Shooting Shedule. Help req.

[welsh_gambit]

Hi guys, there's been a few posts about shooting shedules on here and I thought I'd ask for your help and opinions on my own. It's a rough work in progess at the moment but any tips/help will be greatly appreicated. The shedule is for a TV/Web sitcom I hope to be making, it consists of 6x30 minute episodes and 11 'web'sodes/shots ranging from 1-5 minutes.

What I'm really looking is confirmation of if im doing it right or not? and am I being overly abitious with the amound I'm wanting to get done for each day

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet...HVCMnhZel9scHRtZmFzSHh6YkIzTFE&hl=en_US#gid=0

Thanks for any help, in advance

 

[Cracker Funk]

With what you're giving us, it's difficult to understand exactly how you've got it all planned, but yeah, you're WAY overly-ambitious.

You have ten minutes budgeted for an entire scene, and you did that back-to-back. Uhhh, yeah, it's gonna take a little longer than that.

A five-minute movie will typically be an all-day shoot. A thirty-minute movie should take at least five days. Six 30-minute episodes, with 11 5-minute webisodes, should be something around fifty days of shooting, and that's if you work REALLY fast.

Before budgeting the Grand Plan, I think you'd benefit greatly by working on at least a few smaller projects. That way, you wouldn't need to ask this kind of question, because you'd already know. There's nothing wrong with asking questions -- I do it all the time. But some questions are better answered through personal experience. Not trying to shoot you down; I sincerely want the best for you. But my honest answer to your question is that you need to get a little more experience before jumping into the deep end.

 

[dlevanchuk]

It took me about 4 shorts to find out how my shooting scheduling works.
For exterior scene on a tripod, boom mic and a reflector it takes me about 30 mins to get a single short shot with 2-3 takes, from very begining to end.
3 times as long for indoors to get lighting, but that highly variable on time of the day, and location.
I ve spend 8 hours before trying to get a shot that lasted less than 10 seconds on the screen, because I was trying to get a specific shadow and specific place at specific time.

I ll echo Cracker's advice - do several small 2 minute projects, and get the feel for the actual shoot. Trust me - there is sooo much sh*t that goes on during the shoot, even if you have a crew of 3 + an actor/actress, that you ll want to rip your hair out.

 

[dlevanchuk]

Oh and one more thing. I assume this is a low budget show, and you ll be shooting at your friends houses/ outside in the rural area. Don't forget things like flying by airplanes/traffic noises.. airplanes are the worst. You ve got to wait 5-10 mins for audio guy to clear you for the shoot. Then what if your neighbors car alarm goes off? Lawn mowers? Snotty kids? Or that B*tch downstairs who has to practice his tuba for for 3 hours?? All of these things I got to experience, and you got to learn how to adapt, and not to loose valuable time.
You ve got to be ready for unforseen audio issues that can't be just "fixed in post".

One of those little hick ups, and your entire hard working schedule planning goes down the drain.

 

[Cracker Funk]

Oh and one more thing. I assume this is a low budget show, and you ll be shooting at your friends houses/ outside in the rural area. Don't forget things like flying by airplanes/traffic noises.. airplanes are the worst. You ve got to wait 5-10 mins for audio guy to clear you for the shoot. Then what if your neighbors car alarm goes off? Lawn mowers? Snotty kids? Or that B*tch downstairs who has to practice his tuba for for 3 hours?? All of these things I got to experience, and you got to learn how to adapt, and not to loose valuable time.
You ve got to be ready for unforseen audio issues that can't be just "fixed in post".

One of those little hick ups, and your entire hard working schedule planning goes down the drain.

Oh my God, there was one shot in "Antihero", that we honestly waited more than half-an-hour to shoot. It was the most ridiculous comedy of perfectly-coincidental-timing. We were all set up and ready to roll, but the old lady next door needed to warm up her car. As soon as she was finished, a plane was flying overhead. When that was gone, a dump-truck started making the BEEP-BEEP-BEEP! Then, some random gardener started blowing leaves, and then some dude checks his mail and asks us what we're doing, then a lady is walking her dog, then, HOLY CRAP WE WAITED FOREVER!!!

It was comical. We all got a good laugh out of it. But at the same time, we were going insane, wanting to just finish the damn scene!

Yeah, that stuff happens. Even without this ridiculous detraction, a two-minute scene took about four hours to shoot. And it was a simple scene. Gambit, you just gotta do it, man. Every director is different, and you need to find your own rhythm.

 

[rayw]

I've not done much, but I agree with the above advice.
Don't ever plan so much ahead without the finances to PAY EVERYONE TO DO EVERYTHING PERFECT THE FIRST TIME.
Even random people not even involved. They gotta be perfect, too.

Start with your first five minute project.
Have a rough idea of how you want it to go and then goforit.
You'll see how may hicks and delays and reshoots and coverage shots and pickups and airplanes and technical issues will just bugger everything.

And that's just for the raw material for an eventual five minute edit.

It won't be like shooting a news reporter on the scene and just replacing the reporter with actors.
It won't ever be that easy - until you really really really get your crew together tight as a beaver's bunghole. That takes time.
The very first beaver had a rough time getting in the cold water the first time.

 

[dlevanchuk]

cracker, I feel your pain! Funny how typically you don't even think about how much crap we ve got going on around us! Some guy was fixing his muscle car across the street during our shoot on Sunday morning, and every 1.com0 mins he d start the car, let it run for a bit, and turn it off. We had to shoot in 5 min bursts, while he d take the car out for a ride..
Can't wait to have my own sound stage one of these days :-P




So, just not to get off the topic - I suggest not to have OPs tight schedule, because there is just too much of unforseen crap that's going on that will delay you and your shoot.

My schedule is extremely loose and flexible. I have just one script page locked, that I know for sure I ll get through, and would have another half the page in my back pocket, just incase if I ll have more time, in the same location.