This year I wanted to join a team in a 48hr film project competition, and the nearest one to me is about two hours from where I live. It starts July 25th.
Then my 12 year old son found out about it and wanted to have a major role in doing one. I have always wanted to produce something that I could show to this community. I have learned so much from every here. Everyone has been so helpful to me. I feel like I take and take… and never give anything back. I want to finally learn by doing and share what I’ve learned. So I decided to take the plunge and form my own team so that my son and I can do this as a father and son experience.
So now, I need to assemble a cast and crew from scratch, with no experience doing any filmmaking before. Yes, I’m crazy. (My wife has already established that.) I need to find an editor, some sound people, a music person, actors, everything.
So-- what advice would you have for such a total newb?
Any advice at all, about any step in the pre-prod-or-post process of a 48 hr competition is welcome.
I know that if I can’t find an experienced editor (or even if I can) I need to get more experience with workflow to know exactly how long a finished short will take to cut render and burn, etc. Did I mention I need to find a good editor?
I know I want to try to do everything in one location that can double for many locations-- the only problem is, the competition dropoff (and all of the actors I have thus-far recruited) are in Louisville-- and I live 1.5 hours away in Lexington. I don’t know as many location options in Louisville as I do in Lexington.
I know I need to do as much planning and prepwork as I can (as much as rules allow) in advance. Locations, cast crew, equipment, etc.
I know I need to plan backup contingency plans and need to be flexible.
I’d like to start editing while still in production. Did I mention I need to find a good editor?
My wife is going to handle all of the food for us because I know I need to feed my cast and crew regularly. Lots of coffee, soft drinks, water, protein, nutrients, etc. She is also going to handle all of the requisite paperwork.
I need to find someone with a good audio track-record. Right now I don’t even have anyone who can swing boom on set, let alone mix music, dialogue, foley/sfx, etc. I don’t have a composer, or even anyone who could DAW-up enough with royalty-free stuff. Did I mention I need to find a great audio team?
I’d like to plan well enough that different people can be doing different things at different times, so that some members of the team could get a few winks-o-nappage.
Multi-camera is only an option for me if I plan for it way in advance and find and order one just like the one I have early on.
I know some people cheat and write scripts for each genre ahead of time and tweak them with the prop/dialogue a go-time, but I am really proud of the integrity of my son. He said, “Where’s the fun in that. I want to see what we can do within the rules. We’re beginners, it’s gonna look like crap anyway. Let’s just have fun and do our best.” He’s 12 years old. Did I mention I was proud of my son?
The possible genres are:
Comedy
Dark Comedy
Drama
Film Noir
Film de Femme
Fish Out of Water
Horror
Musical or Western
Road Movie
Romance
Sci Fi
Silent Film
Thriller/Suspense
Time Travel
My 12 year-old will help write the script/improv scenario outlines and maybe appear on camera. My wife would function as 2ndAD, craft service, and HMA. I have a 6-year-old daughter that would be happy if we called her production assistant.
I have two actors that have some experience in the industry.
I also own a small smattering of gear, including a Canon XF100 home video camera, which is all I have really ever had experience with. I have a cheap Proaim Mattebox (but no filters to use in it yet), a cheap little opteka steadyvid thing for going handheld. I have a Manfrotto 504 head on 546BK sticks. I will probably want to rent a little slider and some grip gear, but I haven’t even looked into the possibility of renting stuff around here. I don’t have a dolly, jib, or anything else really. I need to buy lots more batteries for everything, as well as more CF cards, etc.
For audio I own a Sennheiser MKH 50 hypercardiod mic for indoor shooting, a Rode NTG-3 mic for outdoors, a 9′ boompole, a rode blimp with wombat cover, and a pair of Sony MDR-7506 headphones. The XF100 also has XLRs, but I also have a SoundDevices 702.
For extremely soft light I own a "CowboyStudio 4500 Watt Photo Studio Lighting Softbox Video Light Kit" (each of the 15 bulbs is an 85W CFL... 300W equiv w/ 5,600 lumens... and each of the three fixtures support five bulbs each-- so each softbox is a 1500W-equivalent source with really short throw)... and I also acquired an OLD, used, tungsten set that included a junior2k, a baby650, and a mini200-- all mole-richardson fresnels, but I need to switch out the plugs before I can even test them to see if they work, and I don't yet have ANY c-stands, sandbags, flags, scrims, cutters, silks, barn doors, or other support grip gear that we'd need to make good use of or even mount the heavy fresnels.
For editing my home computer is getting more dated every second. It is a Windows 7 64bit, with Intel i7 4.5GHz processor, and 32 Gig DDR3, a 240GB SSD, four Western Digital 1TB 7200rpm SATAs in 2 Raid 0 config, GeForce GTX 670 card, w/a Blackmagic Design Intensity Shuttle Capture Device, a Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 for audio, one Asus PA248Q 24" video monitor, with two KRK RP8 speakers, and the Adobe Premiere Pro CS6, with After Effects, Audition, SpeedGrade, etc., and RedGiant TrapCode Suite.
I have been collecting all of this equipment every birthday, Christmas, etc for I-don’t-know-how-long… but I don't really know how to use any of it well. This crash course will be a recipe for disaster, but we are gonna give it a go.
I will probably end up functioning as UPM, Line Producer, Director, and if we couldn't find anyone else to do it, also the DP, Camera Operator, Focus Puller, etc.
I’d like to find more actors who are flexible and willing to be a part of the organic process from the
beginning, and jump in and play grip/sparky etc. I also need to secure some wicked cool location (or different location possibilities for different genres) that would streamlines the set design-- just didn't look like someone's house, or a busy public park. I also need an editor. Did I mention I need to find someone who knows how to swing a boom and someone to monitor the sound, mix, design, edit, compose, etc.?
Is anyone available to help our team from near or afar? Did I mention I needed an editor? Have any of you ever used Sony Ci?
So, back to my original question… I am so totally new at this, so do you have any advice for a total newb (including, but not limited to, advice like “Forget it, join someone else’s team, you don’t know jack so how can you expect to jump in and call the shots if you don’t know what you’re doing.”)
Then my 12 year old son found out about it and wanted to have a major role in doing one. I have always wanted to produce something that I could show to this community. I have learned so much from every here. Everyone has been so helpful to me. I feel like I take and take… and never give anything back. I want to finally learn by doing and share what I’ve learned. So I decided to take the plunge and form my own team so that my son and I can do this as a father and son experience.
So now, I need to assemble a cast and crew from scratch, with no experience doing any filmmaking before. Yes, I’m crazy. (My wife has already established that.) I need to find an editor, some sound people, a music person, actors, everything.
So-- what advice would you have for such a total newb?
Any advice at all, about any step in the pre-prod-or-post process of a 48 hr competition is welcome.
I know that if I can’t find an experienced editor (or even if I can) I need to get more experience with workflow to know exactly how long a finished short will take to cut render and burn, etc. Did I mention I need to find a good editor?
I know I want to try to do everything in one location that can double for many locations-- the only problem is, the competition dropoff (and all of the actors I have thus-far recruited) are in Louisville-- and I live 1.5 hours away in Lexington. I don’t know as many location options in Louisville as I do in Lexington.
I know I need to do as much planning and prepwork as I can (as much as rules allow) in advance. Locations, cast crew, equipment, etc.
I know I need to plan backup contingency plans and need to be flexible.
I’d like to start editing while still in production. Did I mention I need to find a good editor?
My wife is going to handle all of the food for us because I know I need to feed my cast and crew regularly. Lots of coffee, soft drinks, water, protein, nutrients, etc. She is also going to handle all of the requisite paperwork.
I need to find someone with a good audio track-record. Right now I don’t even have anyone who can swing boom on set, let alone mix music, dialogue, foley/sfx, etc. I don’t have a composer, or even anyone who could DAW-up enough with royalty-free stuff. Did I mention I need to find a great audio team?
I’d like to plan well enough that different people can be doing different things at different times, so that some members of the team could get a few winks-o-nappage.
Multi-camera is only an option for me if I plan for it way in advance and find and order one just like the one I have early on.
I know some people cheat and write scripts for each genre ahead of time and tweak them with the prop/dialogue a go-time, but I am really proud of the integrity of my son. He said, “Where’s the fun in that. I want to see what we can do within the rules. We’re beginners, it’s gonna look like crap anyway. Let’s just have fun and do our best.” He’s 12 years old. Did I mention I was proud of my son?
The possible genres are:
Comedy
Dark Comedy
Drama
Film Noir
Film de Femme
Fish Out of Water
Horror
Musical or Western
Road Movie
Romance
Sci Fi
Silent Film
Thriller/Suspense
Time Travel
My 12 year-old will help write the script/improv scenario outlines and maybe appear on camera. My wife would function as 2ndAD, craft service, and HMA. I have a 6-year-old daughter that would be happy if we called her production assistant.
I have two actors that have some experience in the industry.I also own a small smattering of gear, including a Canon XF100 home video camera, which is all I have really ever had experience with. I have a cheap Proaim Mattebox (but no filters to use in it yet), a cheap little opteka steadyvid thing for going handheld. I have a Manfrotto 504 head on 546BK sticks. I will probably want to rent a little slider and some grip gear, but I haven’t even looked into the possibility of renting stuff around here. I don’t have a dolly, jib, or anything else really. I need to buy lots more batteries for everything, as well as more CF cards, etc.
For audio I own a Sennheiser MKH 50 hypercardiod mic for indoor shooting, a Rode NTG-3 mic for outdoors, a 9′ boompole, a rode blimp with wombat cover, and a pair of Sony MDR-7506 headphones. The XF100 also has XLRs, but I also have a SoundDevices 702.
For extremely soft light I own a "CowboyStudio 4500 Watt Photo Studio Lighting Softbox Video Light Kit" (each of the 15 bulbs is an 85W CFL... 300W equiv w/ 5,600 lumens... and each of the three fixtures support five bulbs each-- so each softbox is a 1500W-equivalent source with really short throw)... and I also acquired an OLD, used, tungsten set that included a junior2k, a baby650, and a mini200-- all mole-richardson fresnels, but I need to switch out the plugs before I can even test them to see if they work, and I don't yet have ANY c-stands, sandbags, flags, scrims, cutters, silks, barn doors, or other support grip gear that we'd need to make good use of or even mount the heavy fresnels.
For editing my home computer is getting more dated every second. It is a Windows 7 64bit, with Intel i7 4.5GHz processor, and 32 Gig DDR3, a 240GB SSD, four Western Digital 1TB 7200rpm SATAs in 2 Raid 0 config, GeForce GTX 670 card, w/a Blackmagic Design Intensity Shuttle Capture Device, a Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 for audio, one Asus PA248Q 24" video monitor, with two KRK RP8 speakers, and the Adobe Premiere Pro CS6, with After Effects, Audition, SpeedGrade, etc., and RedGiant TrapCode Suite.
I have been collecting all of this equipment every birthday, Christmas, etc for I-don’t-know-how-long… but I don't really know how to use any of it well. This crash course will be a recipe for disaster, but we are gonna give it a go.
I will probably end up functioning as UPM, Line Producer, Director, and if we couldn't find anyone else to do it, also the DP, Camera Operator, Focus Puller, etc.
I’d like to find more actors who are flexible and willing to be a part of the organic process from the
beginning, and jump in and play grip/sparky etc. I also need to secure some wicked cool location (or different location possibilities for different genres) that would streamlines the set design-- just didn't look like someone's house, or a busy public park. I also need an editor. Did I mention I need to find someone who knows how to swing a boom and someone to monitor the sound, mix, design, edit, compose, etc.?
Is anyone available to help our team from near or afar? Did I mention I needed an editor? Have any of you ever used Sony Ci?
So, back to my original question… I am so totally new at this, so do you have any advice for a total newb (including, but not limited to, advice like “Forget it, join someone else’s team, you don’t know jack so how can you expect to jump in and call the shots if you don’t know what you’re doing.”)
