Crowd-funding has had an almost revolutionary effect on micro-budget filmmaking. No longer are we reliant on public funding bodies or a friend of a friend who wants to write off some income against tax to get our projects financed; we can go to the crowd and build up legions of fans whilst accruing our budget.
As many of us know, however, it’s not that easy. With so many people using Kickstarter, Indiegogo et al it’s increasingly difficult to stand out from the (irony of ironies) crowd, and many campaigns fail as a result.
This morning I read a very interesting blog by writer and producer Stephen Follows. He’s compiled some data about Kickstarter campaigns, the success rates, optimal targets, the best duration, the benefits of having a pitch video and so on.
Some of it confirms my own anecdotal findings (see here for my top ten crowd-funding tips) – e.g. longer campaigns are less likely to succeed than shorter ones – but some of it I had never even considered – like the fact that living in a city with a high population of creative people increases your chances of success.
If you’re planning a crowd-funding campaign I suggest you take a long, hard look at the statistics first. A lot of people are still launching campaigns “to raise a bit of extra cash for my short” without making any real effort to promote them, or to make potential donors feel their contribution is important. Crowd-funding is not a license to print money. You must be prepared to work incredibly hard, harder even perhaps than you work to actually make the film.
I believe that the most successful campaigns are the ones that are short, intense, focused, have elements like minor celebrities attached, have broadcast quality pitch videos and crucially the public is made to understand that this film will not get made without MY contribution.
Tomorrow the film I’m currently DPing, The Deaths of John Smith, has an extremely packed schedule. This has got me thinking about how a filmmaker can keep themselves on schedule when faced with a seemingly impossible amount of material to get through.
The most effective action is of course to take out a big red pen and start cutting down the script. I know personally I find this very difficult, particularly if I’m both the writer and the director, because I’ve convinced myself by this point that everything in my shooting draft absolutely has to be there. Even though I know that, when I get to the edit, some scenes will inevitably get deleted and some dialogue will get trimmed. The challenge is to identify those trims now, on set, and save myself the trouble of shooting them.
Beware that simply cutting some dialogue is unlikely to have a signficant effect on your schedule, because most of your time on set is spent not shooting or even rehearsing, but setting up. Take a long, hard look at your shotlist or storyboards. Do you really need all that coverage?
Consider a Single Developing Shot (SDS). This means shooting an entire scene in just one set-up, with some camera movement and perhaps some dynamic blocking to maintain interest. The danger here is of doing a ridiculous number of takes of this one set-up because you know you have nothing to cut to if it’s not perfect (a trap I’ve fallen into more than once). I would advise qualifying your SDS with a cutaway or two to claw back a bit of flexibility in the edit and ease the pressure on the master shot.
A developing wide shot covers a large chunk of a scene from The Deaths of John Smith (copyright 2013 Two Hats Films). A safety cutaway (right) is shot to get the editor out of any tight spots.
If you can’t see a way to reduce the number of shots you need, consider ways to make those shots quicker to film. The most time-consuming shots for a director of photography to light are reverses, where the camera flips around to shoot in the opposite direction to all the previous angles, meaning every light has to be moved, along with the video village and all the piles of idle equipment in the background. Can you get away without a reverse, by changing the blocking a little? That character who has their back to camera – could they cheat their profile towards us a bit? It’s cheesy and not very realistic, but TV shows often achieve this by having one character talk to another’s back.
Ye olde person-talking-to-other-person’s-back shot in Soul Searcher, obviating the need for a shot-reverse.
Down-the-line close-ups are also quick to do. This means that, after doing your wide, you leave the camera more or less where it is (and, crucially, the lights too) and put on a longer lens to get your close-ups. Watch your continuity carefully, because down-the-line cuts will really show up any errors.
An example of a down-the-line close-up from Stop/Eject
If all else fails, the wrap time is looming and you’ve still got half a dozen set-ups to get, it’s best if those set-ups are close-ups or even cutaways. Because you and a skeleton crew can come back another day, maybe to a different location, maybe with a stand-in for your lead actor, and shoot tight pick-ups. Clearly this isn’t going to work with a wide master shot, for which you would need your whole cast and crew back, and the same set/location.
In this scene from The Dark Side of the Earth, the insert shot was filmed in a pub function room with a skeleton crew, four months after principal photography.
Finally, when working as a DP I have occasionally been asked to speed up the shoot by not lighting it. It is usually at this point that I feign hearing problems. Yes, not lighting stuff will speed up the shoot enormously. But you’re no longer making a professional film; you’re making a home video with an expensive camera. Don’t ask your DP to do this – you’ll only offend them. Instead, perhaps ask what camera angle would require the least re-lighting.
What tricks and techniques have you used to speed up your shoots?
The New Talent Summit at the Princess Anne Theatre, Bafta
Yesterday I attended the Filmmakers Market at Bafta, a day of masterclasses, round-table discussions and one-on-one surgeries. Highlights included frank discussion about the ups and downs of directing with Bharat Nalluri (Life on Mars), Penny Woolcock (Tina Goes Shopping) and Neil Marshall (The Descent), and career tips from a panel comprising the NFTS, BFI, Film London and others. Here are the stand-out nuggets I took away from the event:
Even in this age when it’s relatively easy to make a micro-budget feature, shorts are still considered the best calling cards. One of the panellists claimed that if you make a bad first feature it will be a decade before anyone lets you make another one…. A truth all too familiar to me.
Most of us aspire to work in feature films, but don’t forget that most working directors are employed in TV, and even if you do become successful in the cinematic arena, chances are that you will have got there by laying down the groundwork in TV, music promos or commercials.
Although there are exceptions (Bryan Singer, Robert Rodriguez…) generally no-one under 35 is going to make a decent feature film; you just don’t have enough life experience. Based on how my work has matured as I speed towards that unfortunate age I am inclined to believe this.
Qualities that make a good director: understanding of story and editing; ability to listen and communicate, particularly with actors; the flexibility to turn the inevitable compromises of the shoot into improvements. “The enemy of art is the absence of limitations,” said Orson Welles.
All three of the director panellists dislike storyboarding and rehearsals because they kill the on-set spontaneity, but they concede that preparation is necessary even if it all goes out of the window when you start to work with the actors on the day.
The director’s job is to create an environment in which the cast can do their best work. Every actor/director relationship is different – figure out what each person needs from you.
What do you reckon to this advice? What great tips have you heard for new and emerging filmmakers?
(By the way, I highly recommend getting yourself on Bafta’s mailing list because they often have interesting events like this.)
My recent trip to the Cannes Film Festival was my fourth, but I still learnt several new things and re-learnt old things that I’d forgotten since my last trip:
The Market Guide – a sort of Cannes bible containing contact details for everyone attending – is available Argos-style at the back of the Riviera Building by the escalators. Getting a copy of this book was always a big advantage of having an expensive market badge rather than a free festival pass, so having free access to it is very handy. The staff at the UK Pavilion are usually happy to look stuff up for you in their copy too.
There is a free left luggage service to the right of the casino in the corner of the Palais des Festivals.
Antibes, ten miles out of Cannes, is a popular place to stay because it’s cheap yet easily accessible by train. A weekly rail pass is only 8 Euros.
Wifi at the festival is awful, so save any screeners, photos etc. to your mobile device before leaving home/your hotel.
When networking, show your trailer/screener/photos as soon as possible to prove that you are (a) a doer, not just a talker and (b) a filmmaker who delivers high production values. From the response our Stop/Eject and Ashes materials have got, we can only assume that most people’s materials don’t look as good as ours. Showing trailers/screeners also gets the attention of other people nearby or even across the room, which can lead to further networking opportunities.
Also when networking, it is not cheating to talk to people you already know. Often they will introduce you to people you don’t.
Delices Yang, the Chinese Restaurant I mentioned in a previous post as a good place to eat cheaply, has had a makeover and is now more expensive, but is still competitive – especially as it’s all-you-can-eat.
Attending the Cannes Film Festival and Market for the first time can be a big shock; it certainly was for me back in 2005. Here are some of the things I learnt from that first trip.
Filmmaking is a business, not an art. Films are bought and sold like tins of beans, and profit – or the reliable promise of profit – is the driving force behind it, just like every other business.
Many more films get made every year than you could possibly imagine, and crucially many more films turn a profit than you might expect. The industry does not consist of only Hollywood blockbusters and micro-budget indie fare. There are also hundreds of formulaic low budget films that most of us will never see, but nevertheless find an audience and make money, typically on straight-to-DVD release or in foreign territories (even if they were made in English). There is a living to be made if you can get into this section of the industry, though it may not be exactly what you always dreamt of.
Name actors are everything. When I went around the market in 2005 asking all the distributors if they were interested in buying a fantasy action movie (Soul Searcher), the first question was always: “Who’s in it?” It is almost impossible for a film to make a profit unless it has elements (a name actor, a name director or it’s based on a successful book, game, etc.). For the same reason you won’t get a film financed without one of these things attached.
Don’t believe anything they tell you. Cannes is home to more horseshit than Biff Tannen’s car. Most meetings you have, no matter how positive they seem, will ultimately come to nothing.
There are many, many talkers but not so many doers. If you go to Cannes having actually made a film, particularly a feature, you will immediately command some respect.
Of course, it is one thing to read this stuff in a blog, but another entirely to learn it firsthand. If you want to be a filmmaker, I strongly suggest you attend the festival at least once so you can truly understand the industry you’re getting into.
Business cards are exchanged at a prodigious rate in Cannes.
With Cannes approaching fast, here are some things you definitely shouldn’t leave out of your suitcase:
Comfy shoes. Because of the way the festival and market are laid out, you do a HELL of a lot of walking in Cannes. Yes, the festival has glamour after dark, but during the daytime you want your most comfortable walking shoes on. Even so, pack plasters too, because you will get blisters.
Sunglasses and sunblock. Most meetings take place on the sun-decks of the pavilions on the seafront. It’s a hard life in Cannes, it really is.
Business cards. Cannes is the biggest filmmakers’ networking event on the planet. You will collect a massive stack of business cards and you should be prepared to hand a lot out.
French phrase book. Although everyone speaks English at the festival, this may not be the case at your hotel, in restaurants, etc.
Materials. Take something to show people, be it a press kit, a one sheet, or the film itself on your smartphone. If it’s the latter, a pair of headphones and some sort of hood to keep glare off the screen are strongly advised. Again, most meetings will be in bright sunlight and with plenty of chatter going on around.
I’ve recently booked my flight and hotel for this year’s Cannes Film Festival and Market. This will be my fourth Cannes, and I’ve been trying to get the cost down every year. Here are my top five tips for saving cash on the Côte d’Azur:
Get free festival accreditation by applying as soon as registration opens (usually the start of February). Make sure your IMDb page is up-to-date to prove you’re active in the industry.
Book early to get the best hotel deals. Adam Hale tipped me off about an extremely cheap campsite with mobile homes – Parc Belle Vue – but it was already full by the time I decided I was going to Cannes this year.
Stay somewhere on a bus route (timetables and maps here). Relying on taxis can quickly destroy your budget, but the buses in the Cannes area are only one Euro for a single ticket and run until about midnight.
Slash your food and drink budget by living off canapés at parties and carrying a water bottle which you can continually refill from the cooler downstairs in the Palais des Festivals. If canapés don’t fill you up, Delices Yang on Rue Emile Negrin is cheap and cheerful if you can handle all the MSG.
Save around ten Euros each way by taking the train from Nice airport to Cannes, rather than the tourist-baiting 210 bus. Board the free airport shuttle bus, alight at L’Arénas and from there Nice St. Augustine railway station is just a five minute walk (map here).
Consulting with editor Adam Hale (left) and director Brendan O’Neill (right). Photo: Anneliese Cherrington
Last weekend I participated in my first 48 hour film challenge, serving as both director of photography and postproduction supervisor. This is the first time I’ve ever done the latter role and I made the huge mistake of failing to prepare for it. This, coupled with the fact that I wasn’t around during the start of the editing process because I was busy DPing, meant that some avoidable errors were made. We got the film finished on time to a good standard, but I learnt several things that will be useful if I ever take on the role of postproduction supervisor again.
Here are the top five things I’d recommend to anyone wishing to have a quick and painless postproduction process:
Sit down with the camera and post departments before the shoot to make sure everyone knows the workflow and what’s expected of them. This includes agreeing on a format and frame rate to shoot, and a format to edit from, and making sure that all hard drives and memory sticks to be used during post are formatted appropriately so they can be read by all the computers being used.
Have a dedicated clapper person on set and make sure they understand the importance of getting the right info on the board. Too often on a low budget the job of slating is given to a crew member with several other responsibilities, increasing the chances of them writing the wrong thing on it and confusing the hell out of the editor. (We got this right on last weekend’s shoot, and it helped enormously.)
Beware of shooting too much footage, particularly if you have a B camera or second unit. We had so much that there simply wasn’t time to view it all in post. Also avoid shooting series (multiple takes without cutting in between) as a time-pressured editor will often miss the fact that there are several takes within the same clip.
Keep logs if at all possible, noting any technical problems with each take and the director’s preferences.
Ideally the DIT (Digital Input Technician) or an assistant editor should do three things once he or she has ingested the material, besides the obvious backing up: 1. Transcode the footage to ProRes or whatever format has been pre-arranged for editing, 2. Sync the sound, 3. Associate information from the logs with the clips, or at least rename the clips with slate and take number. It’s a bad idea to rename the files themselves because it can cause re-linking headaches down the line, but if the DIT has access to the editing software they can rename the clips within the bins.
Watch this space for a forthcoming interview with writer-director-producer Brendan O’Neill on the whole process of making a 48 hour challenge film. Meanwhile, here’s the film:
I have to share this amazing short film I discovered recently thanks to nofilmschool.com. HENRi is a 20 minute crowd-funded sci-fi movie about a computer that builds a robot body for itself and tries to become human. It stars Margot Kidder (best known as Lois Lane in the original Superman movies) and Keir Dullea, who flips his famous role as David Bowman in 2001: A Space Odyssey to play the titular computer. But the human characters are only a small part of this film. Shot on beautiful quarter-scale sets, the real star is the HENRi robot, realised through a combination of rod puppetry and first rate CGI. Trust me, this is one of the most unique and awesome shorts you will ever see and well worth every penny of the £1.19 rental fee.
When we launched the postproduction crowd-funding campaign for Stop/Eject last spring, I promised a “People’s Choice Reward” when we reached our target of £1,500. Well, we reached it in January, we canvassed opinion, the People spoke, and verily you requested an interview with the cast for which you the People submit the questions. And lo, it shall be done.
You have until next Wednesday (March 13th) to submit your question(s) for Georgina Sherrington, Oliver Park and Therese Collins. Email them to info@stopejectmovie.com with “People’s Choice Reward” in the subject line. The best ones will be posed to the actors in a specially shot interview which will be posted online in a couple of weeks.
If you’re stuck for ideas, have a read about the cast below…
Georgina Sherrington
Georgina Sherrington (Kate)
Georgina Sherrington (born 26 July 1985) spent her early years playing the the lead in the series The Worst Witch and Weirdsister College. The series was shown on ITV in the UK, ABC in Australia, HBO in America and on various other networks worldwide. In 2000, Georgina won a Young Artist Award for Best Performance in a TV Comedy Series. In 2008, Georgina completed a degree in English Literature at Princeton University. Since graduating, she has worked on the LA, New York and London Fringe and won Best Actress in the London Solo Festival last year. She also produced and starred in the film Steamboat, and will soon be seen in cinemas in the horror film, Tag.
Oliver Park is an award-winning actor. His first major film role was Kai in the multi award-winning Shank, and as a result of this performance the production team behind the film wrote parts especially for Oliver in their two follow-up productions – Release and Buffering. After shooting the feature film Just Ate early in 2012, Oliver won the Best Actor award for his performance in the short film Wakey Wakey at the ITV West Film and Television Awards. Later that year he was approached by Darlow Smithson Productions to appear in an episode of Seconds to Disaster for National Geographic. Since then he has gone on to take leading roles in several other features including: Dark Vision, Tidal, the comical role of Tom in Tenants and the challenging role of Shaun in Fratton by IVN Productions. Oliver is currently involved in several projects including the feature film One by Reel People Films, David S. Goyer’s Da Vinci’s Demons and a film for the new X-Box. Visit his website at www.oliverpark.co.uk
Therese Collins
Therese Collins (Alice)
Therese has worked in theatre for 27 years and is returning to acting after a break in which she concentrated on writing. Her play Remendos is currently being performed in Portugal. Her acting career has been varied, ranging from international tours in plays such as The Bridge – by Hanyong Theatre Company touring the UK, South Korea, Japan and Australia – to Lucifer in Immaculate in a small theatre in the West Midlands. She spends most weekends in the summer touring in a giant silver whale for the company Talking Birds. She has recently worked on Doreen’s Story Episode One, a Youtube pilot for a Black Country comedy. Therese has previously worked with Neil Oseman on several participatory dramas – playing a range of single mothers! – and she is absolutely delighted to have been part of Stop/Eject.
