What went wrong on your first serious shoot?

[iamWZA]

I'd be really interested to hear about this, particularly from the more experienced members. What sort of things went wrong on your first project and how did you deal with them?
What did you learn?

I'll let you define 'serious'!

[Belief Pictures]

Well on our first shoot it went well for the most part. Just mostly work ethic issues with the cast and crew. Lots of back stabbing and gossips. After I left the room people would talk about me behind my back saying what a 'push over' I was... tried to confront the situations best I can. It didn't work though because they were busy protecting themselves.

[jghenderson]

Well i'm not very experienced, as I am only right now working on my first "big" project, which is a short film, shooting next week. But I can say the biggest issue i've had so far is definitely motivation for the crew. When you aren't paying people buckets of money, it can be difficult to convince them to spend the amount of time necessary for a project to be great. I'm trying to be as passionate and energetic as possible, hoping that will trickle down to the rest of the crew, but sometimes it feels like a losing battle.

[Egg Born Son]

Take plenty of vitamin C and get your flu shots! I've been working on my first serious shoot for Warfest. I had everything planned out and everything was going well, i had an ambitious script, location permissions, actors, costumes. I've been sick in bed now for three weeks and counting. Just like on 'House' the quacks have misdiagnosed me a number of times (currently calling it pneumonia) and production has been pushed back. The last two weekends the weather was perfect (it's hard not to dwell on what could have been) but it is likely to rain for the next 2-3 months straight. On a side note we had a tornado in the metro area today. WTF? This is Perth, we don't have tornados. So now my perfect location is out, it looks like one of my actors is going to be unavailable for the new dates and having already bought costumes I have to find a replacement that will fit his unusual dimensions! It seems it only takes one element to throw the whole thing out. Trying to rewrite to my new circumstances because I'm still determined to submit something but indoors/outdoors was a core thematic component and the rewrite/reimagining isn't going so well.

[iamWZA]

Damn that's some tough luck. Hope you can pull it all together - get well soon!

Any more comments v. much welcomed

[bressonftw]

One thing I noticed is communication. I have done a few shorts (some with friends, some more ambitious) and helped other friends out who made a film. Sometimes when someone of the crew asks you what we're going to do, and you explain it, possibly very expansive explanation. The person will probably nod, and you will think you have explained it, but people stil forget/get lost in the big talk, so I found it rather efficient on later shoots to summarize the big explanation, in a few short, to-the-point points (for instance: ok first A enters, then Camera pans, B meets A) etc. Ofcourse, I have not yet worked with the a clapperperson/screamy person who organizes stuff on a set. If you don't have such a crewmember, you might find this usefull.

[NBside]

@Egg Born Son... Sorry to hear about your illness...that really sucks! I hope you get well soon, and things get back on track! Ive had to reschedule productions before due to illness and it never feels like I fully get everything back on truck. Good luck man!

[NBside]

One of the biggest issues I ran across on my first major shoot, and actually still run across from time to time, is egos.

For the most part, when you are shooting a low/no budget indie, most of the crew that you recruit are fellow filmmakers.
Nine times out of ten during your first serious shoot, your 1st AD isnt a career AD. The same thing goes for your AC's (if you have any), and so on and so forth. Most of the time, at least in my case, my crew was primarily composed of fellow indie writer/directors who all lend a helping hand to each others shoots. That being said...you know the old adage "Too many cooks in the kitchen"...well, thats exactly what happens.
On my first major shoot, my DP was a director/cinematographer, my 1st AD was an aspiring director, my gaffer was an aspiring DP, my location sound op was actually a post audio mixer, my line producer was a writer/director, my production designer was a writer/director/cinematographer, hell... even my script supervisor/continuity/clapper was an independent filmmaker...actually, so was my one and only PA. So, needless to say, there were about a half dozen "aspiring directors" on set. So you can imagine the headaches that I had to deal with as the ACTUAL writer/director for that project.

Everyone had a suggestion for a shot or for framing, between takes I had 3 or 4 people "directing" my actors, I would call for a lens change only to find that the "DP" had decided on his own choice of glass. I mean, everyone felt like their ideas were the best.
Now, dont get me wrong...I am the most collaborative person you will ever meet when Im working with talented people. I value everyones opinions, and always believe that "whatever is best for the film" is the decision to be made. But when 12 people all think that their decision is whats best, thats when the s@!t hits the fan!
Really, I always envision a film set like the military, with a chain of command. Each department has one person that they ultimately answer to, and that person answers directly to the director. When the director makes a final decision, than final that decision should be. Again, Im all for collaboration, creative input, and the sharing of ideas. Besides, I know that a true DP is extensively more knowledgeable than I when it comes to the camera package and the glass... the same thing goes with every other department, and I will always trust their judgement on the things that they know best... but a ship isnt going to go anywhere without a captain...lol
I thought it would be great to have so many die hard filmmakers on set for my production, however, it turned into a migraine that no amount of Excedrin would cure!

That was definitely my most troublesome issue with my first serious shoot, and sadly, I still run into that problem from time to time.

[kylevant]

One of the biggest issues I ran across on my first major shoot, and actually still run across from time to time, is egos.

For the most part, when you are shooting a low/no budget indie, most of the crew that you recruit are fellow filmmakers.
Nine times out of ten during your first serious shoot, your 1st AD isnt a career AD. The same thing goes for your AC's (if you have any), and so on and so forth. Most of the time, at least in my case, my crew was primarily composed of fellow indie writer/directors who all lend a helping hand to each others shoots. That being said...you know the old adage "Too many cooks in the kitchen"...well, thats exactly what happens.
On my first major shoot, my DP was a director/cinematographer, my 1st AD was an aspiring director, my gaffer was an aspiring DP, my location sound op was actually a post audio mixer, my line producer was a writer/director, my production designer was a writer/director/cinematographer, hell... even my script supervisor/continuity/clapper was an independent filmmaker...actually, so was my one and only PA. So, needless to say, there were about a half dozen "aspiring directors" on set. So you can imagine the headaches that I had to deal with as the ACTUAL writer/director for that project.

Everyone had a suggestion for a shot or for framing, between takes I had 3 or 4 people "directing" my actors, I would call for a lens change only to find that the "DP" had decided on his own choice of glass. I mean, everyone felt like their ideas were the best.
Now, dont get me wrong...I am the most collaborative person you will ever meet when Im working with talented people. I value everyones opinions, and always believe that "whatever is best for the film" is the decision to be made. But when 12 people all think that their decision is whats best, thats when the s@!t hits the fan!
Really, I always envision a film set like the military, with a chain of command. Each department has one person that they ultimately answer to, and that person answers directly to the director. When the director makes a final decision, than final that decision should be. Again, Im all for collaboration, creative input, and the sharing of ideas. Besides, I know that a true DP is extensively more knowledgeable than I when it comes to the camera package and the glass... the same thing goes with every other department, and I will always trust their judgement on the things that they know best... but a ship isnt going to go anywhere without a captain...lol
I thought it would be great to have so many die hard filmmakers on set for my production, however, it turned into a migraine that no amount of Excedrin would cure!

That was definitely my most troublesome issue with my first serious shoot, and sadly, I still run into that problem from time to time.

I've seen this before, in fact, I may be guilty of it too. Definitely something to let everyone know about if you're working with fellow filmmakers as this kind of thing can happen without any conscious effort.

On my last serious project (as serious as I could go) I had an actor who decided to play diva. He held the production up by three months because he was rehearsing for a "stage play". I couldn't replace him because we already shot important scenes with him that couldn't be re-shot. Well, when I spoke to my lead I found out he was also rehearsing for the same stage play and he actually had a higher role - but yet he could make all the shoot dates, even on short notice. Long story short, after lots of emails and phone calls I finally convinced the actor to finish up his last few scenes. It turned out that he blatantly lied to us and didn't actually want to be apart of the film, probably because he thought "film" meant some Hollywood glamour, but then he realized it didn't. Three months down the drain.

[sonofaresiii]

One of the biggest issues I ran across on my first major shoot, and actually still run across from time to time, is egos.

For the most part, when you are shooting a low/no budget indie, most of the crew that you recruit are fellow filmmakers.
Nine times out of ten during your first serious shoot, your 1st AD isnt a career AD. The same thing goes for your AC's (if you have any), and so on and so forth. Most of the time, at least in my case, my crew was primarily composed of fellow indie writer/directors who all lend a helping hand to each others shoots. That being said...you know the old adage "Too many cooks in the kitchen"...well, thats exactly what happens.
On my first major shoot, my DP was a director/cinematographer, my 1st AD was an aspiring director, my gaffer was an aspiring DP, my location sound op was actually a post audio mixer, my line producer was a writer/director, my production designer was a writer/director/cinematographer, hell... even my script supervisor/continuity/clapper was an independent filmmaker...actually, so was my one and only PA. So, needless to say, there were about a half dozen "aspiring directors" on set. So you can imagine the headaches that I had to deal with as the ACTUAL writer/director for that project.

Everyone had a suggestion for a shot or for framing, between takes I had 3 or 4 people "directing" my actors, I would call for a lens change only to find that the "DP" had decided on his own choice of glass. I mean, everyone felt like their ideas were the best.
Now, dont get me wrong...I am the most collaborative person you will ever meet when Im working with talented people. I value everyones opinions, and always believe that "whatever is best for the film" is the decision to be made. But when 12 people all think that their decision is whats best, thats when the s@!t hits the fan!
Really, I always envision a film set like the military, with a chain of command. Each department has one person that they ultimately answer to, and that person answers directly to the director. When the director makes a final decision, than final that decision should be. Again, Im all for collaboration, creative input, and the sharing of ideas. Besides, I know that a true DP is extensively more knowledgeable than I when it comes to the camera package and the glass... the same thing goes with every other department, and I will always trust their judgement on the things that they know best... but a ship isnt going to go anywhere without a captain...lol
I thought it would be great to have so many die hard filmmakers on set for my production, however, it turned into a migraine that no amount of Excedrin would cure!

That was definitely my most troublesome issue with my first serious shoot, and sadly, I still run into that problem from time to time.

Ugh, I HATE other people directing my actors. DP: "It needs to be way bigger, like you're really just pissed off and can't believe this happened." Me: "...No. Don't do that." No one wins in that situation. Your actor is confused, your DP is resentful, and it looks like you're losing control of the set.
I'm not an infallible director by any means, and I'll constantly be asking for second opinons... "What did you think of that?" etc... but if I don't ask, don't offer.
If nothing else, it's helped me be a much better cinematographer, now that I can understand that when I'm on set to DP, I'm there to make the OTHER guy's movie, period. Most valuable skill in a crew member.