The ball is now rolling on my upcoming indie film!! ?:D?
Pre-Production
* I should hear from the building coordinator tomorrow morning (12/20/04) on use of my high school as the set.
* The script, after two weeks of work, will be finished by this Wednesday. (12/22/04) By Friday of the same week (yes, Christmas Eve) all editing and revisons will be made and the product will be finished. After, I'll send it off for copyrights the following Monday.
* My family-owned company, Wild Tyger Productions, is our sponsor and host. Also siding with us, is Cone Dog Productions. Can you say, "it's official"? ?;)?
* Casting will begin sometime after January 15, 2005. A gentleman from the University of Texas will be coming down from Austin to help out with casting.
* Our local news station, whom we, my family, is very good friends of, have kindly lent cameras, lighting, and cameramen to the filming part of making the movie.
Production
* After the cast is called, Filming will begin towards the end of January, and finish in the middle of April.
* Most filming will take place from 6:00 p.m.-10:00 p.m. (I do believe in letting my cast and crew get some sleep, as for myself, too.??)?) There will be some scenes we'll have to shoot in daylight, but that will be easy to work into the schedule.
Post-Production
* Through May and June, Editing will take place. (Most of us here know of editing, so I won't take a moment to list things to be done.)
* Once everything is completed, the film will be released around October; it will be just in time for Halloween!
* I am in the process of figuring out the distributing, marketing, etcetera. I should have all of that laid out by the end of January.
You can see I'm going to be very busy.
On top of that, I'm finishing my book and sending my manuscript to my agent so he'll stop bugging me for it. ??)? (He read the beginning of it when I first contacted him, and he's been begging me to get him the manuscript. So for Christmas, I'll send it to him.??? )
Anywho, this is the "battle-plan". Any suggestions, advice, positive and constructive criticism would be highly appreciated. ?:)? Thank you!
Hmmm. Positive comments...How about good luck! Sounds like youve got your work cut out for you. Hope it all goes well.
Just make sure you have time to eat and sleep too. 🙂
Coming Out of Left Field
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Ha ha, let me put it in my palm-pilot schedule! ?:p?
I do have a few questions, though.
1. Budgeting: I'm good at it, I'm just not sure of exactly what to budget. Food for crew and cast, payroll, extra equipment, and marketing (including money to submit to film festivals). All of this and what else?
2. I'm pretty good at letting people down easy when they want something that I'm not giving (ex. role for a movie character), but how exactly do I get "NO" across to them? I've recently encountered a few persistent people who won't leave me alone, and they become very high-strung when I again explain why they can't get what they want. Even if they have good acting skills, I personlly do not want to be working with someone who resists and makes a fuss just to get their way.
3. What are the main job titles when making a film? (ex. Director, Executive Producer, ect.) What do they do? (I'm asking because I've realized that I'm not superwoman. I can't do everything myself. ??)? )
4. One more thing: although the people I'm designating particular jobs to should know their stuff, would it be advisable for me to know what's going on as well? I don't want to be on set, and have the camera-guy lean over and ask something complicated and make myself look stupid not knowing the answer. That would just be embarassing!! ?:I?
Cheers, and thanks again! ?:D?
Go to ?url? http://www.dependentfilms.net/files.html?/url? and scroll to the bottom for a Budget Worksheet in Excel format. This particular budget worksheet may be overkill in some areas and underkill in others, but should help you in thinking about what to plan/budget for.
As for letting people down easy, it is not always possible. Sometimes you just have to say "no" and walk away. That's why they say it's lonely at the top. If it is friends/family and you don't want to hurt their feelings, you might try telling them that they just are not right for this part but you have a future project in mind that they would be perfect for. If they press about what the future project is, just tell them you need to focus on this project and when it is finished you will be happy to discuss it with them then (hopefully they will forget about it).
As for knowing what all the positions are and what they do, I would say just look on the net. There are plenty of online guides that can explain the different positions and what they do. Personally, I would have at the very least a Producer/Director (you), Director of Photography (someone experienced in camera operation), Sound Recordist, and a Gaffer/PA. Michael Bartlett has written a pretty good 'Quick Start Guide to Filmmaking' that explains many of the positions on a film set. It can be found at ?url? http://www.makingthefilm.com/guide.html?/url?
Hope this helps.
*bows to you* You rock my world!!!! ?:D?
Ahem. Getting back to my "professionalism"...
This is quite excellent and very helpful. I am excessively glad there is a sample Location Agreement, as I will be meeting and/or talking with the building coordinator about use of the campus as the set. I'm crossing my fingers and praying all goes well!!
The script will be finished by tomorrow or Thursday of this week, depending on whether my computer survives or not; I've been having problems with loading files and programs... it's not pretty.
While waiting for my brother at Barns and Noble (I am a walking typo machine, forgive me. ?:I?), I wandered into the media section and found a treasure trove of tips, how-to's, and strategies to directing, script-writing, and more!! So me, being rather commercialistic in my doings, whipped out a few index cards, a pen, and got cracking. Within thirty minutes, I sharpened my senses, gained new persepecive (I will never look at a hot man the same way without imagining him on a set and me directing a camera... ), AND increased my filmmaker's vocabulary by about 70 words. ?:)? I like this game!!
Now that I've vented my "happy feelings", let me get back to reality.
Problem 1. A certain sibling is really helping me out with this entire project. She's doing so well, I'm putting her name on co-writer of above-said script, and producer. However, I'm starting to think this might not have been my brightest idea. One word: Controlling. Seriously, especially since she's older than me.
On the other hand, I feel bad that I'm taking authority from her; I almost feel like I'm stealing the limelight, and I hate stealing. What to do?? ???
Question 1. Not a problem, a question. Is it okay to shoot a certain scene in the daytime, but block out the windows to make it appear night, to give the lighting a special effect? (This was an idea presented to me. I thought it sounded absurd, but hey, whatever works, works. I just don't want to waste film finding out, so I'm asking you guys. ?;)?)
And finally.....
Hee hee, nothing special, I just wanted to do that. ?:D? *lol*
*Bows back* It is an honor to help you Filming_In_Texas_san ?:)?
quote:
Problem 1. A certain sibling is really helping me out with this entire project. She's doing so well, I'm putting her name on co-writer of above-said script, and producer. However, I'm starting to think this might not have been my brightest idea. One word: Controlling. Seriously, especially since she's older than me.
On the other hand, I feel bad that I'm taking authority from her; I almost feel like I'm stealing the limelight, and I hate stealing. What to do??
With family and friends it is always tough. I can apprtiate your position as I run into the same problems with my brother who I am working on some film projects with. First try and remember that this is your project, your vision, and you are the producer. While I'm sure you appretiate your sisters assistance and ideas, she is still your co-producer. One way to handle this might be to break the project down into it's different tasks and then assign some of those tasks to your sister. Let her work on her assigned tasks her way and you have your assigned tasks which she is not to interfere with. You could also just dole out task as they needed to be done, but the idea is to keep her busy. The busier she stays the less time she has to be controlling hopefully.
quote:
Question 1. Not a problem, a question. Is it okay to shoot a certain scene in the daytime, but block out the windows to make it appear night, to give the lighting a special effect? (This was an idea presented to me. I thought it sounded absurd, but hey, whatever works, works. I just don't want to waste film finding out, so I'm asking you guys.
The answer to this question is yes. It is called day-for-night shooting and can be achieved in many ways, most often with lighting and filters. I have no personal experience with this (yet), but if you hire a good Director of Photography s/he should be aware of how to best get it done depending on the location of the shoot.
Keep up the good work!
