What I Learned On My Summer Vacation

... or, some details on what went right and what went wrong during production. This will necessarily be a short blog entry; in the future I'll go into more details on some of these points.

What Went Right

The Small Crew Size: I've worked with crews of 30 people, each of whom were getting paid very little money, and consequently tended to be less experienced. This necessitated adding more shooting days to the schedule. I decided to go the opposite route, hire more experienced people, pay them a little better, and have a smaller group overall and fewer shooting days. It should be noted that I did hire a number of interns, all whom did excellent work. But because we had experienced keys, I didn't need the same level of infrastructure to manage them.


The Five Day Week: I think that shooting a sixth day is basically a waste of time, unless it's absolutely necessary. Since most people are getting paid a day rate, and you're probably not paying full retail for gear and locations anyway, why put yourself through a sixth day of shooting when you can use that time to organize the following week, or maybe, I don't know, get some sleep?


Starting With the Hard Stuff: During our first week, we shot about 36 pages. Nearly our entire cast worked the first week. We shot a number of long scenes with some very tricky stuff going on (five people talking and moving around). We had very little control over the environment, and had some bouts of inclement weather (though it wasn't as bad as it could have been). But by the end of the first week, we had a tightly knit cast and crew, and shot an incredible 36 pages in only five days. Also, by putting the crew through their paces, I also got a sense of how they worked and what the pattern of the day would be.


Scheduling Actresses Later: Whenever possible, we tried to schedule scenes with actresses for later in the day, so that we wouldn't be waiting on hair/makeup and wardrobe. This put a little less pressure on Ghislaine and Janis, and let us get our first shot off a little faster.


Block Shooting Some Scenes: There were several points where we decided to shoot out an angle for all the scenes, then turn around, rather than cover a single scene at a time. This works best, obviously, when you only have a few angles you can shoot a given set of scenes from, or where there's supposed to be a visual similarity between scenes. This saved us a lot of time relighting and repositioning.


Staying In One Place The First Week: Our first week's work was in one location - the vendor street, which happened to be (in real life) the corner of Davidson and Burnside Ave in the Bronx. We had a wonderful holding space, the Davidson Community Center. Being able to stay in one place and get organized, while also shooting a lot of challenging material, was crucial.


Starting Prep Early: Everyone says that production is determined by preproduction, but it's very true. We started location scouting in April and May; locking down locations, vendors, and crew in June; casting in July and August; analyzing and breaking down the script in March and April... the truth is that if you don't have a lot of money, you HAVE to take the time to figure out the shoot before you get on set.


Switching Caterers a Lot: We switched our caterer several times during the course of the shoot, which worked well because it meant not getting bored with one cuisine or another.

WHAT WENT WRONG:

Trying to Bite Off More Than I Could Chew on the Stunt Days:
We went into overtime on both days that we had stunts, and ended up owing some footage on one of the days that we didn't make up until the last day of the shoot. When tallied together, the OT overages (on the crew, cast, and locations), combined with the additional day that I had to hire one of the cast for, nearly equaled another day of shooting. Lesson learned!


No Key PA: This was a painful position to eliminate during the budgeting process, but I couldn't figure out how to squeeze it in, especially as other costs started to rack up. The problem is that without someone a little more experienced to kind of run the other PAs, a good chunk of the job fell on me. That's not a bad thing - sometimes I think directors could use to be a little more in touch with everyone in the crew - it was sometimes very distracting.

This is not to take anything away from the PAs; they worked their butts off and took a lot of initiative.


Not Enough Good Vegan Options: I should have worked out better vegan options with each of the caterers. Some delivered good options, others didn't get it. The vegans in the cast and crew were very easy-going but they didn't have to be. Next time I'll get it right, guys!


That's it for now. I will try to post one more piece before the end of the year. If I don't, then have a great new year and a happy holiday season!

The Art of (S)logging

I promise, there will be a blog entry - soon - on production. But I wanted to delve into more detail on something that's very important, and I think underreported: preparing your film for the editor.

In the previous entry I focused on the big post picture. Today I'm going to stick to the first three steps I outlined: transcoding, synching, and logging the footage. The goal is to get acquainted with the film you've shot (as opposed to the one in your head), save your editor unnecessary headaches (and you unnecessary time and money) hunting for footage, and get your brain thinking about sound, visual effects, titles, music, and other post elements.

Workflow: When To Do This

On a big enough film, your script supervisor would make the continuity book, the 2nd AC and the mixer would write reports, and your assistant editor would transcode, log, and synch, all while you're shooting. The advantages are fairly obvious: you'll find out about coverage or technical problems while you're shooting, and you'll get to a rough cut that much sooner. However, on micro-budget films, this is a comparative luxury.

On Found In Time, we had no script supervisor, the sound mixer was doing about three other jobs - though he did take very good notes - and we didn't have an editor in place during the shoot. I'm assuming that many of you are in a similar situation.

Transcoding

The Canon 5D records to an H.264 Quicktime-playable file. H.264 is a highly compressed format that somehow retains a lot of detail despite throwing out an enormous amount of picture information. Part of how it does this is by storing frame data in a long-GOP format. GOP = Group Of Pictures. Essentially, what the codec does is analyze a group of frames (in most cases, 6 or 15). It stores the first frame, then stores the DIFFERENCES ONLY between the first frame and all subsequent frames within the group.

There's a LOT more involved than this, but here's the main point: editing H.264 footage can be difficult. Your cuts are probably NOT going to be on the first frame in a group, which means the computer will have to analyze and rebuild frames every time you cut picture. The result can tax your system, leading to dropped playback frames and a lot of rendering time. It's also more difficult to do a final conform, render effects, etc. In other words, H.264 is a great origination and online distribution format, but you don't want to edit with it.

Transcoding the footage from the original H.264 files to an I-frame format (which compresses and stores each frame individually) is thus an easy decision. But there are several software programs to do the trick:

MPEG Streamclip is preferred by many, and with good reason: it's fast, user-friendly, free, and can batch-process clips very easily. But the quality of the resulting clips is not quite as good as we were hoping for. It also strips out the original timecode from the file, substituting its own.

Rarevision's 5DtoRGB on the other hand, is supposed to do the best overall job in terms of image quality, but lacks a batch feature (at this time; it's still under development). It also takes the longest to transcode.

We considered Compressor, but have had problems with batch transcodes in Compressor and haven't been super happy with the results. After going on Creative Cow and talking to a few folks, we decided on Canon's own Final Cut Pro plug-in, the EOS Plugin-E1. It produces decent results, processes batches of clips at a time without any hiccups, didn't take too long, and retained the original clip timecode.

The next decision: what to transcode TO. The obvious choice for editing in Final Cut was Apple ProRes, but ProRes comes in several flavors, ranging from Proxy (small file size/lower quality) to HQ (huge file size, better quality). After thinking about it, trolling the forums, and consulting with some experts, we decided on ProRes LT, which is somewhere between the two ends of the spectrum. The data rate is approximately 100Mpbs, roughly the same as DVCProHD, and nearly 3x the 5D files' 40Mbps. This means in practical terms that we were getting something very, very good - that we could put together into rough cut shape if we needed more investors or to assembly a festival screener out of - but we wouldn't kill our hard drive.

The long term plan, once the film has been picture-locked, is to note the selects (the clips that make it into the locked picture), and re-transcode the camera originals to QuickTime HQ using the 5DtoRGB utility.

Setting Up Final Cut For Transcoding

At this point, we set up a new Final Cut project with a sequence default of 1920x1080 23.976p, with 48KHz 16-bit stereo sound. During the shoot the DP created folders by day, running to lettered bins if he had to copy more than one card per day (so we have Day1, Day1b, Day2, etc. folders on the hard drive). We started out by creating camera reel bins to mirror the originals. Within each bin, I created three sub-bins: Scraps (for NG or goofing-off material), Video (for source video clips), and Audio (for source audio clips).

We also created a database in FileMaker (which is cross-platform, by the way), to capture information on each clip. Initially, we just dumped a directory listing of all the clips into a text file then imported that into FileMaker, so we'd have a list of the 840 video clips and 735 sound files (we had a good number of MOS takes).

During the transcoding process itself, we renamed each clip to "sceneshot-take" format, then also filled in the scene, shot/take, reel (camera reel), angle, and loggingNotes fields. We went in shoot (as opposed to scene order), and limited the batches to one-or-two scenes worth of material depending on the number of individual clips. The entire process took about four days, and was highly automated. A good tutorial on it is on Canon's own site. TWO THINGS TO NOTE:: when you name the clip (scene-shot-take), the utility actually renames the transcoded Quicktime file. So if you ever want to go back to your camera masters for retranscoding, make sure to keep a list of the original filename and the new one.

Also, the utility REQUIRES that all the clips be inside of a folder called DCIM off the root of the hard drive. That's because the plug-in is expecting to be reading from an SD card (which uses DCIM as the main folder to put all saved video and still files in). Note that you CAN nest folders inside of the DCIM folder.

Once each batch was done, I moved the transcoded clips into matching day folders on the edit drive. This way instead of having over 800 clips in one folder to sift through, I would only have to look through a few dozen at a time.

Synchronizing

This was probably the most boring part. Anthony, our sound mixer, had wisely named nearly every sound file in the scene-shot-take format. So figuring out which sound take went with which video file was relatively trivial.

This is where Pluraleyes, from Singular Software, saved my butt. It's a standalone program which works with Final Cut sequences and synchs video-to-video (in the case of multi-camera shoots) and video-to-audio footage. It creates a new sequence for each synched clip. So instead of going clip-by-clip, I was able to drag a dozen or so clips at a time to a sequence in my Final Cut file, line them up very roughly to their matching audio sequences, and click "Sync" in Pluraleyes. A few minutes later I had a dozen sequences with synched sound. Since we used a slate and had the original camera audio as a reference, Pluraleyes rarely had difficulty finding the right sync point. (BTW: the software is free to try for 30 days).

NOW, there was one surprise. For whatever reason, the audio in the original camera file was exactly one or two frames AHEAD from the video - you could tell because the slate was ahead. However, there was no drift. So I had to manually check the sync on each new sequence and adjust by one/two frames - but again, because we had the slates, this was a no-brainer. Other people on Creative Cow have complained of the same problem. There doesn't seem to be a clear-cut solution, nor does it seem to be universal.

After moving the sound one/two frames, I muted the original camera audio, clipped the trailing and leading audio so the sequence would start on the first frame of video, and changed the sequence timecode to match the video timecode (so instead of starting at 01:00:00:00 the TC would start at 18:31:15:00, for example).

Last (but not least), we took the synched clips, along with the source video and audio files, and the scrap clips, and put them into scene bins. The scene bins ultimately replaced the day bins we had established, and had the same structure (Audio, Video, and Scrap sub-bins). Synched sequences went into a new sub-bin called Sync.

This process was also fairly mechanical, and took about two weeks (working part time).

Logging

Now I was ready to log the footage. This consisted of two parts: makes notes about each clip in my database, and lining the script. Lining the script is a BIG topic, and I'm no script supervisor, but the gist of it is that you want to visually indicate where each individual camera setup begins and ends within each scene, what lines and blocking have changed from script to shoot, what scenes have been omitted or added, and what gaps in coverage you might have. As you can imagine, this is a fairly time-consuming process.

In my database I had the following information already:
* individual clip name
* the scene, shot and take number
* the timing (media start, end, and duration)
* The angle (Master, CU John, OTS Jane on Jack, ECU pill bottle, etc.)
* Logging Note
* The original (camera source) filename
* The sound take file name

Most of this information I was able to get by exporting a file list from Final Cut, importing it into the database, then going through it quickly to make sure I didn't miss anything.

To this laundry list of information I added:
* the first frame of action (usually after the DP calls "frame" or set but before you've called "action")
* A description of the shot
* Some kind of evaluation of the shot
* A list of visual problems in the shot (boom dips in at 23:04:10)
* Sound problems

On Found in Time, we shot 840 individual clips. Of these, about 75 or so were complete mistakes, goofing around shots, slates for MOS series, and otherwise unusable bits. These didn't take long to log.

I later figured out that I was able to log between 10 and 20 clips per hour, depending on how complex each clip was. I managed to log everything in just over two weeks.

Why Do This To Yourself

You can get interns to transcode and synch, and maybe even do some of the logging, so why do this yourself? In my case, it was a way of getting familiar with the film that we shot (as opposed to the one in my head). This way, I don't have to waste time having this discussion with the editor: "don't we have a shot of..." No, we don't.

It also got me thinking about how to solve certain coverage problems, what effects shots I will need, and what kind of sound design/music choices would work. The big thing is that the editor didn't have to do this work - he was able to just look at the footage and start cutting. That is a huge time and money saver on any shoot.

Okay, so this post has probably been about as fascinating as watching paint dry. I promise, more fun posts to come!

Post Production Workflow

The shoot is over. I'm still figuring out all the things I learned, and at some point I'll integrate it and write a short blog entry on the topic. But at the moment my energy is going towards getting ready for the next step: cutting the film. What follows is a synopsis of the post workflow for Found In Time It's based on things I've learned while making this film, my experience as post supervisor on previous features, and a lot of consultation with other folks. Many thanks to Josh Apter, head of Manhattan Edit Workshop, Creative Cow Magazine, and as always Ben Wolf.

Don't Just Start Cutting
The temptation is probably just to dig in and start cutting scenes together, using the camera master footage. This is almost always a mistake. First off, if you're the director, you have no perspective on the footage. I know I don't. Secondly, you need to organize both the "physical" files on the drive, giving them a proper reel name and folder to live in; and the names of the clips in your NLE. Thirdly, you need to set up a schedule - what you want, when you want it, and what the end goal is. Hopefully you've done this before you shot anything, and now you're just revising it to match your remaining money/schedule/expectations. But if not, now's a good time to set it up.

The Schedule
Take a BIG step back. Forget about the footage burning a hole on your hard drive. Think carefully: when can I realistically finish this film? What are the steps I need to take to get there? Who's going to do those steps?
At this point, post breaks down into nine BIG steps, that generally (though not always) follow the order below:

1. Backup, Transcoding, Logging. In an ideal world, this is happening on a daily basis. Every night the Assistant Editor takes the day's work (either on cards or drives), backs it up to another drive, then transcodes the footage to the editing format, usually while also logging it into the NLE.

2. Picture Cutting. The film is put together, reel by reel, by the editor.

3. Reshoots/Inserts/Additional Photography. You need it, you didn't get it. Now go get it.

4. F/X and Titles. As the film nears completion, visual effects artists go to work on the more complex material. In an ideal world, sequences are finalized in time for the online. In many cases, the online has to be pushed back until after the sound mix is done, to give the effects artists more time. Titles are usually done at this point (end credit crawls are often finalized only at the final output phase).

5. Online. The film selects (from the final cut) are retranscoded at the highest possible resolution/setting. The footage is color corrected, basic transitions (dissolves, fades) and effects work (taking out booms, minor tweaks, etc.) are done. F/X and titles are married to the locked picture.

6. Sound Editing. The dialog levels are evened out, and the "sound world" of the film created - effects, foley, music, voice-over, are inserted and brought together.

7. Music. The composer scores the final cut of the film (sometimes this happens during the editing process). Existing music is licensed (don't do this at home, kids! You don't have the budget. Trust me.). The music is premixed (ideally).

8. Mix. The various sound elements (dialog, effects, foley, music, ambiance) are brought together and leveled, to conform to both artistic and broadcast standards. The mixer creates final "bounce files."

9. Final Output. The conformed film is married to the bounce tracks, and the whole thing (all the reels) are output to the "final" master medium (tape or film).

So with this outline in hand, you have to figure out: who's going to be doing what (personnel)? With what tools (gear)? For how long (timeframe)? And what are the things each step requires (inputs) and what are the results (outputs)?

After doing some research, and thinking about what's worked best on previous low-budget films, I came up with the following chart [NOTE: I know Blogger doesn't want to format this correctly. I'm working on it]:

Num.	Step	Inputs	Personnel	Gear	Outputs
1	Transcoding Organizing bins Logging clips with scene/shot/take/other info	H.264 Clips on drive Sound WAV files on drive	Myself	Final Cut Canon5D FCP Plugin	Final Cut Project File w/bins Named ProRes LT clips in folders on drive Logging notes of some kind (database, spreadsheet, something)
2	Syncing	ProRes LT clips Audio files Final Cut Project	Me	Final Cut PluralEyes	Final Cut Project File w/bins
3	Script Notes	Final Cut Project Script	Me	Final Cut Pro	Lined script books with notes Binder with notes, sound reports, production reports, etc.
4	Picture Edit	Final Cut Project Binder Hard Drive	Editor	Final Cut Pro	Sequences in reels
5	Feedback Screenings	Rough or 2nd Cut on DVD	Editor, Me, Trusted friends	DVD projector	Notes for next cut
6	Reshoots/Inserts	Wish list of shots	Skeleton crew and cast	Basic camera/sound unit Props, set dressing	Video/audio footage
7	F/X and Titles	Final Cut Project F/X footage (shot on location) Add'l computer-generated footage	Ben Wolf Me Visual F/X Artist Editor (possibly)	Final Cut Pro Photoshop Motion After Effects(?)	Locked VFX sequences and titles
8	Transcode for Online	FCP sequences (reels) Camera master files	Me	Final Cut Pro 5DtoRGB tool	ProRes HQ (422) or ProRes 444 versions of selects only (clips that made the final cut) Notes
9	Conform	ProRes HQ clips Offline Final Cut Pro sequences (reels) VFX and title sequences	Me	Final Cut Pro	Final Cut Pro sequences, linked to ProRes HQ clips
10	Color Correction/Basic Compositing	Final Cut Pro sequences (reels) Notes	Colorist Ben (DP) Myself	Final Cut Pro Color Motion After Effects	Color corrected reels with all titles and effects in place
11	Prep for Sound Edit	Audio files Final Cut Reels (preferably color corrected, but at least the final conforms	Me	Final Cut Pro	Quicktimes for each reel per the sound designer/composer specs Sound tracks grouped per spec OMF files per reel Sound Design Notes in binder
12	Sound Design	OMF files, etc. as above	Sound Designer Foley Artist? Dialog Editor?	ProTools or other sound software Final Cut Pro	Stereo LTRT session files Possibly 5.1 session files
13	Music	Quicktimes and sound notes	Composer	Instruments Music mixing software	Soundtrack, broken into reels, premixed
14	Mix	Session files Quicktimes Soundtrack files (if not already part of session files)	Sound Designer Mixer(?)	ProTools Mixing hardware	Bounce tracks
15	Final Output	Blank HDCAM and Digibeta stock Final Cut reels Bounce tracks	Me Post House Editor Mixer?	Online suite	Projection master SD tape master DVD master (Quicktimes)

Some specifics:
1. We picked ProRes LT because it offers the best compromise between file size and quality. H.264 can be difficult to edit with natively - it's a long-GOP format, which means that Final Cut has to do a lot of math to reconstruct the frames at your edit points. This can cause machines to chug and drop frames during playback, which is not good. The whole long-GOP vs. i-frame discussion is beyond the scope of this article; but I'll dig up some good resources for you or talk about it more in-depth at some point.

ProRes LT is an i-frame format (individual frames are stored instead of groups of frames), but the file size is manageable.

2. Pluraleyes is a stand-alone program that can take clips in a Final Cut Pro sequence and line them up. Assuming you have camera audio, Pluraleyes can line up your separate-source audio files with your video (with camera sound) files.

3. I'm glossing over a lot of the sound post process (which could have its own diagram); I'll save that for another blog entry.

So now you've got a basic idea of what we'll be doing over the next few months. Future blogs will focus on the individual steps, with more specifics and how-tos. I'd go into more detail but this entry is getting pretty long as it is. Until next time then!

The Film Is On The Hard Drive!

After thirteen wonderful, challenging, action-packed days, Found In Time now sits on several hard drives. I've spent the past week dealing with equipment returns, catching up on expense receipts, and following up on the inevitable hangnails (missing batteries, damaged props, etc.)

It's hard to describe how I feel. Witnessing the cast and crew work incredibly hard to put the world of the story together, listening to the actors creating depth and texture, feeling part of a big electric circuit... it's an exhilarating experience, and one very good reason to go into production. The long hours, erratic sleep, physical hardship, mishaps, upset, and chaos are just checkpoints along the way.

By the end of the coming week, the production will be wrapped - all the paperwork filed away, receipts counted, everyone paid - and post will officially begin with the logging and organizing of the footage. By then, I'll have more perspective and a cooler head, and I'll be able to talk more about the production experience, including lessons learned for next time.

Simeon Moore, our gaffer, has posted some wonderful production stills on the Found In Time Fan Page. We'll be posting some behind-the-scenes clips at some point in the future as well. Stay tuned.

Casting, Props, Fun!

This has been a hectic month+. We've been casting, building props, and locking down our locations - getting ready for the BIG DAY: September 10th! So this blog entry will be brief.

Firstly, we have our cast:
MacLeod Andrews | Chris
Mina Vesper Gokal | Ayana
Derek Morgan | RJ
Kelly Sullivan | Jina
Eric Martin Brown | Anthony
Mollie O'Mara | Jess
Curt Bouril | Morton
Stephen Bradbury | Ananasi
Glenn Thomas Cruz | Mark
Stuart Rudin | Isaac
Mary Monahan | Nadine
Avery Pearson | Matthew
Allison F. Phillips | Joan
Justin Myrick | Nicholas
Jaden Michael | Billy
Tony Wolf | Randall
Adam Feingold | Carl

We couldn't ask for a more talented group of people to be working with.


PROPS AND WARDROBE:
Just a quick selection of props and design elements:
This is the spinner that Ayana (one of the main characters) uses to weave her special braids.


This is a logo we made for the Psychcops, the special unit of the police force that keeps track of vendors.

That's it for now. Hopefully we will be able to get one more blog entry out there before we start shooting.

A Good Preproduction Checklist

I realize I haven't been blogging very much lately. The truth is that the actual work of putting the film together swallowed me up for a bit, which left precious little time left over for reflecting and writing on what I was doing.

June was a very busy month. A few of the things on the to-do list:

• Two Location Scouts


• Filing the Tax Incentive applications with the City and State of NY


• Filing the Screen Actors' Guild paperwork


• Doing a new breakdown and schedule for the film


• Calling locations and soundstages


• Bidding on insurance


• Prop shopping


• Hiring the casting director and preparing for casting


• Further script analysis


• Setting up company credit cards, and the Quickbooks/filing system for the film

I've also been trying to study other low-budget fantasy films such as the recent Ink, The Science of Sleep, Cold Souls and Gabbeh (if you haven't seen these, I recommend them all highly). Gabbeh, in particular, fascinates me. Without any kind of special effects, it manages to utterly convince you of the authenticity of the magical world it creates.

Anyway, one of the overriding lessons of June is the importance of being organized. There are many preproduction checklists out there. But most assume a very idealized schedule and that you'll have a team of people working for you. Here I'm trying to condense it into a list that's manageable and more realistic for the folks who are producing films literally on their own or with one or two other people. As such it's organized more or less in priority order (of course, film preproduction is nonlinear and fluid).

CORPORATE STUFF:
Anything that involves should be taken care of as soon as you have a date set. This includes creating your production company, putting the legal paperwork together for your investors and partners, setting up your bank account and credit cards, getting a resale certificate, etc. This is time-consuming stuff and involves government entities, which move on a slow timetable. So don't put it off.


SCRIPT ANALYSIS:
You can never do too much of this. As a crew member, I used to hate it when the director seemed like the least prepared person on set. There's a difference between being "fresh" (not getting sick of the material before walking on set) and being unprepared. Properly analyzing your script will never make you sick of the material, only lead you to a deeper understanding of the story you're trying to tell. It will also give you the materials you'll need to help you communicate with the cast and crew.

In my mind, script analysis includes the following:

• Preparing a character breakdown for the casting director


• Taking general notes


• Looking at the script from the characters'/actors' POV (see Judith Weston's books on this)


• Storyboarding


• Shotlisting


• Preparing a "vision statement" that uses other films, stills, artworks, music... anything that someone can grab and watch/listen to/read to get a sense of what you want to accomplish


• Figuring out what sides you want to use for auditions


• Rewriting the script based on the above

This should be happening throughout the preproduction process. It becomes harder to do as preproduction goes on, since it demands stretches of uninterrupted time. So start this as soon as you have a draft that you think could be shot. I also recommend "saving" everyone (including yourself) huge headaches by refraining from publishing new drafts until you've "ganged up" a few significant changes. Publishing new pages every couple of days is not going to endear you to anyone. On a really low budget film, you are GUARANTEED to get out of sync (with actors, crew, director and producer all showing up on set with different drafts).


PRODUCTION ANALYSIS:
This broad category includes breaking down the script, scheduling it, and budgeting it. This should start as soon as you have a workable draft and will (for better or worse) be an ongoing process. You should try to generate a budget, a location breakdown, and a cast list as soon as possible. I've written about this before, so I won't go into too many details here.


LOCATIONS:
Try to nail your locations, or at least start exploring possibilities, as soon as possible. I've written extensively on location scouting considerations, so I won't go into it here. I want to add two things: be prepared to bribe people to turn off their radios, park somewhere else, etc. And have a backup plan. You don't want to lose a day of shooting if a location gets scotched.

Use the best aspects of a location - even if it means bending the story a little bit. I once worked on a film where we had to find a country house for a corporate law firm partner. We found a beautiful, "rich-looking" house with two giant floor-to-ceiling, two story windows. But the scene was set at night, and we were shooting during the day. The DP and director wouldn't budge, so we gelled the windows (which took forever), and shot away from them - blocking everything in front of an interesting but rather "non-opulent" wall. The issue of wealth (important to the characters and the film as a whole) was lost.


CASTING:
You should start thinking about this as soon as the script is done. Do you know a "name" actor (and I mean know in the sense of actually having met, talked, worked with, and NOT in the sense of having lots of posters of him/her in your room or that you've stalked them or followed them on "E")? Do you know good "non-name" actors? Do you know a casting director?

The casting process is in many ways the hinge that the rest of the film swings on. If you cast well then many of your headaches will disappear on set (to be replaced by others, of course). Cast badly and you'll be wasting a lot of money and time. Note that casting well doesn't necessarily mean casting a name, or even someone with a lot of experience. But:

• Do they bring the role to life?


• Do they think of things you haven't thought of?


• Are they committed to the sometimes arduous nature of the process (they refuse to coast on indication and cliche)


• Do they have chemistry with each other?


• Will they show up on time?


• Do they understand the hours and time commitment, or will you have to compete with their day jobs or significant others?

These last two sound funny, but they're not. I've worked (as a production manager) with musicians cast as actors. They tend to be very good, but many don't understand the concept of a seven-AM call time.

I've also worked with actors who told me on the day that they had to get to their catering jobs two hours before we were scheduled to wrap. My sympathy is limited - I've passed up day job money, sleep, sex, a few friendships, and a vacation or two to stay in this business. If you can't walk the walk, don't talk the talk.

On the other hand, if you're working with an actor who's got another ACTING commitment, then you have to respect that commitment and work around it. If you can't, don't cast that person, or wait until their commitment is over before you shoot.

Also, if your dates aren't solid (they won't slip by more than a few days), you can't expect any actor, no matter their level of experience, to wait around for you.


CREWING UP:
Crewing up is both difficult and easy at the same time. It isn't hard to find people who want to crew on films. The problem is finding people who are willing (see above) to stick with it during some tough times, and/or are also willing to take a pay cut to work on an indie film. Also, since everyone is a freelancer, you can't ask someone in May what they're schedule is going to be like in December. Unless the paycheck you're offering is awesome AND your dates are solid, you're going to have to settle for a "if nothing else comes up" commitment.

So start looking at reels and interviewing people, by all means, but don't count on hiring people for sure until a couple of months before the shoot starts.


PROPS, SET DRESSING, COSTUMES:
I like to create shopping lists of the props, set dressing, costumes, wigs, etc. that I'll need to obtain for the shoot. In creating this list, I focus on the following:

• What's already at the location that I can use for free/cheap?


• What do I own?


• What can I borrow for free?


• What can I rent for cheap?


• What can I "buy and return?"


• What do I have to fabricate or purchase?

This leads to a lot of dumpster-diving, making phone calls to friends, closet-raiding, and other activities. The good news is that you don't have to do all this work at once. The bad news is that, like everything else on this list, you should start it as early as possible.

One thing I would caution against is assuming that actors can bring their own wardrobe. Depending on their financial situation, day jobs, and/or taste, you may not be able to find a three-piece suit or formal evening gown in their closets that you can use. And if you do, keep in mind that it's your responsibility to make sure they show up with it on the day, that it's cleaned regularly, and that a second rented/purchased, if possible. Actors sweat a LOT - the lights are hot, the AC has to be off for sound, and the work itself is nerve-wracking and physical - so make sure they can get into a clean version of their clothes the next day.

Similarly, locations are seldom perfect and may change between the scout and the shoot. You may have to live with the location as is (not always the worst thing in the world), or spend some time before the shoot crew arrives rearranging things. The key on a low budget is to be flexible.

There's more to come, but I've got to get back to work here. Casting begins in a couple of weeks. I'll let you know how that goes!

Scouting For Fun And Profit

So over the past few weekends, my director of photography Ben Wolf and I have been hitting the pavement. Starting in Astoria, jumping down to LIC and Greenpoint, and finally hitting some major paydirt in the Bronx, we've been taking in the sights and sounds of NYC.

We're looking for a side of New York that isn't often seen. Our everyday experience of New York, especially of Manhattan, is of a very close horizon with tall buildings and not much in the way of sky. This first image, shot in Astoria, is of the Hellgate Bridge. The vines growing up the supports help beautify the bridge, and the slight incline allows for a dramatic view. There's also a good contrast between the enormity of the bridge and the small (two-to-three story) houses next and under it.



The next couple of pictures, also taken in Astoria, show some nice diversity as well. The parking lot/alley, while generic in some respects, is broken up by the trees poking through the fence. And the park (Astoria Park) has several meandering paths and a nice incline. This allows for some good foreground/background blocking, creating depth in the frame.

The Bronx

The Bronx offers a "hilly" landscape, featuring a mix of residential and commercial buildings, lots of sky (a good lighting source, as well as a nice break from skyscrapers), and constant activity. The incline allows for some blocking opportunities that can create depth in the frame. The wide sidewalks are a big boon, since they will allow us to do profile shots without having to walk in the street. Many of the scenes take place on a "street vendor" corner, which means we need room for the camera, passersby, vendors with folding tables, and customers.

I'm also looking for a few other things in a good location:

Access to holding: Industrial landscapes and abandoned buildings are beautiful, except when you have to go to the bathroom or eat lunch, change wardrobe, or go somewhere to be quiet. I usually try to make a deal with the nearest church/synagogue/temple/mosque, community center, or hotel/motel.

Power: This is mostly for interiors. Gaffers usually love bringing along a generator and distribution, but on a low budget, it's impractical. Tie-ins or "plug-and-pray" are your better bet. Look out for tie-in-proof boxes (where they've sealed the distribution box cover so you can't get at the leads), old wiring, or 10 amp circuits (I still see some of these in old apartments).

Noise: The only downside of the part of the Bronx we saw was that we were only two or three blocks away from the elevated 4 train, and there was a tremendous amount of car and pedestrian traffic. We were there on Saturday, however; I'm going back during the week at some point to see how bad it is. The subway is on a somewhat predictable schedule and may be far enough away. Or we will have to decide to use it as part of the mix.

There's a lot of construction in Astoria, though not as much directly under the bridge. The Hellgate only sees the occasional freight or Amtrak train.

Goods: How far away are you from the nearest hardware store, supermarket, office supply place, and copy center. The last one is especially important at the end of the day when it's time to distribute callsheets.

Emergency: I worked on a film last year up in the Catskills that only had a part-time medical center in the nearest town. The closest full-on hospital was a good 30-to-45 minute drive. This was a little scary. On the other hand, the State Trooper barracks wasn't far away, and the volunteer fire department was fairly close by. The nearest snowplow and towing services were down the road.

If you're in the city, you can sometimes walk or drive faster to the nearest emergency ward than if you wait for the ambulance. So at least learn where the nearest fire/police/hospitals are.

Breakfast and Lunch: I usually try to find a variety of diners, restaurants, delis, etc. nearby so I can either send everyone away for walk-aways, or make deals for catering. It's almost always better to contract a local business for catering (they won't get lost, for one thing), but it's important that they understand the differences between Kosher/Halal, vegetarian and vegan cuisine. Astoria has a ton of restaurants. We spotted a number of good choices in East Burnside (the Bronx).

Public Transportation: Astoria is dependent on the N train and a couple of buses, while you have more options in Burnside.

Parking: No matter how hard you try, you'll end up with more vehicles than you'd like. If you have a shooting permit that gives you street parking (as opposed to "parking as available") AND you've coned out your parking the night before, you CAN technically ask for a tow service. But do you really want to piss off your temporary neighbors? Sometimes its better politics to find a cheap nearby garage.

Time To Location: A long commute will either be on the clock, or at least impact the turnaround, resulting in a "creeping call." It will also eat up gas and toll money (all non-production-value-enhancing costs). So shoot locally whenever possible.

Well, that's it for now - more scouting to do. Now that the rewrite of the script is done (finally), I have to break it down for the next draft of the schedule, and start thinking about interiors, props, and wardrobe concerns.

Being Smart About Money

I've seen this happen. Genius starts a business. He's got a great product (or film), a lot of goodwill and interest from people, and a loyal team.

What's the first thing he does? Gets himself in hock buying or renting a LOT of stuff. Spending money (either his or his investors) on "publicity parties," glossy packages, and a really really impressive desk. He rents an office space.

Everything's going great, until the bottom falls out of the market, or Genius B comes out with the same product only cheaper, or your investor decides to shut the faucet off. Then Genius is left with a set of awful choices: close up shop, plow whatever's left into finishing the film/product, change horses and make something else, lay everyone off and try to go it alone, ask everyone to take pay cuts, and so on...

In the BEST-CASE scenario, the movie gets made, the software comes on the market, the appliance ships. It does reasonably well and the company skates by, but Genius has now burned pretty much everyone around him (usually including his spouse/significant other), is in personal debt up to his eyeballs, and may have to close up and go back to work for someone else for a few years before getting another chance at-bat.

I witnessed this behavior first as a computer consultant, then as a line producer. At this point I've been around long enough to watch small businesses in just about every sector fail. In trying to keep my own business afloat, I've had to learn (sometimes the really, really hard way) how to be smart about my (and my investors') money. This is a WAY-TOO-SHORT list of things to think about in this regard.

Limit Your Overhead
This should be obvious, but for some reason it's not. To start making a film you need (a) a cellphone, (b) a computer, (c) a printer, (d) your brains. [obviously you need more than that as time goes on] If you need to get away from the house because it's too distracting, find a cafe/bar/library/someplace, preferably free. Or make or buy a cheap desk and stick it in a corner of your room. Likewise, hiring people before you're ready to use them, buying lots of gadgets (more on that below), throwing launch parties, buying expensive desks... not good uses of money.

Get Good Tools
This seems to contradict to what I just said, but not really. You will need a smartphone, a computer, a printer, and probably some piece of furniture to put them on. Fortunately, good tools aren't always expensive. Almost any machine you buy from HP, Apple, or Dell will give you decent horsepower and all come with good warranty options. You'll need a laser printer (but not an expensive one) if you want to print bulk copies of scripts and business plans (it'll be cheaper than Staples or an inkjet). Most cellular plans come with decent promos for smartphones. A desk can be put together for about $50-60 in lumber or a trip to Ikea, or by salvaging a door and some filing cabinets (one of my favorite methods). A decent office chair (or better, a stool) can be gotten from Staples or Quill for cheap.

The price of buying bad tools that break or underperform is high - lost productivity due to tech support calls, cash spent on replacing items that are just out of warranty. Investors also take stock of your tools when you meet them (just as they do your clothes and hair). Appearing somewhat thrifty is good; appearing too cheap suggests that you don't have a good gauge on when to spend money.


Renting Gadgets vs. Buying Them
If you're a DP, a sound mixer, an editor or compositor, then your livelihood depends on having good tools (see above) and being able to use them when you want/need to. Purchasing a camera, lights, an editing system and/or DDR may make sense. But if you're a producer, buying gadgets usually doesn't make sense, and here's why:

* Unless your business model includes working for hire and bringing the gear along (for a fee), or renting the camera out to other people, then your gadget will never make back its cost. When I bought a Mac to edit my first film with, I also used it as my main computer for four years; between web programming gigs, line producing and the occasional editing spot, I'm sure I was able to pay back the cost of the machine. Can you say the same thing?

* If you rent something and it breaks down, you call the rental house and they replace it - on their dime. If you buy something and it breaks down, it's your responsibility to fix it. As a computer geek, buying a computer (vs. leasing) made sense because I could fix most problems myself. But if you're on set and your camera dies, you'd better have a backup unit or a good relationship with a rental house.

* Are you looking at the real cost of ownership, or just the basic model price? If you're buying a camera, did you include the tripod, carrying case, cables, spare batteries, and additional cards?

* Today's gadget is tomorrow's doorstop. Make sure you aren't buying something that's going to be outdated in a year when the next model comes along - then you won't even be able to rent it out as frequently.

It's often more cost-effective in the long run to rent gear when you need it. An important exception to this is documentaries, where you may have to pick up and go on a moment's notice, or if you're shooting somewhere way far away from a rental house for months on end (then you might as well buy, and just take really good care of your gear).


Take The Cost of Living Into Account
The cost of living - due to real or artificial inflation - goes up roughly 3% or more per year. It's hard to measure exactly, because some goods stay the same in price while others rise.

But most people don't take this into account. If you have a savings account that's earning below the cost of living increase, you're essentially losing money every year (less than if you put the money under your mattress, but still). Likewise if you go without a raise for a couple of years at your day job, you're effectively taking a pay cut. This is also why you can't use a budget from a film made more than a few years ago as the basis for your own (which you shouldn't be doing anyway). El Mariachi and Blair Witch would still cost more if made today, even if NOTHING in the way they were filmed changed.


Credit Card Debt Vs. Savings
Most of the time, saving is better than spending. HOWEVER, there are exceptions. Right now, CDs are offering less interest than the rate of inflation (see above). Credit card interest, on the other hand, has not come down as much, and credit card companies are constantly finding new ways to stick it to us - late fees, interest rate jumps, new ways of calculating interest, membership fees, "rewards program" or "fraud protection" fees, etc...

If you're putting money into a savings account (or IRA or 401K) but are also carrying credit card debt, STOP saving and pay down your debt first. Start with the highest-interest cards first, and "snowball" your payments (as you pay one card off, apply the payment to the next card).

Don't pay your taxes on your credit card. The IRS will take monthly payments, and the interest and penalties charged are usually far less than the credit card companies will charge you in interest.

Don't put staple goods on your credit card - food, gas, etc. - unless you can pay it off every month or you're using a debit card. If you can't pay for your food in cash, that's a sign that you're living above your means.

Don't buy into fraud protection insurance or any of the other crappy insurance programs offered by credit cards. They add very little value to the protection built into your account (and enforced by law). Likewise, be wary of rewards programs - they tend to encourage spending.

I'm all for having a little rainy-day fund in case you get laid off. But nothing will eat into that fund faster than debt, so I still think it's better to pay the debt off first and save later.


Get Organized
If your car ashtray or shoebox is your bookkeeping system, you need to upgrade to something better. If you have investors, they will sometimes ask you how things are going with their money, and you'd better be able to answer.

I recommend learning QuickBooks. It's hard to get a reliable, good bookkeeper for what you can probably afford to pay (which is usually next to nothing). It's not an easy program to learn, but once you do you'll be working with the industry standard. You can budget and track expenses, add credit cards as well as bank accounts, and generate statements and invoices.


Keep Your Money Separate...
... from your investors'. It's VERY tempting to use investor money for personal use. Maybe you think you deserved a dinner on the company's dime because you worked late. Or you think you should lease a car. Or have the company pay part of the rent on your apartment (since it's the production office anyway).

There is a legitimate case to be made for each situation. If you're in preproduction and you're saving money because you didn't have to hire a PA to collate all those scripts, then having dinner makes sense. If you're in production and your shitbox isn't big or reliable enough to transport your actors and crew, you should rent a vehicle. If your production office is your apartment, you may need to reimburse yourself a little (at least to cover bumps in utilities, furniture breakage, and/or spousal irritation).

But if you're in development or postproduction, these arguments don't really hold up as well. If you're in development you should be saving as much money as possible; if you're in post you're probably coming close to running out of it. Your investors may or may not scrutinize these expenses. If they think you're using their money as a "free ride" they may not be as generous the next time around. Or they might want some of it back.


Auto Pay Is The Way
Especially when you're in production, you really don't have time to keep track of your personal finances. Many of us (myself included) hate doing it in the first place. So I get the bank to some of it for me - I have my bank account automatically pay all my bills. I have an overdraft on the checking account so I'm not worried about a bounced check. Since doing this my late payment fees have dropped to about $15 per year; also, my interest rate increases (due to late payments) have disappeared. The few times I've had a shortfall - when a payment has come out of the overdraft because my paycheck hadn't cleared - the charge was nominal. At the very least, turn this option on during production.


Don't Let Out Of Pocket Expenses Accumulate
Your first instinct will probably be to let the crew pay for their expenses, then reimburse them after they submit receipts. After all, there's always the chance that if you hand them their money, they'll just walk away with it, right?

The truth is that most people won't do that. They want to work again. The short-term gain is too small. They have pride in their work.

The solutions are to give them floats, give them credit cards with specific limits, and/or pay for certain expenses directly. Review their spending on a weekly basis and stay on top of things (or hire a line producer to do it).

If you give your department heads piles of cash and say "that's all you're getting," they will spend that pile. If you tell them you'll reimburse them later, they'll spend more than that pile, and be upset if you say that you won't reimburse them for everything. This is not evil on their part - they're just trying to help you make your movie, and are often going above and beyond to do that. But people don't tend to keep as close track of their own spending, or they just assume that you'll cover it anyway, or maybe they're a little pissed because they're going out of pocket... for a variety of reasons, you'll end up spending more.


Think Opposite The Herd
When everyone sells, that's when it's time to buy. When everyone's buying, that's when it's time to sell. That's the best way to survive in the world of investing.

This principle applies to filmmaking in general, however. Make a film in the winter (when no one is working), shoot in a town where no one else goes, pick atypical locations, cast under-utilized actors... you get the idea. If everyone is shooting a romantic comedy, maybe you should put yours on the shelf and take down that horror film - otherwise, you'll end up with just one more low budget romantic comedy, aiming for the same jackpot your competitors are.


Student Loan Consolidation? Think Carefully...
Consolidating your student loans may lower your immediate overhead, but it will usually cost you more in the long run. The consolidated interest rate can often be higher than at least some of the individual loans. And of course you'll end up paying more in interest over the long haul (sometimes three times as much). Some of your loans (particularly certain types of Federal loans) aren't "consolidatable" in any case.


Hire Good Professionals
You'll need a good lawyer and a good tax accountant (unless you're skilled in either of these areas). Build their services into the film's budget. I've seen far too many people get into trouble because they wrote their own (badly worded) contract, or filed the wrong LLC forms at tax time or when forming the corporation.


Pay Yourself Last
Yes, everyone says "pay yourself first," but if you're making a low-budget film, your crew really aren't going to understand why they're working deferred or at a low rate if you're getting a better deal. If you want people to be loyal to you, it's better to forgo some perks (a fancier desk, a better salary, early-day Fridays) and work your ass off.


People Are Your Best Resource
You don't have to suck up or even be particularly nice to the people working for you, but you do have to publicly acknowledge that their contribution is valuable. This doesn't always mean spending a lot of money - sometimes a sincere "thank you" or a drink, or hiring them on your next better-paying job, are sufficient. You can't buy people's loyalty and trust, you have to earn it through your deeds.

Well, that's it - really truly. Time to get back to rewriting.

Thinking About Time

Time is very much on my mind these days. What follows is a set of observations about it. It's a bit of a departure for me from the lecture/how-to format. Think of it as a window into my brain (aka "this is your brain on a rewrite").

Every day brings me closer to the start of production of the film. Every hour I spend working on other projects is one less that I can apply towards prep. Every minute that passes between my last film and this one my directing wheels get that much rustier. And so on.

Time is also a big theme in the script. Our hero keeps moving forwards and backwards in his experience of time. Much of this idea came out of watching films like Persona and Memento; reading books like Catch-22, Ubik, and Three Roads to Quantum Gravity; and looking at my own experience of time.

On the one hand, I feel I that talking about time is like being a fish trying to describe water. Water has properties, it can be measured, it can be understood chemically, but the very "wateriness" of the water, the experience of it, is impossible to separate from from a fishes' being. Fish are designed to swim in water; we are designed to exist in time. Whenever you try to get at the essence of time you end up talking about yourself.

The obsession with timekeeping and quantification of time is much-lamented, as is our apparent inability to keep focused on more than one thing for very long. Endless cliches are trotted out about how we're losing out on the beauty of life by endlessly trying to cram more stuff into the available time; how time-saving devices ultimately don't translate into more leisure, just more cramming; and how we've become slaves to an impersonal, mechanical version of time.

I suspect, however, that our time obsession is nothing new. While hunter-gatherers may appear to be more "relaxed" than us about when things happen, or farmers' lives a little "slower," their brains are wired just like ours are. I think they count the seconds just as much as we do. The main difference is in their expectation of what time will yield is probably different.

One day for a hunter-gatherer might mean preparing ones' tools, eating something; catching one big animal, or collecting a bundle of plantains; bringing the food back to the base camp; and cooking it. Counting is usually done by ratios, rather than absolute numbers; this is also how we tend to think (without training in number theory) and how our bodies themselves work.

This would suggest that time is indeed something akin to a volume or dimension. Physicists treat it as such. Non-physicists graph time along an axis (usually the x axis) of a chart.

But by and large, the equations of physics run equally well whether the flow of time is backwards or forwards, whereas a chart of the S&P 500 does not. So why does time only appear to run in one direction? Here physicists seem to be rather dumbfounded. Some philosophers (and physicists) have argued that time is a solid "block" like a volume of space. We move through it, it doesn't flow past us. This means that the moments past and future already exist, we just can't see them. Why not?

If I were to stand still in time, all my momentum would be transferred to space (this is what Einstein says; this is why less time passes for you when you travel at relativistic speeds). Does a photon, which travels at the speed of light, experience time? Would we, if we were to travel that fast? When we have gaps in our consciousness (from epilepsy, blackouts, drugs, etc.) some part of us is still in "record mode." Another part of us manages to edit our experience of time together so that there's no gap, no apparent discrepancy between what the different parts of us experienced (though it's obviously not a flawless system).

Does the universe perform a similar function at the quantum level? Some string and quantum loop gravity theorists feel that there's an atomic structure to space-time - a Planck-scale "smallest discrete unit" of space and time. If this is true, then events can't take less than a certain (VERY VERY VERY small) period of time to occur. The appearance of a seamless progression of events could really be the universe's equivalent of going through a flipbook - or projecting frames of film or video - at a high enough speed.

Perhaps time IS just an artifact, a feature like persistence of vision. Sadly, I don't find this comforting. I rather feel more as though I'm really just a big hunk of stuff that's being shuffled through a really, really fine deli slicer.

Perhaps I can show a little bit of this onscreen - by picking the right cut points, moving the story in just the right direction, I can make the audience aware of the water around them, without throwing it in their faces. Here's hoping.

Script Analysis/Acting Resources

So in the last post, I promised that I'd tell you about some of the resources that have proven invaluable for me in the area of script analysis. So without further ado, here's a combination of techniques, books and films that will help you get to the heart of your script and be able to communicate it better to your cast and crew.

Breathe

There's a lot of pressure to get it all right on set. The clock is ticking and the money is leaking out of your pocket faster than you can think. So take time NOW, when things are relatively calm, and get down to it. And DON'T expect all the answers to come right away. It's taken me years for some of the things I've learned to really soak in, and the biggest thing I've learned about film making is how much more I have to learn.

Take Some Acting Classes

Go to Adrienne Weiss' Directing Actors website. She's a really good director, and taught me a hell of a lot about how to talk to actors. Adrienne is bi-coastal, but if you can't get to her, find an acting group, play, or something going on in your town.

Get some experience, however you can. Even just watching rehearsals helps.

Get Physical

No matter what an actor's training is, I think that the best way to boost a performance is to give them something to do. This doesn't have to be an "action" in the running-away-from-an-explosion sense. Look at Ozu's Tokyo Story (or frankly, almost any of his work). There's not a whole lot of action going on - no one's getting shot or stabbed, or thrown around. There's a lot of dialog. But the performances are incredibly dynamic, at least in part because the actors are always DOING something. They're packing to go on a trip, eating dinner, fanning themselves, cleaning up... I don't know what Ozu's directions to his actors were. But by getting your actors to move around, do things, play, walk, or anything aside from sitting down, you get their energy focused on something outside of their heads.

Reading

Judith Weston has written two really good books about directing actors. Of the two, I think Directing Actors is the most accessible.

I found The Film Director's Intuition very slow going. I'm not sure why - it may be because of the mood I was in when I read it. But once she gets into script analysis techniques - and illustrates them with three really good examples - the book takes off and all the material in the earlier chapters comes together.

William Ball's Sense of Direction is a nice, slim volume that really gets to the heart of directing actors pretty fast. There are some skippable chapters (it was written for stage directing), but it's worth picking up.

Cathy Haase's Acting For Film is geared towards actors more than directors - and for this reason it's actually a valuable resource for you. It's very practical, written very clearly, and is also very brief.

I'm still reading Tony Barr's Acting For the Camera, but so far it's a very clear guide to how to act for film; again, a very good book for you to read.

Finally, pick up a copy of Michael Shurtleff's Audition. It's aimed at actors who have to audition. They have to analyze a play based on a small scene and find a way to the heart of both the scene and their performance, all in a very short period of time. Sounds a lot like film acting, right? Yup. As a writer, I found the "12 guideposts" Shurtleff posits to be absolutely essential to figuring out why a scene works or doesn't work. Similarly, I use the same guideposts to help me figure out the subtext of the scene, or prepare some playable direction to give actors.

Watch Films

Watch films with an eye towards editing and performance. Look past cinematography and production value/design as much as possible. It's not that that those elements aren't important - they very much are - it's just that in many ways those decisions are made by you AND others (the director of photography, mixer, production designer, costume designer, etc.). The part that's really YOURS on set has to do with working with the actors. The results usually manifest themselves later in the editing room as the editor (with your input) tries to build the drama from the different takes.

Some people have said it's good to watch a film without the sound on - so you don't get too sucked into the story. Others have suggested watching films in black and white (either watching a movie shot in black and white or turning the saturation down so that the picture is effectively monochrome). I don't know if I buy either of those techniques whole-heartedly, but they're there, and maybe they'll work for you.

Floorplans, Shotlists, Storyboards, etc.

It wasn't until I was storyboarding Caleb's Door that I realized that I could cut big chunks of dialog out of certain scenes. The reaction shots would communicate plenty. Something about working with my hands, drawing my silly stick figures (I'm not a really good illustrator), made connections in my brain that I wouldn't have made otherwise. During the reshoots I adopted a looser style without storyboarding but my DP and I went over the script and I did make notes on it that resulted in a shotlist and a floorplan.

Some people will argue that a floorplan done while on the shooting location is more useful than a storyboard done months before. I say whatever works for you is good. Just don't skip this step. Anything you can do to pull the script out of two dimensions and into three in your head is a good thing. It will also help you figure out where the camera should be, what should be in front of it, and what's important to hear - all those things that your crew needs to know too.

Okay, that's it for now. Actual real news about the film is coming soon, I swear! In the meantime, I'm chugging away on a rewrite.

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Script Analysis Doesn't Have to Be Scary

Some news: Anthony Viera, sound mixer extraordinaire, is coming aboard the film! I've worked with Anthony on about 8 or 9 projects, and it's always fun. Ben and Anthony have worked together on about a dozen projects as well. These guys understand the indie vibe and aren't scared by it.

Working with actors still scares me sometimes, however. I'm not sure whether it's because I haven't done a whole lot of it, or whether it's just endemic to the work. In a way, working on technical things is very easy for me. I understand the problem space and can nail a solution. Directing actors is about expanding on solutions, opening up more pathways - really going out on a limb.

I think this aspect of the craft turns off a lot of directors. I see their eyes glaze over as the actor asks them questions. Or I see them hit the actors with a ton of information when all they need is a sentence or two. So this past week I've been digging into my script analysis, hoping to get a jump on this type of situation.

The first thing I do is print out the script, dig out a pen, and go through each scene, looking for:
* Scene beats and transitions. These can be loosely defined as changes in subject. The transition is the space in between each beat. Sometimes it's an unspoken, unwritten thing; sometimes it's a bit of blocking or the entrance of a character; sometimes it's a line.

* Sensory data. This includes images and sounds; also possibly textures, smells and tastes that are implied (like people eating dinner, or dressing in a certain way). Sense data are a type of fact, and facts are good to work with.

* Ambiguous lines or actions. These give you and your actors something to work with - since they could mean more than one thing, they're like an opening into the character's inner life.

* Facts / Backstory. Facts are always good. They can't be judged. An actor can start with a fact and generate an emotional response more effectively than if s/he starts with judgments, opinions, gossip, etc.

* Tension/Stakes. Does the script fall flat in the middle? Does it ratchet up the tension? Does it need more or less "stuff" to get there? Since I'm working on my own script, I have the luxury of adding new stuff or taking it away at will.

From these things, I can glean the following info. This stuff I write down on a separate worksheet (I'll post it up on the IndieGogo site).

* Thru-Line of each character for each scene. This can roughly be defined as what the character wants FROM the other character. It has to be verb-based, and it's helpful if it includes an emotional response on the part of the other character. For example, Steve wants humiliate John can be too limiting. Steve wants John to feel humiliated opens up more possibilities for action.

* Moment Before. What happened just before the scene started. This is sometimes in the script, sometimes not. It's very important to establish since films are shot out of order. One of my biggest failures as a director was not reminding an actor of what had just happened before a small transitional scene. The scene, which would have gone unnoticed, was instead really flat, because the actors didn't carry the tension from the moment before into the scene with them.

* Questions. These are things I can ask the actors or myself. Sometimes a good question can open up a scene.

In the next blog I'll get into more detail on this stuff, and post some links to some good books on the subject. The key thing is to take this stuff seriously, and work on it as early as possible. When that rollercoaster goes over the first hill (see my last entry), you'll find yourself waist-deep or higher in production goo. Better to do your prep when things are calm.

Until next time...

The Long Ride Up the Rollercoaster

It's been a few weeks since the last blog post. In part, this is because things are still in the early stages - I'm still gathering together resources that I can't talk about publicly until things are "official." I'm assembling some media (concept art, photo tests, and the like) that I'll be able to show off soon. And I'm talking to my regular gang of fellow filmmakers, getting the word out about the film.

A lot of what I've been doing (apart from the above) has been spectacularly unsexy - I've been taking notes. Lots of notes. Notes about color schemes, about the character's appearances and inner lives, about significant objects/images/facts in the scenes. I'm also reading and rereading film books, trying to get my head in the game again.

Once I've put some visual media for all of you to look at, the notes will make more sense. For now, I'm keeping them to myself, since most of these jottings and scribbles will never mature into executable ideas.

But that is in a way, what the point of the notes are. To prep myself for the real script analysis work that lies ahead. Right now I'm in the up stage of the rollercoaster. I know from experience that come May, when I start sending out casting notices, that things are really going to speed up rather drastically.

It's important, especially if you're a hyphenate writer/director/producer-type, to take time out every day to write some notes down about the script. The idea is to free your mind up a bit, let go of some of your preconceptions. Then when you start analyzing the script in more detail - finding out what the "core" ideas are - you've already shaken off a few prejudices.

The big thing for me is to find playable directions to give my cast. This is the Achilles heel of many an indie director. It's so easy to get caught up in the producing or visual aspects of the film, that you can lose sight of what (in many ways) is your most important function on set - to direct the actors. Many times I've felt that the crew could do without me completely, and maybe even work better. But the cast depends on me.

I generally don't look in the monitor for this reason, unless it's a very specific shot. I trust my DP to get what I'm looking for - I'll watch the blocking rehearsal through the monitor. I also don't sit much. Sitting and looking at the monitor together feels like watching television. My body relaxes, I lose my focus, and pretty soon I'm in passive mode. Maybe this is good for some folks, but I need to be up and walking around. It's probably insufferable for everyone else. But then most directors are insufferable on some level. The main thing is to communicate to the actors that I'm a participant, on some level, in their work. I watch them so they can focus on each other instead of themselves.

So that's what late February/early March has been about - preparation, dealmaking, scribbling. There will be more exciting posts to come, I promise. But since I told you back in the day that I'd be sharing the experience of making an independent film, you might as well get a taste of the less exciting stuff too.

Getting Your Production Company Together, Pt. 2

First, a little bit of news: we've put some more goodies up on our IndieGogo page - our business plan, topsheet budget, and some more concept art are now online and available for download.

In our last post, we covered the first steps you'll want to take in starting up the production company for your film. Now we'll slow down a little and go over a few more steps, and then talk about some longer-term issues.

Getting A Credit Card: It's important to get a credit card early on, and pay any initial expenses with it (while of course paying it off every month). This will help you establish a credit rating for the company, which may come in handy later, should you need to apply for a loan or a second card. I recommend getting three cards, actually:
-- an AMEX card that gives you cash back or miles (you may need the miles to fly actors in)
-- A regular business credit card
-- A debit card attached to your bank account

It's a pretty sure bet that the credit card companies will be looking at YOUR credit score when you apply, so now would be a good time to get a credit report via creditreport.com or one of the other services (your bank should also have a credit reporting service).


Figure Out How You're Going to Pay The SAG Bond and Any Deposits: Chances are, unless you're film is really, really tiny, you're going to be dealing with the Screen Actors Guild. And they're going to want a deposit equivalent to a percentage of the actors' salaries (there's a formula but it varies). They'll want this deposit in certified check or money order form. They will refund the bond once the film is shot and all the paperwork is complete. Of course, this process can drag on, especially if the SAG rep loses your paperwork (always make copies!)

If you're like most indie producers, this really sucks. You can lower it somewhat by agreeing to put the actors' salaries in an escrow account run by their agents, prior to the shoot. But this won't eliminate the bond altogether. So start thinking about how you're going to float the money (cash advance, loan, line of credit with your bank, etc.) Don't wait until the last minute to figure this out.

Likewise, you'll also want to figure out how to deal with any equipment deposits (which can sometimes be quite large) or credit card holds. Putting that stuff on your production account debit card is a bad idea, especially the holds. And some places don't take AMEX.

Separate Your Books: It's important to separate the day-to-day development expenses that are NOT associated with your movie, from the preproduction expenses that are. This is hard to do at first - at the beginning, you may be making a call that could serve as both a development call (hey, look at all my projects) or as a financing call for the current film (hey, look at this one script). But it's critical to separate as much as possible, for several reasons.

Firstly, it's honest. If you want your investors to come back again, it pays to make sure they're not inadvertently paying for calls to your spouse, or a new fancy desk or lamp that isn't needed on the shoot.

Secondly, it will give you a sense of how fast you're actually spending the money, whether you need to slow down or not (you don't want to spend out the budget before you start shooting), and (worst case) whether you should be raising more dough.


Find A Lawyer/Get Your Legal Documents Together: The film business is not known for its plethora of honest, easygoing people. A good entertainment attorney can help you cut through the chaff of wanna-be's and protect you from the predators. In fact, your attorney may be the most important member of your team. So choose your attorney wisely.

You want someone who's a clear communicator, has an enthusiasm for their work, and specializes in entertainment law - which encompasses securities, copyright, contracts, labor, intellectual property, and other domains. Look for someone who you can form a long-term relationship with. Ideally, your attorney will work with you all the way through the sale of this film and the next one as well.


Get Your Attorney Working on Offering Documents: This is very important. Anytime you have someone giving you money you can bet they'll want some kind of contract. For most films you'll need three documents:
-- The Private Placement Memorandum, which lays out the nature of the investment, summarizes the risks, and covers liability, company dissolution, and breach of contract.
-- The Operating Agreement, which lays out how the LLC actually... operates, the relationship between the investors and managers, and what rights each party has. You give these two documents to prospective investors. Hopefully they return them to you signed along with a nice big check (that clears).
-- A Joint Venture Agreement, which covers you and whoever else you're producing the film with (if you're the writer/director, this covers your relationship with the producer; if you and your partner are both producers, this covers both of you... you get the idea). Good contracts make good partners. I can't tell you how many films I've seen burn to the ground because two friends decided to make a movie together, broke up over something at some point during post, then - because there was no contract in place - couldn't agree on who "owned" the film.

Your investors will breathe easier, knowing that the people in charge have an agreement between them as well.


Okay, that's about as much business stuff as I can deal with for one blog. Next time we'll get to some more fun stuff, such as concept art, script analysis, or (hopefully) some big news about the film. Until then, have a good one!

Video Pitch Online

We just finished and uploaded a video pitch for Found in Time. You can check it out on IndieGogo.com. In it I try to describe the story, what we're trying to do in making it, and how you can help us make it happen.

I want to take a moment and thank everyone for their donations of time, energy and money. The making of the video actually highlights another aspect of the DIWO (Do It With Others') ethos. My friend, writer/director Rick Mowat, donated his video and sound gear. Several other friends and colleagues watched various early versions of the pitch and offered excellent constructive criticism. Bob Seigel, another long-time friend and the legal counsel for the film, made sure all my i's were dotted and t's crossed. And Vimeo, Indiegogo, Facebook, Blogger, and Contactology have made it possible to tell people about the pitch for little to no dough.

If you had to add up the real cost of that advice, service, gear, and hosting, it would be quite a bit. So thank you to all who've taken time out to help us in our quest to bring the film to fruition.

Some More Business News

As I said in one of my previous posts, the temptation is to just shoot the damn thing. But while you definitely need to have that energy and enthusiasm, you also need to cover your butt and do a few business-type things first. You'll be happy you did in the long run, and while it will drain some of that enthusiasm away at first, later it will free you from various worries and let you make your film. So here's an all-too-brief overview of the steps you should take to get your film on the rails.

1. Copyright the script with the U.S. Copyright office:http://www.copyright.gov. For $35 you get your work protected (at least somewhat). Also, SAG will usually require a proof of registration of the script, so just do it.

2. Do a breakdown, schedule and budget for the script, so you know how much to ask for and about how long it will take to shoot. You can hire a line producer for this job (the cost will range from several hundred to a couple of thousand), or do it yourself.

There are definite pros to hiring a line producer. If they have any experience at all, they'll find and show you the expensive elements in your script, and give you at least an ideal schedule. They also have a good sense of what things cost in the particular place you're shooting (labor prices, as well as goods and services, vary from region to region).

But I recommend that you do it yourself instead and hire a line producer to check your work. Just don't kid yourself about how much time it takes - you'll need a month or more to do this step. But you'll be learning a valuable skill, and you'll get to know your script inside and out. It may even help you do a rewrite, both to make things cheaper and also better dramatically.


3. Decide if you're going to need investors, or if you can get by with your own money plus lots of favors (probably all of them you ever had coming to you) plus a credit card, loan, grant, second mortgage, etc.

I STRONGLY advise you to consider the POSSIBILITY of having investors. It affects many business decisions you'll make from this point on (see points 4 and 5). And yes, your mom or uncle or whoever who wants to give you money for the film - unless it's under $1000 or an outright gift - should be considered an investor. Even if you go it alone, any bank down the road will want to see some kind of corporate structure in place before they give you a loan. And psychologically, I think that having to think of other people and their money while you're making your film can be a good thing - it forces you to examine the film from an outsider's perspective.


4. If you need investors, put together a business plan. This is a 30-50 page document (or a PowerPoint slideshow) that explains, in as simple terms as possible: what your story is, why it's special, how it fits into the film marketplace, what your financial goals are with the film, and why anyone in their right minds would want to invest in it.

You can hire other people to do this for you (be prepared to pay a few grand) or learn how to do it yourself. The best book I've read on this subject is Louise Levison's Business Plans for Independents. Again, I recommend you at least try to do it yourself. You may find it a STEEP learning curve, but it will force you to consider your story from yet another perspective.

5. Decide on Incorporation. You'll need an entity separate from yourself to make the film, hold onto your investor(s)' money, and deal with all the vendors and crew and SAG. There are several types of business entities, but the most common are:

Subchapter S Corporations: these are designed for small businesses. They offer a "pass-through" mechanism so that income from the corporation is allowed to pass through the corporate "veil" to the owners. S Corps are easy and cheap to form, don't require a lot of maintenance from the IRS and state tax agency, and can have investors (they become shareholders). You can set up a mechanism whereby you will always own the majority of stock. This keeps you in the driver's seat while allowing other people to put money into your project.

So what is the problem? Well, because of the "pass-through" regulation, S Corps do offer somewhat less protection from lawsuits which would see to pierce the corporate veil (ie, go after your personal assets). In most states, there's an upper limit on the number of investors that one S corporation can have. And other corporations or entities can't become investors.

C Corporations (C corps) offer a solution to all these problems, but aren't really set up for small business owners. You have a MOUNTAIN more paperwork to file and track, and depending on your budget, you may have to file with the SEC. Trust me on this, you don't want to create a C Corp.

Limited Liability Partnerships (LLPs) used to be the entity of choice for filmmakers. You become the managing partner; investors become limited partners. The company is structured to give you most of the creative and strategic control, while protecting the investors' money and legal responsibility (the middle "L") in case you screw up. But these are relatively clunky, and are treated by the IRS as partnerships, not corporations.

Limited Liability Companies (LLCs) combine elements of corporations and partnerships. You become the Managing Member; investors just become Members. An operating agreement defines the different roles. You'll have to do a few things (the next few steps) to set up the company.

If you think you'll have more investors than, say, your uncle, you'll want to form an LLC. It offers the best combination of protection, paperwork hassle, and flexibility. It's also "the devil you know" - any investors who are NOT your friends or family will be expecting you to have an LLC.

You don't have to form an LLC right away, but should do it within the same year you go into production. You'll need a few weeks to set it (and all your other stuff) up, so you should schedule accordingly.

6. File the incorporation paperwork. Here's where I get lazy. You can file the paperwork with the state yourself, but I usually use Inc It Now's service for the initial filing. They charge a premium but can deliver the filing receipt and other paperwork faster than you'll get it back from the state otherwise. Expect to pay about $450 or so. Most of this goes to the state filing agency, with the rest paying for postage, your "black beauty" (the big thick book containing your corporate seal and all your corporate documents), and Inc It Now's service fee. For this you'll get a filing receipt with the state you incorporated in, a black book with stock certificates and other paperwork, your corporate seal, and your initial articles of organization (a brief contract explaining how the LLC works).

I recommend you incorporate in the same state you're doing business in. While you can incorporate in a different state, you'll have to file additional paperwork within your own state to be treated as a "foreign corporation." You may also have to pay some taxes. It's more of a pain. Some people maintain that it's worth it, however, because each state taxes corporations differently. That's why you'll see a lot of LLCs that were incorporated in Delaware but do business in New York.

A word of advice on Inc It Now's services: they have several "packages" available. The best value for your money, however, is to just let them do the initial filing, and for you to handle the following steps (below) yourself.


7. Get an EIN. Once you get the black beauty and the filing certificate, go to the IRS website and file for an EIN. An EIN is the corporate equivalent of a social security number, and you'll need it to do just about ANYTHING else. Their new online form is pretty good - it's actually written in English, as opposed to IRS-ese - and you'll get an EIN right away. Doing this yourself will save you some $$$ over letting Inc. It Now do it for you.


8. Get your filing receipt. A couple of days to a few weeks after you get your black beauty, you'll also receive a copy of the filing receipt from the state, with a state seal stamped on it. You'll need this later, so hold onto it.

9. Publish. Depending on what state you incorporated in, you may need to publish a notification of your company's existence. Two newspapers or circulars publish a daily classified listing stating that your company exists. This is possibly the biggest pain in the ass in this whole ordeal, and apart from a payola scheme, I don't really know what purpose it serves anymore. I recommend contacting Hudson Advertising if you live in New York (212-732-0337). They get paid by the publishers, so there's no surcharge to you above the advertising fees (which range from $600 to $1800, depending on the state and, believe it or not, the county of your company's address). The problem is that if you don't do this step, the state government can simply declare your corporation invalid. Then you'll have to start over again.

10. Open a bank account. Once you have your filing receipt and your black beauty, you should open up a checking account with a bank you can tolerate. If you have a budget big enough to justify an escrow account, you'll want to set up an escrow/production account. This is really two accounts bolted together: an escrow account (where the investor money goes into), and a production account (where you write checks from). You can't tap the escrow account until you've hit the break point (this is up to you to determine). The escrow account can be further set up to track individual investors' monies, so the bank can send statements back to each investor.

If you're doing a film for less than $100K, chances are you need whatever money comes in AS it comes in, so you'll probably want to just set up a simple corporate bank account. You'll need your EIN and usually the filing receipt or articles of organization (that'll be in your black beauty), as well as your personal ID.

One important consideration: how many ATMs does this bank operate in the city/town you'll be shooting in? During production, you'll often find yourself in need of cash, and you don't want to piss away money on ATM fees, do you?

11. Set up Your Online Merchant Account. Next (for now), you'll want to set up an Amazon.com merchant account, and possibly a Paypal account so you can take donations online. These accounts link back to your bank account. Most crowdfunding sites require one or the other (Indiegogo requires an Amazon account).

There are a few more steps to take but you're probably exhausted from reading this far, so we'll cover the rest in the next post (I promise). While it all seems like a lot, and it can be somewhat intimidating, if you leave yourself enough time, you'll be rewarded by (a) learning a lot of new things (which is never bad) and (b) preparing yourself to think like a business person, which you'll need to do at the other end when you're trying to sell your film. You'll also get more acquainted with your script, and may see some things that need changing (it's always cheaper to figure this out early).