Guerrilla Film-Making: Pre-Production
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Vendor and Equipment suppliers
Deal-making
FIRST YOU MUST get the great script which can be made on no money, ideally in one room in real time.
Big Fat Greek wedding.
Reservoir Dogs.
Optioning Broadway stage plays gets you a cheap-to-make movie, because by definition they can all be done in one room in real time.
Green screen provides a way to use more exotic scenery, if you can use the computer equipment.
Below-the-line items:
Shooting Ratio. On a low/no budget you'll shoot 6-8 times the amount of footage as will end up in the final edited movie. So you need hard drives (and/or tape and/or film) that last at least 6-8 times the running time of your finished movie.
Never pay retail.
Always mention the name of the seller's competitor.
Look for used materials, buybacks, unused returns.
Any reputable supplier of recording media is fine.
Subtle differences in recording media are not important.
The 4 important things are:
- The SCRIPT IS GREAT
- The picture is IN FOCUS
- The subject is IN THE FRAME
- The SOUND IS GREAT
CAMERA PACKAGE RENTAL
ARRIFLEX, PANAVISION
Rent the best camera you can afford. They all work.
Only use a digital camera if it has sufficient bit-depth, so you can fix exposure problems in post without getting banding and blowouts.
The ARRI ALEXA (2012) is commonly thought to be the first digital camera that looked like film.
Frame size is less important than frame rate.
Make sure you get a camera that puts out at least 48 frames a second in high resolution.
Camera packages include lenses and tripods, etc. Get whatever the store will throw in.
Rent over the weekend paying 1 day, or the week paying 4 days.
Only pay for a 4 day week.
Never pay 5 day weeks.
If you take payment up front into the rental store, with your cinematographer who knows what he's doing so that store owner feels comfortable, you can get entire weeks for the "rate-card" price for 1 or two days.
Always get a great deal.
Expendables
Filters, gels, gaffing tape, camera cleaner, air-blower, paper, batteries, etc.
$3000
SOUND
A good sound-man owns all the equipment you need.
Tape recorder.
Microphones: the most important thing.
Forget the camera mic.
The sound man must pay for his own assistant.
Remember to get the actual sound onto your dailies.
Grip and light equipment.
All shots come out flat and dark.
You need key, back, and fill light to create a sense of depth.
The key makes the eyes come alive.
The back light gives a halo around the actor's head. Backlight everything you want to stand out.
An eye-light makes sure that there is a dot in the iris in the eye.
Get each shot in 20 minutes and move on.
25-30 shots per day.
The gaffer deals with electricity, lights, not blowing fuses.
The grip(s) deal with carpentry, rigging, putting up lights.
Grips with independent trucks with lights and grip and maybe a dolly or generator live in places like Reseda, Simi Valley, or Sylmar.
They will pay for the best boy (assistant grip.)
Camera movement.
Shoulder cam works on TV but they make people sick and vomiting on large screens.
Tripod zooms don't work on large screens.
The reliable way to get stable shots is Dollies: Fisher #9,10,11.
Chapman-Leonard: peewee, super peewee, hybrid, or hustler.
Storyboard.
If you need to hire a storyboard artist, you do not know how to direct.
Draw your own storyboards.
Stick figures.
Get your storyboard (production board, strip board), revise it several times.
Before the Big Day:
Get shooting schedule.
Get your cast and crew list with all their phone numbers.
Production coordinator calls everybody and wakes them up at 5am.
Make sure everybody has a good map of how to get to the shoot from N, E, W, South.
If doing the film for a studio, you will need a production report.
Before every shooting day, you must give everyone a call sheet which tells everybody what they're going to do tomorrow and what time they have to show up, how to get there.
Without the call sheets, people start failing to show up on time with the right stuff.
Work 14+ hour days.
Never work less than 12 hours.
You're working 18 hour days.
Don't switch locations.
