Prepare to Sell Your Soul

by | Jan 29, 2008 | Film School

Today is Director’s Prep for my film, and the last for the F3 cycle. Between Production Design and Directing, these past two weeks have been the busiest yet. I feel slightly unprepared, mainly because I have no cast. But I do have locations, and they’re...

Producing a Happy Crew

by | Jan 26, 2008 | Tips, Video Production

Producing is like being the Chief Happiness Officer on set. It’s all about keeping the crew happy and the set flowing smoothly. After producing two films, my view is the 1AD works on a micro level, creating a detailed set-up schedule and working shot to shot,...

Tim Gunn Would Cringe

by | Jan 25, 2008 | Tips, Video Production

It’s been a busy morning, but the action on my part has finally calmed down, leaving time for a little on-set reporting. Today is day one of ‘The Groom is Becoming a Tree,’ which, as you might have guessed, is about a groom becoming a tree. Since...

I Didn’t Keep the Lens Cap On

by | Jan 22, 2008 | Cameras

The footage I shot as DP has returned. If we play by the rules, we are supposed to wait until this Wednesday for dailies when the entire crew gathers and we watch the footage, synced with the sound in script order. I was going to go along with this until I had to...

Morning of DP-ing Nerves

by | Jan 11, 2008 | Cameras, Video Production

It’s 4 AM and I’m about to shoot a movie in two hours, but I can’t seem to go back to sleep. So I’ll write! It seems that Director of Photography is the most nerve wracking position. It’s a blend of using your technical knowledge to...