Your journal is coming along quite nicely, and it appears that your film is not far behind it. Your production planning seems pretty spot on and I think that you are going to benefit greatly from the organization. I do have a few questions/concerns about your actual filming process, equipment, and budget overall.
First, I know that you are running a multicam shoot, yet your DP is your "A" camera op, and you don't have a "B" cam op listed. More importantly, I would assume that you are going to fill out the rest of your crew with people you know in Indiana, but as far as a camera person goes, that is/should be your DP's call and responsibility to hire. Personally, I think that there is a lot of trust that goes into a position like that, and I for one have a very select group of people that I would consider for that role. This is extremely important for a shoot of your nature because you can not afford to miss any "moments" in your actors "performances".
Secondly, I know you have said you are going all natural with your lighting, but you need to have some type of bounce at the very least. You will be running the risk of giving your characters dead eyes and bumping your ISO or opening your F stop is not going to be a feasible or wise decision. I think that your film has a lot of potential, but the last thing I want to see is your movie not come out the way you visualize it in your head, and oddly enough, I understand exactly the look you are going for, and I know that these are going to be some of the complications.
Lastly, I think you would benefit from investing a little bit more into your equipment budget. You are going to be hard pressed to find a steadicam rig for under $200 and you may also want to consider getting a wider/fixed lens for some of your master shots. Just a suggestion.
I share some of the sentiments as Roger. I think that you are currently in a great place as far as your journal goes. I think that you clearly have a concise idea of where your film is headed and I am glad that you have clearly scheduled accordingly.
I think that you are driven with your project which is really nice to see. I am interested to see where you take this because I really can see the potential in it. I think that the A/B cam argument that Roger raises is very valid. Running a multi-cam shoot is something that takes some clearly thought out ideas and some real trust amongst the DP and the Ops. I know that Lanly will be one of the Ops and I am interested to see who the other one is. You know obviously that you have to capture everything and that hoping to shoot two cameras will cover you. Ideally you would run three cameras but that is asking the world of a shoot like this, and I think you just need to understand what you want out of each scene before you go into shooting it. There will be times in which shooting shot/reverse shot will be the best course of action in a particularly important scene and you can forgo the two shot. I am sure you are contemplating these things but I figured I would reiterate them just in case.
I think that you have an interesting idea going with a crew that will double as your cast. I understand that it is clearly going to be expensive as far as flying people out there goes which is why the bulk of your budget is clearly going towards your transpo. I know that you have friends out there so utilize them to the fullest. Grab them as PA's and grips to help you with the little things on set. I'm sure they will gladly help you and they will save you as far as production goes even if its something little. I think that Roger brings up a point in the bounce, which has been discussed before. Just remember that you can save it with something as cheap as a bounce board. That can save you in a lot of the eye situations.
I know you are probably aware again, but please please please take screw on filters with you. You will need ND and Circular Polarizers with you at all times when shooting outside. Make sure you have dupes for both cameras so that you can preserve that shallow DOF that you are looking for and to save your f-stop. Especially since you are shooting exteriors and you want shallow, you will need those things ad-nauseum. I would hate to see you have to mess with the shutter or iso just to compensate for shooting outside when you can invest $300 or so in multiple filters to save everything.
I am sure you have your own sound equipment and all of that other stuff but the budget may call for things that aren't necessarily planned for or even equipment. Just make sure that you are ready for that. I would agree that the equipment budget could be low but I don't know what you have access to and what you don't. If you already have sound stuff and access to a steadicam then you are clearly golden. If not then you may be looking at a little more. I would agree with Roger as far as a master goes but if I remember correctly, you at least have the 24-105 which you can use. Ideally, you could grab a 24mm at 1.4 or the Zeiss 21 at 2.8 which would allow you to shoot that during your sequences for variation which can really help but that would add to an equipment budget which you may not be able to.
Overall I really like where you are going with it and I know you are on top of things. Take my notes for what they are worth and keep pressing forward. I look forward to any other additions to your journal that you plan to add.
Kristine,
ReplyDeleteYour journal is coming along quite nicely, and it appears that your film is not far behind it. Your production planning seems pretty spot on and I think that you are going to benefit greatly from the organization. I do have a few questions/concerns about your actual filming process, equipment, and budget overall.
First, I know that you are running a multicam shoot, yet your DP is your "A" camera op, and you don't have a "B" cam op listed. More importantly, I would assume that you are going to fill out the rest of your crew with people you know in Indiana, but as far as a camera person goes, that is/should be your DP's call and responsibility to hire. Personally, I think that there is a lot of trust that goes into a position like that, and I for one have a very select group of people that I would consider for that role. This is extremely important for a shoot of your nature because you can not afford to miss any "moments" in your actors "performances".
Secondly, I know you have said you are going all natural with your lighting, but you need to have some type of bounce at the very least. You will be running the risk of giving your characters dead eyes and bumping your ISO or opening your F stop is not going to be a feasible or wise decision. I think that your film has a lot of potential, but the last thing I want to see is your movie not come out the way you visualize it in your head, and oddly enough, I understand exactly the look you are going for, and I know that these are going to be some of the complications.
Lastly, I think you would benefit from investing a little bit more into your equipment budget. You are going to be hard pressed to find a steadicam rig for under $200 and you may also want to consider getting a wider/fixed lens for some of your master shots. Just a suggestion.
-Roger
Kristine,
ReplyDeleteI share some of the sentiments as Roger. I think that you are currently in a great place as far as your journal goes. I think that you clearly have a concise idea of where your film is headed and I am glad that you have clearly scheduled accordingly.
I think that you are driven with your project which is really nice to see. I am interested to see where you take this because I really can see the potential in it. I think that the A/B cam argument that Roger raises is very valid. Running a multi-cam shoot is something that takes some clearly thought out ideas and some real trust amongst the DP and the Ops. I know that Lanly will be one of the Ops and I am interested to see who the other one is. You know obviously that you have to capture everything and that hoping to shoot two cameras will cover you. Ideally you would run three cameras but that is asking the world of a shoot like this, and I think you just need to understand what you want out of each scene before you go into shooting it. There will be times in which shooting shot/reverse shot will be the best course of action in a particularly important scene and you can forgo the two shot. I am sure you are contemplating these things but I figured I would reiterate them just in case.
I think that you have an interesting idea going with a crew that will double as your cast. I understand that it is clearly going to be expensive as far as flying people out there goes which is why the bulk of your budget is clearly going towards your transpo. I know that you have friends out there so utilize them to the fullest. Grab them as PA's and grips to help you with the little things on set. I'm sure they will gladly help you and they will save you as far as production goes even if its something little. I think that Roger brings up a point in the bounce, which has been discussed before. Just remember that you can save it with something as cheap as a bounce board. That can save you in a lot of the eye situations.
I know you are probably aware again, but please please please take screw on filters with you. You will need ND and Circular Polarizers with you at all times when shooting outside. Make sure you have dupes for both cameras so that you can preserve that shallow DOF that you are looking for and to save your f-stop. Especially since you are shooting exteriors and you want shallow, you will need those things ad-nauseum. I would hate to see you have to mess with the shutter or iso just to compensate for shooting outside when you can invest $300 or so in multiple filters to save everything.
I am sure you have your own sound equipment and all of that other stuff but the budget may call for things that aren't necessarily planned for or even equipment. Just make sure that you are ready for that. I would agree that the equipment budget could be low but I don't know what you have access to and what you don't. If you already have sound stuff and access to a steadicam then you are clearly golden. If not then you may be looking at a little more. I would agree with Roger as far as a master goes but if I remember correctly, you at least have the 24-105 which you can use. Ideally, you could grab a 24mm at 1.4 or the Zeiss 21 at 2.8 which would allow you to shoot that during your sequences for variation which can really help but that would add to an equipment budget which you may not be able to.
Overall I really like where you are going with it and I know you are on top of things. Take my notes for what they are worth and keep pressing forward. I look forward to any other additions to your journal that you plan to add.