Breaking out of my shell, got some pointers?

[DanielRutterFilms]

Hey;
The name's Daniel Rutter, Daniel Rutter films. Never made anything that I could REALLY call a movie, but I have a thing for short films. I've been making little movies with the siblings, and I'm now deciding to get out there with a couple of experienced actors, and a decent camera.
Theres only one problem. I'm so unorganized. Here I am, script at the ready... actors coming through auditions... and I haven't even got permissions for the location.
I'm working with NO budget, and I'm looking to turn this script into a film festival piece. It doesn't have to be show stopping, its just gotta get their attention.
I'm stuck in Australia, so things are a bit harder for me to make this film. I need guns. I can't afford a $500 dollar replica firearms licence, or to pay an armourer to bring weapons in. So I'm using toys, going digital with my effects. Blood and bullet wounds is another problem. I cannot find a simple way to do bullet wounds without doing something dangerous like strapping my actors with explosives.

Ok... enough with the bitching. Any tips on how to get this little shambles into an organized production?

 

[H.Z.]

Holla Daniel... what is the length of this project? I've never made a feature, but I'd be happy to share the organizational things I learned moving from "small" shorts to bigger/ambitious/serious ones.

It sounds like you have a good idea what the first steps toward getting organized are. You need to have a shooting schedule, then get location permissions based on that schedule. Make sure that your schedule has as much room as you can swing for things going wrong/taking longer then you guessed. I would say having a firm schedule improved my movies more than anything else I've done/learned.

You mentioned that you have a decent camera... what are you doing for sound? I'm sure you've heard that "sound is half the experience." That's if you're doing it right. If you have terrible sound, it has a habit of overwhelming the experience and making any viewer turn off your movie very quickly. At the very least you need an external mic... and as in-depth a plan of action for sound as for visuals.

I've never done gun effects, but here are some links that may or may not be helpful... http://www.ehow.com/how_2118601_squibs-film-television-stage-production.html
http://www.microfilmmaker.com/tipstrick/Issue23/gunshotw.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WwWSo4bUdLo

Also... if you are doing action stuff with "real" actors and no insurance be really really cautious during your shoot. Be three times more prepared than you think you need to be. I've had some friends learn the hard way that very little bothers people more than getting injured on a poorly though out movie shoot.

 

[M1chae1]

I'm glad to see you want to take another step forward. My advice to you is get an AWESOME Assistant Director to help you out. You can also get a very 'together' producer on the production to keep things moving.

If you don't have the organizational or breakdown capabilities to make a movie...at least you can get someone who does have the ability. Hey...at least you admit it. That's more than most indie directors do.

 

[DanielRutterFilms]

I've not yet gained the experience (or the wanting) to shoot a movie longer than ten minutes. before this, I made little no-budget flicks for the Youtube community. Short Films are my passion.
As far as location planning, I have already put forward the application for permissions. Its a one-day shoot, one-day rehersal... and I'm employing actors from another town for free.

Anyway, thanks for the tips so far.

 

[knightly]

for 1 day of shooting, you'll need to move really fast to get the footage for a 10 minute short film. I prefer 4 days, but usually squeeze it into 2 - without special effects work!

Have your planning done and a list of shots you need written down as a check list. take your 8-12 hour day you'll be shooting and divide by the number of shots to figure out how much time you have per shot. Don't forget to break for lunch!