Some of what I synthesized from David Mamet's book, "On Directing Film."

Some of what I synthesized from David Mamet's book, "On Directing Film" by Josh Tomany.

     When I took Fiction Field 1 at Ithaca College in the Spring of 2015 I was pleasantly surprised to receive a rather small book, 107 pages, in the form of "On Directing Film" by David Mamet. I was told before hand to keep in mind that perhaps his views were skewed or extreme, quoting "If he could I think he would only make silent films." The book itself was divided from his own narrative and ideas and lectures he gave at Colombia University in the fall of 1987. I was unsure of how such a man who if he could only make silent films could make a book on Directing Film in a little over 100 pages, but I was eager and curious to find out what I could. I read a couple chapters, thought it was good, and then...I put it down. The weight of short films and projects that do tend to happen at the end of the year arrived and reading wasn't a luxury I could afford. However just recently on a camping trip I brought it along to pass the time and I would like to share with you my surprises and insights that I gained on the concepts of Film and how to approach it.

     Not that our prelude together is over, and in the interest of time (your and mine),  I won't go into the minute details and relationship that Mamet has with his Students (however hilarious), and I won't go into anymore large paragraphs or write the next Great American Novel, and I certainly won't give you all the knowledge I gathered from this book (that is for you to discover on your own). Instead, for all you BuzzFeed listicle readers, bloggers, tweeters, and Facebook stalkers (all myself included) here's a list. Plain and simple, and the thing that you scrolled down to read first. Because that's really the most important part anyway, right?


     1) The best writers are the one's that know how to cut, to strip away everything that is fancy, moving, descriptive and that takes away only the story, "the essential progression of incidents."
   
     2) A film is not a record of what the protagonist does, a directors aim should not be to follow the actors around. A true film should be in some ways Einstein's own theory on film, "a succession of images juxtaposed so that the contrast between these images moves the story forward in the mind of the audience." This is absolutely essential to understand, take away this if nothing else. Don't tell the audience why something is important to the story, the only important thing is to tell the story, let the audience be surprised by it. "Let the cut tell the story. Because otherwise you have not got dramatic action, you have narration" (Mamet 2).

    3) "The purpose of technique is to free the unconscious" (Mamet 6). This goes into the very important concept that the dream and the film are the same thing. Refer to the very important quote I have highlighted above. What is a dream? What is a film? It was like a dream, it was like a film. Can they both be the same? Aren't they? Truly free your unconscious and and you will be free.

     4) Beats, Objectives, and Super-objectives. These are tools to keep you on the path, to make sure you tell the story, "Keep It Simple Stupid" (K.I.S.S). Refer to these concepts to make sure you aren't adding more than what needs to go into the scene. Keep It Simple Stupid.

     5) Back story is shit. Defining character's are horrible and nobody cares. "Hi let's sit down because I just came back from Vietnam." That's how movies in Hollywood now and in 1987 were and are made. "Character" and David Mamet puts it, is the what the person literally does in the pursuit of the super-objective (Mamet 13). So don't give me a load of crap on how a kid's first bicycle ride with his dad made him like baseball, SHOW ME.

     6) The only thing that matters in a scene, in a movie, is the want (the lack). That is the only thing you should be answering and showing through a juxtaposition of images because that's the only thing the audience actually cares about, what happens next. "You tax the audience every time you don't move on to the next essential step of the progressions quickly as possible. You're taxing their good nature" (Mamet 60).

     7) How do we direct our actors? For Mamet we Keep It Simple Stupid. "Just as the shot doesn't have to be inflected, the acting doesn't have to be inflected, nor should it be" (Mamet 68). If the actor is going to walk down the sidewalk and tie his shoes, tell him, "walk down the sidewalk and tie your shows." Literally tell him that? Yes. How else would you do it?

     8) "'Where do I put the camera?' That's a simple question, and the answer is, 'over there in that place in which it capture the uninflected shot necessary to move the story along'" (Mamet 73).

     9) "The shots are all you have. That's it. Your choice of shots is all you have. It's what the movies going to be made up of. You can't make it more interesting when you get to the editing room. And you also can't rely on the actors to 'pick up the slack.' You can't rely on them to make it more 'interesting,' That's not their job either. You want them to be as simple as you are in your choice of the shots" (Mamet 104)


     In conclusion (though I primarily just used quotes from Mamet's text) I would say this. Though Mamet may be rather extreme and passionate about his views, the essence of what he's saying and what he's saying should be able to influence and resonate through all of us. A film is a story, a dream, a myth. The film has a goal, the scene has a goal, the beat has a goal. Stick to the basic, keep it simple stupid, and you will be able to create something less crap...it could still be crap, but it would be less. And you audience will thank you for that. As Mamet says, "It's only up to you to do your job as well as you can, and when you're done, then you can go home." Go home.

Sincerely,

     Josh Tomany

One More Time with Feeling

Let me tell you all a little something about Sophie Muller

Good performances come from the heart, and while I was working out in LA no director could pull passion from a performer quite like Sophie Muller.

I was able to work with Sophie on the set of Selena Gomez music video "Good for You". She sat in a laid back green recliner watching a monitor while Selena performed, and after a couple takes they would sit together and talk about her performance. Now "Good for You", as you can tell just from one listen, is a fairly complex song. It's an attempt to put into the words the pride and passion we feel when we want to look good for a person precious to us. It's a song that applies equally to both men and women, and it's a song that is hard to put a visual to. But Sophie did it, and she did a fantastic job.

Sophie's music video's are unique in that they encapsulate the very feeling that the artist seeks to convey through the song.

There's no story to be told here, but rather we are presented with a wealth of sensory information. The way Selena is lit makes us feel like we've just woken up next to her. Her sleepy way of singing and soporific expression conveys to us that we are in an intimate place here. The way she dresses, revealing in a way that only comfy morning clothes are. All of this is done to bring us into Selena's headspace, this is what SHE feels when she sings this song.

Just to further help me illustrate my point, take a look at a music video that she directed early on in her career.

That soft light that so delicate fell upon Selena is no where to be found here, instead Annie Lennox is blasted with a spotlight so bright that on that day she was probably visible from space. Annie doesn't pay any attention to the viewer, instead she cocks her head triumphantly to an invisible audience and gives a performance that it is far more theatrical in nature. We get an uneasy feeling from watching this, it's a satire of course, but presented in a way that seems all to familiar.

Both songs are about feeling, or at least wanting to feel beautiful Yet we can tell from the visuals that there is a distinct contextual difference.

Selena want's to be beautiful in a way that feels comfortable. We see her at her most vulnerable, and in that way we feel as though we've entered an intimate space.

Annie, is presented in a way that makes her look unobtainable, the camera never wants to get in too close. Her body language is closed off and she moves in way that only a jewelry box ballerina can.

Sophie does so much to communicate the emotional weight behind the artist's work, and I cannot think of a single director that can bring out a performance in the way she can!

Assistant Directing for Dummies

Hey guys. I'm going to be completely honest with you all. I'm running out of ideas. And fast. I know for a fact that I've written about directing before, but I don't believe I've ever touched on Assistant Directing. If I have, I apologize, but I'm running out of fresh topics to talk about. So, without further ado, it's time for Assistant Directing for Dummies! It's the gameshow where you don't have a ton of fun and some of the facts may be slightly inaccurate, but you leave feeling wiser nonetheless.

Today, we'll be focusing on two types of assistant directors (ADs): the first one and the second one. For those of you who don't often work on film sets, or for those of you who don't have much knowledge on the topic, my previous statement isn't as dumb as it sounds (even though it kind of is). There are in fact two assistant directors, and their positions are called 1st Assistant Director and 2nd Assistant Director. SO GET OFF MY CASE AND ENJOY THE POST. Ok? Good.

Let us begin with the first type of AD: the 1st Assistant Director. The 1st AD is very much involved in the preproduction and production processes. To best summarize their responsibilities, I turn to the handy dandy bulleted list. Once again, I apologize, but it's quite the list and I have some editing to tend to. The 1st AD's job is to:
      -Assist Unit Production Manager to prepare script breakdown and preliminary shooting schedule
      -Assist the UPM in location business
      -Check weather reports (exciting, right?)
      -Prepare daily schedules for talent and determine cast and crew calls
      -Supervise the preparation of call sheets
      -Supervise background activity and crowd control
      -Supervise the proper functioning of the set and crew

The 1st Assistant Director's job is to basically take care of everything the Director shouldn't have to worry about, allowing them to focus on making sure everything pertaining to what viewers will see is absolutely perfect.

"How does the 1st AD possibly get all of this done? It's so much stuff to get done!" You're right! It's a pretty demanding job. Luckily, though, they have a chief assistant who is in charge of conducting all the business of the set or location. This person is referred to as the 2nd Assistant Director. Go figure! How convenient is that? What exactly is the business of the set or location you ask? Well, it includes:

      -Preparing all call sheets

      -Preparing the daily production reports in collaboration with the UPM

      -Distributing all information to the cast and crew (scripts, changes, and call sheets)

      -Communicating advance scheduling to the cast and crew

      -Assisting the UPM, 1st AD, and Location Manager in location management

      -Facilitating the transportation of all equipment and personnel

      -Schedule all food, lodging, and other facilities

      -Supervise the set and location wrap

      -Maintain a liaison between the 1st Assistant Director and the Unit Production Manager

      -Assist the 1st AD with the direction of background activity and crowd control

PHEW! Glad that's over. I was beginning to just feel sorry for anyone who's a 2nd AD. I guess if you really love what you do, who's to tell you that your job is no fun. What I've gathered from this information, is that the student producers I've worked with in the past have actually been conducting the responsibilities of the Assistant Directors while the ADs have actually just been clapping the slate and keeping us on schedule. Who knew?! You do now!

Assistant Directors are wonderful people who moviegoers never really know anything about, but they're some of the most important people to have on a set. They essentially do all the things a director doesn't have time for (and probably doesn't want to do). If you're ever in the market for a career that's physically and emotionally demanding and that doesn't get much of any public recognition, Assistant Directing is the career for you!

David Fincher: The Don'ts to Filmmaking

“Everything seems really simple on paper until you take a camera out of the box.”

                                                                                                                       -David Fincher

   Every filmmaker has their list of dos and don’ts and David Fincher is no exception. Producer and director of countless films such as Seven, Fight Club, and this year’s highly anticipated Gone Girl, he has honed a skill that has arguable been very influential.

   And if you want to understand his craft, you need to ask yourself this: what does David Fincher not do? To put it simply, there are three things he does not do: handheld shots, close-ups, and camera movement. But it’s not a matter of casting these aside, but using them when the times calls for it.

   In terms of handheld operation, Fincher is notorious for having as little to one shot not placed on a tripod or Steadicam. The reason for this is the way he wants the camera to act in any given scene. Camera shake (the most well-known trait of handheld) puts the audience in the scene with the character but a smoothly gliding shot drags us out of the scene. Normally, most filmmakers want to avoid this as they don’t want their audience to become separated from the story they’re trying to tell. But to David Fincher, this is exactly what he wants. He wants the camera to be this omniscient character. It forces you to really look at everything that’s happening on screen. Without the camera shake, you’re eye has nowhere to look but at the action. It’s subtle but a very powerful technique when executed properly.

   Close-ups are similarly a need-by basic sort of deal. Excessive close-ups will distract an audience and can potentially exclude too much for to hold their attention. Yet, having only a few close-ups in any given film is a crafty way to tell the audience that they need to look at something. It’s similar to grabbing a person by the face and physically shoving their attention at an object. It’s the equivalent of shouting, “you need to see this!” It’s a subtle way to tell an audience that what’s happening on screen is about to impact the movie in huge way.

    And the last don’t on this list, may seem like the strangest. It’s all about camera movement, or the lack thereof. David Fincher, if he can help it, likes to keep his camera in one place. This allows the scene to play out as it might be viewed realistically from a person on the outside (as he sets the camera up to be in the first rule).  This adds to the idea that what we’re seeing on screen is important and all of our attention needs to be focused on that specific thing. The lack of movement forces our eye, much like the lack of camera shake, to really look at what’s happening.

   All three of these techniques end up creating  the same thing: a movie we can’t force ourselves to look away from. They’re subtle, their powerful, and they’re not something to be overlooked. As Fincher said, “people will say ‘there are a million ways to shoot a scene,’ but I don’t think so. I think there’s two, maybe. And the other one is wrong.”

Tyler

Whilst on my weekly routine of scouring Short of the Week, I came across a four minute film called "Tyler". After finishing a short of about the same length about children myself, I was interested to see what it was about. What I saw was the opposite of what I expected. Director Sam Benenati created something that I consider a cross between a film, a music video and poetry. "Tyler" concentrates more on emotions and visuals than a completely concrete story, which I believe is why it's so strong. Coming from a writing background, I find it very difficult for me to come up with experimental concepts rather than a locked down story, so I found this film refreshing and inspiring.

The sound design immediately jumps out at you. The entire film is a fluid, memory-like sequence, which was perfectly assisted by the overlapping music and dialogue. The shots were just as beautiful. I am a huge fan of natural lighting, and in this film, it really humanized each of the characters. 

Although the film is technically about a young boy who falls in love with his older brother's girlfriend, it really touches on each of the characters' relationships with each other, even with the missing father figure. Dakota Allbecker, who played the young boy, did a phenomenal job expressing the character and interacting with the older actors. Short of the Week writer Ben Watts reported that Benenati had "a knack for directing children without making them feel precocious or 'child-actor'-y", which I admire much more now that I have worked with children myself. I think "Tyler" is a very successful short film and I plan on looking up more of Benenati's work.

So You Want to Work with Children...

One sunny afternoon in my childhood, I was inside watching a movie (like all good little film nerds do). That movie was "Labyrinth", which I had seen at least ten times before. After it was over, instead of going outside and playing catch or whatever normal, healthy children did, I decided to watch all of the special features. I don't really remember much of it, but one thing did stick with me to this day. In one extra, Jim Henson said that he had been told to never work with children, animals or puppets. And yet, "Labyrinth" involved all three, and look how that turned out. Although Henson admitted the process had been extremely difficult, as a viewer, the end result was so worth it.

Fast forward about eight years, here I am in Fiction Field II directing a film mainly consisting of children between the ages of six and thirteen. Immediately, Jim Henson's words came back to me and panic set in. After going through the five stages of grief at the thought of working with kids,  I dried my eyes and decided it was time to buck up and prepare.

I took out my laptop and searched on the ol' Google tips for working with children. After sifting through multiple articles teaching parents with child actors how to "deal" with directors, I finally found some useful information. Here's a few things to keep in mind if you ever decide to work with tiny humans, from research and my own experience (with the assistance of hilarious gifs):

1. Safety: 

It's bad when anyone gets hurt on set, but when it's a kid, you're in a whole other world of trouble. This is why you should always take extra precaution and preventative measures when working with children. First, you should always have a parent or guardian on set with the kid. This way, not only will you have an extra set of eyes looking after them, you can talk to the guardian directly if you need anything or if anything goes wrong. Speaking of supervision, you should always have a member of your crew watching the children (it would be best if you hired someone specifically for this job). Legally, you are required to have at least one supervisor on set for every twenty kids, but you should make your life easier and have at least two. Make sure this person is not only comfortable with children, but is also talented at keeping them entertained and capturing their attention. Additionally, a second person can help walk the children between the waiting area and the set when it is their turn to be on camera. Next, you should ALWAYS have the parent or guardian sign a waiver and release form. This way you're less likely to lose a lawsuit if an accident does occur on set. Lastly, if your shot in any way endangers the child, forget about it. It's not worth it, and I'm pretty sure it's illegal. 

2. The Child Comes First:

This kind of goes along with safety, but I thought it deserved it's own category. When you're on set, the needs of the child comes first. If they're tired, sad, hungry, etc... it's your job to accommodate to them. Maybe you need to take a few more breaks than planned, or maybe the kid just needs a bag of skittles. It's important that the child is happy, just as it is important to keep all of your actors as happy as you can. But, don't let them bully you. Additionally, if the content makes the child uncomfortable or confused, it's a good thing to make sure they know that it's not real, especially if they're younger, or pretend that something else is going on in the scene. For example, for Black Butterfly (my Fiction Field I film), we had a scene where a young child witnesses her mother's suicide by hanging. We had our mother actress holding onto a bar as we shot her legs, then we shot the girl's reaction. Instead of telling her that it was a suicide scene, we explained to her that the actress was just doing gymnastics, which put her at ease. 

3. Directing:

All children are naturally little actors, so getting creativity out of them is usually not the problem. But when you need to give them specific direction, you're going to need to adjust how you speak so that they can understand. It's much easier to give them simple direction, "walk slowly to this spot" or "count to two Mississippi and then put your head down", than to give them motivation for their character. Or, if the child is particularly intelligent or theatrically trained, giving them simple motivation can also help. "Your mean sister just stole all of your candy, and you haven't gotten a single piece all night, how would you feel?" Putting the motivation in a question form allows them to think how they would react in the situation and give a more realistic performance. Being a director, you have to be authoritative, but not mean or scary. You have to find a happy balance between being their friend and someone they listen to. Be friendly and fun, but when it comes down to shooting, they have to be attentive and listen to what you say. When it comes to the shot, you usually can't get the same performance twice. Continuity means nothing to them, so you must plan your shots around that. Or if continuity is extremely important, make sure they know exactly what to do with their body and have a very attentive script supervisor watching their every move. 

4. Camera Angles:

Children are short. It's a thing. Unless they ate some Popeye spinach all their life, you have to account for how you're going to shoot them in relation to adults and locations. If you want to make them look weak and sad, shoot them from above. If you want to make them powerful, shoot them from below (if you can). These are basic. But, it's important to film them at eye level for normal scenes so that you can get the right mood. Shooting at the child's level adds warmth and friendliness to the scene, rather than a striking angle. Additionally, when shooting a close up on a kid, it's better to move the camera closer and use a wide lens rather than zooming in. 

Needless to say, after this weekend, my next film will star adults... But children are great. Really, they're great.

Directing for Dummies

Welcome to the newest edition of "[insert random film crew position] for Dummies!" I'm you're host, Mike, and today we shall be delving into the world of the director. *Oooo ahhh* Now, I know what you're all thinking: "Duh! A director is the guy/girl that directs people!" You know what? You'd be correct in saying that. Go figure!

I'm sure you all know the basics of a director's job. I'm here today, though, to try to teach you a little something that you may not have already known. Let's start from the beginning. Now, after a director is hired by producers for a project, the director must then work side-by-side with the producers to cast actors for the film. This can be an extremely long and tedious process, but it's one that simply must be done. Clearly. Without quality actors, you can't possibly dream to have a quality film. Well, I guess you could, but that's all it would be: a dream.

Next up on the list of things to do, the director has to organize and select shooting locations. Of course, the director has location scouts working for him to truly find the best locations for shooting, but he has creative control and authority as to which locations will appear in the film. At the same time, the director interprets--and sometimes even writes or selects--the script for the film. The director rarely ever writes the script himself, but if he's not hired by a production house to direct the film, the director will often go out and find a script he'd like to work with. The location selections are hugely dependent on the script and the way the director interprets it, so the two steps are pretty much synonymous.

The director's next job is the last step before filming can begin. He must approve the sets, costumes, choreography (not present in most films), and music. These aspects of film are usually completely invisible to the untrained eye, or ear, because the only time most people will find them noticeable is when they are done incorrectly. If a film is set on a 1950s Japanese farm, and the actors are wearing tuxedos and sneakers with Kanye vaguely playing in the background, something went wrong...very, very wrong. It's the director's job to make sure mistakes like this never happen.

What else does the director do? Well I'm glad you asked! The rest of the director's work is pretty straight forward and most of you already know all of these things. But guess what! I'm going to tell you about it anyway! The director has a whole lot to do during production. The most obvious task is directing the actors. Whether it's explaining to actors how he wants them to portray their character in a given moment or if it's simply helping actors get into character, the director is the guy doing it. While doing this, the director also keeps the crew on track and makes sure everyone's doing what they need to be doing. Film shoots are generally tightly scheduled, so there's no time for excessive screw-ups and messing around. While doing this, the director also works with the cinematographers on shot composition and makes sure he likes what's in the frame.

Production is quite a daunting time for directors. They're basically the ringleaders for the wildest circuses on the planet. If they crack, the film is doomed to fail. The director must keep his cool so that everyone else does.

So now the film is shot. Yay! The only thing that's left for the director to do is work with the editors on creating first a rough cut and then a final cut of the film. The director gives his input throughout the process on what he thinks looks and feels better. Sometimes, this leads to reshoots of scenes or even cutting entire scenes from the film. But hey, who ever said directing was easy?

How the film boyhood was written

So we all know about the stunning movie that took 12years make known as "Boyhood". Well if you're interested in how such a story gets created, you've come to the right place. An exclusive interview with the writer of Boyhood, Richard Linklater, will let us learn the way to create such a film ourselves... or at least appreciate the creative genius behind it. Attached is a 9minute interview explaining how Richard wrote this film but I will divulge a few details prior to taking a gander. Richard knew the ending of the film 11 years before he was finished writing it, but he needed to know how to get to that end.

Initially Richard wanted to make a film about childhood but he did not know how to incapsulate but all the sudden wants his finger hit the keyboard the idea came to him. From the beginning he knew the idea was impractical but he decided to keep pursuing it. When he decided to start filming it he said he spent about 3 days a year filming it but it took about 2 years of preproduction before he could start filming. He also had the luxury of spending two years in post production so he had a lot of time to perfect his production.

When making the film he decided he did not just want to show content that built upon the characters but just to show daily life during the time of production. He believed that this build up of information would naturally be impactful. Richard tried to take those little forgettable moments and make them memorable. The child she chose to be in the film was someone from his town who he now views practically as his nephew. He told the kid to write down his life events when something significant happened and utilized those memories to write his script. At the begging of the film the now adult was 7 years old. Richard made sure to think about the current time period when writing the script rather than the future or the past. It took creative genius and determination to create such a script, for more details I urge you to watch the short interview which can be found at the attached link.

http://nofilmschool.com/2014/08/write-movie-12-years-richard-link-later-boyhood

Digital Viewfinder for Cinematography (DView)

       I am back again with another application that may be able to aid in you in your kit as a filmmaker. This week I am posting about an iTunes application called Digital Viewfinder after Arturo mentioned the The Wolf of Wall Street in the ASC and more specifically how the director chose from various camera's and lenses in order to achieve the final look of the scene. This app does just that by allowing you to easily visualize shot framing for a number of different cameras and lenses without having to actually bring all the equipment along to the location. By replacing the classic director's viewfinder this invaluable application not only mimics a wide variety of professional film equipment but it also gives desired aspect ratios, focal length, full meta-data and GPS coordinates. Additional features include being able to organize your location photos into projects, share your photos or create a PDF report and lastly if that isn't enough it also allows for the selection of 45 professional digital and film motion picture cameras including names like Panavision, RED, Sony and Phantom. Lastly the app allows for you to share your shots by sending them via iMessage, AirDrop, Email, Facebook and Twitter. Digital Viewfinder for Cinematography is $29.99 on the iTunes app store and is available for both the iPad and iPhone. This could be a handy tool for upcoming projects especially if you are involved with preproduction planning!

Here a few screen shots showing some of the features I have outlined above...

Efficient Film Making

Probably about 90% of making a film work out in your favor is by planning ahead of time.
Never forget to plan for everything to go wrong most of the time it will.
Some things are unavoidable and unthinkable but unfortunately they do happen. It's always good to be willing to try and work with people rather than against them.
I think what helps me do well in any department is to have a little confidence in myself and my ability to figure things out, not being afraid to jump right in to something, over planning, giving myself enough time to do something that needs doing, and doing that part of film making as much as you can. I try to volunteer in the things I'm good at first and if someone asks for help on something that I know I have time for and can handle I try really hard to just do it. Helping hands that don't know all the ropes are better than no hands at all. When I was directing I always tried to just get people who are available first. In order to get anyone to do anything for you you have to plan out when you're doing things. Before that even It's a great idea to find locations first. Like an artist you have to think of the background before you can even begin thinking about the foreground. Think about what makes the scene possible first and then think about what makes it pretty. First, get your location and when it will be available and plan your schedule accordingly. Then think about the idea, what do we want the idea to look like shot-for shot. Again you want to over plan for this. Plan out every shot in detail! By the end of this pre-production process keep the ideas in mind but don't marry them. You can then decide what kind of equipment you'll need to make it look like it does in your head. Then you can think about the people available to you that can run all of that equipment, gather them and schedule them promptly. Then schedule back up people for them just in case your first person falls through. Remind those people that they are on-call. Then you should think about the talent. These people at some point will have a level of irreplaceable status. In order to progress and not work backwards you want to stress to these people how valuable they are to this production. Then you can start thinking about the Art-department aspect of it because then your art person(s) will have sizes of the actors to work with. It's ideal to assign a car+assistant/driver to the art department. Think of all the ways you can help them out by donating the clothes, props, make up, and set dressing you can offer to them. Don't be afraid of any stains (unless they're bleach stains) they can all be removed. Then think about all of the luxury items you will want of set; food, coffee, water, snacks, extra scripts, a screw driver, TAPE (ALL THE TAPE), etc.
Then shoot it and expect all of these things to not work out.
Then eventually you can sit down with someone fresh and have them edit all the crazy work you just did. Sometimes it helps to have someone who hasn't so intently worked on this project as much as you have editing the final film. You obviously shouldn't just leave it all up to them, you should watch and compromise and listen to their ideas too. Make some sacrifices  your audience will thank you because sometimes as much as you think it's the greatest idea in the world, others might see it differently and that's ok. 

Do we have time for this in a matter of 3 weeks. Absolutely not! There are sacrifices you will have to make. I'm not just talking about the pre-production and production stuff that you just planned out for either! Expect to lose money, expect to not eat, expect to have anxiety attacks, expect to have insomnia etc. Personal tolls. But also understand that this is all only temporary. A good film that you can submit to film festivals, that you can show to potential employers and be able to explain how you got to make this film, it makes it all worth the temporary hell you'll have to go through. Your film can last a long long time. Think about the films that literally almost everyone in the world has seen. Those films probably had all of the stress that you have! But they not only made a lot of money off of it, but they got to say hey, I made this and it's really going places! There is a light at the end of the tunnel.

Trust me if you plan like this, and even if everything that you couldn't have even fathomed went wrong, you'll probably most deff. have something worth bragging about. It will make you a better film maker. Your best work will only be your best film because you failed and learned in all the other films before it. Your first film may or may not be your worst. If you put in 100% of your effort, then that is literally all you can do, be proud of that and forgive yourself for being human. Just remember that you can always hug someone when you need to. Unless you're surrounded by cacti. In that case run!



Haven't watched very many films lately, I've watched some documentaries but nothing crazy good.

Grumpy cat

Reenactment Shot Shoot- Quiet Riot

After our film shoot last weekend, I realized how important it is know your footage, actors, and location before shooting a shot as detail heavy as our recreation shot. I also learned that it is extremely difficult to find actors if you are not organized and ambitious. Despite all of our efforts we could not find enough actors to do the original shot we chose and had to change our shot at the very last minute, creating a source of stress within the group. I also learned that it is important to know upcoming events and activities dealing with your location to prevent conflicts in scheduling. Because we filmed in the commons for our original shot, we were unable to shoot there for the recreation shot due to a community activity that was taking place on our scheduled shooting day. It was also very difficult to film around the public and to capture the natural state of people with a  camera  present.

For the actual film shoot, I was the Director of Photography and we decided to use the Sony FS-100. I have not really used the camera before and it was much easier to achieve the look of the original shot by using picture profiles. Using profile pictures, allowed me to view the shot through several types of settings and help me achieve the perfect look for our recreation shot. It was also a great challenge to frame the shot the same as the original. I found it to be very beneficial to study the location of the actors in relation to their environment. I used physical attributes of the location, such as lines on the wall and staircases, to frame the shot within the camera.

As far as the directing was concerned, it worked the best to provide our actors with countdowns  for their actions and used verbal cues to move the actors forward in the shot. Using a countdown was very beneficial to our actors. In the end we got a shot that was almost identical to the first shot, concerning the physical and facial expressions of our actors. It was also very important that we used similar wardrobe choices and actors with similar physical features.

Overall,  I am really impressed with myself and my groups's ability to overcome the difficulties we faced during this project. I wished that our shot was much longer than it ended up being but I think we did an excellent job on our recreation shot. This was a very challenging experience but was a great learning experience and tons of fun.

amateur directors, directing amateur actors

As it gets closer to the day of our film shoot, I realized myself and my group members  face a huge challenge getting our recreated footage to meet the original. A major factor in the success of this project is being able to tell our actors their exact physical and emotional actions.

Since my last blog post was such a hit, I decided I would do another informational post. I found a really great article on helium.com, written by David Shakespeare, that provides tips and advice to directors when working with amateur actors. I recommend that you check out the article, but here is an overview of Shakespeare's tips. Check out the article http://www.helium.com/items/1783328-filmmaking-how-to-direct-amateur-actors.

1. Rehearsal, rehearsal, rehearsal- It is important that your actor is familiar with the film environment and the backstory of their character. Backstories allow actors to become apart of their character and will allow the director to capture characters that feel natural and easy for the actors to portray.

2. Know the script- Make sure that the actors know the script before you begin filming and allow some leeway in the character development to allow actors to customize the characters. Also, listen to how your actors believe a character should be portrayed, sometimes they may read the character differently. It is important to listen to how your actors read the script and don't be afraid to tell them how you want the character or story to be portrayed.

3. More takes, the better- Make sure your actors know that it is okay to make mistakes. When mistakes occur, encourage the actor to stay in character and continue with shooting. It is important that the actor responds to the error, as if they were the character and not just an actor. Do not stress over the mistakes that happen because sometimes they can make the acting seem more natural and may provide a new perspective of your script.

4.Show the performance- Show the actors the captured footage. This provides you the opportunity to comment on the actor's performance and make suggestions to enhance their performance. It is also very beneficial for the actors to seem themselves as the character so they can make appropriate changes. Constructive criticism is vital.

PRACTICE!!!!!!

This article provided me with some really great advice about communicating with amateur actors, so i encourage you all to check it out at the link listed above. Hope you learned something.

Peace,

Brie

One Shot Reflection

Directing has always been something that I've been somewhat interested in, but not too sure of myself in. At least in production classes, I've been used to developing an idea in a group and being the DP-essentially being able to frame my own project as I see fitting. It was a challenge for me this time to step back from this role, and tell someone else how I wanted my vision to be seen. However, I found that (even though I was only able to do one take) when you have faith in your crew and their abilities, this can end up looking really great.

The pre-production process, however, proved to be much more stressful than I had initially anticipated. My idea sort of 'came to me' in a brainstorming process, somewhat out of nowhere. I knew it was a bit ambitious, but for once I wanted to go outside of my comfort zone in a production class and really try something I'd never done before. I went through about 3 trials of making the sugar glass that essentially failed. The first one didn't harden at all. The second ended up looking alright (but ended up failing...I'll get to that). Then, the night before shooting, my talent suggested I try doing it again just in case. So I did, and it again came out decent.

At the time of the shoot, I first decided to use the last piece of sugar glass because I thought it looked the worst. The shoot went great and the photography looked amazing. As I went to remove the first piece I made from the pan, it broke right in front of me. So I had to go with what I had. It ended up looking really great and I was able to do some cool stuff in post. I think I'm gonna try my hand at directing the next opportunity that arises.

One shot- director reflection

      

      Last Saturday, I shot my one shot film in my apartment and for the most part, the shoot went really well and I was pleased by the efforts of my group members and actors. Admittedly, I planned my first shoot at the last minute and my original location fell through. Because I was not able to shoot at Hammond Health Center, I was forced to find new actors, write a script, and find a new location within a few short hours. I was very disappointed that my first location fell through, but it was my fault on behalf of bad planning and last minute decision making. My new script was not a reflection of my best work. Fortunately, my actress was great and did an excellent job of bringing an emotional aspect to my seemingly cliche script and develop Liz's character. When it came down to the actual filming, my teammates worked really hard. I think that my lighting was very blown out and could have been more subtle. After color correcting in post, darker lighting worked much better with my story and the actions of the actors. 

        As i watched my film in class, I realized that I could have used more camera movement and that my shot was very static. I think that the strongest part of my piece was the acting. i was really pleased with Talia's delivery and think she did a great job of portraying Liz's character. The weakest part of my film was definitely the lighting. It was very weak and did a poor job of representing the high emotion involved in my production. I aslo think I could have chose a better location. My apartment is very bare and does not seem lived. I should have concentrated more on art direction to make a stronger character presence in the home. By using an off campus house, my location would have had more character and would have seemed more natural for the script. 

        As far as my role as a director, this is actually the first project I have worked on as a student that allowed me to fully direct my actors. I think that I did a really good job directing my actors. I realized it is extremely important to know your script and the types of emotions you would like your actors to portray. I also learned that blocking is important when directing. I found it difficult to make the actions of my actors appear natural and struggled to emphasize the importance of the actors physical interactions with the location and set. As a director, you need to know your script, how you would like your production to be portrayed, and the physical and emotional actions you want from your actors. I really enjoyed directing. 

    Overall, I am really pleased with how my production turned out and learned a great deal about production value, directing, and location scouting. I really enjoyed this project and look forward to using these skills for later projects. I learned that post production can greatly increase production value and that is extremely important to maintain the same settings you shot with while exporting. The production of Palmer, was the first time I have felt fully involved in each aspect of a production.

-Brie

Directing

I've been attempting to direct actors for about three years. I am NO expert, it's a world of science that can be quite a mystery. It's very difficult to work with amateurs, kids, animals, and many other life things!!
This really reminds me of a facebook note from back in the day when notes on facebook were cool! I actually found it on my facebook and I love it it's so funny.

Win Wender's Golden Rules

1. You have a choice of being “in the business” or of making movies. If you’d rather do business, don’t hesitate. You’ll get richer, but you won’t have as much fun!

2. If you have nothing to say, don’t feel obliged to pretend you do.

3. If you do have something to say, you’d better stick to it. (But then don’t give too many interviews.)

4. Respect your actors. Their job is 10 times more dangerous than yours.

5. Don’t look at the monitor. Watch the faces in front of your camera! Stand right next to it! You’ll see infinitely more. You can still check your monitor after the take.

6. Your continuity girl is always right about screen directions, jumping the axis and that sort of stuff. Don’t fight her. Bring her flowers.

7. Always remember: Continuity is overrated!

8. Coverage is overrated, too!

9. If you want to shoot day for night, make sure the sun is shining.

10. Before you say “cut,” wait five more seconds.

11. Rain only shows on the screen when you backlight it.

12. Don’t shoot a western if you hate horses. (But it’s okay to not be fond of cows.)

13. Think twice before you write a scene with babies or infants.

14. Never expect dogs, cats, birds or any other animals to do what you’d like them to do. Keep your shots loose.

15. Mistakes never get fixed in post!

16. Final cut is overrated. Only fools keep insisting on always having the final word. The wise swallow their pride in order to get to the best possible cut.

17. Other people have great ideas, too.  (I LEARNED THIS LAST YEAR WITH WHITE LIGHTS!!)

18. The more money you have the more you can do with it, sure. But the less you can say with it.

19. Never fall in love with your temp music.

20. Never fall in love with your leading lady!

21. If you love soccer, don’t shoot your film during the World Championship. (Same goes for baseball and the World Series, etc.)

22. Don’t quote other movies unless you have to. (But why would you have to?)

23. Let other people cut your trailer!

24. It’s always good to make up for a lack of (financial) means with an increase in imagination.

25. Having a tight schedule can be difficult. But having too much time is worse.

26. Alright, so you’re shooting with a storyboard. Make sure you’re willing to override it at any given moment.

27. Less make-up is better.

28. Fewer words are always better!

29. Too much sugary stuff on the craft table (or is it Kraft?) can have a disastrous effect on your crew’s morale.

30. Film can reveal the invisible, but you must be willing to let it show.

31. The more you know about moviemaking, the tougher it gets to leave that knowledge behind. As soon as you do things “because you know how to do them,” you’re fucked.

32. Don’t tell a story that you think somebody else could tell better.

33. A “beautiful image” can very well be the worst thing that can happen to a scene.

34. If you have one actor who gets better with every take, and another who loses it after a while, make sure they can meet in the middle. Or consider recasting. (And you know whose close-ups you have to shoot first!)

35. If you shoot in a dark alley at night, don’t let your DP impose a bright blue contre-jour spotlight on you, even in the far distance. It always looks corny.

36. Some actors should never see rushes. Others should be forced to watch them.

37. Be ready to get rid of your favorite shot during editing.

38. Why would you sit in your trailer while your crew is working?

39. Don’t let them lay tracks before you’ve actually looked through your viewfinder.

40. You need a good title from the beginning. Don’t shoot the film with a working title you hate!

41. In general, it’s better not to employ couples. (But of course, there are exceptions!)

42. Don’t adapt novels.

43. If your dolly grip is grumpy or your electricians hate the shot it will all show on the film. (Also, if you’re constipated…)

44. Keep your rough cut speech, your cast and crew screening speech and your Oscar speech short.

45. Some actors actually improve their dialogue in ADR.

46. Some actors should never be forced to loop a single line. (Even Orson Welles wasn’t good at that.)

47. There are 10,000 other rules like these 50.

48. If there are golden rules, there might be platinum ones, too.

49. There are no rules.

50. None of the above is necessarily correct.

#4: we went over this in class today!!

#6: I have a friend I interned with two years ago that was the script supervisor for a film I interned on! It was awesome having her around because she's gone on to do AMAZING productions: to name a few- Paranha 3DD, LOL (starring MIley Cyrus), Scream 4 (2011), and A Very Harold and Kumar 3D Christmas. Never really in big time A list movies but she does VERY well for herself and I had the privilege of working very closely with her. I also love seeing her facebook posts on what she's doing with her career. She's always got a ton going on and I think that could be the secret to her success. I've always wanted to try having a script supervisor for a film of my own! 
#17: I learned this in White Lights last year, I couldn't possibly take as much credit for what that film was with out Jackie Campbell, Josh Best, Dave Howelle, Maxwell Melhman, Courtney Herman, Harlan Green-Taub or R. Aaron Walters, or Benni Lee Janssen. It takes a crew to make a film happen you litterally can NOT do it yourself. Unless of course you're Jeffrey R. Newell.

#24: ALWAYS HAD to deal with this issue. I think it's made me a better film maker and a person. 

#28: I learned this in script writing last semester! It's ver difficult to deviate from thinking your actors need to explain everything they're doing. They don't need to! Trust me it makes it a lot better when they don't explain anything: as we've seen in The Artist (oscar winning best feature film 2011).  (see above video)

#41: When I directed a short adaptation called "The Flea" in 2010, it was a HUGE mistake casting a couple that was together to play my main couple. It was also a mistake trying to edit my film on a crappy old computer using a bootleg copy of a really lame editing software, but that's another story for another day! In the middle of my shoot the couple had broken up (WHICH would have been AWESOME for believable acting since it was a break up story), but He decided to screw my film because he was too broken hearted to leave his room to do a one hour shoot (tops) and have it be the end of it! My film sucked but it was the best I could have done given the circumstances! I can't say I regretted this film because I learned more doing this film alone than any other film I've ever done (directing). (see above film...and please!!! don't judge)
#42: This leads me to my next point. NEVER EVER EVER adapt a novel unless you have a bjillion dollars and you don't care what people think of your films anymore because you have so much money that you don't need fans anymore. It's so hard and I don't think the general public will ever understand how hard it is to adapt a screen play from a novel. Therefore, they automatically won't appreciate anything you put out there. If a film maker adapted a novel word for word it would literally be a three day film. It takes a magical person to please anyone when adapting a novel to screen. I took a class on it the year I made The Flea! I honestly believe that the only way to appreciate a film based on a novel is by being extremely open minded, not expecting anything upon entering, and understanding the film as a "take" on how they saw the novel visually and how they made it work. I personally don't like to read a book before I watch the adapted film, because, this way I don't form my own visuals before I see others take on it. I like to see the film first and then read the book because then I can see more clearly how the film maker had seen it that way. I also enjoy the experience of reading it and seeing the story in more depth, rather than seeing a summarized version of the story after you already know what happened and why it happened. To me it's just not worth risking my career over someone being too close minded about my take on a novel. So I personally try and avoid it at all costs. However, some may strongly disagree with me on so many levels. They can go make their films and I wont judge them for that adaptation, in fact if anyone does it, I have a whole new respect for them. However, I feel most people dont see it the same way I do.
#49+50: None of these rules need apply to anything. Do you're own thing. This is more of a good advice list from a professional. By all means go out and make mistakes, it's great to learn from them! I wouldn't have agreed with any of this if I hadn't made mistakes thus far in my own career.

I 'm learning about my self, I have learned that I don't personally take enough risks, I don't like to leave my comfort zone. No one has ever made anything of themselves by just waiting for miracles. Some how, I need to do what I don't want to do so that I can do what I love.

Anyways, I found this mostly relevant and fun too!