Low-budget filmmaking tip #191
Don’t get mad on set. Seriously, there is nothing getting mad on set will solve, except how to free up more time for hobbies after this production when people stop working for you. If a problem comes up, solve it. If you can’t solve it, ask for help. If no one can solve it, find a way to work around it.
Low-budget filmmaking tip #184
There’s only two reasons to do another take: because you want a safety, or because you want something done differently. If you want a safety-take, say so. If you want something changed, say so and explain it. Doing multiple takes without knowing why can be very frustrating to the cast and crew. It’s okay to say “I only want a couple of safeties,” by the way. Just don’t be “mysterious.”
Be very careful of line readings. Sure, sometimes there’s a certain emphasis the actor isn’t “getting,” and that is something upon which something else depends, but a director who line-reads too often is probably someone who ought not to be directing, but probably acting.
I think it’s one of those things that has to be approached judiciously.
I’ve done it a few times, reluctantly, but with talking with the actor about it. Each time I can recall, it was because there was an element that they weren’t understanding about the line. Once they got the joke, they usually did it better than I could have.
Which is why they’re actors and I’m not.
Low-budget filmmaking tip #169
Jerks who pay are still jerks. You don’t have to be a slave to a paycheck, y’know.
Low-budget filmmaking tip #120
You may run across people who try to discourage you. They may not even mean to do it, but whenever you talk with them, you’re discouraged. Your best defense is the following mantra: “Just get the shot.” Most of the folks who are discouraging are really trying to discourage themselves. Don’t buy into their limitations.
It’s funny — I hadn’t realized until just recently that there are people who are encouraging on the outside, but somehow, no matter what they say, when you walk away from them, you feel as if you can do less than you thought. I don’t think it’s mean or anything, it’s just kinda’ how they are, I guess.
Best defense against that is to keep yer chin up, to keep your mantra alive, and to keep shooting.
Either they catch up and get in the swing of things, or they don’t.
Low-budget filmmaking tip #111
If you’re shooting at a natural location, such as a beach or a forest, when you’re all done, pass out trash bags and everybody wander around picking up trash and making it prettier. Not just your production’s stuff, but spread out. Make your group the Entropy Decreasing Group.
No, it won’t help the movie, but it’s a good thing to do.
We once actually acquired a location for a really tricky shoot after the owner saw how diligently we cleaned up another location where he was being an extra. He told me he never would have offered if he hadn’t seen us scrub the entire set down — after each take! (it was a tricky setup, because each take messed the set dressing up a lot and it had to be especially crisp and perfect at the beginning of each shot)
Low-budget filmmaking tip #105
Find out before you go how far a hike it is out to the location. Make sure everybody knows — you don’t want to lose an hour hiking at the wrong part of the day.
Low-budget filmmaking tip #100
If you find out it’s someone’s birthday, take five and congratulate ‘em, as a crew. Birthdays are fun. You don’t have to sing and dance, but reminders that we are all people and we all have lives and for this brief moment in time, we’re all some weird kind of moviemaking family can go a long way to cementing relationships.
(holy smokes — a hundred tips!)