On Location With America's Finest

This week we are in production on several promotional pieces for a new tool coming soon from Leatherman. We have had a "blast" shooting with Navy SEAL's, Marine Recon and other tier one special forces operators. We shot at T1G in Arkansas, a specialized military training facility, where we got some amazing footage of firefights and rescues as well as fantastic slow-motion shots of explosions.

We also shot at Combat Hard in Atlanta for footage of a SWAT team in action. It's amazing what a little bit of smoke and haze can do, and I was excited to see some of the images we were able to get in the shoot-house at this facility.

In the bottom photo, Leatherman Senior Designer Anthony Perez looks on as we set up a shot. I am looking at a Blackmagic Smartview Duo monitor (which gave me two 8" monitors--one for each of our two primary cameras). In order to shade the monitors from the sun, it is mounted on the rails at the back of the case.

There is a lot to talk about from this shoot, and maybe I will get a chance to do that once the project is complete.

New EF Mount Cinema Lenses

One of the problems with shooting films on DSLR and a few other new cinema cameras is that lens choices are severely limited. Really, the only choice for a true cinema lens with a Canon mount is the Zeiss CP.2 compact primes at over $4,000 per lens. Up until now, the next best thing was simply using still lenses, which are very difficult to pull focus on, are prone to breathing when focusing and do not have gears for a follow focus to make use of. They also have an obvious visible transition from f-stop to f-stop. Of course, film makers have had to find work-arounds and make modifications--or simply accept these problems as a part of their productions.

Rokinon has recently released the first couple of lenses in their new Cine Lens series. They solve all of the above problems and have a consistent front diameter between lenses, which is a real time-saver when working with a mattebox and rail system. The 8mm Fisheye and 14mm lenses (T3.5 and T3.1 respectively) have been released already and the 24mm is coming any day. The 24, 35 and 85 lenses will all have a T1.5 rating, which is even better than the Zeiss CP.2's, most of which are at T2.1. Now, no one is saying these are better lenses than the Zeiss. They still do not have as long a focus throw as the CP.2's and the glass is not quite at the same level. Early reviews, however, say that the Rokinons are very sharp (aside from maybe the 8mm) and are great lenses--and the stuff they have had on the market for still shooters is top-knotch. Here's the thing. For an average price of only $600 per lens, you really can't go wrong using them for most projects. Low budget indy films will all be shot on these lenses for the next couple of years, since you can purchase a set for the same price you would pay to rent Zeiss lenses for a month of shooting. Definitely worth a look.

Delivering to a Distributor

We just yesterday shipped off deliverables to Image Entertainment, the distribution company that will be handling the recent film I directed, The Solomon Bunch. It occurred to me that some may be interested in what a distribution company requires, since it is always good to know before you start what will be needed in the end. Of course, different companies have different requirements, and the requirements are also different when delivering for theatrical release than for DVD/VOD (as was the case with this one). Still, it may help to know the list we fulfilled for Image...

Video
   • HD master of the feature in the original aspect ratio
   • HD master of the feature in 16:9 anamorphic (1.78 aspect ratio)
   • SD down conversion in original ratio enhanced for 16:9 anamorphic
   • SD pan & scan version in 4:3 ratio (this was not a lot of fun)
   • HD master of the trailer and bonus features
   • Viewable DVD's of each of the above for their reviewers

Sound
   • 4-Channel audio built into each of the above masters (1/2 Stereo, 3/4 Music & Effects Mix)
   • Dialog, Music and Effects stems as stand-alone stereo files
   • 5.1 Multi-channel surround file
   • All original music cues as stand-alone files
   • Playable audio CD containing all music cues for their reviewers

Captions
   • Pop-on closed captions in the formats of .cap, .scc and .txt

Each of the master video files also had to include "textless elements at the tail." This means that any segment of the movie or trailer that included text (credits, location descriptions, etc.) had to be included at the end of the film as "clean" clips. When they do foreign language versions of the film, they will now be able to do new titles in place of the English. Also, with the sound DM&E files, they have the option to drop the dialog altogether in favor of a new language or they can simply duck the dialog track to a much lower level so as not to compete with the translation. This can be done without harming the music and effects levels, which they have as distinct "stems" (def: a sub-mixdown of all tracks in a particular category). What they were not interested in was any of the editing or mixing files from Final Cut/Avid/Nuendo, etc. The locked picture is all they required.

What I have listed here is the mastering deliverables only. There were also Creative and Legal deliverables. Creative included artwork, photos, logos, press reviews and quotes, etc. Legal included proof of ownership of all aspects of the film and story, copyright registrations, production contracts with cast, creatives, crew and locations, tax forms for the corporation and a certificate of E&O insurance (which is quite expensive, by the way).

Click the "Film Directing" link at right for more about what we learned on this film.

Storytelling Through Composition

In considering ways to make my blog as helpful and effective as possible, I think I have found a solution. I should just forward my domain to Shane Hurlbut's blog. I have mentioned his posts often, and I will reiterate that any videographer or DP should visit Shane's blog often. It is amazing how much insight he shares on things that are often closely guarded by the DP's who are the best in the business. This particular set of posts does not necessarily have any new revelations, but it does point out and illustrate some foundational things that we all need to learn and/or be reminded of. It also may introduce you to some new terms you are not familiar with (granted, some are Shane's own creations). The waister, choker, doinker and dirty over are all great tools to use in storytelling. And John Fording is a great way to naturally get to a closeup. Read to learn more.

Storytelling Through Composition Part I
Storytelling Through Compostition Part II

The Solomon Bunch Premiere

Getting ready to start pushing our ticket sales for The Solomon Bunch movie premiere in the next few weeks. This is the first draft of our poster design, which will be put up at churches and other locations around the Atlanta area. It will also be produced at a smaller size for insertion in church bulletins and as handouts.

The premiere, which will be held in south Atlanta on the 14th of April, will include live performances in addition to the first showing of the film.

The Solomon Bunch is a family film that I directed this past summer and have been working on editing for the past several months. We are working on sound design and ADR right now while the composer and colorist do their thing. Hope to see you at the premiere if you can make it. Check out the website for more information on the film or to purchase tickets.

AMTC's SHINE EVENT

Here is a snapshot of the view from my judges' table at the SHINE event last week in Orlando, FL. This event is a top-knotch talent showcase featuring some of the best new performers as chosen by Actors, Models and Talent for Christ (AMTC).

Other VIP's included the heads of casting for MGM, BET and 20th Century Fox, as well as the top agents and managers in the country. I had the opportunity to audition a number of amazing actors (and even a singer or two) for potential roles in upcoming films. A big thank you to actor Craig Crumpton for the heads-up on this organization.

Directing Fact #5 - Your Script Matters

Somewhere around Day 5 of shooting and then once again around the halfway point in editing, you will have a realization that this film is a lot of work.  At that point, you will either be encouraged to think how worthwhile the project is or will be completely deflated to think of the huge waste of time and money you are in the middle of. Your response will be determined primarily by how good your story is. Do you have something that is barely passable as a movie--or do you have something that will move, inspire and thrill people?

There was a time (only a few short years ago) that you got credit for trying. What I mean by that is that anyone who was actually able to turn out a finished film was lauded and people would watch it. I remember going to a screening about 12 years ago for a film that a friend of mine had helped finance. They were all raving about it, but when I saw it I was thoroughly embarrassed that I was even sitting there watching it. The tools back then were not as inexpensive as they are today, so it was not a cheap production. The story was so weak, however, that it was truly a waste of an hour and a half. Afterwards, everyone was congratulatory of the filmmaker and were honestly excited that they were a part of the project. I assure you that this is not the case anymore. With the number of indie films released each year, and a very large number of them with pretty high production value, it takes a great story and an interesting premise to even get people interested. Major Hollywood releases are even taking huge losses these days when they do not connect with people on some level with the story.

The lesson in all of this is to make sure you have something great before you commit a large part of your life to it. The least expensive stage of production is the writing stage, so take the time to find or develop a script that you can be truly excited about and that you know will connect with your audience. If you do, then you will find the strength to press on when the process of making the film turns from fun to work--and it always will at some point.

Directing Fact #4 - Location is Everything

There has been a cliche in the business world for a long time that goes, "Location, Location, Location." It simply means that nothing is as important as where you choose to set up your business. This applies to shooting a film as well. The choice of location will impact the production in a number of ways, both on-screen and off.
On the practical side, there are many considerations that go into choosing a set. These include location fees, cost of travel, ease of access, distance from other set locations, availability of extras, availability of crew, availability of power, water and restroom facilities, sound considerations, natural lighting considerations and more. When you are operating on a small budget, the impact of each of these is magnified. For example, even something as simple as a bathroom may be the determining factor in the final choice of location. A big budget project would never think twice about bringing in a facilities trailer where needed, but even an extra $100/day for a porta-potty could be outside the budget of a small production. Likewise, a small budget may consider a couple of hours drive between locations to be cost-prohibitive due to the extra fuel and mileage charges, whereas a studio film may be able to shoot in Moscow, Buenos Aires and Morocco all in the same week. Because of these financial limitations, directors often have to "settle" for what is available and close.

The big thing to remember is that what ends up on-screen is all that matters. Often we think we have to have the perfect complete location, when in fact we only need a couple of good "spots" to shoot. It would be nice to find an amazing old factory with all of the right junk in just the right places, but the truth is that we can get by with a brick building in an alley and probably tell the story just as effectively. No, it will not have the epic establishing shot you pictured, but many films (even large budget films) these days do quite well without establishing shots. A good DP should be able to get you a great look even when you have very little to work with. I remember being very disappointed in a couple of the locations we ended up with on my last film, especially for our scenes in the woods. However, once we put it on a long lens, it was amazing how that spot just came to life. In the end, that location in the woods turned out to be one of our better ones.

This is not to say that the location does not matter, because it does. The primary consideration, however, is that it has the right feel about it. One of the things I really wanted to achieve on my film, since it was for children, was a bright, happy and colorful feel. Contrary to my earlier beliefs, this had very little to do with the lighting and had everything to do with the sets, props and costumes. We missed the mark on a number of scenes because I did not understand how much that feel would be impacted by the location. Several of our scenes, for example, were shot at a building that we had free access to. The building had a couple of rooms that I felt would work perfectly. What I did not consider was that the very nice, warm earthy tones of the paint scheme (and lack of color contrast) would make those entire scenes feel moody, dark and less interesting visually, despite the colorful costumes our actors were wearing. Even a white wall would likely have been better in that it would have provided more contrast with skin tones and the costumes--and would have felt brighter and happier overall. On the other hand, had we been shooting something with a more moody feel, that location may have been the right choice.

There are obviously hundreds of considerations when choosing a location, but from my limited experience, I would say that finding something to fit and enhance the overall "feel" of your movie is far more important than having a list of great individual locations with varying looks and feels that ruin your story's continuity. Make this your number one priority whenever possible.

Directing Fact #3 - The Books Are Right

Every book I read, every seminar I attended and everyone I talked to said the same thing. "Never do a movie with children or animals!" I guess I thought it was just something people liked to joke about, because I promptly went out and wrote a script that featured both.

It is not that all kids or animals are problems, in fact, I had a few really talented kids who were much more professional on-set than were some of the adults (including seven-year-old Chase Wainscott, pictured here). However, it only takes one or two poorly-behaved kids to turn the entire set into utter chaos. One of our most tension filled moments of the production came after about three hours of trying to get ten kindergartners to walk single file down a school hallway without looking at the camera. Everyone on the crew was yelling either at each other or at the kids. Between takes, the 2nd AD and one of the PA's were trying to keep the kids in a line by playing follow the leader between rows of desks in a classroom. One of the five year-olds looked at me during this exercise with seething hatred in his eyes and asked, "What is this, some kind of a circus?" Well, yes, actually. That is what it had become. The worst thing about the situation was that one of our executive producers had chosen that very moment to bring some of his friends on-set to see the production. They did not stay long.

When you realize that every additional take you shoot is money, it becomes important to cast professionals in your film so that you can get great stuff quickly and consistently. Screen actors must be skilled in doing multiple things at once. Not only do they have to jump into character immediately and remain in character for reaction shots, but they must at the same time perform precision blocking, hit floor marks exactly without looking, stay open to the camera when other actors move, and be conscious of leaving extra space in the dialogue for editing, Oh, and they must do the entire scene EXACTLY the same way every single time. Children, while they may be great on-screen, rarely have the ability to pull off this combination of things. They also need a lot of reminders about things like speaking clearly. Therefore, you spend a lot of time in additional takes and you pray that there will be options for cutting shots together with continuity once you get into the editing room. In addition to their acting inabilities, children are also subject to child-labor regulations that dictate a shorter workday with more breaks. This results in a less productive daily schedule.

Animals do not need much explanation, but you should heed the warnings there as well. Unless you are using trained animals, you will spend a lot of time even on the simplest task. We needed a dog to jump up in a window sill to scare our kids. No amount of coaxing or treats would do it for a good thirty minutes before we finally got lucky. Horses tend to be frightened by large reflectors and run away at the least opportune times. If you need just one or two to stand in a particular place, good luck. You have to use feed to get them there, but that also brings the other six horses from across the field. In most cases you have either no horses in your shot or too many. All that said, it is very rewarding to get a great shot with horses in the background.

Would I ever do a movie with children and animals again? Probably (except for kindergartners). But I would be sure to plan appropriately and spend more rehearsal time working through the exact blocking they would be doing on-set. I would also audition more carefully and would have someone stationed in the waiting room during auditions to find out which hellions we should send packing.

Directing Fact #2 - Time Flies. Period.

You may think this photo is from a night shoot, but no. This is just after finishing our final scene on Day 5. There are a lot of reasons this one went long, not the least of which is that we were attempting the impossible--shooting actors on one boat from another boat without either boat being anchored to anything. What a nightmare. But even without that impossible task, we had a difficult time making our days, simply because everything takes longer than you expect. I don't know how many times I thought to myself that a particular simple scene or portion thereof would take a couple of hours when in fact it took two or three times that long. Learning to estimate the shooting schedule is critical, but coming to the realization that there is no such thing as a simple scene is a good start.

Even the simplest scene with two actors requires a minimum of 3-5 setups. Outside of the setup time required for blocking and lighting (30 to 90 minutes), there are a huge number of other factors which can eat time off the clock. Delays during setup can include power issues, equipment malfunctions, intermittent cloud cover, makeup and costume problems, missing props, location issues, crew indecision and more. Once you actually roll camera, there are any number of things that can ruin a take. These include actors missing marks, flubbing lines, looking at the camera or breaking continuity. Of course, you can expect multiple takes for getting the perfect performance as you have envisioned it. There are also camera issue such as lens flares, improper exposure, operator error, boom mic in shot, wrong framing, wrong timing between the dolly and actors, bugs or other stray objects in frame, or the biggest issue of all--missed focus. The sound department also contributes their share of re-takes for any number of sound issues including mic interference, visible mics, handling noise, air traffic, animals, insects, vehicles, trains, air conditioning units, lawn mowers, noisy off-screen cast and crew, and everything else you can imagine. Now, throw in complicated technical elements such as extras blocking, untrained animals, airplanes taking off/landing during a scene, remote-control helicopters hitting marks, etc.

This list is only things that happened during our recent film shoot to cause delays. It is by no means comprehensive. When you consider that a take must be free of all of these issues in order to be usable, it really does become necessary to shoot a huge number of takes in order to get even one that can be considered good. So, you can see why even a scene with only three setups (angles) can never be considered "simple." The lesson to be learned is that a shooting schedule with high per-day page counts will often result in either incomplete days or in compromised production value. Finding a balance between meeting the budget and keeping the quality high (technically and in performance) is certainly one of the biggest challenges a director faces.

Directing Fact #1 - YOU are not making a movie.

I come from twenty years of productions that for all intents and purposes have been a one-man show. I have many times marveled at the credits on television documentaries, wondering why in the world they would need that many people. More often than not, I choose to not list credits at the end of my own productions because I am embarrassed that I only have three or four names total. While this can and has worked for me in documentary, promo, training and commercial productions, it does not work on a film set.

Preparing for my first film, I found myself often making a mental note of something I would need to be sure to take care of on a particular day of the shoot. They were all very simple things that would not take any time or effort at all. But somewhere along the way, I started to realize how fast they were adding up. There would be no way for me to oversee all of these little things by myself. So I began passing them off, which now unnerved my production manager and assistant directer since these were things they had not heard about previously. I finally got my list down to just one task the night before shooting began and one task on the morning of Day 1.

The first task was putting together the sound cart for our audio guys. Most of the equipment was mine or stuff I had borrowed, and I already had a plan for how to rig it up as a cart. I estimated about two hours to put it together. I was a little off. By the time we had rigged it all together, labeled everything, proved microphones, set up recording templates and gathered all the accessories that might be needed, I got a total of fifteen minutes of sleep.

The task the next morning was much easier. I had agreed to pull the trailer with our movie car to the set. This would not be a problem since I was driving my SUV to the set anyway. Call time was at 8 am, but at 8:45 I was still waiting alongside the Interstate for a police officer to show up. With a flat tire on the trailer, my plan was to simply unload the movie car and drive it the last 30 miles to the set where it would be needed soon. I could not do that, however, without a police escort since my movie car was a very convincing police cruiser. While I really could not afford to be a couple of hours late to the set, I figured it was a better option than being arrested for impersonating a police officer. After permissions and escorts from two counties, I finally drove onto the set in the police car.

No one noticed, of course, because they were already busy shooting the first scene (as I had instructed them by phone). Looking around, I suddenly realized two things. First, this was way bigger than me. My first AD and Director of Photography had things humming and probably would have had a decent scene in the can whether I showed up or not. It was humbling, but it also gave me a great sense of respect for what we were undertaking. My second realization, however, was that I would not see my own vision for my film on-screen if I was also a PA, grip, sound guy, production manager and driver.

A film is like a ship at sea. A lot of people and processes are in place to make it move and maneuver. The captain may be running the show, but his only real job is to hire a good crew and then make sure the boat is always pointed in the right direction. If he has to run up and down the ship taking care of things, no matter how important or how simple, he will be distracted and the results could be disastrous. As a director, after you have found great actors and a great crew in pre-production, you should be focused on only two things--getting the coverage you will need in the edit room, and getting the performance you want from your actors. Everything else is a distraction that someone else should be handling. It is not easy to make this happen on a small budget project, but I believe it is the key to having a great, cohesive end-product that you will be happy with.

How Many Takes Is Too Many?

Here is a great article for anyone directing talent on-set. It is very easy to run your actors/spokespeople into the ground through retakes and poor communication if you are not careful. On more than one occasion, I have sat in the editing suite working on a project and have been shocked to realize just how many takes I actually ran on a particular shot. What may have seemed like about fifteen minutes of retakes while on-set was in reality close to forty-five--and I wondered why my talent was getting a little frustrated! It is certainly important that you leave the set with usable material, but you should be competent enough to realize when you have something you can work with. This article from www.nofilmschool.com expands on this idea a little and will be helpful to you, I believe.

Director's Training Course

Per Holmes is one of the greats when it comes to instruction in directing films. His Master Course in High-End Blocking is an amazing resource that every director must watch--and most of the top Hollywood guys have. I learned so much from that course, it was literally dizzying. His instruction is so well laid out and explained that you can't help but "get it." He has just announced a series of three-day training seminars in key cities around the world. Because they are hands-on, only 25 or so are able to register for each. They are selling out as fast as they are announced.

You may want to get your name on the list to reserve a spot for ones that are upcoming. Go to the registration site for more details. There are a lot of seminar opportunities that are "take it or leave it" type things. This is not! This is a "do whatever you have to do to get there" opportunity.

Here are the things he will cover as they do actual setups and shooting of scenes:

• How to quickly block any scene from scratch with only a script and a location.
  
• Become crystal clear on how to attack any scene, so you can do it well under pressure.
  
• How to convert your intuitive shot ideas into a rock-solid blocking plan.
  
• How to quickly adapt your blocking to a new location or actors' input.
  
• How to get better coverage using half the camera setups you're used to.
  
• How to block fast so you can spend more time with the actors.
  
• How to eliminate continuity problems.
  
• How to shoot for total editing freedom, so better emotional timing can be created in editing.
  
• Anchor a TON of Hollywood Camera Work technique, such as Compression Of Space, Open vs. Closed Framing, Keyframe-Based / Parallel Blocking, Managing The Line, Hand-Offs, Parallax / Back Parallax, Lead-Ins and Extensions and much more.