HELP ME! [please read]

M

MadMan

I feel that i'm going to have to do everything and hire everyone. I dont know why. I just feel that im going to have to do EVERYThING. hire EVERYONE. Someone has told me before that you just hire the department heads and then they hire someone else who hires someone else and bla bla. But if ive never done directing work, and then i dont hire someone who hasnt done assistant directing or DoP'ing because i want some other people to break into the business, maybe they wont be so good at what they're doing... i really dnt knw what im saying anymore... LOOK: can someone tell me or gimme something to read that would just kinda make me feel that i dont have to schedule everything, make sure everyone shows up, make sure the people go where they are supposed to go, and make sure they do what they supposed to do and not just do bullsh*t. Of course i have to do some stuff like tell some people what to do but i mean like if a bunch of guys are just sitting around and they're supposed to be setting up lights or something like that, i cant keep going around doing stuff that my DP is supposed to be doing rite? or actors dont go straight to makeup? who tells them to go to make up?

i know this is all messed up and unclear, but i need to read a book or something that says alot of things abot the people and production about movies and not just what the hell a two-shot is. :D
 
Sort by date Sort by votes
MadMan said:
LOOK: can someone tell me or gimme something to read that would just kinda make me feel that i dont have to schedule everything, make sure everyone shows up, make sure the people go where they are supposed to go, and make sure they do what they supposed to do and not just do bullsh*t. Of course i have to do some stuff like tell some people what to do but i mean like if a bunch of guys are just sitting around and they're supposed to be setting up lights or something like that, i cant keep going around doing stuff that my DP is supposed to be doing rite? or actors dont go straight to makeup? who tells them to go to make up?
Click to expand...
I don't know of any book or website that will tell you you don't have to
schedule everything, make sure everyone shows up, make sure the
people go where they are supposed to go, and make sure they do what
they supposed to do. Because the reality is SOMEONE has to do all those
things.

If you don't want to do it, you find someone who will. If you can find
someone to to these things then YOU will have to do it.

On the other hand, there are a lot of books that explain what each
person does.
The Film Director's Team by Alain Silver and Elizabeth Ward
Independent Feature Film Production: A Complete Guide from Concept
Through Distribution by Gregory Goodell
DV Filmmaking: From Start to Finish by Ian Aronson

A two shot is a shot that has two people in it. A single is a shot with
one person. An over the shoulder is.....
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Take the good advice from directorik. You will find out that with those books you get to know how things work. If you know whats going on this stress/chaos factor, that your writing indicates, will vanish. And by the way if your the director your producer should be able to help you with some contacts.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Maybe you need to start a little smaller...do a small production of a short. Get a feeling of what happens and what you can handle, and then you can ramp it up as you go along.

Here's another book you might look at:

The Complete Film Production Handbook, by Eve Light Honthaner

Good luck.

Chris
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
That person is called the producer and they hire the director to be the foreman of the show. The director is responsible for making the vision of the producer into reality.

In smaller indy films, the producer/director/writer/cameraperson are often the same person... and responsible for people showing up on time etc... I've done all those jobs at once, and once you accept that the producing aspect of the show needs to happen, life gets easier... it's taken 5 years to find people interested in doing that for our production company.

Don't discourage, not sure what you're working on now, but if you are doing both jobs (producing/directing), make sure to wear the hats separately... on set, you're the director, before and afterwards, you're the producer.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
MadMan,

I think you’ll find that your experience is exactly the same as
all of us. knightly and me and everyone else on these boards who
has ever made a movie has had to wear all the hats at once.

I’m the guy you mention in your first post who told you that a
producer hires all the department heads who then hire their crew,
bla, bla. But that’s an answer to your very generic question.

To be more specific to YOUR situation, you - the person wearing
just about all the hats - probably won’t have the money, the
resources or the available people to do it the way the pros do
it.

As knightly said, you are going to have to do just about
everything including scheduling, making sure everyone shows up,
making sure the people go where they are supposed to go and
making sure they do what they supposed to do.

I’ve done it. knightly’s done it. We ALL have.

Welcome to the world of independent filmmaking!
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
I kind of feel there isn't enough info in your post to advise you of anything. Are you a filmmaker or screenwriter or what?

Is this a first film or first BIG film? Is it a short or feature? Have you ever shot anything before?

You seem to be worried about hiring everybody, but without knowing much about the production or how big or small you are going, who knows how many people you will need?

....I'll go see if you posted elsewhere....


-- spinner :cool:
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Not sure if you're on a mac or pc, but if you get some calendar software that shows you people's availabilities, you can schedule more easily. I made a spread sheet with each scene and a check mark for the actors in it... then sorted per actor's check mark and printed one out for each actor... and one for each scene, that way I knew who had to be on set for what scene so I could double check against the availability calendars and make sure every one was available to shoot the scene... when I finished a scene, the cast/crew needed sheet went in a pocket folder filed away as done for future reference.

I'm on a Mac, I used iCal for the scheduling (different color for each actor) and appleworks for the spreadsheet.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top