I got on a set for research and...

H

harmonica44

Well they shot the movie with no lighting and just used the lights from the ceiling that came with the building. And they didn't put any blankets up for reducing echo in dialogue. I asked the director and he says that he couldn't have much control over lights for such a low budget and will deal with the look in post. I asked him about how he reduces echo, and he says that with his shotgun mic, he doesn't have any echo problem. He says he sometimes has to add echo in post just to make it sound more realistic. It could be cause his shotgun looked to be a very cheap one, and didn't have much good quality sound for echo but I'm just merely guessing and am probably wrong.

So finding a set to get on, in my area is tough, since most people do not shoot things here. But I feel I didn't learn anything and am even more confused. I guess everyone has there own way of doing things. He's done shorts before and music videos, so he knows what's he's doing. But since I am more confused now, what's there to learn from this experience I could put to use or something?
 
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gorillaonabike said:
Well I disagree. Just shot most of my first short and if anything, a little more planning would have been better. There was one thing we should've tried which would've saved huge hassles. Now we know what it is but we only discovered this halfway through the shoot... Hindsight is a cruel mistress.

It will be up to the editor to save it all!
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But now, after you tested the waters with your first short, you know WHAT you need to plan, what you need to focus, and what to expect.
But if you were still stuck in pre production, doinking around with excel, you wont reall know what you shoud focus on, right?


SIDETRACK RANT (skip if you will)

the reason im a strong supporter of "just get it done, then you ll figure out the details" is because of several preivious experiences.
When i was going to a pilot school, VERY FIRST thing you do, literally 15 mins after sitting in the plane for the very first time, is you have an instructor telling you: "here is the throttle. this is how you take off. Now - go". Of course, he sits with you just incase if u ll freak out, but he doesnt really touch the controls. They do it because a person needs to get THE BIG PICTURE FIRST. Take off, fly, land. Only after several hours after you learn details on navigation, radio controls, etc.

same went with rock climbing. When i got into rock climbing, my instructor didnt teach me for a month on different tecniques, ropes, gear, knots etc. He set up the rope, gave me chalk, and said - "there is the end of your climbing route. Now go". After long painful climb i knew what it took to get to the top.

there are many more experiences that have similar technique, to dive in head first, to get a big picture, then after you know what the full path looks like, you learn the details.

i apply same principal to filmmaking. At first I didnt worry about lenses, lights, different types of mics.. i got a camera, wrote a 10 min script, shot the whole thing, and edited it. And it was sooo so so crappy! And i ve learned soo many things from it..

so i still stand strong by my statement. For your first short - write, shoot, edit in 3 days. Anything more than that - is mental masturbation, cause you dont know what you need to learn
 
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If you are going to do anything, do it right the first time. If you aren't going to do it right then don't do it at all. I don't think "just do it to do it" is a very good motto for somebody just starting out. That's how bad habits are formed.


:)
 
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It isn't black and white, though. One person's first attempt may be one backed by zero experience, while the other person's first attempt may be backed by years of experience.

Then, you can't operate under the pretense that all intuition is created equal, because it's not. There are people out there that pick up a camera or a pen and just "get it", and there isn't any explanation to satisfy why other than they just get it.

There are only a few ,but they are out there.

I'm in the camp of "do it". Shoot SOMETHING, even if you don't release it to the public. And keep doing it.


As for what you can use the research for...

Well, it's pretty obvious? You don't need much to create content, depending on what the content is, of course. So just go and do something.
 
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rayw: HAHA oh no, dont start the politics in here haha I get to hear that sh*t at work all day long :-D



I do know some people, like DeJager, who plan it, follow the whole thing through, and in the end get stuff done. And I know people who are like me, Niking it (Just Do It).

I'm sure there isn't a right way, or wrong way.. all depends on people I guess, different approaches. :cheers:

If there was one universal way to a successful path of making a great short film - then YouTube wouldn't be flooded with bad CoPilot Action Essential special effects, poor gunshot lighting masks, and lame 5 mph car speed chases. (and yes.. i'm guilty on all three of those haha)
 
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DeJager said:
If you are going to do anything, do it right the first time. If you aren't going to do it right then don't do it at all. I don't think "just do it to do it" is a very good motto for somebody just starting out. That's how bad habits are formed.


:)
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Exactly! I've been told the same thing by a director (who was my teacher then).
 
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It's my motto for life in general, I guess. Not just for filmmaking. Everybody has their own ways of doing things, which is great! If everybody did the same thing as everybody else... that would be a pretty boring world :D
 
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DeJager said:
It's my motto for life in general, I guess. Not just for filmmaking. Everybody has their own ways of doing things, which is great! If everybody did the same thing as everybody else... that would be a pretty boring world :D
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Well, I think you're right. Do it right.

But, I can't think of any example of any first time filmmaker doing it right. By first time, I mean their very first film.

Any examples to share?
 
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SOME PEOPLE on this forum are trying to do it right for their first short. Some have 1000+ posts with many many MANY questions and couple of months of planning.

I'll be nice and wont point fingers. But Im expecting their final product to be a f***king masterpiece..


:-D

Just kidding.
 
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Well for my first I wanna do my best. I have been practicing as much as I can in the meantime and getting everything set up in time. I'm shooting a scene for the short film I'm doing tomorrow. I found out recently to get C-stands to hang blankets on to mask out the sound, but I wasn't able to get those stands, cause my day job got in the way, and that's the only time the stores are open. So I could hang the blankets on folding chairs. But do they have to be hung at a certain height for it to work?
 
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Lucky Hardwood said:
I will never understand why people say to accept that your first project will suck. I don't see why a highly motivated person couldn't pull together a fantastic movie on their first attempt. Sure, if you try to do everything yourself, an amateur is likely to make colossal mistakes, but gathering talented people together and letting them showcase their skills can be done on a first attempt. I say swing for the fences and go for it.
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Word. I won a few film festivals, one pretty well know, the first time I ever touched a piece of film. Little 3 minute joint in B&W on 16mm. Not tooting my own horn but it seems relevant.
 
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My first short (1-minute long) earned me a well-deserved A+, in the class it was an assignment for. My second short (5-minutes long) also earned me an A+, in the same class, and was selected to represent the best of the sophomore filmmaking students, at the school's end-of-year student film festival (and I wasn't even a film student).

But they weren't "good", at least not in the way I'd like to be making movies, right now. I'm proud of them, I had a blast making them, I learned a lot, but I'd be rather embarrassed, if the movies I was making, right now, weren't a heck of a lot better than those beginner movies were.

I think Ira Glass speaks very well on this subject. This video is five-minutes long, but you only need watch the first couple minutes to understand his point (though the entire video is interesting).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BI23U7U2aUY
 
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DeJager said:
If you are going to do anything, do it right the first time. If you aren't going to do it right then don't do it at all. I don't think "just do it to do it" is a very good motto for somebody just starting out. That's how bad habits are formed.


:)
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There is no problem with that, except it doesnt apply to only the making of one film, but rather, filmmaking in genral.. Because if its applied to one film, "make your first film good, or dont even make it." That would be like telling a 7 years old, "if you want to learn to play the piano, for your first piece, you should learn Listz's piano concerto and perform with the berlin philharmonic at the sydney opera house. Or else dont learn piano at all."

It doesnt work like that. Just like piano, filmmaking is an art form, you build your skill from one film to another. You learn by doing. You improve with practice. The idea is, once you start, you dont give up, you keep on practicing, one film after another, one piece after another, one performance after another, one festival after another.

I dont have a problem with planning. There is nothing wrong with spending time to plan, to research, but planning for a feature as the first film, or planning to hire people for the first film, or spending a year planning for a 2 minutes short, thats when you have to say to that person "Just get out there and make a short film!"
 
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The important thing to remember is you are always learning. Spielberg is still learning. If you're not open to learning then you will never excel. You will just be putting out the same thing over and over again. So no matter if your first film is a gem or crap, you're next one needs to be better.
 
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My first film was by far my most expensive. I hired a mostly pro crew and used them as film school. It's a pretty good first film, but certainly has a lot of problems as well. However, I learned a huge percentage of what you need to know to be a successful filmmaker. I didn't learn it all, and never will, but like I said it was 4 month film school that cost me about $5K. There are a lot of ways to skin that cat, and all can work in the right situation.
 
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