How to be taken seriously...

Re: How to be taken seriously...

When on the shoot FEED THE CAST AND CREW! That can't be stressed enough, when people get hungry, you don't get the best out of them, from botching lines, to the boom dropping into frame every shot. It's just courtesy, and if it's a short shoot, get it catered, that looks very professional.

On second thought, you don't even have to get it catered, just go buy those platter style things from Safeway, and designate someone to set up the table half an hour before lunch.
 
Re: How to be taken seriously...

Yeah... food is the most underrated thing on a film shoot. It keeps you cast and crew healthy and happy, looks professional, and gives those working for free something out of the whole deal... most amateur filmmakers overlook this so much but it can mean all the difference...
 
Re: How to be taken seriously...

Oh, THiN reminded me of another point. While pizza is a fun food and all, it can't be every meal. Get some healthy stuff. Try assorted deli meat sandwiches, have things to drink other than soda. For snacks, I always keep granola bars around. AND WATER!! ALWAYS HAVE WATER! Kept on ice is best, but if not convenient, don't worry about it.
 
Re: How to be taken seriously...

Providing food is definitly important to keep moral and energy up especially if they arn't getting paid

(If time alows) Another thing I tried was to find out what music/songs gets the leading actors pumped and played it during make up or lunch etc. When you here a song that pumps you up, you become charged up for the task at hand.

Regarding the bad coverage mentioned earlier;

I agree bad coverage is bad coverage, but if you only have a limited time at a location or problems effect your time table, you have to pick which Key or important scenes/shots to spend more time on, which means some may not get the time or attention you would like.

In case you do end up with bad coverage you have to work around it. As a last resort cleaver editing can repair or improve it.

A great example of this in Star Wars (eps 4) When Luacs shot the sand creature attacking Luke with a stick in the dessert, It holds up the stick once menacingly over its head.

In editing, Lucas played this action backwards and forwards a few times and added in a menacing growl. The creature now appears to be shaking the stick over its head feircely in anger as it attacks Luke.

Check it out on the Star Wars trilogy; Extra Features disc "Empire of dreams" It's an awsome documantary and you see how many obstacles Lucas encounted during shooting. (But he got around it and made one of the greatest movies ever)
 
Re: How to be taken seriously...

Yeah, you can cover things up, you really shouldn't have to do though... sometimes there's no other option, you should never go into a project intending to fix it in post.

That music idea is a really good one. I should remember it and try using it myself on a shoot. During breaks and stuff having a nice stereo in the background or something. Helps lighten the atmosphere and renergizes people.

Yes, bottled water is very important. You can get a 24 of it for like $5 at the grocery store... there's no reason not to have any on hand...
 
Re: How to be taken seriously...

"We'll just have to do it in post." How many times have we ALL said that phrase?
 
Re: How to be taken seriously...

I hate eating pizza on a shoot. If I'm on an indie shoot and they have pizza two days in a row, it's very difficult for them to have me stay for three days in a row.

The best gigs I've ever worked have been at Ad Agencies because they keep an account at all the local restaurants and they just tell you to circle what you want on the menu.

I nice salmon steak and a fruit smoothie make me much happier then a greasy pepperoni slice.
 
Re: How to be taken seriously...

vertigo, I was in your position at that age. I recall always having more difficulty directing people my own age than older people. Older folks always seemed enamored with my "maturity", which is to say they seemed happy that I, being a teenager, wasn't pulling a gun on them. Younger people, especially if was working with people I knew, were harder to wrangle, because they didn't know me as the director; they knew me as me. People will respect you, though, if you know what you're doing. There is no art to it. The way to look like you know what you're doing is to really know.

I think of the central core of directing not leadership or management (although those things play a part) but responsibility. That is the attitude to have. You're responsible for the how the movie turns out, including the quality of the acting or any other creative element. And most people are generally happy if someone else has responsibility.

From a general production standpoint, I find with really small indie productions, that it's harder to focus, especially if you're taking on technical jobs in addition to direction, like lighting and so forth. My advice is to focus all your energy on the creative side, not the technical. Try to deligate setting up lights and electical and all that as much as you can - I mean the mundane details. It's easy to get bogged down in that stuff if you don't have a full crew. If you keep your mind on what you're trying to put on screen, you'll be fine. Anyway, good luck!
 
Re: How to be taken seriously...

That's some good advice right there. Nobody likes to take responsibility for anything. Nobody likes making decisions. If you can be the one to do that for everyone else, no one will feel like they're doing all that much work... it becomes more of a mindless job and makes people happier in general when they aren't responsible.
 
Re: How to be taken seriously...

Everyone here has posted such good responses. I have a 17 year old on my crew, and he got there because he has SKILLS. He works, he studies, he makes his own films in his parents garage when we aren't working together on something. He has a very good eye for framing and composition. He knows lighting and he can be very organized and meticulous. He has, and continues to earn, everyone elses respect. The other crew members, the actors, my investors, all know that we want him there on the set, because he makes a difference. His talent is far greater than his "newbie-ness" Does he know everything? No, but he is so unabashedly persistent in his desire to learn all he can, and soak up every bit of experience he can. You just can't help but respect that. If you totally love the craft of filmmaking, age is unimportant.
On a totally different note:
Good catering, and continuously available juices, drinks, and water cost much less than the quality the generate.
Also when the movie is done, have a cast party and screen the movie to the actors and crew. Feed them again, and if possible fund beverages that are apropos for an adult festive gathering (Champagne - Beer) Actors talk, and you WANT them talking about what a great experience it was working with your company. It will really pay off in the long run. And at 17, you have a long run ahead of you.
 
Re: How to be taken seriously...

To further echo collink's advice about a post party...

I've worked a lot of different short term projects in my life, and regardless of the work, be it a festival a film or a documentary...there are moments during the project when you swear to never work for those people again...to never work in that situation again.

I can honestly say though, that as good or as bad as a shoot turns out to be, you remember the party more then anything...and often times that party alone can get you to work on the next shoot, festival, doc, whatever.

A crew party is always a good thing. It allows people to interact without the context of a deadline hanging over everyone's heads. Often times you will find that the most bitter enemies on set are able to release that tension once the film is over and they've put a couple of drinks behind them.

It's wonderful venting for both the positive and negative aspects of a production.
 
Re: How to be taken seriously...

Yes for sure, although there are those enemies on set that you'll know you'll never work with again for the life of you simply because of how bad they were. I've experienced that and no after party would ever want me to work with that person ever again.
 
Re: How to be taken seriously...

I agree absolutely. There's a DP out there now who wouldn't be caught dead in a dark alleyway with me because of one hell of an unsettled grudge...

But, in the pursuit of something as monumental as say...a location shoot, people can really change their behavior and the way they treat other people in the duties of their job. People that might normally be calm and collected can become harried and bossy when faced with the multitude of difficulties in the making of a film. Tempers run artificially high, people become unusually sensitive and relationships come to be defined by the way a person accomplishes their job on set.

Once the shooting is over, people can relax into their normal selves, operate like a functional human being, and rethink their approach to their fellow crewmembers.

Often times a crew party provides such an effective catharsis for everyone involved that people quickly forget how difficult it was to work with each other.

As you said, there are people on set that you vow to never work with again, but often times that feeling will permeate the entire shoot and taint all the people you worked with. Having something cathartic at the end of an experience allows people to release some of those grudges and rethink their experience as a whole and how it relates to each person they dealt with.

The one shoot this brings to my mind had a great crewparty. The shoot was pretty grueling and I’d already decided that I didn’t want to work with any of those people again. Going to the party gave me the perspective to see that all of my difficulties were caused by one person on set and not the experience as a whole. Being able to enjoy myself and commiserate with people who’d experienced similar hardships on the same shoot allowed me to see that my individual experience was simply par for the course.

If there wasn’t a crew party, the sour note that marked the end of the shoot would have continued for many people involved in the project. And most importantly, because I was able to let go of some of the frustrations I’d experienced on the shoot, I was able to build a lasting relationship with many of the members of that crew.

The AD personally carried me on various other projects for three straight years, and as I said earlier…the DP has an outstanding warrant for a slapping match.
 
Re: How to be taken seriously...

I find it funny that the problem on your set was the DP as well. I swear, this DP on one shoot I was working on I wanted to slap across the face!
 
Re: How to be taken seriously...

It's because some DP's have a stick up their ass. They "Sculpt vis the light" and your a stupid moron if you try to put the camera there.

I always DP/ direct, but one time an actor tried to tell me what angle was going to work better, when I told him how the shot was going to cut to the next, he started telling me that he can't wait to direct. Some people.

I shot it both ways, just to see if maybe he was right. And no, no he was not.
 
Re: How to be taken seriously...

[quote author=THiNSPiRiT link=board=Directing;num=1095275547;start=30#33 date=10/07/04 at 13:48:04]I find it funny that the problem on your set was the DP as well. I swear, this DP on one shoot I was working on I wanted to slap across the face![/quote]

As my age has progressed, I've learned more and more about people. I know that the DP on this particular shoot had some serious self-confidence issues. He was not immediately liked by the crew and he didn't think I gave him the respect he deserved.

I made a few too many jokes for his liking, none at his expense, and he took it upon himself to try and "haze" me because I was green and had a good attitude. I think he was trying to entertain the rest of the crew by putting me through my paces, but that made everyone else respect him less.

The most notable example was when he sent me outside at night in the freezing wind to climb up a tree and take down a blazing hot PAR HMI. The process took a good 20 minutes and as soon as I walked inside from stowing the light, he said "You know, I think I was wrong...put it back up".

Being slightly more experienced now, I know how to deal with people a little more effectively and I think I would have been able to diffuse the problem in our relationship before it got so contentious.
 
Re: How to be taken seriously...

Yeah, i've had that similar experience. I was working on this film as a grip. I was good friends with the writer/director/producer and wasn't able to commite fulltime to the production, so I came on the last two days of the shoot (short film 4 day shoot) to help out as a grip. I think the DOP realized i was good friends with the director and knew more about film itself. I think he felt threatened by me and because i was a grip, i was technically working under him... there was a scene in a bedroom where there was partial nudity, but not really though, just kind of a sexy scene... i spent a lot of time in there before the shoot setting everything up, so there wasn't anything there I hadn't seen. Once the setup was completed they needed some grips to hold flags. I was in there holding a flag when the DOP told me to leave the room because there were too many people in it.

I was the only one not in the room during the shoot itself, he got a PA to hold the flag... from that moment i knew he had some serious issues with me... he was a terrible DP though. He ruined my friends film with his shitty cinematography. I resent him more for that than anything else...
 
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