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Sorry this post is late, I've been putting this off all day but here it is. All you directors out there learn from my mistakes. First point is script obviously. It's perfectly reasonable to have a script floating around for a few months, it's good actually. Some of my best scripts have been revisited hundreds of times starting as partial concepts or crappy, full-stories. If you want a good script to work off for a relatively short film with an actual time frame then write up a rough one. Literally just throw something together and put in whatever you could think of at the time. You should have an entire script like this done in less than two hours depending on the length. Then send it to all your friends, maybe make your parents look it over, make them read it all and don't tell them anything about the story before-hand. In the long run it's better to have a writing partner or two (a close friend interested in film) that does know about the film you're working on. You can bounce partial scripts off of him and vise versa; this is a good way to get over writer's block quick. Once you think you have a good script, try visualizing every part of it in your head in order. Show it to people you don't even know; forums, parents (if you haven't already) friends you didn't show, kids in the film department, etc... Once you have a golden script that's diamond encrusted then it's time to get to work. For most short films that don't have more than 4 actors on screen at a time you may not need a storyboard. It's good for longer films with more people involved to at least do a crappy stickman storyboard just so you have a solid idea in your head as for what you are going to be doing. Schedule 1 or 2 more people than you need, a good manager can find some sort of job for 2 extra people, bring along cardboard sections to block out excess light or have more people hold the green screen. When you shoot do as Peter jackson once said "One more time, for luck." or rather as he always says. Take at least once extra take after the good take, maybe two if it's an easy shot. I can't tell you how many times my 'good' shot was terrible and the rest had little problems that you couldn't look over. Putting things off because you think you can fix it in post is another terrible one. But I pretty much covered that in my last post so look back for more details (Success on a tight Schedule). If lighting is important: Outside - film at dawn and dusk or in an area mostly blocked during midday hours but NEVER at night unless you have a full lighting kit. Inside - have no windows within your view. No continuous shots going outdoors to indoors or vice versa. Indoor lights should be avoided in shots whenever possible. White balance your shot till it looks good, make sure to leave the shoot looking slightly brighter than you think it should, this gives you more detail and flexibility in the editing room in terms of color correction. on any panning or flying shots make sure to set your focus and exposure to manual and run through the shot a few times to see how it looks during the course of the shot. Manual focus will save a lot of hair pulling for super-close-up shots when they come up. Steady shots are easier to work with in post then shaky ones. Shakiness is an EASY thing to fake in post unless it makes large movements into the foreground and back, then you may want to use the camera. Shaky shots are a rule of thumb thing and often unavoidable. When picking angles most inexperienced (and many professional) filmmakers are known to stay one one angle for too long. The next time you have a tv or computer near you watch a sitcom or a movie (preferably an action movie) with mute on and pay special attention to when the shots change. You'll find 9.8 times out of ten they're faster switches then you think they are. When you are taking your shots do it again from multiple angles, try far away and really close up. But the most important thing is start recording a second or two early and finish recording a few seconds later. B-roll can help if you don't know the shot progression by heart yet, after you finish filming in one area, just film the furniture, the other actors, the ground, the sky, a reflection of your actor or an object of interest. All of these things can get you out of a tight nitch like shots that switch TO THEMSELVES (even if it's a slightly differnet angle) which is something you can almost never get away with. Last thing is audio; voice over all your far away shots after, same with your noisy room shots, and record b-roll audio, just ambience you can overlay over everything or large sections if you need to. Phew! That should help out all you directors out there. There are some more obvious ones that have to do with scheduling, site preparation and scoping, actor management, equipment management and a plethora of other topics but I don't feel like adding those in now. Maybe another time. Maybe tomorrow's post if I can't think of anything else. Actor management is a pretty big one... ok I'm going to do that one tomorrow definitely
