Film Making

Lately I've been involved in a group at work that makes movies. We make little movies as practice for making big movies.

My little brother is also an aspiring film maker. He asekd me for some advice about doing a full feature. I thought the info might be interesting to others so I'm re-posting a more generic version of it here:

Even though I haven't ever done a REAL (i.e. money making ) feature project my self (Uh, outside of my job, but I'm just rank and file there) I have a few pieces of advice from my exposure so far.

There are two important factors: Story and Performance. Everything else serves those things, no matter how artistic it is ( i.e., lighting, cinematorgraphy, etc.) The story is what people walk away with but it's the performance that keeps them engaged moment to moment while they are watching the film. I'm sure you can imagine how a bad performance could kill the whole project.

Your are on the right track by wanting non-suck talent. The actors will bring a HUGE amount to the project. Be very picky about your casting and make sure you audition everyone. If they don't have a good resume and can't do the audition than forget it. You'll never get a good film out of them. (There are plenty of trained actors to work with so why work with amateurs?) Make sure that you are a non-suck director as well! You might want to take some acting workshops yourself, so you can learn how to spot "false" performances and get the best out of your actors. There are several books out there on directing. I'm reading one now called "Directing Actors" which is quite good.

In that same vein, you don't want your script to suck either. I'm not sure who's doing the writing for you, but make sure the script is solid before you start shooting. The right script with the right take can definitely turn heads. Napoleon Dynamite may not have made big bucks at the theater, but it definitely put those guys on the map. Much of that script seemed like it was simply accommodating the resources they had. But it did it in such a fantastic way! Don't forget the local resource you have when coming up with your script.

As for getting crew, I suggest you try to put non-students in the key positions on your crew. Get as experienced a DP/Cinematographer as possible. Same for the sound guy. Everyone else on the crew can be more green. They are basically just moving stuff around after all. But they'll still be learning by watching the pros work, and you film will be much better for it!

From a technical stand point, sound quality is more important that picture quality. Give sound proper attention. Bad sound will drive the audience crazy while poor picture will only bother them a little. "Bad" picture can sometimes even be justified as a stylistic choice... for example, skip bleach, cross processing, or shooting Super 8 will definitely have a detrimental effect on the image "quality" but given the correct stylistic intent the loss of "quality" might actually be desirable! Bad sound is just, bad sound. Make sure you have a good sound recorder and mikes with someone who knows what they are doing running them.

You can't over-prepare. Scout out locations and have a solid game plan at the very least. I personally would board everything out. I'd probably even do a 3D animatic to figure out what shots you can actually get. (Depending on the lenses you have, It might be physically impossible to place the camera for certain shots in a small room) If you have all your shots planned out in advance, you also wont have to shoot too much "coverage", which will save a bunch of time and tape/film. (The side effect is that it might make editing a lot easier as well) If you want to do any dolly shots, I would definitely do an animatic because they can be a huge time suck. Maybe you don't need that technocrane shot? The animatic will tell you in advance for a lot cheaper! The animatic could be just you working. Once you have your cinematographer, you can bring him in on it also. If you get a cinematographer who says he doesn't like to plan like that I wouldn't trust him. He should know there is room for improvisation and improvement on the set and should feel comfortable with planning. But the idea here is the get a really solid basic plan down so you can be honest about your schedule and get the best stuff on the day. When you are actually shooting, you, as the director, should be totally absorbed in getting the best performance from the actors. You don't want to have to worry too much about shot planning etc.


When you are working cheap like this the main problem is getting the commitments you need from the various cast and crew members to "go the distance". That's another reason why planning is so important. You need to be able to tell everyone exactly what the schedule is and how long a commitment you need from them. The shorter the commitment, the better the odds of getting a seasoned cast/crew. If the script is solid enough you might be amazed at the talent you can attract... assuming the commitment isn't too long.