Coffee and Celluloid » Moviccino

Show No Mercy (in the Edit Room)

Joey — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 13:36:58 +0000

I realize the moviccino adventures in the production of UnderCover has sort of died down. I have a few cool videos that I still need to post, but it’s mainly been an extremely sloooow editing process that’s been requiring a huge build up to a more exciting post. But this post isn’t it. This is just an update.

Here’s where things stand. Iman (the director) and I have been editing off and on since January. It’s kind of comical. One week I’ll be out of town, then I’ll come back and Iman will be gone. This project is definitely not a 4 month edit job, but it just kind of ended up that way because, you know, work expands to fill the allotted of time.

So we’ve been editing, working some magic, but now we’ve gotten to the point where we’ve done all the magic we can and the verdict is out on what works and what doesn’t. For all the things that don’t, we’re going back on set next week to do pick-ups – basically re-filming scenes that don’t work or filming new or rewritten scenes to clarify story and plot points that aren’t making sense (including going back to the pig farm).

This week, though, we showed a cut to the Associate Dean and basically he put into actions things that had been bothering me but I couldn’t quite figure out what it was. Bottom line was things weren’t working and they just needed to be cut. And by taking out some mediocre jokes it makes the better jokes even more better and stand out more.

So yesterday, the day after he saw the cut (which was the first time I had seen it in a few weeks), I went in armed with a hatchet and showed no mercy. The film was 21 minutes when I came in. 4 hours later it was down to 18 – and this is after we’ve been working on it since January. As Faulkner would say, you’ve got to “kill all your darlings.”

Fight Scene in a Barn

Joey — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 05:29:39 +0000

Monday was a day off, which was nice. Of course there’s not really such a thing as a day off. Today we were back at the pig farm. I think this is where Deliverance originated. Deep in their property I stumbled on bones (hopefully animal) spread all over the place. And I think there was a mummified dog in their barn…but they were really hospitable!

We’re returning to the police station one last time tomorrow. We’ve already smashed a hole in the wall and made it smell like pigs after we brought some in, so I’m kind of worried to see what will top these.

Going for a Take

Joey — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 01:18:00 +0000

This post is part of the Moviccino, taking you through the production of a movie from start to finish.

The Assistant Director

Joey — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 00:16:52 +0000

This post is part of the Moviccino, taking you through the production of a movie from start to finish.

You Still Want to Do This?

Joey — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 10:54:01 +0000

I was thinking back to when I was on the Burn Notice set. I was already working most of the day, and they were running late and shooting until midnight. When we finally wrapped, one of the Assistant Director’s, thinking the late shoot must have been a shock, asked, “You still want to do this?”

I just got home and it’s 2 AM. I have to get up at 7:30. Yep, I’ll still do this.

BTW – Today went a lot smoother than the past two days. But again, it’s 2 AM. More TK.

This post is part of the Moviccino, taking you through the production of a movie from start to finish.

I Was Kung Powed

Joey — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 10:41:44 +0000

I plan to elaborate more on today, but in short production came to a halt due to brand new digital technology being finicky, General Tso chicken attacked my leg and car, and an actor was thrown a little too hard into a wall at the police station we’re filming at, smashing a giant hole in the dry wall.

This post is part of the Moviccino, taking you through the production of a movie from start to finish.

In Production: Day 1 – Off to a Good Start

Joey — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 06:59:03 +0000

This will be short. Day 1 went off smoothly. The main issue for the day was to get a police car to film in, and that ended up working out through some word of mouth.

It was rediculously cold this morning in the middle of a pig farm. Pigs are also quite funny, as well as quite noisy. And dirty.

I woke up at 4 AM, and it’s now coming on 2 AM, which brings this to a 22 hour day. Yet I haven’t felt this energized in weeks, and I’m not very tired, which explains this late night blogging.

Per my previous post, I realized the Venti days of Monday and Tuesday weren’t entirely my doing. There was a large amount of information I needed but didn’t have, such as a schedule of when we would be where.

The stress addicting day of Monday was more out of necessity than procrastination, yet still fun and addicting.

Time to go to sleep (fully clothed) so I can get up in four hours. Film production life – I wouldn’t have it any other way.

This post is part of the Moviccino, taking you through the production of a movie from start to finish.

Crew Call – The Cast Behind the Camera

Joey — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 02:21:49 +0000

One big problem Undercover has presented that I haven’t had to deal with before is finding a crew. Normally set is considered a class, so having people to show up and work isn’t a concern.

However, since this is an extra film not part of the curriculum, we’ve had to scrape together a crew. It’ll come together, but it’s just one extra thing to add to a long to-do list.

People are usually surprised at how many people it takes to make a film, especially at how specific some jobs are (“All they do is move the camera? They just turn a knob to adjust focus?”).

A lot of jobs on a film set come down to time and quality. Yes, you can do most of these jobs with a few people – you hear of a few friends making a movie all the time. But when one person covers many areas, the quality suffers. And in order to get that high production value that you see in Hollywood films, you need highly trained people in highly specialized jobs.

When it’s one person’s job to focus on just one thing, that thing will be done perfectly. And it will save time, and time is money.

Compared to a large production, our crew is extremely small, with just the basics for each department.

To break it down, here’s what our crew looks like:

Director – The Director is the most public face of the crew. Ultimately the film is the Director’s vision and it’s the Director’s job to make that vision a reality by guiding (eh, directing) the cast and crew.

Production Team

Producer – Normally the Producer gets the funding to make the movie, but since this film and every Film School film is already funded, the Producer deals with making the script a reality. Casting, locations, food, vehicles, animals, etc.

Unit Production Manager (UPM) – The UPM deals with more of the logistical tasks of getting a movie made. In film school they mainly assist the Producer.

First Assistant Director (1AD) – Don’t let ‘Assistant’ fool you – the First AD is the voice the Director doesn’t want to hear. The AD keeps everyone on schedule and the production moving.

Second Assistant Director (2AD) – The Second AD deals with most of the paper work – having everyone sign in, making the Call Sheets, and handling all the daily paperwork, as well as assisting the First AD.

Script Supervisor – Keeps the continuity of a script. Since most films are shot out of sequence, a good script supervisor can save many continuity headaches in editing, such as objects jumping from hand to hand or clothing changing.

Camera Team

Director of Photography (DP. aka Cinematographer) – The DP handles the look of the film, in conjunction with the Director, through lighting and camera work.

Camera Operator – Sometimes the DP operates the camera, but usually there is a separate operator. Yes, you’re probably thinking, “There’s a guy whose job is to move a camera?” Not only that, he doesn’t even press Start/Stop. While it may sound silly, a good operator is key to getting complicated shots and keep the production moving.

First Assistant Camera (1AC) – Just when you thought a Cam Op was silly, the First AC handles the focus. Yes, focus, that thing you usually leave to Mr. Auto. Auto-focus doesn’t work on a professional camera. One, because it doesn’t exist, and two, because a computer doesn’t know what you want to focus to. Like camera movement and composition, focus is another tool to tell you where to, well, focus your attention. Also, there are many things that can be fixed in post-production. A blurry image is not one of them.

Second Assistant Camera (2AC) – The Second AC loads the film, or on a digital shoot, swaps memory cards and downloads the files. They also slate each scene (that’s the iconic black and white bar slate that goes ‘clap’).

Art Team

Production Designer – Designs everything that appears in front of the camera – sets, props, costumes, etc.

Art Director – Assists the Production Designer.

Grip and Electric

Gaffer – Working with the DP, the Gaffer is the person who actually lights a scene.

Key Grip – The Key Grip handles everything not relating to lights – Dolly, cranes, jibs.

Best Boy Electric (BBE) – Serves under the Gaffer and powers everything through a generator.

Best Boy Grip (BBG) – Serves under the Key Grip.

Sound

Sound Mixer – Gets quality sound by using lavalier mics on the actors and a boom mic.

Boom Operator – The person holding the giant stick with a mic at the end of it over the actor’s heads.

This post is part of the Moviccino, taking you through the production of a movie from start to finish.

Here Piggy, Piggy, Piggy

Joey — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 17:19:15 +0000

The days of Farmer Arable and Wilbur are long gone.

One of the main locations in Undercover is a pig farm, where a Muslim cop goes undercover to find a missing pig.

So, as Producer, I need to find this pig farm. In the process of this hunt I learned about the state of the farming industry and the history of pig farming for the past 20 years (spoiler alert – corporations don’t help).

Normally a trip to Google or seriously thinking about Tallahassee (or whatever city you’re in) will lead to possible locations. A lot of location hunting is thinking abstractly. “Could we make the outside of this modern building look like the town hall for 2050?”

However, pig farms aren’t really listed online and I couldn’t think of any in Tallahassee.

So I had to think further. Pigs = meat, meat = butchers. So I started calling every butcher within 50 miles of Tallahassee. This is where things started to get interesting.

Not only did no one know of any pig farms, but they all got their meat shipped in, some as far away as Kentucky.

I also tried local knowledge. Any conversation I had with someone who’s been in Tallahassee for a while went something like this:

“Hey, how’ve you been?”

“Good, good. Do you know of any pig farms?”

I got a few leads from this strategy, but no farms.

New thought – the fair was in town and they always have those livestock competitions, so I thought there must be pig farmers there, and when there’s pig farmers there’s pig farms.

So I went to the fair, got sent around to a million gates because apparently fairs don’t open until 5, and finally meet up with the owner of the pigs at the fair. Yes, owner, there was only one.

He was super nice but basically explained that corporations have industrialized pig farming into massive 3-story high warehouses where pigs never see the light of day. They’re able to sell the meat at half the price of the traditional farmer, so there really is no way for them to compete, and so there are very few small, private pig farms left.

So just when it seemed we’d all have to learn Maya and build computer animated pigs, someone told me about a butcher a little north in Georgia. I gave them a call, they said they knew of one guy who raised pigs, I gave him a call, and he was total open to us visiting the farm and filming there. Score!

The Director, Director of Photography (DP), and I took a trip up to this farm. It was about an hour and half away, so that’s a minus.

I thought the farm itself was great. There were a few hundred pigs, Terry the Farmer was super nice and I think super excited that someone was interested in what he did.

“No one really cares about agriculture, they think the food just grows in the food store.”

The only downside, especially for Julie the DP, is the barn is mostly outdoors, meaning the light and shadows will be moving all day. For a scene that’s supposed to take place over five minutes, when the light is jumping around from side to side, that can be a problem for continuity.

While the search continues, at least we have a place that could work. Production starts in less than 2 weeks. There’s some work to be done.

This post is part of the Moviccino Producing Series, taking you through the production of a movie from start to finish.

Location, Location, Location

Joey — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 16:11:36 +0000

It’s funny how much I take film slang for granted.

So to start from the beginning, there are six stages in making and releasing a movie: Development, Pre-Production, Production, Post-Production, Distribution, Exhibition.

Usually Development can take the longest – that’s when you’re writing the script, trying to get funding, trying to get Greenlit. When you hear it took a movie 7 years to get made, this is the name for the first 6 years.

Fortunately, the script is just getting tweaked and we have funding. So onto Pre-Production.

There are two main things that need to get done in pre-production: locations and casting.

Location Scouting is when you¹ drive around to potential locations and check them out to see if they would work for the film.

Location scouting is my favorite part. I feel like the authenticity of a film depends on the locations, along with how much work the Production Designer will have to do. A great location can add so much value and production quality to a film.

Scouting is important because it’s obviously necessary to make a sure a location works both aesthetically and logistically instead of having 20 people show up to find out the location doesn’t work.

It all comes down to good planning. The more time you spend planning, the better the production will go (ex: 91 Set-Ups in 3 Days).

So the script has two main locations: a police station and pig farm. The pig farm is proving hard to find and is a story for a future post. For the police station, Iman, the director, just needed an open-office type area.

Since my last film involved cubicles, I’ve seen most of the large office spaces in Tallahassee, and our local newspaper has some of the finest selections. Plus I’ve filmed there twice before, so I know they’re film friendly.

Iman and I went to check it out. The only problem is the side all past film shoots have been on is the Advertising side. This time we were checking out the News Room side, which was a little more high strung.

When you are location scouting, it’s a good idea to take pictures to refer back to when decision making. Every past time I’ve gone scouting I’ve asked if I could take pictures, and everyone has always said yes. So for some reason I took a leap of faith here, plus I had this weird logic that since this is a news room, they must be used to photographers, so no one would mind.

Well, I snapped off one pic before I got asked what I was doing.

“Oh, I’m just taking a picture for reference. We’re location scouting.”

“Location scouting, what is that? I thought you guys were coming in December.”

Yes, I had briefly mentioned some potential dates over the phone, and I guess she thought we were there to film because I had my little digital camera out.

It’s funny, this isn’t the first time someone thought when we showed up to check out a location we were there to film the movie. It also makes me wonder if that means they would be totally fine with a crew just showing up with just a vague, “Hey, we might be stopping by to shoot a film in a few weeks.”

Now that’s a camera

But I think it was this misunderstanding, thinking that we were there to film a movie, that led to the hesitation about taking pictures, because staff was in them and they hadn’t been notified.

So lesson learned, always, always ask before taking pictures. But the location was exactly what Iman wanted, and I think things have smoothed over enough where we can film there. Well, smoothed over enough where I can give them a call back.

This post is part of the Moviccino, taking you through the production of a movie from start to finish.

‘You’ being the Producer and Director and possibly Director of Photography and Production Designer ↩