First Timer Needing Some Advice

M

MrPowers

New member
Hey guys,

I'm new to the forum. Just been lurking & picking up what info I can.

But a friend who self-started himself in film is shooting a shot next weekend & knowing that I want to get involved in film & direct in the future invited me to help on the set.

Keep in mind I have NO prior film background or knowledge. Just $10 (well a lil bit more than that) & a dream.

So he said I'll most likely be working as a general grip, production assistant, & gaffer capacity.

Now as mentioned I am completely clueless to this & I don't want to waste his time.

What is your advise to prepare for this & incorporate this in the mindset of making films.

This may sound very naive of me but guess what...I am.

Any & all advice would help as I'm looking into some info & it's a bit confusing since it's all so new to me.

Thanks!
 
Hey Mr. Powers, my best advice I can give you is, be prepared to spend, lots, lots and lots of hours on set. And the rest will just be learn as you go. A production Assistant otherwise known as PA can consist of getting the director coffee to helping with the actors wardrobe. I assume this is an indie project, so there will be even more responsibility as a PA. Depending on the size of the crew your duties can vary.

But from what you've stated, looks like the director wants you to work as a grip/gaffer, so most likely you'll mainly be assisting the Director of Photography/DP/Cinematographer, and that can consist of taping electrical wires to the ground, changing bulbs etc..., so if this is the specific duties you have then, I'll suggest you bring some gaffer globes, those lights can get extremely hot. But, trust me, you'll be doing a lot more than that if you are a PA.

Just be patience and be prepared to do a lot of standing around. And oh yeah, ask questions. The worst thing you can do is pretend you know what you are doing.

By the way, the DP is the person in charge of the lighting & camera set up in the film just incase you was wondering what a DP is.

Good luck and most importantly, the biggest, do not forget this.... HAVE FUN.
 
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Hey Capital P!

Thanks so much for the info. This weekend I'm actually being thrown to the lions & filming a pro wrestling event w/ no knowledge of cameras. So all the better for me to learn & adapt. So I'm totally pumped. And in the meantime I wrote a script for a friend's comic book so time is tight & I'm doing my best to make time to learn what I can.

And yer absolutely right this is an indie project & it's being shot within 3 days so the crew will be tiny & time is tight. So no room for messing up. Luckily the friend who is filming this & giving me this amazing opportunity just pumps me full of info so if I develop any brain farts he'll help me right along. And in the meantime I'll have some questions prepared.

Thanks again for the help. This means a great deal to me!
 
This is a good chance to learn a lot! Congratulations!

If you're looking for a bunch of advice, forget it. The best thing to do here is to go with open eyes and ears. And, like, capitalP said, a lot of patience. Wow, filmmaking goes slow!

My other advice would be to be humble, but it sounds like you may already be. He said you will be a "general grip, production assistant, and gaffer." Well, you can look up those terms on Wikipedia --- but you probably already have --- and on a Hollywood or union job they are specialized, well-paid positions. I mean no disrespect. But here, you being a first-timer, and the movie being low budget (I'm guessing), that's just a fancy way to say, "You will be asked to do anything at any time, but mainly carrying gear, running errands, and maybe having the honor of adjusting a light" (bring gloves!).

But like capitalP said, you will probably be doing a lot of standing around. In that case, take the chance to watch and listen with all that you've got and take in as much as you can. It sounds like fun!

EDIT: I sped-read the first few sentences of CapitalP's reply before I jumped in. Now I see that I added zero new information. Then let me just be a reiterator of what CapitalP said.
 
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Number 1

Read voraciously. Pick up any and everything you can about the craft and start learning it. Listen to podcasts, compare criticism, do what ever you can to educate yourself. Remember Outliers. What ever you think about the book, the 10,000 hour rule is pretty cool (10,000 hours dedicated to a task can ensure success, based on Malcom Gladwell's take on the Ericsson study) and is something that should be done anyway if one says one is called to do something. Don't go to set completely green, but don't go and be a know it all either. Knowledge tempered with humility is a good place to be when you are learning.

Number 2

Define yourself. Know specifically what you want to do on set and try to spend as much time around that department as you can while you play gofer.

Number 3

Don't wait to be told what to do, but just don't do things willy nilly. Position your self where things may need doing and when your are called to help, you can answer quickly (especially if its a job you want to learn).

I'll keep thinking, but those are off the top of my head
 
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