This chapter's title might suggest that one meeting is enough. Typically the production meeting is the culmination of many weekly planning sessions, and the last one exists to sign off on everything important before the unit launches into action. Below are the main areas a production meeting must cover. Everyone heading a department must be present with their respective breakdowns derived from a close reading of the script: producer, production manager (PM), director, script supervisor (also known as continuity supervisor), director of photography (DP), art director, and head of sound. Everyone must have visited locations and accepted them as viable.
Anyone with a problem to be resolved brings it up at this meeting. Now is the time to coordinate everyone's efforts and to make corrections or changes if something has been overlooked or needs a schedule change.
Preliminary budgeting will be based on the shortest practical schedule. Everyone must check the logistics of travel, time to build and strike sets, and so on. Some time will be built in for contingencies such as bad weather or breakdowns.
This is the moment when everything planned must be considered in terms of its cost, so the meeting involves a rough budget based on known schedule, locations, equipment, crew, and artists (Figure 27-1). It is good to consider higher and not just the lowest likely figures because the total for a film in which the
higher figures prevail can be a shock. It's good to confront this while you can still make adjustments.
There are a number of component calculations leading to the budget, the most significant being the number of locations and days spent shooting at each. Software exists for simple budgeting, but the industry favorite is Movie Magic™, an all-encompassing (though expensive) software package that provides tools to break down the script, turn it into a schedule, and arrive at a budget based on all the variables you enter. The beauty of a relational database of this magnitude is that any change anywhere, such as in script, rates, or scheduling, will immediately be reflected everywhere that it matters. You can also use the software to keep tabs on daily cash flow so there need be no unpleasant surprises hiding in the accounts department. You can see descriptions and reviews of different software for screenwriting, budgeting, and scheduling at www.writersstore.com, which also lists tutorials and manuals on how to get the most out of the software. Most people will need something akin to a producer's training to make proper use of the software.
Budget issues divide into above-the-line and below-the-line costs. The line is the division between preproduction and beginning production. So:
Above-the-Line costs: | Story rights |
Screenplay | |
Producer's fee | |
Director's fee | |
Principal actors' fees |
____________________________________________“The Line”
Below-the-Line costs: |
Production unit salaries |
Art department |
|
Salaries |
|
Sets and models |
|
Props and costumes |
|
Artists (other than those above) |
|
Cast, stand-ins, crowd |
|
Studio or location facility rentals (with location and police permissions) |
|
Film or video stock |
|
Laboratories |
|
Camera, sound, and other equipment |
|
Power |
|
Special effects |
|
Personnel |
|
Catering, hotel, and living expenses |
|
Social Security |
|
Transportation |
|
Insurance |
|
Miscellaneous expenses |
|
Music |
|
Postproduction |
|
Publicity |
Indirect costs include finance and legal overhead costs. The pertinent questions are:
Many factors lie behind arriving at a budget and its attendant cash flow forecast, not the least of which is what medium you are going to originate the film in. This is probably an early decision, but the final word is cast at the production meeting. Be aware that all movie budgets include a contingency percentage, usually 4% or more of the budget, which is added on to cover the unexpected, such as equipment failure, reshooting, and so on.
Learn as much as possible about the special technical requirements of the shoot so you, your DP, and your PM can decide what costs are truly justified. Some extra items turn out to be lifesavers; others just cost money and never get used. Keep in mind it's human ingenuity and not just equipment that makes good films.
How the film looks, how it is shot, and how it conveys its content to the audience are decisions that affect your equipment needs, but these decisions are about the form of the film and need to be made organically from the nature of the film's subject. Plan to shoot as simply as possible, choosing straightforward means over elaborate ones. The best solutions to most problems are elegantly simple.
With anything to be shot on film and edited digitally, your camera original must carry KeycodeTM or it cannot be conformed at the end to the edit decision list. Two good sources of information at every level are Kodak's student program, reachable through www.kodak.com/go/student and DV Magazine at www.dv.com for up-to-date information and reviews on everything for digital production and postproduction. Kodak has every reason to want people to continue using film and provides superb guidance in its publications and Web sites, which are prolific and as labyrinthine as you would expect of an organization with so many divisions.
Testing and repair equipment: When the time comes to check out equipment, never leave the checkout point without putting all the equipment together and testing that absolutely everything functions as it should. Make sure you have spare batteries for everything that depends on a battery and extra cables, which have a habit of breaking down where the cable enters the plug body. Carry basic repair equipment, too: screwdrivers, socket sets, pliers, wire, solder and soldering iron, and a test meter for continuity and other testing.
Major equipment needs hinge on what image format you will use to shoot. Using the traditional film camera means a fairly straightforward (if long and expensive) equipment list. Film captures the best image quality, has a usefully limited depth of field, can be shown in any cinema in the world, and can be transferred to any video format—at a price. It requires heavy funding at the front end when you buy stock and will be expensive to process and make prints. Anybody experienced enough to light and shoot in film will probably know where to get the equipment and how much it will cost to carry what you need for the days that you need it.
16mm shoot: If you have quiet interiors, be sure to get a quiet camera. Old cameras can sound like coffee grinders, and it's a myth that they have a camera noise filter in postproduction. Be aware that the small formats magnify any weave or jiggle, and this shows up dramatically with titles or overlays.
Super 16mm shoot: Find someone who has recently and successfully completed the chain of production. Remember that Super 16 camera original has a different aspect ratio and runs on different sprockets in the lab. Not many labs can handle and print it. Are you going to strike workprints or have the camera original transferred to tape? Who's going to do it and for how much?
35mm shoot: Especially if you shoot in 35mm Panavision (Figure 27-2) you will need the appropriate camera support, probably a dolly with its own rails. If you want to do any handheld shots, you will need a Steadicam™ and someone very strong who is experienced in using it.
The limitation of inexpensive digital cameras is that they have small imaging chips and a correspondingly large depth of field. This gives a typically flat image in which everything is in the same degree of focus. These cameras are also hard to control and have sloppy lenses. Being miniature, many features, such as white balance or sound recording level, can only be accessed by laboriously tapping your way through a menu. When your work is in NTSC you must make a special choice concerning timecode. NTSC is the American video recording standard, and the acronym stands for the National Television Standards Committee that invented it. PAL (Phase Alternate Line) is the standard common in Europe, and each is formulated to work at a different frame rate that is based on either 60 cycles per second alternating current frequency (NTSC) or 50cps (PAL). Working in NTSC requires that you choose whether to use drop frame or non-drop frame timecode. Drop frame removes a digit every so often so the recorded timecode remains in step with real time. It usually isn't important, but you must stay consistent through the production as it affects the editor. Electronic menus have a nasty propensity for somehow getting changed without anyone noticing. A professional camera is large, has external setting knobs and switches instead of menus, and the camera assistant can periodically run an eye over the settings—impossible with internal menus. Professional cameras also have a slot for a
memory stick, a solid-state memory the size of a credit card that can hold all the camera settings used to get a particular look. This can save a great deal of time.
Digitally recorded sound is most unforgiving if you over-modulate during recording. Another hassle is focusing the camera. Without manual control, you are often reliant on either setting a fixed distance in advance or letting the automatic focus do what it will. This simply focuses whatever is in the center of frame, no matter what your compositional balance or where you want the audience to look. So manual focusing and manual sound level adjustment are at a premium and usually come with the more advanced cameras only.
Medium of origination: Depending on how high you've set your sights, you may shoot with a modest digital video (DV) camera, with Digital Betacam, or in high definition (HD) using the Sony CineAlta system. If you expect to transfer your edited video final to film for theater projection, the cost must be determined. Each stage of the production has its own price. A great advantage of shooting digitally is that you don't have to change film magazines every 10 minutes of shooting, as you do with film. Cassettes last anywhere from 20–60 minutes, and this keeps everyone focused for longer periods. Typically, digital features are shot in the region of 20–30% less scheduled time than film. This is because the camera runs longer, needs less maintenance (there is no film gate to collect dirt), is light and quick to move, and needs less overall light.
DV origination for eventual film transfer: For this you may use a tried and true Canon or Sony DV camera, or perhaps a switchable camera offering a choice of frame rates like the Mini DV Panasonic AG-DVX100 (Figure 27-3). This manual or automatic control three-chip camera records at either 30 frames per second (fps) or 24p (which is shorthand indicating 24fps, progressive scan mode) that transfers well to film. To explain this: The video frame is normally made up of two passes or scans, one recording the odd lines, the other interlacing the even ones. A progressive scan records the entire frame in one pass before moving on to the next frame. This is closer to the film process and produces full-definition frames that are simpler to transfer to film. The camera also has two professional Cannon or XLR sound inputs at microphone or line levels, the usual Firewire or IEEE1394 socket for digital transfer to and from a nonlinear (NLE) system, and a special function for shooting that emulates film gamma range. Most valuable are the large color viewfinder; manual controls for audio volume, zoom, iris (aperture), and focus; and the 48-volt phantom power supply needed by some professional microphones.
High definition video: This video standard has twice the picture cells or ‘pixels’ of American 720 pixel DV and rivals 35mm film in picture quality. The Sony CineAlta HDW-F900 (see Chapter 1, Figure 1-1) has four digital sound channels, can shoot interlaced or progressive scan, and has a variable frame rate that allows you to shoot fast or slow motion, something normally attainable only in postproduction with video. In common with all professional-level cameras, its features, including follow-focus, are as fully controllable as a 35mm camera's. George Lucas, after shooting Star Wars Episode II using CineAlta cameras, said, “I think I can safely say I'll never shoot another film on film.”
Video to film transfers: Be aware that video to film transfers from 30fps video (NTSC system) are very expensive. A timebase has to combine the interlaced frames, then do a step-printing operation to render 30fps of video as 24fps of film. A 24p or PAL 25p video camera neatly obviates this. 24p is the contraction of fps or frames per second, and also implies progressive scan.
PAL system compared with NTSC: By shooting in the European PAL video standard you gain some advantage in acuity because the PAL image has more lines of resolution. PAL also transfers its interlaced (or better, progressive scan) 25fps more directly to film. However, when 25fps is projected at 24fps, the 5% speed change lowers the pitch of everyone's voice marginally and produces a 5% longer film. Why do PAL and NTSC have different frame rates? Most countries have a 220–230 volt with 50-cycle (or Hertz) alternating current. PAL's frame rate of 25fps is a straight division of 50Hz. The United States still uses Thomas Edison's legacy of 110 volts at 60Hz, so NTSC's 30fps is a division of the United States' 60Hz.
Where will you record sound? In the video camera? In a separate DAT or analog Nagra recorder? If you shoot analog, how will sound be resolved and transferred for syncing later with its video picture? How many channels will you need to record? How will you mike each different situation? If you are using radio mikes, will you carry wired mikes as backup? What kind of clapper board will you use if you are shooting double system? What special thought has been given to sound design that the sound crew should be aware of? What effects or atmospheres are not obvious in the script and must be found or concocted during location shooting?
Whatever origination you use will need the appropriate postproduction setup, from a $3,000 Macintosh computer with Final Cut Pro at the low end to a $225,000 Discreet Smoke HD or $300,000 Avid|DS HD postproduction rig at the high end. The length of the movie, the amount of coverage, and whether there are any special effects will have a profound effect on the postproduction schedule. Don't forget the audio stage, when the film is put through a ProTools software suite and the final track is mixed, possibly in a studio with a large theater costing hundreds or thousands of dollars a day.
If a software or camera manufacturer recommends particular associated equipment, follow the recommendation to the letter. There's a good reason. Before you commit to any of the links in a production chain, you must be 100% certain that all the links work together. For instance:
Know and understand each stage's process. For any problems you must have definitive answers before you commit. When you seek advice, talk with those who have already done what it is you want to do, then use exactly the recommended equipment and procedures.
At the production meeting, everyone brainstorms about what they need. Make lists and do not forget to include basic repair and maintenance tools. Some piece of equipment is bound to need corrective surgery on location.
Over-elaboration is always a temptation, especially for the insecure technician trying to forestall problems by insisting on the “proper” equipment, which always proves to be the most complicated and expensive. Early in your directing career you will be trying to conquer basic conceptual and control difficulties, so you probably have little use for advanced equipment and cannot afford the time it takes to work out how to best use it. At a more advanced level, sophisticated equipment may actually save time and money. Expect the sound department in particular to ask for a range of equipment so they can quickly adapt to changed lighting or other circumstances. This within reason is legitimate overkill.
If any of your crew are at all inexperienced, ask them to study all equipment manuals beforehand; these contain vital and often overlooked information. Make sure you carry equipment manuals with you on location. At the end of this book is a bibliography with more detailed information on techniques and equipment.
Do not be discouraged if your equipment is not the best. The first chapters of film history, so rich in creative advances, were shot using hand-cranked cameras made of wood and brass.
Someone should be equipped to shoot 35mm production stills throughout the high points of the shooting. Ideally you would use a good still photographer, but it may have to be someone with intermittent duties, such as a gaffer or electrician, who has an acceptable eye for composition. Stills seem unimportant, but they prove vital when you need to make a publicity package for festivals and prospective distributors. The director should set a policy on shooting stills so everyone knows they are important and will freeze on command while a still is taken. If time permits, the director or DP may be the best person to take the stills because pictures should epitomize the subject matter and approach of the movie, and act as a draw in a poster.
A director needs to be familiar with the details of the organization and scheduling that make filming possible. Scheduling is normally decided by the director and the PM and double-checked by principal crewmembers, in particular the script supervisor and the DP. Excellent scheduling and budgeting software exists so that anyone with a computer can do a thoroughly professional job, as mentioned previously. Movie Magic™ is the film industry's choice of software package that will handle contracts, scheduling, and budgeting (you can see a range of software at www.filmmakerstools.com with a range of prices).
Regarding the schedule, you will often have to make educated guesses because no film is ever quite like any other and there are few constants. Because time inevitably means money, your schedule must reflect your resources as well as your needs. Take into account any or all of the following:
Normal practice is to shoot in order of convenience for locations, taking into account the availability of cast and crew. During a shoot, lighting setups and changes take the most time, so a compact schedule conserves on lighting changes and avoids relighting the same set. Lighting usually requires that you shoot wide shots (which may take all the light you've got) first and close shots later because these must match their wide-shot counterparts. For these reasons and more, it is highly unusual to shoot in script order.
The character and location breakdown (Figure 17-4) described in Chapter 17 shows which scenes must be shot at each location. It is normal that scenes from the beginning, middle, and end of the film may all be shot in the same location. This makes rehearsal all the more important if actors and director are to move authoritatively between the different emotional levels required. The scene breakdown also displays which characters are needed, and this, in association with the cost and availability of actors, influences scheduling.
Some films may need to be shot in script order, particularly if director and cast are inexperienced or poorly rehearsed. Here are some such examples:
Whenever shooting in script order is impractical, the director, cast, and crew must be thoroughly prepared so that patchwork filming will assemble correctly.
Some scenes are so dramatically important that there will literally be no film should they fail. Imagine if your whole film hinges on a scene in which your naive heroine falls in love with an emotionally unstable man. It would be folly to shoot everything else trusting that your actors can make a difficult and pivotal scene work.
Key scenes must be filmed neither too early (when the cast is still green), nor too late (when failure might render wasted weeks of work). If the scene works, it will give a lift to everything else you shoot. If the scene bombs, you will want to work out the problems in rehearsal and reshoot in a day or two. You cannot commit to shooting the bulk of the film until this problem is solved.
Problems of performance should show up in rehearsals, but camera nerves may kick in, especially if the scene exposes the actor. Filming is only occasionally better than the best rehearsal, and often it is below it. The cast may feel more deeply during the first takes of a new scene, but strong feeling is no substitute for depth of character development. When cast members realize they must sustain a performance over several takes per angle and several angles per scene, they may also instinctively conserve on their energy level. Knowing this, you should shoot with an editing pattern in mind so you don't yield to the temptation to cover everything. Drawing the line between adequacy and wastefulness is hard for the new director, so it's best to err on the side of safety.
Scheduling should take into account the demands some scenes make upon the actors. A nude love scene, for instance, or a scene in which two characters get violently angry with each other should be delayed until the actors are comfortable with each other and the crew. Such scenes should also be the last of the day because they are so emotionally draining.
Schedule exteriors early in case your intentions are defeated by unsuitable weather. By planning interiors as standby alternatives, you need lose no time. Make contingency shooting plans whenever you face major uncertainties.
Depending on the amount of coverage, the intensity of the scene in question, and the reliability of actors and crew, you might expect to shoot anywhere between 2 and 4 minutes of screen time per 8-hour day. Traveling between locations, elaborate setups, or relighting the same location all greatly slow the pace. Many directors allot setup time for the mornings and rehearse the cast while the crew is busy, but this is unlikely to work as well outside a studio setting.
A promising film may also be sabotaged by misplaced optimism rather than any inherent need to save money. Consider the following:
The first half of the shoot may fall seriously behind if the AD and PM do not apply the screws and keep the unit up to schedule. Not only does an inexperienced crew start slowly and over time get quicker, they also tend to reproduce this pattern during each day unless there is determined progress-chasing by the DP and AD.
By the end of the meeting everyone should have agreed on equipment and schedule. The PM can make a detailed budget and the 1st AD can go to work on preparing the call sheets.
Make “test and test again” your true religion. Leave nothing to chance. Make lists, and then lists of lists. Pray.
Imagination expended darkly, foreseeing the worst, will forestall many potentially crippling problems before they even take shape. That way you equip yourself with particular spares, special tools, emergency information, and first aid kits.
Optimism and filmmaking do not go together. One blithe optimist left the master tapes of a feature film in his car overnight. The car happened to be stolen, and because there were no copies, a vast amount of work was transformed instantly into so much silent footage.
The pessimist, constantly foreseeing the worst and never tempting fate, is tranquilly productive compared with your average optimist.
Arrive early and test every piece of equipment at its place of origin. Never assume that because you are hiring from a reputable company, everything should be all right. If you do, Murphy's Law will get you. (Murphy's Law: Everything that can go wrong will go wrong.) Be ready for Murphy lurking inside everything that should fit together, slide, turn, lock, roll, light up, make a noise, or work silently. Murphy relatives hide out in every wire, plug, box, lens, battery, and alarm clock. Make no mistake; the whole bloody clan means to ruin you.
The goal of budgeting is to make a cost flow projection. During production the PM prepares a daily cost report:
The object is to bring the production in on cost and in the agreed time.
Depending on the expense and sophistication of a production, it will carry some or all of the insurance. Even film schools, mindful of the litigiousness of John Q. Public, sometimes make their students carry insurance coverage.
Preproduction indemnity: Covers costs if production held up due to accident, sickness, or death during or before production
Film producer's indemnity: Covers extra expense being incurred due to a range of problems beyond the producer's control
Consequential loss: This covers increased production costs due to the loss or damage to any vital equipment, set, or prop
Errors and omissions: Covers claims against intellectual property (copyright, slander, libel, plagiarism, etc.) or other mistakes
Negative insurance: Covers reshooting costs due to loss or any damage to film negative
Employer's liability: Mandatory insurance that may be required for protection of employees
Public or third party liability: Insures against claims for property damage and personal injuries
Third party property damage: Insures against claims brought against film company for damage to property in their care
Equipment insurance: Covers loss or damage to hired equipment
Sets, wardrobe, props: Covers costs resulting from their loss or damage
Vehicles: Coverage for vehicles, particularly specialized vehicles, or those carrying costly equipment
Fidelity guarantee: A financial backer's requirement to guard against infidelity—the budget being embezzled
Union and other insurances: Film workers are often union members, and their union stipulates what coverage is necessary when they are hired. Special insurances are often required when working abroad under unusual health or other conditions.
Once all details have been decided, the PM sends out letters of engagement to secure the services of crewmembers. These describe the job, the salary, working hours, and length of contract. There will be a number of clauses stipulating rights and expectations on either side, as in any contract. Any union requirements must be followed scrupulously, if trouble later is to be avoided.
Once the crew is known and actors are cast, it is customary to have a production party. This acts as an ice breaker, bringing everyone together for the first time. One of the pleasant aspects of working in the film business is that over the years you work with the same people every so often. Because everyone is freelance, everyone is happy to work. Production parties are therefore very pleasant and constructive occasions.
The points summarized here are only the most salient or those that are commonly overlooked. To find them or anything else, go to the Table of Contents at the beginning of this part, or try the index at the back of the book.
Plot and Character:
Action:
Dialogue:
Scenes:
Dramaturgy and Visualization:
Check That the Screenplay's World Is:
First Audition:
Decisions Before Callback:
Callback:
Consider Each Actor's:
Shoot camera test on principals; consider confronting actors with your reservations before casting. Thank all for taking part and arrange date for notification.
Developing the Crew:
Script Interpretation:
Rehearsal:
Focusing Thematic Purpose with the Players:
Rehearsal without the Book:
Review the Taped Scene:
Thinking Ahead about Coverage:
Production Meetings: