Some actors peak in the early takes and its all downhill from there. With these actors you want to make sure that the camera is rolling when the magic happens; it would be a pity to witness a spectacular performance in a rehearsal only to find that the actor is unable to replicate it in front of the camera. This is exactly what happened on my first project. I was shooting a close-up of the leading man and clearly remembered how much I liked the way he had delivered a line in the rehearsals, but he was unable to replicate it on the shoot itself and this was a very good actor. A good performance can generally be replicated by a seasoned screen actor, but the ineffable and elusive flourishes of brilliance cannot, so make sure youre rolling when it happens.
A few words on the current situation in movie financing. I know an exceedingly talented independent movie maker who has two feature films under his belt. The second movie was very good and convincingly showcased his talent; it even secured independent film distribution and made a profit, which is almost unheard of these days! Despite the talent and financial success displayed by his second movie, he has been stuck in development hell on his third feature film for over half a decade now, with not a single penny raised, and the script is very marketable. I hate to think what it would be like if this movie did not have some commercial potential.
Even if I wasnt obsessed with (small scale) film making, your technical advice and personal observations would still be a great read. Ive learned more here than anywhere else. Thank you so much.
The composition and production of the movies music is another aspect that I really enjoy. Talented composers are a joy to work with.
The Movie Making Process: from Development Hell to the Shark Pool of Distribution
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After going through the ordeal of development hell, pre-production is veritable bliss: you start to select key crew members and the preparatory stage of the movie-making process begins in earnest. You start to feel less like a salesperson and more like a movie maker. Pre-production involves the following activities again, they are not always executed in the same order, and they frequently overlap:
Your posts are very helpful to direction students like us. I learned many things from you. I written a script for my short film n im satisfied with the script. But im worried about the camera staging. Should we move a camera in one angle to another for any particular meaning? I have many doubts like this. Could you please post about Camera Staging? It will help us a lot
Dear Ed, I am amazed by the amount (and quality) of the information you are sharing! Thank you for that! Its really helpful!
Very true, Megan! Thanks for contributing.
Sound mixing involves adding any necessary sound effects, setting the level of each soundtrack andmaking the soundtrack as seamless as possible.I personally did this on my first movie and it was a lot of work, but well worth the effort.
Post-production includes visual effects, including CGI, of which I am not a fan at all.
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Excellent! Im glad you got some value out of this post, Vicki! Keep me posted.
1.1 Story development / treatment / scriptment / plot points / structure
When the movie is complete, the independent movie maker broke and exhausted, but proud is ready to be creamed by sleazy independent film distributors. Dont let this happen to you: read my guide toindependent film distribution,paying particular attention to the warning I was given about never allowing a distributor to get a sneak preview of your movie.
Very best wishes keep me posted!
Thanks for reading and keep me posted ?
Do not be shy about directing the composer on the following aspects: when a music cue must start and stop; what instruments you want to hear; whether it should be happy or sad; its speed; and anything else you want. A movie composer once told me that their job is to finish the film, and he was absolutely right. Tell the composer what you want and a good composer will be delighted to make you happy. Listen to the demo tracks and suggest changes. It is just likedirecting actorsor cinematographers.
Finding appropriate locations can be a real pain. In Los Angeles finding locations is a nightmare if you need something like a spacious office and cannot afford $10,000 per day in location rent. Good deals can always be found, but its tough. In my experience the best way to get a good a good deal on fancy locations is to contact an honest film location agent and explain your situation. As always in independent movie making, if they like you they will help you, and if they dont you are out of luck.
You are most welcome! Im glad you found it useful! ?
This is simply a numbered list of shots, with a description of the framing and other details such as focal length, camera movement, things to bear in mind and other issues. Sometimes storyboards are included. It is a very personal document and every director has his/her own way of shot listing. Here is my ownShot List Template (free download).
Thank you for posting this! Your guideline is very important to understanding all the aspects and effort to make movie magic happen! I am interested in costume design for movies. If you do not mind, I was hoping you could advise at which point do costume designers get involved in the development of a movie? How do directors find costume designers? What is the process like between director and costume designer to make the costumes come to life?
Each days schedule begins with the call time, which is the time at which the crew must report to the location. The 1st AD immediately begins to oversee the crew, and the director need not be around at this stage, although you would be wise to be there and start thinking about the shots (seehow to direct).
Casting is taken care of by Casting Directors, who are very good at finding actors who match the directors specifications. Obviously thedirectormakes the final choices, but the preliminary selection which is the most time-consuming and tedious part is done by casting directors, who are, frankly, worth every penny they charge. They know literally thousands of actors and can quickly find the right actor for a role. They also tend to follow the careers of actors, knowing that, a decade or more down the line, a currently unemployable actor will be hot property, having developed his skills and maturity. I heard this stuff straight from the horses mouth! I have had the pleasure of meeting many casting directors and I find them very pleasant and smart. Actors probably loathe them, but as a director I absolutely love them.
It depends on what you mean by use. Copying the whole page is not permitted, but brief extracts can be quoted with proper attribution.
Thank you so much for posting this! Im 12 and I was studying film making but there was absolutely nothing anywhere on the internet! Thank you
As a intermediate leveled musician I firstly took the approach in filmmaking that I used while learning new pieces. You divide the work in sections and start practising them all at once. Now I better understand how its done more efficient in the film.
In this phase the movies story is developed. Every screenwriter has a personal way of developing a story, but anyone who takes thethree-act structureseriously will determine the storys structure as a matter of priority. That means deciding the boundaries between the three acts, as well as the inciting incident and midpoint of Act 2.
Having developed the basic structure of the story, for most screenwriters the next step usually involves writing a scene-by-scene outline of the whole movie. Many writers use an index card for each scene, because they are easy to arrange and re-arrange on a board.
After a take,the director reviews the take on the video monitorand decides what needs to be tweaked. The process is repeated until the director is satisfied. In my experience reviewing takes is a crucial part of achieving good results. You are essentially answering the questions Is this what I had in mind? and How can we make it better? I can assure you that in the pressure of production, reviewing takes with a cool head is more difficult than it sounds.
Thanks for reading. Having read through this post after writing it, it does not escape my notice that it might make independent movie making sound like some sort of insane self-inflicted torture. It can certainly feel like that sometimes, and I am a keen proponent of reality checks, but if you have been bitten by the movie-making bug, you have probably noticed that you have no choice and that you are in this for life, whether you like it or not. Welcome to the club.
You beginpre-productionwhen you know that you can definitely pay the movies bills, which means that the money is in the bank and ready to be spent. Anything else is a pipe dream.
While the crew unloads the trucks and sets up, I like to walk the actors through the shot and determine what they do in relation to the camera. This is known asblocking the shot.I have my directors viewfinder around my neck at all times and start refining and tweaking the shots I have in mind, sometimes radically changing them. Planning shots in advance and thinking about them a lot is great, but there is no substitute for experimenting with the viewfinder with the actors on their marks. This is when the shots really take shape.
When you have your first cut of the movie including music it is always a good idea to have a test screening with a small number of people you trust. There is nothing wrong with this. Even James Cameron has blind spots. On his movie Titanic there was a chase sequence that he thought was brilliant and that multiple test screening audiences absolutely hated. He openly admits that he would never have guessed it was a misjudged scene until the test audiences made it clear in their feedback.
Movie Making 101: Understanding Filmmaking has never been made this comprehensive and easy to comprehend! Im using this for my group of SMMEs in my incubator program! Am I even allowed to? Thank you!
Great scripts are not written, they are re-written, someone once said. Most talented writers produce at least three drafts before the screenplay can be deemed even remotely decent. Enough said.
The script breakdown is the process in which every single item needed for the movies shoot is identified. This includes locations, props, effects absolutely everything. You need areal movie producerto do this. Dont learn this lesson the hard way!
Development consists of the following activities, which may overlap and may be sequenced in a different order in different movies:
Gasp! After the stress of pre-production, the even more intense stress of production finally begins, but the stress of principal photography is a very positive stress: it is adrenaline, excitement, sheer creative bliss. Many directors openly hate shooting because they dont enjoy the pressure. I absolutely love it.
Only when the writer has a crystal-clear vision of the structure, plot points and scene outline can writing thescreenplaytruly begin. Many screenwriters make the mistake of diving straight into writing the actual script, which causes all sorts of problems, such as losing sight of the screenplays structure or running out of material after only 60 pages.
Im amazed how you were able to make the movie making process very easy to understand. Great job and thanks for sharing this!
I find this page intimidating, which is a good thing. You dont give some bullshit glamor discription like, If you get a name actor, your job is mostly done. I feel like directing is what Im meant to do and in order to prepare for the whole thing, I need that intimidation to know that this will not be a cake walk. But it will be all the more rewarding when the final product is finished!
Im writing a novel that revolves around filming a movie, and I am in over my head with the finer aspects of filming. The question I have right now is about rehearsals. Do actors spend a certain amount of time rehearsing EVERYTHING and then start filming, or do they rehearse a scene, then film that scene? Id imagine that any scenes that are particularly physical (fight scenes, dance scenes, etc.) are rehearsed well ahead of time, but Im talking about regular scenes. I hope that question makes sense. Thanks!
3.1 Principal photography setting up
Im about to go mad independent on a script I wrote with my friend. After talking to a pro who made it all seem impossible, I read this and it has made me feel great about making my movie again. It all feels totally doable. Thank you for breaking the process down so well.
With regular scenes, on the other hand, the approach taken depends on the directors tastes. Some like to rehearse extensively before the shoot while others dont rehearse at all, preferring to roll camera as soon as the actors are dressed and made up. Anthony Hopkins said in an interview that rehearsing before shooting is a waste of time. You can watch this interview in the extras of the Hannibal DVD, if memory serves. My experience is consistent with his opinion.
You are very welcome, Barry! Im delighted to hear you find my work useful.
The other sharks waiting expectantly for the naïve movie maker are thefilm festivals,which charge considerable fees to consider your film for admission into the festival and ultimately award prizes on the basis of their own arbitrary, self-indulgent agenda, tossing the hungry, wide-eyed filmmakers onto the street after their money made the festival possible. That said, film festivals are great fun if you can manage your own expectations, and they can open some doors for you and our film. They are certainly not as much of an unmitigated scam asfilm and video the final analysis, film festivals are a necessary evil, and if you go in knowing what to expect, you can at least retain some dignity.
You are right about fight scenes being choreographed and thoroughly rehearsed before the shoot.
I found this page especially helpful. Ive had some major problems regarding the organization of fimmaking. You made a wonderful, well structured page that made me realize how things should be planned.
1.4 1.7 and even beyond should ALL be re-writing the script.
Depending on your budget, location scouts just like casting directors are worth every penny, if you can afford them. They do precisely what their name suggests: they go out with your specifications and find candidates for your locations (and in any case they have extensive libraries of locations they already know).
I will also shoot my movie in the summer.Thanks for the movie process post.
Awesome post!!!! really got confused on reading various books and attending mindless movie shoots. This really opened my eyes..thank u so much
Thanks for the kind words. There is more in the pipeline watch this space ?
After the tech scout the 1st AD uses the directors shot list to draw up a schedule for each day of the shoot.This is one of the main roles of 1stADs,and a new director, no matter how brilliant, should always hire an experienced 1stAD and trust his/her schedule. A common practice is to schedule shots in the order of lighting or camera setups (whichever is the most time-consuming), not in chronological order, so dont argue with your 1st AD if the schedule is not in chronological order: it almost never is. I love 1st ADs!
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Wow, Im actually relieved I found your blog. A lot of these things I was not aware of and Im currently in Pre-Production. I was thinking the way to go was film festivals! My question is if not film festivals then what? Getting a distribution deal for an Indie film is almost impossible correct? Its like picking a needle out of a hay stack. With knowing there is so much scamming and sharks out here its nerve wrecking trying to decide whos fake and whos genuine! I appreciate this.. I will take heed.. Thank You!
The tech scout is very enjoyable. Having locked all locations and produced the shot list, the director,cinematographer,production designer, line producer and1st ADgo on the tech scout. OnTV commercialsthe producer sometimes also attends. The purpose of the tech scout is for the director to visit each and every location with the heads of department and explain precisely what each shot will entail: where the camera will be, details of camera movement, what the actors will be doing, what the look of the scene must be, and so on. The 1st AD makes a careful note of anything the director says that has important implications for the shoot. A good 1st AD will also warn the director and other heads of department of any problems that may arise, such as background noise that may compromise goodlocation sound recording.The tech scout is one reason for which when a film crew is setting up, it looks like the director is just sitting back and letting the crew get on with it: it is because they were already briefed in great detail during the tech scout well in advance.
Proper screenplay formatting must be taken seriously, and although it is perfectly possible to write and format a screenplay with a word processor, dedicated screenwriting software like Final Draft will save you so much time and hassle that it is worth every penny. As James Cameron said, You cant win a race without a champion car . . . Final Draft is my Ferrari.
This is by far the most frustrating and painfully tedious part of being an independent filmmaker, butmovie making even so-called no-budget movie making costs money and somebody needs to pay those bills. Securing movie financing is so unpleasant, so utterly soul-destroying, that many movie makers simply blow their own money on making their project instead of waiting a few decades to secure the financing and who can blame them?
Shooting in summer 2017. Cant wait!!!
The only other aspect of movie financing that is worth mentioning here is that no two movies ever use exactly the same financing model.
After the scout the production designer designs and oversees the production of set pieces, and arranges the procurement of anything that needs to be purchased: plants, furniture, etc. The costume designer does the same.
Reviewing takes in the editing room is the opposite: you have the time, mental clarity and perspective to notice every single little thing in a take that could have been done better its excruciating, but very instructive, which is why I counsel all ambitious filmmakers to edit at least their first few projects themselves. The lessons you will learn are priceless you wont ever be able to pay someone to teach you them. You just have to get on with it and see for yourself.
Having chosen thefocal length,camera placement, the actors marks and other details such as camera movement, the director tells the cinematographer where to put the camera, which lens to use and the details of any camera movement. Different directors get involved with camerawork to different extents, but this is what I do.
Furthermore, you will generally find that the adrenaline rush elicited by the camera, crew, costumes, props and locations on the shoot itself gives everyone a mental sharpness and drive to perform that cannot be replicated in the uninspiring environment of a rehearsal venue.
There are innumerable avenues through which a director can find a costume designer: examples include word of mouth, an internet search and browsing film crew databases. If you are a costume designer, I strongly recommend you build a high-quality website and list your details in all the crew databases you can find. You should also browse classified ads and apply for every costume designer gig you deem suitable.My strategic career advice for film crew talentmight also be of assistance. Good luck ?
Development (also known, appropriately, as development hell) is a fuzzy, amorphous, painfully interminable period in which the films conception takes shape and the foundational elements are assembled. This description of themovie making processis written to be relevant to independent movie makers outside the Hollywood system, so traditional Hollywood-style development which is currently mired in some considerable trouble will not be dealt with here, because it is quite simply no longer a relevant, realistic or viable option for independent movie makers.
Thank you for this. I have no idea what I am doing and am taking a blind stab in the dark. I did not now where to start and finally just started compiling a document with all of my ideas from scenes, effects, dialogue, soundtrack etc etc etc just thrown in as they come to mind and hoped that one day I could find a way to put it all together. Your article is invaluable and will serve as a great guideline for me!
On my very first project we rehearsed all scenes one month before the shoot. The lead actor insisted on this and I was on my first project, so I relented. I cannot say that this added value to the end product and I have not taken that approach since. It was a waste of time and perhaps worse than that, as I describe below.
