What to do?

H

Huy Vu

Veteran
I recently signed a contract with a production company to direct a music video for the winner of the singing contest sponsored by them. The problem is that they gave me an impossible schedule to shoot it. The winner will be chosen on Oct.14, the song will be chosen by the 31st, and they wanted me to start shooting in early November with the video due by the end of the month for inclusion on their upcoming DVD. I'm still in college so this effectively give me 3 shooting days (the three weekends which I'm able to return home); zero time for location scouting, finding extras, coming up with a script etc.

I explained all this to them and finally got them to agree on a "soft" deadline. Meaning they'll still expect a video by the end of November but if I can't make that deadline then it'll be due in January, when I can work on it over my winter break.

The question is: should I try to go for that November deadline? Either I can go all out and go on 10 hours day to try and finish it by then or I can just ignore the deadline all together and start planning for it proper when I go on winter break. It's going to be one or the other because once I start a project I need to keep the momentum up. Long gaps in the production schedule really saps my enthusiasm for the project.
 
I would try to do it all in those three days. Storyboard your ideas the minute you hear the song, and plan ahead, plan ahead, plan ahead. Make an organized shot list and make sure you know where your locations are. Just get there the day of the shoot and start rolling. I don't think 24 hours is an unneccesary time for a 3-4 minute music video. Good luck!
 
Three shooting days should be more than enough for almost any music video. And ten hour days... you should be so lucky to have easy days like that!

Sounds like you need to get yourself some crew to help handle the locations and casting. Other than that I don't see anything at all unreasonable about this timeline.
 
3days!! Easy just get it shot and aim for the deadline, bring in some help for the crew and let us know how it went. Best of luck.
J
 
Do not disappoint.
I think that one thing you will learn in this industry is that clients and producers will always have other people to turn to. It takes very little for people to think of you as "that guy who didn't come through for us."
Make the soft deadline.
 
You got a job, go for it and work your brains out. I got a job with a school to shoot a 6-10 minute promo piece for their arts program but I had to have it done by this morning. I spent Monday through Friday shooting. I spent ALL Saturday editing and got the 8 minute edit done. Yesterday I spent all day rendering, encoding, making animated DVD menus, and burning the DVD. It almost killed me but that's what this stuff does to you.
 
Thanks for all the replies & great advice from everybody! I was really leaning toward the do it later option but now I'll try to go for that soft deadline.

There's one thing that I'm really worried about though is that the long filming hour will make it impossible for me to find extras for the video. I was going to ask the company to send out a call for volunteers; since they're pretty well established as an entertainment organization I expect a great deal of people to respond. I'm just afraid that once the extras hear about the 10 hour schedule they're all just going to bolt. I can't really afford to pay anyone. Any suggestion?
 
^
Be professional about it. Storyboard every shot you need, find out which ones are going to require extras, and schedual those to be shot first. This looks like a good opportunity for you to dip your foot into a adults pool. Rise to the occasion and act like a pro. You'll be fine as long as you work hard, do your homework, and take things seriously.
 
"Local studio seeking young female actresses for short film in which they definitely will NOT be killed. Lack of identifying scars, dental records, or concerned family a plus. Payment to be discussed after shooting...uh...filming."


Very cool. Can I send my girlfriend?
 
John Wesley Norton said:
"Local studio seeking young female actresses for short film in which they definitely will NOT be killed. Lack of identifying scars, dental records, or concerned family a plus. Payment to be discussed after shooting...uh...filming."


Very cool. Can I send my girlfriend?
Click to expand...

I think you would count as concerned family :).
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top