Why waiting is hardly ever a good idea

The longer you wait the harder it is to get going. Inspiration and the first excitement of that initial motivation ebbs away like an outgoing tide and you have wait sometime for it to return in full force. Other people you have got involved begin to lose interest where before they were brimming with enthusiasm at the thought of helping you out. Like mostly everything in life, there is a moment to act and if you let those moments pass ‘Murphy’ or ‘Sod’s law’ will make you wait even longer the next time you are ready. Use that beginning energy to seize the moment and throw yourself into the process. Start moving forward from your ‘eureka’ moment and much of the time lots of the things you need will fall into place. But you have to start with drive and energy.

Nobody wants to fail

If you put off making your film it is probably because you don’t want to fail at it. That’s understandable. But so what if you do? Fear of failure or fear of making a mistake keeps a lot of potential filmmakers frozen in place.

• I’ll never have another idea as good as this one.
• I’m too young to write/direct
• I’m too old to write/direct
• I’d better wait till I know more about filmmaking
• I don’t know how to work with actors
• My script isn’t perfect yet
• I don’t have the confidence

Recognise any of these? These are some common fears which keep us stuck where we are. We can only learn by doing; there’s only so much reading you can do before you reach a brick of wall of knowledge. The rest must come experientially, by doing. Confidence comes by doing too.

Don’t get obsessed over the first film

So many film-makers I have met become obsessed over their first movie script. It’s their baby and everything about it has to be just so. The problem with this is that these guys think when they turn it into a film, it is going to be a masterpiece and propel them into the film stratosphere. Don’t try and make your first few films into masterpieces…they are highly unlikely to be and all you will do is waste precious time tinkering and fussing over irrelevant details when what you should be doing is cranking out decent movie after decent movie. When you work like this you are learning your craft all the time. You are laying the foundations of future great works! You are building a show reel, making contacts, doing deals; you are developing as an individual and as a filmmaker.

Do your best but its not life and death

The trick to all this is too not hold on too tightly. Don’t be a perfectionist in the very early stages of your career. I’m not talking to the artists here, I’m talking to the guys and gals who want to work in the industry at whatever level. Getting it right, details and timings are crucial issues no doubt but don’t let them become an excuse for not moving forward to your movie goals.

Here’s just a few tips on what not to do at film festivals:

1. Jump on stage naked and run about during any presentations
2. Grab the mike from the speaker and start singing
3. Get so drunk you don’t know whether you’re a man or a woman.
4. If bearded, get so drunk you try to pull your beard off thinking it’s make-up
5. If clean shaven or a woman, get so drunk that you get violent thinking someone has shaven your beard off.
6. Fall off the yacht in a drunken haze never to be seen again. Well, at least they might make an interesting documentary about you.
7. Fall of the yacht between another yacht and get squashed..oooh
8. Go up to Robert De`Niro and say ’Yeah I’m talking to you, m**********r!’
9. Go up to Joe Pesci and say ‘do I amuse you. Am I here to amuse you? Now go get your f*****g shine box!”
10. Give a ten minute speech and start crying and blabbing like a baby..
11. Start a fight with another director who is better and won more than you.
12. When you lose in the competition shout ,“It doesn’t matter. One day I’m going to be bigger than Spielberg”…Er, no. you’re not.

DP’s generally fall into three categories:

• those who light to make it look good.
• those who light to make it look good and tell the story.
• those who say they can but actually couldn’t light their own granny, (Luckily, few and far between but they do exist!)

All things being equal, you want the guy or gal in the middle. These are the people who will use their understanding of cinematography to express all the elements of your story and it’s characters. They may be more or less than wholly successful but their intention is the right one.

How then do you go about deciding who is the right person to work with? Here are some tips:

1. Obviously, view the show reels of prospective D.P.’s/ this will give you an good idea of their work.
2. Send a script before meeting. People are busy but D.P.’s, if interested, should be able and will want to read a script pretty quick
3. Meet informally to discuss the film, choice of styles and creative issues.
4. Be prepared to answer questions about characters, motivation etc .A good D.P. will have suggestions and won’t just be a ‘yes man’. This is a creative role and they will most likely be ‘thinkers’ and leaders. They will often challenge the way you think a about certain things.
5. Be aware if someone just agrees with your every idea, this could denote a lack of ideas or confidence or leadership ability.
6. Based on your answers a good D.P. may choose not to work with you! They have a reputation to protect/build and wont work with just anyone. (if you do have a poor script/personality you better have a lot of money!).
7. References: Contact other producers and directors who have worked with the same person and get their view.
8. Make sure you can get on personally. You will be working very closely together over a number of weeks of the shoot both before and after in pre-and post production so be certain you can work through any disagreements or differences of opinions amicably and maturely.

Finding a D.P. to work with is something all aspiring and established film makers have to deal with at some time. Ideally you will find someone you can work with again and again on different projects and thereby create a successful relationship of mutual respect and admiration.

“I think with an ultra-low budget film I would be happy to recoup my investment and break even. To me this would be a success. If I made a small profit, I would view it as a bonus. Do you think your projects have the potential to do this? If you have three in post, it suggests you are already pro-active and probably have plenty of ideas for future films. Ideally, you would want everyone to pay a little to see your movies and for all the hard work that you and the team will have put in. But, that just isn’t the reality right now, in some instances, with all the download sites available.

For a lot of film-makers operating at the low to no budget level, the rewards will not be financial but will come in the form of experience, confidence, knowledge and maybe reputation, with the added possibility of being offered future ‘paid’ work. Tying yourself up in mental knots about how much money you won’t be making, will only stifle your creativity and your problem solving ability.
For a film to be downloaded 42,000 times is, arguably, a form of success? No? Then how do you combat this situation? Mm. Tricky. There are a lot of people thinking about it, with better brains than me. Swallow it? I think the least you can do is splash your website name (I assume you have a website for your movies?) all over the credits, both beginning and end. If you get downloaded a lot, that should drive some curious traffic to you. But then you need something there to hold people’s interest. Think of ways you can monetise your website to add extra income. Posters, T-shirts, DVD’s, advertising, other website exclusive pods. How about a film for watching in instalments? What about a donation box if they liked your film?

“Please help hungry and soiled film-makers”

I sometimes wake up in a cold sweat knowing that film-making and film distribution is going through important changes and we happen to be stuck in the middle of it. Interesting times. Maybe we should have been born twenty years ago? But then, no digital, no internet, no film-maker forum. We’ve got to be forward thinking.

Why bother you ask? Don’t, if you want to make money. At ultra-low budget level, It’s a distraction. It’s the wrong focus.

In general, we need to start thinking differently. Mini-studios, our own equipment, red-cam’s, green screens, web-distribution, our own t.v channels, more brainpower devoted to marketing but that’s up a level or two. How serious do you get? I’m going on too much. You’re a producer, I’m sure you know all this and were probably feeling a little dispirited when you mailed. I sympathize, I do, so I apologize if I’ve stated anything too obvious.So why bother? Because you love it, you know you do! Keep working, keep making films.”

Putting that shot footage together and watching it back involved processing, sticky tape, swearing, film-projectors and making a screen with sheets nicked off your bed.

Luckily, this was much more of a problem in the past than it is now. Within the last decade advances in digital video technology has resulted in an abundance of low-cost image capture devices, digital camcorders and accessories, enabling anyone with an interest in the subject to experiment and learn the craft.

That craft contains certain skills that all directors and soon-to-be directors need if they want communicate their unique vision, firstly, to their cast and crew and then eventually to their potential audience, waiting breathlessly in the dark.

Film making is a collaborative activity and you will always need others to assist you but one of the most important skills for a director is also easy to practice alone. This is the art of framing or composition.

What is composition?

Composition is the art of arranging elements within the camera frame into an appropriate and harmonious form. The organisation of the physical (objects, people, landscape) and the psychological aspects (viewpoint, mood, position) of a shot, is designed to communicate an idea or essential aspect of the story you are telling. Of course, if you are trying to disturb your audience you can deliberately create disharmony within your frames.

Everything within a frame will attract the eye of the viewer if you allow it. Now, where do you want that eye to go? Do you want it darting about all over the place? In that case, have lots of objects, people and activity going on in that frame, all of equal interest. This is what photographers call a ‘busy’ frame. There is no one centre of interest and this can be quite tiring to look at.

The questions you have to be asking yourself are, “

• where is the major point, or points, of interest in this frame?
• where do you want the audience to look?

It is good practice then to produce images that ‘lead the eye’ to a point that you have decided upon.

All you need is a device that takes pictures and some motivation. Ideally that would be a dedicated camera but a cell phone is just as useful. Practice capturing people, buildings, landscapes, objects. Practice and then practice some more. You’re not trying to take the best picture ever; you merely want to develop your ‘eye’.

As a visual artist, knowledge of how to compose shots is a must-have and there is no excuse for not developing it. Once you do however, you will be able communicate your filmed images and cinematic vision with much more power and authority.

Here are a few guidelines about what to do if you see someone making a film and fancy a little look-see, guaranteed to make a good impression and who knows, maybe some new friends?

1. Never point and laugh at the director when he’s framing up a shot and start talking like a crack addict who’s just had a load of crack.
2. Do tap the director on the shoulder and then proceed to tell him how he should film this shot, they love to collaborate and appreciate everyone’s input.
3. Don’t take make-up from the make-up artist and: a) Draw on yourself, others or objects (animals and babies are ok – they won’t tell). Try older children at your own peril. b) Eat it. c) Make rude gestures with the lipstick.
4. Don’t inform the producer that you’ve seen one of the crew snorting coke as this is the norm and perfectly acceptable, indeed the producer has probably done a few lines herself that morning. Everyone works hard on set and they need a little pick me-up.
5. Don’t wander around the set turning lights on and off willy-nilly to save energy.
6. Don’t look at the monitor and say out loud, ‘it’s a bit dark isn’t it? I can’t see f**k all’.
7. Don’t chat up the producer’s blonde bombshell girlfriend, usually a promising and talented model come actress….with big tits.
8. Do help yourself to tea and coffee all day and food at meal times.
9. Don’t jerk off in the honey wagon between takes.
10. Don’t fart during a take or an atmosphere track. The exceptions to this rule are: a) You’re the sound man and you know it’s coming, you can deal with it, or b) You’re the director, c) You’re the director’s mum.
11. In between takes, don’t pick up the boom and wave it about like you’re an extra from Lord of the Rings.
12. Don’t answer your phone during a take. The only exception to this is, if it’s your mum asking what you want for dinner.
13. Before a take, don’t tell the leading lady that, on the monitor she looks a bit old/fat/dwarf-like.

Follow these simple rules and you are bound to be invited back to the next location. Have fun.

If you want to sell your feature movie or get it seen by anyone then you’ll need to do some thinking about marketing strategy, no matter what the size of your budget. If you have no money and you are shooting a no-budget 75 minutes then your marketing strategy could be as simple as finding somewhere, like the local bar, to show your film. But whatever the case, it is good practice to start thinking about these details so you have experience and ideas when it comes to a bigger project in the future.

Let’s see how big movies go about marketing at different stages of their existence:

1. Script development and Pre-production: This is where the idea is developed into a script, which is then written, redrafted and polished and the initial excitement is generated through the use of concept posters and artwork, internet buzz, word of mouth, forums etc.
2. Production: The shooting of the film produces still photographs, cut sequences, early teasers, and on-set interviews for later broadcast on television or inclusion in the DVD.
3. The Post-production period sees the emergence of a coherent trailer, show reels, preliminary poster elements for publicity campaigns and festival strategies.
4. The finished film stage: Early screenings take place at festivals such as Cannes, Venice and Sundance to generate publicity and awareness.
5. The distribution process: This includes press junkets, poster campaigns, theatrical trailers and national and international releases at specific times of the year. Here the public is allowed to see the film for the first time (test audiences will have already been used) and this audience and critical feedback will then influence any further marketing plans.
6. Continuing distribution: All other markets such as in-flight entertainment, internet downloads, DVD and blue-ray are brought into play.

Public relation companies who specialize in media marketing are brought in to promote and ‘seed’ knowledge of the film, its story and images over all the territories where it will play.

Now, budgets are always tight on independent movies and you don’t have to follow this plan to the letter but there are sensible strategies here for everyone which you should implement. This will give you plenty of material with which to publicize your movie.

1. Try and develop word of mouth about your forthcoming project. Join web based forums, discussion groups and post regularly with relevant and useful info.
2. Develop a website where you can update your progress regularly but only if you can do it regularly and provide fresh content. This can later be a platform where you can have your film available for direct download if you want to go it alone.
3. Produce your own concept poster using some decent software like Photoshop.
4. When shooting make sure you grab as much behind the scenes footage as you can for your DVD extras. This should include director/writer/producer/DP interviews and anything else you can think of.
5. ‘Stills’ photos are absolutely essential for publicity and marketing later. Get a good photographer to come in for a day on the shoot and take some great pictures of the lead actors and main action/dramatic scenes (you should to stage these specifically).
6. Produce several different length trailers for a publicity DVD plus for viewing on your website and for download.
7. Develop a festival strategy and decide which ones you will aim to enter. It’s important to know and be ready for festival submission dates.
8. Produce a brochure with photos, DVD and other promotional materials ready to give to anyone who may be interested.

There are several things you can do to maximize your chances of understanding actors and the process and therefore pinning down exactly what you are looking for:

1. Read books on acting. I recommend anything by ‘Directing actors’ by Judith Weston, who has great understanding of the process but there are plenty of others out there.
2. Try out some acting classes at a local college or evening class. There is nothing better for learning a subject than throwing yourself into it, if you have the courage. It will build confidence too and you will start to get a hook on the language and methods of acting.
3. Watch them work. Live theatre is a great place to study actors in the moment. You will soon start to recognize people who lose themselves in their characters and people who don’t. Good and bad acting will start to shout out to you and you will develop the skill of seeing when an actor is really listening and when they’re just saying the lines. You may need front row seats for this though otherwise it’s the binoculars.
4. Check out nearby drama schools that often have regular free or cheap performances of both well known works and more experimental stuff. It’s a great place to find local talent and possible collaborators.

Working with actors is about you as a director being able to draw the performance you want from another person. That other person is not a robot or a machine but a human being who is making themselves vulnerable every time they go up for a role in a film or a play. To put oneself in that position time and time again takes a lot of guts and stamina. In order to protect that vulnerability, most actors will need to feel ‘safe’ working with you so that they can fully express their emotions and do a good job. It is up to you to generate that ‘safe place’ and the freedom for them to create. We are not talking about a physical place as such; it’s simply means having their director’s (that’s you) confidence and trust.

Directing actors can be frustrating at times like any human interaction, but it’s mostly rewarding, exciting and an incredible learning experience; of which you will probably become aware of much later. For the most part it’s a short term relationship, but a relationship nonetheless and if you go about it the right way, it could lead to much longer, mutually beneficial collaborations.

The audition itself:

When you’re assistant brings in the auditioning actor for the first time, introduce yourself. Don’t hide behind a table all aloof, get up and shake hands, bow, curtsey, whatever is your thing, but interact. You are the charismatic director after all and you want to create the right impression.

Introduce your own assistant actor, if you have one. Run through the process or you’re assistant might have already done it.

What is the process? It’s this:

The actor, having read the script pages, will have begun the process of interpretation of the material. They can now begin to audition for you. You can explain that you want to see what their initial impression is and what they bring to it. Explain also that you will run through the material at least three times so you are not going to kick them out after the first attempt. This will help Bob or Meryl to relax and steady themselves. Bob will need to hold the pages in his hand too as no-one can memorise that quick.

Watch the first attempt.

It will probably be disjointed, rushed, out of rhythm. It’s hard to remember that no-one else is as familiar with these words as you and how the characters sound and act in your mind’s eye. You will have to let go somewhat, of any pre-conceived ideas about how someone should sound or look like as this just limits you and could cut you off from finding someone who is really good but doesn’t “look right”. Of course there are certain parameters for how a character should look but try not to be too stubborn about it. Be open to whatever comes up.

Give some feedback

You’re going to be a director, you’ll have to get used to giving feedback all the time. Be as positive as you can without bull-shitting.Now you will have to come up with a suggestion about how to play the scene. Depending upon your script analysis that you have already spent time doing (right?), you will have an idea on how the scene should go. This idea should now inform your directorial choice. Is the scene tense, violent, romantic? There will be layers of subtlety within the writing, subtext and mood changes that you won’t be able to do justice to in this short period of time but you will need to find a way to bring the essence of the scene to light and communicate this to the actor.

Give ‘playable‘ directions

Depending on your material, give them a playable direction. For instance, the scene is tense with two men who don’t trust each other. The direction is “You’re impatient to leave. You have to get out of this room.”

Obviously you don’t want them to physically leave the room and if the actor walks out the door, assume you haven’t explained yourself properly. So staying in the room, how does the actor communicate that feeling of frustration and of being trapped through his spoken words and his body language?

Don’t use directions such as “be afraid, be nervous.” This is ok if you’re making a cartoon but not if you’re dealing with real people, (check out Judith Weston’s book, “Directing actors”).

Watching the next attempt

Continue to work with the actor, giving feedback and more playable directions. If you are close to what you want, then carry on along that way. If not, try the complete opposite.

In the case of the above example you could say, “Intimidate this other guy, make him leave the room!” Again, don’t use something like “be angry, be aggressive”. These types of directions have no goal, they are just states. They can mean many different things and lead to questions such as “how angry, how aggressive?” Try to combine direction with goals, objectives, purpose. This gives an actor something to grasp.

Remember to have fun with it; this type of collaboration is a creative process and an exciting one.

At the end of each audition thank the person involved for their time and effort.

Summary of the process:

1. First read through: actors interpretation
2. Second read through: with basic playable direction from you.
3. Third read through: observations from the previous two attempts, try opposite direction.
4. Fourth read through: go crazy.

The day of the audition:

1. Arrive early.
2. Set-up the space
3. Camera set-up.
4. Brief your ‘assisting’ actor.
5. Have your assistant prepare the ‘sides’.

Arrive before the actors!

Set-up

Get to your audition venue and set-up. Clear the space you’re using and make room for your candidates.

Do you have a camera?

It is a great idea to have a camera at the location to record the performances. This is necessary for reminding yourself later of each audition and watching for nuance and insight that you might have missed on the day. Ideally, have someone else operate.

The camera should be static and a wide enough angle to capture full body shots of all the actors involved plus all of their movement. You don’t want close-ups; you should be watching faces with your eyes, not hiding behind a lens. Later on you can review whether the actors are using their bodies well, whether they are stiff, uncomfortable with physical closeness, have ticks etc, all this will be on the camera footage.

Just to add, your location should be lit brightly enough for filming and you should state that the footage shot will not be used for anything other than private viewing, i.e. for purposes of reviewing these auditions.

Having another actor present

If possible get another person, preferably another actor or if not an actor somebody with some life about them, who can read well and put some emotion into it. Don’t get a friend who is afraid to read out loud. It is better not to read yourself as part of your awareness is taken up with conscious processing of the lines and you as the director need to focus on the subtlety of performance.

Having another actor there also helps you to direct the auditionees because you can prime your actor-assistant with instructions to make it different, change their lines, move differently and so on. This is all to see how your candidates adapt and react to new, surprise or subtle changes in direction.

Make notes

Make notes on each audition, marking down your instinctive impressions about the person performing, whether they followed your direction and so on. The most important quality for an actor is being able to “listen” not just to you and your instructions but to the other actor they are working with. Really good actors are always listening which is another way of saying they respond in the moment to what’s happening, they react to the people in their environment. So you could say that you want “reactors” not actors.

The material

Have your assistant hand out the “sides”, which are the one or two pages of material to perform. It would be good, ideal even, to have pages from your own script. The benefit of using your own script is it gives the actors a chance to assess your film for its content, don’t forget they might choose not to do it! Many actors will obviously be looking for good show-reel footage and even if desperate won’t do just anything for the sake of it. Often it is a good idea to use well written, established dialogue material that you’re familiar with. Not that your stuff isn’t well written, I’m sure it is.

(You could send the audition piece to people via email but this only works if everyone gets it. Those that do get it will have more time to work on the lines, if they choose to, whereas some who don’t get it are then put at a disadvantage come the audition. If everyone sees the material for the first time when they arrive then it is a level playing field and more accurate for you to judge.)