The Life and Times of Filmmaking.
When you look at a film and watch it do you ever think to yourself the amount of time it takes to construct a scene? Do you think, I wonder how the 1st AD pulled that off? I do, cuz I enjoy 1sting when I can get the opportunity to do it. 1st ADing is a lot of fun and extremely stressful at times. You are basically commanding a cast and crew sort of like a conductor orchestrates a band. It is why it’s very important I feel to know how being an Assistant Director works.
I think for directors there are two avenues that really help with becoming a great director (well maybe three but it depends on the person). The first is being an editor. I got my undergrad in editing and it really does help you figure out how to cover scenes so that your editor has something to work with, to piece together a film. Inserts really are a lifesaver sometimes (as well as getting thirty seconds of room tone for the room you’re shooting in so that when you find out there’s a lawn mower going in the background you can remove and put that in it’s place). The second is being a 1st AD. Not only do you get to figure out how a crew works, how long things take and the happy accidents or mistakes that occur to help you better prepare for your own shoot. I sometimes feel that filmmaking is like going into battle - you need a plan in order to win. The third one is learning cinematography, you find out how to utilize your camera, what are it’s limitations and how can you make those work for what you’re shooting. I will fully admit it that cinematography is not my strongest avenue of filmmaking. When I shot my thesis I did work on learning more about shutter angles and filters, which I feel, really will help me down the road. School was a very good place to learn these experiments in an environment where we had mentors who could help us (and they did with our questions about it) instead of trial and error while on a film set. These three things really help directors I feel become stronger for their other teams like production design.
That’s kinda of the life of filmmaking for directors however the TIME is really where I feel being a 1st AD comes in handy. Why? Because you understand how long things do take to set up. Recently I was on a film that was shooting with the new 5D HD Camera, which is now the hottest thing to use in creating shorts. It’s awesome because it can save you time and money – as long as you understand how it saves you time and money. I’ve been on a few shoots with this particular camera and I will say this much that I’ve learned about HD shooting – you get slightly faster however, lighting still takes time to set up. HD allows you the latitude to shoot longer, but it doesn’t mean shooting faster. You should not push your crew to shoot nearly 60 shots, on 10 pages, with 4 different locations (even if in the same house or otherwise) in one day. A, it’s just rude to your crew to push them that hard and B, you’re not going to get nearly what you need. This is where being on a few sets as a 1st AD HELPS!
Sometimes as green directors we forget that lights take time to set up and tear down, sets take time to put everything in it’s place with production design, wardrobe changes, make-up, light bulbs breaking and needing to be changed, dolly’s being brought in and practiced on, focus being pulled for a tracking shot, and you see my point. These take time and this is why knowing how to schedule your shoot is crucial. Yes you can sit there and say ‘oh it’s challenge’ but really it’s not. It’s not shooting wisely if you’re shooting a full weekend in one day. You never really get everything you want in filmmaking even on a normal shooting schedule but when you’re cramming SO much into one shoot it’s quite possible you lose the story you’re trying to tell.
Also listen to your AD as well. They have a schedule to adhere to, people to keep in line, money to save the director and/or producer and it is disrespectful to disregard them because they are working for the crew as well, not trying to kill the production. DP’s are not AD’s and I say this because I’ve been working on a lot of shoots lately (outside of my school DP’s) that think they can do the AD job as the DP. “Sure we can get it no problem” when the AD is like “No you can’t” and then side stepping them and working with the director to get what they want. This is just disrespectful to the people who are trying to get everything you want. Because of this shots are cut later down the line and rewriting of script sometimes has to happen on set and this is NOT good for storytelling. So rule of thumb don’t ignore your AD, it only hurts the production of your story in the long run and understand Directors that while you want the moon, you may have to settle to being a little more realistic with Earth instead. Also don’t push your crew to the point where they want to stop working for you, it’s just rude to expect more then one person to do the job of five people (Unless you’re my friend Diego who thrives on it).
Ok I’m done with my rant for the day. Don’t get me wrong I enjoy and love being on set. It’s one of the greatest times I ever have and did have this weekend. I met some incredible people that I would in a heartbeat work with again because they were so damn good. What I’m more or less talking about is just some general common sense rules that, as filmmakers, should know.
That is all for today!
Till Another,
Ne in Hollywood
Monday, May 24, 2010
Friday, May 14, 2010
Directors are not allowed to miss anything!
I recently had a discussion with someone about how directors could possibly miss things in movies that are so obvious to the viewer. I tried to explain how it’s not like the director purposely misses those things but it can happen. I know people look at the director and the sole responsibility lies on their shoulders but it would be nice to know that it’s a team that the director works with in getting the movie out. Yes, it’s ‘our’ vision in the public eye but it’s a team effort and not a sole effort to accomplish a film.
The best way I can explain it is that a director has two jobs, one as parent and two a marionette orchestra. Yes there is other stuff, creative director and etc but when you’re directing it feels like those are your two jobs on set. You have to make sure you spend time with your actors, get them where they need to be. You have to make sure your DP and you are on the same page. You have to make sure your 1st AD and you are in good communication. You need to be friendly and talk to your crew (when sometimes you are so lost in your own thoughts about how to tell the story effectively it is easy to not notice other people) cuz these people are working their ass off for you. There’s just a lot going on and plus you have to make sure your mom or dad aka the Producer is happy as well. There’s a lot on the shoulder of the director so it’s not like they sit there and let things slide they just have a lot going through their head. I honestly would like people who are very critical of directors to do it once and than see if they as directors miss stuff (even Spielberg misses stuff). It is not an easy job and there are few who can do it and truthfully I feel every time you make a movie you seem to learn something new. New technology, new people, new stories being told, there’s just a lot. So, while something that you catch as the viewer seems so obvious know that it’s not always to the script sup who’s watching the monitor while the director stays behind the camera (without a monitor) and watches the action that way. In a crowd of 100 extras plus your actors you tell me if you will see everything while standing by the camera.
Ok mini-rant over with. My transcriber job has been going well. I watch A LOT of reality TV that for me is a bit strange since I only watched the Food Network Channel. I also worked on the Sy-Fy Mr. Impossible for a day, which was a lot of fun, and I got to have a ‘sorta’ conversation with Sarah Brightman and she was very lovely with her British accent and friendly manner. I really hope this show gets picked up cuz it’s just fun. However I wish it were a little more organized. My 1st ADness (First Assistant Director) kicked in and I felt myself kind of trying to help them as best I can. But overall it was fun because I was able to roll b-roll camera stuff which I NEVER get to do. I really hope the series is picked up cuz they are just a lot of fun people to hang out with and the crew is a lot of fun as well.
Well I’m off…
Till Another,
Ne In Hollywood!
The best way I can explain it is that a director has two jobs, one as parent and two a marionette orchestra. Yes there is other stuff, creative director and etc but when you’re directing it feels like those are your two jobs on set. You have to make sure you spend time with your actors, get them where they need to be. You have to make sure your DP and you are on the same page. You have to make sure your 1st AD and you are in good communication. You need to be friendly and talk to your crew (when sometimes you are so lost in your own thoughts about how to tell the story effectively it is easy to not notice other people) cuz these people are working their ass off for you. There’s just a lot going on and plus you have to make sure your mom or dad aka the Producer is happy as well. There’s a lot on the shoulder of the director so it’s not like they sit there and let things slide they just have a lot going through their head. I honestly would like people who are very critical of directors to do it once and than see if they as directors miss stuff (even Spielberg misses stuff). It is not an easy job and there are few who can do it and truthfully I feel every time you make a movie you seem to learn something new. New technology, new people, new stories being told, there’s just a lot. So, while something that you catch as the viewer seems so obvious know that it’s not always to the script sup who’s watching the monitor while the director stays behind the camera (without a monitor) and watches the action that way. In a crowd of 100 extras plus your actors you tell me if you will see everything while standing by the camera.
Ok mini-rant over with. My transcriber job has been going well. I watch A LOT of reality TV that for me is a bit strange since I only watched the Food Network Channel. I also worked on the Sy-Fy Mr. Impossible for a day, which was a lot of fun, and I got to have a ‘sorta’ conversation with Sarah Brightman and she was very lovely with her British accent and friendly manner. I really hope this show gets picked up cuz it’s just fun. However I wish it were a little more organized. My 1st ADness (First Assistant Director) kicked in and I felt myself kind of trying to help them as best I can. But overall it was fun because I was able to roll b-roll camera stuff which I NEVER get to do. I really hope the series is picked up cuz they are just a lot of fun people to hang out with and the crew is a lot of fun as well.
Well I’m off…
Till Another,
Ne In Hollywood!
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