For the past three days at The Film School we've been having Crew Drills. Crew Drills are basically a two hour run through of an F3 set. That's enough time to set up, get a shot or two, and then take everything down for the next show. It accomplishes a few things. The...
Video Production
A First Assistant Directing Moment
Day two of production. It's an outdoor shoot, so when the sun's gone, the day's over. It's the last shot and covers an entire scene. The camera is inside an ambulance looking out through open doors at a guy whose daughter was just loaded. The doors close, letting the...
F3 Explained
In looking at past posts, I realized I never laid out what exactly an F3 is, the project that has and will be taking my attention and life for the next few months. The F stands for Filmmaking. The F1 was our little digital short, the F2 the half day film exercise, and...
A Busy January
January is going to be a busy month for me. As I said before, three films are down, four to go. These four are all ATL jobs, and are every Friday-Saturday for the next four weeks when school starts up again on the 7th. Week 1 - Director of Photography This is a sci-fi...
Morning of DP-ing Nerves
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 create artistic images, while...
Tim Gunn Would Cringe
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 this takes place...
Producing a Happy Crew
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, while...
Dinner and Confessions of a Shopaholic
Here's a story that combines a little six degrees of separation with a hint of networking. I was having dinner last night with my mom at Oriente on Ocean Drive. Across the street, near the beach, we noticed some giant tents set up - looked like some sort of party. But...
The Glamour of Producing
Ten cans of film have been turned in after the longest producing job I've had yet - six days of summer thesis kick-off. You get three days to shoot your thesis film, or you can team up and double your resources as the DP and Director did here and shoot for six days...