Tips on shooting my first real short.

H

harmonica44

My first real short I wanna submit after, with actors and crew. I've had practiced by shooting myself on camera and shooting other non-people stuff, but I couldn't get any practice with anybody since it was hard finding people wanting to practice on their craft for free. But now that I have actors and crew, and wanna start this short in the next month, after casting is decided, I could probably some tips.

Is there anything I should be aware of, or anything I could easily miss that I need to know, while directing a movie? I hope I got all my bases covered, but this business is full of surprises I don't see coming so far, and of course I wanna make it the best it can be for the cast and crew as well, and make a good impression, to get further work in the future. I hope not to do anything wrong that will ruin it. So is there anything I can I do to further the chances it will do well at the festivals? Thanks.
 
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It all depends on a few things. First off, the actors. Can they nail the scene in 2 or 3 takes or does it take them 10 to 15 takes to get comfortable? Your job as the director is to get the performance out of them, no matter how long it takes. Kubrick was known for doing 20 to 40 takes, I think Peter Jackson is like that too. Tarantino does about 4 or 5, sometimes less, which is why you make as much time as you can for shooting.

Secondly, the camera. You might get a great performance out of the actor on that 5th take, but the camera wasn't in focus or the shot seemed sketchy. In some cases, someone f**ks up somehow or there's a technical error.

When I shot my 48 hour, the one thing i regretted most was not enough coverage. Hope that answered your question, I've had a couple White Russians tonight...
 
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At some point during the shoot, one or more actors will start to give you suggestions for scenes. Take this in to account, because many times if can help but don't spend too much time doing this. You could end up with the shoot coming to a standstill, which is what happen to me. You should already know what direction you're taking the film and what the scenes should look like. Preparing well in advance for every scene will help to ensure the actors trust what you're instructing them to do.
 
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TheKoreandonut said:
At some point during the shoot, one or more actors will start to give you suggestions for scenes. Take this in to account, because many times if can help but don't spend too much time doing this. You could end up with the shoot coming to a standstill, which is what happen to me. You should already know what direction you're taking the film and what the scenes should look like. Preparing well in advance for every scene will help to ensure the actors trust what you're instructing them to do.
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I have thought a lot about it and I feel I know exactly which direction to take it.

TheKoreandonut said:
There are plenty of females wanting to have their chance to act, eventually they'll apply. I've been slowly transitioning from goofing off to getting serious with my work. Here's a few things I've learned;

Up until now, you've probably made a few vids with your family and friends. With actors you've never met, it's much different. For me, it was nerve-racking. You're meeting, filming and giving direction to someone you've never met before -- it's a very weird feeling the first few times.

Don't do thoses silly jumpcuts that we all make the mistake of doing we when first get started (even now). Try to have your actors go through the whole scene several times. This will look much better when edited, and you can use the soundtrack from the best take, making the scene sound more natural

Don't have others make you feel like you're being silly or unrealistic about making your own film, they'll try -- trust me! Ackwardness, strange stares, laughs, sighs -- IGNORE all of it! You're a director and you have a job to do. Politely tell them that you have work to do and you don't have time for them.

Good Luck!
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Okay thanks. What do you mean when you say I can use a soundtrack from the best take? If I took a soundtrack from one take, then put it with the video of another take, wouldn't that make it look like it was dubbed more, dialogue wise?
 
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Well, It depends. It can looked dubbed if your actors say their lines differently or with a different speed. But I would say more than half of the time if you have clearer/better audio on one take, you can synch it up with other. Because it's the same person, it usually won't be too bad, or maybe won't noticable at all. Thank's why I agree with the guys saying take as much footage as possible. You'll be glad you did.
 
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Okay. One thing I don't understand is that a lot of directors like to avoid ADR for obvious reasons. However, wouldn't ADR be easier to match the actors, rather than saving the sound recordings from like 20 takes of a scene, then trying to find the best matching one?
 
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The reason to avoid ADR is not lip/sync matching, it's the "passion" of the performance. And, BTW, that's what a dialog editor (such as yours truly) does; goes through all of the takes and builds a consistent dialog performance. Of course, it helps immensely if you have room tones. My favorite tool is Vocalign; combined with a little slicing and dicing it's virtually seamless. I have reconstructed entire scenes from scratch without a single line of the original dialog remaining when I was done.

BTW, I hate doing ADR sessions with actors inexperienced with the ADR process. I once spent five hours with an actor to get two lines. No matter what, it becomes a long, drawn-out, often frustrating process.
 
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Okay thanks. So you're saying that I should not take every great peace of verbal audio I can and just match up the best ones, all in sentences, in post then. I still don't quite understand though. It seems you can just as much of a passion of the performance through ADR, as you can while acting it on set. You can perform passionately while recording ADR too it seems, unless I'm wrong. But I will do as you say, thanks for the input.

So should I send out copies to the script to everyone before the audition, or should I only show my script to the people who show up at the audition. I'm guessing I should send it out before so they can practice a little of course.

Another thing is this. There is a scene that takes place in a prosecutors office. I might be able to use an architects office for it. However, how do I make it seem like a real prosecutors office and not an obvious substitute? There are things like that in other movies too. I have a short I want to take place in a police station. I could use the architect company building again maybe, but how do you make it seem like a real police station, rather than an obvious rendering? Things like that.
 
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harmonica44 said:
Okay thanks. So you're saying that I should not take every great peace of verbal audio I can and just match up the best ones, all in sentences, in post then. I still don't quite understand though. It seems you can just as much of a passion of the performance through ADR, as you can while acting it on set. You can perform passionately while recording ADR too it seems, unless I'm wrong. But I will do as you say, thanks for the input.

So should I send out copies to the script to everyone before the audition, or should I only show my script to the people who show up at the audition. I'm guessing I should send it out before so they can practice a little of course.

Another thing is this. There is a scene that takes place in a prosecutors office. I might be able to use an architects office for it. However, how do I make it seem like a real prosecutors office and not an obvious substitute? There are things like that in other movies too. I have a short I want to take place in a police station. I could use the architect company building again maybe, but how do you make it seem like a real police station, rather than an obvious rendering? Things like that.
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Well as for ADR, I prefer to not to do it as well. I dunno, you can synch it pretty easy. It's just the emotion or passion -- like your were saying -- doesn't really seem to come through.

Sets -- I you don't have cash, just be creative. Just look up what an average presecutor's office looks like, and rearrange the room to match it closely as possible with available furniture.

I had a scene with a Korean police officer arresting and processing some guys. I had to make a somewhat convincing uniform and I had to find a cop car or office to film in. Since these were kinda hard to find, I got creative and decided to have the cop take the guys back to the scene of the fight and process them there. It really goes down like that sometimes and it save me a lot of money and time.
 
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It takes a talented audio engineer/sound editor to make ADR sound like the good set audio, and talented actors to really pull it off. You can, it's just hard. It's good to learn in your early days how to do it the right (sometimes hard) way too.

As far as sending the script out, I like to send sides ahead of time. Just one, maybe two pages of dialogue. At the audition, I like letting the actor read it their way, then ask them to change somehow. Even if their first read is perfect, ask them to change once or twice to see how/if they handle direction.

Good luck man.
 
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K thanks. So how come actors have more talent when it comes to giving passion on camera, while on set as oppose to ADR later? Personally I think I would do better with ADR later, while watching my footage, and matching it up. I think it would be easier to get the passion across perfectly then, but that's just how it would work for me probably.

Still no women have applied for my short and it's only a few weeks to the audition. Got my fingers crossed though.
 
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harmonica44 said:
So how come actors have more talent when it comes to giving passion on camera, while on set as oppose to ADR later?
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It's not a question of talent. When on the set the actor is (hopefully) totally in the moment, they are interacting with the other actors and their "environment." When doing ADR the talent are in a very "technical" environment; they have to match as precisely as they can the lip movements of the on-set performance and, at the same time, give an emotional performance sometimes weeks or even months after the shoot, not to mention having to pay attention to mic technique; it's very difficulty to duplicate the passion and emotion that much later on.

For your own edification take a scene from a film that you do not know well and ADR the dialog performance.

Oh, BTW, when you replace the dialog you then have to Foley everything - footsteps, clothing and any interactions with physical items they come into contact with - otherwise the dialog is just "floating in the air" with nothing to connect it to the visuals. Are you prepared to Foley entire scenes? I've been doing Foley for almost ten years, and it's only the last couple of years that I feel that I have been able to do it efficiently while making it look and sound completely natural. So, after you have ADRed all of the dialog of a scene then do all of the Foley work and see just how difficult it really is.
 
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Okay thanks. I will still record the dialogue while shooting, and keep the takes. I know I will have to do foley and try to match it all up as well as I can. I'm surprised it 8 years to start getting really really good. I'll do the best I can, and I'll try to record as much of the noise in the room to avoid as much foley as I can if that's a good idea. For example of someone leans back in a chair, I'll try to record it on set, instead of doing foley on it after. If I'm on the right track here.
 
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harmonica44 said:
K thanks. So how come actors have more talent when it comes to giving passion on camera, while on set as oppose to ADR later? Personally I think I would do better with ADR later, while watching my footage, and matching it up. I think it would be easier to get the passion across perfectly then, but that's just how it would work for me probably.

Still no women have applied for my short and it's only a few weeks to the audition. Got my fingers crossed though.
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Funnily enough I am doing my first real short and have my casting early September.

Currently, I have the opposite problem and am buried under a pile of responses from women, most of whom are absolutely gorgeous! I suspect it is something about how I am writing my advert which appeals to women more than men so need to work on this. Similarly you might have to work on attracting women rather than men. If anything, I am short of credible guys who look athletic (virtually any age) and I am in London offering expenses and food!

If it gets any worse, I might even have to step in myself which would not be my first choice as I am the only person I know who can credibly use a steadicam which would be very useful for the shots I am trying to get.
 
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harmonica44 said:
I'm surprised it 8 years to start getting really really good.
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Why should you be surprised? Then again, I'm not; you seem to believe that you can do things perfectly the first time around. In the film industry it used to be (and still is for the major facilities) that you interned/apprenticed for a long time under a "master" before attaining even a junior assistant position. I had to pick it up on my own while simultaneously learning dialog editing, running ADR sessions, sound FX editing and mixing - no to mention all of the technical aspects of audio post.

harmonica44 said:
I'll do the best I can, and I'll try to record as much of the noise in the room to avoid as much foley as I can if that's a good idea. For example of someone leans back in a chair, I'll try to record it on set, instead of doing foley on it after. If I'm on the right track here.
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Okay - it's Foley with a capital "F" as it's a proper name.

You can try layering the "Foley/sound FX" from the set, but you are also layering all of the additional noise. I admire your confidence, but you have no idea what you are getting yourself into with production audio and audio post.
 
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You're right, I don't. I just thought layering the Foley from the set, would help not miss any background noise that can be missed in post, but I guess you pick up additional noise by doing that. Of course I'll try to have every appliance in the building turned off and all, but you can't get everything. The soundguy who is learning to knows a lot more about more about that than I do though.

So how come it seems a lot of filmmakers have nothing against background noise when it comes to outdoors (crickets, cars, birds, wind), but they are against background noise indoors (fridge, furnace, air conditioning)? Why is outdoors good, but indoors bad? But before I am done making the film, after I get it shot I will post it on here for advice on how to handle the audio, before showing it to any festivals or anything like that of course.

gorillaonabike said:
Funnily enough I am doing my first real short and have my casting early September.

Currently, I have the opposite problem and am buried under a pile of responses from women, most of whom are absolutely gorgeous! I suspect it is something about how I am writing my advert which appeals to women more than men so need to work on this. Similarly you might have to work on attracting women rather than men. If anything, I am short of credible guys who look athletic (virtually any age) and I am in London offering expenses and food!

If it gets any worse, I might even have to step in myself which would not be my first choice as I am the only person I know who can credibly use a steadicam which would be very useful for the shots I am trying to get.
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Where do you find these gorgeous women? Of course it's easier in London then the much much smaller city I live in. In my script I may have to go with a very average looking women, which I have no problem with, but the type of say femme fatale character she's playing is usually more better looking in other movies, for those kind of roles. But perhaps mine not being goodlooking will make it more different in a good way.

So I still haven't done any editing yet, but will once I get all the software, proper computer for it, etc. So I was told since I haven't done any that I should see if one wants to work on my film once it's done, for experience. I might do that, but I hope I'm not missing something when it comes to that stage.

I will do my best, but I am the most nervous I've ever been, cause I have people relying on me for a good impression, and if I let them down, it's a bad impression in the industry.
 
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