brothers McMullen, or Spike Lee shooting She's Gotta Have It? Well, what if they forgot to cross every “T” or dot every “I?” We might not have ever heard of them. It would have been very easy for an actor or the owner of a convenience store to screw them over if the filmmakers had not gotten signed contracts. If you do not have a signed release form for the actor, or a signed location agreement with the property owner, they might become the owner of your film, or at least ruin any chance you have of publicly playing your movie. By getting certain blanket legalities in order, you can maintain control and ownership of your movie. A lot of independent filmmakers forget the business half of the movie business. Contracts are a very serious aspect of making movies. All too often it's enticing to go out and shoot your movie with a camcorder and then put it out there.
Even putting your movie on your own personal website is considered a public performance and if you don't have written permission to use the likeness or performance of your actors they can change their minds and legally there is no recourse. Interestingly enough there were some producers in Texas who worked with an up and coming local actress, actually had contracts, and even used the SAG Experimental contract which everyone thinks is a safety net. There's one problem with that. There’s a big loophole for people that are actually SAG members. If you use the SAG Experimental contract and then land a video distribution deal, any SAG actors have the right to veto the sale. This particular young actress made it big in movies like Jerry Maguire, and then these really bad movies made several years earlier became valuable, and the producers lost the sale because she exercised this little loophole. Even if you do a non-union digital video short with your friends, GET THEM TO SIGN RELEASE FORMS. This allows you to send it and screen it at film festivals, and if you should be so lucky to get the movie broadcast on television or distributed in any way, you are protected. You never know if this actor might become famous ten years from now, and if you don’t have a signed release form, you can’t sell your movie with them in it.
Locations work differently. Each state, and even each city, will have different laws and complications. Private property needs signed location agreements pretty much without fail. I know in Ohio you do not need any permits to shoot on public property, but then certain cities and towns have made their own laws concerning that, so it's not one-hundred percent statewide. In California you almost ALWAYS need a permit to shoot anywhere. Building exteriors work a bit differently. Usually a building that is large, public, and unable to be obscured is fair game, but if there is a trademarked logo of a company visible, you enter into a different arena of legalities. Trademarks are similar to copyright laws, but these protect the image of the company much more so, and lean heavily toward the corporations.
Again, if you shoot at your friend's parent’s house, but you don't get written permission, and later they felt the use of their house in the finished movie portrays their neighborhood poorly, they can stop your movie from being released. However, they can't say much if you can present a signed location agreement where they gave you legal permission to use their house in your movie.
On the flip side of things, when working with friends, read the contracts carefully among yourselves. I have personally been screwed over by people that, at the time, I would never have believed would make things difficult. Now I have lost all the rights to two of my movies that I wrote, directed, produced, and edited. Whenever I put them on a short film site, shortly thereafter, a cease and desist order comes to the site from my former partners. No real reason, they just want to be annoying. Similarly, I know a filmmaker who had an idea for a movie and went to his friend and asked for help to turn his idea into a movie. Now he is legally entangled over who owns the character from the movie. In this case, the filmmaker did not get contracts signed beforehand, and never knew that his friend was going to screw him over until he presented the contracts after the movies were screened at film festivals and had some early buzz. Now he can't have any screenings without getting letters to his attorney about “alleged monies lost” for their client. We aren't Kevin McClory fighting over rights to Thunderball and James Bond, we're a bunch of morons who made some digital video shorts with a camcorder in four hours.
If your movie gets selected to play on television in Canada on the “Moviola Channel for Shorts,” or the Sky Network's “Short Film Channel” in the United Kingdom, or the “Sundance Channel” or “IFC” in the United States, they will be unable to play your movie without signed contracts. There's this thing big budget movies have listed called “Errors and Omissions” that deal with this kind of thing. Since most filmmakers are on the low end of the financial scale, simple contracts for locations and actors can be found for free online. Use them. Always.
Protect yourself and get it all in writing, that way if your movie is a success, you can grab on and enjoy the ride. Otherwise you may become one of the “almost got famous, but I forgot to get the contracts signed.”
Tuesday, August 12, 2003
The Truth About Robert Rodriguez
Submitted by Peter John Ross
It's been ten years since El Mariachi burst onto the scene and it's still as prevalent in the filmmaking community as ever. How many independent filmmakers have been affected by reading Rebel Without a Crew or by watching the DVD extra Ten Minute Film School? Hundreds? Thousands? I know I was. I remember renting the laserdisc back in 1994 and seeing the movie made for $7,000 and even listening to the rare pre-DVD commentary track, which Robert himself dubbed “how to make a feature film for under $10,000.” I can say that without a doubt, I felt empowered by the commentary and everything I read about Rodriguez and how he became a major Hollywood player with a movie that was meant to be a Spanish language video release.
After having been down the path of making my own movies now for a little over four years, I recently re-read the book Rebel Without a Crew and went back and watched Ten minute Film School with a new set of experienced eyes. Let's just say that a few clarifications are in order.
1) $7,000 was only kinda-sorta the budget. Rodriguez never hid it, but Columbia Pictures and ICM Talent did. The $7,000 got Rodriguez a ¾” master tape of the movie and that's it. Columbia spent a hell of a lot more money to get a 35mm print made that they could screen at festivals. The $7,000 bought 16mm film stock, processing, transfer to video, and a few dollars worth of props. This is important to note because there is a misconception about what the movie cost and what that means. It means saying that the movie cost $7,000 is a great marketing ploy that paid off well.
2) One of the only reasons you, me, or anyone has ever heard of Robert Rodriguez is because the state film commissioner of Texas gave him a referral to International Creative Management. The dichotomy of Hollywood is that you cannot get in unless you know someone. It's an insider’s club, and Rodriguez got a free pass. This is underplayed by the book, Rebel Without a Crew, but it's crucial to understand that the second largest talent agency in the world can manipulate the studios. I do not mean to denigrate Rodriguez’s obvious talents, but based on seeing movies like Glitter and From Justin to Kelly, there is evidence that talent is not a prerequisite for getting a movie made. Rodriguez was lucky that he had the talent and the skills to back up the promise that El Mariachi displayed.
3) No one seems to remember that Rodriguez had made well over 200 movies on video from the time he was nine years old. How many other filmmakers, even in our cheap DV 1394, non-linear world, can claim to have made over 200 movies? I've been making movies for four years, and I'm barely over thirty movies. Let's just say that Rodriguez had a distinct advantage when he decided to make El Mariachi. It’s called experience and it's highly undervalued if you went solely by the descriptions made in Rebel Without a Crew and in the Ten Minute Film School.
4) “All you need to know about filmmaking, you can learn in about ten minutes.” I have never heard anything more dishonest in my entire life. This coming from a guy who had been making movies, and honing his skills, and mastering his craft for over ten years, not ten minutes. I think if Robert had never made a movie before, and this was his first or second effort, then maybe I could take this at face value. Instead we get a lot of alleged “rebels” that have no clue how to tell a story with a camera or even the slightest concept of editing. Too many people feel like they can do as good their first time out. Try making 200 movies first and then maybe you can pull off El Mariachi.
5) Rodriguez suggests to not use a film crew. A film crew, specifically a cinematographer, is not a bad thing. Yes, Hollywood big budget movies spend too much money, but honestly having a sound guy or a camera man who has a clue can enhance your movie. A good production assistant can save serious money when you need something fast. Rodriguez preaches not to use a crew at all if you can help it (a notion which caused him serious union problems on From Dusk to Dawn) and I think that is a filmmaker’s choice, although not usually the right one. A good crew can add a lot of support to a director's vision, not detract from it. Shooting your own movies can also shut down the input from someone who can offer options you never considered. Again, a bit misleading is that fact that Rodriguez shot all of his own movies and knew more about framing a shot than most NYU film grads. A wise friend of mine constantly reminds us all that filmmaking is a collaborative art, and it takes several people to make a movie. Even Rodriguez had actors. They are collaborators and bring something different to the table than a one man show. Also note, Rodriguez has never made a movie without a crew since El Mariachi.
When I watched the Ten Minute Film School all I could think was how this guy really, really knew what the hell he was doing. When he made his choices of shots and describes how he would edit it all together, I was in awe. There is no way in hell a person who has never shot a film before would have a clue as to what he was really doing. It's taken me nine years to start to get a grasp on the genius of what Rodriguez pulled off. Rodriguez barely had a 1.5:1 shooting ratio (if you don't know what a shooting ratio is, then you need to take more than ten minutes to learn). The kind of risk that shooting on 16mm presented was only viable because he had a great deal of pre-planning and experience. Not everyone, I daresay hardly anyone could have done what Rodriguez did and had results that good.
I am not saying that everything that Rodriguez advises is bad. The idea of writing a script for the locations and props that are already available to you is very true. There is a lot of wisdom in what he writes and says, but be aware that this came from someone who already learned what not to do from making 200 movies before he wrote and directed El Mariachi. Don't expect the same quality results if you've never made a movie before.
I don't dislike or disrespect Robert Rodriguez. As a matter of fact, I have met him twice and found him to be the most unpretentious and modest filmmaker on Earth. But I lost count of how many filmmakers quote his book or El Mariachi as the inspiration for kick starting a digital video endeavor. It's just that he has started a trend of “anyone can direct” and it's misleading. Everyone can direct, but not many people can direct well. The inspirational words from Ten Minute Film School and Rebel Without a Crew are great, but you have to read between the lines. There was a lot more to it than the way it is presented. I still believe everyone should go out and make their movie, I just think a more realistic approach is required.
It's been ten years since El Mariachi burst onto the scene and it's still as prevalent in the filmmaking community as ever. How many independent filmmakers have been affected by reading Rebel Without a Crew or by watching the DVD extra Ten Minute Film School? Hundreds? Thousands? I know I was. I remember renting the laserdisc back in 1994 and seeing the movie made for $7,000 and even listening to the rare pre-DVD commentary track, which Robert himself dubbed “how to make a feature film for under $10,000.” I can say that without a doubt, I felt empowered by the commentary and everything I read about Rodriguez and how he became a major Hollywood player with a movie that was meant to be a Spanish language video release.
After having been down the path of making my own movies now for a little over four years, I recently re-read the book Rebel Without a Crew and went back and watched Ten minute Film School with a new set of experienced eyes. Let's just say that a few clarifications are in order.
1) $7,000 was only kinda-sorta the budget. Rodriguez never hid it, but Columbia Pictures and ICM Talent did. The $7,000 got Rodriguez a ¾” master tape of the movie and that's it. Columbia spent a hell of a lot more money to get a 35mm print made that they could screen at festivals. The $7,000 bought 16mm film stock, processing, transfer to video, and a few dollars worth of props. This is important to note because there is a misconception about what the movie cost and what that means. It means saying that the movie cost $7,000 is a great marketing ploy that paid off well.
2) One of the only reasons you, me, or anyone has ever heard of Robert Rodriguez is because the state film commissioner of Texas gave him a referral to International Creative Management. The dichotomy of Hollywood is that you cannot get in unless you know someone. It's an insider’s club, and Rodriguez got a free pass. This is underplayed by the book, Rebel Without a Crew, but it's crucial to understand that the second largest talent agency in the world can manipulate the studios. I do not mean to denigrate Rodriguez’s obvious talents, but based on seeing movies like Glitter and From Justin to Kelly, there is evidence that talent is not a prerequisite for getting a movie made. Rodriguez was lucky that he had the talent and the skills to back up the promise that El Mariachi displayed.
3) No one seems to remember that Rodriguez had made well over 200 movies on video from the time he was nine years old. How many other filmmakers, even in our cheap DV 1394, non-linear world, can claim to have made over 200 movies? I've been making movies for four years, and I'm barely over thirty movies. Let's just say that Rodriguez had a distinct advantage when he decided to make El Mariachi. It’s called experience and it's highly undervalued if you went solely by the descriptions made in Rebel Without a Crew and in the Ten Minute Film School.
4) “All you need to know about filmmaking, you can learn in about ten minutes.” I have never heard anything more dishonest in my entire life. This coming from a guy who had been making movies, and honing his skills, and mastering his craft for over ten years, not ten minutes. I think if Robert had never made a movie before, and this was his first or second effort, then maybe I could take this at face value. Instead we get a lot of alleged “rebels” that have no clue how to tell a story with a camera or even the slightest concept of editing. Too many people feel like they can do as good their first time out. Try making 200 movies first and then maybe you can pull off El Mariachi.
5) Rodriguez suggests to not use a film crew. A film crew, specifically a cinematographer, is not a bad thing. Yes, Hollywood big budget movies spend too much money, but honestly having a sound guy or a camera man who has a clue can enhance your movie. A good production assistant can save serious money when you need something fast. Rodriguez preaches not to use a crew at all if you can help it (a notion which caused him serious union problems on From Dusk to Dawn) and I think that is a filmmaker’s choice, although not usually the right one. A good crew can add a lot of support to a director's vision, not detract from it. Shooting your own movies can also shut down the input from someone who can offer options you never considered. Again, a bit misleading is that fact that Rodriguez shot all of his own movies and knew more about framing a shot than most NYU film grads. A wise friend of mine constantly reminds us all that filmmaking is a collaborative art, and it takes several people to make a movie. Even Rodriguez had actors. They are collaborators and bring something different to the table than a one man show. Also note, Rodriguez has never made a movie without a crew since El Mariachi.
When I watched the Ten Minute Film School all I could think was how this guy really, really knew what the hell he was doing. When he made his choices of shots and describes how he would edit it all together, I was in awe. There is no way in hell a person who has never shot a film before would have a clue as to what he was really doing. It's taken me nine years to start to get a grasp on the genius of what Rodriguez pulled off. Rodriguez barely had a 1.5:1 shooting ratio (if you don't know what a shooting ratio is, then you need to take more than ten minutes to learn). The kind of risk that shooting on 16mm presented was only viable because he had a great deal of pre-planning and experience. Not everyone, I daresay hardly anyone could have done what Rodriguez did and had results that good.
I am not saying that everything that Rodriguez advises is bad. The idea of writing a script for the locations and props that are already available to you is very true. There is a lot of wisdom in what he writes and says, but be aware that this came from someone who already learned what not to do from making 200 movies before he wrote and directed El Mariachi. Don't expect the same quality results if you've never made a movie before.
I don't dislike or disrespect Robert Rodriguez. As a matter of fact, I have met him twice and found him to be the most unpretentious and modest filmmaker on Earth. But I lost count of how many filmmakers quote his book or El Mariachi as the inspiration for kick starting a digital video endeavor. It's just that he has started a trend of “anyone can direct” and it's misleading. Everyone can direct, but not many people can direct well. The inspirational words from Ten Minute Film School and Rebel Without a Crew are great, but you have to read between the lines. There was a lot more to it than the way it is presented. I still believe everyone should go out and make their movie, I just think a more realistic approach is required.
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