How to Get Arturo's Stamp of Approval: Short Film Edition

Since we'll all be spending the next few days thinking up the project that will control our lives for the next 2+ months, I thought it'd be nice to do a "Short Films for Dummies"-esque post on how to make a great short that we'll want in our portfolio.

As I'm sure you all expect me to say, a great short is nothing without a great story. Choose a story that you have a personal connection with. When the writer or director has a connection to the material, it demonstrates a powerful point of view--something that's much harder to find when you tackle big topics like space travel, the meaning of life, or an entire relationship. Then take your personal connection and tell a story of one character's or couple's journey, but no more than that. In a short film, there is little room for subplots and secondary characters and montages. Just a single dilemma that will be resolved by the end in some way. Short films are not about events, but the people those events happen to. While plot and twists are important, your film will be forgotten without memorable characters that your audience can empathize with. So you want a main character with a strong personality, including quirks, desires, and goals.

All great stories have three things in common: a beginning, a middle, and an end. Even if it feels like the story could go on or become part of a larger story, every short needs some sort of closure or resolution. Sometimes the hardest part is deciding where to start your story. You have a very short window of time to create a world that grabs the audience in. Mapping out your characters' journey is a good way to figure out where to start. You need to find the most visual and quickest way for the audience to get to know your character. Whether it be an image or action or line that makes the audience get where the characters are starting from, let that be your opening shot and scene. In a short, there's no luxury of 10 pages to set them up and tell us about their hopes, dreams, backstories, and all that little stuff you'd find in a feature. You've really only got your first page to make them interesting to your audience. In that first page, you want your audience to understand, connect with, and root for your character.

The last thing you want is predictable story. Audiences like when you set up their expectations, then subvert them. There should be twists in the first and last minute of your film. It's easy and tempting to use your film to say something cynical about human nature or relationships or society, but if you find a way to leave your audience with even the slightest positive impression, there's a much greater chance of it leaving a lasting impression on them and remembering your work. So if at all possible, end with a positive spin.

Let's move on from story to other aspects of making a short film. It doesn't take a great amount of money to make a great short, but it does take great production value. So how do you guarantee great production value? You start by choosing great locations. You want locations that add a visual element to your story and allow for great shot choices. When choosing locations, think about the tone and mood that each place creates and make sure it fits the tone and mood you have intended. In shorts, it's not just what story you tell, but how you tell it. The writer and director should always be trying to get their voice and style across. That includes having visuals and moments that show off voice, style, POV, technical awareness, knowledge of shot composition, depth, etc. You absolutely, positively must be prepared before you get on set. You should know exactly what you need to get from every scene, including what emotion, what action, what shots, what tone, etc.

Back to budget. As I said earlier, short films do not require much money. To keep your production at a low cost and on schedule, start by writing a project with only a few locations and a few characters. The fewer locations, the better. As for characters, try not to have scenes that call for a dozen extras. The more actors you have to manage on set, the more difficult your life will be. Quick side note. I'm only going to say one thing about the casting process. When casting, don't cast your friend cause they bought you beer or your professor's son out of convenience. Hold auditions like the young professional that you are. That is all. Another tip for saving time on set (and budget, if you're feeding your cast and crew as you should be) is to try to keep the times of days in your scenes as consistent as possible. Having all day scenes or all night scenes will condense the number of shoots you can film your short in. And the last thing you want to do is have a scene focused around a specific hour, like sunrise or sunset. You're practically guaranteed to not get everything you need in time and may lose a whole day of production.

If you want this next short to be one that you submit to contests, then it should not be longer than around 12 minutes. Festivals need to fit numerous shorts into 90-minute slots, so they can't program a short that takes up one-third of their time. The average length is about 4-8 minutes, plus end credits, which could add a minute or so to your short.

In conclusion, keep your short, short.

It doesn’t take a great deal of money to make a great short, but it does take great production value. - See more at: http://www.scriptmag.com/features/notes-margins-elements-great-short-films#sthash.8wTX71zo.

It doesn’t take a great deal of money to make a great short, but it does take great production value. - See more at: http://www.scriptmag.com/features/notes-margins-elements-great-short-films#sthash.8wTX71zo.dpuf

It doesn’t take a great deal of money to make a great short, but it does take great production value. - See more at: http://www.scriptmag.com/features/notes-margins-elements-great-short-films#sthash.8wTX71zo.dpuf

Script Supervising for Dummies

Welcome back! Don't know how you got here? Don't know why you're here? Me neither! As long as I have you, though, let's discuss a very important matter. Now, I don't know about you, but I've been wondering what a script supervisor does for quite some time. I understood the very basics of the job, but what in the world are the specifics?! I don't know! Or at least I didn't know. Until now! It's "Script Supervising for Dummies!"

What most people already know about being a script supervisor is that they, well, supervise the script. "But what exactly does that entail?" one may ask. The paramount job of a script supervisor is to maintain a daily log of the day's shots and their relation to the script during the production process. They act as the chief continuity person on set and act as the on-set liaison to the postproduction staff.

Essentially, the script supervisor is the editors' best friend. They're practically the only ones on set who have the postproduction staff's best interests at heart. They keep track of every shot and make sure it'll be able to be cut together later in the production process. We love our script supervisors!

Getting a little more into the details of the job, a script supervisor's foremost task is to maintain of log of all shots taken on set. This log has every bit of information an editor could possibly need. It has shot numbers that match up with the script, slated shot numbers, comments from the director or DP (usually explaining important details of what to use/not use), continuity information, the tape/reel number, camera settings, the date and time, production statistics, etc., etc., etc. Any and all questions postproduction staff may have should be answered by this log. If there are any questions left unanswered, the script supervisor didn't do his/her job and will most definitely be fired...ok, maybe not fired, but someone will definitely be slightly upset.

Along with the continuity notes on the shot log, the script supervisor must also have keen eyes on set so as to call out any errors while shooting. This can include anything from an actor's hand movements from shot to shot to a prop placement error. Clearly, they can't interrupt a shot just to point out an error, but instead will relay their notes onto one of the directors so that they can correct them in future takes. To assure for consistent prop/set placement and design from day to day (you never know what fool will decide to move something), the script supervisor cross-references with the continuity stills photographer daily. They need to make sure they'll have easy access to any continuity stills during production so they can quickly double-check anything they need to without costing the production any time.

A script supervisor who's particularly good at their job will most likely have some level of editing experience, or at least a general understanding of how it works. It makes for a much better judge of what can and what cannot be cut together (continuity). Speaking for anyone who's ever worked in postproduction, we love our script supervisors. We really, really do.

Producing for Dummies

I'd like to state for the record that producing is not actually for dummies. Nor is this an attack on you, Diana. If anything, the dummy in this situation is me. I found myself sitting in my room this afternoon, and the question popped into my head: "What exactly do movie producers do?" So, I did my research and actually found that it's a whole lot more than what I originally thought.

A producer's job begins in preproduction. Psh, I knew that. What I didn't know is that the producer is the person who pretty much gets the project off the ground. First, he (or she, of course) needs to find material for his next project from either a script or a book. Then he needs to get a script in good enough shape to attract the attention of a possible director (and even a studio if a studio wasn't the one who started the project). After that, the producer's job in preproduction is pretty much done. HAH! Yeah, right.

Once the producer has a workable script and a choice of director, all he needs to do is secure financing for the film, choose a director and other members of the creative team, work with the director to cast actors, determine shooting locations and budget, decide on a cinematographer, hire the rest of the production team (including other producers), develop a shooting schedule, and create a detailed plan of action for the entirety of production. PHEW! That's one demanding job! Oh wait, the producer isn't even close to being done.

Time to begin shooting! Now it comes to the actual production; the fun part! Or at least it's fun for some people. Sorry, producer, you're on the clock. Production is when the producer offers creative suggestions to the director, handles any and all problems with the actors and creative staff, monitors the production timetable and budget, and reviews the film shot each day. Essentially, the producer has to watch over everything. If something goes wrong, the producer better find a solution, and fast.

And now it finally reaches postproduction, the time for most people to relax and wait to see what they've worked so hard on for so many months. Postproduction is really only horrible for the editors, sound, and special effects guys, right? Wrong. Believe it or not, the producer's job still isn't done. To begin the final step, the producer sits down with the director over a nice cup of tea and decides the order and selection of scenes that will appear in the final cut of the film. After that, he reviews each cut of the film until it's satisfactory. NOW all the producer's got to do is secure a distributor for the film and review the distributor's advertising campaign. After this, and only after this, is the producer's job finally complete.

Never before today did I truly appreciate the work of producers. I honestly believed they were just the piggybanks of the production team. I know it's difficult to believe, but I was wrong. Oh so wrong. Here's to you, producers!

Final Project Shoot

This past Friday and Sunday, we shot our final project.  Friday, we shot in a lovely book store in the commons and on Sunday, we shot as a whole group at two different houses.  Sunday was the big day and it was a long day.  It was also a very effective day of shooting.  I think the keys to our efficiency in filming was that everyone had a job but not only that, everyone knew how to continuously carry out their job.  Nobody lagged behind and zoned off but everyone was always concentrated on doing the work and getting the best possible work for our project.  It was a long day of shooting and everyone was tired but it felt great to know that we had worked hard and were going to see it payoff.  I am very excited to see the final cut of our project.

New Project

I'm really excited for this new project. The idea of using a story that was in the news and making a short film with it is interesting and has the opportunity to be so creative and dynamic because you can approach it at some many angles. My idea of using the story of the Empire State Building shooting can be spun in so many directions. I can write a story of the life of someone who survived the shooting or a bystander, a relative of the shooter, relative or someone who has died in the shooting, a cop who worked that day, so many places I can take this story. I like the other ideas shared in class too, I voted for the the story about the gun in the book, but I'm still debating about doing my own project. I know how difficult it can be to try and assemble a team and do a production, which is why I voted for the story about the gun and the book, which is the story I will most likely do. Im excited for this project and working with other people from the class. Should be fun!