Hi,

I guess if you're from Panama, English probably isn't you first language, but it would be helpful if you broke up your questions a bit (i.e. paragraphs, lists etc) so it's easier to read (that way, you'll probably get more responses!).

Anyway, here is (I think) of the questions you're asking:

quote:

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can somebody give me tips about how to pay my actors and actresses, different salaries, or I don't know. I know nothing about paying anybody in this art.

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Pay your cast whatever you can afford to pay them, but just make sure everyone is clear upfront about how much they are getting. If you have very little money, you would be best getting your actors to work for free and spending the money on making the film itself. If you do, make sure you a) feed them well on set, and b) cover all of their out of pocket expenses.

quote:

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Also I want to score my movie...I'm not going to use a movie as an example because the music I'm looking for is quite different. Violins, piano, a lot of beautiful instruments. A studio is going to charge me $1,000 to score the movie. Is that a fair price, I believe this short could last around 20 mins and it's a silent movie so only certain scenes would require music. I belive the best way to work with these people is charging per hour.? I've heard his work, he's great.

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There isn't a standard to compare against here, so it really comes down to whether you believe the music that is produced is right for your film and the charges are within your price range. Certainly getting music composed and performed for $1000 is pretty cheap on a commercial scale.

quote:

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Here's another question I wanted to shoot at you guys. I want good sound, I'm not talking about average sound, I'm talking about excellent sound...what equipment would you recommend to record some good external sound?

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Get a decent external mic with XLR plugs to start. What you plug it into depends on how you are shooting. If you're shooting DV, then you're best to plug it into the camera itself. If you're shooting film, then you need to record to an external device, such as a DAT, Nagra, MiniDisc, or laptop. In the case of the latter, you'll need a clapper to make sure you can sync everything up later.

quote:

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Lastly, do any of you know of any good lighting tutorials? Something with graphics that explains what lighting settings I should use for certain tones and moods for my movie, what gels I should use. Even tutorials for basic lightings.

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There are plenty of good books on the subject. Check out the ?url?/store?/url? for some recommendations.

Ben C.

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Benjamin Craig
Editor-in-Chief, filmmaking.net

Thank you so much for answering back. It's not very nice seeing 50 views and 0 replies haha. Oh and sorry about not breaking down the question, I'll do that next time. Well just wanted to say thanks a lot!

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Originally posted by filmmaking.net

Hi,

I guess if you're from Panama, English probably isn't you first language, but it would be helpful if you broke up your questions a bit (i.e. paragraphs, lists etc) so it's easier to read (that way, you'll probably get more responses!).

Anyway, here is (I think) of the questions you're asking:

quote:

---

can somebody give me tips about how to pay my actors and actresses, different salaries, or I don't know. I know nothing about paying anybody in this art.

---

Pay your cast whatever you can afford to pay them, but just make sure everyone is clear upfront about how much they are getting. If you have very little money, you would be best getting your actors to work for free and spending the money on making the film itself. If you do, make sure you a) feed them well on set, and b) cover all of their out of pocket expenses.

quote:

---

Also I want to score my movie...I'm not going to use a movie as an example because the music I'm looking for is quite different. Violins, piano, a lot of beautiful instruments. A studio is going to charge me $1,000 to score the movie. Is that a fair price, I believe this short could last around 20 mins and it's a silent movie so only certain scenes would require music. I belive the best way to work with these people is charging per hour.? I've heard his work, he's great.

---

There isn't a standard to compare against here, so it really comes down to whether you believe the music that is produced is right for your film and the charges are within your price range. Certainly getting music composed and performed for $1000 is pretty cheap on a commercial scale.

quote:

---

Here's another question I wanted to shoot at you guys. I want good sound, I'm not talking about average sound, I'm talking about excellent sound...what equipment would you recommend to record some good external sound?

---

Get a decent external mic with XLR plugs to start. What you plug it into depends on how you are shooting. If you're shooting DV, then you're best to plug it into the camera itself. If you're shooting film, then you need to record to an external device, such as a DAT, Nagra, MiniDisc, or laptop. In the case of the latter, you'll need a clapper to make sure you can sync everything up later.

quote:

---

Lastly, do any of you know of any good lighting tutorials? Something with graphics that explains what lighting settings I should use for certain tones and moods for my movie, what gels I should use. Even tutorials for basic lightings.

---

There are plenty of good books on the subject. Check out the ?url?/store?/url? for some recommendations.

Ben C.

--
Benjamin Craig
Editor-in-Chief, filmmaking.net

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