Keeping Production On Schedule

Daniel_S

Daniel_S

A production schedule is good, but less helpful if you don't adhere to it. So here's my question: How can one ensure that on set, they get things done as quickly, and efficiently as possible so that time doesn't run out? Schedules will be more accurate if one knows the crew they are working with, and has more experience in general, but what works for you all? What tips could you offer?
Thank you in advance.
—Daniel
 
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Preproduction, preproduction, preproduction, preproduction, preproduction,
preproduction, preproduction, preproduction, preproduction, preproduction,
preproduction, preproduction, preproduction, preproduction, preproduction.

Yes, there will be problems. A part of preproduction is PREPARING for the unforeseen. That's why you do really thorough location scouting. That's why you have detailed preproduction meetings with your cast and crew to insure that everyone is on the same page. That's why you need back-ups for gear, locations, cast & crew, etc., etc., etc.

Most of professional filmmaking has nothing to do with filmmaking; it's all about the management and efficient use of your resources - finances, equipment, time and personnel - all the way from development through post and marketing.
 
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What AA said :)

But also - rather than just scheduling the amount of time to shoot scene X, figure out how long each of the components of that will take: travel, set decoration, lighting, blocking, hair and make-up, rehearsal, meals, how many different set-ups? Think also about how many different takes you can "afford" to have. We generally agree to a number in advance and stick to it.

Also, know in advance what you can cut from your day if thinks are running overtime: what's absolutely essential, very important, important, or just nice if you can get it. Then stick to that - DON'T rethink those rankings in the middle of the day, as everything can start to seem essential.
 
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Thank you both for your help. And just to give some circumstance, I was doing a project where I knew we needed to move fast, so while working on pre-pro, I drew up lighting charts, and attached rough times to each location. Obviously the unexpected happens, and things fall apart, but pulling it back together.. that's all part of film, or anything really.
So I showed the lighting charts to my crew of classmates, and had the talent run through lines while lights were being set up. This saved time. A couple lights blew, but it happens. At any rate, we were moving on schedule, and things were going well. Although, after breaking for dinner, people informed me that they needed to go do other things for a bit. I of course, let them. These people are friends. Unpaid classmates who are giving me their time. We reconvened later that night, fewer in numbers, but managed to get done one more scene. We were behind schedule at that point, although we were to meet back in two days to film the rest. I spent the time in between working on pre-pro and re-scripting so that the plot would still be evident, though needing less to be shot. The day of the next shoot came, and unfortunately, one of my two actors couldn't make it. This was for completely valid reasons, and I hold nothing against them, but it was unfortunate. The project was due the next day, the shoot was fifteen minutes away, I had one actress, and a crew of myself. So I had to rethink the entire thing. I shot the outdoor stuff and the narration piece that night.
So all that story just to give you an idea of where I was. I realize that in the greater world of production, talent and crew will be contracted. Although I'm just at film school now, and this is all practice for then. This below is the how the final project turned out, most all dialogue in the thing ended up not being included. Any feedback for that video would be appreciated as well. But what else would you suggest that I do during the pre-production, and production process to ensure that I can stay reasonably on schedule?
Thanks again.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyFZK1QwOBY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyFZK1QwOBY
 
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Daniel_S said:
but what works for you all?
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A good First Assistant Director.

When I was 16 I made my first "serious" film; shot on 16mm,
using a DP and sound recordist from the local college. I had 7
pages and 10 hours. I was advised to bring on a First. Didn't
even know what they did. I've never made a movie without
one since. Even if I'm paying no one I find and pay an experienced
First and recordist.
 
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Thank you Directorik. That's really helpful. Everyone has been. How does a director delegate tasks to the 1st AD generally? And any chance that film is available to see? :) I love seeing what others have done.
 
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know in advance what you can cut from your day if thinks are running overtime
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It helps that the rest of the cast and crew are on the same page. If they aren't, this is your best friend, especially if the director isn't on the same page with you.

So all that story just to give you an idea of where I was.
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Yeah... It's a relatively common story. It also a big reason that you need to be particular with who you bring on board to work with you on your film. I know, they're volunteers, but I'd rather have a cast and crew who are on the same page rather than those who just are never going to last the distance.

There are so many areas where it could have fallen over. Poor planning, lack of resources, unrealistic planning, unprofessional people, inexperienced people (who think it's fun to make a movie and when they realize how much hard work it is and how unexciting it really is, they bail), poor working conditions, not having enough people, having too many people, having the wrong types of crew, less than stellar leadership, rather be elsewhere syndrome... and list goes on and on.
 
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Not at the level I'm at. I'm a freshman, and the way our projects usually go, is we have one week for pre-production, and one week for production. We have to find our own actors and crew, all other students. This production just took one afternoon-into-night shoot and a two hour followup shoot two days later. (And a full night editing right up until class the next morning. And it's fairly evident in the completed project above.) So there wasn't a lot of time, or need, to get rid of anyone. Everyone helped out to the best of their ability, things just fell apart on the way.
 
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Ok, sorry, I should have looked at the video first. First year students I gather?

It's really hard to hold true to a schedule when people don't really know what they need to finish a production, let alone most people not quite knowing what they're doing. It'll all come together in time as everyone gains more experience.
 
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no need to be sorry. And yes indeed :)
I'm looking forward to the years where people are on the same page, and have experience. And I'm doing all I can now to get to that point.
On a different note, do you have any feedback regarding that video? Obviously, I have a long list of things I see wrong with it, but to have the view of someone more experienced..
 
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Feedback.. Where to begin. To be honest I really only glanced at it while doing 2 other things at the same time. Busy times.

There was some jumpy editing, where the fast cut didn't match the pace of the video.

There was a jump cut (well in my book it was) where you didn't go to enough of a different angle when switching to another shot. In the hallway I think.

There was a blue/strong red lighting, which come across really odd. It's usually Orange/teal if you're trying the color contrast. Live and learn I suppose. And then you moved to a non-colored scene. For all I know, there may have been a reason for it and it was fine.

I assume there was no color grading?

I remember a shot in the hallway where the headroom was off by a metric mile. You couldn't see the full body, but there was heaps of headroom. It come across as really odd to me.

It was really hard to figure what its about without sound. Well I couldn't hear anything, so story wise, it's really hard to work out what's good or bad with it. We also don't know what kind of project you were assigned. Sometimes even simple music can help set the mood and help the audience understand the scene.

I may be looking at areas where you weren't supposed to work on, which is often the case when external people are looking at student assignments.

When you have weak actors, the other aspects become even more important. Strong camera work, aggressive editing, great sound, fantastic story and so on which can help carry a less than stellar performance from less experienced actors.

Was that the kind of feedback you were looking for?
 
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Sweetie said:
Was that the kind of feedback you were looking for?
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Yes. Yes Thank you so much. I appreciate it. The more feedback I have, the more I can learn.

Sweetie said:
I remember a shot in the hallway where the headroom was off by a metric mile.
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Yeah, there was an outlet just out of frame in use, and I should have tightened up the shot. Looking back, I don't know why I didn't..

Sweetie said:
There was a blue/strong red lighting, which come across really odd. It's usually Orange/teal if you're trying the color contrast. Live and learn I suppose. And then you moved to a non-colored scene. For all I know, there may have been a reason for it and it was fine.
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I was experimenting with more stylized lighting, so there was that difference between how locations were lit. So thank you for letting me know about the lighting. That makes sense with the opposite colors.

Sweetie said:
I assume there was no color grading?
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There was some. Although, even in the few weeks following this video, I feel like I've learned so much more than I knew then.

Sweetie said:
I couldn't hear anything
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I'm interested to know if this was just because your volume was down, or because I messed something up in post. I know I exported with audio-music included. The VU meter in premiere was generally in the vicinity of -5db.

Sweetie said:
I may be looking at areas where you weren't supposed to work on, which is often the case when external people are looking at student assignments.
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Regardless, you're still looking at things that help. I thank you for that.
 
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Daniel_S said:
Not at the level I'm at. I'm a freshman, and the way our projects usually go, is we have one week for pre-production, and one week for production. We have to find our own actors and crew, all other students. This production just took one afternoon-into-night shoot and a two hour followup shoot two days later. (And a full night editing right up until class the next morning. And it's fairly evident in the completed project above.) So there wasn't a lot of time, or need, to get rid of anyone. Everyone helped out to the best of their ability, things just fell apart on the way.
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The way I handled that was to bring on two experienced people.
I wasn't in school so I didn't have the restrictions you have. So
my advice was not helpful.

How about this? YOU learn what a First AD does and offer those
services to your fellow students. That way you learn how to keep
a production on schedule. YOU will then be a valuable member of
every project you are part of.
 
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It also helps to partner up with classmates with the same academic drive as you have.

Friends are nice and all, but friends and workers are not always the same.

Looks like you're serious about this, an A student.
Ally yourself with fellow A students, even if you otherwise have no common interests or even don't particularly care for each other, and agree to work together as a team.
You guys all work together to ensure each of you demonstrates a >90% understanding of the classroom material.

Work first, play later.
Fellow A students already understand this.
Let your friends know that they can have have your time after you've finished working.
And if they're cool with letting you record them doing them and just ignoring you and your "film friends" maybe everyone can get what they need.



Some people are just dopes - and that's cool and all. No judgement. Place in society for everyone.
Doesn't mean the those with self motivation are @ssholes, either.
You do what you gotta do. They do what they gotta do. No problem. Give & get respect.
 
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directorik said:
YOU learn what a First AD does and offer those
services to your fellow students. That way you learn how to keep
a production on schedule. YOU will then be a valuable member of
every project you are part of.
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This is a good solution. And being "a valuable member of every project" I'm brought on to is what the goal is, isn't it. Thank you. I'm definitely going to do further research.

rayw said:
It also helps to partner up with classmates with the same academic drive as you have.
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And thank you, Ray. This was essential for me since day one. I have found like minded, motivated people, and we are testing the limits of what freshmen can accomplish. We are working on prepro for a larger, independent project with guidance from instructors.

Life can't be counted upon to give you opportunities, you need to make them yourself.
 
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Hi Daniel, I noticed you asked what tasks to delegate to a 1st AD. From what I gather the biggest misconception about what a 1st AD does is that they assist the director creatively. They don't. To define a 1 firsts job in a word would be to say schedule. Their job is to make sure each department is keeping up, finding out how long delays may take etc. A good first is honestly one of the most important crew members on a set.

The fact of the matter is that things go wrong on professional sets. Actors get sick, it's starts raining when you're meant to be shooting a sunny exterior shot, an emotional scene just isn't get the right emotion and therefore have opted to just try again and again and again....running over time. Problems like these can't be planned and so adjustments need to be made.

A real world example of this is the unfortunate death of P. Hoffman. I believe he still had another 10 scheduled days of shooting left, but that really throws a spanner in the works when your actor doesn't even exist anymore!
 
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I appreciate the reply. It is my understanding that they are also responsible for the call sheets? And what does the 2nd do? Do they mostly work with extras and making sure people are on set when they need to be?
 
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