What Can Make A Movie Look Like A Film
Originally posted summer of '09
I have had an interesting summer, worked on my first feature, Biology 101, and my first web-series, Q: the Deconstruction of Cupid. I was a boom op on the feature, and the Production Sound Mixer or "sound guy" on a web-series. These are two completely different animals, but the awesome thing about films is that they have the same prep and execution. One is just a larger scale than the other. The feature had a crew of about 30 working on it during principle photography and the web-series had about 10 of us.
Now, I'm not bagging on Q, cause there was no where near the money that was backing the feature, but while shooting Q, it just seemed like I was on a student film. Where the feature felt more like a well oiled machine. This plays directly into how much time and money is put into a project.
So I ask you, please spend as much time getting EVERYTHING worked out. scout locations with the key crew (DP, Director, Production Sound Mixer, Gaffer, AD) at a minimum. That way you get different perspectives on the locations and the crew can start figuring out the problems that will come up during filming instead of having to figure it out on set while the clock is running. A good motto to go by would be PLAN THE SHOOT, SHOOT THE PLAN. That way your not wasting time trying to figure things out as you go.
Telling Stories Thru Cinema
Originally posted by Pia Romans.
Story telling has kept the listener/viewer riveted. It's how we share ideas, emotions, and lessons and touch our psyches at the core. Throughout the ages story telling has manifested through spoken words, acted out upon on the stage, through still images on the canvass, and ultimately through moving images on the screen.
Cinematography: Writing with light.
Light: floating photons of energy...elusive...ethereal... blithe.
And yet we've managed to capture it. And through magic, focus it. And through skill, communicate with it.
Its become an enchanting medium with which to share our stories; ideas, emotions, and lessons. It reaches beyond cultural boundaries. Its images are human. The sounds of laughter and sorrow are the same in any language, and the images that draw on these, universal. This visual connection reaches off the screen and communicates individually with each viewer. As we watch the story unfold visually, we feel transported to that event. We feel were a part of what's happening there in front of us, in the story, as a quiet bystander. Whether with compassion or distain we watch the images dance before us leading us through its tale, and somehow we're magically involved and connected. Perhaps it's this reason alone why Cinema has such a powerful hold. We have visceral reactions. Pupils dilate, pulses race, and chills cross the skin. Those images move us emotionally...and the ability to move someone emotionally whether to tears, laughter, or fear is quite compelling for the artists as well as the viewer. And it's in this way how we tell our stories.
Somewhere in our minds we know these films are just light and shadow but the influence they have is the mystical drug that draws us back again and again for more. We allow ourselves time and again to suspend our disbelief while we journey psychologically and emotionally through the artist's story. We revel in the ride as the drug of Cinema washes over us and watch the story. And the good ones, I mean the really good ones, impact us like a fond memory and those stories stay with us forever.
The Summer Blues
Seeing as this is a place for film students I'm going to assume you are, or about to go on summer break. That being assumed, time to move on. Are you wondering what you should be doing this summer? Getting bored? Wishing you were back in school? Working on film sets? Well, I am doing all of these and more. Instead of wondering these things we should be preparing for next semester, and beyond. How do we do this? Simple.
There are a number of things you could be doing this summer. Numero uno should be to set up a resume, or update yours, plain and simple. Some other things you could be doing are... work on your reel, everyone should have one, IMO. Find a good book on your chosen discipline and READ IT!!! No point in spending the money on a book if your not going to read it. Start work on a personal site. This one is not so simple, but seeing as the web is a place you can use to market yourself, you should do so. There are plenty of places to start, such as Blogger, WordPress.com, Tumblr, etc. There are as many places to start a personal site as there are facebook clones, so do some research and pick one. How about looking for an internship? One day your going to graduate, and when that day comes your going to need a job. An internship can be a good place to start that job search, and to see the ins and outs of the day to day stuff. You could also start day playing as a grip, or PA. Places like Mandy.com, or LA411 are great places to get contact info, and to look at job listings.
As you can see there are a lot of different things to beat the summer boredom that can creep up. The point is. In this industry if you get complacent it will pass you up. You MUST be like a shark, always swimming never stopping.
If you know of any other ideas to kill time till school starts back up share them in the comments.
The Basis of All Film, part 1
In this post we are going to look at the first part of a story. The WANT. The want is what drives, or motivates the main character. An example of this would be Memphis Raines in Gone in 60 Seconds, played by Nicholas Cage. The want for Memphis is very clear, it is to save his younger brother from Raymond Calitri. The rest of the movie, from the car thefts to the chase sequence in the final part of the film is motivated by Memphis' want to save his younger brother. Every decision that is made by Memphis correlates back into his want. That is why it works as an example for the first part of the structure of a story.
Next we will examine the Struggle.
As always, please feel free to comment.
The Needs List:Audio
Every set I've ever worked on has had an equipment list. You know the one. The multi-page list of goodies that every department "needs". i recently had to submit my needs list for a short called Liquor Story, later to be renamed Convenience. This list of gear was short, only had about 6 things on it, what I like to call the basic essentials. The items that I "require" for a short.
Here's the list of gear that I wanted:
-
1 Pair of Headphones
1 Mixer
1 Tascam Hard Disk Recorder
6 XLR mic cables 30'+
2 Wireless Lavaliere mics
1 Shotgun Mic
1 Zeppelin
1 Boom pole
See, a simple list that doesn't seem like much. But the issue came when I showed up on set and realized I didn't have the Zeppelin, 2 XLR cables, and instead of 2 wireless Lavaliere mics I got 2 wired Lavaliere mics. The 2 XLRs are for back up incase one of the others are broken, not a big deal, but still I like to have backups. But not having a zeppelin for outside shots is unacceptable and made us do the 2 outside shots as MOS (mitt out sound), and not having WIRELESS mics for a hold up was making me dread the coming shoot.
Now I know what your thinking, "why didn't I check the equipment before the shoot?" The answer is simple, I am a full time student, part time live sound engineer with a habit of over extending myself. Also I didn't check it because I was informed by the director that the gear was already on a set and we would have to get it from them when they were done with it, and that they had everything on the list.
We ended up making due, but I learned a very important lesson. Do not take anyone's word that what you have asked for will get to where you asked it to go. Trust only yourself.
When You Get The Call
Last Thursday I was working. Mixing a service and having a good time, then my phone rang. It was a number that I didn't recognize and the voice mail transcript (I use google voice) was not up to par. Well I gave the number a call back after I got off and it ended up it was a friend of mine who was giving me The Call. The one that says dude, I have work for you. But I had not returned the call fast enough and they went with someone else.
What did I learn here? Well I learned that I should ditch not answering numbers that I don't recognize, and I should try and treat every phone call as if it is a life or death scenario. Now I should say right now that I will be getting other phone calls. There will be work, eventually it will be paid. Until then I must remain steadfast in what I'm doing and continue to push ahead.
Mandy.com here I come.
Forums Are LIVE
Well, the forums are live. You will find a place for all the crew positions, and a place to let me know if anything was missed. They can be found at filmstudentresources.com/forum
We Now Have a Flickr Group
Might be a bit premature, but I wanted a place to post production stills from the shoots. So I created a flickr group for Film Student Resources, as well as a vimeo channel. Check them out, and feel free to subscribe or join the channels.
Hello world!
Welcome to FilmStudentResources.com. A place for all film students to find answers and ask questions. The site as you can see is still under construction. Check back soon for a forum that will be going up next week. Until, spread the word.