Archives for the 'Tips & Tricks' Category
1st AD - How to Call the Roll
One of the 1st Assistant Director’s responsibilities is to “call the roll” while on set. This is very important as one of the steps include using a slate to mark a take, which helps the editor sync the audio to the picture and helps to keep track of all the shots. Below are the steps involved, usually, in calling the roll.
1) “Waiting on…” Though not technically part of calling the roll, 1st ADs may keep the set focused by frequently calling out which department is responsible for a delay in rolling a take. If the lights need to be adjusted, the 1st AD calls out, “Waiting on gaffers”. If the actors are still in their trailer, the 1st AD calls out “Waiting on talent”, etc. However, such calls can be regarded as applying excessive pressure to the department in question, and especially in the case of actors, are often avoided.
Tips for Working With Non-Professionals on Set
Kendall Miller over at FreshDV has written a wonderful article in regards to dealing with non-professionals on set. One of my favorite tips is below:
Know Your Role and Be Aware
No director or department head enjoys constantly giving orders, reminding someone of what their job is. A true professional learns how to hear what is going on, and realizes what his or her job in the big picture is. For example a DP may mention to the camera op that the next shot is moving to a dolly. A good dolly grip would hear that and immediately begin moving the dolly into position. Meanwhile the AC overhearing the same comment would begin to move the camera off the sticks. A career AC once told me you can tell a seasoned crew by watching them on short breaks; they always face into the set so they can still see what’s going and be immediately ready to move quickly.
Read the entire article over at FreshDV.
How to White Balance
An important step in film making that every person should know is the process of white balancing a shot.
What is White Balance you ask? To put it simply, it’s the process of telling the camera what the color white looks like, so the camera will adjust the other colors accordingly. This way you will get a nice shot that isn’t too yellow or too blue… it’s as natural looking as possible.
To white balance you follow these steps:
Be realistic about what you can and cannot accomplish
We all have these amazing ideas in our heads with crazy effects and shots that would blow people’s minds. The epic riot scene where 100s of extras destroy a city street and a fight against the local authorities breaks out. As cool as that scene sounds, there is no way that you, as a student, would be able to accomplish that.
Your budget while in film school is probably $10 that goes toward some MiniDV tapes. Everything else is probably borrowed from your school and you must make the most out of what you have available. If your school has light kits, use them. If your school has microphone kits, for the love of God, use them!
Shoot for the Edit
A tip that I always pass along to my friends/aspiring film makers is to ’shoot for the edit’. What this basically means is that you should film as much footage as you can from as many different angles as you can and then let the magic happen when you edit the movie together.
For example, let’s use a home movie. How many times have you seen a very boring home video where it’s an hour of footage that could easily be edited down to 15 minutes? That person, unknowingly, shot for the edit — except they didn’t edit it. That hour long footage gives that person a ton of footage to choose from to put together a short, tight piece that will impress and interest more people than an hour of boring, two minute shots of a monument.
Also, make sure that one of your shots is a wide shot, that has the entire scene and actors in view. This wide shot will be then cut with mid-shots and closeups. And last but not least, remember to film a few seconds before the scene starts and a few seconds after the scene ends. These extra seconds give the editor extra footage to work with to make cuts better.
But remember, your footage is the most important. If your shots are garbage, no amount of editing will make them better. Garbage in, garbage out.
Got a question? Email me!
If you have a certain question about film making, please feel free to email me and I’ll try my best to answer it. Now keep in mind that I am not a professional. I am currently a film student. But just because I’m a student doesn’t mean I can’t help.
Send emails to filmschooljournal at live.com — I’ll write up a post with your question and my answer. Thanks.
Writing Exercise: Create a story with random images
Here’s an exercise for you. Take a bunch of random images that you find online or in a magazine and write a story about them. Give the people in your images names and personalities. Use the items in the images as props that they interact with. Create a conflict.
For example: Say you randomly choose the following 4 images — 1) A lady under an umbrella, waiting for the bus. 2) An image of a candy store. 3) An image of an empty house. 4) An image of a big building.
Save time and money by writing an outline
Chances are your indie films have little to no budget and must be shot in only days, sometimes only one day. The last thing you want to do is show up at the specified location and not know what you’re going to shoot. First of all, it is very unprofessional to show up at a shoot and try to wing it. Second of all, you waste valuable time that could be used to shoot extra scenes or alternate angles. You are also wasting the time of your actors who are either volunteering their time or charging you. In that case, you’re also losing money.
Create an online portfolio
In my opinion, an online portfolio is very important. Nowadays, it is very easy for anyone to start a website and put up their videos, artwork, etc.
It’s quite easy, actually. First you will need to register a domain name. I would suggest using GoDaddy.com and enter the coupon code: diggnation to get a discount. The best thing to do is to register your name. FirstAndLastName.com or FirstName.com if you have a really unique name. Next up, you will need a host. GoDaddy themselves also offer hosting. It’s actually quite cheap too. About $4/month. I personally use DreamHost.com to host all of my sites.
Get great footage by knowing your gear!
“A well-placed cheap microphone will get you better audio than a poorly placed expensive microphone.” - My sound professor at Los Angeles Mission College uttered does words, more or less, during one of his always entertaining and informative lectures. And he’s 100% right. Just because you have the best, most expensive equipment doesn’t mean your film is automatically going to be great.
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